The Bible
The Bible is not a Holy Book.
(I had to get your attention somehow, right?) It would be more accurate to call it a Holy Anthology, because the Bible isn’t one book by one author. Instead, scholars consider it to be a collection of 66 different books written by various authors. Some of those “books” are incredibly small – only a few pages at most. Today we wouldn’t even call those books. They’d be pamphlets at best. Those are often letters written by Paul or various apostles to the church. Others are huge like Psalms often considered the longest of the books. Interestingly one scholar converted the Bible into ASCII format to calculate the true length of each book and found Jeremiah to be the longest.[1] Who wrote which books is a matter of debate even today. Scholars argue whether or not Paul wrote all the letters he is said to have written. There is also debate around the Gospels. Most assume they were written by the apostles they were named after – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Some believe that Mark wrote the first account and then Matthew and Luke added to it and changed it slightly. Because John is so different, it’s assumed that his was written by him.
Or was it?
Authorship of the Gospels is something scholars continue to argue about, too. Most don’t believe they were written by the actual disciples themselves but might have been written by their followers or from communities formed by them. Some speculate all three of what we call the Synoptic Gospels – Mark, Matthew, and Luke – were based on Mark and a secondary Q source. Sounds like the basis of a Dan Brown novel, right? But many Biblical scholars believe it to be true. They think there was another source that provided the stories that are in common between Matthew and Luke. No one has ever found such a source or evidence of such a source, but because of how similar the stories between them are scholars feel confident some other source must have been used. John, however, was so different from the others that while it is considered one of the Gospels, it is unique among the four. And also, thought not to be written by John. Many believe the purpose behind each Gospel account is different. Mark is often considered the original source and is the shortest of the four. Luke’s Gospel along with the Book of Acts is closest to an historical recounting of events. Luke takes painstaking care to include dates and events in his writing to allow historians to pinpoint his accounts to other attested things that happened during that time. Matthew’s account was written more for the Jewish people of his time. He recounts details that would matter to the Jewish community and focuses on Jesus’ fulfillment of Scripture. And John is largely seen as an appeal to the Gentiles. It is written as a story outlining the phenomenal life of Christ and is accessible to people who have no history of the Old Testament or any of the prophecies. It’s also probably why it ends with the verse, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. (John 21:25)”
Our Old Testament is the same as the Jewish Tanakh.
But with one big difference. The books are ordered differently. Tanakh is actually an acronym for the three major sections of the Hebrew Bible. It stands for Torah (the Law or Instructions); Nevi’im (the Prophets); and the Ketuvim (or Writings sometimes referred to as Poetry and Wisdom literature). T-N-K or Ta-Na-Kh. The Christian Bible, alternatively, orders the books of what we call the Old Testament with the same first five books, but from there they mix it up and instead of ending in the poetry and writings, ours ends with the prophets. For Christians this makes complete sense because the story of the Old Testament ends with prophets pointing to the coming of Christ which then gets fulfilled in the very next pages. And that is what the Bible is really all about. For me, the entirety of these 66 books comes down to one passage which is why it is my favorite in the whole Bible. It comes from John’s Gospel as he relates Jesus’ final commandment. It isn’t long but it has more meaning packed into it than whole books.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35
We should know more about the Bible.
How it was created; the thought behind each book; how it is similar and different to the Hebrew Bible; but most importantly is to make sure we understand the message God is trying to share with us – love one another. How much better would the world be if we followed this simple rule. Simple to understand, not always simple to follow. But God’s message for us, while summarized here beautifully is found all over the Bible. Maybe most famously is in the Matthew which we call the greatest commandment. “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:36-40).” But there are others, too. From John’s first letter to the church: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God… (1 John 4:7). From Peter’s first letter: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8). From Paul’s letter to the Roman people: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8). And so many others.
If more people read the Bible instead of quoting from it, the world would be a better place.
I want to encourage you to find a Bible that speaks to you. There are so many out there and the translation makes a difference. Take for example this passage from Proverbs:
Each passage is different in its own way, and some will speak to you more than others, but most are faithful translations of the Bible. There are a few like The Message and The Living Bible that are not translations at all but paraphrases of the Bible so that’s even one more step removed from the original source. We use the New International Version in worship. It is easy to understand yet still faithful to the original text. It’s the most widely used version and one of the most balanced. The one we used in seminary was the NRSV or New Revised Standard Version. It is closer to a word-for-word translation while still being fairly easy to read. But the one I like to introduce to people who might find the NIV a little bit tough is the New Living Translation or NLT. It’s a bit more “loosey-goosey” than the NIV but it is even easier to read, and I just find somehow enjoyable. The NiRV is also a wonderful read. Even though we do have the words on the screen in worship, I do encourage you to read your own Bibles, to take notes, to read it for yourself and see how the words impact you personally. Some of the stories may challenge you. Some might uplift you. Some might be frustrating or puzzling. But by reading it for yourself, I think you’ll get a deeper understanding of God.
If you are looking for a style of Bible, a journaling Bible is useful, especially for anyone who likes to take notes. One of my favorites is the Beautiful Word Coloring Bible. It has space for notes and has coloring throughout when you just want to sit with a verse for a while. I love the leathersoft cover. The Inspire Bible is the NLT equivalent. The cover is hardback instead of soft but otherwise very similar to the Beautiful Word Bible. If you’re more of a history buff or want to understand the culture and times the Scripture was written, my favorite over the years has been the Archaeological Study Bible. It has great resources and illustrations to bring that time to life. Another good one that I own on Kindle is the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. Any study Bible is wonderful, especially if you’re starting out exploring the Bible on your own. When Cassie and I first started attending Bible study together we both had the Life Application Study Bible. Even today, that version is a great place to start. No matter what Bible you start with, I would encourage you to read it for yourself. We believe in this so much we bought Bibles for you. If you don’t have a Bible and would like one, you can take one and I will even send you one for free. Every person should have a Bible to get to know God’s vision for their life. Because it’s all about love.
[1] In his article, Justin Taylor cites David J. Reimer’s research on the topic.
The Living Word
What is considered “canon?”
This question is debated all the time in virtually every nook and cranny of fandom. Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC, even Disney! What is official and what is not? There’s always a controversy somewhere. Star Wars reset their entire continuity after Disney took over and fans were so upset! Some of their favorite characters were wiped out of official continuity at the drop of a hat.[1] When Star Trek rebooted the movies and introduced Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, again fans were livid. Less because they introduced new actors and more because they changed Trek history. They even named this block of movies as “The Kelvin Timeline” to differentiate it from the “real” timeline.[2] And don’t get me started on comic books. The number of times a character’s origin story has been told and retold is ridiculous. One website chronicles the number of Superman origin stories at 835 (and counting with the new movie coming out in July).[3] Fans will spend hours arguing about which origin story is real, or which version best represents the heart and soul of their favorite character. Believe it or not, the same thing happened with the Bible.
To us, the Bible is the most authoritative book we have.
We are called the People of Five Books because of how important each one is defining who we are. The Book of Worship provides guidance on how to lead worship. The Book of Discipline outlines the basics for running a church. The Book of Resolutions collects our position on many social issues. And our hymnal shares our most important songs and prayers cataloged for easy research. But the Bible is the most important. It is held in higher esteem than any other book in our faith. Even non-churchgoing people often hold it in reverence or at least respect as a holy book. But when it was first created, there was a lot of debate about which books should be included and which should not. Which books would become canon? It would take hundreds of years to decisively determine which books would make the final list. Even today we still differ about which books are considered authoritative. Although Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants have the same New Testament, they have different numbers of books included in the Old Testament. Thirty-nine of the books in the OT are the same, but the Catholic Bible includes a section we refer to as the Apocrypha – additional books not considered to be as authoritative as the others, but still important enough to be included. The Orthodox Church has even more of those “not quite as authoritative” books included – hence the differences in our Bibles.
So what is the Bible to us?
