Igniting Hearts

In Luke 24, after Jesus' resurrection, two men were walking along the road to Emmaus discussing the events of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. Jesus walked near them and, having not been recognized by the two men, asked the two men a series of simple questions. The two men had hoped Jesus was the Messiah, but suffering and death seemingly quashed those hopes. Jesus answered His rhetorical question, "Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" with "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:26-27).

The necessity of the sufferings of the Messiah before entering His glory is answered by biblical study into the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus began with Moses (the Pentateuch) and all the Prophets (writing prophets) and interpreted all the Scriptures what the Messiah is said to fulfill in prophecy. No doubt, a great deal of biblical typology was utilized by our Lord to explain "the things concerning Himself." Along the nearly seven mile trek, Jesus informed these two men of all the Old Testament teachings on what the Messiah was to endure and how Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies. The Old Testament is filled with Christ on every page!

After Jesus explained the Scriptures, the two men recognized Him and Jesus vanished. Then, the two men said, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” Their hearts burned during Jesus talking with them and during the explanation of the Scriptures. Before Jesus taught the Scriptures to them, these two men were discouraged and doubted that Jesus was the Messiah, even at the news of His empty tomb (Luke 24:21-24). How were their eyes opened and hearts ignited?

Word and Spirit

The Word of God alone has the power to open the eyes of the spiritually blind and grant to sinners the perfect righteousness from God (Romans 1:16-17). The faithful teachings of the Word of God is the mode Jesus used to open the eyes of these two men as well as His own disciples after His resurrection (Luke 24:44-45). Persuasive techniques and philosophy cannot open blind eyes. The saying heard often in churches today is modeling Christ for the world, also known as "living out the gospel." We are to display the greatness of the glory of Christ, but our moral modeling is not the gospel. Jesus did not play charades making the two men on the road to Emmaus guess what He was talking about. Jesus spoke to them and explained the Word of God to them. We are messengers of God with a message that is to be spoken. The gospel is a spoken event.

The Holy Spirit accompanies the Word of God spoken to give sight to the spiritually blind. The Apostle Paul told the church in Thessalonica, "For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake" (I Thessalonians 1:4-5). The power of the Holy Spirit regenerates (that is, cause to become born-again) the chosen people of God when the Word of God is spoken from a believer with full conviction. Acts 16:14-15 describes how Lydia had her heart opened by the Lord to understand the biblical teachings of Paul. Commenting on this passage, the reformer John Calvin said, "we see that not faith alone, but all understanding and knowledge of spiritual things, is the peculiar gift of God, and that the ministers do no good by teaching and speaking unless the inward calling of God be thereunto added." We must believe and speak of what we believe to ignite the regenerating fire within the hearts of sinners.

Seed Spreading

In the Parable of the Sower (or Soils), Jesus tells of four types of soil (hearts of people) that the seed (the Word of God) falls upon. Three of the four soils produce nothing that lasts, while the "good soil" is the person who hears the Word of God and understands it, then produces fruit for the glory of God (Matthew 13:23). Although the Word of God accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit is the only way to ignite a sinner's heart toward repentance and faith in Christ Jesus, such evangelism is no guarantee that all will be saved. If we take the percentage of the soils (75% unsaved), the vast majority of the faithfully spoken Word of God falls on those who will never believe in Christ as Lord and Savior.

Does the Word of God thus fail? The LORD says in Isaiah 55:10-11,

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
   and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
   giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth;
   it shall not return to Me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
   and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

The Word of God accomplishes its mission of igniting the flame inside the heart of God's chosen people. The good news is that God's Word does not return to God empty at all, but returns with a most blessed harvest of once dead sinners now with clean hands and a pure heart gathering around His glorious throne praising Him!

The flip side to this good news of salvation is that God's Word purposes many to condemnation because of the hardness of their hearts. The temptation for the Christian is to change tactics or reword the gospel for to suit the taste of our hearers. When we are spreading the seeds of the Kingdom, we do not hinder the power of God in the gospel spoken by softening the impact on the hearts of sinners in any way. To pervert or peddle the Word of God, but we preach the whole counsel of God with full conviction that the Word of God would accomplish its purpose to save some and condemn others (II Corinthians 2:14-17).

Igniting the hearts of sinners toward a bright flame of repentance and faith in Christ Jesus is a supernatural wonder by the sovereign grace of our God. God has given us a message to spread to all people without hesitation, addition, or subtraction. The message with the Spirit has the power to save sinners for the glory of God! Let us resolve simply to grab the sack of seeds and sow. Nothing less will save sinners.

