The Dummies Guide to Ministry

Introduction… Stewardship

How do we as Christians practically act as God’s stewards in this world? A steward is someone who looks after the owner’s property and protects the owner’s interests. Money, time, energy and everything else is exercised according to the owner’s instructions. They manage the property and honestly report to the owner every detail. One of the foundational passages for this in the NT is the parable of the talents.

Matthew 25:14-18 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.”

In four blogs I want to look at Maturity, Ministry, Materialism and Money… to do so with some practical ideas – what do our choices and commitments say about our faith? Would someone know we are a Christian by the way we speak, the way we act, the way we spend our time, the movies we watch, the company we keep, the books we read, the way we spend money, the way we act at work, the way we treat the poor, the way we speak to or about our spouse or kids?

If you’ve ever been tempted to read one of the “Dummies Guide’s to…” – well that’s my aim – a “Dummies Guide to Stewardship”. You don’t have to be dumb or act dumb – a dummies guide is simply a non expert’s guide – an everyday guide. Stewardship for us is not a matter of putting into practice our expertise but rather putting into practice our beliefs and our trust.

I want to challenge you for four commitments.

1. Maturity… actively working towards maturity in Christ through prayer, Bible reading, regular church attendance and ministry.
2. Ministry… to use God given gifts in ministry for the encouragement and building up of Christians and the ministry of the Gospel
3. Materialism… to prayerfully and courageously stand against the world in the pursuit of happiness through possessions.
4. Money… to give generously and regularly to the ministry of the gospel in your church.

A Dummies Guide to Ministry

Two Little Boys – P.S. it’s a Joke!!!!

• Two little boys, 8 & 10 were always getting into trouble – whenever anything happened in their small town their parents knew their sons would get the blame. But mum heard on the grapevine that there was a clergyman who’d been successful in disciplining kids, so she asked him to speak with her boys. He agreed to see them individually the next day.
• So, mum sends her youngest down to the church next morning. The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the boy down and asked him sternly, “Where is God?”
• The boy’s goes to speak, but makes no sound, sitting there with his mouth hanging open.
• The clergyman repeats the question. “Where is God?”
• Again, the boy makes gives no answer.
• The clergyman raises his voice, shakes his finger and bellows, “Where is God!?”
• The little boy screamed, sprinted from the room, ran home to hide in his wardrobe, slamming the door behind him. His brother finds him crying, and asks; “What happened?”
• The little boy, fighting off tears says: “We’re in so much trouble – this is bigger than anything we’ve ever done. God’s missing, and they think we did it!”

Ministry’s such fun!

The Church 100 years on!

100 years ago that story might well have been a good description of church – things have changed dramatically (though you can still find churches that would not think this joke was a joke!). Ministers were scary – fire and brimstone preachers bellowing about sin and damnation from pulpits high in the air – dressed in black with big black Bibles. They still exist!

In the Anglican church and in plenty of others what the priest said was law – except it had greater authority because it came from God. The priest had standing in the church and the community; he was an integral part of society. Churches did limited ministries – teaching happened at church by the preacher. It happened in the home when every member of the family was catechised – which is what catechists used to do – come to your home and teach you the catechism – it’s in the back of the prayer book. The Priest preached and read services, did the prayers and the readings (3 or 4, even 5 at times) – there were few lay preachers or readers. Sunday Schools, if they existed, were tightly controlled by the minister, there were few youth groups, mostly no Bible Study groups (we have the Wesleys to thank for those in the modern church) – the ones that existed were an opportunity for the priest to come to preach to the gathered group in your home. I know this probably seems foreign to most – yet I know from personal experience that some groups still operate this way, and some ministers and even lay people operate this way.

Makes me wonder how they dealt with a passage like…

1 Peter 4:7-9 “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ…”

Mostly today the church is very different. The 16^thC Reformation changed how we view church and ministry by going back to NT principles – especially that ministry was never meant to be the exclusive domain of the professional ministers and priests. Peter speaks of the new people of God, the church, as a priesthood of all believers.

1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Once we did not belong – we were not the people of God – but together now Christians are the people of God, the priests of the kingdom, called to declare the praises of Jesus who called us out of darkness – we are chosen and we are priests – a holy nation that crosses all boundaries, all colours, all national and racial differences to form one nation of priests under God.

The Dummies Guide to Ministry says… Ministry is not the domain of professionals – it is the responsibility and lifestyle of all who believe.

The Priesthood of all Believers

Peter writes about change – the real change that’s required of those who belong to Jesus. This shouldn’t come as a surprise – at least the theory – yet Peter goes to great lengths to describe the changes. His letters describe Christians at length – the new people of God – a chosen people, a royal priesthood, holy, a nation belonging to God, receivers of God’s mercy – God’s elect, strangers in the world, no longer strangers to God – spread throughout the world, yet gathered around the word, gathered before the throne of God – the chosen ones, made clean by God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, chosen for obedience, made one with Christ by his blood, granted peace and God’s grace in abundance. Why go on and on?

Why so many descriptions of the change?

Is it so detailed because even after 2000 years we still struggle to leave our old lives behind and be wholeheartedly committed to the new?

1 Peter 4:3 “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.”

All this we must leave behind gratefully, enthusiastically, with a sense of the reality that faces all people – that we must face God and deal with the lifestyle we have led.

1 Peter 4:4-5 “They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”

In the face of imminent judgement – how are we to live?

1 Peter 4:7-9 “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

Living as Priests

This passage is the Dummies Guide to Ministry. As we read the rest of Peter we can see that as God’s gathered people we are to be holy, to be self controlled, to purify ourselves through reading and obeying the Scriptures. We are to love one another, to crave what is good, to encourage rather than tear down, to get rid of all the relational tools that don’t belong in the church – malice, rage, anger, slander – there are standards of behaviour and love that we must live according to, no matter how imperfectly.

It is spectacularly easy to fail in these areas, to fall back into the behaviours of our old life, to revive the relational tools we were committed to as non-Christians. If that’s where you find yourself – failing in relationships as Peter is speaking of here – it’s not impossible to change, though it will often feel like it is. If you wrong someone – apologise – go to them and seek forgiveness – be open about it, talk about it – ask them to forgive you. It’s tempting to just ask God and to think that’s enough – it’s not. When we sin we sin against God and people – we need to seek the forgiveness of both. If its 20 years ago then deal with it today – seek forgiveness today. Forgiveness can only happen when you seek it. And if you fail today – seek forgiveness from the person you have wronged and repent and start again. And if you fail tomorrow do it again. How many times do we need to forgive – or be forgiven…? Jesus says 7 times 70? 7 is the number of God, times the number of God, times 10. We might say infinity + 1.

Christians are the priesthood of the kingdom – we have a new lifestyle – not one given to satisfying our cravings but given to ministry. Don’t think of ministry as a great list of gifts and abilities – Pater has no lists – this is the Dummies Guide – the experts guide for the rest of us – it gives us the simplicity of love and hospitality. Every Christian is a minister – we are each responsible to build, encourage, teach and train – to use our gifts, which every one of us has been given, to further the work of the gospel. We are to think clearly and carefully about life, relationships, the world, church, the cross, salvation, money, family – think clearly about this things from God’s point of view. We are to be self controlled – not pursuing things that will kill us but instead that which will save and keep us. It’s the work of a lifetime – to give up pagan commitments and commit to the work and life of Christ. Ministry starts with love.

Ministry Starts With Love

Actually – ministry starts with recognition – every one of us is a minister. There are no pew sitters in Christ’s kingdom.

1 Peter 4:7 “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

We have to start by believing God – he declares he has gifted us for his work.

Do you believe God?

Do you believe God when he says that you have been gifted by Him for the work of ministry? I guess I’d want to ask if you think God hasn’t gifted you – why is that? Why would God single you out to lack the gifts to serve in ministry – when he clearly promises that every Christian is gifted for the good of the church?

Maybe it’s hard for you to see where you can serve – maybe you need help working out where to get involved – maybe you need an environment that supports you or a ministry team who will encourage you – but the Bible is clear that each of us, as Christ’ chosen people, have been given the gifts required to serve Christ’s church faithfully.

1 Peter 4:9 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

The thing is – getting involved in ministry is not a complex issue. It’s not a matter of discovering a specific gift – though that can help. Rather it’s a matter of realising the wonder of what we have received – the grace of God, the riches of Christ, the glory of heaven, and the forgiveness of sins… once we realise how unbelievable it is that we are in a right relationship with God through Christ – ministry is the means by which we will share that news. Ministry starts with love that is clear about the nature of this world and the judgement to come and out of love for God and others shares the gospel.

When two people get married – how ready are they for what’s to come?

Let’s be honest – they are not!? They’re not ready for the changes, the commitment, the differences, the day-to-day wonder of learning to live in intimate relationship. But… we commit to love and to service – to love one another to the exclusion of anything that will destroy, wreck, hurt, damage etc.

It’s the same in ministry – we don’t have to know precisely what our gift is or how to use it – what we need is a commitment to love. With self control – not living just for pleasure… and with clear mindedness – not clouded with the world – and a commitment to pray – we must love each other deeply and offer hospitality without grumbling.

