"Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"--and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
My roommates and I talked about this in a communal quiet time we had today and looked at the analogy that Paul makes between the stomach's relation to food with the Lord's relation to the body. I think, generally, we're a little puzzled by what exactly is going on in this verse (what is Paul trying to communicate here?), and I'd love to hear all of your thoughts on it.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Biblical Theology: What it is, why I love it, and why YOU should love it too
For a long time, if you asked me my favorite passage in the Bible, you would likely have been puzzled with my response. Ever since studying the story of David and Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9 with Berg my sophomore year in discipleship, I have loved the narrative. I've given talks on the passage, probably forced every Bible study I've ever led to read it, and gone to it when I have felt emotionally disconnected from the Lord. "Why?" you might ask--after all, it's simply a narrative of David keeping his promise to Jonathan to continue to show favor to his family. In response to that I would say, "True. But it's also a BEAUTIFUL picture of God loving, accepting, and adopting as a child someone who serves no use to him, and in fact is someone who probably deserves no better than death."
Little did I know it, but this was my first real encounter with biblical theology.
Upon hearing about my love for this narrative, and several similar narratives, Chris Burton recommended the book, According to Plan: An Introductory Biblical Theology. In this book, the author Graeme Goldsworthy says that biblical theology "enables us to relate any Bible story to the whole message of the Bible, and therefore to ourselves." This was incredibly intriguing to me, because this was what I was doing when I was looking at the passage on David and Mephibosheth. I saw David as a type of Christ, as we're often taught that he is, and was able to relate what he was doing to what God has done for us in Christ. But this could be done for any story in the Bible?? What did he even mean by that?? Well, it turns out, yeah, it absolutely can, and he means we can relate the ultimate story of God sending his son Jesus to die for our sins on the cross to Scripture just about anywhere we look--and it has SO enriched my reading of Scripture over the past year.
Here's why I love it: the Bible is so rich, and so beyond the surface reading that we can often give it--throughout all of history God has been showing us what would happen through Christ in so many different ways and through so many different people, through the laws and through narrative and through prophecy. As I have read the Bible over the past year or so, and especially lately, I have just been blown away by the richness of Scripture, and how so much of it points to, in some way, the good news of Christ's death on the cross for our sins.
Simply put, there are so many elements of the gospel in so many of the biblical narratives: Moses was called by God to represent him before the enslaved people of Israel in Egypt. He led the Israelites out of slavery and toward the promised land. Jesus is the greater Moses because he has led all people out of the slavery of sin and death and toward the promised land of life in Him, and never doubted the Word of God along the way.
David was but a humble shepherd tending his flock for his family when Israel's prophet called him to be king. He then went to battle against Goliath for all of Israel, humbly defeating a foreign ruler and oppressor when the entire nation of Israel was paralyzed in fear and even its king was afraid to fight. He defeated Goliath in an unconventional, humble way, and saved the nation of Israel. Jesus is the greater David because he defeats an even greater enemy on behalf of his people, also in the incredibly humble and unconventional way of dying on a cross to destroy death and saves a nation and is King over.
Naaman was a great ruler of Assyria, but he had leprosy--after speaking with Elisha, the prophet and representative of God, who told him to wash himself in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed, he went away angry, thinking that this way was foolish, until his servants convinced him to go back and do what the prophet said. Naaman expected to have to do great things to earn his cure, but all he really had to do was humble himself to the act of bathing seven times in the Jordan out of faith that God would really do what Elisha said He would do. This relates to the gospel because we, like Naaman, have a terrible disease in sin and our natural response is to feel that we need to earn our way back to God--we see this as true through so many conversations we have with people who talk about living a "good life", even people brought up in a solid church--maybe needing to do something GREAT to be healed of our sin, but the reality is that we need to put our faith in God that HE will heal us, in his own way, through the work of Christ on the cross, and to humble ourselves and go before him knowing that only he can heal us. (2 Kings 5)
Even the words of Christ point to this--In Luke 6:27-36, Jesus talks about loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. This is completely unnatural, and there is no person who has ever done this well, particularly on a heart level, except for Jesus. We get upset when people slight us only lightly, like with a sarcastic comment, or an elbow in a basketball game--but Christ endured the cross on behalf of sinners who continually rebelled against him. He loved his enemies (Romans 5:8) by dying on the cross for us while we were still sinners. He prayed for the people who were killing him as he was on the cross! Though we can't love our enemies perfectly, there is one who has done this--Christ!
As I have read Scripture after reading "According to Plan" and listening to Tim Keller talk about Christ-centered preaching, more of these continue to pop out at me, wherever I am reading in the text of the Bible, and it has been an incredible encouragement and enriching of my reading of the Word. I think it would do everyone well to go into a passage looking to ask the question: "How does this relate to the gospel and what Christ has done in my life?" This question helps me relate well to any passage in the Word and has helped me to look for the gospel in whatever I'm reading. What a sweet encouragement that God has been preparing us for the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Old Testament and that the whole Bible points to him!
