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This year’s ElderLink in Atlanta will be held March 26 – 27 at the North Atlanta Church of Christ. I’ll be there and hope to see some of you there.
I’ll be speaking. I’m part of the panel discussion at 11:15 on Saturday morning, being led by Lipscomb president Randy Lowry. There at 7 panelists and 45 minutes of presentation time. I figure I get to say something like, “Yes, I agree with everybody else.” So don’t come just to hear me talk.
Rather, come because it looks to be great program — dealing with the skills church leaders need to deal with the future of our churches. After all, the times they are a-changing, and we need to be ready.
The Churches of Christ have a desperate need for elder training, and ElderLink fills a critical need. You owe it your church to attend — and bring your preacher along. He’s a leader, too, and the elders and ministers have to be on the same page. And it’d be a good idea to bring some guys that look to be future elders.
I was typing away on this series on moral and positive law and figured I needed to say something more specific about the Lord’s Supper. After all, if there’s any positive command that can be defended, surely it’s the Lord’s Supper. I mean, Jesus told us to have a weekly ceremony on each Sunday to eat a crumb of unleavened bread and drink a sip of grape juice, didn’t he?
So anyway, the post got just way out of hand. I mean as I got into the scriptures, it just got longer and longer … and now it’s its own series.
I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the communion. I probably enjoy writing the occasional communion meditation as much as anything I do here. Read more »
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus introduced a large section of his teaching by saying,
(Mat 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.”
This passage has troubled commentators for centuries. If Jesus didn’t abolish the Law of Moses, then are we still under the Law? Paul plainly teaches to the contrary. What could Jesus have possibly meant?
When RVL studied in a Jewish seminary, his professors would return his papers with either of two grades: lekayem, meaning fulfill, or batel, meaning abolish, in rabbinic terminology. In other words, to fulfill the Law means to interpret the Law correctly so that it can be lived correctly. To abolish the Law is to incorrectly interpret it — or to interpret it without giving the student what he needs to know to live it.
Lois Tverberg gives a First Century example from Mishnah, Horayot 1:3 –
If the Sanhedrin gives a decision to abolish a law, by saying for instance, that the Torah does not include the laws of Sabbath or idolatry, the members of the court are free from a sin offering if they obey them; but if the Sanhedrin abolishes only one part of a law but fulfills the other part, they are liable.
Jesus is saying that the Sermon on the Mount is a correct interpretation of the Law and the Prophets, in a way that tells us how to live the Law and the Prophets. And this tells us a lot about how to read the Law as Jesus wants it read. Read more »
(Eph 4:22-24) You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
We were saved for a purpose — to be like God. In particular, we were saved to do good works, which God wants us to do because they are also his works –
(Eph 2:10) For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Now, here we see that we are supposed to be like God in God’s righteousness — covenant faithfulness — which means we are to be penitent, but penitent in a very particular way. We are to be more and more like God. And this means we have to understand the character and purposes of God. Read more »
The Lord’s Supper was instituted as part of a Passover meal. The Passover, of course, celebrates God’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage.
By the time of Jesus, the meal was celebrated with four cups of wine, each reflecting a promise of God made to Moses and Israel at the beginning of their delverance –
(Exo 6:5-8) “Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’”
RVL finds that at least three of the cups were recorded in the Gospels’ account of the Last Supper. Read more »
Quite a while ago, I wrote some posts that were a pretend debate between two friends over lunch regarding instrumental music. The friends are IM and AC. Here’s an excerpt –
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IM: In the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman, he speaks of the promise of “living water,” and then she seems to change the subject. She asks Jesus whether the Samaritans are right to worship on Mt. Gerizim although the Jews worship on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.
(John 4:21-24) Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
It seems we can’t get very far discussing Christian worship until we understand what it means to worship “in spirit and in truth.” Read more »
I was waiting to get a table at a local restaurant earlier this evening, checking out Google Reader on my iPhone, and quite naturally took a look at Tim’s post. And lo and behold, he put up a series of links from me! I’d completely forgotten that I’d written these. (Age is catching up. Now what was I talking about? Oh, yeah …)
I’ve got to travel on business Monday and Tuesday, and I’ve got this football game to watch Sunday night — you may have heard of it. And I have to get some work done at the office.
