Teaching Through Struggles

I've been thinking about teaching life lessons through your own struggles of the heart or spirit.

There are two schools of thought here:

1. You wear these struggles openly and in public.
2. Or you hide them behind a front of some sort. This doesn't always involve the practice of deception. I can think of times when something like this is absolutely necessary.

The advantage of the first is transparency. The disadvantage of the first is that you are perceived by others as weak.

The advantage of the second is that people count on you because you're strong and don't have "troubles." The disadvantage of the second is that noone knows whether or not you need help.

Which is best? Is there a best?

On Beginning Spiritual Work

From a letter C. S. Lewis sent to Arthur Greeves, 15 June, 1930:

"Another fine thing in The Princess and Curdie [by George MacDonald] is where Curdie, in a dream, keeps on dreaming that he has waked up and then finding that he is still in bed. This means the same as the passage where Adam says to Lilith 'Unless you unclose your hand you will never die and therefore never wake. You may think you have died and even that you have risen again: but both will be a dream.'

"This has a terrible meaning, specially for imaginitive people. We read of spiritual efforts, and imagination makes us believe that, because we enjoy the idea of doing them, we have done them. I am apalled to see how much of the change which I thought I had undergone lately was only imaginary. The real work seems still to be done. It is so fatally easy to confuse an aesthetic appreciation with the spiritual life with the life itself--to dream that you have waked, washed, and dressed, and then to find yourself still in bed."

Who You Are in Christ

Speaking of identity, here is an episode of Look at the Book by John Piper covering Who You Are in Christ. (Scroll down and click on the w link to view the video.)

Piper discusses an exposition of Philippians 3:1-3.

If you’re like me, you might ask, “What does it mean to put no confidence in the flesh?” Then, look at the next video.

A Sense of Self

We were talking on Sunday going through The Truth Project Lesson 4 about our ability to know ourselves only through the process of knowing God.

In secular psychology, identity is defined “as an enduring and continuous sense of who we are.”

As Christians, however, we define ourselves in light of the revealed nature of God. Out identity is not who we think we are, but who God thinks we are.

Some resources from the bibliography that may help clarify your thinking on this issue:

Packer, J. I. 1973. Knowing God, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Pink, Arthur W. 1972 The Attributes of God, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Sproul, R. C. 1985 The Holiness of God, Wheaton, IL: Tyndale Momentum; 2nd Revised, Expanded ed. edition (July 1, 2000)

Tozer, A. W. 1961 The Knowledge of the Holy. Lincoln, NE: Back to the Bible Broadcast.

On Baptism

Here are the references I cited during the baptism we celebrated on Sunday:

We identify with Christ’s death:

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

Romans 6:3-5

Jesus identifies with us not as God, but as a man:

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’”

Matthew 3:13-15

Being raised from death is a powerful working of God:

“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in a powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven all your trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

Colossians 2-11-14

We become sons of God through faith as we put on Christ:

“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.”

Galatians 3:23-29

Why am I here?

This worldview question is important but most often ignored.

Here are four reasons we ignore answering this question: 

1. It seems we can never know the answer.
2. It seems the answer most often offered makes us uncomfortable.
3. It seems the incomplete answer we provide for ourselves is enough.
4. It seems the answer is irrelevant because, really, there is no answer.

For Christians, the answer to this question is simple: I am here to glorify God.

“I will say to the north,

give up,

and to the south, do

not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from

the end of the earth,

every one who is called

by my name,

whom I created for

my glory,

whom I formed

and made.”

Isaiah 43:6-7

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1:11-12

"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen."

Rom. 11:36

". . . for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

1 Cor. 6:20

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

1 Cor. 10:31

“All the nations you have made shall come

    and worship before you, O Lord,

    and shall glorify your name.

For you are great and do wondrous things;

    you alone are God.

Teach me your way, O Lord,

    that I may walk in your truth;

    unite my heart to fear your name.