One way of looking at it comes directly from the Bible itself. As Methodists, our official stance on the Bible is that it is the inspired Word of God. We believe the Bible is inspired, but not inerrant. That means the early writers were guided by the Holy Spirit when composing the different books of the Bible, but they wrote them in their own style, their own experience, and their own encounter with God. Everything they wrote was through their own life experience. We also believe the Bible is sufficient for matters of faith. All that means is we believe by knowing God’s character and reading the Bible in context we can figure out for ourselves what God would say to us today. But the Bible is not inerrant in the way we understand inerrancy today.[4] Plain and simple there are errors in the Bible. But those errors are not errors that change the fundamentals of our faith. Like when you read all four Gospels, you’ll find they don’t always put events in the same order or they will have slightly different details. Does that mean they didn’t happen? No. It just means each writer remembers the events a little differently. But they do not take away from the essence or meaning of the Bible. Maybe because we are so far away from the time of Christ we have put more and more weight on the Bible itself, but something Adam Hamilton wrote in his book Making Sense of the Bible stuck with me. He wrote, “One concern I have for those who hold to inerrancy is that they seem to indicate that their entire faith would collapse if the Bible were found to have one real error…this seems a very weak foundation for one’s faith. The early Christians did not see an inerrant Bible as the foundation for their faith. For them, it was Jesus Christ, God’s Word enfleshed, that was the foundation of their faith.”
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3: 14-17
When we read this passage, we think Paul is talking about the Bible.
But he wasn’t talking about the Bible at all. At least not as we know it today. The Scriptures Paul was talking about were what we call the Old Testament. At most it may have included some of the early church writings, but the Bible as it is constructed today hadn’t yet been determined. Having said that, we still believe this statement is as true today as it was back then. What we consider to be our sacred texts, the Scriptures as we know it, are God-breathed to us – meaning we believe them to have been inspired by God and because they were, they are useful in “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training us in righteousness.” If this is true, we should constantly refer to them for direction and inspiration. We should know them. We should study them so we too can be “thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
But there are some things the Bible is not.
The Bible is not an Owner’s Manual. It isn’t meant to be the single definitive answer to every problem we encounter. It IS meant to help us understand the nature of God and his will for our lives, but unlike an Owner’s Manual, it doesn’t deconstruct our lives one bolt at a time or tell us in minute detail everything we should do every minute of every day. Some people refer to the Bible using an acronym – Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.[5] Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth and while cute, the Bible is much more than that. The danger we have when we treat it as an owner’s manual is we are left rudderless when something doesn’t turn out as expected. Take for instance the book of James. In James 5:14-15, the Bible states, “14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well…” What happens then when that person dies? Does that mean we were not faithful enough? Hamilton told a story about a woman who had became angry with God because she believed in this promise, but when her son became ill he died anyways. He said, “The Bible now seemed to her a book of broken promises.”[6] We need to look at the Bible as a living document. It isn’t meant to address every problem in every age with exactitude. Instead the Bible is meant to help us understand the God we serve. It’s intended to give us a better perspective on how God intends for us to live and how we are to treat one another. It’s meant to give us a clearer picture of the people God meant for us to be. But it wasn’t meant to be an instruction manual given once for all time. If you were to read an instruction manual for the telephone back in the 1930’s it would read very differently than one today. That’s because an instruction manual is meant to be used only for a very specific time and place. To think the Bible was written like that would be very much the same thing – very limiting. Instead, the Bible is written more like our Constitution with different people interpreting it in different ways. Some take a more literal view of it, some take a more interpretative view of it, and together we struggle to hear the intent of our founding fathers in applying its principals today. For us as Christians we would say we struggle to hear the intent of our Founding Father in Heaven.
The Bible is a gift.
It’s a gift from God to help us grow closer to him and understand him. But like I said before, it’s not an owner’s manual. God gave you a brain and free will for a reason, in the hopes that you will make decisions that honor him. And how can you do that if you don’t know him? Read your Bible. Study it. Become a student of God if you aren’t already. And I hope that by studying the Bible, and discovering new truths about it, it will strengthen your faith and make you more confident in the God who inspired these writings. As it says in the last chapter of John, “30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
[1] More and more of the old characters are being “re-canonized” as fan favorites are leaking into the new rebooted universe. My favorite being Grand Admiral Thrawn, but another favorite, Luke Skywalker’s wife and former Red Guard Mara Jade remains outside of the official story. https://screenrant.com/star-wars-disney-canon-reset-problems-explained/ for more on Star Wars canon.
[2] I did find it interesting that even Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, never had a consistent view on what was “canon.” However, the debate about the Kelvin timeline was solved, even if some fans didn’t accept it.
[3] My personal favorite version of Superman is the one with Krypto the Superdog! I mean who wouldn’t love a super dog? This article from Comic Book Resources shares some of those 835 origins.
[4] http://www.crivoice.org/inerrant.html (This article about inerrancy gives a lot of clarification to the entire debate and how our view of modern inerrancy is different from what it was intended to be).
[5] Adam Hamilton, op.cit., p.8.
[6] Ibid, p.9.
From A Certain Point of View
When my youngest sister, Nicole, would cry, I would get up in the night and take care of her.
My room was right next to hers so I could hear her clear as a bell. The first time it happened, I asked why no one picked her up and my mom told me she needed to cry it out. But I couldn’t sit there and do nothing! How could I let her cry, not knowing if anyone cared, while tears rolled down her face? I couldn’t. Not when all I had to do was pick her up to get her to stop crying. The first time I did it, I got in trouble so I would sneak into her room…quietly lower the crib jail door…and rock her to sleep. A couple of times I even changed her diaper when it felt full. Once she fell asleep, I would lay her down gently and make my way back to my room. It only happened a few times. It’s not like I went in there every single night. But still, if you ask my family about it, they deny it ever happened. But my argument is this– how would they know? They were asleep! That’s the whole point!
It’s funny how people remember things differently.
From something as simple as helping my baby sister to huge historical events, different people remember things in different ways. Living in California, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II is pretty common knowledge. You may not know a ton about it, but I remember even in junior high we learned about it when we studied World War II. But when I was living in Georgia, most people I ran into either knew very little about it or didn’t know it happened at all. Cassie told me it wasn’t something they were taught in class even though it was a part of our curriculum out here. When I was serving at Roswell UMC right outside of Atlanta, I would share stories in Sunday school and worship about how the internment affected the lives of the Japanese American community and my family in particular and it took me by surprise how many people would come up afterward and talk about how shocked they were and how surprised they were to find out what happened. More shocking to me was how easily people would brush it aside and justify it as a reasonable reaction to the war. I wonder if they would think it so reasonable if their parents and grandparents were the ones locked up?
How we view the world and everything in it depends on a lot of things.
How we were raised. Where we lived. Who were our friends. What our parents believed. The biology of our bodies. Our own experiences. All these things and so much more shape our perspective and color our interpretation of everything around us. So, let me ask you this: Do you believe in OT God or NT God? Are you a fire and brimstone God believer or a God of hugs and love? Drastic oversimplification, I know. But how we understand God and view God depends on the lens through which we view life. One of the biggest difficulties we encounter in the Bible is the difference between the God of the Old Testament who at times seems cruel and angry, and the God of the New Testament filled with love and grace. Now there are plenty of times in the Old Testament where God shows grace and mercy. The hundred or so times that the people of Israeli abandon God and then come crying back to him when things get tough. God always welcomed them back. God saved his people and brought them out of slavery in Egypt. God provided manna and water literally out of the clear blue sky while they were wandering in the desert. But God’s wrath is evident in abundance in the Old Testament, and it makes us wonder, “Is God really like this?” Or is the God we follow the one we see in the New Testament that John describes for us in his letter to the church.
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. – 1 John 4:7-15
This is the God we believe in.
