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Gospel Distinctives

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By Matt Proctor


MATTHEW

1. His Gospel is primarily (though not exclusively) a Jewish Gospel. There are 65 Old Testament references—21 direct quotations from Isaiah alone. Luke traces Jesus’ genealogy from Adam, the father of the human race, but Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy going back to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation.

2. He does show some interest in Gentiles. Wise men worship Jesus (2:1-12). Many from east and west will feast with Abraham in the kingdom of Heaven (8:11, 12). Christ proclaims justice to the Gentiles (12:18). The Gentiles hope is in Christ (12:21). Christ commissions the disciples to teach Gentiles (28:19).

3. His Gospel betrays his occupation. The old tax collector includes money stuff. See texts like 2:1ff; 4:1ff; 6:1ff; 6:19ff; 6:25ff; 9:9ff; 10-12; 17:24; 18:21; 19:1ff; 20:1-16; 22:15-22; 23:23, 24; 25:1ff; 26:6, 7; 26:14, 15; 27:4, 5; 28:11, 12.

4. He pictures Jesus as King. The phrase “kingdom of heaven” is used some 33 times.

The phrase “kingdom of God” is used 4 times. The genealogy in chapter 1 begins with and is grouped around King David. One scholar notes: “In line with his royal status throughout the Gospel, Jesus is repeatedly portrayed as sitting, that is, taking the position of authority and rest (5:1; 13:2; 15:29; 21:7; 24:3; 25:31).”

5. Again, Matthew as a numbers guy—a bookkeeper who likes order and organization. The book is grouped around 5 major teaching/discourse sections:

Chapters 5-7: Citizenship in the kingdom

Chapter 10: Proclamation of the kingdom

Chapter 13: Growth of the kingdom

Chapter 18: Fellowship in the kingdom

Chapters 23-25: Consummation of the kingdom.

Each discourse is followed with the refrain: “And when Jesus had finished saying these things . . .”

6. Patterns of 3 appear in Matthew 1:1-17; 4:1-11; 6:1-18; 7:7; 8:1-15 (three miracles of healing); 8:23—9:8 (three miracles of power); 9:14-17; 10:26, 28, 31; 10:37-38; 13:1-32 (three parables of sowing); 18:6, 10, 14; 21:18—22:14 (three parables of warning); 22:15-40 (three questions by adversaries); 26:39-44; 26:69-75; and 27:11-17.

7. Matthew is a “just the facts” kind of guy. He omits the irrelevant and, compared with Mark, writes a concise Gospel. Matthew tells the story of John the Baptist in 120 verses, Mark in 240 verses. Matthew tells about Jairus’s daughter in 8 verses, Mark in 22 verses. At times he will omit proper names, leave out graphic details, and ignore minor characters. He maintained an economy of words.

8. Some of the themes Matthew emphasizes: compassion (9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 18:27; 20:34), eschatology, fellowship (he’s the only Gospel writer to use the word church—16:18 and 18:17), and righteousness (the words righteous/righteousness occur more than in the other three Gospels).

 

MARK

1. Mark’s Gospel may have been written primarily for a Roman audience. He uses Latinisms, is often focused on Gentiles, and directly quotes the Old Testament only once.

2. Mark’s Gospel is brimming with energy and majors in action, not talk. If you have a red-letter edition, you won’t find as much red in Mark. His use of the Greek “historic present” tense lends a sense of urgency to the story. The narrative cuts from one scene to the next to the next. Like a “verbal metronome,” Mark keeps it moving with words like immediately (42 times), again (28 times), and began (27 times).

3. Jesus is pictured as the strong servant. Mark is like a stack of Polaroid pictures showing Jesus with his sleeves rolled up, at work. There is no birth narrative. Jesus simply bursts onto the scene, full-grown and on the move. Jesus “casts out” or “drives out” 16 times in Mark. He “rebukes” 10 times in Mark. Seized is a key word for Mark.

4. Some believe that Mark, whom Peter called “my son” (1 Peter 5:13), may have written the Gospel as he traveled with Peter and heard him preach. The vigorous narrative certainly would fit Peter’s style, and Peter is mentioned most often.

5. Whenever Jesus blows into town in Mark, people are left “amazed.” In fact, Jesus often strikes fear in the hearts of both friend and foe (4:41; 5:15, 33, 36; 6:50; 9:32; 10:32; 11:18). People are left with mouths wide-open, wondering, “Who was that man anyway?”

6. In light of this, it is not so strange Mark ended his Gospel at 16:8 with the women running away in amazed fear. Verses 9-20 were apparently a later scribal addition to smooth out an abrupt ending.

7. Mark’s is the shortest Gospel, but it has the most detail. It records things like the animals and angels with Jesus after the temptation (1:13), the green grass at the feeding of the 5,000 (6:39), and Jesus asleep on a cushion in the stern of the boat (4:38).

8. One-third of Mark’s Gospel is devoted to the last week of Jesus’ life.

9. The two major literary movements of Mark seem to be 1:2—9:29 and 9:30—16:8.

10. Mark (perhaps under the influence of Peter?) paints the disciples as clueless wonders. They fail to understand the identity and mission of Jesus time and time again, until the hint in 16:7 where Jesus promises to meet “his disciples and Peter,” apparently to restore and commission them.

11. Mark has Jesus retreating/withdrawing more than the other writers.

 

LUKE

1. Luke’s Gospel seems to be Greek in nature. He is the only Gentile writer in the New Testament. He records Simeon’s song with its focus on “all nations” and “the Gentiles.” He traces Jesus’ lineage past Abraham all the way back to Adam to include the entire human race (chapter 3). His Great Commission mentions “all nations” (24:47)

2. Luke highlights the birth and childhood of Jesus. (He says he “carefully investigated everything from the beginning”—did he interview Mary?)

3. He fills his Gospel with music—emphasizing praise, singing, and thanksgiving. Fred Craddock says there are so many songs in the birth narrative that he has his students hum the first two chapters!

4. Luke is the Gospel of forgotten people—those on the social fringes. He zooms his camera in on the outcasts, the poor, prostitutes, tax collectors, sinners, foreigners, women, and children. Christ is pictured as the compassionate Savior with arms opened wide to all.

5. The focus on women includes compassion for the widow of Nain (chapter 7), the anointing by the sinful woman (chapter 7), the note that women traveled with Christ and supported him (chapter 8), the time spent at Mary and Martha’s house (chapter 10), the parable with the persistent widow as the hero (chapter 18), the widow’s offering (chapter 21), the women as last to leave the cross (chapter 23), first to visit the tomb (chapter 24), and Jesus’ appearance first to Mary (chapter 24). Jesus is not a male chauvinist; he treats women with respect and tenderness.

6. Luke writes much about prayer and the Holy Spirit—themes he revisits in

his second book.

7. This may be the most literary and beautiful of the Gospels. It is certainly the longest and contains a huge chunk not found in the other three (see 9:51—19:27).

8. Luke, the doctor, shows tremendous interest in medicine and healing in his account. For example, only Luke mentions that Jesus healed Malchus’s ear in the Garden of Gethsemane.

9. There are 18 parables peculiar to Luke. Consider how often they tie in with Luke’s focus on the forgotten—the good Samaritan, the lost coin, the prodigal son, etc.

10. Luke focuses on Jesus’ practice of table fellowship. A central image is the banquet or the meal. Luke has 10 scenes with Jesus at the table, and is the only Gospel writer to record the Pharisees and scribes accusing Jesus of “eating with sinners, ” which he recounts three times (5:29-32; 15:1, 2; 19:7).

11. Another central image is walking/traveling. In Luke, Jesus is “on the road again.”  Notice the primary transitions in 4:31; 6:1; 7:1; 9:51; 14:1; 19:1. Some have even suggested that Luke is structured as a quest. Jesus is journeying toward a goal, traveling with purpose from Galilee toward Jerusalem and the cross. (Contrast this with Acts, where the movement begins in Jerusalem and moves out to the world.)

 

JOHN

1. John flat-out tells us his purpose (20:30, 31)—his Gospel is highly evangelistic.

2. John’s is a different Gospel by far than the other three (which are called the Synoptics—meaning “same view”). Think of the omissions: no birth of John the Baptist, no birth of Jesus or genealogy, no stories of Jesus’ youth, no baptism or temptation accounts. There are no parables in this Gospel.

3. However, Jesus himself is a parable in this Gospel. Notice the titles ascribed to Jesus: the Word, Lamb of God, True Bread, Light, Life, Resurrection, Vine, Shepherd, Gate, etc.

4. These titles underscore Christ’s deity—which apparently is one of John’s major purposes. The “I am” formula is spread throughout the Gospel: 4:26; 6:35; 8:23; 8:58; 9:5; 10:7; 10:36; 11:25; 13:13; 14:6; and 15:1. John makes sure we catch Christ’s claims to be God himself.

5. Miracles in the other Gospels are called wonders, but in John the miracles are called signs. So in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the miracles are meant to make us say, “Wow!” But in John, they’re meant to make us say, “Hmmmm.” These signs point to deeper spiritual realities.

6. John often portrays Jesus pushing people to understand his deeper meaning. In John 3, Nicodemus thinks of “born again” in physical terms, but Jesus means it in a spiritual way. In John 4, the woman at the well is thinking about liquid water, but Jesus is talking about spiritual water. In John 6, the crowd is thinking about literal bread, but Jesus is pointing them to spiritual bread. That’s why Jeff Walling calls John “the ’60s Gospel”—as you read, you can almost hear some hippie saying, “Whoa, man, that’s deep.”

7. John alone gives us Christ’s extended teaching on the Holy Spirit (16:5ff).

8. “There are two groups of people in the world: people who divide the world into two groups and those who don’t.” John is one who does. This is a Gospel of contrasts, no middle ground: truth/falsehood, light/darkness, life/death, love/hate.

9. The longest upper-room narrative is in John (13:1—17:26).

10. The two major movements in John appear to be chapters 1–12 (the revelation of Christ) and chapters 13–21 (the glorification of Christ).

Matt Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and a CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor.

 


Getting the Most from the Gospels (Part Two)

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By Matt Proctor

In Part One of this article, I explained that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are more than divinely inspired, historically accurate biographies. They are that, to be sure. But each writer’s distinctive approach to telling his material gives us nuance and knowledge we would never have received from one writer alone.

This week we consider principles to help us get the fullest meaning possible from what I call these “pastorally interpretive narratives of the life of Christ.”

 

Read Behind the Lines

The first principle of Gospel reading is read behind the lines. In other words, look at the history and culture behind the Gospel stories. Often we can see a story’s truth clearly only when it’s placed against the historical/cultural/geographical backdrop. As 21st-century Westerners, we must put ourselves in ancient Jewish sandals to understand their culture. We will need to do some hermeneutical excavating to brush away the accumulated dust of the centuries to get back to the original setting. This background can take us to new depths of understanding.

For example, look at the Old Testament background. In Mark 6, the disciples are straining mightily to row across a stormy Sea of Galilee in the middle of the night, so Jesus leaves his mountainside prayers and begins to walk across the water to them. Amid the lightning flashes, the disciples see a figure atop the waves and cry out in fear, “It’s a ghost!”

Read “Gospel Distinctives”—Matt Proctor’s explanation of how each Gospel is unique.

Mark then gives a curious description of Jesus, “He was about to pass by them” (Mark 6:48). Was Jesus going to just walk past the exhausted disciples without helping? Maybe he was going to wave as he went by, “Good luck, boys! See you on the other side!” What’s going on here?

Only when you hear the Old Testament music in the background does the passage make sense. The language is from Exodus 34 when God reveals himself, as his presence “passes by” Moses. Jesus here is revealing himself as God to the disciples, even referring to himself with the divine name “I AM.” (This is the literal translation of “It is I” in Mark 6:50.) The Old Testament background helps us make sense of the story.

Look also at the geographical background. Take Jesus’ statement after Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi: “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). A powerful statement by itself, but against its geographical backdrop, the words ring even stronger. Caesarea Philippi stood at the base of a cliff, and a spring of water flowed from the mouth of a cave set in the bottom of the cliff.

Water was a symbol of the underworld, and the pagans there believed their fertility gods left the earth each winter, entering the underworld through the cave stream. To entice the gods’ return each spring, the residents of Caesarea Philippi engaged in wanton sexual immorality. They then believed the gods returned to the earth, emerging back through the cave and its stream. To the pagan mind at Caesarea Philippi, “their city was literally at the gates of the underworld—the gates of hell.”1

All of this underscores Jesus’ courage. He does not make this bold declaration of victory from the safety of headquarters far behind the lines; he makes it on the very front lines of the spiritual battle.

Of course, don’t forget to dig into the cultural background. Kenneth Bailey is a New Testament scholar who taught for 40 years in the Middle East. He found that peasants in the remote villages of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq often lived life largely unchanged from biblical times. He would sit with a group of sheepherders and farmers and tell the parables of Jesus, which they had never heard before. From their reactions, Bailey gained cultural insights into how these stories would have been heard by their original Middle Eastern audiences.

One day as he spun the story of the prodigal son, he was surprised when he told of the son’s request to the father for his share of the inheritance. The men laughed at this part of the story. It was so outrageous that they thought it was funny. Bailey probed further:

“Has anyone ever made such a request in your village?”

“Never!”

“Could anyone ever make such a request?”

“Impossible!”

“If anyone did, what would happen?”

“His father would beat him, of course!”

“Why?”

“This request means—he wants his father to die!”2

 

Like No Father in the Past

Bailey went on to tell how the son left, squandered the money, shamed the family name, and eventually came home filthy and humiliated. In ancient Middle Eastern culture, a son in good standing bowed to his father and kissed his hand, but a son who had committed such travesties against his father would be expected to fall to the ground and kiss his father’s feet.

After beating the son, the father might grudgingly allow him to return home, where he would have to work hard to earn his way back into favor. Under no circumstances would a Middle Eastern patriarch have ever run to his son—even one in good standing. It was considered unseemly.

So when Bailey said that the father saw his son at a distance and ran out to greet him, embracing and kissing him, the men in Bailey’s circle were furious, even disgusted. They said, “This man had no dignity! For a man to run through the streets, his robe would kick up around his thighs; his legs would be exposed to the children. That would be shameful. He would be the laughingstock of his village. No father would run to his son. It would never happen.”

This is amazing love! Ibrahim Sa’id, himself an old-school Middle Eastern patriarch, comments on the three parables in Luke 15, “The shepherd in his search for the sheep, and the woman in her search for the coin, do not do anything out of the ordinary beyond what anyone in their place would do. But the actions the father takes in the third story are unique, marvelous, divine actions which have not been done by any father in the past.”3

The father humiliated himself to welcome his humiliated son. And that, of course, is a picture of the cross—a God willing to humiliate himself to welcome back his sinful children.

To read the Gospels well, then, we must read behind the lines, discovering the original historical and cultural setting. Tools that will help here are a Bible with good study notes like the NIV Study Bible, a Bible encyclopedia like Zondervan’s Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, and commentaries like The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament by Craig Keener.

 

Read Before the Lines

The second principle of Gospel reading is read before the lines. In other words, look at the literary context before (and after) your Gospel story. Often, we pay close attention to context when we’re in the Epistles, but because the Gospel stories seem so self-contained, we sometimes fail to look at the surrounding chapters for a connecting thread. We need to ask: How does the passage I am reading fit into the larger story of the Bible book I am reading?

One contextual clue to watch for is story placement. For example, Mark 8 records one of Jesus’ strangest miracles. When Jesus touches a blind man’s eyes (after spitting in them!), the blind man can suddenly see . . . but not clearly. Everything is fuzzy. He says, “I see people; they look like trees walking around” (v. 24). So Jesus touches his eyes a second time. Only then is his sight fully restored. Jesus concludes by telling the man not to go into the village to tell others what had happened.

What happened here? Why didn’t the first touch get the job done? Did Jesus experience a power “brownout”? Did Jesus foul the first pitch off before connecting for a home run?

No, and the following story in Mark 8 reveals what Jesus was up to. In the next paragraph, Jesus quizzes the disciples about his identity:

“‘Who do people say I am?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you?’ he asked, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah.’ Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him” (Mark 8:27-30).

In the text immediately before this strange miracle, Jesus labeled the disciples’ failure to understand his identity as a kind of spiritual blindness (Mark 8:18). Now in the text immediately following the strange miracle, the disciples are slowly starting to understand. But it’s a multistage process—just like the miracle. In fact, note the parallel structure of Mark 8:22-26 and Mark 8:27-30:

• Physical blindness of man; spiritual blindness of disciples

• Partial restoration of sight; partial understanding of Jesus’ identity (John the Baptist, Elijah, prophet)

• Full restoration of sight; full understanding of Jesus’ identity (the Christ)

• Command not to tell others yet; command not to tell others yet.

So Jesus’ two-stage healing of the blind man, while historically true, is also an enacted parable of what he’s trying to do with the disciples. Slowly they will see with complete clarity who he really is. Looking closely at the placement of this story gives us the clue to its meaning.

 

An Unusual Fire and an Unfaithful Friend

Another contextual clue to look for is word usage. Pay attention to how a particular word is used in the larger context of the Gospel you’re reading. For example, after Jesus is arrested in John 18, Peter follows him to the high priest’s house and waits, warming himself in the courtyard by a fire. John 18:18 uses the unusual word anthrakian—literally a “charcoal fire.” Of course, at that fire, Peter denies Christ three times.

The Gospel of John (indeed the New Testament) uses anthrakian only in one other place. In John 21, after the resurrection, Jesus meets Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. There Jesus is preparing a beach breakfast for his disciples, and to cook the fish, John tells us Jesus has built an anthrakian. Surely the smell of the charcoal smoke reminds Peter of his great failure only a few weeks before.

But then Jesus reinstates Peter, commissioning him three times (no accident!) to feed Christ’s sheep. By repeating the word anthrakian, John has deliberately linked the two stories, and we learn this amazing truth: God can turn the place of our great fall into the place of our great call!

Whether it’s story placement or word usage, pay close attention to the larger context of the Gospel you’re reading. Don’t just read your little passage. Read before and after to see how your text connects.

 

Read Beside the Lines

The third principle of Gospel reading is read beside the lines. In other words, compare the passage you are reading to the parallel accounts (if there are any) in the other Gospels. Parallel studies in the Gospels can be wonderfully eye opening for two reasons.

The first reason is that a parallel account can make a difficult meaning in your Gospel passage easier to understand. For example, in Luke 14:26 Jesus says, “’If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother . . . such a person cannot be my disciple.’” Sounds harsh, doesn’t it? Are Christians required to feel a seething bitterness toward our parents? No.

The parallel passage in Matthew 10:37 makes Jesus’ meaning plain: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” We aren’t commanded to disown our parents; we are instead called to make our love for Christ even greater than the love for our parents.

 

What Are the Author’s “Life Themes”?

The second reason parallel studies in the Gospels can be eye opening is that they highlight each Gospel’s distinctive. The differences in the Gospel writers’ versions of the same event from Jesus’ life often highlight the unique themes each Gospel author wanted to emphasize.

C. S. Lewis said we all have only one or two “life themes.” I think it’s true that every preacher really has only two or three sermons that he preaches under a thousand different titles. John Maxwell’s life themes are leadership and character, James Dobson’s is family, John Piper’s are the sovereignty of God and the joy of following Jesus, Don DeWelt’s were prayer and the Holy Spirit, and almost every sermon Dudley Rutherford preaches will somewhere sound the note for evangelism.

