The Most Transformative Part of Preaching

I wouldn't be the disciple I am today were if not for being a preacher.

And that statement isn't a judgment about preachers being more holy than other Christians. Preachers know they aren't the best disciples in their congregation. Instead, it's a confession about who I would be without the structure preaching brings to my life.

I need the weekly rhythm of studying Scripture and listening to God on behalf of my congregation. I need the positive peer pressure that accountable Christian leadership brings to my life.

I would be a much worse person were it not for God's call on my life to preaching.

But what has transformed my life most as a preacher isn't what you think it might be.
-It's not the hours of prayer, though that would change anyone.
-It's not the hours of study, though I'm grateful for knowing the Bible.
-It's not the hours of elders' meetings...which needs no explanation.

What has changed me most is the daily Front-Row seat I get each day to the awful tragedies that occur in the lives of people in my church and my community.

I see the pain of couples who have experienced an affair.
I see the pain of parents who lose children to suicide.
I see the pain of widows/widowers who are lost in life without their spouse.
I see the pain of addicts who waste half of their lives to a bottle, a poker table, or a computer screen.

I can't help but hug my wife and tell her I love her after counseling a couple that is struggling to find their love for one another again. I can't help but squeeze my kids a little tighter after the funeral of a 17-year old child. I can't help but call my parents and express my appreciation for the way they raised me after hearing addicts explain that their addiction started as a way to numb the pain of their father's abuse or their mother's neglect.

And I'm starting to realize that I get those reminders much more often than others do.

Our culture teaches us to hide from the pain of others.

But I would encourage you to:
-Attend more funerals. Funerals change your outlook on life.
-Visit people in hospitals. Hospitals change your outlook on health.
-Comfort friends who are going through divorce. Divorce changes your outlook on marriage.
-Walk beside friends with addictions. Addictions change your outlook on the value of moderation.

Each of these activities are part of my job description. And without them, I would look much less like Jesus.

Some preachers need to preach. Otherwise, we might not be disciples of Jesus at all.

Man Trip to Nebraska

Maddox and I took at man trip to Nebraska this past week.

I was the theme speaker at SoulQuest, a Church of Christ youth camp at York College in York, NE. The theme for the week was "Unmasked." Andy Spell led a packed house of 600 teens in worship. It was a powerful week of transformation and fun. SoulQuest is the highlight of the summer for most of our teens from Littleton.

Several students made the decision to commit their lives to God through baptism. Many others recommitted their lives and made a decision to live life without their "masks" on.

After my chapel talk, Maddox and I took daily adventures throughout Nebraska.

On Monday, we played golf at York Country Club. It was the most fun I've ever had on the golf course. I imagine there will be many more days of golf between the two of us. In the words of Maddox,  "I beat you because I got more points than you did!"

 On Tuesday, we went to Omaha's zoo. Make sure and go there if you're ever near Omaha. After several hours at the zoo, Maddox and I went to Rosenblatt Stadium (former site of the College World Series) and T.D. Ameritrade Park (new home of the College World Series).

On Wednesday, we went to Lincoln to tour Memorial Stadium at the University of Nebraska. We decided to leave our burnt orange in our suitcases. We saw 5 National Championship trophies and 3 Heisman trophies. And Maddox was cute enough to get a lady to take us on the field.

We also sneaked in a couple of rounds of miniature golf while we were in Lincoln. Maddox "beat" me again.

On Thursday, we stayed in York and swam at the hotel pool. And Friday we made the drive back home. We were so ready to see mommy and Addison!

It was a great week! God did great things among the teens.

Man Trip #1 is in the books.

Addison - 2 Years

Dear Addison,

Perhaps there will be a day you'll read these words I wrote to you on your 2nd birthday. My blogs have likely done their share of harm over the years, but I pray this blog will do nothing but bless you.

Two years.

731 days of your fearless, smiling face breaking down my defenses. You have changed me.

Your brother, Maddox, is just like me. He's careful, calculating, and clean.
You, my dear. You are none of those things. You are daring, fearless, playful, and a daredevil.

Apparently, our family isn't concerned about gender stereotypes. Your mom, dad, brother, and you destroy every expectation one could have about gender.

I didn't know if there was any way my heart could expand to have love for another child after Maddox. But you have blown open a part of my heart I never knew existed.

You are daddy's little girl. It will be a few years before you learn to fully exploit the way you have me wrapped around your finger. Once you figure that out, don't misuse that gift.

I want to protect you from the world. I want to protect you from having your heart broken. I want to walk arm-in-arm with you through the world. I can't stand the thought of the ridiculous drama of middle school girls and the insignificant high school boys you will have crushes on.

I'm beginning to realize I won't be able to protect you from all of that.

But there are a few things I will continue to do for you:

-I'll pray for you every day. I want you to know that daddy is a prayer warrior on your behalf.

-I'll dance with you. Mommy doesn't like me to dance in public and you won't one day either, but until then, let's dance as often as we possibly can.

-I'll take you on date nights. I'll teach you how a real woman should be treated, so you don't make the mistake of giving your heart to guys who don't know how to treat you well.

-I'm so glad that we are part of a church that chooses to affirm the giftedness of women. You don't fit gender stereotypes, and I'm glad you'll grow up with other Christians who refuse to allow your gender to predetermine your usefulness to the church.

-I'll encourage you to dream big and change the world beyond my comfort level. Don't let your fear of what your mother and I might think, limit what you are willing to dream and do for God's kingdom.

I can't wait to see you grow up.

But don't rush it. Let's cherish every day.

I love you Addison! Happy Birthday, my love!

