Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Increase of Truth Looks like Error - Introductory Thoughts on "The Bible Made Impossible"


Next week I intend to begin going through Christian Smith's excellent book, "The Bible Made Impossible". Because it challenges the thinking of the average 20th century western evangelical, I want to introduce the book by sharing a bit about my personal journey of recent years.

The Lord has been breaking me out of some significant theological "boxes" that I was raised in and have functioned in most of my life. While on one hand, this has caused me to "tremble" at times, on the other hand, the fruit of it is of God:  I am loving God and others more than ever and have been experiencing a liberty in Jesus that I have not experienced before. And this is increasing the desire in me to know Him as He truly is and to help others know how unbelievably good He is!! This has been coming for a number of years, but I've been aware of a significant "growth spurt" in the past 2-3 years in mindset changes, and it keeps getting better and better. I'm discovering as never before that the gospel really is "good news", as the Lord strips away from my thinking the many "additives" that we as evangelicals have attached to the gospel. (These additives result in making it to not always be such good news after all).

One of the more recent paradigm shifts in me has been in relation to the Scriptures, and this book by Smith has been most helpful in this. Three things convinced me to get the book: first, I trusted the source that recommended it; second, when I read about Smith himself, he made clear that he is not a liberal theologian who is wanting to undermine Scripture; and third, when I saw that his main contention in the book is that God gave us Scriptures for the primary purpose of revealing His Son Jesus, I was hooked!! As I read this book, I experienced a wonderful liberty and inner release from some ways of thinking that set me up to be overly concerned about things that tended towards separating me from others who thought differently and that influenced my mindset about how God views people.

While the shifts that I am experiencing are causing me to see through different eyeglasses now than those of my parents/mentors/teachers and friends who are now present with the Lord, I have a hunch that they would agree with the changes because these changes are leading me to greater love and increasing desire to make known the Person of Jesus Who is, after all, what it's all about!

There is never a time when we stop changing and growing; more than we realize, we are all products of our generation and culture, and I believe we are given this lifetime to be continually renewed in our mind in Christ Jesus, which means letting go of former mindsets handed down to us and taking fuller and stronger hold of the Truth (Jesus). It must be in His light that we see light (Psalm 36:9); in other words, changing our ways of thinking needs to happen with and in Him or else it turns out to be simply change from one form of darkness to another, rather than moving from darkness into increasing Light.

The changing of mindsets is no easy thing; mindsets are strongholds that are not easily dismantled. This book challenges some modern western evangelical mindsets and it may prove difficult for some, but I encourage you to go through it with heart open to the Spirit of God and with the prayer that we could see light in His light. I have found that breaking out of a "box" in which I have felt secure can be scary and can feel so wrong, but when with one hand I hold the hand of Jesus and with the other hand I hold the hand of solid believers in the process, I come through into a new place of freedom and joy.

In no way does this diminish my gratitude for all that I have received from others throughout my life; the Lord knows what I have needed all along the way to get me where I am now, and there will be still more changes in my thinking in the years to come for as long as I live in this age.

I'll close with words from George MacDonald (the author who most influenced C.S. Lewis). He wrote the following to his father in the latter part of the 19th century. The context of the statement was his own journey of breaking out of the theological "boxes" of his time and the pain that accompanies doing so:
"Increase of Truth will always in greater or less degree look like error at first..."


Thursday, December 22, 2011

Whom to Know is Life...


In light of our tradition of celebrating the birth of Jesus this week, I want to share a prayer poem with you, written in 1980:

Dear precious, tender holy Babe,
Who in Your mother's womb was made,
Find deep within this heart of mine
Seclusion sweet for birth divine.

Dear gentle, strong and perfect Man,
Who with Your Father one did stand,
Grant me a heart that runs to be
One in mind and will with Thee.

Dear humble, bleeding, spotless Lamb
Whose life true justice did demand,
Make me a heart that gladly yields
To death, that others may be healed.

Dear glorious, gracious triumphant King
Whose name alone makes heaven ring,
Plant deep inside this yielded heart
Sweet praise that never shall depart.

