How Shall We Escape?

October 25, 2013

Drifting is easy. Staying on course is hard. Drifting takes no thought. Piloting to a desired destination takes paying attention and concentration. Drifting is to allow the currents to take you where they will. The true sailor may tack into the wind and go against the currents–destination taking precedence over contrary forces. The careful sailor finds secure anchorage in the safe harbor. Drifting can be dangerous.

Neglect is easy. Maintenance is hard. Two houses in the same neighborhood, one maintained and the other neglected. At first the differences may be undetectable, but a little work done in regular intervals holds back the ravages of time and decay. Peeling paint, rotting wood, fallen shingles, and crumbling mortar can spell disaster if not averted. Neglect can lead to ruin.

Powerful images are conveyed by the words “drift” and “neglect.” Hebrews asks us to apply them to our spiritual lives and heed the warning. Many who begin the walk of faith end it not with a conscious rejection, but with a slow, creeping neglect. It comes on them with many little decisions and plausible excuses that lead away from faith. It’s like the boat that has lost its anchor. The drift is slow and almost imperceptible, but if it is not checked, the current leading it away may become stronger than the will to return.

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? (Hebrews 2:1–3a, ESV)

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Posted by Russell Holden

What We Learned from Jerry

October 4, 2013

Jerry Tallman has conducted thousands of evangelistic Bible studies through the years. He shared what he has learned with us in his workshop. What have we learned form Jerry?

Despite having conducted thousands of Bible studies, Jerry has never converted anyone. It is the gospel that is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). The power to convert is in the message not the messenger.

We often worry about being rejected or messing up, but if the person is lost (separated from God because of sin), their situation is not going to be worse because we have attempted to share the good news. The person who is lost is in danger of being eternally lost unless he or she is rescued by the good news.

Jerry asked each night whether we had learned anything new, and the answer each night was no. What he talked about were things that we already knew. Our problem is not needing to know more, but to actually use what we already know.

All of us should be able to tell someone what God has done for us.

When Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman at the well, he turned a conversation about physical things into a conversation about spiritual things. We need to think of ways of introducing the spiritual into our conversations as well. It may be in simply offering to pray for someone’s needs.

People need to see us as good news. It may be in service. It may be in the quality of our life seen as being different from the world. As Edgar Guest’s poem says, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day.” Seeing us as good news may be the preparation for them to hear the good news.

We don’t have to have all the answers. It is fair to say, “That’s a good question, let me write that one down.” Questions can then become studies. You can research what the Bible says and get back to the person for a further study.

Studying with a person is letting them read what the Bible has to say for themselves. It is not us telling them what we think. We just help them to find the passages. If they object to what the Bible says, then their argument is with God not us.

We need to meet the lost, reach them, and keep them. We all need to think of ways of meeting the people in our lives and getting them to think about spiritual things. Not all of us will be the ones to reach them, that is, actually do a one-on-one study with them. But we all have a part in meeting people and introducing the gospel to them and being the bridge between them and people who can study with them. We also need to keep them. The whole body of Christ plays a part in maturing the new Christian. All of us have things that we can do to make this an evangelistic church.

Jerry reminded us that spiritual swords are sharpened to be used.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Forces of Modernity

August 16, 2013

James W. Sire in his book, Chris Chrisman Goes to College, examines the forces of modernity that affect our Christian faith. He does it my mixing commentary with a novel about fictional Chris Chrisman going to a state college, and the challenges to his faith that he faces there. But these forces of modernity affect all of us and not just college students.

Individualism. Individualism has roots in Christian faith. After all, we believe that individuals are created in the image of God and are unique and valuable. We believe that salvation is an individual matter. Modern individualism however goes to some extremes. It desires to be totally autonomous from God. It believes that the individual is self-sufficient and can define himself anyway he wants.

Pluralism. Pluralism can be defined in several ways. On one level, it is simply the getting along of many religious, ethnic and cultural beliefs in one society. No one can argue with the need to coexist with our differences. But pluralism is also used with a philosophical meaning maintaining that no one explanation for life is true. In a situation where many religions exist, the influence of pluralism is to see all of them as viable. To raise the question whether one of them is true is to violate social mores.

Relativism. Faced with pluralism, relativism refuses to question the truth of any philosophical or religious position. The response is: “It’s true for you, but it’s not true for me.” Ethical values are treated in the same way. Everything is subjective and relative.

