Higher Principles

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship

Sabbath, October 20, 2012

Understanding the Bible, Part 4 (I think it's part 4.)

Williston, North Dakota, is in the heart of the “oil patch,” (as they call it). It used to be a quiet, rural community, population 10,000. These days about 20 desperate people—mostly men—arrive in Williston daily hoping to find jobs in the oil fields.

If you make reservations weeks ahead of time, you can get a motel room for $100 a night or more. But some of these 20 people arriving daily have little money and no reservations and no job lined up. The temperature can be 20 below zero, and there is no homeless shelter.

There is only one place in town where a desperate man can find a bed for anything like cheap: It's Concordia Lutheran Church. A year ago a man showed up at the church asking for help. Pastor Jay Reinke listened to the man's story: He needed money for gas back to his home in Idaho. And he needed a place to sleep for the night. Pastor Reinke thought, The church is heated. A man can sleep on the floor.

It was a beginning. Since then Concordia has become a sanctuary, a place where desperate men can escape the elements for a night and have a relatively warm place to sleep. They can use the kitchen to prepare food. (I took this from an article in Christianity Today by Ruth Moon, a Ph. D. student in communications at the University of Washington. October 17, 2012.)

Reinke's sanctuary is inspired by Jesus' command to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Reinke is guided by the Bible.

Adventists run a community services center in Tacoma. Why? Because the Bible says the care we give to “the least of these” is care given to Jesus.

Aaron Young's parents' apartment was destroyed in a fire. Some of you provided house hold items. Others provided money.

We provide tuition aid to young people who want to attend Adventist schools or an Adventist summer camp. Why? Because the Bible tells us about Jesus regard for children.

The Bible is the inspiration of a lot of goodness.

On the other hand, sometimes people cite the Bible as inspiration for their badness:

Last week I was flabbergasted to read about Charlie Fuqua. A former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives who is running again. He proposes creating legislation that would allow parent to petition the court to execute their children! If parents are unable to manage one of their children the law would provide a legal procedure they could follow to have their child executed. Fuqua explains that he is simply trying to create a modern application of the words of Deuteronomy 21:18-21.

Another person running for office in Arkansas has written “Nowhere in the Holy Bible have I found a word of condemnation for the operation of slavery, Old or New Testament. If slavery was so bad, why didn’t Jesus, Paul or the prophets say something?” Loy Mauch.

The Bible includes grand poetry and visions, detailed laws and regulations, history, theology, worship rules. How do you figure out what is most important? How do you figure out if something no longer applies?

As Christians we look especially to the example and teachings of Jesus as our guide for interpreting the Bible.

According to the laws in Leviticus 20, the death penalty is the proper punishment for murderers, for mediums and their customers, for people who curse their parents, for people who practice bestiality or homosexuality. The chapter is quite clear that adultery in all its forms is to be punished with the death penalty.

How does Jesus deal with this law?

The religious leaders—staunch conservatives—drag a woman into the presence of Jesus. "Teacher," they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" John 8:3-4.

It's a straight up question. “Moses said . . . What do you say?” Did Jesus agree with Moses? No. He did not.

Some people point out that Moses, unlike the accusers in this story, called for the execution of both adulterers, not just the woman. But Jesus does not go there. Jesus does not suggest that the accusers go get the man so they can have a proper stoning. Jesus first removes the threat of deadly punishment by shaming the accusers into leaving. Then Jesus removes even the condemnation. Then climaxes his interaction with the woman by pointing the woman to a new life.

Jesus does not trivialize adultery. But he deals with adultery by pointing to goodness beyond it instead of focusing on punishment for the failure.

This story is not an isolated occurrence.

Jesus is happily ranks the teachings of the Bible. Some are weightier or more authoritative than others.

In Matthew 23:23, Jesus scolds the conservative religious scholars of his day:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. (NIV)

The New Living Translation renders that last phrase this way:

"You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”

Jesus makes two crucial points: First, some things in Scripture are more important than other things. Not every verse, not every law, is equally important, equally significant. Then second, Jesus tells what the most important things are: justice, mercy and faithfulness.

On occasion, Jesus, using those principles, set aside explicit commands and detailed rules based on those commands.

Matthew 12:1-7. When the conservative religious scholars nailed Jesus for a technical violation of the Sabbath rules, Jesus dismissed their charges, arguing they did not really understand the Bible.

If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice' (Hosea 6:6), you would not have condemned the innocent. Matthew 12:7

The conservative scholars could cite specific passages that supported their condemnation. Jesus didn't argue that those rules were in the Bible. Jesus dismissed the critics because they did not understand. They did not correctly interpret. And the key to their failure to correctly interpret the Bible was their failure to deeply understand mercy.

Is there a simple way to describe the highest principles, the ideals that should be given the highest consideration in interpreting the Bible? Yes.

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. NIV

"Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. NLT

"In everything, therefore, *treat people the same way you want *them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. NASB

Matthew 7:12,

The entire Bible can be summarized thus: Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

This applies to slavery. Could you imagine wanting someone to enslave you?