So I’m going to try to pry my fingers away from the keyboard — but not totally. I have a post or two begging to be typed, but I’m staying away from the comments until I get back on my regular obsessive schedule.
Please be good, and don’t say anything to get your comments trapped in the spam filter. I won’t be able to fish it out for a while.
(And, yes, I know this isn’t really in the spirit of New Testament fasting. But it’s just so all-the-rage to call whatever a “fast.”)
Now, there’s a much more subtle point that Jesus makes, that the teachers of the law would likely have picked up. In the Psalms, nearly every metaphor used for God is about his power, his strength, and his holiness. But three metaphors are used of God’s gentleness –
(Psa 23:1-3) A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
(Psa 131) A song of ascents. Of David. My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. 2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.
(Psa 103:13-14) As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
David compares God to a shepherd, a mother, and to a father to show his gentleness and compassion. Read more »
One of the most popular posts on this blog is “Upgrading a Worship Service Without Buying a Guitar.” I received the following email earlier today about that post, and I thought I might reply to it here, so that others with similar concerns could see both sides of the issue.
Let me add this: if you are unhappy with something I’ve written, I’d really prefer that you post it as a public comment. I know that good people generally prefer to make their criticisms privately — and I appreciate that spirit — but this is a discussion blog. If no one disagrees with me publicly, well, it just doesn’t work.
And I’ve been at this for a while. I can take it. In fact, I’ve developed kind of a taste for it — because disagreement is a chance to either learn or teach or both. It’s all good.
Words to live by: It’s a not a positive law unless it’s a law.
I won’t live long enough to refute every claimed positive law among the Churches of Christ. I could spend the next few weeks just making a list! And most wouldn’t be found in scripture anywhere. Rather, we find “commands” in silences — which is, of course, definitionally impossible. Only commands are commands. (Stop me if this is too complicated.)
And so, let’s take some of the more prominent examples of alleged positive commands and see if a closer look at them will help us to understand God just a little better.
Now, at some point after the Civil War, the Churches of Christ adopted the Landmark Baptist teaching that the boundaries of the church are set by certain “marks of the church.” These marks are not the things that separate the world from those in Christ. No, by a strange coincidence they are all things that separate Churches of Christ from other denominations. This line of reasoning takes us very far afield from the New Testament, causing us to ignore the majority of the text in favor of a favored few “proof” texts. Read more »
In an earlier post, I quoted some excerpts from a recent article in the Tennessean newspaper about the rise of the progressive Churches of Christ. The article quoted one source as saying the progressive Churches are creating a “a fourth stream of the Restoration movement, distinct from Churches of Christ and other groups.”
This talk of a “Fourth Stream” is exactly the point I was addressing in the “You Know It Is A Different Religion When…’ series in the Gospel Advocate which you enjoyed so much.
I always find it interesting that when conservatives observe that some congregations and institutions no longer believe what they use to believe and that these changes constitute a division, the conservatives are derided as being hateful and mean spirited. Read more »
The Western mode of thought comes from the ancient Greeks. We think abstractly. We like to take what we learn apart, see how it’s made, and extract the underlying principles.
RVL’s students in high school have to dissect a frog in their biology classes. When they cut a frog apart and look inside, they learn many truths about the frog. They learn how his heart works, how his lungs work, and so on. They never learn who his girlfriend is. You can only learn who the frog’s mate is by observing him in the wild. You can’t take him out of the pond and learn how he lives.
The Western approach to a frog is to dissect it. The Eastern approach is to learn the frog’s story. Both approaches gain truths. But you can’t truly understand much of what’s written in the Bible unless you study it in its native environment before you take it apart. After all, many of the scriptures were written by Easterners for Easterners.
Consider the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Read more »
Our preacher, Shon Smith, wrapped up an excellent series on parenting Sunday. His sermons may be downloaded. He introduced the final sermon with this video –
Notes on inside jokes:
* The skinny guy in the office is Shon.
* The bald guy on the couch is a deacon.