Privatization. Privatization is the tendency to split social reality into two sectors: public and private. The public sector has to do with government, politics, business, economics, production, technology, and science. The private sector involves religion, morality, leisure, and consumption. The tendency in our culture is to want to keep these two sectors separate.

The danger to a college student or anyone else is that if we obey the forces of modernity our faith dies. Christianity demands to be defended as true in opposition to other views. Granted that this defense should be made with gentleness and respect (see 1 Peter 3:15-16), but it should still be made. Christianity demands our whole life, both public and private. The forces of modernity give us a choice: (1) the erosion of our faith or (2) choosing to be out of step with the times.

Leave a Comment » | Christian living, individualism, modernity, pluralism, privatization, relativism, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

The Frustrations of Bible Reading

August 2, 2013

The average American household has four Bibles or more. We are a long way from the times before the invention of the printing press when Bibles were expensive and rare. But having access to a Bible doesn’t necessarily mean Americans are Bible readers. A recent press release from Logos Bible Software provides these statistics about Bible reading among church attenders.1

  • 18–34% Rarely or never read the Bible
  • 12% Felt confused the last time they read the Bible
  • 11% Felt overwhelmed
  • 40% Felt an “unfavorable emotion”

Survey respondents also indicated their top frustrations with Bible reading.

  • 32% “I never have enough time”
  • 12% “The language is difficult to relate to”
  • 11% “I don’t feel excited about reading it”

Is reading the Bible frustrating? The answer is yes — at least initially. Everyone who develops the habit of regular Bible reading struggles to find time to read. It becomes easier, but I still go through busy times in my life when I play catch up on my reading guide. We also need to keep things in perspective. None of the books of the Bible are very long. Most are pamphlet size if they were printed by themselves. Each of the gospels could be read aloud in about two hours. In comparison, one of the most recent John Grisham novels would take nearly 13 hours read aloud — the entire New Testament could be done in about 16 hours.

I think most new Bible readers do feel confused and struggle to understand. I liken my first time reading through the Bible with fishing with a net with holes six inches wide. You can catch a big fish with it — some of the big ideas in the text, but many things will pass right through. Fishing with such a net would obviously be frustrating. Each time through the Bible your net becomes finer, and you “catch” more of what is in the text.

I suspect that talking about the frustration of Bible reading seems a bit sacrilegious. After all, the Bible is God’s word. How can we complain about God’s word? Yet, I know of few things in life that don’t entail a learning curve especially if they are worth doing. Admitting our frustrations is the first step in moving beyond them. Knowing that others have felt the same way in their journey can help us work through our own frustrations. Believe me when I say the journey is worth it.

1http://www.logos.com/press/releases/free-esv-bible. Note that the press release is about a free ESV Bible for iOS, Android, or Kindle Fire mobile devices. The free offer is good through August 10th. Use the press release link to find the offer. Logos is one of the Bible apps that I personally use on my iPad, and free is hard to beat.

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Posted by Russell Holden

The Misunderstood Commission

July 12, 2013

If I were to give you their names, you probably wouldn’t recognize the list: Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, and Geuel. Add two more names, Joshua and Caleb, and many Bible students would suddenly have a flash of recognition – the twelve spies.

The setting is after the Exodus from Egypt. Israel is in the wilderness. They are camped outside the Promised Land. The spy mission is God’s idea: “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel” (Numbers 13:2, ESV). Moses also states their commission:

Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land. Numbers 13:17-20, ESV

It is interesting to note that in the commissioning of the spies the issue is never whether we can take the land or not. Taking the land is a given. God has promised.

The ten spies failed not because they reported strong peoples and fortified cities in the land. Their failure was saying, “We are not strong enough; we can’t do it.” The issue had never been Israel’s strength. The issue always was God’s strength, and what could be accomplished by faith. They misunderstood their commission.

We too have a commission – a great one in fact. It is about going into all the world, making disciples, baptizing, and teaching. It would be failure for us to say, “We are not strong enough; we can’t do it.” It is not about our strength. It is about God’s strength, and what can be accomplished by faith. For this commission too comes with a promise: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, ESV).

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Posted by Russell Holden

Peace LIke a River

July 5, 2013

With what are God’s requirements to be compared? Is God like a cosmic-Simon-says who is attempting to trip us up? Or is God more like a parent setting limits for the protection of his children? Listen to the instruction of Moses in Deuteronomy.