Women's ordination. Would you want to be told that no matter how gifted and faithful you were, your work would always be regarded as second class?

Spanking. Would spanking help you do a better job at work? Would it help you be a better citizen?

Name calling. Even if you were wrong would you want someone to scream at you and call you names?

Love languages in marriage. Would you want your husband or wife to treat you according to their instincts or according to your needs?

The entire law can be summed up in this little command: Do to others what you would have them do to you.

In John 8, Jesus rejects condemnation.

In Matthew 23:23, Jesus scolds the Pharisees for failing to make justice, mercy and faith the center of their religion.

In Matthew 12, Jesus explicitly declared that God is not interested in sacrifice—that is strict justice—but cares supremely about mercy.

You put all these passage together and we see Jesus using the Bible as a source of hope, encouragement and guidance for life. He sets aside or softens the concern for punishment, vengeance, and severe rules. The Bible is decidedly not a collection of independent, equally normative bullet points.

As followers of Jesus, we are invited to follow his teaching and example:  Justice is more important than rules. Mercy is more important than justice. Condemnation finds very little place at all.

Teachers

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship

Sabbath, October 6, 2012

This is preliminary draft, subject to copy editing and substantive change.

How to Understand the Bible – Part 3. “Teachers”

As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, "Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and walk along beside the carriage." Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The man replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?"

And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?" So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look! There's some water! Why can't I be baptized?" He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea. Acts 8:26-40

About 2000 years ago a Christian named Philip became a celebrity in the city of Samaria. He had come to Samaria because back in Jerusalem the authorities were imprisoning Christians and even killing some of them. Christians scattered all over the Mediterranean world. Philip wound up in Samaria, a non-Jewish city a few days travel north of Jerusalem.

There, he began preaching about Jesus. People were fascinated. Crowds gathered. The more he preached, the bigger the crowds. And, just like the Jesus he preached about, in addition to preaching Philip healed people and cast out demons. Eventually the entire city was talking about this preacher Philip. Thousands got baptized—both men and women, Luke makes a point of saying. (Christianity did not have separate religious practices for men and women as the Jewish religion did. e.g. circumcision.)

The apostles back in Jerusalem heard what was going on and sent Peter and John to check things out. When they arrived they conducted a special prayer service and prayed for the people to receive the Holy Spirit. And it happened.

After a little while Peter and John headed back to Jerusalem. Then something utterly unexpected happened. Philip left town. An angel appeared to him and told him to head back to Jerusalem and then to keep going south out of Jerusalem on the road toward the Sinai desert. Philip followed orders.

Somewhere south of Jerusalem Philip heard a carriage coming along behind him, also headed south. The Holy Spirit told Philip, “Go walk next to the carriage.” Philip did so.

He heard the rich man in the carriage reading. (In those days, when people read, they did not read to themselves the way we do. They read out loud. So Philip heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you're reading?”

“How can I?” the man answered. “I have no one to teach me.”

“I could help you with that.”

So the man invited Philip up into the carriage and they moved on south reading and talking as the miles crawled by.

Who was this man? He was the treasurer of Ethiopia, a very powerful man in the administration of Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. He had been in Jerusalem to worship and was headed back home.

Obviously he was a worshiper of the true God. He may or may not have been officially a member of a synagogue. But he had been to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. He was not “casually” interested in Judaism.

He was reading when Philip joined him. This tells us several things. Obviously he was educated. More than that, he cared deeply about the Bible. People did not have pocket Bibles. Scrolls of the Bible were very, very expensive. Perhaps he had bought this scroll in Jerusalem. For sure, he was serious about studying the Bible. Because he was rich and educated, he had his own copy of the Bible (or at least part of it.)

Still, when Philip asked, “Do you understand it?” he said, “How can I without someone to teach me?”

This is the third in a series on how to understand the Bible. (The technical term used by theologians is hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the theory of how to correctly interpret the Bible.)

In the first sermon I listed a number of steps or processes for correctly understanding the Bible. Rule Number One was (and is and always will be) READ THE BOOK.

Last week, we talked about a special approach to understanding the Bible, and that is to see it as the “Jesus Book.” Everything in the Bible, the people, the sacrifices, the religious and civic structures set up by God in the OT, everything is connected to Jesus.

This week I'm going to talk about the role of teachers.

The Bible offers some challenging perspectives on the role of teachers.

The eunuch asked Philip, “How can I understand if I have no one to teach me?”

God sent Philip to supply the eunuch's need. A central theme in the stories of the NT is the role of the church as a source of teachers. Paul was converted through the direct intervention of God. But after three days in blindness, God sent a teacher, Ananias to both restore Paul's physical vision and to begin his training in Christianity.

Later in his life, Paul tried to minimize the role of his human teachers.

I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:12

Of course, Paul had been instructed in Christianity by Christian teachers: the very people he was arresting and prosecuting in Jerusalem. He had listened to teachers so convinced of their beliefs they were willing to testify to them in the face of imminent death. Then when Jesus confronted him on the Damascus Road, he compelled the arrogant Pharisee to receive healing and welcome from the very teachers he had been prosecuting.