The Latest

 It's been a busy couple of weeks for the Packer family. During the first week of May, Holly and the kids went to Dallas while I attended the Pepperdine Bible Lectures. It was a wonderful week to catch up with close friends in a beautiful location.
 
 The theme for this year's lectures was "Can I Get a Witness?" All week, there were powerful keynotes focused on the Book of Revelation. Mike Cope and Rick Gibson did a wonderful job leading their first lectures. It was a powerful week.

 I even got to teach two classes about Jesus, "The Most Interesting Man in the World," which was a lot of fun.

 Last week, I joined Holly and the kids for a week in Dallas with family. I got to meet my nephew, Luke, for the first time. Clark and Lara (my brother & sister-in-law) are doing an awesome job.
 
 We had a blast. I played golf with my dad and brother. And Maddox had us dress up to play basketball together. It was a well played game, but Maddox won with a record of 3-0.
 
 We're back in Denver and the weather is finally more like spring. We're hoping we've seen our last snow until the Fall.

 Nothing is brewing on the blog front. Some seasons are just dryer than others.

 But I'm very excited about a couple of sermon series I have coming up. More to come on that. God is good! It's a fun season of life for our family!

#90daysthroughtheBible

On my journey through Scripture, I tweeted my way through it's pages with the hashtag: #90daysthroughtheBible.

Just for fun, here's a compilation of those tweets:

Do you know what gives me hope for my family? Reading about the families in Genesis. Wow!

God tells the Israelites to celebrate the Passover before he ever passes over. This God got game.

God has attention for details. How did Jewish children memorize the entire Torah?

I'm too much of a wimp to be a Levitical Priest. I don't think I could wring a bird's neck & kill animals all day.

If you haven't read the entire Bible, you underestimate how much God talks about bodily discharges.

I'm in that stage of the Bible where I'm tired of him taking land from people & killing them.

"In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit." Does the church know who our king is?

Elisha seems to be great at magic tricks. I am not so good at magic tricks. Elisha 1, Collin 0.

Read Nahum before you read Jonah. Then, you might be a little more understanding of Jonah.

Humans tend to settle for false, flattering descriptions of reality over true, unflattering ones.

It's not always a good thing when you hear, "Then you will know I am the LORD your God."

Job's friends did their best ministry when they sat beside Job in silence. Silence is golden!

After 70 days of reading the Old Testament, I finally read about the one it all points to. It's good news people!

"Jesus preached about the kingdom of heaven from that time on..." Is that the message in your church?

My Journey Through the Bible in 90 Days

Over the first 90 days of 2013, Holly and I read through the entire Bible. It's the first time either of us has read through Scripture within a calendar year. It was a great spiritual discipline for us to commit to together.

One "Bucket List" item crossed off!

What were my impressions?

-Overall, it was a pretty good read.
-I know it's cool to have your name in the Bible, but could we shorten a few of those genealogies?
-It's longer than your average novel. Plan accordingly.
-These people are a mess!
-I'd like to walk through the Red Sea. Anyone want to join me?
-I like that Jesus guy!

Seriously...it was a transformative 3 months.

My more serious takeaways...

-God refuses to give up on his children. He goes to lengths he probably shouldn't in order to be in relationship with us. God will never love you any more or any less than he does right now.

-It's really hard for humans to follow the commands of God. I didn't even need to read the Bible to understand that principle, but the Bible certainly made me feel better about my struggle to obey.

-On the other hand, sin is a really big deal. Like, a REALLY big deal! And I don't think God's trying to steal our fun by his words concerning sin. It's more like he's tired of how we hurt ourselves in our journeys into sin.

-Scripture doesn't seem to rank sin in the same order that we do. Churched people tend to focus on sexual sin. And while sexual sin is a prevalent theme, God seems quite concerned about how we treat our neighbors. And he seems especially concerned about how we treat the poor.

-I like Jesus. I know I'm paid to say things like that, but I really like him! And I believe more than ever that people who haven't committed their lives to God would like Jesus also. That makes evangelism much less of a dread than I have sometimes imagined. It's Good News...remember!

-And finally, history is headed somewhere. God had a plan that he has set in motion from the beginning. And while humans tend to foil his plot, he's also choosing to partner with us in his restoration of all things.

I'm glad I read the Bible. It's good to know what I've been preaching all of these years (just kidding!).

"The Bible" is not just a 5-week miniseries on the History Channel. And if you liked that series, let me suggest you try the book it was based on. It's available in your local bookstore.

And if it takes you more than 90 days to read it, no worries. It took me almost 3 decades!

What North Point & Las Vegas Have In Common

Last week, I spent time in Atlanta and Las Vegas.

I spent the first half of the week with Kent Rogers, our worship minister, at the Drive Conference in Atlanta. North Point Community Church is one of the largest churches in the world. And Drive is practical leadership conference that gives church leaders an insider's look at how Andy Stanley and his staff conceive of and envision church in their context.

North Point unabashedly wants to create churches that unchurched people want to attend.

And I love that. (If you think that idea is shallow, pick up Andy's book Deep & Wide. I'm in the middle of it. It's definitely worth a read.)

I'm not sure I've ever been a part of a church that seriously wanted to do that. But if we were honest with ourselves, most of us would have to admit we attend churches that exist for churched people.

And after spending half of a week in a church that exists for unchurched people, I spent the rest of the week in Las Vegas, a city of unchurched people.

I played 36 holes of golf with my buddy Daniel on Thursday at Desert Pines & Royal Links. Great golf & great weather.

Holly and I had a great time with some of our best friends in Vegas. Unfortunately, I figured out I was allergic to Sin City, as I struggled with my sinuses all weekend. But all in all, we had a great time!

