Football, Annoying Comments, and Baptism (Not in Order of Importance)

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Jay F Guin

A question has been raised regarding where my attentions have been. Well … I should think it would have been obvious. I’ve been busy watching Alabama beat Arkansas —

This has got to be one of the all-time great runs — any time, anywhere. I mean, freshman Trent Richardson broke four tackles by an SEC defense to score that touchdown. Oh, wow! Continue reading →

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Election: Romans 8:28 (“called according to his purpose”)

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Jay F Guin

We’ve already considered the core of this magisterial passage. But my proposed interpretation of chapters 9 – 11 so radically changes our understanding of 8:28 ff, it’s critical that we consider chapter 8 in light of chapters 9 – 11 to make sure it all fits.

(Rom 8:28)  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Who are the “called”? Fortunately, Paul has explained this in earlier passages.

(Rom 1:5-7)  Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. 6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Plainly, Gentiles preached to by Paul are “called.” Continue reading →

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Election: Romans 11, Part 6 (“they are enemies on your account”)

Posted on September 27, 2009 by Jay F Guin

(Rom 11:28-29) As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

Notice that Paul again refers to the Jews — all of them, not just the remnant — as elect, and yet they’ve not been justified. Rom 8:29-31 does not mean that every individual among the elect will be justified and glorified! Paul is telling us that the nation of Israel, having been elected, will be justified and glorified, even if only through a remnant.

Moreover, we see Paul’s use of “call” — Israel has been irrevocably called but not irrevocably saved as individuals! Rather, God’s promise remains outstanding. If they’ll come to faith, they’ll be saved.

(Rom 11:30-31) Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.

Israel disobeyed, and so, according to Deu 32 and other passages, God extended his election to the Gentiles in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy. But the disobedience of the Jews leads not only to the salvation of the Gentiles (some, not all), it leads to the salvation of the Jews (some, not all), because they are accepted by God on the very same terms as the Gentiles: faith in Jesus — and, Paul hopes, because the conversion of Gentiles will make many of the Jews envious enough to reconsider Jesus. Continue reading →

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Preaching: What’s Not a Myth

Posted on September 27, 2009 by Jay F Guin

We are continuing our consideration of an article by David Fitch, “3 Myths About Preaching Today,” posted in “Out of Ur.”

The Kind of Preaching We Desperately Need

The task of preaching is to proclaim truth. It is the moment that brings the truth into the present. Much like anamnesis [remembrance] in the Lord’s Supper is much more than intellectual recall of the Lord’s death and resurrection, so preaching is more than recalling and teaching information from the past about God. Preaching is a speech-act. It is the proclaiming of the truth out of Scripture over us so as to bring the truth into being by the Spirit.

Preaching is a truth making event—not in the sense that the truth is invented here, but that the Spirit, through the gifts, brings it into reality. (I’ll have to defend myself against the accusation that I’m a Bultmannian sometime). Much like Jesus said in Luke chapter 4:21 – “today this Scripture has been fulfilled in its hearing,” proclamation is a speaking forth of an interpretation (from Scripture) of our lives in terms of who God is, the gospel and what he is doing to bring it about in our lives and thru us into the world. If anything then, far from trying to make the Scriptures relevant, the goal of preaching is to make everything else irrelevant. It is the re-narrating of ourselves corporately into God.

The bottom line is once we preach for formation, where God’s truth is birthed in and among us, we become shaped for his mission in the world. We can see things we didn’t see before. We act out of assumptions we didn’t have before. We imagine what God is doing in ways not possible before. And a little congregation becomes a powder-keg for mission and the harvesting of fields ready for the gospel.

(emphasis added). Continue reading →

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Election: Romans 11, Part 5 (“Israel has experienced a hardening”)

Posted on September 26, 2009 by Jay F Guin

(Rom 11:25-27) I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

I quote from N. T. Wright’s The Climax of the Covenant, beginning at page 249, —

What, then, of 11.25-7? Does it actually intrude into this sequence of thought with a different idea, a large-scale, last-minute salvation of Jews with, perhaps, no suggestion of Christian faith? The answer is emphatically no.

