Elementary Christianity

Myisha takes a look at Hebrews in order to explain what makes up the milk that new Christians are to be fed.

Lady Wisdom

It feels like wishful thinking to imagine Jesus being physically present in the Old Testament. In fact, some would say that to read Jesus into the Old Testament in such a way is to abuse the Bible. But if that's true, then it seems like the New Testament writers themselves abused the Old Testament, because they seem to be attesting to his presence there.

In today's podcast, we dissect a number of verses that give plausibility to Jesus' pre-incarnate and Old Testament existence, whether it be in the physical form of Yahweh (a theophany), the Angel of Yahweh, or Lady Wisdom. The Bible paints a very intriguing and strange picture for us to consider, and it seems the New Testament writers want us to embrace the thought.

The Wisdom of God

Paul's theological cornerstone was to know nothing more than Christ crucified. This was not something he only had to remind himself of, but the Corinthian church as well; for they were trying to blend worldly wisdom into Christianity and suppress the message of the cross. Jamin and Myisha tag team preach their way through the topic of worldly and Godly wisdom.

Across Denominational Lines

The Bible never promotes division in the church. Not only did Jesus pray that we'd all be one, but Paul called the Corinthians out when they began to identify themselves too much with church leaders rather than with Christ. It is clear from the Scriptures that there was a struggle to keep the church unified and now two thousand years later we have hundreds of thousands of denominations—each one sharing in its own differences. The church looks less unified than ever. So how do we honor Jesus' prayer in light of all of this? I propose an option and it is not to turn away from denominations.

The Already But Not Yet

The Gospel of Mark has been forcing me to preach on a lot of eschatology at church lately. Today we took a look what theologians call, "the already but not yet"—an understanding of our currently place in spiritual history based on a tension we find all throughout the Scriptures. A Biblical Theology of the New Testament puts it succinctly.

The already/not yet tension. The outworking of God’s salvation is seen by Hebrews in an already/not yet tension, as in the New Testament in general. The decisive era in the fulfillment of God’s promises has been reached or inaugurated in Christ, so that in some sense the fulfillment is already present. But the consummation has not yet come, and significant events in God’s program are eagerly expected in the future.

This topic is fresh on my mind as it's a section of the new book I'm working on, The Rest & the Rush. The topic becomes crucial for understanding our place as Christians in the world and our work under the Holy Spirit. Check out the podcast for this morning's message.

Resurrection: The Final Afterlife

The American church has more or less communicated this idea that when we die, we go off to Heaven to be with God. While this is true, the Bible communicates this to be more or less an intermediate state on the destination to which we are headed: a new Heaven and a new Earth with new imperishable physical bodies. This is Pauline theology and should be Christianity 101, but many of us aren't even aware of the Bible's message on this. It's "Life after life after death," as N.T. Wright puts it.

In this week's podcast episode I preach out some of the details while reflecting on passages from Paul's letters, Revelation, and N.T. Wright's books, Surprised by Hope and The Resurrection of the Son of God. If you're interested in learning more, I suggest Surprised by Hope for the crucial points in the conversation. The Resurrection of the Son of God is very good, but quite comprehensive.

The Prevailing Church

If we want to be a thriving and prevailing church, we need the Holy Spirit to enter our midst and take us forward. Superintendent Bruce Rhodes of the Southern Michigan Conference of the Free Methodist Church speaks in this special sermon.

Sociology & the Cross

When we look at the society of Jesus' time, we're appalled. How on earth could an entire society approve of nailing a man to a cross? How could that kind of atrocity be considered just another day in the life? We think that in 21st century we're more civilized than that and that we would never do anything that resembled crucifixion.

But our thoughts are undone by history, because 1,900 years after the cross, Hitler rose to power and many in Germany (including some of the church) followed him into his darkness, treating his satanic ideologies as though they were gospel. Our thoughts are further undone by the Rwandan genocide some 24 years ago when Hutus were handed weapons by the government and told to go kill their Tutsi neighbors and friends whom they ate and talked with—and they did it!

It ends up that we are far more susceptible to sociology than we thought. It seems that if all of society is willing to submit to the darkness together, many will follow without question. The world around us is constantly trying to force us to kneel before it, and if we're living by the flesh and not by the Spirit, chances are we will do so whether we're aware of it or not—regardless of how dark it gets.

Lead Like Jesus

Myisha hits on 3 characteristics of Jesus' leadership.

The Fourth Cup

There was a tradition at Passover in Jesus' time that speaks volumes as to what Jesus was communicating at the Last Supper. Scholars have done their best to reconstruct these traditions and in the light of them, everything from the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane to the cross (to the end times?) comes into deeper understanding. We begin to see the things that the Jews of Jesus' time would have recognized in the Gospels and we realize that there's a lot to the story we've been missing due to 2,000 years of cultural separation. 