I'm still processing the week, but it seems obvious that the church needs to rethink its mission as it relates to a growing segment of our population that loves Jesus, but wants nothing to do with his church.

I saw people in Vegas who could use an encounter with Jesus. Is the church truly ready?

A Snow-Forced Sabbath

Today, Denver is expecting 8-14 inches of snow. It's coming down and expected to come down for the rest of the day.

And what I love about days like today is...Snow Days force us to slow down.

Our culture has become proficient at refusing rest, but you have to be more intentional to miss the opportunity to slow down and enjoy your family on a day like today.

It's interesting what we've done with God's command for Sabbath rest. We have convinced ourselves that we are free from the old Law. We're grateful to Jesus and Paul for enacting and announcing our freedom from those 613 commands in the Old Testament.

But days like today remind me that the rhythm we were given in the first seven days of Creation aren't incidental. Our bodies need rest just as God modeled for us on day seven.

And we ignore our need for Sabbath to our own demise.

The So-Called Cruise From Hell

They've dubbed it "The Cruise From Hell."

Last night, Holly and I were glued to the coverage of the Carnival Triumph's return to port in Mobile, Alabama.

Reports coming from the ship throughout the week were awful. News of engine fires, sewage issues, rationed food, and a slow return to land.

One of my mentors, Vann Conwell, had a daughter on the cruise. Prayers were offered up from around the globe for the passengers and crew.

As the ship slowly moved into the view of the media's cameras, everyone was waiting to hear the first-hand reports from those onboard. Based on early reports, things were dim and the television audience looked on waiting to hear all of the gory details.

And as the passengers got off the ship, we heard things like:
-"The crew was wonderful. They went above and beyond the call of duty with smiles on their faces."
-"No, it wasn't ideal, but we got to know crew members and shipmates that we would have never gotten to know otherwise."
-"My friend and I were forced to communicate in ways we usually don't because our cell phones weren't there to distract us."
-"We played card games and made the best of the situation."
-"I could use a warm shower, but it wasn't as bad as reported."
-"People rallied around their faith. Each night, there was a Bible study and a time of prayer."
-"Sometimes it takes a situation like this to remind you what's most important. We take so much for granted."

And the cable news reporters were speechless. The interviews were terrible.

Why?

Because the media was prepared for a night covering "The Cruise From Hell" and the passengers interviewed wouldn't allow the pre-created headlines to fit the scene as it unfolded.

The anchors continued throughout the night to ask questions focusing on the negative:
-"Are you going to sue Carnival?"
-"It must have been awful...what was the worst incident you saw during your time onboard?"
-"Will you ever go on another cruise in your lifetime?"
-"What was it like to go to the bathroom in a bag?"

And over and over again, the passengers focused on the positive things they had experienced.

My point is not to diminish the serious nature of what happened onboard the Carnival Triumph. It was an awful situation. If I was onboard, I would have been upset. I hope I could have responded the way those passengers did.

But it was fun to see news anchors squirm with the incredible responses from vacationers who talked about faith, the best of humanity, and a crew paid much too little who served well despite experiencing deplorable workplace conditions.

Somehow, as I scroll through news sites today, "The Cruise From Hell" headlines remain.

But I'm not sure where they got those headlines. Sounds like bad reporting to me!

We Need Better Storytellers

So, this is the last of 3 posts I'm writing reflecting on the powerful story of Les Miserables. It's a story that has captured my imagination and revealed the gospel more clearly any other story I've encountered.

Stories have power. We are the stories we tell ourselves...the good stories and the bad stories.

Some of you are still living into the narrative a teacher gave you when she belittled you by saying you would never amount to anything. Some of us have lived bad stories because we've believed bad stories and accepted their limitations.

Others of us were given imagination through wonderful stories that inspired us to do great things. Without those stories that shaped our world, we would never have lived the incredible lives we have.

We are the stories we tell ourselves.

And Victor Hugo is one of those wonderful story tellers. He understood the gospel.

But the interesting thing is Victor Hugo likely wouldn't have described himself as a Christian. The church frustrated Hugo because of its indifference to the plight of the poor in 19th century France.

So, how did Hugo embody the gospel so well in Les Miserables so well if he wasn't a Christian?

Have you been to the theater recently? There's plenty of anti-gospel stories on the big screen. But I'm telling you, if you have eyes to see, you'll see the gospel in some of the most unexpected places.

Have you listened to the radio recently? There's plenty of filth out there, but if you have ears to hear, the gospel emerges from the most unexpected artists as well.

I know the Bible says that Christians are only supposed to listen to "Christian" radio stations and "Christian" movies (I forgot the exact verse, but it's in there somewhere). But I'm finding that much of the stuff that passes the filter for KLOVE are merely poor counterfeits of what culture is producing with sappy lyrics that could be written for a girlfriend or boyfriend as easily as they are offered to God.

You don't know what I'm talking about? Just take a look at these "Christian" t-shirts.

Christian is a terrible adjective. And at times, Christians have uncritically purchased and consumed these "Christian" wares because the "Christian" business market is large enough and forgiving enough to make up for our apparent lack of creativity.

I appreciate bands like U2 and Mumford & Sons who are willing to navigate the "secular" music world while writing lyrics that tell the gospel in more creative and imaginative ways that will reach an audience that will never find their station tuned to KLOVE.

And that's what Les Miserables has caused me to rethink.

We need more preachers to be sure.

But we also need more creative storytellers wherever Christians find themselves in the world. I hope we can inspire imagination in a new generation of culture creators who won't tell and sell their stories in Christian "ghettos," but who will spin their stories in the middle of the world.