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,

    and I will glorify your name forever.”

Ps. 86:9-12

Who am I?

I (we) am (are) made in the image of God. . .

 “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’

So God created man in his own image

In the image of God he created him;

male and female he

created them.

And God blessed them…”

Genesis 1:26-28a

. . .and as such, I (we) have intrinsic worth.

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

Genesis 9:6

“For man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God. . .”

1 Corinthians 11:7

“With it [the tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.”

James 3:9

Voddie Baucham on Christian Worldview

Here is the link to the audio of the lecture I mentioned during last evening’s time together:

Christian Worldview with Voddie Baucham

Last night we went through The TruthProject Lesson Three about “Who is Man?”, and I thought some of the content Voddie presents ties in nicely with what we talked about last night. Since we have questions about how to practically apply abstract philosophical ideas to every-day-life, this might help.

One idea is that “we will behave in accordance to what we believe.” This, therefore, is why worldview is so important.

He talks about the four questions every worldview's meta-narrative must answer:

Who am I?

Why am I here?

What is wrong with the world?

How can what is wrong be made right?

He compares the worldview of secular humanism to the worldview of Christianity and answers those questions from within the different meta-narratives.

The Death to Life Dialogs: Speaking of Death

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist There is a hunger in the center of the chest There is a passage through the darkness and the mist And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

James Taylor

Shed A Little Light

 

“The stench of death hangs over us from birth to grave,” said the old man.

“And beyond,” said the young skeptic.

“And beyond?” the old man asked.

The skeptic smirked and was silent.

“No, not beyond,” the old man said. “The rarefied air of heaven is clear and clean and sweet.”

The skeptic smirked and remained silent.

“The stench of death cannot invade the heavenly places. It’s not that death is not remembered; it’s that it’s no longer important.”

“No longer important?” The skeptic was aroused from his smirking slumber.  “Why, then do we so strive to ignore it?” The skeptic’s eyes became tinged with anger. “Death is the crime of crimes,” he said, then spat on the ground. “It is most definitely a curse. The stench is simply a reminder, a most morbid reminder. You of all people should know that, as close as you stand to it.”

The old man now smiled. “A curse?” he asked. “I thought you didn’t believe in curses.”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

“But your anger is real?”

“Yes, it is real.”

“And you are affronted by the smell of death?”

“Who isn’t?”

“Then you are most assuredly affected by the very curse in which you don’t believe.” The old man moved closer to the skeptic and spoke in a whisper. “A figure of speech does not arouse such passion.”

“Why do we allow ourselves to speak like this?” asked the skeptic. “There is much beauty to be taken in. Why must I be forced to attend to such ugliness?”

“So you wish once more to ignore it, by attempting to deny death’s importance?”

“Of course,” said the skeptic. “But you are in error old man: It’s by ignoring future ugliness that I attest to its importance now.  It is by attending to beauty now that I laugh in the face of death before that criminal act is perpetrated upon me. I steal beauty from ugliness. I steal life from death.”

The old man laughed. “You, my son, are a fool. There is no escape. Life is given to you. Death takes life. You may choose to ignore death, you may cover the stench of death with roses or lilies, but even the flowers lose their scent and death still overtakes you. You cannot ignore it. That is not allowed!”

“You, old man, are embittered by what you think you’ve lost. I am in no such position!”

“You are hanging on a twisted thread over that position as we speak,” said the old man. “Please remember—as I said before—the stench of death hangs over us from birth to grave.”

The skeptic started then slumped. Despondency crept over him. His face twitched as his skin crawled. The skeptic arose wearily to his feet. “To be aware like this is to be already dead,” he said. He began to limp away.

“Please, stop,” said the old man. “I’ve upset you and for that I am truly sorry. Please oblige me in my old age and sit next to me. Allow me to tell you a story.”