But do we just ignore the God of the Old Testament because we don’t like what we see? Do we rewrite history because it doesn’t make us feel good? Or do we wrestle with it and try to understand the complex nature of God? These are both the same God. I think what troubles us most is how it sows seeds of doubt about God’s character and God’s existence. It is also the biggest hurdle for people to overcome in their belief in God. If you take the Bible to be the inerrant word of God (meaning that there are absolutely no mistakes), then there are two possibilities people rely on to justify God’s actions. One, that God as the author of life has the right to take it at any time he pleases. And two, the people God kills somehow deserve it.[1] But does that make it okay? A mother who gives birth to her child wouldn’t be justified in taking that child’s life simply because she gave birth to him, so why would we let God get away with it? Plus, it makes God awfully fickle when it comes to giving and taking life. When Hurricane Katrina hit, there were people who said it was God’s will against the sinful city of New Orleans, but can you tell me what the 10 recorded infants who died might have done to sin against God? Or the other 10 children who died along with them? And could we really say the people who died were among the most sinful in the city? All 971 of them? And that’s only according to one study.[2] Some have the death toll at twice that much.[3] Do we think God handpicked those people to die? And if so, why in that way? God, being almighty, could simply strike down the people he didn’t like. Look at what happened to Ananias. Luke tells us in Acts 5 that Peter simply accuses Ananias of lying to God and he fell over dead. If God was really going to strike vengeance, why not do it this way? What disturbs me most about the passage we read from Deuteronomy is that God is making the Israelites into his engine of death. Instead of doing it himself, he commands them to do the killing including every man, woman, and child for something they haven’t even done yet. Is this the God we follow…or could there be another explanation?
Perhaps the early Biblical writers got it wrong.
Not intentionally but maybe the writers of the Old Testament confused what God was saying with what fit into their idea of the world. As Hamilton wrote in his book, Making Sense of the Bible, “In this case, the biblical authors were representing what they believed about God rather than what God actually inspired them to say.”[4] We test this not by our own opinions, but what we know of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. When measured against that rubric it becomes easier to determine the way in which we are supposed to read Scripture and gives us a more reliable way of understanding what God is trying to say to us. But if that’s the case, then you might ask why include them in the Bible at all? What purpose do these passages of violence and destruction serve? Again as Hamilton points out, there are two possible purposes these passages might serve for us today: As a way for us to understand the times and context in which the early writers put these passages to papyrus and as a reminder and a warning to us how easy it is for people to “invoke God’s name in the pursuit of violence, bloodshed, and war.”[5]
Nothing is ever written without context.
Even as we read passages of the Bible, they are read in the context of our own life and experiences. We can’t help that. As human beings, we are limited by what we know and how we came to know it. That’s why the Bible is such an amazing piece of literature. It has stood the test of time because we have been able to view it through many different lenses and it still talks to us today. But we need to keep that in mind as well. The authors of the Bible as much as us who read it today wrote the Bible out of the context of their lives. In the times of the Old Testament, it was common for people to believe God sent them to war because that was very consistent with the beliefs of the time. It was also common for there to be contests between deities to prove their worthiness. This happened a lot in the Old Testament. It happened in the story of Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar when Daniel interpreted the dream; between Elijah and the prophets of Baal when they had a contest between which God could light the wood on fire. It was a different way of understanding God. So when they spoke about God and then later wrote down these stories, it was from that frame of reference. Our frame of reference changes, too. Just as we used to believe that God sanctioned racism and sexism, we don’t believe that any more. If our understanding of God could change within the frame of our lifetime, isn’t it possible that the violence we read about in the Bible was how the early writers understood God at the time? Isn’t it possible that our understanding of God has changed over the years? And if that is so, then perhaps the Bible should be seen not as a static work, unchanging in both meaning and words, but instead as a living document that offers us insight into the character of God and our own troubled history. Read your Bibles. Even the most difficult parts of it. And challenge yourselves to discover what God is saying to you within its pages. Wrestle with what you find and do not be afraid, because even though we may turn in the wind, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
[1] Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible, p. 212 – Hamilton states directly that advocates for this view “speak of God’s authority to give and take life at will” and then prefaces the destruction of the Canaanites to their evil.
[2] http://www.dhh.state.la.us/assets/docs/katrina/deceasedreports/KatrinaDeaths_082008.pdf
[3] http://www.history.com/topics/hurricane-katrina
[4] Hamilton, p.213.
[5] Ibid, p.214-216.
Craig’s Library – Making Sense of the Bible Makes a Lot of Sense (book review)
Adam Hamilton is turning out to be one of the clearest voices for compassion and reason within the church today. He often tackles tough subjects with aplomb and sensitivity. In his book, Making Sense of the Bible, Hamilton helps us look at the Bible in light of the 21st century. Too often churches don’t bother to tackle the tough issues of the Bible or explore what it really has to say. But in this book, Adam isn’t afraid to go there.
Some of the topics that he addresses are things like science and creation; the violence of God in the Old Testament; homosexuality; and the reliability of the Bible. He offers well-reasoned arguments for his thoughts on the subject but always with enough grace to make his words easy to read for even the staunchest of opponents. What I love about this book is that it offers Biblically-based answers to questions people ask who are not part of the church. Often these are the things they wrestle with that keep them from joining any faith community.
He also goes into depth about the Bible itself – how it was put together, which books made it in, and two of my favorite chapters, the Old and New Testaments in Fifteen Minutes. He clears up for many some of the complexities about the Bible and helps both long-time church-goers and people exploring their faith for the first time to take a nice, long look at what we consider to be the most Holy book in Christianity. There are many misconceptions about the Bible, about what it says, and about how it is interpreted. Hamilton offers a compelling way to look at it that is grounded in sound theology AND a pastor’s heart.
I also appreciate the humble way he approaches the topic. In the introduction he writes, “Am I right in everything I say in this book? I’m certain I’m not. But the book is an attempt to honestly wrestle with the difficult questions often raised by thoughtful Christians and non-Christians concerning things taught in the Bible (p.5).” His examples come from a wide range of experiences. He talks about everyday people who have challenged his own perceptions of Scripture and admits that he too wrestles with its words. Reading it, I found myself nodding my head so often, hearing my own questions being addressed.
Making Sense of the Bible is a great book to base a sermon series on or for an indepth group study together.
Title: Making Sense of the Bible
Author: Adam Hamilton
Cost: $21.99
Age: Adult
Publisher: Harper One
Genre: Bible / Spiritual Growth
The Big Bang Theory of God
How did they feed the animals on Noah’s ark?
I can’t help it. I have questions. I love a good story as much as the next person, but when something doesn’t make sense, it bothers me and the story of Noah’s ark always left me with some doozies. Like this one. How did they feed the animals on Noah’s ark? Most of us believe Noah and his family (and all the animals) were on the ark for 40 days and 40 nights, but according to the Bible it was actually about 370 days in total.[1] That is a LONG time to be trapped on a boat full of every animal known to humanity. The smell must have been horrible. But I have more questions. Did they really have enough space for two of every animal? How did they deal with the problem of genetic inbreeding? How did Noah and his family stop the animals from eating each other? Who “cleaned up” after them? It’s these kinds of questions that drive a wedge between science and religion. We have grown to believe the two are somehow incompatible. That to believe in one means a person couldn’t logically believe in the other. That unless people who believe in the Biblical story of creation can answer these questions, then it must not be true. Well, I think I found an answer to at least one of those questions and it came from the TV show, The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon’s mother, Mary is in town to see her son get an award for a scientific paper he wrote. Mary (a devout Christian) tells her son (a self-avowed atheist) that she couldn’t quite understand what it was he was trying to explain, and he told her, “It describes a new model of the universe that conceptualizes it as an ‘N’-dimensional super fluid.” And she responds, “Interesting. You can believe that, but God filling an ark with animals two-by-two is nonsense.” Sheldon’s derision is almost palpable as he asks, “What did they feed the lions mother?” And Mary, sharp as a tack responds, “The floating bodies of drowned sinners.” Score one for Mary.
The debate between creation and evolution has gone on ever since Darwin.
