Today The Scripture Is Fulfilled

“We have to start with Jesus and refigure our ideas around him, rather than trying to fit him into our existing worldviews.”
- N. T. Wright

“I knew Jesus before he was a Christian . . . And I liked him better then.”

- Rubel Shelly

How is it that Jesus is rejected in his own home town of Nazareth? Maybe the saying is true, “Over familiarity breeds contempt!” Jesus is assigned to read from the Prophet Isaiah scroll. He puts his finger on this place and begins to read:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon,

Because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Jesus rolls up the scroll and in the synagogue with his fellow towns people, he says prophetically, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2 but breaks off the ending of the verse of God’s judgment and God’s vengeance. If someone were to read the Scriptures today and do this, people might yell, read the end of the verse! For God’s sake, read the end of the verse! The people were looking forward to the day when all of Israel’s enemies would be destroyed and they would go back to the glory days of how it was during the time of the reign of King David and King Solomon’s reign.

          What happens next is unbelievable. The people cry out for a sign because they heard stories of Jesus doing mighty miracles and works of God but they had not personally witnessed any themselves. I mean, ‘C’mon, isn’t this Joseph son who did day labor for other people in town? We know this kid, and he seems liked an average Joe in our community.’   

          So Jesus does the unexpected. The crowd in the Synagogue were somewhat admiring his reading of Scripture but Jesus begins to tell how God used Israel’s enemies in the past from other Older Testament Scriptures like Elijah went to the widow in the land of Sidon and the prophet Elisha only healed a leper who was from Syria. The crowd went from being impressed to being enraged. They actually tried to physically push Jesus off a cliff. Can you see the hometown newspaper the next day? “Riot breaks out and home boy falls off a cliff!”

          We neglect the Scriptures or read them to bring us some comfort or help us to fall asleep reading at night. Yet reading the Scriptures can be quite dangerous and get you killed in certain places. God’s message to Israel was good news for the whole world. The problem was Israel just saw it as good new for themselves while it was bad news for everybody else. What many Jews believed was salvation was their exclusive right and they were willing to fight and do violence over that belief.    

          Can we come to the point to understand what Jesus is driving at over and over when it comes to what some people call the doctrine of election? Wars and divisions have been fought over the meaning of this little word. Election gives us no claims on God and certainly not a privileged status over other people. God’s incredible love is for the whole world and all people of every nation.

          When Jesus comes on the scene, Israel had failed throughout most of biblical history to live out their covenant faithfulness to God. We read over and over of their failures and their extended exiles. When all of Jesus disciples abandoned him and he was left standing alone, it was because Jesus represented the sole elect one for all of humanity. Where all others failed, he remained true to his calling and identity for God. If election means anything, it more means a vocation of suffering and greater responsibility in living for others. We are all elected corporately into Christ who was the faithful elect one of God.

          What Israel had a hard time understanding about Jesus was not only his willingness to hang out with all the wrong people but salvation and God’s kingdom were both universal and cosmic in scope. Jesus continually reversed everything where people who thought they were in God’s kingdom are out and those who thought they were out were actually in (Matt.25). No one for Jesus was beyond God’s redeeming love and the last will find oneself first and the first will find oneself last (Matt. 20:16).

Righteous Sinners, God-Fearing Gentiles and Why Everyone Needs the Holy Spirit

We were studying Luke 19:1-10 in Sunday School.  My wife and I heard the very typical conventional wisdom of Zacchaeus as a small man who wanted to see Jesus.  He was judged critically by his peers but found favor and salvation from Jesus.  Many in the church today when the read Jesus words, "Today salvation has come to your house" think that Zacchaeus must have publically repented to Jesus, said the sinners prayer and literally received salvation on the spot by Jesus on the day Jesus came to Zacchaeus' house.

My wife was biting her tongue and jumping at the bit and simply said at the end of Sunday School, "Ask me about Zacchaeus later."  Here is my beautiful spiritually intuitive mystic wife who tells me her excitement on what the Zacchaeus story really means.  We think we know he is a great sinner.  The crowds thought so and so do we today.  We look at this story as a conversion where a sinner becomes born again.  What if our over-familiarity with this story like so many other stories in the Bible (we think we already know) actually is obscuring the deeper and historical reality and meaning of the biblical text?

My lovely wife who barely passed Greek in Bible College and does not study the scriptures from an academic or scientific approach put things in such technicolor beauty that I can no longer read this text in black and white.  She said that Zacchaeus was a righteous tax collector who already was giving half his riches to the poor (I excitedly double checked the Greek text which confirmed my wife's understanding of this text was correct).  He was saying if he defrauded someone, he will pay them back four fold.  Zacchaeus excitedly climbed that tree not to be some gawker or spectator to see Jesus the celebrity walk by.  Zacchaeus was already passionately following and seeking after Jesus and love compelled him to go the extra mile to see Jesus.