Jesus taught in parables. And the surprising thing about his parables is that he didn't tell them so that people would understand them on first hearing. He told parables that could only be unlocked if someone was willing to spend time with them and unravel their underlying implications. He left the audience "interpretive space" to come to their own conclusions, but only if they cared enough to investigate more deeply.

My encouragement to young Christians who want to change the world is this:
1) Immerse yourself in the Gospels. Get to know Jesus well.
2) Discover your artistic gift.
3) Don't automatically follow your parents' advice to enter the "Christian" ghetto in your industry.
5) Read Les Miserables. If you don't have the time to read it, start with the movie.
6) Get to work. Create art that tells the story of the Gospel in brilliant, subtle ways.

Les Miserables - The Greatest Story Ever Told

Les Miserables is "The Greatest Story Ever Told." Period.

Now, I know I'm not supposed to say that. I'm supposed say that the gospel is the greatest story ever told. And when I've suggested that Les Mis actually beats the Bible, every time someone in the crowd offers a "Jesus Juke."

You don't know what a "Jesus Juke" is? A "Jesus Juke"* is the Christian version of the Debbie Downer (if you don't know Debbie Downer from Saturday Night Live, then this whole post is likely lost on you). It's when someone takes what is clearly a joke-filled conversation or a comment made in jest and completely reverses direction into something serious and holy.

So the conversation usually goes like this:

Collin: Did you know that Les Miserables is the greatest story ever told?
Super Christian: Hmmm...interesting. Have you ever read the Bible? I think Jesus would disagree.

Actually, both of us in the conversation are right. Because Les Miserables is the gospel written in 19th century disguise.

I've grown up knowing the gospel all of my life. I could name the 12 disciples before I left the womb. I could sing the "Books of the Bible" song before most of my friends at church knew that "Acts and the Letter to the Romans" was actually a book of the Bible.

The Bible is so familiar that I sometimes cease to be surprised by the shocking rescue mission of God, which is sad. And that's why it's so refreshing to read the Bible with someone who is encountering it for the first time.

Yet, Les Miserables wasn't a story I knew as a toddler. And the first time I watched it, I was completely shocked by the twists and turns of its storyline. And it's story of grace shocked my sensibilities. As I said in my first post about Les Miserables, I sided with Javert (Law) instead of Valjean (Grace).

Victor Hugo told the gospel in a way I had never heard it before and I didn't like what I read. He snuck in from the back and tore away at the foundations of my legalistic notions of the gospel. In essence, it proved that I had believed in a false gospel.

The reason I believe Les Miserables is the best story ever told is because it is the gospel story.

For most people who haven't grown up in church, their experience with Scripture is as shocking as my experience with Les Mis. But for me, it took Hugo's powerful novel to awaken me to the story of God's redemption through radical grace and constant love.

Scripture is the best story ever told (so you can take me off your heretic watch list).

But I believe one of the most important tasks in our time is to form artists and authors who will retell the story in surprising ways that subvert our imaginations and help us to the see the good news of God without ever mentioning a Bible character or words like "sin," "grace,""hermeneutics," or "Penal Substitutionary Atonement."

Hugo called it Les Miserables. Tolkien called it The Lord of the Rings. And Jesus called it a parable.

They all shock us. And they are all stories of "good news."

Or you might just call it Gospel.

*"The Jesus Juke" was a cultural term coined by Jon Acuff at his blog "Stuff Christians Like." If you like satire, pay attention to his blog. If not, stay away from it. Click here to read more about "The Jesus Juke."

My Story and Hugo's Story

I first encountered Victor Hugo's story, Les Miserables, around the age of 10 or 11.

Dad bought tickets and informed my younger brother and I that our family was going to see a musical, which wasn't the news we expected or wanted to hear. In preparation for "The Miserable" performance (did you see what I did there?), our family listened to the soundtrack for the first time in our living room. We followed along with the lyrics to the songs, which forced an interesting dialogue as my dad had to explain what a "pimp" was to the two of us. This preview was dad's only possible attempt to make the price of our tickets defensible.

Since then, I've seen the stage musical at least 5 times. I've seen the newest movie 2 times. And I've committed myself to reading the unabridged novel by the end of 2013.

What can I say? I've grown up with the story. The story has changed me as much my perspective of the story has changed over the years.

I remember the question dad posed to us when we entered the car after our first experience with Les Miserables. "What did you think?"

And I said, "I don't get it. I feel sorry for Javert. I don't understand why Valjean's the hero. They picked the wrong hero!"

For those of you who don't know the story, Jean Valjean finds himself freed from his prison sentence after 19 years of hard labor that made him a harder man. The story follows his transformation from hardened criminal to grace-filled hero. But throughout the story, his long-time nemesis, Inspector Javert lurks in the shadows to bring Valjean to justice. Javert knows that criminals cannot be rehabilitated. Javert sees the world in black and white. But through a series of incredible encounters between protagonist and antagonist, Victor Hugo spins a timeless narrative that unveils the gospel in shocking ways.

For those of you who know the story better, it might be hard to understand my soft spot for Javert. But the truth was I had caught a legalistic bug from my faith tribe that gave me a lens for the world much like Javert's. It was a black and white worldview that had no room for shades of gray. I missed Hugo's genius because I had been gospelled in story other than the gospel.

This was disconcerting for my father...to say the least. He hadn't bought me a ticket so that I could side with Javert. And his preaching and parenting certainly hadn't led me to my dislike of the story.

But over time, as my experiences have colored my black and white worldview, I have grown to love and appreciate Les Miserables in more nuanced ways.

