A Prayer for Our Congregations...

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sending Ishmael Away

I just preached this evening on, at least to me, a very difficult passage, Genesis 21:8-21. This is the narrative about Abraham's and Sarah's sending Hagar and Ishmael away after the birth of Isaac. I don't pretend to know all there is to know about any given Scripture, and preaching is a very humbling experience for me. This passage pushed me to really understand it; reconciling the incongruence of the necessity of sending Ishmael away and how hard this must have been for Abraham with the necessity of safeguarding the promises of God and Sarah's callousness toward the boy overwhelmed me with emotion and anxiety.

I spent a great deal of time struggling through this passage trying to get it "right" and preached it in fear of "overspiritualizing." I simply could not produce an outline to my satisfaction. Eventually I gave way and preached it the same way Paul applied it in Galatians 4, teaching that there are terrible spiritual consequences for the believer who doesn't "send Ishmael away." I almost felt like I was somewhat unfaithful to the entire text of Genesis 21:8-21, not really dealing with the entire passage and focusing on verses nine and ten.

However, I concluded with a challenge; Amy Carmichael who was a missionary to India, is quoted as saying, "Oh, that Ishmael might die within me!" We all have our "Ishmaels" that trouble us from day to day, and just as Abraham and Sarah tried to procure God's promises through the flesh, so we try to accomplish the will of God devoid of the Spirit of God. That Ishmael might die within me is a worthy endeavor.

Going "Hmmm..."

Have you ever read a passage of Scripture that you have read numerous times before yet a certain verse, phrase, or sentence catches you and you think, "Wow, I don't think I remember reading that before?" That happened to me early this morning. I am reading through Matthew again and these verses were the unlikely culprits.

But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Matthew 12:36-37

Being a preacher, I understand the power of words and the necessity of choosing them carefully. However, do I apply this same principle in my own life, in the way I speak to family, friends, neighbors, the lost, and even on the blogs? Verse 36 is especially sobering; Jesus said we will give an accounting for EVERY word spoken. I'm not a fan of the "video-tape rollback" theory of how the judgment is going to be carried out, but if it has any merit, I will be watching with my head hung low, humiliated for a very long time.

An Interesting Perspective on the "Slavery" Passages

I have read the "slavery" passages numerous times in the New Testament and have always wondered just what to do with them. They are Ephesians 6:5-9, Colossians 3:22-4:1, 1 Timothy 6:1-2, Titus 2:9-10, and 1 Peter 2:18-25.

I have been teaching through Titus during Wednesday evening Bible study and I came to 2:9-10 yesterday evening. After the first reading, I had initially relegated it to the "we'll give this a run-through" passage, kind of like an epistolary benediction or opening greeting. Of course, I then nearly concluded that, given that slavery is no longer a norm in American life, there is no real, ready application except in employee/employer relationships. That would be the natural place to go. However, as I really studied and prayed that God give me a fuller picture, this quote from a commentary caught my attention. And it changed my whole perspective on how to interpret these passages.

It is unfortunate that many teachers or preachers have applied Paul’s teaching on slavery in his epistles to the employer/employee relationship in modern economies. Such applications dilute the tremendous power of the Gospel as seen within the dark and unjust institution of slavery. The focus of Paul’s teaching with regard to Christian slaves must not be missed. Against the bleak hopelessness of this system of bondage, the Christian slave’s devotion to the Gospel and resulting godly attitudes and actions serve to make attractive in an unparalleled way the ultimate freedom that is only realized in Christ (Hayne, New American Commentary: 1,2 Timothy, Titus 308)

I taught Titus 2:9-10 completely different after reading and thinking through this quote and applied it to the sum total of the Christian experience; anywhere a Christian finds himself under authority. The slave-master relationship should characterize the Christian life and just as a Christian slave should yield unquestioning obedience to his master, so the Christian should yield unquestioning obedience to his Master, Jesus--and this characteristic will manifest itself in all relationships where a Christian is under authority--even to an unbeliever.

Contradictions in the Bible?

I have been engaged in quite a discussion at one of the political blogs I peruse and the topic of contradictions in the Bible came up. A fellow out there named Joe asked one commenter to address four particular contradictions and he flatly refused. After a discussion with the fellow why he refused, Joe asked if I would be amenable to discussing the contradictions and I agreed. Joe's question and my responses are cut and pasted below. How would you respond? How could I have responded better? I was painstakingly brief and may have in my attempt to use an economy of words overlooked something.

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Joe--I copied these from the comment you made. That way we won't have to keep scrolling back.

Contradictions:
1. Did Jesus baptize anyone?
John 3:22 says yes, John 4:2 says no.

2. When Jesus first gave the 12 apostles powers of healing and sent them forth, how did he tell them to dress?
Matthew 10:10 and Luke 9:3 says he told them to go barefoot and without a staff. mark 6:8-9 says he told them to wear sandals and bring nothing BUT a staff.

3. What were the names of the 12 apostles?
Of the four lists (Matt 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16 and Acts 1:13), all agree on 11 of the names. However, Matthew and Mark list the 12th apostle as Thaddeus, while Luke and Acts name Judas brother of James (a second Judas, not Iscariot).

4. How many believers were there at the time of the ascension?
Acts 1:15 says they numbered 120, but 1 Corinthians 15:6 says over 500.

My responses (I’ll try to be brief.):

1. In context, a dispute had arisen between John’s disciples and Jesus’ disciples, instigated by the Pharisees (4:1) because Jesus had baptized more than John. This would be in keeping with the gradual diminishing of John’s ministry in favor of Christ’s which John testified would happen (3:30). To reconcile 3:22 and 4:1, many commentators of 150 years ago (the contemporary commentaries I have on John do not address the apparent contradiction) agree that the baptisms of 3:22 took place not by the literal hands of Christ but by the hands of His disciples. The disciples baptized by His orders and directions (4:2) for as Matthew Henry remarks, “his disciples' baptizing was his baptizing. Holy ordinances are Christ's, though administered by weak men.”

2. One helpful way to look at the Gospels are as photo albums. They should not be expected to line up in every detail. If you and I were to take snapshots of the same event it would be from two differing perspectives. What may stand out to you may not be important to me. In many ways the Gospels are incongruous yet what is reported fits with the individual writer’s purpose. Each account stresses to take next to nothing on the journey, emphasizing the disciples’ dependence upon God for provision for the journey. Perhaps Mark made a minor adaptation that would have fit with his Roman audience’s understanding, or perhaps a different geographical setting that would have been important to Mark specifically.

3. All commentaries agree that Judas brother of James and Thaddaeus are one in the same man. I am no textual critic, but there is a variant in the Greek texts of this verse and quite possibly Thaddaeus is a corruption of Judas in the Greek. In some Greek manuscripts, Thaddaeus is actually Lebbaeus. My conjecture would be that these are nicknames, possibly of devotion or endearment, that the individual authors would have been aware of.

4. Acts 1:3 says that Christ remained on earth forty days after his resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:6 gives no specific time frame of when Christ was seen during that time but only that 500 people saw him at once. So the two events, 120 seeing Him at the ascension and 500 people seeing him at another time, are mutually exclusive.

Those are my take!