Church Community: Ends or Means?

Perhaps you have noticed that one of the buzz words circulating in the church world today is "community." Recently I listened to an interesting and eye-opening talk by Chris Rosebrough on some of the origins of this movement (if you are interested in listening to the 90 min talk you can click here). It is quite interesting to trace some of these modern roots, but there is a lot of biblical warrant for a focus on community. After all, the Greek word where we get our word "church" ekklesia means gathering or assembly. What I am troubled about is that "community" has become the end rather than the means to an end. Let me explain.

In recent years, seeker-friendly churches have moved away from small group Bible study classes to "community groups." The goal of these groups is personal connection and interaction. I see a fundamental problem with this:

The last hold out in the church for true, transformative discipleship has been replaced with watered down conversations focusing on subjective experience (this is right in line with a postmodern/existentialist worldview). This might seem like a bit of a hyperbole, but talk with your average seeker-driven church and you will probably find something like this:

You: I've noticed that your sermons focus on life topics rather than on in depth teaching of the Bible.

Church Staff: Our Sunday morning experience is arranged to be accessible to everyone. We don't want to push people away with a lot of heavy teaching. Hopefully they will find a home here and get plugged in deeper.

You: So, if I want more knowledge of the Bible, I should go to a Sunday School class?

Church Staff: We are moving away from these type of classes and pushing for community groups.

You: OK. So that's where I would go to learn more about the Bible?

Church Staff: Actually, the primary goal of community groups is not in depth Bible study but fellowship and connection within the church--a good place to bring your unchurched friends. They are designed to be a safe environment for unbelievers.

You: So...where do I go to learn more about what the church actually believes, more about the Bible and theology?

Church Staff: Well, you can study on your own or start a study, but Christians need to quit whining about going deeper and wanting to learn more. We need to be out in the community "loving on people" and not be bickering about our beliefs.

You may think that I am exaggerating, but I as have researched church trends, talked with friends in ministry or who are looking to plug-in to a local church body, scrolled through dozens of church websites, and read articles and books, I assure you I am not.

I hope you can see the problem with this model too. Namely, no true discipleship ever happens. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus calls us to baptize and teach them to observe everything that He has commanded.

If community is the end goal or service is the end goal, then let me ask what the fundamental difference is between being in a book club or a service organization like the Rotary or the Lions clubs? Why go to church?

Community is important, but the identity and center focus of that community must be Jesus Christ, as revealed by the Scriptures, if the church is going to be fundamentally different--if it is going to be salt and light in the world. Thus, community is not the ultimate goal--Jesus is. So if the body, the church, the ekklesia isn't focusing on helping us be more like Christ (and not just in the narrow focus of service to others) it isn't Christian community. Jesus didn't die because He was a really nice guy that helped people. His theology got Him killed. He didn't found 4H. He founded His church (Matt 16:18). A casual glance through Stephen's speech in Acts 7 will show that God has abandon rebellious and hard-hearted projects, such as the tabernacle at Shiloh and the Temple, before. For the "church" to be the Body of Christ, it has to be the place, the community where the Spirit of Christ resides. Jesus thought little of the masses. Jesus focused on discipleship.

Does this ring true to your experience? I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Going Where the Wild Things Are

Several years ago, I reread Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. I had also recently read John Eldridge's Wild At Heart, so I was immediately struck by an observation that I might not have noticed without the juxtaposition of the two books. Normal people would probably read this popular children's book in the understanding that it is about a young boy named Max who starts acting out and gets his rightful punishment of bed without dinner. After visiting his wild and aggressive side, he is tamed by the love and care of his mother who fixes him dinner in spite of his behavior. 

This is probably a healthy("normal") reading of the book. However, at the time I was looking through a primary lens of "masculinity studies" and as they say "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." In my rereading of the book I saw a controlling mother who wanted a docile boy that would stay neatly within the confines of tame domestic living. I saw in it the taming of a masculine soul, and I was sad.

A few years later, now that I am a father, I have changed the way I look at this story and think that Max got off pretty lightly by way of punishment. However, my goal here is not really to discuss Mr. Sendak's ultimate intentions for the book or even to force my subjective interpretation upon the story--though, as an English major, this is tempting. This particular reading may or may not be fair to Where the Wild Things Are, but part of my original thoughts on this topic still stand.