And it’s still one that goes on today. You might find it surprising to know that most people believe God had a hand in creation. Seventy-eight percent of people believe God has a hand in the creation of human beings. 78%! And of that 78%, over half believe God created human beings as fully formed people free of evolution. According to a Gallup poll cited in Adam Hamilton’s book Making Sense of the Bible the numbers break down like this: 46% of Americans believe people were created by God without evolution, 32% believe human beings evolved by God’s guiding hand, and only 15% believe that evolution alone accounts for the development of humanity.[2] But even though most people believe God had a hand in human development, we have a number of different theories on how that came to be. On one end of the spectrum, Young Earth Creationists believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and date the Earth as only 6,000 years old. They use the genealogies in the Bible to help come up with that number. On the other side are those who believe in theistic evolution. And as the name implies, they believe that evolution is a tool that God used to develop human beings. This group generally accepts the scientific theory that the Earth is about 4.57 billion years old and that humanity evolved over the last 2 million years.[3] For them, evolution and Scripture are in harmony with one another, and what we read in the Bible isn’t inaccurate but just wasn’t made to be taken literally in how we understand time and creation.
But why is there this divide in the first place?
Today it seems as if this rift has been around forever, but that hasn’t always been the case. The church has always been a supporter of knowledge and had in the past been unafraid of education. They were among the first to support the university system. They often funded and founded colleges and universities around the world. Some of the most famous schools in our country where many noted scientists, doctors, mathematicians, and scholars have come from were established by the church. In fact, some of the greatest scientists in the world have been Christian – Copernicus, Galileo, Pascal, Newton, Faraday, Pasteur, and Kelvin just to name a few.[4] Today, Francis Collins, “a renowned geneticist and former director of the Human Genome Project,” even developed an organization he calls the BioLogos Foundation to bridge the gap between science and religion and to help people realize that neither one is a threat to the other.[5] So where is this debate largely coming from? From Christians more than anyone else.
For Christians, this isn’t just a matter of historical accuracy, but a test of their faith.
The debate about the authenticity of the creationist point of view has more at stake than bragging rights about who’s right. It’s about trusting in the Word of God. And as science continues to uncover more about the origins of the world, there are Christians who fear hearing these new ideas. They are afraid the evidence being presented will contradict the beliefs they’ve held their entire lives, and they forcefully push back against it. But as we will see, perhaps the premise we have started out with is faulty at its root. In Genesis 2, we read a more personal story about God’s active hand in creation and how he formed the world. Then he flooded the earth with water to create the land and the sea and after that created us. And in that passage, it wasn’t until he created man that he finished the rest of creation. After he molded man out of the earth, God created trees and flowers and rivers and animals and even involved man in the naming of the animals. And only then did God create woman. But within the Bible itself there rests a contradiction to this narrative. In the chapter right before this one, the Bible has a distinctly different account of creation.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. – Genesis 1:6-13
That was only the third day of creation.
Do you remember when humanity was created? The sixth day. It wasn’t until the end of the week that God created both male and female in his image. Before that he created the heavens and the earth, the land and the water, the plants and the animals. In this version of creation, humanity was the last thing to have been created – but in the very next chapter we find out that man was created not long after the earth was formed and BEFORE all the plants and animals. Both of them can’t be right. These two stories directly contradict one another, and they are right there at the very beginning of the Bible! Either humanity was created before or after the plants and animals, but it can’t be both. And don’t get me started on talking snakes. When you really examine these stories, it becomes harder and harder to defend a literal point of view. But maybe we don’t need to. Maybe we should focus on what God is trying to tell us instead of worrying about the details.
One of my favorite movies of the year was The Six Triple Eight.
It’s a film based on the true story of the first and only all-Black and all-female battalion stationed in Europe during World War II. I highly recommend it. It is a story of faith and grit and perseverance that will move you to tears and give you hope in the human condition. You’ll watch it and think, “I can’t believe this is true!” But it is. Now, is everything true? Is every last detail as it actually happened when Captain Charity Adams was in charge of the Six Triple Eight? Of course not. You all know how it is. “Based on a true story” means only that. Some parts are highlighted, some parts are deleted, and some parts are changed to make the story cohesive. But did you walk away from it with a better understanding of the monumental accomplishment these women performed? Yes, you did. Did you get a better idea of the racism and sexism and poor living conditions they had to suffer through and overcome just to serve their country? Yes, you did. Did the fact that not everything was exactly the way it happened in real life detract from the film? Not at all. Now, if you sat there with a fine-tooth comb and picked it apart, you’d find those inconsistencies. But if you’re focusing on the nitty gritty, you’re missing the point. You’re losing the forest for the trees. The Bible is many things, but it’s not a history book. Paul shares with us very clearly what it is supposed to be, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope (Romans 15:4).” Don’t lose the forest for the trees. Use your eyes and ears to understand what God is trying to tell you.
Long ago, I came to the conclusion it just doesn’t matter how the Earth was created.
I believe God is the ultimate creator and I believe he created the Earth and everything in it. How he did it? I don’t care. Because it’s not important. If he chose to do it through evolution, great! If he spontaneously created everything all at once, great! How God did it doesn’t change my faith in him, and I hope it doesn’t change yours either. The Bible is our own understanding of the story of God and the bottom line is this. Love God, love one another. If we could hold on to those truths and stop arguing about the rest, we could possibly become the kind of people God keeps hoping we will be someday. Remember, it isn’t about history. It’s about His story.
[1] Some say 371 but close enough. https://www.gotquestions.org/how-long-was-Noah-on-the-ark.html This site says around 450 days: https://ncse.ngo/yes-noahs-flood-may-have-happened-not-over-whole-earth Regardless, it was a really long time!
[2] Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible, p. 188.
[3] Notes on Young Earth Creationists and evolution come from Hamilton’s boo
[4] https://carm.org/is-christianity-anti-science
[5] http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1895284,00.html Also, https://biologos.org/
If It Wasn’t For Mom…
Where would we be without our moms?
Nowhere. Even if you didn’t have the best mom, you could at least say one thing – she brought me into this world. That alone should be an accomplishment worthy of recognition. Giving life to a child, enduring not only labor but the nine months leading up to it is a sacrifice we don’t often appreciate as much as we should. I know our moms do it out of love, but still, it’s a pretty amazing sacrifice. Now the truth is, most of us believe we have the best mom or at least right up there in the top 10. Just for putting up with me alone, my mom deserves top 5 status. Growing up I thought I knew everything, but I look back now and wonder how my mom didn’t strangle me on a daily basis. I guess I can credit that to a mother’s love, too. And it is amazing how most parents seem to have a never-ending supply of it. Having more kids doesn’t deplete the well. Instead, the well just grows bigger. In that way, our love for our children mirrors God’s love for us. Just as God is our parent in Heaven, so our parents share that same love with us. It’s the strongest kind of love there is.
If you look in the Bible, you see so many examples of this type of motherly love.
In Genesis we see Jochebed, the mother of Moses not only giving up her child for the chance for him to live, but then purposely making herself a servant in the princess’ household so she could be with him. Naomi loved her two daughters-in-law so much, she released them from their duty to her when her sons died tragically, even though it meant she would likely live in poverty for the rest of her life. She knew their best chance was to abandon her and she wanted what was best for their lives over her own. Then there’s the story about the woman in King Solomon’s court. Her child was stolen from her by a jealous and bitter woman whose own baby passed away in the night. Without a clear way to tell who was lying, King Solomon tried something tricky and offered to settle their dispute by sacrificing the child so that neither one could have him. The mother instantly said she would give up her claim if only the king would allow the baby to live. And in the New Testament we hear the story of the Canaanite woman who comes before Jesus, crying out for mercy. Her daughter is suffering, and she comes begging for help. Eventually, Jesus recognizes this woman’s great faith and takes mercy on her, curing her daughter. All of these mother’s stories have a similar theme – self-sacrifice. They were willing to sacrifice their own security, happiness, or well-being for the sake of their children.
Mary was the same way.
Mary had a lot to lose becoming the mother of Jesus. We look back now and see what an amazing honor it was to be chosen for this role, but back then there was a lot at stake. Right before Mary is pregnant, we read that Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, was also pregnant, itself a miracle considering Elizabeth’s advanced age. But God had graced Elizabeth with a son, and she would soon give birth to the man we know as John the Baptist. Mary, however, had no immediate plans to be pregnant. So, everything that’s about to happen is going to come as a big surprise.
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. – Luke 1:26-38
This would have been a tremendous burden for Mary.
