Amazing Grace: The Spirit Who Lives In Us, Part 2

In the second class on the Spirit we want to answer questions and fill in blanks. This is a time for reflection, testimony, and discussion, whereas the first class will largely have been lecture, as the material will either be old hat or brand new.

Q. How should we feel about the Spirit? Should we worship the Spirit?

A. The Spirit’s role is to point people to Jesus, not to the Spirit. We are not to let the Spirit usurp Jesus’ role in our salvation. Our faith is in Jesus.

Amazing Grace: The Spirit Who Lives In Us, Part 1

I’m persuaded that it’s just not possible to really understand God’s grace without some understanding of how his Spirit works in us today. I don’t want to talk about Pentecostalism, tongues, or that sort of thing in this lesson. In fact, all too often we so focus on what we don’t believe that we never get around to teaching what we do believe.

A sound understanding of the Spirit requires that we go back to the story of the Exodus. God asked the Israelites to build a tabernacle, literally a portable tent for use in worship and sacrifice as they journeyed across the desert. God promised, “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them” (Exo. 25:8).

Amazing Grace: Introduction

This begins a new series of posts that will be the building blocks for a series of classes to be taught this coming winter on grace. Much of the material may already be found here and there on this site, but the idea is to squeeze the essentials into a 13-lesson series that can be taught by several different teachers at once.

We are blessed to have a growing congregation, but growth comes with growing pains.

Interpreting the Bible: Equipping for Good Works

My brother suggested that this verse may be an important hermeneutical principle. I think he’s right–

(2 Tim. 3:16-17) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Rarely do we go to the Scriptures looking for help in doing good works. Even more rarely do we go to the Old Testament, and Paul’s reference “Scriptures” has to be taken as primarily a reference to the first 39 books of the Bible.

Interpreting the Bible: Asking the Right Questions

I forget who told me this, but it’s been a source of great insight for me over the years: “The Bible not only provides the answers, it also provides the questions.”

The first time I heard it, I found it a perplexing saying. Why couldn’t I ask the questions I want to ask? Who is God to tell me what to ask? Well, it answers itself, doesn’t it? GOD is who he is!

Luke chapter 12

I’ve now added an outline for Luke 12. This is a series of outlines I’m preparing for our adult Bible classes and are designed for Sunday school teachers to teach from. But they’d work for personal study, too. Luke chapter 12

The rest of the outlines may be found at Luke outlines.

How do I know if God has called me to a task?

I’ve had this question posed to me several times. It’s not an easy one for a couple of reasons.

First, when the New Testament speaks of a Christian being “called,” it usually means called to obey the gospel. On the other hand, when Jesus calls James and John to follow him (Matt. 4:21 ff), they are being called to “be fishers of men,” a very specific task.

On “Going Forward”

In Churches of Christ, the practice of “going forward” after the sermon is nearly universal. It think it bears considerable rethinking.

To gain some perspective, let’s reflect on the history of this practice. There’s no mention of it in the New Testament or the Church Fathers. In fact, it likely began with 19th Century American Frontier Revivalism. Frontier Revivalism was a feature of the Second Great Awakening led by Charles Finney, Barton W. Stone, and many other American preachers. These men preached powerful evangelistic sermons in frontier communities, pointing the sermon toward a climatic call for those in the audience to come forward to sit on the mourner’s bench.

Do We Have to Obey?

In classrooms and Internet discussion boards, many are asking, “Do we have to obey?” The question is prompted by a concern that the Bible’s teaching on grace seems to contradict the many verses that require us to obey God’s commands.

In particular, it sounds to many as though “we’re saved by faith” contradicts the plain requirements that we must obey God’s commands.

To have an intelligent conversation on the subject–and it’s an important one–we must make two points.

Interpreting the Bible: Why Hermeneutics Isn’t a Science

The other night, I was surfing the Internet to learn more of what others think about Biblical hermeneutics. I was astonished to learn how many people from many different faith traditions refer to hermeneutics as a “science.”

You see, to me, hermeneutics is as much about poetry and art as it is about science. After all, hermeneutics is the process of understanding God’s written word. And understanding anyone is far from scientific–at least, as we tend to use the word.

Interpreting the Bible: Big Rocks Go in First!

Several years ago, our then minister, Buddy Jones, preached a powerful sermon. He begin with a large, clear glass. Maybe it was a brandy snifter.

He began by talking about how busy we all are. He placed some large smooth rocks in the glass, saying these represent our faith and family. And then some smaller rocks representing our jobs and such. He then added some smaller rocks that represented lesser priorities, all the while discussing how we try to squeeze so much into a little space. He then added some sand, and finally some water–up to the very brim.

We were surprised at how much he was able to fit in there. He asked the audience, so what’s the lesson?

Well, we were stunned, because preachers just don’t ask questions, you know! But a few courageous souls tried, most saying something like how hard it is to squeeze everything is.

Buddy said, no, the lesson is—THE BIG ROCKS GO IN FIRST!

Reflections on the Instrumental Music Question

Here I am, an elder of an a cappella Church of Christ, and we just had another wonderful worship service with truly marvelous singing. We’ve figured out how to do a truly excellent job with our singing (praise team of at least 8 voices, good sound board work, skilled song leading–and a spirit of freedom and joy in the Spirit). And here I am arguing that instrumental music is not a sin.