I've grown up with this story. And the story has evolved inside of me each time of seen it. I've sided with Javert, seen the story through the eyes of a teenager who found the love story between Marius and Cosette most relevant, rooted for Valjean as I needed grace in my own life, and I'm guessing a day will come when I understand more of Valjean's struggle to hand over my own Cosette to some young man who wants to take Addison away from me.

Every person chooses a story to inhabit. Some people choose good stories. Others live in poor stories. But we each have a story.

Les Miserables is my story. I recognize myself in it. I recognize my God in it. I've found my place in it and it won't let me go.

90 Days Through the Bible

Last year, I spent 366 days immersed in 3 chapters of the Bible, the Sermon on the Mount.

During the first 90 days of 2013, Holly and I are reading through the entire Bible. I've never even read through the Bible in a year, so why not 90 days? We're excited about the journey. Our readings are about an hour a day. Rich stuff!

Sometimes you need to read texts in depth and sit with them. Other times you need to read for width and perspective. I'm excited to soak in God's story in the first 3 months of this year.

You can follow me on Twitter to follow some of my regular insights about our reading. You can find me @collinpacker.

May God bless you in whatever you resolve to do in the new year!

A Year of Summiting the Mount

(This blog post is reposted from www.thegoodlifeatlcoc.blogspot.com, a weekly blog that I wrote in 2012 as I preached through the Sermon on the Mount at the Littleton Church of Christ. Below is my reflection and resources from the year.)

1 year.

12 months.

366 days...it was a leap year.

8,784 hours.

527,040 minutes. 

All of it spent dwelling in three chapters of the Bible. Matthew 5, 6 & 7. 

It's changed my life. I'll never preach again without the Sermon on the Mount influencing everything I say. I'll never be able to walk through life again without snippets of this sermon floating around in my head. 

I'm grateful. I needed this sermon this year. Our church needed this sermon this year. 

But as I place my commentaries and resources from this series back on my bookshelf, I find myself a bit saddened. These books and these red letters have been my companions for the past 12 months. 

I believe the Sermon on the Mount is the center of Scripture. It's Jesus' central message. It's the life we're called to live as followers of Jesus. It's "The Good Life." 

It seems impossible. But at the moment I sense the sermon's hardest pinch in my life, I'm relieved to listen again to the first word out of Jesus' mouth in chapter 5...

"Blessed"

And that's the way I feel at the end of 2012. 

If you've spent the year wandering through Matthew 5-7 with me, feel free to use this as a resource in the future. Pass it on to friends and loved ones. 

If you're stumbling upon this blog for the first time in this post, perhaps you'd like to start a similar journey through the Sermon on the Mount this year. The thoughts and questions found on this blog are just bread crumbs I've left for you to find your way toward "The Good Life" that Jesus offers.

Let me conclude with the list of resources I used this year as we journeyed through the Sermon on the Mount.

-Matthew 5-7 (the indispensable words of Jesus)

-Living the Sermon on the Mount - Glen Stassen

-The Divine Conspiracy - Dallas Willard

-The Good and Beautiful Life - James Bryan Smith

-Heaven on Earth - Josh Graves & Chris Seidman

-Lucky - Glenn Packiam

-Matthew and the Margins - Warren Carter

-Matthew For Everyone - N. T. Wright

-Various Commentaries - (Word Biblical Commentary & Interpretation)

How We Read the Bible - Part 10

10 posts. I thought it would be about 4, but I could have written 20.

I'm guessing this series has unsettled some of you.

I'm hopeful that this series has suggested a way forward that you might consider personally and in your church.

Now, let me end with a few cautions.

First, my proposal is likely very exciting for a younger generation that is caught in the midst of a postmodern shift. Any reading of Scripture that doesn't leave room for a diversity of interpretations will likely sound too narrow for those of you in that group. Be careful about your excitement. Check your motives.

Second, if this series has frightened you about the future of Churches of Christ, part of your discomfort probably derives from a fear that Churches of Christ might depart from the Truth (capital "T"). We had it right. Why do you young people have to come in and destroy what was working? Let me say: Your voice is needed.

Here comes the hard part.

Though it might have sounded like it at times in my blog series, I am not suggesting that we move toward a "Reader-Response Hermeneutic." A Reader-Response Hermeneutic isn't interested in what the original author intended to say...the work of exegesis. That hermeneutic suggests that the reader shouldn't seek to find meaning in the text, but instead the reader comes to the text to create meaning. In other words, however the text impacts the reader is the meaning of the text to that reader.

In reality, many of us do this when we read the text in our devotional time. We hear things in the text that couldn't have possibly been intended by Jesus or the Apostle Paul. Context is vitally important! If it's not, I wasted 6 years of my life in Abilene, Texas.

In the end, we don't declare our biases so that we can read the text independently from others and come up with our own opinions.

That's not why I've written this blog series.

Instead, we do the hard work of making our biases more conscious and more faithful to the story of Scripture so that we can engage in the reading of Scripture more honestly as a member of the Body of Christ.

Somewhere we came up with the idea that we check our church's decisions and judge them against our own notions about what church should be like. Does the preacher agree with me? Is worship done in a way that I agree with? Does worship move me emotionally?

When we allow those questions to determine what church we attend, we end up sitting in the pew with  people who share the same racial background, socioeconomic level, theological tendencies, and watch the same cable news channel.

But I'm suggesting that individuals should do the opposite. We should submit our biases to the community of faith...not the other way around.

I think I'm right about everything. I believe if the church would just do everything I tell them to do, we would be in a better place. I believe that my interpretation of Scripture is the same as God's intent in every case.

And I bet you do too.

But I'm not right about everything. I'm guessing, I'm wrong about a lot.

And that's why God gave us the church.

