Christ Before Christmas
We’re in the season of expectancy, preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ. There was a season of expectancy before his actual birth 2,000 years ago–expectancy both on earth, where prophecies of a coming Messiah were passionately studied and only partly understood, and also in heaven, where the eternal God was preparing to break in to time and space and human life. It has been said that Jesus was the only person who chose to be born.
Matthew and Luke tell the story of Jesus’ birth “from the ground up,” through the eyes and ears of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi. John (John 1:1-14) gives us the view from the sky, as it were:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John [the Baptist]. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word became flesh on that first Christmas. We use words to express meaning and to connect with one another. From the beginning there was meaning and there was relationship among the three Persons of the Godhead. From the creation of man, God’s intent has been that we would live with full understanding of meaning, and in close relationship with him, with one another, and with all of his creation. No one needs to be convinced that we have not lived out that ideal. The Word became flesh to restore us to it. Merry Christmas indeed!
He was and he is both life and light. By coming to live as a human among humans, he opened to us the door to true life in true light. John says his own people did not receive him, and tragically some still will not see his bright light. But those who do receive him are born into new life through him. It’s a life of grace and truth: truth to guide us, to show us what is real and what is right, and grace so that we can recover from our failures in living by what is real and right.
The message of Christmas is not just about a stable and a star, not just a mother and a child. It’s about the glory of God shining on earth, through one who became flesh to show us his great glory.
This is what heaven was looking forward to during that first advent season. Merry Christmas indeed!
Has the Faith Been “Found Out”?
Not long ago I heard J.P. Moreland discussing whether we can know Christianity is true. Moreland is an apologist and the author of what I consider to be one of the most important books written by a Christian in recent years, Kingdom Triangle. I don’t have his exact words, but it went something like this:
“There seems to be among average churchgoers a nagging suspicion, a fear, that the scholars—those who are really in the know—have proved the faith is all wrong. In the universities, the laboratories, and even the seminaries they’ve found out the Bible is mostly false and the message of Christ is a big hoax; but the rest of the world just hasn’t quite caught on yet.”
Moreland was actually drawing from Dallas Willard, in another on that short list of most important books, The Divine Conspiracy. Willard is professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, and stands in a good position to comment on this topic. On page 92 he wrote,
The powerful though vague and unsubstantiated presumption is that something has been found out that renders a spiritual understanding of reality in the manner of Jesus simply foolish to those who are “in the know.”
This presumption is “powerful,” he says. What kind of effect might it have? Does it really make a difference? It must. A believer, after all, is someone who believes; and if that belief is colored by concerned that the really smart people, the ones who understand, have found out it’s all foolish, that belief may be little more than a confused mind game: “I guess it’s all wrong, or at least I think it is, but I’m going to believe it anyway.” This is irrational. It makes us double minded, even unstable, to use James’s words (James 1:6-8).
I wrote in a post on Thinking Christian that quite often, it really is good to do what others say is good for us; but too many churchgoers “believe” not because they think it’s true, but because they think it’s good for them to believe. That kind of belief isn’t good for you, though; it’s just confused.
This presumption that it’s foolish to believe is wrong, at any rate. Willard goes on:
But when it comes to say exactly what it is that has been found out, nothing of substance is forthcoming.
Thus Rudolf Bultmann, long regarded as one of the great leaders of twentieth-century thought, had this to say: “It is impossible to use electric light and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles.”
To anyone who has worked through the relevant arguments, this statement is simply laughable. It only shows that great people are capable of great silliness. Yet this kind of “thinking” dominates much of our intellectual and professional life at present, and in particular has governed by far the greater part of the field of biblical studies for more than a century.
But the baseless presumption in question must be seen for the empty prejudice it is if we are to enroll with serious intent in Jesus’ school of life. Though this is not the place to discuss it, you can be very sure that nothing fundamental has changed in our knowledge of ultimate reality and the human self since the time of Jesus.
Here on this blog entry is not the place to discuss it either, for it would go far too long. I will leave you with questions and some advice instead, directed especially toward followers of Christ. Do you really believe what you “believe?” Does believe, for you, mean to consider the Gospel to be true and reliable information, or does it mean something less than that? Do you sense that nagging suspicion that it might be all wrong after all? Are you believing because you’re confident it’s true, or because you think it’s probably good for you?
If you identify any of those haunting doubts in you, here’s what not to do: Don’t try to squash or squelch it, don’t feel condemned about it, and don’t feel shame over it. It’s a signal, a good and helpful one for you to pay attention to. It may be a sign that what you “believe,” you don’t really believe, and that you’re trying to manage some kind of impossible schizophrenic doublethink. Bring that vague unsettledness out into the open. Turn it into genuine questions. Then you can look for genuine answers, in Scripture, at your church, and among good books and blogs (of which I hope this is one).
