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October 2011 Blog Archives

Monday, October 31

3:30 PM Farm update:

1) Being from Alaba, Nigusse is definitely not used to cold weather. Here he is doing his homework for Tracy McKenzie’s Hebrew class, taking advantage of the warmth of our fireplace. (I think he enjoys living here.)

2) Becky told me to be sure to post this amazing picture of our grandson Bradford. He’s wearing the same head cap our son Nathan wore when he was a baby. Truly, “The child is the father of the man.”

3) My project du jour? To clean out the front flower beds.

They are now ready for the bulbs Becky is about to plant. Sure will make our front porch look purdy!

Life is awe-inspiring if you think about it.

9:29 AM Good morning and welcome to the last day of October. Over at DBO I just posted an essay called Reflections on Reformation Day. Hope you enjoy it. As you can imagine, it takes a pretty Anabaptistic point of view. (Sorry, all you Reformed types.) If you want to read something that is really good, however, scamper on over to the Bethel  Hill site and read Becky’sThe 4 D’s of the Evil One. Bet you can’t guess what they are!

Saturday, October 29

10:45 PM The music tonight was simply amazing. I especially enjoyed John Boozer’s unabashedly poetic interpretation of the music. As for the chorale itself, they performed some really difficult music. Singing in a chorale is sort of like doing jumping jacks and eating cod liver oil, all at the same time. Both are difficult but good for you! There’s no way I would even think about auditioning for this group. Their technical expertise was simply too good. Overall, the concert was like a canvas of Rembrandt. Can’t wait for their next one! 

3:54 PM This evening the Raleigh-Durham Sacred Chorale is holding a concert at the Wake Forest Baptist Church. I’m taking Becky there after we enjoy dinner at the Olive Garden (one of her faves). The concert starts at 7:00 pm and is free. John Boozer is the director. Becky and I know “Boozer” well. He directed the Northeast Piedmont Chorale when we were members. Should be a great evening. See you there? 

3:36 PM Good afternoon, bloggers! If you’re anything like me, you’ve been receiving oodles of emails from friends advising you to vote for so-and-so. “____________ is the last, best hope for America.” Interpretation: Our side has all the answers and the other side just doesn’t get it. I received one such email today. The blank happened to filled in with the name Rick Santorum. Now, Rick is probably a great guy and a wonderful American. But I don’t think he’s the best thing to come down the pike since the book of Revelation.

It’s hard to figure out what’s behind all the pom-pom waving. I suppose that, partly at least, it comes from our messiah-complex as Americans. We’re hardwired to look to government to bail us out of our troubles. We’re a zealous people, and zeal, when combined with religious fervor, is a powerful combination. As a citizen of a different empire (Phil. 1:27; 3:20), I don’t feel I need to get too involved in trying to figure out whose political platform has the “best” solution to our political and economic problems. I stand by my long-held belief that there are no right “Christian” solutions when it comes to politics. (As an aside, Jesus seems to have deliberately refused to take sides  in politically-charged debates.) Unfortunately, because of our messianic view of politics in America, we tend to mistake our political opinions for the Gospel. And so we chase after our political gods and goddesses and spend much of our time misdirecting our energy on things that make us feel secure (though this “security” is futile). It is a day of conformity, and if everybody is jumping on the political bandwagon, why shouldn’t I? It is amusing to hear of people boasting about being “different.” The only thing different about the current generation of Americans is that we are all the same. The only way to be truly different is to be a New Testament Christian. I don’t mean a good church-goer but a true rebel against this age because friendship with this world is enmity with God.

The Christian movement is a revolution. We are not out just to be different but to prove that there are no shortcuts to the kingdom. If, instead of taking the devil’s shortcut and falling down and worshiping him, our Lord took the way of the cross, how can we do any less?

Think about it.

Dave

11:17 AM Photo update:

1) Look who got a new baby blanket this week. None other than Master Bradford Lee Black!

2) Don’t he look as snug as a bug in a rug?

3) In other news … Nigusse and Becky spoke at Bethel Hill Charter School yesterday.

4) Here Becky explains what an Ethiopian lunch pale is made out of. (The answer is goat skin, in case you’re interested).

5) Nigusse told the story of Ethiopia — its history, culture, religion, and even its Savior! I think everyone enjoyed having a real live African in their classroom while studying Africa.

6) To top it all off, we finally found a barber in South Boston who knows how to cut our son’s hair. Don’t Nigusse look handsome? 

7) Finally, only 18 more days to go before our Ethiopia Team 2011 leaves for Alaba. From left to right they are Katy, Dale, Abigail, Jason, Cindi, Kevin, and Kandace.

Please pray for them as they make their final preparations for the trip of a lifetime. Most are veterans (only Abigail and Kandace are fresh fish), but that doesn’t make the work load any lighter. Here are their various ministries:

• Kevin will be teaching the rural church elders and evangelists the book of 1 Peter.

• Jason will be teaching the town elders the book of 1 Peter.

• Dale will be teaching Colossians half day in the local prison and half day in the villages.

• Cindi will be teaching the book of James to the women.

• Katy, her sister Kandace, and Abigail (Cindi’s daughter) will be teaching the Beatitudes to the children in the villages.

All told, about 150 church leaders will be trained in the Scriptures during this trip. In addition, on Saturday the team will be ministering to about 250 children in the Compassion International school in Alaba, teaching about the character of Jesus. In the meantime, we’ve sent “mug shots” of each of our team members so that everyone in the Ethiopian churches can get to know “their” missionaries ahead of time.

Remember: Becky and I do not take “individuals” to Ethiopia. All of these missionaries represent local churches in America that have developed a long-standing relationship with their sister churches in Alaba and Burji. Our goal is to connect local churches with local churches.

I close this entry with a great quote from missionary David Brainerd:

Here am I, send me; send me to the ends of the earth; send me to the rough, the savage pagans of the wilderness; send me from all that is called comfort on earth; send me even to death itself, if it be but in Thy service, and to promote Thy kingdom.

So … are you going?

Friday, October 28

7:58 PM Our first fire of the year. What better way to enjoy a cold and rainy evening?

And what better way to enjoy bread fresh out of the oven? 

6:38 PM This week our good friend Lorenzo (“Lori”) experienced the life we call death. I will never forget his sweet smile and sparkling eyes. Lori served as an elder in the Alaba church for many years. (He is shown below, to my immediate right.)

Like his Lord, Lori was a craftsman and could build anything out of wood. Nigusse reminded me tonight of the many times Lori built simple pews for the church buildings in Alaba and beyond. In fact, just last year, after the Muslims had burned down a church building and murdered a believer in rural Ethiopia, Lori built replacement pews and delivered them, along with clothing to the needy Christians.

Lori died of colon cancer at the age of 50. He is survived by his wife and 4 small children. He will be missed, but he is in a far better place. Through the shed blood of Jesus, we will spend all of eternity together.

Farewell, Lori. Thank you for your faithfulness to Christ. I will never forget you.

5:13 PM One of the most enjoyable things about the Internet is its ability to keep people connected. Once again, then, allow me to give you an update on Becky, since we just returned from a visit to one of her doctors. Seems she’s been having elevated blood pressure of late. The problem is, we don’t know exactly what might be causing it. Is it related to her RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis)? Is it related to all the chemo therapy she’s received? (Is her husband stressing her out?!!) Translation: We’ve got to run some tests before we can hope to get an accurate diagnosis. On Monday, as it turns out, we’ll be back at UNC for her next Avastin treatment, so we’ll move forward at that time with exploring the options with her oncology team there. My guess is they’ll line up a good cardiologist for her to see, and we’ll be good to go. As always, the goal is to get the best out of B’s cancer treatments and to prevent the worst.

So why I am telling you all of this? I suppose it’s partly to say “thank you” for all the prayers you’ve offered up for Becky (and me) over the past 2 years plus. (We just got another email this morning that said, “Praying for you and Becky.”) And because I’d like to ask you not to stop now. Waiting on God is a gigantic act of faith. I don’t have to tell most of you this. You’ve had to learn the hard way, as I have, to rest in the perfect confidence that He will guide in the right way, at the right time. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior, all the day long. Jesus Christ is my life. He’s Becky’s too. And I suppose that’s why we can go on.   

1:26 PM Hope College announces an opening inReligion.

1:05 PM I continue to enjoy reading America’s innovation-generating websites. These include Alan Knox’s The Assembling of the Church and Daniel Streett’sKai Ta Loipa. Both of these young men, by the way, are products of Southeastern Seminary (to a degree).

         

Take the latter, for instance. Most of us older Greek teachers probably could care less about what Daniel is saying about Greek pedagogy. Why? Because we’re comfortable doing things the way we’ve always done them. We teach traditional Greek grammar. And we’re good at it too. But we typically don’t think “innovation.” Daniel’s approach is not necessarily better, but it is innovative. And it too will work, at least with certain individuals. What makes Greek pedagogy so exciting is that new ideas are always surfacing. Verbal aspect theory arose out of nowhere a decade or two ago and is here to stay. Linguistics is now integrated in many of our recent studies of Koine Greek (though not as many as I would like). I am certainly encouraging my own students to come up with new ideas and to develop new approaches to teaching or new ways of packaging old information. At the same time, younger scholars (such as Alan and Daniel) are also questioning the innovations, as rightly they should. Just because hefty tomes have been written, for example, on verbal aspect doesn’t mean that these books have anything worthwhile or lasting to contribute to the field. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t. Most innovations began as fads. Only time will time whether they stick, or even deserve to. The good news, though, is that young people today are being challenged to think outside of the box big-time. To put it simply: they have the potential to become genuine innovators. Put all the above together and you have the reason I love teaching today more than ever: there is nothing that can’t be challenged, and there is probably much that can be improved. The gains are very much two-way. We teachers get to watch our students become collaborators in the teaching enterprise, and students are empowered to forge into the future, full speed ahead.

Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

11:34 AM Good morning, one and all. The other evening I snapped a few photos of the seminary grounds and buildings and thought I’d share a few of them with you. Photographing structures takes more skill and know-how than I possess, believe me. I have to rely on a completely untrained eye to get a sense of what I want to shoot. But hey — the evening was so beautiful I just had to extract some images. This is absolutely the most beautiful campus I’ve ever been on, and I simply can’t do justice to it. Like, I don’t even know how a camera works!

At any rate, this is the center and heart of Southeastern, Binckley Chapel, where my NT 2 class meets every Wednesday (in the basement). Chapel services are held here twice weekly. I’ve had the honor of speaking here 3 or 4 times since I arrived at SEBTS in 1998. It’s hard to take a really bad photo of Binckley.

Off in the distance is Stephens-Mackie Hall, where I office. I’m on the first floor facing the commons. Other than a few crazy quad-mates (ha-ha!), it’s a fairly quiet place and very conducive for study and chatting with students.

Below is our main administrative building, called Stealey Hall (pronounced “Stay-ley”). My first office on campus was on the third floor of this grand edifice, smack dab in the middle of the campus overlooking the fountain and directly across from the chapel. With no working elevator at the time, it was excellent exercise climbing the stairs several times each day. I will never forget the day we played blue grass music in my room at lunch time and Dr. Patterson came up to sing along with us!

Below is our library. This has got to be my favorite building on campus. I’ve always loved good libraries, and we certainly have a good one at Southeastern, so much so that I gave up building my personal library years ago and now just use the library (and inter-library loan) for any of my research needs. At the same time, every once in a while I’ll thin out my personal library and send a couple hundred volumes to some library in, say, Latin America, where the need for books is much greater than in my office!

Below is Bostwick Hall where Nigusse and I stay on occasion. Our room is on the third floor and has all the amenities of life including a microwave and frig.

Finally, this is Goldston Hall, a dorm for our single men. Lots of room out front for Frisbee and flag football.

So there you have it. I have no confidence that I will ever shoot the perfect picture but, like I say, it’s hard to take a bad picture at Southeastern. Here’s hoping you’ll find your way to campus some day and pay us a visit. If you do, I hope you’ll look me up. I’ll be in Stephens-Mackie 107.

Thursday, October 27

5:50 PM In NT 2 class this week we spent some time discussing an assortment of theological topics along with how our churches could more effectively flesh out the descent-ascent motif (“down is up”) we find in Phil. 2:5-11.

I obviously don’t have all the answers, but I am blown away by the patterns we find in this passage. When Jesus poured Himself out He founded a radical new community. He didn’t set up a new program but modeled a new way of living that showed us what the kingdom looks like. If you look at the early church you cannot help but be struck by the impact made by the Holy Spirit as He transformed the apostles and their followers into other-centered servants. Little wonder their churches had such an impact. Their mutual interaction showed Christian love in action, and there is nothing more attractive for the Gospel than that. Each year I have the privilege of traveling to countries where the church is truly salt in the midst of a disintegrating society, not (as in the U.S.) a pious subculture of conformity. Everything — every single thing! — we do should reflect Christ’s self-abnegating spirit.

In a nutshell, reading Philippians is downright dangerous. It can easily get you into trouble. You will no longer be able to depersonalize the poor or needy of this world or shift your responsibility for global evangelization onto someone else’s shoulders. Your lives will begin to shout the Gospel. And, as Phil. 2:5-11 shows, it’s definitely a story worth telling.

2:16 PM Hello bloggers,

Got time for various and sundry?

1) Good to see one of my NT students, Brian Daniels, blogging again. In his latest post he asks a very important question:Would you rather be called “doctor” or “brother”? It’s based on the story of one Luther’s contemporaries, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt.

I think Brian knows where I stand on this one (*smile*). Here’s my personal take: Conversion produces a changed life. If there’s no change, there’s been no conversion. And this includes the “little” things of life such as titles and status symbols. The descriptive words we use such as “doctor” or “reverend” are all man-centered. They are quite inadequate to describe the radical change in our relationship with God and with one another when we are converted. But when you are genuinely converted, you become increasingly bold to obey the teachings of Jesus radically. No, I do not insist that others do not call me Dr. Black. It’s their choice. But I can at least introduce myself as Brother Dave. Because that’s what I am at my core. So read Brian’s blog post and ask yourself whether there are things in your life that breed elitism. Maybe for you, titles don’t have this result. It may be something else. Whatever it is, let’s all follow the example of Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt.

2) How religious are Virginians? Arecent poll has the answer – very religious!90- of us claim to be Christians.  42- are Baptists, 17- are Methodists, and a mere 13- are Catholics. 83- of us believe in miracles. Yes, we are a Commonwealth of believers! But are we behavers? This is the question Martin Marty of the University of Chicago asked in his book A Nation of Behavers. Civil religion is meaningful only inasmuch as it is rooted in genuine conversion, authentic relationships, and biblical truth. When we consider what it means to be “evangelical” (as our jargon goes), we must also ask what it means to be an obedient follower of the Lord Jesus. Then we will begin to see why rebirth and religion are inextricably opposed to each other. Otherwise we’re operating out of little more than an “I’m a good religious person” mentality that can be fatal to genuine Christianity.

3) Here’s a photo of my assistant Andy Bowden, who submitted to me the final draft of his Th.M. thesis this week.

It’s entitled “Interpreting Microstructure through Discourse Analysis, with Specific Application to the Text of James 5:13-18.” Congratulations, Andy.

Next step: Oral defense.

4) My colleague George Robinson (with whom Nigusse is taking a missions course this semester) says thatall good Christians should celebrate Halloween. Here’s his conclusion:

I sure wish more good Christians would celebrate Halloween this year by staying home and meeting their pagan neighbors – an option which I believe surely beats the “good Christian” alternative.

Amen to that. We do indeed have a missional God who delights in “meeting” pagans on their own turf. Thanks for the reminder, George.

5) Civil War buffs: check out thisinteractive app for the Battle of Chancellorsville. What will they think of next?

6) My thanks to Richard Smith and his lovely bride for inviting Nigusse and me to a fantastic dinner in their apartment on campus last night. The lasagna was superb, and the fellowship even superber (!). You two are wonderful hosts.

7) Had this email exchange this week with someone out in California:

Him: Dave: Do you have any idea how much WS [Wipf & Stock] is going to charge for the second edition of your Paul, Apostle of Weakness?  I ask out of curiosity because WS books tend to be on the pricey side.  With advance knowledge, I could save up my shekels (or is that staters?)…

Me: Should be no more than $100 USD. Seriously, I have no idea. But it will be worth every penny, I’m sure. 

Him: $100,000?  A bargain!  Does that include a DVD of the movie version?  Heh…

Me: Oh yes indeed. Even has a cameo by the apostle himself.

Him: Heh.  If Hollywood did a film, I cringe at who they would pick to play Paul!

Me: According to The Acts of Paul and Thecla, “he was a man of middling size, and his hair was scanty, and his legs were a little crooked, and his knees were projecting, and he had large eyes and his eyebrows met, and his nose was somewhat long, and he was full of grace and mercy; at one time he seemed like a man, and at another time he seemed like an angel.”

Let’s see … Pernell Roberts?

Him: Well, that’s better than Dan Blocker – or maybe Jack Black.  Hey!  Jack Black is a wealthy actor – maybe you’re related to him.  LOL

But seriously, Wipf & Stock’s books are very reasonably priced. Check for yourselfhere.

8) Don’t tell me that Allan Bevere doesn’t have a funny bone (or a contrarian streak).Here he gives the barbeque police a McRibbing. Magnificent piece of writing. It’s why I love the Internet.

9) This has got to be my favorite quote of the week:

In relation to leaders among the church (that is, whose example do we follow?), we should consider spiritual maturity first. Some can be highly educated (even in the subjects of Bible, Christian theology, missions, ministry, etc.) and still be very immature when it comes to living a life that demonstrates the gospel of Jesus Christ. Having a formal education does not indicate that that person’s example should be followed.

ReadFormal Education and Spiritual Maturity by my doctoral student Alan Knox.

10) Kenneth Keathley spoke on Kenotic Christology in NT 2 yesterday. I had been looking forward to his lecture for a long time.

Ken provided a clear overview of the history of kenotic theories, their strengths and (especially) their weaknesses. I disagreed with some of his conclusions, but I was very impressed with the exegetical and logical force of his arguments. I especially appreciated how he tied the key expression “He emptied Himself” to its immediate context – how else would the original audience have understood it? When you pay careful attention to the syntax of the passage, Paul’s meaning is clear: Christ emptied Himself by taking on the form of a slave. In other words, He emptied Himself by putting Himself at the disposal of others and placing the needs of others before His own – the very thing Paul has just enjoined the church to do in 2:1-4! The truth is, Christ’s condescension is a highly important doctrine of the church and gives us a host of principles that apply at all times and in all places. This is precisely what the church is supposed to look like. At a time when God is clearly calling many back to the foundations of New Testament ecclesiology, Ken’s lecture was both timely and helpful.

11) Finally, this is what I had for lunch today.

Delicious spaghetti prepared by my wonderful bride. Becky always makes such wonderful meals for Nigusse and me, week in and week out. If I have counted correctly, she prepares 4 suppers, 6 lunches, and 4 breakfasts every Monday. What a labor of love. Sure helps with the budget too (especially the way Nigu eats). So … thank you, honey, for all you do for us. Greatly appreciated!

Keep studying, praying, and loving!

Dave

Tuesday, October 25

6:16 AM Program note: In this Wednesday’s NT 2 class we are studying Paul’s letter to the Philippians. If you would like a copy of my 1988 Novum Testamentum essay “The Discourse Structure of Philippians: A Study in Textlinguistics” please do not hesitate to email me and I will send it to you as a .pdf. Our guest lecturer on Wednesday will be our seminary dean Kenneth Keathley who will speak on the topic: “Kenotic Christology: Is It Biblical?” His lecture begins at 2:00. Guests are always welcome.

6:12 AM Yesterday I spoke about my forthcoming book on missions called Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions? I am told the work will be available possibly as early as January. Since we’re on the subject of publications, you might be interested to know that the revision of my Basel dissertation, Paul, Apostle of Weakness, is also scheduled for an early 2012 release. The publisher is Wipf & Stock. Finally, in 2012 please look for the publication of a Festschrift in honor of a New Testament scholar whose name must remain a mystery for the time being. I am serving as co-editor of the book, which we hope to present to the honoree at next year’s SBL meeting (where I also had the honor of presenting Harold Greenlee with hisFestschrift back in 1992).

So … I guess my students aren’t the only ones publishing these days!

Monday, October 24

5:30 PM Daniel Streett is at it again, this time with an excellent essay calledA Comprehensive Classroom Curriculum for Living Koine Greek. Much food for thought here, as usual. But one comment jumped off the page:

Wherever I have advocated for a communicative approach to teaching Koine Greek, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. There are always a few dissenters, but by and large people are very open to the concept. This is especially true of the younger generation of graduate students, adjuncts, and junior faculty who typically handle the lion’s share of basic Greek teaching.

Now that is a sad comment. No, I’m not referring to the approach being advocated by Daniel. I’m referring to the fact that so few seasoned Greek scholars teach beginning grammar in our schools and seminaries. Why should that be the case? I have no earthly idea. It seems to me that the most important year for teaching Greek is the first year. It’s in first year Greek that you either fall in love with the language or you don’t. It’s also in first year Greek that you either begin to grasp critical concepts or not. I have no way to confirm this, but I have been told that the great A. T. Robertson, of Southern Seminary fame and the premier New Testament Greek scholar of his generation, insisted on teaching a section of baby Greek every year so as not to lose touch with beginning students.

Whether myth or truth, I agree completely with his philosophy! In 35 years of teaching Greek I have always been asked to teach at least one section of beginning Greek grammar, and I have always readily agreed to do so. Sometimes I am asked to teach 2 sections. Of course, during the same semester I may also be teaching Advanced Greek Grammar. I love beginning Greek students. I can readily identify with their struggles since I myself lasted only 3 weeks in my first semester of Greek before dropping.

God bless beginning Greek teachers. God bless them whether or not they use the Living Koine approach. But perhaps a few more of us old timers could find the time to pour our lives into fledgling Greek scholars. Might make a world of difference in their lives.

4:30 PM Exciting news. My friend and colleague Alvin Reid has agreed to write the Foreword to my new booklet entitled Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions? I just sent the final manuscript to the publisher yesterday. Alvin is one of the most dynamic pluggers and players I’ve ever met. If I could offer you one person who embodies what evangelism is all about, it would be Alvin. (Okay, he’s not so young anymore, but that man is a workout guru.) In my new book, it is my contention that professional missionaries and regular “laypersons” like you and me need to work together in a mutually enhancing fashion. Forget the outsourcing, though. That’s so twentieth-century. Today, individual Christians are doing things missionally they had never dreamt of doing before. And every one of us has a part to play. Hence the book will close with a “Commitment to Global Missions” that the reader can sign and date. As I told Alvin, it’s time to put our money where our mouth is. Glad he agrees.

2:06 PM Newsflash! We have running water again. Had to replace the water pump. How much did it cost, you ask?

Don’t ask. 

1:56 PM Over at the Parson’s Patch, Mark Stevens has just treated us to aguided tour of his garden delights. As in summer garden. (Remember that Mark lives in Australia.) In the same spirit, and drawing from the same agrarian impulse as does brother Mark, I offer the following update from Bradford Hall.

First off, we are happy to report that our tomato plants are still doing well despite the colder temps.

Becky thinks, if we’re blessed, we’ll still be eating garden fresh maters come late January (as we did this time last year). Time will tell.

Speaking of time, to everything there is a season, and the season for okra is definitely past, as these okra TREES clearly evince.

Who else to come to the rescue than the world’s most (in)famous okra discontinuator.

A little roto-tilling, et voila!

The bed is now ready for Becky to plant winter bulbs.

Below are our garden greens.

In case you are not from the American South, greens are an old staple, high in vitamins and minerals. Many Southerners cook them with a ham hock, which I think ruins the taste. Just give me them greens cooked all by themselves. Our green peppers are also thriving, which is a very good thing as one of my favorite dishes is Becky’s stuffed peppers, Romanian style.

Finally, here is today’s harvest. Awful purdy, don’t ya think?

Whether you’re a novice (like me) or an expert (like Mark), I hope you’re enjoying your garden today, wherever you may live.

10:20 AM Murdoch University (Australia) is seeking alecturer in New Testament.

10:10 AM Students: The J-term 2012 and spring semester 2012 courses have just been posted at Campus Net. In J-term I will be teaching Greek 1. In the spring semester I will teach 2 sections of Greek 2 and New Testament Introduction 1. Next summer I plan to teach Greek 3 during the 4th summer session, though this is not set in concrete yet.

Just a heads-up for planning purposes.

10:06 AM As I said yesterday, I am so proud of our students here at SEBTS. Here’s another reason: Students like Nathan Schneider who are committed to using what they learn. Nathan has decided tochallenge himself to translate one verse every day from his Greek New Testament for the next 21 days. Habit-forming, he thinks. I say, Go for it. What better way to form a new habit. And what a good habit to form.

Brother Nathan, you da man!  

9:30 AM Good morning blogging buds! As I’m waiting for the plumber to arrive, I’ve been surfing the Net. As a Christian who has long believed in the merits of the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper as a full meal, I was delighted to seethis report about Scot McKnight’s recent lectureship at Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas. He’s given us even more reason to reconsider the typical evangelical approach to the “Lord’s Snack.” We spoke about this last week in our NT 2 class. For me the key question is: Will we continue to rob Christ of His place of preeminence in the churches (Col. 1:18) by acting as though the Lord’s Supper was a mere addendum to our weekly gatherings? In recent years we’ve seen not a few “Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail” (the title of one of Robert Webber’s books) partly because of the centrality of the Lord’s table in certain non-evangelical denominations. Think, for a moment, of the early church, a church where fellowship was very real, and at its center was the breaking of the bread. The table of the Lord transcended barriers of race, color, social status, and education. Home schoolers and guvmint schoolers got along just fine and dandy, as did those who voted for Obama and those who voted against him. Now it is this quality of fellowship that has got to be seen in our congregations if anybody is going to believe what we have to say about reconciliation.

This is, as Scot notes, an unfashionable doctrine today, but it is unquestionably the teaching of the New Testament. The early Christians found that there was no joy quite like the joy of celebrating the Fellowship Meal, which anticipated the Great Marriage Supper of the Lamb. I long for such joy in my own congregation. Don’t you?

Now if I could only get my water to run again.

Sunday, October 23

7:55 PM I continue to be very proud of my doctoral students. Inthis wonderful piece about journal publishing, Paul Himes says submitting a manuscript for publication is like dating. Yikes! I had never thought about it in those terms before. And then he makes this comment:

The only reason I had the guts to send in my first article (the BBR article on Petrine theology) was because my prof encouraged me and told me that it was worth sending in, and I remain grateful to him. Encouragement can go a long way.

Yes, Paul, I agree completely. And I well remember when my very first journal article was published. The piece appeared in the Grace Theological Journal, and I had the nerve to submit it only after Dr. Harry Sturz of Biola University had pushed and prodded me to do so. I’m glad he did. It was just the “encouragement” (as you say) that I needed to get the ball rolling, publishing-wise. The day I received the page proofs in Basel will never be forgotten.

Thank God for profs who care enough to encourage. May their tribe increase.

4:32 PM I have spoken only rarely on this blog about brother Tilahun of Alaba who has now taken on the mantle of leadership that Nigusse left behind when he departed from Ethiopia to come and live with us — the interruptions, demands, disappointments, deprivations, and burdens of helping to care for the flock there in Alaba. In some odd sense I feel very close to Tilahun today, as close as the time when his wife Aberesh gave birth to “our” grandson Nathan.

I know Tilahun finds daily ministry a challenge, as would anyone in his shoes. I would plead with him, as I often plead with myself, to remember that when we pray “Give us this day our daily bread” God always answers that prayer, always provides for us what we need spiritually as well as physically. He knows that we grow best when we are confronted by trials and conflict. We must learn to accept whatever He gives us, willingly, submissively, courageously, saying to ourselves, “This is evidence of God’s love for me.” In her novel In This House of Brede, Rumer Golden describes the monastery logo as follows:

The motto was Pax, but the word was set in a circle of thorns. Peace: but what a strange peace, made of unremitting toil and effort, seldom with seen result; subject to constant interruptions, unexpected demands, short sleep at night, little comfort, sometimes scant food; beset with disappointments, and usually misunderstood; yet peace all the same, undeviating, filled with joy and gratitude and love. “It is My own peace I give unto you,” not, notice, the world’s peace.

Peace in the midst of thorns. This is the way of Jesus. Will you accept that today, brother Tilahun? Will I? The very moment we feel so weak and hurt is the opportunity to put our faith on the line, to press on in that perseverance that He provides, to set our face like flint toward our own Jerusalems, filled with joy and gratitude and love.

You can do this, Tilahun. I know you can.

Pax Vobiscum.

Dave

Saturday, October 22

6:22 PM Student Day is now history. The weather was glorious. The day dawned with me trying to figure out why we lacked water pressure in the house. Could it be a dirty water filter in the crawl space? So off I went to change it and — voila! — now we have no water pressure. Zero, zilch, nada. Just when we’re expecting a group of about 60 people. God really has a sense of humor, don’t He? I try troubleshooting this and that but to no avail. So our guests are welcomed to Bradford Hall with signs on the bathroom doors that Becky made:

Women and children only may use the toilets.

Men will have to find a tree.

Do not flush. Dr. Black will take care of that.

So … with this little detail taken care of, it was smooth sailing after that. A great time was had by all. I leave you with a few pix. Enjoy! Dave

Friday, October 21

8:23 PM The house and yard are ready. All that’s lacking is YOU! Meanwhile … enjoyingthis fabulous piece by Karl Jenkins. If you haven’t heard it yet, watch out! It will blow you away.

1:20 PM Been a crazy day so far. Just returned from Clarksville (our fair city) where I went to CVS and Food Lion and had the oil changed in Becky’s Odyssey. (No, I cannot change the oil in my cars. Never done it. Never will. Too mechanically challenged.) When I walked through the door Becky announced that she had lunch ready, and what a wonderful treat it was.

She tells me the whole meal cost her only 10 cents to make. The tomatoes for the soup came from our garden. The bread was homemade. The water is from our well. Even the beautiful flowers came from our garden.

Sure beats eating out, I tell you.

This afternoon my LOTTD (List Of Things To Do) is a mile long. But it will have to wait. First I’m gonna take a stroll with Becky down one of our gorgeous walking trails.

10:40 AM Great reminder by Arthur Sido this morning that we need to stop outsourcing ministry to professionals:Sitting around waiting for someone else. I am a huge proponent of lay involvement in ministry. We have an “FDR” mentality in our societyand in our churches: if you need something done, you rely on someone else to do it.

Reminds me of the time my son and were driving in our rural neighborhood after a storm and came upon a large tree that had fallen across the road. Know what my first thought was? Call VDOT. The Virginia Department of Transportation. It’s their job, after all, to maintain the roads in my state. Then I thought: Why don’t we take care of that ourselves? We’ve got a chain saw, don’t we? Besides, who knows how long it will be before VDOT can get here? It’s getting dark, and someone could get injured or killed if they don’t see that tree.

So we drove back home, grabbed our chain saw, and had that big old tree cut up and moved to the side of the road in no time. Good, old-fashioned self-sufficiency. I think we’ve lost that in the church. But it’s not too late to recovery that spirit. Arthur puts it so beautifully:

The church doesn’t really need more theologians or professional sermoizers, it needs more “regular” Christians to get out of their pews and comfort zones and go to those who actually need their love and their service. We need to put down our hymnals and pick up towels to gird ourselves for the loving act of washing feet. I pray that God will continue to burden me in a greater way each day to love my neighbor as myself and seek out ways to serve them rather than hiding in my comfortable religious shell.

I pray for that same burden, Arthur!

10:20 AM Tomorrow’s weather is calling for bright sunny skies and a high temperature of 66 degrees. Perfect for Student Day. So cancel your surgeries and postpone your nervous breakdowns and come on out. The fish can’t wait to be caught.

9:48 AM Odds and ends:

1) Here’s anot-so-funny picture of someone’s Bible filled with signatures of (I guess) the rich and famous.

If you can believe it, I’ve been asked a time or two to sign someone’s Bible. “I only sign books I’ve written,” I reply demurely. I wonder if this subject is covered in seminary. It ought to be.

2) On Wednesday my esteemed colleague Keith Harper (coffee maker extraordinaire) lectured in my NT 2 class on the subject of “Slavery and the Formation of the Southern Baptist Convention.” And a mighty fine job he did too.

I always enjoy Keith’s colorful, subtle style, his endeavor to always be fair. He loves to play the role of questioner – and provocateur. He raised the key hermeneutical question when he pointed out how the Bible has been used for ideological justification of extremist views on both sides of the issue. With a few expert holds, he pinned to the mat the ridiculous notion that slavery was merely a political issue in the 1800s. Naturally I was delighted by his historical acumen. When one has devoted his life and work to something, his words naturally gain credibility and weight. I especially loved his attack on those who offer cheap criticism from the secure fortress of their principles. If only Northerners and Southerners alike could forfeit all pharisaical attitudes toward their fellow countrymen. Don’t hold your breath.

3) Just got an email from a student who tells me that Scot McKnight was interviewed in his evangelism class this week. Isn’t Skype awesome?

4) Here’s a huge shout out and congratulations to my assistant and Th.M. student,Andy Bowden. Andy just received notification that he is now an official Doktorand at the University of Munich in Germany.

His Doktorvater will be ProfessorDavid du Toit. Munich is one Germany’s great cities – lots of green space, a fantastic S-Bahn system for getting around, and superb architecture. It’s also not the United States. Be prepared, Andy, to take your own sacks with you every time you go to the grocery store and to do Kehrwoche in your apartment building. Oh, andSchwäbisch can be tricky. But with your linguistic acumen, you’ll pick it up in no time. Keine Sorge. Das wird sich alles finden!

In the meantime, Andy, you’ll get a kick out of this great video clip:

 

5) Last night we enjoyed “Fandisha” (popcorn) — a gift to us from Alaba. Thank you, sister Etenesh!

6) My desk this week. Dissertations and theses are coming due.

7) Here’s the duvet Becky just made for Nigusse’s bed.

Aren’t those hearts super cool?  

Thursday, October 20

8:50 PM Addendum to my previous post:

Recently I was speaking with a friend who confessed to me that he felt lonely. This, despite the fact that he is happily married and has a family. (Yes, there is loneliness even when one is married, and even when one has children. How silly to think that another human being could ever satisfy our deepest need for companionship.) Referring to Phil. 2:5-11, I told him that I thought the answer to loneliness is love. It is not in our finding someone to love us, but in our finding in God someone who loves us perfectly. We then express our gratitude to Him by a happy and joyful pouring out of our lives in love to others, without expecting anything in return. Fortunately, I think my friend understood this. I’m glad he did, because I myself am still panting to catch up in my emotions to what I know to be true in my mind. In dying, we live. That’s the only way to experience true joy, writes Paul in Philippians. So let’s pour out God’s love on the undeserving, for this is the mind of Christ!

I hope you don’t mind me sharing with you these practical thoughts from the book of Philippians. It’s really one of my favorite books in all the Bible. How tragic it would be to study the Bible and fail to make a note of the lessons the Holy Spirit brings to our mind. We must yearn to become like Jesus, fall in love with Him, get to know Him intimately. That’s my goal in studying and teaching Philippians!

7:10 PM Good evening, thoughtful bloggers of cyberdom! I want you to meet James. I thought of James while we were discussing Epaphroditus in Greek 3 class on Tuesday. James was my translator when I trekked among the Guji tribe in southern Ethiopia a couple of years ago. At the time he was a young and optimistic 24-year old, freshly graduated from the university. All who knew him loved him. His smile was infectious and so was his passion for the Gospel. Well, when Jason Evans (one of my elders at Bethel Hill) and I decided to minister among the Gujis, we needed a translator, but not just any translator.

He needed to speak excellent English as well as excellent Orominya (with a passable Guji accent). Not to mention the fact that he would need courage, in bucketsful. You see, the Gujis hate the Burjis. Not all the Gujis do, but certainly a good number of them. For centuries they have killed Burjis, often without any apparent cause. In fact, the last two evangelists to work among the Gujis were both murdered. So, the question of the hour: Who would translate for us? James stood up and volunteered. We told him, “Are you aware of the dangers?” “Yes,” he replied, “but the Lord Jesus has told me to go and be your translator.” And so for 7 days we trekked from Guji village to Guji village, living among the people, eating their food, sharing their life, and telling them of a Savior who loved them so much He sacrificed His best for their sake. After a week the fighting got so bad that the church elders told us to return to Burji, and thus our little expedition among the Gujis came to an end.

If you were to judge James by normal “American” standards of success, you would have to conclude that he was crazy or at least an absolute idiot. But kingdom people think differently. In the kingdom, “normal” just doesn’t cut it any longer. What matters is that we’re imitating Jesus and serving others sacrificially. That’s what James did. And that’s what Epaphroditus did. Paul writes, “He risked his life and nearly died for the sake of the work of Christ, in order to give me the help that you yourselves could not give” (Phil. 2:30). By these standards – living for Christ and helping others – both Epaphroditus and James were winners.

A few weeks after that mission trip was over, James wrote to us. His email was short and to the point. “They’re looking for me,” was all he said. He meant that the Gujis were hunting him down to kill him. He had fled to a larger city to try and lose himself in its anonymity. He failed. A week later we received the news that James had been suffocated in his sleep. He was the first martyr of our work in Ethiopia.

