Category: Bible Studies

“Don’t touch!” I heard that a lot when I was growing up. I seemed to have left a trail of smudges behind me: finger prints on the coffee table, finger prints on the mirror, finger prints on the glass. Later in life I was a visiting scholar at the Huntington Museum in Pasadena. It was an amazing thrill when the attendants would bring me an historic document to study but before I could examine it, they searched me for pens and anything that could mark the manuscript. I had to don special white gloves and the document was secured with velvet ribbons. “Don’t touch!” I guess they had talked to my mother.

In the late first century, the rabbis had a conference at Jabneh in Gaza to discuss the canon of the Old Testament. They discussed whether a book like Ruth, Song of Songs or Ecclesiastes “soiled the hands.” That was their expression meaning “it’s an inspired book and it belongs in the Bible.” They believed if you touch a holy book, the holiness comes off on your hands. In other words, they weren’t concerned about your touching something and making it dirty. They believed if you touch something holy, it makes you holy. I like that.

Sometimes we try to protect the church from the world. I once visited a very large denominational church in Houston that was so afraid of being contaminated by the world that they had their own “Christian” bowling alley, their own “Christian” gym, even their own “Christian” cafeteria (which they called “The Garden of Eat’n”)! That’s just backwards from the teachings of Christ. We shouldn’t be afraid of the world. Rather the world should be afraid of us! Read the words of Jesus again: “… on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” (Matthew 16:18 ESV). Note: Jesus doesn’t say “hell will not prevail against the gates of the church” but “the gates of hell” can’t stop the church in her mission!

Are we like the drunk who walked into a telephone pole? It knocked him down. Slowly he regained his feet, put his hands on the pole and walked around it. Surprised, he put his hands on his hips and concluded, “Well I’ll be. They’ve got me boxed in.”

We’ve touched holy things and become holy. It’s time for us to touch the world and make it holy!

 

 January 31, 1821

 To President Jackson:

             The canal system of this country is being threatened by the spread of a new form of transportation known as “railroads.” The federal government must preserve the canals for the following reasons:

             One. If canal boats are supplanted by “railroads,” serious unemployment will result. Captains, cooks, drivers, hostlers, repairmen and lock tenders will be left without means of livelihood, not to mention the numerous farmers now employed in growing hay for the horses.

             Two. Boat builders would suffer and towline, whip and harness makers would be left destitute.

             Three. Canal boats are absolutely essential to the defense of the United States. In the event of the expected trouble with England, the Erie Canal would be the only means by which we could ever move the supplies so vital to waging modern war.

             As you may well know, Mr. President, “railroad” carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of fifteen miles per hour by “engines” which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel as such breakneck speed.

 Martin Van Buren 

Governor of New York

Change is inevitable. Wire recorders became tape recorders. Tape recorders became CD’s. CD’s became MP3’s and while I’m not sure what the initials will be for the next innovation, but I’m sure it is coming.

So what about church? Small country churches gave way to urban worship centers. “Old Blue” (Christian Hymns #2) gave way to PowerPoint slides. Black boards are now white boards. Filmstrips became video clips and two-hour sermons barely touch twenty-minutes today, but is that so bad? Only when we mistake the packaging for the product does it become a problem.

I was told recently about a little old lady who saw a young man apparently texting in church. She leaned over the pew and told him to be more respectful. “Stop that!” she whispered in her best mommy voice.

The young man blushed and held up his iPhone to show her the screen. “This is my Bible,” he protested.

She threw her nose in the air, “Well!” she quipped, “Get a real Bible!”

The Gospel is unchanging. God loved us so much, He sent His Son to save us. It doesn’t matter whether you write that using a pencil or an iPad, it’s the message we need to be concerned about.

I can’t begin to tell you how many times my “guyness” has gotten me into trouble. I don’t need the instructions. It’s obvious, but then as I get deeper and deeper into the project, I begin sheepishly looking for the directions.

The same is true about church. Many people don’t feel the need to study the Bible. They just want to go by their instincts but how many of us have bought a used car or tried to put together a computer just on instincts? (I won’t ask for a show of hands.) If our feelings get us in trouble in life, why should we trust them for decisions with eternal consequences?