The Whole of Ministry

This is not just the Dummies Guide to Ministry – this is the whole of ministry. Everything else fits into these two ideas. Firstly Peter speaks of Agape – love of a family member – Christians – we are to demonstrate a real and abiding love for each other firstly by sharing the gospel together and building each other up in the truth of God’s word. That love is powerful because it can bring about the obliteration of sins. Peter says “love covers over a multitude of sins” – in the context of church and relationships and ministry. He doesn’t mean we sweep the sins under the carpet – we don’t deal with them as some churches do with a false ceremony of absolution, which has no effect whatsoever. No – the love of the Christian community can deal with sin – on the basis of love we can make sin disappear – we can remove the stain of sin from our relationship and relate to each other not based on sin but on holiness. The pain from personal hurt may well remain, but relationships can be rebuilt. Peter says we are through with sin – that was our lifestyle but no longer. Our practice should meet up with the theory, and though it never will in this world, that is what we are to strive for. We minister together when we deal with sin, forgive sin and no longer treat each other as sinners but as forgiven and beautiful.

Can I just make a bit of an aside and be really, really clear. Sweeping sins under the carpet is not what we are talking about. I wouldn’t suggest for a moment that a victim of abuse (for example) should be told that “love covers over a multitude of sins” as though that somehow fixes the sin of others who did the abusing – it doesn’t in any sense. But go from a different position – the active, compassionate, practical, persistent and long term love of a Christian congregation towards a victim of abuse can mend brokenness and ‘cover over’ the sins and bring healing.

• A girl who has been abused by her mother might (eventually) find a whole group of mums at church that care for her and provides the sort of relationship a daughter has with a mum. It’s not the same – but it can bring healing and strength, a person or people to confide in, get advice from and to learn from. The mum still needs to be brought to account if that’s possible. But you know what churches so often do – they support the mum because they can’t believe their friend would ever do such a thing, and they condemn the girl and try to force her back into the abusive relationship.
• Or consider the case of a paedophile priest – for too long the church has fumbled around ineptly dealing with these issues – all too often by sweeping the sin under the carpet, blaming the victims, and paying people off whilst moving priests to new location where their past is not obvious. The church has taken the idea of ‘love covering over a multitude of sins’ entirely the wrong way! This is wrong! The victims of abuse deserve support and love that in time may cover the effects of the sin by rebuilding trust, faith and hope. And for some victims this will not be complete until we reach heaven – in fact maybe for most victims. All too often the victims are the ones rejected by the church – frankly this is reprehensible – if we do that we deserve the condemnation we so often receive in the media. But a church can also demonstrate the love of Christ by not covering over the sin, by not excusing the behaviour of the abuser, by not condemning the abuse victim, by not allowing the evil to continue, by not assuming that the priest could never have done such things because he’s always been such a lovely man, by not excusing sin as an aberration. The priest who abuses deserves to feel the full effects of the law and the condemnation of the church. Whilst the aim of the law is punishment, the aim of the church is to bring that priest back from sin to forgiveness and relationship – but that should not EVER be an easy path and they must NEVER be trusted without responsible and obvious supervision at all times – that is part of loving both the victim and the perpetrator – and even of loving those who could have been victims had the priest been allowed to continue. They must repent publicly and openly (within the bounds of the law) – there must be no prevarication – they must be thrown out of the church and we must not fellowship with them until they are fully aware of their sinfulness, and make a full, honest and public confession and pay for their crimes – we must treat them like the criminals they are. If and only when they have completed an appropriate lengthy time of repentance and excommunication should they be allowed back into fellowship – under the strictest conditions and warnings. We may forgive the truly repentant, we may choose to fellowship again with them and treat them as a fellow Christian, but it is right that their sin should follow them – for the sake of others.

Anyway – back to the Dummies Guide – the second part of ministry is this…

1 Peter 4:9 “…Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

The word hospitality is not really the word we think of – it comes from a Greek word that means to demonstrate love to the stranger. It’s hard to see that in English. On the one hand we are to love our brothers and sisters deeply – with such love that we face up to sin – we don’t sweep it under the carpet but we deal with it – and once dealt with we forgive and get rid of it and no longer relate on the basis of the sin (duly noting what I have said above about abuse) – and – we are to love the stranger in our midst. We are to welcome strangers into our gatherings and into our lives. We are to give them of ourselves, our homes, our wealth, our resources, our time, our energy – we have a responsibility as priests of the Kingdom to…

1 Peter 2:9 “…declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

True love for non-Christians is not to condone their lifestyle by getting involved in the pursuit of pleasure (which so many Christians do – and I’m guessing all middle class western Christians probably fall into that trap at least at some point)… but to call them out of darkness into God’s wonderful light – to help them confront their sin and deal with it obediently under Christ.

A Dummies Guide

If we’re going to be practical about this then how do we do it? How do we minister? The Dummies Guide to Ministry is about good basic practical things.

• The end of all things is near – so don’t give into the world but live prayerful, self controlled lives – be clear about the world.
• Christians – love each other deeply. Love is ministry – love leads to ministry and love deals with sin.
• Love those who are not Christs’ people – yet! Tell them the truth and help them be won to Christ – this is ministry.
• Each of us has been given gifts for the purpose of serving Christ’s Church.
• Use your gift to faithfully administer God’s grace.
• If your giftedness is as a speaker of the Word then speak as though God were speaking – be humble but strong, loving but don’t water it down, ever truthful but gentle.
• If your giftedness is a service gift get on with it and do it with the strength God provides.
• Whatever you do in life as a Christian you are a minister – in all things we should live so that God may be praised through Jesus Christ.
• The end result of ministry should be…

1 Peter 4:9 “…that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

From our ministry people should be left praising God.

Myth Busters – Christianity is Simply a Crutch

Christian myths – or myths about Christianity – or myths propagated by Christians and those opposed – what is reality, what do we/should we believe, what is the truth about some of the claims made by or about Christians? Myth busters is a great fun TV series – but also a great idea. What is true? What’s not? What is plausible, proven or busted? Christians should ask these questions constantly. Test the Spirit – don’t just swallow everything you hear uncritically!

A Little Faith

Whenever you see scenes in mainstream movies about Christian faith (try… “The Day After Tomorrow” 1.20.40ff or “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” 21.55ff) there’s an underlying theme that Christianity is for fools and the weak – for people who are tricked into giving their time, money and allegiance to something pathetic. The scene from “The Day after Tomorrow” has an actor trying to preserve an original Guttenberg Bible – doesn’t believe in God but believes in man’s ability to reason and conquer. “I want to save something of Western civilisation.” Or Indiana Jones asks his boss… “Do you believe?” “At my age I’m willing to take a few things on faith”.

• Faith fills in the gaps when you have nothing else!?
• It’s my support when I can’t fight my own battles, or I face fears that I can’t deal with some other way.
• Only people who can’t stand on their own need to put their trust in a God you can’t see or hear – a god who can’t possibly be good.
• Evil in the world proves that god doesn’t exist so believing in a god is blindly putting aside all reason.
• We’re on our own and Christians need to join the 21^st century.
• Is Christianity an escape from reality – and insurance policy for losers?
• Is your faith simply a crutch?

As you think about this – ask yourself…

• What does the world think of Christians?
• What do your non-Christian peers, family and friends think of Christians?
• Is Christianity just a crutch?
• Do those around you think that you are showing your weakness by “trusting” in Jesus?

Is Christianity for the Weak

People who proclaim Christianity is for losers and the weak are making a pile of assumptions that we can deal with – assumptions that are based on power and confidence. They assume…

1. That all faith is blind
2. That they are powerful and require no support
3. That what they have confidence in is the right foundation for life

Christian Faith

Let’s start with faith – what is it? Christian faith is about personal trust. We entrust ourselves to the God of the Bible – we have a personal relationship with the God – not simply a friendship – we depend on God for our very existence and for our salvation.

Ephesians 2:4-5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Faith in Jesus starts with a right understanding of our world. This is not a matter of blindness but of seeing the truth clearly. We are not the people God created us to be – rather than following God we abandoned his ways and went gone our own way.

Ephesians 2:1-2a “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world…”

But through Jesus’ death and resurrection we have assurance that he has reconciled us to God.

2 Corinthians 5:17-18a “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…”

Faith in Christ means we see truly. Without Jesus we are rebellious and broken people in need of healing. With Jesus we are given the assurance that he is sovereign over all things, that his kingdom is coming, and that he is returning us to the arms of the one holy and loving God.

Necessary Crutches

All of this says that in one sense Christian faith is a crutch! But a crutch is a necessary support. The problem isn’t with Christianity being a crutch – the question is why people think it’s a valid criticism. Crutches are what you use when you can’t stand on your own. Broken a leg or had to use crutches? I did for 6 weeks or so. I couldn’t get around on my own two feet. In a sense it’s a great description of Christianity. We start our walk with Christ by admitting that we are broken and can’t deal with sin and the consequences. Left to our own devices we will perish – and we have to come to the point where we can recognise and admit that. Accepting Jesus is accepting his strength and power to deal with our brokenness.