Daily Press Article – Black, white churches work together in fellowship
In the event you wanted to review this article, you can do this for the next 7 days at the Daily Press site – click here. If you want to review it afterwards, click here.
Posted this so folks could comment on our blog if they wanted to, enjoy!
Listen to the word
For some while my favorite translation of the scripture has been the ESV, (though I have recently mislaid my copy somewhere at church). Fortunately, my laptop operates as my bible most of the time. There are a couple of great bible sites online that I use in addition to Logos bible software. The Bible Gateway site www.biblegateway.com is comprehensive with many different translations . However, I also use the official ESV site at www.gnpcb.org/esv. Just this morning, I discovered that you can listen to any passage read over the speakers on your computer from that site, and it is very fast. Give it a try. Just click the “listen” button near the top of the screen. I found it helpful in my own personal devotions this morning. Let me know if you find it useful.
Gene
The blog and the musical
(I wrote this short article for the church’s newsletter but wanted to place it here. If you are reading this on the blog, the first paragraph is mostly irrelevant.)
Obviously, one of the purposes of a church is to challenge and to help believers grow spiritually. Seaford, seeks to do that in the many ways that you would expect, but there is one way, that many don’t know about or don’t use very much. On our website www.sbc-va.org is a blog where we are increasingly posting material from our pastors, teachers and writers within the church body that you can read for spiritual encouragement at your convenience. If you don’t know what a blog is, then you should also know that it provides the opportunity for you to respond and interact with others using the blog. You can link directly to the blog at http://www.sbc-va.org/blog/.
On another subject, please pray for every aspect of the Christmas musical, Give Me Christmas. By the time you receive this newsletter we will only be a few short days away. Pray that God will use all of us as the Seaford church body to accomplish his kingdom purpose. Every person in the body has at least three roles to play in this musical. One, pray. Two, invite as many unchurched friends, coworkers and family members that you can. Three, attend. This musical requires a church wide effort, with everyone carrying out their role, for the musical to have its full effect.
Gene
A daily guide to spiritual development
Time spent alone with God in practice is not nearly so neat and tidy as this outline might imply but these themes have been shown to be effective in helping people to connect daily with God and so develop their character to be more Christ like one day at a time.
Spiritual progress requires thoughtful and prayerful engagement with God’s word. Reading large chunks of scripture can be a meaningful spiritual discipline. However, you need slow in-depth meditation with a view to personal application to make spiritual progress.
I recommend choosing a book of the bible to work through a verse or two at a time. Or you can use this form to study any passage on which you will be studying with a group or in preparation for you to lead or teach yourself. Don’t feel that you need to legalistic and check off each step. Some days I don’t get beyond observation before I move to prayer. As you develop proficiency you may discover that the stages blend together. However, unless you are strongly grounded in scripture it can be dangerous to jump to interpretation before making careful observations about what the text meant to its first hearers.
Bible Study
Observations:
Type or write here observations that you make about this verse or passage. At this point you are seeking to answer the question, “What does the text say?” You are not yet asking, “What does the text mean?” That’s a second level. Don’t leave this section too soon. The key to effective Bible study is to develop a keen eye for detail. I usually am largely rewriting the verse and I look at it from various angles.
Interpretation:
Only now do you begin to ask the question, “What does it mean?” An even healthier way to look at this is that you are asking, “What did it mean to its first hearers?” We have to seek to understand that before we can seek to understand what it means now. This level is about asking good questions, primarily why and how?
Cross-reference:
Use scripture to interpret scripture. Most study Bibles have ample cross-references to each verse in the margin. Look up one or two, especially if it concerns a word or a phrase about which you need help. This can be especially helpful in discerning what a passage meant to its original hearers in cases where a cross-reference often refers to background information about a concept or an incident.
Application:
Now you are asking the question, “so what?” Or it may be helpful to ask, “What do I need to do based on this passage of scripture?” You may also ask the question, “How do I do this?” Rick Warren often writes in the margin of his bible the acronym YBH. (Yes, but how?) to force him to think about specifically applying passages of scripture.
Prayer
We often do our best praying in response to reflection on scripture. You may also want to try praying through the themes of the Lord’s prayer using it as an outline. Or you may want to follow the ACTS acrostic (Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication)
Journal
Record any impressions from the previous day. You might want to use these questions: What did I expect to happen? What did happen? What can I learn from the difference? This is also the place to record any insights, or any thoughts, to work out in prayer situations in your life that are troubling to you. Experience is not the best teacher. Reflection on experience is.