The Gospel writers are preachers, and each one sounds the note for a few themes they especially want to communicate. For example, Luke wants to paint a picture of a praying Christ (and in Acts, a picture of praying Christians). Compare Luke’s Gospel to the other three, and you’ll notice that only he refers to Jesus praying at his baptism (Luke 3:21), at Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah (9:18), and at the transfiguration (9:28, 29). I once heard a preacher say, “God has one Son who lived without sin, but he has no sons who live without prayer. Even Jesus needed to pray.” To that, Luke would have shouted, “Amen!” Look at places like Luke 5:16; 6:12; 11:1, 2; 18:1; and 22:32, and you’ll see he has added references to prayer that Matthew and Mark did not include.

Or consider another of Luke’s life themes: compassion for the poor and outcast. A parallel study makes this compassion evident. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus teaches on our attitude toward money by saying things like “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,” “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” and “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” In the parallel passage in Luke 12:33, 34, Jesus says the same kinds of things but then adds, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.”

In Matthew’s record of the Beatitudes, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). But in Luke’s record of the Beatitudes, Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor,” in contrast to “you who are rich” (Luke 6:20, 24). While Matthew focuses on the spiritually poor, Luke draws attention to the materially poor. By the way, since both Gospels are inspired Scripture, we should not prefer one version over the other. One book makes this insightful observation: “On such points most people tend to have only half a canon. Traditional evangelicals tend to read only ‘the poor in spirit;’ social activists tend to read only ‘you poor.’ We insist that both are canonical.”4

So Matthew reminds us of the blessing in recognizing our spiritual impoverishment before God; but Luke reminds us of God’s special concern for the oppressed and disenfranchised. In the chorus of Scripture, we need both voices, so don’t seek to make them say the same thing. Any musician can tell you that singing harmony does not mean singing the same notes; it means singing complementary notes. That’s what Matthew and Luke do in their Beatitudes.

(To pick out these distinctives as you read beside the lines, an invaluable tool will be Kurt Aland’s Synopsis of the Four Gospels, which lines up the Gospel parallel texts in parallel columns on the page for easy comparison.)

 

A Final Caution and Encouragement

A final word of caution is in order, and I’ll let Fee and Stuart word it:

The purpose of studying the Gospels in parallel is not to fill out the story in one Gospel with details from the other. Usually such a reading of the Gospels tends to harmonize all the details and thus blur the very distinctive in each Gospel that the Holy Spirit inspired. Such “filling out” may interest us at the level of the historical Jesus, but that is not the canonical level, which should be our first concern. . . . It is precisely their distinctives that are the reason for having four [G]ospels in the first place.5

 

But following that caution, I’d like to offer a word of encouragement. To understand the Gospels wisely and well, this article has challenged you to read behind the lines and before the lines and beside the lines of these four books. But the most important admonition I can give you is this: be sure to read the lines themselves.

When Joel Green began to write a book on the Gospels, he said he had always thought of himself as an ordinary Christian. He assumed all believers loved these first four books of the New Testament as much as he did. He writes, “Imagine my shock, then, when a close friend confided, ‘Actually, Joel, I never read the Gospels.’” Please, I entreat you: Do not let these four powerful books lie on your shelf, gathering dust, unread.

As a children’s church teacher, I am often asked to talk with children who are considering baptism. After attending church camp with a friend, a little girl named Tesslah decided she wanted to be baptized. I called her unchurched parents to ask if they would come to our church building on a Tuesday evening as I discussed baptism with their daughter. They agreed, and listened that evening as I explained to Tesslah what giving herself to Jesus meant.

Both parents came the next Sunday when I baptized Tesslah, and I noticed that her mother Karen came back the following Sunday . . . and the following Sunday. After three weeks, she approached me on a Sunday morning with one of our church’s free “take-one-if-you-want-one” Bibles in her hand. She said simply, “I’ve been reading this for three weeks, and I’m ready.” Unbeknownst to me, Karen had decided to read through the Gospels, and in those pages, she had come face to face with Jesus and wanted to follow him. I baptized her the next Sunday.

To put it simply: the Gospels can change your life. They are a treasure waiting to be discovered, and you now have some tools to start unearthing their transforming message. So pick up your Bible, open it to Matthew, and start reading. As Vince Antonucci (see Part One) and my friend Karen could tell you: you’ll never be the same.

________

 

1Ray Vander Laan, www.followtherabbi.com.

2Kenneth Bailey, Poet and Peasant (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 162.

3Ibid., p. 166.

4Fee and Stuart, 113.

5Ibid., 110.

 

Matt Proctor, a CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor, is president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri.

Getting the Most from the Epistles (Part One)

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By Matt Proctor

Think of them as love letters. Read them out loud like a sermon. Notice the wide range of literary tools their authors employed. Discover the truth and power waiting for every reader in these inspired letters from God.

Some time ago, my wife, Katie, and I were rummaging through a box of old college keepsakes. I reached for a large manila envelope, wondering what was inside. Old love letters! I pulled out a thick stack of envelopes Katie had sent me one summer when we were dating.

We had been apart all that summer, and I remember waiting eagerly for those twice-a-week letters in the mail. I would tear open the envelope and devour every sentence—reading and rereading every word, imagining the voice of my beloved speaking them to me. The letter read “Dear Matt,” but behind the words I could hear her heart’s true message—”my handsome hunk of a guy.”

Those letters were my lifeline to her. I didn’t set out to memorize those letters, but I could almost quote them because I lingered over them so long. As we rummaged through that attic box, Katie also reached for a manila envelope and pulled out . . . both of the letters I had written her that summer. (I’m a slob.)

Here’s the important question: Why did I read those letters so hungrily? You know the answer: It was because they were from someone I loved—someone who also loved me.

 

They Read for All They Are Worth

Mortimer Adler, former editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica and a very smart dude, once wrote a best-selling book called How to Read a Book. The book taught readers how to fully comprehend an author’s message, and in it, Adler made a keen observation:

There is only one situation that I can think of in which men and women make an effort to read better than they usually do. When they are in love and are reading a love letter, they read for all they are worth. They read every word three ways; they read between the lines and in the margins; they read the whole in terms of the parts, and each part in terms of the whole; they grow sensitive to context and ambiguity, to insinuation and implication; they perceive the color of words, the odor of phrases, and the weight of sentences. They may even take the punctuation into account. Then, if never before or after, they read.1

 

You want to know something amazing? In his Word, God not only has inspired stories and statutes, prophecies and poetry, he also has inspired letters! One scholar says, “Christianity is unique in that of all the other sacred books of the world not one is composed of letters.”

Apart from face-to-face conversation, letters were the most personal form of communication available to first-century writers. In a world where gods were seen as aloof and removed from human contact, a God who communicated through letters was astonishing. This God was inviting personal relationship. My friend Mark Scott says, “Just as God wrapped the warmth of his love in his Son, he also wrapped the warmth of his teaching in the form of a letter.” Like the Incarnation itself, the New Testament Epistles are God choosing to get personal so that we could know him.

In other words: these are love letters. They are heartfelt words from a groom to his bride. We had better read for all we are worth.

 

Peter, Paul, and Marry?

Unfortunately, the New Testament Epistles can be tricky to read. Some sections aren’t hard at all, but then you run into passages like these:

• “Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do” (1 Corinthians 7:8). What is Paul saying here? Is he contradicting God who said in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for the man to be alone”? How do we reconcile these?

• “I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24). What does Paul mean by lacking? Is he suggesting Jesus’ suffering on the cross was somehow insufficient?

• “Women will be saved through childbearing” (1 Timothy 2:15). What in the world does this mean? Is Paul adding a new step in the plan of salvation for women—hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized, and have a baby?2

So let’s admit that the Epistles can at times be difficult to read. The apostle Peter, in a moment of refreshing honesty, confessed that the apostle Paul’s “letters contain some things that are hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16). These documents are not “see Spot run” simple; they require some heavy mental lifting.

 

Reflect on What I Am Saying

In fact, because the Epistles are probably the most theologically dense biblical genre—with more significant ideas per square inch than other types of biblical literature—may I take a moment to offer an encouragement? Sometimes well-meaning believers resist serious Bible study—assuming that careful examination of Scripture is too academic for devotional value. Surely, they think, the Lord will reveal what we need to know.

But in 2 Timothy 2:7, Paul tells Timothy, “Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.” The apostle affirms that God ultimately helps us understand his Word, but notice what Paul says: the Lord’s insight comes only after our study. Often the Lord will unlock the meaning of a passage only after we have rattled every doorknob in the text.

We cannot expect to be passive readers. To “reflect” deeply will require brainwork, but Paul says that using our own mind will help us know God’s mind better. Sixteenth-century scholar Erasmus once remarked, “People say to me, ‘How can scholarly knowledge facilitate the understanding of Holy Scripture?’ My answer is, How does ignorance contribute to it?”

So let me encourage you to read the New Testament Epistles “for all you’re worth.” Be willing to dig deeply and study thoroughly. But before we go any further, we had better define exactly what a New Testament Epistle is.

 

Preachers Always Go Long

Epistle is the dominant literary form of the New Testament, including 21 of its 27 books. But what is an epistle? (One little girl thought an epistle was “the wife of an apostle”!) Actually, an epistle was a letter in the ancient world “designed for wide circulation that addresses current issues and revives personal relationship.”3

The New Testament writers were not the only ancient communicators who used the epistle form. We still have surviving papyri with epistles from public figures like Cicero and Seneca. Epistles in the classical world followed a basic format:

Prescript. Here the writer identifies himself and his recipients (which seems a smarter approach than our modern letter template which doesn’t reveal the writer’s name until the letter’s closing).

Greetings. Here the writer often expresses a prayer for the recipient’s good health,

Body. Here the writer conveys his primary message—which may be personal, business, or official in nature.

Exhortations. Here the writer gives final instructions based upon the message he has already shared.

Closing. Here the writer passes along other greetings and a final salutation or prayer.

As you can probably tell, the New Testament Epistle writers adapted this basic format with two changes. First, they “Christianized” it. For example, instead of “hello” and “hope you’re having a good day,” they passed along theologically loaded greetings like “grace and peace.”

Second, they wrote much longer letters than normal. (They were preachers, after all.) Cicero’s average letter was 295 words, Seneca’s was 955 words, but Paul’s long-winded letters averaged 2,500 words! Clearly, the New Testament letter writers had much of importance to say, prompting their readers to say things like, “His letters are weighty and forceful” (2 Corinthians 10:10).

 

A Big Homiletical Toolbox

In fact, it is helpful to think of the Epistles as published sermons. (See the box on p. 7.)

As a preaching professor, this is an especially meaningful angle for me. I tell my students they have a wide variety of rhetorical tools to use in a sermon. To explain a point, they can choose—from their homiletical toolbox—options like a supporting Bible verse, a story, a comparison, a statistic, a definition, or a quotation. (Preachers like Wayne Smith also have a whole section of jokes in their toolbox.)

A significant feature of the epistolary “sermons” in the New Testament is that they too draw from a big homiletical toolbox. As a reader of the New Testament letters, it will be helpful for you to understand something about a few of these rhetorical devices:

Hymns. In texts like Philippians 2:5-11, Paul quotes ancient Christian hymns, and at other times, in places like 1 Timothy 1:17, he interrupts himself by bursting into the prayerful praise of doxology.

Why is this important? The hymns, so familiar to his audience, were theologically persuasive because they were already commonly accepted truth. But more important, these “praise pauses” kept moving his audience from teaching time into worship time.

Ozark Christian College Professor Don DeWelt was famous for punctuating his sermons with song, breaking forth in his rich baritone. In so doing, DeWelt—like Paul—reminded his hearers that the truth of God must always usher in the praise of God.

Household Codes. Ancient sages, such as Aristotle, sometimes drew up a “household code”—a collection of advice to the head of a Greco-Roman household on how to rule his wife, children, and slaves to ensure an ordered society. Epistle texts like Ephesians 5:22–6:9 follow a similar “household code” pattern with three significant differences.

First, unlike the cultural codes that only laid obligation on the household’s “inferior” members (wives, children, slaves), the biblical codes also gave behavioral instructions to the “superior” husbands, fathers, and masters.

Second, unlike the cultural codes, the “inferior” members are not treated as powerless property. Instead, they are directly addressed as free moral agents who have the ability to choose how to act within the household.

Third, the motivation behind the biblical codes was not to protect the social order, but to promote the gospel. (See Titus 2:10.)

Vice and Virtue Lists. Another common rhetorical tool used by ancient moralists was the vice or virtue list, and again, the New Testament letter writers borrowed this device in places like Galatians 5:19-23. Three observations about such lists will help you read well.

First, “the items listed, though distinct, were intended to be heard as a unit, not so much as individual behaviors.”4 The writer is trying to create an overall impression by heaping up qualities, whether good or bad. So instead of beginning with a dissection of the list’s individual terms, ask: what is the list’s big picture?

Second, the lists are usually suggestive, not exhaustive, so don’t treat them as if they’re comprehensive. None of the spiritual gift lists in the New Testament, for example, are the exact same—meaning Paul is apparently not trying to categorize every gift available.5

Third, the order of the vices/virtues in the list is sometimes important, so pay attention. Of the 19 vices in 2 Timothy 3:2-4, the first and last terms bracketing this list are “lovers of themselves” and “rather than lovers of God”—implying that the 17 vices in between are a result of these two bookending sins. Likewise, the order of the vice list in 1 Timothy 1:9, 10—not coincidentally—reads like a photographic negative of the Ten Commandments. Apparently Paul’s vice list is the flip side of the commandment list in Exodus 20.6

Chiasm. This rhetorical tool is simply the arrangement of ideas to form a mirroring pattern. Each section in a text matches a later corresponding section. For example, look at the structure in Ephesians 2:1-10:

1. Because we walked in our sins (2:1, 2a),

2. And the devil was at work within us (2:2b),

3. God’s wrath was coming because of our deeds (2:3).

4. But because God is rich in mercy (2:4),

5. We are made alive with Christ (2:5a).

6. By grace we have been saved (2:5b).

5. We are raised up with Christ (2:6),

4. Because God is rich in grace (2:7).

3. God’s gift came, not because of our deeds (2:8, 9).

2. Now God is at work within us (2:10a),

1. So we walk in good works (2:10b).7

Most of us today are unfamiliar with chiasm, but first-century readers looked for it. “Ancients noticed and enjoyed chiasm much as we notice and enjoy rhyming sentences today. For us, rhyming makes something easier to remember and often gives us appreciation that the writer thought carefully when constructing his material . . . Readers in Paul’s day viewed chiasm the same way.”8

(Assignment: Can you detect the chiasm in Romans 10:9, 10?)

Here’s the important thing to remember about chiasm: Whereas we Westerners usually put something first or last for emphasis, the ancient Mediterraneans put the emphasis in the middle of the chiasm. So the accent in Ephesians 2:1-10 falls squarely on 2:5b—that’s the big idea of the passage.

Metaphor. We are probably most familiar with this last “preacher’s tool.” The New Testament letters read like picture books, as the images flow constantly from the writers’ pens. The church is pictured as a bride, a body, and a flock of sheep; the Christian life is pictured as a race, a battle, and a farm; our salvation is compared to a slave given his freedom (redemption), a criminal given a clean record (justification), and an orphan given a new family (adoption).

But here’s a key principle: metaphors are flexible, not rigid. They don’t always mean the same thing in different places. In 1 Corinthians 3:11, Paul says the church’s foundation is Jesus Christ, but in Ephesians 2:20, Paul says the church’s foundation is the apostles and prophets, while Jesus is the cornerstone. So don’t assume you know what a metaphor means because of its use elsewhere. Paul got creative with his metaphorical references, so check the context every time.

 

If There’s No Fire in the Sermon . . .

So these sermonic letters are skillfully crafted rhetorical works. But at the end of the day, like any good sermon, they’re personal. The New Testament preachers aren’t just talking from their heads; they’re cracking the door on their hearts.

I had a professor who exhorted us to preach passionately or not preach at all. He said, “If there’s no fire in the sermon, put the sermon in the fire!” The New Testament Epistles are certainly not dispassionate discourse—they are brimming over with emotion.

For example, James at times can be very tender—in five chapters, he uses the phrase “my brothers” or “my dear brothers” 15 times. But at other times, he speaks with biting sarcasm: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that” (2:19).

Or consider Paul, who especially runs the full emotional spectrum in his letters. He weeps for his fellow Israelites who are lost, staining the pages of Romans 9 with his tears: “I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my race, the people of Israel” (vv. 3, 4). He smiles as he writes movingly of his special fondness for the Philippians (see Philippians 1:3-10).

But in Galatians, Paul’s face turns red with anger as he confronts the legalists who were requiring circumcision—he skips right past his customary prayer of thanksgiving at the beginning of the letter and instead launches into a blistering sermon:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you” (1:6);

“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (3:1)

“Those who belonged to the circumcision group . . . as for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” (2:12; 5:12).

Whoa, Paul, did you just say what I think you said? Yes, he did! The apostle got worked up when people started messing with the gospel!

These letters are full of passion, so as you read, try to discern not only a letter’s meaning, but also its mood. Fred Craddock says some texts are boisterous and joyful—like 76 trombones coming down Main Street, while other texts are somber and poignant—like a violin and a crust of bread. What’s the emotional pulse of the passage?

 

NEXT WEEK: Five questions you can ask to increase your understanding of these sometimes-difficult books.

________

1Cited in Mortimer Adler, How to Speak, How to Listen.

2This article will not attempt to address all three of these difficult texts. A suggested resource for hard-to-understand passages is Hard Sayings of the Bible by Walter C. Kaiser Jr., et al. (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996).

3Jeffrey Arthurs, Preaching with Variety (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007), 152.

4Mike Graves, The Sermon as Symphony (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1997), 182.

5Compare Romans 12:6-8 with 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.

6For fuller explanation, see John Stott, Guard the Truth (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 49, 50.

7Look especially at this passage in a translation like the New American Standard Bible to see the similarity of language between the mirroring sections of the text.

8Randolph Richards, Paul and First-Century Letter Writing (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 134.

 

Matt Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and a CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor.

________

 

Polished, Published Sermons

We know what it means for a preacher to publish, because popular devotional writers like John Ortberg and Charles Swindoll have polished their sermon material into best-selling books. These books then often turn back into sermon series again when other preachers get ahold of them.

(Dave Stone once asked Max Lucado, “Do you write your books first and then preach them? Or do you preach the material first and then turn it into a book?” Lucado said, “Ninety-five percent of what I’ve written I’ve already preached.” Stone exclaimed with a smile, “Hey, 95 percent of what you’ve written I’ve already preached!”)

This is much the way Epistles worked. The material in Ephesians, let’s say, was likely preached by Paul before it was ever written. Even when the letter was written, it was not Paul with pen in hand, but Paul passionately preaching to a secretary who was desperately trying to keep up as the apostle dictated.

Paul’s letters are sermons far more than they are theological treatises. It is with immediate situations that they deal. They are sermons even in the sense that they were spoken rather than written. They were not carefully written by someone sitting at a desk; they were poured out by someone striding up and down a room as he dictated, seeing all the time in his mind’s eye the people to whom they were sent. Their torrential style, their cataract of thought, their involved sentences all bear the mark of the spoken rather than the written word.1

 

Once these “sermons” were published and sent, they turned into sermons again when they arrived at a church. When the New Testament letters came in the mail, they were not distributed to individual church members for their own private, silent reading and meditation. (The fact is: only 2 of every 10 people in the ancient world could read, and even among the literate, silent reading was virtually unknown.) Rather, these letters were usually carried by an apostolic messenger, such as Titus or Timothy, who would stand before the recipient congregation and read/re-preach the letter. 