So even though the idea of Christianity being a crutch is meant as an insult – it really is simply the truth. The implication is that we should be tough and face life, cope with the realities of this world without any assistance. Fact is we wouldn’t hesitate to use crutches for a broken leg – those who see the truth of this world accept Jesus because he is the only way to survive.

We can understand why people don’t want to look weak and accept Christ. It’s because most people in our western world operate under the assumption that they are powerful and strong – or that they should be. That’s what our society promotes – never let weakness be shown. We take pity on weakness – we push students getting ahead by your own strength and power. We have this mistaken understanding of the world that we are in control. That’s the first thing we have to give up under Christ – the mistaken belief that we are in control.

Romans 5:6, 8 “…at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly … God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Bible shows us that all people are broken and incomplete – physically, mentally and spiritually. None of us can stand on our own – and most importantly in the one thing that matters, none of us can stand guiltless before God on our own. Jesus said that he came to save those who recognised their lack of power and control.

Mark 2:17 “…Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

If we wish to survive this life then we have to recognise our lack of power and lean on Christ. When we go it alone we fall flat. It is only while we are on crutches that God’s healing hand restores us and finally brings us in transformed, resurrected glory to himself. Jesus says:

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

A Right Foundation

In the end it comes down to where your confidence lays – in something that works or something unproven. If you put your confidence in yourself then God says you will fail. Not one of us is good enough to stand before God, answer for our sins, pay for our sins and then survive – but that choice exists for people. We have to come to the realisation that we are not powerful or in control, and we certainly are not good enough and can’t be.

We may baulk at the idea that Christianity is crutch – and that’s fair – to us Christ is simply the truth. But the danger would be to replace it with some other word that makes us somehow a little powerful or a little responsible for our salvation. The truth is that without the gospel as our support and foundation we would sink. We talk about growing in Christ, of deepening our relationship with God, even of being swept up in praise of our Savior and Lord. We forget that we only walk and run with Jesus by his power.

Isaiah 40:30-31 “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Myth Busters – Faith Expectations – What Can Faith Really Do?

Christian myths – or myths about Christianity – or myths propagated by Christians and those opposed – what is reality, what do we/should we believe, what is the truth about some of the claims made by or about Christians – mythbusters is a great fun TV series – but also a great idea. What is true? What’s not? What is plausible, proven or busted? Christians should ask these questions constantly. Test the Spirit – don’t just swallow everything you hear uncritically!

So Little Faith

Matthew 17:14-21 “…a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

“O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

What can faith do?

Indiana Jones in “The Last Crusade” – faith is a blind trust to fate. He must (if you haven’t seen the movie then I’m about to spoil it for you)… he must step of a ledge into nothingness in an act of faith and trust – which is not so much faith in God, but rather trust that his father got it right. Is that what faith can do?

Faith can… move mountains, rebuke demons, heal sick kids – and raise the dead, stop the rain, start the rain, part the seas, change the course of rivers, bring food, change water to wine, knock down walls, defeat armies and avoid death. James writes…

James 5:13-15 “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.”

Through faith in Christ we inherit what has been promised to Jesus – we receive his inheritance by sharing in his glory – we receive life and freedom, we grab hold of the teachings about Jesus and we share the good news – by faith in Christ. We are to take hold of faith, to be known for our faith, to pursue faithfulness, to help others in their faith, to pray for greater/stronger/more faithful… faith, and more.

What People Say About Faith

Whatever the Bible says about faith, and its power, Christians believe a whole host of things about faith – and across the board Christians don’t agree amongst ourselves about the boundaries and abilities of faith.

Consider: what views are there about faith that you have heard? Maybe ask around and see what people believe?

Some of the things I’ve heard…

• “If you have enough faith you will be healed!” Meaning healing here on earth right now – and in most cases immediately! If you are not being healed then you do not have enough faith!?
• “If you have faith you will be wealthy!” Materially wealthy on earth! If you are not wealthy as a Christian then you are not acting in faith!?
• “Faith means having no doubts!” Doubting/questioning is a sign of faithlessness!?
• “Faith fixes everything. Before I came to Christ my life was a mess – but now nothing goes wrong – my life is amazing!” I have heard this so often it’s amazing. “Now, whenever I am going shopping I pray in faith that I will find a parking spot, and I always find a parking spot. That’s faith in action.”!?

A Year of Trying Times

We had a very hard 18 months a few years ago. We moved house (which is apparently right up there with the whole stress thing)… my grandmother died, I had a family member in increasing pain eventually requiring a major hip operation, I spent the 3 months working in pain with a back injury, followed by a month completely incapacitated by pain (flat on my back and for the first few days wanting God to take me), followed by 2 months of recovery and physiotherapy (I don’t know why the medieval world complained about the rack – did wonders for my back). To top it off I caught every bug going around because my immune system had been mucked about by the drugs. And then we were robbed, including my computer with about a year of sermon and teaching materials not backed up (my fault I know). Now – as a story – it’s not really up there with the worst ones – no earthquake or Tsunami destroying my life or livelihood, didn’t lose an arm or a leg surfing, didn’t get diagnosed with cancer – so I understand entirely there are people in far worse situations.

But – thinking about faith and the power of faith… I’ve been a Christian for over 35 years. I try to be faithful – but I’m not perfect. I’m certainly not lacking in faith – I believe what the Bible says about Jesus to be true and to be applicable to me – and I try to live by it. I live a faithful life – I am a minister and work pretty hard at not just my ministry but my personal growth in Christ and faithfulness to his service. And over the years my faith has stood the test any number of times – I am not going to change my mind, I hold my beliefs and faith very strongly (in so far as it’s up to me – and thankfully for the most part, it’s not).

But – thinking about the power of faith… what was happening?

If faith fixes everything then surely I’ve got a problem.

If the prayer of the righteous man that James talks about means immediate healing then I have a problem. My back problem was dealt with, without surgery, but it hasn’t gone away. I could stand to lose a good amount of weight and I’m sure that would help my back no end – but my back will still be damaged. Does that mean that I don’t have enough faith? Does that mean I have a problem in my relationship with Christ?

Well – if the answer is yea – then it’s also yes for pretty much every Christian. It would also be true for Paul the apostle, for Job in the OT, for Stephen the first Christian martyr, for the apostles – all of whom endured suffering without relief – or at least without relief for a significant period of time, and quite often suffering that ended not in miraculous healing or release, but in death. Paul says about himself…

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “…there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul had a thorn in his side – we don’t know what it was. But it was long term, made him suffer and he had to endure. However – is there anyone who would be dumb enough to say that Paul is anything other than a prime example in the Bible of faith? Others – us – are to follow in his footsteps – and frankly we’d be hard pressed to keep up with Paul. Who would have the hubris to say Paul lacked faith – or that his suffering was due to a lack of faith?

However – let’s go further. It’s not just the thorn that we should consider – it’s also Paul’s delight in weakness – a delight that confirms to him Christ’s power and strength. The thorn was a given under God’s sovereignty and for God’s purposes, though it was of Satan. From Satan’s point of view it was a torment – from God’s point of view it was to strengthen Paul’s faith, to make him rely on Jesus and to see that in his weakness Christ’s power was at work. Jesus says…

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Paul is an example of that – rest doesn’t mean the burden is gone – simply that in Christ’s strength and power and might and mercy the burdens of this world can be dealt with and be understood to be part of God’s power working in us to make us like Christ.

The example of Job

When it comes to suffering and faith the name of Job always seems to make an appearance – so not to disappoint… reality is Job is an amazing example.

Job 3:23-26 “Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water. What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

Read the story again – it has its moments and it’s a somewhat torturous path to get from beginning to end – when I read it I want to slap his 3 mates… but consider… he was in such mental, physical and spiritual agony that he wanted to die. Some of us have been there – even in small ways after a small amount of suffering – so I guess we might be able to understand, even a little, what brought him to that point of wishing for it to end. What do we know from the Scriptures about his suffering?

1. It was from Satan – Satan is not called the tormentor for nothing!
2. It was by God’s permission and under God’s control. Satan could do nothing unless permitted by God
3. It was a test of Job’s faith – a refining through suffering, like gold is purified of impurities!
4. God declares in the end that Job, above all men, was faithful and importantly – did not sin!

Job had to endure his suffering – and be freed from it in God’s own time. He cried out to God not only to be released but simply to understand and no answer came for a long time. He was faithful yet suffered – and lest we think otherwise God very clearly declares him to be his most faithful servant – yet he suffered. Job had faith – I guess from our perspective faith far greater than the size of a mustard seed – faith that could move mountains… yet he suffered terribly!

The Example of Jesus

What about Jesus? Jesus’ own suffering is surely our greatest example. We’d be pretty game and foolish to declare that Jesus lacked faith. Yet he suffered! He suffered and died an agonising death.

Matthew 17:20-22a “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” I don’t really understand why, when we read that passage, that we don’t read what comes next?