In the early church a group of brothers and sisters called themselves the Parabolani, a word taken from the Greek verb Paul uses to describe Epaphroditus in Phil. 2:30. They were Jesus-followers who were not afraid to get their hands mucked up, ministering to the sick and imprisoned of their day, sometimes even seeing that their enemies received an honorable burial. This point stands out in strong relief to an email I got yesterday from someone who was disgusted that two American Muslims had been appointed to the Department of Homeland Security. It is hard for us to see how deep-seated our ethnocentrism is. Muslims are our enemies, aren’t they? Yet in Ethiopia scores of them are coming to Christ because of the love shown to them by modern-day Parabolani. A caring church wins and holds coverts. Unless a deep, practical, loving care is shown, unless we are willing to give our lives for the sake of others, the mere proclaiming of Good News will be useless.

I’m proud and humbled to have known James. Though he would have detested the moniker, he is a modern-day Epaphroditus. Thank you, James! We love you, we miss you, and we will see you in glory!

Got time for another takeaway from Tuesday’s class? In Phil. 2:22, Paul writes about Timothy: “You yourselves know how he has proved his worth, how he and I, like a son and his father, have worked together for the sake of the Gospel.” My son and I had a fantastic time building several outbuildings at the farm as well as putting up miles of woven wire fencing together. (Check out the blog archives for tons of photos.) The camaraderie itself was worth all the blisters and sore feet. Willing, enthusiastic cooperation toward a common goal – that’s what Paul is talking about by using this analogy from the home.

If we apply this to the spiritual realm, things get even better. Paul and Timothy were interested in the same spiritual goal – the Cause of Causes! As someone pointed out in class on Tuesday, Paul always seemed to work in a team. He was willing to recede into the group to serve King Jesus. This is why, in Philippians, he pleads so strongly for Christian unity. Full of haughtiness and self-importance, we insist on doing things our way, of working only with other Christians who look and act just like us. How easy it is for us to exaggerate the weaknesses of other members of the Body! Paul says, NO! Stop it! With humble-mindedness, let’s count others as better than ourselves. Let’s outdo one another in showing honor to others (Rom. 12:10)! As fellow citizens of the kingdom of heaven (how’s that for is “Homeland Security”!), let’s all exercise our citizenship in a manner worthy of the Gospel, in one spirit, with one soul striving side by side for the sake of the Good News (Phil. 1:27). Think about it. A higher degree of unity and just plain old kindness on the Home Front might well do wonders on the Front Lines. Brothers attacking each other or belittling them is just plain ugly. No, it’s more than that. It’s sinful.

I don’t think this means we can’t have our differences of opinion when it comes to, say, ecclesiology. But it certainly means that we all have to take great care that we keep our personal convictions about the church distinct from our call to manifest the kingdom and, through our selfless acts of service and the Good News of Christ, to transform the world into a domain over which Jesus rules. Let’s be careful about “Divided Loyalties.” If our loyalty is to the King, and if we are all His subjects (despite our differences), then let’s be sure we work together, like a father-son team putting up a new barn, for the sake of God’s reign!

Blessings,

Dave

Monday, October 17

7:35 PM So I worked from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm today.

The woods and trails look much better, though.

My thanks to Chris and Nigusse for their hard work.

Great fun and fellowship (Nigu loves snakes — just ask him!), and now we can all commiserate over our soreness.

Tomorrow morning, early, I’ve got to return the chipper and then it’s back to school. See ya there.

Peace out.  

Sunday, October 16

6:34 PM So, what have you been up to this fine day? I’ve been on the road mostly. I spoke from 1 Cor. 15:58 this morning (on excellence in the Christian life) in Durham, then drove down to Raleigh, to theAbyssinia Restaurant to be exact, to purchase some injera for tonight’s supper, where I found the clientele to be as pleasant and amiable as always. In our freezer sat languishing a dish of doro wat (chicken stew) that Nigusse had brought with him from Ethiopia. It practically begged to be eaten, so Becky pulled out all the stops tonight, cooking up a couple of her own Ethiopian vegetable dishes to accompany the centerpiece of the meal. The food brought back so many happy memories of so many happy times in Martha’s house enjoying the unique cuisine of Ethiopia. Old friends and old faces swept into view as we scooped up mouthfuls of delicious food.

The following pictures are posted for the enjoyment of Martha, who honored us so greatly by taking the time to cook this dish and sending it to us via Nigusse. Martha, the ecstasy of taste we enjoyed this evening was due to your thoughtfulness and Christian love, and we thank you from the very bottom of our heart. I never feel quite so much “at home” in Ethiopia than when I am in your dining room there in Alaba enjoying the company of God’s precious saints. I hope you are not surprised to hear that you are often the subject of pleasant conversation here at Bradford Hall, along with your husband Demissie and your sweet children and all the rest of the believers in Alaba Kulito. We’re delighted to be sending you a choice group of God’s servants who will minister alongside your church in Alaba next month, and although neither Becky and I can come personally, we will be with you in spirit and, more importantly, in prayer.

So thank you again, Martha, for this special treat. And can you believe it? There’s just enough left over for us to enjoy this meal all over again tomorrow night. Now that’s special!

And now for the pictures. Remember: These are for you, Martha, with our thanks.

7:58 AM Becky and I have been grieving along with the family of a young Navy man who lost his life in Afghanistan last week. He was killed by an IED. He leaves behind a wife and 2 young sons. Heartbreaking. Getting into Afghanistan has turned out to be much easier than getting out. The idea that we could just pour in troops and money and all would turn out well was absurd. And so another faithful husband and father dies. James Michener, in his novel Caravans, wrote, “Was there ever a land so overrun by terror and devastation as Afghanistan?” Think of the irony. The world is shrinking, becoming globalized, but we are politically and culturally as far part as ever. The Middle East is in a mess, and there is no end in sight to the misery, both there and here. May God help us all. We need Him as never before.

Saturday, October 15

8:54 PM Oh my, it was quite a day. I really don’t think I’ve been so sore in all my life. But I can say with certainty and relief, “Mission Accomplished.”

And my how much easier it is to work with a good chain saw. It’s Stihl for me, all the way.

Say, have you seen John Armstrong’s piece calledThe Debate in the SBC About a Name Change? I agree in a sense that a name change is called for, especially in light of the renewed focus in the convention on global missions. As I was preparing for my latest mission trip I was reminded of how exciting it is to be at Southeastern, where our passion is consciously and intentionally the Great Commssion. To be sure, our convention is top-heavy. People are talking about stream-lining our bureaucracies. This is healthy talk and needs to be encouraged. In effect, we need to make sure that we are doing missions as wisely and cost-effectively as possible. We can’t afford extravagance and waste. Nor can we afford, as John points out, to be parochial. Sure, some will take pot-shots at us because we are so big, but as long as we keep our eyes on the goal — the Great Cause — it won’t matter, whether or not we change our name. If we do change it, I vote for theFellowship of Baptist Christians.

10:34 AM Good morning one and all! It’s a beautiful, cool day here is the Piedmont of Virginia, and we’re working up a storm. Becky’s project du jour? A quilt for baby Bradford.

It features the four “Bradfords” in his life, including his great-grandfather (Becky’s father), erstwhile missionary to “Utopia.”

Et moi? The day started out with us cutting down a tree that had been struck by lightening.

I say “us” but my hat’s off to Chris-the-tree-man for his spectacular use of our Stihl chain saw.

“Timber…”

Our little Poulan is practically worthless, good only for limbing and cutting smallish firewood, so Becky has gone off to Ace to buy another Stihl Farm Boss. I tell you, I ain’t gonna fool no mo wit dem Poulans!

As for me, right now I’m taking a break.

Hey, at 59, I need one!

Later!

Friday, October 14

6:05 PM Brief update:

1) My father-in-law sent along this picture and said, “Guess what it’s made out of?” Answer below.  

2) Well … I guess it wasn’t indigestion after all. The book will be called Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions? It will be available early next year, Deo volente.

3) Rice is cooking. Stir fry to come. Yes, your Chinese chef is at it again!

4) The rains have gone … for now. Just in time too. Tomorrow is fire wood cutting day, while on Monday I’ve rented a wood chipper. Next Saturday is Student Day and we’re trying to tidy things up a bit.

5) Just got another DVD order. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, clickhere.

6) Looking forward to returning to the Chinese Christian Mission Church this Sunday. You have no idea how much I love other ethnic groups! 

7) And the answer is: flip-flops!

11:30 AM Odds and ends …

1) I’m tired. But not too tired to enjoy some of Becky’s homemade bread. Fresh out of the oven too. Yummy!

2) On Wednesdaythe president met with a number of evangelicals in the White House. (I wasn’t invited.) Good for him. Again, I’m not against dialogue. BTW, thank you, Mr. Obama, for speaking up for Yousef in Iran.

3) Talking to a publisher today about a brand new book project the Lord has given me. Well, I think it was the Lord. Maybe it’s just indigestion.

4) What do you think of Daniel Streett’smidterm Greek exam? Hey, if it works ….

5) Check out my friend Alvin Reid’s revamped website. Cool look, dude! (The website, not you, Alvin.)

9:22 AM Here’s the sunrise Becky and I were treated to this morning as we sat on the front porch.

So, what does a couple that has been married for 35 years talk about? Well, Becky’s trip to India next February for starters. And then the Indian evangelist and orphan we just began supporting in northeast India. How about our schedule for the day? Yes, lots to discuss and enjoy. The sunrise was just an extra serendipity.

9:17 AM Good morning, bloggerites! Most of you are aware of my conviction that there is no distinctively “Christian” position on political issues. In this light, it seems to me that in principle there is no inconsistency in being a Christian and voting for a non-Christian (or a Mormon) for political office. (I’m not saying I would do this, only that I see no inconsistency in acting this way.) As I pointed out in my bookChristian Archy, followers of Jesus aren’t called to get (overly) involved in political causes or disputes.

At the very least, we have to resist the temptation to put our hope in any political solution to what ails our society. Our time, effort, energy, and financial resources should be invested in serving the world sacrificially and in sharing the Gospel both relationally and relentlessly. This is why I’ve gotten out of politics on my blog. (This is quite an admission for the man who gave the convention sermon at the Constitution Party’s National Convention in Valley Forge when Michael Peroutka was running for president!) I think it’s every Christian’s job to be well-informed about politics, but I think it’s fruitless and self-defeating to engage in movements and political causes. I suspect the reason so many American Christians are rallying behind their “Christian” candidate is because the church in America has largely failed to live up to its calling to be the conscience of culture. Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost, to turn society right side up, but most people do not realize this. They think Christianity is about rules and regulations and political platforms and social causes and have no earthly idea that Jesus can solve their greatest problems and meet their deepest needs. This sad state of affairs will likely continue until the church decides to take up the cross instead of the sword. In the meantime, I’ll vote my conscience come next November (or not vote at all — that too would be exercising my democratic rights), but I won’t waste my time or energy expecting government to do what the kingdom is intended to accomplish.

Church, let’s get busy being the church. Let’s get busy looking like Jesus, and this means sacrificially serving others. It is only as believers come together and lay aside our political differences in repentance and ask for God’s Spirit to bind us together in love — only then will the church be stirred out of its apathy into service. We as American Christians need the power of the Holy Spirit of God as we need nothing else. When people see that we have found treasure in Christ and are not ashamed to radiate His love; when they see us taking responsibility for homelessness and poverty and racism; when we begin to show solidarity with sinners, they will perhaps glimpse something of the radical love that Jesus has for each and every one of them. So, I believe, our focus this election cycle should be on being the church, not mobilizing political movements. Think of the moral and transforming power that lies behind such an attitude. But before the church in America can do this, the Spirit has to break us of the disobedience and lethargy that come so naturally to us. When He is allowed to have control in our churches, and in our individual lives, then the possibilities for societal renewal are endless. But only then.

Thursday, October 13

6:38 PM Odds and ends …

1) There is one thing necessary to be a missionary: flexibility. Everyone knows that. I was reminded of this on my last trip. I was to be met in a foreign airport by a “brother” (unknown to me by name or face) who was to take me to a hotel at another location. I was told, “Just look for a sign with your name on it when you exit baggage claim.” Which is exactly what I did. Upon exiting I looked for the sign with my name on it, but to no avail. I mean: no sign, no nothing. No one there to greet me. So I stood there for about 20 minutes thinking that maybe my contact had forgotten me. As I was about to walk out of the airport to catch a taxi and find a hotel I was approached sheepishly by a young man. He asked me, “Are you David Alan Black?” With great relief I acknowledged who I was and asked him, “But where was the sign?” Then he held up his I-Pod where he had typed my name. It was, of course, unreadable at any distance. Dummy me. How times have changed! I assumed I was to look for a placard!

2) The Review of Biblical Literature performs another fine service by treating us to not one, but two,reviews of Porter’s (and others’) Fundamentals of New Testament Greek. The first, by Panayotis Coutsoumpos, is (in my humble opinion) a model of how not to do a book review; it simply summarizes the contents of the book. On the other hand, kudos to Lawrence Vance for his outstanding review, which is both thorough and discriminating. In essence, this grammar is “too much, too soon.” (Agree.) It breaks a fundamental principle of introductory textbook writing as well: Less is more. (Agree.)

But you be the judge. Here’s a link to the Amazon site, where you can “look inside.”

3) Allan Bevere asks an important question in light of the release of Scot McKnight’s latest book The King Jesus Gospel: Is the Soterian Gospel the Gospel?                 

Good question.

My two cents: The earliest Christians saw dynamic evangelism along with selfless living as the twin purposes for which the church existed. They put first things first, but the “first things” involved much more than coming to faith in the Lord Jesus. Little wonder evangelism is a dirty word in many circles today. Our “Gospel” is an emaciated version of the New Testament Good News, the whole thing being largely a very human operation relying on technique rather than the Holy Spirit. If we are Christians at all, we will prioritize the kingdom of God and the kingdom lifestyle over mere churchianity. I’ve been noticing an intensifying pain among evangelicals who are eager for more than mere churchianity. If I’m totally honest with myself (and now with you), I have to admit that there’s something to this angst I see in Scot’s recent writings. The idols of our conservative evangelicalism – easy believism, altar calls, church membership rolls, cultural Christianity – have left our souls empty and alienated from God. And what this means is that I need to be totally honest with this God I claim to know and with His Gospel that calls me to live a radically other-centered life. In case anyone is interested, I tried to put this into words in my bookThe Jesus Paradigm. The conviction that the Gospel is only about forensic justification just won’t cut it for me anymore. There are no shortcuts to discipleship. We might as well start getting serious about this thing we call the Good News and deal as best we can with that greatest obstacle of all, our apathy. One place to start might be with our vocabulary. Why couldn’t we begin calling the kingdom “Godworld” or Christians “Christpeople”? I think even the expression “Great Commission” is overworked. The Great Commission describes what Jesus was talking about in Luke 19:10 when He said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost,” and when He said in John 20:21, “As the Father sent Me, so I am sending you.” In a world of causes, this is The Cause of Causes – the “Great Cause” if you will. We are all in training in this Great Cause, learning what it means to turn the world right side up through the Good News of the transforming love of Jesus Christ. It means far more than just “coming to Christ.” Which shows how dumb and meaningless our labels and stereotypes are.

I haven’t read Scot’s book yet but I plan to do so soon. I am honored to be part of a New Testament scholarly community that includes such thinkers as Scot and Allan. Sure keeps life interesting!

4) At Bethel Hill, we take persecution seriously. Which means praying for our persecuted brethren throughout the world. Here’s an update written Becky called Our Imprisoned Brethren. Read it, then ask God what you can do to share in their suffering, as we are commanded to do (Heb. 13:3). 

5) Great interview here on NPR with Anne Graham Lotz about her “preaching” ministry. Nice to hear her verbalize her affection for her aging father.

6:16 PM Hello my blogging friends. Well, I had another fantastic time on campus. I’d like to share with you a lesson the Lord taught me this week as our Greek 3 class translated Phil. 2:12-18 together. In Phil. 2:12, I noticed that Paul does a remarkable thing. On the one hand, he commends the Philippians for their obedience to the demands of the Gospel when he had been personally present among them. On the other hand, he tells them, “It is even more important that you obey now while I am away from you.” I wonder what led Paul to say this? It must have been because the Philippians were in danger of succumbing to a very real temptation for believers. They were leaning too heavily on Paul, on his physical presence, on his personal teaching and example. Hence Paul’s concern that they continue to obey the truth even while he is away. What a testimony this bears to the wholehearted dedication Paul had to the Gospel! He was consumed with a passion for Jesus Christ. Christ was his Lord – and theirs. Christ was his first love – and ought to be theirs as well. Nothing else was so important to Paul.

I suppose this is a crucial reminder for any contemporary American congregation when it is considering the matter of teaching and teachers. When people find an excellent pastor or Bible expositor – in many Baptist circles today these are the young, the Reformed, and the restless (ha ha!) – they will sometimes hanker after them, place them on a pedestal. This is apparently what it was like at Philippi. With good reason, the Philippians could hardly wait for Paul to return to them, to listen to his very voice, to be in his presence once again. Paul, however, insists that they must learn to rely completely on God, must submit every important question to Him as Head, must take the initiative for their own Christian walk and move forward despite the absence of their favorite teacher. (Note: There is nothing wrong with benefiting from the teaching of others. But there is a huge danger here. There is a tendency to major on the minors, to exalt man above Christ, to rely too heavily on great Bible teachers while our Bibles themselves collect dust. If we are passionately in love with Jesus, then inevitably we will be drawn to Him through the teaching of others. And those from whom we glean so much spiritual meat will not be ashamed to give the glory where it is due.) Let the Philippians set their mind on Christ, writes Paul. Let them do this because it is unhealthy for them to do anything else. They must strive to take the initiative in their relationship with God, recognizing that they are only working out what He is working in them. “It is God who is always at work in you to make you willing and able to do what pleases Him” (Phil. 2:13). This is the supreme incentive for Christian obedience. Only God can carry our sanctification to its conclusion – not Paul or any other human teacher. It is salutary to remember that the Christian life operates on divine power from beginning to end. God is the Divine Energizer who by means of His Spirit works in the hearts of His people, nudging them from where they are to where they ought to be, thus bringing about their sanctification and ultimately their glorification. What a fantastic truth. How we need teachers in the church to remind us of this fact!

In other campus news: My doctoral student Mike Rudolph did a grand job in our NT 2 class yesterday, walking us through the longest sentence in the Greek New Testament. As usual, the local paparazzi were there to memorialize the event in pictures. See if you can follow his lecture by reading his slides:

Meanwhile, I taught on the discourse structure of Ephesians 5:15-6:9 and how the section on Christian marriage cannot be “divorced” (sorry!) from its context.

Understanding the literary context of Paul’s teaching about the marriage relationship in Ephesians has forced me to re-evaluate much of my own thinking about marriage, submission to Christ, and what it means to love my wife as Christ loved the church. Most importantly, I began to study, in depth, what Scripture says about the issue of a husband’s submission to Christ – which, of course, has only made me more aware of my own inherent selfishness, self-orientation, and self-love. It is a problem every husband battles with. It is the most basic of all sins. But there is a solution! And it is to be found in Ephesians 5:18 as we husbands start living up to the high expectations of the Scriptures and begin submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit in our lives. My hope is that my students, by reading the text itself, will begin to live up to these standards and ideals God has given us for marriage, which are far greater and better than most of us could ever imagine. Think about that the next time you are tempted to legitimize such unbiblical notions as the husband as dictator and the wife as doormat!

Finally, chapel on Tuesday was phenomenal.This is themost powerful message I have ever heard our president Danny Akin preach: “A Savior for All Nations. Do Southern Baptists Really Get It?” He remarked:

The fact of the matter is, at this particular moment, Southern Baptists are still a mostly middle class, mostly white network of mostly declining churches in the Southern United States of America. Those are the undeniable facts, and brothers and sisters, if that does not change, we will die.

I hope his message will inspire you as much as it did me.

Monday, October 10

10:19 AM Many have asked us recently, What are the challenges in Ethiopia these days? Glad you asked. Becky’s latest essay will furnish the answer: Current Needs in the Ethiopian Church.

10:12 AM The view from my porch as I read Ecclesiastes this morning. Thank you, Lord.

6:52 AM Houston Baptist University, under the leadership of fellow Basler Robert Sloan, continues to expand its faculty. Thelatest announcement seeks to hire a director for its school of theology. I note, in passing, that Peter Davids now teaches at HBU adjunctively. Feather in the cap!

6:41 AM I just added the following website to myGreek Portal page: NT Greek Studies. Your host is a missionary to South America who obviously loves Koine Greek!

Sunday, October 9

8:48 PM Before I head off to bed (jet lag!), can I bore you with a few pix from today’s activities? Here’s Nigusse with two of his fellow Ethiopians (Katherine and Carter Glass), just before speaking to us at Cresset.

His message from Phil. 1:27-30 was BETAM TURUNO! “How can you recognize a heavenly citizen?” he asked.

The answer: When we persevere in unity for the Gospel, and when we persevere in suffering for the Gospel. Here are few quotable quotes:

“Persecution is a gift. It’s a great privilege to suffer for the sake of God.”

“When you have persecution from your opponents, you can enjoy the Lord. You can see Him.”

“Persecution is not a curse, it’s a blessing.”

“Most of the time we are compromisers. We don’t want to lose relationships.”

“Whenever we pursue a godly life, those who don’t start to hate us, speak against us.”

“We can all pay some kind of cost for the sake of the Gospel.”

Needless to say, Nigusse was warmly received by the brethren at Cresset. This congregation has partnered with us in the Ethiopia work for many years now.

These people have faithfully prayed for Nigusse and for the persecuted church in Alaba.

And now they got to meet, face to face, Nigusse in person. What a blessing for me to witness!

After the service we enjoyed lunch with the Glasses and then drove to Roxboro to meet Kimberly and Joel’s latest addition, Caleb Bradsher, who turned 5 days old today.

Not to be outdone, Nolan Black invited us to come down to his farm house and pay him a visit this afternoon. We found him doing the bunny hop in the flower garden.

Mama B immediately got into a very one-sided wrestling match with her grandson: Nolan won, hands down.

Papa B’s job was to assist the master agrarian in planting an acorn in his little garden plot. Nolan takes after his mama and papa and is quite the gardener.

Here Nigusse plays ball with Nolan. (I think he was trying to teach him soccer.)

Meanwhile, I got caught up with Nathan, who had just come in from replanting orchard grass, fescue, and clover in several of our fields. I tell you, he be one hard-workin’ man.

At dusk we gave baby Bradford and little Nolan gifts I had purchased during my trip.

“Woof, woof, Nolan! Care to play?” 

All in all, a great day. I love to teach God’s Word. I also love to hear it taught. Nigusse’s message was a blessing to me. Even greater was the blessing of fellowshipping with the family of God. Tomorrow it’s back to life and work, and lots of it. First stop: UNC for B’s treatment. We’ll let you know how it goes. 

7:58 AM This Wednesday’s NT 2 class will feature a  guest lecture by one of my doctoral students. Mike Rudolph’s topic will be “The Opening Benediction of Ephesians.” All are invited to attend. Mike takes the podium at 2:00. Prior to his talk I will be discussing in detail the textual variant in Ephesians 1:1 — whether or not the reading “in Ephesus” is original. I have defended the authenticity of these words in print. If you’d like a free .pdf copy of my journal article, just send me an email at dblack@sebts.edu.

7:52 AM Billy Graham reflects ongrowing old. He asks, “Are you willing to be used by God regardless of being bound by physical ailments, financial constraint, or the loneliness of growing old?” Lots of good advice here, even if you’re only in your late 50s!

Graham’s latest book,Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well, will be released on October 18.

7:28 AM Looking ahead …

1) This morning Nigusse is speaking at Cresset Baptist Church in Durham, NC. The service begins at 10:45.

2) Tomorrow Becky and I meet with her lead radiologist at UNC and she has her fourth Avastin treatment. This is our mission field for the time being.

3) On Wednesday evening at 6:30 Becky teaches her fifth personal financial management class at Bethel Hill Baptist Church.

4) Next Sunday I’ll be speaking at the Chinese Christian Mission Church in Durham.

5) Back to school this week. I’ve got two doctoral dissertations waiting for me to read when I return to the office.

6) Students, don’t forget that Saturday, October 22, is our Student Day here at the farm from 10:00 – 4:00 pm.

Praying that these are all fruitful ministries.

Saturday, October 8

8:53 PM I see that the latest issue of JETS includes a book review by one of my former students at SEBTS, Benjamin Laird, who is now working on his doctorate at the University of Aberdeen. Nice to see our graduates publishing. Congratulations, Ben.

8:44 PM Just back from enjoying a hot fudge sundae with Becky at Appleby’s. Got lots of catching up to do.

12:12 PM We moved the donks up to Bradford Hall today. This way we can enjoy them during the winter months.

The goats are now down in the pond pasture. Tinnish Koi and Tolo Tolo are the most affectionate donkeys you will ever meet. Of course, having a carrot or two in your pocket never hurts when you’re around farm animals.

11:17 AM Interested in working with churches in other nations to further the kingdom? Then check out my latest essay:I Believe in the Indigenous Church.

10:27 AM My co-editor Allan Bevere’s The Politics of Witness isnow available on Kindle for only $2.99.

Our next release: Except for Fornication: The Teaching of the Lord Jesus on Divorce and Remarriage.

Note: If you have a book idea for our Areopagus series, feel free to contact me at dblack@sebts.edu.

10:20 AM Brian Fulthorp calls our attention to Yousef Nadarkhani’sLetter to His Church.

8:08 AM Openings:

• Belhaven University:Biblical Studies.

• Emmanuel College:Theological Studies.

• Concordia College:Religion.

• High Point University: Philosophy or Religion.

• Edgewood College: Religious Studies.

• Columbia Theological Seminary:New Testament.

• Covenant College: Missions.

Students, don’t listen to the naysayers. Openings continue to appear from time to time. If God has prepared you for a teaching career, He will certainly lead you to the venue of His choosing.

Friday, October 7

7:57 PM What a blessing to get caught up with the family. Here Jon, Matthea, Nigusse, and kids enjoy dinner at the Queen of Sheba restaurant in Chapel Hill.

Nigu speaking at Cresset.

Becky and Nigusse built a barn door while I was gone.

I hereby relinquish all manual labor to my talented Ethiopian son!

Church visitation, not once …

… but twice.

This morning I got to hold baby Bradford while Becky enjoyed loving on the Glass’s 3-month-old Christian.

I grilled pork and chicken on the grill this evening …

… followed, of course, by roasted marshmallows.

Nothing like a warm fire on a cool evening.

The dogs, of course, did their share of the cleanup.

I think Matthea enjoys s,mores, don’t you?

Finally, isn’t this an awesome photograph of the seminary chapel? I tell you, Nigusse has become quite the photographer.

Time now to read to the kids and then put them to bed. In case you can’t tell, I’m glad to be home.

4:18 PM Odds and ends …

1) While I’ve been gone the Bradford Hall clan has been anything but inactive. Becky has continued to teach her Wednesday evening classes on personal finances, and last Saturday she led the orientation for our November Ethiopia team. All of this in addition to maintaining the Bethel Hill website and writing some powerful posts there, includingThe Value of Memory. She and Nigusse have also done a good deal of church visitation during my absence. Speaking of Nigusse, last Sunday he spoke at the church of one of my faculty colleagues, Tracy Mackenzie (Old Testament and Hebrew), while on Wednesday and Thursday of this week he spoke 5 times at Cresset Baptist Church and Cresset Christian Academy, where he is also giving Sunday’s message this weekend. One more thing: Becky had her latest CT scan on Wednesday and the news is all positive. Her cancer has not spread beyond her lungs, and the tumors that exist there have not grown since her last CT — which means that we will continue her Avastin treatments at UNC Hospital, beginning next Monday. This is a tremendous blessing from God and an answer to the prayers of many of His people, for which I am most grateful.

2) The Jon and Matthea Glass family are visiting us for a few days. Jon pastors at Cresset and both Jon and Matthea have been to Ethiopia with us. Their 4 wonderful kids have livened up the house, I dare say!

3) This Sunday Kevin Brown will be speaking at my home church, Bethel Hill. I note that Kevin has been blogging up a hurricane of late, including this fine post titledSix Reasons Young Christians Leave Church. But everything Kevin contemplates is well worth your time. Check out his blog if you haven’t done so already.

4) Mark Stevens has some excellent thoughts about theproblem of busyness. It’s actually the first post on the subject of the Christian Sabbath. Being a fellow gardener, I can resonate with many of Mark’s posts and I too am beginning to find my leisure in my labor. Looking forward to the series, Mark.

5) Finally, Richard Ousworth has published a fine piece calledWhat Are They Saying about the Letter to the Hebrews? (.pdf). Much of it is a review of Alan Mitchell’s recent commentary in the Sacra Pagina series. As someone who has published a number of essays on Hebrews, I was interested in this quote about authorship:

Let us begin, then, with authorship. It continues to be obligatory,
apparently, to quote Origen’s remark, cited by Eusebius (Church History
6.25.14) that ‘only God knows’ who wrote the Epistle, though in fact – as
Mitchell correctly points out – Origen did in several places defend the
Pauline authorship of Hebrews (see e.g. Letter to Africanus 8, Contra
Celsum 3.35 and 7.29). It is surprising, though, that Mitchell spends as
long as he does dealing with the only recent serious defence of Pauline
authorship, by D.A. Black in Faith and Mission 18 (2001). Some of
Black’s arguments are seriously flawed, and every modern commentary
offers a long and convincing list of reasons for thinking that, while there
are intriguing parallels between Hebrews and some Pauline theology –
and of course the reference to Timothy at the end of the last chapter – this Epistle simply cannot be of Pauline authorship in any meaningful sense.

I dare say I am honored to have been mentioned as someone who has given a “serious” defense of Pauline authorship. I strongly disagree, however, with the notion that Hebrews “cannot be of Pauline authorship in any meaningful sense.” If you’d like to know why, see my essay. Suffice it to say here that the external evidence continues to be overlooked in certain circles, and it is the external evidence that, in my view, is probative.

9:58 AM An interesting discussion (debate?) has been going on among certain teachers of Koine Greek. You can read about ithere. I have always enjoyed teaching Greek and learning from my fellow Greek profs. Not infrequently an insight about pedagogy jumps out that can be of value. If an article or a blog entry has been particularly stimulating to my mind, I will attempt to share it with my students. Thus I have enjoyed getting to know what people are saying about Daniel Streett and his radically new and different approach to Greek pedagogy. I am most grateful for the discussion. If Daniel is right, Greek pedagogy is on the verge of a major paradigm shift. He is certainly asking the right questions, and right questions elicit valuable insights for the purposes of growth. So why not meander over to his site and take a look at the discussion? We traditionalists in particular need to listen to the next generation of Greek scholars who are willing to take on big questions, often with brutal honesty. We can all learn from each other if we are only willing to sit at each others’ feet and humble ourselves to ask the right questions. But be forewarned: You may emerge from the discussion feeling as though you’ve barely entered pedagogical puberty.

9:44 AM During my travels I prayed a lot forYousef in Iran.

Centuries ago Augustine of Hippo wrote words that have provided comfort throughout the ages:

Martyrs are holy men of God who fought or stood for truth, even unto death, so that the Word of God may be made known and falsehoods and fictions overcome. Such sacrifice is offered to God alone, thus the martyr is received in heavenly honor. This means that God has rewarded the faith of the martyrs with so much grace that death, which seems to be the enemy of life, becomes in reality an ally that helps man enter into life.

Iran is anything but free of hostility toward believers. I hope and pray that this will change. I thank God for men like Yousef. He claims no special gifts or grace. He knows he is an ordinary man — an “earthen vessel.” His uniqueness lies in his circumstances. He must serve God, like the apostle Paul, in prison. He is called to invade the enemy strongholds. Daily he must face horrors that the rest of us can only imagine.

God bless you my brother. You are not forgotten.

9:04 AM The passing of Steve Jobs has got me thinking. What I remember most about him was his egalitarian approach to his business. “A great idea can come from anywhere,” he insisted. He hired people, not to implement his ideas, but to release their creativity. Initiative was valued. So was simplicity. “Computers for the rest of us” was his motto.

“Ministry for the rest of us” might well be mine. Even as pastors labor long and hard over their Sunday sermonic masterpieces, they need to remember:

“A great idea can come from anywhere.”

Even as some of my colleagues eschew the notion that doctoral students should publish their work before graduation (“What right do they have to say anything? They’re not even Ph.Ds. yet!”), they need to remember:

“A great idea can come from anywhere.”

Even as teachers monopolize classroom time in order to finish their invaluable lectures, they need to be reminded:

“A great idea can come from anywhere.”

The church has eagerly and wantonly outsourced teaching to professionals. The Bible says we have much to learn from one another, even from the simplest among us. That’s why pastors are required to be “teachable” (1 Tim. 3:2,didaktikon). The best teachers are always eager to learn from others, are they not? 

Steve Jobs taught the world this lesson, and for that he is justly remembered as a great man.

8:36 AM Got home last night from yet another trip of a lifetime to a faraway place where things are really happening kingdom-wise. Sure puts my little freckle of existence into perspective. There is nothing very complicated about loving and serving God. All we have to do is our duty as honestly and simply as we can. This I have tried to do in the past 2 weeks. Whether I’ve been successful or not, God will have to be the judge.

Oh, I did manage to get some writing done while I was traveling — my yellow note pads are always with me. Not journal articles mind you — those mindless nods to the academic community, essays read and pondered by one or two doctoral students at most, pieces destined for oblivion in the stacks of a library — but web essays and even a chapter in my book Godworld. There is a biblical view of the kingdom that needs to be uncovered and examined, though I am hardly the best person to do this.

I’m afraid that in recent years I have written more about Christian living than I should have or that has matched the reality of my own experience. It’s easy to talk about traveling the downward path of Jesus but, oh, how hard it is to practice it! Writing about the kingdom is an enjoyable experience for me, but it is to my soul like cotton candy is to the digestive system. The momentary pleasure does not last, partly because one realizes how short one falls.

I am, in a nutshell, a tired person. Tired of all the verbiage about being a Great Commission Christian, fatigued by the war of words about how to do church or how to live radically for Christ. (Yes, I am quite aware that I have only added to the cacophony of voices!) Few people realize how dry and barren the life of an author is. What is all of this for anyway? Writing drains the individual of joy and vitality unless it is accompanied by a fresh admission of one’s own inadequacies to live up to one’s ideals. Separating out the truths that are central to life is absolutely  essential when it comes to following Jesus. What “truths” are we talking about here? By what standards am I to live? I am the daily object of a bombardment of messages competing for my attention, loyalty, and labors. Read the daily blogs — even the most interesting and provocative ones — and you will be pushed and pulled in a million different directions.

I would propose that we need to get out of ourselves and out of our churches and out of our blogfiefdoms and get back into the “mire” of life. The world we claim to love genuinely needs Christians who are regularly overcoming the all-consuming thirst for ambition and who operate in that center where God is in full control. As I said before, I am well aware that everything I write may actually be something God can use to encourage His church, but I dare not presume that His Spirit is operative in the things I am thinking or recording. The main thing is that I put into practice what I’m trying to reach others or blogging about. Jesus insisted upon such practical Christian living. He set aside valuable hours for the training of the Twelve — a few simple-minded men whom He knew could change the world if only their priorities were in the right place.

I need to be brutally honest with myself and with my students, many of whom are put out with someone trying to press enormous amounts of factual information about the Bible into their heads. They are eager to finish the entire race, to learn how to make independent judgments and to — dare I say it? — escape out of the garrulous and superficial world of academics and face head-on the present challenges of our suffering world.

I just returned from teaching a group of men of this caliber, men who realize that the inner life of devotion must be balanced by the outer life of service, men who take seriously the challenge of sharpening their mental capacities so that they can deal honestly with the truths of Scripture. The world is dotted with men and women like this. They emerge from the strangest places and are often unnoticed and unappreciated.

To the men I had the honor and privilege of teaching these past 2 weeks, I say: You are an inspiration to me. As the great Christian mystic Henry Nouwen once put it, may you always embrace littleness, hiddenness, and powerlessness. I love you.

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October 2010 Blog Archives

Sunday, October 31

8:05 PM Here are three very special families. Meet Pam and Kevin Brown and their kids:

Meet Dale and Lori Jennings with Chloe:

And meet Matt and April Rummage and their beautiful children:

And here are two very special people — Andrew and Clara Brown. I am “Docta Bwack” to them. Love it!

All of us got together at the Browns’ home in North Wilkesboro on Saturday night for an Ethiopia reunion. Kevin, Dale, Matt, and Kevin’s eldest daughter Katy are all former team members. In fact, when Katy went with us to Ethiopia she was only 15 — a reminder that there is no teenage Holy Spirit and adult Holy Spirit. There’s just the Holy Spirit. Amen?

The fellowship we enjoyed went far beyond the gastronomic. As we talked my mind wandered to a famous book published in 1967 by Hans Hillerbrand called The Fellowship of Discontent. Each of us feels a holy discontent with the status quo in our churches. (I hope it is a holy discontent.) Like the radical reformers of the sixteenth century and earlier, we desire to cut to the root of the church. We feel a holy dissatisfaction with the “affluenza” (Kevin’s term) that characterizes Western Christendom. We desire with all our hearts the establishment of a church that Luther once described as “Christians in earnest who profess the gospel with hand and mouth.” (This is my only nod to Luther on Reformation Sunday!) We see the church today mired with its own success and apathy. We long for a community of believers that is characterized by simplicity, democracy of organization, theological purity, humility of spirit, strong fraternal feelings — in sum, a church composed of those who, in the words of Waldo (the founder of the Waldensian church in 12th century France), “follow nakedly a naked Christ.” We want to be believers who live in such a way that proves that the church’s task is to give itself in love and service to the world. I doubt that any of us — I know I don’t — think that we live up to our aspirations. Sometimes I feel like the perfect hypocrite. Here I am, preaching about sacrifice, and but have I sold everything to follow Jesus? No. Am I just another Zwingli, a Greek scholar who had become (in the eyes of the Anabaptists) a mere “halfway man,” afraid to face the consequences of his own teaching? The Anabaptists made the Great Commission the responsibility of every Christian. We Baptists have outsourced missions to professionals. The early Quakers went into all the world with a carelessness about geography. We ask ourselves, “But is it safe?” The Methodist leader Thomas Coke died in 1814 on his way to Ceylon. James, a 24-year old Burji, willingly exposed himself to grave danger when he translated for me while I preached to the Gujis, not knowing that a few weeks later it would cost him his life. Am I really seeking in my own life what the Hutterites called Gelassenheit — a German word that connotes a complete yielding to God’s will by the radical elimination of self-will? It is a high and holy privilege to serve Jesus. It is our assignment to reveal Him before a watching world. And you and I are added to the list of participants. Will we carry our weight?