Even the letters to Timothy and Titus themselves were intended for public reading to the church. Our clue to this? The final greetings at the end of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus are each plural, as in “Grace be with you all.” The congregations in Ephesus (1 and 2 Timothy) and Crete (Titus) are getting to listen in on Paul’s letters to his coworkers.

So the Epistles are sermons—spoken before they were written, and written in such a way as to be spoken again.

________

 

1William Barclay in Ward Gasque and Ralph Martin, eds., Apostolic History and the Gospel (Exeter: The Paternoster Press, 1970), 170.

—M.P. 

Getting the Most from the Epistles (Part Two)

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By Matt Proctor

 

We have seen that the New Testament Epistles are published apostolic sermons intended to be read publicly to the recipient churches—with rich theological content, skillful rhetorical crafting, and deeply personal emotion.

Now let me suggest five questions that can help you understand these sometimes-difficult books.

 

Have I Read the Entire Letter?

Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart give this challenge: “You need to develop the habit of reading the whole letter through in one sitting. You will need to block out an hour or so to do this, but nothing can ever substitute for this exercise. It is the way one reads every other letter.”1

Reading the whole letter provides context. It helps you pick up the big ideas, the flow of thought of the letter. Perhaps you’ve heard it said that in biblical interpretation, “Context is king!” Nowhere is that truer than in the Epistles. When you put together a puzzle, you likely look at the picture on the box top to see where each individual piece might fit in. That’s what reading through the whole letter will do for you. Once you see the Epistle’s big picture, you will begin to understand how the individual verses and paragraphs fit into to the author’s overall message.

In fact, one of the best practices for understanding a New Testament letter is to read through the whole letter with pen in hand and try to write out in one sentence the big idea of each paragraph. Trace the flow of one idea to the next throughout the letter; follow the thread of thinking.

Fee and Stuart again offer help: “We simply cannot stress enough the importance of your learning to Think Paragraphs . . . as the absolutely necessary key to understanding the argument in the various epistles.”

You’ve heard of hijacking and carjacking; close attention to the context keeps us from “versejacking”—ripping a verse from its surroundings and taking it places it was never intended to go. When Paul says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength,” he is not saying Jesus will give him the power to bench-press 400 pounds (as some athletes have used that verse). In context, he is saying he can be content in any situation—whether in plenty or in want.

Or consider the line in Philippians 4:5, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” On its own, the sentence about the Lord’s nearness might sound like a comfort: Don’t be afraid. God is close at hand. But read the preceding context. Paul has just told two ladies in the church, Euodia and Syntyche, to stop fighting with each other.

When my 7- and 9-year-old sons are fussing with each other as they clean their room, I will sometimes march in and say with authority, “You guys better knock off the fighting and start treating each other right! Are you understanding me? I hope you are, because I am going to be right outside your door.” My boys know that the promise of my presence is not an encouragement but a warning. If they don’t straighten up, they know I’ll come striding back in wielding the swift right hand of judgment!

Contextually, then, the promise of Philippians 4:5 is not meant to comfort, but to caution these two Christian sisters to treat each other with gentleness. It’s in the same vein as James 5:9, “Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!” This all becomes clear when you read the verse in the larger flow of the letter.

One more suggestion as you read: use the opening paragraph as a window to the letter. Just as a preacher will introduce his topic in the first five minutes of his sermon, so the Epistle writers often left clues to the themes of the book (or problems in the church) in the first paragraph of the letter. So Romans 1:16 could serve as a theme verse to the letter; 1 Corinthians 1:7, 8 hints at the spiritual gifts issue and the bodily resurrection controversy addressed further on in the letter; James 1:9-11 introduces the topic of attitudes toward rich and poor that will be developed later, and so on.

 

Have I Dug Deeply Into the Historical Background?

As one hermeneutics textbook points out, “A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or his readers.”2 If we are to understand what God’s Word is saying to us today, we must first figure out what God’s Word meant in its original historical context. So we must ask questions like: Who wrote this letter? When was it written? To whom was it written? What is the occasion or circumstances for its writing? What can we know about the culture to which it is written?

Sometimes historical background enriches our understanding of a text. For example, Paul begins his letter to Titus by mentioning “the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:2). When you learn that Titus is working on Crete, Paul’s odd reminder that God “does not lie” suddenly makes sense. Why? A little digging will unearth this fact: the island of Crete was known for its dishonesty. One of the island’s own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars” (Titus 1:12).

In fact, Cretans actually claimed that Zeus was buried on their island. On hearing this, the ancient world laughed because they knew that, obviously, the “greatest” of the gods cannot die, and even if he could, he would never be buried on a backwater, third-rate island like Crete. How unbelievable! The Cretans not only were liars—they were bad liars. Their reputation for duplicity was so widespread that the Greeks actually turned the word Crete into a verb—kretizo—that meant “to lie or deceive.”

So in Titus 1:2, Paul is addressing a culture whose inhabitants expect promises to be empty and fraudulent. That’s why he wants to underscore the complete truthfulness and trustworthiness of God. A promise from God is not like a promise from a Cretan. “If God says that we have the hope of eternal life,” writes Paul, “then you can know it’s true.” That is a promise so secure you can build your life on it. Without the historical background, we could still understand Titus 1:2—God doesn’t lie. But the historical background enriches our understanding—adding color and nuance to our reading.

Other times, however, historical background actually enlightens our understanding. There are some passages we simply would not interpret accurately if we didn’t study the history behind them. For example, Paul tells Timothy the women in the church at Ephesus should “dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes” (1 Timothy 2:9, New International Version, 1984). Is Paul saying braided hair is intrinsically immodest? Does that mean women who braid their hair today are violating scriptural command?

To answer those questions, dig into the historical background. When you do, you’ll discover Ephesus was dominated by the massive Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The temple employed hundreds of prostitutes for the “worship” of this fertility goddess, and these prostitutes “wore their hair in numerous small pendant braids with gold droplets or pearls or gems every inch or so, making a shimmering screen of their locks.”3

Against the historical backdrop, then, it seems Paul is saying women should not wear any hairstyle or clothes that resemble their sexually seductive culture—an admonition that is still needed today. But Paul is not necessarily saying braided hair is by its very nature immodest. (Ironically, in today’s American culture, braided hair is sometimes seen as the opposite: a simple, modest style worn by women in groups like the Amish.) In this example, the background has not simply enriched our understanding; it has enlightened it. Understanding the historical setting has saved us from misunderstanding the passage.

How exactly can you reconstruct the historical background? Certainly by reading the letter carefully you can gather clues to the situation the writer is addressing. (Although one scholar points out that hearing only Paul’s response to the problems is like hearing only one end of a telephone conversation, so be careful of jumping to conclusions too soon.) A good study Bible and commentaries can help as well.4

 

Have I Paid Close Attention to the Words?

In the New Testament Epistles especially, we are wise to pay close attention to the specific words chosen by the writers. To begin with, a more literal English translation like the New American Standard Bible or the English Standard Version will often help. For example, the NIV renders 1 Timothy 2:15, “Women will be saved through childbearing,” and we wonder, is Paul saying women are saved by having babies? But the NIV leaves out the definite article the before childbearing (which the NASB includes). Literally, then, the verse would say that women will be “saved through THE childbearing.”

While it is an unusual way to put it, Paul is likely saying that women (and all people) will be saved through The Childbirth—a reference to Jesus’ incarnation. After mentioning in 2:14 that a woman (Eve) brought sin into the world, Paul is saying in 2:15 that a woman (Mary) also brought salvation into the world by giving birth to the Savior. The word the before childbearing is our tip-off to this understanding, so consider using a more literal English translation for your serious Bible study.

It is often helpful to pay attention to previous uses of a particular word to try to understand its meaning. Take the oft-debated verse from Paul: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent” (1 Timothy 2:12, NIV, 1984). In English, translating the word as silent makes it read as if a woman should not make any sound at all in church—no talking whatsoever. In fact, some Christian groups have taken this to be the verse’s meaning, and they forbid a woman from even praying publicly or leading singing in the worship assembly.

But is that what the word silent means in the original Greek? The context of 1 Timothy 2 makes clear that the Greek word, hesuchia, does not mean “the complete absence of sound.” First Timothy 2:2 tells us all Christians are to live “peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” The word quiet there is a form of hesuchia, and clearly Paul is not saying Christians are to walk around their entire lives without speaking at all. (I guess that would make mimes the top of the spiritual ladder.) Rather he is telling Christians to live with a quiet, calm, respectful demeanor—not as a troublemaker or rabble-rouser.

So when Paul uses the word hesuchia just a few verses later in 2:12 to say a woman in church “must be silent,” he does not mean she must completely cease speaking. He is instead saying she should listen and learn with a quiet, calm, respectful demeanor.

All of this is to say: pay close attention to the words the Epistle’s author chooses. But let me add a word of caution. Sometimes Bible students make their worst mistakes in word studies. So be careful not to fall into some common word study fallacies. I’ll mention two frequent fallacies. Don’t fall into the English-only fallacy, in which you study the English word rather than the underlying Greek word—such as the English word silent instead of the Greek word hesuchia.

Likewise, don’t fall into the time-frame fallacy, in which you import a chronologically much later meaning of the word into an earlier usage. Preachers often read Romans 1:16 which calls the gospel “the power (dunamis) of God,” and because dunamis is where we get our English word dynamite, they talk about the gospel as the dynamite of God. Of course, Paul would never have thought of dynamite when he wrote the word, so while that’s not the worst hermeneutical sin you can commit, it is importing a later meaning into an earlier usage. (However, I do like the story of the preacher who had the letters TNT engraved on the cover of his Bible to remind him of the power of God’s Word. Pretty cool.)

Helpful tools for word studies? Check out John Kohlenberger’s Greek English Concordance to the New Testament, Colin Brown’s New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, and websites like www.mybibletools.com, www.studylight.org, and www.blueletterbible.org.

 

Have I Considered the Rest of the Bible’s Teaching?

A very important observation about New Testament Epistles: they are “task theology,” not “systematic theology.”5 In other words, the New Testament letters are not written to thoroughly and categorically explain all of Christian doctrine. Rather, they are written to apply Christian doctrine to a particular situation in the church, so the writer only serves the slice of the theological pie needed to accomplish his specific pastoral task. As readers, then, we must consider the rest of the Bible’s teaching on a particular doctrine so that we do not mistake a particular theological piece for the whole.

An example: sometimes the letters of Paul and the letter from James seem to be at odds with each other. In places like Romans 3:28, Paul says we are justified by faith, not works.6 But James says things like “a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone” (see James 2:24, NIV 1984). It sounds like Paul and James are facing off against each other like two old western gunfighters.

But if the Epistles are “task theology,” then a closer reading reveals Paul and James are each addressing very different situations and are trying to accomplish two very different tasks. Paul is confronting teachers of “works righteousness”—the false belief that we can earn our salvation—so he emphasizes justification by faith. James, however, is confronting the opposite problem of “easy believism”—the false idea that simple mental assent to certain doctrinal statements is enough for salvation—so he emphasizes a faith that expresses itself in deeds. So James and Paul are not drawing their theological pistols on each other. Rather, they are standing back to back in the middle of the street, firing at opposite opponents.

Another example may help. In 1 Timothy 2:12, Paul says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man.” At first blush, that sounds like Paul is forbidding a woman to ever offer any biblical content to a man. However, when you consider the rest of Paul’s writing, you discover he wrote about women prophesying in the worship assembly (1 Corinthians 11:2-16). Likewise Philip’s four daughters (Acts 21:9), Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), and Isaiah’s wife (Isaiah 8:3) are all prophetesses among God’s people. Priscilla privately taught Apollos in Acts 18:26.

So whatever 1 Timothy 2:12 means (and I am not getting into that in this article), it apparently does not mean that a woman cannot ever offer any biblical content to a man. Looking at the rest of the Bible’s teaching has made that much clearer.

The point is simply this: because the Epistles are task theology, not systematic theology, we must always place our Epistle passage in the context of the rest of the Bible’s teaching. “Remembering that the epistles address specific occasions will preserve us from theological myopia, that is, building a system on [only] a portion of the epistles’ rich doctrine.”7

 

Have I Traced the Connection Between the Indicative and the Imperative?

When you start reading the Epistles, it doesn’t take long to notice a general pattern in most of these letters, especially Paul’s. Often, the first half of the letter deals with Christian doctrine, while the last half deals with Christian duty. After his explanation of Christian belief, he follows up with an exhortation to Christian behavior. See Romans 1-11 and 12-16, Ephesians 1-3 and 4-6, or Colossians 1, 2 and 3, 4 as examples.

In other words, Paul grounds the imperative in the indicative. All the commands he gives in the last half of a letter find their rationale in the theology he has already taught in the letter’s first half. For example, in Ephesians 5, Paul could have said, “Husbands, love your wives because it will make for a smoother, more peaceful household, and you will enjoy living in a conflict-free atmosphere.” Paul could have given that kind of pragmatic basis for being a loving husband: “Happy wife, happy life!” (All of which, by the way, would have been absolutely true.)

But Paul doesn’t ground his command in the practical. He grounds it in the theological. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). “That is, because marriage is an earthly picture of a spiritual mystery, we ought to love our wives.”8 The indicative truth in Ephesians 1-3 (Christ’s love for the church) is the foundation for the imperative in Ephesians 5 (husband’s love for wife).

This constant interplay between the indicative and imperative can be seen throughout the Epistles. First Thessalonians 4 teaches that because Jesus will come again (indicative), we should not grieve as those who have no hope (imperative). Second Corinthians 8 teaches that because Jesus became poor for us (indicative), we should give generously for him (imperative). First John 4 says that because God loves us (indicative), we should love one another (imperative).

So as careful Bible students, when we read the indicative sections of the letters, we should ask ourselves what the imperative implications of these truths might be. When we read the imperative sections, we should ask what the underlying indicative motivations of these commands might be. The imperatives are not simply behavioral addendums, and the indicatives are not simply doctrinal prologues. The two sections of the letter are intimately interwoven, so trace those connections for a richer reading of the Epistle.

 

Immortal Beloved

Though I’ve never seen it, the movie Immortal Beloved tells a true story from the life of Beethoven. As a young man, Beethoven falls passionately in love with a beautiful young lady. In a series of letters, addressed to his “Immortal Beloved,” he asks her to meet him one afternoon, and she wonders in anticipation: could this be the day he proposes marriage?

But Beethoven is delayed, and by the time he arrives, the young lady is gone. Unfortunate circumstances follow, and tragically the two never speak again. Years later, after Beethoven’s death, the young woman learns that he had sent a letter explaining his delay and asking her to wait for him. But she never received it. What a difference it would have made! If only she’d had the chance to read the letter.

I know of another Lover who is waiting until the day he can be united with his beloved. He too has written us letters—explaining his delay, asking us to wait for him, and giving us instructions for the meantime. These love letters are an incredible gift. What a difference it would make if we read them! Here’s your chance. . . .

________

 

1Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982), 47.

2Fee and Stuart, 60.

3John Stott, Guard the Truth (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 84.

4It is good to remember, however, that commentaries can sometimes get it wrong. In addition to his music, Johnny Cash also wrote a novel on the life of Paul, entitled Man in White. In his study, Cash spent years reading reference books and commentaries. “I discovered,” Cash once quipped, “that the Bible can shed a lot of light on the commentaries.”

5Fee and Stuart, 46.

6It’s interesting to note Paul uses the word justification 15 times in Romans, 8 times in Galatians, and only 2 times in the rest of his letters combined. While Rome and Galatia battled the heresy of “works righteousness,” requiring Paul to teach on justification by faith, the other churches to which he wrote apparently didn’t face that problem.

7Jeff Arthurs, Preaching with Variety (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007), 155.

8Arthurs, 156.

 

Matt Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and a CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor.

Getting the Most from Revelation (Part One)

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By Matt Proctor

At first I steered clear of this perplexing book. But then a seminary class showed me that no Bible book offers greater help or relevance for Christians today.

When I interviewed for my first preaching ministry at age 23, I told the pulpit committee I absolutely believed in the power of God’s Word to transform lives. I told them I was convinced “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). I affirmed for them my commitment to proclaim “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27, English Standard Version).

That wasn’t 100 percent true.

That commitment was 65/66 percent true, but at that point in my life, there was one book of the Bible I didn’t preach, one part of “all Scripture” I steadfastly avoided.

The book of Revelation.

 

Staying Away from the Haunted House

Revelation just didn’t seem “useful for teaching,” and as a young preacher, I steered clear of the last book of the Bible.

Apparently I’m not the only one who has avoided Revelation. Fred Craddock says that reading through the New Testament is like walking down the street. The Gospels are first, and they are warm, inviting, well-lit homes—a familiar neighborhood. Next come Paul’s letters, still friendly territory. But as you move down the street through the Epistles, the shadows grow deeper—2 Peter, 1 John. The houses are small and neglected—2 John, 3 John, Jude. Then suddenly at the end of the street, shrouded in darkness, stands the frightening, haunted house of Revelation.1

Not many people want to go in there.

The reasons for staying out of Revelation are many. First of all, the book is just flat hard to understand. The church father Jerome said, “Revelation has as many mysteries as it does words.” Martin Luther said Revelation ought to be kicked out of the Bible because it doesn’t reveal anything. Let’s face it: bizarre images of strange creatures, a beast with 10 horns and claws of bronze, stars falling from the heavens, a great red dragon with seven heads, 666, blood, bowls of sulfur, people eating scrolls, bottomless pits, dragons, the four horses of the Apocalypse, war, pestilence, famine, and death aren’t normal watercooler conversation. This is strange stuff. I couldn’t make heads or tails of this book, so I just stayed away.

Another reason we sometimes ignore Revelation is because it’s been so abused. No other book in the Bible has sparked more obsession, strange teaching, and wild speculation than Revelation. When I started Bible college in the fall of 1988, everyone on campus was talking about Edgar Whisenant’s book 88 Reasons Why Jesus Will Come Again in 1988, which predicted Jesus’ return in mid-September. (Matthew 24:36 says we can’t know the day or the hour, but apparently we can know the month and the year!)

I read about another preacher who claimed that “the literal building blocks for the new temple in Israel have been constructed and numbered and are being stored in the basements of Kmarts all over the United States until they can be shipped to Israel and used to build a new temple.”2(Seriously? Kmart? If there’s a new world order coming, everyone knows it’s going to be Walmart.)

Revelation seems to attract wild-eyed, delusional characters, prompting G. K. Chesterton to remark, “Though St. John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.” I certainly didn’t want to be lumped in with those guys. To avoid guilt by association, I avoided Revelation.

A final reason I didn’t preach Revelation was what I’ll call job security. As a young preacher, I thought, If this book is so controversial and divisive, why should I stir up trouble? After all, I heard the true story of a preacher in Ohio who was teaching on Revelation, and when he finished, somebody shot him. I thought, I’m 23 years old. I’m too young to die. I’ll just stick with the Psalms.

A lot of Christians have done the same in their Bible reading. “I don’t think I really need to read Revelation,” said one woman in my church. “It doesn’t make any sense, and the rest of the Bible already tells me what I need to know.”

 

Reclaiming Revelation

This two-part article is intended as a call to get over our fear of Revelation.

The fact is, Revelation is part of “all Scripture,” it is “God-breathed,” it is “useful for teaching,” and it is part of “the whole counsel of God.” It is a significant portion of divine revelation, it is the culmination of the Old and New Testaments, and it answers the essential human question of what this world is coming to.

