Muslims and Christians agree there is one God but disagree as to His name, nature, and attributes.
The god of Islam is Allah, meaning “the god” in Arabic. In the days of Islam’s founder, Muhammad, this meant that of all the tribal gods worshiped on the Arabian Peninsula, Allah was the only true deity.
Key to the Islamic concept of God is the doctrine of tawhid, or absolute oneness. It’s more than strict monotheism. Tawhid celebrates Allah as singular, indivisible, and monolithic.
Muslims insist that Allah has no “partners.” To ascribe partners to Allah — for example, to say that Jesus is the Son of God, or that God exists as a Trinity — is to commit the unpardonable sin of shirk, which damns a soul to hell.
The Qur’an makes it clear that Allah stands apart from his creation and does not engage in personal relationships. For example, Surah 17:111 reads: “Praise be to Allah, who begets no son, and has no partner in (His) dominion …”
In addition, the Qur’an instructs its readers to reject any notion that God exists as more than one person. It wrongly implies that Christians worship a Trinity consisting of God, Jesus, and Mary (Surah 4:171; 5:73, 116).
Further, Islam understands these to be three separate gods, and the Qur’an strongly warns Muslims against worshiping anyone but Allah. Here, Muslims and Christians may find some common ground, for Christians both reject the notion of Mary as a god, as well as the idea that three separate gods make up the Trinity.
In No God But One, Nabeel Qureshi points out that the Qur’an clearly denounces polytheism but does not exclude the possibility of Allah existing in tri-unity. Put another way, Qureshi says the Qur’an does not explicitly say Allah cannot exist as one God in three persons, even though Muslims strongly reject the biblical doctrine of the Trinity.
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity means that there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As The Baptist Faith & Message explains, “The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”
This immediately prompts our Muslim friends to cry foul. “How can one possibly equal three?” they ask. “How can Christians say they worship one God while worshiping three separate persons?” This gives us an opportunity to biblically define the Trinity.
Christians do not worship three gods; that’s polytheism. We do not worship a “freakish-looking, three-headed god,” as Jehovah’s Witnesses accuse us of doing. Nor do we exalt one God who shows up consecutively, not simultaneously, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that’s modalism.
Rather, we worship one God who exists as three distinct, co-equal, co-eternal persons, sharing all the attributes of deity, agreeing completely in will and purpose, and existing eternally in divine, loving relationships with one another.
While it’s challenging to fully grasp the doctrine of the Trinity, it may advance our understanding to distinguish between “person” and “being.” As Nabeel Qureshi explains, “Your being is the quality that makes you what you are, but your person is the quality that makes you who you are.”
If someone asks you who you are, you don’t reply, “I’m a human.” You respond by sharing your name, which identifies you as a person.
When we say God is a Trinity, we are describing the what of God. When we speak of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are referring to the who of God — His three persons, indivisible in substance and nature, but distinct in identity.
Qureshi continues: “God … is one being, Yahweh, in three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. He’s more than able to exist like that because he is God. If we say God must have only one person, like humans, then we are making God in our image. Who are we to limit God? It is up to God to tell us who he is.”
While it should be clear that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God, we may have a common point of beginning: We share a belief in one God who is eternal, transcendent, all-knowing, all-powerful, the Creator and sustainer of all things.
If we begin here, we may then explore the deeper questions: What is God like? How does He reveal Himself, and His will, to people? Is He relational? And, if so, does He desire a relationship with us?
Next: The oneness of God
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Previously: Principles of Biblical Interpretation
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… and He has kept, with eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day, angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling. (Jude 6)
Whoever these particularly nasty angels are, God is keeping them under wraps until the day they are cast into the lake of fire. The word “kept” in Jude 6 is from the same root word Jude uses in verse 1 to describe believers, who are “kept” by Jesus Christ. Some translations render it “reserved” rather than “kept.” In a parallel passage, Peter writes that these fallen angels are “delivered … to be kept in chains” (2 Peter 2:4 – emphasis added).
The questions, then, are where these demons are imprisoned, and how. Certainly, if they are spiritual beings, physical chains cannot hold them. The Greek actually describes them as being confined, without hope of escape. While Jude does not name this place (or state) of confinement, Peter, in the parallel passage just referenced, calls it Tartarus.
Many translations render this word, found only in 2 Peter 2:4, as “hell,” including the King James Version and the New American Standard Bible, while others, like the English Standard Version and the New International Version, provide footnotes linking the English word “hell” to the Greek name Tartarus.
The Holman Christian Standard Bible simply transliterates the Greek word in this passage, which reads: “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment …” A footnote in the HCSB reads, “Tartarus is a Greek name for a subterranean place of divine punishment lower than Hades.”
In the apocryphal Book of Enoch (20:2), Tartarus is used as a place where fallen angels are punished, an interpretation Peter affirms.
So, Tartarus seems to be a place separate from Sheol, the Hebrew term for the abode of the dead; Hades, roughly the Greek equivalent of Sheol; and Gehenna, the lake of fire created for the Devil and his angels (Matt.25:41), where wicked people also spend eternity (Rev. 20:15). Ancient Greeks regarded Tartarus as a place where rebellious gods and other wicked ones are punished.
Peter reminds us that while Satan’s ultimate destiny is hell, currently he is free, roaming the earth like a lion, looking for anyone he can devour (1 Peter 5:8). In a similar fashion, many of his demons are free – tempting, tormenting, and even possessing individuals. At the same time, some angels are incarcerated and experience conscious torment as they await the Day of Judgment.
Note first of all in 2 Peter 2:4 that God has cast some angels into Tartarus, committing them to “pits of darkness” or, as some translations render it, “chains of darkness.” This Jewish apocalyptic phrase refers to a place of mental anguish and terror in the underworld.
Second, these angels are confined until the Day of Judgment. The word “confined” is in the present passive participle tense, meaning these demons are continually kept or reserved for judgment. No “soul sleep” for angels or humans, and no annihilation.
We should note there may be other places of captivity for demons. For example, in Luke 8:31, demons possessing the man called Legion beg Jesus not to banish them to the “abyss,” an unfathomable pit mentioned nine times in the New Testament. In Revelation 9, 11, 17, and 20, we see that an angel called Destroyer rules over the abyss; that it is a fiery place kept under lock and key; that the beast is released from the abyss to foment great wickedness on the earth; and that Satan is temporarily imprisoned there at some point in the future.
Finally, in Rev. 9:14, an angel is commanded to release four demons confined at the Euphrates River.
We might ask: Is Tartarus an especially dark recess of hell? Or is it a separate, temporary abode until the final judgment of Satan and his demons?
If Tartarus is a compartment of hell, then why are demons kept there until the Day of Judgment, only to be returned? Why are some demons released from imprisonment in the abyss and at the Euphrates River, while those in Tartarus are offered no parole? Finally, if there is no escape from Tartarus, how does this place of temporary confinement differ from the lake of fire?
While we may ponder these issues, it’s always good to stick with what the Bible clearly teaches. First, Christ has defeated Satan, sin, and death for us; there is no redemption for the angels who rebelled. Second, Christ judges angels as well as people. And third, we may rest assured that Satan and all demons have a place prepared for them – the lake of fire – where they are cast one day and tormented forever.
If some especially vile fallen angels are kept in a temporary place called Tartarus and never allowed to carry out their evil intentions, so much the better for us.
The angels who sinned “did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling” (v. 6b). We should note an important progression here. First, the angels surrendered their own position. The Greek word is oiketerion. It means a dwelling place and, in this context, heaven. While heaven is the home of angels, it’s also the temporary abode of believers until Christ returns and creates new heavens and a new earth. But redeemed mankind’s permanent dwelling is on the new earth (Rev. 21:1-3). So, the angels who sinned surrendered their heavenly home. They were done with it forever. The verb is aorist in tense, thus referring to a once-for-all act.
Having abandoned the presence of Almighty God in the throne room of heaven, the angels then deserted their proper dwelling. The KJV renders it as their own “habitation.” Another way to translate it is “first estate.” The Greek is archen, which signifies “beginning” and leads to a secondary meaning of sovereignty, dominion, majesty, or as being in the first place of power. The Jews regarded angels as having dominion over earthly creatures; and angels sometimes are spoken of in the New Testament as archai, or principalities (see Rom. 8:38 KJV, NASB; Eph. 1:21 KJV). This term properly designates their dignity, which they forsook.
This certain class of angels, for reasons we are not given, sloughed off the perfection, holiness, faithfulness, and purity with which they were created because, like the evil one, they wanted to call the shots. They surrendered their privileged place around the throne of heaven and, rather than serve as agents of God in the affairs of men and women, chose to intervene directly. In so doing, they deserted the dignity ascribed to their higher being. No longer content with the grandeur assigned them under the Son of God, they aspired to take His place. In seeking to climb higher, they fell; in pursuing the upper echelons of heavenly power, they lost all influence; and in grasping at divine sovereignty, they condemned themselves to a fiery prison.
Kenneth Wuest comments, “This was apostasy with a vengeance. [The angels] had, so to speak, burnt their bridges behind them, and had descended to a new sphere, the earth, and into a foreign relationship, that with the human race, foreign, because the latter belongs to a different category of created intelligences than they.”
Whether one holds the view that these fallen angels engaged in sexual intercourse with human beings, or violated the boundaries of authority they were given under the Son of God, or committed the first acts of demon possession, we may conclude that these particular evil spirits are kept secure in God’s maximum security prison until the day their sentence is pronounced and they are cast into the lake of fire.
Next: The Lord Rebuke You: Michael and the Devil
]]>It’s a story we should tell more often because it cuts to the chase. Paul doesn’t promise happiness, wealth, or comfort to the sinner who receives Jesus as Savior. Rather, he warns those who persist in rebellion against God of the peril they face when the divine hand of grace finally lets them go.
First, Paul makes it clear that no person stands before God with a valid defense for unbelief. God has revealed Himself to all people in at least two ways: creation and conscience.
In creation, He has shown the wicked His eternal power and divine nature, “being understood through what he has made” (v. 20). A simple gaze into the heavens on a starry night reveals the vastness, beauty, and intricacy of the universe, so that any reasonable person must conclude a divine Designer is behind it all.
Further, God has placed in every heart a knowledge of His holy standards. Regardless of geography, religion, culture, or historic era, everyone knows intuitively that certain deeds are always wrong for all people at all times, and certain deeds are always right (Rom. 2:14-16).
This universal moral compass points inextricably to a divine Law Giver.
God’s revelation in creation and conscience at least partly answers the question about the fate of those who never hear of Jesus. The simple truth is that no one gets a pass for not having a Bible or for failing to hear the name of Christ. People go to hell because they are rotten to core, and hell is where they’d rather be.
Specifically, Paul illustrates the descending spiral of depravity with seven steps down the stairway to hell. The wicked:
(1) Suppress the truth. Paul says “God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them” (vv. 18-19). In other words, they know the truth but willingly push it aside.
(2) Dishonor God. “For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude” (v. 21a). They snub the Creator as an unwelcome guest.
(3) Become fools. As their hearts take on increasing darkness, they claim wisdom but prove themselves fools, exchanging “the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.” (v. 23).
(4) Trade reality for fiction. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever” (v. 25).
(5) Turn their backs on God. “And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God …” (v. 28). The Creator is no longer worthy of a passing thought.
(6) Fill up with unrighteousness. Empty of God, they fill the void with “all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice …” (v. 29).
(7) Celebrate depravity. “Although they know God’s just sentence — that those who practice such things deserve to die — they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them” (v. 32).
God’s self-revelation in creation and conscience remains for the wicked, and so does His general grace. But step by step, those who reject God fall farther away from Him until, ultimately, He lets them go. Three times in verses 24-28 Paul writes, “God delivered them over …”
At last they pass a point of no return. They know God. They know His moral absolutes. And they see His gavel of justice falling. But rather than repent, they defiantly proclaim, as does Dennis Quaid, playing Jerry Lee Lewis in “Great Balls of Fire!” — “If I’m going to hell, I’m going there playing the piano!”
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Previously: Kept With Eternal Chains: When Angels Desert
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In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them committed sexual immorality and practiced perversions, just as they did, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 7)
As we wrestle with the identity of Jude’s angels, it may help to consider some basic principles for interpreting Scripture. Biblical hermeneutics is “the science and art of understanding, translating, and explaining the meaning of the Scripture text,” according to Wayne McDill, author of 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching. In 2 Tim. 2:15, Paul commands Timothy to engage in hermeneutics: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.”
McDill offers seven principles for “rightly dividing” (KJV) the Word of God:
(1) Identify the kind of literature your text is for insight into its meaning.
Bible scholars call this the genre of the text. Is the text law, history, wisdom, poetry, narrative, epistles, prophecy, apocalyptic, or something else? All genres are not created equal when it comes to conveying divine revelation. Carefully discerning the genre of a passage, or an entire book, is key to understanding. The genre of Jude is that of an epistle – a letter written to a general or specific audience conveying greetings and instruction.
(2) Consider the context of the passage for a better understanding of its meaning. What is the historical setting of the passage? Who is the intended audience? What are the social, political, and religious situations that the Holy Spirit and the human author seek to address? Jude likely is written in the mid 60s A.D., when Israel is about to experience God’s wrath at the hands of the Romans, and when the early church is on the cusp of great dangers from false teachers.
(3) Read the text for its plain and obvious meaning. “A common and persistent myth about the Bible is that its real meaning is hidden behind the surface message,” writes McDill. “Even though the Bible uses symbolic or figurative language, most of it is clear to the reader. Even when you do not know about the people, places, and events in question, you can grasp the point of the text.” While Jude alludes to apocryphal books and employs graphic images to describe the lifestyles of false teachers, his message is plain to the reader: Now is the time to take a stand for the Christian faith.
(4) Try to discern the writer’s intentions when he wrote the text. Luke, for example, tells us he has “carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed” (Luke 1:3-4). In the case of Jude, the author makes it clear that he intends to warn his readers about false teachers who have infiltrated the church, and to spur them to earnestly contend for the faith.
(5) Look carefully at the language of the text for what it reveals about its meaning. The words of the text are all we have of the writer’s thoughts, says McDill. If he hadn’t written it down, we wouldn’t know what he was thinking. So we should carefully examine the author’s words and phrases, and how he constructs his message. Jude uses strong language to characterize false teachers. It may help if we study these terms in the original language using lexicons and word-study books. In addition, Jude often organizes his thoughts in groups of three. For example, in calling his readers to remember how God judges the wicked, he lists three lessons from history: unbelieving Israelites, fallen angels, and the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah.