But I’ve got to stop here. Bright and early tomorrow morning Bec and I leave for UNC Hospital, she for her CT scan, me for my appointment with the urologist. Meaning, of course, that tomorrow is a pretty big day for us both. I am, frankly, bone tired. If I had my way, I would do nothing the rest of the week. But there’s no time for that now. Know what image is going through my mind as I sit here typing? It is the image of 15,000 Confederate soldiers marching across that “deadly space,” on and on until they reach Cemetery Ridge on the third day at Gettysburg. When Longstreet’s Assault began, no one knew what the outcome would be. Would it be a victory for General Lee and the end of the war? Or would it be the “High Water Mark” of the Confederacy and the beginning of the end for Southern independence? None of those 15,000 privates and corporals and first sergeants knew. But they did their duty. And, on the Federal side, Hancock’s Corps stood ready to do its duty and fight them tooth and nail. Yes, I’m tired, but I’ll press on, knowing that I need not fear the outcome. As Lee would have said, It is in God’s hands. The early fires of youth may be just embers in my life, but the God of the past is the God of the future. I may not be able to mount up with wings as eagles or run and not grow weary. But I can walk and not faint. I can put one foot ahead of the other. I can do my duty. Longfellow once wrote, “Something remains for us to do or dare/Even the oldest trees some fruit may bear.” God’s not through with me — or you — yet.

It is one thing for me to serve God on Sunday. It is quite another to submit in uncompromising, unquestioning obedience each and every day of my life. If God should decide to use my pain as a platform for His glory, who am I to resist Him?

Saturday, October 30

8:20 AM New essay at DBO: Interview with Heath Thomas, author of “Until He Looks Down and Sees”: The Message and Meaning of the Book of Lamentations.

8:12 AM Today we leave for North Wilkesboro. Bec’s blood counts are a bit on the low side. Prayers appreciated. 

Friday, October 29

6:45 PM Heard the one about the two housewives standing in the line at the grocery store? One of them says to the other, “I hate washing dishes. You do it once and five weeks later you have to do it all over again!” We try not to let maintenance projects on the farm last longer than we should. Today it was roofs and driveways.

The painters cleaning the tin in preparation for painting next week.

Laying new gravel on all the driveways.

Hand spreading the walkways.

Caleb raking out the gravel.

Isaac shovels the gravel.

Micah spreads gravel in the carport.

Liz helps out, of course.

Farm fresh bread. Becky’s project du jour.

Right now Matt has a fire blazing in the front yard. I think he’s roasting Ethiopian coffee. Gotta run!

12:28 PM This morning, in a little corner of my mind, I thought about a conversation I had on campus a couple of months ago during one of our conferences. I didn’t really know the young man I was talking to. He sought me out and wanted to tell me about his mentor — a widely known evangelical pastor. He went on and on. Stars in his eyes. I mentioned we all needed to be careful about exalting mere men over Christ, especially men we highly respect. Judging from the look in his eyes, I think this may have been the first time in his life somebody warned him about his attitude. I thought to myself, Was I too forward? Tell me, if you can, what should I have said? The atmosphere was like nothing I’d ever experienced. I’ve never heard a more fawning attitude toward anyone. I didn’t push the issue, and I don’t really want to do so now. I’ve been sitting here in front of the screen for a while now, wondering if I should even publish these thoughts.

I think the church is undone when we become idolaters. The young man reminded me of a character in the movie Pride and Prejudice, the right reverend Mr. Collins, who is always prattling on about his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, whose “condescension” is indispensable to his earthly happiness. How subtle are the devices of the Evil One who raises doubts as to what God said about idolatry. So again I ask the question: What to do about this attitude? Other than grieve?

It is a sad day for the people of God when we start our Christian fan clubs. 

9:52 AM If you’re a pastor and facing burn out, please do yourself a favor and read Eric Carpenter’s latest post calledBecoming a Statistic. The statistic to which he refers is the average length of pastorates: 2-4 years. Needless to say, that’s a bit shocking. Why do think this is? Join in the discussion over at Eric’s blog.

9:44 AM Honored to be speaking in Doug Bookman’s New Testament class at Shepherds Theological Seminary next Thursday night at 6:00 pm. He’s asked me to speak on my views of Gospel origins. Join us if you live in the Cary area. The address is 6051 Tryon Road.

9:32 AM This Sunday Becky and I will be speaking atMount Pleasant Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro, NC. Bec’s been asked to give her testimony and I’ll try to give a brief update of what the Lord is doing in Ethiopia, or at least those parts of the country that we have visited regularly during the past 7 years. I love pastor-teacher Kevin Brown and his family. In many ways, he’s a hero of mine. Here’s a man with absolutely no formal biblical education who probably understands the Bible and the Christian life better than most seminary grads I know. Not only that, he serves the church he grew up in. Now how unique is that? The Browns have adopted two precious children from China who call me, affectionately, “Docta Bwack.” I can still see them climbing on my lap every time we visit. I’m not sure why they’re so drawn to me. The beard? The really neat thing about Kevin is that he’s a true brother in Christ. He’s always emailing us. “How’s sister Becky doing? Has Dave gotten an appointment yet?” Kevin and I spent an incredibly intense time in Alaba, Ethiopia, a couple of years ago. You’re probably already getting tired of hearing me say this but I am absolutely, positively, radically convinced that doing missions local church to local church is the only way to go. Few churches in America do this better than Mount Pleasant. I know God’s heart must ache when He sees Alaba. So much illness and death, so much hatred toward His people. The cost of being a Christian may well turn out to be your life. I can’t believe I have the privilege of serving Jesus in such a place, or that I have such dedicated and courageous co-laborers like Kevin and his daughter Katy. On Saturday we’re going to hang out with the Browns, then Sunday I get to tell the congregation about Ethiopia. I feel so small, so overwhelmed whenever I try to relate to others what God is doing to redeem His own in Africa. I get teary-eyed just typing this. Even though I’ve been doing this blogging thing for 7 years now I still get amazed at how effective the internet is in getting the Word out. People have been led to pray for Ethiopia simply because Becky and I may have posted something here. All this translates into the fact that I feel a huge load of responsibility for this Sunday. I’ll do my best, realizing that God is more than able to make up for my deficiencies.

Here’s Kevin’s “mug shot.” We send it to the churches before the teams arrive so that they can learn how to connect name and face. Needless to say, at 6 and a half feet tall, Kevin stands out a bit from the rest of the group.

9:22 AM Saw this at a church website yesterday and it got me thinking. The page was called “Who Leads Us?” 

We are congregational. The last and final court of appeal in a matter of the life of the church is the local congregation itself.

This scares me. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit and Word, is the last and final court of appeal, is He not? As churches, let us celebrate Jesus. Let us give Him, not us, the preeminence in all things.

Thursday, October 28

6:41 PM Got this email today:

We continue to pray for Becky and yourself. We trust our Father with the outcome, as it is clearly evident you do also. Your writings are a great blessing. I share relevant articles, etc. with some of our brethren, particularly the much loved church from which we retired.

Over the years, I have been amazed at times, how, what appears to us to be a calamity, God turns into an enormous blessing.

This one also came:

In reading your blog, my prayer is for you that the Lord would grant you excellent health for His service which is also your service. Also, thank you for your honest sentiments regarding your fears. Certainly it resonated with me, and I’m sure, all who read the blog.

I’ve added them to my “encouragement file.” Thanks to everyone who takes time to write. You are my Barnabases.

4:12 PM What a crazy day it’s been. I drove to Oxford to find Becky some fabric for our new cushions, then I went to Ace Hardware to get a repair kit for the water line we broke today while running the new propane line to our fireplaces. (You know you’re getting old when you replace your wood burning fireplaces with gas logs. It’s just so much easier to have a pleasant fire with gas logs.) Yesterday we had quite a big storm blow through here (and there was an honest-to-goodness tornado that touched down in Roxboro), but today is sunshiny and humid. Thankfully I see no real damage to properties in our neighborhood. I’m getting some writing done on my book Godworld while Becky is finishing up the chair cushions. We don’t talk about it much but I think we both miss Ethiopia. A lot. It seems like years since I was there. The thing I miss the most are the relationships. I also miss — can you believe it? — the different approach to time. Having lived in Switzerland I think I know a thing or two about punctuality. I remember we had a dinner guest arrive at our little apartment a minute early and she waited 60 seconds before ringing the doorbell. So I’m used to Teutonic punctuality and all that. In Ethiopia — well, in Ethiopia you have to adjust to pre-industrial ways of living. Technically simpler cultures have a very different approach to time. I know Hawaii did, where I grew up. Differences in how people approach time are fundamental to many misunderstandings between our American missionaries and our Ethiopian counterparts. In the main, Ethiopians spend their time in one social “space,” whereas we tend to pass through several different environments every day. For example, today is Thursday, October 28, 2010. My day will involve reading, writing, blogging, answering and reading emails, running errands, fixing this or that, cooking supper, and reading the boys a bedtime story. Moreover, every morning I form a basic plan of action for the use of my time — subject to variation of course. In rural Ethiopia, fixed time references are not used. The clock is no master of the Ethiopian. It does not tell him when to go out into the field or her when to prepare her meals. Early on in our work in Ethiopia I think I made the mistake of expecting villagers to be ready to meet us at such-and-such a time for our Bible programs. Efficiency and punctuality are impossible where nobody has a watch. Early on I think I also had an over-idealistic view of the Ethiopian way of life, especially the less hurried pace and the more natural rhythms of life. For all its benefits — and there are many — a timeless society has some real disadvantages, perhaps the most obvious being its susceptibility to natural determinism. In Ethiopia, we’ve sometimes found it helpful to incline more toward side of the polarity (being flexible) and sometimes more towards the other (careful scheduling). Casualness must be balanced by consistency if we are to work against the tyranny of time. I think I’m getting better at all this, but it’s a high learning curve. That said, there is nothing in this world quite like sitting down for a cup of buna or shai and just chewing the fat with your brothers and sisters. Can’t wait to spend eternity with them.

To my Ethiopian friends I say: I’m sorry I can’t tell you when Becky and I might be coming back to see you again. But there is not a second when you are not deep in our hearts. Let us continue to pray for each other, that God’s will may be done in our families and in our lives — in His good time.

Below: I took this photo back in June of 2009. When the children in this village heard that a 14-year old American named Katy would be visiting them that day they appeared out of nowhere to hear her speak. Everywhere she went she had a large and enthusiastic audience. I was so proud of our son Mohammed (left foreground — with the big smile) who went with us and assisted his newly made American acquaintance. Mohammed, as you know, was in prison for murdering a Christian when we first met him. So many happy memories. And all of them expressions of God’s amazing grace.

2:57 PM Becky’s latest essay is called I’m Healed!

2:34 PM Thankful for answered prayer. I just got an appointment with a urologist next Monday morning at 8:30 at UNC Hospital.

1:51 PM I had several of my students ask me on campus how it was coming with my little medical problem. Becky is still working on getting me an appointment with a surgeon. I find myself struggling to write about this right now. My life continues to be so “normal” except for this mysterious growth. I go about my days as if nothing’s wrong — and in fact nothing may be wrong except for the inconvenience of a benign lump. And yet…

Becky has assumed the role of my “official” medical advocate. This suits her temperament as well as her background as an ICU nurse. I can’t tell you how many phone calls and emails she has sent out and still she plays phone tag ad infinitum. It must be a bit frustrating for her though if it is you’d never know it. She is so even keeled it amazes me. It’s hard to get too melancholy when you have someone like Becky pulling for you. When I think to myself, Why does God hide the future from me?, I know the answer is that He wants me to trust Him. And I can trust Him, even though I know I don’t deserve His love, even though I know I have an impure heart, even though I dishonor Him with my doubts and fears. I sit here moping until I see God, in a form that looks strangely like my wife’s, tell me it’s gonna be okay.

1:45 PM When taking Hebrew in seminary back in the Dark Ages we discussed the Hebrew verb system in only a very sketchy sort of way, as if there was nothing controversial about the topic at all. At one point in the course we looked at the pronoun hu (“he”) and asked whether it might ever be used as the equivalent of a copulative verb in Hebrew. Yesterday, Bob Cole, my co-conspirator in our LXX class, gave me a copy of a few pages he had copied from Waltke and O’Connor’s Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Suddenly everything became very clear to me, especially after I read the numerous examples the authors give from the Hebrew Old Testament. Incidentally, sometimes it takes looking at the experts in a field in order to get anywhere when it comes to the intricacies of a subject. The experts opened up for me a whole new understanding, and I’m sitting here thinking how grateful I am to have a colleague who can take a bunch of grammatical mumbo jumbo and explain it in understandable language to his students — and sometimes to his colleagues. I’d therefore like to propose a new definition of teaching. Teaching occurs when our students end up having more questions about the subject than when they began their studies. I know that I’m asking a whole bunch of questions these days about the Hebrew text I never asked before in my life. And sometimes I’m even getting the right answers. All to the good.

Thank God for brother Cole. Glad he’s a patient soul.

10:10 AM I slept in until 9:00 this morning. That’s a first. It was a busy time on campus. Sometimes I feel like a brain surgeon. You spend hours teaching 4 classes, then you have non-stop meetings, then you try to sneak in a little bit of writing. You do the math. I’m standing in the gap in one of the greatest battles there are in life. Your students have to make the most important decision of their lives, if they haven’t made it already. You’re trying to teach (or, better, model) the Christian community portrayed in the second chapter of Acts. These early believers had a large treasure of worldly abundance that was by no means used for selfish extravagance (think Crystal Cathedral) or unnecessarily. There was no concern about temporal things, no vanity. Instead we find a lovely harmony. Their theme was “All for Jesus.” This lesson cannot be learned in a classroom, although we did touch on it in our Hebrews class on Tuesday and, via rabbit trails, in our other classes as well. In Hebrews we’re in chapter 8. The Greek here is simply magnificent. I’m not trying to get you to totally understand all we discussed. Just know that we didn’t stop at parsing verbs and writing structural analyses. After class I jotted down 5 marks of the New Covenant:

1) It preaches Christ alone. He is the only mediator between God and us. This is strong language. We can’t tone it down or try to explain it away. There is only one saving Gospel.

2) It liberates from legalism. Our Lord did not come to make life narrow and rigid but rich and full. Abundant life does not consist of things. We may have many material possessions and not have it, and we may have nothing and possess it fully. The abundant life consists of God’s grace, pure and simple. And God delights to give us treasures from heaven. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are a plutocrat, not a pauper.

3) It eschews all human mediation. In the New Covenant each of us can know God personally. He invites us to learn of Him and promises to give us rest. This is far better than getting information second hand from our professors and pastors. It would be wonderful to overhear everyday Christians who are excited about exploring the riches of God’s Word for themselves.

4) It minimizes the mechanics. We are no longer preoccupied with the externals of Christianity. God is not impressed with all of our ornate temples and sanctuaries. Vestments, gold, altars matter not. The simpler our faith, the better.

5) It leads to love of neighbor. We understand the New Covenant properly when we see ourselves as God sees us, as members of a new community that becomes the proving ground of our religion.

I don’t want to forget these lessons, I told myself after class was over. “They willall know Me, from the least to the greatest.” This is a revolutionary truth. That doesn’t surprise me, because the Bible is a revolutionary book. Jesus has created a new community of people that come from all classes, and distinctions between rich and poor or between least and greatest are lessened by holy, loving fellowship and unity.

I never want to take for granted these truths or the awesome privilege I have of teaching these Jesus-followers.

Wednesday, October 27

6:57 PM Had a wonderful lunch with my student Heebum and his wife at a Korean restaurant in Raleigh today. Korean food is my all-time number one favorite cuisine in the world. I wish we had more international students at SEBTS but I’m thankful for each and every one that we do have.

I once taught at the seminary that Heebum attended in Seoul (Chong Shin). We reminisced about the city, the culture, and, of course, the great food, including kaegogi — dog meat — which is a real delicacy in that nation. If you’re ever in Raleigh and want to sample some really great food, try the Seoul Garden. You will not be disappointed, though you won’t find kaegogi there.

6:53 PM Kudos to Craig Blomberg on his new book,Handbook of New Testament Exegesis. It is reviewedhere by Nijay Gupta. It’s an important work for every student of the Greek New Testament. Craig’s ten steps are not vastly from my own inUsing New Testament Greek in Ministry. Thankfully he includes a section on textual criticism — a step that is often omitted in guides to exegesis.

6:45 PM I have a very good friend named Jon Glass. He’s served with us in Ethiopia on several occasions. He and his wife Matthea are super people. Jon was even kind enough to review my latest book over at his blog (Why you should read “Why Four Gospels?”). Yes, I like Jon Glass! But have you ever heard of John Glas? This “Glas” lived from 1695 to 1773. He was an ordained minister of the Church of Scotland. That is, until he was stripped of his ordination in 1727. His misdeeds?

1) He called for a plurality of local church elders instead of leadership by a single pastor.

2) He taught that the Lord’s Supper should be observed weekly instead of monthly or quarterly.

3) He said that ministers should be chosen on the basis of their character and Bible knowledge rather than because of a degree from a theological institution.

In short, John Glas was defrocked because he attempted to establish a church along the lines of the New Testament. He also called for other Christians to join him in the restoration of primitive Christianity. Later on, in the nineteenth century, the weekly observance of the breaking of bread and the ministry of all believers became the foundation stones for the Brethren movement.

So, what do you think of John Glas? Is the modern church in America ripe for new religious formation? I have a hunch that it is, and that men like John Glas are tragic heroes from whom we have much to learn. Incidentally, in case you’re interested in studying the history of restoration movements in the Western church, there are no better resources than Donald Durnbaugh’s The Believers’ Church and Donald Kraybill’s The Upside-Down Kingdom. Wait a minute – Iwrote a book on this subject myself!

6:34 PM A recent report suggests that 90 percent of all medical research studiesare wrong. That is an astounding figure. This does not mean that Becky and I will no longer pursue medical treatment for her cancer. We’ve been well-pleased with the medical expertise and care we’ve found at UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill. (Apparently the good people at M. D. Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston agree.) But to put it frankly: We are not placing our hope in medical experts, as much as we appreciate the work they are doing. I don’t know about you, but I never want to get to a place in my life where I do not look for miracles. Naturalism has never appealed to me. You know, the idea that “since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning” (2 Pet. 3:4). This same argument is advanced today by all who try to explain everything by natural law and who refuse to believe that God can break through the usual course of nature. In their thinking, there is no room for God.

Let’s say that Becky’s tumors are discovered to be gone after next Monday’s CT scan. I can hear the oncologists saying, “Well, the Adriamycin did its job!” And you know, they may be right. Miracles are not contra-natural; they are supernatural. They operate in the realm of another world, without denying the physical world at all. God’s work can be accomplished through “natural” means every bit as much as through “supernatural” means. So when I say that I am praying for (and even hoping for, expecting) a miracle, I do not necessarily mean a sensational or spectacular thing.

Does that make any sense?

6:24 PM Columbia Theological Seminary announces an opening inOld Testament.

6:20 PM Cindy Bryan asksHow exclusive is too exclusive? This is no light question. Should our congregations require people to pay to enter the doors of its meeting places (“sanctuaries”)? In my opinion, simply to answer “no” is to miss the deeper issue. It would be treating the symptom and not the disease. The basic trouble is that the old self-life keeps creeping into our churches. With the best of intentions we so identify ourselves with the world that instead of winning others out of it they themselves are converted to it. In America, church has become a business. One thing leads to another. We hire professionals and pay them handsomely, so why shouldn’t visiting singing groups be able to charge for their services?

Think about it.

6:05 PM While taking my final oral exams at the University of Basel back in 1983, I was asked a question to which the expected answer was: “Schon, noch nicht.” Of course, that was just the lead in to what was expected to be a lengthier excursus on Oscar Cullmann’s theology. Cullmann, who lived near me in Basel and whose home I was privileged to be in a few times, impressed me as a scholar who was able to transcend the Catholic-Protestant divide. He had retired from teaching when I met him, but prior to his retirement he had occupied chairs at both the University of Basel and the Sorbonne in Paris. His book on Peter (Peter: Disciple, Apostle and Martyr) was standard reading in Petrine studies back in my days. Today his work has been augmented by a new book by Martin Hengel:Saint Peter: The Underestimated Apostle. A preview is available atGoogle Books.

I will be ordering my copy soon. (Currently one of my doctoral students is working in 1 Peter so I need to keep abreast of Petrine studies!) Clearly Professor Hengel believes that both Matthew and Luke used Mark in composing their own Gospels. I’m eager to see the arguments behind his position. I’m also eager to compare his work with Professor Cullmann’s. Scot McKnight, in arecent post, opines that Hengel hasreplaced Cullmann. He may be right. But I plead with every student of Peter out there: Please do not ignore the work of the great scholar from my alma mater.

6:00 PM Doug Bookman teaches New Testament at the Shepherds Seminary in Cary, NC. We’ve not met – yet – but he’s got an excellent blog calledThe Rabbit Trail that you ought to check out. Inthis post he discusses the names “Saul” and “Paul” and speculates on why the great Jewish New Testament apostle used a Latin name in his ministry. More than anything, it’s a study in intertextuality – proud Saul in the Old Testament becomes the (negative) example for the New Testament Paul. Anyway, read Doug’s essay for yourself and see what you think. Don’t miss his great peroration.

Monday, October 25

8:13 PM Sound the trumpet in Zion! Becky finished painting the porches today. Glory be! Here’s proof.

Students, come and celebrate with us on Nov. 6!

8:05 PM Angela Merkel’s recent remarks about the demise of “multiculturalism” in Germany struck a chord with me. When a nation has been scarred by Nazism and the Holocaust it has been because good people have let their demons become their common sense. It became clear to me, as a student in German-speaking Basel in the early 1980s, that the problem of immigration was at the core of the grave societal upheavals I was seeing in post-war Europe. I comforted myself with the knowledge that the “Schwarzarbeiter” laws that were being passed by the Swiss would never affect me, an American citizen. After all, I didn’t sweep streets for a living. Today, Germany is going through the same introspective self-examination about its cultural identity. The nation seems to be redefining itself, and there seem to be no easy answers to the question “Who is a German?” Chancellor Merkel has a kind of street smarts that suggests to me that a tepid, familiar agenda will no longer placate the ever-growing immigrant population in her country.

Whereas some Germans seem content to live with the status quo, the Fremdarbeiter are not going to go home any time soon. Their home is, in fact, Deutschland. I doubt that Germany’s painful Kulturkampf will resolve itself any time soon, but Germans can certainly develop a tolerant and happy vision for their nation. In an admirable spirit of objectivity, Chancellor Merkel has dared to say aloud what perhaps many if not most Germans have been thinking. We are learning — all of us — that the world is flat, and those “furiners” are us.

Notes in the margin: If you read German you might take a look atthis essay that just appeared in Die Zeit. As a German immigrant recently put it: “Wir sind keine Türken im Sinne unserer Eltern mehr.”

Two months ago I sat in the Frankfurt airport about to catch a flight to the Middle East when I got into a long and pleasant conversation with a family of Iraqis. None spoke English, but all spoke German perfectly, including mom and dad. They owned businesses both in Tikrit and Germany, but considered themselves Germans.

5:56 PM The lump in my groin has begun talking to me. There’s a constant dull thump, thump, thump. I figure it’s trying to remind me that it’s there. Is it growing? I can’t tell. It’s already large enough. Tomorrow Becky will finalize my appointment with a surgical oncologist at UNC. The sooner the better as far as I’m concerned. The ultrasound has ruled out a cyst, hernia, infected lymph gland, etc. Thus it appears I have a tumor. A biopsy should tell us whether or not it is benign. The other day I blogged: “It is God’s prerogative to realign our lives to bring more glory and praise to His name.” And I meant it. My body is the Lord’s. He created it, and He is completely free to do with it as He pleases. And I know I am not alone in my journey. Becky insists on being at every doctor’s appointment, just as I was with Becky for hers.

Today I spent time alone, in prayer, with my Father. There are some things that only He can or should hear me say. I am always buoyed up after being with Him. Still, my emotions right now are a roller coaster. And yes, I am anxious. I’m also busy about the Father’s business, and I don’t intend on slowing down any time soon. Is there room for both anxiety and trust in the human heart? I suppose so. But not for fear. Perfect love casts all that out.

Okay, enough for now. I’ll let you know what we’re dealing with whenever I find out. In the meantime, please continue to remember Becky and her CT scan next Monday. I know that many of you have been praying for her complete healing. Wouldn’t that be something if the tests showed that the tumors in her lungs are gone?

Basking in His perfect love,

Dave

5:22 PM While running my errands today I happened upon our local Christian radio station that was airing what appears to be a new series on the church by Chuck Swindoll. Chuck had us looking at Christ’s promise to build His church and then he requested his audience to turn to Acts 2 for a look at the birth of the church. Focusing on Acts 2:42, he emphasized that there are four marks of a local church. There will always be these four marks, he claimed. There may be more but never less. The four marks, as recorded by Luke, are teaching, fellowship, the breaking of the bread, and prayers. Ironically, and sadly in my view, Chuck reinterpreted the third mark to refer to “worship.” Is this, perhaps by metonymy, what doctor Luke meant? I suppose it is possible. Of course, he may have also meant for us to take him quite literally — that when the early church met it observed the Lord’s Supper. I happen to think he meant the latter. The early church was focused on Christ. It fellowshipped around Him. His body and blood were commemorated regularly. Just because many of us no longer do so today is no reason for us to take the breaking of the bread and transform it into what today we call “worship services.” (True worship, of course, is not what we do on Sunday but what we do 24/7. See Rom. 12:1-2. I have commented on this subject in my essayEnter to Serve, Depart to Worship.)

It seems, then, that the earliest church in Jerusalem was marked by an emphasis on the Word of God, genuine relationships, a common meal at which their absent but returning Lord would be preeminent, and times of prayer. Acts 20:7 seems to bear this out: the believers gathered together to break bread (note the telic infinitive), not to listen to the apostle Paul preach a sermon. Such Christocentricity would be a healthy thing, I think, for our churches. It would, I believe, go a long way toward replacing the pulpit-centricity in so many of our fellowships. In their essayThe Lord’s Supper: How Often?, D. G. Hart and John R. Muether write:

Most students of Calvin are aware that it was his desire that churches practice weekly communion. Calvin believed that this frequency could be found in both apostolic teaching and example, and that weekly observance was also the practice of the church fathers. Moreover, Calvin saw weekly observance as necessary for uniting the ministry of Word and sacrament. By sealing the promises proclaimed in the preaching of the Word, weekly communion enabled Christians frequently to return in memory to Christ’s work, and “by such remembrance to sustain and strengthen their faith.”

Infrequent communion, Calvin claimed, was a superstitious horror, “a most evident contrivance of the devil,” and he considered it among the worst of the many abuses of worship in medieval Catholicism. For Calvin, weekly communion was no less important than other reforms he sought, such as the use of the cup by the laity and worship in the language of the vernacular. So Calvin came to the conclusion that “the Lord’s Table should have been spread at least once a week for the assembly of Christians, and the promises declared in it should feed us spiritually.”

In fact, the grammar of Acts 2:42 suggests that the common meal (along with mutual prayer) uniquely represents the fellowship (koinonia) of the church. (The last two marks seem to be in apposition to the second one in the Greek.) Elsewhere I have concluded:

Realizing that each Lord’s Day was “Resurrection Sunday” – a day to celebrate Christ’s risen life – and anticipating that each Lord’s Day could also be the day of Christ’s return, the early believers feasted at Christ’s table as in His presence. This fellowship meeting, at the very heart of which was a social meal centered on Christ, represented the communion that existed between all the members of the brotherhood, because all had a personal fellowship with their Lord.

For the earliest followers of Jesus, the Lord’s Supper created an atmosphere of intimate communion between members of Christ’s Body, regardless of their social status, gender, or ethnic group. According to Acts 2:42 and 20:7, this meal was, in fact, the focal point for the gathering of the New Testament church. It was a time of great celebration and joy. And it was at the heart of Christian fellowship – not at the periphery.

Today we have lost the regularity – not to mention the intimacy, the pleasure, the enjoyment – of the Lord’s Supper. The New Testament pattern of the breaking of the bread has become utterly foreign to us.

Howard Marshall alsosays it well:

In line with what appears to have been the practice of the early church in the New Testament the Lord’s Supper should be celebrated frequently in the church, and there is good reason for doing so on each Lord’s Day.

I praise God for those congregations that do, in fact, place high value on the Lord’s Table. I was in such a church not too long ago in Pensacola, Florida. There, in the ICON service of the First United Methodist Church, communion is served each and every Sunday. I can tell you, it was anything but perfunctory or boring. I have a nagging suspicion that many of our Baptist fellowships could learn a lesson two from them.

9:16 AM At A Fistful of Farthings appears a delightful study of Ferdinand Christian Baur and the reasons why he may have gone off the theological deep end. It’s calledBaur’s Understandable Presupposition. A taste:

But think about it…where did the historical critical method originate? Guys like Baruch Spinoza saw the atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition and the hypocrisies of “Christianity” and basically swung to the other side. “If this is what Christianity is, I don’t want any part of it.”

Can you relate to that? If you’ve been a Christian for more than a month, you probably can. It is certainly no excuse for apostasy or even bitterness, but it makes you think. If Christians had been acting like Christians, maybe there would not have been historical skepticism….

The point is well taken; and I very much agree that skepticism is the natural result of too little genuine Christianity — or can be.

8:45 AM Going grocery shopping and changing the oil in the van today — to the glory of God!

8:35 AM Over at Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth, Nick Norelliopines about the plethora of English Bible versions and the problem of consumerism. I think he is correct. I have to. Otherwise, as the New Testament editor of the ISV, I would be a hypocrite.

I recall once bemoaning the abundance of Greek grammars available to me, a Greek teacher. When the latest one came out I would say to my sarcastic self, “That’s all we need — another beginning Greek grammar!”

Then B & H asked me to write one.

*Smile.*

8:23 AM The University of Portland (Oregon) announces an opening inTheological Ethics and Comparative Religions.

8:16 AM In view of the comment about German I posted over at Allan Bevere’s blog (I Just Got Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics!), I have a challenge for all of you out there who have learned German for your doctoral studies: I challenge you to read one passage from Barth’s Dogmatics in English, and then read the same passage again in the original. Then ask yourself: “Which is more powerful?” Try it. The answer may surprise you.

7:56 AM Yesterday at The Hill I gave a brief announcement about our upcomingPersecution Sunday (Nov. 14), noting that I believed the church needs a fresh call to stick-to-itiveness. Keeping on in a crisis is the point of Heb. 12:1-2 where we read, “Let’s go on running with perseverance the race marked out for us.” The race marked out for the church in China or Ethiopia or Iraq is an obstacle course. It requires believers to face obstacles of economic deprivation, loss of friends, rejection by family, and physical persecution. I recall meeting with a congregation in Ethiopia during a time of great drought. The local civil government was distributing food to everyone except to the Christians. Would you forsake your faith in order to feed your family? The temptations of persecution are great. Pressure comes in many forms. Economic distress. Emotional duress. Hunger and poverty. You may feel, as Paul did, pressed in on every side (2 Cor. 4:8). Then look! There He is! The Pioneer and Perfector of Faith! He’s watching. And cheering. He stands and lifts His nail-scarred hands and cries out, “Run, church, run! My plan for you is perfect. Complete what you have begun!”

I have come to realize that if I seek to avoid persecution and suffering I am a risk to God’s effective work in me. Self-preservation, ease, comfort, pleasure and a host of other potential risks lurk under the surface of my life. God knows that the only sufficiency that is truly sufficient is His grace. When he uses pain and persecution to bring us to the end of ourselves, He will always meet us there.

I urge all of us to consider making a special effort to remember the suffering Body of Christ on Nov. 14. That’s only 4 weeks away, so begin your plans now.

7:08 AM This view just greeted me. Fabulous.

Sunday, October 24

5:46 PM Over breakfast yesterday morning I reflected with Becky that I am currently the same age Robert E. Lee was at the end of the American Civil War. A famous photograph of the general taken in front of his home in Richmond just after the surrender shows a man at the height of his powers. Broad shoulders accentuate a thick chest. A strong commanding face dominates the uniform, soon to be shorn of its insignia. The lips are full under a prominent nose. The large, well-shaped eyes harbor potential gentleness or the quick threat of thunder. Gary hair and a full beard surmount the whole. It is the face of a man of action, reflecting wisdom and experience as well as drive and willpower. Lee seemed the living embodiment of “SOLDIER.”

Like all men of powerful personality, Lee evoked strong feelings. This man of dark destiny would soon find himself at the helm of Washington College in Lexington, VA, which in the ensuing years he would elevate to a university of first rank in the re-united nation. Eventually even his enemies would concede Lee’s physical courage and devotion to duty, not to mention his military genius on the battlefield. What I know about the American Civil War would not tax a slender notebook, but I realize my limitations and am always to eager to fill in the gaps. No book has helped me to do this more than Charles Bracelen Flood’sLee: The Last Years. It was as an educator that Lee believed he reached the pinnacle of his career as a son of Virginia. He gave his faculty intense loyalty and in return gained a devotion that bridged the years with a span of steel. The book shows Lee as an innovator and a Christian man devoted to his God (the first building he constructed at the college was a chapel). It reveals that there is much to be admired in this son of the south. But it also shows us that General Lee is no über-hero who is to be worshipped — and Lee would have been the first to say so.

The American Civil War is one of the world’s greatest war stories, combining as it did so much, so suddenly, so unexpectedly, in such tragic compass — the result, on the one hand, of false assumptions, fallacious views, and human error in abundance and, on the other, fanatical dedication, iron determination, and plain old-fashioned courage. In my estimation, the leaders on both sides of the conflict were, for the most part, honest, dedicated, and intelligent. But as human beings each single one of them was fallible, capable of egregious errors and misjudgments. I desire to learn from history — to reflect on its great men and women and the strange twists and turns that made them who and what they were. At the age of 58 do I, too, stand at the crossroads of life? How will I be remembered in the distant future, if I am remembered at all? What strange twists and turns await me — or you? Uncertainty tells us that we cannot know. Still, we march forward, knowing our obligations. Perhaps it was Lee who put this best when he said:

Duty is the most sublime word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less.

2:13 PM Miscellany for a Sunday afternoon:

• Enjoyed being with the family today. Brothers and sisters all. It is no exaggeration to say that I love Bethel Hill Baptist Church.

• Glad we’re known for being a Body and not So-and-So’s church. It is impossible for a church to bear witness to Christ and to itself at the same time. If a church does not understand this it is doomed to ultimate confusion.

• How awesome to live out in the countryside. We see maybe 4 cars on our drive to church. And the fall foliage — magnificent!

• Today would be a good day for a long ride on horseback through the country. It’s pleasant to think about all those Sundays I would do just that. Those days are long gone but still they flood me with happy memories.

• Another week has gone, and fall has definitely come with a flood of crisp cool air and abundant sunshine.

• We’re having our tin roof painted this week a delicious color of red. Will we henceforth be known as the “Red Roof Inn”?

• Becky and I have decided that our Ethiopia team reunion will be held here on Saturday, Nov. 13. More details to come but team members please mark your calendars now.

• Matt, Liz, and the boys are off gallivanting and the silence in the house is deafening.

8:46 AM Mark Goodacre sings the praises ofDuke’s doctorate in religion, as well he should. Having a Duke Ph.D. in New Testament on our faculty at SEBTS (he was a student of Moody Smith) is a blessing I enjoy daily.

8:14 AM Buenos Dias, bloggers and bloggerettes! This morning my devotions were in Psalm 22 — “a cry of anguish and a song of praise.” This famous song contains these words (v. 24):

He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering; he does not turn away from them, but answers when they call for help.

When I read this verse I thought of our 2010 Ethiopia team pictured below. Each of them felt called by God to serve the poor in a faraway place. Each was greatly inconvenienced in doing so. But each understood that being a Christian is costly and requires us to remember the poor and their sufferings. Jesus teaches in John 17 that His followers are called out of the world in order to go right back into it. No one was more separate from the world than He, yet no one lived in the midst of the world more than He in order to win disciples out of it. Our lights need to shine in the darkest places. Paul once said, “A great and effectual door is opened for me,” meaning that God opens the door of service as well as the door of salvation. The most important matter in all of our lives is to expend ourselves for the sake of others, prodded along each step of the way by the indwelling Spirit. God counts only that service which is the spontaneous expression of our love for Christ. We have tasted of the Lord and have found Him precious, and we cannot keep that blessing to ourselves! Our supreme business today is not success but stewardship. “He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering,” our Psalm reminds us. A disciple is not like a student in a classroom or a scholar facing an exam. Disciples are expected to acquire all they can and apply everything they acquire. As someone once said, “The sheep have an open ear and an obedient foot.” Jesus put it this way: “Bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:8). This may sound trite, but it is far from easy. Being a Christian involves far more than going to church or belonging to a particular denomination. A Christian was once asked, “Don’t you belong to the Methodist Church?” He replied, “No, I am a member of the Methodist Church. I belong to Jesus Christ.” I must say that each of our 2010 team members understood this truth, and understood it well. None was ashamed to declare their allegiance to Jesus Christ. I appreciate their commitment. I appreciate their sacrifice. I appreciate their example. I respect their integrity. I applaud their sense of humor. I’m thankful for their friendship.