And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. (Deuteronomy 6:24 ESV)

God is not a killjoy. His commandments are for our good, for our benefit. I’ve witnessed too many times people who rebelliously go their own way making a train wreck of their lives. Even my own experience tells me that the instructions of scripture are good for me (even when temptations want to lead me another direction). Blessings come from the path of righteousness.

Moses had warned Israel of this, but despite this warning, Israel paid for their stubbornness with the Babylonian captivity. Judgment came against them. In the midst of prophesying judgment, Isaiah pictured God’s lament that it could have been very different if they had listened.

This is what the LORD says–your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea” (Isaiah 48:17-18, NIV).

They could have had peace like a river. The land of Israel does not have many rivers. The land is semiarid with only marginal rainfall in many places. The land does have numerous wadis or dry riverbeds that flow with the runoff from the rains, but those are not constant. The image of a river is a picture of abundance. They could have had peace that was abundant and constant — peace like a river.

Righteousness could have characterized their lives so that it was like waves on the shore. Waves are rhythmical and repetitious. There is always a new wave coming to shore. Again, we see a picture of abundance. What is it like to live in a community where righteousness is the norm — a place where you expect it just like you do the next wave?

What about us? Do we stubbornly go our own way only to reap the consequences of our sinful decisions, or do we have peace like a river? Let us discover the blessings of a humble walk with God.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Wallets that Never Wear Out

June 21, 2013

Wallets, billfolds, purses – we probably all have one. They are the place where we put our money, credit cards, driver’s license and ID cards. They are necessary things that take a tremendous amount of wear and tear.

Wallets wear out. I can remember the transfer from a worn out one to a new one. The old wallet’s leather was worn and discolored. It had never quite recovered from the amusement park water ride. Emptied it looked kind of like a shed snake’s skin – still having some of the shape of its former occupants, but looking very lifeless.

But worse that wearing out – money disappears from them at blinding speed. I’m reminded of Proverbs 23:5: “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (NIV).

How would you like a wallet that never wears out? It’s a special wallet that never loses its contents. Is it some special new super cowhide with SuperGlue inside? No, this special offer isn’t found on the shopping channel, but from Jesus himself.

And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:29-34, NIV

It’s a paradox. What I give as a Christian is what I truly get to keep. What I accumulate for myself will ultimately go to another, “naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart” (Job 1:21). Thomas Fuller states another paradox, “Riches enlarge rather than satisfy appetites.” Somewhere along the way, I must learn that satisfaction and contentment come from another source than more things. As Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Do I have an eternal wallet or simply one that will wear out?

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Posted by Russell Holden

Fatherhood Is Important

June 14, 2013

Fatherhood is on-the-job training. To drive a car, I went through driver’s training and had to pass a test to receive a license. I must confess there are times when I see or read about certain cases, that I think this person shouldn’t have been allowed to procreate without passing a test. But real life doesn’t work that way. We become fathers and then muddle through with on-the-job training.

Resources, however, do exist to aid us. I’ve been blessed with some wonderful examples of Christian manhood and fatherhood. We learn a great deal from seeing it done well. (I suspect that some of the cases in the previous paragraph that I wish had needed a license lacked good role models in their lives.) There is a place for the older to train the younger, to share with the younger.

Books and magazine articles can also help. As a young man, I learned a lot about fatherhood from the books of James Dobson as many of my generation did. The books giving the developmental stages of childhood were also very helpful. It helps to know what to expect at 6 months, a year, and so on. But the greatest help, if we will let it, is the Bible. It contains wisdom: wisdom for being a father, wisdom for life, and wisdom for salvation.

Fatherhood is not always perfect, but it should be principled. I learned there were times I needed to apologize to my children. I’m sure there were a lot of things I could have done better, but I hope there were some principles reflected in my imperfect portrayal of a father. The principle to provide for and protect my family. The principle to love my wife, their mother, as Christ loved the church. The principle to raise our children in the discipline and nurture of the Lord. The need to love my children and be there for them.

Fatherhood is a time sensitive role. Yes, it involves on-the-job training, but there is a real need that we get it together for our children. They are only with us for a short time. Eighteen years seems like a long time until you are in the midst of it. First tooth, first word, first step, first day of school, and all those other firsts pass quickly. Much of what we teach about morality is learned in the first six years. Much of what we teach about spirituality is learned in the first twelve years. Fatherhood is time sensitive.