(6) Notice the various theological themes in the text. Though a text generally has one intended meaning, it can have a number of significant theological themes – and a variety of applications. When Jude writes about false teachers denying their only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (v. 4), we might draw from this the urgency of knowing sound doctrine concerning the person and work of the Messiah.
(7) Always take a God-centered perspective for interpreting your text. The “theological interpretation” arises from the assumption that the Bible is really God’s means of making Himself known to us, notes McGill. What it says about Him always is central to every text. “The Bible was not given by God to tell us about ancient religious people and how we should all try to be like them,” he writes. “It was given to tell us about the faithful God whom they either served or denied. Their response is not the central message; God’s will and his involvement with his creation are. Even texts that give instructions as to how we should behave reveal something about God.” Jude’s epistle, while warning of false teachers and calling believers to contend for the faith, ultimately points to a sovereign God who is holy, loving, faithful, and just.
Next: Eternal chains in darkness
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Previously: What Is the Sin of Sodom?
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… and He has kept, with eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day, angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling. (Jude 6)
In a scene from the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof, a Jewish peasant named Tevye, living in prerevolutionary Russia, mulls over the prospect of his daughter, Tzeitel, marrying an impoverished tailor, Motel. He watches the starry-eyed young couple from a distance, alternately scratches his neck and strokes his beard, and says to himself:
“He is beginning to talk like a man. On the other hand, what kind of a match would that be, with a poor tailor? On the other hand, he’s an honest, hard worker. But on the other hand, he has absolutely nothing. On the other hand, things could never get worse for him; they could only be better.”
“On the other hand” is Tevye’s way of expressing his uncertainty about the outcome of his daughter’s romance. Verbally, he weighs the evidence for and against his beloved Tzeitel’s happiness.
As we explore Jude 6, we may need a little of Tevye’s humble uncertainty about what lies before us, because the author’s reference to a particular class of angels has left biblical scholars scratching their necks (or more likely their heads) and stroking their beards for centuries. At the same time, Jude’s story of fallen angels offers an opportunity to hone our apologist’s skills in dealing with difficult passages of Scripture.
The identity of the “angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling” is a matter of much debate. While many views have emerged over the centuries, two seem to be most popular – and both views are tied, at least in part, to Gen. 6:1-4, and to a lesser extent the apocryphal Book of Enoch.
It should be noted that Jude is calling his readers to remember what they already have learned: lessons from the past with respect to God’s judgment on the Israelites, the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, and certain fallen angels (vv. 5-7). So, Jude offers few details, but we may rest assured that his audience is familiar with the texts from the Torah and, perhaps, the Apocrypha.
Let’s begin with the text in Genesis 6: “When mankind began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves. And the Lord said, ‘My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.’ The Nephilim [perhaps ‘fallen ones’ or ‘giants;’ the meaning here is uncertain] were on the earth both in those days and afterwards, when the sons of God came to the daughters of man, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men” (vv. 1-4).
One popular interpretation of Jude’s reference to angels ties directly to Gen. 6:1-4, where the “sons of God” are identified as rebellious angels who cohabitate with the “daughters of man,” producing a race of giants God destroys in the great flood. Proponents of this view generally note the following:
(1) Jewish tradition links together the sin of angels in Gen. 6:1-4, the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the judgment of the wilderness generation. For example, the Testament of Naphtali 3:4-5 designates the angels of Genesis 6 as “Watchers” who have “departed nature’s order” and thus are cursed with the flood. Jubilees teaches that the Watchers sinned sexually with the daughters of men (Jub. 4:22). And the Book of Enoch offers an extensive depiction of these evil angels fornicating with women (1 Enoch 10:11).
(2) Based on Jude 14-15, where the author references a prophecy of Enoch, we may conclude that Jude is familiar with 1 Enoch and is influenced by it. The book details the angels’ sexual sin and punishment. For example, the angel Raphael is ordered to “‘Bind Azaz’el hand and foot (and) throw him into the darkness!’ And he made a hole in the desert which was in Duda’el and cast him there; he threw on top of him rugged and sharp rocks. And he covered his face in order that he may not see light; and in order that he may be sent into the fire on the great day of judgment.”
(3) Jude draws a parallel between the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and the rebellion of deserting angels. Verse 7 begins, “In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah … committed sexual immorality and practiced perversions” (emphasis added). Therefore, it seems clear that sexual sin is prominent in both instances.
Proponents of the second popular view contend that the angels’ sin is one of breaking rank, not cohabitating with women. Instead of being content with the dignity assigned them under their Creator (Jesus), they aspire to higher ranks and thus rebel, meddling directly in human affairs. Supporters of this position posit the following:
(1) If Jude is referring to Gen. 6:1-4, he is not accusing angels of sexual sin. In fact, he may not have this passage in mind at all. Warren Wiersbe summarizes, “The simplest explanation of Genesis 6 is that the godly line of Seth (‘the sons of God’) began to mingle with the ungodly line of Cain, and this broke down the walls of separation, resulting in compromise and eventually degrading sin.”
(2) Angels are a different class of creature than human beings. They are greater in power and intelligence, but they lack physical bodies. In the Old Testament, angels sometimes appear in human form (see Genesis 18-19), but there is no evidence they actually take on flesh and blood.
(3) Angels do not have sexual intercourse. Jesus makes this clear in His rebuttal of the Sadducees’ arguments against the resurrection (Matt. 22:30). While angels appear anatomically as men on the earth, and even partake of food, there is no biblical evidence that God created them with the ability to reproduce.
(4) God sent the flood because of man’s wickedness, not angelic mischief. “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever … When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (Gen. 6:3, 5-6).
(5) The phrase, “In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah …” (Jude 7), does not necessarily mean the angels sinned in the same way (sexually) as the citizens of Lot’s city. Another way to understand this phrase is that God’s judgment of rebellious angels is the same sort of judgment He brings to bear on Sodom and Gomorrah.
(6) Therefore, it makes more sense to conclude that the angels to which Jude refers are guilty of leaving their heavenly dwelling, despising the limits of their assigned authority, and engaging in wicked, but non-sexual, activities with humans created in the image of God. For breaking rank, they are kept with eternal chains in darkness.
There you have it: two sides of the debate over the identity of the angels who “deserted their proper dwelling” (v. 6). Which of these two positions better matches the biblical narrative? When we get to the Application at the end of the chapter, we’ll explore some ways to approach this debate.
But before moving on, let’s go back to Gen. 6:1-4. Let’s assume that Jude is referring to this passage from the Torah (it seems a more familiar reference to his readers than 1 Enoch but doesn’t rule it out). And let’s consider the possibility that the “sons of God” are neither angels engaging directly in sexual relations with women, nor the godly line of Seth.
A third option has much to commend it. What if, by “sons of God,” Moses is referring to demons who possess powerful earthly rulers determined to engage in widespread mischief? Wouldn’t this fit well with Jude’s lessons from history – the unbelieving Israelites, and the wicked men of Sodom and Gomorrah – not to mention the context of Genesis 6?
Perhaps Jude is describing angels who violate their assigned sphere of authority and thus incur divine punishment, just as the false teachers in Jude’s day are attracting divine retribution. In other words, what if Jude is not suggesting that the sin of these fallen angels is fornicating with women (although 1 Enoch reports such behavior)? Rather, what if the angels are determined to transcend their lofty rank as angelic beings, thus rejecting their created position in much the same way the Sodomites rejected the natural distinctions between men and women?
Allen Ross, in his commentary on Genesis, describes the sons of God in Gen. 6:1-4 “probably … [as] powerful rulers who were controlled (indwelt) by fallen angels. It may be that fallen angels left their habitation and inhabited bodies of human despot warriors, the mighty ones of the earth.” After all, the phrase “sons of God” almost without exception in the Old Testament refers to angelic beings, not people. It’s not until we get to the New Testament that followers of Jesus are depicted as adopted children of God – a term denoting relationship, not deity.
Ross goes on to point out that great kings of the earth have “princes” ruling behind them, and these princes are demons (Ezek. 28:11-19; Dan. 10:13). It is no surprise, then, to find in the literature of surrounding nations that kings often are described as divine, half-divine, or demigods. Pagans revered these great leaders, and many mythological traditions describe them as the offspring of gods themselves. Writes Ross, “Thus for the pagans, gods had their origin in copulation between gods and humans. Any superhuman individual in a myth or other mythological or actual giant would suggest divine origin to the pagans.”
So, this passage, rather than confirming sexual relations between fallen angels and humans, refutes these pagan beliefs with divine truth. The “sons of God” are demons who indwell and control mighty men of earth. These demon-possessed men marry as many women as they please to satisfy their baser instincts, perhaps introducing the practice of harems. But in the end, these “powerful men of old … famous men” are flesh, and they die as all men do. “When God judges the world – as He was about to – no giant, no deity, no human has any power against Him. God simply allots one’s days and brings his end.”
In the final analysis, Gen. 6:1-4 and Jude may be common references to the first recorded instance of demon possession, resulting in a special place of punishment for the angels who “deserted their proper dwelling.”
Gen. 6:1-4 and Jude 6 are difficult passages of Scripture. Godly men and women wrestle with their meaning and come to different conclusions. It’s wise to approach these verses with humility, thus averting dogmatism. Even better, let’s make sure we grasp Jude’s primary point in sharing this story: God judges not only wicked people, but rebellious angels as well.
Next: Principles of Biblical Interpretation
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Even so, it’s hard to carry on a civil discourse when you’re accused of being a homophobe engaging in hate speech. What’s more, some LGBT supporters express such hostility toward Christians that they won’t listen to a biblical approach to the issue, no matter how faithfully and lovingly delivered.
So, what should we do? Donald T. Williams suggests the Socratic method. Socrates is an ancient philosopher who taught by asking questions. Jesus proved to be the consummate practitioner of this method, plying His questions with divine love and remarkable insight.
In a recent Christian Research Journal article, Williams writes, “Well-designed Socratic questions can help to defuse tense encounters and also give nonbelievers the opportunity to encounter a different view without rejecting it outright before they even hear it.”
Taking Williams’ lead, let’s think about polite questions we might ask in response to criticisms of a biblical worldview with respect to same-sex attraction.
Objection 1: Anyone who criticizes the LGBT movement is hateful and homophobic.
This is a tactic known as poisoning the well. It is a pre-emptive move to set up a statement for failure before anyone even has a chance to make it. It’s the classic, “When did you stop beating your wife?” question.
Williams offers several responses. My favorite is: “Do you really believe I think less of a person just for having a different set of temptations than I do?”
Rather than repeating the negative by declaring, “I’m neither hateful nor homophobic,” the Socratic question raises a key point. We are not suggesting that those who struggle with same-sex attraction are worse sinners than we are. Rather, we are standing on the same ground with them, as sinners desperately in need of God’s grace.
Objection 2: If you really believe the Old Testament, why don’t you stop eating shellfish and wearing polyester?
In other words, if we quote passages from the Holiness Code (Leviticus 17-26), why do we single out the prohibitions against same-sex behavior but overlook those having to do with agriculture, diet, and clothing?
Williams offers a number of good responses, such as, “Have you ever heard of progressive revelation?” This gives us the opportunity to share God’s word as an unfolding story, not an encyclopedia of rules and regulations.
We might also ask our friends if they know the Old Testament Law had two parts: the ceremonial law, intended for the OT saints in the context of salvation history; and the moral law, which featured universal and eternal moral principles based on God’s character. The ceremonial law was fulfilled in Christ and ends with His finished work on the cross. The moral law is still valid for everyone.
Or, we might ask: “What behaviors led God to punish the nations around Israel? Planting two kinds of crops together? Eating shellfish? Wearing mixed clothing?” The answer is: None of the above. It was for violations of the moral code. That’s a better standard for discerning between ceremonial law and moral law.
Objection 3: Jesus never said anything about homosexuality.
This is a true statement, insofar as His words are recorded in the Gospels. But Jesus didn’t explicitly say anything about a number of issues. So, how might we answer this statement?
How about: “Did Jesus say anything about marriage?” The answer, of course, is yes. When challenged about divorce in Matthew 19, Jesus took His listeners back to Genesis, where God’s creative design is in view. The Lord created people male and female, and He gave them marriage as a means for personal pleasure, security, fellowship, and procreation.
The biblical standard Jesus affirmed is violated when people engage in any sexual lusts or behaviors outside of these boundaries — online pornography, sex before marriage, extra-marital affairs, and same-sex behaviors.
Williams summarizes: “Increasingly, these questions and their answers will be needed in dealing not only with secular people but also with confused Christians. To be effective with either group, they must be asked out of a genuine desire for dialogue. So think beforehand about how you might want to guide the discussion, fortify yourself with prayer and study, own these questions as your own, and then start asking them!”
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Previously: Part 1 of Chapter 7
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In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them committed sexual immorality and practiced perversions, just as they did, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 7)
In this, the third lesson from history in verses 5-7, Jude completes the illustration of the progressive nature of sin: unbelief leads to rebellion, which ultimately gives way to depravity. Perhaps no place in history is more readily identified with debauched behavior than Sodom (not to neglect its nasty neighbor, Gomorrah, or the surrounding communities). From the red-light district of De Wallen in Amsterdam to the Strip in Las Vegas, no modern-day place on earth holds a candle to the ancient flesh pot on the plains of Canaan.
Before the destruction of these cities, Moses favorably describes the area as fertile – a good place to raise crops and animals (Gen. 13:10). But God’s wrath against the sinful inhabitants is so severe that the cities are reduced to ashes. In fact, God’s judgment is so complete that the ruins remain undiscovered, and the cities’ precise location is yet in doubt. It’s possible, but not proven, that the ruins lie beneath what is now the mineral-dense water in the southern portion of the Dead Sea.
The Lord’s judgment not only buries the bodies of the wicked beneath the ashes; it plunges their souls into everlasting punishment – in part, as a dire warning to future generations that unrepentant depravity leads to an unmitigated divine response. Jude wishes to remind his readers that the false teachers who have infiltrated the church possess the same depraved nature as the Sodomites and will share the same fate – everlasting punishment in hell.
But what, exactly, is the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? Jude seems quite clear that they engage in sexual immorality and practice perversions – particularly homosexuality. Yet some recent commentators argue that the Sodomites, though a salty bunch, are falsely accused and badly misunderstood.