The gospel needs to be at the center of our lives, as it is truly the center of Scripture, and reading the Bible in this way helps me to continually focus on what Christ has done for us, and the tremendous significance of that event for the world.
I'd love any comments and other insight you guys might have on this.
Little did I know it, but this was my first real encounter with biblical theology.
Upon hearing about my love for this narrative, and several similar narratives, Chris Burton recommended the book, According to Plan: An Introductory Biblical Theology. In this book, the author Graeme Goldsworthy says that biblical theology "enables us to relate any Bible story to the whole message of the Bible, and therefore to ourselves." This was incredibly intriguing to me, because this was what I was doing when I was looking at the passage on David and Mephibosheth. I saw David as a type of Christ, as we're often taught that he is, and was able to relate what he was doing to what God has done for us in Christ. But this could be done for any story in the Bible?? What did he even mean by that?? Well, it turns out, yeah, it absolutely can, and he means we can relate the ultimate story of God sending his son Jesus to die for our sins on the cross to Scripture just about anywhere we look--and it has SO enriched my reading of Scripture over the past year.
Here's why I love it: the Bible is so rich, and so beyond the surface reading that we can often give it--throughout all of history God has been showing us what would happen through Christ in so many different ways and through so many different people, through the laws and through narrative and through prophecy. As I have read the Bible over the past year or so, and especially lately, I have just been blown away by the richness of Scripture, and how so much of it points to, in some way, the good news of Christ's death on the cross for our sins.
Simply put, there are so many elements of the gospel in so many of the biblical narratives: Moses was called by God to represent him before the enslaved people of Israel in Egypt. He led the Israelites out of slavery and toward the promised land. Jesus is the greater Moses because he has led all people out of the slavery of sin and death and toward the promised land of life in Him, and never doubted the Word of God along the way.
David was but a humble shepherd tending his flock for his family when Israel's prophet called him to be king. He then went to battle against Goliath for all of Israel, humbly defeating a foreign ruler and oppressor when the entire nation of Israel was paralyzed in fear and even its king was afraid to fight. He defeated Goliath in an unconventional, humble way, and saved the nation of Israel. Jesus is the greater David because he defeats an even greater enemy on behalf of his people, also in the incredibly humble and unconventional way of dying on a cross to destroy death and saves a nation and is King over.
Naaman was a great ruler of Assyria, but he had leprosy--after speaking with Elisha, the prophet and representative of God, who told him to wash himself in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed, he went away angry, thinking that this way was foolish, until his servants convinced him to go back and do what the prophet said. Naaman expected to have to do great things to earn his cure, but all he really had to do was humble himself to the act of bathing seven times in the Jordan out of faith that God would really do what Elisha said He would do. This relates to the gospel because we, like Naaman, have a terrible disease in sin and our natural response is to feel that we need to earn our way back to God--we see this as true through so many conversations we have with people who talk about living a "good life", even people brought up in a solid church--maybe needing to do something GREAT to be healed of our sin, but the reality is that we need to put our faith in God that HE will heal us, in his own way, through the work of Christ on the cross, and to humble ourselves and go before him knowing that only he can heal us. (2 Kings 5)
Even the words of Christ point to this--In Luke 6:27-36, Jesus talks about loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. This is completely unnatural, and there is no person who has ever done this well, particularly on a heart level, except for Jesus. We get upset when people slight us only lightly, like with a sarcastic comment, or an elbow in a basketball game--but Christ endured the cross on behalf of sinners who continually rebelled against him. He loved his enemies (Romans 5:8) by dying on the cross for us while we were still sinners. He prayed for the people who were killing him as he was on the cross! Though we can't love our enemies perfectly, there is one who has done this--Christ!
As I have read Scripture after reading "According to Plan" and listening to Tim Keller talk about Christ-centered preaching, more of these continue to pop out at me, wherever I am reading in the text of the Bible, and it has been an incredible encouragement and enriching of my reading of the Word. I think it would do everyone well to go into a passage looking to ask the question: "How does this relate to the gospel and what Christ has done in my life?" This question helps me relate well to any passage in the Word and has helped me to look for the gospel in whatever I'm reading. What a sweet encouragement that God has been preparing us for the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Old Testament and that the whole Bible points to him!
The gospel needs to be at the center of our lives, as it is truly the center of Scripture, and reading the Bible in this way helps me to continually focus on what Christ has done for us, and the tremendous significance of that event for the world.