If and when Becky is feeling up to it, we hope to have a team reunion at the farm. But until then, a photo — and a huge “God bless you for your love for Ethiopia” — will have to suffice.

Saturday, October 23

8:10 PM Becky and I are back from our hot date. The movie Secretariat was wonderful. I thought Diane Lane was magnificent in her starring role. She was willing to take phenomenal risks to see her horse achieve its potential.

Her pluck was, in deed, exemplary. (I kept thinking of Becky.) Life is much like that. Existence here on earth is highly competitive. We either play it by adjusting to God’s rules or else we fight against them. The problem with the movie is that it falsely supposes that life merely consists of being born, winning big (if possible), and enduring hardship (if necessary). Sadly, the landscape of human existence is littered with the pieces of lives broken by the lies of the devil and by the blows of bitter disappointment. Disney had an orientation in making this film, and it clearly was not to promote the race described in Heb. 12:1-2. There is nothing unusual about a story of human courage, even one as pleasant to watch as Secretariat. Plenty of people think they can win big in the game of life. Even some of Jesus’ disciples thought they could make reservations for top positions in glory. Jesus’ response was straightforward: the seating arrangement is in the Father’s hands, not yours.

Still, I must confess that I resonated with the overriding theme of the film — good old-fashioned tenacity. I thought of the way the apostle Paul beat his body so that he could win the prize set before him. He chose a goal that was unattainable in its perfection, yet he never became complacent as a result. How admirable. Yet in Secretariat the means became the end (happiness = winning the Triple Crown). I suppose many a Christian thinks that life is to be lived for similar ephemeral pursuits. I once did, and still do, I suppose, to a certain degree. What a tragic thing to feverishly work for something that really doesn’t matter in the light of eternity.

We believers in Jesus are not promised prosperity or popularity in exchange for being a Christian. In fact, the opposite may well be God’s gifts to us.

In the movie, Diane Lane was a dreamer. I admire that. All Christians should dream big dreams. But life is meaningless nonsense until God gives us sight. And even then, things do not always turn out in storybook fashion with happy endings. Yet despite the confusion of life — and right now I am facing several confusing issues — I know that one day all of my enigmas will be cleared up either when I grow up or when I “go up.” And for that I say: Thanks be unto God.

1:11 PM My sympathies to the students and faculty at theVirginia Theological Seminary.

12:26 PM Beginning Greek students: As you prepare for your quiz over lesson 8, may I remind you that responsibility is the very essence of stewardship. Do not ask to be a steward of something unless you are willing to be responsible for it. You have been asked to be good stewards of your learning. The plea of inability or unfitness is an insufficient excuse. Humility serves us falsely when it leads us to shrink from responsibility. I expect you to work to the very best of your God-given abilities and then leave the results in His hands. And I am here to help you in any way I can.

Below: I will forever be grateful to God for the opportunity to teach 6 weeks of beginning Greek in Addis Ababa to a group of outstanding students at the Evangelical Theological College back in June of 2005. It was here that ourGreek DVDs were filmed. I tell you, my audience was alive!

Here’s a sample from that DVD set. 

 

12:04 PM As most everyone knows by now, my latest book is calledWhy Four Gospels? I am pleased that it has been re-issued in its second edition. If this book helps you to be a wiser and more obedient Christian, then my effort will have been more than amply rewarded. Here I wish to make something perfectly clear if I haven’t done so already. I lay no claim to omniscience or perfection. Nor do I wish to give the impression of finality. There will probably never be a completely satisfactory explanation to the synoptic problem. Anyone who claims to present to his or her readers “The Final Secret of the Origins of the Gospels” is either a charlatan or self-deceived. I want to stress that my work calls for reflection as much as it does for judgment, as a good book should. I also hope that it brings my readers enjoyment, as a good book should. If, in your mind, it raises more questions than it answers, I will consider this still to be a highly satisfactory response!

A special word of thanks to Mr. Henry Neufeld of Energion Publications. He has done a superb job of bringing the book to final release. I am greatly indebted to him. Thank you, Henry.

11:42 AM Please join us in praying today for our clinic staff at the Galana Health Center, and especially for chaplain Solomon as he shares the Word of life with visitors. I could tell you many reports of “miracles” that have taken place at the clinic in terms of physical healing, but their significance only begins there. In the Gospels, miracles never stand on their own. They are intended to point away from themselves to the earth-shattering news of the empty tomb. This is perhaps one of the reasons the synoptic Gospels do not mention the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Perhaps the writers felt it might obscure their primary focus in writing, the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here endeth the theological lesson! — but my point remains that the role of humanitarian in the work of the Gospel must always be understood in terms of building the kingdom and not establishing a panacea for all human ills.

FYI: Here’s brother Solomon sharing the love of Christ with patients at the Kale Heywet Galana Health Center in Burji, Ethiopia. I know of no one who loves the people of Galana more than he does.

And, in case you’re wondering about such matters, here’s our philosophy aboutthe role of humanitarian aid in the work of the kingdom.

11:14 AM Keep your eyes on Sudan. The referendum in January will determine the fate of this neighbor to Ethiopia (hence my keen interest). War is certainly a possibility, asthis featured piece over at the Washington Post asserts. The US is playing a major role in negotiations and is worried. I think we can all agree that these “concerns” are understandable.

10:55 AM Good news! Becky’s bloodwork came back yesterday and it looks great. Next stop: UNC for a CT scan. Speaking of Bec, this afternoon I’m taking her out to see Secretariat, then to dinner at our favorite hole-in-the-wall seafood joint. Even more remarkably, I’m refraining here from waxing elephant about the horses in my life and what they’ve meant to me. Freedom of expression does have its limitations. (Just ask Juan Williams.) Oh, by the way, Secretariat wasNOT a Christian!

Another by the way: Here’s my Traveler.

And here’s Secretariat.

Almost identical stockings, similar coloring, same temperament I’m sure. Thoroughbreds are the acme of breeding, except for their hoofs (which tend to be brittle). Oh oh, I’m beginning to wax elephant.

9:38 AM Alvin Reid offers some good advice on childrearing in his latest essay called The Best Parenting Advice Ever.

One quibble: It takes a grindstone to sharpen an axe. The real proving ground of character is this old world of ours. A generation bred on entertainment wants to be amused. They sometimes look to the church to put on a “good show” for them. What a time for the church to be drunk with her “amusements” when she can and must sell everything she has and give it away to the poor. That is perhaps an exaggeration but not by much. I don’t want to see the current generation going to church. I want to see them penetrating the hard places of the world because that is what Jesus would do if He were here.

9:23 AM Good Saturday morning to you from this side of blogdom (or “not-quite-a-blog” blogdom, as the case may be LOL!). I once had a student in California who would refer to a certain church in Orange County as the “Windex Cathedral.”

The perjoration was not lost on us. My own experience has taught me that I can’t pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I can’t just grin and bear it. “Think positively!” is jaded by reality. Bootstraps break and the “silver lining” philosophy turns out to be aluminum foil. Listening to “feel good theology” (or to what James Packer once called “Hot Tub Religion“) disorients us. The reason is simple enough. God’s means of making us stronger and stronger is not through the power of positive thinking but rather through making us weaker and weaker until the divine power alone is seen in our lives. I don’t know about you, but I’m attracted to fleshly teaching that exalts my supposed natural goodness and ability. Emotionally, I want to be positive. But the truth is that my emotions are like quick sand. Trouble comes to even the happiest Christian in bucketsful (is that even a word?). Our  Crystal Cathedrals eventually sink in the mire of biblical truth. Is it any wonder that Scripture demands that we trust only in God? “Rejoice (only) in the Lord!” writes Paul. Rejoice in anything else and the house of cards is sure to come crashing down around you like the first pane of glass you broke in childhood. We Christians can sample every kind of mega-church experience that is out there and still not grow healthy and strong. In my opinion, it’s far better to grow up on a restricted diet than to be a sickly specimen who has tried many delicacies and yet derived little strength from them. It is the broken-hearted Christian filled with the Spirit who has his or her hands filled with the fruits of victory.

Friday, October 22

5:08 PM Just enjoyed a walk with the dogs (and boys) and am getting ready to cook supper: creamed tuna over rice. Yummy.

3:53 PM Craig Blomberg reviews P. B. Payne’s Man and Woman, One in Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Paul’s Letters. If I may hijack a well-worn exhortation — Take up and read!

(I have to express my special delight that the author interacts with Professor Blomberg in a lengthy comment. Very commendable!)

3:31 PM Arthur Sido knows how to push people’s buttons, and here he goes again, this time posting an essay calledThe love of money is Crystal clear. The main button this time is the fiscal irresponsibility of American congregations that run up huge debts in order to localize the worship of God in their spectacular “sanctuaries.” Evangelicals who find “bigger is better” an attractive platitude will find most of Arthur’s analysis irritating. So sorry.

3:25 PM Messiah College announces an opening inChristian Ministries. 

3:15 PM Becky is still trying to get me an appointment with a surgeon to have my lump biopsied. It may take another week or two. To be honest, I dislike feelings of insecurity. It chokes my productivity for God. It reminds me of my un-Christian-like self-sufficiency. Can yet another thorn be in the offing? If it is, it can and must become a means of turning my pride into a sensitivity toward others. But am I up to the task? Once again I’m reminded of how much stock I place in things of temporal value. My self-esteem is based on externals. I know I shouldn’t feel this way, but I often do. It’s what I know, what I write, what I accomplish, the good health I enjoy that establishes my sense of worth. But God wants me to base my esteem and worth in my relationship with Him. Is God worthy of my uncompromising allegiance even if He should take my health away? Paul affirmed God’s sovereignty in the midst of his sufferings. I love him for it. He’s my hero. I mean, it hurt Paul to follow Jesus. The pain was real. Yet he says, “Don’t pity me. God’s grace is enough for me in the midst of pain.” Likewise, I’m glad to know that God’s not finished with me yet. He cares enough for me to continue to shape me and stretch me. His goal is to make me “useful for the Master and prepared to do any good work” (2 Tim. 2:21). So Dave, get up off your duff. Resign from your pity party. God is your protector and provider. He has you in a place where you can be usable in His kingdom — if you’ll let Him.

12:20 PM Bad sinus headache. Reminder of my finitude!

12:07 PM It is God’s prerogative to realign our lives to bring more glory and praise to His name.

11:54 AM Just took the boys to Food Lion to buy some frozen pizza for lunch and to rent a carpet shampooer for Becky. We got the pizza but forgot the shampooer. Go figure — we are males.

9:44 AM Right now I’m working with some students who are facing challenging issues. Events in life flow like an unending stream. No sooner is one situation handled then another pops up to take its place. Life is so elusive at times, so illogical. Relationships cannot be reduced to a scientific formula or factored like a mathematical problem. How I need to spend time in prayer for my students and their families.

9:37 AM Becky and I received a wonderful email about Thomas, the youngest Ethiopian team member to travel with us to Burji (along with his mom and dad). This week Thomas gave a presentation of his trip at his public school and did a fantastic job. Keep in mind that he was only 7 years old when he served the Lord in this faraway country.

At the age of 12 Jesus told His parents, “Didn’t you know I had to be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). Christ didn’t wait until He was old to dedicate His life to the kingdom of God or to embody what He Himself taught: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). Parents, are you teaching your children that Christ’s kingdom “is not of this world” (John 18:36)? It’s never too early to begin.

7:40 AM Too much bleakness in the news? Well, this email I just received will cheer you up. The essay posted at BP is well worth reading.

Hello Dr. Black, I remembered when you would pray for us in class and would ask the LORD to make us “winsome and attractive for the gospel” and after seeing this article at Baptist Press I wanted to send it to you. 

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=33918&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed1021

God Bless you and your wife.

7:35 AM Thomas Hudgins has done us all a great service by providing a list of Greek grammars currently available inFrench. I am both humbled and pleased that Thomas has decided to translate my beginning grammar into Español. So grateful for co-laborers like him and his dear wife Lesly.

Thursday, October 21

8:48 PM Tonight we had a first on the farm. Caleb made the raisin muffins all by himself, from beginning to end. That’s quite an accomplishment. I think everyone was well-pleased, including his brothers. 

8:24 PM Nijay Gupta is excited about his work onPhilippians. His emphasis on the theme of unity is spot on. In myNovum Testamentum article on the discourse structure of Philippians I came to the same conclusion. However, the unity of which Paul speaks in Philippians is not unity for unity sake. It is unity in the cause of the Gospel. It creates a selfless community that is willingly to sacrifice everything (except for unity!) to share the life-giving message with others. I would suggest that we cannot speak simply of unity and leave it there. We need to flesh out this theme by working cooperatively with other believers in world evangelization.

2:52 PM Bloggers take note! Henry Neufeld of Energion Publicationswrites: 

The second edition ofDr. David Alan Black’s bookWhy Four Gospels? has been released.  We expect to ship all pre-ordered copies by the end of the day tomorrow, and we’re waiting for Amazon.com to show “In Stock.”  (Note:  If you see the 1 to 2 months note there, be assured that the books are in the pipeline and it will be much less than 1-2 months–more like a day or so.)

We atEnergion Publications are looking forward to good things from this second edition.  In particular we hope that we can market it to many readers from mainline churches who may not have considered its thesis, that the gospels were written early, starting with Matthew.

We especially encourage bibliobloggers to request free review copies.  We don’t ask for favorable reviews.  We love to get them, of course, but we won’t put any pressure on you about what you say.  What we’d like to see is a strong debate, enhanced by this valuable little volume.

So if you want a review copy, e-mailpubs@energion.com and let us know where you will review it and where to send the book. 

2:10 PM One cannot be a true believer in Jesus who doesn’t also follow Him in obedience and love.

1:22 PM One New Testament scholar is trying toPlace Ephesians. The data he mentions (e.g., the absence of “in Ephesus” in 1:1 in some early Greek witnesses, as well as the absence of personal greetings at the conclusion of the letter) are clear enough, but they can be variously interpreted. I hope we do not overlook the fact that Romans has more personal greetings than any other of Paul’s writings yet Rome was a church Paul had never visited personally. The principle seems to be the following: The better Paul knew a church the fewer personal greetings he included, and the less Paul knew a church the more personal greetings he attached in the conclusion. As for why a scribe might want to omit the words “in Ephesus” if they were original, the answer is found in the “Problem of Particularity,” as noted many years ago by several different scholars. By mechanically excising the place designation one transforms Paul’s “particular” letter into an encyclical epistle intended to be read by all Christians everywhere. It is fascinating to note that the three most widely read Pauline epistles in the ancient church (Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians) all have had their place designations tampered with by copyists. (For more, see Nils A. Dahl, “The Particularity of the Pauline Epistles as a Problem in the Ancient Church,” in Neotestamentica et Patristica: Freundesgabe Berm Professor Dr. Oscar Cullmann zu Seinem 60. Geburtstag Ueberreicht, ed. W.C. van Unnik [Leiden: Brill, 1962] 261-71.)

No doubt this is a vexing issue of New Testament interpretation. For what it’s worth, I’ve tried to cut through the underbrush in my essay The Peculiarities of Ephesians and the Ephesian Address (.pdf). I would add just one more thing here. Looming unmistakably in the background of the problem is what I consider to be an over-allegiance to the so-called Critical Text (viz., the UBSGNT/NA editions) and what my friend Keith Elliott has referred to as “the hypnotic effect of Aleph and B.”  If you ask me, this is the nub of the matter and hardly extraneous to the discussion. Of course some hardly recognize that reasoned eclecticism allows for these venerated manuscripts to be wrong in places (see, e.g., the variant in John 10:18).

12:38 PM Ecclesiology can only be true when proper place is given to the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.

12:13 PM Like you, I’ve seen some snide comments about Calvinism, but I’m not inclined to defend a system (unless it’sChristian Archy, of course!). Don’t you just love it, then, when someone pokes fun at both sides of the debate? Read Allan Bevere’s latest post if you’re interested in the details. It’s calledAmazing Grace … Theologically Twisted.

12:05 PM Catch this nifty quote from my assistant Andy Bowden:

I’m a student and my studies regularly afford me the opportunity to dig into the Scriptures. And there will probably come a day when my official studies are finished. But when that happens I will by no means be an expert. The big challenge will be applying to my life all those things I’ve learned and actually using it. And that doesn’t have to happen when I’m done with school or until the “baby” comes. I can begin to apply the lessons daily to my life. Lessons need not remain theory, God calls me to be transformed by the things I’m learning both from class and from daily life. Experts who have officially completed class are not needed, God is looking for doers who follow him today.

The piece is titled, nicely enough, Birthing Expert.

12:03 PM I enjoyed reading thelatest foray by Alan Knox into ecclesiology. It is a fascinating story. Read it at your own risk! 

12:00 PM Greek students: Here’s a greatbook announcement!

7:59 AM So just who are all these handsome New Testament profs assembled in Wake Forest?

From left to right: David Lanier, Grant Osborne, Keith Elliott, David Allen, Moises Silva, Maurice Robinsons, Simon Kistemaker, Michael Holmes, Craig Blomberg, William Farmer, yours truly, Eldon Jay Epp, George Guthrie, Darrell Bock, Scot McKnight, David Beck, and Gerald Cowen. Can’t wait to do something like this again on campus. Lots of iron sharpening iron!

7:44 AM Our latest book is now available for purchase atAmazon.

7:40 AM The papers on New Testament criticism at this year’s Atlanta SBL meeting have been assembledhere. It’s an excellent line-up. I think Randall Buth’s presentation would be especially interesting.

7:36 AM Check out thisdefinition of ekklesia:

So I went to my favorite word study book,Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary (i.e., shameless plug), and am reminded that etymologically (and its etymology is still valid) the ekklesia is the community of believers who have been “called out” of the world to belong to King Jesus.

Is this a case of “etymologizing”? What do you think?

7:32 AM I failed to mention yesterday another very fine tool for reviewing one’s Greek, and that is Rod Decker’sKoine Greek Reader, published by Kregel. Rod’s blog is also extremely helpful. Here’s butone example.

7:25 AM Birthday greetings to Gerhard von Rad, who was born on this day in 1901. The University of Heidelberg, where he taught, hasthis remembrance, a portion of which follows. Disagree as one might with von Rad’s theology, one has to admire his courage.

Im Rahmen der Widerstandsbewegung “Bekennende Kirche” und darüber hinaus hielt der junge Theologe mutige Vorträge, veröffentlichte kritische Aufsätze, predigte im illegalen Kirchensaal der Lutherischen Bekenntnisgemeinschaft in Jena und bestärkte seine Studenten in der Opposition gegen das Naziregime. Trotz Herzleidens wurde er noch im Spätsommer 1944 eingezogen und zum LKW-Fahrer ausgebildet. Frau und Tochter mussten aus dem zerbombten Jena nach Süddeutschland evakuiert werden. Die schlimme Zeit in amerikanischer Kriegsgefangenschaft, in die von Rad April 1945 für ein Vierteljahr geriet, ist ihm als “Dimension wirklicher Gottverlassenheit” noch Jahre später in nur allzu lebendiger Erinnerung geblieben.

7:20 AM There seems to be some disagreement among my colleagues about the use of Twitter in the classroom. Some are shocked that anyone would send out tweets during their lectures. One even told me that he bans the use of social media during class time. Yet another colleague of mine tweets during chapel. I think the debate is a healthy one. I definitely tend to side with Christian liberty (and responsibility!) on this one.

7:13 AM Thought for the day (Dietrich Bonhoeffer):

Each morning is a new beginning of our life. Each day is a finished whole. The present day marks the boundary of our cares and concerns. It is long enough to find God or lose Him, to keep faith or fall into disgrace.

7:10 AM Looking forward to a quiet day today beginning with taking Becky out to Denny’s for breakfast.

7:02 AM New essay up at DBO on the persecuted church. It’s calledWhy Persecution Is a Blessing.

Wednesday, October 20

7:06 PM So you’re studying New Testament Greek and finding it a bit of a challenge. A lot of people don’t stick with it. “I tried learning Greek and it didn’t work for me.” The problem with these people may just be that they never learned persistence. Do you want to master the Greek language and be able to use it in your walk with God and in your service for Him? If you do, you will have to put forth some effort. How can we “stick with it” in a practical sense? 

One aspect of persistence is spending time in your Greek New Testament every day. Notice, I said spend time. It’s an investment, a conscious choice on your part. Don’t wait for it to just happen. Make time in the Greek text an indispensable part of your day. I do, and I never fail to benefit from it. If you need to, use any help that is out there, including interlinears. Yes, I said interlinears – which are usually considered anathema to Greek teachers. But if an interlinear can get you into the text, it’s worth the effort. As one preacher put it, “Halitosis is better than no breath at all.” Amen!

Second, take time to pray. Ask God to help you. For many Greek students, things go well for a few weeks. But as soon as a little difficulty comes their way they say, “Forget it. This is impossible.” That’s when you need to go to God in prayer. John wrote, “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15). Prayer is your lifeline to God and your only source of strength. Take advantage of it.

Third, those who want to master the Greek language must grow constantly in their knowledge of grammar. If you’ve already had a year of Greek but are floundering, why not pick up a good intermediate textbook and begin reviewing your paradigms and syntax? Dan Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics is excellent for this purpose. Others find my It’s Still Greek to Me helpful. If you’re going to master Greek you’re going to have become a perpetual student of the language. I’m sorry, but there aren’t any shortcuts, no easy solutions. We can’t skip a grade or two.

Fourth, to master Greek means to be patient with yourself. You put one foot in front of the other. It’s a steady gait, not a foot race. As I said above, the only way to get the job done is to stick with it.

Finally, let me suggest that you teach others what you’re learning. It’s often been said that the best way to learn something is by teaching it. This can make all the difference. It’s interesting that my best students tend to be those who are teaching Greek to others, whether in their small group fellowships or to their children at home or in their Sunday School classes. Last year I taught beginning Greek in my local church every Monday night for a year. We started out with 55 students and finished with six. At times I almost decided to give up. It’s at times like these that I have to ask myself, “Who am I serving? Am I doing this for God or for me?” The Bible says, “Let us not grow weary while doing what is good, because at the right time we will reap a harvest if we do not lose heart” (Gal. 6:9). I’m so proud of those six students who finished the course, who ran the race to the end. I’m also deeply appreciative of the efforts of those who had to drop out along the way, some for serious medical problems. (My wife Becky, one of my very best students, had to leave the course because of her surgery and chemotherapy).

I know that Greek can be tough. If anyone ever experienced a sinking feeling while studying this language, it was me. I dropped out of my beginning Greek class at Biola after only three weeks! Thankfully I went on to take Moody Bible Institute’s correspondence course and, by God’s grace, aced it. Remember what Peter’s problem was when he was walking on the water? He took his eyes off the Lord. And that just about says it all.

Link.

6:55 PM Lots of openings to report today:

• Arkansas Baptist College:Religious Studies and Christian Leadership. 

• Spring Arbor University: Theology/Philosophy.

• Azusa Pacific University:Biblical Studies.

• East Stroudsburg University: Religious Studies.

• Emory University: Early Christianity.

• LeTourneau University: Old Testament.

• University of Durham:New Testament.

Monday, October 18

9:36 PM Becky’s treatment today went wonderfully well. We’ve scheduled her CT scan for two weeks from today. That will tell us plenty. While B was in the infusion room I was in the ED having a suspicious lump checked out. After 6 hours and a sonogram they still couldn’t figure out what it was, so I’ll be seeing a surgeon as soon as we can schedule an appointment. Wouldn’t that be something if the Lord allowed both of us to be ill at the same time?

So how to pray? Just as Jesus taught us. He obviously believed in the prayer of petition. This is in strong contrast to the Greeks and Romans who considered it useless and even offensive to ask God for anything (surely no one can inform God of anything or change His mind!). In Jesus’ view, humans are dependent creatures, and God is a wonderful Father in heaven who delights for them to ask Him to meet their needs. Jesus’ own prayer in Gethsemane exemplifies the prayer of petition. He asked for two things, first that God might free Him from the fate that awaited Him, but secondly that God’s will would be done in His life. This is how I’ve been praying for Becky and for a good many other people as well. In the first place there is the setting forth of the need, and in the second place (and ranking above the first in order of importance) there is the desire that God’s will and God’s will alone be done. I dare not pray for one without praying for the other. Jesus reminded us, repeating the words of Isaiah, that God does not want the words of our lips while our hearts are far from Him (Isa. 29:13; Mark 7:6). Prayer, then, does no more than discover God as the source and the goal of all our actions.

When we arrived home tonight (much later than we had anticipated) Matt and Liz had a wonderful Ethiopian supper awaiting us. I am so stuffed I can hardly type. What a kind symbol of their love, and one for which we are both deeply grateful.

Tomorrow it’s back to school. I’m also been working on an essay for the upcoming Persecution Sunday (Nov. 14). That’s in addition to trying to finish upPaul, Apostle of Weakness plus my brief essay on Mitsuo Fuchida, the “Angel of Pearl Harbor.” So little time, so much to do. Tempus fidgets, as the Latins would say.

Peace,

Dave

8:38 AM As brother Jason was teaching through Acts 17 yesterday, I jumped ahead (sorry Jase!) and read into chapter 18. I came across the expression in Acts 18:1 that said, “After this, Paul departed from Athens.” I noticed that the verb here is in the passive voice and, if used passively, would carry the idea that “Paul was separated from Athens.” This seems to be a case of what grammarians call the “divine passive” — that is, Paul was separated by God from Athens. Clearly, Paul had felt led by God to leave the city behind and move on to Corinth. And there is nothing in the record of Acts to indicate that he ever returned.

Becky and I love Ethiopia, with all its dirt and disorganization and disease. And, as you know, that love persists even now. It seems almost inconceivable that we should minister anywhere else together. The chief joy of the early years of our work there was not in organizing this or that ministry but in coming to know and love the people who were more or less surviving the deprivations of a government that cared very little for its own poor. Somehow we felt very much at home in faraway Burji or in Malaria-ridden Alaba, with all of its terrorists and Muslim fanatics. We felt no fear wandering the streets. God was with us in a special way. At first we knew next to nothing about the churches there or their stresses and temptations. Ignorance was a form of bliss. Now we seem to understand the harsh realties — much like a married couple comes to know each other’s faults. The amazing thing about it was that in Ethiopia we found imaginative, courageous Christians. They were intensely loyal to us and were willing to work with us tackling all kinds of problems. When I think back over the past 7 years and our fantastically varied involvements — teaching, constructing church meeting places, doing open air evangelism, developing the health clinic — I realize afresh how it could never have happened unless the local churches had really been present — a band of “earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor. 4:7-8). In such a community of saints one can dare to believe that the nature of God is basically benevolent — He both loves and is love. To experience that love is to experience grace, to know that you are more blessed than you deserve to be. It is to learn what is of ultimate importance in life (serving). It is to give and receive gifts — to pass the grace on, so to speak.

And so, last June, “we left Ethiopia,” or, better “We were separated by God from Ethiopia.” For Becky, the separation is probably permanent. It is a liberating discovery to realize that whatever we do or wherever we go, people are much the same everywhere. We share the same joys and pleasures, the same sorrows and unbearable separations. There is always a certain level of instability in the Christian life. But there are also certain things about which we can be absolutely certain. Becky and I will never cease to love Ethiopia. We will never cease to be thankful that God granted us the incredible privilege of serving Him together in that place. Above all, we will never cease to believe that “Jesus is Lord,” and we will always be grateful that God granted us the opportunity of making our lives conform to that belief.

Every day that comes to us is an opportunity to render service to our fellow man, and thus to take one step closer to God. Every day is an opportunity to love the One who loves the whole world and who desires to bring the whole world — including every tribe in Ethiopia — to Himself. There is comfort in that thought. There is also comfort in knowing that if we accept our sorrows and separations in trust, they can only add grace notes to life.

7:26 AM For students in both my LXX and Hebrews classes this semester, this Google book will come as a welcome addition to your bookmarks:The Role of the Septuagint in Hebrews. It is written by my good friend and colleague Radu Gheorgita, who teaches at Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City. He argues persuasively for septuagintal theology in the book of Hebrews. His discussion of Hab. 2:4 in particular will intrigue anyone who, like myself, is open to the possibility of Pauline authorship. Incidentally, I am greatly indebted to Radu for serving as my translator during a lectureship in Romania (his native land and partly mine — my mother was Romanian) in 2007.

We spent a week together traveling from Oradea to Bucharest speaking to groups of pastors and pastors-in-the-making. Radu, who has a Ph.D. from Cambridge, is well known on campus for his amazing ability to commit large portions of the Greek New Testament to memory. I best remember him for his practical jokes!

6:12 AM Speaking of tithing (i.e., tenth-ing), check out Jim’s look at theTop 10 for 10-10-10.

6:02 AM Eric is at it again, stretching our minds by discussing ideas that many residents of cyberspace would find incomprehensible if not downright seditious. Ever the student, he asks some serious questions about tithing. If that isn’t enough to ruin a man’s reputation! ReadSproul Asks the Wrong Question.

5:48 AM New essay at DBO: Grades and the Gospel.

5:05 AM Just sent Becky and Liz on their way to Houston, with much love and prayer. I already miss them.

Sunday, October 17

7:15 PM LXX students: You will want to read Andrew Kulikovsky’sreview of John Sailhamer’s Genesis Unbound. He concludes:

While there are some things in this book we can agree with, there are many more things, such as those outlined above, where we must disagree. The basic thesis is fatally flawed, and it appears that the only things which Sailhamer has ‘unbound’ are the rules of grammar, the semantic fields of words and the laws of logic.

We discussed many of these issues in class when translating Genesis 1. Is this review too severe? Read it, then decide for yourself.

6:38 PM Matthew’s making omelets for supper. Seems we have eggs coming out of our ears.

6:10 PM “Nothin’ could be fina than to be near Carolina in the evening!”

4:59 PM My thanks to a reader who emailed me this week with a typo he found in my beginning Greek grammar. Always appreciated. My books are impeccable but not infallible LOL!

4:38 PM This morning while driving to Bethel Hill I was listening to our classical music station and happened to hear one of my favorite recordings of Ave Verum Corpus. My mind flashed back to my first year of college. I was a music major at the University of Hawaii’s West Campus that overlooked the North Loch of Pearl Harbor.

There I would sit in the school’s music lab and listen to medieval Gregorian chants in Latin while watching aircraft carriers and destroyers negotiate the narrow channel of the famous harbor. What a study in contrasts. At the time I was taking courses in piano, music theory, and trumpet while singing in the university chorale. I had no idea that one day I would actually be using Latin as a research language and be living far from my boyhood home on Oahu. Still, even in those youthful days (I was only 18), when I had my entire life ahead of me, I somehow sensed that life for me would take a different turn. The surfer would one day go on to bigger and better pursuits in life, and might even end up on the Big Big Island (which is what we called the mainland). Is it just me, or is God causing me to reflect on my ancient past in order to appreciate more and more His blessings of the present? I don’t know. It may just be the premature onset of world weariness. Whatever it is, I think I can understand much better today than way back then what the great British writer Malcolm Muggeridge said as he approached the winter of his life. Read his words and see if you do not also resonate with their message:

I suppose, regard myself, or pass for being, a relatively successful man. People occasionally stare at me in the streets—that’s fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Inland Revenue—that’s success. Furnished with money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to, may partake of trendy diversions—that’s pleasure. It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time—that’s fulfilment. Yet I say to you, and I beg you to believe me, multiply these tiny triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing—less than nothing, a positive impediment—measured against one draught of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who or what they are.

4:04 PM Tomorrow morning, if Becky is feeling up to it (she has some sinus issues right now; hopefully it’s not a head cold) we’ll go to UNC where she will have her third Adria treatment. Last week’s trip to Houston confirmed in our minds that our current treatment regiment is right for us. For now. A scan in about a month will tell us a lot. Is the chemo working? Are her tumors still doubling every two months? The future is hidden from us. I believe that there is a cure for Becky’s type of cancer and that God knows exactly what it is. The fact is that He hasn’t divulged that cure to us or to anyone else. At the end of the day, I don’t have to know the cure to believe that God is still sovereign. Becky is an undeserved blessing that He has given me. He is not obligated to give her to me forever. I have no right to envy others who have been cured from cancer because God has given a grace that He has withheld from us. We remain thankful and confident, buoyed up, no doubt, by your prayers.  

So onward and upward. I’ll let you know how things go tomorrow, Lord willing.

1:43 PM Two brief take-aways from Jason’s excellent message from Acts 17 this morning:

1) On 17:18, my NET Bible has a wonderful footnote in reference to the statement, “What does this foolish babbler want to say?” The footnote describes the babbler as “one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them off with pretense and show” (citing Louw and Nida, 27.19). Quite honestly, when I read that quote my mind went to the myriad of journal articles that I’ve read. Many of them — many! — could easily be described as “relatively extraneous information.” Of course, reading them can be lots of fun. And I’m sure they’ve made their authors’ C.V.s look a little more attractive. (Publish or perish!) But earnestness is not unction. Centuries ago the church got the mistaken notion that the City of God was to be constructed out of education. Alas, we have fared badly with our cities. No, I’m not opposed to publishing journal articles. I’ve published quite a few myself, and I always encourage my doctoral students to do the same. But wood, hay, and stubble can be dressed up these days and made to look like durable building materials. So, reader beware! Paul’s message on Mars Hill ended up being anything but extraneous information. But you get what you pay for. Friends, watch out for “scholarship” that is nothing but scholars wearing themselves out trying to keep up with the world.

2) Jason noted, very appropriately I thought, that when Paul came to Athens he was anything but a tourist. The only thing he saw was the spiritual plight of the people. His heart “was vexed” within him. How unlike so many of us when we visit famous places. I’ll be the first to admit that when I first saw the Acropolis and the Parthenon I was swept away by their beauty.

To finally be in Athens! What an experience! But Paul was no tourist, and, I have to admit, I’m beginning to be less and less interested in human monuments that will pass away. Wherever we travel these days, I urge all of us to see what Paul saw: the desperate condition of men and women, boys and girls without a Savior. Sure, they had an “unknown God” and many others besides. But they didn’t have Jesus. And there are billions of them out there waiting for us to tell them.

A final thought. I just learned this morning that the Person County Jail in Roxboro has a women’s’ Bible study every Wednesday and Thursday night but (apparently) nothing comparable for the men folk. My heart was pricked when I heard that. This week I’ll be checking into seeing what I can do to help out, keeping Heb. 13:3 in mind. After all, much of Barth’s best work was first written as a sermon to be preached in the Basel jail!

9:18 AM Here’s something to think about on this fine Sunday morning. In Ethiopia, many Muslims are coming to faith in Christ through visions of the risen Savior. We know, because Becky has interviewed several of them personally. Yet I do not know of a single instance where the risen Jesus told them the Gospel. Instead, God has chosen to use frail, flawed humans to communicate His message of salvation. It seems to me that angels would have been much better suited to the task than us. But the fact is: God works through people. We are the only Bible some people will ever read. We are the only sermon they will ever hear. It is we who have the great privilege of “holding forth the life-giving Word” (Phil 2:16) for others to see and hear. It is a mystery to me that God has chosen people to communicate His Gospel. And not just others. I’m called to be salt and light. I’m to be actively involved. And it’s time I started acting like it.

Is it too stupid a question to ask what might an effective missionary look like? Are they always heroes, well-known speakers, authors, heads of organizations? We might draw that conclusion because these are the roles that tend to be the model we hoist up before each other as worthy of emulation. I love our chapel speakers. But just once I’d like to listen to an “ordinary” speaker — someone whose life is dull and routine, who is coping with low income or trying to keep a job or is concerned about retirement. Perhaps we do not adequately visualize what the Lord meant when He said, “If anyone wants to follow Me….” If you are one of Christ’s sheep, you can learn to follow Him. God does indeed use “common” people to speak to others; we simply must learn to obey. Don’t abdicate your responsibility; accept His offer!

Saturday, October 16

5:59 PM Jody Neufeld’s thoughts on divorce are well worth reading.

5:53 PM In the genius of the Gospel, believers experience a unity that transcends all manmade boxes. We become blind to social distinctions. We welcome interdependence. We serve each other as though we were all playing on the same athletic “team” or singing in the same musical “group.” I thought of this the other day while listening to one of my favorite 70s musical groups.

Chicago was known as the “band without a leader.” Nobody seemed to scramble for highest honors. You never knew when Peter or Robert or Terry was going to sing lead. And who remembers the names of the fabulous brass players? This doesn’t mean that we ignore personal preferences. I preferred Lamm’s voice to Cetera’s. And, being a trumpet player myself, I was a huge fan of Lee Loughnane. But let’s face it: Chicago was a group. A common glue seemed to hold them together. In short, they were a great band who worked hard on playing great music together. (Of course, Peter eventually went “solo”; and the band’s cohesion suffered.)

The church, likewise, is a big band of nobodies from nowhere. The church has no boxes — big or little. The kingdom goes beyond our individual gifts. We are one!

3:05 PM I’ve finished the fence posts, composted Becky’s rose garden, and successfully negotiated a trash run. What left to do other than to take a nap?

2:42 PM On NPR this morning Scott Simon had a marvelous interview with Sam Howe Verhovek about his new bookJet Age: The Comet, the 707, and the Race to Shrink the World. The book is about the competition between Great Britain and the United States and the engineering teams from each country who were vying to design the safest and most lucrative transatlantic passenger jet. It was De Havilland versus Boeing. Turns out the Yanks won out. Although the De Havilland Comet was designed before the 707 Stratoliner, it was plagued with design flaws, flaws avoided by the engineers at Boeing. Varhovek called this the “second company advantage.” It’s the age-old principle: the company that first designs a product is often outdone eventually by a Johnny-come-lately that works harder and smarter.