Eldridge makes an interesting point when he writes, "Man was born in the outback, from the untamed part of creation. Only afterward is he brought to Eden" (Wild At Heart, 3-4). He also rightly points out that many heroes in the Bible went to the wilderness: Jacob, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus to name a few. As a matter of fact, Mark's gospel says that after Jesus' baptism "immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness 40 days,  being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals..." It sounds like Jesus went to His very own place where the wild things are.

So why do the biblical heroes go to the wilderness? What is it about the wilderness that allows them--perhaps even allows us--to hear from God?

A short time ago I went on a hike and could not get rid of these thoughts. I was wondering what it is about wild places that works on our souls so powerfully. As I hiked, these thoughts came to mind:

--God created a perfect environment for people to live. It was controlled, safe, and totally on God's terms.

--When Adam and Eve sinned, they where doubly naked--no clothes and no home. In a word they were vulnerable.

--When Cain killed his brother, God cursed him to wander the wilderness for the rest of his life. But Genesis 4:16-17 says that "...Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod...then Cain became the builder of a city." In other words, people rejected God's way of life and His plan for safety and security which made them feel naked and vulnerable. But rather than turn to God and rely on Him, people began constructing their own forms of control and security.

When we go through wilderness wanderings, the point is so that we can release our control and rely on God. That is when He can truly speak to us. At home, in the city, in the car (wherever we have our technology) we feel like we are in control, but when we are not in control of the world--in the wilderness where the wild things are--we become aware of our need. And God meets that need. He comes as a burning bush. He sends bread by His messenger ravens. He sends angels to attend. If we want to hear a fresh word from God and have Him move powerfully in our lives, then perhaps we need to spend more time in wilderness wondering, vulnerable and depending on God. When we come out of the wilderness, I think that we will find our supper waiting on us, just like Max did. 

Have you ever had a "wilderness experience?" What did you learn from the experience?

It's All In the Prepositions: A Book Review of With

When I read the tag line to With (Reimaging the Way You Relate To God), I knew that I wanted to read it. Jethani's premise is simple: there are five ways of relating to God--under, over, from, for, and with. These are not just Christian ways of relating to God for, as Jethani demonstrates, all religions or non-religions relate in one of these ways. He begins his book with a look at what happened with people's relationships with God "After the Fall" (ch 1). The next four chapters examine each of the other prepositions (under, over, from, and for) in detail. Then for the latter half of the book he discusses "life with God", using 1 Corinthians 13 as a model.

I liked this book and read about half of it in one sitting. Jethani does a great job of keeping his readers engaged through illustrations (literally drawings) and stories. The writing is as readable as Max Lucado or Donald Miller, but the thoughts are deeper. There were a few times that I thought he could have said what he was saying with fewer words. "Yeah, yeah. I get it already." But overall I found this book to be highly readable, learned, and useful for Christians or not-yet-Christians. If you are one of those people that is looking for a quick-fix or how-to book, this is not the book for you. With is more about changing your perseption of relating to God, than it is about how to do it. Jethani does offer some suggestions in the appendix, though, and I for one am glad I read appendix A. Overall, I give it 4 stars.

How Reading Torah Can Help You See More In The Jewish Pool of Images

 Christians have a history of neglecting to read the books of the law--Torah. We use the first eleven chapters of Genesis for debate over creation and anthropology, and then perhaps enjoy the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the exodus. Then we get bogged down in formulas and lists in the second half of Exodus through the end of Deuteronomy, leaving our Western minds to check out. However, the writers of the NT quote from and allude to the first five books of the Bible so often that we will be lost as to what is really being said if we are not familiar with them as well. We will be like children watching a Disney cartoon--we get something out of it to be sure, but the parents are getting so much more.

As I was listening to the Exodus story on CD this week (incidently the Word of Promise by Thomas Nelson Publishers makes this experience very enjoyable) I caught a phrase that reminded me of something Jesus said.

¹⁴ Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” ¹⁶ Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.  ¹⁷ Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. ¹⁸ If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.   (Luke 11:14-20, emphasis mine)

As I listened to the story of Moses confronting Pharoah, I heard this:

¹⁶ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” ¹⁷ They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. ¹⁸ But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not.    Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, ¹⁹ the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the LORD had said.  (Exodus 8:16-19)

Is Jesus pointing back to this story and comparing the sign demanding crowds to Pharoah's court? I have to admit that I am not finished studying this topic, but it is a good example of how this works. As we become familiar with the Bible, both Old and New testaments, we will begin to pick up on more of the interplay between them. But not only will we understand the NT better if we read and study the "Books of Moses", we will also understand more in Psalms or the prophets. For example you may be reading Psalm 67 which begins with:

¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us
   and make his face shine on us—
² so that your ways may be known on earth,
   your salvation among all nations.