Postmodernism Resources

If you're so inclined to dig into this further, here are some resources for your reading or viewing pleasure:

General Resources

Here is a general explanation of Postmodernism from The Conversation website.

Here is a comparison of Modernism with Postmodernism.

Here is another look at the progression from pre-modern, to modern, to postmodern thought.

Christian Resources

View this lecture on Postmodern Epistemology from the Theology Program at Bible.org.

Is there such a thing as Postmodern Christianity?

There's way more to this line of study and how the church should handle it than we can possibly get into in a week's worth of short posts. I hope this has been helpful.

On Sunday, we talk about Biblical Anthropology and talk about if humans are basically good, then why is there evil?

A Short Introduction to Postmodernism and the Christian Response: Every Day's a Power Play!

Michel Foucault
His major idea: “Power is knowledge.”
His bumper sticker idea: “Every day’s a Power Play!”

The German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, put forward the only thing common to every human being is the “will to power.”

Later, the French Postmodern philosopher, Michel Foucault, riffed on Nietzsche’s idea, taking it to a new and disturbing level. It’s disturbing because, in a world without God, it’s accurate.

Foucault’s work on this subject is first put forward in his book Discipline and Punish. He inverts the Francis Bacon phrase “knowledge is power” changing it to “power is knowledge.”  The inversion removes the emphasis from knowledge being the goal with the power being the result to power being primary and knowledge a consequence and a way for maintaining power. His case study for his theory was the history of modern prisons. Foucault’s central image is the panopticon, a circular prison with cells radiating from the center. In the center of the panopticon is a nondescript station called an inspection house, where all prisoners can be watched and observed. (Think, here, of Big Brother in Orwell’s 1984 or Nurse Ratched in Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.) The observation yields ways that prisoners can be controlled. Although reform of the prisoner is the stated goal, Foucault applies a hermeneutic of suspicion and maintains the goal is to, only, maintain power.

Foucault applied his theory to more than just prisons. Included were hospitals, schools, municipalities, housing projects, anywhere society deemed order was necessary and citizens needed to act in a preordained fashion for society to run smoothly. But, this struggle to maintain power would cascade downward.

I think here of Roger Waters in Pink Floyd’s The Wall as the voice of the abusive school master yelling at a wayward student, “You, yes, you behind the bike sheds, stand still, laddie!” But, as Waters tells us, it was well known that teachers who abused children, “when they got home at night, their fat and psychopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives.” Corrupted power becomes an unvirtuous circle.

How we should deal with this: “and overflowing with thankfulness”
Colossians 2:6c

Let’s face it: Foucault makes a point. We see the “will to power” in human history repeatedly. Not only that, correct behavior is important for functioning within society. I will not argue with that.

The Christian’s argument, however, is that we’re being watched (and observed and inspected) by a Creator who is ultimately good, and loving, and merciful. Not only that, when we fail, He’s provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him and set apart for good works. Because of this, we should be “overflowing with thankfulness.”

Gratitude has become a spiritual buzzword within the wider culture. Gratitude for the sake of gratitude is somewhat incoherent. For us to be truly grateful, we need to be grateful to someone for something. We begin our gratitude with being thankful to God for the sacrifice of His son Jesus for our sins. The proof that the sacrifice was accepted is contained within Jesus’s resurrection. Because of our belief in Him and that event, we have access to the Father for eternity. That frees us for gratitude to and for each other and emboldens us for meaningful service in our families, circle of friends, and churches.

A Short Introduction to Postmodernism and the Christian Response: Every Truth is Valid, Until It's Not

Jacques Derrida

His Major Idea: “Nothing exists outside the text.”
His bumper sticker idea: “Every ‘Truth’ is Valid…until it’s not.”

Derrida is, in my opinion, the vaguest of the three Postmodern philosophers.