Admittedly, sexual sin is not their only sin. Ezekiel says they also are punished for pride and a lack of concern for the poor (Ezek. 16:49). The Apocryphal books of Sirach and 3 Maccabees mention their arrogance and injustice (Sir. 16:8; 3 Macc. 2:5). And Josephus criticizes Sodom for its pride and hatred of foreigners (Antiquities of the Jews 1.194).
But Jude focuses on Sodom’s “sexual immorality” and “perversions” (sarkos heteras, v. 7). The Greek literally says they “went after other flesh,” which “refers to a desire for those of the same sex; they desired flesh other than that of women.”7
Let’s take a closer look at the story, which is found in Genesis 13-19. Here, we find that God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah because of the people’s wickedness, expressed most egregiously in their homosexual behavior. Jews and Christians traditionally have understood the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to speak directly to the issue of homosexuality – revisionist explanations of this passage notwithstanding.
Gen. 13:13 tells us, “Now the men of Sodom were evil, sinning greatly against the Lord.” When two angels and the Lord Himself visit Abram, the Lord says, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious” (Gen. 18:20). Their sin clearly is homosexual behavior, for they surround Lot’s house and demand that his guests be given to them so they may “have sex with them!” (Gen. 19:5). Lot implores the men, “Don’t do this evil, my brothers” (v. 7), and he takes the extraordinary step of offering his two virgin daughters to them, if they only abandon their intent for the three guests under his roof.
Other references to these two cities cast them in the light of grievous, unrepentant sin. In a parallel passage to Jude 7, for example, Peter describes “the unrestrained behavior of the immoral” (2 Peter 2:7). The depiction of the “men” of Sodom surrounding Lot’s house shows that the entire populace is corrupt. The “whole population” – young and old, and from every quarter – is engaged in this immoral practice (Gen. 19:4). For this sin, the Lord destroys the cities in an act of divine judgment.
Not so fast, say some commentators, who wish to defend the citizens of Sodom against what they perceive as false charges. The most common objection to the plain reading of the text is the interpretation that the sin of Sodom is primarily inhospitality, not same-sex behavior. Proponents of this view often cite Ezek. 16:48-49 to say that the sin of the Sodomites is their refusal to take in needy travelers.
No doubt the men of Sodom are unsociable rascals, but reading the next verse changes the perspective: “They were haughty and did detestable things before Me, so I removed them when I saw this” (Ezek. 16:50). The word “detestable” – or “abomination” in other translations – brings us back to Leviticus, specifically Lev. 18:22 and Lev. 20:13, where homosexual conduct is in view.
Another challenge is that the use of the word yada – translated “know” in the KJV and ESV – does not necessarily refer to homosexual conduct. It’s true that the word yada appears numerous times in the Bible and normally refers to knowing factual information, but at times yada plainly means to know someone intimately in a sexual fashion.
For example, in Gen. 4:1 Adam “knew Eve his wife; and she conceived …” (KJV). Further, a look at Judges 19:22-25 offers a close parallel to the story of Lot in Sodom. Certain “perverted men of the city” surround the home where two guests have been taken in, demanding, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex (yada) with him!” (v. 22). The homeowner describes their intent as “evil” and “horrible” (v. 23), and he offers his virgin daughter and the guest’s concubine in exchange. The men take the concubine, rape (yada) her and abuse her all night (v. 25). The context determines the correct understanding of the word yada.
A third challenge is that Jesus mentions Sodom and Gomorrah but does not connect the cities with homosexuality. It’s true that in Matt. 10:14-15, as Jesus commissions the twelve disciples, He does not specifically refer to any sin for which the residents of the cities are guilty. His exact words are, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town. I assure you: It will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”
As James White and Jeffrey Niell explain, “Sodom’s judgment had become axiomatic for the fullest outpouring of God’s wrath throughout the Old Testament…. The issue is that these cities will be held accountable to God for their grievous sins. And the comparison is that it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in that day than for those cities that had experienced the visitation of the very apostles of the incarnate Lord, but refused their message of repentance and faith.”
A final challenge is that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is not germane to the same-sex debate because it does not address loving, monogamous relationships. It only rails against homosexual gang rape and violence. Even if that were the case, it begs the question of what the Bible says, if anything, about loving, monogamous same-sex relationships. Again, White and Niell are helpful: “To call a relationship ‘loving’ in a Biblical sense means it is in accordance with God’s will and is fulfilling His purpose, resulting in His glory.” The Bible speaks positively of loving, monogamous, lifelong relationships between a man and a woman, but never of two women or two men.
So, the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them clearly is that of unrepentant same-sex behavior, which leads to “the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7b). Jude tells us not only that these cities are destroyed and their inhabitants killed, but that the punishment of the wicked is everlasting, not temporal. Further, he writes, this story serves as an example to us of the consequences of grievous sin.
Does that mean homosexuality is an unpardonable sin? Do all people who engage in same-sex behavior inevitably find themselves in hell? We should consider several biblical truths that help us formulate a response to our friends struggling with same-sex attraction.
First, the Bible condemns all forms of sexual behavior outside the bonds of heterosexual, monogamous, life-long marriage. Homosexuality is not a special class of sin that makes it any more or less an act of rebellion against God than premarital sex, adultery, polygamy, polyandry, pornography, or other sexual sins. We do injustice to God’s Word, and to those struggling with same-sex attraction, when we make homosexual conduct a special class of sin.
Second, God has spoken clearly. The Bible never speaks of homosexuality in a positive – or even a neutral – light. Sexual relations between members of the same gender are always depicted as sinful in Scripture. The Bible describes such conduct as “an abomination,” “degrading,” “unnatural,” “shameless,” and a “perversion.” Those who commit same-sex acts, refuse to acknowledge them as sinful, and reject the call to repentance, are outside the kingdom of God.
Third, God’s creative intent for sexual relations is good. God created us male and female, and He designed a unique, complementary sexual union between us in the bonds of heterosexual, monogamous, life-long marriage. Summarizing the 2,000-year-old Christian narrative on sexuality and marriage, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry writes, “The sexual act is meant to reflect God’s love by fostering a union at once bodily and spiritual – and creates new life…. The fruitfulness of the marriage act reflects that God is a creator and has charged man to be an agent of his ongoing work of creation. And, finally, if God’s love means total self-giving unto death on a Cross, then man and wife must give themselves to each other totally – no pettiness, no adultery, no polygamy, no divorce, and no nonmarital sexual acts.”
Genesis 1-2 establishes at least seven norms for marriage: Marriage is covenantal, sexual, procreative, heterosexual, monogamous, non-incestuous, and symbolic of the gospel, according to Denny Burk in What is the Meaning of Sex?
Fourth, Jesus affirms Old Testament teachings about sexuality and marriage. Matt. 19:1-12 is instructive. The Pharisees confront Jesus after He crosses over the Jordan into Judea, and they ask, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on any grounds?”
Rather than debate the lawfulness of failed marriages, Jesus takes the religious leaders back to the Garden of Eden. “Haven’t you read,” He replies, “that He who created them in the beginning made them male and female … For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate.”
The Pharisees respond, “Why then did Moses command us to give divorce papers and to send her away?” Jesus tells them, “Moses permitted [not commanded] you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts. But it was not like that from the beginning.”
Clearly, the Lord has not changed His reasons for creating men and women, nor has His divine accommodation (allowing divorce under terms of the Mosaic Law) lowered His standards for sexual purity and marriage. There is no divine accommodation for homosexual conduct.
Fifth, Christians share with our homosexual friends a struggle against sinful desires. Everyone is born with “original sin” – a natural tendency to live independently of God. When we act upon fleshly desires, we violate God’s holy standards and are in need of His saving grace. The apostle Paul, quoting from the Psalms, reminds us, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, together they have become useless; there is no one who does good, there is not even one” (Rom. 3:10-12).
Paul further reminds us in Rom. 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” He then points out both the consequences of our sin and the remedy, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Paul even calls himself chief among sinners (1 Tim. 1:15 KJV).
Christians are far from perfect. We struggle with sins like lust, anger, lying, selfishness, arrogance, and all other ways people rebel against their Creator. Remembering our sinful tendencies helps us see the sins of other people in a more accurate and gracious light. Yes, Christians have the Holy Spirit who dwells within us and gives us power over sin. But we often give in to our fleshly desires – and even make such excuses as, “I can’t help it,” or, “I’ve always had this weakness.” Perhaps the reminder of the beams in our own eyes helps us deal more gently with those suffering from a speck of dust in theirs. This commonality with our gay and lesbian friends makes us vulnerable, but also more genuine and compassionate.
Sixth, people can change. Paul makes this clear in 1 Cor. 6:9-11. He begins with a negative: “Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: no sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, revilers, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.” Then, he reminds his fellow believers, “Some of you were like this; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
The evidence indicates that same-sex attraction typically is discovered early in life and involves a combination of biological, psychological, and environmental factors, and that it tends to stay with people for a lifetime. In other words, an individual with same-sex attraction likely will struggle with that throughout his or her lifetime. The difference is that the One who resides in followers of Jesus – that is, the Holy Spirit – is greater than the one who is in the world.
God gives His own the ability to overcome even the strongest sinful urges. Numerous testimonies by formerly gay individuals, and by Christians who acknowledge same-sex attraction but remain celibate, serve as a witness to the transforming power of Christ. How do we challenge self-defined “gay Christians” to reshape their identity with the gospel? Despite our culture’s view, sexual gratification is not a sacrament, and celibacy is not a fate worse than death. Sexual abstinence can promote a life “devoted to the Lord without distraction” (1 Cor. 7:35).
Seventh, we should welcome into our churches those struggling with same-sex attraction. This does not mean that those living unrepentant, openly gay lifestyles should be received as members, or should play any role in the leadership of the church. But it does mean that the church should be a safe place for anyone struggling with same-sex attraction to have a candid, caring conversation.
We should not deny church membership to those who confess same-sex attraction, and who agree that same-sex lust and conduct are sinful, and who seek to overcome these sinful desires and behaviors by the power of God and the accountability of a community of fellow believers. Would we not afford the same consideration to those struggling with heterosexual lust, gossip, pride, or gluttony?
At the same time, we need to be consistent in our stand on biblical conduct and church discipline. For two people living together outside of marriage, or engaged in adultery, or any other activity the Bible clearly condemns, we need to follow the pattern of church discipline Jesus lays out in Matthew 18 and we see exemplified in other passages of Scripture.
As we seek to minister to our gay and lesbian friends, it’s important to draw a distinction between the temptation known as unwanted same-sex attraction, which is not a sin, and same-sex lusts and behaviors, which the Bible always characterizes as sinful. Every human being struggles with what the apostle Paul calls the flesh – the tarnished image of God warring against God’s Word and, for the believer, against God’s indwelling Spirit.
We should explore what God has to say about sex and marriage; they’re both good, by the way. We should rejoice in God’s creative design, earnestly pursue personal holiness, vigorously contend for the faith, and love those who experience same-sex attractions, whether they celebrate these attractions or acknowledge them as foreign to the will of God.
As we close this chapter, it’s important to remember that Jude’s reference to ancient Israelites, fallen angels, and Sodomites is to “serve as an example” (v. 7b). The false teachers who have wormed their way into the church are not necessarily guilty of exactly the same sins, particularly with respect to homosexuality. But they most certainly demonstrate the same depravity as their predecessors: unbelief, violating the boundaries God established for angels and humans, and engaging in licentious behavior. Jude’s reminder of the past points to what God will do to the unrepentant wicked in the future.
As Thomas R. Schreiner cautions, “We must also be aware of overinterpreting the examples Jude presented of judgment in the past. Surely Jude was not implying that the opponents [false teachers] had sexual intercourse with angelic beings (v. 6). Nor was he necessarily implying that they engaged in homosexual activity. His purpose was to emphasize that those who sin are judged, not to say that the opponents had committed the same sins as their predecessors. It is likely, however, that the intruders were guilty of sexual sin, as we will see in subsequent verses.”
Next: Chapter 8: Kept, with Eternal Chains: When Angels Desert
]]>The possibility of departed loved ones languishing in outer darkness only adds to the grief of those laying flowers on their graves.
Some atheists cite hell as a reason to deny the existence of a loving God.
What’s more, Anglican cleric John Stott, who wrote the influential book Basic Christianity, found the idea of eternal suffering in hell so repugnant that he rejected it in favor of annihilationism.
According to a 2014 survey by LifeWay Research, fewer Mainline Protestants believe in hell than do Americans in general (55 percent vs. 61 percent, respectively).
And for many evangelicals, hell remains an inconvenient truth.
Ok, some Christians say. But maybe hell is not forever. How could the sins of a single lifetime warrant everlasting punishment? Is that really fair?
Maybe, they’ll argue, the wicked are annihilated at death. As for the really vile sinner — a mass murderer, rapist, or child molester — perhaps his punishment is to suffer for a while in hell before passing into non-existence.
Or, maybe our loving and long-suffering God ultimately welcomes everyone into heaven after an appropriate time served in hell.
But there are good reasons to believe hell is forever.
For starters, the testimony of Jesus. Of the 12 uses of the word Gehenna in the New Testament, 11 come from the lips of the Messiah.
He tells us that hell was created for the Devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). Since angels do not die, fallen angels must experience a never-ending torment in the lake of fire. Indeed, this is what John notes of Satan in Rev. 20:10.
As for humans, the beast and the false prophet of Revelation appear to be the first such creatures cast into hell (Rev. 19.20). Satan joins them later – perhaps after 1,000 years – and they are still very much alive.
Further, Jesus depicts the wicked as going into “eternal punishment” and the righteous into “eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). The same Greek word (aionion) is used to describe the never-ending existence of the wicked as for the follower of Jesus.
There are additional considerations, as noted by Gregory Koukl in The Story of Reality.
First, the ones who are guilty are not in the best position to assess the gravity of their own crimes. “Virtually every person in prison considers himself unfairly penalized,” notes Koukl. “It should not be surprising when we feel the same way with our own crimes against God.”
Second, the proper punishment for an offense is never proportionate to the amount of time it took to commit it. A petty thief may have skimmed dollar bills from the cash register at his place of employment for 20 years, while a murderer can end another’s life in the blink of an eye. Yet which crime is more likely to receive a sentence of life in prison, or even the death penalty?
In a similar way, the punishment for our sins should not be based on whether we rebelled against God for 60 minutes or 60 years.
Finally, the severity of a wrong is not determined solely by the act itself, but also by the one against whom the wrong was committed. If you crush a cockroach under your heel, you’ll clean your shoe and move on with your life. If you microwave a cat, you could go to jail or pay a stiff fine. If you murder a child, you’re likely never to see the outside of a jail cell again.