Then when Paul entered his new Christian ministry what kind of ministry was it? Primarily a teaching ministry. In Acts 18, Luke describes Paul's work in the city of Corinth:

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, "Don't be afraid! Speak out! Don't be silent! For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to me." So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God. Acts 18

The people Paul was teaching had access to the OT scriptures. They didn't need Paul to give them the Bible. As for knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus, Paul was himself a learner. He was dependent on the reports of eye witnesses. Still he had a large role as a teacher. He helped the people of Corinth to see Jesus in the OT. He helped them learn to read the OT as the Jesus Book.

Just as was the case of the Ethiopian eunuch, it was not enough to have the book, they needed the teacher.

How do we understand the Bible? We read it. And we rely on teachers. There are things we will never see in the Bible unless someone helps us see it. The book is not enough.

Richard Davidson, a well-known professor at the Seminary at Andrews University has written a long article about how to correctly interpret the Bible. He begins by stating that Adventists, like other Protestants, believe in the Bible and the Bible Only. He then explains what this means. And part of his explanation is “. . . the Bible alone is sufficient in clarity so that no external source is required to rightly interpret it.”

Davidson's paper can be found here: http://biblicalresearch.gc.adventist.org/documents/interp%20scripture%20davidson.pdf.

But Davidson is wrong. The Bible alone is NOT sufficient. We need teachers. Always have. Always will until we are in the New Earth.

A couple of examples. First from Davidson's own world: Davidson is a strong advocate of the Adventist doctrine that teaches the judgment began in 1844. No one in the last 100 years has ever found that doctrine in the Bible without the help of an Adventist teacher. Of all the billions of people who have read the Bible, not one single person has come even close to guessing the interpretation of Daniel 8:14 that our church teaches. This doctrine requires sources other than the Bible.

If the church is going to retain this doctrine it must maintain an unbroken chain of Adventist teachers. A single generation without those teachers and the doctrine will become extinct. Permanently.

Another example of the danger of attempting to read the Bible without any help. William Miller thought he would study the Bible without teachers. He eventually figured out the approximate date of the Second Coming. Then some of his followers, using his methods, came up with the exact date. October 22, 1844. How did that work out? Thousands of people experienced bitter, devastating disappointment. Over a hundred and fifty years later we are still trying to escape the temptation to figure out “times and seasons” related to the end of the world, distracting us from the real work of spiritual life.

If William Miller had allowed the teaching ministry of classic Christianity to shine some light on his Bible study, he would have realized that Christians have experimented with doomsday scenarios periodically through history. They all follow the same trajectory. And they all end in ignominy.

One of the roles of teachers is helping to protect us from foolishness that comes from our own blind spots.

Walter Vieth is someone in present day Adventism that is repeating William Miller's mistake. He thinks he sees what almost no other theologian or Bible scholar can see. He has misled thousands, perhaps tens of thousands. His presentations feel “true” but they don't stand the test of solid scholarship. Why? Because he himself is operating so far outside his areas of expertise.

For instance he did a series of lectures on Bible manuscripts. He got his facts wrong. More importantly, he got his tone wrong. He suggested to people that they were in danger of being deceived if they read the wrong translation of the Bible. He was wrong. More tragically, he sowed suspicion and distrust between church members.

Based on the teachings and example of Jesus and the teachings and example of Paul, we would expect teachers to play an important role in helping us to rightly understand the Bible.

Having said this, it's important to note a balancing perspective.

And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. Acts 17:11

Just because a teacher, even one as prestigious as Paul, says something, that does not make it so. A teacher points us to understandings in the Bible. A teacher can help us see connections we would not otherwise see. But teachers are also susceptible to error. Teachers make mistakes.

Fact check. Even when learning from the most honorable and brilliant teacher.

I remember a Bible teacher adamantly insisting that the sun was the center of the Milky Way galaxy. He was the teacher. He was still wrong. Another teacher told us he had figured out the precise hour of Christ's return. He was wrong.

When evangelists tell you about the rising crime rate in the United States, they are wrong. Violent crime has been decreasing for more than ten years.

When prophecy buffs tell you they have discovered some new secret that sets dates in connection with the end of time, you don't even have to consider their evidence. They are wrong. It's like when you receive an envelope with no return address. You don't need to open it to figure out whether it's important or not. It's not. By definition. No one yet has sent you or me a million dollars in a letter without a return address. And they aren't likely to.

Fact check your teachers.

The Ethiopian eunuch had a good religious life. He had a vital connection with God and a sweet hunger for more. He read the Bible to feed that hunger. And God responded by sending him a teacher to open a whole new vista: Philip taught the eunuch to see Jesus—the fulfillment of a thousand-year-long wait—as the definitive revelation of the person and purpose of God.

If you are cultivating your spiritual life and if you desire more, if you are seeking a deeper relationship with God, God will put teachers in your life as well. Welcome them. Honor them. Fact check them.

Then put what you've learned into practice. Live out what you've been taught. That's the ultimate purpose of teachers.