11.25a clearly belongs closely with what has gone before: gentile Christians are not to vaunt themselves over Jews. The reason is given in the ‘mystery’, which is not a new revelation suddenly made to Paul (and contradicting not only the immediate context but the rest of Paul’s theology). The ‘mystery’ consists of this: that, instead of immediately judging the people that rejected his Son, God has allowed a period of hardening, within which his salvation will spread to the ends of the earth, but at the end of which there will be judgment (this is always the point of ‘hardening’ with the apocalyptic context). Continue reading →

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Preaching: Myth 3

Posted on September 26, 2009 by Jay F Guin

We are continuing our consideration of an article by David Fitch, “3 Myths About Preaching Today,” posted in “Out of Ur.”

MYTH 3: The Goal of Preaching is to Make the Bible Relevant

We pastors, who are at the end of our wits in the fields of post-Christendom, will often try to make our preaching more relevant. Caught between the winds of the Neo-Reformed who argue “we just need to preach the truth and they will come,” and the mega church gurus who argue that “we need to make the Bible relevant,” we make a last ditch effort to do the latter (because we’ve already tried the former). Sadly however, this is a Christendom attitude that attempts to pull in the Christendom leftovers with a more updated gospel ready made to fit their already Christianized lives. As more and more churches try to “out relevant” one another and the leftovers of Christendom become anesthetized to relevancy, “making the Bible more relevant” is revealed as yet another dying myth in post-Christendom.

This one is a hard pill to swallow. I mean, do we make the Bible less relevant? Isn’t it critical that the preacher help us apply the Bible to our daily lives? Do we instead preach on the 78 theories of what the Daniel prophecies really mean? On preterism? Supralapsarianism? (I just think that’s a word that begs for parody …)

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Election: Roman 11, Part 4 (“you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in”)

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Jay F Guin

(Rom 11:16a) If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy;

Paul sees the Gentiles and Jews as part of the same whole. The faithful Jews are the firstfruits sacrificed at the harvest in celebration. Their holiness makes the rest of the harvest holy.

(Rom 11:16b-) if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

Israel is the root — holy and supporting the wild branches — the Gentiles — grafted in. Remember, Paul says, do not despise the Jews. Your salvation comes from the root they provide. Continue reading →

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Preaching: Myth 2

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Jay F Guin

We are continuing our consideration of an article by David Fitch, “3 Myths About Preaching Today,” posted in “Out of Ur.”

MYTH 2: Who You Preach To is Who You Will Reach

I have heard it said repeatedly “who you preach to is who will come.” This has worked within Christendom for centuries. Today, in post-Christendom, it has become another dying myth that [in my opinion] should be dispelled. It says that if you preach to unbelievers in your service your members will start inviting their unbelieving friends to hear what you’re saying. But if you don’t preach to unbelievers you’ll have a worship service full of believers. But again this feeds on the impulses of Christendom—that the way to bring non-believers into the Kingdom is through inviting them to hear a good sermon. This does not make sense to those who can think of nothing more irrelevant and disenchanting than going to listen to someone “preach at me” (often their perception).

It has long been a bit of a paradox for preachers — the flock needs feeding, but if the sermon is aimed at believers, it may be irrelevant for non-believers. As a result, some churches actually have seeker services and non-seeker (already found?) services. Sometimes, the leadership is surprised to learn that the members prefer the seeker services — which should tell us something about how well the non-seeker services have been working.

Then again, the Willowcreek church, in its famous Reveal study, found that long-time members were being inadequately fed by a sermon and small group session. They found themselves looking for something more … sometimes even leaving the church to find it, although they were looking for a deeper Christianity. Hmm …

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Election: Romans 11, Part 3 (“salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious”)

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Jay F Guin

(Rom 11:11) Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.

Paul makes two points. His second is that God brought salvation to the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to jealousy. He made that point earlier. It comes straight from Deu 32.

His first point is that the Jews can recover from this unspeakable disaster! Their fate is not hopeless. (All they have to do is believe in Jesus!)

(Rom 11:12) But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!

Notice that Paul says the Jews (as a nation, not individuals) are lost because of their “transgressions.” And his point is that if it pleases God to bring in the Gentile, God will surely be more pleased to bring in both the Jews and Gentiles — which is plainly true. Continue reading →

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