Some Time In The Next Few Days ...

...my "unique viewers" counter will roll over 70,000 since January 7, 2005.

Most web statisticians will agree that means that only between 15-35,000 of those are actual, unique viewers. I'm pretty sure the numbers have slowed from a good-sized banquet gathering to a booth at the coffee bar, so "the next few days" is only a guess. Of those numbers, some will have dropped their blogging habit in favor of Facebook or Twitter or the next thing that requires fewer words, thoughts and commitment. I'm sure some will have only stayed long enough at this blog to learn they're not interested, or are offended.

(Mike Cope once told me while still preaching at Highland that his personal motto was "A little something to offend everyone." I still like that.)

I'm not big into the numbers. (I probably haven't checked that dumb counter for weeks; just happened to see it when scrolling down to review an older post.) I'm not offering a prize for viewer #70,000. (It'd be junk, anyway. That's all I own. Junk and stuff. I use the stuff and look at the junk.)

So, here's a little something to offend and disappoint everyone:

I think the Restoration Movement started off in the wrong direction, and is still pursuing it.

I believe the whole idea of trying to restore the New Testament church of century one is wrong-headed (though probably right-hearted) and has led us into the divisive, contentious, denominational morass that at least some folks are willing to recognize for what it is.

(Mother Lemming to Teenage Son: "Well, if all your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you do it, too?" Teenage Son: "Duh! - Of course!" Maybe our fellowship's plight is not that desperate. Or is it?)

Instead of trying to be like an institution of imperfect people - sinful people, made perfect by the blood of Christ - shouldn't we have been trying to just be like Christ?

Even Paul instructs that he should be followed only inasfar as he follows Christ.

The whole Restoration exercise has made us church-centered instead of Christ-centered. We preach church instead of Christ. We preach what to do instead of what He has done - and is doing, and would like to do through us, if we'd just let Him. And far too often, we preach as doctrines of God what are really precepts and interpretations and legislations of men. Law, in other words, which cannot save. (Paul said that. I believe him.)

I don't want to be like the church of the first century. Or the eighteenth century. Or the twentieth, or even the twenty-first. I want to be like Jesus.

But I need your help.

I need to know who Jesus is, and what I understand about Him that's right, and what I misunderstand about Him that's wrong. I need His Spirit inside me and His family - His church - around me. I need the comfort and reassurance of God without and within me.

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

I believe that's why God puts us, the lonely, in His family - so that we can see Christ in each other and get to know Him better.

I don't give a flying flip anymore about who is in and who is out of the church, the saved, the redeemed. I'll talk about Jesus Christ with anyone, and let God decide - and I will be glad to listen to what anyone believes about Him and glad to share Whom I believe and in the end, I will only be responsible for what I've believed and chosen and taught and so will they.

I don't give a howling hoot any longer about how church must be structured or what name must appear on the sign in front or what you can or can't do on Sunday inside the building as if it were somehow more sacred than the rest of the world the Lord God made with His own words of creation during six extraordinary days of creative work.

I don't care a whining whimper these days about programs, series, lessons, lectures, theories, interpretations, deductions, conclusions, traditions, and any kind of religious claptrap that diverts attention from Christ to the church as if the church were of first importance. The church was of first importance to Christ, the Bridegroom who laid down His life for her.

If the church is of first importance to the church ... well, good people, that's just plain narcissism on the part of the bride. That's the twenty-five cent word. The five cent word is "selfishness." And it's a sin.

Time is short. It has been for the better part of two thousand years, and an end of one kind or another comes to all and it awaits you and me.

I don't want to squander the time pursuing a life as part of a bride that primps at the mirror, ignoring all of the other crucial things involved in preparing for the arrival of the bridegroom and the great wedding feast to come.

I just want to sit down at Christ's table and dine with Him and with you.

I simply want to sing and pray His praise with our voices blended.

I genuinely want to be immersed with you in His life, doing together with you what He wants us to do.