The Jesus Book

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship

Sabbath, September 29, 2012

How to Interpret the Bible, Part 2

Perhaps you missed it but The Hindu, the major English language newspaper in southern India, reported this week on a celebration to mark the 200^th anniversary of the translation of the gospels into Malayalam. One of the dignitaries noted that Christianity had existed in the region for 2000 years but had spoken the language of the people for only 200.

The translation was the work of a scholar and priest named Philipose Ramban. Ever since Christianity had come to India—according to tradition, brought by the the apostle Thomas—the Christian church in southern India used the ancient language of Syriac in their worship.

It would be like us using Greek as our language of worship. The only way you could understand what was said in church or what was written in the Bible was to go to seminary and learn Greek. Even then, most people would never have more than a superficial “head knowledge” of the most important words of our religion because Greek is not integrated into our lives. We don't think in Greek. We don't dream in Greek. We don't visit in Greek.

The believers in south India were devout. They loved God. They prayed. They loved their neighbors. But there was a vast chasm between the heart of their spiritual life and the language of the Bible and public worship.

Then Philipose Ramban set to work and translated the Syriac gospels into the ordinary language of Malayalam. His “Gospels” was published by Curier Press in Bombay in 1811. The translation caused a scandal. The church in that region of India actually split with one faction beginning to use Malayalam in their worship services. The other faction rejected this vulgarization of worship. They insisted that true worship could only be conducted in Syriac, the language of St. Thomas.

This story highlights one of the central commitments of the Christian religion: to make God's word available in the language of ordinary people.

From the earliest years of Christianity, the church has prized the written words of the New Testament.

From wikipedia: “Parts of the New Testament have been preserved in more . . . [than] 5,800 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages including Syriac, Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic and Armenian. The dates of these manuscripts range from c. 125 (the John Ryland's manuscript, P52; oldest copy of John fragments) to the introduction of printing in Germany in the 15th century. The vast majority of these manuscripts date after the 10th century.” (I quote wikipedia here not as “an authority” but as a convenient summary of widely accepted fact.)

The church does not imagine that there is some magic in the specific words themselves. Within a hundred years of the time the New Testament was written, people were already translating it into other languages so people could hear the ideas and stories of Jesus in their own tongue. “Possessing the Word of God” was not the goal. Rather “hearing the Word of God.” And hearing meant understanding. For that to happen the Word had to be in the words ordinary people used in the ordinary affairs of life.

Why were the Christians in south India using a Syriac Bible for more than a thousand years? Because they were the descendants of Christians who migrated from Syria in the 300s. They brought with them their language and their Bibles—which were, naturally, in Syriac. Then as the language changed, they failed to keep their Bibles up to date.

It's just like what happened in English after the King James Version was produced. The translators used the language of ordinary people. Four hundred years later, that language had become antiquated. The very language that had helped people connect with God had become a barrier to understanding God. Fortunately, we now have modern translations and the Bible again speaks our language.

In most of the world where people revere the Quran, the people cannot read the Quran. Translations are not respected. The only “authentic Quran” is in Arabic. Since most Muslims don't speak Arabic, their “Bible” is an unreadable book. No wonder they are susceptible to manipulation by clerics.

It's important that we who revere the Bible don't fall into the trap of shouting our respect for a book that we don't really know. And we can only know it by reading it.

So we have the Bible in our language. Still the question rises: How do we understand it? How do we rightly interpret it? Today's sermon is part 2 in a series addressing that question.

Let's begin with on of the most famous passages in the Bible that talks about how to interpret what we read:

Then Jesus said to them, "You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn't it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?" Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:25-27

This conversation occurred on the third day since Jesus was crucified. Two men were hiking from Jerusalem to the little town of Emmaus about seven miles away. As they were walking, they were joined by a stranger. He asked what it is they were talking about. They answered, “What? Are you the only person in Palestine who doesn't know what's happened this weekend? You haven't heard how our rulers arrested and crucified Jesus of Nazareth? He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. We hoped he was the promised Messiah. Some of our women claim he has been resurrected from the dead.”

At this point, Jesus interrupted them,

“You foolish people! Do you really find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures? Wasn't it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?”

Then Jesus teaches them how to interpret the Bible. He begins with Moses and runs all through the Old Testament showing them how the ancient prophets had predicted the very events they were lamenting.

This becomes a central feature of Christian teaching. Jesus' live, ministry, death and resurrection happened JUST AS THE PROPHETS PREDICTED. Christians came to interpret the entire Bible as the Book of Jesus.

In the very first Christian sermon, recorded in Acts 2, Peter makes repeated references to Old Testament passages in support of his argument that Jesus is the Messiah and that his death and resurrection were in God's plan.

Peter's second sermon again cites OT passages in support of his claims about Jesus.

But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah—that he must suffer these things. . . . For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, 'The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.' [Peter is quoting Deut 18:15.]. Then Moses said, 'Anyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from God's people.' [Here Peter quotes Deut 18:19 and Lev 23:29]. "

[Peter concludes,] “Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today.” Acts 3:18-24

When Peter was invited to the house of Cornelius, the devout Roman centurion, Peter preached,

“[Jesus] is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name." Acts 10:43.