* The entrance to the primary classroom area is decorated with a 7′ polar bear, left over from a VBS program several years ago. He dresses seasonably, but prefers houndstooth hats.
* The kids in the last shot are the children of the two narrators. At least I think they are. They’re moving pretty fast.
It would be a mistake, of course, to discuss morality without discussing Christology. We are baptized “into” Christ. We become a part of his body on earth. We are transformed by the Spirit into his likeness. Therefore, acting/becoming like Jesus is moral. All else is positive.
What did Jesus do on earth? Preached the good news of the kingdom of heaven, did works of compassion, and gave his life to serve those he loves. This is moral. All else is positive.
(Rom 6:1-5) What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
We use this as a proof text on baptism, but we overlook the reason Paul actually wrote it. Paul says in baptism we died with Jesus and so are resurrected with Jesus. This assures us that we’ll be resurrected at the end of time. Read more »
Randall challenged me to re-open the discussion on the perseverance of the saints (POTS) or “once saved, always saved.” Historically, the Churches of Christ have rejected this view uniformly, but now there is movement in some circles toward a more Calvinistic or Baptist understanding.
I may not post on this question at quite the same pace as on other topics, but it’s something I have thought about. And I’ve offered my views on the perseverance of the saints (POTS) many times (I disagree). And I’ve been disagreed with many times, usually very articulately.
And so, Randall, I’ll make these deal with you. Since here we are in the midst of a discussion of Hebrews, let’s talk about the views in Hebrews on POTS. Too often, when we run into a difficult passage, we respond, “It can’t mean that because of what John or Paul said somewhere else!” But we can’t just write Hebrews out of the New Testament. I’m not saying you can’t refer to other passages; I’m just saying let’s not talk past each other. The discussion needs to be about what Hebrews says — at least for a while. Read more »
RVL tells the story of being in class in a Jewish university. The rabbi taught the Parable of the Good Samaritan, as taught by Rabbi Yeshua (Hebrew for “Jesus”), and he declared this the greatest parable ever told! The Jewish students who heard the parable, many of whom had just heard it for the first time, were astonished and amazed at the teaching.
The rabbi asked RVL to explain its greatness to the class, as RVL is a disciple of Rabbi Yeshua. But RVL did not see the point the rabbi wanted to make. You see, RVL had never heard this story from the Old Testament — Read more »
[His laws of pardon are] [r]epentance of sin, confession of fault, and prayer to God for forgiveness. 1 John 1.7 is a passage of great comfort, and it seems there is some covering going on there. But, at some point, there has to be a line that when crossed requires a specific response on my part. If it is not there, then anything I may do, anything whatever, is covered. I could not fall. I don’t understand the Bible to teach that I cannot fall. I do not know precisely where that line is. I do the best I can and trust God to take care of me. The fact that I can’t precisely identify the line, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Here lies a dead man. Something caused him to die. I may not know what the cause was, but he’s still dead. Read more »
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This year’s ElderLink in Atlanta will be held March 26 – 27 at the North Atlanta Church of Christ. I’ll be there and hope to see some of you there.
I was typing away on this series on moral and positive law and figured I needed to say something more specific about the Lord’s Supper. After all, if there’s any positive command that can be defended, surely it’s the Lord’s Supper. I mean, Jesus told us to have a weekly ceremony on each Sunday to eat a crumb of unleavened bread and drink a sip of grape juice, didn’t he?
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus introduced a large section of his teaching by saying,
Argument 4
The Lord’s Supper was instituted as part of a Passover meal. The Passover, of course, celebrates God’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage.
Tim Archer just put up 
Now, there’s a much more subtle point that Jesus makes, that the teachers of the law would likely have picked up. In the Psalms, nearly every metaphor used for God is about his power, his strength, and his holiness. But three metaphors are used of God’s gentleness –
RVL tells the story of being in class in a Jewish university. The rabbi taught the Parable of the Good Samaritan, as taught by Rabbi Yeshua (Hebrew for “Jesus”), and he declared this the greatest parable ever told! The Jewish students who heard the parable, many of whom had just heard it for the first time, were astonished and amazed at the teaching.