The Bible and Post-postmodernism

Yesterday, President Obama announced his endorsement for same-sex marriage. This is not a surprise, considering President Obama's actions against the Defense of Marriage Act as well as his enthusiasm toward the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. What is most interesting about yesterday's announcement is the sign of the times that such a media hyped announcement regarding a politician's thought process is even necessary. Yet, this evolution of thought has been a long time coming for the American culture. America has stepped completely out of postmodernity and into the great unknown of post-postmodernism. The retreat of Christianity from American culture has been a devastating run as secularism took the field in postmodernism, claiming that words cannot be defined and the Bible can be interpreted based on each individual's opinions and experiences. Now with the approach of post-postmodernism, Christians who believe the world is still being viewed through the lens that words have no meaning are being crushed by secularists who have a new worldview that sees absolutes and ethics defined through an entirely different lens.

The Christian retreat has been called many words, not the least of which is the term liberal. However, liberal is a political term that usually divides the lines regarding American political ideology. The real underlying problem in Christianity is more broad, however. The battle is being waged along the line of the doctrine of Scripture. Is the Bible fully authoritative? Is the Bible sufficient for properly viewing the world and ethics? How are we to read Scripture?

The Post-postmodern President

The sense of this battle divide is found in the President's announcement. The President said,

"I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married."

Let's break this down. Notice where authority comes from for ethics: family, friends, neighbors, and members of his staff who are homosexual. This is an appeal to authority, which is outside Obama, for ethical choices. Rather than that authority to be the Bible alone, ethics are drawn from the experiences and lifestyles of those around him. This is essentially postmodern. However, the President does not stop there. Before his affirmation, the President says, "I've concluded that for me personally..." The authority of the experiences and lifestyles of those around him made an absolute truth in conclusion to his ethical thought process. This is post-postmodern. The President is not saying that this is his personal opinion which has no effect on policy making. The President is saying that his decision is an absolute truth that everyone everywhere must accept. There will be policies and legislation passed that affects every American based on his "conclusion."

President Obama also defended his position against Christian opposition. President Obama said that he and his wife

"are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it's also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated."

 The President claims to be a practicing Christian and knows that this position is "at odds" with other Christians. How does he remedy the battle divide? His ethic is driven by Christ's sacrifice on his behalf and the Golden Rule. However, Jesus did not teach in isolated and contradictory proverbs. Jesus' Golden Rule is one line in an entire Bible that claims itself full authority. The same authority Matthew 7:12a has on all of God's human creation is found in Leviticus 18:22. The only way to decide that the Golden Rule is authoritative and the rest of Scripture is not would be upon the interpreter rather than the Author. That is to say, the reader is the master over the text rather than the text is to be master over the reader.


Sola Scriptura and Post-postmodernism

In postmodernity, the cultural elites convinced Christians to keep religion in private devotion and maintain a secular worldview when in public view and discourse. This Christian retreat has led to a post-postmodern American culture that believes in absolute truths in total opposition to the teachings of the Bible. Without a worldview in total commitment to the absolute truths taught in Scripture, Christianity has no sword to fight with.

Creatures are not afforded the freedom to tell God His attributes and His Law. We are not attorneys finding loopholes in the Law of God to squeeze any camel of immorality into the needle head entrance to the Kingdom of God. President Obama would like to convince biblical Christians that the Golden Rule affirms same-sex marriage, so all Christianity should embrace his "conclusion." Matthew 7:12 states, "whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Jesus says that the Golden Rule sums up the Torah and the writings of the prophets. To examine the details of the Golden Rule is then to affirm the entirety of the Old Testament, which has already been mentioned to condemn homosexuality as a practice. Jesus is here affirming His worldview which includes a high esteem for the authority and sufficiency of the Scripture.

The President's attempt to isolate Matthew 7:12a (without the part about the Law and the Prophets) as authoritative and ignore the remainder of Scripture is an eisegesis that claims the culture as authoritative in biblical interpretation. In other words, President Obama's conversations about the lifestyles and experiences of homosexuals around him gave him interpretive authority over the text. To formulate a worldview based on worldly wisdom then looking to Scripture for authority makes the reader the master.

In Matthew's Gospel, the very next verse reads, "enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many." Jesus not only gives us a brief line to recall the entire teachings of the Old Testament in the Golden Rule, but also a promise of His judgment that sends the majority of humanity to eternal damnation and a minority that maintains the narrow way into the narrow gate of life. The gate of cultural understandings of divinity, justice, and ethics are wide and lead to destruction. 

Colossians 3:5 reads, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."Our earthly wisdom and urgings, yes even those we are born with, are to be put to death. Paul does not contend this to be a simple debate on ethics, but a battle divide of spirituality. Paul calls this practice idolatry. Practicing Christians are to put to death such idolatry, not encourage this behavior and thought.