"This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent." John 17:3 (God's Word Translation)

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Accessing the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge - Part 3

Taking up from where we left off last week, these are final thoughts on the topic of accessing the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in Jesus, and a suggestion of where/how to grow in knowing and understanding Jesus, our Source.

If what I'm saying is true - that we can only operate and rule well in our assigned sphere of influence by drawing from the Person of Jesus (tree of life) as opposed to drawing from a "manual" (tree of knowledge of good and evil) - then I believe it's safe to conclude that good and godly rulership on our part is possible only through vital relationship with Him. As fallen people, we humans greatly prefer to get our wisdom and instructions from a manual than from a Person, especially since we don't know Him super well and are uncertain about His goodness at times; and even when convinced that He is good, we are uncertain about whether we can hear Him very well. It's much riskier to live by faith in a Person than by faith in a manual that we can touch and see and have some interpretive control over. But just as Jesus governed/judged/discerned in His assigned domain through relationship with His Father and NOT by what He could hear and see with His natural senses (Isaiah 11:2-4; John 5:17-23, 30...), so we must learn to rule by the same means if we want to be life-givers in the domain we've been given oversight of.

So how do we grow in knowing this One in whom is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? I suggest the following as simple (though not necessarily easy) ingredients - none of these on their own is sufficient, and neither will they lead us to Jesus if we don't have a teachable spirit and obedient response to His leadings:
  1. Scripture - God has already weighed in on who He is and what He is like in Christ in the Scripture, so some things about Him are already evident in His Word. However, we need to be aware that we all read His Word through biases (because of our fallenness and sin, woundedness, culture, upbringing, training, gender, personality, preferences, etc.). Healthy ways to approach the Scriptures:
    • Look for Jesus in all of Scripture. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you search for the living Word when in the written Word. Jesus is THE theme of all of Scripture, and it must be understood in light of the revelation of Jesus. If something in the OT conflicts with what we see in Jesus, the NT revelation of God in Christ carries more weight.
    • In community…until recent centuries, people knew the Scripture in community. One person read while the others listened. 
    • (The book I'll be reviewing next, "The Bible Made Impossible", will deal at length with the topic of the Bible).
  2. Prayer (personal and corporate) 
    •   Develop your personal history with God in prayer. 
      • Based on the Word of God
      • Learn to listen to and hear the voice of God
      • Obey what you believe you have heard from Him
    • Seek out “corporate” prayer (2’s and 3’s praying together),  and particularly seek to know what God is like together.
  3. Mature believers
    • Seek out people with longer life experience (both in years and in vitality) in God and whose understanding of Him incorporates a broad range of views (in other words, someone who is able to receive truth from many sources and process it in Jesus).
    • Look for those who are tracking with what God is doing in their generation – in other words, who are not "stuck in time".
    • Books and blogs are a means of being mentored by good followers of Jesus; the ideal is to have a mentor "in the flesh" to process with.
  4. Normal circumstances of life – be intentional about receiving God’s voice through those around you  (even those who don’t know Jesus) wherever you are, through the incidents of the day, in our afflictions and sufferings, in nature, etc. God is always speaking; the more often we turn to Him during the day, the more aware we become of His messages coming to us continually.
In summary - along with a teachable spirit and obedient responses, the critical ingredients to growing in the knowledge of Jesus (the tree of life) are:
  • Prayerful reading of Scriptures (both personal and corporate)
  • Listening prayer and meditation (both personal and corporate)
  • Community of Jesus followers (including a mature mentor(s))
  • Trust in God's voice as it comes to us in life circumstances

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Accessing the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge, Part 2


This is a continuation of thoughts about our need to access wisdom and knowledge if we are to fulfill the mandate given us to "rule" in our assigned spheres of influence in this age. The apostle Paul says that in Jesus is hidden treasures of wisdom and knowlege (Col. 2:1-4):
"For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, [2] that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, [3] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [4] I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments." 

Notice that the Spirit through Paul says in Col. 2:3 that the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus, implying that it requires effort  in searching out the Person of Jesus in order to discover true understanding and knowledge and wisdom (Prov. 2 & 8).

