What happens when a government official, emperor, or politician decides to rule according to the politics of Jesus? Peter Leithart powerfully describes the picture in Defending Constantine:
The whole of Jesus’ teaching and activity is abundantly instructive to rulers. Welcomed into the city of man, the Eucharistic city models and teaches rulers to rule like Jesus.
“Turn the other cheek” gives instruction not about self-defense but about honor and shame. To slap someone on the right cheek, you have to slap back-handed, and a back-handed slap expresses contempt, not threat. Is this relevant to political ethics? Of course. The Roman Empire was built on a system of honor, insult and retaliation. Before Rome, Thucydides knew that wars arose from “fear, honor, and interest.” Remove retaliation and defense of honor from international politics, and a fair number of the world’s wars would have been prevented. There would have been a lot of slapping but not nearly so much shooting.
The Eucharistic city would teach rulers to agree with their adversaries quickly, to defuse domestic and international disputes before they explode.
What if rulers were instructed not to look at a woman lustfully? That would also prevent some wars, keep presidents busy with papers and things at their desks, protect state secrets, save money and divisive scandals. The church would insist that rulers be faithful to their wives and not put them away for expediency or a page girl (or boy).
The church would insist on honesty and truth telling, urging rulers to speak the truth even when it is painful.
The church would insist that a ruler not do alms or pray or fast or do any good things to be seen by others, especially by others with cameras – a rule that would revolutionize modern politics.
Rulers would be instructed to love enemies and do good to all. Obama would be seeking the best for the Republican Party, Ms. Anonymous Republican would be doing her best to serve the president. A ruler would have to stand firm against the antics of tyrants, not out of hatred but out of love, to prevent the tyrant from doing great evil to himself and others. If the tyrant attacked, the ruler would have to defend his people out of love for them and out of love for his enemy. Punishments would be acts of love for the victims, the public and the punished, just as a father disciplines his son in love. The church would insist that the ruler not use his legitimate powers of force for unjust ends, on pain of excommunication.
The church would urge rulers not to lose sleep over budget shortfalls or stock market declines, and exhort them instead to store up treasure in heaven by acts of mercy and justice.
The church would urge rulers to beware their own blind spots and remove logs from their eyes so they can see rightly in order to judge.
The church would remind a ruler that she will face a Judge who will inquire what she had done for the homeless, the weak, the sick, the imprisoned, the hungry.
At the extreme, a ruler might place himself on a cross, sacrifice his political future and his reputation, for the sake of righteousness. In certain kinds of politics, he would be the first soldier, the first to fly against the enemy, because being the leader means you get to die first. In great extremity, he might follow Jeremiah’s example and submit to conquest, defeat, deportation – endure a national crucifixion to preserve a people for future rebirth.
I’m using my Worth a Look space today to point readers to the FBC Jacksonville pastor’s conference (January 28-February 1). This annual conference is always well-attended as it includes a number of great preachers.
Here is some pertinent information in case you consider going:
The Pre-Conference on Friday hosted by Southern Seminary with their professors: Hershael York, Chuck Lawless, and Mark Coppenger.
The Lindsay Award on Friday night where we will honor Dr. Howard Hendricks for his life of ministry
The Main Sessions, which include sermons from Mac Brunson, Fred Luter, Ed Stetzer, Jimmy Scroggins, Al Mohler, Paige Patterson, David Platt, Johnny Hunt, Matt Carter, and more.
The Premium Sessions, which include messages from Tullian Tchividjian, Kevin Ezell, Eric Mason, Paul David Tripp, Mark Dever, Steve Farrar
The Women’s Conference for pastors’ wives
The Church Planting Conference where pastors will sit down to talk with planters and help them where they are struggling in ministry
Books (every attendee will walk away with at least 13; church planters get 17).
Unless we give a real content to the wrath of God, unless we hold that men really deserve to have God visit upon them the painful consequences of their wrongdoing, we empty God’s forgiveness of its meaning. For if there is no ill desert, God ought to overlook sin.
We can think of forgiveness as something real only when we hold that sin has betrayed us into a situation where we deserve to have God inflict upon us the most serious consequences, and that is upon such a situation that God’s grace supervenes. When the logic of the situation demands that He should take action against the sinner, and He yet takes action for him, then and then alone can we speak of grace.
But there is no room for grace if there is no suggestion of dire consequences merited by sin.