I don’t really understand why, when we read that passage, that we don’t read what comes next?

Matthew 17:22b-23 “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.”

If anyone had faith to move mountains – surely Jesus had enough – not that he did it – but enough to walk on water, enough to wither fig trees, enough to heal the sick, enough to cast out demons, enough to raise the dead.

But under God’s plan he suffered.

And he didn’t shrink from that suffering – he embraced it as God’s plan. He walked towards the suffering. He did not change the circumstances. He did not demand from God that the suffering be taken away – he asked “Father, if it is your will – take this cup from me”… but clearly it was God’s plan that Jesus suffer, not just death but humiliation, torture and agony, the betrayal of friends, followers and family, the jeering crowds, the gloating high priests, the murderer crucified next to him… at no point do we see Jesus saying that if only he’d had enough faith… then…!?

The Myth Busted

The myth is that faith will fix everything – that enough faith will lead to health, wealth and a lack of suffering.

The truth is that faith will most often lead to suffering – and that’s by God’s design, plan and under his control not Satan’s. It’s through suffering that we learn to rely on Jesus rather than ourselves. It is through suffering that we see God’s power at work in our lives as we come to greater faith.

Practically speaking – what can I say about my own suffering – death, sickness, theft?

• Was it Satan is attacking me and my family – meaning the that the suffering is a sign of faith?
• Was it God causing me and my family to repent?
• Was it a sign of a lack of faith?

You will hear each of these views in churches. And I would say, none of them is quite true.

What is true – from the Scriptures – is this.

• God is constantly bringing us to repentance through suffering, he is refining and testing our faith and causing us to rely on him. We know that this is part and parcel of faith in Christ.
• We also know that Satan is still at large, chained and defeated, but still lashing out, still active, still dangerous – and still a bully, a coward and a prat – Satan’s rule of this world means that we should understand that evil, sin and attacks on Christians should be seen as Satan at work – if the book of Revelation makes anything clear it should be that.
• But we also know that Satan is not outside God’s influence, power or control.

Faith is trusting in Christ no matter what this life brings – knowing that in the next we will receive life for eternity unfettered by the things that drag us down in this life. Suffering here on earth is not a sign of faithlessness – but rather part of the work of God to bring us closer to him. In the end – it’s not my quantity of faith that has any meaning whatsoever – but Christ’s faithfulness that means everything. What Christ inherits – I inherit. Where Christ spends eternity, I will spend eternity. What Christ receives he offers to share with me and you – if only we will give up the pretence of control over our lives and trust in him, in his death and resurrection – by faith and action Christ Jesus dealt with sin and the power of death and he offers that victory to us. I tell you what – in the end – I don’t want to put my trust in the quantity of faith I have – I want to put my trust in Christ’s proven faithfulness.

Transforming Grace

The Giant Maze

Have you ever been in one of those giant mazes – made out of hedges or timber fences or whatever? You pay good money to get lost – it takes you ages to get through all the twists and turns, you make wrong turns and hit dead ends and all that.

So… how would it be if that was what life was all about – making it through the maze and past the obstacles until somehow, more by luck than good management, you make it through and out to freedom?

Maybe that’s the way life feels anyway. Maybe life is confusing and the things that happen, or at least happen to you, seem senseless or maybe ultimately without purpose.

What would be worse than living that way…?

Discovering when you finally get to the end… that life had nothing to do with how well you got through the maze, nothing to do with making all the right choices or even all the wrong ones!

Billions of people are living with this false understanding – how I get through the maze matters – that’s the carrot – doing whatever I can to win the prize! What will they find in the end? According to the Bible, reward is not based on ability or performance, cleverness, strength, goodness, speed, generosity or karma or anything that we can do. The reward of life in God’s kingdom is given based on grace.

Our understanding of Christ and faith can’t be reduced to just one thing. Faith is complex. Being a disciple is complex. Our understanding of what God has done through Christ is complex. But at the heart of Christianity is one, simple, vital thing to understand. Being a disciple is entirely about God’s grace. We struggle coming to grips with belonging to Christ, what it means to become a Christian, what faith is, our feelings of hypocrisy and inadequacy. But at the top of our list should be understanding the simplicity of… accepting the simplicity of… God’s grace in Jesus.

Have you experienced an act of grace from another person? Do you even know what it is, what it looks like, what’s involved? Can you define ‘grace’? How do we get it?

What is Grace?

Grace is an unusual experience.

It’s not our common daily experience – even in the church. The Bible speaks of the church as the community of grace but I suspect that grace is not what we expect to receive in our day-to-day relationships – even inside the church. Even if we did I wonder if we’d recognise it. What is it?

There’s a clever little anagram.

• God’s
• Riches
• At
• Christ’s
• Expense

It’s interesting – do an online image search for those words and you get lots of words with beach or sunset scenes. I wonder why we equate grace with those images? Anyway… it’s clever and pithy and memorable. But maybe a little too limiting.

Grace is more basic than that. Grace is undeserved kindness or undeserved gain. It’s not a reward for doing something. It’s not payment for services or faithfulness. If I pay you to finish writing this blog our transaction has nothing to do with grace – it’s a payment for services. If I give you a birthday gift or a wedding present – that’s not grace at work. We may say “there’s no expectation to give a gift” but there is a convention, an agreement rightly or wrongly expected that we will celebrate a birthday with gifts or we will help the happy couple get started by giving them presents. If I give you a gift because of an event that’s not grace at work. Grace is not based on anything to do with us, nor on convention or agreement. Grace is not based on expectation of a return.

It is undeserved kindness. It is kindness towards the undeserving, the criminal, the unlovely, kindness to the person who can least expect to receive it by their own virtue.

Let’s say you rob a bank – your mind goes out to lunch and you rip off the local wealth management establishment. The police catch you… and haul you before the judge and he sentences you. That’s fair! You deserve it. But if the judge handed down the greatest punishment possible… and then took the punishment and set you free to – that would be grace. That would be undeserved, unmerited kindness – given to someone undeserving – based on nothing you have or can do.

Undeserved Kindness

That’s what Paul is speaking of in Romans.

Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

A Christian is someone who has been justified through faith – justified means made clean or pardoned – their sins have been wiped from the record book and they are at peace (no longer enemies) with God. A Christian has what was unattainable on their own – access into the grace of God by faith – access to all God’s riches. That in fact is the foundation of our lives. That knowledge – that reality allows us to rejoice in the hope we have of sharing in the glory of God – even when the world makes life tough for us. Because of Jesus – through Jesus we know that we have a new foundation the world can’t demolish – the building of our lives will last into eternity.

Some people say we’re arrogant if we believe we have a guarantee of heaven. But it’s not arrogance but rather acceptance of a truth that we have received from Jesus.

Do you know someone – a solid Christian – a person well known for their faith, who has since died? Where are they – right now? They are home, in heaven. They are sharing in Christ’s inheritance. We can boast in our hope of sharing in the glory of God – and that those who have gone before us are standing before our Father in person right now.

How do we get to that point – how do we earn it? What gives us the ‘right’ to make such an arrogant claim? Acceptance!

Romans 5:6-8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

This is the judge who handed down the awful sentence of death for the crimes committed, coming down from the judgement seat to take the punishment instead of us. How do we earn it? We don’t – we can’t – there is no option to earn God’s grace. But we are given the right to claim these things. Even though…

Romans 6:23 “the wages of sin is death…”

We also know that…

Romans 6:23b “…the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense – G.R.A.C.E. The gift is given, the judge takes the penalty. Jesus came with the specific purpose of dying in our place – and God raised him from death to demonstrate his obedience, and his power over sin and death – Jesus was born to put into action God’s plan of grace.

Be Transformed

The big thing about grace is this – the only true grace is transforming grace.

A friend of mine is working through what he believes. He believes in God, but he’s on the fence and has not decided for Christ – his concern is that whilst it’s easy enough to become a Christian he knows that he can never be good enough and he’s afraid of being a hypocrite. What I love, despite wanting him to get off the fence, is that his understanding is so clear.

God’s grace is transforming grace.

1. Once we have accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour God sees us as transformed. When he looks at us he no longer sees our sin but he sees Jesus – pure white as the driven snow. Revelation speaks of us as being – clothed in white and standing before our Father – that is how God sees his people now. He looks at us through the grid of Jesus’ righteousness.
2. This is how we will be for eternity. Not just that God sees us as transformed but we will be perfect for all eternity – it’s so hard to imagine that possibility – but my soul will be as white as the driven snow – not simply clothed in white but washed clean by the blood of Jesus the lamb.

Revelation 7:14b “…they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

We have been washed in the blood of Jesus – what an image – made clean – strange but true. [P]

3. Thirdly it is transforming grace because God expects his people, having died to sin and the old way of the sinful life, and having been born again as new people… God expects that we will be being transformed to become the people God sees us as!

Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The Grace of God is a transforming grace – my friend is right to consider the consequences of becoming a Christian – because God expects that we will be changed to be like Christ – and that that will show up in our relationships and lifestyle and activities and everything that we hold dear. God would have us be transformed in how we respond and act towards each other – that we would treat each other with the grace God has given us, that we would live out underserved kindness to one another.