So, let’s be reasonable. If we are going to please God, we need to know what God desires. It is certainly possible for God to speak to each one of us (and many people claim God has spoken to them) but that hasn’t been my experience. In fact, I suspect the voices most of those people are listening to are just echoes of their imagination. I say that because the one thing we should expect of God is consistency. There are many reasons to believe the Bible is the Word of God (and we’ll talk about those reasons in the future) and so it is reasonable to compare what these people are saying with what God has already revealed. If there is a contradiction, I’m going to stay with the Scriptures.

Other people interpret the Scriptures in light of ecclesiastical traditions. Those traditions get modified periodically to meet present circumstances. It must feel very secure to have a thousand years of tradition supporting your beliefs but what if those traditions and interpretations are wrong? Obviously then tradition isn’t on the same footing as infallible Scripture.

I believe The Bible is the full and final revelation of God and as such is the rule for matters of faith and practice. Not only is it possible to understand the Bible, it is God’s will that we do so. To the extent people have strayed from the pattern, they must return to it.

“Honey, have you seen those instructions? This looks pretty complicated and I want to get it right!” (See 2 Timothy 1:13.)

The mob was out of control. It flooded the hillside theater and spilled over onto the center stage. Gaius and Aristarchus were the focus of their wrath. Their clothes were torn. They were bruised and bleeding from having been dragged through the streets of Ephesus. Even if they had been great orators, it would have been futile to try and address the rioters.

Helpless, the Apostle Paul was nearby. He feared for the lives of his friends who had been captured by the mob as they searched for him. He felt responsible but he was powerless. One part of him desired to enter the theater and face down the crowd but his disciples and even the “Asiarchs” (the leading citizens of Ephesus) begged him not to go. There was nothing he could do but pray.

Meanwhile the pair endured the angry chants of the crowd. “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” they taunted. Gaius and Aristarchus recognized the irony as well as the futility of the mob’s refrain. Artemis was anything but great. She was simply a grotesque, multi-breasted idol carved from a single meteorite. Only the Ephesians’ credulous superstition had made her “great.” If the truth was really known, the only greatness was the profit the city merchants were making from the sale of religious souvenirs. They were the ones who had started this riot as a desperate measure to stem the tide of Christian converts.

Two hours passed. For two hours the crowd shouted in unison. For two hours the disciples watched. For two hours they listened to 20,000 people chant. For two hours the Christians prayed. Finally the mob had grown hoarse enough that the voice of reason prevailed. The city clerk dismissed the crowd and order was restored. Gaius and Aristarchus were freed.

Many years later, Aristarchus smiled as he recounted the most chilling episode of his life. That event had instilled a quiet confidence in the young Macedonian. Never again would he know fear in the same way as he had on that day. Even during the two weeks of storm at sea or the shipwreck that followed, he did not fear. He simply trusted in the God who had rescued him. Aristarchus had learned that God stands by people that stand by him.

This year Jan and I are learning about Ham Radio so I am deep in memorizing electronic formulas: P = IE, E=IR, P=E²/R and other fancy collages of letters. It is much easier to remember P=IE (and not just because I like “PIE”) than it is to remember, “Power in watts is equal to E (voltage) times I (current in amps).” I like “memory hooks.” They really help me remember a lot of information concisely.

After studying before bed, I went to sleep thinking about these things and woke up in the middle of the night with a new formula: IA2R. It may be the most important formula ever – even greater than E=MC²! It describes the four points of the Christian message: the Gospel. They are: Incarnation (I), Atonement (A), Reign (R), and Return (R).

I – Incarnation

God became a human being, just like us, to show us He understood our situation, to teach us how to be His children and to show us how to live.

A – Atonement

Jesus didn’t come to earth to bring “enlightenment” or “knowledge” or end world suffering. Jesus came to earth to die. His sacrifice took away our sins. Think about the cross as a bridge between heaven and earth for us.

R – Reign

Jesus the King, reigns in heaven today but that doesn’t mean he is far away. Jesus is near each one of us, cheering us on and providing us with power to live lives that please God. He sent his Holy Spirit to live in each of us and transform our bodies into the Temple of God.

R – Return

One day Jesus is coming back to take all of God’s children home. That is an event that we long for and it provides us with a sense of urgency to share the Good News with everyone.

 

Not a bad formula that IA2R!

