Pastor Jimmy's Blog

A couple of Sunday nights ago I presented these questions as ways to use the Bible for spiritual formation. This is quite different from using the Bible to "defend the faith" or trying to prove the Bible’s historical and scientific truthfulness. These questions will help us get at what God is saying to us here and now through the scriptures, with a focus on making my everyday life reflect Jesus better every day.

1. PRAY! OK, that’s not a question, but no serious use of the scriptures can begin without an openness to God’s Spirit as we read, study, and meditate. Pray for "ears to hear" what God is saying. And remember that prayer is primarily about us opening up to the life-changing work of God’s Spirit, not us getting what we want from God.

2. How did the original audience understand this passage? Historical events, cultural habits, and common imagery of the language would all have had an impact on how the first hearers (notice I didn’t say "readers") would have understood this. A warning: never let understanding the historical, cultural, or linguistic background of the scriptures be the goal of study. It is an important tool, but no substitute for listening to God through the scriptures.

3. What was God saying to the original audiences? This is a dual question– what was God saying to the people involved in the passage, and what was God saying to the people who first heard the stories told? Listen for core principles that can serve as foundations for Christ-like living.

4. Why did God say that? For example, many of the prohibitions in the Law of Moses that seem a bit excessive to us were addressing the religious practices of the Canaanites (especially the sexual warnings). Most of Israel’s neighbors sought to manipulate (or at least convince) their gods to do what they people wanted. Israel was to trust that God is looking out for them, and that God will guide them and provide for their needs. Again, listen for core principles that can serve as foundations for Christ-like living.

5. How does what God said back then translate into my world now? Is there a similar situation this applies to? How do the core principles from this passage apply to other situations?

6. What is God saying to me now? Is God calling me to a particular task? To abandon a sinful habit or attitude? To what is God calling me? There’s no "if" here; God is calling each of us to something, to serve God and others, and to live more like Jesus.

7. The most important question: What am I going to do about what God is saying to me now? All of this is a useless exercise unless I act upon God’s call (James 1:22-25).

I’m sure there are questions that could be added to this list. These are the questions I use in preparing Bible studies and sermons, and I present them as merely a starting point for discussion.

The Bible is a collection of stories and poems that grew out of the interaction between God and humanity. The Bible is the story of the relationships between God and people, and of the relationships among God’s people. (Even all those "thou shalt nots" of the books of Moses were given to help the Hebrews live out their relationship with God as God’s covenant people.)

This makes the Bible different from a "technical manual" such as we would use to work on a car or computer, and different from a "set of instructions" like a recipe. The Bible’s stories and poems help us see into the character of God, and help us see who we are in light of who God is.

The ancient world had a very different view of history and authorship than we do. We look for technical journalistic precision in reporting events, and a clear "paper trail" connecting exact quotes to their original speakers or writers. The scriptures come out of a very different world. Instead of merely reporting events and quotations, the scriptures seek to interpret those events and sayings to help us in our lives with God. The value of the scriptures lies in their ability through ancient voices to help us hear the voice of God’s Spirit today.

Therefore, interpreting the scriptures involves going beyond history and culture to listen to the voice of God’s Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21). Historical and cultural facts help enlighten the listening process, but historical and cultural knowledge is not the goal of Bible reading. The purpose of the scriptures is transforming our lives into lives that reflect the character of God as revealed in Jesus (Romans 12:1-2, 2 Timothy 3:14-17).

Next post: questions I use in reading the scriptures for spiritual formation.

On Sunday nights, I have begun a teaching series on Using Your Bible More Effectively. (Can you call it a “series” when we’re out most of the next month?) We started last night (June 27) with an overview, and will continue on July 25 with a deeper look at the Old Testament.

We are going to focus on using the Bible as a tool for personal spiritual formation, rather than on using the Bible as a tool for defending the faith, or trying to prove that the Bible is scientifically and historically reliable. (Using “My” Bible rather than Using “The” Bible.)

Why this particular focus? Because I believe that the Bible’s own job description says that God gave us the scriptures to help us move toward God, to make us more like Jesus, and to prepare us for living out God’s calling in our lives. (2 Timothy 3:14-17).

Let’s start with how the scriptures came to us. 2 Kings 22 records the discovery of a scroll in the Temple at Jerusalem during Temple renovations. We find almost no record of a written scripture before this time. In fact, we have almost no mention of the Law of Moses being kept after the time of Joshua. There is no mention of Passover in the books of Judges, Samuel, or Kings until this point.

Why is this important for studying the written scriptures? It tells me that the Bible didn’t come to us as “golden tablets” mysteriously appearing in their complete form, nor were the scriptures dictated with exact wordings. The scriptures were born out of the interaction between God and God’s people, out of the movement of God’s Holy Spirit among humanity. The Bible was given to us over centuries of time as a signpost pointing the way to God.

If the Bible came to us out of the activity of God’s Spirit among humanity, then that is also how it must be interpreted (2 Peter 1:19-21) . God’s Holy Spirit guides our interpretation of the scriptures to help us discern what God is saying to our world.

I am convinced that God is speaking to our world, and that the scriptures are an important part of that process.

I hope to expand upon these ideas in the next few blog posts. Questions and/or suggestions are always welcome.

Yeah– what he said…..

Renee Johnson posts a brief daily devotion designed for 20-somethings on her web site and on Twitter. She’s collected some of them in a new book, Faithbook of Jesus.

She recently tweeted (is that a verb?) about struggling with Hebrews 11:6– “No one can please God without faith…” (GNT/TEV).

Here’s my response to her (with my apologies if it’s not addressing the real question she was asking):

“Not sure this is what you wanted when you tweeted about struggling with this passage, but here’s my two (or more) cents….