I am part of a generation that doesn't trust the church all that much. The church is a messy place. The church is part of the reason why unbelievers continue to reject Jesus. We're anything but perfect.

But I do believe something mysterious happens in a church that communally discerns through the power of the Holy Spirit. I do believe God works in a church that allows diverse, godly voices to interpret Scripture together.

The Old Hermeneutic (command, example, necessary inference) never really worked. It was supposed to be a way to agree to agree. But we find ourselves more divided than ever.

I'm suggesting a new hermeneutic. It's a hermeneutic that admits that we pick and choose. It's a hermeneutic full of bias. It's a hermeneutic of vulnerability where we submit our biases as openly as we can to the community of faith.

But ultimately, a new hermeneutic is useless unless we intend to read Scripture with the intent of being changed by what we read.

So, get a Bible and read. You might be surprised by what you find. And you might be surprised by what you become.

How We Read the Bible - Part 9

In this post, I want to suggest a model for how you might begin to make your biases more conscious.

A few years ago, I began to notice some consistent patterns in my interpretation of Scripture.

I noticed there were passages of Scripture that I turned to more often than others. Today, those continue to be the Scriptures that I superimpose (You can read more about this in Part 4) onto other passages when conflict arises in my interpretation.

But I admit that my theology is influenced by many factors. I'm certain that I have blind spots and I'm guessing my biases will continue to be shaped in the years to come. Ultimately, I'm depending on the grace of God to cover my sin and errors in my theology.

I truly believe I'm right about everything. If I didn't think I was correct, I would change my mind. Few people consciously choose to be in error. Usually those people have some kind of of mental condition.

And if I'm intellectually honest, I have to admit that certain parts of Scripture that if taken on their own would disagree with my theology.

So, I developed a list of Scriptures that support my hermeneutical biases and a list that contradicts my theological biases.

Now, that seems counterintuitive because we're so used to arguing for our side that we intentionally hide parts of Scripture that disagree with us. But I believe admitting weaknesses in our theology keeps us more accountable to the positions we hold.

So, here's my list. I won't describe how each of these texts supports/disagrees with my theology, but I'd be glad to chat with any of you who want to discuss my list in more detail...especially if you are interested in creating a similar list of your own.

Core Scriptures (Passages that support my core theology)

Genesis 1-2

Genesis 12:1-3
Exodus 14:15-31
1 Samuel 8
Isaiah 2:1-5
Isaiah 11
Isaiah 55
Isaiah 65:17-25 
Daniel 7:13-28
Matthew 5-7
Matthew 25:31-46
Mark 1:14-15
Luke 4:18-21
Acts 15:1-35
Romans 8
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11; 1 Cor. 12:13 
Philippians 2:5-11
Hebrews 1:1-3
Hebrews 13:11-14
James 1:27
Revelation 18
Revelation 21-22

Problem Scriptures (Passages that trouble me or seemingly contradict my core theology)

Genesis 22:1-19
Deuteronomy 7:1-2
Deuteronomy 20
Deuteronomy 28:1-14
Joshua 6:16-17
Joshua 11:7-23
Matthew 10:34
Matthew 17:20-21; John 16:23-24
1 Corinthians 14:33b-35
1 Timothy 2:11-15
1 Peter 2:13-18

Revelation 19:11-21

Thoughts? You're welcome to leave your list as well.

How We Read the Bible - Part 8

While I have many more biases I could develop, my three main hermeneutical biases are:

1) Privilege Jesus over all else in Scripture.
2) Privilege a metanarrative of God's eventual plan to restore all of creation.
3) Privilege a hermeneutic that results in love.

Many attempts have been made to deconstruct the Old Hermeneutic (command, example, necessary inference) that dominated Churches of Christ throughout the 20th century. In my first couple of posts in this series, I shared why that way of reading Scripture didn't work for its original purpose: unity.

My goal from the beginning of this blog series has been to create an alternative proposal for how we might read Scripture faithfully in the years to come.

In this blog series, I've attempted to show you that we all "pick and choose" in our interpretation of Scripture. We all have experiences and personal biases that impact the way we read the Bible.

In my last 3 posts, I've tried to model what we can begin to do in our churches as we read Scripture within a faith community. I have made some of my biases public so that they can be scrutinized and critiqued by others. Because the worst thing we can do is allow our biases to operate subconsciously or secretly as we maintain the illusion that we interpret Scripture free from any bias at all.

And my hope is that more of us would be willing to allow our biased hermeneutic to be challenged and critiqued within the community of faith. But this can only happen as others are willing to submit their own biased hermeneutic. This project cannot succeed if everyone is unwilling to admit their assumptions as they approach Scripture. But it can be incredibly powerful if a group of church leaders were willing to vulnerably "show their cards" as they discern Scripture together.

Perhaps it would change our elderships like it did one of my small groups a couple of years ago. Over a series of 10 Wednesday nights, each group member shared our faith stories. We shared deep wounds and great triumphs. It took one brave member who "got real" on the first night and each person was willing to go even deeper as we processed our lives together.

And let me tell you this: It's much harder to pass judgment when you know someone's story. And it's impossible to pass judgment when you bear your own soul to that same group of people. All of a sudden, you understand how life circumstances can shape a person's theology to be a bit different from yours. And over time, you realize that God gifts a church with diverse people for wonderful reasons.

And that's the dynamic that has to occur in our elder/staff meetings.

What would happen if we stopped coming to meetings armed to do battle with Scripture and started coming together to discern God's future for the church vulnerably with our wounds, stories, and biases well known to everyone in the circle?

Would you be willing to share your biases in that setting? How would that experience change your church?

In the next post, I'll suggest a model for how we might make think through our biases more systematically.