Fatherhood is a life long role. If you have done your job reasonably well, the relationship with your adult children is a wonderful and rewarding season of life. In most cases, it also leads to a new role: grandfather. May God bless the fathers among us. Fatherhood is important.

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Posted by Russell Holden

The Problem of Masters and Slaves

February 22, 2013

For the skeptic, the subject of masters and slaves in the Bible is a moral failing. For the beginning Bible reader in the West, it is something very foreign to our lives (unfortunately, slavery still exists in the 21st century). The problem for us is bridging the context with two different ancient cultures.

Slavery in the Old Testament was debt servitude somewhat like indentured service in U.S. history. The Mosaic law attempted to protect the poor in many ways, but servitude was the answer to extreme poverty in the ancient near east. The law regulated and humanized this practice. Paul Copeland argues that if the principles of the Old Testament had been practiced, slavery would not have existed in the United States.1 What were those principles?

  • The law limited the time of servitude to six years. In the seventh year, the slave was to go free. Exodus 21:1
  • The law prohibited kidnapping, so slave traders were illegal and subject to the death penalty. Servitude in Israel was something an individual entered into voluntarily because of debts. Deuteronomy 24:7
  • The law protected the slave from harm. If harm came to the slave (e.g., a broken tooth), the slave was set free. Exodus 21:26-27
  • The law prohibited the return of a runaway slave. Deuteronomy 23:15-16 This stresses the voluntary nature of the financial arrangement. If conditions were too harsh and the slave could escape, he or she would not be returned.

The New Testament context was different from that of the Law of Moses. Yet even here, the context was different from the American experience. Slavery was not based on race. Most slaves gained their freedom. Some slaves held important positions like doctors, teachers, and government workers. Yes, conditions could also be harsh. Slavery is never a good situation (unless the master is God).

Christianity ultimately brought an end to slavery. The New Testament prohibited kidnapping or slave trading (1 Timothy 1:10 ). It taught the human dignity and equal spiritual status of all people including slaves. It encouraged slaves to gain their freedom whenever possible (1 Corinthians 7:20-22). The end of slavery in the West came because Christianity transformed society morally from the inside rather than by political rebellion in the first century. And when slavery has occurred in history since, it has often had Christian leaders at the forefront to end it.

Once we have bridged the cultural contexts, I believe we will have answers for skeptics as well as lessons for today. From Paul’s letters (Ephesians 6:5-9, Colossians 3:22-4:1), we can learn about Christian ethics in the workplace. From Peter’s letter (1 Peter 2:18-25), we learn how to respond to unjust treatment. But as readers we must enter into a very different world with understanding.

____________

1Paul Copeland, Is God a Moral Monster?, p. 132

For further reading, see the relevant chapters in: Is God a Moral Monster? by Paul Copeland and Reason for God by Timothy Keller.

Leave a Comment » | Christian living, masters, morality, slaves | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

How Do You Know God?

February 15, 2013

K.C. Moser in his book, Attributes of God, has a chapter on knowing God. He lists three ways of knowing God: (1) through creation, (2) through revelation, and (3) through Christian experience.

Knowledge of God through Creation. Knowledge of God through
creation is discussed in several passages:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1, ESV)

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Romans 1:19-20, ESV

When we consider creation, we can learn something about God. We still need revelation in order to come to a saving knowledge of God, but there is something for us to learn from creation.

Knowledge of God through Revelation. Knowledge of God through revelation is critical. Without scripture, we would not know of our spiritual condition or God’s solution.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17, ESV

Knowledge of God through Christian Experience. Our knowledge from experience must be based on our knowledge from revelation. Yet, we must also see that knowledge of Bible content must be put into practice. This daily living adds a deeper dimension to our knowledge of God. One could know all the facts about Jesus’ sacrifice for us, but Paul also writes “…and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us”
(Romans 5:5, NASB). This speaks of a love that the Christian comes to experience and feel, because of what Christ has done. The love of God and neighbors are concepts to be learned (Matthew 22:35-40) but also experienced in our service to God and ministry to others.

May we all come to know God from creation, revelation, and experience. When our knowledge of God from creation and revelation goes on to the knowledge of experience, it has moved from facts about faith to a life of faith. That is what Christian maturity is about. How do you know God?

Leave a Comment » | Christian living, God, knowledge, maturing, spiritual life | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

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