I emphatically want to be a part of His church, His family with you - all of you - because that's what He wants.

Now those are the sort of numbers I can get excited about!

Tomorrow I will have to get up, get dressed and go to work at my church, and either pretend that I did not write this and do not believe it, or own up to it with everything that I say and do hereafter - and possibly lose that job as a result. So I need you to pray for me, all three of you who are left reading this fool's errand of a blog - and be God's family for me.

What Should We Teach?

After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. ~ Matthew 11:1

I quote this simply to point out that the New Testament uses two different words, "preach" and "teach." Since I am not a biblical languages scholar nor-do-I-play-one-on-television, I don't know all the nuances of difference between the two Greek words didaskō (teach) and kēryssō (preach; proclaim; herald). I can't tell you of a certainty that the same words have the same meaning or would have been used in the same situations in which we'd use them today. (See also Acts 4:2, 5:42, 15:35 and Colossians 1:28, where they are used together.)

But I am of the opinion that the Holy Spirit does not use words lightly in scripture - certain words are used for certain reasons - and that we followers of Christ may well have gotten sloppy about what we preach and what we teach, as well as how and when and where.

Jesus taught in synagogues (Matthew 13:54; Mark 1:21, 6:2; 4:15, 13:10; John 6:59), the temple courts (Matthew 21:23; Mark 12:35, 18:49; Luke 19:47, 20:1, 21:37; John 7:14, 7:28, 8:2, 8:20), by a lake (Mark 2:13, 4:1; Luke 5:3), from village to village (Mark 6:7; Luke 13:22), in a house (Luke 5:17-18), even in the streets (Luke 13:26). His disciples followed suit (Acts 5:21 - apostles in the temple courts; Acts 18 - Paul and Apollos in synagogues; Acts 28:31 - Paul at his own house, Acts 8:25-40 - John, Peter and Phillip in village after village, etc.).

Recently, I posted a blog entry (What Should We Preach?) that listed incidences of preaching. Looking at these examples in the New Testament - plus those above - I can't help but get the impression that there was a difference both in the matter and manner between preaching and teaching, at least in the majority of situations shared there.

The gospel of Jesus Christ was preached, proclaimed, heralded - in a manner which invited no particular interaction. The truth was shared powerfully: Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God; He lived and died and was raised to nail our sins to the cross so that we might be resurrected to new life, eternal life. Simple. Truth. No controversy permitted.

Yet the situations in which other matters were taught seemed to be ones where dialogue was encouraged; people felt free to trade questions and answers. Yes, sometimes the gospel was taught, as well has having been preached or proclaimed. But look back again at what those matters were.

For the most part, what was taught was not the gospel - not the Truth itself - but the ways in which people respond to it; become part of the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus taught in beatitudes and parables. He answered and asked questions. He said provocative things which begged for discussion and illumination. He taught about how the truth spreads, how to live it out in daily life, how to pray, and how therefore the kingdom propagates. He prodded about who the Messiah would be, and who people thought He was. He taught what would come, and how to prepare for it.

But what He first preached was the good news.

His followers taught all sorts of love-driven ways to imitate Jesus Christ; taught a theology of redemption, the dangers of heresies, the sufficiency of Christ's blood and a host of other doctrines.

But what they first preached was the gospel.

I'm afraid that we Christians too often preach a lot of things we should be teaching, and give only teaching mentions and cameos to what we should primarily be preaching.

We wonder why we're not persuading more people to follow Christ, yet we hardly ever proclaim Him.

We frequently herald a "gospel" of behavior modification but we rarely speak of the One whom we should be like.

We often preach our position on all sorts of disputable matters and neglect the weightiest matter of all.

I think there's a reason why the gospel is of "first importance" in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5.

I believe there's a reason that "preach" (Mark 16:15) and "make disciples" (Matthew 28:19) are the first imperative verbs in both instances of Jesus' commission to His followers, followed later by "teach."