So why do people think Christians are so negative? Perhaps it’s because we are always telling people what they can’t do. The “Thou-shalt-nots” loom large in our life. Christians come by it naturally though. Our Jewish forefathers studied the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) carefully gleaning out the commandments. When they were done, they counted 613 commandments – 365 negative commands and 248 positive ones. The rabbis explained there is one negative commandment for every day of the lunar year and one positive commandment for every bone in the human body. Of course that still works out to about three “Thou-shalt-nots” for every two “Thou-shalts.”

I once heard a preacher justify his fiery, negative preaching by quoting Paul’s words to Timothy: “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort,” (2 Timothy 4:2). Then he explained, “That means in two out of three sermons you ought to be angry about something.”

Yikes! But just because there are negative commandments in the Bible, does that mean we should be negative people? I don’t think so! The “thou-shalt-nots” are there to free us to live. After all, Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly,” (John 10:10). The negatives are there to keep us from making dead end choices. Look at Paul’s list again. When has a “fit of anger” ever made you happy? Are “jealous” people content? Do drunks get the most out of life or do these sins represent paths to unhappiness? No wonder a loving God warns us not to make such foolish choices!

“But there is so much evil in the world!” someone might warn and they would be right. Judith Smith pointed out in Ladies’ Bible Class, “The way to overcome evil is to turn it around. ‘Evil’ spelled backwards is ‘Live.’”

Let’s take a closer look at the word “evil.” Two words for “evil” used in the New Testament are phalos and kakos. The first, phalos can also be translated “base, ordinary.” That sheds an interesting light on Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil [phalos],” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

What if we translated Paul’s words as “so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in this life, whether good or ordinary”? If you really want to experience life don’t settle for evil, that’s just ordinary. Be extraordinary!

The second word is kakos. The second century Christian, Ignatius, wrote: “These people, while pretending to be trustworthy, mix Jesus Christ with poison [kakos]—like those who administer a deadly drug with honeyed wine, which the unsuspecting victim accepts without fear, and so with fatal pleasure drinks down death,” (Letter to the Traillians, 6:2). Evil is a deadly poison. I want no part of that!

So God is warning us not drink the poison the world is offering; instead live an extraordinary life! This thing we call “sin” has consequences, now and later, so choose life!

The great Albert Einstein was on a train leaving Princeton Junction in New Jersey, heading north. When the conductor came to his seat, Einstein was unable to find his ticket. He searched through all of his pockets and looked in his briefcase, becoming extremely disturbed. The conductor tried to comfort him, saying, “Dr. Einstein, don’t worry about the ticket. I know who you are and you don’t have to present your ticket to me. I trust that you purchased a ticket.”

About twenty minutes later, the conductor came down the aisle of the train once again and saw Einstein, still searching wildly for the misplaced ticket. The conductor again said to him, “Dr. Einstein, please don’t worry about the ticket. I know who you are!”

Einstein stood and said in a gruff voice, “Young man, I know who I am, but I am trying to find my ticket because I want to know where I am going!”¹

¹Tony Campolo, Stories That Feed Your Soul, Regal Books, 2010.

I can identify with the poor professor! Sometimes I find myself passing Tracey’s desk in the church office and I can’t remember if I walking back to my desk or out to the library. Have you ever found yourself wondering if you are going up the stairs or coming back down?

So where are you going? I’m not talking about stairs or trains. I’m talking about something far more important. I’m talking about the ultimate destination. Some people may think that’s a silly question. “There is no ultimate destination. This is it. You’ve got to live in the now,” but I think that can be a little like the man who fell off a twenty-story building and was heard to say as he passed the tenth floor, “So far so good!”

Other people live in the past. A friend of mine is a famous Hollywood make-up artist. While she worked on films, later she discovered she could make a better living keeping famous celebrities looking like they never aged!

So Christian, I’d like you to pat your pockets, check in your wallet, look in your briefcase – do whatever you need to do to find that ticket that reminds you of your final destination.

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life,” 1 John 5:13

 

In the February 28, 2005 edition, The National Review reported on a polling organization that asked a thousand citizens to update the list of “Seven Deadly Sins” (pride, envy, wrath, sloth, lust, avarice, and gluttony). Apparently the list seemed out of date so it was replaced with the sins of cruelty, adultery, bigotry, dishonesty, hypocrisy, greed, and selfishness. Personally, I’m glad gluttony is off the list but it makes you think: “What is the difference between the two lists?” and what does it say about modern times?