The major idea quote is a mistranslation of the French, which says, “il n’y a pas de hors-texte.” This can be translated “There’s no outside—text,” but that makes even less sense. He posited that words mean things within their context, but the historical and cultural significance of words can change over time. He called this idea différance. As far as this goes, he’s right.

But where he landed in his explanation of différance is where we encounter the idea that Postmodern interpretation of texts—or just about anything—is purely subjective. He called the aim of assigning meaning to a text deconstruction. A meaning was assigned once, but now, since things have changed, we need to assign meaning again.

Within the “process” of deconstruction the meaning of any text is perpetually postponed: There is never a time when meaning can be understood as being complete. In other words, Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, but when we read the letter to the Romans, we can assign a different meaning to what he wrote than what he intended because our understanding of words has changed over time.

Much of what Derrida says is hard to understand, and every now and then, he says things that are correct. And to be fair, as Christians, we have experienced times reading the Bible when certain passages become more meaningful the more we read them. However, meaning is enhanced only because our understanding of what Paul was saying has deepened, not because it’s meaning has changed because we live in a different time and culture than Paul. And, in most cases, we certainly can ascertain meaning in a text: We don’t need to postpone the meaning.

How we should deal with this: “strengthened in the faith as you were taught”
Colossians 2:6b

Gary Habermas, in an extended transcript of the John Ankerburg special called  Evidence for the Historical Jesus, makes a compelling case that Christian doctrine was systematically taught to new Christians very early within the history of the church. (See especially the transcript for Program 2, pages 17-30.) Habermas makes the case that the teaching was established very early because that’s what the early church needed to ensure its veracity. For example, the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Judas were deemed to be too late and inaccurate to be included in the New Testament canon, even though they put forward a new meaning to the story of Christ.

If you encounter a new meaning to a Biblical text that hasn’t been put forward in the two thousand years since Christianity began, it’s probably wrong.

A Short Introduction to Postmodernism and the Christian Response: Don't Trust Anything I Tell You!

Jean François Lyotard
His major idea: “We should mistrust metanarratives.”
His Bumper Sticker Idea: “Don’t Trust Anything I Tell You!”

If we see Postmodernism as a reaction against Modernism, this makes perfect sense.

To unravel what this means, however, let’s establish that a meta-narrative is a story-within-a-story. Technically, a dictionary definition of meta-narrative is “an overarching account or interpretation of events and circumstances that provides a pattern or structure for people’s beliefs and gives meaning to their experiences.” In other words, the overarching story is the “universal.” The “particulars” are us acting out the overarching story.

The metanarrative of Modernism became: “Science, not God, can provide us all the answers we ever need!” If we encounter a question science can’t answer, we don’t have enough information or data and further science must be done to formulate the answer.

You can see how this can be problematic. How does science, for example, explain love? Compassion? Justice? It can’t, at least in any satisfying way.

So, Lyotard’s reaction was to mistrust the meta-narrative of Modernism, that Science has all the answers. (Hence my thought that this reaction makes perfect sense.) The problem, however, is that Lyotard determined that all meta-narratives should be mistrusted, even meta-narratives that preceded Modernism, like Christianity’s. Further, we should even mistrust meta-narratives we encounter today. The Postmodern person has nothing outside their own self to provide meaning to life.

How we should deal with this: “just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him”
Colossians 2:6a

If I’m right and the meta-narrative can be validated by how we act out the story of redemption, then the only way to convince someone they could trust the narrative of the Bible is to concretely show how that looks in practice. This is what Paul means when he tells the Colossian church to “continue to live your lives in him.” We are nested within an overarching story. Our stories are part of that larger story.

A Short Introduction to Postmodernism and the Christian Response: First Thoughts

When I was in college about 40 years ago (it’s hard to believe it has been that long) I took a three-term series of courses with the unimaginative title ASurvey of Philosophy I, II, & III. The first term covered the ancient world to the middle ages. The second term covered the Enlightenment from the 15^th to 18^th centuries. The third term covered the philosophies of the 19^th and 20^thcenturies and included what is now known as Postmodernism.