If you are familiar with the book of Numbers, you may recognize that  the first line of this psalm is appropriating the Aaronic Blessing:

²² The LORD said to Moses, ²³ “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:  ²⁴ “‘“The LORD bless you
   and keep you;
²⁵ the LORD make his face shine on you
   and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the LORD turn his face toward you
   and give you peace.”’
 ²⁷ “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

These are just two minor examples that come to mind. There are many rich images from Torah that are picked up again and again in the NT--the call of Abraham (Gen 12), the Covenant with Abraham (Gen 15, 17), Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19), the sacrifice of Isaac (Gen 22), I AM (Exod. 3), the parting of the Red Sea (Exod 14), Mt. Sinai and the 10 Commandments (Exod 19 & 20), the golden calf incident and the new stone tablets (Exod 32-34), the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16), Holiness laws (Lev. 19), Jubilee (Lev. 25), the Nazirite Vow and Aaronic Blessing (Num. 6), water from a rock (Num. 20), Balaam (Num. 22-24), the Covenant (Deut. 27-30), and much, much more.

I would encourage you to go through Stephen's address to the Sanhedrin in Acts 7 and trace the Biblical stories and quotations. If necessary, reread the stories and passages he cites. Then ask yourself why he uses these and what do they mean. It is a very rich experience.

Have you noticed any images or concepts from the Torah that clarified a NT passage? If so, please share what insights you have gleaned.

Why Won't God Go Away?

 Last night I finished reading a new book by Alister McGrath called Why God Won't Go Away. After watching several debates between Christians and atheists on line, I was ready to learn more on the subject of the "New Atheist Movement." First, McGrath introduces the reader to how the "new" atheist movement started and what it is, giving brief but informative introductions to each of the "four horsemen." Secondly, he tackles three major challenges that new atheists pose to theists (violence, reason, and science), showing the deficiencies in these arguments. Finally, he assesses the future for the new atheist movement...and not to spoil the surprise, but the future is not "Bright."

 How can a book of this nature be a "page-turner"? I'm not really sure how McGrath pulled it off, but I could not stop reading this book. As someone who is relatively new to understanding the "New Atheist" movement and philosophical debates, I found McGrath to be a capable and entertaining guide. His prose is easy yet thought provoking. He has an excellent command of the subject matter, equally at home in science or the history of philosophy. Most importantly, I feel better equipped to discuss these issues with atheist or agnostics after having read this short volume. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to engage our culture.

So, why won't God go away? Read the book and find out.

What Is The Vine In The Jewish Pool of Images?

How do we go about examining the "images" in this pool? It's not as if there is one particular place in the Old Testament (OT) that has all the images in easy to recognize forms. Ideally, we would all be so saturated in the OT that, when the NT used such images, bells and whistles would go off in our minds. But, alas, we are too busy keeping up with our Facebook accounts, celebrity gossip, or running around with too many irons in the fire to slow down and read something as crusty and "irrelevant" as Exodus, Leviticus, or Deuteronomy...right? After all, we are a New Testament/New Covenant Church right? 

Writing to Timothy, Paul said, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Tim 3:16). When he wrote this there was no such thing as a New Testament. He was speaking about the Scriptures that he had grown up studying--Christians call it the Old Testament and Jews call it TaNaKh: Torah ("the Teaching" we know this as the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), Nevi'im ("Prophets"--Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obediah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi), and Ketavim ("Writings"--Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes [this the Latin term while the Hebrew is Qohelet], Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles. So Paul is saying that the OT is useful and important.

So, back to the original question: How do we go about examining the "images" in this pool? The answer is that we have to go about it two ways simultaneously--we have to study the OT and we have look for possible OT images/references while reading the NT. The first of these we will have to do on our own (sorry...no short cuts here). The second one we can start to look at together by examining certain passages to see what images we may find and what they may signify.
 We will start with a passage many of us know well. In the Fourth Gospel Jesus says,

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned"  (Jn 15:1-6)

This image of the vine is just a standard parable right? Or could this be something more when we look at how the image of the vine is used throughout the OT?