What would that look like in the church?

What would it look like in the world?

It doesn’t come naturally. It’s much easier to assume that other people are around for my benefit – not that we think that consciously. But God has given each of us to the building of his church and for the benefit of each other – this is the ongoing outworking of his grace.

1 Peter 1:3-5 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time…”

1 Peter 1:8-9 “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Only A Fool Believes – the Evidence for the Resurrection

Only a Fool…?

• Only a fool carries drugs into Bali
• Only a fool drinks and drives
• Only a fool buys a lotto ticket expecting to win – or sits day in day out at a Poker machine, pushing buttons!
• Only a fool gambles all on the roll of a dice, the turn of a wheel, the fall of a ball

Only a fool believes that Jesus died on Friday, was buried and on Sunday rose again and walked out of the tomb.  We all know it’s utterly impossible.

What’s the difference between the foolishness of gambling, or drug running, and believing in the resurrection?  All the evidence says don’t run drugs into Bali. People play poker machines though we know 90% of the time the house wins. Christians believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead – what’s the difference? The evidence is compelling.

Of course – not even all people who call themselves Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus. It’s a difficult thing to come to grips with. If Jesus had been a good man who died a martyr’s death and we were to follow in his footsteps there would be billions more Christians around the world. But the Bible had to go and claim that he was not only divine but that he rose from the dead. And for most people, maybe even you, that’s enough – no other evidence is required, no other argument necessary – only a fool believes a man can rise from the dead.

And I have to admit I agree! I’ve read about people who coming back from the dead – don’t believe any of them. But I do believe Jesus rose – because the evidence all points in that direction.

Luke 24:36-40 “While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.”

Why don’t people believe?

The great claim of Christianity is that Jesus died and rose again. Why do people find it so hard to believe?

• It’s entirely possible to prove that Jesus existed.
• It’s historical fact that Jesus was executed by the Romans and Jewish leaders in acting in collusion?
• Jesus was clearly a great leader, a compassionate teacher – clearly not a liar and not a fruit-loop.
• So how do people reason away the resurrection – how do they explain the ‘facts’ without saying “Jesus rose”?

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Reality is – people are correct to think that only a fool believes Jesus died on Friday, was buried and on Sunday rose and walked out of the tomb. We all know it’s utterly impossible. What is it about Christians that we just can’t let go of this aspect of Christianity and move on? Why do Christians believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead? If you’re a Christian reading this – why do you believe? Why aren’t you convinced like most people that it’s impossible – that no other evidence is required, no other argument necessary – only a fool believes a man can rise from the dead?

The Key

There have been stories – not many but some over the years – claiming modern day resurrection – some dead person being raised to life. Some are simple stories of charlatans scamming the gullible – not only in third-world countries but in the West as well. Even high flying Pentecostal pastors have claimed it from time to time – I must admit I’m always reminded of Steve Martin in “Leap of Faith” – playing a scamming faith healer in a down and out mid-western US town – rolls in to take the people’s money – good story, though sadly a little too close to real life! There are some stories out of Africa, India and South America. But all of them share one particular trait – implausibility! All of them lack compelling, unambiguous evidence. All of them lack credible reliable witnesses. Not one of the stories stacks up or seems able to withstand even the most basic scrutiny.

But Jesus’ story is believable – the evidence stacks up – despite the impossibility of it.

The resurrection is the vital element of Christianity – it is the key. Without it Christianity is nothing more than religious superstition. Even the Bible is transparently clear about this.

1 Corinthians 15:14, 17 “…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. … if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

Everything Christians believe about God rests on the fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. There is no church without the resurrection and there is no meaning to what we do or believe – if Jesus didn’t rise again. So what is the evidence? How do we know it’s true, and how do we help others believe? What are the arguments or explanations against the resurrection and how do they stack up?

It often surprises people – as I guess it should, given the claim – that there aren’t that many credible arguments against the resurrection evidence. The main arguments are…

1. Jesus didn’t die – he revived in the tomb and walked away. After hours on the cross, being strung up by professional executioners, with a multitude of witnesses both for and against Christ, after being stabbed in the side with a spear and the expert witness declaring blood and water separated came out – a pretty clear sign of death – that Jesus was pulled off the cross, placed wrapped in a cold stone tomb and sealed off, guarded by Roman soldiers… and then revived, unwrapped himself, rolled the stone away, overpowered the guards, and walked away. Hmmm?!
2. The disciples overpowered the guards and stole his body – 11 dejected, almost paralysed fishermen and disciples overpowered a squad of battle hardened Roman Legionnaires and stole the body – neither the Romans nor the Jews could find it– and then they conspired to create Christianity and perpetrate the hoax, including dying for the lie.
3. Jesus rose spiritually not physically – championed by some liberal scholars – we all know that people can’t rise physically, so clearly we’re mistaken and it’s a simple spiritual resurrection. And Jesus was mistaken – though he clearly claims that he would rise bodily, maybe it was just a metaphor or he just misunderstood?
4. Everyone went to the wrong tomb – Jews, Romans (guarding the wrong tomb?), disciples, the women, Joseph of Arimathea (the owner of the tomb)…
5. The Jews took his body to prevent his disciples claiming he was raised! And then presented it in public so that everyone would know that the disciples were lying – thus preventing the rise of Christianity! Oh – that’s right – they didn’t! Why would the Jews hide the body of Jesus?

Do you know – it takes a lot more faith to be an atheist than it does to believe the resurrection.

Six Reasons to Believe – the Evidence for the Resurrection

1. Jesus claimed he would rise.

Why should you believe Jesus rose again? The place to start is with Jesus’ character.

John 2:19, 21 “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up… the temple he had spoken of was his body.”

Jesus claimed a number of times he would rise physically from the dead. If he’d meant a spiritual resurrection, he would have had to challenge basic Jewish belief and their understanding of what comes after death – the Jews believed and were looking forward to a physical resurrection. There is no evidence that Jesus challenged this basic belief of Jewish faith – in fact the opposite – he appealed to it himself.

And afterwards – as he appears to people and says touch my wounds, eat with me, walk with me – this is clearly a physical being, not a spiritual one.

At that point we can believe Jesus or not – but if we don’t then what are our other options. One choice is that Jesus was not telling the truth that he would rise from the dead – so he’s a fraud. Or maybe he believed it but was delusional – a lunatic. But pretty much everyone agrees he looks like a wise, good, honest teacher and leader. Nothing about his behaviour is erratic or in any way linked to lunacy. If he’s a lunatic or a liar then how do we account for his obvious integrity and honesty – even his enemies agree he was a great teacher? He taught wonderful things – but he claimed to be God’s Son who would rise from the dead. I guess we can’t have it both ways. What is he? Liar, lunatic or…?

2. The empty tomb

Once we work out his character we have to ask – is there any doubt, historically, that Jesus was placed in the tomb, the tomb sealed, and guarded by up to 20 professional Roman soldiers?  No there is no doubt!

Was it was open and empty on Sunday morning? Yes it was.

The Jews couldn’t find the body, nor did they confiscate it – otherwise we can be pretty sure they would have paraded it with as much fanfare as they could manage. The disciples were hiding in a secret room, fearing for their lives – so they could hardly be accused of stealing the body for an elaborate hoax. None of these are a matter for conjecture – provable, historical facts.

John 19:33-34 “…when [the soldiers] came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.”

Jesus was dead. When they pierce your heart with a spear after hanging on a cross ½ a day you don’t sink into a coma and then revive in the cool tomb and roll the stone away.

Matthew 28:11-15 “…some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.”

The Romans couldn’t afford their reputation as killers to be questioned – it meant a sentence of death for them – but they took the cash and spread the rumour. If the Jews or the Romans had taken the body they would have simply produced it – case closed. The dejected frightened disciples didn’t steal the body – I guess we can be fairly certain the Jews and Romans asked.

3. The dramatic change in the disciples?

The dramatic change in the disciples is simply amazing and you have to wonder why? Jesus dies. They are utterly dejected and terrified – at first they’re in hiding. They didn’t understand – some of them go back to fishing – back to the mundane of life before Jesus called them – some of them are so scared they stay hidden. They refused to believe the first reports of Jesus’ appearance when the women come from the tomb.

But in just a few short weeks they’re proclaiming Jesus risen, they are full of joy and courage, and importantly they are ready and willing to die for Christ! If they’d stolen the body would they have be willing to die for a lie – a lie that they were certain contained no truth? Why the change?

Their explanation – “we have seen him” – he is raised! Jesus rose from the dead? We don’t have to believe them – but it’s worth asking the question.

4. The Eyewitnesses

This small group of men and women were eyewitnesses to the resurrection – but there were more. Twenty years later Paul wrote to the very sceptical Greek Christians in Corinth – Greeks were good at scepticism – they’d seen it all.

1 Corinthians 15:4-6 “Christ was raised on the third day . . . He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep [died].”