I’ve been enjoying our weekly book discussion lunches here at LifeWay. Our third meeting took place last week with Micah Carter, Philip Nation, Jed Coppenger, and newcomer Russ Rankin. Here’s what we discussed:
I started off the day’s conversation with this book by Pulitzer-prize-winning author, Isabel Wilkerson. During the holidays, I like to spend time in one big book. I usually choose a subject I would rarely study otherwise. In 2009, I chose the recently released uncensored version of In the First Circleby Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. This Christmas, I bought The Warmth of Other Suns, having seen it recommended by John Wilson from Books and Culture.
Wilkerson’s book tells the story of the “Great Migration” – one of the most underreported, yet vitally important movements of people in the past hundred years. The Great Migration refers to the exodus of six million blacks from the South during the Jim Crow era. From the 1920′s until the 1970′s, there was a steady stream of African-Americans who left their homes in the South and settled in the North, East and West.
The way Wilkerson tells the story of the Migration is not by wowing the reader with statistics (although some will surprise you, primarily regarding the demographic shift caused by the Migration). Instead, she personalizes the history by telling the stories of three people: Ida Mae Gladney (who, with her young family, left a sharecropper situation in Mississippi and moved to Chicago), Robert Foster (who migrated from Louisiana to Los Angeles and became the doctor whose name was immortalized by the Ray Charles song), and George Starling (who left the Florida orange groves and moved to Harlem in NYC).
The Warmth of Other Sunsis one of the most riveting historical accounts I have come across. By interweaving these three individuals’ lives and the larger narrative of the Migration, she paints a stunning portrait of life in the Jim Crow era. In many ways, the Depression-era was worse for blacks than the years immediately following the Civil War. The sharecropping system kept African-Americans in perpetual bondage. Rights were stripped away. Segregation was forced. There was an unwritten protocol for how the races were to interact.
At the same time, the North was not the haven the migrants hoped for. Racism was masked, but still evident. Perhaps nowhere is the heartbreak felt more profoundly than in Wilkerson’s account of blacks betraying one another.
The Warmth of Other Sunsis an optimistic tragedy. Optimistic because of the inner fortitude and determination of the hard-working migrants. Tragic because of the circumstances that forced them from their homeland. Tragic also because of the disintegration of families in the second and third generations.
The most surprising aspect of this book is how much things have changed in a short period of time. Each of us talked about how our grandparents (and for some – even parents) continue to speak in the language of the 1950′s segregated South. The idea that blacks and whites shouldn’t live on the same street, for example, persists in some of the elderly even today. And yet, none of us have relatives who hateor despise people of other races. The racism is expressed in terms of segregation and superiority. We are all amazed at how quickly the culture has changed, evidenced especially by the fact that we have an African-American president.
Philip Nation brought a leadership book: The Creative Priority, written by Jerry Hirshberg, founder and president of Nissan Design International. Hirshberg tells the story of how people from two vastly different cultures – Japanese and American – were able to collaborate creatively to produce cars like the Altima and the Pathfinder.
Hirshberg believes that creativity comes from friction among people who think differently. Most businesses are built on one of two mentalities: the survival mentality (where employees seek to maintain the trustworthy status quo in an attempt to hold on to success) or the creative mentality (where employees embrace abrasion in all relationships as they think outside the box). In Hirshberg’s experience, combining the Japanese emphasis on stability and structure with the American emphasis on spontaneity and variety was a fruitful exercise. Here’s a quote Philip liked:
Creativity is the mastery of information and skills in the service of dreams.
One of Hirshberg’s suggestions for meetings is that the leader ask questions without providing quick answers. Several of us at the table began talking about the best teachers we’ve had. They were usually the ones who knew how to ask questions and not immediately resolve the tension with an answer. It’s a tough balance, since teachers who linger too long on the questions can make the learning process unsatisfying, yet teachers who never allow the tension to hang in the air can bore their students.
Russ Rankin, a newcomer to our group, brought a magazine article from a US Airways magazine. “The Hidden Advantages of Quiet Bosses” is a Harvard Business Review article that celebrates the unique contributions of introverted leader. In short, the article argues that introverted leaders hire proactive workers and are more receptive to suggestions.