Revelation tells how the story of God’s people ends, and only when we know the end of our story can we make sense of the story’s middle where we live right now. Revelation must be read.

A turning point for me came when I enrolled at Lincoln Christian Seminary during that first ministry. I took a class on Revelation taught by Robert Lowery, and in those 16 weeks, my eyes were opened. He immersed me in the universe-shaping images of the Apocalypse. As he taught us how to read the book, I was swept up in the epic vision—the cosmic battle raging between Lamb and dragon, a battle waged in the earthbound lives of first-century believers, a battle for the allegiance and eternal destiny of human hearts and minds.

Sitting in Dr. Lowery’s class, I began to see that my church needed a strong dose of apocalyptic literature. My imagination was captured by Revelation’s images of the reality of the spiritual battle, the insidious influence of the Enemy in the surrounding culture, the harshness of the coming judgment, the imminence of Christ’s return, and the need for clear-eyed, uncompromising perseverance. I saw that all this needed to be preached because, as Eugene Peterson reminds us, we all too often suppose our lives are “so utterly ordinary. Sin-habits dull our free faith into stodgy moralism and respectable boredom.”3

But John’s Apocalypse “rips the veneer of cliché off everyday routines and reveals the side-by-side splendors and terrors of heaven and hell. Apocalypse is arson—it secretly sets a fire in the imagination” that burns away the Enemy’s façade, dissolves the “virtual reality” he seeks to create, and exposes reality in all its stark-but-hopeful clarity.4

I suddenly realized that, “With the vastness of the heavenly invasion and the urgency of the faith decision rolling into our consciousness like thunder and lightning, we cannot stand around on Sunday morning filling our time with pretentious small talk on how bad the world is and how wonderful this new stewardship campaign is going to be.”5 Revelation was a clarion call to live each day in light of the high stakes of eternity, and my people needed to hear that call. I needed to hear it.

It was time I reclaimed Revelation.

If you are ready to reclaim Revelation for yourself, then you have two important questions you’ll need to answer: Why exactly should I read Revelation? And how do I read Revelation in a way that will help me make sense of this strange book? Let me tackle the second question first.

 

How Do I Read Revelation?

Revelation might be the most challenging genre of Scripture to interpret, and as one of my professors used to say, it can give you “a charley horse between the ears.” Let me suggest four keys for unlocking the meaning of this book.

 

The Setting of Revelation

The first key: as you begin to read this book, you should understand the historical setting of Revelation’s original readers. The apostle John writes to seven churches in Asia Minor that are facing two threats near the end of the first century. The first threat is persecution. The Jews targeted the “heretical” Christians, and while Roman persecution of Christians is not yet empire-wide policy, it’s real and rampant nonetheless—especially for those who refused to participate in emperor worship. Believers who declined to say their Roman “pledge of allegiance” by offering a pinch of incense and pronouncing “Caesar is Lord” were viewed as treasonous and could lose their friends, jobs, even their lives.

So the believers in Ephesus have endured hardships for Christ’s name (2:3). Those in Smyrna have been slandered and will be put in prison (2:9, 10). In Pergamum, Antipas has already been killed (2:13). John himself is in exile on the prison island of Patmos (1:9). Someone said, “I would love Revelation if I was an oppressed minority,” and it is true this book speaks to those who face life-and-death struggles.

In building the application bridge from the original audience to us today, then, we must understand that Revelation deals with issues of true suffering, “not minor daily trials or inconvenient obstacles. The first-century believers to whom Revelation was addressed were facing martyrdom, not flat tires.”6 John’s book addresses those in deep despair—“when the police dogs are being released toward the marchers on the bridge into Selma, when the knock of the secret police is heard at the door and the church is hiding an attic full of Jews, when the diagnosis is melanoma and there is nothing more that the physicians can do.”7

But the second and greater threat John’s readers face is cultural seduction. They are tempted to conform to the priorities, values, and lifestyles of the culture around them. If the Enemy cannot destroy the believers through open conflict, he will dilute them through subtle compromise. Why push them into the electric chair when the easy chair will do? If they will just relax their obedience a bit to “fit in,” then the devil’s job is done. They will be “lukewarm—neither hot nor cold” and God will spit them out of his mouth (3:16).

Revelation is written to a comfortable church in an immoral culture, and the application bridge to contemporary American Christians is clear. Ronald Sider’s book The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Christians Are Living Just Like the Rest of the World cites surveys showing that Christians aren’t living much differently than the culture—percentages of spousal abuse, giving habits, cohabitation, divorce, racism, and addiction to pornography are almost the same as those among non-Christians.8 John writes to challenge his readers—there are 72 second-person imperatives in the book—not to give in to the world. This book is not a crystal ball but a megaphone in John’s hands—a trumpet call to faith and endurance and radical holiness of life. When you understand the historical setting, you will begin to see Revelation’s relevance.

 

The Structure of Revelation

Next key: you’ll want to get a handle on the structure of Revelation. A simple, portable outline for the book can help you make sense of what you’re reading—so you can get the big sweep of the book. One friend said a simple outline of Revelation is “Things Are Bad, Things Are Going to Get Worse, We Win.” That’s not bad for starters, but let me offer a few more specific labels.

• Chapters 1-3 might be Jesus counsels the church, as we see the Lord comforting and confronting the seven churches in Asia Minor.

• Chapters 4 and 5 might be Jesus controls the universe, as we see the Lamb on the throne with the scroll of history in his hand.

• Chapters 6-11 might be Jesus condemns the earth, as the seven seals and seven trumpets unleash God’s judgment on a sinful world.

• Chapters 12-20 might be Jesus conquers Satan, as the conflict deepens and moves from the earthly sphere into the heavenlies where Christ is ultimately victorious.

• Chapters 21 and 22 might be Jesus consummates his long-awaited marriage, as the book climaxes with the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

A special note: while we can appreciate the natural organization that the three sevens of judgment (seals, trumpets, bowls) provide, understand that they are not necessarily in chronological order—like some 21-point time line. In fact, John is likely employing repetition. Like a song returns to its chorus, with each set of sevens, John’s book is returning to the same event each time. In each of the sevens of judgment, he brings us to the end of the world, intensifying the degree of evil and God’s resulting judgment with each progressive “seven.”

Notice also that an interlude appears between the sixth and seventh of each group. The interlude in 7:1-17 stresses the saints’ security; 10:1–11:14 stresses the saints’ witness; 16:15 stresses the saints’ vigilance.9

When you look at the structure of Revelation, you will see that, in the midst of all the mind-blowing noise, visuals, and special effects, there’s a powerful story—an understandable plot that drives the whole book.

 

The Symbols of Revelation

Another key: pay close attention to the symbols of Revelation. In an attempt to convey the incredible vision he is given, John ransacks the Greek language for all the metaphors he can find. He pillages the Old Testament for images—more than 500 Old Testament allusions in 404 verses—as he pushes language to the breaking point trying to capture what he’s seeing.

As you read Revelation, you’ll want to interpret these symbols in two ways. First, look for the historical associations of the symbol. Rather than reading 21st-century connections into the text, point them to the first-century connections.

We must not rip Revelation’s metaphors out of their historical context, like the teachers who see modern-day Apache helicopters flying through John’s apocalypse. Instead we must seek to understand what the first readers would have understood.10

Second, look for the emotional associations of the symbols. The fact is, metaphors paint pictures that conjure powerful emotions. A lamb is innocent and vulnerable, a lion is fierce and noble, and a dragon is frighteningly large and evil. These images are meant to stir something in our hearts, but sometimes in our attempts to explain a symbol, some of its evocative power can be lost. Overexplaining can “unweave the rainbow.”

For example, when the dragon in Revelation 12 sweeps one-third of the stars from the sky with his tail when he falls, perhaps John is not trying to communicate a detailed piece of factual information (i.e., that a third of the angels fell with Satan to become demons). Perhaps John is just communicating that the dragon was really huge and really destructive. Maybe he’s trying to stir some visceral emotion within us, as much as transfer some intellectual knowledge to us. While the details are there for a reason, at the end of the day, don’t overpress the details of the symbolism. As Leland Ryken reminds us:

The truth is that for the most part the images and symbols of Revelation are universal. . . . Its images are those of our waking and sleeping dreams—lamb, dragon, beast, water, sea, sun, war, harvest, bride, throne, and jewels. Its color symbolism is equally universal—light for goodness, darkness for evil, red for bloodshed and perverse passion. Heaven is high, as we have always known it to be, and Hell is low and bottomless. . . . The book of Revelation does not require a guidebook to esoteric symbols. It requires a keen eye for the obvious.11

 

The Style of Revelation

A fourth and final key: understand the apocalyptic style of Revelation. The purpose of apocalyptic literature is “to interpret present, earthly circumstances in light of the supernatural world and of the future, and to influence both the understanding and the behavior of the audience by means of divine authority.”12

A contemporary example: I was 8 years old when Star Wars first hit theatres, and I was immediately swept up into a “galaxy far, far away” with Luke Skywalker and the ragtag Rebel Alliance as they took on Darth Vader and the evil Empire. Mark Wegeierski notes:

The Star Wars movies arrived at a critical time in American history. Post-Vietnam malaise, the oil crisis and an economic recession—as well as the feeling that “there was nothing right with America”—had characterized the 1970s. The Star Wars trilogy clearly served as a fresh tonic, rekindling the breezy optimism in the American psyche.13

During this time, President Reagan sought popular support for his strategy to win the Cold War with the Soviet Union. In a 1983 speech, he famously characterized the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”

While media critics chastised such language, many Americans immediately resonated with the allusion. The “monochromatic, militaristic Galactic Empire” in Star Wars looked a lot like the Soviet Union. Besides, what American wouldn’t want to imagine himself as part of the scrappy, democratic, multicultural Rebel Alliance fighting against the odds for freedom against tyranny?14 Reagan captured the national imagination by applying a futuristic, otherworldly image to a present-day, this-worldly reality. We saw our world in terms of that other world.

That’s what apocalyptic literature does. It addresses our contemporary “thoughts, attitudes, and feelings by the use of effective symbols and a narrative plot that invites imaginative participation.”15 John’s narrative of dragons and angels and swords is not a story of some future time, but is meant to be the story of our time. His readers should be swept up into the drama, imagining themselves as participants in the cosmic struggle of which he writes. His world of huge harlots and terrible beasts is really the Roman world of bustling marketplaces and cheering colosseums . . . and our world of minivans and Super Bowls and shopping malls.

The wise reader of Revelation will understand that the apocalyptic style envisions a strange world in order to recast the way we see our familiar world.

 

NEXT WEEK: Why should I read Revelation?

________

 

1Fred Craddock, “Reflections on an Early Christian Sermon: Form,” Abilene Christian University Lectures on Preaching (Abilene: 1999).

2John Ortberg, Experience God’s Power (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 12.

3Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1989), 51.

4Ibid.

5Ibid., 47.

6Mike Graves, The Sermon as Symphony (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1997), 244, 245.

7Tom Long, “Preaching Apocalyptic Literature,” Review and Expositor 90, Summer 1993, 374.

8Ronald Sider, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Christians Are Living Just Like the Rest of the World (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005).

9See Robert Lowery, Revelation’s Rhapsody (Joplin: College Press, 2006), chapter 7.

10Ibid., chapters 5 and 6.

11Leland Ryken and Tremper Longman, eds., A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 460.

12Adela Yarbro Collins, “Introduction: Early Christian Apocalypticism,” Semeia 36, 1986, 7.

13Mark Wegierski, “Reagan: Jedi Knight,” World, 22 May 1999.

14Ibid.

15Adela Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1984), 145.

 

Matt Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and a CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor.

Getting the Most from Revelation (Part Two)

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By Matt Proctor

Part One of this article examined four hermeneutical keys to help you unlock the meaning of the book of Revelation. But, what about the book’s significance?

Even if I understand how to read Revelation, an important question remains: why should I read it? How will it help me devotionally? In what ways will it make me a better follower of Jesus?

Another way of asking this: We know God has promised a blessing to those who take hold of the words of Revelation (1:3). But what kind of blessings should our people expect?

Here are seven ways I deepen my faith when I read Revelation:

 

I approach Jesus more humbly (chapter 1).

I was a BUICK—that stands for a Brought Up In Church Kid—and I saw the flannelgraph pictures of Jesus in his white robe, blue sash, soft flowing brown hair, kind eyes, a lamb around his shoulders, and children on his lap. I saw a gentle Jesus, a nice Jesus, a “Mr. Rogers” Jesus.

While Jesus is certainly meek and humble of heart, the danger for someone like me is that I can put Jesus in my theological dryer and shrink him. He just becomes my XL buddy. When you declaw the Lion of Judah, when he simply becomes a warm and fuzzy household pet, you can lose your reverence, fear, and awe.

But not if I read Revelation. In Revelation 1, I am overwhelmed by this glorious, dreadful vision of Christ. This is not the gentle Jesus with children on his lap. This Jesus speaks in Niagara thunder. He blazes with blinding supernova brilliance. This Jesus could play kickball with our planet. This Jesus could flick his finger and send our solar system spinning off into space. He is clothed in glory and majesty and splendor and power and authority, and this is not a Jesus in whose presence you can just casually stand around. This vision of Jesus washes over you, crushing you like a tidal wave and leaving you fighting for your life, your very breath. John fell at his feet as though dead (1:17).

So I am warned: Jesus is not a smiling buddy who winks at sin. He is not, as Tom Howard reminds us, “a pale Galilean, but a towering and furious figure who will not be managed.”1 When I read Revelation, I approach Jesus more humbly, more reverently, with awe.

 

I love the church more honestly (chapters 2 and 3).

I love God’s idea called the church! When I read books like Ephesians and Acts, I catch God’s vision for this vibrant, victorious community. I imagine a band of believers ablaze with love for Jesus, preaching the good news in the marketplace, embracing the sick and shameful with Christ’s love, digging deeply into Scripture together. To be a part of a body like that—what a glorious joy! Sign me up!

But then I go to church and find people who sometimes care more about carpet color than compassion, who hold their money too tightly, who bicker and quarrel and know their TV Guide better than their Bible. I saw a book entitled Church: Why Bother? and when I see congregations shamed by immoral scandal or dulled by years of the same routine, I can get frustrated and feel like giving up on the church.

But not if I read Revelation. All churches have fallen short of the glory of God, and nowhere is that clearer than in Revelation 2 and 3. These churches are marked by immorality, sloppy teaching, apathy, and complacency. The churches are a mess—just like the ones I know. As my friend Mark Moore says, “We say we want to be the New Testament church. Congratulations, we made it!”

But the good news is, Jesus still loves these churches. It’s tough love, to be sure. In these seven letters, Jesus challenges and corrects and confronts—moving them to maturity. But it’s love nonetheless. “The Lord disciplines the one he loves” (Hebrews 12:6). And with the confrontation is commendation. For each church except Laodicea, he affirms the good he sees mixed in with the bad. He loves these churches not because they’re perfect, but because they’re his.

That’s the essence of true love. I heard about a girl who said, as she was breaking up with her boyfriend, “I will always cherish the initial misconception I had about you.” Ouch! Real love doesn’t happen in fantasy; it happens in reality. You can’t love someone for who you wish they were; you must love them as they actually are, flaws and all. That’s why Dietrich Bonhoeffer said true Christian community begins with disillusionment. You aren’t really loving your Christian brothers until they’ve disappointed you and you choose to stick by them anyway. That’s what Jesus does for the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, and when I read these chapters, I too am inspired to love the church more honestly.

 

I enter worship more selflessly (chapters 4 and 5).

My wife and I have six kids. Can I tell you what a typical Sunday morning looks like at my house? I’d like to say it’s a focused time of joy and preparation, as my family smilingly helps each other get ready and then sings hymns in harmony on the van ride to church. But the reality is, Sunday mornings are crazy; it seems we’re always running late, I can lose my cool with the kids, and too often I’m rushing into the sanctuary with a pounding heart and irritated soul. I’m not focused on God.

It’s easy to focus on so many other things during worship—family or work or the ball game or how someone’s dressed or the music style or the misspelled PowerPoint slide. We can be thinking more about the excellence of the program than the excellence of God.

But not if I read Revelation. When you walk through the open door in Revelation 4, you enter the throne room of Heaven. You suck in your breath, shield your eyes from the dazzling light, and drop to your knees in fear and wonder. Incense fills your nostrils. An angelic host so vast you have to count it by the ten thousands shakes the very foundations of the sky with their praise. The countless thundering voices rumble in your chest. The noise is so loud you can’t hear yourself think.

As you trace their attention, you find every being is focused on the throne. At the center of that throne is a majestic God—so glorious the only way John can paint him is by dipping his brush in thunder, lightning, rainbows, and jewels. At the center of the throne is a merciful Christ—the Lamb who gave his life as the ransom for men. And in the light of this sovereign God and this sacrificial Christ, we weep at our own pettiness. How can we have been thinking about anything else? All eyes are on the throne, and all anyone here is thinking about is the greatness of God and the goodness of Christ. When I catch a glimpse of God as I read Revelation, I enter worship more selflessly.

 

I endure suffering more confidently (chapters 6-9).

When the going gets tough, what do you do? Sometimes it gets tough because we live in a fallen world of tornadoes, cancer, car wrecks, and floods. The effects of sin affect us all. Sometimes the going gets tough because we’re Christian. As Paul promised, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). When the going gets tough, what do you do?

Revelation 6-9 teaches me to sing. The going gets tough in these chapters—war, famine, murder, earthquakes, stars falling to earth, warrior locusts. The slain believers in chapter 6 ask God, “How long will this suffering last?” In tough times, we wonder if God has forgotten us.

Phillip Yancey tells the story of some Americans in a German prison camp in World War II who, unbeknownst to the guards, built a makeshift radio. One day news came over the radio that the German high command had surrendered, ending the war, but because of a communications breakdown, the German guards didn’t yet know. It wasn’t until four days later that the Americans woke to discover the Germans had fled, leaving the gates unlocked. In the three interim days, those prisoners still suffered. They were still mocked and abused, but they were changed. They waved to the guards, laughed at the German shepherd dogs, told jokes over meals, and in the midst of their captivity, they sang, because they knew their salvation was sure and soon.

In Revelation 7, the oppressed believers get a news bulletin about the near future. The time is coming when they will stand before the throne. The Lamb will be their shepherd and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Because their salvation is soon and sure, they can sing the song in 7:10, “Salvation belongs to our God.” So when my going gets tough, I too can sing. Heaven awaits and God has not forgotten me, so I can endure suffering more confidently.

 

I speak God truth more courageously (chapters 10 and 11).

These chapters can be hard to understand. How exactly can they help me in my Christian life? First, notice the main characters: John (chapter 10) and the two witnesses (chapter 11). Second, notice their activity. All three are commanded to speak the message of God. But all three discover that preaching is not all about congratulations and conversions. Notice the results: when John swallows God’s message, it’s bitter. When the witnesses finish speaking their testimony, they get killed. What does this teach me? Witnessing means telling God’s truth, no matter the consequences. As one African-American preacher put it, “The church must be prophetic or it will be pathetic.”

I don’t know about you, but I need reminded of that. Our world does not like to hear God’s truth and can get hostile. Somebody said, “If you are the light of the world, you’re going to attract a few bugs.” Or as Wayne Smith puts it, “If you carry the ball for Christ, you’re going to get tackled.” Sometimes, in the interest of keeping the peace, we can be tempted to keep silent. Nobody wants to be seen as intolerant or judgmental. It’s easier just to be quiet.