Paul started out murdering Christians. He was converted dramatically on the Damascus Road. He claims that these Greek sceptics should be able to find some of the more than 500 credible eyewitnesses that are still alive 20 years later – go and ask them – they were there.

I’m always a little fascinated by our opinions of people from the past. We often have this sense that they were more gullible, less thoughtful, and easier to pull the wool over, clueless, uneducated or maybe just plain stupid. It’s a funny attitude, given the respect and adoration we give some ancient writers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Da Vinci, Shakespeare to name a few).

People in the first century were no more gullible than we are – the early church was full of cluey people, many who were educated, who ran businesses, were trained in the law and the arts, politicians, speakers, philosophers, many who could speak multiple languages like Jesus and the Apostles (who most likely spoke Hebrew and Greek and quite possibly Latin). We today are often impressed by people who can speak multiple languages. Modern educational theory indicates that it’s a sign of some intelligence to be able to do so fluently – how many languages do you speak? In Australia the vast majority only speak English (unless we count ‘Strine’ as a language).

The gospel grew from its earliest days in the presence of quite literally hundreds of credible eyewitnesses to the resurrection.

5. The NT Writers

Over the past few years we’ve seen movies and books like the “Da-Vinci Code”, the court case between Dan Brown and the writers of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and more recently the ‘media sensation’ over the “newly” discovered “Gospel of Judas”. These old documents claim to reveal the true Jesus.

Q. Are they true because they’re old?

No!

Even if that were true – the gospels in the Bible are at least 150 years older.

Q. Are they true because they disagree with what the church teaches?

Seriously?

Q. Are they true because the writers are more honest or credible than the NT writers?

That’s an interesting way to look at Judas? A document appears, supposedly from his hand, written at best and provably 150 years later than the gospels. In it ‘Judas’ claims that he wasn’t betraying Jesus but was in point of fact ‘obeying’ Jesus… when he betrayed him! [Dramatic pause – that’s for you reading this] I don’t know about you but I have this image of John Cleese saying “Right!” in that way that only Cleese can. Obviously – must be true. I mean in our modern world we always acquit criminals when they say “I didn’t do it”!

We already know the character of Judas from proven and reputable eyewitnesses.

The NT writers who proclaim the resurrection appear in every way to be sensible, clear thinking, honest, open and not easily fooled – not just that this is claimed about them, but any fair reading of their works comes to that conclusion. What they wrote hangs together well. They are clued up on human nature. They are personally committed, sober in speech and careful. They teach coherently – we don’t seem to be reading inventions. Their moral and spiritual standards are acknowledged as very high. They are obviously devoted to truth and God’s sovereignty and honour. In our modern courts we apply the same sorts of tests for character witnesses – and the gospel writers would be found to be trustworthy.

6. 2000 Years of Believers

And there is a final piece of the puzzle – Christians!

A personal relationship with Jesus changes you forever! When we put our faith in him, Jesus comes by his Spirit into our lives and begins to show his power and love in our lives. He brings a new love for God and for people, a new hope and joy, a growing patience in trouble, freedom from old enslavements, and courage to stand for justice and righteousness. On top of all the evidence for the resurrection, only a living Lord Jesus could make these changes. Jesus Christ is alive and real. On its own it might not mean much as a claim – but with the evidence it means we have put our trust where it should be.

If you’re a critic of Christianity or an unbeliever – why is it that so many people over 2000 years, have believed? I know there is the same argument the other way – that millions (billions) have not. But it can’t be gullibility can it? It’s not as though everyone who believes is a rank moron. There are believers of every educational standard – doctors, scientists, politicians, labourers, philosophers, university professors, nurses, police, judges, lawyers – you name it. So not a lack of education, not simple gullibility – it’s not limited to a particular race, country, or ethnicity – it’s not linked to parents or ancestry, it’s not limited by colour of skin. Why do so many believe?

Frankly – by itself the belief or lack of belief of people, no matter how many, means nothing. But with the realities of the factual evidence – it means a lot.

Making Sense of the Resurrection?

The evidence for the resurrection is provable and overwhelming – in the face of no other argument that makes sense of the evidence the only sensible thing to do is accept the resurrection as very real. It requires far more faith to doubt the evidence. That doesn’t mean everyone will believe – but some will.

• If you believe then we need to be sure of what and why we believe.
• We need to share why. Not everyone will believe you, family may well hate you, get angry, the opportunities may not be there, or be very obvious, you may be seen as a crackpot or simply an annoyance.
• Learn to speak – tell someone what and why you believe.
• The worst thing that can happen? Jesus said…

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25)

When he said it he turned to the woman standing by and said, “Do you believe this?” And Jesus turns to us and says, “Do you believe this?”

Romans 10:9-11 “…if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

The evidence for the resurrection is only part of the story – but a key part. My challenge to you is… investigate Jesus, and the death and resurrection – try if you can to find some other credible explanation. But if you conclude that Jesus really is who he says he is – the Son of God, the creator of the whole universe – and that he did die and rise to offer you forgiveness for your sins and to defeat death – and that he makes a claim on your life – if that’s your conclusion, then it requires much more than an intellectual decision about Jesus.

John 1:12 “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God^.”

How do I go beyond merely agreeing that Jesus is who he says he is and entering into an ongoing relationship with him by being adopted into God’s family?

Believe + receive = become.

• Believe: that I am a sinner, that Jesus died to forgive me my sins and that I need the cross to bridge the gap between me and God. If the evidence is real then believe.

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

• Receive: every religion and cult and faith system in the world is based on me doing something, or earning my way to peace and happiness. Christianity is based on what’s been done for us.

Romans 6:23 “…the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life inChrist Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus offers us forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift – what we have to “do” is make a decision to accept that gift. We can do that simply by praying an honest prayer – something real not fake. Admit your wrong doing, turn away from that lifestyle and accept the gift of forgiveness and eternal life – and ask for his help in starting a new life following him.

• Become: over the rest of your life you will change to be what Jesus says – a new person.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Wherever you are in the process of investigating Jesus – contact me – happy to help you take whatever next step you need to take. But let me say – this issue is the key issue in life – put it on the front burner and go for it.

John 8:24 “…if you do not believe that I [Jesus] am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”

Reading The Bible for Yourself 3

How’s it going? It can be hard work in some ways setting time aside each day to read and pray—there are so many things that seem so important. Martin Luther the reformer of the church used to get up early in the morning to pray and read—5 am every morning. On particularly busy days he got up an hour earlier—he believed and practiced that the busier he was and more important the things were that he had to do the more vital it was that he prayed and read God’s word. But that’s alright for him—he was a monk after all.

Which is true, though he was married and had kids and held down a job—and reformed the church from the inside out—so maybe not all that different from us.

How do you find the time? Make a daily diary and fill in how you are going to spend your day with the things that absolutely must happen—kids to school, travel, work, sleep, eating, ablutions (which is a complex word for all those things we do to keep ourselves clean that involve the bathroom), food shopping, basic cleaning, ministry involvement and groups, kids’ sport, study and so on—whatever there is in your life that absolutely must happen. Be realistic with your time.

Having done that work out all the things you would like to do—shopping, recreation, TV, internet, sport etc—make a list of all these things and how long they take including the travel and preparation time. Again be realistic. Before you add them to your daily diary work out how long you plan to spend on reading the Bible and praying. I would suggest a minimum start would be 10 minutes for each—20 minutes a day. If you can find an hour spend an hour. You will gain great benefit from whatever time you spend in God’s word and in prayer.

Having done all that start with the most important things on your list—Bible reading and prayer—and fill in your daily diary—work out where each important thing will go each day and block out that time. If you find that everything is important and they just don’t all fit in then you need to reassess how you spend you days. Apparently Australians watch an average of 3 hours TV a day. How important is that—realistically? The first few times you give up your favourite shows it might feel like you’re missing out—but after a week or two you’ll suddenly realise that you’ve hardly missed a thing.

Once you’ve got it planned ask God to help you stick to it and then start—choose a day and start.

So now you’re reading – how about understanding?

Let’s be frank – at times understanding the Bible can be difficult, especially if you are new to it. The simplest thing to do is ask yourself questions about what you are reading (tool – understanding bible – link to a handy bookmark you can print out and keep in your Bible that details some basic questions you can consider, and the fundamentals of exegesis, hermeneutics and homiletics). The aim when we are reading God’s word is to understand what he would say to us—rather than what we think it means or would prefer God to say. So our aim is to understand what the passage actually says, to explain what the passage means and then to apply the passage to today and especially to myself.

This might seem complex at first but it’s really what we do every day when we read a newspaper or magazine. When we read the comics we understand that they are comics—not news, not editorial, not scientific information but humour. That tells us how to explain them and why they were written and then how to apply them. When we come to the main story we know to consider that this is current news which may or may not mean something directly to me, or family, or friends, or work, or country or world. We understand that the main stories are news—we read them and work out the main points and where it fits into the world I live in and then we work out how it applies to me, or how I need to apply it. We can apply this same basic and daily process to the Scriptures. As much as it’s the word of God, it is also literature and the same basic principles that apply to our interpretation and understanding of any media – writing, TV, video, music, photography and artwork – should be applied to the reading of he Bible.