Can we start recognizing deeper, spiritual, and mystical dimensions to this gospel stories where we think some kind of Evangelical decision and conversion happens in the moment which happens to miss the spiritual mystical awakenings of some who followed Jesus who were already living a righteous life before God.  Salvation coming to Zacchaeus house does not mean he was converted on the spot but that Jesus who is the salvation of God had come to Zacchaeus house.  Can we start reading the Bible as if for the first time so that God's Word can shed new light into places we think have enough light already?

Zacchaeus was a righteous man even though we want to judge him as unrighteous because of his profession.  Cornelius is a God-fearing Gentle which means he already believed in the God of Israel but Peter preaches the fuller gospel of Jesus and he and his family are empowered by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus over and over is the righteousness of God and is salvation that has come down from heaven.  The scriptures says we are all sinners but that does not mean some people at some point started living righteously for God.  The truth is we all need the empowering presence of God's Holy Spirit in our life if we are to progress further in our spiritual journey with God.

What God are you following?

"Salvation is awakening from our spiritual blindness and recognizing the reality that has always been true"

What God are you following?  Are you following the grace full God or the wrath filled God?  Are you following the God who defines you by your performance or the one that defines you by the power of the resurrection?  Are you following the angry God that is mad at everyone or are you following the joy filled God who wants us to smile more?

There is way too much of religion and even churches today that are more about self-improvement and sin management than they are about death to self and being alive by God's grace that fills everything.  Two powerful and similar books that are coming from two very different directions are Brad Jersak "A More Christlike God" which is calling the church to exactly that and John Crowder's book "Cosmos Reborn" calling the church to being the new creation rather than some kind of works religion of doing.  Both Jersak and Crowder come from charismatic backgrounds and Jersak has now found his spiritual home within Eastern Orthodoxy.  Crowder remains and evangelist and missionary for charismatic spirituality but both Jersak and Crowder powerfully call the church today to be more Christ like and mystical and less dogmatic and limiting in how it understands important theological issues.

Let me end with Crowder's most powerful words about the gospel and the whole notion of born again talk and Christian conversion.  The gospel is not a "start over" or "second chance" but a whole new beginning and way of life.  Jesus did not just forgive you to give you another chance in life but he transformed the very substance of who you are to restore and rebirth you into an entirely new creation (p.213).  You are no longer a separate individual but called into a community corporate identity into God's whole new world and kingdom.  God's covenant with you is not some kind of private contract but it is a corporate one which chooses not just you but all people and nations and even the whole creation to be reconciled to Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19).

As the new creation, you are already reconciled and one with God, even if you do not fully recognize that!  This new creation is not based upon your personal decision but comes from the death and resurrection power of Jesus Christ.  When we talk about "new birth" or being "born again," there are some major blind spots and misunderstanding of these concepts.  It's all about Christ and him crucified, not my choice!

People were frustrated with Jesus because he says to religious people who think they can get to heaven on their own accord that it is impossible to do that, even if you are a child of Abraham.  Jesus told parables that embarrassed both religious and rich people as well as frustrating his listeners to the point of them trying to save themselves but rather they should throw themselves to the mercy of God and into the arms of a loving Messiah.

Nobody can do enough good works or believe enough to be saved.  Your faith in Christ doesn't birth you but his faith birthed you.  We can not keep the law like the young rich ruler and we can not rebirth ourselves like Nicodemus.  We were born again when Jesus came out of the womb and we were born again when Jesus stepped out of the tomb.  "We are saved by His (Christ) faithfulness, not our ability to muster up faith" (p.227).  Salvation has always and will always comes from above.  Actually, being "born again" literally in its root meaning means "born from above."  Are you born from above?  Are you a new creation in Christ?  Are you a heavenly person on earth?

Today is the Day of Salvation

Today I woke in tears of grief
God spoke to me and gave me relief
Darkness and deception clouding my mind
Destructive thoughts and desires rob my sleep in a bind

I repent and fall on my face
The pain is gone, no more disgrace
Jesus looks at me and now I'm free
No more hiding, I fall on my knees

The bright morning star wipes the night away
My tears are gone and Christ fills my day
Salvation is near and closer than you think
Breathe God in and He will transform you in a moments blink

St Issac the Syrian

I was able to purchase the Homilies of St Issac the Syrian, who is a revered hermit from the 600-700 ad (not sure what years but it is around there).

Anyway, here is an outstanding article about his Universalism.

Enjoy!

Christian Universalism

I am moving in this direction but I have much more work to do, but this is for Chris to read as it is a powerful little book!

Outcome of Infinite Grace

http://www.tentmaker.org/books/infinitegrace.htm

Decisionism versus Discipleship

MUCH OF WHAT CHRISTIANS AND THE CHURCH PROCLAIM IS NOT WHAT JESUS AND THE APOSTLES PREACHED - Scot McKnight

I had said recently that I have come to the conclusion that church membership diminishes discipleship. Why should people choose the difficult way of discipleship when the easy road of church membership already has them "in" the church. It's like handing a college graduation certificate to students and telling them "we hope you take the classes." How many college students would do the hard work if they were told they already have the completed degree in their hands?