Which is why we need these chapters. Notice: John doesn’t write as much to instruct us in witnessing as to inspire us to witnessing. I don’t need more explanation. I need examples. It’s not information I lack. It’s courage. Seeing these witnesses speak boldly for God shoots adrenaline through my soul. They paid the price for faithfulness. Surely I can speak up for Christ to my neighbor. Though the world may reject, God will reward (11:18). When I read Revelation, I say, “Make me like these guys. Make me a witness.” I speak God’s truth more courageously.

 

I see evil more clearly (chapters 12-18).

Looming over these chapters, John shows us evil personified as a violent dragon, two grotesque beasts, and a prostitute. We need these shocking images because we don’t always see evil as plainly as that. The world teaches us to call un-nice things by nicer names. Instead of cheating, it’s creative accounting. Instead of lying, it’s massaging the truth. Instead of homosexuality, it’s an alternative lifestyle. Instead of profanity, it’s freedom of expression. It’s not gossip; it’s concern. Satan is a deceiver, and his most effective strategy is dressing up ugly realities in beautiful words.

So in these chapters, John exposes the evil that seeks to deceive his readers. False religion and godless government are not simply well-meaning but misguided institutions. They are evil beasts that belong to the dragon. Follow the strings, and you will find they are marionettes of Satan, puppets of the prince of this world. The fallen culture around you may at first appear attractive, and it will seem she is offering you the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But in Revelation 17, John unmasks her as a cheap, diseased streetwalker. She will be destroyed and all those with her, so don’t be seduced.

John is teaching us to call sin by its true name. What looks harmless is hellish. This world is not a playground but a battleground, and the battle rages in the things I buy, movies I see, activities I pursue, conversations I have, priorities I set, and beliefs I live by. In all of these, Satan will tempt me to make subtle compromises, and I must keep my eyes wide open. When I read Revelation, I see evil more clearly.

 

I will long for Christ’s return more deeply (chapters 19-22).

John wants to teach us to pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” We are to have the attitude of Paul who said he longed for Christ’s appearing (2 Timothy 4). Mark Buchanan writes, “Our hearts are to have an inner tilt upward, the grain of our souls is to lean heavenward. We are to be heaven-bent. . . . Like the tug and heft of a huge unseen planet hovering near, the hope of heaven is meant to exert a gravitational pull on our lives that we cannot escape.”2 But there was a time in my life when I prayed, “Come Lord Jesus . . . just not yet.” I was young and had so much left I wanted to do—foods to taste, mountains to climb, books to read. I wanted to get married, have kids, enjoy life, and then see Jesus return. I was still attached to this world. “Come Lord Jesus . . . just not yet.”

But I’m older now. I’ve seen the world for what it really is—a place marred by sin. I’m tired of famine, abortion, murder, deceit, natural disaster, cancer, death, sin, and Satan running loose through this world. Jesus is tired of it too! The day is coming when he will come crashing through the clouds, the angelic host behind him. Time will screech to a halt. In an instant (not some drawn-out Armageddon battle), Satan and sin and death will be defeated. They will be thrown into the lake of fire, and a new world will be ours!

When I read Revelation, my heart is captured by a new Heaven and a new earth, a wedding banquet, a beautiful city, and a whole new kind of life. We will live in a city with no prisons, hospitals, cemeteries, or police stations. There will be no more sickness, no more death, no more pain, no more crying, no more night. We will live in a world with mountains and rivers and birds and trees so beautiful our souls will ache within us. We will see our loved ones who have died in Christ. We will work and play and laugh and dance. We will explore and learn and talk and worship together for eternity. And best of all, we’ll see our Lord face-to-face. What a glorious day that will be!

That’s what our hearts long for. “Heaven is the ache in our bones. Heaven is the splinter in our heart. Heaven is our deepest instinct.”3 When I read Revelation, I pray, “Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.”

 

A Final Challenge

Yes, I avoided this book when I was a young preacher, but I have repented, and my confession is this: I need this book. On my darkest days, it is this vision that can keep me going. It is this vision that can strengthen my obedience, lengthen my endurance, and deepen my faith. It is no “haunted house,” but a welcoming home to refresh and revive me when I am weary of heart.

You need this book too. So don’t avoid it. Don’t neglect it. Read Revelation. Then let God’s Word do the work that only it can do. Immerse yourself in the powerful truth of this book, and I promise you—no, God promises you—you will be blessed!

________

 

1Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1988), 29.

2Mark Buchanan, Things Unseen (Sisters: Multnomah, 2002), 11, 24.

3Ibid., 29

 

Matt Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and a CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor.

How Do You Define Your Leadership? Matt Proctor

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Matt Proctor

By Matt Proctor

As a leader, I wear many hats: team builder, decision maker, fund-raiser, and problem solver. But my favorite leadership hat—and perhaps the most important—is storyteller.

A leader’s primary job is not to fulfill a mission, but to create a mission-fulfilling community. A leader’s task is not simply to get a job done, but to mobilize and inspire a group of followers to get the job done. Of course, forging a hodgepodge group of individuals into an effective team with common values and a shared mission isn’t easy. So how do we get people “on the same page”? How can we help them buy into our core beliefs, embody our values, and catch our dreams? One powerful answer I’ve discovered: stories.

Everybody loves hearing stories. They grab the imagination and can be nearly impossible to forget. A good story can smuggle in truth so that, almost unconsciously, people absorb the lessons woven into the narrative. That’s why wise communicators through the ages have used stories to teach. Fully one-third of Jesus’ teaching was packaged in parables.

What’s all this got to do with leadership? Simply this: as leader, I am the communicator-in-chief of our “mission-fulfilling community.” I must constantly articulate who we are, what we do, and why we do it. So I make it my business to ruthlessly search for and repeatedly tell stories—anecdotes that capture our values and communicate our mission.

At a faculty retreat not long ago, I commiserated with our professors. I know what it’s like to pour myself into a lecture forged out of years of experience and study, to deliver it passionately, and then to see a student in the front row picking at a hole in his jeans the entire class hour, completely unaware of any educational activity happening around him.

In response, I told this true story.

Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian was a theology professor at Trinity College in Chicago, and every day in class, he would dream out loud about the Acts 2 church. “Wouldn’t it be great if there were a church that would have an Acts vision to reach the world for Christ?” yearned Dr. B. “A church where people truly loved each other, studied Scripture deeply, and preached Christ fervently?”

His passion was contagious, and one day after class, a 20-year-old student named Bill Hybels came up to Dr. B and said, “With God’s help, I want to build that church.” Of course, Hybels planted Willow Creek Community Church, now one of the largest and most effective congregations in the nation.

A few years ago, Willow Creek held an Easter service at the United Center arena in Chicago. As 20,000 people came in that morning, each person was given a keychain flashlight, and at the end of the service, creative arts director Nancy Beach stood on stage and said, “I’d like to try something.” The arena lights were turned off and it was pitch black. Then Beach said, “If you were introduced to Jesus Christ because of the ministry of Willow Creek, please turn on your flashlight.” A moment’s pause, and then lights started flashing on. Soon thousands of tiny lights dotted the darkened arena, each representing a life forever changed by that one church.

Beach then said, “Please keep your lights on. We’re going to take a picture.” The photographer used a wide-angle lens to take a panoramic picture of the thousands of lights. I don’t know the odds of it happening, but just as the photographer snapped, someone near the front took a flash picture. When you look at that photograph today—that panoramic scene in the darkened United Center with thousands of twinkling flashlights—you will notice the little flash from the second camera illuminated one face on the front row.

That one face is Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian. You can see him turned around, tears streaming down his cheeks, as he looks at all those lights—lives touched by the gospel because just one of his students caught the vision.

“That,” I told our professors, “is why we keep coming back to teach.” Afterward, one young faculty member, looking a little weary, came up to me with a smile and said, “Thanks. I really needed that.”

So tomorrow morning when I walk in my office, one of the first things I’ll do is reach up to my leadership hat rack and pull off a hat. Guess which one it will be . . .

Matt Proctor serves as president at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri.

Victorious (Previewing the 2013 NACC)

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By Matt Proctor

Someone wrote that 10 years ago our world had Bob Hope, Johnny Cash, and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Jobs, no Cash, and no Hope! Maybe you’ve experienced those moments of “no hope.”

The normal challenges of life—financial shortfall, physical illness, family conflict—are tough enough. But for believers, life can be even harder. In John 16:33, Jesus promised, “In this world you will have trouble.” In Acts 14:22, Paul said, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” You may know those hardships very well:

You’ve struggled to get free of a sinful habit that won’t let you go.

You’ve ached through a painful church conflict that tore your congregation in half.

You’ve poured yourself into a promising young leader, only to see him walk away.

You’ve prayed for a lost friend for years, spent countless hours building a relationship, but your heart breaks because she remains resistant to the faith.

Every spiritual leader I know has experienced discouragement. Ministry is a contact sport, and after a painful season of serving, many of us limp off the field . . . not sure whether we’ll return. When life is hard, it’s easy to feel defeated.

That’s why I want to personally invite you to the 2013 North American Christian Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Our theme is “Victorious,” and we’ll be preaching through the book of Revelation. I am confident God will use his Word to encourage us, inspire us, and challenge us to be overcomers in Christ!

 

Why in the World Are We in Revelation?

If the New Testament were a neighborhood, then at the near end of the street would stand the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are familiar territory with warm, well-lit, welcoming homes. But at the far end of the street, shrouded in darkness, stands the haunted house of . . . Revelation! The last book of the Bible can seem scary, and not everyone wants to go in there.

But Revelation proclaims a powerful message of hope: No matter how bad things get, at the end of the story we win.

Revelation was written to believers besieged by a corrupt and hostile culture. They were tempted to conform to the world around them or be singled out for persecution. (Sound familiar?) So the apostle John challenges them to persevere, to join in the “suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus” (Revelation 1:9). In doing so, he pulls back the curtain on the spiritual world to show them that hardship is temporary, and God is all-powerful, and Heaven is real, and a day is coming when Jesus will return and Satan will be defeated and we will go home.

When we know the end of our story, we can make sense of the story’s middle where we live right now. Revelation gives us the glorious news: if we’ll be faithful in the middle, we’ll be victorious in the end!

An Outstanding Company of Preachers

To proclaim that message at the 2013 NACC, I get to stand in the company of some great preachers. You’ll want to come Tuesday and stay through Friday as we walk through every chapter in Revelation. Here’s a preview:

Encounter Christ Powerfully.
On Tuesday evening, I will open with Revelation 1, reminding us that if we are to be victorious, we need a powerful vision of Christ. In Revelation 1, Jesus is not a meek and mild-mannered “Mr. Rogers” Messiah. He is a huge and towering figure, the Lion of Judah who will not be tamed, powerful enough to confront our sin and to comfort our fears.

Love the Church Honestly.
On Wednesday morning, Aaron Brockett of Trader’s Point Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, will walk us through the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. The churches are a mess—just like the ones we know. But Jesus still loves these churches, and we’ll be challenged to love our own imperfect congregation.

Worship God Selflessly.
Also on Wednesday morning, Randy Harris of Abilene (Texas) Christian University, will usher us into Heaven’s throne room in Revelation 4 and 5. As we enter this cosmic corporate worship service, we will suck in our breath, shield our eyes, and drop to our knees before a God so glorious we can only describe him with thunder, lightning, rainbows, and jewels. He is the reason we will be victorious.

Endure Suffering Patiently.
On Wednesday evening, Jon Weece of Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, will take us through the trials of Revelation 6 to 9: war, famine, murder, earthquakes. When we suffer, we sometimes ask, “How long, Sovereign Lord?” (Revelation 6:10). But God’s people endure patiently because we know a time is coming when “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17).

Bear Witness Boldly.
On Thursday morning, Frank Smith of Christ’s Church for Our Community in Louisville, Kentucky, will hold up for us God’s spokesmen in Revelation 10 and 11—the apostle John and the two witnesses. They each speak God’s message, despite persecution. Their actions are courageous, their example is contagious, and we’ll be challenged to be bold witnesses for Christ in a hostile world.

See Evil Clearly.
On Thursday night, Kyle Idleman of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville will show us how evil is personified in Revelation 12 to 18 as a violent dragon, two grotesque beasts, and a prostitute. We need these shocking images because the world seeks to dress up ugly realities in beautiful disguises. To be victorious, we must see evil as it truly is, avoid being seduced by our culture, and remain fiercely faithful to Jesus.

Welcome Salvation Joyfully.
On Friday morning, Rick Atchley of The Hills Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas, will bring us to the story’s climactic moment in Revelation 19 and 20—the final showdown between our adversaries and our Hero. The good news: Christ will return, the dragon will be defeated, and God’s eternal kingdom will be established! That coming salvation prompts in Revelation 19 the only New Testament usage of “Hallelujah!”

Desire Heaven Deeply.
To close the convention on Friday morning, special guest Joni Eareckson Tada will take us on a tour of the new heavens and new earth in Revelation 21 and 22. Sometimes we can get so wrapped up thinking about this world that we fail to focus on the next. But when this lady who has spent the last 45 years in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic speaks, I think we will all find our hearts stirred with a longing for Heaven. As we head home, we’ll all be looking forward to Home!

 

If You Need a Big Dose of Hope . . .

Because Revelation was written to persecuted believers, we thought it would be good to remember our brothers and sisters in the persecuted church around the globe. In each of our six main sessions, we’ll hear a testimony from an international believer, many of whom have suffered for their faith. We will then have a special time of prayer in each service, praying for the victorious advance of Christ’s church around the world.

We’ll also have special musical guests, the African Children’s Choir, on Thursday night. These children have lost one or both parents to AIDS or other poverty-
related diseases, but they have now been given a home, an education, and the life-changing love of Christ. When you see their joy as they sing, you’ll want to join them in celebrating our victory in Jesus!

So put July 9-12, 2013, on your calendar now, and bring your family to Louisville next summer. If you’ve ever felt those moments of “no hope,” the 2013 NACC will be just what you need. You’ll pray, worship, connect with old friends, make new ones, eat, laugh, learn, swim with your kids in the hotel pool, and look forward in victorious anticipation of Heaven. Join us, and let God’s Word shoot the adrenaline of hope through your soul!

 

View the 2013 NACC Schedule of Events

 

Matt Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri. He serves as a CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor and as president of the 2013 NACC.


Our Conference within a Conference (Previewing the 2013 NACC)

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By Matt Proctor

Effective leaders are not born; they’re made. At the 2013 NACC, you’ll have a chance to sharpen your own leadership. On Thursday afternoon, we’ll have our normal schedule with dozens of helpful workshops, but on Wednesday afternoon, we’ll have just four large workshops. At Wednesday’s “leadership conference within a conference,” we’ll welcome nationally known speakers for each of four large leadership workshops.

Les and Leslie Parrott

Les and Leslie Parrott will speak about “The Leader’s Marriage.” These New York Times best-selling authors have shared their Christian perspective on marriage on CNN, The View, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, Fox News, and The Today Show. Their blend of biblical background, clinical experience, practical insights, and real-life humor will help you keep your marriage strong in the crucible of leadership.

Wayne Cordeiro will explore “The Leader’s Soul.” Cordeiro is the founding pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, Hawaii, with more than 15,000 in weekend attendance. He is also a best-selling author of several books, including Leading on Empty, about his own journey through burnout and back. A speaker at events like Catalyst, Exponential, and Willow Creek’s Leadership Summit, Cordeiro will encourage you to keep your own soul healthy as a leader.

Eric Metaxas will delve into “The Leader’s Mind.” How can we do our best thinking to engage culture with the gospel? Metaxas has written best-selling books on two men who did this well: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. Metaxas himself has influenced culture at a popular level as a writer for VeggieTales, and in the intellectual arena as founder of Socrates in the City—a Manhattan speakers series that seeks to engage New York City’s professional class with Christian thinkers such as Dinesh D’Souza, Os Guinness, Sir John Polkinghorne, and Francis Collins. As Chuck Colson’s successor on the daily Breakpoint radio commentary, Metaxas will challenge you to think clearly and deeply about our leadership task in a fallen culture.

Ken Davis will tackle “The Leader’s Communication.” A Christian comedian and one of the country’s most sought after inspirational speakers, Davis’s side-splitting humor and insight has delighted audiences of all ages. A Gold Medallion Award-winning author, Davis has been the keynote speaker for major corporate events, Promise Keepers, and Focus on the Family. His daily radio show, Lighten Up!, is heard on more than 1,500 stations. As president of Dynamic Communications International, he has also taught speaking skills to thousands of ministry and business professionals, and he will help you hone your communication skills as a leader.

Leadership ability is the lid on any organization’s effectiveness. You won’t want to miss Wednesday afternoon’s “leadership conference within a conference” as it helps take your leadership to the next level in your family, your business, or your church.

Matt Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri. He serves as a CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor and as president of the 2013 NACC.

‘Trust Completely’

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By Mark A. Taylor

Months ago Matt Proctor chose the topic for the sermon he preached Monday evening (February 25) to kick off Ozark Christian College’s annual Preaching Teaching Convention. But he had no idea then how personal his message, titled “Trust Completely,” would become.

The Proctor family

The challenge to trust came into sharper focus for Matt when his wife, Katie, was diagnosed with endometrial cancer two weeks ago. “Not exactly the news a 44-year-old mother of six kids was hoping to hear,” Matt said, according to last week’s e-newsletter from the North American Christian Convention.

The NACC made the announcement as part of a prayer request for Matt and his family, a request made even more urgent by the fact that Matt is president of this year’s convention in Louisville, July 9-12.

As we reported in Matt’s post at this site last week, the 2013 NACC theme is “Victorious,” with preaching through the book of Revelation. NACC publicity has included the tag line, “When life seems hopeless, read the end of the story.” And while the Proctors’ situation is anything but hopeless, it reminds us all of times when life’s hurdles threatened our own confidence in victory.

The fact is that all of us will benefit from the fine preaching and special fellowship of this summer’s convention. Several new touches will add to the exceptional experience we’re anticipating.

The convention will include a global perspective as several share how God is bringing victory even in the darkest corners of the world.

And special guests include nationally known speakers and leaders some of us will get to hear for the first time.

After you’ve clicked on the above links for more details, go to the NACC site for information about housing and registration. There you’ll also see the schedule for the week and news about other dimensions of the convention’s multifaceted program: networking breakfasts, ladies programming, children’s and youth conventions, Bible studies, and so much more.

Year after year we promote the NACC as “the connecting place” for nondenominational Christians. This year’s convention has a special draw—not only because of the unique and powerful program planned, but also because of the way its president is modeling its message of trust.

Interview with Matt Proctor

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CS_Video_Proctor_JN1NACC President Matt Proctor reflects on the convention theme, the convention’s contribution, and his feelings about the future of our movement. See his interview with Editor Mark Taylor here.

A Conversation with Matt Proctor

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Meet Our Contributing Editors: This month we talk with Ozark Christian College President Matt Proctor about the impact of a convention theme, the health of the churches in our fellowship, and the genius of the Restoration Movement.

Interview By Jennifer Johnson

Well, two big things have been part of your life this past year: the North American Christian Convention and your wife’s cancer. Of course, that’s in addition to your work leading Ozark Christian College. I want to talk about all of it—let’s start with the NACC. What have you discovered about our churches this past year?

Matt Proctor preaching on opening night at the 2013 North American Christian Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

Matt Proctor preaching on opening night at the 2013 North American Christian Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

It’s been an honor to serve as the North American president. The travel schedule took me to some new places, and I’m really encouraged by what I see. I visited lots of churches with a strong outreach mind-set that want to touch their communities with the love of Christ. I see a strong missions heart, people who want to know what God is doing around the world and how they can be part of it. I see preachers who have really embraced preaching and teaching through books of the Bible.