Russ’ article was the springboard for a brief discussion of Adam McHugh’s book, Introverts in the Church:
McHugh makes the case that most churches are led by and geared toward extroverted personalities. Evangelicals tend to measure progress in discipleship by participation in essentially extrovert-focused activities. Even the wider society rewards extroverted traits, which leaves people with more introverted personalities feeling left out…
Introverts in the Churchis part therapy for those who are introverted – many will say, “Finally, a book that understands me!” – and it is part prescription. The book is an eye-opener for pastors who have never considered this subject. McHugh shows introverts how they can learn from extroverts, and then encourages the church to open its eyes to the gifts of their quieter members.
Jed Coppenger concluded out our discussion by recommending Leland Ryken’s book, Redeeming the Time, which provides a biblical perspective on work and leisure. All of us agreed that churches and pastors fail to properly emphasize the Christian view of vocation. Work is such a major part of our lives, and yet it is rarely addressed in sermons and discipleship programs. When work is mentioned, it’s usually viewed as simply another avenue for evangelism and not something significant in and of itself.
Ryken demonstrates how the human heart longs for significance in daily work. He also exposes the unbiblical notion that leisure is somehow neutral. We discussed the need for Christians to think carefully about how to best use leisure time to the glory of God. I mentioned that I have received more feedback regarding the “Subverting Leisure” chapter in Holy Subversionthan any of the other chapters in the book. Some readers are surprised that there is a Christian perspective on how we spend our free time.
After hearing Jed’s book recommendation, we put it into practice at once – ending our leisurely lunch and heading back to work!
What a great idea! Dane Ortlund surveys a number of scholars and pastors to see how they would summarize the Bible in one sentence. Click here to see them all. (Below are a few favorites):
Eric Thoennes: The main message of the Bible is that the one true God is displaying his glory primarily in redeeming and restoring his fallen creation by fulfilling his covenant promises and commands through the glorious person and atoning work of Christ.
Doug Wilson: Scripture tells us the story of how a Garden is transformed into a Garden City, but only after a dragon had turned that Garden into a howling wilderness, a haunt of owls and jackals, which lasted until an appointed warrior came to slay the dragon, giving up his life in the process, but with his blood effecting the transformation of the wilderness into the Garden City.
Kevin DeYoung: A holy God sends his righteous Son to die for unrighteous sinners so we can be holy and live happily with God forever.
When Abby Johnson quit her Planned Parenthood career, she didn’t expect to receive more criticism from people in the pro-life camp than from those who are pro-choice…
It’s interesting that two posts on church planting came out on the same day, both from different theological camps. First, here is Ed Stetzer writing about the #1 issue for church planters: leadership development. Then, here is David Fitch writing about a church plant that failed, and the time needed for developing leaders.
According to the Wordle below that takes into account all the words in my upcoming book, Counterfeit Gospelswill be right on topic, though it’s obvious the book will be more about the biblical gospel than it is about the counterfeits (which is the best way to spot a counterfeit, after all!).
In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be blogging a little about the book – the initial idea and how it developed. I’ll also ask for some feedback from Kingdom People readers regarding the counterfeits I chose to address as well as the three-legged stool approach to understanding the gospel. If you feel so inclined, you are welcome to pre-order the book so that it arrives right on time in April. Here is a summary of the book with some endorsements that have come in.
Michael Hyatt: Because I am the CEO of a book publishing company, I am regularly asked how I see the future of digital publishing. As Yogi Berra said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”I don’t know exactly how things will shake out long-term, but I believe we will see the following six trends in 2011:
Now that the worldwide total has over-doubled its production budget, is that enough to greenlight the next movie? It’s very difficult to say, honestly. A few weeks ago I did some research because for all my time at NarniaWeb, I’ve never been able to find a solid answer on how much of the worldwide profits make it back into the studio’s hands. But here are some of the closest numbers I was able to find.
I am very pleased to see a new initiative for biblical literacy being developed by George Guthrie, professor at Union University. The book is called Read the Bible for Life: Your Guide to Understanding and Living God’s Wordand has just been released by Broadman & Holman. George has put together a very accessible introduction to Hermeneutics (how to understand the Bible) for laypeople and church leaders. The book is part of a broader initiative to reinvigorate personal and effective Bible reading and study in our churches.
Today, George is stopping by the blog to engage in conversation about the need for Christians to better understand and live according to God’s Word.
Trevin Wax: “Hermeneutics” is a word that makes most people’s eyes glaze over, doesn’t it? But you believe that it’s vitally important that we not just read the Bible, but that we learn to read it well. So hermeneutics – learning how to read and understand the Bible rightly – is key to accomplishing this task. Why do you think this subject is not often taught by pastors and church leaders?