To be willing to carry a child that was not from her husband would be a disgrace in the eyes of the community. And since they had never been together, Joseph would know it was not his child and would have every reason to leave her, and from Matthew’s version of the story, Joseph originally intended to do exactly that but was convinced to stay by an angel of the Lord. Still Mary couldn’t count on an angel to come and intervene. If Joseph had left her, it was likely she never would have been married. Because of the society they lived in, she would probably have been destitute and would need to rely on the mercy of others to provide her with food and clothing. Her life as she knew it would take a drastic turn for the worse. But she accepted her role with grace and trusted in God to make everything right. That’s what makes this story so amazing. She was willing to sacrifice so much for this child and her faith in God.
It’s that kind of sacrifice that reminds us of Christ.
Just as a mother is willing to sacrifice her life for the child she loves, so too does Christ love us. That he was willing to give his life for all of us is a testimony to the love we see from parent to child. A mother’s life is often one of sacrifice. When we look again at Mary’s life not only did she risk much to give birth to Jesus, but she stood by him even at his death. She was one of the few who remained by Jesus’ side in his final moments, and despite the ridicule he suffered, the abandonment of even his closest friends, she would not abandon him. The pain and difficulty of seeing her son in those final moments must have been heart-rendering. But she did it out of love for her child. Because that’s what a mother does. She is willing to sacrifice herself for her children just as God does for us.
Mary fittingly is one of the cornerstones of our faith.
Not only because she was the mother of the Christ child, but because of her own example of faithfulness and self-sacrifice to God. Looking through the Bible and reading through the history of the church, mothers have been vital in the development of the faith, both on a personal level and as a mirror of the self-sacrifice of Christ. Think about the mothers we talked about today – not only Mary, but Jochebed, Naomi, the woman in King Solomon’s court, and the Canaanite woman. Their actions were all based on love and self-sacrifice. The same kind of love and self-sacrifice that God has shown to us through his son Jesus. As parents, when we are at our best, we are a reflection of the love of Christ.
When the Bible says we are created in his image, this is what it meant.
That we are built for love. That it is in our nature to love and in its purest most Christ-like form to think of others before ourselves. A mother’s instinct for love and self-sacrifice is because we are created in his image. But as creatures of free choice, we don’t always make the wise decision. Not all of us are blessed to have a mother who loves us the way we deserve or that she was created to be. So, if you have a mother in your life who has given you this kind of love, whether she is your biological mother, your adopted mother, or your surrogate mother, remember to give thanks to her and thanks to God for the way he created us.
Slingshot 2.0
The most successful people in the world are unafraid of change.
To be fair, they may have been afraid, but they overcame their fear in the hopes of something better! They dared to be different. To do things outside of what others considered “normal.” By the way, “normal” is overrated. Different isn’t always popular. Different can be risky. Different means going against the status quo. But it also means looking at a situation in a new way. It means approaching a problem with a fresh attitude. And often that’s what it takes to make the next big step, to evolve into something MORE. Because when the old tried and true methods no longer work, we need the courage to do something different. Take for example, Billy Beane. Billy Beane was different. As general manager of the Oakland A’s, he threw nearly a century of “baseball wisdom” out the window and recruited a group of players using a system called sabermetrics which relied on data instead of traditional scouting techniques. He was ridiculed, criticized, and belittled in the press. The fans, other owners, even his own scouts were against him. They said it would never work. But under his leadership the Oakland A’s were able to field a tough, competitive team with comparatively very little money. In 2002, the year they implemented the system, the A’s had the third lowest payroll in all of baseball with only $39.7 million.[1] Yet they won an American League record 20 consecutive games and tied for most wins in all of baseball with a record of 103-59. The only other team with as many wins was the New York Yankees whose payroll was more than three times that of the A’s.[2] What Billy Beane did changed the face of baseball and still resonates today. When they make a movie of my life, I hope they get Tom Cruise. Brad Pitt is great, but I think me and Tom have more in common. There are still some who cling to the old ways of scouting, but most teams today incorporate at least some of the principles Beane adopted nearly 25 years ago. It even helped the Boston Red Sox break the Curse of the Bambino in 2004 to win its first World Series in 86 years. Billy Beane did things differently and it worked.
Today, in our reading, we’re going to look at another person who did things differently.
That would be King David. Or David as he is simply known at this part of his story. This is a story you are familiar with. Even if you’ve never read the Bible, you probably know about this event in David’s life. We’re going to read a portion of the story of David and Goliath. At the beginning of the story, the Israelites and the Philistines are gathering for war. The Israelites are on the top of one hill and the Philistines on another. And in the midst of this, a man named Goliath comes forward from the Philistine’s camp and issues a challenge to the Israelites. If one of the Israelites can best him in one-on-one combat, the Philistines will become the willful servants of the Israelites. But if Goliath can beat the Israelites’ champion, they must become the willful servants of the Philistines. Probably neither side would just give up that easily, but Goliath’s taunt did exactly what he hoped for. It created fear in the hearts of the Israelites. Not a one of them thought they could go toe-to-toe with Goliath. As you know Goliath was one of the Philistine’s champions and he was HUGE! Guinness Book of World Records huge. Early manuscripts have him at about seven feet tall, but the Bible says he stood at 9’ 9” which would beat any other record by about a foot! For forty days, Goliath came out and waited for someone from the Israelites to come challenge him. That’s where David comes in. Jesse sent David to the front lines to bring supplies to King Saul and to see how his sons were doing. When David gets there, he sees the Israelites in fear of Goliath and when he is brought before the king, David volunteers to fight Goliath. Saul tells David he doesn’t stand a chance and that’s where we pick up our story today.
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. – 1 Samuel 17:34-40 and 50-51
David did what was different.
But maybe not the way you’re used to looking at it. We see this story as an incredible testament to the faith that David had in God, and it is. It’s a story of great faith. Here is this young man with basically no training whatsoever who comes to the battlefield and decides to take on this nearly ten foot giant because he insulted the people of God. Now, everyone else in Saul’s army heard these same insults, but only David was moved enough to go out there and face Goliath. In all honesty, Saul probably thought this might be what was needed to motivate the troops, the death of a young Israelite at the hands of this giant. Maybe it would be enough to shame them into action and to find the bravery to face the Philistines. Or maybe he really did believe in David and that the hand of God was upon this young man. But either way, it was a testimony to David’s faith in God. But David did something else that is a lesson we need to hear. To make a difference, we have to do things differently. Take a look at this passage we just read and you can see that’s exactly what David did. David finally convinces Saul to let him face Goliath and after giving him his blessing, Saul gives David his very own tunic. Being the king, it was probably the best protection money could buy. He gave him armor and a helmet, but David told him, “I cannot go in these because I am not used to them.” Saul’s probably wondering what kind of protection David was going to wear since he didn’t come into camp with any. As it is, David would NEED some kind of protection if he hoped to survive even the first blow Goliath gave him. But David shed the armor and instead picked up a few stones and his slingshot and went into battle. And that’s it. Stones and a slingshot. Traditionally, men in one-on-one combat would bear down on each other in their armor and weapons and trade blows until one of them fell. It would be slow. Like two tree trunks swinging wildly at each other. Which is why David should have needed armor. But he knew he couldn’t defeat Goliath the traditional way. He would be slaughtered. So, David it differently. No armor meant he was extremely agile which he used to his advantage. He ran at his opponent, fired a stone at his head, the only part of Goliath’s body not likely covered with some sort of protection, and killed the giant. Had he been wearing armor he likely would have been so slow Goliath could easily have defended himself and killed David with a single blow. But David did it differently.