The letter (probably sermon) we know as Hebrews was written to a congregation of Christian Jews who were struggling with pressure to reject Jesus and return to the Law of Moses. The author goes to great lengths to show that in every way imaginable Jesus is superior to Law.

His point in chapter 11 seems to be that works (sacrifices, commandment-keeping, etc.) without faith are not pleasing to God because works (no matter how good) have never been the basis for our relationship with God. All the way back to the very beginning, human relationships with God are faith-relationships. If Abraham’s and Moses’ relationships with God were based on “by grace, through faith”, then how much more should ours be?

I don’t see this is a warning to “have faith or else” but a powerful, freeing reminder that my relationship with God isn’t based on how well I keep commandments. God loves me and wants me to trust him, and that’s the basis of the life of grace.

Keep up the good writing and thinking!”

And to expand: human relationships with God have NEVER been based on commandment-keeping. I consider this a good thing. If that had been true, then any little infraction would immediately condemn us for all eternity. Even after having sins forgiven by Jesus, any little infraction, even as small as driving 56 in a 55, would condemn us all over again.

That’s NOT how God works. God is in the relationship business, and eagerly wants to build a relationship with you. That’s what the whole story of incarnation is about. Jesus came to rebuild the broken relationships between us and God.

Life is not about spending every moment worrying about sin. God made life to be an ongoing celebration of grace. Instead of focusing on self and sin, put that energy toward seeking God and his guidance. Let God take care of the sin problem for you. Only then can we truly discover who God created us to be and what God created life to be.

Why do I “like” Lent? Because I know I need Lent. Not only am I in need of constant renewal from God’s Spirit, I also know that I am not so good about scheduling time with God.
I’m not talking about daily devotional time, daily prayer time, or something like that. I’m not so good about blocking out a whole day, or at least several hours, just to listen to God. I can’t hear God’s voice as well when I’m surrounded by dozens of other voices screaming out for attention.
Lent is a powerful reminder that we must be intentional about our relationship with God or other voices will take precedent. Use this season to set aside intentional time for God. Start “small”, maybe a half-hour or so. Tell God everything that’s going on, good and bad, but spend most of your time listening.
And I’m going to do the same right now!

An update from one of my favorite writers/bloggers, Anne Jackson, about her trip to Haiti

http://flowerdust.net/2010/02/13/cities-of-angels/

While trying to figure out what I should be doing after this morning’s men’s breakfast, I was driving around town when I turned east onto Eighth Street off Central Avenue…..

WOW!

The trees lining the street were covered in a mix of snow and frost, perfectly absorbing the pastels of a sunrise filtered by fog from the layer of snow covering the ground…. gentle pinks and purples that took on solid form on the trees…..

God had fun with the crayon box this morning.

Though the colors will be quite different later, I highly recommend driving down Eighth Street behind the church, then around the cemetery, and down Marr by East High School and Clifty Park.

Then read Psalm 8.

More thoughts inspired by A. W. Tozer (see previous post; again, thanks to Anne Jackson) on whether worship is merely noise in God’s ears…

A while back (which, being translated, means I’m getting old) there was a semi-popular song “Me and Jesus”:

“Me and Jesus, we got a good thing goin’; Me and Jesus, we got it all worked out….”

Sounds good, right? It’s very Baptist-sounding, right? I can worship God (or serve or whatever) just fine by myself. Right???

Nope. I don’t see any evidence of this in scripture. In fact, I see the opposite. The writer of Hebrews strongly encouraged his/her audience to continue meeting together, in spite of trends away from community. (Hebrews 10:25) Most of the letters to the early church in the New Testament address how to live together as God’s community of faith, as God’s family.

In fact, the togetherness and community of the early church was its most powerful witness to the outside world. The world knew something was real about what the church was preaching because they saw how the church cared for one another and grew together as community. (Acts 2:42-47. Bookmark it– I will refer there often!)

I’m not saying we cannot worship on our own apart from established church services. I am saying that if we do not nurture our connection with Christian community, we weaken our connection with God and actually cannot worship (or serve or anything else) as well.

We were not created to live alone (Genesis 2:18). We were created to live in community; one could even say that community was created for our benefit. Coming together to celebrate Christ in worship energizes our personal prayer and worship, as well as our service and our study and, well, everything we do as we follow Christ TOGETHER!

So, while it’s not grammatically correct, can we start living and singing “We and Jesus…”?

Writer, blogger, and tweeter Anne Jackson posted this quote on Twitter this morning:

“Religious noise and worship do not necessarily mean the same thing.” AW Tozer (The Purpose of Man)

(Perfect timing after a sermon on worship, don’t you think?)

This is the picture that came to my mind when I read Tozer’s statement: Dr. Seuss’ Grinch complaining about the Christmas noise down in Whoville, with drumsticks beating on his ears. The “noise” was the one thing he hated the most about the Who’s Christmas celebration.

Does our worship make God put holy, giant hands over holy, giant ears and scream “Oh the noise, noise, noise”? Don’t answer too quickly; read through Isaiah 58 first.

God seems to dislike worship that’s focused on us, “services” that reinforce our own prejudices and keeps us comfortable, seeking to avoid change, insulating us from the constant movement of God’s Spirit. “Here we are now– entertain us!” is not a response to God’s activity in the world and in our lives. “Here am I; send me” is.

God desires worship that celebrates and engages God, because that kind of worship opens our hearts for God to pour God’s own self into us. That kind of worship invites God into our whole lives, not just a few moments on Sunday mornings when we’d rather be fishing.

One of my dear friends back in Greencastle, when praying before worship with the praise team, always invites God to “sit back and enjoy.” Now that’s what I call a heart of worship!

Tomorrow: preparing ourselves for worship.