The message of the resurrection is that this world matters! That the injustices and pains of this present world must now be addressed with the news that healing, justice, and love have won…If Easter means Jesus Christ is only raised in a spiritual sense–then it is only about me, and finding a new dimension in my personal spiritual life. But if Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead, Christianity becomes good news for the whole world–news which warms our hearts precisely because it isn’t just about warming hearts. Easter means that in a world where injustice, violence, and degradation are endemic, God is not prepared to tolerate such things–and that we will work and plan, with all the energy of God, to implement victory of Jesus over them all. Take away Easter and Karl Marx was probably right to accuse Christianity of ignoring problems of the material world. Take it away and Freud was probably right to say Christianity is wish-fulfillment. Take it away and Nietzsche probably was right to say it was for wimps. — N.T. Wright
Archive for category Every Day Bible
The Resurrection of Jesus
Feb 16
Enjoyed visiting the ol’ alma matter for Lectures today. Something stood out to me in one of the lectures I attended. The speaker made several comments that were met with yells of “amen.” Within a minute’s time, he made two statements that each were met with an enthusiastic response.
The first statement: “We need to realize that everything–it is all about Jesus.”
The second statement: “We need to remember that the church is worth fighting for.”
The “amen” offered to the second statement was easily twice as loud as the first. That caught my attention.
There are several ways I could interpret this:
- We are living in a time in which people have not defended the church against slander, and it is really, really, really important we start defending her. Or,
- We like the idea of fighting for something better than we like the idea of personally living for Jesus.
I’ll leave the discussion as an exercise to the readers.
What’s your focus?
Feb 3
“In the average crisis, the crisis itself gets the attention God should have had. Helmut Thielicke said that during the bomb raids on Stuttgart he used to hear two kinds of prayers rising from the bomb shelters. Most prayed, “Lord, save us from the bombs!” and only a few prayed, “Lord, save us from the bombs.” Most believers cannot really get their minds on God when the crisis looms large. And preaching on a crisis will probably leave people talking more about the crisis than it leaves them talking about God.”
Miller, Sermon Maker p 130
When preachers lose track of God, their sermons get pushier. Not only that, when God is most absent in their lives, they are all the more present. The quieter God gets, the louder they get.
Barbara Brown Taylor raises the same issue:
Sometimes I think we do all the talking because we are afraid God won’t. Or, conversely, that God will. Either way, staying preoccupied with our own words seems a safer bet than opening ourselves up either to God’s silence or God’s speech, both of which have the power to undo us.
So we lose God when he’s quiet, because we’re too loud. We run from him when he gets loud, because we cannot stand the storm of his coming. Either way, we often come to the pulpit without him, having no clear remembrance of our last real conversation.
From Calvin Miller’s “Sermon Maker” page 18.
Confederate Dollars
Jan 26
A Christian who tries to accumulate toys, money, and possessions during life is like a Union soldier who tried to stockpile Confederate currency at the end of the Civil War.
Not only was he a traitor, he was a fool, for his prize was worthless!
Adapted from The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn.
A funny thing about change
Jan 24
“Nobody wants to change until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”
Adapted from Comeback Churches.
The Singer’s Beatitudes
Jan 6
From The Singer by Calvin Miller:
Blessed are the musical, for theirs shall be a never-ending song.
Blessed are those who know the difference between their loving and their lusting, for they shall be pure in heart and understand the reason.
Blessed are those who die for reasons that are real, for they themselves are real.
Blessed are all those who yet can sing when all the theater is empty and the orchestra is gone.
Blessed is the man who stands before the cruelest king and only fears his God.
Blessed is the mighty king who sits beside the weakest man and thinks of all their similarities.
Bruce Longenecker’s Lost Letters of Pergamum, The: A Story from the New Testament World
Most folks never read books on first century culture and customs–because frankly, they tend to be boring catalogs of information that don’t seem relevant. Longenecker teaches the history, politics, and culture of the first century by using them as the story surrounding the relationship of two men from different worlds.
This book would be well-suited for a Christian book group styled class. There are plenty of scripture references that help you apply the cultural concepts to your understanding of scripture, and as it tells the story of the conversion of Antipas, it has a great deal to say about the evangelistic process. The letters also reveal some great information about the different groups of Jesus’ day (Essenes, Pharisees, Samaritans, etc…) and some of the early heresies within the church.
All in all, this book was a great read. It kept my attention for one sitting…which is a rare, but good sign!
Wishlist
Jan 14
I’m just playing with this, but here’s what’s on my “2009 I’d like to read” list…