Sometimes when you read the ancient Christian writers, you'll find yourself wondering, how did they figure that out? Does that passage really predict Jesus?

Over the next centuries as Christian preachers kept thinking about the whole Bible as the “Jesus Book,” they came to see Jesus everywhere in the Old Testament.

In Genesis 3, God says to Snake, “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." (Gen. 3:15). An uninitiated reader might think this is simply a fairy tale about the origin of the common human antipathy to snakes. But Christian interpreters saw it as a picture of the work of Jesus. Jesus would be wounded (dreadfully, fatally) by the devil. But Jesus fatal wound would be healed. He would rise from the grave and ultimately crush the forces of evil.

Christians learned to see the mission of Jesus in the work of the priests in the ancient Jewish temple.

David, the King of the Jews, modeled the honor and sovereignty of Jesus the King of kings, Lord of the nations.

The prophets—the spokespersons for God—came to be seen as small-scale models of the grand work of the Messiah who would be the supreme Word of God.

Every story became a springboard for sermons about the ministry of Jesus. When the Jewish people invaded the land of Canaan and sacked the city of Jericho, they were under orders to kill every person and even all the animals. They were to obliterate the place. But they saved one person, a prostitute named Rahab. And they saved all the people who were with Rahab in her house. Why? Because when Jewish spies were casing the city prior to the invasion, Rahab hid them from the police. The spies promised her: Since you saved us, we'll save you. And they kept their word.

It's a messy story. Christian preachers turned it into a metaphor for the work of Christ. Humans, all the residents of planet earth were doomed, destined for destruction. But the human, Jesus Christ, had earned salvation by his righteous life. When the world is destroyed, Jesus' house—that is the church—will be spared. And everyone in the house with him will be saved.

Your first thought, reading the story of Rahab would probably not be to think of the ministry of Jesus. You might not think of this even on your third or fourth reading of the story. But if you were a Christian theologian reading the story for the 20^th or 30^th time and you have been trained to think of the book you are reading—the Bible—as the Jesus Book, then maybe you'll see it.

If you spend enough time in the Jesus community, thinking constantly about Jesus, asking constantly as you read the Bible, “what is this passage telling me about Jesus, you, too, will begin seeing Jesus everywhere.

Another story: Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22.

God speaks to Abraham and orders him to take his beloved son Isaac to a distant mountain and offer his son there as a sacrifice. It's a horrible story. We recoil reading it. How could God ask such a thing? How could any decent father obey such a command. But how did ancient Christians read the story?

They saw Abraham as playing the role of God the Father. He had a beloved Son. He sacrificed his son. Because we understand the angst of Abraham in this story, we understand the angst of God the Father in sending Jesus to earth.

In the real story, at the last minute an angel cancels the order to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham then spots a ram caught in the bushes and offers the ram as a sacrifice instead of his son Isaac. Christians then understood us as “Isaac” under an order of execution. Jesus becomes the ram who takes our place. He dies that we might live.

Another story: The suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

My servant grew up in the LORD's presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows [fn] that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

If you read Isaiah looking for obvious clues that this passage is about the Messiah, you'll be disappointed. But if you are a Christian reading Isaiah as part of the Jesus Book, you'll immediately see the reality of Jesus portrayed in the pathos of these words.

There is no end to this: Jesus is the shepherd of Psalm 23, the lamb of the sacrificial system. He is the king (David) and the king's son (Solomon). Elijah and Elisha prefigure John the Baptist and Jesus. Jesus is everywhere . . . when you learn to look.

This kind of approach to interpreting the Bible anchored Christian reverence for Jesus. It became the foundation of the church's belief that Jesus was not only Wonderful, Counselor, Healer. He was also the Everlasting Father, the Almighty God. Jesus was seen as the grand climax of God's plan and God's action through the ages.

Secondly, reading the Bible as “the Jesus Book” led to a “progressive” understanding of God. The fury and harsh sometimes evinced by God in the OT are seen as less authentic revelations of what God is really like. The view of God in the OT came to be regarded as preparatory, provisional. Jesus was the final word, the authoritative interpretation of God and of all words about God.

Understanding the Bible as the Jesus Book invites readers to shift their attention from the literal stories to spiritual applications. The snake in the garden is not a snake, it is a representation of the Evil One. The animal skins that God offers Adam and Eve after their sin and before their expulsion from the garden are not merely fur coats, they are symbols of God's continuing protection even as they wander from the garden under a curse.

This approach to interpreting the Bible can be frustrating to our modern rationalistic minds. It lends itself to worship and music and devotion. It is nearly useless in rational defenses of doctrine or arguments about “truth.”

The point of the Bible is to connect us to the Living Jesus, the one who died and rose again and who promised—I am with you always, even to the end.

Laodicean? Whatever.

Musing on the people and events of this past weekend.