Wasn’t each creature alive and innocent? Why the difference in punishment?
Because human life is intrinsically more valuable than the life of a cockroach, or a cat.
So, think about it: How could you possibly repay the sin debt owed to an eternally existing and perfectly holy God? It would take an eternity.
However, if someone who is both eternal and perfect could take your place and endure your punishment, your debt to God would be paid and His justice would be served. Isn’t that what Jesus accomplished through His sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection?
That’s why the apostle Paul could write, “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Hell is forever. But because of Jesus, no one has to go there.
]]>Previously: Jude and his divine half-brother
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Now I want to remind you, though you know all these things: the Lord, having first of all saved a people out of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe; and He has kept, with eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day, angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling. In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them committed sexual immorality and practiced perversions, just as they did, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 5-7)
In The Life of Reason, Vol. 1 (1905-06), George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Many others have fashioned their own versions of this quip to make the point that our past does not have to determine our future – as long as we’re careful to learn the lessons of history.
Not everyone agrees. Author Kurt Vonnegut once offered this pithy response, “I’ve got news for Mr. Santayana: we’re doomed to repeat the past no matter what. That’s what it is to be alive.”
Both men have a point. Santayana implores us to learn from past mistakes, while Vonnegut reminds us that the depths of human depravity virtually guarantee that, if given the chance, we’ll repeat the same bad choices.
The Bible speaks to both sides of the issue. God and His servants often instruct us in Scripture to remember. Moses tells the Israelites to remember their slavery in Egypt, and God’s mighty deliverance with a strong hand and an outstretched arm (Deut. 5:15). Jesus instructs the apostles to observe the Lord’s Supper – particularly the symbolism of the bread and cup – in remembrance of Him (Luke 22:19). And in visiting the church at Ephesus – a hard-working congregation whose members have cooled in their passion for Christ – Jesus urges them to remember how far they have fallen (Rev. 2:5).
Other passages could be cited, but the point remains that remembering the goodness of God, and rehearsing the acts of obedience He has given us to honor Him, lead to blessings, while neglecting the things of God invariably results in a downward spiral of sinful patterns.
Having introduced himself, and having stated the reason for his urgent letter, Jude offers three lessons from history to remind his readers that wickedness leads inescapably to God’s wrath. Jude selects examples involving Jews, Gentiles, and the angelic host. In a similar passage, Peter refers to fallen angels, Noah, and Lot, laying out the stories of their encounters with God’s justice in historical order (2 Peter 2:4-10).
Jude’s version is not chronological, perhaps because he seeks to establish a pattern of descending ungodliness. He begins with an example of unbelief, then disobedience, and finally depravity. In some ways, it’s similar to Paul’s message in Romans 1, where the rejection of God’s self-revelation is followed by the exaltation of substitute objects of worship, and ultimately ends in a complete loss of moral convictions.
In this chapter, we examine the examples Jude offers from ancient Israel and Sodom and Gomorrah. In the next chapter, we take a closer look at the story of rebellious angels.
Jude begins with the words, “Now I want to remind you,” and follows with, “though you know all these things.” This suggests that Jude’s initial readers are Jews. At the very least, they are well acquainted with God’s dealings with Israel stretching back to the days of Abraham.
Jude’s first history lesson is from the desert. After watching His people endure more than four centuries of slavery, God delivers the Israelites out of bondage, convincing pharaoh, through Moses, to let His people go free after mighty displays of divine power. The Lord then parts the Red Sea after pharaoh – who decides it’s not such a good idea after all to send cheap migrant labor away – pursues the escaping Israelites. God manifests His presence as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, providing a wall of separation between His people and pharaoh’s army. He provides food and water in the wilderness, makes sure the people’s shoes don’t wear out, and commissions twelve spies to scope out the Promised Land.
When the spies return and confirm that Canaan is a land flowing with milk and honey, but also is populated by strong adversaries, the people lose heart. Siding with the ten spies who bring a fearful report, they refuse to enter the land, forgetting so quickly God’s miraculous provision, and doubting that the God who defeated the gods of Egypt can now deliver them from mortal men. “This was apostasy, sinning with eyes wide open, and could only be dealt with by the infliction of the death penalty,” notes Kenneth Wuest. “That generation died a physical death in the wilderness.”
The apostle Paul shares a similar message in his first letter to Corinth: “Now I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert. Now these things became examples for us, so that we will not desire evil as they did” (1 Cor. 10:1-6).
Interestingly, Paul follows these words with exhortations that match Jude’s warnings about the influence of false teachers:
The writer of Hebrews also uses the experiences of ancient Israel to warn his Jewish audience against the perils of unbelief. Consider his words in light of Jude’s call to remembrance: “Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception…. For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses? And with whom was He ‘provoked for 40 years’? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did He ‘swear that they would not enter His rest,’ if not those who disobeyed? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:12-13, 16-19).
Jude is well aware that his readers know this story, and he seeks to connect the apostates in the desert with the false teachers in the church. Hanging out with God’s people doesn’t make you a citizen of His kingdom any more than swimming in the Amazon River makes you a pink dolphin. Those who fell in the desert are Israelites by lineage, but not by faith, just as the apostle Paul declares, “For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” (Rom. 9:6).
In Numbers 14, the Lord speaks to Moses and Aaron, asking how long He should endure this wicked generation of grumblers. He has heard the complaints of His people and has measured their hard-hearted response to His miraculous provision. So, several times He declares that the corpses of unbelievers 20 years and older will fall in the wilderness, and after 40 years of wandering, the younger generation, along with the older faithful, will enter the Promised Land. God declares a penalty of 40 years, one year for each day that the spies are in the Promised Land. Of the twelve spies, only Joshua and Caleb, who bring good reports, are spared.
Like the ancient Israelites, the church is the recipient of God’s grace. Many in the first-century church have heard first-hand the apostles’ eyewitness accounts of the crucified and risen Christ. Many have witnessed the apostles’ miracles and experienced their authoritative teaching. And yet, like the unbelieving spies who accompanied Joshua and Caleb into the land of milk and honey, they follow only their own selfish desires, fall prey to their fears borne of unbelief, and reject the truth.
Surely, the false teachers of Jude’s day realize that God will not tolerate their wickedness. Though He always saves a remnant, He destroys those who seek to poison the well with their unrestrained ways and corrupt doctrines. The grumbling, unbelieving Israelites fall in the wilderness, their corpses a reminder of the severity of their sin. In like manner, Jude wants his readers to know that God will judge the false teachers who worm their way into the hearts of the first-century faithful.
Warren Wiersbe shares a word of keen insight: “Keep in mind that Jude was using a historical event as an illustration, and we must not press every detail. The entire nation was delivered from Egypt, but that does not mean that each individual was personally saved through faith in the Lord. The main point of the account is that privileges bring responsibilities, and God cannot lightly pass over the sins of His people. If any of Jude’s readers dared to follow the false teachers, they too would face the discipline of God.”
Next, Jude focuses on “angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling” (v. 6b). We are saving our inquiry into this curious group of wicked spirits for the next chapter. For now, let’s travel to Sodom.
Next: What is the sin of Sodom?
]]>Previously: Who Are Those Guys? How to Identify False Teachers.
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For certain men, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into promiscuity and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 4)
A doctrinal gem often overlooked in Jude is a reference to the deity of Christ. In verse 4, Jude describes “certain men” who are guilty of “denying our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Immediately after this warning, he offers examples from Jewish history, beginning with the rebellion of the Israelites in the wilderness: “Now I want to remind you, though you know all these things: the Lord, having first of all saved a people out of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe” (v. 5).
Note that Jude calls Jesus “Lord” in verse 4, and then he refers to the “Lord” of the Israelites in the very next verse. The Lord who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt and then destroyed the apostates can be none other than the Lord Jesus.
In fact, many of the earliest manuscripts of Jude actually say “Jesus” instead of “the Lord” in verse 5, and this is most likely the original meaning. Several modern translations, including the New Living Translation (NLT), English Standard Version (ESV), and the NET Bible all refer to “Jesus” rather than “the Lord” in this passage.
Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, in Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ, write that three principles of textual criticism, when considered together, point to that conclusion.
First, all other things being equal, the earlier and more widely attested reading is to be preferred. In this case both “Lord” and “Jesus” are found in the earliest writings, but “Jesus” is more widely attested, especially among early translations of the New Testament into other languages such as Coptic, Ethiopic, and Latin.
Second, all other things being equal, the harder or more difficult reading – “the one that sounds the strangest, to put it crudely” – is more likely to be original. That’s because a copyist is more likely to change a text from something that sounds strange to something that doesn’t, rather than the other way around. This gives “Jesus” a decided edge over “the Lord,” since it’s strange to picture Jesus in the wilderness with the ancient Israelites.
Third, whatever reading is more likely to have given rise to the others as alterations is probably the original reading. Thus, “Jesus” is probably original because it’s more likely that copyists would change “Jesus” (the more difficult reading) to “the Lord,” but not the other way around.
Bowman and Komoszewski write, “According to Jude, the Lord Jesus not only existed during the time of the Exodus but was the one who both delivered Israel from Egypt and then destroyed the unbelieving Israelites in the wilderness.”12
Lastly, we should take note of how Jude summarizes the character traits of the false teachers who plague his beloved readers. In verse 4, he lists five such attributes.
(1) First, they were designated for judgment long ago. The word “designated” in the Greek is prographo and means “to write beforehand” or “ordain,” a reference no doubt to Enoch’s prophecy (see vv. 14-15). This does not mean God fatalistically selects these false teachers and forces them to oppose the early church. Rather, in His sovereign foreknowledge, He writes out their death sentences in eternity past. He is fully aware that their determination to oppose His Son and His Son’s Bride will not prevail. Further, He sets a day of reckoning for them before the great white throne, at which He confirms their desire to live independently of Him, and from which He sends them into the lake of fire (see Rev. 20:11-15).
While God has every right to create vessels of honor and of dishonor – and does so (Rom. 9:21) – this does not mean He crafts robot-like creatures to be wound up and set loose for pre-programmed good or evil. It seems more biblically faithful to see God creating us with a certain capacity for making choices for which He holds us responsible. The false teachers Jude writes about have so abandoned the wooing of God in creation, conscience, canon, and Christ that they have passed a point of no return. Thus, their future in outer darkness is fixed – not by God’s lack of mercy or grace but by their continuous, willful rejection of His call to salvation.
Another way to look at it is that the false teachers themselves were predicted long ago, and thus their everlasting punishment was fixed by divine decree. Kenneth Wuest’s translation of Jude renders this part of verse 4, “For certain men … were of old predicted with reference to this judgment.”13
(2) Second, the false teachers have come in by stealth. Put another way, they have slipped in through an unlocked side door, feigning brotherhood, flattering God’s people, eager to gain a hearing. But they are not in the church to become disciples of Christ; they are here to gain a foothold, an advantage. Their teachings are not so contrary to that of the apostles that they are rejected out of hand, but in tiny increments they twist the Scriptures so that their listeners are more comfortable with easy believism, sexual immorality, and the mingling of pagan practices until it’s nearly impossible to separate truth from falsehood.
In a parallel passage, Peter says these false teachers “secretly bring in destructive heresies” (2 Peter 2:1). Paul writes that these interlopers – following Satan’s lead – disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:13-15). The Greek metaschematizo, rendered “disguise” in the HCSB and “be transformed” in the KJV, “refers to the act of an individual changing his outward expression by assuming an expression put on from the outside, an expression that does not come from nor is it representative of what he is in his inner character.”14
(3) Third, the false teachers are ungodly. The Greek word is asebes and means “destitute of reverential awe of God.” A careful examination of their lifestyles and teachings demonstrates that they are tares in God’s wheat field (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43), bad fish in the kingdom’s dragnet (Matt. 13:47-50). Despite their apparent eloquence, persuasiveness, and attractiveness, they are whitewashed tombs, filled with vile doctrines and destructive lifestyles. The early church fathers use the term asebes to refer to atheists and heretics. In preparing his readers for “difficult times” to come, Paul warns of those who hold to the form of religion but deny its power (2 Tim. 3:1-5).
(4) Fourth, they turn the grace of God into promiscuity. Also rendered “lasciviousness” (KJV), the Greek word aselgeia describes a person who “acknowledges no restraints, who dares whatever his caprice and wanton petulance may suggest.”15
God’s charis – His unmerited favor – offers us great freedom. We are no longer bound to the law, which only served as a school teacher to show us our depraved condition and need of a Savior. But these false teachers have twisted grace into a license to live immorally. They celebrate the words of Paul – “where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more” – and thus advance the notion that deep sin helps plumb the depths of God’s unfathomable grace, without heeding the apostle’s follow up: “What should we say then? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom. 5:20; 6:1-2). Nevertheless, the false teachers are well pleased to indulge their fleshly desires under “the tyranny of their unredeemed passions.”16
(5) Finally, these false teachers deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. By this, Jude probably does not mean these people are teaching “another Jesus” (2 Cor. 11:4) – that is, denying His deity or His full humanity, doubting the efficacy of His work on the cross, or redefining the meaning of His resurrection. More likely, Jude is describing the manner in which they throw off the authority of Christ over every facet of their lives.
Just as Jude describes himself as a “slave” of Jesus (v. 1), Christians likewise must recognize the Lordship of Christ – His authority not only as our Mediator and Intercessor at the Father’s right hand, but His right to define an appropriate response to His grace, and His power to correct our bad behavior. The false teachers have decided that Christians, being under grace, are free to call the shots in their lives, including the right to mingle sexual immorality and pagan practices with the disciple’s daily walk.
The word for “Master” in this text is despotes, which speaks of one who is an absolute owner, wielding uncontrolled power over another. It is nearly always used of God the Father in the Greek New Testament, but here Jude applies despotes to Jesus, perhaps to underscore the fact that He is co-equal with the Father, and that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him (Matt. 28:18; John 10:30).
John MacArthur writes of the false teachers, “Thus they deny Christ His rightful position as God (John 5:23), as King (Matt. 25:34; John 1:49-51; 12:13; 18:37), and as Messiah (Matt. 2:4-6; Mark 8:27-29; Luke 2:25-35; John 4:25-26). In so doing, they confirm that they are counterfeits; ‘they profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed’ (Titus 1:16).”17
Jude’s urgent wake-up call to his beloved readers is designed to signal the impending threat of slick, smooth-talking false teachers who by nature are crafty, ungodly, promiscuous, and unrepentant. Many in the church may be clueless, but the exalted Christ is fully aware of their devilish schemes. They won’t get away with it, as Jude makes clear in the verses to come, reminding us of God’s sovereign reach over human affairs and into the unseen realm.