George Guthrie: This has got to be one of the strangest oversights in modern church life, and the omission of this aspect of training seems to be true regardless of which church tradition is being considered. Although Union is a Baptist school, we also have students from a wide variety of other church backgrounds. From the informal polling I have done over the past seventeen years or so it seems that only about 5-10% of churches (and I think 10% is rather optimistic) offer any training at all in how to read and/or study the Bible well.
Trevin Wax: Since the Bible supposedly is the foundation document for the church and the guide for the Christian life and community, why then are principles for biblical interpretation often neglected?
George Guthrie: First, many pastors have not had adequate training themselves and read the Bible in a rather “flat” way. Most of our Southern Baptist seminaries did not have a dedicated hermeneutics course until the 1990s. But even those pastors who have had some training often have not worked what they learned in class into their own Bible reading, and they don’t know how to make what they do know accessible to their church members.
Second, if you think about it, most of the high-impact Bible study training ministries, ministries like that of Kay Arthur, Bible Study Fellowship, or the Navigators, have been parachurch organizations. I am very thankful for them, but such a ministry is often seen as an add-on to the normal processes of local church life.
So, many churches have not thought about training in Bible reading (much less Bible study) as a normal part of what they do. Reading the Bible well is something we have assumed people would pick up along the way. A few have. The vast majority haven’t. As with other areas of church life, if we aim at nothing we probably are going to hit it.
Trevin Wax: Our neglect of Hermeneutics is all the more startling when we consider the negative implications that flow from a chronic inability to rightly interpret Scripture. How does misinterpreting the Bible negatively affect our churches and our Christian life?
George Guthrie: Think of sound interpretation as a normal part of any healthy relationship. If I am misunderstanding my wife on a regular basis, one or both of us will experience a lot of tension in the relationship; we are hurt as a couple and as individuals. Of course, a person can be blissfully unaware that there is a problem—but the problem is there, nonetheless, and the unaware person is much worse off because he or she doesn’t even know there is a problem! The “blissful” person wakes up one day and realizes the relationship has disintegrated.
When it comes to our relationship with God, whether as individuals or as communities of faith, listening and understanding are crucial for healthy relationship. That is why the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9)—and “shema” means “Listen!”—calls the people of God to hear as foundational to loving God. Notice that to love God with all we are is integrated in that passage with taking His words with whole-life seriousness and passing them on inter-generationally. We simply don’t love God if we are not attending carefully to His words.
On the flip side, right listening to God’s words—and by this I mean the best kind of interpretation, a humble listening that is poised to obey—builds up the church, which is built up by love and truth (Eph. 4:11-16).
Trevin Wax: Do you think that many controversies would be avoided if more Christians had a certain level of hermeneutical sensibility?
George Guthrie: To the contrary, better interpretation might actually start controversy in many churches, as unbiblical patterns are overturned by truth! Most church people don’t like you messing with their way of seeing the world. That is a work that has to be done by the Spirit. Yet, what a higher level of hermeneutical sensibility gives us is a common meeting point for discussion when issues come up.
Many controversies happen in churches because:
the Bible is not the real authority for people, or
people don’t know how to talk about the Bible in ways that are healthy and fruitful.
In short, we need to raise the level of biblical literacy in our churches because there is no true love of God and life for God if not grounded in God’s Word.
Trevin Wax: I agree that we need to raise the level of biblical literacy in the church today, and we need sound hermeneutical principles taught to our people. What I like about Read the Bible for Lifeis how you’ve organized the subjects and gone about teaching the subject. You take an approach similar to Lee Strobel in The Case for... books, where you interview scholars.
George Guthrie: I am glad you like the approach. It was suggested to me by my friend Jack Kuhatschek, now the Executive Vice President and Publisher at Baker Books, and I believe that Jack, while at Zondervan, was instrumental in Strobel’s approach in The Case for Christ.
The approach was attractive to me for two primary reasons. I thought the style would be inviting to a layperson in the church, and interviews would allow me to tap the expertise of people who have spent their whole lives focusing on particular parts of Scripture. B&H wanted me to simply write the whole book, out of my own study of the Bible, but I knew that pulling in these friends would greatly enhance the book—nobody is an expert on everything. I learned a lot in the process.
Trevin Wax: What was your thought process in choosing the scholars and pastors you wanted to talk to for the book?