I spent this past weekend hanging out with the people of North Hill Adventist Fellowship at our annual church retreat. There wasn't much of a program. Friday night people trickled in, came to the kitchen to get a sandwich, sat around and talked. Sabbath morning we sang four or five songs accompanied by Karin on her harmonica. (The acoustics of the room were phenomenal making up for the lack of our customary instrumental support) Alan led us in Sabbath School study of 2 Thessalonians (the week's assignment in the Sabbath School Quarterly). I led a brief discussion of Acts 10 and 19—two conversion stories that begin with an affirmation of the goodness of the people prior to their conversions. Haystacks for lunch then we went for a leisurely hike along the falls on the East Fork of the Lewis River. Saturday night some spent hours sitting around a campfire, others played table games.

Leisurely, undirected fellowship.

I didn't hear any talk of the “shortness of the time.” No hand-wringing over the hypocrisy or dishonesty or (name your favorite lament) of church leaders. In my zealous teen years I would have labeled these people as Laodicean—lukewarm. Which is extreme opprobrium in Adventist circles. And would be entirely misplaced.

These “lukewarm” Adventists enjoy warm relationships with their teenage and adult children. That counts for something. They are taking care of their parents and their aged neighbors. They are volunteering in community organizations. They are the financial backbone of the local congregation and the denomination. They are “salt of the earth.”

According to Adventist historicist interpretation, the church of God after about 1844 is symbolized by the seventh church of Revelation--Laodicea. This final church is repugnant to God. Since the Adventists I spent the weekend with live post-1844, they must be “Laodicean” which is a very bad thing. Actually, it's the interpretation that is a very bad thing. The people are good.

Outsiders and insiders

Outline for conversation at the weekend retreat of North Hill Adventist Fellowship

Acts 10.

In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer* named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment. He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. One afternoon about three o'clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. "Cornelius!" the angel said. Cornelius stared at him in terror. "What is it, sir?" he asked the angel. And the angel replied, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering! Now send some men to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying with Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore. And he will tell you what to do."

(Last phrase not in “preferred” manuscripts.)

Note that in this story the angel visits Cornelius because of his goodness not in spite of his badness. He had learning to do. His life was going to change. Still, the place where he enters the story is a good place. He moves from good to better, not bad to good.

Acts 19

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers (Gk: disciples). "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" he asked them. "No," they replied, "we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

These guys had never even heard of the Holy Spirit, but they are called “disciples.” There was more for them, but what they had was not condemned or ridiculed. Where they were was good. Paul had something better. The "something better" included the good stuff they already possessed.

Have you been part of a religious community other than Seventh-day Adventist? If so, name it (them).

What commendable elements are there in that (those) communities?

Jesus make a startling statement about the relative goodness of pagan societies:

"What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. Matthew 11:21

"The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of Sheba will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen. Matthew 12:41-42

Luke 10: The Good Samaritan. The good guy in the story is not Jewish.

Some Lessons: God is active across the world, not in just one single “right” community. Belonging to the right group is not enough. Evangelism--declaring truth as we see it and inviting others to join us-- is a good thing. It does not require us to condemn everything believed and practiced by others. God is pleased with people who still have growing and learning to do--including them and us. God is pleased with you.

Understanding the Bible

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship 9/15/2012

Text; John 6:33. The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John, who faithfully reported everything he saw. This is his report of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near. Revelation 1:1-3

Depending on who you talk to the Bible is the best book in the world or it is the most dangerous book in the world.

For Christians, it is the Word of God. It is God's mind made available to humanity. It is a source of life, hope, and wisdom.

On the other hand, it has also been seen as the most dangerous of all books. During the last century, the Bible was one of the greatest threats to Communism. It was outlawed in China and in the Soviet Union (for my younger readers, that's the Communist nation that was dominated by Russia.)

Even in so-called Christian Europe, 500 years ago people were executed for translating the Bible into English. The book was too dangerous to allow ordinary people read it. In the last 50 years, some Christians again fought to keep the Bible away from ordinary people. They argued that the King James Version, a translation into old English published in 1611, was the last, definitive revelation of God, replacing the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. They vigorously opposed the translation of the Bible into the language of ordinary people. But they couldn't stop it. And today we Bible translations of all sorts for every kind of reader.

So how do we get the most benefit out of a book, parts of which are perhaps 3000 years old, and the most recent section of which is 2000 years old?

Several of you have asked for sermons on how to understand the Bible. So that is what we are going to examine today.

[Note: In this sermon, I will ignore completely the problem of contradictory interpretations. Sometimes people using identical formal approaches to interpreting the Bible espouse mutually exclusive interpretations. I know of no rational method for resolving these disputes. What I offer here is a guide for using the Bible for the cultivation of saintliness not the resolution of ideological/doctrinal disputes.]

Rule number one: Read the book. All the other rules I mention come in no particular order of importance. They all have a place in understanding the Bible but the order in which I list them is unimportant. However, this rule is truly number one. It is vastly more important than all other rules. None of the other rules even matter until after you have completed rule number one. READ THE BOOK.

Brian gave up Christianity in his early teen years because his father died in spite of his prayers. He became a Buddhist in college. In his thirties we met and began visiting. When he said something that agreed with something Jesus said, I would point it out. “That reminds me . . . ” I'd say, and then I would quote the passage in the New Testament that Brian's comment reminded me of.