I must admit: Postmodernism was unusual and didn’t seem to make much sense: We honestly thought that we’d never hear about it again after that class was finished.

Amazingly enough, though confined to college classrooms in the early 1980’s, postmodern philosophy is now mainstream in culture today. The lesson—if there is a lesson—is not to underestimate the impact philosophy has on the world, no matter how weird or silly it may seem.

As I was researching this post, I noticed that most people in today’s culture—even people who are well educated—don’t have any basis of knowing from where or from whom their ideas originate. This, it seems to me, is a problem.

In the Truth Project Lesson 2 video, Dr. Tackett covered this passage:

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:6-8)

Postmodernism is a “hollow and deceptive philosophy.” 

Since these ideas are mainstream now, it is important that we have at least a cursory understanding about their impact on people in our culture.

But, when asked to describe what it is, most people would have an incomplete notion of Postmodernism. The only thing most people might get right is that Postmodernism embraces the idea that “all truth is subjective.”

That, in my opinion, is only one-third of Postmodernism’s impact on culture.

I know most of us don’t have the time or the patience to devote a substantial amount of time towards studying Postmodernism in detail.

It’s good to remember that postmodernism is a reaction to modernism. In all of history, there is progression of thought from one school to another: Think here of Socrates to Plato to Aristotle, and on and on and on.

One way we could illustrate this idea visually is to show progression through architectural styles through the ages.

Look at this Victorian house in Michigan:

Notice the ornamentation. It’s pretty elaborate.

In Michigan, that style gave way to the American Craftsman style:

Notice how the lines are cleaner and there is much less decoration.

This is an overly simplistic illustration, but it helps to see the progression of architectural thinking from one style to the other. Philosophy has a similar progression.

In the next three posts, I will identify the three most prominent thinkers of Postmodernism, provide a summary of a major idea they promoted and, if we were so inclined, put that idea on a bumper sticker. I will give a brief sketch as to why we should approach these ideas cautiously and how we might, as Christians, be able to deal with them.

I’m borrowing the answer as to how to deal with it from our passage in Colossians. Our goal is to recognize these ideas as we interact with people we meet or, maybe even, as we think these ideas ourselves.

The next three posts will delve into the three main Postmodern ideas in more detail.

Mission of Christ in His Own Words

As we kicked off our study of the Truth Project, I was struck by one thing: The question Dr. Tackett asked his class in the first part of the lecture: “Why was Jesus born? Why did He come?”

I suppose that I’ve thought about this some, but it’s difficult to articulate in words another person might understand.

I think, too, we stumble over an answer to the question because it’s difficult for us to formulate the words around our own answer.

Jesus, Himself, has answered this question in His Word concerning the reasons why He humbled Himself and “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:7)

Here are a few of the ways He describes His mission:

·         Matt 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

·         Matt 10:34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' “

·         Luke 12:51 “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.”

·         Luke 12:49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”

·         Matt 20:28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

·         Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

·         Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

·         John 12:47 “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.”

·         1 Tim 1:15 “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst.”

·         1 John 3:5 “But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. “

·         Mark 1:38 Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."

·         John 9:39 Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

·         John 12:46 “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”

·         Luke 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

·         Matt 9:13 “But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

·         Mark 2:17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

·         John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

·         John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”

·         Heb 10:7 Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.'"

·         John 12:27 “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.”

·         John 15:22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.”

·         1 John 3:5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.

·         1 John 3:8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

·         1 John 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 

·         1 John 5:20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true-even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

·         John 18:37 “You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

So, Jesus came to:

·         fulfill the law and the prophets.

·         heal the spirits of sinners.

·         do the right thing even if that means division and swords.

·         act as a judge.

·         give life in abundance.

·         be a light in a dark place.

·         be in the world.

·         save the world.

·         go out of the world back to the Father

·         take those who are His with Him.