I'd love any comments and other insight you guys might have on this.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Now let me get up on my soapbox (Part 1: Worship Music)
One of my major soapboxes is worship music. For those who have known me for any length of time, the probability is that I've suggested you check out music by Indelible Grace, Sovereign Grace, and Red Mountain Church among others. I am also an incredibly lyrically-driven music listener. I generally don't like a song unless it's lyrics: 1. make sense, 2. are redemptive or at least convey a real experience in a meaningful way, 3. have some sense of art behind them (that is, they don't use the same phrase eight million other songs have used before). Now worship music is an even more specific case where lyrics gain an even greater importance. In a worship song, it is the lyrics that set it apart as a specifically God-directed activity. Thus, worship music lyrics ought to also: 1. make sense, 2. be redemptive (i.e. point me to Jesus and not myself), 3. have some sense of art behind them.
These don't seem to be too high of standards, yet so much contemporary worship fails to meet one or all of them. I was listening to a song by Hillsong United the other day titled "All I Need is You." (Disclaimer: this is not a generalized criticism of all Hillsong, just this song. There are a couple of their songs that really do point me to the gospel). Good premise, right? Let's check the lyrics:
Verse 1:
These don't seem to be too high of standards, yet so much contemporary worship fails to meet one or all of them. I was listening to a song by Hillsong United the other day titled "All I Need is You." (Disclaimer: this is not a generalized criticism of all Hillsong, just this song. There are a couple of their songs that really do point me to the gospel). Good premise, right? Let's check the lyrics:
Verse 1:
Left my fear by the side of the road
Hear you speak
Won't let go
Fall to my knees as I lift my hands to pray
Let's break down verse 1 a bit. We are invited to sing "left my fear by the side of the road" which sounds pretty good, and it begs the question: why? Apparently because we "Hear you speak", in which the you is presumably God, but what he's saying remains a mystery to us. Perhaps we are just supposed to know how hearing God say something makes us leave our fears behind, but it all seems a bit too vague for me. The verse continues with the phrase "won't let go", which again begs the question: of what? Again it is presumably God who we will not let go of, but again with no explanation of why. And how does hearing him speak lead me to not let go? Finally it concludes with the phrase: "fall to my knees as I lift my hands to pray". At this point we have managed to combine four classic spiritual phrases "left my fear", "hear you speak", "won't let go" and "fall to my knees" with no particular explanation as to how any of this relates to Jesus, or how or why these things connect with who God is in Scripture. Now don't get me wrong, every song doesn't need to be an in depth exposition of the a specific element of the gospel, but when vaguery and incoherence dominate the first verse, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the song.
Eventually we get the chorus (which in true Hillsong fashion is repeated at least a dozen times):
All I need is you
All I need is you Lord
Is you Lord
Again, there's certainly nothing wrong with the claim of the chorus. But apart from some reason why all we need is Jesus, is this just mere sentimentalism? I mean does repeating these words over and over actually meet us in our dissatisfaction and longing for redemption? Perhaps it makes us feel better for a moment, but in the end we must know how Jesus is our complete satisfaction.
Eventually we get to some gospel in the second verse:
One more day and it's not the same
Your Spirit calls my heart to sing
Drawn to the voice of my Saviour once again
Where would my soul be without your Son
Gave his life to save the earth
Rest in the thought that you're watching over me
So why is all we need "you Lord"? Because he's the "Saviour", without whom where would our souls be, and he "gave his life to save the earth." So we have at least something pointing us to the work of Christ, though it remains thoroughly unexplored (the phrasing that he "gave his life to save the earth" sounds a bit too Captain Planet for me, but we'll go with it). At this point you might be thinking, "Kyle, you're being way too analytical about this. It's just a song." But of course that gets at the most central problem we have with how we worship: most of the time we don't think about what we're singing.
And that's the real kicker: generally when we sing worship songs we aren't thinking about what we're singing. When we're singing most songs we aren't thinking about what we're singing. That's why Christians listen to Dave Matthews and Jay-Z (two very good musical artists in their own genres) and say "I don't pay attention the lyrics" (which of course is somewhat ironic given the fact that they could most likely sing along word-for-word with the lyrics). The problem is, when we don't think about what we're singing with regard to worship music, then corporate worship is really no different than a Coldplay concert. I've been to both. Both can give you chills and this amazing subjective experience of oneness that is almost spiritual. But it isn't worship. Or at least it's not worshiping Jesus. Worshiping Jesus means that we actually think about who he is and what he's done more than that sweet guitar riff that sent chills up my spine. Now the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but you can't have the riff without the work of Jesus. Then it's just Coldplay's "Fix You". I used the Hillsong song above because it really is one of those songs that is musically pretty engaging; you could sing it without ever thinking about what you're singing.
And my guess is that's what most of us do. We measure worship based on whether it gave us musical chills in our spine which we call the Spirit, instead of whether it preaches the gospel to us. But the call of worship, whether it be through music, preaching, the Lord's Supper or prayer, is a call to look to Jesus, to make him the center, to hear the great Story of his work on our behalf so that we don't have to work. Or in the words of the great hymn:
Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow.
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