This morning I read Psalm 4. My eyes were captured by the 4th verse, "You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound*." David was expressing that God gives him greater joy and fulfillment than the abundant possessions that his enemies have.
     David was and is correct. God alone has the key to my joy and fulfillment. I have tried to pick that lock with so many false substitutes but none has satisfied. It was a timely reading for me on this Black Friday so I could recognize that iPads, Kindles, flat screen tvs, and new cars will not actually meet my needs. They are not evil in themselves, they just simply can not sustain the burden of being the antidote to the neediness of my soul.
     God, today will you fill my heart with such great joy that neither the presence or absence of any thing would move me?
Amen.


*The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996 (electronic ed.) (Ps 4:7). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Attention Past, Present, & Future RMS Students

     Every year during the first trimester of Redeemer Ministry School I assign an exegetical paper that students have until the first week of December to turn in. Each paper contains a detailed analysis of a pericope from the gospels. They are to be 8-12 pages in length and must cite at minimum four academic sources.

     Once in a while a student will turn in their paper a day or at most two days early. Usually papers are turned in by students who haven't slept in at least 36 hours and are near delusional. The papers smell of Red Bull and Hot Pockets. 

     Today marks a groundbreaking day in that will be forever remembered in the annals of exegetical paper history. For the first time ever I received one completed in full BEFORE THANKSGIVING! Joyce Hawkins crossed the finish line at 3:23pm on November 24th, 2010. She is officially the Usain Bolt of the exegetical paper world. No one is in her rear view mirror. Kenyan long distance runners think she is fast. 

     Attention all future RMS students: The gauntlet has been thrown down and it's signed by Joyce Hawkins.

Epistolary Zombies

     Romans 1:4 says that through the power of the Holy Spirit,  Jesus was declared (or appointed) to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead.
     Thomas Schreiner pointed out in his commentary on Romans that in the original language it actually reads that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God by the "resurrection of dead persons". Dead persons? Plural? That was very curious to me. I began wondering about the possibility that Paul could have meant something other than Jesus' resurrection after three days being the declaration to people that Jesus was God's Son.
     I began wondering about Matthew 27:50-54 which takes place immediately following Jesus' death.

⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 
⁵¹ Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, ⁵² and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 
⁵⁴ So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!” 



     Is it possible that Paul was saying that the Holy Spirit declared Jesus to be the Son of God to the world by resurrecting many dead people immediately following His crucifixion? I think it is possible that Paul had that even t on his mind as he penned the paragraph of Romans.  In the 20 years or so between the cross and the epistle to the Romans it is possible, even probable that the response of the centurion to the earthquake and graves opening had become common knowledge to followers of Jesus. If that were the case, those listening to the letter may have thought immediately of the scene we have recorded in Matthew 27.
     I have heard very few sermons in my life on the undead roaming Jerusalem following the passion. I often have had to remind myself that it is really in the bible and that it really did happen. If that scenario took place during my lifetime with attestation of multitudes of witnesses - I bet it wouldn't be so hard to jar my memory.
  
 

Romans: Paragraph 1

I've been meditating on Paul's opening paragraph in the book of Romans this week. Sometimes I can get lost amid Paul's complex sentences. I often will make lists of what I think he is saying and try to chart his stream of thought. I usually read and reread a passage jotting down notes as I do before utilizing outside resources such as commentaries. Commentaries and textual aides are greatly helpful to me once I feel that I have absorbed the text.


The following is Thomas Schreiner's translation of Romans 1:1-7:

1[This letter is from] Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called by God to be an apostle, having been set apart for the gospel of God. 2God promised the gospel beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. 3And this gospel is about his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4and who was appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness at the resurrection from the dead. [The Son is] Jesus Christ our Lord. 5Through him we have received this gracious apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name. 6You are also among the Gentiles called by Jesus Christ. 7[I am writing] to all of you who are in Rome, who are loved by God and called to be saints. May grace and peace be yours from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Schreiner, T. R. (1998). Vol. 6: Romans. Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament (30–31). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

I simplified the first 5 verses for my own clarity by making this list:

*Paul is: 

A servant of Messiah Jesus

Called to be an apostle

Set apart for the gospel

*The gospel:

Through the prophets

In the Holy Scriptures

Regarding Jesus

*Jesus:

Was a descendant of David

Through the Spirit of Holiness

Was appointed the Son of God in power

By His resurrection from the dead (or of dead persons)

Through Jesus - Paul (& the other apostles):

Received grace 

and apostleship

to call all the gentiles to faith  

and obedience

For His name's sake


That simple chart allows me to find order in Paul's paragraph rather than just skimming through to get to the "meat" of the letter. 

Today's Newer New International Version

     In 2005 Zondervan released an updated edition of the New International Version (NIV) bible. Titled Today's New International Version (TNIV), it was received by conservative evangelicals much the same way that pulled pork would be at a Bar Mitzvah. Conservative heavyweights John Piper and James Dobson led the outcry against the TNIV. For information overload on this subject try googling "TNIV controversy" and cancel all your plans for the next several days.

     Zondervan gave up on the TNIV as sales were less than robust and as time elapsed it proved to be increasingly polarizing among evangelicals. They are taking another swing at an updating the NIV that they are hoping will be less controversial and more broadly accepted. The New NIV will be available in print next spring but you can preview it here.

     I used the TNIV and I generally liked it with a few exceptions. Some of my favorite biblical scholars such as Craig Blomberg, Craig Keener, and Greg Boyd all endorsed the TNIV.

 

Hoping I Have Good Soil for This Seed to Land On

The quote below is stolen from John Piippo's recent post on being free from trying to change others. Over the last two decades I have personally witnessed John's restraint from trying to advise people (me included) when they are not asking for advice. I believe that restraint creates an environment for people (and our church as a whole) to be themselves without feeling spiritually micro-managed.

"Nothing is more suspicious, in a man who seems holy, than an impatient desire to reform other men. A serious obstacle to recollection is the mania for directing those you have not been asked to reform... Renounce this futile concern with other men's affairs! Pay as little attention as you can to the faults of other people and none at all to their natural defects and eccentricities." ( Thomas Merton in New Seeds of Contemplation, 255)

Society & Culture

Tonight at 9pm I will be talking about the culture of what I call "The Society of Jesus' Disciples" at Newport Beach Cafe. Joy Bergeson will lead worship.