The Glory of God Shining through Us

Lately, I've been working my way through 2 Corinthians and every time I get to the second chapter I am struck by this:

"Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?  For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory." (2 Cor 3:7).

Paul is retelling the events of Exodus 33:17-23 and 34:29-35, when Moses requests for God to reveal His face to him.  God allows Moses to see His back, and the glory shines on Moses so brightly that when he comes down the mountain, his countrymen cannot even gaze at his face because it shone so blindingly.

Now compare this to Hebrews 1:3--"He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power."

The thought comes, then, if Christians bear the image of Christ through faith, should not our faces shine with such radiant brillance that the world and those in it can barely look at us because of the light that shines through us?  And if we are not shining with such splendor, is Christ truly living within us?

Short Talk

Normally, I would write a longer blog, but because of various reasons this blog will be short and direct, filled with four questions that I have noted over the past week:

If we want to hear from the Lord, why do we talk so much?

Why do we work ourselves to exhaustion before we seek God for His help?

What are the things that only God and we know about that happen in the quiet solitude?

When we think about what God has for us next, shouldn't we think back on what He has asked last for us to do and if we haven't done that yet, why would He give us something new when we haven't even finished the last task?

Simple questions for a day's worth of contemplation...

David, Bathsheba, and Sin

The story of David and Bathsheba is chronicled in 2 Samuel 11.  Although many people remember David for his faith in facing Goliath, or his steadfast integrity in submission to Saul, or his strong and faithful leadership in administrating Israel, but his great shame comes when he, enticed by the beauty of another man's wife, commits adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah.

Much can be said about this episode, but suffice to say that the narration has profound implications for how we should live and handle desire when we are tempted to commit sin.

A short synopsis: David, although he should have been at war for Israel, was up on his roof in the day's heat.  He gazes across the city to see the beautiful Bathsheba, whom he decides is too beautiful not to take for himself.  He sends for her, she comes to him, and they know each other.  However, Bathsheba is a married woman, wed to one of David's chief military general.  David, still overcome with ravenous passion, executes a plan to have Bathsheba's husband killed.

Much has been said in the past about David's great sin, both in committing adultery but even more so in his devious plot to have Uriah killed.  And although David is the main character of this story, the role of Bathsheba in the adultery and sin should not be downplayed or overlooked.  Bathsheba was equally sinful for her part.

The point of this story, beyond the value of historical narration, is to exhort God's children to be mindful of desire when it entices us to transgress the righteousness of God.  We need to be on guard, not so much against the external locus of sin, but the internal one.  Let us then take heed to the story of David so that we might not be led astray by our own desires.

The Simplest Bible Study

The practice of Bible study is one that requires consistency, devotion, and time.  Apart from regular prayer, Bible study is the most important spiritual activity for the individual Christian.  The Word of God is a lamp unto dark paths, a comfort in affliction, an ever-present help in times of need, always useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, for worship, for thanksgiving, and for praise.  But ultimately, as the Word of God is Christ (John 1:1-3, 14), the measure of how intimate our relationship with God is is in how intimate we relate to the Scripture.

The Scriptures are not just useful moral teachings on ethics and lifestyle, nor are the Scriptures historical biography, although they are full of all of this.  Primarily, the Scriptures are God's identity, His revelation to mankind through written language.  Therefore, our relationship with the Holy Lord Almighty is dependent upon our interaction with His Word, the Holy Bible.

However, as any one who has picked up a Bible and thumbed through its pages can attest, it is a big book.  For many the prospect of book so large and diverse and challenging is not only daunting, it is next to impossible.  Fortunately, all things are possible through God.  The point here is not to give an advanced teaching on hermeneutics (a five-dollar word meaning the interpretive methodology).  Instead, I just want to briefly give some advice for effective Bible study.  The hope is to make the task of reading Scripture less intimidating and perhaps more accessible for the non-readers.  So, I want to put forth four easy steps that can help make the Scriptures began to jump off the page.

Prayer.  Bible study, because it is first about a relationship with God should be started and ensconced in prayer.  Pray before, during, and after.

Read.  The key to this obvious step in Bible study is three-fold: (1) pick a short passage, (2) determine what kind of literature it is [narrative, teaching, history, letter, etc.], and (3) read it again.  While reading large chunks of Scripture, say an entire book, is an excellent method of study, reading slowly and deliberately forces you to really wrestle with the text, and in so doing communicate with God.