I'm also persuaded that elevating the disputable matters and the doctrines of men to the level of preaching implies incorrectly that they are somehow a part of the gospel. By all means, teach such matters and do so in an environment where all are free to ask and answer questions. Pray together for discernment and the guidance of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14, Philippians 1:9-11, Luke 11:13).

And let the gospel be preached.

My (Short) Autobiography

When you create a profile on Google, they ask you to write a short bio. Here's mine:

Short bio: I was born. I learned to walk and talk. I went to school. I learned to sit and shut up. I went to college. I learned to walk and talk with girls. I got married. I got divorced. I learned to walk and talk with God. I married again. We adopted two children. I am We are trying to teach them how to walk and talk with God.

And I don't even think I used the maximum number of characters.

Matthew 2

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 32

When a baby is born, you want everything to be perfect. Especially, when the perfect Baby is born; the One whom prophets and angels have foretold; the One who will take away sins. But what the prophets foretold was not the idyllic, perfect story we tell at Christmastide - and Matthew's second chapter checks off each prophecy as evil threatens this perfect One:

• Herod polls the religious leaders, who correctly recall that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
• Joseph, warned of Herod, takes Mary and the child to safety in Egypt (Hosea 11:1)
• Frustrated at not finding his prey, Herod orders the slaughter of the innocents of Bethlehem (Jeremiah 31:15)
• After Herod's death, they return to live in Nazareth

Here Matthew says prophets - plural - call Him a Nazarene, and while there may be a similarity in that word to the Hebrew word (netser / neser) for "shoot" or "branch" (Isaiah 11:1 - as well as it becoming a synonym for a person ill-regarded (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:46) - what we know is this: the baby showers given by admiring shepherds and wealthy wise men were followed by a flight from terrorism, and a return in anonymity to a place where no one would look for an anointed King of Righteousness. Because Satan's forces would stop at nothing - including mass infanticide - to try to defeat One who would take away sins.

Holy and Righteous God, help us to see beyond our desire for a nice and sweet and harmless, perfect Savior to the heinous arrogance of the sin that seeks to beguile and persuade and corrupt us. Remind us in this bread of the body given by a mighty and sinless, powerful Savior - Your own perfection incarnate from cradle to cross - to rescue us from its grasp. Amen.

Father of the Loving, Living Son: We recognize that it was heaven's dearest blood that Herod sought and that his successor succeeded in spilling. It was Jesus' blood poured out and given, recognized in this cup, which takes away sins ... which protects us from the evil one ... which gives us a name and a place and a family. Your family. Amen.

What Should We Preach?

• "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." ~ Matthew 4:17; 10:7
• The good news of the kingdom of God. ~ Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Luke 4:43, 9:2, 16:16; Acts 8:12, 20:25, 28:31
• Good news to the poor. ~ Matthew 11:5; Luke 4:18, 7:22
• What you practice. ~ Matthew 23:3
• A baptism of repentance. ~ Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3
• The word. ~ Mark 2:2; Acts 8:4, 14:25, 16:6; 2 Timothy 4:2; 1 Peter 1:25
• That people should repent. ~ Mark 6:12
• The gospel. The good news. ~ Matthew 26:13; Mark 13:15, 14:9; Luke 3:18, 9:6; Acts 8:25, 40, 14:7, 21, 16:10; Romans 1:15, 15:20; 1 Corinthians 1:17, 9:14, 16, 18, 15:1-2; 2 Corinthians 10:16; Galatians 1:11, 2:2-7, 4:13; Hebrews 4:2-6; 1 Peter 1:12, 4:6
• Repentance and forgiveness of sins. ~ Luke 24:47
• The name of Jesus Christ ~ Acts 8:12
• That Jesus is the Son of God. ~ Acts 9:20
• Jesus is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ~ Acts 10:42
• The word of the Lord. The word of God. ~ Acts 15:35-36, 17:13
• The good news about Jesus and the resurrection. ~ Acts 17:18
• That Jesus was the Christ. ~ Acts 18:5
• That they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. ~ Acts 20:21
• That they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. ~ Acts 26:20
• The gospel of his (God's) Son. ~ Romans 1:9
• Christ crucified. ~ 1 Corinthians 1:23
• Christ has been raised from the dead. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:12-14
• The Son of God, Jesus Christ. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:19
• The gospel of Christ. ~ 2 Corinthians 2:12
• Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:5
• The gospel of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 11:7; 1 Thessalonians 2:9
• Peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ~ Ephesians 2:17
• The unsearchable riches of Christ. ~ Ephesians 3:8
• Christ. ~ Philippians 1:15-17

