Couldn't Help Noticing

Can 2000 years of history be wrong?

I had just finished leading a workshop on ‘Worship in the Bible’ at the recent TWIST conference. I had traced the Bible's teaching on the subject from the Old Testament into the New, making the biblically obvious point that how the Bible talks about worship is very different from how we talk about it today. When we mention the word ‘worship’, we are nearly always talking about some aspect of church services, whereas ‘worship’ in the New Testament is nearly always about Christ and his sacrifice, and the life of honour and obedience lived by those he has redeemed.

Among other things, I had also pointed out how quickly the early Christians had reverted to using Old Testament temple and worship language to describe New Testament church life (Christian ministers as ‘priests’ etc.), and how this mistake had continued for much of church history.

One of the delegates rolled up to chat afterwards, and asked a very interesting question: “If it's been Christian practice for most of church history to describe our church services as ‘worship’, then wouldn't we have to be very, very sure of ourselves before we declared 2000 years of church history mistaken?”

I mumbled something about tradition sometimes being a dignified name for ‘error grown old’, and thanked him for his point.

It was only afterwards that (typically) I thought of what I should have said. We shouldn't be at all surprised that the early church quickly fell back into Old Testament ways of thinking about church life, nor that this problem has persisted ever since. We shouldn't be surprised because that's precisely what we see happening in the New Testament itself.

From the very beginning, the relationship of the Old Covenant to the New was a crucial (excuse the pun) issue for Christians, and one which they frequently got wrong. Large swathes of Paul's letters, large portions of Acts, and pretty much the whole of Hebrews are devoted to clarifying the radical difference Jesus makes in God's history of salvation, and the problems that can follow when this is not properly understood. The mistake, in each case, was to fail to see how Jesus had fulfilled the Old Testament, and thus to drag Old Testament practices over into the New.

Thinking and talking about church as a temple-like ‘worship’ event is but one example of the tendency. It is with us still.

Leaving a Legacy

A local church sends me its monthly newsletter. From what I can tell, it is a solid, Bible-believing church focused on the gospel. When I received this month's letter, an article headline caught my eye:

Leaving a Legacy

My initial thoughts were, “Great! Maybe they are starting a discipleship program, or maybe they're holding an evangelistic outreach event. What better legacy can a person leave than by passing on the gospel to others?”

My excitement soon waned as I read the first lines:

Congregation members can make an impact on the future direction of this church by planning and implementing a total planned giving program. Planned giving can be a powerful stewardship opportunity for those who love God and care about the future of this church.

Of course, it is good to give willingly and generously to the church. The money, no doubt, helps support gospel ministry. Still, I would like to see an appeal for a more direct approach in leaving a legacy. So, I thought I would modify the article slightly:

Congregation members can make an impact on the future of this church and the world by planning and implementing a total gospel-sharing program. Gospel sharing is a powerful opportunity for God to speak to lost and wayward people. Additionally, God entrusted those who love him and care about the future of his son's church to pass on this wonderful, life-changing message.

Muslims terrorising your neighbourhood?

Paul Sheehan's opinion piece on the Sydney Morning Herald, here, represents a new type of article that you would never have seen in an Australian (or probably UK) broadsheet newspaper six years ago. We are starting to see that rarest of beasties: the publication by secular liberals of articles that criticize Muslims.

In the article, Sheehan speaks of the aggressive pattern of behaviour of some Middle Eastern Muslims who are forcing older residents of particular suburbs out of their houses by intimidatory behaviour such as verbal abuse, or throwing objects at windows and roofs. After the terrified individual caves in and leaves, the house is taken over by Muslim renters or buyers.

Sheehan also draws attention to the racism that managed to lump together Middle Eastern Muslims and Middle Eastern Christians in an unfortunate piece of non-discrimination.

I wrote in with this (unpublished) response:

Dear editor,

Thanks to Paul Sheehan for drawing our attention to the important distinction that exists between violent members of the Middle Eastern Muslim community, and peaceful members of the Middle Eastern Christian community. It's bad news that they end up being tarred with the same racist brush.

However, I also want to point out that there are numbers of peaceable Middle Eastern Muslims in Sydney who are interested in thoughtful and friendly interaction with Christians of any race. I know because I've met some, and I know of many more. Many Muslims are prepared to consider the claim that Jesus died and rose again—a claim that, if true, directly undermines their religion. That's impressive, and beats the pants off a number of the easily threatened secular humanists and atheists I've had dealings with.

Yours etc.

Genesis-Tyndale commentary

The Tyndale commentary on Genesis, by Derek Kidner, is an oldie but a goodie. He consigns any discussion of the chronology of Genesis to an “additional note”, and saves the bulk of his attention for the matters he considers to be crucial to understanding these early chapters. What matters? Glad you asked. Three things: God, man and salvation.

God

Says Kidner,

From the outset, Genesis confronts us with the Living God, unmistakably personal ... He is the only God, the Creator and Sovereign of all that is ... His ways are perfect ... He is self-revealed. God's unity is not monolithic ... ‘the Angel of the Lord’ as a term for the Lord Himself, becomes meaningful only in the light of ‘him whom the Father ... sent into the world’, the pre-existent Son.

Man

Kidner points us to his place before God—man's constitution, his calling, his fall, and his plight. He speaks of Man in society—his relation to ‘things’ and persons, and his authority.

Salvation

This is the key third theme that Kidner draws attention to. In Genesis, says Kidner, we find Grace, Election, and the Sinner's Reclamation. In Genesis, in other words, we anticipate Christ.

Kidner's commentary is still worth having and using.

Godliness with contentment is … quite difficult really

“Research” released today shows what many of us know to be true from personal experience: most of us actually like reading junk mail (catalogues or other advertising material) that arrives in our letterbox—whether addressed or unaddressed.

Putting aside for the moment the fact that the “research” was paid for by two companies with a significant vested interest in promoting the use of junk mail, and therefore ought to be treated with a degree of suspicion, what can we surmise?

As a sender of direct mail catalogues (for Matthias Media resources), in one sense I'm personally glad to hear that the majority of people quite enjoy looking at catalogues.

But, conscious of both the Bible's warnings about greed and materialism, as well as my own sinfulness in this area, I also recognise that looking at catalogues that arrive in my letterbox is catering to a desire in my heart for more “stuff”. As I flick through their pages and see things my heart desires to have, I experience the sinful reason many of us enjoy catalogues. So I have no difficulty believing the survey result; 90% of the population are as sinful as me and enjoy the same covetousness.