Next: Chapter 7: The Lessons of History: Remembering the Past to Defend the Faith
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Sound familiar? You guessed it. You and I have 86,400 seconds to utilize every day. Time is a precious gift from our loving God, and it is important to Him how we use it. But the truth is that we tend not to value time until the number of days remaining is shortened.
When a doctor says we only have so much left, we scurry around trying to make every second count. In reality, the God who made us all wants us to wisely use every day, every hour we have on this planet.
That’s why the most efficient people on earth are often broken people who have faced a trial or circumstance in life that causes them to recalibrate the value of each day. Such people have an acute understanding of time, its value and its use. From a Christian perspective, the trials of life have a way of causing us to set aside our flesh and place our lives daily in the Master’s hand.
How much do you value your time?
If you are a young family, how valuable is a month to your premature baby?
If you are the teaching pastor of a church, how valuable is a week of study?
If you are struggling with debt, how valuable is an extra hour of pay?
If your originating flight is delayed and your connecting flight is on the other end of the airport, how valuable is a minute?
If you witness an SUV blow a tire and proceed to weave all over the road, how valuable is a second?
Time is a gift, a treasure. It must managed, or it will flit away, and there is no getting it back. To waste it is a sin. Not everyone has the same amount, and there is a reason you are here. So we must maximize its use.
How do we maximize time?
Discover what is most important and invest first in that. If we listen to the words of Jesus, what is important is not difficult to understand. Every one of us is to be passionate for God and compassionate for people. Have you not read Matthew 6:33?
Determine where God is working and join him. We learned this phrase from Henry Blackaby in his workbook, “Experiencing God.” He is at work in His kingdom all the time. Often we are inattentive to His work. Don’t let someone or a group of peers tell you what you should do with your life. You are the Lord’s creation, and He has an amazing, unique plan for you. Work at what God has placed before you. When you do, every appointment becomes a divine appointment, an opportunity to reveal the Lord’s glory through you.
Know what you have in your toolbox. The other day I was digging around in my Snap-on box, and down in the bottom of a drawer, I found something I needed for a task that day. I challenge you to dig deep to know what is in the depths of your life, especially what is beneath the clutter created by insecurity, pride, anger, and rejection. There you may find a spirit of encouragement, a gift of service, or perhaps a gift of giving. You are the unique creation of God created for His glorious praise!
Plan your work and work your plan. Excellence is not abstract. It means doing today’s work today. There are two practices at the top of my daily list: 1. Make my work worthy of my King; 2. Learn something new every day about the Lord and about my wife, Sharon. That is a priority. Do I hit is every day? No, but it is on the top of my list. I work the list.
Today is the day! Not tomorrow. Today is the teachable moment. What divine opportunity has He crafted for you today? Today is the time to “present yourself to God as a workman approved, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed.” As I was writing this column, I stopped to have lunch with a friend who, one year ago, suddenly lost his wife to cancer. As we talked, I reflected on how just a few months ago he had no idea how his life would be turned upside down. No one has a guarantee for another day or another year or another decade. It is okay to plan, but live today as if today is your moment.
Rest. If there is one more thing to add to the list, it is to remember that the Lord God made the earth and all its contents, then on the seventh day, He rested. We too must build in a weekly time to pause and reflect on who God is. The Sabbath rest is God’s idea for people so that we might worship Him and endure the race He has set before us.
Learn prayer. Bennett writes this prayer,
“Teach me that there is no greater truth than this, that I can do nothing of myself.
“Lord, this is the life that no unconverted man can live, yet it is an end that every godly soul presses after;
“Let it be then my concern to devote myself and all to You.
“Make me more fruitful and more spiritual, for barrenness is my daily affliction and load.
“How precious is time, and how painful to see it fly with little done to good purpose!
“I need Your help, Lord: O may my soul sensibly depend on You for all sanctification, and every accomplishment of Your purposes for me, for the world and for Your kingdom!!”
Excerpt from Valley of Vision, p. 168
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]]>On Sept. 20, 2007, more than 20,000 people from across the nation gathered in small Jena, La., to protest an outbreak of racial tensions at the local high school, exposing old feelings of racism and hate. It was in response to the treatment of a young man by the law enforcement authorities. Sound familiar?
Celebrities such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton fueled the media’s glare on this small community of 15,000 made up primarily of foresters and farmers. The only thing people outside LaSalle Parrish knew about Jena was the label of “racist” in the newspapers and on TV.
What could possibly transform this community torn by mistrust and innuendo? A movement of God’s Spirit—people being reconciled to God!
In the weeks following the incident, pastors of every ethnicity took the initiative to pray, confess sin, and call upon the Lord. The pastors began to meet at church buildings. Sometimes they met in homes to eat together and listen to one another and pray. Then, something began to happen.
On Feb. 17, 2008, Midway Baptist Church in Jena began a revival meeting. Of all the churches in the area where something divine might occur, Midway was among the most unlikely. Yet Midway’s members were willing to follow the leadership of their interim pastor, Bill Robertson, in scheduling a four-day revival.
In preparation for the revival, Robertson and the church engaged in three weeks of personal and corporate prayer. Extra efforts were exerted for outreach, and publicity was circulated throughout the community through the newspaper, posters, mailers, and personal conversations.
The meeting began with Robertson’s Sunday morning sermon to the “normal” crowd of about 225 people. Much the same on Sunday evening, with the addition of a few African Americans who were welcomed, and who came back Monday evening.
After a time of singing prior to Robertson’s message each evening, the congregants were encouraged to pray a simple prayer: “Dear Jesus, speak to my heart tonight and I promise to be obedient to whatever You tell me to do.”
Something spectacular happened on Monday evening. “There was a sense that the Holy Spirit chose to visit this church,” Robertson said. “But at the invitation, no one moved. Few spoke. We had a sense of the awe and wonder of God at work but we were too amazed to do anything about it.”
On Tuesday evening, the crowd grew to more than 300 and reflected a mix of races. A singing group led by Craig Franklin, editor of the local newspaper, the Jena Times, led the congregation in two songs and then stopped.
“I sense there is someone here who needs to testify,” Franklin said.
A woman stood and said she knew God’s Holy Spirit had called her to come to the altar on Monday night but she hadn’t stepped out. She wanted to confess her disobedience and said she would be coming at the invitation time that night to “get right.”
Robertson told her not to wait, that the invitation to come to God is always open. People began to move out of the pews and flooded the altar.
“There were tears, sorrow, and repentance,” Robertson recounted. “A spirit of brokenness flooded the room.”
A community leader stepped up to Robertson and said, “Preacher, I’ve been living a lie. I joined this church five years ago, but I’ve never been genuinely saved.”
At the end of the service, five adults and two adolescents had surrendered their lives to Christ. “The numbers don’t matter,” said Roberts, who did not preach during the service that spanned nearly two hours. “God is working and we are participating with Him…. God was working in the church and in the community.”
Word of the meeting spread throughout the community and the 400-seat auditorium was filled Wednesday evening. People from several other congregations were there and had brought guests. Again, several adults surrendered their lives to Christ.
The four-day meeting became protracted, and on Friday the African American pastor of L and A Baptist Church, Jimmy Young, preached, and his church’s choir led worship.
At the conclusion of the Friday evening service, Franklin asked that those with a burden for a lost person come to the altar and cry out to God for that specific person.
“It’s amazing to watch the work of God during the invitation,” Franklin said. “There are people present who don’t know why they are there. At invitation time, you can see the power of the Holy Spirit breaking over their lives and they are miserable … and lost. Yet they keep coming back.”
“This is a work of God in the most unlikely place,” Robertson said. “Isn’t it just like our God to do something extraordinary like this so that no man can share in the glory? Community leaders would have to work for decades to bring peace to this community. Our God desires to bring the peace of Jesus into individual lives and this community now.”
Humanistic reconciliation continues to be proposed and propagated by mainstream media as the salve to heal the ethnic divide in our nation. How is that working? If we rest in our human manipulations, we are victims of political spin doctors and greedy, bitter people thirsty for power.
The truth has not changed. We must first be broken over our rebellion and be reconciled to God. Then, by the power of the Spirit God, healing emerges through forgiveness, acceptance, respect for who God purposed each of us to be no matter our birth origin. When that happens in the hearts of people, the trajectory of communities and cities changes toward goodness and grace.
Remember, God can do in a moment what it takes 100 lifetimes to do. Human reconciliation begins with reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ.
]]>The interesting thing to me was that the preaching professor didn’t sound all that different from what I was ready to teach. And he was focused on expositional preaching. He used different words for some things, but we were remarkably close. It helps that I had been trained by preaching professors.
Here are five tips for using orality in preaching.
In our world today, people simply do not know Bible stories. When preaching, we sling words from the pulpit that people just don’t know. Sin, for one. Is that just something that we feel guilty about when we get caught? They often know God, but not Jesus. And Satan and the Holy Spirit don’t really exist, do they? George Barna, in his book, Think Like Jesus, pointed out that due to rampant biblical illiteracy, people have been actually making up their own theology. And today’s preachers for the masses are no longer in our churches, but on our movie screens, our TV commentary, and voices of friends who just don’t know any better.
Proclaiming the Word of God is biblical. The Apostle Paul had churches full of oral learners. I think that may be why 1 Corinthians 14:9 says that we should speaking using words people can understand. And when oral methods are used, I have found that I can communicate in a way that leads to what Paul pointed out in Romans 10:17 that calls for faith by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
As we approach Ressurection Day, may this prayer from (Valley of Vision, p. 75) stir your heart as it has mine.
“LORD JESUS,
Give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach;
Help me chastely to flee it,
and jealously to resolve that my heart
shall be thine alone.
Give me a deeper trust,
that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee,
the ground of my rest,
the spring of my being.
Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as Saviour, Master, Lord, and King.
Give me deeper power in private prayer,
more sweetness in thy Word,
more steadfast grip on its truth.
Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action,
and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.
Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly Husbandman,
that my being may be a tilled field,
the roots of grace spreading far and wide,
until Thou alone art seen in me,
thy beauty golden like summer harvest,
thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.
I have no Master but thee,
no law but thy will,
no delight but thyself,
no wealth but that thou givest,
no good but that thou blessest,
no peace but that thou bestowest.
I am nothing but that thou makest me,
I have nothing but that I receive from thee,
I can be nothing but that grace adorns me.
Quarry me deep, dear Lord,
and then fill me to overflowing with living water.”
Take me out of the shallows and into the depths.
]]>Celebrating & Strengthening the Cooperative Program by Dr. Jason Allen
“The Cooperative Program ought not be a sacred cow, but it is close to one for me. Began by Southern Baptists nearly a century ago, it has proven to be a most effective and enduring way to support our collective ministry and mission work. I often visit with leaders of other evangelical denominations who are envious of the Cooperative Program. And they should be; there is nothing like it in American Protestantism.
I was reared in a Southern Baptist church, so I grew up with a general awareness of the Cooperative Program. But, it was not until I sensed God’s call to ministry that I became fully aware—and fully appreciative—of the Cooperative Program.
As a seminary student, I was astounded by how affordable my seminary training was compared to other evangelical seminaries. While a student at Southern Seminary, I learned more intimately how the Cooperative Program worked, felt how much it helped me, and saw it impact the world by providing for our missionaries. It was during this time that I became a true believer.
Then, as a pastor, the two churches I had the privilege of leading gave 14% and 10% of their undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program. The first church grew exponentially, and we flirted with cutting our CP giving to hire additional staff. But we held firm. My second church, conversely, had to trim its budget on a couple of occasions. Cutting CP would have been the easier way to balance the budget, but we held firm then as well. I had come to value the Cooperative Program enough that I advocated against cutting it. Thankfully, in both churches, the CP won out and we kept our giving at its high levels.
Now, as a seminary president, I lead an institution that benefits daily from the Cooperative Program. Without it, we would be forced to double tuition on our students. Such a move would decimate the seminary, plunge the enrollment, and bring immediate and long-term financial hardship on our students. In the world of theological education, the six SBC seminaries stand as grand anomalies in size, support, and overall strength. The Cooperative Program is essential to this vitality.
Though the Cooperative Program has been proving itself since 1925, we cannot take it forgranted. We neglect it, or minimize it, to our own peril. Without a robust CP, our work as a whole will suffer. With a robust CP, our collective ministry and mission can more flourish. That is why we must work in our generation to strengthen the Cooperative Program. Consider these three observations to that end.
First, like our denomination as a whole, the Cooperative Program is best led by pastors. The uptick in Cooperative Program giving in recent years is a direct result of past SBC president Ronnie Floyd’s efforts to this end. He, in concert with Dr. Frank Page, strategically worked with pastors, encouraging them to strengthen their CP giving. Thankfully, current SBC president Dr. Steve Gaines has continued this emphasis. Perhaps no single factor will determine the strength of the CP in the years ahead than how much our pastors believe in and advocate for the CP.
Second, those of us who serve in CP-supported entities must constantly give SBC churches good reason to support us. This is true at every level of denominational life: local, state, and national. We exist to serve the churches; they do not exist to serve us. We need to ensure that our churches continually see the benefits of their entities working for them. As our churches find in us skillful, faithful, and responsive service, surely we will find from them sufficient support to do our work.
Third, all of us must be careful how we posture and speak of Cooperative Program giving. If a church is evaluating or trimming their CP support, let’s not cajole, pressure, or shame them. That is not a winning strategy. My assessment is not a pragmatic or political calculation. It is a biblical and theological one. Christ promised to build his church, not our denomination. Let’s clean up our vocabulary, and use words like “please” and “thank you,” and shelve words like “should” and “must.” The Southern Baptist Convention agencies, and our state convention partners, serve the churches, not the other way around. As we serve them, they will support us.
Southern Baptists’ persistent generosity through the Cooperative Program is one sign of God’s continued hand on our work. In denominational circles, it is a modern miracle. Through the missions and ministries of the SBC, we have together impacted the world. Let’s continue to celebrate and strengthen our collective work.”
These are powerful days that demand that leaders step back from the fray and gain the big picture of all that our Lord is doing through the Southern Baptist network of ministries. The Lord has raised up men like Dr. Allen and his colleagues for such a time as this for a fresh work in history that no one has ever seen before.