Here’s a principle I think we can apply to education. There are two dangers every teacher must avoid. The first is to think that he or she has nothing to say. The second is to think that they have the last word on any subject. They must always take great care to see that they are teaching the truth, and they must always have every care that they do not leave the impression that the topic is closed for further discussion. I see in my classrooms many of what I might call “second company students.” Yes, they appreciate what I have to say; in fact, many of them have traveled miles to study with me. But no one can satisfy their curiosity. Their minds are insatiably hungry. They not only question “Q,” they question the entire premise behind Markan priority. They believe it is easy to pervert the learning process and to emasculate the word “study.” Moreover, they condemn profession without practice — a condemnation with which I entirely agree. Christians may not be saved by works but they most certainly are saved for works. The one thing these “second company students” cannot stand is faith without works. For them faith and works are inseparables, not opposites, and we teachers must never get ourselves into the position where our students cannot hear what we say because they are seeing what we do.

I don’t know about you, but I am eager to see what the current generation of scholars will accomplish for Christ. Let them outshine their predecessors! Let them think bigger thoughts and do greater works!

12:16 PM Beautiful day for working outdoors. Becky’s weeding her garden and I’m fixing fence posts. The temperature is an ideal 70 degrees and the sun shines brightly.

12:02 PM Here’s yet another good read from the pen of Eric Carpenter:Experience and an M.Div. Do Not Mean I’m Qualified to Plant a Church. You know how scandalized people get when I say degrees are really of little consequence. The fact is that they have little necessary relationship to education. In my classes I try to emphasize that schools are a means to an end, not the end. To be educated, one has to understand. As far as I can sort it out, me degrees (including my doctorate from Basel) have given me the ability to read well. The most I am willing to concede is that schools are a “supplement” to the educational process. At its best, seminary may be able to deal with a subject fragmentarily and theoretically. Life is where the lessons of history and theology are tested. I am not being flippant when I insist upon this. I am a professional educator, have been for 34 years. But there is so much to learn in life that is not even cognitive.

Friday, October 15

3:14 PM The Eisenbrauns textual criticism salecontinues. Here’s your chance to get two of my books at a dramatically reduced price.

 

Rethinking New Testament Textual Criticism

Edited by David Alan Black

Baker Academic, 2002. Paper. English.
ISBN: 9780801022807

List Price: $22.00
Your Price: $14.30

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Perspectives on the Ending of Mark
4 Views

by David Alan Black

Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2008. Paper. English.
ISBN: 9780805447620

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $12.99

3:03 PM Henry Neufeld has an announcement regardingWhy Four Gospels?

2:55 PM Sebastian Schneider argues, on the basis of his exegesis of certain statements in Philo, that the expression “weak, sick, and asleep” (1 Cor. 11:30) should be taken in a metaphysical sense to refer to those in the church who were weak, sickly, and sleeping in regard to their faith. He suggests the following rendering of the verse: “Deshalb (sind) unter euch (geistlich gesehen) viele Schwache und Kranke und schlafen sogar zahlreise.” See his essay “Glaubensmängel in Korinth: Eine neue Deutung der ‘Schwachen, Kranken, Schlafenden’ in 1 Kor 11,30,” Filologia Neotestamentaria 9 (1996) 3-19.

What do you think?

2:45 PM Students, please take note: Our Student Day has been postponed from tomorrow to Saturday, November 6. I’ve mentioned this already in class but a reminder never hurts. So please change your calendars and do plan to attend. I’ll send around a sign-up sheet starting next week.

10:10 AM “A living epistle, read by all” (2 Cor. 3:2). I love this word picture. Paul suggests that we are to allow others to turn the pages of our lives and read the fine print. The imagery points to open and honest communication. As a rule, however, we gild the covers of our lives and conceal the contents. I think this is often true of blogging. Conversely, a blog can reveal our hidden faults. The impudent tone, the look of disdain, the judgmental or superior attitude — all these jeopardize the message, regardless of how true that message may be. On the other hand, love liberates. Everywhere in the blogosphere I see Christians who are seeking to use their words to edify others. They’re not reactionary, they’re not fussing over minor matters, they’re not pontificating, they have a philosophy of blogging that gives them a happy freedom to seek in specific and creative ways to serve others. What it all comes down to is this: If you are a Christian blogger, your life, your teaching, your example must say, “Come, my friends, let’s journey together back to what is of ultimate importance. It’s time to reorient ourselves to Christ. He is worth it!” Every day I try to post what I call a “Barnabas Blog” — calling us all to participate more freely and faithfully within the framework of the Body of Christ. I also try to link to other helpful posts. There’s a principle here I believe. Keep your relationships two-way. Let other people minister to you. Are you always on the side of exhortation and correction or do you allow a brother or sister to correct you? Even in my classroom teaching I try to do this — not only leading but being led, exposing my ignorance as well as my knowledge. This is so important!

Of course, just as no two individual Christians are alike, so no two Christian blogs will ever come out alike. My “un-blog” is really a daily diary. My more creative thoughts are generally published in linkable essays on my home page. Nor do I have comments. That would take too much of my time I’m afraid. However, if you send me an email you will receive a prompt and courteous reply. Regardless of how we blog, however, followers of Jesus will ask this question: How can we use our gifts and resources to serve God’s kingdom? Honesty, mercy, compassion, truthfulness — these are the marks of the new society that Jesus established through His blood. As “living epistles, read by all” our lives and even our blogs can undergird and support that commitment. As members of one another, we need each other’s mutual care for our own spiritual well-being as well as to help us become more faithful pursuers of the upside-down ways of Jesus.

Thursday, October 14

7:58 PM The joys of front porches.

5:15 PM Just slogged through three difficult journal articles on Paul’s “weakness of the flesh.” Gotta work faster. The clock is ticking! Also been journaling on blogging. My thoughts later.

2:24 PM Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (Brea Campus) announces an opening inOld Testament (.pdf).

9:33 AM In his book Letters to Philip, Charlie Shedd tells his son that a wife will love her husband only when she knows he is utterly dependable.

You should look her squarely in the eyes and solemnly swear: “Neither by day nor by night will I ever cut you down in company. Not before my family, your family, our family. Not before my friends, acquaintances, strangers. When you are with me or behind my back. Never by wise crack, or snide remark, or in any manner do I intend to be anything other than one hundred percent loyal!”

Has your wife ever heard those words from your mouth? Does she know she can depend on you?

Bec and I have traveled many miles together. We’ve spent many years together. A fellow employee at the seminary approached me the other day and said, “Dave, what I appreciate about you the most is not your scholarship but your faithfulness to Becky in the midst of your trial.” Ask yourself for a moment: Would you say the same thing about yourself? I tell you, after 34 years of marriage I feel a comfort and a stability I’ve never realized before. I sense a level of acceptance and love I never dreamed possible. Becky and I, as we move closer to God, have moved closer to truly becoming one flesh, one mind, one heart.

As the Titanic was going down in 1912, Mr. and Mrs. Isadore Strauss stood on the deck assisting women and children into the lifeboats. Finally Mr. Strauss ordered his wife into one of the boats. She took her seat and then suddenly sprang up and hopped back on the deck before he could stop her. Taking her husband in her arms she exclaimed, “We’ve been long together through a great many years. We are old now. Where you go, I will go.”

It is my prayer that every husband who reads these words today will make a new commitment to give his life partner the love, leadership, and loyalty she deserves. Accept her. Admire her. Appreciate her. And do it today.

9:01 AM Confessions of a social media addict.

8:36 AM Ben Witheringtonreviews the movie Secretariat, a flick about one of the most famous race horses that ever lived.

Along the same lines, I once published an essay calledThe Heart of a Secretariat. You’ll never guess who it’s about. Then again, maybe you will.

Wednesday, October 13

8:36 PM Our latest contest here at DBO is called “Name the New Testament Scholars.” This photo was taken in front of the president’s home at Southeastern Seminary during our Symposium on New Testament Studies that was held in the spring of 2000. Your job is to name the scholars before whom Dr. Patterson is bowing.

There are 17 in all, though I will have to give you the names of the two that are partially hidden: David Beck of SEBTS (second from right) and George Guthrie of Union University (fifth from right). Deadline for submissions is 9:00 EST tomorrow night. Here’s a hint. The three topics discussed during the symposium were the synoptic problem, New Testament textual criticism, and the authorship of Hebrews. The blogger with the most correct answers will win a copy ofWhy Four Gospels? and a copy ofRethinking the Synoptic Problem, which David Beck and I co-edited for Baker Books and which contains 5 of the conference papers. In case of a tie, the earliest submission wins. Send your answers to dblack@sebts.edu. (Note: The contest winner agrees to post a brief synopsis of both books at his or her website.)

Now have at it!

7:16 PM Gordon College announces an opening inBiblical Studies.

7:12 PM Our linguistics seminar this semester has been phenomenal! It has been forcing us to reevaluate much of our thinking about such foundational subjects as textual criticism, conjectural emendation, the synoptic problem, and lexicography. Today we discussed several articles I’ve published in various and sundry journals:

• “Conjectural Emendations in the Gospel of Matthew” (Novum Testamentum).

• “Remarks on the Translation of Matthew 7:14” (Filologia Neotestamentaria).

• “The Text of Mark 6:20” (New Testament Studies).

• “The Text of John 3:13” (Grace Theological Journal).

• “An Overlooked Stylistic Feature in Favor of panta in 1 John 2:20″ (Filologia Neotestamentaria).

What I offer here is a new look at some very old problems. I have tried to analyze, in depth, what the evidence shows. But it’s difficult. What role should internal evidence play? How much weight should one give the Majority Text? Can rhetoric inform our study of New Testament textual criticism? When I first went to seminary, questioning the status quo on many of these subjects was taboo. But as I’ve grown, I’ve become more and more aware of the parroting that commentators engage in and of the need to rethink the issues for myself. I confess that I struggle with the “group-think” that I believe characterizes much of what we call New Testament scholarship today. Just the same, I am seeing progress. The joy of watching my students interact with the data brings me tremendous hope. Wrestling with the text does not mean a sudden termination of the use of helps such as commentaries. It does not mean we arrogantly dismiss what others are saying. Rather, it is something far greater and better than most of us could imagine. I hope my students are inspired to see the text in all its beauty and perfection. I’d like to explode myths and open the text to new possibilities. It is my prayer that every one of my students will make a new commitment to work on understanding the text on his or her own, to discover the joy of self-learning. The text deserves it.

Below: Andy Bowden leading the discussion of conjectural emendations in Matthew in our class this morning.

7:08 PM How many Christian denominations are there today? Theanswer might surprise you. Many of our walls are self-imposed. God hasn’t erected them. And, as problematic as denominationalism may be, the greater issue is the gulf that exists between believers and unbelievers. How we bridge that gulf is the key to becoming effective witnesses for Christ. There’s nothing wrong with hanging out with people you agree with theologically, unless it keeps you from reaching your own town for Christ.

Think about it.

6:45 PM Excellent Bible messages in Frenchhere. I need all the help I can get with speaking this wonderful language.

6:40 PM Great to see Maurice Robinson back on campus today. See how tall he’s grown?

6:33 PM The heart of the world leapt when it saw this rescue mission come to fruition.

Likewise, may God open our eyes to the reality of the billions of people who are still in need of being rescued by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These numbers are so familiar to us that they have lost their impact. May God teach us all that the physical rescue from a mine is only temporal and conditional. May He help us see how late is the hour and desperate the plight. When was the last time you took a spiritual inventory of your life and said, “Here am I, Lord, send me”? Bless his heart, Arthur Sido has done that (you can read about it in his powerful essayTime to get off the bench). But how about you? We rejoice with unspeakable joy at the miners’ rescue, but do we weep over lost souls and nations without the knowledge of God? There is no work more serious in the world than the saving of a soul. Share the Good News, in word and deed, with someone today!

6:23 PM Quote of the day (Danny Akin):

It is time for us to get serious about a Great Commission Resurgence.  It is time to be “radical!” Pitiful excuses that are myopic and territorial need to cease.  There needs to be genuine repentance and brokenness over a calloused heart that has grown cold to the masses who have never heard the gospel and who have no access to it.  Such a movement must begin one by one with each one of us.  It will begin in individual hearts.  I am praying that this passion will grip my heart and soul now and until the day I stand before the Lord Jesus and give an account for the life that He gave me.  I do not want to leave a wasted life.  I do not believe you want to either.

Below: Banners at Binkley Chapel in celebration of our 60th anniversary. The signs say, “To serve the Church and the Great Commission.” I say, “Amen.”

6:13 PM Caution! TheBattle of the G[r]eeks has started! And you are invited to join in the fray!

(For what it’s worth, I do not claim to have written the definitive beginning Greek grammar. But I do contend that a morphological approach is helpful if not indispensable for learning Greek. That said, skin the cat – using whichever grammar or approach you like!)

Update: ReadPart II.

6:02 PM Guess who’s home? Becky and Liz! Although we had anticipated several days of appointments at M. D. Anderson, her meetings yesterday with the oncologists sufficed to indicate (1) that her current treatment program at UNC Hospital is the best that anyone can do for her, and (2) that there are no current cancer trials in Houston for us to consider. So the travelers have returned to their nest, and the men folk are glad indeed. On Monday next Becky will have her third (of 6) Adriamycin treatments in Chapel Hill, and once she has recovered from that she’ll have her next CT scan, which should tell us whether or not her chemo treatments are working. God knows all, and we rejoice in His unfailing love.

Tuesday, October 12

6:58 AM Will be a great day on campus. Johnny Hunt in chapel, Board of Trustees as well. God has done a good work of grace in our midst these past 60 years. All glory to Him!

6:55 AM Book note: If you’re a blogger and would be interested in reviewingWhy Four Gospels? when it is released on the 15th of this month, please contact the publisher, Mr. Henry Neufeld, at pubs@energion.com.

6:45 AM Last night I watched some of The Black Stallion. Reminded me of the friendships I’ve enjoyed withmy horses, my teachers. Boy do I miss them.

Monday, October 11

7:00 PM Good news! Eisenbrauns, according to theEvangelical Textual Criticism website, is having a super sale on books about — what else? — textual criticism. Check it outhere. 

6:52 PM Hmmm. Got real quiet around here a few minutes ago. Wonder why?

6:04 PM Here’s a little taste of home for the lady folk. Hope you enjoy them, mom and Liz! Now it’s off to bake raisin muffins for the boys. Shhh, don’t tell anyone.

5:32 PM Right now my students and colleagues are having dinner on the quad celebrating SEBTS’s 60th anniversary with a huge feast. Wish I could be there but someone’s got to hold down the old fort.

4:48 PM Becky and Liz have arrived safely in Houston!

4:41 PM Just finished my annual self-evaluation for my faculty dean. I like the classroom but our mission isn’t to draw one chalk talk after the other. Sooner or later our students have got to approach the line of scrimmage and play ball. That is becoming my focus more and more as a teacher. Perhaps it’s misguided, but there you have it.

4:23 PM About time to make supper for the boys and Matt. I cooked hot dogs for lunch. Becky planned the menu before she left. So I just operate on auto pilot 🙂

2:22 PM TheTheological German site does it again:

Θάλασσα Ουαὶ Βεγών

ὅπου

πάντες αἱ γυναικὲς ἰσχυραί

πάντες οἱ ἄνδρες καλοί

καὶ πάντα τὰ παιδία καθ᾿ ὑπερβολήν

This had me in stitches.

2:10 PM My local church is sponsoring a Red Cross blood drive this month. Sign-ups were held yesterday but of course I can’t participate (I’ve taken too many trips to Africa, I’ve had malaria, etc.). But I do have a funny story to tell about donating blood. It took place many years ago in La Mirada, CA. I had just donated blood when I was taken to a small table and asked to eat a cookie and drink some fruit juice in order to replenish my blood. As I bowed my head and closed my eyes I suddenly found myself being lifted up by four strong men who forced me to lie down on a cot with reassurances that “You’ll feel better after a few minutes.” My protests that I was only trying to pray went totally unheeded!

1:52 PM Nijay muses aboutMatthew’s Greek. “It is an unfortunate commonplace in classrooms of seminaries and Christian colleges to hear that Matthew improved and corrected the ugly and unintelligent Greek of Mark,” he writes. A fine compliment to our classrooms, but he is right. Questions about Mark’s “inferior” Greek crop up whenever I’m asked to speak on the topic of the synoptic problem. The fact is that Mark never set out to write a Gospel. He simply recorded the words of Peter viva voce as the latter gave a series of didaskalias before high-ranking officials in Rome. Oh, this is a “fact” only if you take the church fathers seriously, which most of us don’t — and which is another reason why our classrooms are failing our students. If you really want to dig into the synoptic problem, you’ll find yourself struggling with uncharted territory, including patristics. But it’s worth it!

1:40 PM Missing my beautiful wife!

1:22 PM Who is reaching the “up-and-outers”? Remember, the Gospel penetrated the household of the Roman Emperor himself (see Phil. 4:22). Heads of state, university presidents, prime ministers, all need Jesus. Perhaps another reason to consider getting a university doctorate over a seminary Ph.D. — it may open more doors for you to reach the upper crust of society. May the Lord kick out the parameters of our vision.

1:15 PM Praying for my good friend Alvin Reid who speaks in chapel atUnion University this Wednesday.

12:28 PM Perkins School of Theology announces openings inChristian Theology and Christian Worship.

12:23 PM Just heard from Becky and Liz. They arrived safety in Dallas but their plane “toured” the airport tarmac looking for an available gate. Right now they’re grabbing a quick bite to eat before catching their flight to Houston, where they will be welcomed by Becky’s mother (photo) and sister. Let’s keep praying for a successful trip, as God measures success.

12:14 PM Indiana Wesleyan University announces an opening inNew Testament.

11:02 AM A few discoveries I’ve made through the years (with a nod to Mr. Columbus, since it’s his “day of discovery”):

• The particular method of evangelism doesn’t matter that much. Anything is better than the “no” method approach.

• I need to ask God to burden my heart for people. It doesn’t happen naturally.

• To influence the masses, you must reach individuals.

• Persuasive people live sacrificial lives.

• There are millions of lost sheep out there. I’m sent to find them. Not all of them, but some of them.

• Every human soul is vulnerable to prayer.

• A happily married person is a walking miracle.

• Anticipate difficulty. Daily.

• There is no favoritism with God. None!

• I need to avoid professional weaker brothers and sisters in Christ. I will never conform to their lists, so why try?

• Repeated demonstrations of concern and love build openings for the Gospel.

• Don’t watch the clock. It may take years for someone to come to Christ.

• If you have a conscience on some matter follow it, but don’t presume that your conviction is mandatory for everyone else.

• Remain a citizen of heaven, but become a naturalized citizen of the world in order to reach it for Christ.

• Travel light, as the Lord commanded. It is easy to carry too much excess baggage.

• Can you bake a cake? Somebody might find Christ through just such a gesture.

• Evangelism begins at home but can’t end there.

10:15 AM So today’s a holiday and everything’s closed?

9:10 AM Off to the post office and bank then changing the oil in the ride mower and draining out the fuel for the winter. Those books will have to wait.

8:36 AM Farm update:

1) B’s Romanian stuffed peppers on Saturday were a smashing success.

2) On my desk today.

3) Nate has moved the herd into the horse pasture. Love to watch cattle. 2 new calves in the last month.

Fall break is over and I am eager to get back to classes!

8:20 AM Allan Bevere announces the winner to his “Caption Contest” for this hilarious photo. You can wead ithewa.

8:04 AM Tomorrow we’ll be grading our first take home Greek exam of the semester. Actually, each student will be grading his or her own exam. That’s pedagogically sound in my book. It makes grading a learning experience. Now, some will get As on this exam and others will not. Some will make it to the “top” of the grade list and others will not. Typically, über-achievers have worked very hard to get where they are. But this does not necessarily mean that the under-achiever hasn’t. Straight A students are tempted to think, “If only they studied as hard as I did. They’d have made it too.” True, there are always a few slackers in every class. But there are many other factors that may have led to the A-student’s achievement — personal motivation, language aptitude, family stability, cultural mores, etc. Hard work matters, but it is just one of several factors at work in the equation. This should help wipe away any arrogance. Sometimes a student in my classes doesn’t do well not because of sloth but because of a learning disability! Everything is relative, even “smarts.”

Last year I witnessed something beautiful in my beginning Greek class. The sharpest students held a weekly study hall to prepare for that week’s quiz. Rather than viewing their peers as threats, they gladly invited them to participate so that together they might all work to the best of their ability. I witnessed the same attitude a few years when I was watching the Special Olympics. The children with Downs Syndrome were coming around the last turn and heading for the finish line when, suddenly, one of them tripped and fell. All the other runners stopped to help him up so that they could all finish the race together.

Students, give God all the credit and glory for anything you accomplish. Reach out toward others with sympathy and encouragement. Help the weak. Act like that and you may unnerve a good many professors. Defy social custom (“climb the ladder and forget about the rest!”) and you may provoke untoward remarks from your parents. But this is Jesus’ way. Rather than jockeying for status, Jesus wants us to quietly serve others. That’s the kingdom way.

Sunday, October 10

8:57 PM This just in:

Dave:

I’m still smiling over the typo in your 7:42 am post today.  Just how many lasses do you have that need to be attended to?  LOL.

Ouch!

9:17 AM Greek students, just a friendly reminder that printable vocabulary cards for our beginning grammar are availablehere.

8:04 AM Crossroads — the place where enormously important choices are made. That’s what I sense this week will be as Becky and Liz meet with the oncologists at M.D. Anderson.

The truth is, I can’t figure out what’s going on. Medical science is far too complicated for my simple theologian’s brain. Writing about it is an outlet for me. For one thing, it keeps me from simply internalizing all my feelings. Moreover, all of my intellectual answers are of little help because I’m facing a struggle that is not primarily intellectual but emotional. Often I’m besieged by a host of emotions that I can’t explain. You, dear reader, whether you like it or not, are an invisible sounding board for me. I share my feelings with you because I hope I will be strengthened in the process, and maybe you will be too. The fact is that I need you. I need the Body of Christ to travel this road with me. I consider it a blessing from God that I have others in my life, both in cyberspace and in real space and time, whose encouragement and love have never failed me. I am convinced that God still wants to work in my life His good purposes. He is teaching me a lot about myself and about marriage. I am “paying attention” to Him as never before. I  suspect that He’s using current pain to prepare me for further trials in the future. It’s all part of my sanctification, I guess.

Becky and Liz board their plane at RDU at 8:00 in the morning. They will be buoyed up by my prayers — and yours I trust.

7:42 AM This comment made me smile:

I’m typing this while sitting in my 20th Century European History class, in between taking notes on anything significant the professor says. (Don’t judge me, you know you’re reading this on your laptop/cell phone in the middle of class.)

It’s by astudent in North Carolina. It’s a reminder to me, not of the evils of the internet or of social media — far from it. It’s a reminder that as a teacher I had better have something important and interesting to say in classes or my students will tune me out — as they should. I once thought that there was a difference between self-learning and group-learning. Actually, all learning is self-learning, even when we are in a classroom with 300 people in it. We listen selectively, we take notes selectively, we remember selectively. It’s all self-learning. And it’s a teacher’s job to encourage that process to take place whether I’m teaching a class of 55 or I’m mentoring a doctoral student one-on-one.

Oh, what this student said also reminds me of why I never take attendance in my classes and why attendance is never part of a student’s final grade calculation. By not forcing students to attend class you put a premium on what’s important — good teaching. If you want people to attend your lasses, make it interesting. It’s as simple as that.

7:30 AM I was up early getting some writing done on my Paul book. Right now I’m checking emails. The sunrise was gorgeous. Looking forward to spending this day with Becky.

Saturday, October 9

9:10 PM B and I just watched an episode of The Waltons. Liv gets TB and has to separate from the family and her husband John. It was called “The Parting.” Very touching. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

7:31 PM Well, I’ve takenBrian’s advice and read Karrer’s review of O’Brien’s Hebrews commentary. Next book on my purchase list!

4:44 PM Being an ehemaliger Basler, I enjoyed this thought-provoker:What Has Basel to Do with Berlin?

4:37 PM Three from Schweitzer:

• Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

• If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.

• Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.

4:27 PM The other day I saw this page referred to as “Dave Black’s Un-Blog.” Love it! Places me right up there with the ultimate in un-conformity.

4:19 PM Just finished a long afternoon nap. Delightful. I see Becky’s making stuffed peppers for supper. Delightfuler.

1:34 PM Preface to new edition of Why Four Gospels?here.  

11:36 AM Biola, where I went to college, required its students to have a “Christian service assignment.” In the 1970s, in that town that took pride in calling itself The City of Angels, race relations were anything but good and Watts was a place of unrest. So that’s where I decided to do my assignment. Every Saturday I went to South Central LA and played basketball with the kids there. Blacks were still very much confined to the balcony of society in those days, but sports seemed to be a universal language we all understood well. I discovered how life is enriched as you are exposed to as diverse a representation of humanity as possible. The ability to learn from people who are different from you is a characteristic, I think, of both maturity and humanity. So it is today that I delight in working among the people of Burji, Alaba, and Amhara in Ethiopia. Then, too, I often wonder what happened to those youth I played ball with over 35 years ago. Life is fleeting, and so are my opportunities to work for King Jesus. Don’t you ever have that sense as well?

Below: Meet Rubens, my blind roommate for 4 years in college. He was raised in the jungles of Brazil and spoke 5 languages. He would teach me “Porkacheese” and I would teach him Hawaiian Pidgin. What oddballs we were!

9:12 AM Not much news on this quiet Saturday morn. Oh, I see Regent University is announcing an opening inChristian History. I’m announcing an opening in loafing. I just applied. And was hired!

Friday, October 8

9:22 PM Well, Isaac is now “officially” 6 years old. We formalized the event with a celebration and birthday party tonight. Nate, Jess, and Nolan joined in the festivities.

And of course the boys couldn’t wait to play with their uncle.

When we sat down at the table we were treated to an exquisite spaghetti dinner prepared by Liz.

Here Nolan is being introduced to corn on the cob. I tell you, that boy can eat!

Matt must have spent 5 hours preparing Isaac’s birthday cake — a sailing ship of impeccable proportions and color. Methinks Isaac liked it.

I think the birthday boy also enjoyed his gifts, including this surprise from his Papa B.

You could tell that Isaac was delighted by all the love and affection sent his way this evening. He is one special boy.

Afterwards it was “shark” time with Uncle Nathan. On my bed no less!

 

Then up the stairs they went. They snuggled into their beds and I told them a Nite Nite story — “Henny, Jenny, and Penny and the Adventure of the Dead End Gravel Road.” (The names refer to 3 chickens who always seem to find themselves in the middle of trouble.) It was a great ending to a great day. And that’s that!

Mr. Blue Eyes wishes you all a very good night.

3:55 PM One of my doctoral studentscalls our attention to a great quote by Moises Silva. Context is king!

3:43 PM Quote of the day (Edith Schaeffer):

We all have to wait until the astonishing discoveries will one day be made, and find out whose faithful prayer in hospitals, prisons, jungles, wheelchairs, crowded city apartments, cabins in the woods, farms, factories, or concentration camps has been a part of a specific victory in snatching someone from a circle of death, or in breaking chains so that there seems to be an ease for that one in stepping into new life. I feel sure that we’ll be surprised beyond measure to discover who or how many will receive the rewards for their part in taking literally and with simple faith and trust the responsibility to intercede, to pray, to make requests day in and day out.

She is right. And because she is right I want to take a moment and thank all of you who have been praying for Becky. Her bloodwork came back today and all of her counts look great. This means that all systems are GO for the big trip to Houston on Monday, and it minimizes the potential for picking up an illness along the way. Again: Thank you to each and every one of you who has ever prayed for us. As Edith Schaeffer put it, may your reward in heaven be great.

3:35 PM Henry Neufeld is excited about his forthcoming publications. One of them you may not have heard about yet is by Phil Hopkins and deals with the missiology of John Piper. Phil is one of our SEBTS Ph.D. grads. ReadComing Soon from Energion Publications.

3:21 PM Just re-read John Piper’sDon’t Waste Your Cancer. Greatly blessed. I can tell you: Becky is definitely NOT wasting her cancer.

3:02 PM Driving + Shopping + Eating = TIRED.

11:32 AM This sounds like fun.

11:20 AM With some embarrassment and hesitation, let me share with you a crazy thought that occurred to me while writing today:

We spend a lot of time, as writers and teachers, studying the Bible so that others can keep abreast of what thoughts and ideas it contains. Wouldn’t it be better, in terms of both efficiency and satisfaction, if they could do it for themselves?

Now, with a bit of irony, it’s back to writing…. 

10:48 AM A question I sometimes ask a prospective doctoral student is: “Do you have a passport?” Christian solidarity — this is perhaps the liberating lesson travel has taught me. It has been my experience in France, where I found hospitality in a youth hostel run by followers of Jesus after a particularly challenging experience in Paris. And in Basel — where my professor and his wife welcomed me to stay in their home for a month while I was looking for an apartment to rent for Becky and me. And in Korea — where during my 6 different trips there I experienced so many acts of “grace” that I cannot find another word that better describes Christianity there. Or in India — where my translator (a pastor) and I held hands as we traveled from venue to venue (men holding hands in public is commonplace in places like India and Ethiopia). These experiences have made me impatient with all forms of ethnocentricity. None of us is free, it seems to me, until we cross national and ethnic boundaries — and even then it is still difficult to “become all things to all people.” When I was in Basel I had a truly memorable experience as I sat in a coffee house and discussed — in German — Barthian theology with a student from South Korea. Somehow we understood each other. And that is the way it has been over and over again. If you’ve traveled much, you have probably already learned a distaste for a ghetto mentality yourself.

So I ask, dear student: Do you have a passport?

Below: Teaching in an Orthodox seminary in Armenia in 2008.

Lecturing to Iranian students at Yerevan State University on the same trip to Armenia. I love traveling and the things it teaches me.

10:10 AM Justin Taylor has a good post onEvangelicals and Politics, a subject I dealt with inThe Jesus Paradigm:

It is precisely this responsibility to witness and minister in the world that is avoided in our staid, bourgeois memberships, with their comfortable adjustment to laissez-faire capitalism and their unwillingness to question the political status quo. I wish we could sense how closely interwoven our religion and politics have become. For many evangelical Christians, religion has become the principal justification for political involvement. Thus everything that carries a “Christian” message is legitimized and justified in terms of political commitment. This is the new ecclesiology. No matter how biblically uninformed or banal the thought, any religious stance is legitimized thanks to the political message behind it. Has anyone failed to notice just how deeply “God-and-Country” nationalism has come to permeate American society? This is nothing but pure idolatry. I can understand our mass media allowing itself to be commandeered for propagandistic purposes. But as an evangelical who values highly the authority and inspiration of Scripture and the sole Lordship of Jesus Christ, it is disturbing to see the church co-opted by the state for the same purposes.

9:09 AM The bumper sticker reads, “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.” Later Becky and I will run into South Boston to get some much needed shopping accomplished, have her bloodwork done at Halifax hospital, have lunch together, and who knows what else. This evening we’re celebrating Isaac’s 6th birthday with a big party. The weather is perfect for the occasion. Thankful for little serendipities.

8:41 AM Ramsey Michael’s new commentary on John is receiving a lot of much-deserved praise in theblogosphere. His work is one of many that, I suppose, will ultimately replace the works of the past. Even mid-twentieth century commentators seem passé today. They are largely forgotten. Their sand castles are gone, washed out to sea. The tide did them in. And this makes me sad.

I once received a type-written manuscript from F. F. Bruce. It was to be published in a book I was editing at the time, theGreenlee Festschrift. Sadly, Bruce’s essay was published posthumously. Bruce was one of the greatest New Testament scholars of his day. Americans flocked to Great Britain to do their doctoral studies under his tutelage. Today, when I mention his name, most of my students go, “Who?” So it is with the fleeting nature of scholarship.

Students, wisdom awaits you in the writings of F. F. Bruce and many other scholars of a previous generation. I was delighted when one of my own doctoral students mentioned to me that he was about to consult Bo Reicke’sAnchor Bible commentary for the work he is doing on 1 Peter. I smiled inwardly, thinking that my former Doktorvater would be pleased to know that he was not completely forgotten.

As an author, the question that plagues me is: Why make the effort? A slight exaggeration, of course — but when you engage in self-pity, it’s hard to be positive. In the end I simply affirm God’s sovereignty in life, death, wisdom, and work. Writing forces me to say, “God, I trust you.” As the plan of God stretches from age to age, saints in the past have invested their lives so that we today might take our place in the race. I am motivated when I think that I am a part of God’s grand picture. I will do my part. It may not amount to much, but I will be faithful.

Thursday, October 7

8:53 PM Liz and Matt went out on a hot date tonight so yours truly cooked supper — Chinese stir fry with five (5!) secret ingredients. Afterwards we enjoyed ice cream as we strolled through the back fields. The boys sure seem to be enjoying the farm. As idyllic as idyllic gets I suppose. Makes one grateful.

3:27 PM Just a reminder that the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted is coming up on November 14. We atThe Hill will be highlighting the persecution of Christians currently taking place in Ethiopia in areas where Becky and I have been personally engaged for years. The fact that we are usually the only white-faced foreigners who work in these areas has prompted not a few people to comment on our “courage.” My usual response is that what is characterized as courage is usually the judicious application of a good hard shove from the rear. At any rate, we’ve seen a great deal of genuine persecution for the sake of the Gospel in Ethiopia and have learned that Jesus is worth everything we could ever offer Him. Our hands, our feet, our finances, our families, our dreams, our hopes, our very lives — everything belongs to Him, and He is more than able to live, weep, and speak through the earthen vessels of our bodies. Satan has laid a thousand little traps to keep us from being effective for the Gospel, and one of these is fear. To me, one of the more encouraging things about Paul’s life was that he was a man just like you and me and yet God removed all fear from his heart. It’s so rare to find Christians who are like that today. But we have met a good many of them in Ethiopia, and we will never forget the impact they made upon our lives and ministry. So look for reports here in the coming weeks and months about the persecuted church, and let’s begin now to pray for our brothers and sisters who are suffering for the name of Christ.

2:26 PM Making good headway today on my revision of Paul, Apostle of Weakness. Just came across a great quote that I simply have to share with you. According to C. C. Hill, “Paul made the ultimate career move: he changed worlds as well as jobs” (In God’s Time: The Bible and the Future [Eerdmans, 2002] 187). Isn’t that fabulous! Hill goes on to specify Paul’s “job change” (from a persecutor of Christians who welcomed Gentiles to a messenger to Gentiles about Christ) and the “career change” (from a man who had looked at Jesus “in the old way, based on outward appearance, status, strength, wisdom, gifts” [p. 184] to the radically status-sacrificing, love-filled Paul.)

Here is what I wrote in response:

Paul teaches us that we cannot love God and the world system at the same time. There is no middle ground, no room for compromise. We must love one and hate the other. Like Paul, from earliest childhood we grow up learning to dominate and control others. Society places little stock on such qualities as love, humility, and mutuality. Cultural expectations encourage “old creation” behaviors, including intense competition (just look at your typical sporting event), whereas “new creation” values teach us to outdo each other in giving honor to others. Paul had learned that it was impossible to mix worldly and spiritual methods without hindering the cause of Christ. Being a servant of Jesus means rejecting the old traditional status-linked privileges in favor of serving in a community of love in which the members have the same care for each other (1 Cor. 12:24-25).

Exciting stuff. Got lots more to do however. Back to work!

1:25 PM Ken Keathley, my academic dean, has just written an outstanding piece calledWhen Writing about Those with Whom You Disagree. Sorta reminds me of the definition of “constructive criticism” I heard back in college:

Constructive criticism is whenever I criticize you; destructive criticism is whenever you criticize me.

Anyway, read Ken’s essay. You’ll be glad you did.

1:14 PM Quote of the day:

Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever me from any tie but the tie that binds me to your service and to your heart.

— David Livingstone, who walked 29,000 miles in Africa to serve King Jesus.

Boy does that spur me on.

12:28 PM I mowed today for the last time until next summer. It’s a glorious sunshiny day with temps in the low 70s. Just finished a delicious lunch with a salad made by Matt I had never had before: apple curry cheese. Marvelous. Now it’s back to work on my book.

10:50 AM FYI: Amazon had just listedWhy Four Gospels?

10:35 AM I am pleased to announce the winner to our contest: It is none other than Matt Capps, who blogs here. Congratulations good Sir! Interestingly enough, I notice that Matt’smost recent entry actually quotes our featured Anglican, who of course is none other than Michael Green. Once you’ve digested Matt’s essay you will want to read the article I quoted from below:Michael Green: A street fighter for the Gospel. So kudos to Matt, and many thanks to Michael for setting before us a sterling example of what it means to be a Christian scholar.