I would stack the leaders in our movement with the best anywhere. We also have a ton of healthy midsize churches. They may not be the ones making the headlines, but this year I was really encouraged by the ones I got to know.

Some folks worry we’re going to compromise on baptism or try to find the lowest common denominator with the Evangelical world, and I don’t find that to be true at all. If anything, in recent years I’ve seen a stronger emphasis on baptism. Honestly, I think some of our megachurches have waved that banner better than ever.

 

I’m sure you’ve been asked this question before—what led you to choose Revelation as this year’s NACC theme?

Two reasons. First, Revelation tells us we’re part of a bigger story. I studied the book with Dr. Robert Lowery and he turned my world upside down—which I think apocalypse is supposed to do. It set my imagination on fire to reenvision the world through Christ’s eyes. Sometimes we think our lives are so ordinary, and we forget we are all playing a part in an epic story.

We had an apologetics professor at Ozark who loved Star Wars. (He liked to say he was training “apolojedi.”) Every morning he would listen to the theme music to remind him that even though he was going off to do regular professor stuff—give lectures, meet with students, grade papers—he was actually part of this grand cosmic conflict with very high stakes, the battle for immortal human souls. And that’s what Revelation is meant to do. So I wanted people who were scared of the book to read it and, even if they didn’t understand every little detail, be able to reimagine their world and their lives as part of the grand salvation drama of the ages.

Second, Revelation tells us we’re part of a hopeful story. Everybody needs a strong dose of hope. Little did I know, of course, that the message of hope for suffering people was something I would need because of situations in my own family. Looking back on it, God was working upstream and he knew I was going to need to live with the message of Revelation this year.

 

When did you get the diagnosis that Katie had cancer? 

February 15 was the day the doctor dropped the cancer word on our family. She had been sick since the beginning of the year; still, that diagnosis was a punch in the gut. But I married a woman of faith, and we held onto the constancy and goodness of God. We knew that whatever happened, he was going to take care of our family.

 

Not that there’s ever a good time to face cancer, but this was not the year.

In a lot of ways it’s turned out better than I could have planned, because we needed the North American theme in our lives. The word victorious was all over our house because I had NACC displays and literature I carried with me everywhere, so we were constantly reminded that no matter what happened, we would win in the end.

And we are already surrounded by a great church family and college family, but because of my role this year we were also surrounded by the Christian church family, and literally thousands of people and hundreds of churches mentioned my wife’s name in prayer during that time. If there was ever a reminder of why the NACC is important as a way to connect us, this was it. We were overwhelmed and humbled.

I was scheduled to speak at a big teen convention the weekend after the diagnosis and couldn’t attend. All the teens at the convention signed a huge card and sent it to our house and it just blew our kids away. My son tweeted a picture of it and wrote, “I love the church.” My kids got to see the church at its best. I’ll forever be grateful for that.

 

How is Katie doing? 

We’re celebrating that at the moment Katie is cancer-free. She’ll have to take meds for the rest of her life because this particular cancer has a fairly high recurrence rate. There are some side effects, and there’s a new normal for us. But we’re so grateful for answered prayers, and we’re just going to trust God every day to keep leading us.

 

Everything else pales in comparison to that experience, but another unpleasant moment this year must have been that Business Insider article ranking Ozark as “not worth the money.”

I’m sure they were well-intentioned, and the issue of escalating costs in higher education is certainly a legitimate one. The point of the article was to compare the cost of a school’s education to the expected salary of a school’s graduates.

I think our cost is very reasonable. I think the average cost nationally of a four-year private college education is $36,000 a year, and we’re less than half that. But because we are a Bible college, unlike other schools on the list, the vast majority of our graduates go into ministry, which isn’t exactly a ticket to riches. So they are right that our graduates aren’t going to make as much as a graduate from, say, Harvard.

But I don’t think the effectiveness of our mission is measured by the size of a paycheck. Our effectiveness is measured by things like churches planted, Bibles translated, missionaries sent, marriages mended, children taught, teenagers mentored, and lives changed by the gospel. Our graduates get to see some paychecks more important than the ones you deposit in your bank account.

 

It’s part of a larger conversation we’re hearing more and more about the rising costs of college. The debt load is a real issue, especially for people in ministry. 

And it’s an important conversation to have. We try to operate really lean and stay pretty efficient so we can keep those costs down while offering a quality experience. I think of Bob Russell’s line—“excellence without extravagance.”

It’s always a balancing act because we want to provide a quality education, which means quality people. But when health insurance costs for our staff go up by 20 or 40 percent, that either gets paid for by gift income or by a raise in tuition.

We also encourage students to work hard and not just take out their maximum loans every semester, so they can leave school with the least amount of debt possible. And we’re continually trying to raise scholarship funds. That’s one of our development office’s main goals.

 

What’s going on at Ozark that you’re especially excited about? 

I’m really excited about our partnerships, like the one with Orchard Group. For the last few years we’ve sent students to New York City to take classes, visit church plants, and explore urban church planting. Some of the kids who participate in this will become church planters and some will become leaders who have a heart for church planting. A few recent grads are planting in Japan and having amazing success—that’s a direct result of this program.

We’re in discussions with Christ In Youth and Good News Productions about partnering to train students in media and storytelling and using those tools for gospel work.

We also started a new BA in Biblical Justice this fall. The name is intentional—we’re taking a biblical approach that means caring for the whole person, body and soul. We’re partnering with some churches like Southland Christian in Lexington that are doing a great job combining evangelism and compassion ministries.

 

I love the way we work together. All of these good things for your students are happening because our churches and parachurches are working with you.

It’s the genius of the Restoration Movement. We call ourselves “independent Christian churches” but actually we’re interdependent. Even though we have more than 5,000 congregations, it just feels like a small town because everywhere I go I meet someone who knows someone I know.

I also love how nimble we are, because we can respond to needs without the bureaucracy. So many of our organizations began because someone saw the need, had the freedom to take the initiative, and worked with others to make something happen.

One of my goals this year was to really wave the banner with the younger generation, not just for the NACC but for our movement. So I tried to get into as many of our colleges as I could and share the value of staying connected, because ours is a great family to be part of. I love our tribe.

 

Jennifer Johnson, herself one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD’s contributing editors, is a writer living in Levittown, Pennsylvania.

Victorious: The theme needed most by the president

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Matt and Katie Proctor and their six children, each wearing a “Cancer is bad, but God is good” T-shirt, thank worshippers in the opening-night NACC crowd for their prayers in the months that have followed Katie’s February cancer diagnosis.

Matt and Katie Proctor and their six children, each wearing a “Cancer is bad, but God is good” T-shirt, thank worshippers in the opening-night NACC crowd for their prayers in the months that have followed Katie’s February cancer diagnosis.

By Darrel Rowland

The February weekend Matt Proctor found out his wife, Katie, had cancer was filled with tears, fears, and scary portents.

The Sunday morning lesson he had to teach didn’t help; it was on Ruth and Naomi, both widowed when their spouses died.

Emotionally wrung out by Sunday night, he suggested his kids pick out a movie and they would all gather downstairs and watch it together.

The choice was the Disney-Pixar animated film Up.

Within the first few minutes of the movie, the husband loses his wife.

“I had tears rolling down my cheeks,” Proctor says.

Less than five months before he was supposed to preside over a North American Christian Convention with the theme of “Victorious,” Proctor didn’t know whether his wife would still be around to accompany him and their six children.

“I was just watching the movie thinking, What if? What if I do lose Katie and I have to raise these kids on my own? And who knows what will happen if this happens quickly with the convention? There were a lot of those question marks that swirl around in your head.”

The most important of those questions was answered following Katie’s surgery in April. As the family movingly proclaimed on the convention’s opening night—with help from T-shirts and signs designed by Katie—doctors have proclaimed they can find no evidence of cancer.

“Here’s what I came to say in a sentence: Never, ever, ever un-derestimate Jesus,” he told a crowd that included many a wet eye.

Could the cancer have struck at a worse time, with Proctor not only preparing for the convention but busy with his “day job” as president of Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri, along with teaching and speaking engagements?

That’s not how Proctor sees it.

“Honestly, I couldn’t think of a better year if it was going to happen. Because we were not only surrounded by our family and the college family and our own church family, but because of this role as president of the North American, we were literally surrounded by family that was nationwide and worldwide,” he says.

“To be honest, as hard as these months have been, there’ve been a lot of blessings in it. My kids have been able to see the church at its best . . . And you can’t put a price tag on that.”

Darrel Rowland is public affairs editor of The Columbus Dispatch and an adult Bible fellowship teacher with Worthington (Ohio) Christian Church.

‘Happy Incarnation Day’

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12_Proctor_JNBy Matt Proctor

Your theology of the incarnation matters. It affects how you view your body, your
problems, your ministry—and your celebration of the holiday before us.

Your theology of the incarnation matters.

Santa Claus thought so. Saint Nicholas, the bishop of Myra in Asia Minor in the early fourth century, is the historical basis for the Santa myth. Born to a wealthy family, Nicholas used his entire inheritance to help the poor, sick, and children in need. Stories of Saint Nick describe him saving young women from slavery, providing grain in a famine, and sparing innocents from execution. It’s not hard to see why he was revered as a kind and generous soul.

But Nicholas also cared deeply about Christian doctrine. In AD 325, he attended the pivotal Council of Nicaea, a gathering of church leaders from throughout the Roman Empire to address the Arian heresy. Arius, a teacher of great influence, insisted that Jesus was a created being and not fully God. Nicholas strongly disagreed, and during the council meeting, one tradition tells us Nicholas and Arius got into a heated debate on the nature of the incarnation and the full deity of Christ. However, the debate ended suddenly when Nicholas punched out Arius right there on the floor of the council!

That’s right. Santa Claus punched a heretic.

Maybe we shouldn’t call him “jolly old Saint Nick” any more.

While his conflict resolution methods may have needed improvement, one thing you must admire: Nicholas was passionate about doctrinal orthodoxy. He believed your theology of the incarnation matters.

Usain Bolt in a Three-Legged Race
So here’s a theology of the incarnation in a nutshell: “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). Jesus of Nazareth was fully God and fully man. The second person of the Trinity—who has existed eternally—entered history as a human baby one night in Bethlehem. In meditating on this mystery, we should avoid two mistakes.

On one hand, we should not think, by becoming human, Jesus became something less than God. Sometimes Philippians 2:6 and 7 are misunderstood to mean Jesus emptied himself of his deity. A better understanding: Jesus did not empty himself of his God-nature, but he did empty himself of some of his God-privileges during his time on earth.

If Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt entered a three-legged race—running with one leg tied to a partner’s leg—it wouldn’t diminish his innate running ability or change his status as the world’s fastest sprinter. But he would certainly be voluntarily limiting the use of his abilities. Likewise, Jesus’ status as fully God was not diminished in the incarnation. He did limit his omnipresence by taking on a human body. He limited his omniscience by experiencing normal human growth—including a gradually growing intellect and consciousness (Luke 2:52).

But Jesus did not surrender his “God-ness.” Theologian Millard Erickson says, “The incarnation was more an addition of human attributes than a loss of divine attributes.” The second person of the Trinity was fully God for all eternity past, was still fully God when he took on a physical body and a human name, and remains fully God today, having returned to his Father’s right hand (John 1:1; Acts 7:56).

The Only One to Taste Full Humanity
On the other hand, we should avoid the mistake of thinking that, because he was God, Jesus couldn’t have been really and truly, fully human. The Gospels paint the picture of a Jesus who got hungry, thirsty, and tired. He got callouses, blew his nose, and instinctively rubbed his bug bites. He bled when he got cut, and he wrestled with all the powerful emotions of the human experience. He felt joy, sorrow, affection, anger, compassion, astonishment, loneliness, distress, and grief. (See John 15:11; Matthew 26:37; John 11:33; Mark 3:5; Matthew 9:36; Luke 7:9; Mark 15:34; Luke 12:50; and John 11:35.)

One scholar, A. E. Taylor, contends Jesus couldn’t have been fully human because he never sinned. Hebrews 4:15 tells us Jesus “has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” But Taylor casts doubt on the genuineness of Jesus’ temptations: “If a man does not commit certain transgressions . . . it must be because he never felt the appeal of them.”1

But Leon Morris argues that the reverse of Taylor’s assertion is true. Because of his sinlessness, Jesus felt a more intense temptation, not a less intense one. “The man who yields to a particular temptation has not felt its full power. He has given in while the temptation has yet something in reserve. Only the man who does not yield to a temptation, who as regards that particular temptation is sinless, knows the full extent of that temptation.”2

Jesus was the one who withstood the temptation that Adam could not; it was he who finally lived out God’s original intention for mankind. So the question, then, is not, “Was Jesus fully human?” The question is, “Are we fully human?” The answer, of course, is that we are fallen, a broken version of God’s original design. Ironically, only the one who was fully God has tasted what it means to be fully human. Jesus knew the human experience better than any previous human.

Meaning to the Cross
It is the incarnation that gives meaning to the cross. Without the doctrine of the incarnation, Jesus’ death on the cross would either be unable to atone for sins (if Jesus weren’t fully God) or unavailable to apply to mankind (if Jesus weren’t fully human). The cross has significance only because Jesus was both fully divine (his sacrifice is powerful enough to save) and fully human (his sacrifice is pertinent enough to apply to us). Because he was God, the cross is redemptive. Because he was man, the cross is relevant.

Saint Nicholas was right: your theology of the incarnation matters.

“Happy Incarnation Day”
Perhaps it matters more than we know.

I know a Bible college professor who—instead of offering a “Happy Holidays” or even a “Merry Christmas”—made his December greeting every year a cheery, “Happy Incarnation Day!” Yes, people looked at him weird, but I loved it. He wanted to encourage people to do more than simply nod in Jesus’ direction. He wanted them to actually reflect on the central doctrine of Christmas—the incarnation.

These days, Christmas seems to be a holiday aimed more at the heart than the head. The weeks leading up to December 25 are filled with sentimental images, warm emotions, and caroling services—not doctrinal discussions. But during this holiday season, in addition to feeling grateful about the incarnation, we would also be wise to think carefully about the incarnation.

Specifically this: we know the theological implications of this doctrine, but are there other, more practical, implications of a God-who-came-in-the-flesh? Could our theology of the incarnation shape more than just our understanding of salvation? Let me suggest how the incarnation can inform many other areas of life.

Our Physical Bodies Are Essential to Our Humanity
When the Word became flesh, he demonstrated that our physical bodies are an essential part of our humanity. We are a strange mixture of physical and spiritual, a weird alchemy of material and immaterial, an inseparable combination of body and soul. We are inextricably intermixed, and as someone said, “The body and soul live so close to each other that they catch each other’s diseases.”

That’s true: when our bodies experience fatigue or sickness, it can affect our soul’s outlook. When our souls are troubled, our bodies might manifest the distress in ulcers, headaches, or high blood pressure. The reverse is also true: when our bodies are healthy, it can lighten our spirit. When our soul is full, we might not even notice weariness or fatigue. (By the way, this psychosomatic human nature means we would be wise to try different bodily postures in prayer because they can actually affect our spirit’s attitude.)

In fact, our physical bodies not only affect our spirits, they can affect other’s spirits. In a famous study of interpersonal communication, psychologist Albert Mehrabian discovered we decide how we feel about a speaker based largely on physical—not verbal—cues. He said 7 percent of a speaker’s emotional impact comes from the words he says, 38 percent comes from tone of voice, and 55 percent comes from facial expressions and bodily posture.

All of which is to say: when God wanted to demonstrate his love for us, he chose to do so by taking on a body. Jesus looked directly at people, touched people, held children in his arms, and used his physical frame to communicate God’s care and compassion.

Ministry Is Best Done in Person
Given our amazing communication capabilities in this high-tech chapter of world history, it’s interesting to note that Jesus chose to enter history in a low-tech, high-touch chapter. He could’ve decided to be born at a time with the advantages of television, radio, the Internet, Facebook, and Twitter. (Although I can hear him now, “That’s not what I meant when I said, ‘Follow me.’”) It seems he would’ve been able to spread the message of the kingdom much more quickly.

But instead, he chose to step into world history at a time when he had to physically talk to every person who would hear his message, to physically touch the individuals who needed his healing, to physically walk to every ministry location. Japanese theologian Kosuke Koyama entitled his book Three Mile an Hour God because Jesus entered time when the chief mode of transportation was walking, and our average walking speed is three miles an hour.

In choosing the moment of his historical appearance, Jesus was deciding his ministry would have to live within the time and space limits of his physical body. When he wanted to “multiply his ministry,” he did not choose to do so through leveraged technology. Instead, he chose to do so by being physically present with 12 disciples, preparing them in person to carry his message to the places he could not bodily go. His incarnation carries this implication: ministry happens best in person.

I know a preacher who, rather than making a personal visit, texted his condolences to a grieving family. Please hear me: I myself text, tweet, and Skype. I am no Luddite, and I believe the “dominion” mandate in Genesis 1:28 includes harnessing technology for good. But if I ever catch one of my students texting a family in a funeral home when he could’ve made a personal visit, I will track him down and revoke his diploma.

The fact is, we are embodied beings, and there is something about being physically present with another person that communicates the greatest attention. Often the greatest moment of ministry is the three mile an hour act of simply walking in someone’s door. Every minister knows when folks express gratitude for their preacher’s care in the midst of a crisis, they usually don’t say, “Thank you for your wise words.” Instead they say, “Thanks for being there.”

So in a day of DVD sermons in church and youth group devotions on Twitter (which can be good things), the incarnation reminds us that the personal touch matters. If I can call someone instead of e-mailing, I will. If I can have a face-to-face conversation instead of picking up the phone, I will. The more personal the ministry, the better.

Christ Understands Our Fallen World Struggles
Indeed, a personal visit from another person is a way of entering into their experience. When the young priest Ezekiel arrived in Babylon to preach to the Israelite captives there, he did not walk in and immediately start sermonizing. Instead, he “sat among them for seven days—deeply distressed” (3:15). Ezekiel was wise enough to know that the exiled Israelites would hear him better if he took the time to enter their pain. He identified with them.

The incarnation was God’s way of “sitting among us” and feeling our struggles in a fallen world. Hebrews 4:15 tells us, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses.” When you encounter painful trials, Jesus understands. Because Jesus experienced the same kinds of physical, emotional, and spiritual tribulations as we do, he can be the very best pastor for your soul.

When my boys were younger, they loved it when I would dress like them. After 5-year-old Carl and 3-year-old Conrad would put on jeans and a blue T-shirt, they’d come ask me to wear jeans and a blue T-shirt. When I did, they had a saying. They would survey me, survey themselves, and say, “Look, Dad: same, same.” For my birthday, Carl bought me a North Carolina blue mesh shirt . . . because he had a North Carolina blue mesh shirt. We could be “same, same.”

When I played living room football with my boys, Conrad would not let me play standing—so big and scary and towering above him. The theological term for this is “completely other.” Instead he insisted I get on my knees. When I was down at eye level, Conrad would put his hand on my shoulder and say, “There. See, Dad—same, same.” They liked it when I entered their world. (To be honest, it’s not that hard because I mostly do life at a grade-school level. When I laugh like a fourth-grader at my little boys’ burping, my wife shakes her head and mutters, “Same, same”).