George Guthrie: From the beginning I wanted to do a book (and the broader initiative) that would work within the local church, and, because of its extensive network of churches, I thought LifeWay/B&H would be the way to go. I thought the leaders at LifeWay would want me to interview mostly Southern Baptist scholars, but early on they encouraged me to tap friends from the broader evangelical world.
So, I tried to choose colleagues who have done a great deal of top-rate study on particular parts of Scripture, or on topics related to the reading/studying of Scripture, and I wanted people who are passionate about the church. Almost every interviewee is a friend of mine, and the “community” feel was important to me. I have been taught by, or worked on writing projects with, or taught along side of most of those interviewed in the book. God has graciously given me a friendship with people like Mike Card, David Platt, and Buddy Gray, and our conversations in Read the Bible for Life really flow from a common sense of mission in life. Interviewing my wife Pat on “Reading the Bible with the Family” was a no-brainer. God has so used her to shape me and our children, Joshua and Anna, in how we live the Bible.
Trevin Wax: Well… the format really works. It makes the content accessible and not so intimidating, even if the material might be a bit challenging for those who haven’t done any study in this area. It’s a good kind of challenging. You’ve also put together a new method of reading the Bible chronologically. Explain a little why you find chronological Bible reading to be helpful.
With the latter a person reads at four different spots in the Bible on a given day, plus a psalm. It is similar to a popular plan developed by Discipleship Journal years ago, and I like that approach very much. However, the Read the Bible for Life initiative will focus on the chronological plan. Most people struggle with biblical illiteracy in part because they have a very fragmented experience of the Bible, no grasp of how the grand Story of Scripture fits together. A chronological plan can help put the pieces of the puzzle together in terms of historical framework.
Trevin Wax: Why is knowing the big story of Scripture so important to correctly understanding the Bible?
George Guthrie: Knowing the big story is so important, and at present, God seems to be raising an awareness of this in the broader Body of Christ. In a blog post I just put up yesterday, I noted, “Most Christians are in danger of either seeing the stories of their lives as too big in a wrong way (and conversely see the Bible’s story as too small), or seeing the stories of their lives as too small in every way (and not related to God’s Grand Story).”
There are a number of reasons knowing the Story of Scripture is important. For instance, the stories of the Bible have a broader context that is vital for us to grasp if we are to read the stories well. Understanding the grand sweep of Scripture gives us a full picture of what God is up to in the world (whereas we might get a skewed picture if we just focused on bits here and there). Understanding the big Story gives us points of reference on which to hang the details of the Bible. Getting the story gives a great deal of joy, as we see God’s craft of writing such an elaborate, complex, beautiful Story on the world. These are a few of the reasons for giving attention to the big Story of the Bible.
Trevin Wax:The Read the Bible for Lifebook is part of a larger initiative on biblical literacy. What would be your hope for the initiative in the coming year?
George Guthrie: In dealing with the problem of biblical illiteracy in the church, I think we have got to think long-term. From my earliest conversations with the leaders at LifeWay, I have said, “The initiative cannot be about a book, or an event, or a church program. We have got to ask, ‘How can we change processes in the local church over the next decade?’” We also need to think outside of our “tribes,” whether denominationally or in terms of publishing houses. It is going to take all of us doing everything we can to address the problem if we are going to make a dent. I would love to see us work across denominations and publishing houses in a concerted way.
So, my hope for the next year would be that there would be a growing awareness in the church that new opportunities and tools are afoot (whether our tools or someone else’s). My hope would be that leaders would take time to consider seriously how pervasive the problem is—and the implications if we neglect it—and what needs to be done at the local church level to address it. Ultimately my hope would be that, rather than engaging in a dry legalism (“have you done your reading for the day?”), people, energized by the Holy Spirit, would discover the Bible as amazing, beautiful, powerful, informative, integrated, and life-changing, in short, more than worth the discipline it takes to give God’s Word deep attention. If that happens, by God’s grace, we will see renewal in the church.
Trevin Wax: I appreciate your enthusiasm for encouraging the Church to love God’s Word. Thanks for stopping by the blog today. For Kingdom People readers, if you’d like more information, check out the “Read the Bible for Life” website.
What happens when a government official, emperor, or politician decides to rule according to the politics of Jesus? Peter Leithart powerfully describes the picture in Defending Constantine:
and has just been released by Broadman & Holman. George has put together a very accessible introduction to Hermeneutics (how to understand the Bible) for laypeople and church leaders. The book is part of a broader initiative to reinvigorate personal and effective Bible reading and study in our churches.