The Christian Response

The post-postmodern worldview permeates both conservative and liberal politics. Such practice of eisegesis has slipped into many local churches and, eerily enough, even "conservative" seminaries. Yet, the Christian response is not simply analyzing the battle divide and retreating back to private devotion. The public Christian response is the same message that has been given to us by our Savior: repent and believe. Colossians 3:5 ("Put to death...sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry") is part of a passage that many on the side of post-postmodern eisegesis claim as "judge not lest ye be judged" when Paul says in verse 7, "in these you too once walked, when you were living in them." Yet, read this passage carefully. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul states that you once walked, that is past tense. Repentance is the key to understanding this passage. The Christian response to post-postmodern eisegesis is to affirm and to maintain the traditional doctrine of Scripture as authoritative, sufficient for every human creature, and the only absolutely true worldview.

Homosexuality is a sin, yet it is a sin that is forgivable by the amazing grace affording to us by faith alone through Christ alone for the glory of God alone. Homosexuality is not to be embraced as an acceptable practice simply because our culture seeks to have authority over the Word of God. The Word of God is to have full authority over all of God's creation. In this authoritative Word of God we read that Jesus "came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Sinners of any kind of idolatry, including homosexuals, cannot serve Christ in His efforts of grace. The Christian response is not "stop sinning and try harder at conforming to Christian ethic." The Christian response is to preach Christ and Him crucified.

If you are reading this and you are a homosexual, or perhaps a post-postmodern supporter of so-called same-sex marriage, you cannot justify yourself before God by twisting Scripture or arguing with other creatures your worldview. No matter how the cultural tides shift, no matter how many Christians you debate, God is an unchanging Rock and His Word endures forever. Repentance does not mean clean yourself up or pretend to change. Repentance is required for both the immoral unbelievers as well as the religiously moral. The gospel of Jesus Christ demands our full responsibility to the breaking of God's eternal law, then turning from our idolatrous practices such as immorality (like homosexuality), worldview shaped by culture over Scripture, and religious morality that claims oneself clean in any way apart from what Christ has done for us. Christ who is without sin has taken that punishment we deserved for our idolatrous and immoral practices to the cross. In return, Christ gave us His perfect righteousness. The new birth in Christ is not a lifestyle tainted with any sinful or idolatrous wisdom from the world, but is a new life founded by the Word of God alone. I pray that you believe this most glorious good news, that Christ reigns in His eternal kingdom over His creatures by His eternal and fully authoritative Word.

The Seat of Scoffers

My oldest son's memory verse for the week is Psalm 1:1-2 which reads,

Blessed is the man
   who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
   nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
   and on his law he meditates day and night. 

What stands out is this idea of sitting in the "seat of scoffers." I am struck that I have no mental images nor references to the meaning of this phrase. What is the Psalmist illustrating? In this entry, I would like to share with you what I have discovered from this oft quoted but rarely understood portion of Scripture.

With the understanding of Hebrew parallelism, you might see the grouping of the blessedness of avoiding walking, standing, and then finally sitting with those in rebellion against the LORD. The first two involves movement: walking in the advise or plan of wicked people or standing in the pathway of sinners. When Jesus states, "I am the way," our Lord is telling us that He is the way of wisdom. We walk, not in the advice and planning of worldly wickedness, but that of the Word of God to inform our walk in life. We stand in the path of wisdom that is Christ, not the worldly way of sinners.

However, this idea of sitting down on a seat belonging to scoffers seems like an inaction. Looking closely to the Hebrew, however, reveals a more active avoidance. The word "sits" is יָשָֽׁב (ya'shab), which literally means to be settled. You might imagine someone settling down into a chair. Yet, the word translated "seat" is  וּבְמוֹשַׁ֥ב  (ube-moe-woe-shab) is an active sense of sitting in a group or assembly. The dynamic seems to me to read "nor settles down in the seat of an assembly of scoffers."

This leads to "scoffers" from לֵ֝צִ֗ים  (leh-tzim). This is an act of mocking. These are people in the act of mocking. I might imagine a group of people on a bench mocking someone (with or without that person present). Do not settle down with them on that bench! The Septuagint uses the Greek word λοιμῶν (loiphone), which literally means "plagued people" or "diseased people." Scoffers are a diseased people equal to those "in devotion to sin" and "wicked" in the previous parallels.

Lastly, notice the delight of people. There is not a neutral ground in this passage. Either your delight is in the law or instruction of YHWH and you meditate on His Word every hour of your life, or you delight in the wicked crowds. Living is daily action. The way of wisdom is not "to get better" or "try harder," it is having a delight in the Word of God. Christianity is not simply found in the doing of religion, but is found in the delight of God and His Word. You cannot come to this by force of will, but by being born-again. Divine joy comes to those who avoid joining the wicked crowds but delights in God and His Word.