Some months into our friendship after one of these conversations, he said, “Maybe I should check out the New Testament. Maybe I should read it for myself.” When he said that, I knew what was going to happen. If you read the New Testament when you are spiritually hungry, the most likely outcome is that you will find deep satisfaction for your soul. God will talk to you.

Sure enough, Brian became a Christian. That's the power of reading the Bible. His story is repeated over and over across cultures and across time. People read the book and discover God and faith in their reading.

To reiterate: Rule Number One is: Read the book. No other rules have any meaning until you begin doing this.

Sunday, I flew back to Maryland to visit my dad. I got into conversation with the woman sitting next to me. She mentioned she had grown up Catholic. Her mother was a truly devout woman, deeply religious, overflowing with compassion and goodness. My seat mate had gotten away from religion, but she had some vague notion of reincarnation.

She said her mother thought that reincarnation had been in the Bible until the Middle Ages, then the church took it out to increase their ability to control people through fear. What did I think of that?

I told her the New Testament had not been tampered with, that we have thousands of manuscripts from way back before the Middle Ages. If she wanted to know what is in the NT originally all she had to to was read a modern translation. Our translations are reliable. Besides, I said the NT was very brief. You could read it all in two or three hours.

I asked a few more questions and was amused. She had opinions about the NT—she thought it used to teach reincarnation—but she had never read it. In fact, she didn't even know it was only a small part of the total Bible. She did not know that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were stories about Jesus. She had never read any of it.

If you're going to get a blessing out of the Bible, the first step is to read it. The Bible is not a talisman, a holy relic, a magic spiritual object you can benefit from just by owning it or touching it.

I am critical of Muslims who make a big deal about the holiness of the Quran but who do not actually read it. I am equally critical of Christians who make a big deal out of the Bible, but don't actually read it. Occasionally someone will strongly disagree with something I say because “That's not what I learned in academy.” Or “That's not what I was taught.” Often when I then ask these people what Bible passage they would quote to either support their view point or to correct mine, they give me a blank stare. They don't know the Bible verses, but they know what they were taught. In the context of Adventism, if you're going to offer an opinion about a theological issue, you really ought to have some idea of how what you are saying connects with what the Bible actually says.

More importantly, if you're going to get a blessing out of the Bible, it's crucial to actually read it.

This is so obvious. It is also the most difficult challenge. You could learn Greek so you could study the Bible in the original language. You could read an entire library of commentaries. You could memorize the content of Bible dictionaries and read all about the culture and religion of first century Palestine. All this would be valuable. Still, unless you have sat down and read the New Testament itself, you are an outsider. Your opinions regarding the NT don't count.

AFTER you have read the New Testament, there are a number of ways to enhance your understanding. But let me say it again: AFTER you have read it. Sermons here at church. Radio and TV programs. Books. Magazines. None of these are acceptable substitutes for reading the actual book.

AFTER you have read the book, here are some things that can contribute to a richer, truer, wiser understanding.

Rule Number Two: For most of us, rule number two is, read it again. Some people remember everything they read. They read something once and get it, all of it. If that's you, you can skip the second reading. But for most people reading the NT more than once is an essential preparation for understanding.

Rule Number Three:

Pay attention to the contradictions. The people who wrote the NT were smart people. They knew what they were doing. When they include contradictions they intend to grab your attention. They want you to think. So when you encounter contradictions slow down. Ask yourself, “What is being said here?”

A couple of examples:

In Matthew 6:34, Jesus tells his disciples. “Take no thought for the morrow.” KJV. Or in modern translations: “Don't worry about tomorrow.”

At the end of Matthew 7, Jesus tells his disciples, the person who puts my actions into practice will have a good future. The one who merely listens but does not implement my teachings will face catastrophe in the future. In this passage Jesus is clearly thinking about tomorrow and is teaching his disciples to think about tomorrow.

In the gospel of John, we discover Jesus had a treasurer who kept the group's money in a bag. They did not empty their accounts every day. They kept money for tomorrow!

Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples' money, he often stole some for himself. John 12:6

So what did Jesus mean when he said, “Take no thought for the morrow?” He did say those words. He also said the other statements which clearly teach us to think about tomorrow. A wise student will not ignore either statement. Instead he/she will give attention to both and learn wisdom from the different perspectives offered in these passages.

Another striking statement by Jesus:

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26

How does this passage related to Jesus declaration that our highest duty is to love God and people? Matthew 22:36ff, Mark 12:30ff, Luke 10:25ff.

And what about Jesus' endorsement of the commandment to honor our parents, even if caring for our parents required us to violate some religious rule? Matthew 15; Mark 7.

These contradictions are deliberate. They are in the Bible for a reason.

This brings us back to the first rule: read it. Read it again. Read it again. The NT is not designed as a compendium of religious trivia. It's not like a cook book or a book on weight lifting exercises or yoga postures. You flip through these kinds of books, grab an idea use it to suit yourself.