State ministries are making huge advances for the cause of Christ. International ministries are reaching dark pockets of lostness all over the globe. Allow the trustees of these respective ministries to harness the giftedness of the ministry leaders to do the work our churches have commissioned them to do. Let us patiently pray and work cooperatively toward transforming lives and communities with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
]]>You have made known to me that to save me is Christ’s work, but to cleave to Him by faith is my work, and along with this faith is the necessity of daily repentance (mourning over the sin that Christ by grace has removed).
Continue, O God, to teach me . . .
that faith apprehends Christ’s righteousness not only for the satisfaction of justice but as unspotted evidence of Your love toward me.
Help me, my Father, to make use of Your work of salvation as the ground of peace, and of Your favor to and acceptance of me the sinner, so that I may live always near the cross.”
(adapted Valley of Vision, page 45)
]]>How can citizens of this great land, founded on laws that have their root in moral righteousness, be so broken in our thinking that approximately 60 million children have died from surgical or chemical abortion? Unless one’s mind is seared from the avalanche of amoral messaging generated by broadcast media and educational institutions, the reality is inescapable.
Dr. Robert Jackson, a family physician in Spartanburg, S.C., told of an event in his practice where he informed a young cheerleader, church youth-group leader, college-bound seventeen-year-old that her pregnancy test was positive. He said she wept and so did her mom. Then the mother exploded, “She is not going to have this child. Tomorrow we are going to the abortion clinic where she will abort this child!” Without hearing a single word of the physician’s appeal to save the life of the child, the mother stormed out of the room.
Jackson reported on that day that he witnessed a Bible teacher “jettison her convictions and sacrifice her own grandchild on the altar of her daughter’s popularity and academic pursuits.” Then he asked the most uncomfortable question, “What happens to many of us when we are faced with difficult social dilemmas? We allow our circumstances to dictate our theology rather than allowing our theology to dictate our response to difficult circumstances” (The Courier, January, 2017. Page 4).
Wise counsel from a godly physician who cares for women and their children.
What can a church do to fortify the faith and convictional courage of the people being discipled through its ministries? Five things every church can do to halt the holocaust:
1. Celebrate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, Jan. 22. The SBC schedules a special day the third Sunday of every year to remind Southern Baptists about the purpose of God for every human life. It is also a time to mourn the loss of millions of little children and face up to the circumstances their mothers must have faced that drove them to such a horrific decision. The pastor or his invited guest needs to speak with biblical authority on this subject on this special day. Invite the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home or other related organizations to set up an exhibit about their work with crisis pregnancy centers and foster care.
2. Teach your children about the value of every human life. Explain to them the uniqueness of God’s creation of people and His purpose for every person, no matter who they are or what they might have done or what their ethnicity. Use Psalm 139 as a primer to help them understand God’s purposefulness. Remind children that all people matter to God, and it doesn’t matter if the person is in “Mommy’s tummy” or in a wheel chair at a nursing facility. God loves every person and so should we. Organize younger adults with children to throw a party for senior adults so that children can interact with them. Or ask some veterans to tell their stories about how they were willing to defend life when it was threatened by hostile governments.
3. Use the Missouri Missions Offering and your church’s giving to the Cooperative Program to support the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home. Very few children’s home ministries are as extensive as the work of this ministry supported by Missouri Baptist churches. The MBCH has crisis pregnancy centers, adoption and foster care training and support, housing and training for unwed moms, protection and help for sexually exploited women and children, and several other ministries that are too numerous to name. Celebrate that every MBC affiliated church is part of these great life-saving ministries through the CP and MMO.
4. Encourage, facilitate, and celebrate adoptive and foster families within your church. Every Missouri Baptist church needs at least one foster family, and the church needs to wrap their arms around these families in love and acceptance. The need is simply overwhelming with more than 13,000 Missouri children in the foster system. God’s people have the solution to this problem because of the love, forgiveness and acceptance we received through Christ.
5. Be involved as a volunteer in a local crisis pregnancy center. Many of these non-profits were launched by our churches in consultation with our MBCH. They operate with very little resources. As a pastor, the two I have had the privilege of helping start in other states began on our knees in prayer as a faith ministry with multi-skilled hard working volunteers who loved people. I might add, these centers not only minister to women in crisis, they are also amazing opportunities for gospel witness.
Yes, science has corrupted the rationale that the Supreme Court used to decriminalize elective abortions and eventually the infamous decision will be overturned. However, more than ever before, people need our help and love to walk through the tough dilemmas of life. As a child of the King of kings, you can be a voice in your workplace, schoolhouse and community for the voiceless innocents. Let your light shine brightly for the truth with great compassion for the people He has created, no matter where they are on the spectrum of life—from the womb to the tomb.
]]>I received the following reliable warning from Cole county Sheriff Greg White:
“The Islamic State has issued a call for holiday attacks on churches in the N. America, France & the Netherlands. Caution and increased security awareness urged.
Greg White
Sheriff
Cole County, MO”
Warrants increased prayer and attentiveness.
Pass the word and be vigilantly faithful.
]]>There are many voices screaming at the top of their lungs, attempting to sway the vote of adults in this nation for their particular candidate. By this stage of the game, only the uninformed are unaware that both candidates are seriously flawed. It is a good thing when the personality of the leader exudes greatness and virtue, but neither of the candidates’ character and personality traits rise to a level worthy of enthusiastic support.
But this election was never as much about which candidate’s personality would best serve the majority of the electorate as much as it was about which ideology will govern our nation. Right after the primary season, voters realized they must look behind both of the major-party candidates to see who advises the president, thus shaping policy and appointments.
The ideologies, policies, and appointments are what make an elected administration worthy of support. So the voters must wade through all the commercials, the appeals and debates and ask which ideals best represent their personal perspective. In this election cycle, there are many ideological factors, but one is too despicable to talk about, too horrific for words.
Five million children . . .
The media executives and political spin doctors have determined that the retail slaughter of five million children over the next four years has no serious impact on the governance of a nation. Their political expediency blinds them to the reality of the economic, educational and scientific contribution the 5 million children would make to our nation and world.
Elective abortions may be the politically correct law of the land, but it is a blight to any people to slaughter innocent children, whether it be in the deserts of Syria, the remote regions of South Sudan or the air-conditioned medical clinic in a major American city.
Five million children . . .
One candidate represents an ideology exalting a woman’s right to choose and, if elected, is on record to appoint justices and staff administrators/regulators to perpetuate the slaughter of little children all the way through the third trimester of a pregnancy. The cold inhumanity of this position is almost breathtaking to people of conscience. The candidate has made it very clear that people of faith must conform their conscience to the political correctness of the culture, or bear the consequences.
However, scientific advancement has demonstrated how very wrong this ideology is. Eighteen days after conception, a baby’s heart begins to beat with her own blood. Twenty-eight days after conception, she has eyes and ears. At 42 days, the baby has brain waves. Babies have been born and survived at only 12 weeks.
Knowing all these facts has not stopped our nation from making it legal to kill our young. Even when the largest provider of abortions was found, with indisputable evidence, dismembering the bodies of the little children and selling their body parts, millions of tax dollars flowed into this organization. Oh, God have mercy on our land!!
This issue became very personal for former presidential candidate Ben Carson. He spoke recently at a Missouri university and told the incredible story of a woman who spoke to Dr. Carson’s wife. The woman asked Mrs. Carson to share her gratitude with the famous neurosurgeon. “When he operated on me, I was in my mother’s womb.” How does someone look into the face of this woman or someone like her and say that you were just a glob of cells in formation?
The other candidate’s style and life history create heightened levels of insecurity to such an extent that every value seems expendable for the price of a dollar. And the latest expose on his character demonstrates a pattern that is demeaning toward people.
However, there is a hope. There is the hope that he will somewhat adhere to his own party’s platform with his appointments. The positions in that party platform are more aligned with a conservative, Judeo-Christian perspective than any previous platform adopted by that party. More importantly, there is the hope that a “Mordecai” or a “Daniel” is operational in the current campaign staff who speaks wisdom from a biblical perspective into the heart of policies and members of the potential administration.
The hope is that somehow there is policy shift that protects the precious lives of the innocent children. The hope is that ministries of compassion for women in inconvenient circumstances are given liberty to bring help, hope and healing, not thwarted by government regulation and administrative disruption.
Five million children . . .
“What difference does my vote make?” Have you heard people making statements like this? It is as if they can be excused from voting and shrink from their duty to be responsible citizens. Some think this because they feel they are making a choice between two evils, as if they are just now discovering that they don’t make choices between two evils every day. Will the ideological evils that claim the lives of little children not motivate us to pick up the mantle and push back the darkness of social progressivism at the ballot box?
While there is potential for one of these ideologies to make lifetime appointments for two Supreme Court justices and possibly three, along with over 300 appellate justices, we must not be naïve with our duty to vote.
Life hangs in the balance for at least five million children.
]]>The PRAYER-CARE-SHARE strategy of the Mission America Coalition’s LOVE2020 works particularly well in the context of orality. It means conveying the Gospel aurally (talking), but also using oral methods that involve listening and intentionally engaging in highly relational disciple-making in small groups that can become churches.
Steve Hawthorne, editor of Perspectives, a missions course, once told me he had noticed a trend that the front door of the church is the home. And when you take God’s Word in oral formats into a home to study, then it becomes a larger doorway for praying, caring, and sharing Jesus.
We have a mixture of people who are far from a relationship with Jesus in America. One size does not fit all. A colleague once boasted, “There’s only two people in America – lost and saved.” Generic presentations that treat all lost the same rarely produces a harvest, especially if all you know are literate presentations. Yet, we buy what worked over here. And we’ll try what might have worked over there. By ignoring learning preferences – typically oral or literate – an evangelistic approach is often unnecessarily confrontational or doesn’t relate to their thinking preferences. We just can’t keep blaming hard hearts among the lost. Meanwhile, they’re looking for anything that will fill their empty spiritual void.
Note: This blog was excerpted from my chapter in “Orality in America.” Download the free special report produced for the Mission America Coalition https://newsletter.missionamerica.org/2016/OralityinAmerica-July16.pdf
The note reads:
“Saul was originally the people’s choice, but not God’s choice. The Bible nowhere teaches that the “voice of the people is the voice of God.” But it does teach that when people make demands of God that are not in harmony with His will, He may grant them to their sorrow, and send “leanness into their souls.” (Psalm 106:15)
This appears to be a principle of caution applicable to the current political scene in the US. If this be so, weep for our grandchildren.
Our hope is for an interruption in the personal lives of the candidates that the Lord uses to bring them to an authentic confrontation with the Lord Jesus Christ, transformationally redeems them and radically alters their leadership.
]]>I bless You for the throne of grace
that here free favor reigns;
that open access to it is through the blood of Jesus;
that the veil is torn aside and I can enter the holiest
and find You ready to hear,
waiting to hear,
inviting me to pour out my needs,
promising to give me more than I ask or think.
But while I bless You,
I remember my misuse of sacred things,
my irreverent worship,
my base ingratitude,
my cold dull praise.
Lord, sprinkle all my past sabbaths with the cleansing blood of Jesus.
May my meditations be sweet,
my acts of worship be life, liberty and joy,
my drink the streams that flow from Your throne,
my food the precious Word,
my defense the shield of faith,
and may my heart be more knit to Jesus.
(Abridged, Valley of Vision, page 194)
]]>That’s where our church is today. We are blessed, but keep it to ourselves. Some zealous among us invite people to come inside because they can’t take the nutrition elsewhere. Meanwhile, our world dies around us, bloated on bad choices, without ever receiving the Gospel. And a large part of the reason is that followers of Jesus cannot convey the Gospel in the way that others prefer to understand it.
At least half of all Americans struggle with literacy and reading comprehension skills, but 60% to 70% of all Americans have an oral learning and communications preference. God has wired us all for oral methods like stories, dramas, idioms/ proverbs, movies, documentaries, poetry, dance, chants, art and less abstract cultural forms.
Now is the time to use proven oral methods in America starving for Good News!
Many people think of Venice when they think of Italy. It’s the quintessential romantic and European experience. I imagine you probably think of this when you hear the word Venice:
But Pastor Jeremy Muniz and the chairman of his Missions Committee, Russ Sanders, think of something much different when they hear someone mention Venice. To them, Venice is not some island where all the tourists go. In fact, “real” Venice, isn’t even on this picturesque island. And Venice, like the rest of northeast Italy, is extremely lost.
Italy perfectly fills the “Samaria” portion of our Acts 1:8 missional strategy. If the church approves the proposal, Venice, Italy will become our focus. I have made contact with a church in Illinois and another local Baptist church in DeSoto that will join us in our work in Venice. The idea will be to provide at least one couple on the ground in Venice for several months of the year. I envision a rotation of couples, who could stay for a few weeks or a month at a time, who would build relationships in Venice, establish small groups, and eventually move toward a church plant. At present, that is the broad vision.
There is much going on in this region so many of us did walk away with a broad vision of what God could do in and through our churches and the partners on the ground there. Muniz and Sanders were with myself and the others when we had the privilege of hearing from a Brazilian pastor who is on the move for the gospel. The moment of realization about what God is doing in this region came to us when Dr. Hedger took out some coins and asked the pastor to use them to represent the cities surrounding Treviso and the cities near Venice. He took the coins and got on the floor of his church building. “This is Venice, this is Treviso,” he said as he laid down each coin in relation to the fictional map on the ground. But he was not just merely giving us a geography lesson. “In this city, there are 3 groups meeting to study the Bible. This city has a few believers and they will soon start meeting. That city has 4 groups already.”
As the Euro coins spread out we began to see a tangible picture of the people God is drawing to himself. But the real blessing began when the members of our group began asking the Brazilian pastor about how he could utilize teams of people from our churches here in Missouri. On one hand, he was almost taken back by the idea that people wanted to help start a movement of church plants there. On the other hand, he was also able to give different churches some very practical ways they could send members of their church to help. For many on the trip, the afternoon spent in the Italian church led by a Brazilian pastor was a highlight of the week.
We came to Treviso to learn about that city and the church his pastor was leading. We walked away with a much bigger picture of the what God is doing in the area. In all of these cities in the Veneto region of Italy, there is only 1 church for every 34,000 people. This includes any kind of evangelical church. (Pentecostal, etc.)
Treviso, a city of over 82,000, is located in one of the most beautiful regions of Italy and yet it is one of the most spiritually sick cities. There is an abundance of pornography use and the suicide rate in Treviso is very high. The Brazilian pastor we spoke with that afternoon is passionate about his international church meeting the spiritual needs of his community.