Ecclesiastes says “there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
The trick is realizing when that time is up and when it’s time to do something different. Because as the world around us changes, we need to change, too. We need to adapt. We need to adjust to new circumstances. That’s not always easy, but sometimes it’s necessary. Look at the example of David. Had he fought Goliath in the traditional way, he almost surely would have been killed. But because he did things differently, he found a way to beat the odds. Businesses do this all the time. They are always trying to find something BETTER. Even when they are succeeding, they are always looking for that competitive advantage. Failure to adapt leads you to failure. Odds are its difficult to find any product the same way it was when you were a child. Even if the name is the same, it’s probably “new and improved.” Take for instance, Oreos or should I say the Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie – its official name since 1974.[3] The Oreo cookie has saturated the market. Today they are the number one selling cookie in the world selling over 3 BILLION dollars worth per year – more than three times the amount of the next leading brand (Gamesa if you’re wondering).[4] But never one to rest on their laurels, Oreo has branched out and done any number of varieties of Oreo cookies. Double Stuf was the earliest variation coming out in 1974, Oreo Minis came out in 1991, and since then the flavors and varieties have kept on coming. They even released Gluten Free Oreos in 2021! Why bother when you are the number one cookie in the world? Because they want to stay that way.
In the same way, we need to examine where it is in our lives we might need to do things differently.
What isn’t working the way you hoped? What do you need to do differently to make it work? Maybe it’s something simple like our food choices. Maybe it’s how we relate to other people. Maybe it’s the path our career is taking us. Or maybe it’s where you feel God is calling you. Are you doing all you can to follow where God is leading you in your life, or do you hide behind the comfort and security of the familiar? Isn’t that so easy to do? It’s hard for us to step out in faith and do something different. We like staying with the tried and true – even if it’s not so tried and true any longer. But then we look at God’s example. God is the ultimate “doing something different” type of person. Jesus took death on the cross and turned it into new life. He took the symbol of utter despair and hopelessness and turned it into a symbol for life and hope instead. When Jesus was resurrected, he showed the disciples and ultimately the world that death was only a new beginning. The Israelites thought the savior of the world would come in triumph to destroy their enemies and lead them into a new existence. And he did. But not in the way they imagined. Jesus, like David, did something different. What will you do differently? This is a question we need to ask ourselves – both personally and even as a church. Churches all over the world are growing smaller, especially in countries like the United States. Often, it’s because the world around us keeps changing and we struggle to keep up. We fight against change because we like the comfort and security of the familiar. But without change, without growth, we fail to meet the needs of the people around us – the people who need to see God is alive and relevant to who they are. How can you contribute to God’s Kingdom? Maybe inviting a friend. Maybe by giving more of your time, talent, gifts, service, and witness. Pray on it and ask God what he would like you to do differently – and do it. Personally, I want to challenge you to do something different. Try a new vegetable. Exercise more. Eat a new food. It may make little difference, or it could change your life. Who knows? You won’t…until you do something different.
[1] http://www.baseballchronology.com/Baseball/Years/2002/Payroll.asp
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Major_League_Baseball_season
[3] https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-oreo-cookie-1779206
[4] https://www.statista.com/statistics/420561/global-cookie-market-sales-of-the-leading-brands/
Two Words To A Better Life
Three steps to a better YOU!
Five ways to make broccoli fun! Ten movies we can’t wait to see! Everybody’s got a list. Everybody wants to make you a better person, help you lead a better life. Well, I’ve got a list too. Two words to a better life. That’s it. Hard to believe, isn’t it? These two words are so powerful they will make you 10-25% happier with your life.[1] Even happier than if you won a million dollars in the lottery.[2] It’s true. So, what two words are they? “Thank you.”
But you can’t just say it without meaning it.
Actual gratitude is important. If you have kids (or a grumpy spouse), how many of you have tried to get them to say thanks and MEAN IT. Most of us have heard people say thanks without an ounce of real gratitude behind their words. Either they say it begrudgingly, sarcastically, or as if to say, “Thanks for nothing.” To truly experience all the benefits from those two magic words, there has to be sincerity behind it.
Did you know the word “thank” is a derivative of the verb “to think.”
And the phrase “thank you” originally meant, “I will remember what you did for me.”[3] In other languages, the sentiment is even stronger. The French word for “thank you,” “merci,” is the parent of our own word for “mercy.” When someone says “thanks” in French, what they are doing is placing themselves at the mercy of the other person as if to say, “I am in your debt.” It’s that kind of attitude behind our gratitude that we need, an actual expression of indebtedness. People appreciate feeling appreciated. In the workplace, studies found saying “thank you” increases productivity among employees by as much as 50%.[4] They’ve also found generosity is contagious. The more we give appreciation to others the more they do it for one another. And appreciated people find greater job satisfaction, which just makes common sense.[5] In married couples, these two simple words can save your marriage. They found couples that regularly say “thank you” were less likely to be affected by arguments between them.[6] Gratitude coats the relationship in a protective shell. Because they felt appreciated by their spouse, valued by their spouse, and acknowledged their spouse when they did something nice built up a reserve of good feelings that made arguments less likely to turn into something worse.[7]
Expressing gratitude not only helps the other person, but helps us, too!
One study at Harvard asked participants to journal about things they were grateful for over a 10-week period and had another group journal things that irritated them over the same amount of time. As you can probably guess, the gratitude group were more optimistic, felt better about life, exercised more, and went to the doctor less than the others.[8] What was most astounding to me was another study done showing over a six-month period you would be happier recording your blessings for five minutes a day than winning more than a million dollars in the lottery. Winning the lottery is awesome, but that momentary happiness that comes from it fades away and in just six months your happiness increase is barely up 4% more than what it was before. People who simply journal their gratitude show an increase of 10% happiness in that same time – 2.5 times happier than winning the lottery. Want to know other ways gratitude makes your life better? People like you more. You are generally healthier. It can boost your career. You focus less on material things and focus instead on your soul. It improves our sleep. We live longer lives. It makes us feel good. It helps us to relax. And those are just SOME of the benefits of being grateful.[9]
If you still aren’t convinced why you should express gratitude more often, let’s get Biblical!
That’s right, gratitude is Biblical and while there are a great many examples of being grateful in the Bible (both from Jesus and to Jesus) probably the best and most explicit example is the story of the ten lepers. During this time, you have to remember medicine wasn’t what it is today. Most people thought leprosy was highly contagious so they banished anyone who had it to outside the city limits. There were all kinds of rules lepers had to obey. Not only were they not allowed in the city, but they couldn’t even stand within six feet of another human being and if the wind was blowing they had to stay at least 150 feet away.[10] The only condition considered more unclean than leprosy was death. So when Jesus comes along, a group of lepers see him and beg him for help.
11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” – Luke 17:11-19
Ten men had leprosy. Ten men were healed. But only one came back to say “thank you.”
What’s even more amazing, the one was a Samaritan. Samaritans were among the most despised people in Israel. The only thing worse than having leprosy was to be a Samaritan with leprosy. But it was the Samaritan who came back to say, “thank you” to Jesus. It was such a big deal that the Bible even specifically points it out. Verse 16, “He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan (emphasis mine).” Of all the people healed, he was probably the one most likely NOT to give thanks. Samaritans were not treated well by the Jewish people. Out of resentment or spite or just plain anger, he would have the most reason not to come back, but he wanted to make sure Jesus knew how much he appreciated it.
When we read this, it’s easy to imagine that the other nine were this really ungrateful bunch.
But they were probably very, very grateful.[11] Imagine having this horrible disease that most people never get cured of, never getting to see your family and friends again, and then suddenly being healed! If it were you, you’d probably be ecstatic! They might have been in such a rush after getting healed they took off to see the priest without thinking about it. The only way a leper was allowed back into the community was by showing himself to the priest and being declared healed. That’s why Jesus tells them to go find the priest, so they can come back and see their family and friends. So given all of that, we could understand if it slipped their mind. But it shouldn’t have. It only took the Samaritan a moment to give thanks to God for the healing. Which one are you more like, the nine or the one? Do you make time to tell others how grateful you are? Do you reflect on the effort others put out for you? Or do you sometimes take the people in your life for granted?
Given the scientific evidence, we all take people for granted.
