Assurance, Insurance, and the Bottom Line

(Note: I am posting from the road. Sketches may be added later.)

This past week I shared a sermon from Hebrews 3:7-19. The central truth of this passage is that obstinate rebellion results in judgment, even for people of promise. I think Hebrews brings an increasingly severe (and scary) series of warnings to the church. The warning seem to be making the case that there is a line of apostasy, and if you cross that line there is NO coming back.

Of course this immediately raise the questions of eternal security, losing one's salvation, perseverance of the saints, once saved - always saved...how ever you want to describe it. I read these passages and am forced to ask the question, "Can a Christian lose the promise of life eternal?"

Hebrews seems to answer that question affirmatively.

Now I realize that my fellow Calvinists will have a handful of theological constructs they use to explain away this interpretation of the warning passages in Hebrews. I do not have the time energy or desire to discuss these constructs other than to ask, "If there is no danger, then why is there a warning?"

The concept I would like to engage now is how quickly biblical exhortations to Christian faith (and conversely warnings against apostasy) end up as discussions about so called eternal security.

Is it possible that we have reduced the entirety of the Good News to a list of theological propositions or moral decisions that we have to accept in order to avoid damnation? Is the only value of following Jesus escaping hell? Is there nothing else of value?

Or, to turn the issue on its head, if there was no such promise of eternal life or threat of eternal damnation, would we still follow?

The Right Reverend Wright is Right

(Note: Posting from the road. I might add sketches later)

I watched the following video through a friends FaceBook link yesterday:

http://vimeo.com/24472481

Anyone who knows me knows that I have, um, let's call it an "affinity" for N.T. Wright. Ever since I read Surprised by Hope a couple years ago (a book, by the way, that absolutely changed my life) I have been reading through Wright's stuff as fast as I can. He is an accomplished Bible scholar and prolific writer, so there is a lot of stuff to read, but it is always good and always challenging.

So when I saw a link to the video above, naturally I had to watch. It's called "Messianic Lunacy," a title which is dripping with the kind of stinging but true style of critique that Wright employs so often and so well.

The premise of the video is a question, " What makes N.T. Wright Angry?"

As I watched the video, I found myself, as usual, agreeing with what he was saying. Maybe I am an unthinking fan boy, but this Brit makes sense.

It is frustrating to encounter Christians who view the world so myopically and yet feel so strongly that they know just what is wrong and just how to fix it.

Watch it and become more awesome than you are right now.

"No-ing" versus "Knowing"

(Note: Posting from the road. Sketches may be added later.)

I had an interesting conversation today. One that related to my studies Hebrews. More or less we talked about doubting. The question we talked around was, "How much can you doubt and still believe?"

This is a good question, I think. One that more and more Christians seem to be asking. Some Christian leaders would have us believe that doubting is symptomatic of a lack of faith. They would tell us that to waiver in belief means that you don't believe, that you have no faith.

I am not sure I agree.

As I read the Bible, it seems that God has a lot of graciousness for doubters. People who waiver, stumbled in their certainty. People who wonder why God does what he does, or when he will do what he has said he will do. Or whether he is even there at all.

On the other hand, he doesn't seem to tolerate obstinate rebellion. Could it be that "believing" isn't an absence of doubt as much as it is the presence of obedience?

Over the last few weeks I have had several opportunities to answer a version of the following question, "What should I do when I find it hard to believe in God?"

My response?

Live like you believe it is true.

I mean, what else can you do? You can't make yourself believe what you don't believe, right? You can't just decide to have no doubt, can you? I sure can't. So when I experience doubts in my own life, and see others around me doubting, I find comfort in God's apparent patience with those who have a hard time believing, and motivation from his apparent frustration with those who stumble into rebellion.

I live like it is true...even though sometimes I wonder whether or not it is.

Seeing Myself in The Desert of Sin

I have been preaching my way through Hebrews at my church. You can check out some sermons here: http://sermon.net/newhorizon

This coming Sunday I will be teaching from Hebrews 3:7-19. It is an interesting passage. Structurally it challenging because it essentially is using a story from Israel's past (Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:1-13) as it is understood theologically from the perspective of the Psalmist in Psalm 95.

So I have been reading through sections of the Exodus story, reacquainting myself with the rocky relationship between God and his people in these early years. As I have been doing this I have realized a pretty challenging fact.

The people in the desert remind me of me.

I tend to revert to a complaining sort of fatalism at the first glimpse of significant obstacles in my path. I find myself questioning the path that God has called me to walk, not because the path is hard - I expected as much - but because the path seems to be fatal. There are times when I think I might be in mortal danger (figuratively speaking of course...well mostly). I find myself thinking, "Wouldn't it have been better to not have started the journey than to come this far only to fail?"

As I read the story of God's people and their exodus out of Egypt towards the promised land, as I see how similar their attitude is to mine, I am suddenly a bit fearful.

Because that attitude angers God.

"The Terrible Twos" (Jude 5-7)

Yesterday my friend and teacher Herb Bateman preached, I had the day off.

It was great.

It has been a long time since I sat and listened to a sermon. The content was good, the presentation engaging, and the experience of learning was a real treat.

But, wow, Jude? What a trip. When was the last time you heard a sermon out of Jude? Such an overlooked but powerful little letter.

Herb focused on verses 5-7 and summed up the idea this way: Divine repercussions exist for those who persist in telling God, "No!"

He called it the "Sermon in a Sentence." I like that, I might steal it. After all, he probably stole it from someone else.

He explored some "angel rebellion" stories from 1 Enoch, which bothered some people, I guess, but absolutely fascinated me. The bottom line, it doesn't matter who you are, a follower of God, an celestial being, a pagan...if you rebel against God's norms there WILL be repercussions.

Ouch.

It got even better during sermon discussion (a weekly tradition at my church) where he shared that he believed Jude was written to Jewish believers who were at risk of being deceived by rebellious political dissenters who were stirring up people en route the soon-to-erupt Jewish rebellion of the late 60s - early 70s C.E.

As I thought about it, I slowly began to realize that if Herb is right, then the implications for modern day believers become even more challenging. As Jewish rebels were gathering strength, they would have done so (at least in part) by appealing to the nationalistic sentiment of their countrymen. A sentiment that almost entirely ignored the claim that Jesus was the real messiah, and his kingdom is not of this earth. In other words, throwing off the oppressive rule of a gentile empire (Rome) was not the concern of a follower of Jesus, the Christ.

This sounds like a teaching against rebellion of all sorts, not the least of which is rebelling violently against oppressive governments.

Yay Gandhi!

But that might be beside the point.

Undeniable is the strength of Jude's warning: persist in rebellion and there WILL be repercussions.

Good stuff, Dr. Bateman, good stuff.

This Instead of That

I have only ever been a casual blogger. This is probably because I like to think of myself as a writer but I really am not. I can write, but it does not come easy. On top of that, the writing I do is usually not that good and the things I write not really that valuable.

But people ask me to. I actually have people ask me to blog more. I usually respond by saying, "Have you actually read my blog? It isn't that good."

But they persist.

So I have decided to focus my blogging activity on my job, which is teaching the Bible. If you want personal stuff, talk to me in person. I will try to keep the rants to a minimum, and focus on writing my way through what I am preaching and teaching at my church.

Thanks for reading.