One time I scraped my leg working on my house. When Conrad fell down and scraped his leg, he pointed at my scab, then showed me his and said, “Hey, Dad—same, same.” Here’s the point: in the incarnation, God chose not to stay “completely other.” He got down at eye level and experienced what it’s like to be tired and discouraged, to feel abandoned and betrayed. He knows what it’s like to hurt and bleed.

In your pain, you may be tempted to say, “Jesus, you have no idea what I’m going through. You have no idea how bad I’m hurting.” But Christ can respond, “Yes, I do.” He can point to your wounds and then to his own and say, “Look: same, same. Me too. I have entered your world, and I know how you feel. I have been there, I am with you now, I care, and I can help.”

Wow.

Your theology of the God-who-became-flesh can quite literally be life changing. Meditating on the implications of the God-man can shape your ministry and feed your soul. So this holiday season, don’t risk the wrath of Saint Nicholas. In the midst of all the warm feelings, take time to think deeply and think well on the central doctrine of Christmas.
Happy Incarnation Day!
________

1A. E. Taylor, Asking Them Questions, ed. Ronald Selby Wright (London: Oxford University Press, 1936), 94.

2Leon Morris, The Lord from Heaven (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1974), 51, 52.

Matt Proctor serves as president at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. He also served as president of the 2013 North American Christian Convention.

Should Women Preach? (The Story of One Bible College Faculty’s Quest for an Answer)

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By Matt Proctor

In the book Children’s Letters to God, one young girl wrote: “Dear God, are boys better than girls? I know you are one, but try to be fair.” It’s an age-old question: what does God think about women and, specifically, women’s roles in the church?

It’s also a controversial question. The April 2013 article “Women Preaching” generated more comments on CHRISTIAN STANDARD’s website than any other article last year. The article mentioned that Ozark Christian College offers a preaching class for women, and some readers wondered about the biblical rationale for such a class. (By the way, I’m grateful for all who want to hold our Restoration Movement colleges accountable. May their tribe increase.)

After all, in 1 Timothy 2:12, Paul says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man.” Are we (I use we because I am president of OCC) simply disregarding this text from God’s Word? If we are a true Bible college—teaching what the Bible teaches, prohibiting what the Bible prohibits, and allowing what the Bible allows—then what possible scriptural warrant is there for a women’s preaching class?

To answer that question, let me tell you a story.

Ten years ago, the OCC faculty used its weekly faculty meetings for an entire semester to study the biblical teaching on women’s roles in the church. Together we surveyed Scripture and exegeted the key New Testament passages. Our goal was to set political correctness and cultural pressures aside and to simply let God’s Word have its say on this important subject.

We wanted to follow wise hermeneutical principles in our study. We employed the principle of harmony, which reminded us not to interpret any text in isolation. Rather, we sought to interpret each particular Scripture in light of all of Scripture. God’s Word does not contradict itself, so we sought to harmonize the Bible’s teachings.

Our journey was also guided by the principle of history, which reminded us that God’s eternal commands were communicated in specific historical contexts. A text cannot mean what it never meant, so we sought to hear the Bible’s words as the first readers would have. As we understood the original historical-grammatical context, we would understand the Word of God.

Finally, we wanted to follow the principle of humility. This principle simply reminded us that, while God’s Word is absolutely authoritative, my particular interpretation of it is not. We are fallible human beings, and we are wise to at least entertain the possibility that our understanding of Scripture might be wrong. We must allow for our minds to be changed if our study of the Bible leads us to a different place than where we started. This is true submission to God.

 

So What Does the Rest of the Bible Actually Say?

With those guidelines in place, Ozark faculty members began their exegetical journey. We wanted to obey 1 Timothy 2:12. But to understand what it was (and wasn’t) saying, we needed to look at the rest of Scripture’s teaching on women’s leadership.

03_Proctor_JNIn the Old Testament, primary leadership of God’s people was reserved for men. All the priests were men; every published prophet was a man. However, on occasion, women did have a leadership role among God’s people. Women, such as Miriam (Exodus 15:20, 21) and the ladies in the choir (1 Chronicles 25:5, 6; Ezra 2:65; Nehemiah 7:67) helped lead worship. Deborah served as both a judge and a prophetess (Judges 4:4). Miriam, Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), and Isaiah’s wife (Isaiah 8:3) were also called prophetesses.

How about in the New Testament? In the Bible’s last 27 books, it again seemed clear that men were the primary leaders of God’s people. All 12 apostles were men; church elders were described as men. In fact, 1 Timothy 2:12, 13 grounded this in the doctrine of creation itself. Adam was formed first, says Paul, as God’s way of hard-wiring male leadership into his created order.

The New Testament often showed us women involved in nonleadership works of service—Martha feeding Jesus and his disciples (Luke 10:40), Tabitha (Dorcas) making coats for widows (Acts 9:39), Nympha hosting a church in her home (Colossians 4:15). One wag noted that if the wise men of Matthew 2 had instead been wise women, they would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts like diapers! This much was certain: like the Mary mentioned in Romans 16:6, women “worked very hard” in the church’s behind-the-scenes labors.

But we also saw women’s gifts deployed in occasional proclamation and ministry leadership roles. After Jesus’ resurrection, God chose women to be the first bearers of the Easter message, as Mary and Mary Magdalene announced it to the apostles (Matthew 28:1, 7). Anna was called a prophetess (Luke 2:36), as were Philip’s four daughters (Acts 21:8, 9). Phoebe was called a deacon (Romans 16:1), and Romans 16:7 seemed to call Junia an “apostle”—in the broader, general sense of “missionary” or “one sent out” like Barnabas (Acts 14:14) and Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25). Priscilla, with her husband Aquila, taught Apollos privately (Acts 18:26), and we heard Paul saying that Euodia and Syntyche somehow “contended at my side in the cause of the gospel” (Philippians 4:2, 3).

So far, then, the Bible seemed to be painting a picture of ongoing, regular male leadership—sprinkled with rarer moments of occasional female leadership—among God’s people.

 

An Often Overlooked Text

But as our faculty study continued, the question remained: what about women preaching? Doesn’t 1 Timothy 2:12 say that a woman is not to teach a man? Clearly a woman may teach a man in private, as Priscilla did with Apollos, so 1 Timothy 2:12 must instead mean that a woman may not teach a man publicly in the church assembly, right?

It is certainly true that 1 Timothy 2 is about the public worship service. However, an often-overlooked text clarified our understanding of that passage.

In 1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul tells us that women prophesied in the New Testament church’s worship assembly. Important note: as you may know, prophesying in Scripture was more proclamation than prediction. While it might include foretelling, more often prophesying meant forthtelling God’s message to God’s people.1 In other words, it was much like what we call preaching today.

First Corinthians 11 was telling us that, in the first-century culture, a woman who prophesied in church should keep her head covered, indicating an attitude of submission to the church’s male leaders. The implication was clear: a woman is allowed, in a posture of humble followership, to prophesy in the church’s assembly. She can share a message from God, even with the men present.

Since the Bible doesn’t contradict itself, this understanding of 1 Corinthians 11 led us as a faculty to believe that, whatever 1 Timothy 2 was teaching, it must not be teaching that women can never on any occasion speak or proclaim God’s message in church. Otherwise Paul would be prohibiting in the 1 Timothy text what he allows in the 1 Corinthians 11 text.2

By the way, we couldn’t help thinking of the Day of Pentecost. What text did Peter use for the very first Christian sermon? He quoted Joel 2 to talk about the Spirit’s new indwelling presence among Christ’s followers, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy” (Acts 2:17).

But if the church’s daughters can prophesy/preach, then what exactly was Paul prohibiting in 1 Timothy 2:12?

 

A Critical Clue in the Grammar

At this point, we as a faculty moved from the principle of harmony (what does the rest of the Bible say?) to the principle of history (how would the original readers have understood this?).

I once had a preaching professor who said that Greek in a sermon should be like underwear: it should provide good support but you shouldn’t let it show! Pardon me for letting some Greek show, but it’s important because God communicated his eternal truth in normal human grammar that can be analyzed and comprehended. Understanding the biblical grammar helps us understand the biblical God. So hang with me here.

The original readers of 1 Timothy, of course, spoke Greek, and when Paul wrote 1 Timothy 2:12, he chose a very specific Greek grammatical construction. The phrase “to teach” (didaskein in Greek) is a present tense infinitive instead of an aorist tense infinitive.3 The aorist tense is a close-up photographic snapshot of an action, picturing as little as one particular occurrence. The present tense is a wide-angle movie camera shot of an action, picturing a continuous, habitual, ongoing condition—a state of being.

For example, “to believe” (aorist) means to exercise faith on a given occasion, while “to believe” (present) means to be a believer. “To serve” (aorist) means to perform an act of service, while “to serve” (present) means to be a servant. “To sin” (aorist) means to commit a particular sin, while “to sin” (present) means to be a sinner.4

So “to teach” (aorist) means to teach on a given occasion, while “to teach” (present) means to be a teacher. When Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:12 that he does not permit a woman “to teach” (present), he is not saying she can never teach on any given occasion in church. Instead, he is saying that a woman should not be the continuous, ongoing, habitual teacher. That’s the implication of the Greek grammar, and it’s reasonable to believe this is how the original readers would’ve understood it.

 

A Conclusion to Our Exegetical Journey

This raised a question: who are the continuous, ongoing, habitual teachers for the congregation? The answer is in the immediately following context of 1 Timothy. Just a few verses later, Paul tells us that the elders are the teachers. (Elders are men “able to teach” in 1 Timothy 3:2.) They are the recognized, authoritative, the-buck-stops-here teachers. So from the context, it would seem that when Paul says he “does not allow a woman to teach or have authority over a man,” he is saying that he does not allow women to be elders.

By the way, the description in the New Testament that best fits what we call the “preacher” of a church is the elder who is paid to preach and teach (1 Timothy 5:17). So if a modern-day “preacher” is a preaching-teaching elder, then it would seem that 1 Timothy 2:12 prohibits women from being the preacher of a local congregation.

All of this certainly squared with our survey of the Old Testament: ongoing, regular male leadership—sprinkled with rarer moments of occasional female leadership—among God’s people. So as a faculty, after our study of Scripture, we came to these conclusions:

1. Beginning with creation, God has hard-wired male spiritual leadership into the system, and God is calling men to step up as the primary leaders in his church.

2. The regular teachers and leaders in any congregation, then, are to be the elders—a role reserved for men. This includes the role of “the preacher” in a local church.

3. The New Testament does also allow for women, on occasion, to preach and teach in church—from a posture of submission to the elders’ ultimate authority.

 

Don’t Miss the Most Important Fact

As a college under the authority of Scripture, we want to prohibit what the Bible prohibits and allow what the Bible allows. So, yes, in our curriculum at Ozark Christian College, we have a preaching class for women—but not because we believe women should be the preacher of a local church. Rather, it’s because we believe that when women have opportunity to preach and teach on occasion (as the Bible seems to allow), they should be prepared to do their best for God’s glory and the church’s good.

In all the talk about women preaching, don’t miss this important fact: women are also gifted and called to serve in many significant ways in the church’s life that are not “up-front” ministry. These should be honored and celebrated, because God-given gender roles are not meant to be competitive but complementary. We’re all wearing the same jersey, and God never intended to leave the female half of his team sitting on the bench. He wants them in the game because we have a world to win.

As Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). The evangelistic need is so great that the Lord calls all hands on deck, ready to work, without squabbling about who gets to do what. Let’s equip every available person—man and woman—in every biblically possible way to share the good news with a lost world. I think Kay Moll put it best when she said, “I am not so concerned about the role of women as I am the cause of Christ.”

________

 

1“Less than 2 percent of Old Testament prophecy is messianic. Less than 5 percent specifically describes the New Covenant age. Less than 1 percent concerns (end times) events.” Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981), 150.

2In 1 Corinthians 14:34, Paul says, “Women should remain silent in the churches.” But just a few chapters before, in 1 Corinthians 11, he had clearly made allowance for women to prophesy in church! Is he contradicting himself? No. The context of 1 Corinthians 14 would indicate he is excluding women from the authoritative teaching function of weighing prophecy in the assembly, not excluding them from uttering prophecy in the assembly. Weighing prophecy, it would seem, is likely reserved for the elders . . . who, as we shall see, are to be men. See D.A. Carson’s chapter in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, eds. John Piper and Wayne Grudem (Wheaton: Crossway, 1991).

3“To have authority” in 1 Timothy 2:12 is also a present tense infinitive.

4Kenneth Wuest, The Pastoral Epistles in the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1958), 48.

 

Matt Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and a CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor.

________

‘Humility: The Bookends of Bible Study’

Alexander Campbell taught that a Bible student can come within “understanding distance” of God’s Word—Scripture’s meaning really can be grasped—but that no one stands perfectly in the center of that “circle of understanding” except God himself. None of us is an infallible interpreter. All of us must practice the hermeneutical principle of humility.

Mark Scott, former academic dean at Ozark Christian College, put it this way, “Humility bookends the hermeneutical task.” We begin and end our study in humility. That’s why we constantly revisit our exegesis and thinking. That’s why we never give in to the belief that we have hermeneutically “arrived,” and that’s why Scott once said, “In all my years of studying the Bible, I cannot remember a year that I did not, at some point, say, ‘I guess I was wrong about that.’” 

As a college faculty, our exegetical journey led us to an understanding that seemed faithful to all the biblical texts. However, we knew that other intelligent, orthodox, Jesus-loving, Bible-believing Christians had come to different conclusions. This gave us an opportunity to practice a core Restoration Movement principle: “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, love.”

While important, women’s roles in the church did not seem to be an essential of the faith. Since it was not a test of salvation, it would not become a test of fellowship. We would not label as liberals those who understood the Bible more permissively. Nor would we label as legalists those who saw women’s roles more prohibitively. 

Instead, we would listen to those who disagreed with us to see if our understanding could be improved. We would practice the principle of humility, and we would “in all things” love and respect our brothers and sisters in Christ.

—M.P.


Intentional About Intentions

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Katie and Matt Proctor

Katie and Matt Proctor

By Matt Proctor

(From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I’ve Ever Received.”)

I worked for a time at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and in a talk with church staff, senior minister Bob Russell once described the inevitability of conflict, “We’re not always going to get along. Someone said, ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name . . . there’s going to be an argument.’” He then pointed out the human tendency, in the midst of conflict, to suspect the worst about the other person. We assume their motives are malicious, or at least less-than-trustworthy. So Bob gave the staff a simple guideline for maintaining a healthy relational culture: “Trust good intentions.”

This advice has served me well in Christian leadership. When someone’s behavior is frustrating, I try to remember not to “mind read” their motives. If an employee critiques a decision I’ve made, I’ll be wise if I avoid labeling him “negative,” and instead believe he spoke because he cares about the college’s effectiveness. If a Christian brother disagrees strongly with my understanding of Scripture, I try not to brand him a “legalist,” but to instead appreciate what I assume is a desire to honor God’s Word. When my wife points out my faults, I’m learning to trust she’s not intentionally trying to hurt me, but instead trying to make me a better man. (Good luck with that, Katie.)

I’ve led long enough to know that, on occasion, a few people don’t have good intentions. But on the whole, “trusting good intentions” has kept me from interpreting people through my pain or frustration, from seeing their actions through an unfairly negative lens, and from responding out of fear or anger. In the midst of conflict, it has helped me to listen better, understand people more accurately, practice kindness more often, and learn more from what others have to say—however hard it may be to hear.

Where two or three are gathered in my name . . . trust good intentions.

Matt Proctor serves as president of Ozark Christian College.

The Lego Principle

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By Matt Proctor

Several years ago, two of my nephews accompanied their mom on a visit to a friend’s house. Ben was 8. Brian was 6. Their mother’s friend was a very neat lady, to the point of being obsessive-compulsive. (I have a friend who says, “I have OCD, only I like to call it CDO because then it’s in alphabetical order.”) This woman had a place for everything and everything in its place. Though childless, she did have a few toys and handed Ben and Brian a bucket of Lego bricks: “Here boys, you can play with these.”

What’s the first thing they did with that bucket? Like all red-blooded American boys, they dumped out the contents. Their mother’s uptight friend immediately went into full clean-freak mode. She dropped to her knees and started scooping the Lego pieces back into the bucket with these words: “No, no, no, boys. What I meant was, you can play with these . . . one at a time.”

What?

You can’t play with one Lego at a time! A Lego piece’s whole purpose is to be combined with other pieces. A Lego piece is created to be part of a group, something bigger than itself. A solitary Lego can never fulfill its destiny. Lego pieces were made to be connected.

 

The Lego Principle

You don’t have to read far into your Bible to discover that human beings were created to be combined with other human beings. Call it the Lego Principle: human beings were made to be connected. As Christians, we do this within the church and also among the churches. A local church is created to be part of something bigger than itself, and if we are called to “make disciples of all nations,” then a solitary congregation will not fulfill that destiny all on its own.

Throughout the New Testament, examples abound of local congregations working together to accomplish God’s purposes. Local churches listened to the stories of other congregations (1 Thessalonians 1:7, 8), shared Bible teachers and teaching resources (Acts 8:14; Colossians 4:16), joined offerings together in benevolence work (Romans 15:26), discussed issues together that threatened their doctrinal unity and evangelistic message (Acts 15:1-35), cooperated in missionary efforts, and even formed a mission team with folks from five different congregations (Acts 20:4).

While the New Testament churches did not form a multicongregational leadership structure—no denominational hierarchy—we do see these congregations coming together to carry out ministry. They were clearly and closely connected, just as Lego pieces should be.

 

The Genius of the Restoration Movement

I grew up in a Christian church, and my parents explained that we were a nondenominational church, autonomous and independent. But I also learned we were part of a fellowship of other like-minded congregations—something called the Restoration Movement—and even as a kid, I saw the evidence of our partnership together.

For example, I went to a Christian camp supported by several regional Christian churches. Every Sunday, I read in Christian Standard magazine about other churches in our fellowship nationwide. (Yes, as a fifth-grader, I was reading the Christian Standard. I was a geeky kid.) I had a little blue fish bank that collected money for IDES—a disaster benevolence ministry started by our group of churches. I attended the North American Christian Convention and Christ In Youth conferences with folks from other Christian churches. In all of these, I saw a group of independent churches that were also interdependent.

That, to me, is part of the genius of the Restoration Movement.

Don’t get me wrong: I love the simple doctrinal emphases of our group of churches. I love our desire to be faithful to God’s Word above all—to do Bible things in Bible ways—and I resonate with slogans like “No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible.” May we never lose the heart of the “Restoration plea.”

But what I especially love about our movement is our strong relational commitment. We talk about our group of churches as a “brotherhood,” and that’s really true. There are roughly 1.5 million folks in the 5,000 or 6,000 independent Christian churches. But our large group feels more like a small town, where everybody is somehow related to everybody else.

I get to travel to many of our churches, and no matter which congregation I’m visiting, one thing I’ve learned: somebody always knows somebody I know. I can’t prove that the “six degrees of separation” theory is true worldwide, but I’m pretty sure it’s true in our movement.

Just like Lego pieces, we’re all connected.

In fact, the “culture” in our group of churches is less like a business and more like a family. Things like accountability and encouragement and idea-sharing and strategic partnerships happen because of organic connections, not because of an organizational flow chart. They don’t flow along lines of authority, as they might in a denominational structure, but along relational lines, like in a family. Like most families, we can be a little messy and disorganized. We’re sure not perfect. But the “culture” in our group is more healthy than not, and like the New Testament churches, we’ve shown we can work together fairly well.