Psalm 80: 8-16--
You brought a vine out of Egypt;
   you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
   it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
   the mighty cedars with its branches.
It sent out its branches to the sea
   and its shoots to the River.
Why then have you broken down its walls,
   so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
 The boar from the forest ravages it,
   and all that move in the field feed on it.
 Turn again, O God of hosts!
    Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
 the stock that your right hand planted,
   and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
   may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
 [Here the psalmist is using the vine as a metaphor for Israel.]

The whole of Isaiah 5 depicts Israel as God's vineyard.

Jeremiah 2:20-22--

²⁰"For long ago I broke your yoke
   and burst your bonds;
   but you said, 'I will not serve.'
Yes, on every high hill
   and under every green tree
   you bowed down like a whore.
 Yet I planted you a choice vine,
   wholly of pure seed.
 How then have you turned degenerate
   and become a wild vine?
Though you wash yourself with lye
   and use much soap,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,

         declares the Lord GOD.
[Again the vine is being used as a symbol for the nation of Israel.]

Ezekiel 15 visualizes Jerusalem (the capital city of Israel) as a useless, dried up vine.

Though Ezekiel 17 is a parable that seems complicated and confusing, it too envisions Israel as a vine that wanders from where it's planted.

Ezekiel 19:10-14--

Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard
   planted by the water,
 fruitful and full of branches
    by reason of abundant water.
Its strong stems became
   rulers’ scepters;
it towered aloft
   among the thick boughs;
it was seen in its height
   with the mass of its branches.
But the vine was plucked up in fury,
   cast down to the ground;
 the east wind dried up its fruit;
   they were stripped off and withered.
As for its strong stem,
   fire consumed it.
 Now it is planted in the wilderness,
   in a dry and thirsty land.
 And fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots,
   has consumed its fruit,
 so that there remains in it no strong stem,
   no scepter for ruling.

[This lament is directed to the princes of Israel, which means that the mother/vine is Israel...see a theme here?]

Hosea 10:1--

Israel is a luxuriant vine
   that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
    the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
   he improved his pillars.
 
It is evident that throughout the OT the vine is used as a symbol for Israel. Now that we see this, we can understand that Jesus is claiming to be the one true Israel. If you are skeptical about this point, Matthew 2:15 cites "Out of Egypt I called my son" to refer to Jesus while the original context of the citation, Hosea 11:1, says, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son."

To understand the full implications of this we would have to examine Israel's calling and mission in the world, but we do not have time for that discussion here. N.T. Wright has provided an excellent treatment of this concept of Jesus as the true Israel in his works such as Simply Christian, The Challenge of Jesus, and The Climax of the Covenant.

If we begin to see Israel as the vine and Jesus as the one true Israel, then what new insights might this begin to yield for our study of John 15? Exactly what is Jesus saying to his disciples? And why might it matter for us today? I would love to hear your thoughts.

What Is The Jewish Pool of Images?

 In the previous post I mentioned something that my New Testament professor, Dr. M. Robert Mulholland Jr. called a "Jewish pool of images." What is a "Jewish pool of images?" you might ask. To help us understand this concept, Mulholland used a couple of pictures to demonstrate this concept with an American pool of Images, including the one on the left. Can you understand what is being said there?

This is a set of images that people in the United States can understand. An elephant represents republicans, while a donkey depicts democrats. Once we know that interpreting the cover of Time magazine becomes fairly easy.


What about this one? What ideas or concepts do you associate with this white haired man in a star rimmed top hat? Why is he pointing?

The concept of a pool of images need not be relegated to visuals only. For instance, what if I told you that a person I know has horns, a tail, a pitch fork, and was red? What would you think of? Would you associate that person with good qualities? Would you want to trust that person?
If you asked me what car insurance someone has and I answered with, "the one with the green lizard" would you know what I was talking about? How about if I said I was hungry and wanted to eat at the golden arches? Would you understand what I meant?
This is what we mean by a pool of images. Each culture has a common pool of images (visual/or verbal) from which to draw.
The second commandment forbid the Israelites from making graven images, so rather than becoming a visual arts culture they became a language arts culture. In the following posts, I will explore some of the images floating around in the Jewish Pool, looking at where they came from and how we can better understand the Bible by understanding its imagery.