10:23 AM I am in prayer this morning for Becky’s visit to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston next week. She’s scheduled for 3 solid days of appointments. I’m asking for clear, decisive recommendations from the oncologists. I also know that her visit will offer many witnessing opportunities. Whatever God calls us to do for the kingdom, He calls us to do it sooner rather than later. I sense this is Lionel Wood’s heart in hislatest essay. It has been many years since I learned this lesson, but I will always regret that I did not learn it sooner. God has been so faithful to me, and I thank Him for His unfailing love. I do not know what the future holds for Becky and me. But I do know one thing. I know that throughout eternity I’ll be thanking God for the wife He gave me and for the kingdom work He allowed us to do despite our many handicaps. Little did I realize when I proposed to Becky over 34 years ago that the Lord God wanted me to marry her so that together we would serve Him as we do today. Our experience with cancer has led me to reflect on God’s providential control and His special will for my life and for Becky’s as well. I want to say as plainly and clearly as I can that had I known what would befall us today I would still have married Becky Lynn. God has used suffering to draw us closer to each other, and to Him. That doesn’t make the pain and the grief any less difficult, but it does encourage us to follow Jesus more faithfully. How else can one understand Paul’s words in Phil. 3:10-11, a passage I’ve taught on a million times: “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming like Him in death and so, somehow, attain the resurrection from the dead.” That little word “somehow” strikes me. I cannot presume upon God. Yet I can always trust Him to do what is right and best. I can always look with confidence into the gentle eyes of the One who was raised from the dead following His unjust murder on a cross. I am angry at sin but not at my Savior. It is lunacy to pick a fight with Him. I’m learning that His withholding health from us is a sign of His great love for us. Frankly, I don’t see how one can handle the problem of evil without such a conviction.

So pray with me for next week’s adventure in Texas, that God alone would be glorified.

8:53 AM One of my doctoral students wrote to remind me that Larry Hurtado has been doing a series at his blog on his recent visit to China. I plan to check it out later today. The student wrote, “something tells me you’ll agree with his harsh assessment of ‘Christendom’!” Now where did he get that idea?

8:27 AM Okay, it’s contest time again — long overdue, I know. The first blogger to guess which 80-year old Anglican is being described below gets a free copy of the second edition ofWhy Four Gospels? (Hint: Until recently he spent months each year serving in a parish in nearby Raleigh, NC.)

“In this he is a rare beast – an academic with the common touch and an appetite for evangelism.”

“_______ is perhaps best known for his books. He’s written over 50 of them.”

“He wonders out loud, though, whether all theological training could do with being more hands-on and practical.”
 

“_________ has managed to be an agitator for change. This has given him the freedom to move around the world, freedom to take on a job just because it looks interesting.”

Remember: (1) No Googling! (2) Winner agrees to write a brief notice about W4G at his or her website. I’ll announce the winner as soon as we have one, along with a link to the essay in which I found these marvelous quotes.

8:22 AM A high five to my friends and colleagues at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, which began classes in Fort Worth exactly 100 years ago this week. The seminary was originally founded in Waco as a division of Baylor University.

Speaking of SWBTS, gohere to read an interview with my good friend Terry Wilder, Professor of New Testament, about his new bookEntrusted with the Gospel: Paul’s Theology in the Pastoral Epistles.

8:12 AM Meet Robert Cornwall, author of the soon-to-be-released Ultimate Allegiance: The Subversive Nature of the Lord’s Prayer.

Robert D. Cornwall is the Pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Troy, Michigan. He is also the editor of Sharing the Practice, the journal of the Academy of Parish Clergy. He holds a M.Div. and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is also a graduate of Northwest Christian University in Eugene, OR and did graduate work in American History at the University of Oregon. He is the author/editor of several books including Visible and Apostolic: The Constitution of the Church in High Church and Nonjuror Thought (University of Delaware Press, 1993); Gilbert Burnet’s Discourse on the Pastoral Care, (Edwin Mellen Press, 1997), A Cry from the Cross: Sermons on the Seven Last Words of Christ (CSSPublishing, 2008), Religion, Politics and Dissent, 1660-1832: Essays in Honour of James E Bradley, edited with William Gibson (Ashgate, 2010). He has contributed articles to a number of books, encyclopedias, and journals, including Religious Identities in Britain, 1660-1832, Events that Changed the Word in the Eighteenth Century, The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , The Encyclopedia of the Stone Campbell Movement, Encyclopedia of Protestantism, Church History, Anglican Theological Review, Congregations, the Progressive Christian, and Anglican and Episcopal History. He also writes for several blogs includingPonderings on a Faith Journey (personal blog), Theolog, and [D]mergent.

As mentioned, Bob has a personal website that is worth book-marking. Gohere to read his excellent review of James Dunn’s Did the First Christians Worship Jesus? And speaking of our new series, theAreopagus Critical Christian Issues, here’s the cover of my co-editor’s forthcoming installment (Volume III):

Allan, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in the U.K. and is an adjunct professor of theology at Ashland Seminary in Ohio, blogshere.

Wednesday, October 6

7:33 PM In my study of Paul this week I remembered something Ronald Hock once said in his bookThe Social Context of Paul’s Ministry: Tent-making and Apostleship (Fortress, 1980). In his treatment of 1 Cor. 9:1-23, Hock notes that in the early church there existed a group of patrons who likely provided material support for the early Christian apostles. According to Hock, it is also probable that those apostles who did accept pay from the rich patrons were beholden to them as clients. Paul’s refusal to accept support from the church, then, amounted to a rejection of the claim of these wealthy patrons on him. By refusing their support he undoubtedly would have offended some of them – a risk he apparently was willing to take. Paul thus makes clear to whom he owes his ultimate allegiance – Christ Himself and Christ alone. I suppose this is one reason Becky and I have never begun a “ministry” or become “incorporated” as a 501(c)3 organization. Once one goes that route, the emphasis almost invariably becomes that of supporting and perpetuating the organization rather than the kingdom. The psycho-social forces at work are, I think, almost too complicated and powerful to be overcome. The exclusive content of Paul’s message was “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” In reading Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 we get a glimpse, I believe, of how the freedom of the Gospel can find concrete expression in the life of the community. By emphasizing the weakness and foolishness of the cross, which included his own embodiment of that weakness through his complete dependence upon God, he critiques the cultural values that are so often prized by the Eddie Longs of this world. I’ll have more to say about this in my book on Paul.

6:43 PM Watch out! Baptists are going“Boom!”in Dallas.

6:40 PM ReadWhy I preach Christ and not justice, love, peace and simplicity. I am grateful for the reminder that King Jesus is worth being an apologist for.

6:32 PM This You Tube clip is, like, you know, totally awesome.

6:25 PM Perkins School of Theology announces openings inWorship and Theology.

6:22 PM Without a doubt, I’m not a huge fan of Keith Olbermann. But I think he gets it right in this commentary on the Cordoba House, the Islamic community center to be built at 45 Park Place in Manhattan. I appreciate his quote from Martin Niemöller (“They came first for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist…”), the challenge to our ethnocentricity, and the reminder about our American values. “Our greatest enemy,” he says in the clip, is our “stupidity exploited by rapacious politicians.” What do you think?

6:16 PM Who is Rick Sanchez?

6:12 PM As you may know, I serve as co-editor of a new chain of books on theology and ethics called theAreopagus Critical Christian Issues series. MyChristian Archy was the first volume to be published in the series. I’m glad to report that the second Areopagus volume is in the hopper, and it’s a provocative book on prayer that I think you’ll enjoy. Here’s a photo of the cover.

I think Energion comes up with some nice-looking book faces. And there’s more good stuff to come after this.

6:08 PM Rick Brannan has a few thoughts about Porter, Reed, and O’Donnell’sFundamentals of New Testament Greek. Looks like Rick is looking for a slightly different approach:

What do I think of it? My initial impression is that it is heavy. Not physically, but in the way it presents data. It expects you to be serious about wanting to learn Greek, if you’re not, then don’t bother. If you are, then dig in and be persistent.

Frankly, this seems like a better book for someone who has already gone through a year of Greek, forgotten most of it, and wants to work back through it to remember/recall. Alternately, it could be a good follow-up for someone who took a summer intensive and wants to keep it up. The way the book is organized (and its affinity for charts and paradigms) almost makes it better for that first-hand reference you want at the end of our first year of Greek. I think I’d hate to learn from it but would like to refer to it to remember things.

I’ll reserve judgment until I get my copy of the book, though I did note that it is twice as long as my beginning grammar. Samples of the contents can be found at theAmazon site.

6:00 PM These are some nifty maps:

For more, go toStrange Maps.

5:55 PM Scot McKnight talks about the books that have influenced him the most.

 

5:43 PM Newsflash! Blogger awardedhonorary doctorate!

5:32 PM Just spent two days on campus. Research and writing is a great experience and I enjoy it a lot. While in the Forest of Wake I had a chance to visit with my friend and colleague Maurice Robinson. He’s now home, enjoying the 7 (!) meds he has to take daily for his condition. He is weak but seems to be recovering well from his MI and is gaining strength for his bypass surgery at the end of the month. Do continue to pray for him. His beginning Greek classes will be covered by one of my doctoral students, Paul Himes. Paul is an articulate young man, and I’m sure he will do well subbing for Big Mo.

My visit to Raleigh Orthopaedic I owe to the after-effects of our good old friend Adam. I really felt strange trying to describe the numbness in my right foot which, thankfully, the specialist thinks is only a temporary manifestation of Plantar Fasciitis. There’s still a lot of pain, but it comes and goes, and so is tolerable. I just try not to hobble lest folk think I’m getting “old.” Otherwise I spent most of my time huddled in a mass of books and journal articles I’m reviewing for the revision of Paul, Apostle of Weakness. The most important studies I’ve had to take into account include:

• Ulrich Henkel, Kraft in Schwachheit.

• Mark Reasoner, The Strong and the Weak.

• Sze-kar Wan, Power in Weakness.

• Volker Gäckle, Die Starken und die Schwachen in Korinth und Rom.

• Petrus Gräbe, The Power of God in Paul’s Letters.

• Ulrich Heckel, “Der Dorn im Fleisch.”

• Scott Andrews, “Too Weak Not to Lead.”

• A. J. Goddard and S. A. Cummins, “Ill Or Ill-Treated? Conflict and Persecution as the Context of Paul’s Original Ministry in Galatia.”

• Clinton Arnold, “Returning to the Domain of the Powers: Stoicheia as Evil Spirits in Galatians 4:3, 9.”

• Troy Martin, “Whose Flesh? What Temptation? (Galatians 4:13-14).”

• Johannes Woyke, “Nochmals zu den ‘schwachen und unfähigen Elementen’ (Gal. 4.9).”

• Daniel Akin, “Triumphalism, Suffering, and Spiritual Maturity: An Exposition of 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 in Its Literary, Theological, and Historical Context.”

• David Garland, “The Dispute Over Food Sacrificed to Idols (1 Cor 8:1-11:1).”

• Wendell Williams, “1 Corinthians 8-10: A Retrospective After Twenty-Five Years.”

• J. A. Loubser, “Paul and the politics of apocalyptic mysticism: and exploration of 2 Cor 11:30-12:10.”

• Pierre de Salis, “L’écharde dans le chair: Un signe visible de la presence de Dieu?”

• Jerry McCant, “Paul’s Thorn of Rejected Apostleship.”

• Guillermo Ruiz, “Ma puissance se déploie dans la faiblesse.”

• Jan Lambrecht, “Zwakheid en Krakt (2 Korinthiérs 12, 1-13).”

• Scott Bartchy, “When I’m Weak, I’m Strong.”

• Sebastian Schneider, “Glaubensmängel in Korinth: Eine neue Deutung der ‘Schwachen, Kranken, Schlafenden’ in 1 Kor 11, 30.”

• Nélio Schneider, “Por Isso Há entre Vocês Muitos Fracos e Docentes, a Vários já Dormiram.”

• Janet Powers, “A ‘Thorn in the Flesh’: The Appropriation of Textual Meaning.”

These all look very promising. I’m intrigued to see how other authors handle the same issues I dealt with so long ago. My goal this month is to package all of these exegetical insights into one chapter, and then get the book off to the publisher. I’ll be curious to see what the result is. I am really impressed with Gäckle’s massive work. I feel very virtuous for forcing myself to read all 636 of its densely packed pages. I’m finding little to disagree with. It’s a lot of hard work writing this chapter. Sometimes it’s sheer drudgery. But there’s a fulfillment to see how often my 1984 work has been quoted by others, including Ralph Martin in his commentary on 2 Corinthians in the Word Biblical Commentary series. Oh yeah, I also proofed the final pages of Why Four Gospels? It is still due for hatching on October 15. I’d profit from your feedback once the second edition is out. Hope it serves a need and gets a wide reading. Seems unlikely, but such is life. Publishing books is a crazy thing. My beginning grammar remains strong in the Amazon sales rank, but the rest of my books follow along like Captain Von Trapp’s children in The Sound of Music. Will Why Four Gospels? be the next Gretel?

On a less academic note: I’m dealing with several personal issues that really force me to my knees. My goal is to be as totally honest with myself and others as I can. So I pray for wisdom, grace, and humility. I have begun re-reading A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis, which is turning out to a hugely demanding project emotionally. When Lewis married Joy Davidman, he knew she was dying. But the same is true, to a degree, of any couple who has ever married. Though couples never talk about it, we know that one of us will die before the other. Lewis wrote, “Bereavement is not the truncation of married love but one of its regular phases – like the honeymoon.” Whatever phase our marriage happens to be in, we are called to faithfulness. Odd that I should be reworking a book on weakness as Becky and I are journeying through cancer together. I can’t write details here, but the challenge is to keep coming back to trust – trust in the character of God, in the sufficiency of the Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Lots more to say on this subject that will have to wait. Needless to say, I feel I am very much a “work in progress.” If I had to give myself a grade for what I’ve learned about suffering in the past year, it would have to be an “Incomplete.”

Tuesday, October 5

6:39 AM I’ll be on campus today and tomorrow for some serious writing. Students, feel free to stop by my office if there is anything I can help you with. My door is never closed, even when I’m writing 🙂

Monday, October 4

5:41 PM About to take the LUV of my LIFE out to Ruby Tuesdays in the great big city of Henderson, NC, for dinner tonight. 

5:30 PM How do you explain a completely brown cow in a herd of black angus? Genetics? I don’t know, but he sure is pretty. 

2:10 PM Off to get a vehicle inspection sticker and supply our state’s coffers with loose change for another year. But why do they have to mount them in the middle of the front windshield?

2:03 PM Just made an appointment with a foot specialist in Raleigh for tomorrow morning. Message to foot: Shape up or it’s the Russian Front for you!

1:59 PM Hebrews students, if you’re not planning on attending the annual ETS meeting this year, you should.Here’s why.

1:08 PM Quote of the day:

We have turned over care of the fatherless to the child welfare system. Widows are relegated to being cared for the Federal government for income, health care and food. The homeless, the drug users, the prostitutes are all problems for the police to handle. Keep them out of our way and more importantly keep them out of our sight. The last thing we want our kids to see on our way to church wearing our Sunday best is some bum or a hooker. We need to focus on worshipping Jesus, not on the downtrodden that probably deserve to be on the streets anyway.

Read Conservative Evangelicals Are In Large Part Responsible For Big Government.

1:05 PM If Jesusworked at MacDonald’s. 

9:55 AM The statistics are in:

For analysis, see the latest issue ofThe Christian Century.

9:44 AM Chris Hahn thinks thatJesus would be an awesome tweeter.

9:32 AM Next week in our Hebrews class we’ll be in that great sixth chapter. If you want a Charlie Horse between the ears, try tackling these verses! So much truth here, and so much controversy — especially if we try to flesh out the teaching of the great apostle (oops, auctor).

1) For starters, preachers who lay the foundation, over and over again on Sunday morning, are self-condemned in 6:1-3. I grew up in church in Hawaii where every Sunday sermon was purely evangelistic. Edification was, at best, an afterthought. This is milk! This is proper for newborn babies but it is completely inadequate for anyone who desires to grow in their Christian life. Yet we preach conversion again and again and call it the “Gospel.” The Gospel is much more than conversion. As a teenage I failed to get solid food from my pastors. My life was weak and struggling as a result. Of course the fault was not all theirs. I failed to take ownership for my personal study of the Bible. All this changed when I was about 16. I have long been convinced that one of the greatest weaknesses of evangelical Christianity is the shallow “preaching” we have to endure Sunday after Sunday. I want to cry out, “Stop your baby talk!”

2) In 6:4-8 I think the participles are the key. (But I may be wrong!) Once again, looking carefully at a passage in the Greek can help us to better understand how the text works. In a nutshell, the author is saying that repentance is impossible as long as we are unrepentant. As long as we continue to crucify to ourselves the Son of God and expose Him to public ridicule, forget it. It will be fun analyzing the syntax and structure of this passage on the board next week.

3) In 6:9-12 we have, once more, a scriptural emphasis on good works as the unmistakable evidence of the new birth. Love and concern for others, deeds of compassion — this is the test of our Christianity, not the books we have authored. Students, give full attention to this! Put into practice what you know, put your knowledge to work. Today’s world is hungering for the visible evidence that we are the children of God. Let’s show them!

8:01 AM Headache update: It finally left me at 2:00 this morning. That was some 24 hours. Feel like a truck hit me. As soon as recover I plan to paint the upstairs porch — Lord willing!

7:58 AM Monday morning shout to my friend Willy Williams of Pensacola, Florida. He lives and works in the roughest neighborhood in town called “The Bottom,” where he does evangelism, after-school counseling, and food distribution. He refers to his ministry as “The Top of the Bottom.” Love it. Here’s a man sharing the love of Jesus relationally and relentlessly. God bless you, brother Willy!

7:50 AM Recently I’ve been selecting doctoral and Th.M students for next fall. It’s a hugely important decision for me and requires much prayer. Christ’s decision to select the Twelve was one of the most crucial decisions ever made in world history. Not all of them proved faithful but the method succeeded. His small band of obedient followers turned the world upside down in a mere 30 years. In the nitty-gritty give-and-take of mentoring doctoral students, we learn what discipleship means. Scholarship can’t come first. To let the symbols of learning, the degrees, the studying become too important is vulgar. It’s our devotion to Christ, our studying Him, our worshipping Him with our minds, and our ministering Him to others that counts. I’m looking for students whose commitment to academic excellence is matched by their compassion for the nations. Are you up to it?

7:42 AM Praying today for our student mission team in Haiti this week. They’re building into their lives a genuine, heartfelt reach to the world even as they learn how to serve others in Jesus’ name. God has a haunting love for the nations. He forgets no one.

Sunday, October 3

4:38 PM David Flowers reviews N. T. Wright’sWhat Saint Paul Really Said.

4:14 PM Lionel Woods says we ought to get back to the basics and beginpracticing good works, as we are commanded to. Begin talking like that and you’ll be accused of being anti-intellectual and even anti-theology.

Is that a fair characterization? Take a man like the brilliant apologist Francis Schaeffer, whom I had the privilege of hearing a couple of times when I lived in Switzerland. His book The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century summarizes it well: The greatest apologetic for Christianity is love. Always has been and always will be. Of course, we must love God with our minds as well as with our hearts, and in that sense no Christian can ever be truly anti-intellectual or anti-theology. Everything we do for Christ must have a biblical basis. Even more importantly, we are to be people of integrity, sagacity, and spirituality. Jesus never concealed the cost of serving His kingdom. Greatness comes only through servanthood, the pattern for which He Himself set for us in the Upper Room. Of course, Christ did not mean we should perform mere acts of service, which even the lost can do, but that we should have a spirit and a lifestyle of service, which only the Spirit of the Almighty can produce in an individual. As Lionel notes, “Yes Christ has set us free from the Law, yes we are saved by grace, yes it is by faith; however, these things are not the end, God is now placing the burden of serving (loving, good works) one another and even others (see Galatians 6:10).”

I hope that Lionel’s essay will rekindle an aspiration in each of us for those good works that God foreordained that we should walk in them.

4:08 PM Regent University announces an opening inChristian History.

3:55 PM My body is here in Virginia trying to write but my mind wanders disobediently to Ethiopia. Here are some pix from our March trip.

1) Welcome to Burji!

2) B with her family.

3) A gift goat.

4) Becky sharing her testimony with the crowds.

5) Singing “His Name Is Wonderful” and “There’s Just Something About That Name.” (Paul and Jan, watch out!)

6) Our adopted grandson Nathan.

It was a wonderful trip, just like the old days when only B and I would travel to the land of her youth. Do we miss Ethiopia? Are there cows in Texas?

3:25 PM CT’s lead story onAl Mohler is a good read. (NB: Typo on page 6: clich for cliché.)

3:20 PM Question to my fellow profs: Do you ban Twitter in your classroom? I don’t. I do ban lousy jokes, however, especially by the teacher. 

3:13 PM Barnes and Noble is offering a hefty pre-publication sale on my bookWhy Four Gospels?

3:06 PM Didn’t make it to Bethel Hill this morning after all. Couldn’t get rid of my sinus headache (i.e., built in barometer — yes, a storm is heading our way). Heat, pain reliever, massage — nothing worked. A reminder to add “Lord willing” when I write about my future plans.

7:41 AM This morning I’ll be gathering with the Body of Christ in a building dedicated to such gatherings.

Some people call it a sanctuary — a very misleading term, as the room in which we meet is no more sacred in God’s eyes than the restroom across the hall. Many followers of Jesus will prefer to meet in a home this morning instead. They seem to understand, perhaps in a deeper way than many “church-goers,” that in the kingdom, buildings aren’t sacred. When Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman, He declared that even places we deem most sacred don’t deserve our worship. Jesus is Lord, and He can be worshipped anywhere, anytime. His “church” is nothing more than an assembly of people who have welcomed God’s kingdom into their lives and relationships. Followers of Jesus are therefore always suspicious of man-made structures that seek to replace kingdom values. The church is not a building. The church is not an institution. The church is not a program. These are only and always human creations. They never supersede kingdom authority. Or biblical authority for that matter. None of them is sacred though they often become “sacred cows.”

But there is more. Each of these things I’ve just mentioned — buildings and institutions and programs — each of them can be, indeed ought to be, dedicated as a tool for celebrating the Good News of the kingdom. When this occurs — and I’m afraid it occurs all too infrequently — the focus is no longer on physical or institutional or programmatic objectives. We now view our meeting places as nothing more than that — mere skins of the kingdom’s ferment. They are no longer the focus. We even stop idolizing them.

So, this morning I will meet with the brethren in a structure that some sacralize and that others view merely as a wineskin. The issue is one of attitude and perspective. A “religious” building can witness to our pride or to the wine. The same is true of a home fellowship. Either structure can begin to calcify. Indeed, given enough time, they probably will calcify. Then we will have to come back to the place where we started: recognizing that no place is sacred to God except in the sense that all places are sacred to God.

Saturday, October 2

8:16 PM Dinner, I’m told, was a smashing success. So were the raisin muffins that the boys and I made for dessert. We’re sore after working on the porches today but not too sore to miss fellowshipping with the brethren at The Hill tomorrow morning. Yes, it looks like B is feeling well enough to attend!

5:36 PM Guess what I’m cooking for supper tonight? Liver and onions. Appleby’s, eat your heart out.

3:12 PM A friend of ours sent us this photo recently. He snapped it while we were attending a Civil War function many years ago in North Carolina. Doesn’t my lady look purdy? She sewed her dress herself, as well as my coat. “In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers” (Prov. 31:19)!

2:51 PM Sent my Greek students home this week with their first take home exam of the semester. It covers chapters 3-6 of my beginning textbook. I will reward any student who receives a perfect score of 110 with a free copy of one of my other books. This is my way of saying “thank you” to them for the hard work they’ve invested in this course. It’s a simple means of giving praise where praise is due. I also try to be very careful to thank the other students whose grades are not quite as high. I thank them for plodding along week after week, day in and day out. Mark Twain once said he could live for two months on a good compliment. We can’t thank people only for their home runs; we can thank them for their efforts as well. I have a drawer in my office reserved for cards or emails I’ve received through the years from my former students thanking me for teaching them. I can’t tell you how important a thoughtful note is when you’re having a rough day. I’m learning how to do the same thing — fire off a thank you email, or just stop someone in the hall and say how I much value them.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, closes every business meeting with a round of “appreciations” for those in attendance. Not a bad idea for professors as well.

2:51 PM We’re priming and painting the upstairs on a perfect day. Right now the temp is a cool 71 degrees and there is not a single cloud in the sky. O glorious fall!

7:11 AM New essay at DBO: The Road Less Traveled.

6:22 AM Over at Between the Times they’ve begun shamelessly promoting the publications of SEBTS faculty. I like that. Giving honor where honor is due. The latest author to be featured is“Gorgeous” Heath Thomas.

4:38 AM Up early this morning, keenly aware of my own weaknesses and personal handicaps, driven to my knees to pray for situations that require a God-sized answer, forced again to reach out to the only source of strength I know, entreating the Almighty for grace to help in time of need. Last week in our Hebrews class I was deeply struck by the statement that Jesus “offered prayers and appeals with strong crying and tears” (5:7). This is the same Jesus who faced all of life with equanimity and calmness of spirit. If He was driven to His knees, how much more should I be. Paul once wrote that Ephaphras “labored in prayers” for the Colossians (Col. 4:12). Paul himself describes his own “prayer weakness” in Rom. 8:26-27. In my book Paul, Apostle of Weakness, I spent several pages trying to understand what Paul meant when he said they we do know how to pray as we ought. Could it be that in the final analysis prayer is ultimately an inner-Trinitarian process, with God speaking to God, since only the Spirit can search the heart and know the mind of God as He “intercedes for the saints”?

Students, I want you to know you were prayed for this morning. Ditto for Dr. Robinson and others suffering with physical problems. It is my joy to lift you up before the throne.

Speaking of Paul, Apostle of Weakness, I hope to complete the revision of this book during the month of October. Please pray for and with me that I can accomplish this goal. This book is very important to me. It was conceived in Basel, Switzerland. I was enrolled there as a student at the University of Basel from 1980-83. I wrote this book as my doctoral dissertation. Since its publication back in the days when the Ark landed on Ararat (1984) my life has undergone several severe tests. The problem of pain is as old as the human race, but until it becomes personal, until our own lives or homes or children are hurting, it remains a theoretical matter. Since writing the book I’ve often had to ask myself whether I really learned its message. I’ve often said to myself, How odd. I spent a year writing a dissertation. I’ve spent 27 years learning what it meant.

The apostle Paul was severely handicapped. He referred to his “thorn in the flesh” (“thorn” is probably a mistranslation). Whatever his thorn was, it constantly tormented him. He felt like it was a stake on which he was impaled. Who among us has never felt that way? Who has never felt hindered from fully serving the Lord because of some handicap? What I learned in writing the book was that God delights in using our thorns for His purposes. As the great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon noted, “Grace grows best in the winter.” As I look back over my own life I find myself learning the lesson of my dissertation over and over again: that the thorn may not be removed, but His grace is enough.

Once upon a time an old farmer was showing his young farmhand around the corral, where his mule was munching on some tufts of grass. The old farmer began to stroke its neck. The younger man also approached the mule — from behind. Suddenly the mule’s leg shot out, sending the farmhand twenty feet into the air. Dazed and hurt, he picked himself up and, in a shaky voice, said, “Why didn’t you tell me the mule would kick?” The old farmer drawled, “Well, son, showin’ is better ‘n tellin’.”

I have a sneaking suspicion that as I work on this book project God will see to it that it will be more than a mere intellectual exercise. If God doesn’t change our painful circumstances when we pray for Him to do so, it’s probably because He has a very important lesson to teach us. When calamity strikes, perhaps we should ask, not “Lord, how can I get out of this?” but “Lord,what can I get out of this?”

O, how I want to learn to glory in my weaknesses and not merely tolerate them!

Friday, October 1

7:25 PM Need some inspiration tonight? Read Making New Friends in a Land Far, Far Away, which features our youngest missionary to Ethiopia ever, Thomas the “Tinnish Faranji” (Little Foreigner).

My favorite quote:

Thomas begged to stay in Burji.  He was satisfied with the simple life, a life without television, electronic devices and video games.  In fact, he lives without them in America.

Isn’t that great?

6:54 PM Ever been kissed by a seal? I was today — at the IMAX theater at the Virginia Aquarium in Virginia Beach. The 3-D movie “Under the Sea” was as realistic as it gets. I took the boys there today for an all-day outing (10 hours, including the drive), and I think it was a complete success.

In other news, Becky’s blood counts are doing great. It looks like we’ll be able to proceed to round #3 of Adriamycin after all. She and Liz spent the day together shopping and running errands. Glad they had some quality, undistracted time together. I post the following pix in honor of Liz’s husband, who is visiting with friends and family in upstate New York for a few days. Hope you enjoy them, Matt. Come home soon! 

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October 2009 Blog Archives

Saturday, October 31

3:16 PM Adam Darnell provides us with a link to anew site for great worship music. I can hear the naysayers now: “I will sing only the good old hymns of the faith!” If that’s the case, read this forward to a Baptist hymnal that was published in 1926. You might find it enlightening.

Yes indeed, some things never change.

3:03 PM According to this report by the BBC, the fall of the Berlin Wall will be commemorated on Nov. 9, twenty years after the event. “The people were the heroes,” states the report correctly. What a day. I’ll never forget it.

Incidentally, I’ve got a piece of the wall in my safe deposit box. A real treasure.

2:52 PM I know lots of you pray for Becky regularly. Please don’t stop now. She is feeling really ragged today and probably has gotten a head cold. That means I’ll be doing our Ethiopia presentation by myself at Bethany Baptist Church tomorrow morning, as well as our first meeting afterwards with those interested in coming with us in 2010. It’s like Lee going into battle without Jackson. I’m really really really asking God to allow Becky to come to chapel with me on Thursday, but if He says no I will accept it. As I read the Scriptures, I’m haunted by the idea that God doesn’t really need any of us to accomplish His work. He uses us asHe sees fit. Always.

My word, sometimes I feel like I’m still using spiritual training wheels.

11:05 AM It’s official: Nolan now has two toofies. Sharp things too. If you’re a seminary student you’ll get to meet him next Thursday, Lord willing. Nate, Jess, and Nolan are planning on being in chapel to hear my little talk. Nathan, by the way, will be playing the organ prelude.

10:17 AM Ah, nothing better than ahealthy debate over church leadership. It’s important for pastors (and all of us) to stop at regular intervals and look at the road signs. I applaud such iron-sharpening-iron.

10:08 AM Say you’re a school teacher. What grade would you give the Protestant Reformation? Arthur Sido gives it an “I.”Here’s why. 

9:51 AM Just in time for Halloween comes this story that London is trying to convince people toshare a grave with a stranger. Seems the old city has reached cemetery capacity. Talk about urban sprawl.

9:24 AM It is only too appropriate that Mike Bird should publish his thoughts aboutEvangelicals and Catholics on this historic day. His peroration deserves to be quoted in full:

I genuinely believe that good progress has been made in Catholic-Protestant relations since the Reformation. This is evidenced by theEvangelicals and Catholics Together as well as the Lutheran-CatholicJoint Declaration on Justification which were positive moves forward (see Richard Mouw’squotation from Charles Spurgeon on Spurgeon’s trip to a Catholic Church). I can honestly say that I’d rather worship and pray with an Orthodox Catholic than with a Liberal Protestant. I believe in the Reformation and yet recognize that the definition of a Christian in Rom 10:9-10 is broader than my own doctrinal statement. Still, at the end of the day there remains several incommensurable and irreconcilable differences between evangelicals and Catholics over the distinction between justification and sanctification, the nature of Christian assurance, the eucharist, the papacy, doctrines of Mary, and priestly celibacy. In the end, rediscovering covenant as a unifying theological category, experiencing the blessings of liturgy, digesting the church fathers in a serious way, and seeking transformation rather than transcendence, should be a means of enriching our own theological tradition rather than a reason for running to Rome. What is more, resources to do these things actually are available in the Reformed tradition if you look far and deep enough.

Good grief. Right in the middle of our finger-lickin’ chicken Mike has to remind us of the importance of theology.

P.S. “digesting the church fathers in a serious way”? Are you kidding? We’re Protestants!

8:59 AM Today we celebrate Reformation Day (see Eric Carpenter’sreminder of why). Of Luther’s famous “theses,” my favorite is the first:

When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

I don’t know about you, but I carry lots of excess baggage that hinders the mission of Christ. Effective evangelism leaves security blankets at home. Jesus told the 70 not to take extra clothes, food, or money. We are not to depend on our own resources. We are to change from being independent to dependent. Jesus said you either enter the world of the lost or go hungry. It’s a change of perspective that’s essential to effective evangelization.

It is urgent that the church repent of our attitude of “looking down on others to save them.” We must associate with unbelievers. Our focus must be on people and relationships, not money and programs. To reach men and women for Christ, we must lay aside the temptation to be detached from them.

We Protestants call ourselves “evangelicals” because we believe in the Evangel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We’re called to be redemptive people. We must repent of the need to control, to dominate, to possess. It is a broken, repentant heart that will stop unbelievers in their tracks.

8:49 AM Last night I decided to take el plunge and re-read Michael Shaara’s novelKiller Angels, the book upon which the movie Gettysburg is based. Shaara describes Robert E. Lee with these words:

He was in his fifty-seventh year…. He had been down that spring with the first assault of the heart disease which will eventually kill him. He believes absolutely in God. He loves Virginia above all, the mystic dirt of his home. He is the most beloved man in either army.

It’s hard for me to believe that I’m the same age the general was when he led the Army of Northern Virginia in its invasion of Pennsylvania 146 years ago. My inward man still feels like I’m a 25 year-old, but the mirror never lies. Had I lived in those times I would have opposed the invasion of the North. Both Gettysburg and Sharpsburg (Antietam) turned out very badly for the South. At Gettysburg Lee fought with a recalcitrant Longstreet, a sick Hill, an eccentric Ewell (who had lost more than a leg; his aggressivity had flagged), and an absent Stuart. Still, you have to admire the courage of the men who made that assault on the third day. I have walked that fateful mile from the Lee Monument to the “Clump of Trees” by foot 3 different times. I can only imagine what the troops must have experienced that day.

In my view, neither side in that conflict was completely in the right. That is how it always is with war. After World War II the Western powers hung Keitel for carrying out the orders of a civilian government. Were the Russians punished for slaughtering over 15,000 Polish officers in the Katan Forest? Were American and British leaders held accountable for the unleashing of aerial bombardment upon thousands of innocent civilians in Hamburg or Dresden, Hiroshima or Nagasaki? Gandhi used a policy of non-violence, but only to establish the oppressive power of the Indian state, which punished its Sikh minority. The waging of war is a highly precarious matter.

General Omar Bradley, in a 1948 Armistice Dayspeech, said:

We have too many men of science, too few men of God. We have grasped the system of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Man is stumbling blindly through a spiritual darkness while toying with the precarious secrets of life and death. The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.

Truer words were never spoken.

8:22 AM This morning I’ve been reading Phil. 3:12-18 in preparation for next week’s Greek class. It’s been stretching my thinking cap to the breaking point.

Note: Once Paul made the decision to consider all of his status symbols as unspeakable filth, his zeal was drastically redirected. He became “zealous for good works” (Tit. 2:14) as a sold-out follower of Jesus. So have I, I suppose. It is not enough for me to give lectures or write essays or publish books. I want to serve Christ by serving others in His name, including the most needy, no matter what the cost to me personally. Impersonating a wet dishrag in a hospital bed for 6 days is not my idea of fun. But what is that in comparison to the cross? I feel as though God has given me a second chance in life. It’s spelled G-R-A-C-E. I think Paul must have felt the same way.

8:12 AM I owe a great debt of gratitude to all who have taken time to reviewThe Jesus Paradigm. The latest review is byGeoff Smith. Thank you, Sir!

Friday, October 30

1:36 PM Matthew McDill thinks church meetings are to behighly participatory. And he’s right. You say, “We are a traditional congregation. Where shall we start?” If you need advice, why not email Matthew? I’m sure he’d be glad to help.

1:24 PM Just back from spreading skubala. Time for a rest until Nathan gets back from Oxford and we resume work on his remodelling project.

1:13 PM Good news! On Monday the team that will be constructing our water harvesting system at the clinic will be leaving Awassa for Burji. The plumbing will be there awaiting their arrival. Can you believe it? A clinic in Podunk with not only electricity and refrigeration but running hot and cold water! Isn’t our Savior great?

12:54 PM Becky just spoke with her nurse oncologist at UNC. Her chemo has been postponed from next Monday to the following Monday. As of yesterday Bec’s WBC was only 1.8 and her neutrophil is only 0.5. So she is “severely immunologically compromised.” She’ll start on antibiotics as a prophylactic today. She’s also indefinitely grounded.

11:05 AM Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a huge fan of World War II escape stories. Well, I just finished reading my latest book. Its author is Tim Carroll and its title isThe Great Escape from Stalag Luft III.

If you’ve never read this book, you simply must. In reading these books I often ask myself the question: What was it that brought men from different kinds of background and from every part of the world together to fight against Nazi Germany? Carroll answers that question on p. 303 of his book: “The one thing they had in common was their love of living and their hatred of oppression.” I believe that is the principle upon which the church is called to live as children of God in light of the cross. We are to love life — the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord — and hate the Enemy of the souls of men and women. That, ultimately, is what will unify us despite all of our differences and our various backgrounds and our (legitimate) denominational convictions.

Without wanting in any way to be insensitive to those who have given their lives for our country, I believe that the sacrifice of self is more costly — and more difficult — than the sacrifice of our bodies. Only as we are prepared to make that sacrifice, only as a “Great Commandment Resurgence” accompanies a Great Commission Resurgence, will we be able to reach a lost world for Christ.

Friends, our organizational ability, our eloquence, our wealth, our missionary strategies — all of these things are irrelevant in the eyes of the world. What the world sees and knows and recognizes is love.  

10:01 AM Henry Neufeld reflects onbook publishing and espousing “the truth.”

9:50 AM Mr. Obama hashonored the fallen at Dover. I just sent the White House an email thanking him.

9:20 AM From CT comes this look at marital unfaithfulness:When the Other Woman Is His Job. A sample:

Was Matt committing adultery? No, but he was being unfaithful in other ways. By working so much, he temporarily widowed his wife and left his kids fatherless. While he sought the exhilaration of his next promotion, his family—the reason, he said, he worked so hard—was left behind. Ironically, his attempt to provide for his family left them instead with very little.