Without putting forth the effort to seek and know Jesus, we are left subject to the confusion that comes from the unrelenting voices of this age (which began with the fall of man but have reached a fever pitch in our technological age).  This applies not only in the world but in the Church as well where there are countless voices giving opinions about every subject possible that we find mentioned in Scripture. Only by knowing Jesus (God’s Mystery) can we find God’s wisdom and knowledge, which transcends that which comes through the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (See James 3:13-18.)

There are endless topics that we need insight on in our stewardship of God's assignment for us in this life; there is seldom, if ever, a “one size fits all” answer for these matters (issues related to money, relationships, family, time management, job/vocation/calling, etc., etc.). Jesus, the tree of life, is the Source of all wisdom and knowledge. Only as we grow in living our lives in Him can we transcend the pettiness of ruling/judging based on “right and wrong" which comes through dependence on the tree of knowledge. In His years on earth, Jesus Himself is the best model of what it means to live and operate from a heavenly Source (Isaiah 11:3; John 5:17-23, 30…), rather than trust in His own understanding.

Next week I'll continue along these lines. Grace to you this week as together we grow in knowing and following Jesus!

Thursday, December 01, 2011

Accessing the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge

In light of the recent posts I've shared related to the collapse of evangelicalism as we know it and in light of the accompanying search for God in the midst of the chaos and confusion resulting from this collapse, I thought I'd share some thoughts in the next couple of weeks on "accessing the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." This is a little different angle on things I've shared before.


Colossians 2:1-4  (ESV)
"For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, [2] that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, [3] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [4] I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments."  

Because of God’s desire for a Bride for His Son who would rule and reign with Him forever, He created humans according to His image; that image of God includes the capacity to rule. We humans are made to govern, and governing includes the need to judge people and situations.

Because knowledge is the grounds by which we rule in our given sphere, the gaining of knowledge is imperative to us. All of us have been given a sphere in which we have influence over someone else; the father and his family, the mother and the home and children, the man or woman at their job, a person and his or her friends, the "pastor" and the  flock, the government official and his realm, the king and his kingdom, etc. Knowing particular information gives us an upper hand and a sense that we can make good decisions and cause life to go the way we believe it should go. (For fallen humans, ruling is about controlling rather than about serving; therefore, access to knowledge is access to control.)

I believe the early chapters of Genesis give us insight into God's generous sharing of authority with humans and into His intentions for how humans would access the needed information to rule well. The enemy’s subtle slandering of God’s nature planted a seed of doubt in Adam and Eve’s trust in His willingness to share all the information they needed to govern well. Along with successfully creating a suspicion of God in Adam and Eve, the serpent pointed them in the direction of the tree of knowledge suggesting that here was a sure source of information they could count on! (After all, God’s instructions to NOT eat of that particular tree suggested that He was withholding needed information.)

There was nothing inherently evil about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was created by God and was a way of knowing, but it was a way of knowing without intimacy, without relationship. The tree of life, however, was available and had no restrictions on eating from it.

Like our first parents, we have all decided that gaining of knowledge apart from relationship is a safer and more secure way and so have eaten of the forbidden fruit; in our fallenness, we are born suspicious of God’s intentions and so we all choose to operate on the basis of that which we can touch and see and control. In order to do a good job of “ruling” in our assigned sphere of influence, we want to be sure we’re getting all the information needed to do it well and thereby control our “world”. Trusting a Person that we have innate suspicions about is too risky.

God intended for Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of life and thereby tap into His life, enjoying constant union with God in Christ, and out of that intimate relationship together in Christ to receive all that was needed for governing the domain they were given charge over. 

God’s intention has not changed. This age is internship training for governing in the age to come. We practice “rulership” now in the domain given us, and what we learn now will carry over into the next age. Accessing Jesus (the Tree of life), in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is critical for discovering the wisdom and knowledge needed for ruling well in this age. Our highest goal and priority now must be to grow in the intimate knowledge of God and to govern in our assigned sphere according to His wisdom and knowledge.

More on this next week...God bless you!
 




Thoughts for Lent (9) - On Changing Our Minds

In this reading from Walter Brueggemann's  A Way Other Than Our Own , the author issues an invitation to us as the final week of Lent be...