Think.  This is one of the most overlooked stepped of effective Bible study, but one of the most vital.  Once you've prayed and read the text, it is essential that you spend some time really thinking about what it is you've read.  The point is not that you know exactly what the passage is saying, although the goal is to interpret the text correctly.  Instead, the point is to start to let Christ, His Word, dwell in our minds.  This occurs by thinking about His Word.  Additionally, thinking about His Word will excite us and incite us into reading more, thus the hunger for His righteousness will be engaged.

Memorize.  Apart from praying unceasingly, memorization of Scripture is the most important step in Bible study.  Why?  Because in order to memorize something one must repeat it several times (see step 2).  Also, memorization requires that we use multiple senses for it to stick forcing us to engage with the text with our minds (see step 3). And lastly, and most profoundly, when we memorize we equip ourselves with the tools and weapons in a personal way, meaning that when life happens and we or someone around us really needs the Word at that moment, we will not need a physical Bible for we will already be a living Bible, a testament to Christ.  How sweet is that?!

To be sure, the point of this dialogue has not been exhaustion but exhortation.  If we, as Christians, desire to know God more let us take heed the call to pray, read, think about, and memorize the Holy Scriptures.  And praise be to God who has provided us our daily bread which is the Word, who is Christ Jesus.

The Problem of Evil...

The problem of evil is the perennial philosophical issue for philosophers and skeptics alike.  For the past few centuries, the problem of evil has been one of the major chapters in many a philosophy textbook and conversation of God.  However, once the terms are hashed out and the Scriptures are brought to bear upon the conversation, the problem of evil is dissolved to another issue altogether.

The philosophical problem of evil in its most basic form goes something like this: (1) God is infinitely powerful and infinitely good, (2) Evil and suffering exists in the world, therefore, (3) God either (a) does not exist, or (b) this God is unable to stop evil and suffering.  The essential argument goes that because evil and suffering do exist, then God is either not powerful enough to stop it or He is not a benevolent being that desires to stop evil and suffering in the world.

At the onset, two things need to be asserted: evil and suffering do exist and they do not conflict with God's self-existence, His omnipotence, or His infinite goodness.  However, because evil and suffering do exist, the question of why is relavant and real for every human.  And how we answer this profound and important question has ramifications for how we live, how we relate, and how we deal with evil and suffering when we face them in our own lives.

To be sure, evil and suffering, though they are present in the current world, were not a part of the original, good creation of God.  Evil, pain, and suffering come from the freely willed sin of Adam.  And although God could have destroyed creation and create a new painless, evil-less version, He has, in His good will and infinite wisdom, determined to let this creation continue.

The issue, then, is not why is there evil and suffering in the world; instead, the question is why is there good in the world at all  Sin occurred.  Mankind's identity in God was severed and yet goodness was still present in the world.  The reason for this is that all humans are made in the image of God.  Every human being continues to bear God's image, and therefore understands and participates in the goodness of God through that image bearing, if only to a limited degree.

The very assertion that evil exists is, in fact, an assertion that good exists.  Moreover, to assert that evil exists requires that we, humanity, has some sort of common ideal of what is actually good, which is God's image which is born in the human.

Additionally, evil and suffering, though perceived negatively, have profoundly positive effects.  Consider Hurricane Katrina.  It was a horrific natural disaster that devastated the Guld Coast.  And yet that devastation became a powerful rallying cry for brotherhood and social care for a community that was, pre-hurricane, already beaten and broken by the social ills.  Or think of a child with cancer, though tragic as it is, can be a great source of fellowship and strength for a family or individuals.

In the end, this is far-too-brief a dialogue on this dense and important topic.  However, once the terms of the engagement are clearly defined and the theology of Scripture is brought to bear on the perceived dilemma, the issue changes the human from one that seeks to out God to one that cries out to Him.  Perhaps this really is the appropriate response whenever we find evil and suffering in our midst, not to indict God who is, but to cry out in praise that He is who He is.

American Civil Religion

Since the Puritans sailed across the Atlantic and their leader, John Winthrop, preached that they intended to become the "city on a hill," America has thought itself highly-favored among the nations.  In fact, the idea that America is the greatest nation on earth has led to a century's worth growth in American exceptionalism, the idea that America is not only beyond great but is, in fact, the chosen nation of God.

This last statement, that America is God's chosen nation, is an idealism that undergirds America's history and it is the supreme example of a pairing of two independent ideals: Christianity and civil government.  What has come about from this intentional marriage is, what is aptly termed, civil religion.

The basic premise is that the rhetoric of Christianity has been married to America's nationalism.  The net effect is that America is considered God's own gift to humanity and, thus, everything that is uniquely American is simultaneously God's revelation to mankind.  To be sure, this is blatant misinterpretations of Scripture, and the effects are staggering.