 

An Example from One Christian College

At Ozark Christian College, we strive to work together with the rest of our “family.” We’ve cultivated connections with churches and other ministries to more effectively train the next generation of kingdom leaders:

Ozark Christian College’s ministry majors can earn their final 30 credit hours in an intensive yearlong leadership residency with Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Arizona, under the leadership of Don Wilson and Dr. Mark Moore.

Ozark Christian College’s ministry majors can earn their final 30 credit hours in an intensive yearlong leadership residency with Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Arizona, under the leadership of Don Wilson and Dr. Mark Moore.

• Our partnership with The Orchard Group allows our church planting students to travel to New York City and San Francisco every semester to visit thriving urban church plants and receive frontline training from experienced practitioners.

• Our partnership with Christ In Youth—our next-door neighbor in Joplin—allows our worship majors to earn credit hours in a residency traveling with CIY, learning about leading-edge worship production at their youth events.

Good News Productions International, another Joplin neighbor, allows our worship tech majors to earn credit in a residency, learning about videography and scriptwriting, visual storytelling and editing. GNPI is a ministry that has produced video resources seen by millions.

• Our partnership with Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, allows our preaching students to visit the church and sit in on the creative sermon planning meetings with senior minister Jon Weece and his team.

Southland Christian Church is also a leader in ministry to the marginalized—including programs like Refuge clinics that offer dental and medical care to the uninsured in their community. Our biblical justice majors visit Lexington to see what these in-the-trenches ministries look like firsthand.

• Our preaching students in the leadership and preaching seminar take a weekend trip to Crossroads Christian Church in Newburgh, Indiana, to learn from senior minister Ken Idleman, then travel on to Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, to interact with teaching pastor Kyle Idleman, talking with both about planned preaching.

• A wide variety of ministry majors can earn their final 30 credit hours in an intensive yearlong leadership residency with Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Arizona, under the leadership of Don Wilson and Dr. Mark Moore.

 

Maximized Stewardship

Why are we so intentional in this? The fact is, we are living in an historical moment when the future of Christian higher education is in flux. Some are asking if Bible colleges and Christian universities can survive and thrive. At OCC, we think strategic partnerships are part of the answer to that question. Teaming up with great churches and ministries helps us fulfill our mission both more effectively and more efficiently.

Simply put, it helps us do our job better. It maximizes our stewardship—we don’t have to duplicate on our campus the resources and personnel that our students can already tap into off campus. Such partnerships introduce our students to frontline ministry experts—they’re learning practical ministry skills from the best practitioners. Partnerships connect students to the larger work of our brotherhood—they feel more like a part of the relational network we call the “independent Christian churches.”

 

Kingdom Synergy

Ultimately, our partnerships model for our students the value of working together—they catch the vision of interdependent Christian churches. We want them to see that such joint ventures create great kingdom synergy—the impact is greater than the sum of the parts.

That’s why our fellowship has produced so many thriving ministries. I think of Christian Missionary Fellowship, Team Expansion, the International Conference on Missions, Good News Productions International, Stadia, Orchard Group, Nexus, Exponential, Christian service camps, Christ In Youth, Bible colleges, Christian universities, City on a Hill Productions, Rapha House, Church Development Fund, Solomon Foundation, Pioneer Bible Translators, International Disaster Emergency Service, Deaf Missions, Christian Churches Disability Ministry, the National Preaching Summit, the North American Christian Convention, Central India Christian Mission, and scores of others.

There are literally millions of people being reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ because of kingdom collaborations in our brotherhood. How did all this happen in a group of churches with no denominational structure, no formal organization?

It happened because someone saw a need and had the freedom in our independent group to act on it. It happened because someone took the initiative and gathered churches around that need. It happened because someone knew someone else who knew someone else who knew someone else, and they all picked up the phone and called each other. It happened because congregations with similar passions and commitments joined to support a common kingdom work.

It happened because we worked together.

So at OCC, we’ll keep pursuing gospel partnerships (Philippians 1:5). We want our students to be grateful for their Restoration Movement heritage. We also want them to learn one way our fellowship will maintain “movement” in advancing God’s kingdom.

It’s the Lego Principle.

Stay connected.

 

Matt Proctor serves as president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. 

The Best Sermon I’ve Ever Heard

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By Arron Chambers

Christian leaders, some of them preachers themselves, tell us about a sermon they can’t forget—and maybe you won’t either.

(from left) Geoff Surratt, Ruth T. Reyes, and David Smith

(from left) Geoff Surratt, Ruth T. Reyes, and David Smith

Geoff Surratt

Geoff Surratt has served on the leadership teams at Seacoast Church and Saddleback Church, and as managing director of Exponential. He is an author of The Multi-Site Church Revolution, The Multi-Site Church Roadtrip, and Ten Stupid Things that Keep Churches from Growing. He now serves as pastor of church planting at Southeast Christian Church in Parker, Colorado, as well as coaching churches and leaders around the country. Geoff lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Sherry. Geoff and Sherry have two awesome kids, a wonderful daughter-in-law, and the most beautiful granddaughters on earth.

Geoff’s Best Sermon: The best sermon on defining the basics of following Christ by Andy Stanley, senior pastor, North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia (http://northpoint.org/messages/brand-new/redefining-terms/).

Why Geoff likes this sermon: “It is amazing how much emphasis church leaders put on things Jesus would likely consider minor, and how little emphasis we place on the one thing both Paul and Jesus said is central to the Christian faith. Andy Stanley does a great job refocusing us on the main thing.”

Ruth T. Reyes

Ruth T. Reyes is professor of music and assistant dean of the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Johnson University Florida. Ruth is a volunteer musician and teacher at Real Life Christian Church, Clermont, Florida. Ruth’s passion is studying the Word of God and investing in young people’s lives.

Ruth’s Best Sermon: The best sermon on relationships by Justin Miller of Real Life Christian Church in Clermont, Florida (http://real.life/watch/subpage/?sid=18&mid=209#.VQrwz05j0q0.mailto).

Why Ruth likes this sermon: “Justin Miller has a way with words that connect and cut right to the core. He explains Scriptures with simple honesty and reconciles its truth with practical suggestions to life. His comments on ‘wives to submit and be the yielding partner so that the husband can reflect Christ and his leadership . . . and that to willingly step down is a high calling’ resonated and convicted this stubborn heart of mine.”

David Smith

David Smith is the preacher at Moreland (Kentucky) Christian Church. He grew up in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and graduated from Florida Christian College in 1989. Dave has been the preacher at MCC for 23 years. He is married to Jan (Mabry), and they have two children, Ethan and Savanna.

David’s Best Sermon: The best sermon on endurance, by Matt Proctor (www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbRhc1Mbk9w&feature=youtu.be).

Why David likes this sermon: “Matt Proctor preached a sermon . . . at the [2009] NACC (with the theme “Still Amazed”) dealing with endurance when the Christian is going through difficulties.

“I have been preaching for 23 years at a small church in Moreland, Kentucky. In 2009, I almost quit the ministry and everything else in my life. Depression took over and I was done. There were a number of factors that probably led to this state, but I couldn’t ever put my finger on what caused this illness. (I had never gone through anything like this before). Week after week I went through the motions—preaching, visiting, etc.—but I wasn’t really there. I look back and wonder how God kept me going and doing the minimum of what I could get by with, without everyone in our church giving up on me. God, in his grace, is patient and loving indeed.

“Then came the NACC, which I try to attend every year. Thursday night, Matt Proctor preached to me. I don’t think it was coincidental that he was called to preach that particular sermon on that night, in that year. This was the beginning of my healing.

“The rest of the year was not great, but I had bought Matt’s book Finish-Line Faith that had in it a lot of what he said that night. I preached through his book, chapter by chapter [in 2010], and slowly came out of my depression, and God has blessed our little church in a cow pasture and my health ever since.

“I thank you, Matt. We have never met. But someday I will thank you in person. As preachers and teachers, we sometimes never know who is in our audience, and whom we might be encouraging to press on with that finish-line faith.”

Arron Chambers serves as lead minister with Journey Christian Church, Greeley, Colorado.

Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership

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By Matt Proctor

Why do some leaders fail? The answers often lie below the “waterline.”

10_Proctor_BrookBridge_JNThe Brooklyn Bridge is a New York City icon, but during its construction, controversy arose. It seemed to the watching public that no progress had been made for months on the New York tower—the Manhattan side of the river. While the Brooklyn tower rose 100 feet above the water, the New York tower was still 78 feet below the surface, unseen.

Building Below the Waterline

So in June 1872, the chief engineer of the project wrote: “To such of the general public as might imagine that no work had been done on the New York tower, because they see no evidence of it above the water, I should simply remark that the amount of the masonry and concrete laid on that foundation during the past winter, under water, is equal in quantity to the entire masonry of the Brooklyn tower visible today above the waterline.”1

The Brooklyn Bridge still stands today, serving the people of New York City. Why? Because, as Gordon MacDonald wrote in the Introduction for his book Building Below the Waterline,

The chief engineer and his construction team did their most patient and daring work where no one could see it: on the foundations of the towers below the waterline.

It is one more illustration of an ageless principle in leadership: the work done below the waterline (in a leader’s soul) . . . determines whether he or she will stand the test of time and challenge. This work . . . is done in quiet, where no one but God sees.

Wise leaders examine their soul’s foundations, shoring up areas of weakness so their ministry will stand firm.

Inspecting a Leader’s Foundations

This “below-the-waterline” work is the focus of Gary McIntosh and Sam Rima’s book Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership. The book tackles an important question: what causes leadership failure? What forces underneath the surface of a leader’s life lead to the outward failure of integrity?

From a study of biblical, historical, and contemporary leaders, McIntosh and Rima suggest an answer: “Every leader suffers from some degree of personal dysfunction (which) often serves as the driving force behind an individual’s desire to achieve success” (p. 14). These unhealthy qualities are often undiagnosed and, left unchecked, can become destructive—our own personal “dark side.”

The authors argue that these dysfunctions develop at the intersection of personality type and past experiences. Unmet childhood needs, traumatic experiences, emotional debts felt because of past failures—all these shape within us certain subconscious motivations, which are then colored by our particular personality.

When Sigmund Freud wet his pants at age 7, his father’s reprimand included a comment to his wife, “The boy will come to nothing!” Later Freud said his life’s achievements were, in many ways, saying to his father, “You see, I have come to something.”2

McIntosh and Rima contend that such early experiences form a leader in deep and unhealthy ways. Whether an alcoholic father, perfectionistic mother, childhood school struggles, physical deficit, or teenage peer rejection, these early influences create dysfunctional behavioral patterns. Presidential historian David Abshire observed, “How many of our presidents in recent times have had personal crises because they never put away childish things, never grew out of their hang-ups, never learned from mistakes!”3

Great danger threatens if we refuse to dive beneath the surface of our lives, to take the inward journey to inspect our foundations. But if we are willing to “ride the monster all the way down,” as Annie Dillard puts it, then we can allow God to do his “healing, restorative work in long-buried areas of personal pain and shame.”4

It took a while, but after his sin with Bathsheba, King David eventually “rode the monster all the way down.” He faced his own dark side, and the message of Overcoming Your Dark Side is that every wise leader should echo David’s prayer in Psalm 139:23, 24: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

A Brief Pause for Theological Context

A critique of McIntosh and Rima: at times, they draw more heavily on psychology than theology, and their language is more psychoanalytical than biblical. Theologically speaking, what they are really talking about is our sinful nature (Ephesians 2:1-3). We are not simply “dysfunctional.” We are sinful.

Certainly our life’s experiences, intertwined with our environment and personality, affect how we specifically express that sinful nature. But when we fall short of God’s glory, we cannot blame it on unmet childhood needs. We cannot say, as the delinquent youths in West Side Story, “I’m depraved on account I’m deprived!” The problem is not our less-than-perfect upbringing; it’s our less-than-perfect heart (Jeremiah 17:9).

To fill in McIntosh and Rima’s missing biblical language, then, they are talking about various “besetting sins” that can develop in our leadership style (Hebrews 12:1). The most helpful part of their book diagnoses five such sinful leadership patterns—what Michael Mangis would call “signature sins.”5 All of us sin, but not all sin in the same ways. My sin follows certain patterns. “Even if we both struggle with the sin of lashing out in anger, I am likely to have it triggered and express it in different ways than you do. In other words, we don’t sin at random. Our sin takes a consistent and predictable course.”6

James 3:2 says, “We all stumble in many ways,” and we are wise to learn where we are particularly prone to stumble. Like a soul fingerprint, my “sin pattern is so characteristic that it can be used to identify me. . . . In fact, other people often know my sin profile better than I do myself.”7 In their book, MacIntosh and Rima help us as discern our besetting, or “signature” sins as leaders, providing practical diagnostic tools to go “below the waterline” and evaluate ourselves.

What Does Your Dark Side Look Like?

So what might your dark side look like? In Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership, McIntosh and Rima outline five types of dysfunctional leaders.

The Compulsive Leader feels the need to maintain absolute order, seeing “the organization’s performance as a direct reflection of his own person and performance” (p. 106). These leaders pursue perfection to an extreme and often “develop very rigid . . .
daily routines” whether exercise, devotions, schedule, or leadership activities (p. 106). They try to control their environment and lack trust in others. (Think of Jimmy Carter’s famous insistence on scheduling the use of the White House tennis courts himself.) The authors offer Moses as a biblical example of a compulsive leader.

The Narcissistic Leader is self-absorbed, with an overinflated sense of his own importance and a constant need for attention. Narcissistic leaders “present various combinations of intense ambitiousness, grandiose fantasies . . . and overdependence on external admiration” (p. 115), Ironically, this type of leader is often uncertain of himself and unable to enjoy his accomplishments because of a basic insecurity. The narcissist views coworkers as “things” that either support or disrupt his own sense of self-worth, rather than people he can build up. Author’s examples: John F. Kennedy and King Solomon.

The Paranoid Leader is “shackled by suspicion” (p. 120). They are constantly afraid others will undermine their leadership. Such leaders are hypersensitive to criticism and may blow up at the slightest embarrassment. They are jealous of other gifted people (i.e., the preacher who won’t share his pulpit for fear the congregation will like another’s sermon more). The paranoid leader engages in political scheming and spying to maintain a grip on his position. Examples: Richard Nixon and King Saul.

The Codependent Leader often grew up with a troubled family member—such as an alcoholic, oppressive, or simply socially embarrassing parent—for whom they needed to “cover.” They have learned to avoid open expression of feelings, as well as direct discussion of problems. The codependent leader desires approval, worrying obsessively about others’ feelings, and works to keep peace at all cost (even at the expense of truth), often covering up problems rather than facing them. Author’s examples: Bill Clinton and Samson.

The Passive-Aggressive Leader is, at core, afraid. He’s afraid of failure, of success, and especially of revealing his true feelings. Rather than actively resisting what he disagrees with, he passively resists—through “procrastination, dawdling, stubbornness, forgetfulness, and intentional inefficiency” (p. 141). Instead of openly expressing his thoughts, he communicates phony goodwill. For years, Thomas Jefferson feigned friendship with his political rival John Adams while trashing him behind his back. Biblical example: Jonah.

The High Stakes of “Soul Keeping”

Why is it so important to confront our dark side? John Ortberg writes, “I am responsible to take care of my soul not just for my own sake. The condition of my soul will affect the people around me, just as when my body is sick it can infect others who get too close.”8 The stakes of soul keeping are especially high for leaders, and MacIntosh and Rima will be helpful guides in getting below the waterline of your life.

As you do, two pieces of good news. First, God can use imperfect people. (Those are the only kind of people he’s ever had to work with.) Second, regardless of your “signature sin” as a leader, the gospel holds the promise of true transformation in Jesus Christ.

________

1 David McCullough, The Great Bridge (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983), 269.

2 James MacGregor Burns, Leadership (New York City: Harper Perennial, 2010), 105.

3 As cited in Gordon MacDonald, The Resilient Life (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 103.

4 Gary McIntosh and Samuel Rima, Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007), 23.

5 Michael Mangis, Signature Sins: Taming the Wayward Heart (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008).

6 John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 147.

7 Ibid.

8 John Ortberg, Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You (Grand Rapids: Thomas Nelson, 2014), 96.

Matt Proctor serves as president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. He is one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD’s contributing editors.

My Theology and My Leadership

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By Matt Proctor

A few years ago, I was asked to give a class lecture on “how my theology affects my leadership.” What a helpful exercise! I tried to dig beneath the surface of my leadership practices to find my underlying motivating beliefs. As I brought these to the surface, I could see whether they squared well with Scripture. I ended up listing 10 ways my theology shaped my leadership. A few examples:

02_Life7_Proctor_JNMe vs. Us

Despite my natural Lone Ranger tendencies, I have moved to a more team leadership approach. When I began as president, I was the only administrator who sat in for the entirety of our trustee board meetings. Today, my two executive vice presidents take part in these also, helping me represent the faculty and staff better to our trustees and represent the trustees better to our faculty and staff.

This shift, along with other team-oriented changes, is rooted in the doctrine of the Trinity. God himself is not a solitary figure, but a community of three persons who share ideas, wisdom, and responsibility. “Let us make mankind in our image” (Genesis 1:26, author emphasis). “Come, let us go down and confuse their language” (Genesis 11:7, author emphasis). “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8, author emphasis).

As humans made in his image, we too operate best as leaders when we do so in community—less me and more us. My theology led to greater team leadership.

Puppet Ministry vs. Pauline Epistles

Another example: We regularly receive suggestions on classes we should require in our curriculum. Most are in the areas of general education (Survey of British Literature) or professional education (How to Organize a Puppet Ministry). Interestingly, I rarely hear people outside the college suggest classes for our biblical education area: “You need a class on Lamentations!” Though many are good ideas, if we included every suggestion, our students would need eight years to graduate, instead of four!

How do we decide which classes make it on the required list? Our doctrine of Scripture. While our students take both general and professional classes, the most generous helping on their educational plate is still reserved for biblical classes. Our Bible college accrediting agency mandates 30 hours of required Bible classes. We, however, require 50 hours—mostly straight-up exegetical classes like Acts, Romans, and Titus.

We are out of the norm, even among Bible colleges, because we really do believe Scripture is the best way for “the servant of God” to be “thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). A mind full of God’s Word, a heart formed by God’s Word—these are the most important preparation for ministry. I want our students to get a practical education, but I will resist the pressure to cut Bible classes to do so. My theology influences curriculum decisions.

Poker vs. Uno

One last example: Poker players play their cards “close to the vest.” But when my daughter Caroline was 5, her small hands prompted her to simply lay all her UNO cards out on the table, face up for all to see. (I used to beat her all the time!) Some books encourage leaders to communicate like a poker player, keeping most organizational information private.

My leadership habit, however, has been to communicate like Caroline playing UNO, laying all my informational cards on the table for all to see. I would rather run the risk of overcommunicating than undercommunicating. While some matters certainly require confidentiality, I have tried to share our finances, strategic planning, and organizational decision-making processes as openly and regularly as possible.

Why? In seminary, I read Carl F. H. Henry’s six-volume God, Revelation and Authority, his massive study built around 15 theses. His first thesis asserts that revelation was God’s gracious choice to give up his privacy and instead practice deliberate disclosure. God could have remained private, aloof, distant, inscrutable.

Instead, more than 300 times in the Old Testament alone, we read phrases like “Thus saith the Lord,” “the Lord said,” or “the Word of the Lord came.” While God doesn’t tell us everything we’d like to know, he communicates more like an UNO player (specifically, my daughter Caroline) than a poker player. My theology of God as Revelator has shaped my leadership communication.

Matt Proctor serves as president with Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri.

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