Ouch!

Paul said that the good is the enemy of the best (Phil 1:9-10). Daniel Webster was once asked which was the most important subject that had ever crossed his mind. “My personal responsibility” was his reply. May we husbands catch something of the spirit of that reply! One day we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of our husbanding to God. We cannot escape from that fact and hide behind our excuses.

9:08 AM Quote of the day (Arthur Sido):

This is so vital: we don’t choose who to “go to church” with, the membership of the church has already been decided. It is up to us to live in community together. We are also not free to “make it up” when it comes to living and worshiping as a people as we go.

8:58 AM I offer this follow-up to Kevin’s post (fromChristian Archy): 

Evangelist Tom Skinner once said, “Let’s be honest. We tithe to ourselves.” What he meant is that most of the money we contribute to the offering plate is used for facilities and programs designed for ourselves and our families. Very little is dedicated to evangelism or social action, whether in our communities or in the rest of the world. 

8:50 AM Today’s the release date forMega Belt, a look at our zany culture here in the southern “Bible Belt.” I haven’t read the book yet so this is not an endorsement. Where I live there are more Baptists than people, so there is obviously a need to tackle the issue. A good place to begin, perhaps, is to chuck “Bible Belt” and replace it with “Religious Belt.” Biblical illiteracy here is, sadly, rampant.

I wish the book and its young author well.

8:38 AM Kevin Brown, an elder at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro, NC,  questions the status quo in his latest essayAre we just “entertaining” or are we “reaching” people for Christ? Here is a fascinating and frightening insight into the human heart. As Kevin points out, there is a price to be paid when following Jesus. And Kevin is not just all talk. His church has started a ceremony for their youth that raises the bar big time. He describes it in his essayRite of Passage: A Return to Scriptural Adulthood. Folks, the preacher has a point! The task facing the church today is overwhelming. We won’t get the job done as long as we continue to pamper ourselves and our young people.

Kevin (left) and his daughter Katy went with us to Alaba in 2008:

He taught the local church elders verse-by-verse through the book of Ephesians.

He quickly fell in love with Ethiopia, as all of us have done. It is wonderful to see the Lord connecting churches in America with churches in Ethiopia.

Thursday, October 29

9:04 PM People are vulnerable to love. That’s one of the points Becky emphasized with the middle schoolers today. She told the story of a Muslim man in a small village in southern Ethiopia whom she had outfitted with a pair of non-prescription reading glasses. When he left the church compound he told the leaders, “Never have I seen such love as in this place.”

As I’ve reflected over that experience, I’ve become more convinced than ever that the confrontational approach to evangelism is lacking. No, I’m not against passing out a Gospel tract or placing bumper stickers on your car. I’m not against going door to door. In confrontational evangelism, the encounter is unique. It’s usually brief, often intense, and frequently scary. Then it’s over. Many have used that approach successfully. Thank God for them! But nothing is more powerful, in my opinion, than a Spirit-filled individual targeting his or her gifts to meet the needs of others. In southern Ethiopia you couldn’t buy a pair of reading glasses if you had a million dollars. They are not to be had. But when Becky gave that man a free pair of glasses, and when she told them where they had come from — not from the U.S. government, not from the Ethiopian government, but from people in America who love Jesus — and when she told him, “Every time you wear these glasses you will be reminded that Jesus knows you and loves you,” she threw a redemptive switch in that man’s mind.

I can’t overemphasize this point. Evangelism is essentially a lifestyle — a lifestyle of sharing what we have with others with a view to them realizing that there is a Savior, a Lord, a Redeemer named Jesus who loves them. I encourage all of us to develop this capacity to draw others to Christ. Do it however the Spirit leads you. But do it with a gentle, loving spirit. After all, as Becky emphasized in her talk, people of all stripes need to see and feel love. If we don’t have a genuine love for other people, we have probably forfeited our right to evangelize them!

6:55 PM Years ago, on the bottom of p. 674 of my Greek New Testament, I wrote these words:

David Brainerd (d. at 36): “I wanted to wear myself out in His service for His glory. I cared not how or where I lived or what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain souls for Christ.”

The Lord Jesus gave Becky and me a wonderful day. Even though right now we feel completely worn out, as David Brainerd must have often felt, we thank God that He allowed us to minister in His name today. And indeed it was a long day: we left the house at 6:00 am and returned at 6:00 pm. The first of our four chapel presentations began at 8:00. All of those in attendance, including the little ones, were fascinated by Becky’s pictures and our display table.

Today was the first of several talks about Ethiopia we are planning on giving at Cresset Christian Academy. I can’t thank brother Jon enough for his warm hospitality. He even went so far as to provide us with some of our favorite refreshments. And the books by Kenneth Wuest that he gave us were just the icing on the cake. Thank you Cresset Baptist Church for your love for Ethiopia and the nations. May God bless you for it.

After we left Cresset we got Becky’s blood work done at UNC Hospital in preparation for her chemo there next Monday. Then we visited a precious elderly brother at Duke who had just undergone lung surgery. Call it a pastoral call if you like, even though we are not pastors in the technical sense.

Now, today was my “day off.” My Tuesdays and Wednesdays are so labor intensive that I can barely make it through Thursdays without resting. But a wise old preacher once said, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Without doubt that includes a time for sensible rest and recreation. The hyper-active Christian is of no use to God. But still, I’m glad I pushed ahead with today’s busy schedule. God gave both of us incredible strength in the midst of our weaknesses. I will NEVER be able to match Jesus’ love, but I am called upon to mirror it.

5:30 AM Cresset Baptist Church in Durham is the home of our good friend Jon Glass, pastor-teacher par excellence, intrepid missionary to Ethiopia, and blogger (when he’s not shamelessly tweeting in Greek class).

It’s also the home of Cresset Christian Academy, and today Becky and I will present the Lord’s glory in Ethiopia in 4 chapel meetings ranging from kindergarteners to high schoolers. What a joy! Jesus said, “This is My commandment that you love one another,” which means that we must be willing to deny ourselves, our own plans and pleasures, our own ambitions, anything that centers on us, for the blessing of others. This is the message that Becky and I want to convey today. That, ultimately, is why we speak so often in churches and other venues. Please pray for us and with us that this message will be gotten across loud and clear, and that these precious children and young people will catch a glimpse from the Ethiopian church what it means to live the cross-life.

5:23 AM For 11 years now I have had the honor and privilege of teaching in a seminary that is all about missions. And I know of no one at SEBTS who loves the nations more than our president, Danny Akin. I maintain that the words “Every Classroom a Great Commission Classroom” is far more than a motto here at Southeastern. It’s a reality. Surely living in a manner worthy of the Gospel has got to be our greatest priority (Phil. 1:27).

This driving passion is at the heart of Danny’s final essay in his series on the Great Commission Resurgence, which I have reprinted below. As I read Danny’s words I wept with gratitude to God that he would allow me to serve under and alongside such a humble servant of God. When all the finer points of theology have been discussed, when all the scholars have had their say, when all the authorities have been consulted, nothing remains more simple or demanding than our Lord’s words to go everywhere and preach the Good News to everyone (Mark 16:15). This message, surely, is loud and clear in the following essay. If you should doubt where Southeastern seminary stands, this essay by President Akin should erase any confusion in your mind. Read it and be blessed.

Myths Concerning the GCRTF: A Postscript

In June at the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville, I had a conversation with my father in the ministry and hero in the faith. That man is Dr. Paige Patterson.  My love for this man cannot be measured in human words.  My gratitude for his investment in my life is impossible for me to express. Now, I know he does not always agree with me, but I have never doubted he loves me and wants God’s best for me. That is why I am always ready for him to speak into my life. That is why I am always eager to hear what he says and to know what he thinks on almost any issue.

As we were talking about the SBC and the GCR Declaration that had gained more than 4,000 signatures he asked me, “Danny, what do you see as the end game in all of this? What is it that you personally hope to see come to pass?” My response was quick and simple. I said, “Dr. Patterson, it is about what you taught me when I was your student at Criswell College in the late 1970’s and the Conservative Resurgence was just getting started. It is about getting the gospel of Jesus Christ to the 6 plus billion people on planet earth.” He then said, “Is that it?”  I responded, “that’s it.” He “no.” I went on to say I am not smart enough to come up with anything like that. I did say that I believed there were men and women in the SBC who could help us get there, and that I prayed that if Southern Baptists authorized brother Johnny Hunt to appoint a GCRTF they could lead us in getting there.

That is what the GCR is all about. This is what the GCRTF hopes and prays God will do. He will have to because even with many smart people on the TF we are not smart enough, wise enough, or gifted enough to make it happen. God will do it or it will not come to pass.

There are challenges to be sure. None is more obvious than the distrust and infighting that characterizes too much of Southern Baptists life at the present time. This must stop or we are going nowhere.

The greatest man I believe I ever met was Adrian Rogers. In God’s goodness we developed a very sweet friendship over the years. The last time I was with him we had lunch together in Memphis. Six months later he would step into eternity into the presence of his King and Savior whom he loved so dearly and served so faithfully. As we talked about the SBC he expressed concerns and disappointments at where we were following the Conservative Resurgence. I shared my agreement with his assessment and then asked what he saw as the problem. I will never forget what he said.

Dr. Rogers said the problem was we were no longer on the battlefield fighting shoulder to shoulder the real enemies of sin, Satan, death and hell. Rather, we were back in the barracks standing face to face and fighting one another. We were now squabbling and arguing over things that would matter little if we were out on the battlefield engaging the real enemy as we fought for the souls of men across North America and around the world. Dr. Rogers always had a heart for the unreached peoples of the world. Dr. Rogers said we needed to get back on the battlefield and recognize we are one mighty army, all on the same side, serving under our commander-in-chief King Jesus. What a timely word for Southern Baptists in 2009!

This concludes the “myth series.” It is my hope that they have been helpful in clarifying and making more clear the work of the GCRTF. Feel free to attribute any lingering fog to my shortcomings and inability to communicate well. The responses I have received from so many do encourage me that the time and effort put into all of this was worth the investment. One more time the bottom-line is simply this: the nations need to hear the gospel. Without it they are eternally lost. We have the gospel and God has graced us with the personnel and resources to get the good news of Jesus to them. The question we all must ask and answer is this: what will I do to see this happen? Let’s not live wasted lives. Let’s not be a wasted Convention of churches. Jesus deserves better. Those who have never heard the gospel deserve better. I believe, by God’s grace, we can step up and be better. Dear Lord, please make it happen!

Wednesday, October 28

7:52 PM Spring Arbor College announces an opening inBible Ministry.

7:44 PM This is one of the most important books I have in my personal library:

It represents the renaissance in New Testament Greek scholarship that is currently taking place in Spain. If you are looking for a detailed and scholarly exposition of the Matthean Beatitudes, I highly recommend this book to you.

7:22 PM Check outSola Scriptura Nathaniel. It’s published by a SEBTS student in South Korea. Yes, I said South Korea. Nathaniel hopes to bring his family to Wake Forest to complete his studies. I wish him and his beautiful family the very best.

7:10 PM Gordon-Conwell Seminary is seeking to fill positions inEarly Christianity, Counseling, and Missions.

7:05 PM Hope College announces an opening inReligion.

6:57 PM Quote of the day (Hail to the King):

Fealty to Caesar is rejection of God.

6:50 PM Heard about the man who tried tosmuggle 24 snakes into Norway by strapping them to his body? I wonder if he’s ever met Alvin Reid, our resident snake handler at the seminary.

And you thought I was daft? 

6:45 PM Jim West is not only an interesting blogger; he’s also a good speaker. Here he does a great job ofpreaching from one of my all-time favorite passages, Phil. 2:1-11. Jim says:

If you can really hold on to this notion that other people are really more worthy of honor than you are, that other people are more worthy of being in first place than you are, that other people deserve to cross the finish line before you do, you’ll step aside and allow them forward, and if they need a hand you’ll even help them advance.

He concludes:

Every Baptist a missionary. That’s how you can have a good week.

Amen!  

6:36 PM Agree or disagree, you owe it to yourself to readthis resignation letter (.pdf). A key excerpt:

The U.S. and NATO presence and operations in Pashtun valleys and villages, as well as Afghan army and police units that are led and composed of non-Pashtun soldiers and police, provide an occupation force against which the insurgency is justified. In both RC East and South, I have observed that the bulk of the insurgency fights not for the white banner of the Taliban, but rather against the presence of foreign soldiers and taxes imposed by an unrepresentative government in Kabul.

Matthew Hoh’s journey from combat Marine to war protester is a logical one, given the nature of current U.S. foreign policy. This week Hoh is scheduled to meet with Antony Blinken, Vice President Biden’s foreign policy adviser. Hoh will “advise a reduction in combat forces…providing more support for Pakistan, better U.S. communication and propaganda skills to match those of al-Qaeda, and more pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to clean up government corruption…” (source). 

I hope the White House listens. If no legitimate governing formula can be found in Afghanistan, it’s time for the U.S. to scale back our resources, not ramp them up.

6:26 PM Happy Blogiversary to my former studentMike Seaver. I especially commend Mike for the way he and Cheryl Schatz have gone about debating the often cantankerous issue of women in ministry. Exemplary!

6:22 PM Andy Bowden asks,Was Paul forgetful?

6:17 PM Eric Carpenter just published an excellent photo essay (A Parking Space for Jesus) featuring this photo:

It reminded me of a story about World War I. After the allied victory, General Pershing announced to the troops that there would be a great victory parade in Paris. If any soldier wanted to march in the parade he had to (1) have a good record and (2) stand at least 186 centimeters tall. The men in one company of U.S. troops began comparing themselves, standing back to back to see who was taller. Eventually the tallest men in the company began teasing the others, “Too bad for you, Shorty! We’ll think of you when we’re in Paris!” Of course, no one knew exactly how tall 186 centimeters was. They were all merely guessing.

When the commanding officer came to see if any of his men qualified, he put a mark on the wall at 186 centimeters. The shorter men saw it and simply walked away, realizing immediately that they wouldn’t qualify. The taller men also missed the mark by a small amount. Then the tallest man in the company stood up to the mark but discovered than even he fell a quarter of an inch shy of the mark (6 feet 6 inches). In the end, nobody qualified.

 

In the church, nobody stands than taller than anyone else. “We are all brothers” is the way Jesus put it in Matt. 23:8. We are all equally sinners and saints. As Paul puts it so marvelously, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). The family of God includes in its ranks all Christians of all ages, all levels of intelligence, all nationalities, and all levels of social strata. Even leaders are not “over” the people but an extension of them (see my essayChurch Leadership According to Philippians 1:1).

Do we truly understand this? The real test comes in mundane ways, as Eric pointed out. It is here, at the grass roots level, that we are called upon to demonstrate the reality of our oneness in Christ.

6:10 PM My colleague Maurice Robinson has just published two essays in a new book edited by Stan Porter and Mark Boda calledTranslating the New Testament: Text, Translation, Theology.

In his essay titled, “Rule 9, Isolated Variants, and the ‘Test-Tube’ Nature of the NA27/UBS4 Text: A Byzantine-Priority Perspective,” Maurice challenges conventional thinking by addressing the question of the history of the transmission of the New Testament text. He concludes:

Those who maintain the status quo might reject such a claim as exceptional; yet it is the modern critical text that reflects de facto conjecture, transmissional abnormality, and historical implausibility. Ultimately, the question becomes whether confidence should be placed in a text that in the aggregate reflects conjectural speculation and lacks transmissional viability, or in a text with clear historical roots and a potential transmissional plausibility in its favor.106 If one is willing to reexamine long-standing scholarly opinion, the Byzantine-priority hypothesis becomes at least reasonably plausible, particularly in view of its actual historical existence when contrasted with the conjectural claims underlying the NA27/UBS4text.

Man do I like Maurice. Not just because he’s an outside-the-box thinker. I like the questions he raises, questions that are all the more difficult because fixed opinions have long since been reached on both sides and are rarely subjected to the least examination. It is these simple and uncontested beliefs that Maurice proposes to challenge. I applaud that effort.

Incidentally, here’s what a true scholar’s office should look like:

 

6:03 PM We translated Phil. 3:1-11 in Greek class yesterday. I asked my students what their favorite translation of skubala in verse 8 was. Then I read to them the excellent note in the NET Bible:

The word here translated “dung” was often used in Greek as a vulgar term for fecal matter. As such it would most likely have had a certain shock value for the readers. This may well be Paul’s meaning here, especially since the context is about what the flesh produces.

Perhaps the best rendering in English is “unspeakable filth.” Paul is saying, in the strongest possible language, that we are to forsake all confidence in human merits and accomplishments. That includes me and my accomplishments! Perhaps Malcolm Muggeridge put it best. In a sermon delivered at Queen’s Cross Church, Aberdeen, on May 26, 1968, he uttered these unforgettable words:

I may, I suppose, regard myself, or pass for being, a relatively successful man. People occasionally stare at me in the streets — that’s fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Inland Revenue — that’s success. Furnished with money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to, may partake of trendy diversions — that’s pleasure. It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time —  that’s fulfillment.

Yet I say to you, and I beg you to believe me, multiply these tiny triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing-less than nothing, a positive impediment-measured against one draught of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who or what they are. What, I ask myself, does life hold, what is there in the works of time, in the past, now and to come, which could possibly be put in the balance against the refreshment of drinking that water?

Thank God for that living water. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t make it through a single day without it.

Monday, October 26

10:31 PM Yikes! TheHoly Grail has been discovered!

5:44 PM Hey, check this out. Becky’s been cleaning her old pots and whatnot and look at what she discovered not 20 minutes ago.

We bought this pot at Petersplatz in Basel, Switzerland during our student days there. It is engraved with the Roman numerals “MDCC.” The best I can figure that means 1700. I bet they slurped from it Basler Mehlsuppe too, the famous “carnival flour soup” of the city. That is some yummy stuff.

Ya never what you’ll discover when ya dust off old pots, eh?

5:26 PM Right now I’m feeling very grateful:

• I’m grateful for cows. I love cows.

• I’m grateful that Nate just moved the cows to another pasture.

• I’m grateful that we have another pasture to move the cows to.

• I’m grateful I have an indentured servant — er — son who loves farming.

• I’m grateful for the brownies Becky made for Greek class tonight.

• I’m grateful that Becky is feeling up to baking.

• I’m grateful that brownies will be in heaven.

• I’m grateful for my Greek class tonight.

• I’m grateful for the Greek language.

• I’m grateful that Greek will be the language of heaven (along with German, French, Amharic, etc.).

• I’m grateful for this silly blog that allows me to tell everybody what I’m grateful for even if they don’t care.

4:57 PM I see that Andy Bowden loves animals as much as I do. He also likes to draw spiritual lessons from them, as he does in his latest essay:No pit too deep.

By the way, welcome to the wide wide world of blogging, Andy.  

3:59 PM Here’s one good reason tomove to Tibet. (Other than the climate of course.)

1:57 PM Becky just got off the phone (land line) with Oshe down in Soyama. There’s much I could report, but for now I’ll offer a praise and a prayer request:

1) Praise God for the first cell tower in Soyama, Burji. Lord willing we’ll be able to use our mobile phones there in the near future, especially between the clinic and our ambulance. And to think that when Becky and I first went there in 2004 there wasn’t even electricity in the entire Burji district.  

2) Now here’s an urgent prayer request. The leaders of the Guji churches are, as I type, moving into the areas of unrest to try and calm the situation between the Gujis and Burjis. Thank God for their courage, and may their efforts reap a harvest of peace.

12:46 PM Once again my inbox is overflowing with appeals to support this or that ecclesiastical effort seeking the reformation of American society. “The church reformed is always reforming.” I can’t for the life of me understand how we can come to that conclusion by looking at the Scriptures. Experience has shown that the church never reforms itself. Each time the church has taken a radical step forward it is because it has been grasped again by the Word of God. All of our reforms are futile and will inevitably fail.

I have tried to make this clear in my forthcoming book (Christian Archy), and not necessarily in an agreeable or pious fashion. Church reformation begins and ends with an explosion originating with God. The battle is waged entirely upon our knees. I insist on this, because the Gospel insists on this. The Gospel forces us to admit that our organizations and institutions and ethics, no matter how honest and scrupulous they may be, are incompatible with the kingdom of God. I am not therefore even faintly interested in “taking America back for God” schemes of any kind. I have seen the prayers of an old woman account for more than all the misguided efforts at political agitation that solve nothing. I refuse to be a laudator temporis acti simply because I believe that a cosmic lever is needed to change anything. If we fail to see this, we will become just another Martin Heidegger seduced by Nazism or another U.S. citizen who has succumbed to the myth of American exceptionalism.

9:58 AM Heads-up: In Wednesday’s New Testament Theology class our guest speaker will be SEBTS’s own Nathan Finn, who will be lecturing on the implications of Paul’s teaching about Christian unity in Philippians to current Southern Baptist life. All are cordially invited to attend. Nathan’s lecture will begin at 2:00 pm sharp. Please email me if you are planning on coming to hear Nathan.

9:46 AM I am so jazzed. Tonight in our Greek class we will begin translating 1 John. This is the long-awaited payoff for all the sweat and tears of the past 7 months. (The students worked hard too — LOL!) Once we learn the subjunctive and imperative moods it will be “smooth sailing.” Hardly. Our work in the text is only just beginning. But a start it is, and I couldn’t be more excited. My heartiest congratulations to all of you who endured to the end. One race has ended, another has just begun. You done good.

9:30 AM This Thursday Becky and I will have the privilege of speaking 4 times at Cresset Christian Academy in Durham. Our topic? Ethiopia of course. Thank God for missions-minded Christian schools!

9:23 AM What does fire fighting have to do with discipleship? Much in every way. Have you ever heard of a fire fighter “trainee”?

In New Testament times a trainee was called a disciple. Now, when we speak of disciples, we normally think of the Twelve or the Seventy whom Jesus sent out. But the New Testament mentions the word in a much broader context than that. Moses had his disciples (John 9:28), as did John the Baptist (Matt 9:14) and the Pharisees (Matt. 22:15-16). Discipleship abounded in both the Greek and Jewish worlds.

And who were disciples other than groups of trainees who sought to understand their teacher’s ways? At the heart of discipleship was a diligent application of the truth. Knowledge was never enough. Jesus told the Jews who had believed on Him, “You are My disciples — if you hold fast to My teaching and live in accordance with them” (John 8:31). A disciple is not like a Ph.D. student facing an oral exam. No, the disciple was to become like his teacher (Luke 6:40). The branch was expected to bear the same fruit as the tree. A fire fighter trainee is not someone who simply acquires knowledge but someone who is expected to apply that knowledge diligently on the job.

The point is that discipleship is hard work. And it involves lots of training. But the reward comes from the doing and not merely from the talking or the discussing or the preparation. As a volunteer fire fighter for 4 years, I think I can understand the difference between being a student of the Word and being a trainee for service.

8:21 AM I’ve had to make some U-turns in my life but nothing likethese Northwest airlines pilots had to make when they overshot their runway by 150 miles.

Incidentally, studies show that short routes are more stressful than longer flights and cause more fatigue issues. That may explain a lack of alertness, but a 150-mile overshoot?

8:05 AM Over at The American Interest Online, James Kurth has written a piece calledPillars of the Next American Century. There’s a lot to chew on here, but especially the comparison the author draws between the U.S. and China — the world’s next global power. And how exactly does China propose to become the dominant player on the international chess board? By a new “New Deal,” argues Kurth:

Like FDR’s New Deal, the Chinese version centers on large-scale spending on big infrastructure projects like highways, railroads, bridges, dams, rural electrification and public buildings. These infrastructure projects not only provide steady markets and continuing employment for such basic industries as steel, cement, heavy machinery and construction; they also bring long-term productivity gains to the national economy. In contrast to both the Roosevelt Administration in the 1930s and the Chinese government today, the Obama Administration is spending little on new infrastructure.

This strategy is not only brilliant — it works. I’ve seen it in Ethiopia. Unlike the U.S., China does not pump millions of dollars of free aid into that nation’s sick economy. Instead, it enters contractual (and well-paying) agreements with the Ethiopian government to essentially build the nation’s entire infrastructure, from roads and highways to hydro-electric projects. This may be one reason the government of Prime Minister Meles is moving further away from the American orbit and toward its communist business partner. What consequences that move may have for those of us who work in Ethiopia as volunteers remains to be seen. But you have to admire the Chinese for their good, old-fashioned “American” savvy.

Read Kurth’s piece if you want to understand why Chinese capitalism is working and ours is failing (and is fast fading from the international scene).

Below: The highway between Gondar and Bahir Dar in northern Ethiopia. I snapped this picture in the summer of 2008. Two years before, this was nothing but a gravel/dirt road. The Chinese are not only good at highway construction but quick.

Sunday, October 25

9:30 PM Ran across this quote today:

Sprachlernen ohne Arbeit ist night möglich.

Now that’s an understatement.

9:22 PM Here’s a hat Becky was given by my Greek class at Bethel Hill. I think it fits Nolan perfectly. And no, we haven’t converted to Rastafarianism.

7:52 PM We heard today that the Burjis and Gujis are fighting again: 1 dead, 4 wounded. No further details are available at this time. What a tragic waste. Jesus had a lot of harsh things to say about inordinate allegiance to family and tribe. And only He can bring lasting peace to southern Ethiopia. Please pray with me that the church will remain strong in the midst of such barbarism.

Below: Meeting with believers during my first trek among the Gujis in June, 2008 (their winter).

The meeting place where I met with the church. I am praying fervently to God that I will be able to revisit Gujiland next July.

4:27 PM Just back from watering the cows. Three of them are so big I think they’re going to pop. Right now I’m starving. Saving my appetite for supper — liver and onions.

3:53 PM Highland Theological College announces an opening inNew Testament.

3:24 PM I’m led to make a brief follow-up comment to the essay I published earlier today onleadership. If you are indeed the “senior pastor” of your church but prefer to preserve that title for Jesus, what should you call yourself? How about:

Servant Pastor

This would also work for the title “lead pastor.” After all, leaders are to be servants, right? What a message that would send to your congregation!

3:12 PM It may not be spring time, but we’ve got the house cleaning bug. Becky’s been deep cleaning the kitchen and dining room, while I’ve been working on my closet, book shelves, and dresser drawers. I didn’t know I was such a huge pack rat. Like son like father, I guess.

2:56 PM Speaking of the church:

Congregations must no longer follow an introverted, self-serving agenda. Our priority must be to become the King’s servants in the world. Local congregations must begin to see themselves as satellite offices of the kingdom of God.

Source:Christian Archy.

2:50 PM In the latest edition of his “Scripture…As We Live It,” Alan Knox raises the question of the nature of the church — the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church — though few of us would confess that she actually exists. The word church means “my” church to so many of us.

And the focal point of our consciousness is often what we call our denomination. None of this has anything to do, of course, with the historic person of Jesus of Nazareth. I rejoice that brother Alan rightly regards the church as more than his own fellowship in Wake Forest. We are one family in Christ, the only “Christian nation,” and all believing members are not only mutuality linked together but are equipped for full participation in the Gospel ministry. “The Gospel ministry” — ah, if we could only accept the full implications of that mandate in our churches, I dare say we would no longer elevate our little circle of faith above the one across town. 

9:17 AM A rose is not just a rose — not when it’s from your very own rose garden at Rosewood Farm.

9:08 AM Becky has decided she needs to stay home from church today. Her immunity levels are just too low to risk getting the flu from someone. I’ll stay with her and work on my chapel message.

8:59 AM Jona Lendering reviews W. A. Simmons’Peoples of the New Testament World.

8:45 AM The latest addition to our home page is calledWhat the Jesus Freaks Got Right.

8:05 AM The ideal surfboard:

8:02 AM Once again, I find thatAllan Bevere and I are on the same wave-length.

7:58 AM Another good reason to blog: Most publishers will send you a gratis copy of their books if you will agree to post a review. Ph.D. students take heed.

7:47 AM So what’s next on my intellectual book shelf? It’s called:

Godworld: Enter at Your Own Risk

I’ve already begun writing it in fact. I view it as a synopsis of my current thinking about theology and ethics. I hope I’m up to the challenge. Please pray for  me as I try to tackle this daunting project. Thank you.  

7:22 AM The desire for fame seems to be ballooning these days. How far would go to achieve it? The Heenes are not as untypical as we might imagine.

Paul said, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor. 15:10). Christians have no need to play act, pretending to be what they aren’t. Paul was what he was. I can be myself without simulation or hypocrisy. I can accept myself too, with all my shortcomings and foibles. I don’t need to play “Christian.” I also don’t need to play “perfect.” What would happen if you could wear glasses that would allow you to see me, not as I appear, but as I really am in my heart? That, of course, is impossible. But it is possible for you to test my works. Jesus said people would know we are His disciples if we love one another. Not if we look pious on Sunday. Not if we loudly defend our theology. We are to love the souls of men and women.

The truly great do not always enjoy 20 minutes of fame, but wherever they are there’s a lot of good, old-fashioned love and kindness.  

Saturday, October 24

8:34 PM I’ve asked Nate to describe the following pix. But before he starts I just want to say how much I enjoy working with him on old buildings. I know that many of you who read this blog share our love for all things antebellum, so I will plan on updating this project frequently. With that introduction, here’s Nate….

Well, here’s the latest project at our house. We have been planning to re-do the kitchen for quite some time, but have been “sidetracked” on various other projects. I knew that the kitchen floor was in bad condition due to past termite damage and “remodeling,” and we were thinking of redesigning the area to function better as a kitchen. What I didn’t know was the extent of that damage and how the frame had been cut up and walls moved compromising the strength of the structure. This part of the house is 16 ft wide and 30 ft long, with about 20 ft being circa 1820 and about 10 ft circa 1890 (the old room was originally separated from the front section of the house by a breezeway that was enclosed during the first remodeling about 1890). The original room consisted of a door and a window on each side with the chimney at one end and a corner “winder” stair at the other going up to a sleeping loft space. Original interior finish was plaster on hand-split lath and a wide board wainscoting with chair rail (a baseboard, then a wide +/- 20″ board, then a chair rail, then plaster to the ceiling). This section is framed with hand-hewn beams that are about 4″ x 10″ and the sills are 12″ x 10″. All the joints are mortise and tenon and pegged through with wooden pegs. 

The first remodeling took place about 1980 when the original finish was removed and the staircase taken out (no need for it as there was a stair in the front hall too). Then the breezeway was walled in and the partition walls were shifted, making a small hallway and two rooms. The walls were covered with narrow 3-4 inch wide boards as was the fashion about that time. Later, about 1955, when electricity was first run in this area and indoor wiring and plumbing was added, the interior partitions were moved again, creating a kitchen and dining room (remember the kitchen was out in the yard until this time) as well as a bathroom. The narrow boards were covered with sheetrock as had become popular by that time. Structural issues were ignored for the most part, as doors and windows were cut wherever they were desired and walls were moved with no regard for bracing or stability (from side to side there is only one brace left in its original place; all the others were in walls that had been moved or had been cut through in adding doorways or windows!). If you look you can tell that the walls are leaning in one direction due to lack of bracing.

In this picture you can see the kitchen as it was built about 1955. The sink was in the middle under the window, the stove was on the left of it (out of sight in this pic), and the water heater was on the right side of the sink. The fireplace had been closed up when we moved here but I removed the brick filling and put a wood heater in the original fireplace for heating. I think this is the original mantel circa 1820, or an early replacement.  

In this pic the kitchen is on the right, and the dining room on the left.  We have already removed the sheetrock in the dining room. Dad is taking down some shelves on the wall in preparation for removing this added wall.

Isn’t demolition such great fun? Look closely at the studs on the left end of the wall. All the studs on this wall are level but because the exterior wall on the left was leaning (due to removed braces) the last stud had to be placed at an angle. The wall is leaning about 4″ from bottom to top. 

Removing the 1890 boards on the wall. Original blue-green paint!   

Careful, it may be hot!  

And bye-bye to the sheetrock in the kitchen!

Making some headway. Right behind where I’m standing you can see where a door had been added, severing the original down-brace keeping that wall from racking. The door was covered over in 1955 when the cabinets and sheetrock were added. That wall leans about 4″ to the right.

In an old house, one thing leads to another. While we were doing the kitchen, Jessica commented that she would sure like to have a little larger bathroom. Well, what better time to do it than while we’re doing the kitchen? Here you can see the old bathroom that was added in the breezeway.  The siding on the left wall is the original exterior siding on the front part of the house before it was connected to the back section.  

The bathroom also had boards behind the sheetrock. The tile around the tub had been glued straight to the sheetrock and water had been seeping behind the time, rotting out the base of the wall.     

What a pile of debris! Actually, other than the sheetrock and rotted/termite eaten wood, I’ll stack the rest of the boards for reuse somewhere.

Stay tuned for further updates as the project continues.    

4:45 PM I just spent 4 grueling hours working with Nathan on his remodeling job. I’ll post some pictures later. Right now I’ve got to cook supper. I’m tired, but it’s a good tired, if you know what I mean.

4:37 PM Many thanks to Jim West for hiskind words about my latest book.

12:18 PM Two brief notes for the Rondeaus:

1) Happy 31st Birthday, Matthew. Hope you enjoy the song we left on your answering machine.

2) Liz, if you can believe it, the balloon you got for mom after her surgery is still flying high. It even plays its crazy song. “Don’t worry, Be happy!” Thought you’d like to know.

Hope you guys get over that nasty flu soon. Love to all five of you,

Mama B and Papa B

11:20 AM And the winner to our “Name the Face” contest (see Wednesday, Oct 21, 6:55 pm) is ….

Rachel from Raleigh

She had a tough time withHelmut Schmidt, but that’s par for the course. I’ll get the book to you ASAP, Rachel. It’s the perfect cure for insomnia.

11:08 AM Nate just arrived with his tools to do work on our electrical system, so that means I have a few more minutes to type before we resume work on his kitchen. So what’s on my mind this very moment?

Seats.

This old world offers a lot of top seats — you know, the kind that Jesus talked about, such as the chief seats in the synagogue. Today we don’t even blush when we rise to take these elevated chairs, the self-promoters we are. Jesus said, “Take the higher seats and you’ll get demoted real quick.” Now, think for a moment about the seating arrangements in your church building. We have pews for the passive and platforms for the prominent. I like neither. Jesus wants His followers to serve, not sit. We are so accustomed to tradition that we cannot see the application of Jesus’ teaching to our own “chief seats in the synagogue.” I once heard a preacher call them “electric chairs.” Stiff. Upright. Often gaudy. Thrones, if you will. And about 18 inches above contradiction.

Pastor friend, have you even thought about sitting with the saints and speaking from among them, as the old Anabaptists did? It is amazing how the ordinants would be shocked and the people delighted if you did. “Look, he’s one of us!” they might exclaim. Personally, I find it awfully tiresome to perch on a podium. As a guest speaker in many churches, I am usually granted permission to sit with the folk and preach from the floor — if I ask politely.

Are we so in love with our stages that we are unwilling to obey Paul’s injunction in Rom. 12:16? You may be surprised at how little evidence there is in the New Testament for our pulpits and platforms. And even less for our pride.

Incidentally, in Norway there’s a mountain outcropping that is actually called
“Preachers Chair” (Preskestolen). Tourists flock to it. But it’s a very dangerous place. The drop is a thousand meters straight down.

Think about it.

10:11 AM More wisdom from theCountry Parson.

9:58 AM Benny Hinn’s statement that all he wants to do is live for the Gospel continues to attract ink. Read the latest for yourself over atABC News.

9:43 AM Writing two essays today: “What the Jesus Freaks Got Right” and “Lead Us Not Into Obfuscation.” The one has to do with loving Jesus over institutions and programs, the other with naturalness in Bible translation. Writing is like maintaining a relationship. You get the joy of discovering and getting to know yourself, what makes you tick, what’s truly important to you. I find it never boring.

9:19 AM The inanity of Twitter astonishes me.

Why use Twitter when you can write inane things on your blog?

9:10 AM Make sure you read this piece over at PBS:Interview: Col. Andrew Bacevich (Ret.). Bacevich isn’t exactly lukewarm:

Can anybody possibly believe that the United States of America, … facing a federal budget deficit of $1.8 trillion, … has the resources necessary to conduct a global counterinsurgency campaign? Over what? The next 20, 50, 80 years? I think [there] is something so preposterous about such proposals. I just find it baffling that they are treated with seriousness by supposedly serious people.

8:59 AM Speaking of rain, this blessed my socks off:

As I write … [t]he rain is falling gently…washing the dust & grime from the earth, satisfying thirsty plants, refreshing animals, cleaning the air.

Reminds me of the Father’s Love for us. It is His Love that cleans the grime of our souls, that satisfies our inner thirst, that refreshes our spirit, that renews the breath of life within us.

The last rain I experienced was in Texas. It had been raining for hours before we even noticed! The large brick house and the composite roof insulated us.

But here on the farm, our home is clapboard and the roof is tin. The windows are large, and we delight to look outside.

How much these 2 houses are like us people. What is your “housing” like today? Are you wrapped up in thick insulation, so that you don’t even know His Love is flowing down all around you? Or are you connected to the world around you, so that you readily see His Hand?

Source:BHBC Blog.

8:50 AM A light rain has been falling since early this morning. Much needed too. I think of the words of Paul: “God blesses the earth by allowing rain to fall on it often. It produces useful crops for farmers” (Heb. 6:7). Amen to that!

8:47 AM Wise counsel from a fellow professor:

8:43 AM I was deeply affected by a conversation I had with a student this week. He said he was experiencing some anxiety about his desire to take certain steps of obedience that he felt would be costly. He had discovered that his convictions went against the grain of cultural Christianity. What was he to do?