The old list was the product of a monk by the name of Evagrius Ponticus as revised (and simplified) by a later pope. The Bible is overflowing with catalogs of sin (see Galatians 5:19-21 for one example) and he was trying to narrow it down to root sins – sins that lead into other sins, but that leads us into defining what sin is.

While sin harms us and other people, the biblical focus is on how it damages our relationship with God. So David confesses “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4) after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and had his friend Uriah murdered. David understood that the root cause of his sins was disobeying God. The beginning of his tragic actions was lust (He saw Bathsheba and allowed himself to fantasize) and pride (“I’m the king.”).

In contrast the modern seven sins are “equated with causing pain or mental distress to people” with its logical corollary “Is it wrong if no one gets hurt?” which begs the question “Are there victimless crimes?” Obviously, God doesn’t count.

It’s not that the modern list isn’t horrible – it is – it’s just not all that helpful. For example, adultery is a terrible sin but its roots are found in pride, lust, envy and perhaps gluttony (properly defined). Likewise, hypocrisy stinks but it is the result of earlier sins like pride and anger.

By chopping at the roots of sin rather than the leaves of sin, we have a far better chance of making actual progress in the tricky business called “Life.”

 A Bible Word Study

“Either you are or you aren’t.” Have you ever known someone who makes a decision and then changes his mind — often over and over again? Perhaps they’ve changed it so many times no one knows what they really stand for anymore. Can you imagine the inner turmoil that poor soul must be experiencing!

James, the brother of Jesus, was quite a wordsmith. He had that wonderful ability to coin new words that exactly and picturesquely capture ideas. For example, when James wants to describe a very wealthy man who visits a church service, he says the man is wearing so many rings he literally has “golden fingers” (2:2).

We’ve all heard the derogatory term “two-faced” to describe a person who says one thing and then does something else. We might say he speaks “out of both sides of his mouth” but if he sincerely means both things the problem is much deeper than that. He doesn’t know what he believes! James coined a new word for the Greek language to describe just such a person. He has “two-souls” (dipsuchos).

The word only appears twice in the New Testament and both of them are in James’ epistle (1:8; 4:8). Most of our English Bibles translate James’ new word as “double-minded” but the New Living Translation gets at the heart of the meaning by explaining this kind of person “is divided between God and the world” (James 1:8). “That man” — the person who doubts the love of God — “should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does,” (1:7 – 8). In chapter four James gives the cure for double-mindedness, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded,” (4:8). Come to a decision and stand by it!

Other early Christian writers began using James’ new word. The Shepherd of Hermas, writing in the Second Century observed, “But those who are perfect in faith make all their requests trusting in the Lord, and they receive them, because they ask unhesitatingly, without any double-mindedness. For every double-minded man, unless he repents, will scarcely be saved,” (Man. IX, 6).

Clement of Rome, writing about the same time that John wrote Revelation, says Lot’s wife was a good example of a double-minded person. She wanted to be saved but she also wanted to be with her friends in Sodom “and as a result she became a pillar of salt to this day, that it might be known to all that those who are double-minded … fall under judgment,” (1 Clement 11.2).

So what’s it going to be for you — the clear sight of single-mindedness or the appalling confusion of double-minded indecision?

 

Howard Rutledge, a United States Air Force pilot, was shot down over North Vietnam during the early stages of the war. In his book In the Presence of Mine Enemies Rutledge describes what he learned about life:

“During those longer periods of enforced reflection it became so much easier to separate the important from the trivial, the worthwhile from the waste. For example, in the past, I usually worked or played hard on Sundays and had no time for church. For years Phyllis [his wife] had encouraged me to join the family at church. She never nagged or scolded – she just kept hoping. But I was too busy, too preoccupied, to spend one or two short hours a week thinking about the really important things.

“Now the sights and sounds and smells of death were all around me. My hunger for spiritual food soon outdid my hunger for a steak. Now I wanted to know about that part of me that will never die. Now I wanted to talk about God and Christ and the church. But in Heartbreak [the name POWS gave their prison camp] solitary confinement, there was no pastor, no Sunday-School teacher, no Bible, no hymnbook, no community of believers to guide and sustain me. I had completely neglected the spiritual dimension of my life. It took prison to show me how empty life is without God.”

Life is about the choices we make and putting God first should be our highest priority. With that foundation, life becomes LIFE – now and forever.