In a future post I will look at some examples and apply the basic principles.

Response

One important aspect of reading and understanding, that I will only briefly note at the moment, is how we are lead to respond, and especilly thinking of whether the passage prompts us to pray or praise. Almost all passages – possibly all – will either prompt us to a response, and maybe cause us in a fairly natural way to responsd – to pray (asking, thanking) or praise (honour, worship, give thanks, declare or acknowledge)—and often enough to do both. So that’s worth looking for—should I be seeking forgiveness, praying for strength or opportunity or something else? Should I praise God for something he is or has done? Is my natural response to be blown away by God’s love for me in Christ and to sing praises – or simply to stand in awe and wonder and say thank you. And so on.

Reading the Bible is an opportunity without parallel in this world—as is praying. It is an opportunity to find out the mind of God (within limits—he is God after all) and to talk with the creator on a personal level. Can’t get much better than that.

Here’s something to consider. During a training course I ran a while ago it turned out that that lots of kids of Christians don’t have their own Bible—how ridiculous. Time to put it on the agenda! Get your kids a Bible, help them understand it, read it together – and see the blessing of God at work in your life as a family.

Reading The Bible for Yourself 2

One of the most important decisions you will need to make in reading the Bible is which version do you read—KJV, NKJV, NIV, NICV, ESV, NLT, RSV, NRSV, NASB, Gideons, The Message, The Good News version—enough already. It’s confusing, especially if you’re new to it all. And sometimes older Christians are a bit smug about the fact that they know what all the abbreviations mean. Don’t do it—smugness is so unattractive.

Last post we looked at a little of how the Greek New Testament was written and then at the de-facto standard English translation—the NIV (New international Version). Let’s have a poke around in a few others.

For more than three centuries, the standard English translation of the Bible was the Authorised (AV) or King James Version (KJV). It was a literal translation; that is, it translated the original Greek and Hebrew word for word into English, finding the most direct English equivalent available, and retaining the grammatical structure of the original sentences as much as possible. This gave the reader not trained in the original languages the most direct access possible to the actual text of Scripture. Where the text carried several possible meanings, the KJV/AV translation reflected that, and left it to the reader to work out which meaning (or meanings) were intended.

By the turn of the 20th century, however, the KJV was starting to show its age (not surprisingly). English had changed over the course of 300 years. ‘Thee’ and ‘thou’ were no longer in common use; nor were the ‘-eth’ and ‘-est’ style endings for the verb. The vocabulary was substantially different, and the long, multi-clausal (divided by lots of commas) sentences of the KJV, that reflected the original languages so well, made for difficult reading, especially as the direction of English was towards shorter sentences.

Various attempts were made to update the KJV without changing its essential character—such as the Revised Version (RV) of 1881, which gave rise to the American Standard Version (ASV) of 1901, which in turn formed the basis for the New American Standard Bible (NASB). For a number of years the NASB has been the closest English version to the original Greek—except that it’s American rather than English.

It was the publication of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) in 1952 that marked the real beginning of ‘modern English’ translations. While maintaining a commitment to literal translation, the RSV sought to turn the original into English that made sense to modern readers. The archaic vocabulary, verb endings and complex sentence structure of the KJV were replaced with modern English equivalents. The RSV had some quirks—for example retaining ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ for addressing God, but the result was a translation that was basically literal, and stuck closely to the original, but which was readable for the 20th century person. You still find it in many churches in Australia and it is still the preferred version for many who were converted in the 50’s and 60’s. We have a tendency to love what we grow up with, to love what is familiar.

However the RSV had a very basic problem—the bias of it’s translation team towards liberal theology. This emerged at a number of important and now famous points. For example in Roman’s 3:25 the Greek states that Jesus was put forward by God as the “propitiation” of our sins—that is a payment to cause God to move away from his wrath against us. It is clearly there in the context but liberal theology finds it offensive that God would be wrathful with us and the Christ, the innocent, should have to pay the price—so they inserted the word “expiation” which basically means payment for sins. Instead of Christ dieing to appease God—cause him to turn aside from his wrath against us—Christ died only pay the penalty for sin.

Whilst this may at first not seem like much, the original word is propitiation—so whether we like the concept or not that is what we need to consider and work through. Expiation is also a Biblical word but it is not used in this passage—so the only reason to put it in the English is to change the meaning to fit your bias. My aim is to wrestle with the Scripture and to bring my thinking in obedience under them – not to try and force my way of thinking onto the Scriptures!

At another point in Romans (9:5) the team punctuated the sentence to remove the implication that Christ was God. Compare the following; “…is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.” (ESV) and “is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever.” (RSV) There is no punctuation in the Greek—it simply doesn’t exist—but the only reason to change the whole meaning of the chapter is a theological bias. And there are plenty of other examples. We still have to make choices as to which one is correct, but we should do so with eyes open rather than having that choice made from a theological position of liberalism.

However, the RSV was a very good translation: precise, generally accurate, and yet still readable. By the 1970s, however, there was a real desire to improve the quirks and liberal bias of the RSV, and produce a translation that was even simpler and easier to read. Paraphrases (taking the general meaning rather than a direct translation) such as the Good News Bible and the Living Bible were published. Ideas of ‘dynamic equivalence’ were in the air, in which the goal of translation was not to render word for word, but idea for idea. It was into this arena that the NIV was produced in the 1980’s.

In 1989, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) came along. In many ways, it was excellent. It retained all the precision and accuracy of the original RSV, avoided the pitfalls into which the NIV had fallen, and was still beautifully readable. Unfortunately, the NRSV had one major idiosyncrasy that was unhelpful. It is obsessed with gender inclusive language. In making the Bible more ‘politically correct’, the NRSV removed ‘he’ and ‘man’ wherever possible in the text, often with unfortunate results (the removal of ‘son of man’ in Hebrews 2:6 is one classic example).

Next post—where have translators been heading, the ESV and making the choice.

Reading The Bible for Yourself 1

One of the most important decisions you will need to make in reading the Bible is which version do you read—KJV, NKJV, NIV, NICV, ESV, NLT, RSV, NRSV, NASB, Gideons, The Message, The Good News version—enough already. Confused? Have no idea what we’re talking about? Fair enough.

The Bible was originally written in three languages—the Old Testament in Hebrew (the language of the Jewish nation); Aramaic (one of the languages of the region, but only a few portions of the Old Testament are written in it); and the New Testament was written almost entirely in Greek which was the language of trade, culture, education and so on throughout the civilised world of Jesus’ day—like English is today. Even better—most of the New Testament was written in Koine Greek—or “Westie Greek” – the common tongue.

The process of translating the Bible is not all that simple—it’s more than swapping the words over—the aim is to get the concepts and ideas across as much as the words themselves. Imagine trying to explain space exploration to a hidden tribe in Papua New Guinea and you get the idea—if they have no concept of space, let alone NASA or space travel—how will you tell them about it in their language? It’s far more than swappin words when the words don’t exist to swap with. I remember one of our lecturers at college (Moore) saying than in one particular tribe they considered that emotions and feelings came from the liver – whereas we would tend to say “from the heart”. To them “from the heart” just doesn’t mean what we think it does in English, and “from the liver” doesn’t work either because that’s not how they understand it to work. Fun!

All the different versions are attempts to bring the meaning of the original text into our modern language. There are three basic types.

1. Translations which aim to translate the original text, structure and content into modern language.
• Translations are divided into two different types as well – or two schools of thought on the best way to bring the text forward to the modern reader. Formal equivelence which aims for accuracy of the text – commonly called word-for-word translations… and Dynamic equivelence which aims for accuracy of ideas – commonly called thought-for-thought translations.
2. Transliterations which try to bring the meaning of the text forward but not the text or structure. The Good News Bible, The Message and JB Phillips are all this style—easy English versions. Without for a moment seeking to denigrate these versions – each has it’s value – but, especially for the maturing Christian, the problem with transliterations is that you aren’t reading what God caused to be written but only someone’s interpretation of that. Commonly these transliterations are not from the original text (not always – for example “The Message”) and do they smooth out the text to make even the hardest passages simple of even simplistic. That raises all sorts of questions. In my opinion they are worthwhile for young children and possibly very new Christians, and they have a place in ministry amongst poorly educated or maybe in ESL type ministries. And – to be completly frank – if you are faithfully reading a “Good News” Bible I don’t want to say stop it – well done – keep going. But maybe if you have beena  Christian for a few years it might be time to put it aside in favour of a Bible that gives you more direct access to the text of the Scriptures as originally given. The transliterations might have a place in Bible Study but for most Christians we should move on from the ‘milk’ of a transliteration to the ‘meat’ of a translation.

The Translations

When we come to the translations—the RSV, NRSV, NASB, KJV and NKJV, and the NIV (New International Version) are the main ones in use—especially the NIV which has become the de-facto standard in evangelical churches. The NLT and ESV have gained some ground in recent years and there are new versions such as the new NIV (not the NIV84 which is being fazed out) and the Holman Christian Bible. If we take the NIV apart a little we see that it has become the de-facto standard because it is an excellent version that is relatively easy to read. But it also has problems, as do they all.

The problems usually have to do with the assumptions being made by the translators. The NIV translators wanted a very readable translation so they applied the techniques of modern English to the translation. A couple of examples;

• In the Greek New Testament many sentences start with words that link sentences and ideas together—”for”, “but”, “and”, “also”. This can change the whole meaning of connected verses—for example in Greek there is a “for” at the beginning of Romans 1:18, connecting it to verses 16-17. In English we tend not to do this, or if we do not very often—so the translators moved things around to make it read according to the standards of English—and many times simply removed the connectives.
• • Romans 1:16-18 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”… FOR … 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,…” (The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996 (electronic ed.) (Ro 1:16–18). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.)
• The Greek New Testament will often repeat the same word to get the point across—again this is not on in English so the translators used different words to translate the same Greek word, thus missing the repetition of a single idea. For example, in Romans 1:3, Paul says that Jesus was descended from David “according to the flesh”.  ‘Flesh’ is an important word in the rest of Romans, and its appearance in the opening verses is very significant. However, the NIV translates it ‘human nature’ in 1:4, and ‘sinful nature’ elsewhere in the book. As a translation they are not technically incorrect—but by making these choices we should be asking whether they loose a vital ingredient in what Paul is saying.
• A third problem is that where the original text carried a number of possible meanings, the NIV irons out the ambiguities to present one simple meaning to the reader, often by adding extra words. This makes for simplicity and clarity, but places the responsibility for interpretation in the hands of the translator, rather than the reader. And what if the translator makes the wrong decision? Or what if the text deliberately carries a number of layers of meaning? The possibility of sorting it out is removed from the reader, in the interests of simplicity. As an example, sticking with Romans 1, the NIV uses the phrase “righteousness from God” in Romans 1:17. In the Greek, the phrase is actually “righteousness of God”, which may mean either righteousness from God or the righteousness which belongs to God (that is “God’s righteousness”). Which did Paul intend? Or did he phrase it that way because he wanted to include both ideas? The NIV is not wrong; “righteousness from God” is a quite legitimate translation, but it is not the only legitimate one. And by shutting off other options, the reader is taken further away from what the text of Scripture actually says.

In all this the NIV is still one of the top translations and a very worthwhile one to purchase and read. Next issue we’ll look at the other translations and their strengths and weaknesses.

Building a basic Christian library

There are, quite simply, more resources to help in understanding the Bible, than for any other book or series of books ever written. Wading through the 1000’s of books currently available at Koorong (or on-line) to find the gems, is a hard task—worth the work but…!

What do you need if you want to be serious about studying the Bible? Maybe you lead a Bible Study group – or do Scripture or Sunday School—maybe you’re getting questions at home you can’t answer. Every serious Christian should have some of these at home to further their study and understanding of the Scriptures.

Theological Dictionary: “The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology” (EDT-often referred to as “Elwell”) provides in-depth summaries of theological issues from an Evangelical perspective and is one of the most valuable modern textbooks ever written. It tries to ensure articles are evangelical but also present other views with fairness (doesn’t always work). This is the textbook I go to first more often than any other. In addition to the article it gives excellent resources for further enquiry and is cross referenced internally. It is not a “Bible” Dictionary—so it covers more than words found in the Bible.

Theological Bible Dictionary: “Theological Dictionary of the Bible” (TDB) This is the one that dissects the words found in the Bible—edited by Elwell (EDT above) this is evangelical and pretty well balanced (doesn’t mean you’ll agree). Where the EDT covers theological ideas and concepts, the TDB deals with words only found in the Bible.  For example it doesn’t deal with the Trinity in a specific article because the word doesn’t appear in the Bible.

Bible Dictionary: Different editor, different company, same basic concept except bigger and broader than the TDB (above). Provides the meaning of words (as any dictionary does) with references to similar passages. Evangelical and based on the NIV text.

Concordance: “NIV Exhaustive Concordance” Do you want to find out what the Bible says about “predestination”? This concordance lists every occurrence of every main word in the whole of the Bible (doesn’t list “the”, “a”, etc). Of course, just because a word is repeated doesn’t mean that it means the same thing or is referring to the same thing in each case. Context remains vital in understanding. This has no theological bias – it’s taken directly from the NIV text. You can get concordances for every major translation of the Bible.

Commentary on the Whole Bible: There are many different commentaries from all sorts of different perspectives – this one comes in a single condensed volume, a 2-volume edition, and a ten-volume edition. There are many commentaries – you have to be picky because not all of them share the values of Biblical faith that we do. With most of them you need to look for the credentials of the authors and their backgrounds.

Bible Encyclopaedia: There are varieties of these – Bible Words, Customs, Maps, Background, General, Church History, Christian Martyrs, Christian Church, Flora and Fauna and a vast array of many others – scholars need something to do I suppose. This one deals with the main (most common) words found in the Bible and gives greater detail with background and usage. There are illustrated Encyclopaedias as well. The problem with many Encyclopaedias is their bias – so you have to pick and choose – and many of them are so shallow that they are virtually worthless.

The Bible Speaks Today: One good series – if you need something bigger than the one or two volume series is a series entitled “The Bible Speaks Today”. This covers almost the whole bible in a series – mostly one book per volume. It is good basic evangelical scholarship written for normal people – that is lay not theologically trained clergy. Each volume is between $15-$25.

Know The Truth – A Handbook of Christian Belief: Much smaller in size and scope this is a miniature “Systematic Theology” textbook. It sets down the basic beliefs of the Church and shows where they come from in the Bible. This is one of the best short courses in theology in existence, especially for the non-theologian. Generally can be found for under $20..

Leading a Bible Study Group

One of the most effective ministries in any church is well run Biblical Bible Study Groups. I know… you’ve just read that sentence twice and you’re thinking— “Biblical” Bible study groups?” What’s he going on about now?

What is a Bible Study Group? Well… it’s not a prayer group… or a gossip club… or a twelve step group… or a counselling group… or a social club. It’s a Bible Study and the Scriptures clearly state that the central activity of our time gathered as Christians—including in home Bible Study groups—is to be spent focussed and based on the Scriptures.

1 Timothy 4:9-13 “This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.”

In the Bible the church is the gathering of God’s people around Christ who is the word of God. God is a gathering God, bringing His people together – that is the great picture of heaven in Revelation 20-21 – the kingdom of priests gathered before the throne of heaven with Christ the Lamb at the centre and listening to the word of God – the lamb on the throne – for all eternity, as his people worship him in songs of never ending praise.

Any church, or Bible Study group, that claims to be faithful to God, yet has a preponderance of time and teaching on things other than the Scriptures… is not the church, or is at least not being obedient to Scripture. Forbidding people to marry, forbidding certain foods, mandating worship on a certain day, twisting Scripture to take the focus off Christ crucified – these are not the church! They may well be an assembly of like-minded God fearers, spiritual worshippers, even Bible readers – but without the Scriptures truthfully taught and believed they are, as Paul says, hypocrites, liars, without clear conscience (1 Tim 4:1-2). Strong words! It may of course be that the folk in those churches don’t know any better – but the ministers should and the Bible is pretty clear (and harsh) about ministers and teachers who lead astray the people they are meant to be shepherding. (see

Our vision, however we phrase it, should ultimately be should be to give God all glorify, honour, power and majesty by proclaiming the saviour Jesus Christ. A Bible Study group should be an extension of the churches mission and focussed on that every week. The only way to give God glory is to give Christ our obedience and honour. A faithful religious Jew strives to give God honour and glory—but as moral, upright and religious as he is, as much as he reads the OT faithfully and prays, he cannot give honour to God because he refuses to be obedient to the claim of Jesus.

Colossians 2:6-8 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”

This is what honours God—and this is what should drive us in our Bible Study groups. To be Christian means we have a new found desire to grow and mature to be like Christ – imperfect, but by the work of the Holy Spirit, in the reading of God’s word, praying, meeting together as the body of Christ, ministering to others, bringing our sinfulness under the control of the Holy Spirit, by repentance – we will become the great tree deep rooted in Christ. The small group setting provides the ideal hothouse for growth. It is the place where we can learn in depth, where we can discuss and question in a group of like-minded Christians – hopefully people of similar maturity and with a similar desire to grow.

Who should lead? The Bible gives us ample guidelines for leaders—check out the character and faith that are the big foci in Titus and Timothy in their lists of overseers. But here are the four criteria we should be looking for…

1. A desire to lead and serve others, to grow them to maturity in Christ. A desire to lead is not a desire to lord it over, but to serve as a shepherd serves.

2. A level of Christian knowledge and maturity above those we are leading and a willingness to honestly seek answers when we don’t know (teachable).

3. Character that has been shaped like Christ (not perfectly) and that is known to other mature Christians

4. People willing to follow you as a leader.

How do you start? Pray and think. Talk to your minister or church leaders. If it’s appropriate that you start a group, talk to those you might meet with, and get started.