Paul declared in 1 Cor. 4:1-5 that he did not judge himself. He was not living for man’s “day” (Greek hemera) but for God’s day. Even though Paul could be accommodating to the situations he found himself in (1 Cor. 9:19-23), he neither feared nor valued the appraisal of humans. He would await the verdict of God. What a great way to live!

Discipleship is always costly. Obedience may cost us fame, fortune, and even our families. But if we believe the Gospel, we must also trust the Christ of the Gospel. We must get our eyes off ourselves and begin “off-looking” (so the Greek) to Jesus (Heb. 12:2). It is uncomfortably true that it is easier to produce Pharisees than Christians. It is easier to get people to blindly conform than to get them to obey the leading of the Spirit and the teaching of Scripture.

I asked the student, “What reward are you working for?” The hypocrites of Jesus’ day sought the praise of others, and that was the reward they got. But those who seek the approval of God will receive it — maybe not today, but it will come.

Friend, you must do, and speak, and write, and blog as the Lord Jesus directs you. Others may oppose you. You may receive unkind emails. But do it you must. Do it graciously, but do it boldly. Do it motivated solely by love and you will discover that love casts out all fear.

8:34 AM This is way too cool: a downloadable version (.pdf) ofExploring the German Language. I found the link over atNick Norelli’s blog. Thanks, Nick, for the heads up. I’m passing the word to all of my doctoral students. 

UPDATE: Nick informs me that  because of possible copyright issues he has removed the link from his blog and asked me to do the same. I’m happy to comply.

8:30 AM And I thought our Shelties were silly.

Friday, October 23

8:27 PM Right now Becky’s on the phone with her mom and dad in Texas. She sounds really really good. She spent around 3 hours with her friend in Clarkesville (“our fair city”) today. We’re definitely over the hump, around the corner, on the rebound, etc. All praise to God. I’m sitting here nursing a sore back but it’s nothing a few Ibuprofen can’t handle. Time to get out a good book and gell. See you tomorrow.

6:23 PM Know what’s on my mind this evening? Our trip to Ethiopia next July. This time we plan to take teams to Burji and Alaba — about 25 people in all. We LOVE taking people with us. What makes each trip so special? The hundreds of people served? The decisions for Christ? The smiles on the children’s faces when they see a white-faced foreigner loving on them? Sure, all that is a huge part of it. But ultimately what makes these trips so special is the joy of watching the Spirit of God working in and through simple, ordinary believers.

Our first orientation meeting for our July trip is Nov. 21. As the weeks go by Bec and I will get busier and busier. To be honest, the greatest bulk of the work falls on Becky’s shoulders, not mine. Try tackling that job when you’re also fighting a disease. We need to pray a special prayer for Becky. We need to ask God to do for her what in our wildest dreams we would never imagine. She will need all the supernatural strength she can get for the task ahead.

Sorry — I’m getting mushy again. Anyway, I’m praying that God would help B. and me to be faithful during these crazy days in which we live. After all, discipleship is simply moment-by-moment obedience as Jesus enables us to live for Him.

Below: Miss Stacey samples Ethiopian food for the first time.

Our 4 orientations are like a mini-course in missions. We study Ethiopian culture, history, religion, customs, and language, and we get to know the local churches with which we will be working. But the most important preparation is spiritual. With our July team we will be studying the Gospel of John and the subject of love. Each team member will be required to memorize a lengthy passage and be prepared to recite it when we arrive in Africa. It’s a lot of work, but it pays dearly once we arrive in country.

5:56 PM Joel Watts is discussing thewarning passage in Heb. 6:1-8. Chime in.

4:36 PM I love the farm. In a hurrying, noisy, neurotic world, I enjoy its quietness and serenity. A perfect world it is not. There’s hard work aplenty, and you see death here more than you do in the city. Still, the cycle of life on a farm is a wonder to behold. This afternoon we mucked manure, took hay out to the steers on the back 40, picked up firewood for Nate and Jessie’s hungry fireplaces (I rescued a turtle on the way there), admired the fall foliage, and just enjoyed life. I’m thanking God for a pleasant and productive day. But boy do I ache.

Photos (of course):

12:50 PM Is writing therapeutic? So saysthis author. The bigger question is this: Should journaling be kept private? I don’t think so, but I have mixed feelings about it. Anyhoo, I wish Jean and her memoir well.

12:32 PM Adam Darnell thinks he knows theantidote to atheism. And he’s right, of course.

12:21 PM Just returned from a trash run. The rest of the day I’m helping Nathan remodel his kitchen. We’ve already knocked out a wall and removed the sheet rock. Right now I’m making Saimin soup and tuna fish sandwiches for lunch. Becky’s gone out to eat with a girl friend. That’s so neat. I’m glad she’s feeling well enough to get up and about.

10:12 AM Did I read somewhere that Dr. Jim is taking a sabbatical from blogging? Yeah right. Just look at his output today. Jim is too good a blogger to throttle back. And he knows it.

I am a blogging enthusiast. That’s why I blog so much. It turns my whole life sunny side up. Even when I’m down. You see, the reason bloggers don’t blog is because they aren’t really bloggers. Simple as that.

Jim is a blogger. He’s hooked. No, he’s gifted. And, if pressed into a corner, I dare say he’d give all the credit to Another.

9:49 AM Nate and Jess just showed up. I asked Nate was his plans were for the day. “Get some coffee,” he replied. Ah, a man after my own heart — can’t think without caffeine.

9:44 AM The Lord has given Becky another powerful essay. It is a testimony to the grace of God in her life. She’s calling itLiving in Denial: Cancer and Romans.

Meanwhile, I am pleading the promise in Matt 18:19: “If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.” What a joy to know that we can always pour our heart out before the Lord. Then we must have the faith to believe that He will give us according to our need.

At any rate, read Becky’s essay. I think you’ll be glad you did.

8:47 AM I’m glad to link to yet another outstanding post over at Arthur Sido’s site:Multi-Site Churches taken to their logical extreme. With oozing sarcasm Arthur writes:

For most Christians in traditional churches on a Sunday morning, they are primarily sitting and watching. Does it really matter if they are watching a guy in-person on stage or Mark Dever on a video feed? I think taking the traditional model of evangelical church life to a logical extreme, why not do this? Just think, we could take up the offering and put it into the bank and then the central church could sweep the money into one big account and distribute it. That is how mormons do it. Instead of squabbling about carpet colors at the local level, let a regional super senior pastor figure it out. For those of us who are Reformed, we could break it down regionally. Albert Mohler could get the south, MacArthur everything west of the Mississippi, Piper the Midwest and Northeast and Dever could run the east coast. We could appoint under-under shepherds in smaller areas, Steve Lawson in Alabama, Kevin DeYoung in Michigan, etc. No more boring, wandering sermons. No more butchering of “A Mighty Fortress is our God”.

Arthur mentions the Mormons. I suppose we could add the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics. It is partly because of our incurable anthropocentrism that so many evangelicals have taken to the Canterbury trail. The pulpit is never central in the New Testament. Christ is.

8:32 AM Becky just sent out an email to several dozen Bible institutes and colleges outside the U.S. about ourGreek DVD series.

The Lord Jesus allowed us to produce this series during a 6-week course I taught in Addis Ababa. I wanted to stress here that the original purpose of producing the DVDs was to help students learn Greek in places where such instruction might not otherwise be available. So if you know of a Bible school or Christian ministry in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, etc. that might be interested in using them, please let us know. Thank you. 

8:08 AM Yesterday I gave four examples of what I thought a good leader looks like. Here’s another implication of leadership we often ignore: Since ministry is a matter of function and not of status, we would do well to allow various gifted teachers to do the formal teaching in our churches. If I understand Eph. 4:11-12 correctly, all pastors are to be teachers, but not all teachers are necessarily pastors. A good spiritual leader, as I have said before, delights in setting people free to use their gifts for the good of the Body. This means that the regular pastor-teacher may have to yield to other gifted teachers. You say, “But they can’t teach as well as I can.” All the more reason to allow them an opportunity to hone their skills in the crucible of teaching. According to 1 Tim. 3:2, all elders are to have the gift of teaching, and it would be very healthy to allow them to share the burden. Members of your congregation may well be shocked to find their regular pastor-teacher sitting down while another gifted teacher gives the formal instruction that day, but what a message that would send about every-member ministry. It is unfortunately so radical a concept that it may take time to become accepted. I was delighted to see in our congregation a gifted teacher in our church filling the pulpit when our pastor was away recently. How glad I was that we didn’t go outside our Body and bring in a guest speaker. There was no need for it; we have several excellent teachers in our midst.

Such a teaching model is rare, but it need not be. It can happen in any congregation.

7:45 AM Prompted by news that Iran has agreed in principle to ship its enriched uranium to Russia for further enrichment, Justin Raimondo takes up his analytical pen with excellent effect inOur Two-faced Iran Policy. He opines:

In any case, we are walking a tightrope in simultaneously engaging with, and terrorizing, the Iranians: one misstep, and we are likely to fall into yet another Middle Eastern quagmire, one we willno doubt come to regret.

War, as Raimondo notes, is almost inevitable– with nary a protest from the peace movement.

Thursday, October 22

8:38 PM Hooray for Eric, whojust bought one of those despised “ponies” to help him read his Greek New Testament. Glad he didn’t listen to those who are telling us to burn our learning aids.

Oh, if you are someone who is planning on burning your interlinear, please send it to me instead. I know some people who could benefit from it.

7:31 PM Tonight we enjoyed a wonderful supper provided by one of my students. Thank you, Miss Cari, for your thoughtfulness. The food was excellent! 

5:18 PM The First Lady was hula-hooping on the south lawn of the White House yesterday. Mrs. Obama was holding a health fair with cooking demonstrations and exercise stations, all to promote healthy living.
 

Sure, it was a publicity stunt. But I’m all for raising awareness about the problem of obesity in these here United States. In North Carolina, if you are enrolled in a state health insurance plan, your insurance premiums can go up if you are obese (seethis report). Good old southern cooking and Krispy Kreme donuts have made North Carolina the 12th fattest state in the Union. The prevalence of fast food doesn’t help.

Yesterday I knocked on the office door of one of my colleagues and found him doing push ups. Good for him. Isn’t our weight a matter of stewardship before God every bit as much as our finances?

4:58 PM Look at this map of Ethiopia, just published at theBBC: 

We have a responsibility, friends, toward our suffering brothers and sisters in Ethiopia. We cannot escape it. We cannot shake it off. We do not have the luxury of saying, “It is their problem and not mine.” Privilege and responsibility are two sides of the same coin. Christians in the developing world have a desire for help from American believers provided that such helpers come, like their Master, with a desire “not to be served, but to serve.” Praise the Lord for those who have sent us money to buy protein bars for our emaciated evangelists. Praise God for those who are supporting our health clinic in Burji, where basic care and medical supplies are furnished in the name of the Lord Jesus. Whenever I am tempted to doubt the faithfulness of the Lord, all I have to do is think about such people. I can rise from knees in full confidence that He hears my prayers on behalf of the suffering and the starving. My hope is in God, and He will provide.

Below: An elderly man awaits his turn at the Galana clinic. Although his name and village are unknown to me, he is as much loved by God as I am. Today over a thousand people come to the clinic for help monthly. Glory be to God.

For more on the food crisis in Ethiopia, gohere.

12:22 PM Farm Update: Came inside to take a break and grab a cup of coffee. Our project du jour is priming our porch deck boards (both sides). There are several hundred to do, so it’s a long term project. The Lord Jesus has created a beautiful day for working outdoors.

Nate and Jess are in Stovall (NC) working on an antebellum house that needs some fixin’ up. Of course, all 5 dogs are up at our house loafing —  when they’re not chasing butterflies or barking at birds. You gotta love it.

9:25 AM You’ll find some hot intellectual action here:Tim Keller on Preaching. A taste:

I am sorry to have to say this and sorry to hurt some pastors ears but again, there is more to the pastoral ministry and church life than just the preaching – there is the ministering of the ordinances, there is pastoral care and nurture, shepherding, leadership issues, and so on and on and on.   And in the end what does all this do?  Make you a better preacher.  Why?  Because you’ve been interacting with people, dealing with daily life issues and problems and successes and so on.

9:17 AM I find this essay by Johann Hari to be as percipient a discussion of the topic as we’re likely to see from The Independent:The three fallacies that have driven the war in Afghanistan. He opens:

Obama has to decide now whether to side with the American people and the Afghan people calling for a rapid reduction in US force, or with a small military clique demanding a ramping-up of the conflict.

Mr. Obama is indeed at a vital crossroads. He faces a crisis that he has brought upon himself, and the nation. What he will do is anyone’s guess at this point. Hari concludes:

The President is expected any day now to announce his decision about the future of the war in Afghanistan. He knows US and British troops have now been stationed in the hell-mouth of Helmand longer than the First and Second World Wars combined – yet the mutterings from the marble halls of Washington DC suggest he may order a troop escalation.

9:12 AM Okay, okay, I’ve been writing a lot these days about leadership in the church, and you’ll probably quit reading when I say I’m going to offer my thoughts on what a good leader looks like. But here goes anyhoo:

1)Leaders should be enablers. Their task is to equip and empower others for works of service (Eph. 4:11). Their ministry does not center around themselves or their pulpits.

2)Leaders should be examples. That is the clear meaning of Heb. 13:7 and (I am certain) of Heb. 13:17 as well. They realize that Christian education is essentially likeness education (Luke 6:40). Like father like son, like pulpit like pew.

3)Leaders should be able to teach. In Ethiopia, this function is frequently delegated to an “evangelist” who is brought in from the outside. The New Testament teaches that all elders are local, and that each of them must be able to teach. Again, teaching is done not only by words. But regular instruction in the Word of God remains one of the most fundamental essentials of Christian leadership. (P.S. Teaching doesn’t necessarily mean a well-crafted 30 minute homily. Why not step aside from the sacred desk and allow some interaction as you teach, or at least a Q & A session?)

4)Leaders should be able to oversee and serve.This means they need to genuinely care for others. It begins with postnatal care. New believers must be helped to read the Bible. They must be given opportunities to discover their spiritual gifts. They must become a living part of the Body, not just a number or pew sitter. They need to be given chances to share differences and doubts. Good leadership is never threatened by intelligent followership.  

My heart is to help the Ethiopian church to raise up such leaders in their congregations. See how totally pathetic I am. I just can’t get missions off my mind.

8:55 AM Drat! Even when he’s on vacation Alan Knox keeps on posting articles that I just have to link to. Here he continues hisseries on church life — and I mean church life as you may have never thought of it before. I know, external form is not everything, but it is something. Take a peak at his essay and see how you might use it as fodder in your own spiritual pilgrimage.

8:43 AM Quote of the day (Zach Kennedy): 

We never graduate from the gospel. If we don’t feel a passion for it, we need to keep reminding ourselves of it.

Wednesday, October 21

8:44 PM Check out this “mini-review” of one of yours truly’s tomes.

8:10 PM “The Gospel brings unity where disunity was before.” This was the main theme of our guest lecture today in New Testament Theology class as we studied Paul’s teaching about marriage in Colossians and Ephesians. My colleague Tracy McKenzie did a phenomenal job of walking us through the salient texts and rooting them in the teaching of Genesis 2-3.

I had never noticed before how Paul’s discussion in Ephesians 5 climaxes in his quote from Gen 2:24, where he says that a husband and his wife are glued together in a binding and permanent relationship. So, if I follow Paul’s train of thought correctly, he shows how a husband’s love is (1) a sacrificial love (never a selfish love), (2) a purifying love (he helps his wife to be consecrated to the Lord), (3) a caring love (he is not to seek his own physical comfort, pleasure, etc. but hers instead), and — perhaps most importantly — (4) an unbreakable love. A husband would no more think of leaving his wife than he would consider tearing his own body apart. As Tracy said, Paul’s arithmetic here is profound: 1 + 1 = 1. And the pattern, the exemplar for us, is the Godhead — “I and the Father are one,” said Jesus.

Becky and I are one. Jesus and His Body are one. Just as Jesus will never leave or forsake His Bride, so Becky should know — she should really KNOW beyond the shadow of any doubt — that I will never leave her or forsake her. Does your wife know this? Does mine? When you see the faults in your wife, you are to keep on loving and forgiving her. Even should she be as unfaithful as Gomer, you should still keep on loving her, realizing that she has not offended you a fraction of how much you have offended God.

Talk about “love”! Talk about raising the bar! All of this teaches us an important truth about the Christian life, and that is that the Christian life is first and foremost about relationships — my relationship with the Lord, and my relationship with others. Once we men learn how to enjoy that kind of fellowship with our wives, show them that kind of love, and bear each others burdens in such a sympathetic way, will we be fulfilling our vocation as husbands.

Incidentally, I took several pages of notes during Tracy’s lecture, including this one:

I just love being a student of the Word!

7:22 PM Speaking of books, Christian Archy is now available for preorder atAmazon.

7:15 PM Doug Chaplin has given birth to hisfirst book. Heartiest congratulations, Doug. I remember the feeling well, and it is exciting.

7:10 PM Finally, some good news about evangelicalism: Soul-searching evangelicals look to nonpolitical future.

7:02 PM Recent openings:

• Briercrest College and Seminar:Youth Ministry.

• Wheaton College:Arthur F. Holmes Chair of Faith and Learning.

• Regent University:Church History.

• Indiana Wesleyan University:Christian Ministry.

6:55 PM Fellow bloggers! Announcing the “Face-Naming Contest” of the century. Gohere and see if you can identify the faces of the portraits hanging on my office wall. Here’s a sample:

The first person to get all 9 names correct will win an autographed copy ofThe Jesus Paradigm. There’s one catch, however. You will have to agree to write a brief summary of the book on your blog. You say, “I don’t have a blog.” Well, why not begin one today?

Email your answers to dblack@sebts.edu.

One more thing: No fair right-clicking on the picture to see the file name.

6:43 PM Becky, Becky, Becky. What am I going to do with you? Here you’ve been struggling with your chemo all day and I come home to find you cooking supper. And what a delicious meal it was — stuffed cabbage (Greek style), fresh salmon (with lemon), and fruit compote. I don’t deserve you, sweetheart, but I sure do love you.

Monday, October 19

9:35 PMBig news! Nolan has his first tooth. And get this — he’s wearing the clothing of a 12 month old. And he’s only 4 months.

9:24 PMSaw my kooky dogs running after a butterfly today. They almost caught it too. Goes to show it isn’t just people who enjoy a special relationship with pets.

9:20 PMBack from Greek class. My wonderful students gave me a book as an appreciation gift. Way too cool. Next week we begin translating the book of 1 John. What fun. Translation is where the rubber meets the road (or, as we said in California, where the chili meets the cheese).

12:24 PMIf you’re on lunch break and want something interesting to read, why not check out theBethel Hill blog? Becky just updated it and it is good.

12:20 PMThe back cover just wentonline. I’m still looking for the blue canary.

11:19 AMThere will be Greek class tonight at The Hill. See you at 7:00 sharp.

10:54 AMCan you believe it? Becky is already organizing our trip to Ethiopia next July. We are taking upwards of 25 people with us this time. The Lord knew our work would need an organizer with a brain like a filing cabinet and one that can’t say “can’t.” Our home office is the strategic base for service to Ethiopia and a habitation of love for that nation.

I want you to know that your prayers are being answered moment by moment in regards to Becky’s illness. He continues to give grace and guidance. What more can we ask for? A poet once wrote that people everywhere need three things: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for. God has graciously given Becky and me all three. I believe that God’s overriding purpose for keeping Becky with us is so that we might continue our work of connecting churches in America with churches in Ethiopia and thereby motivate believers in both places to help establish His church where it does not yet exist.

Bec and I plan to continue our involvement among the Ethiopians for as long as we are needed and God continues to allow us the privilege. Whatever level of healing God brings, may He help us to understand what role He wants us to play in fulfilling His commission and grant us the blessing of doing it.

10:15 AMAllan Bevere has published his latestblog round up. And what a potpourri of opinion it contains!

A blog is an interesting genre, is it not? Somebody we barely know (or know not at all) talks to me about what he or she believes. I suppose one could argue that blogs are a subspecies of the novel. The less we ourselves have a life, the more we read about other people. The less opinionated we are, the more we avow the opinions of others. We think, Perhaps if I read the blogs today I’ll catch a glimpse of what is worthy of my allegiance! Through our vicarious experience we feel we are not alone anymore. We may even become so bold as to begin our own little magnum opus. Gradually we learn to what extent we live on myth and entertainment. Cyber drugs, we might call it.

If you accuse Dave Black of adding to the infernal verbiage, he will gladly answer “Guilty as charged!” I only hope that something I say might become fertile soil for my readers’ own cogitations. That, for me at least, is the ne plus ultra of blogging.

8:22 AMPraise God that funds have been committed to build a water harvesting system at the Galana clinic! We hope that construction will begin immediately so as to take advantage of the current rainy season in southern Ethiopia. Becky and I are constantly amazed at the tremendous work being carried on daily at the clinic. To those of you who have given sacrificial to make the clinic a reality, we say thank you. God has used your gifts and prayers to turn the clinic into a God-sized investment. Many people in Burji know little about the real Jesus and even less about Calvary. Who will tell them if we don’t?

8:08 AMKuyper College announces an opening in Intercultural Studies.

7:58 AMYou need to take the inaugural poll over atEvangelical Textual Criticism. I votedyes. And by the way, I agree completely with Dan Wallace that if we believe the pericope is not original we ought to have the guts to omit it altogether rather than seeking to appease the Bible-buying public by including it.

Just yesterday, as pastor Joel was reading from Acts 3 in church, I grated over the use of square brackets in verse 6 — all because three Greek uncials omit the words “arise and.” In essence, the use of square brackets tells the reader, “Oops, we printed the wrong reading in the text, folks.” Isn’t it time we did away with this silliness?

7:46 AMThis photo brought a smile:

Yellow must be the new “in” color for book covers nowadays. At any rate,the book is scheduled for publication on Nov. 2.

7:23 AMDeidre Good assesses Bible translations done by asingle individual (e.g., Jerome, Tyndale, Peterson). I have prayed about producing one myself. It would probably be in the vein of C. B. Williams’ masterful work. I guarantee it will look nothing likethis.

7:13 AMRich Lusk is brilliant. At least he takes the correct view on theending of Mark (.pdf).

Sunday, October 18

5:42 PMThe blogs have been debating the use of Greek interlinears, I see. Rather than burning your “aids,” however, I might suggest you use them or whatever else keeps you in your Greek studies. In my bookUsing New Testament Greek in Ministry, I put it this way: Halitosis is better than no breath at all.

4:44 PMMay I speak to you for a moment in an utterly selfish vein? God royally blessed my socks off today. God, of course, is under no obligation to do that. That’s why I say I am speaking selfishly. We do not deserve or merit any of God’s blessings — no matter how many times a day we recite the Prayer of Jabez. At the same time, God is a serendipitous God, isn’t He? As C. S. Lewis once said, we are often “surprised by joy.” And so it was today. It began by watching the way Becky was greeted by her church family. She was sincerely missed by all — and rightly so I might add, as Becky is one of the most lovable persons I know.

As she shared with her friends the marvels of God’s grace in the midst of pain and suffering, I saw in her a deep joy that is one of the marks of a true Christian. Her pleasure is her King, nothing and no one else. 

Then the service began. We are not a congregation that is unduly concerned about traditions. The music was great — Bapticostal, I call it. Note that we are age integrated, at least for the most part. I like that.

Our pianist is Miss Leanna, and an excellent pianist she is. I hear she is now taking organ lessons, and Becky is eager to play a piano/organ duet with her sometime.

Joel, one of our pastors, shared his heart with us about living out our Lord’s command to be lovers of the Gospel and lovers of souls. He said something in his opening prayer that was so profound (at least to me) that I had to write it down afterwards: “I’m so thankful that I’m not the authority, but the Word of God is the authority.” He also praised his dear wife who just gave birth to their second child, though a remark about “gas” elicited a number of chuckles from his audience.

Then it was our turn. Here we are singing “Amazing Grace” in beautiful four part harmony. Then we led the congregation in a round of the Baptist National Anthem (“Victory in Jesus”), accompanied by yours truly on the guitar and Nathan on his trusty gut bucket. By the way, this is no ersatz gut bucket; many a chicken has lost its feathers in that sacred space.

Pastor Jason — what can I say about him? Any man who would trek with me for 6 days among the Gujis you gotta like. “Christ didn’t please Himself” — I think of that verse when I think of brother Jason. He is a man who is absolutely dedicated to following Jesus. Today he spoke from Ephesians about the responsibility of husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. As he spoke all I could think was the verse to an old hymn: “My sinful self my only shame.” I am ashamed of myself when it comes to being a husband. Our Savior perfectly illustrated husbandly love, and I fall way short of that ideal. Paul sets forth a goal that is unattainable in its entirety and perfection, but there is no place for complacency on my part. God help me to do better.

Jason began his remarks by complimenting Joel on his “gas” remark, much to the delight of brother Ed. That’s O.K., Jason. Joel doesn’t get mad; he gets even.

After the message, the brethren gathered around to pray for brother Paul, a new deacon in the church. It is a wonderful thing to see the men of the church assume servant roles.

And here Chris leads his family in prayer at the altar. Chris is my Sunday School teacher. He has a habit of not using any prepackaged Sunday School materials, preferring instead to teach through the Bible verse by verse. May his tribe increase.

Nate and Leanna favored us with a piano/organ duet during the offertory and again as a postlude.

Here Miss Barbara tries her hand at the gut bucket. Move over, Nathan, I think you’ve met your match.

Jessie and her baby were the delight of one and all. I know I get carried away, so this is the only photo I’ll post today of my wonderful grandson, Mr. Nolan.

And this is the only other photo I’ll post today. Don’t blame me — I can’t help it if my grandbaby is so photogenic.

As people were filing out of the building, Nathan had a surprise for me. He had been practicing my all-time favorite organ piece, and it sounded wonderful on the church’s Allen Organ.

He even let me play the chime part. Have I died and gone to heaven or what?

I’m so glad Becky could enjoy all of this craziness in person. A Christian family is a happy place. When you commit yourself to Jesus Christ, you join a worldwide family of people who have done the very same thing. And what a family it is! I am deeply moved by the quality of love and caring we experience at The Hill. Are we a perfect church? Are you kidding? Do we have our manmade traditions? Yep! But there is hardly a place on God’s green earth where the rivers of living water flow so deeply. Thanks be to God.

9:55 AMWell, I’ve got the guitar loaded up. I’ve got the wheel chair loaded up. Now if I can get just Becky to the car we’ll be off like a herd of turtles!

9:48 AMOver at I Am Debtor, Paul addresses the problems associated withmissionary support. He writes:

I am 100- behind our current method of raising support when it accomplishes these goals in the best possible ways. But the fact is that, unless changes are made, it will become a totally inefficient means of raising support, taking longer and longer to accomplish. Further, with churches supporting so many missionaries at such low levels of support, lasting mutually beneficial relationships are hardly possible (at least I’ve never seen it accomplished in a way that would satisfy me).

Then he concludes:

What part can you and your local church play in relieving this crisis? Perhaps more than you think. Be creative. Think outside of the box.

In response, may I offer a brief story?

I had a friend in California who went to Denver Seminary for his M.Div. After graduation he was appointed by the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society to serve in Japan, his goal being to reach Japanese businessmen for Christ. At the end of his first tour he had not led a single businessman to the Lord. He described the problem to me this way: “Whenever I met a Japanese businessman I would ask him what he did for a living. I tried to show genuine interest in his life and work. But when he asked me what I did for a living, I had no response. When Japanese businessmen learned that I was a supported missionary they usually wanted to have nothing to do with me.”

So what did my friend do? He returned to the States and resigned from the mission board. Then he turned around and went back to Japan. He got a paid job (his occupation was teaching English to Japanese businessmen!), led several of them to Christ, and started a church. He ended up marrying a Japanese woman and becoming completely fluent in the language.

Now that’s thinking outside the box!

9:13 AMThe latest addition to our home page is called Freely Give. It’s a partial explanation of why Becky and I feel we need to fund our own expenses in our Ethiopian work, as the Lord Jesus enables us.

Saturday, October 17

8:04 PMBored? You can upload simple Latin stories here.

7:52 PMOnly 2 African nations were never colonized. One is obvious (Liberia). Can you guess the other?

7:48 PMDid you know that…

• 6- of the world’s languages are spoken by 94- of the world’s population

• The largest single language by population is Mandarin (845 million speakers) followed by Spanish (329 million speakers) and English (328 million speakers)

• 133 languages are spoken by fewer than 10 people

These facts come from a BBC article published today calledThe death of language?  This is hardly an academic question to one whose mother tongue isHawaiian Pidgin.

7:02 PMI note with interest that the Zwingli Verein in Switzerland has published an updated Zwingli bibliography (.pdf). To access it go to the Zeitschrift “Zwingliana” page and click on the latest issue (2008). When I was a student in Switzerland I was an avid student of Zwingli. I’ve been to his birthplace in Wildhaus and the site of his tragic death in Kappel.

On our way to Ethiopia a few years ago, Becky and I visited the Grossmünster where Zwingli preached for so many years. We still have many happy memories of our times in der Schweiz.

6:32 PMOver at The Daily Beast, Jon Krakauer, author of Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, talks about thelying and cover-up surrounding the death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. In politics, everything hinges on truth, for if the truth is suppressed the whole superstructure crumbles. Of course, the Bible is way ahead of us on this story: “Let God be true, and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4). Tillman deserved better than what he got. Thank God that his family insisted on being told the truth. And shame on our government for trying to exploit him.

You need to read the entire essay. I’ll only cite one paragraph, a most telling one to be sure:

As Kevin Tillman testified, “Revealing that Pat’s death was fratricide would have been yet another political disaster during a month already swollen with political disasters…. So the facts needed to be suppressed. An alternative narrative needed to be constructed.” McChrystal’s chicanery, Kevin explained, was “an insult to the Tillman family, but more importantly, its primary purpose was to deceive a nation…. We have been used as props in a public-relations exercise.”

4:55 PMWell, my walk was a fiasco. Our Sheba is apparently in heat (Nate’s male Sheppie agrees), but we’re not having babies on this end of the farm for a while —  too much goin’ on. It was quite a job keeping the lovebirds apart. Maybe in the spring, Sheppie old boy.

4:12 PMProof reading is done. Time for a long walk with the puppies.

4:02 PMHere’s the latest on Becky. So far her pain level has not increased beyond a 5. She’s back in her wheelchair; walking is too painful for her right now. We are both optimistic that she can attend The Hill tomorrow. I hope so. Nate, Jess, and Nolie Polie will be there. Nate is playing an organ prelude as well as a piano/organ duet for the offertory along with Leanna Johnson. There’s even a rumor that Nate and yours truly might get out the guitar and gut bucket for a special number.

So thanks a million for your prayers. There’s nothing like going to one’s home church, is there? Why is that? A local church is a gathering of people with many, many different wounds. We each need grace and love and tender handling if we are to be able to make it through life. A local fellowship of believers is the perfect opportunity for us to be “shock absorbers” for one another (photo). It’s a place where everybody needs everybody.

Isolated Christian, you have a big problem. (I could never say this if I were not your brother in Christ.) By saying “I don’t need Christian fellowship” you are falling into the trap of isolationism. No member of the Body is so endowed with gifts as to be able to go it alone. No member! At The Hill I am reminded that we are truly members of each other. We learn to flesh out this unity by visibly and audibly loving one another. There’s good teaching there too, of course, but that’s not why we meet!

12:55 PMRight now I’m pouring over the final page proofs of a book. I tell you, I have a love-hate relationship with publishing. I love writing while at the same time I hate to let anything go to the publisher. Nothing ever seems “just right” to me. Good thing I don’t have a perfectionist streak or I’d never get anything into print.

12:34 PMIt goes without saying that Bec and I want our whole lives to count for Jesus Christ. We want our lives to be spent in Gospel service. Now let me confess to you that we will have a unique opportunity to share this message with our entire seminary family. On November 5, I have been invited to give the “faculty lecture,” and I have chosen to speak on “Jesus, the Model Missionary” from Matt. 9:35-38. You can bet there will be plenty of pictures and video. It does not take a scholar to see that these verses are foundational for all missionary work. This is precisely why Becky and I seek to follow the pattern set forth in them. It is available for every one of us to use. And it is humbling to use it.

Please pray for us and with us that my lecture will bring honor and glory to the Lord of the Harvest and that He may send forth more workers into the field as a result. Remember the date: Thursday, Nov. 5, at 10:00 am in Binckley Chapel. Becky and I will be manning our Ethiopia table after the service and would love to meet you then.

11:15 AMJust met with my personal exercise trainer. He gave me a great workout. Had me mucking horse manure and loading hay. Forgive me, but I have to smile when I see someone tweeting that they just went to the gym for a workout. I too have a gym, 123 acres of it. I know of no better exercise either.

8:39 AMStop the presses! Becky just talked with Oshe and he says he is almost to Burji, driving the new vehicle. The clinic has its ambulance! All praise be to God!

7:58 AMHere’s Aussie John onMaking Disciples. He writes:

Conversion is about accepting some information given over a short period of time. It’s about good salesmen bagging their prospect.

Making disciples is about commitment to Jesus’ command to “make disciples” by long term commitment to individuals, who, in turn obey the command, “make disciples”, who, also, in turn obey the command, “make disciples.

And, I would add, obeying Jesus’ teachings. Nicely done, John.

7:52 AMJoseph Hellerman, who teaches New Testament at my alma mater, Talbot School of Theology, is interviewed atBroadcast Depth. Here’s my favorite quote:

We have lost too many well-meaning conservative Ph.D. students to the enemy, simply because many of these folks did not keep their feet firmly planted in the nurturing relational soil of the local Christian church throughout their scholarly pilgrimage. 

Way to go, Joe!

7:43 AMChuck Swindoll (who was my wife’s youth pastor when he was attending Dallas Seminary) offers10 Lessons From a Lifetime of Leadership. 

7:39 AMAs everyone knows, I was born and bred on the island of Oahu, and (before I became radical about Jesus) surfing was my god and Pipeline, Haleiwa, Sunset Beach, Pupukea, and Makaha my goddesses. I began surfing at the ripe old age of 8, back in the days when boards were made out of hardwood. There was one man in surfdom everyone knew about, and that was “The Duke” (he was usually accorded the definite article).

According to theHonolulu Advertiser, Duke Kahanamoku’s handprints will be auctioned off next Monday in Los Angeles for a starting bid of $8,000. These were the hands, of course, that propelled the famous swimmer to stardom in the 1912 and 1920 Olympics. The Duke inspired not a few young local boys to get involved in the king of sports. I only hope the proceeds go to a worthy cause, though I’m not holding my breath.

7:22 AMFather Damien is a hero of mine. Every Hawaiian knows of this Catholic priest’s sacrificial work among the lepers of Molokai. Recently the Catholic Church canonized Father Damien to sainthood, which is its prerogative. But, asthis author points out, the United States Congress has no business attempting to do the same. His conclusion reads:

This alteration to H. Res. 786 reflects the way that Congress, and the federal government in general, ought to deal with religion. Our government can recognize the commemorate the work of exceptional people without having to embrace or reject those individuals’ particular ideas about religion. Beliefs about religion are a private matter, not something that the government should meddle with.

I couldn’t agree more. If you want to learn more about Father Damien (Jozef De Veuster), thisWikipedia entry is a good place to start. 

Below: The site of the former leper colony in Kalaupapa, Molokai. Becky and I once flew over this site on our way to Maui.

Friday, October 16

7:53 PMCare for a sandwich —German style? Talk about embedding!

7:45 PMSteve Scott wants to get biblical about the Lord’s Snack — er, theLord’s Supper. His peroration is worth printing here:

Feast? Isn’t it interesting that the Old Covenant people could celebrate the Passover Lamb as a feast, while we New Covenant people sit on our hands in introspective morbidity? Ah, the new and better covenant at work. I make a motion that we drop the word “celebrate” in connection with the Lord’s Supper unless we actually celebrate. Anybody wanna second the motion?

Has our theology of communion gone to the dogs?

7:02 PMUpdate: Bec’s pain is now a 4/5 out of 10. The next 24 hours will be critical. I’ve ordered her to bed (after all, I’m a “doctor”). Our hope is in the Lord.

6:07 PMThe Barleys are headed to Denver.Here’s why. (Disclosure: Bryan is one of my students. Make that one of my missional students. Go Bryan and Megan!) 

6:02 PMHere are somefamous quotes on missions. My favorite:

“The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity” – Mike Stachura.

5:57 PMBells and whistles are always welcome in language study, and one of the most interesting comes from Denmark. It’s called Greek and Hebrew Paradigms Quiz. Try it. You’ll like it.

5:37 PMOn October 29-31, Chicago will host the 9th International Conference on Greek Linguistics. For paper abstracts, gohere. This is one conference I’d love to attend.

3:56 PMI haven’t published garden pix in a while. Time to rectify that, don’t you think?

3:50 PMOver at the Better Bibles Blog, Wayne Lehman calls our attention to an interesting blog post by Paul Helm onDynamic Equivalence. Wayne thinks that overcoming the atomization of our disciplines (biblical exegesis versus linguistics, for example) will help us all to produce better Bibles. I think he’s right. When I published my little tome on New Testament Greek linguistics back in 1988, I was criticized by both linguists and Biblical scholars for attempting to do the “impossible” — integrate Greek studies with the “secular” science of linguistics. Hackles were also raised because the author was not himself a linguist. Frankly, I wish someone else had writtenLinguistics for Students of New Testament Greek, but since no one else had tried it, I gave it a shot. And glad I am that I did. It opened the floodgate for subsequent books by Cotterell, