Kingdom Entrance May 9, 2008

On several occasions, Jesus taught that the kingdom is something that has to be entered in order to be experienced and enjoyed. Of course, Jesus does not mean that the kingdom is a physical place with an entrance that we need to find. Rather, we are entering into the rule of God, becoming someone who recognizes his kingship in all things and the incumbent responsibilities of being his servant. (That being said, a physical place—the new heavens and new earth—is the ultimate goal of our kingdom entrance). But what are the entrance requirements of God’s kingdom, often called “the kingdom of heaven,” recorded in Matthew’s gospel?

First, Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount that kingdom entrance requires radical righteousness. “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20). Since the Pharisees and teachers of the law were impeccable in their law-abiding righteousness, Jesus certainly is not talking about being more scrupulous in following laws and regulations, but speaking of another category of righteousness altogether. From his following five examples, we can deduce that Jesus is speaking of a righteousness that come from the heart on which the law is written (Mt 5:21-47). Not only that, but we realize that this radical righteousness is unreachable for us, if we are realistic, and we are left wondering how anyone can enter the kingdom of God! Later in Matthew, the disciples are recorded as having this very reaction, which we’ll address in a later point.

Second, in condemnation of false prophets and faith professors, Jesus teaches that kingdom entrance requires doing the will of the Father. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). It is possible to profess faith in the King, yet not prove this profession by carrying out the demands of the king and by doing his will. We also see that doing the will of the Father presupposes being known by God (Mt 7:23), having a relationship with God initiated by him, a relationship that requires the joyful responsibility of doing God’s will.

Third, in contrast to the disciples’ questions about kingdom status, Jesus offered the surprising answer that kingdom entrance requires childlike trust. “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3). Jesus is not contradicting his earlier teaching that entering the kingdom requires responsibilities and righteousness, but he is reinforcing the fact that this is based on a relationship of trust in the Father. Most likely, Jesus was praising both the uninhibited trust and obedience of children who delight in having a caring and gracious Father.

Fourth, Jesus used his interaction with the rich young ruler to teach his disciples a lesson regarding kingdom entrance: it requires ultimate and unfeigned allegiance to the king. “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt 19:24). Why is it so hard for the rich man to enter the kingdom? Informed by Jesus’ teaching elsewhere about money (Mt 6:24), money is a kingdom hindrance not because it is evil, but because it tends to capture our allegiance and divide our attention. The disciples are astonished by this teaching, and cry out in despair, “Who then can be saved?” (Mt 19:25; this gives us a clue “salvation” and “kingdom entrance” are synonyms). But Jesus responds that “with God all things are possible,” pointing to the power of God to call and guide people into his kingdom.

The impossibility of entering the kingdom apart from the power of God sheds light on the last (but not least) requirement for kingdom entrance: repentance and faith in the Messiah. Jesus speaks harsh words to the chief priests and elders: “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom ahead of you…you did not repent and believe” (Mt 21:31-32). One might even say that the requirement for kingdom entrance is sin (tax collectors and prostitutes), sin for which one repents and turns to Jesus for forgiveness. When we recognize that we are sinners, and that we will obtain the radical righteousness the king requires only by repentance and faith in Jesus, then we are ready to enter the kingdom of God.

The Person of Prayer May 2, 2008

Recently I have been re-reading a book by Douglas Kelly on prayer: If God Already Know, Why Pray? About halfway through the book, Kelly offers a bold statement on the relationship between the praying person and the prayerss he or she says. “Ultimately, it is not so much what we ask, but who we are when we pray that counts the most.” What do you think Kelly means by this statement? Do you think he is right? If so, what are the implications? If not, how would you alter the statement? I look forward to your thoughts…

Kingdom Provision May 1, 2008

The first specific petition in the Lord’s prayer is “give us this day our daily bread,” or “give us sufficient bread for the day” (Mt 6:12). Does this mean anything to those of us living in affluent societies, who have never doubted that we would have enough food for the day? Unfortunately, I think this part of the Lord’s prayer has been overlooked by many Christians, thinking that it does not apply to them. Even if God has always provided more than enough food for us to eat, practicing this prayer for provision can develop several godly habits of heart and mind.

First, praying for God to provide our basic needs reminds us that we are dependent on God for everything. Even if one has always lived with abundance, voicing this petition for a day’s ration of food helps us remember that food is a gift, as well as everything else that we easily take for granted. Asking for God to provide sufficient bread for the day keeps us humble and engenders gratitude for God’s good gifts.

Second, praying for God to provide our basic needs keeps us from worry. Knowing that God is the giver of all good gifts, knowing that he has the power to provide, takes away our fear that God will not care for our needs. Even though we may not lack food or clothing, most of us still have a serious problem with worry, whether we worry about jobs, relationships, money, or future plans, to name a few. In the last section in Matthew 6, Jesus teaches on worry, exhorting his disciples not to worry, but to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Mt 6:33).

This leads us to a third point, that praying for God to provide our basic needs allows us to focus on the priority of seeking the kingdom. If we are worried constantly about providing for ourselves, protecting ourselves, or being comfortable, we will never get down to the business for which we are saved: to bring our entire life and all our relationships under the sovereign rule of God and his kingdom. Rather than worrying about our needs, or even our desires, we are set free to participate in God’s kingdom purposes in our own life and in the lives of others.

I must address one more implication of this prayer for provision. If we are asking God daily for provision, and we are so obviously blessed, nourished, clothed, and protected, then our minds should turn automatically to those who do not have the blessing of having their basic needs met. This relates to the other passage we have addressed as well, Matthew 6:24-33, because I have heard people use the teaching of Jesus here to defend a “give needy people the gospel rather than grub” position. They argue that since Jesus said we should seek his kingdom first and food and clothing will be given as a result, all we need to do is preach the gospel of the kingdom and satisfaction of physical needs will follow. This idea, however, departs from the point of the text, which is not to downplay the importance and fulfillment of physical needs, but rather to exhort us not to worry about them so that kingdom work can be accomplished. Jesus never separated word ministry from deed ministry, and his disciples are to follow suit. Indeed, as we offer food to the hungry, it is a perfect opportunity to speak of the Bread of life, the only one who will satisfy our spiritual hunger.

The Poor and Oppressed in the Psalms and Wisdom Literature May 1, 2008

I commend to you my wife’s latest post where she published her exploration of the poor and the oppressed in the Psalms and wisdom literature. She makes some general observations in the post, but she has also published a page listing all the references to the poor and the oppressed in the books. There is much for us to learn about the poor and the oppressed in these books, and this is only one portion of Scripture!

Science and Faith: Conflicted or Complementary? April 29, 2008

“Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.” Such is the opinion of Richard Dawkins, virulent spokesman for the new atheism and author of The God Delusion, which takes Christianity (and other religions) to task for being anti-intellectual, anti-common sense, and anti-science.

What is an appropriate response to Dawkins’ diatribes? What is the relationship between science and faith, between rationality and religion? Unfortunately, I have not read Alister McGrath’s book The Dawkins Delusion, where I have heard he deals with these questions in a masterful manner, there are some simple question to ask in order to work toward an understanding of the relationship between science and faith.

In order to understand how science and faith relate, we need to know what we mean by “science” and “faith.” According to the popular understanding, science is the realm of objective facts, the process of collecting data and making reasoned conclusions about it. Science is seen as indisputable, rational, and objective. Whereas science is a matter of studying the world around us and making critical and systematic observations, it is false that all science is equally objective. In order to interpret facts and aspects of the world around us, all scientists adopt an overarching framework within which to understand those facts and observation. This framework, or paradigm, is often taken for granted or assumed to be true, such as the regularity of the natural world. When this framework is challenged, such as in quantum physics, the facts and observations are interpreted differently. Scientific procedures, it turns out, always rely upon an underlying framework that is adopted by faith or simply assumed.

Faith, on the other hand, is also often misunderstood. Indeed, Webster’s dictionary defines faith as “unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence.” According to this definition, faith is required when evidence runs out; it is the realm of irrationality whereas science is the realm of rationality. But just as all scientific endeavors include a foundation that is assumed and cannot be proven, so faith in God relies on evidence that he has provided. For Christians, we believe in Jesus not just because it feels good and calms our troubled minds, but because we believe he really did exist, because we have evidence that he really did die on the cross and rise again from the dead. Our belief in Jesus’ resurrection cannot be proved by the scientific method, but neither can it be disproved. Indeed, there is weighty historical evidence in favor of the fact of Jesus’ resurrection, much more than there is against it.

There is much more that could be said about our popular understanding of “science” and “faith,” but we must admit that both science and faith include elements of reason and elements that go beyond reason. They involve both involve real, factual knowledge and leaps into the unknown. Generally speaking, however, “science” does describe the process of making observations of what can be seen in God’s world, whereas “faith” is making observations about what is unseen, so what is their relationship? As long as science as seen as the realm of rationality, and faith as the realm of irrationality, they will be in conflict. But more properly speaking, science is a perfect complement of faith, and faith is the natural complement of science. Responsible science will never disprove Christianity, but it will complement our faith. Likewise, faith does not displace the importance of science, but views science as an ally in the battle for belief. So next time someone asks you about the relationship between science and faith, make sure you ask them, “What do you mean by science, and what do you mean by faith?”

Kingdom Prayer April 25, 2008

In Matthew 6:9-13, in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. The disciples may have been familiar with some of this prayer language, especially given the existence of the Qaddish, a prayer recited following synagogue sermons. The Qaddish contains some similar phrases as the Lord’s Prayer:

Magnified and sanctified be his great name,

In the world which he has created according to his will.

May he establish his kingdom

in your lifetime and in your days

and in the lifetime of all the house of Israel,

even speedily and at a near time.

The differences between this prayer, however, and the Lord’s prayer, are immense. First, the Lord’s prayer begins on a personal note, praying to “our Father.” The God whom we personally address is also the God “in heaven,” wholly other and transcendent as Creator over his creation. But the personal dimension of the Lord’s prayer continues throughout, including requests for daily provision, forgiveness, and guidance. Both prayers appeal to God to make his name holy and to bring the kingdom. But the Jewish and Christian conception of this kingdom coming must be distinguished. To help us distinguish between these views, we will use Graeme Goldsworthy’s definition of the kingdom as “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule.”

For the Jews, God’s kingdom included the Jewish people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whereas for Christians, God’s kingdom has expanded to include all people, Jews and Gentiles, anyone who repents and believes in Jesus. Second, while Jews saw the center of God’s kingdom as Jerusalem and the physical boundaries of Israel, Christians believe that God’s kingdom is wherever Jesus resides by his Spirit. While Jesus physically is in heaven, his rule extends over all creation, and is especially present among his people indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Third, the Jewish expectation of the coming kingdom was often physical and political: the Messiah was coming to oust foreign powers and establish his rule over the land of Israel once again. For Christians, however, the coming of the kingdom is first and foremost spiritual (”repent and believe”) with physical and social consequences. The kingdom is within us before the kingdom is displayed outside of us in our lives and societies.

Most importantly, Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray “let your kingdom come” with the understanding that the kingdom has already been ushered in by Jesus himself. Therefore, this kingdom prayer is a plea for the kingdom of God to take root in people’s hearts and lives, as well as an appeal for Jesus to come to consummate his kingdom and reign completely over his creation. Maranatha! Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Lord’s Prayer: Contemporary Translation April 25, 2008

From the beginning of the Christian church, the Lord’s Prayer has been the pattern for prayer given by our Lord Jesus. We recognize this prayer not as the exact form of prayer we always have to say, but as a pattern for all our prayers. Ever since my childhood, however, I have been taught to say the Lord’s Prayer in Kings James English. The Kings James is a fine translation, but its seventeenth century phrasing (”thy,” “thine,” “hallowed,” “lead us not” etc.) keeps the prayer distant from the normal way that most of us pray to our Father. Most contemporary translations are helpful, but they still lack some of the dynamic equivalence to the way we speak today. As a result, here is my translation from the original Greek (the last two lines are in brackets because they are not in the original manuscripts).

Our Father in heaven,

Let your name be kept holy,

Let your kingdom come,

Let your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us sufficient bread for the day.*

And forgive our debts,

As we also have forgiven our debtors.

Do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

[For yours is the kingdom and the power

And the glory, forever, Amen.]

*This could also be rendered, “give us today sufficient bread for tomorrow.”

The Mind of Christ and Music April 23, 2008

What does Paul mean when he says that “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16)? We get some hints from the context of the previous verses. In verse 12, Paul teaches that we understand the gospel and the mystery of Christ because we have received the Spirit of God when we repented and believed in Jesus. In addition, developing the mind of Christ means making use of the means that the Spirit uses to help us understand the gospel of Christ, namely, the Scriptures. We are developing the mind of Christ when we understand everything in relation to the story of Scripture and how it points to and centers around Jesus Christ.

Paul speaks in similar terms in Romans 12:2, where he command his audience to “be transformed by the renewing of your minds,” making the person and work of Christ the center of our thinking by the power of the Spirit. Whereas the intellectual pattern of the world is to put oneself at the center of the universe, Christ is really the center of the universe, quite literally, and when we develop this way of thinking we are able “to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” The only way we can be wise is to have the mind of Christ, “taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor 10:5).

How does this relate to music? Every song we listen to has a message about the world, people, or God and spiritual things. Each song is inviting us to understand reality in a certain way and with a certain slant. In other words, every song, to one degree or another, presents a worldview. As such, every song has the potential to either correspond or conflict with the mind of Christ that we develop from Scripture and the enabling of the Spirit. Music has the power to either fight for or against the battle we have to develop the mind of Christ, to make him the center of our universe so that we can be wise in thought and deed. When we listen to the lyrics of songs, therefore, we want to understand it from the perspective of a Christ-like mind. This means that there may be things to commend in a song, but also there may be things to condemn. Either way, when the radio comes on or the headphones go in the ears, our brains should not turn off, simply wanting to enjoy the experience. When we listen to music, It is a pivotal opportunity to practice discernment in our Spirit-empowered process of developing the mind of Christ.

Kingdom Responsibility April 19, 2008

Matthew and Luke record a similar parable of a master or king entrusting his servants with money to use wisely while he was away (Matthew 25:14-28; Luke 19:11-26). There are several differences between these parables (talents vs. minas, 3 servants vs. 10 servants, extra details, etc.), but the overall story and even specific phrases within the story are similar enough to draw parallel conclusions.

In both parables, different servants are given different amounts of money, the master expecting each to use this money wisely until he returns. Some of the servants doubled the master’s money, a result enthusiastically rewarded by the master, giving them verbal praise (”Well done, good and faithful servant!”) as well as additional authority and responsibility. Another servant, however, fearful of the master’s retribution if the money was misused, decided instead to hide the money away. The master was livid: “You wicked, lazy servant!” (Mt 25:26) Rather than using what the master had given him through stewardship and creativity, the servant had “played it safe” only to incur the master’s anger.

As Christians living between Jesus’ first and second coming, the general point of this parable is clear to us: we must creatively steward what God has given us, realizing our role and responsibility in God’s kingdom until Jesus returns. Commentators differ on the meaning of the money in these parables: is it spiritual gifts, abilities and talents, opportunities? The parable does not pinpoint a specific application, but invites us to use our imagination: whatever God has given us, however God has blessed us, wherever God leads us, we are called to use these gifts, blessings, and opportunities in service to our King and for the glory of his kingdom.

These parables are addressing the question: “how can we be faithful servants of Jesus, our absent-yet-returning master and king?” Engaging in our kingdom responsibilities is essential, but it presupposes a crucial reality, namely, our relationship with the king. Being a faithful servant of our returning king Jesus means having a relationship with him so that we will desire to serve him and he will approve of our work, a relationship forged by the king’s mercy and grace. If we have a relationship with him, we will be developing a readiness for his return, orienting our entire lives around this expectation. Part and parcel of developing this readiness is joyfully taking responsibility for the gifts and opportunities God gives us while he is away yet present by his Spirit. May we as individuals and as the Church not “play it safe” and hide away in a holy huddle until Jesus returns, but boldly and creativity take responsibility for the gifts and opportunities our King has given us as participants in his now-but-not-yet kingdom.

Loving Homosexuals April 15, 2008

One of the blemishes on Christ’s Body is that many people who call themselves Christians are hateful toward homosexuals. The general perception of the church from outsiders is that we are anti-homosexual. This is one reason why leaders of the Emergent church try to avoid blanket statements about homosexuality, lest they be lumped with those who express hateful attitudes toward homosexuality. Unfortunately, however, many Emergent leaders such as Brian McLaren and Rob Bell have been unclear about the biblical truth regarding homosexuality. In their desire to love homosexuals, they have been silent on the biblical message.

I don’t think this is an either-or dilemma. The Bible both says that homosexuality is a perversion of God’s intention for sexual relationships (Lev 18:22; 20:13; 1 Cor 6:9-11; 1 Tim 1:8-11; Rom 1:18-31), AND it commands us to love and show hospitality toward homosexuals. The biblical perspective is to approach homosexuals with truth AND mercy, not EITHER put a moratorium on pronouncements regarding homosexuals OR make them the object of hateful attitudes and speech.

Homosexuality is one manifestation of broken relationships that are objects of God’s wrath because of the Fall. In the redemption found in Christ, however, these relationships can be restored, and the hope of change and renewal can be found. We should not avoid homosexuals any more than other sinners, but welcome them into our communities, showing them both the truth regarding God’s intention for sexual relationships and the love and mercy that is found in Christ. When they experience that love and mercy and trust in Jesus, the Spirit is working in them and provides the possibility for change, or at least the power to remain abstinent in the face of temptation.

Some of the best Christian affirmations regarding homosexuality can be found at the website of First Light, a ministry of hope and healing to homosexuals here in Saint Louis, directed by the pastor of Old Orchard PCA church. I would commend all of the affirmation for your reading and consideration, but one of the paragraphs in these statements of affirmation sums up these points well:

“We believe it is time for the church to reach out in the name of Jesus Christ to the gay community with love, respect, a listening ear, and even with a willingness to take risks, in order that Christ’s message of hope and reconciliation might commend itself. At the same time, believing that the Judeo-Christian Scriptures clearly affirm that all homosexual fantasy and behavior are contrary to the good law of God, we teach that these fantasies and acts need to be confessed, renounced, and forsaken by those who would be followers of Jesus Christ. This implies that any attempt to claim, cultivate, or promote a gay identity for oneself is out of place in a confessing Christian since it necessarily competes with the holy identity in Christ that every believer has been given and must claim by faith.”