I mean, it’s not like my church needs instrumental music to have a great worship service! We are drawing many new members from instrumental backgrounds, and no one’s begging for a piano or guitar. I personally have no interest in introducing instruments. I think what we have is plenty good enough. In fact, an organ would be, as Alexander Campbell said, “Like a cowbell in a concert.”

Nonetheless, I find my spirit drawn into this controversy, not because I care whether anyone buys a piano, but because the thinking behind our position leads to so many other problems.

Interpreting the Bible: Instruments of Music

So let’s try out all these theories on a tough question: is a cappella music in worship mandatory?

Rather than considering the traditional arguments, let’s go through the hermeneutical principles taught earlier and see where they lead us.

Each bold caption refers to an earlier post. In fact, this post concludes a dozen or so earlier posts on hermeneutics. Please read those before reading this one, or it just won’t make sense to you. The captions each link to the appropriate earlier post, in case you want to read the post and then the argument regarding instrumental music as you go.

Interpreting the Bible: But I Say Unto You …

Additional important examples of Jesus’ hermeneutics are found in the Sermon on the Mount. Early in the sermon, Jesus declares,

(Matt. 5:17-18) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

Jesus then gives several examples of bad interpretations of the Law of Moses and gives his own interpretation, giving us a marvelous example of the contrast between flawed and perfect hermeneutics.

Interpreting the Bible: Woe to You Pharisees!

Consider how Jesus interpreted the Old Testament:

(Matt. 23:16-22) “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

The Law of Moses contained prohibitions against swearing (e.g. Num. 30:2). Jesus makes the point that the Pharisees’ teaching that some oaths are binding and some are not violates God’s will regardless of what you swear by. God’s will is that you keep your word!

Jesus, thus, looks through the command to the purpose behind the command.

Interpreting the Bible: Learn from Your Opponents

Many years go, public television aired a biography of Socrates. I well remember an exchange between him and one of his opponents–

Opponent: Socrates, you have to stop teaching these lies! You’re destroying your reputation. People are laughing at you. Your friends are an evil influence on you!

Socrates: My friends are those who want to help me, and my enemies are those who want to hurt me, right?

Opponent: Um, right.

Socrates: The people you call my friends you say wish to hurt me. You, who consider yourself my enemy, want to help me. It seems that my friends are my enemies and my enemies are my friends!

Opponent: You make black white and white black! I can’t stand listening to you!!

Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration

Amazingly enough, I’ve been invited to speak at Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration, which is what they call their lectureship nowadays. It’ll be good to visit my alma mater and share a few ideas on grace. The topic is “What Really Is a Test of Fellowship?” I’ll be teaching a class on July 5, 2007, which is the first full day of the program. Class is at 9:45 in Room 110 of the Swang Building.

The PowerPoint outline used for the presentation is here: PowerPoint version.

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Well, I’m back. Had a good time. Much to my surprise, they put me in a lecture hall that sat maybe 75 and it was nearly full.

Even more to my surprise, the message was well received. I wouldn’t pretend that everyone was convinced, but at least the reception was polite! Some were clearly thrilled that the lesson was taught. Others seemed puzzled by the lesson. I understand. It would have puzzled me not that many years ago.

I regret I didn’t have more time to cover the material and respond to objections. The full argument may be found here. This is a link to my book The Holy Spirit and Revolutionary Grace. It’s still available at a few locations on the internet (cheap!) or for free by clicking on the link.

I was only able to cover the first half of the outline, and not the “hidden” slides. If you are familiar with PowerPoint, you can “unhide” several slides that provide additional support for the arguments made. I had to exclude these from the presentation to leave time for questions.

Question time is always fun. People were curious about my views on baptism. Those may be found here.  Others asked about instrumental music. Click on the “Instrumental music” category to the right of this page and you’ll get a pretty full explanation of what I think.

Hopefully they’ll invite me back. Lipscomb has dramatically changed since I graduated in 1978! It’s really quite dramatic, and I wish I’d had more time to explore the new campus.

Interpreting the Bible: Learn from History

I imagine this sounds contradictory to what I just said about being cautious in using the Patristics, but it’s not. We do need to learn from history, but what we need to learn is more about ourselves.

The Bible is sufficient to tell us how to please God. We don’t need to read the minutes of the Nicene Council or the essays of Tertullian or Clement to sort that out.

But the study of church history is like looking in a mirror.

Interpreting the Bible: Distinguishing Commands from Historical Accidents

Some things are in the Bible to teach us and as examples we are to follow. Other things are just what happened–not as examples.

Jesus changed water into wine at a wedding. Does this mean we are to serve wine at our weddings?

Five times the New Testament writers command their readers to greet one another with the Holy Kiss? Do we have to?

Women are commanded to be silent in the assembly? Does that apply today?

Interpreting the Bible: Beware the Patristics

The “Patristics” are letters and such written by uninspired Christians in the centuries shortly after the founding of the church. Sometimes the authors are called the “Church Fathers.”

We are blessed by having a considerable volume of these writings. We learn from them a lot about how the early church thought and acted. Some of these writings date back to the late First Century!

However, if you take the time to read these materials, they are clearly inferior to the books of the Bible. There’s a noticeable drop off in quality from the canonical books to the Patristics.