These things were preached.

They were proclaimed. ~ Mark 1:14; Luke 8:1, 9:60; Acts 4:2, 5:42, 8:5, 25, 13:5, 38, 17:3, 23, 20:27, 10:8, 15:16-19, 1 Corinthians 2:1, Colossians 1:23-28, 4:3-4; 2 TImothy 4:17; 1 John 1:1-3.

All these things are really one. (It's obvious, isn't it?)

This one message was shared in the context of history and prophecy fulfilled (Acts 2, 3:11-26, 4:1-21, 7). It was explained in the context of current and local beliefs (Acts 17:16-34). Before great crowds and small gatherings, kings and governors, stadiums of angry protesters and fellow prisoners in jail cells, by rivers and in synagogues and in homes, this is what was preached and what the bearers of the gospel encouraged others to preach.

In all of scripture, I am unable to find instruction, encouragement or example to preach anything but this. No sermons arguing about how bad sin is, how stupid unbelievers are, how wrong other faiths and beliefs are, how right and good we are to have figured everything out, how new binding but silent law compels the follower in Christ to perfect obedience, how to discern what is binding from what isn't, how much our works of obedience must complete our salvation, how eschatological theology affects ecclesiology in an epistemological context, or how many angels can dance on the head of a pinhead.

I did, however, find warnings about the sanctity of the gospel:

"By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain." ~ 1 Corinthians 15:2

"For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough." ~ 2 Corinthians 11:4

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!" ~ Galatians 1:8-9

And I found one bit of good, solid preaching philosophy:

"I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." ~ 1 Corinthians 2:2

So here's my two cents' worth on the matter. You've heard or read me say it before:

People who don't know about Jesus need to.

The rest of us never tire of hearing more about Him.

Luke 1 and 2

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 31

Luke's opening chapter leaves no doubt that the Child foretold in centuries past will be born an extraordinary child. Angels appear. A forerunner is prophesied. A Messiah is promised. The fetal forerunner John leaps in his mother Elizabeth's womb. Mary sings. Zechariah sings. And in chapter two, all of heaven sings while dazed shepherds keep watch over the innocent, newborn Lamb of God.

But the prophecies are not all kind and fair. When the parents bring their eight-day-old Son to the temple for circumcision, the elderly prophet Simeon seems to sing his praise and prayer for God's salvation - and for release from this life. He holds the Child and blesses Him and confirms His destiny: to cause the rising and falling of many in Israel ... to be a sign spoken against ... to reveal the thoughts and hearts of many. And he tells Mary that a sword will pierce her own soul, too. It is a dark revelation, relieved only a moment later when the prophetess Anna begins telling everyone around that this Child would bring the redemption of Jerusalem.

God and Father, You behold past, present and future. You weave them to Your purpose. You create life, give life, restore life. Your promises never fail. So we sing to You our praise of thanksgiving for the redemption of our lives, our bodies ... through the Body of Your Son. We cherish Him in this bread, which nourishes body and soul. Amen.

Merciful and Just One; Loving and Righteous God: thank You for giving Your Son, the Only of Your creation to remain innocent as a newborn throughout the span of life. Through His blood, we fallen may rise again. Through His blood, the thoughts of our hearts are revealed. Through His blood, a sword pierces our own souls, too. Through His blood, we find redemption from sin. Through His name, we thank you for this cup: Amen.