When communism came to Italy, it effected the Baptist church negatively. Because of bad doctrine being taught over the years, the Italian Baptist church has seen a decline in baptisms. Therefore, I believe God has chosen foreigners to bring the true gospel to the Italians.
Will you pray for this pastor? His heart for the gospel and his heart to see churches planted is real. Will you also pray about your church partnering with what he is doing? He oversees an area of Veneto that includes Treviso (where his church is located), Venice, Padova, Vicenza and a few more. But we are also asking you to pray about Rovigo and Verona and the many, many other cities in northeast Italy that do not have a gospel centered church to proclaim the Good News.
Treviso. Venice. Vicenza. Padova. Rovigo. Belluno. Verona. There are more. And they all are in desperate need of the gospel. Can your church help?
This post was written by Julie Masson, the Director of Missional Engagement at Emmaus Church in Kansas City. Julie is a blogger and social media strategist who is passionate about the nations hearing the gospel. She and her husband spent 2 years in Madrid, Spain on a N. African church planting team. You can follow Julie on Twitter @juliermasson
]]>It was our 3rd full day in northeast Italy and our IMB missionary, Charlie, decided it was time to truly show us what Catholicism is really like in Italy. The story he shared with us outside of the cathedral of St. Anthony in Padova was eye opening.
“I had spent a lot of time talking about spiritual things with my friend. One day, we were discussing how Jesus had siblings. My friend was blown away that I believed this. ‘No no,’ he said. ‘Mary was a virgin until the day she died.’ He went and got his priest and brought him to me. The priest said, ‘This is why we discourage people from reading the Bible. It’s too complicated for them to understand.’ “
Charlie’s story spoke volumes to us. He then went on to describe how Jesus is the 5th most prayed to saint. If Jesus is not even seen as a savior and the people of northeast Italy are not encouraged to read the Bible, then how will they ever learn the Good News of the gospel?
This is why churches like Freshwater Bolivar are considering partnering with what God is doing in Padova. A university town with over 65,000 students was appealing to Dave Becker and Freshwater. Bolivar is home to SBU which means Freshwater has many college students. Becker envisions a partnership that connects the people of his church, including university students from SBU, with the university students of Padova. He and his elder team are beginning to plan and strategize about what that will look like. After seeing the city and truly seeing the spiritual darkness of Italy, Freshwater looks forward to the day when, God willing, a movement of gospel centered churches takes place in Padova because of the work being done through various partnerships-including those from Missouri.
“Our church’s mission is to glorify God through advancing the gospel, and we believe that is exactly what God is calling us to do in the city of Padova. We have a strong sense that God wants to use the unique gifting, abilities, passions, and experiences of Freshwater in Padova to reach people with the gospel. For example, we have a heart for the collegiate generation and in a city with 65,000 university students we see more than affinity, we see an open door to connect next-generation Italians with the gospel. One of the things God has been teaching me and challenging us with is the conviction that just because a place is historic and beautiful does not mean that it is not dark and filled with lostness. We want to partner in Padova because we believe that in that city Jesus wants to redeem everything and everyone that is his.”
As we all stood outside of the cathedral of St. Anthony on that brisk March morning, a little boy and his mother wandered into the square. The toddler eagerly climbed out of his stroller with his bright eyes set on a group of pigeons. I stood off to the side and watched this adorable little Italian boy chase the birds and couldn’t help but feel sadness and hope at the same time. I felt sad for the little boy for I knew his chances of hearing the gospel were slim to none. But as I begged the Lord to reveal Himself to that boy and his mother, I began to feel hope. God reminded me that He was raising up workers for the harvest. He is sovereign and He is in charge of this world. He has a plan to accomplish his will in northeast Italy. Will you please pray with me that God will send more people to plant churches in Padova? Is God calling you and your church to pray about this?
This post was written by Julie Masson, the Director of Missional Engagement at Emmaus Church in Kansas City. Julie is a blogger and social media strategist who is passionate about the nations hearing the gospel. She and her husband spent 2 years in Madrid, Spain on a N. African church planting team. You can follow Julie on Twitter @juliermasson
]]>Brett and his wife Melissa have been in Verona, Italy for a relatively short time. Yet the unique skill set that God has given to Brett has allowed them to interact with (literally) thousands of Veronese youth. His ability to gather people together for socializing will carry him far as he and his family seek to bring the gospel to Verona. Today though, I want to tell you about the business Brett has developed along with his wife and a few key Italian connections.
We arrived in Verona (a city of 265,000 people) on our third day and Brett took us to the office where his non-profit is housed. I felt like a fish out of water ascending with a group of Americans into this place that had a very start-up-esque feel to it. Various businesses shared the space and I saw groups of young Italians working hard at their careers while our group came in to meet one of Brett’s Italian co-workers.
During our time at the shared work space and at Brett’s local Italian church, he shared with us his vision for connecting Italian youth with American host families. The idea is that Italian youth can experience daily life with a Christ following family in the states so that the gospel may be imparted to a person who may not ever get to hear it back home in Italy. As these youth come back to Italy after their exchange, Brett and his wife (and others) hope to continue the gospel centered discussions with the youth who showed interest in learning more. While the program is fairly new, Brett has a long term vision that involves multiple age levels, and various programs both in Italy and here in the US. The end goal of this vision is to get the gospel into the hands of Italians.
As I’ve already shared, Italy is a very dark place spiritually. Verona is no different. There are about 80 Catholic churches in Verona that are empty. Some have been converted to banks, others stand empty while others are open to the public as museums. Brett and Melissa attend the only non-charismatic evangelical church in the entire city. If there is only one gospel centered church in a city of 265,000, what are the chances of the next generation hearing the Good News? This is what drives the purpose behind Brett’s non-profit.
Could God be calling your church to partner in Verona? Perhaps you sense a calling to host Italian students in your home-or better yet, get a group of people in your church who will volunteer to take part in this amazing mission opportunity right in your own home. Contact Rick Hedger at the Missouri Baptist Convention if you’re interested in learning more about hosting Italian students in your home, or getting more information about the work in Verona.
This post was written by Julie Masson, the Director of Missional Engagement at Emmaus Church in Kansas City. Julie is a blogger and social media strategist who is passionate about the nations hearing the gospel. She and her husband spent 2 years in Madrid, Spain on a N. African church planting team. You can follow Julie on Twitter at @juliermasson
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I was giddy with excitement. I’d been looking forward to this day for a long time. The mountains on the way into Belluno were breathtaking. The Italian Alps did not disappoint. But I wasn’t on a train in northeast Italy to see the scenery. This is not why I was excited.
We were about to meet a man who has been laboring for the gospel in the Belluno region for 20 years. For 20 years he has prayed that God would send him more workers to help spread the gospel among Italians there. This was the day we would get to meet him and hear what God is doing in Belluno (a city of over 35,000) and how our churches could possibly help. We lingered outside of the Belluno train station for awhile waiting on the pastor. We were grateful to have Charlie, our IMB missionary, with us throughout the entire trip. He organized our visits and translated for us and to us. Charlie had planned to meet the pastor at the train station and the minute we met him saw that he was a kind and humble soul. We were in for a real treat that day.
Pastor T (we are not using his name for security purposes) first took us to his church which was about 1/100th the size of your average church in America. I say this not to emphasize the size of the physical church building, but to show you that the amount of people in Italy who are truly following the gospel of Jesus is very small. Which is why Pastor T is so burdened for the city of Belluno. He shared with us what he has been doing to take the gospel to his people. On market day, he will often stand and do open air evangelism. One day, he was with a team of college students there to do evangelism. The weather turned cold and rainy. The team was discouraged and thought their chances of sharing the gospel were over. But Pastor T was not ready to give up. He knew where the youth hung out and he knew the weather would not be a deterrent to sharing the gospel. He turned to his group of college students and told them there was work to be done. They headed into a coffee shop and the group spread out. Many were able to have gospel conversations with the youth gathered there.
If these stories about Belluno and Pastor T resonate with you, let me provide some practical ways your church can get involved.
How your church can help:
Lastly, we ask you to pray for First Baptist of Scott City. Pastor Jeremy Sells is leading his church to pray about partnering with Belluno and Pastor T. Ask God to give them wisdom as they seek the Lord for their mission strategy.
This post was written by Julie Masson, the Director of Missional Engagement at Emmaus Church in Kansas City. Julie is a blogger and social media strategist who is passionate about the nations hearing the gospel. She and her husband spent 2 years in Madrid, Spain on a N. African church planting team. You can follow Julie on Twitter at @juliermasson
]]>The aisles are beginning to fill up and people stream past me to take their seats. A man with a black book in hand approaches the podium. You may think that I’m getting ready to enjoy a sermon by any number of qualified Missouri Baptist preachers, but in actuality, I’m about ready to witness an act of idolatry.
I am standing in the cathedral of Saint Anthony in Padova, Italy, a city in the Veneto region of northeast Italy. I am with a group of Missouri Baptists who are partnering with the very difficult work being done to take the gospel to this area of Italy. I do not know much about Saint Anthony, but I know that he is one of many saints Italians pray to. In fact, Jesus is also considered a saint along with Saint Anthony. He’s the 5th most popular saint they pray to. The people walking past me are here for Mass. Some of them have already stopped to place their hands on the tomb of Saint Anthony in hopes of receiving a blessing for their lives as they pray to him. Now they take their place in the rows of chairs to hear from a priest who has most likely taught them to forsake the concept of studying the Bible on their own.
This is the spiritual reality of Italy. Catholic culture is based on saints and the worship of saints. When you have a problem, you pray to one saint. When you need something, you go to another saint. When you’re feeling blessed, you give credit to a saint. But the lack of understanding of the true gospel goes even deeper.
Prior to my journey into the cathedral, an IMB missionary shared a chilling story of one of his Italian friends. He had been sharing the gospel with his friend when the issue of Mary’s virginity came up. His Italian friend emphatically proclaimed that Mary remained a virgin until her death and even brought his Catholic priest to tell his American friend why he was wrong. “This is why we discourage you from reading the Bible, because it’s too much for you to understand,” the priest said.
With this story in mind, tears begin to stream down my face as I stare up into the beautiful cathedral while more and more elderly Italians walk past me for Mass. These people were not designed to worship all of this, God. Your desire for them is to worship you, and only you. I can’t help but think about the work that needs to be done, not only in Padova, but in all of northeast Italy and beyond. These people sitting in the chairs in front of me are filled with false hope. They place all of their hope in a prayer to a saint, or the routine of coming and begging some unknown God for grace because of the prayers they said that day or the good works they think they have done. They place all of their faith in a priest who does not point them to the gospel of Jesus, which is the most freeing news any person can ever hear.
My only hope that day comes from knowing that God is sovereign and He is not done with northeast Italy. He is raising up churches from Missouri to partner with the very few people who are tilling the spiritual soil of Italy. I cannot wait to see how God uses His weak people to accomplish something only He can accomplish.
Stay tuned next week when we will tell you exactly how your church can join in the important work that needs done in northeast Italy.
This post was written by Julie Masson, the Director of Missional Engagement at Emmaus Church in Kansas City. Julie is a blogger and social media strategist who is passionate about the nations hearing the gospel. She and her husband spent 2 years in Madrid, Spain on a N. African church planting team. You can follow Julie on Twitter at @juliermasson
]]>Eating three straight meals isn’t something we normally do, unless we’re in church. The small group that I was asked to lead was using a curriculum that had 65 lessons. And they were only on lesson 32. Their group had not added any new members in two months or more. They were down to two couples — and my wife and me. So I announced we’d be finishing the study the next week and moved into a curriculum that never went longer than four sessions. They had enough of that meal.
This experience came rocketing back to me recently. A Bible study we visited was well-attended, but going verse by verse through a book of the Bible. We came in on chapter 8. The teacher wrote an email apologizing for them not being used to visitors.
And there it was. They weren’t used to visitors. This group had slammed the door and become a group of insiders.
Now, I’m not whining. The Bible was front and center. It was a teachable moment for me — and you. Small groups must stay open, especially to those who drop in without a relationship with those in their group.
When the Orality Movement was just beginning in the 1990s, missionaries were working among primary oral learners and among nationals who were not very transient. A large number of Bible stories were chosen for each people group because they thoroughly addressed their worldview issues. There could be 40 to 70 Bible stories in their oral Bible. And if they took nearly a year to tell, it only added to the cultural norms of doing life together. This was very close to the farmhand method of ingesting, but it might have resulted in a year-long investment only to experience rejection or apathy.
By 2000, the T4T (Training for Trainers) and DBS (Discovery Bible Study) movements were birthed out of factory workers or transient poor people who only lived together for six months to three years. They were still very homogeneous, just transient. They needed a core group of stories that could convey, so The Seven Commands of Jesus and C2C–Creation to the Cross became useful. It’s an obedience-based model. The farmhand wouldn’t have had a say and the rancher would have controlled everything.
In America, I’ve worked since 2006 to identify the worldview of western postmoderns who have been highly secularized. Small group studies must not go more than three months in length before moving to a new theme or topic and here’s why:
Here’s the bottom line. Biblical chronologies are good, but how long should they go before reaching a point of turning back to make another cycle? Snowden Ministries quickly learned that a 35-week series and a 52-week series closed groups to newcomers. Instead, we’ve taken our 35 week series and broken them into five 7-week chronological cycles. We have a 13-week dated curriculum called TruthSticks Leader Guides that intentionally walk through the Bible’s panorama every quarter of the year.
Keeping highly reproducible methods in the small group curriculum does five things that will open any closed groups:
This week I received an email from a church with seven small groups asking why the Bible curriculum they were using from me was skipping from Bible hero to Bible hero. In seven weeks, they went from Adam & Eve to Abraham to Moses to David and then Jesus among others. That’s a panorama!
What does your small group smell like? A warm plate of cookies and cinnamon spice latte? Or the locker room after the big game?
Some odors give people headaches or much more violent reactions. Evidently, I’m seriously allergic to the vapors from some kind of hand lotion they sell in Japan. When a contract worker wore it to work after lunch one day, I began to choke and my eyes were red and watering as I asked her about the smell. She gladly washed it off! And some wonderful smells such as baby powder remind me of my daughter as an infant. My wife still loves receiving roses and magnolia blossoms.