For instance, think of capitalism.  Capitalism is an economic construct.  It is a comprehensive method of handling economics that is, though rooted in Enlightenment philosophy, considered to be the American way and ideal.  However, when considered for its worth, capitalism is amoral, in the sense that it is neither good nor evil in its morality, but because of the American civil religion it is thought of as sacrosanct.  Now consider socialism, another way of dealing with large-scale economics, yet because it is not the American way it is considered immoral if not outright sinful.  But, like capitalism, socialism is amoral, neither good nor evil.

At the final analysis, however, when capitalism as a system is held up the light of Scripture it is opositional, if not actually contrary to the teachings of Scripture.  If the last sentence chaffed something inside then the point has been made.  The value of anything is based on how well it adheres to the teaching of Scripture, not in how American it is, whatever that means.

Our allegiance, as Christians, is to Christ and to His Word.  If we, at any point, begin to associate Christ with America in a theological sense, then we have already started down the road of serving two masters, something Jesus indicts.

All this being true, I think it is important to state clearly that I am an American citizen and proud of my American heritage.  However, if my ethno-cultural-national background hinders my vision as to how I should live, etc., then I am already walking the tightrope of choosing America over Christ. 

Additionally, it would be foolish to not look back at the brief history of America and point to the clear hand of favor present.  But it would be foolish to assume that that favor is as a result of America as a socio-political-economic construct instead of recognizing that God's hand of blessing falls upon those who are obedient to His covenant commands.  In the future, let us consider this when the political rhetoric sounds theological and the theological rhetoric sounds political, making sure that our allegiances are sure and definite.

Worship: Something Altogether Different

Worship, in that modern-day evangelical world, has become shorthand lingo referring to a musical genre or some sort formula for congregational services.  To be sure, this has been a centuries-long reduction of what it means to worship from an all-encompassing way of life shrunken to an hour long mass.  In the end, to think of worship as merely musical or to confine worship to an act of service would be to diminish worship and sever its theological density and meaning, rendering the worshiper confused, disjointed, and fractured, unable to worship truly for their lack of understanding.

At the introduction, the word worship immediately brings the limitations of language to bear upon the conversation.  Because worship, as it is commonly known, has generally been used as an adjective, i.e. worship music, worship service, worship time.  This betrays that worship serves, most fully, as a verb, as in, worship is an activity.  This is not to detract from worship being used to describe various activities or times, but worship should be thought of more than merely a type or form of an activity.

Think of music.  Because evangelicals have made worship a musical genre, the part of the active worship participator has been moved to the role preferential spectator.  Now worship has been deemed a taste.  As if the one who would be the active worship participator could actually choose if they wanted to worship or not like it was as common a decision as deciding whether they wanted italian food for dinner.  This is not to say that music is not a medium for worship, rather, it is to highlight the apparent deficiency in the minds and hearts of worshipers that has come about from a misconception.

Worship, at its irreducible base, requires body and head, Church and Christ.  This is one of those difficult things to understand: there is a unity, a communal requirement of worship.  Although it occurs on a personal, private level to a limited degree, it is primarily a community activity, requiring a lifting of one voice from many to sing with one accord that Jesus is Lord.  Worship is a word that describes an active worship.  The deficient focus, in the past, has spent to much time on the personal aspect of the adjective to the declension of the community verb.  In the end, though, these are not mutually exclusive ideas, far from it, for they are both necessary for worship to be.

Remember Jesus' words: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." (Matt. 18:20).  Jesus is not undervaluing the individual in the slightest, however, He is laying out a community requirement of worship.  Often times this verse is employed for matter of prayer, but its context deals with binding and loosing, the very activity of worship needs to be focused on these elements.

In addition to the community requirement of worship, two other factors must be present, namely, Spirit and Truth.  Again we turn to the words of Jesus: "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him." (John 4:23).  The truth is the Word, which is Christ.  The Spirit is the Holy Spirit, which is the indwelling within the hearts of believers.

The Truth is the content, the Spirit is the outpouring of emotion and energy, both focused on worshiping the Father.  In this way, worship engages with every member of the Trinity in their respective realms of influence and function.  The point, then, is not to designate specific activities or certain tasks as worship but, rather, to fulfill the greatest commandment in every posture, remembering the words of Paul: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Col 3:17).

Our goal and intent, as worshipers, is to join together with one, unified voice to offer sincere praise, adoration, exaltation, and thanksgiving to the Father, through His Son, Christ Jesus, which is empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, who baptizes those whom He is pleased to call His own.  If we understand worship in this way, we would cease to lack evangelistic energy or mission or focus, and we would no longer think of worship as a common spectator activity.  Let us then join together in song so loud and unified that the foundations of the earth are shaken!