At least a little. A study back in 2012 showed we had a “gratitude gap.”[12] They found 90% of people were grateful for their family and 87% were grateful for their friends, but only 52% of women and only 44% of men expressed gratitude on a regular basis.[13] Why are we so reluctant to express our gratitude? There are many reasons this happens but one is because people are self-serving.[14] When things go bad, we like to blame other people, and when things go well, we like to take credit for ourselves. Robert Emmons who is well known for his research on gratitude wrote, “Gratitude really goes against the self-serving bias because when we’re grateful, we give credit to other people for our success.”[15] Expressing gratitude takes effort to overcome this self-serving bias. It also goes against our need for control because it recognizes there are outside forces at work helping us to achieve success. Emmons wrote something insightful about this. He said, “I think true gratitude involves a humble dependence on others.”[16] That humility points us toward God, the one to whom we should all be grateful and reminds us we are not the sole source of our own blessings.
Find your way to express gratitude.
For me, I like to do it through thank you notes. It’s not only a personal way to say thanks, but it is also a reminder to myself I have so much to be grateful for. But you need to find your own way. Whatever it is make sure you it is sincere and heartfelt. Something I read in Harvard Business Review said, “Think of something specific you are grateful for, acknowledge the cost or difficulty or sacrifice the person gave to do that specific thing, and then let them know why it was important to you.[17] When you take time to reflect on your gratitude it can’t help but come from your heart. If you watch any of the award shows that take place around this time every year, you see people come up and give thanks. Who would you give thanks to? Take a moment today or sometime this week to write your own acceptance speech. Think about the people on your list and why they are important to you. And then tell them. Send them a card. Give them a call. Bring them some homemade food and say those two little words that can make you 10% happier than you are today. Thank you.
[1] http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/09/practicing-gratitude-can-increase.php and http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/
[2] http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/
[3] https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/07/25/origin-of-please-and-thank-you/
[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2016/11/20/how-an-authentic-thank-you-can-change-your-workplace-culture/#187c5c2f7990
[5] Ibid
[6] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3283713/The-secret-happy-marriage-Saying-thank-Study-finds-gratitude-predict-couple-remains-together.html
[7] Ibid
[8] https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/in-praise-of-gratitude
[9] http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/
[10] https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-leprosy.html
[11] Andy does a great job talking about this in his sermon “I Owe Who” found on the Your Move With Andy Stanley podcast 11/12/2016
[12] https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/JTF_GRATITUDE_REPORTpub.doc
[13] Ibid
[14] https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good
[15] Ibid
[16] Ibid
Jesus Is A Fluffy Bunny
Unconditional surrender.
Two words you don’t want to hear if you are on the losing end of a battle. Unconditional surrender means you will give up without any guarantee of safety. You are completely at the mercy of whoever you’re surrendering to. And that is scary. Not knowing what they will do; if they’ll be merciful or vengeful, kind or cruel can overwhelm us with fear. Some people would rather die than surrender unconditionally. They would rather go out on their own terms than give in to someone else’s – even if it means death. So what do we do when the God we believe in asks that of us? God wants us to surrender to him unconditionally.
But we are so unwilling to give up control that we can’t even put our trust in God!
We call upon God when WE want to. We pray when it’s convenient for us. We worship when it fits into our schedule. We put Christ on call as if Jesus were checking his text messages for some kind of signal from us. There was a short-lived show called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and in the first episode two of the characters, Jeannie and Harriet, are talking to each other about the uncertainty of the future so Jeannie asks Harriet, “Do we just let Jesus be our co-pilot?” And Jeannie replies, “No. My mom used to say if Jesus is your co-pilot, you should trade seats.”[1] But how often do we do that? How often do we relinquish control and let Jesus guide our life? We want Jesus to be where we want, when we want, and how we want him to be. And when he’s not we conveniently tune him out. Even in church.
A friend of mine was criticized for preaching the Gospel.
We were both starting out in ministry and she was an associate pastor at a fairly big church. They had two services and she would lead one while the senior pastor would lead the other. After a while, one of the church members who attended her service came in to complain to the senior pastor about her preaching. The senior pastor sat the woman down and asked what seemed to be the problem. Was she not preaching from the Bible? No, that wasn’t it. Was she sharing a message not in line with the Gospel? No, that wasn’t it either. So what seemed to be the problem? She told the senior pastor that she wasn’t hearing the message she wanted to hear. She complained, “She’s always challenging us to improve and be better than we are. How about once in a while we hear sermons about how Jesus is like a fluffy bunny? You know? I’d like for once to hear about how following Jesus is like a beach ball floating in the wind. Just floating up in the air. How come it always has to be so serious?” Those were her exact words, “Jesus is like a fluffy bunny.” There are just some things you never expect to hear and “Jesus is like a fluffy bunny” is one for the ages. As outlandish as that might seem to some of you, it is more common than you might think. I’ve had my own “fluffy bunny” moments. Not quite as extreme, but pretty close. Some people are uncomfortable when they are challenged to change, to accept different ideas, to do something different or to think in a different way. But Jesus always challenged us to grow deeper in faith, to expand our understanding of God, and to stretch ourselves in directions we may not have thought of on our own. He wants us to put our trust in him, to surrender to his will.
Paul reminds us our relationship with Jesus is one of mutual submission.
Many of Jesus’ followers talk about this concept of mutual submission. Jesus comes to serve all of humanity. Jesus surrenders his life for ours on the cross. Jesus humbles himself by washing the feet of his disciples. Jesus modeled for us the kind of servant’s heart he wants to see in us all. Paul tells us we are supposed to submit to one another also. Husbands should submit to their wives as wives should submit to their husbands. Parents should honor their children as their children should honor them. The ideal relationship as described to us by Jesus and his followers is about mutual submission. It’s the only way it works right. And in our passage this morning, Paul talks about his own submission to Christ.
19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” – Galatians 2:19-21
In this passage, Paul isn’t telling us what to do.
He’s telling us about his own experience with Christ and how it changed his life. Paul was probably thought of by many people as a zealot and maybe in some ways he was, but if so, it was only because he was zealous for the kind of life we could all lead under Christ. Some of what he says might seem confusing because he uses a lot of contradictory statements. He says he died to the law so he might live in Christ. He says he no longer lives but Christ lives in him. But what he means is he finally surrendered to the understanding that he would never fulfill the law and so he devoted his life to the only one who could fulfill it – Jesus. And by so doing he gave up his own way of life to become an ambassador for Christ. And then he closes with this powerful statement, “I do not set aside the grace of God…” Paul doesn’t ignore, he doesn’t belittle, he doesn’t discount God’s grace in all of this, “for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” He’s telling us if all we had to do was follow some rules to have our sins wiped away, if all we had to do was fulfill a certain number of requirements to get into Heaven, then Jesus’ sacrifice was pointless. We wouldn’t need his death on the cross. We could do it on our own. But we can’t. As good as we can be, we cannot be perfect. We cannot be sinless. It’s not a matter of willpower. It’s not a matter of being strong enough. We just can’t do it. The only way to overcome this mountain of mistakes and wrongdoing is to submit to it, to admit it cannot be overcome. Only then can we change for the better.
Rick Warren wrote a devotional around this concept.
He wrote, “Surrendering your life means: Following God’s lead without knowing where he’s sending you. Waiting for God’s timing without knowing when it will come. Expecting a miracle without knowing how God will provide. And trusting God’s purpose without understanding the circumstances.”[2] Following God’s lead. Waiting for God’s timing. Expecting a miracle. Trusting God’s purpose. This is what it means to surrender to God. Have you? Have you truly surrendered to God? We all fall short and will at times assert our own will, but have you made that commitment to follow Christ by fully surrendering to his will? Or are you still putting Jesus as your co-pilot? You can be the pilot of your own life. You can be the captain of your own football team. You can be the chef of your own kitchen. But are you the most qualified for the job? When I worked at Disneyland, I was the captain our volleyball team – meaning I was the one who signed people up, gathered the money, and turned in the paperwork. As the captain, I was responsible for making the assignments of who would play where. My favorite position was at the net. That’s where all the action is. Heroes are made at the net. But look at me. Even then I was 5’ 10” at best. My jumping ability was about the same as that of a turtle. But I was good at digging for the ball. I did a great job of saving the point. And I was very accurate at serving. It was hard, but I had to admit I wasn’t the best person for the front line so I put myself in the back row. And even though I had the right to do it, I chose to do what was best. That’s all God wants for our lives. He wants us to choose what’s best. That’s why he doesn’t force us because then not only do we not learn, but the decision is never really ours to begin with. We have to choose to surrender to God.