This may sound like trivial stuff, but God gave us five senses and we learn through each one. Those who study such things say that aromas and scents aid in memory recall. They say that unlike the other senses, the smell of learning or an experience at an event goes deep into our subconscious. Just the smell of it can trigger a strong memory. Because of extensive time spent receiving chemotherapy, my wife still gets nauseated when smelling betadine, an orange fluid used to clean the skin. She associates the smell with the after-effects that soon followed.
In the Old Testament, the Sacrificial System required good-smelling offerings. “Every morning and evening they burn to the LORD burnt offerings and fragrant incense” (2 Chronicles 13:11 NASB). It was probably from that positive experience that Paul told the Corinthians “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Cor. 2:15 ESV).
Some religions invest a great deal in olfactory experiences; burning incense and other fragrances as acts of worship. I can still remember the pungent odor of a Buddhist temple in Thailand and the wood and cow butter burning at a riverside Hindu cremation in Trinidad & Tobago. What odors do you associate with following Jesus? Lighting candles? Church kitchens at potluck after-church dinners?
What smells would you associate with Bible stories? Burlap with Job? Barn smells around the manger at Christmas? Or just the way that your meeting place always had a pleasant smell about it?
As one commercial warns, don’t go “nose-blind” to the place people experience the Lord on a regular basis. And I would add to be intentionally “nose-seeing” to match the Bible story or truth being conveyed as the Holy Spirit leads.
For further learning:
Rachel S. Herz, “Odor-associative Learning and Emotion: Effects on Perception and Behavior,” Chemical Senses Vol. 30 No. suppl 1, Oxford University Press 2005, http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/content/30/suppl_1/i250.full
Allison Marin, “Making Sense of Scents: Smell and the Brain,” Society of Neuroscience, January 27, 2015, Brainfacts, http://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/senses-and-perception/articles/2015/making-sense-of-scents-smell-and-the-brain/
And just for fun…
Sherri Daley, “That New Car Smell,” Car and Driver Magazine, Nov. 2003, http://www.caranddriver.com/features/secrets-of-that-new-car-smell
Should everyone be a disciple-maker? Yes! How many should be church planters? I do believe in funding career missionaries to be church planters. But there will never be enough. I’ve done surveys of every county in Missouri and Ohio to try to see how many people are not claimed by any religious organization and how many church planters are needed. In both Midwest states, at least half of the people are unclaimed and at least 75% are not born again. This puts their population into the millions of those who are not engaging any evangelical church.
Most church plants do make it and grow. Some 68% succeed in a Survivability Study that Stetzer and Conner did in 2007 among nine sending agencies in the U.S. And, of those who did get a church planted, the average attendance after three years was just 73 people. From the church plants that I’ve been part of, less than 5% were newly born-again and baptized. You have to be intentional to start evangelistic churches.
Career missionary church planters are called of God to go out and it’s great that they are financially supported. And by talking with a fundraising group in Atlanta, Generis recommends that there needs to be at least $250,000 to $367,000 for three years to cover the pastor’s salary, part-time worship leader’s salary, and to rent a meeting facility. That would require billions of dollars in places like Missouri and Ohio to provide new churches for all those who are unclaimed.
Jesus knew that those hearing his Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-20) would not think any sower would lose three-fourths of his seed on the path, rocks, and thorns. The sower knew his field and had cultivated it, so those listening to Jesus would resonate with the climax of the story: “But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold” (Mark 4:20 ESV).
If funded church planting professionals are the 30, then bi-vocational planters are the 60, and I believe that church members are the “hundredfold,” in church planting. Look around you and do the math. If you’ve got 30 church planters, are there 60 bi-vocational planters, and 100 church members actively planting churches?
Missionary training for church members is available. Workers in the Harvest is now a day-long training course, a book, a Facebook page (HarvestWorkers) and a Bible study. I’d love to hear from you to schedule interested church members exploring God’s call to engaging lost people in obedience!
A research project published in Science refuted thinking that literary fiction was a waste of time. The report showed that reading fiction has proven to improve personal qualities such as complex social relationships, emotional intelligence, empathy, ability to handle ambiguity, and being more kind to those who are not like you.
If you read that list again, put on your missions goggles. Those qualities are highly desirable to increase cross-cultural Gospel witness effectiveness.
Some of my favorite science fiction authors are C. S. Lewis (Space Trilogy), Isaac Asimov (I, Robot), H. G. Wells (War of the Worlds), and Jules Verne (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). Their science fiction works helped me understand missions and learn to address people groups.
In addition to the qualities in research, let me add my own advantages for watching and reading science fiction:
Bonus: Expressing yourself: Writing scripts, books, and other media provides an outlet for self-expression. After waking from a particularly strong dream, my wife encouraged me to write it down. I’m about to publish Canmar Passing, which captures not only the dream, but is peppered with cross-cultural experiences that were certainly alien to me. Canmar is an opportunity for me to convey issues about orality and faith in Jesus.
Science fiction is a genre worth your time however you engage it.
UPDATE: Canmar Passing is now published and available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=canmar+passing
My wife and I tackled a major downsizing this past month. We conducted an estate sale and jettisoned sofas, a bedroom suit, at least four entire shelves of books, china, our dining room furniture, and even our piano.
During the transition, I couldn’t help reflect on research for Truth That Sticks. Brain theorists said that emotions were actually chemicals in our blood stream that “etch memories.” That was true for me as I found firsthand that emotional ties to “stuff” went a lot deeper than I would have thought. Jesus had the right perspective, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:19-21) In other words, joy is not about the “stuff.”
Small groups that provide learning experiences and interactivity in small groups actually add more happiness to your life. When you lecture, you literally rob joy from your participants! When you remember a Bible study and the interactivity — even good or bad interactions, the emotions come flooding back as if you’re there again.
Psalm 35:9 says “And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord; It shall rejoice in His salvation.” When you share a story that you have experienced–including your salvation testimony-others can vicariously share in your joy. They often want to have that joy themselves. So when a Bible story or Scripture verse rocks your world, let it overflow as a blessing to others.
This is why Snowden Ministries prioritizes learning experiences and interactivity (instead of lecture) in Bible studies. Each Bible study includes at least one learning activity and game. This isn’t just to “add interest,” but to help your participants add joy to their lives.
Give your small group joy this Christmas — and make it last all year long. Ask for a 2016 Storying Resources Catalog from SnowdenMinistries@gmail.com.
Workers in the Harvest workshop, lining up in a hands-on learning event
A contrast in missionary work was recently brought to my attention. A missionary-sending group we’ll call Agency A in one year trained their 4,000 missionaries who trained another 21,000 workers who went out and began 14,000 churches. In other words, 4,000 got 14,000 churches started. In the same year with roughly the same number of missionary personnel, Agency B trained 985 workers and started 985 churches.
There’s a stark contrast here and it’s all based on training paradigms. If you train one to reach one, you’ll get one. If you train one that can reach groups of people in a way that they can reach other groups, then you’ll be used of the Lord to start a movement. What works for witnessing, works for church multiplication.
“No longer can we settle for methods that just add disciples to the kingdom. Making disciples among all people in the world—crossing the challenging religious, cultural, and political barriers—takes multiplication.” Avery T. Willis & Mark Snowden, Truth That Sticks
While interviewing a missionary couple who were church planting candidates , I asked, “What is your vision for addressing lostness?” The man said, “I’m called to plant a church.” I responded, “The city where you’re going has one million lost people and the average church size is 45. What are you going to do differently to address lostness?” Without a blink he said, “Well, like I said, I’m going to start a new church.” I then asked, “Could you at least start four or five new churches simultaneously?” His wife leaned forward, clearly amazed and said, “How is this possible?” That’s when it dawned on me that how we train missionaries — and church members as missionaries — can miss some important details.
In Luke 10, Jesus sent out His disciples two-by-two. Their mission was to prepare entire households and villages for Jesus’ coming. Peter went to Cornelius’ household. Paul sought to evangelize Lydia and the Philippian jailer’s entire households. And they all became followers of Jesus. Are we discipled in multiplying ourselves and our churches? Or will we keep thinking one-to-one and that’s enough?
My role at the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board was to train church members as missionaries. Making disciple-makers that could start small groups was at the heart of my assignment. The models being developed were primarily cross-cultural, but during one training session, a pastor said, “This will work even with those in my own church.” He got it. And these small groups had the DNA to multiply simultaneously into new churches. When I left NAMB, they gave me the copyrights to all these training materials.
Workers in the Harvest is now a book ($7), a Bible study ($12.95), and a workshop. After 90 days, the first group through W.I.T.H. has started a biker church, a Hispanic church, and another church for the first time is sending out evangelizing teams who will form small groups of new believers. Who’s next? Contact me for details. SnowdenMinistries@gmail.com
Here are at least ten truths that he shared that I believe those of us seeking to be disciple-makers will find challenging, yet inspiring as a “God-sized task.”
1. Biblically, persecution is normal.
2. The number one cause of persecution is people coming to Jesus.
3. Obedience by believers will precipitate persecution, suffering, and martyrdom.
4. Pastors rarely raise up sheep to go to the wolves. If believers don’t go, then they are similar to the persecutors. Same outcome–the lost lack a witness. …
5. Most people think they can be discipled in only one hour a week.
6. 73% of new believers in the last five years leave the church on average. Guard the backdoor with disciple-making.
7. Missionaries should be characterized more by what they leave behind than what they bring.
8. America will never be closer to God than the commitment of His people in the house of God.
9. In China, believers that win 10-12 people to Christ qualify as small group leader, 25+ people qualify as a pastor. Praise God! (Would your teacher and pastor qualify? )
10. Persecutors put followers of Jesus into isolation away from the body of Christ. Don’t do to yourself what persecutors want to do.
BONUS: You don’t have to come back, but you have to go.
We do not seem to have a difficulty thinking this way if we were to take a mission team somewhere around the world where there is not an established presence of the church. But it is a little more difficult for the American Established church to think in these terms when we want to establish a new church in the city in which we live. We often think we need to have a church planter, a church planting team, a sponsoring church, and funding to get the job done. There are even times when an established church will encourage several of her members to go out for the purpose of assisting in the start of a new church. Let me clearly say, these are great strategies.
But what if a church were to see God call from her membership an individual gifted by the Spirit of God with the missionary gifting of Apostle? Would we be willing to back that individual as he set out under the leadership of the Spirit to go into a segment of the population of our city with the full intent that he was going to evangelize those willing to listen, disciple them and form them into a New Testament Church? Would we allow him to simply develop some of those converted to Christ in leadership skills and appoint them to be over that group of believes and commend them to the keeping of the Spirit of God and His Word? Then he would head out to the next area where a church needed to be started.
Such an individual is often referred to as an Apostolic Church Planter. I believe we are living in the days in America where we are going to experience more and more of this type of church planting if we are to reach our own country. Like I said, I am excited to get J. D. Payne’s new book when it comes out this Fall.
]]>Restoration Church in Monticello, NY Seeks MBC Partnership from Tamara Parry on Vimeo.
]]>Once arriving in Puebla the first “foreign” experience was the traffic. Our IMB missionary driver, Aaron Woods was an awesome chauffeur all week but it had to have taken him some time to adjust to that madness.
Now, this is where it starts to get really fun. I am borderline OCD when it comes to germs, so naturally a place where you can’t even rinse your toothbrush in the water is where I go. The first hotel we stayed at in Zacatlan wasn’t terrible but certainly wasn’t my greatest cup of hotel tea, if you know what I’m saying. I got along fine though and the next morning prepared to head for Puebla and the villages. Obviously since I am a germophobe I attempt to avoid illness if at all possible, particularly anything stomach related. Seriously, I would cash in on ten colds a year if it meant avoiding the stomach bug, I hate it. So again, Mexico is naturally an awesome choice for me in terms of first mission experiences.
Post ordering hot cakes, which are miraculously exactly the same in Mexico as they are in America, we headed up to the mountain villages and to the first two churches of the day. What we saw on the way was God’s beautiful and masterful design of creation. Just an unbelievably gorgeous view heading up the mountains. Breakfast and a trip to the mountain village churches was the routine for the rest of the week, visiting two churches a day.
Based on the testimonies of other first time mission trippers it seems that most Christians are awestruck by the lack of the Gospel in these remote areas. For me, it was something entirely different. Since we were there to help Freshwater Springfield with their partnering strategy we were mostly among believers for a good majority of the time. Because of that, I got to see some amazing Mexican Christian leaders. Due to the conditions they have to travel in to get to their churches and the sacrifices they have to make to do their ministry I was constantly asking myself, “wow, what am I doing in ministry that requires this much sacrifice and dedication?” I was so incredibly motivated by these leaders in their faithfulness to serve the Lord regardless of their circumstances.
The people of their churches were so gracious and sweet. Every church fed us a meal and at one church they gave us chicken, rice, beans and mole sauce. They put out the finest tablecloth they had and served us our plates. As we finished and got up to let the church eat I noticed they removed the nice tablecloth and put on a plastic liner. Next they began serving their church members plates of food. Their plates of food consisted of rice, beans and mole sauce but no chicken. They had given us the best they had. It was all I could do from that day on to not hand a church the meat product they served us back and say “please eat this!” “I can have this whenever I want back home and you have worked so hard for it.”
Churches in the Puebla partnership sector need Missouri Baptist Churches just as badly as Missouri Baptist Churches need the Puebla churches. I can promise that if you go to Puebla to prayerfully consider a partnership with a church there that it will be hard and dirty but you will be inspired. We got to see one older couple get saved in our time there and JT Patton, the pastor from Freshwater Springfield said that after giving them the gospel he asked them if they had ever received Jesus as their Savior and they said no. He then asked them if they would like to and their response was “that is why we came.” The people are hungry in Puebla. The lost are hungry for a Savior and the saved are hungry for training. If your church is considering a partnership somewhere, consider a vision trip to Puebla. Whether God leads you to partner there or not, you will not leave as the church that came, you will leave as something greater.
]]>Sean Pierce, Associational Director of Missions at the Hudson Baptist Association in Up State New York says some pastors move South for seminary training and end up staying South.
Others are called back here to plant churches in the Hudson Valley. That’s Brad Guenther.
After a season at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, and with little thought of coming to Albany, that is exactly what happened. Immanuel Church in East Greenbush, NY is living proof.
Now, as that church plant looks toward it’s 10th anniversary, Guenther is Talking Albany.
Perhaps the Lord is stirring your heart to get involved personally, or to lead your MBC Church or Association in Partnering in the MBC / Hudson Baptist Association Partnership. If so, then Brad Guenther and Albany, NY is well worth your prayerful consideration.
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