The NT is better thought of as an invitation to encounter God. One classic definition of good preaching is this: A preacher is to afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted. The purpose of the Bible is not to preserve the status quo. The status quo is usually doing quite well, thank you. The purpose of the Bible is to open us to the coaching of God. As a good coach, God offers us what we do not already have in ourselves. Are you quite content? The Bible allows God to ask, could you do better? Are you discouraged, feeling hopeless and helpless? The Bible allows God to reassure you that he is pleased with you. That he takes delight in the mere fact of your existence. When the Bible agrees with you all the time, you might want to double check and make sure you are listening to the Bible.

Rule Number Four

Another way, another PROCESS for gaining wisdom from the Bible—AFTER you have read the whole thing—is to read a section, a story, a paragraph, a chapter, then sit with it prayerfully. Ask God, “What are you saying to me here? What special insight, what challenge, what reassurance are you voicing in this passage?” Then turn your attention to the words, to the characters in the story. Take time. Spend five minutes just letting your mind live with the story, paragraph or chapter.

Rule Number Five

Another PROCESS is reading commentaries. You can buy books. You can find them online. Focus on one book, say Romans or John or Matthew or James. Read the book several times. If it's a short one like James or Philippians, read the whole book every day for a week or month. Then go back through the book, reading a verse at a time and reading commentaries on that verse. You may find it useful to read several different commentaries on each verse to get different perspectives.

Rule Number Six

The ultimate development of this commentary approach is to write your own translation/paraphrase. After you have read several commentaries, put the verse into your own words. Write your own Bible. The process will plant God's words deep in your mind.

At any point in your process of interacting with the Bible, you can test what you're doing by asking questions like: How is what I learning affecting my relationships with people. Are other telling me that I am being kinder, more patient, more thoughtful, more compassionate? Or are people complaining about my self-centeredness, my rudeness, my thoughtlessness? If what you are doing with the Bible enhances life and relationships, great. If it diminishes relationships and life quality—change course. Change understanding. Investigate further.

If you engage deeply with the New Testament in the ways I've outlined, God's words will take up residence in your mind. Your instincts will begin molding themselves around the skeleton of holy words that you building. You will begin to encounter Jesus, not just in words on a page, not just in ideas and opinions but in the events and people and actions of your ordinary life. God will take up residence inside you. Goodness will no longer be alien. It will be your friend and will flow from you to others.

Hosting Jesus

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship

Sabbath, September 8, 2012.

Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. Matthew 9:10.

Jesus surprised people by inviting a tax collector to be part of his inner circle. Then Jesus surprised people again by going to a party at Matthew's house. The party was for Jesus and all Matthew's old friends.

This was not the only time. In Luke 19, Jesus reached out to another tax collector, Zaccheaus. This time Jesus didn't wait for an invitation, he invited himself to Zaccheaus' house for dinner. And again the dinner included more people than just Jesus and the host. It was a crowd.

It appears that this was a habit of Jesus. He liked to go to dinner at people's houses.

Jesus did not just go to houses of tax collectors, he also went to dinner at the homes of Pharisees.

One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching him closely. Luke 14:1.

In Matthew 10, Jesus instructed his disciples to do their evangelism by going to people's houses. Matthew 10:12-13. We find the same thing in Luke. Don't move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay. Luke 10:7

In Luke 7, we read the story of Jesus going for dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee.

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.* Luke 7:36

What do these stories teach us?

First, you are invited. Pharisee or tax collector, good person or bad person, someone with an interesting history or someone with a boring story. You are invited. There is a place at the table for you.

Second, you are called to extend the invitation. You are called to host a Jesus party. Invite your friends. So, if your friends are “normal people,” invite normal people. If your friends are “interesting people,” invite interesting people.

The nature of the invitation we are to give is this: come hang out with me and Jesus. You are the host or hostess. You are utterly crucial. Jesus is always available, but many people do not sense his availability. They do not sense the welcome. Your job is to make Jesus' welcome palpable, believable.

Matthew's friends came to meet Jesus only because it was happening at Matthew's house. If Matthew had invited his friends to meet Jesus as some religious person's house, they would probably not have shown up. If Matthew had sent them to meet Jesus at a local synagogue, they would probably not have gone. They came to Matthew because they knew him, they trusted him. They could relate to him.

Pharisees hung out with Pharisees. So where was Jesus likely to be able to meet Pharisees? At another Pharisees' house.

We are called to invite our friends to meet with us and Jesus. Don't “send” your friends to Jesus. There is not much value in sending any one to Jesus. They won't go. Instead bring them to Jesus by inviting them to join you in Jesus' presence.

If your friends come to church sit with them.

If you didn't bring a friend, look around. There is someone here who would be blessed by your smile. One of the challenges for all of us who are here is to look around for someone who might not feel as welcome as we do. Then go and greet that person. Introduce yourself. You will find yourself more at home in the church if you deliberately look around for someone else to include. And you will be doing a ministry that Jesus himself cannot do, a ministry that he is eager for you to do.

Jesus likes to meet people. He needs you to host the meeting.