Let us recommit our lives to Christ.
Let us remind ourselves that when we chose to be Christian, we chose to surrender our lives to him. We didn’t choose to surrender our lives on condition. We didn’t surrender our lives because it was convenient. We chose to surrender unconditionally to God. Let us honor that commitment today as we lift it up in prayer.
God Almighty,
I surrender my control to you. I surrender my control to you. I surrender my control to you. I am not the best guide of my own life. You are. And when I surrender myself to you, my life becomes a whole lot better. But it is hard for me to do. The truth is I cannot do it alone. I cannot earn my way to Heaven. I cannot forgive my own sins. I put myself at your mercy. And surrender to your grace. Today, I give myself to you unconditionally. And my life is the better for it. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
[1] http://studio-60.hypnoweb.net/episodes-/saison-1/episode-102/script-vo-102.96.254/
[2] From a Rick Warren devotional which is no longer published but was on rickwarren.org
The Game of Life
The Game of Life is insidious.
At least it was when I was growing up. Today’s version is a lot more friendly, and I love how there are different ways to win. It still has those rolling hills, white buildings, and magical spinner, but now you have all sorts of choices you didn’t have in the old game and to me it’s even more fun than before. But the old game? While I had fun playing it, I didn’t like the message it sent – “Money is the only important thing in life.” Did you know that the Game of Life was the first game ever created by Milton Bradley?[1] Yes, THAT Milton Bradley. The company that brought you Battleship, Yahtzee, Connect Four, Candy Land and so many more. But the foundation for his success was The Game of Life that he invented back in 1861. And in his game, it wasn’t about money either. Milton Bradley thought that you could teach important life lessons through play, so his game focused on living a long and happy life. But over time, the game changed, and it focused instead on acquiring money. In fact, if you got to the end of the game and you were behind, you could spin the wheel for a chance to win, but if you failed, you were destined for the Poor Farm. The game’s attitude changed from living a good life to success at all costs, and success was measured only by money and things. But do you really think money can buy you happiness?
Stuart Scott is one of the most famous anchors to ever hold the position on SportsCenter.
Bear with me. It all makes sense. If you watched ESPN in its early days, you know his name and if you don’t you might have heard some of his famous catch phrases. He was one of the most famous and groundbreaking sports anchors in the business and he was well known for the things he would say on TV. Some of my favorites were, “Cool as the other side of the pillow.” Or “He must be the bus driver cuz he was takin’ him to school!” But the one everyone knows best is just two short syllables, “Boo-yow!”[2] Stuart Scott was one of those influential people who changed the way we watch television. He also defined SportsCenter for an entire generation of viewers. But at the young age of 49, Stuart Scott passed away from cancer. He had been battling it for nearly 8 years beginning in 2007 when after an appendectomy it was discovered he had the deadly disease. He battled it back numerous times but finally died because of it in 2015. Still, he approached life with an amazing attitude. While being honored in 2014 at the ESPY awards, he said about his battle with this horrible disease, “When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You BEAT cancer, by HOW you live, WHY you live, and in the manner in WHICH you live.” Some really deep thoughts. We do tend to think of life as a game in which there are winners and losers, but winning and losing the game of life isn’t about money or fame or achievement. Winning and losing the game of life is about what you do with the time you have.
This is a lesson God has been trying to teach us all along.
We’re going to read this morning from a passage you’re probably familiar with. Life isn’t a game to be won or lost, at least not in the traditional sense. Normally, when you play a game, there are winners and there are losers. In basketball, in baseball, in football. We are taught that winning is a zero-sum game. But to win at life, is different because it’s a game you play by yourself. Whether you win or lose has nothing to do with scores or money or ratings or any kind of metric we traditionally use to define ourselves with. And in this game, when we win, others win too. And when we lose, so do they. Here is what Jesus said to the crowds about this in Mark’s Gospel.
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” – Mark 8:34-38
When we value the same things God values, we become winners in life.
Both in this one AND the next. That’s what Christ means when he says we must deny ourselves and follow him. We must be willing to let go of the part of us that clings to the world and its values and instead admit to our weakness (by bearing our cross) and follow him. When we do that, we become alive in a new way. We are a new creation in Christ, and we belong to something greater and more noble than anything on Earth. And more importantly, we are saying our eternal life is more important to us than our mortal one. That’s why Jesus’ words are so powerful when he says, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” There is nothing we can earn in this lifetime that could ever match the promise of the next. There’s no amount of stuff we can gain that can redeem our soul other than giving our life to God. To the outside world, that sometimes seems like we’re giving up a lot. But when you know the peace of God in your heart, it’s really giving up very little.
Have you seen the movie, Field of Dreams?[3]
There’s a part in that movie that really touched me when I saw it. It’s a scene between Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, and Doc Graham played by Burt Lancaster. In the scene, Ray comes to visit Doc to see if he can make his wish of batting in the major leagues come true and he tells the Doc that he knows of a place where this could happen. Doc Graham is obviously moved by Ray’s gesture, but he says, “If it means leaving Chisholm…” and shakes his head ‘no.’ Ray looks at him and says, “But your wish…” And the Doc responds, “It’ll stay one. I was born here, lived here, and I’ll die here. That’s okay. I’ll have no regrets.” But Ray can’t let it go. Doc is willing to sacrifice his dreams to hit in the big leagues for a life in Chisholm, Minnesota? He says, “But sixty-five years ago – for five minutes – you came THIS close. It would kill some men to get that close to their dream and never touch it. They’d consider it a tragedy.” But Doc looks at him with a soft look on his face and says, “Son…if I’d only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes…now that would’ve been a tragedy.” Those words just touched me in a deep way the first time I heard them and every time thereafter. I think I’ve seen the movie twenty times and I still love it. But Doc’s words drive home the point that Christ told us in our passage this morning. It’s not fame or fortune that defines our life. It really is about this sense of fulfillment that we derive from living our best lives and as Christians we believe that our best lives come from Christ. When we live our lives according to HIS values and HIS direction, we find that peace that so often eludes the world.
As I keep getting older, I think more and more about what it means to live a “successful” life.
In 2008, one of my high school friends, Darryl Ishii passed away. He was barely forty years old. He was much more fit than me. He exercised regularly and had a passion for basketball. We weren’t that close, but I knew him enough to consider him a friend. We went to high school together and played basketball together when we were kids. And he died. Suddenly. From a heart attack while on the court playing basketball. He left behind a wife and two kids. Stuart Scott, nearly the same age as me suddenly found out he had cancer. He also was fit, and famous, and had a family who loved him. And then there are others who live to be 100 for no particular reason. They don’t take care of themselves any better or worse than my friend Daryl did or Stuart did. So was Daryl’s life or Stuart’s life any less of a success for having been so much shorter? I don’t think so. I don’t think we can take a standard measurement like money, or fame, or long life even as the measure of success. I see many people who spend the last year, 5 years, 10 years of their lives not quite themselves and wonder how they view their life. For me, watching different people come to their end in different ways, I believe that the success of your life is wholly dependent on you and God. Not your circumstances. Not the years you have. Not the awards or accolades you accumulate. Not whether or not you get your name in the paper. All of that is short-lived. The success in your life is dependent on the peace in your heart, the knowledge that you’ve lived your best life, that you are loved and that you love others, and that you have done everything you can to be deserving of that love. And all of that comes into place when we walk closely with God. Only God can give us the peace and contentment that we so desperately seek. As we approach Easter and the resurrection of our Lord, let us resurrect in ourselves a renewed spirit to live our best life. For ourselves, for those we love, and to honor the gift God has given us. With God, we give meaning to the HOW, and the WHY, and the manner in WHICH we live. God bless you all.
[1] Information on The Game of Life came primarily from an article from The Vox and Wikipedia.
[2] Great article on Stuart Scott. Read it and was surprised myself to find out that what I always thought was “Boo-yah” was actually “Boo-yow!” http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/12118296/stuart-scott-espn-anchor-dies-age-49
Craig's Corner 