How We Read the Bible - Part 7

My third hermeneutical bias is to read Scripture with a bias of love.

Now, that might sound sentimental or nice, but it's not a goal that everyone sets out to accomplish.

I've heard it before from segments of Churches of Christ. "Of course we're supposed to love people. I love people...enough to tell them what's going to send them to hell."

That's one perspective on love. And it's a true question that gets at part of what love is about. But there's more to love than just letting people know when they're well on their way to burn in hell eternally.

One thing I've noticed in my life is that knowledge doesn't necessarily make people more loving. Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 8:1b: "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Spend a day attending classes in any theological seminary and you'll see how relevant Paul's words are. I've been there.

Shane Claiborne says it this way: "I've learned that people can be right and still be mean!"

And to that I'd like to add: "You can be correct, yet if you have not love, you are wrong."

Because the aim of Scripture isn't for us to know more about the Bible. The aim of Scripture is for us to look more like the God behind the Bible, who just happens to be described as a God of love.

Later in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul writes a wedding homily for all of us in the 21st century. Paul says,

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."

Ouch! On second thought, I don't think that's the preamble to Paul's wedding sermon. It's a stinging critique of people who are using God-given gifts without the required Christian ingredient: love.

And we might not have musical instruments on stage in many Churches of Christ, but I'm certain Paul would be much more concerned about the "clanging cymbals" of ministers and members who condone hate and division under the banner of "speaking the truth in love."

John puts it plainly in 1 John 4:7-8: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Our reading of Scripture ought to produce a certain kind of person. What kind of fruit is our hermeneutic producing? The more we spend time with Scripture, the more loving we ought to be.

How We Read the Bible - Part 6

My second hermeneutical bias is to interpret Scripture in light of God's restoration of all things.

What do I mean? Let me explain...

Many of us make an error when we read Scripture. Many people start reading their Bibles in Genesis 3 and stop reading them in Revelation 20. OK...not literally. Every Bible begins with Genesis 1 and ends with Revelation 22, but we act as if the main storyline of Scripture disregards the first two and last two chapters of the Bible.

What do I mean? Let me explain...

If I were to ask you to explain the gospel (good news) to me, what story would you tell? It's a crucial question. And your answer ought to deeply impact the way you interpret the text.

Most current explanations of the gospel answer the question: "What must I do to be saved?" So, the good news goes something like this: Humans have sinned and been separated from God. On our own, we are unable to pay our debt, so God sent Jesus as a substitute sin offering so our relationship with God could be reestablished.

The old song describes this view well. "He paid a debt he did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed someone to wash my sins away...Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay."

The problem is where this version of the gospel starts reading Scripture. It begins in Genesis 3 rather than Genesis 1. Genesis 3 presents the problem. And the rest of Scripture is trying to fix the problem.

But did you notice who the main character is in that story? Somehow I became the main character in the story. God is a supporting actor who works to makes me acceptable again.

It's a gospel of personal salvation. It's a gospel of justification.

But what if that's not the whole story?

What if the story actually began in Genesis 1? Then, the story doesn't begin with a problem...it begins with a vision of a good world. And if the story ends in Revelation 22, then maybe this story isn't primarily about me. Then, it would be about the entire world, which incidentally happens to include every one of us.

Give me a hearing...

The Bible begins in a garden...a perfect garden. And God calls his creation good. And when he creates humans, he calls us good. And once Adam finds Eve, he calls it all very good.

But things go badly wrong. These good humans rebel. It starts with a piece of fruit, but it quickly escalates into murder...which escalates into every inclination of people's hearts being evil all the time. Several relationships fall into disaster (God & humans, creation & humans, humans & humans). The world is now broken and in need of repair.

In Genesis 3, the curse is announced. And while many have concluded the curses are prescriptive. I don't see them that way. I believe they are descriptive. Once sin is unleashed on the world, tornadoes begin to wreak havoc, men tend to treat women as property, and work becomes our taskmaster.

But God never intended those consequences would last forever. He had in mind a community that would begin to reverse those consequences. And if you believe those curses shouldn't be reversed, then be sure to get rid of your epidurals (Gen. 3:16) and fertilizer (Gen. 3:17).

And so in an effort to reverse the curse, God covenants with Israel as his contrast community. Israel is to be a community unlike any other nation in the world. Rather than Israel dominating the world, God longed for his people to fascinate the world. But soon enough, they looked like all of the other nations. And then they were exiled and lived among the nations.

But God...clearly the 2 most important words in Scripture...but God sent his son Jesus into the world to live a life of contrast in ways that Israel never could. Jesus was the exact representation of God's being.  He announced and incarnated the Kingdom of God, which is the perfect reign of God in the world.

And through Jesus' resurrection, a new power was unleashed that made it possible for a contrast community (the church) to emerge that could live as the new humanity. Jesus called his church to live as a sign and foretaste of heaven on earth. We pray heaven to earth and we invite the Holy Spirit to bring heaven to earth through us. And that's why we consider ourselves like exiles and aliens who have our citizenship in heaven.

Yet, our hope still lies on the horizon. Because we dream of a day when God will restore everything back to the way he intended it in the beginning.

Which takes us back to Revelation 21 & 22. In the end, Scripture doesn't describe an other-worldly existence on the clouds with harps and chocolate fountains. In fact, the goal isn't to escape the earth and go to heaven, as I grew up imagining. Instead, Revelation 21 describes a picture of the New Jerusalem descending to the earth from above.

In the end, despite the Left Behind series and its message, God doesn't seem to want to create World War III. Instead, he fulfills the hopes of the prophets who describe a day when the wolf and lamb will feed together, swords will be turned into plowshares, and we will train for war no more.