Drawing from Brant Pitre's book, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, Jamin looks at the four cups Jesus would have drank at the Passover and why they are important to understanding our place in the story of God today.

The Delayed Return of Jesus

C.S. Lewis once remarked that Jesus saying he'd return within a generation was, "certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible." While Lewis' words are a bit brash, at least he was honest about his feelings. It's clear in reading the New Testament that the early church literally thought Jesus meant one generation. Even 2 Peter has to face the question: "What's taking so long?"

So if the early church had to wonder 90-95 years after Jesus, perhaps we too can wonder what's taking so long some 2,000 years later. I believe that the authors of, When the Son of Man Didn't Come: A Constructive Proposal on the Delay of the Parousia (which was beautifully written by an interdenominational group of believers), have a solution for the world. Their answer is not to interpret "generation" in some weird apocalyptic or symbolic light, but to simply understand how prophecy works. And it ends up that the Bible is quite clear: God can decide to change prophetic words depending on how his people interact with him.

In borrowing (almost entirely) from this book, my message today proposes that God changed his mind about when Jesus would return—and I don't think that's anywhere near as jarring as it sounds. Checkout the podcast to see how I get there.

Jesus' Birth Date

There are a lot of investigations into Scripture that I often think are pointless, like trying to figure out an exact date that Jesus was born on. I struggle to understand why that would truly matter to my spiritual life. 

But then scholars like Michael Heiser prove me wrong in his book, Reversing Hermon (or see his podcast episode, What Day Was Jesus Born?). If Jesus was born on a day that already held important symbolic meaning for the Jews, then his actual birthdate would matter—and that’s exactly the case Heiser makes. 

Today’s podcast is more or less a less detailed version of Heiser’s research, which I taught for Christmas Eve this morning. I always hope to uncover something a little deeper about the Christmas story each year because it’s a story Christians know too well and one of the only stories C&E Christians know. Today’s approach is about as wild as I’ve ever gone on a holiday. Hope you find it interesting as we dive into Revelation of all places!

Scribes & Widows

Jesus said death was ahead of him at Jerusalem and now it almost seems like he's calling it out to come fight him. First he flips tables full of money at the temple; then he calls the Pharisees out on their hypocrisy; then he tells the Saducees that they're, "Quite wrong"; and now he calls the Scribes out on their oppression and pride.

In doing so, he leaves us with a comparison between the adored Scribe who thinks he's something and the oppressed widow who thinks she's nothing. But as is typical when seen through the eyes of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus shows us that the two are actually reversed.

Resurrection

For the modern day Christian, resurrection is a basic principle of belief, but in Jesus' time it was a hot topic, intensely debated between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Believe it or not, there is almost no reference to the idea of resurrection in the Old Testament. It seems the Jews just thought people died and that their spirit entered the afterlife existence of Sheol. The Sadducees didn't even believe that. They believed your spirit died with your body and that was the end of the conversation. With this in mind, our ears become wide open as Jesus engages in the topic.

Jesus & Taxes

Jesus' famous line to "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" is jam-packed with all kinds of implications. To truly see what Jesus is saying we must unpack his lesson like a parable in order to find the prophetic meaning and conviction that is in his statement. We must also understand the culture of the time so that we can comprehend just how prevalent this hot topic was to Jesus' society.

The Religious Industry

Almost immediately after entering Jerusalem, Jesus walks up to God's temple and starts flipping tables. Jamin draws from his experience in pursuit of the Music Industry to explain why this might have been.

Walking Boldly to the Cross

We often talk about God wanting to bless us, which causes us to rarely talk about how Jesus called us into persecution with him. But then again, maybe blessing and persecution are the same thing, seeing as how Jesus said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Today Jamin takes a look at three short verses in Mark 10 where Jesus prophesies about his upcoming flogging and death while walking to the place where it will all happen. Those following him are left both amazed and afraid.

From Riches to Rags

As we continue our journey through Mark, Jamin preaches a message that no one wants to hear. Jesus' words on selling everything we own and giving the proceeds to the poor are hard to take in. But it's supposed to be hard to hear—that's the point. And therefore, Jamin suggests that rather than try to water down Jesus' words, we should learn to live in the burden of them.

Imagers of God

People give all kinds of explanations as to what it means to be made "in the image of God"—often saying the image is our intelligence. But that's not what the original language of the Bible is trying to say to us. Being made in the image of God is not just an adjective, in fact, it may be better understood as verb. Jamin explains more at a youth retreat and relates to how Jesus is the clearest example of the image of God we've ever been given.

The Children of the Kingdom

We all know what it's like to feel or indignant or to have someone feel indignant at us. Even Jesus was indignant! But it may not have been for reasons that you thought.