Scot McKnight new book "The King Jesus Gospel" raises some hard questions that the church today needs to answer. Questions like:

1. Is the gospel we are preaching the same gospel of the Scriptures and how is it shaping you into a disciple of Jesus?

2. Is the focus on making disciples in our evangelism or is it simply on getting a decision?

3. Is the "sinners prayer" or "accepting Jesus into our hearts" really spiritually transforming people's lives? Is this the approach that the early Apostles took?

4. Is the gospel and salvation the same thing? If they are not interchangeable, then how are they different?

So McKnight asks the big question: What is the gospel?

How would you answer?

Romans 8:28

I have been thinking about Romans 8:28 for some time now.  Last week or so, I did a search under meaning when I had a little time because I was particularly thinking of what Greek word for love is in that verse.  What I found as the first link was actually very interesting.  It is written from a Mennonite perspective.  Now, one of the areas of Christianity that I study is the Anabaptist and the Reformation.  When it comes to salvation and life, I am synergistic, or one who believes in the cooperation in our life between God and us to accomplish the work of our salvation.  Therefore, I am comfortable with the coexistence of our free will (although limited) and God's absolute sovereignty/control/origination of all things.  Unfortunately with the Wikipedia article linked, it begins with a what I consider an incomplete beginning by starting with the Reformation as in reality, the early church's position in my opinion, prior to Augustine, was synergistic.  So to me, the correct "organization" if you will of the Wikipedia article would be to begin with the oldest traditions and then move historically forward. 

Why You Might Want To Be Left Behind

On the less serious side, I think people might want to be left behind for several reasons:

1. You love to eat breaded locust.
2. You always wanted a fly circus.
3. The moon turning red is your favorite color.
4. I would rather eat a scroll than read a scroll any day.
5. Hey, I love apocalyptic movies so the real thing should be better.
6. I saw the grapes of wrath on Veggie Tales and I thought they were cute.
7. If the seas turn to blood, no more blood mobile drives! Yeah!
8. I like big bon fires!
9. I always wanted to see death and hades get theres in the end!
10. I've always been an introvert and preferred hiding in caves!

I mean, who reads the book of Jude anymore? All that cryptic stuff about hell, fire, judgment, and angels roasting on an open fire. But notice the angels who face everlasting judgment did not keep their proper domain because they LEFT their own abode (v.6) The angels are taken to judgment because they left behind heaven. Besides all the judgment talk in Israel being taken into captivity and judgment, the Bible is full of stories of those left behind and those taken.

Most of us have been taught since childhood that the good people will be raptured away to heaven and the bad people get stuck on earth since we know earth is hell or hell is coming to earth. But God's Word does not treat creation with contempt but with dignity. The earth is good and does need restoration. Just like there is a new heaven coming, there is also a new earth coming. Almost all the Bible commentators say that those who get left behind are the bad people while the good ones get taken up into heaven. This is why we cannot trust Bible commentaries! Often what is popular and contemporary at the moment gets presented as ancient biblical truth. But can it be that God has new light to shed on His word for us today? Luke 17:31-36 is about two groups of people who are either left behind or taken. Can it be that those who are taken are taken into judgment rather than bliss? Can the ancient Jewish view actually be right that God wants to restore paradise on earth or bring heaven down to earth? The two examples given are Sodom's destruction and the global flood in Noah's day. In Matthew 24:38-39, the ones taken away were those who were swept away into God's judgment by the flood!

Many people today are rightly concerned about being left behind and thinking they won't get raptured much less have to go through the great and terrible tribulation period. But if the rapture and escapist thinking are not correct, maybe we have been reading God's Word from the wrong persepctive? Maybe its just opposite of what we have always thought and those who get taken away get zapped and those who are left behind are blessed? If this is the case, then this may be why one should be more concerned of getting left behind rather than getting taken away into judgment.

Love Wins

Rob Bell's new book is causing quite the controversy. His book asks hard questions that make many people in the church squirm to being out right angry. On the issue of universal salvation or universalism, Rob Bell says he does not believe in universalism even though some are trying to stick the label on him. Bell may hope that all may be saved in the end, but he really does not know for sure. He raises the question and Rob Bell likes asking uncomfortable questions.

I am currently reading Bell's book and it seems like Bell is asking a lot of the right questions even if some of his answers miss the mark or are wrong. Christians may not always like how he uses scripture or represents a differing opinion, but Bell is a master writer who wants the church to have a new conversation on issues of Hell and Salvation. Isn't it time for the church to reexamine some issues and have some new conversations? The standard conversations of how this usually happens has run quite thin for many people. Maybe part of the the great exit people see happening in the church today is how we handle controversy in the church?. When people ask hard questions or raise their doubts and even unbelief, are they received in love or silenced by scorn?

Rob Bell is certainly right about one thing, love wins in the end. If we can not even have a friendly debate or an honest loving discussion among Christians, how are we to with the world? If we can not speak to one another in love, then should we speak at all?