So, how do we live? We live bearing witness to the world on its way. We give people a taste of heaven on earth. We live like Jesus.

And that has everything to do with how I interpret Scripture.

It's why Galatians 3:26-28 is such a crucial passage in my theology. Without the metanarrative I've laid out, it's easy to read Scripture in a way that supports slavery. It's even possible to read Scripture in a way that urges racism and tribalism. And in the minds of many, Scripture still supports a hierarchy, which relegates women to second class status in the church.

In Galatians 3:26-28, Paul argues that in God's new creation there will be no more racism, slavery, or gender hierarchy. Because we will all be one in Christ Jesus.

Unfortunately, the culture has led the way in fulfilling Galatians 3:26-28 ahead of the church.

It wasn't the church leading the battle against racism in all of its forms. Even today, 10:00 on Sunday morning is the most racially divided hour in our culture. And the church defends segregation on Sunday mornings in the name of "Church Growth."

It wasn't the church that led the Abolitionist Movement. Many preachers were writing sermons defending slavery rather than pointing the way toward God's future.

And all too often the church isn't lessening the divide between genders. We're perpetuating the curse rather than reversing it through our public silencing of the gifts of half of our church. And the body of Christ is worse for it. Culture is ahead of us again.

It should not be this way! The church should be the contrast community that points the world to heaven, but instead, we've followed the very culture we're called to fascinate.

Heaven is on its way. And it's the church's role to live into God's future. We are to put heaven on display to the world.

And that's a bias that's not just about me. It's about the entire world.

How We Read the Bible - Part 5

My first hermeneutical bias is to privilege Jesus over all else in Scripture.

I guess I can't take for granted that a bias is a good thing. Because some of you are thinking, "Doesn't it say somewhere that 'All Scripture is God-breathed...'" Yes it does.

But Jesus (again I'm privileging him anyway) says in Matthew 23:23, "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." Other translations translate the underlined portion as "weightier matters."

And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures..."

Apparently, Scripture is not a flat text. There are more important and less important matters, though all of Scripture is God-breathed.

Now, privileging Jesus seems like an obvious move, but as I argued in post 4, I'm amazed at how many people don't practice this bias.

Bear with me as I spit some Christology...

Hebrews 1:1-3 is one of the most important sections of Scripture for me. In verse 3, God says that Jesus Christ is the exact representation of God's being. That's a huge statement! In ages past, God spoke through the prophets. But in Jesus Christ, God has revealed himself in human form.

And here's the scandal of the incarnation: It's not just that Jesus is like God; it's that God is like Jesus. If that's not scandalous enough, then listen to this: If it can't be said of Jesus, it can't possibly be true of God.

For all of you mathematicians, here's the equation:

God = Jesus; Jesus = God

Now, that statement has implications. Because it's one thing to use God as a standard of judgment, but to use a 1st-century Jewish man as a standard of measurement against which we understand God is a whole different level altogether. But that's what the text says. "Jesus is the exact representation of God's being."

Wow! If that's true, then there are certainties I now have about God.

On the other hand, there are some tensions I now have to deal with if I hold that statement to be true. Because to be honest, there are parts of Scripture describing God that don't seem to be things that Jesus would do or command.

For instance, I have a hard time with passages like 1 Samuel 15:3 where God commands the Israelites to completely destroy (including women, children, and infants) the Amalekites. I can't imagine those words coming out of Jesus' mouth. How is it possible to square those words with the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:38-48, a passage commanding his followers to nonviolence and love of enemies? (I know there are people who have tried to square those words, but I believe it is impossible.)

That passage might not be the point of tension for you. But I'm guessing there's a point of tension somewhere in Scripture that makes it hard to square descriptions of God with Jesus, who is the exact representation of God.

Marcion certainly felt the tension. Marcion was an early Christian bishop who rejected the deity described in the Old Testament as inferior to the God of the New Testament. That's certainly one way to deal with this tension, but it's a route that will get you branded as a heretic (just like Marcion was).

Now, if I'm going to privilege Jesus and his words in my reading of Scripture, there's another issue.

Which Jesus are you going to privilege?

Education Jesus?
Charismatic Jesus?
Social justice Jesus?
Hippie Jesus?
Bible thumpin' Jesus?
Hipster Jesus?
Psychology Jesus?
Rambo Jesus?
Republican Jesus?
Democrat Jesus?

George Bernard Shaw once said, "God created man in His image and then man returned the favor."

Have you ever noticed that Jesus just happens to agree with you...about everything?
-He would heal the people you think he should.
-He would vote like you.
-He would spend money like you do.
-He would would root for the same sports teams that you do.

Anne Lamott once said, "You know you've created Jesus in your image when he hates all the same people you do."

There are many counterfeit Jesuses out there to choose from. We do it all the time.

But if we truly want to privilege Jesus, then we need to form a clear understanding of who Jesus truly is. And the only way to do that is to drink deeply in the gospels.

And that's why I preached through the Gospel of Mark for 6 months soon after I arrived at Littleton. It's also why we spent all year in the Sermon on the Mount as a congregation.

If we are going to be Jesus' followers, we had better know exactly who we are following.

And that's why any time I am studying with a seeker, I'm not going to take them through a 5-lesson study about justification in the Book of Romans. Instead, we are going to spend time in a gospel getting to know Jesus.

Because the last thing I want is for someone to become a Christian and be unclear about who Christ is.

So, my first bias is to hand Jesus the trump card. If there's anything in Scripture that conflicts with the teaching and life of Jesus, I'm consciously choosing to superimpose Jesus over those texts.

What implications would this bias have if you were to take it on? Thoughts?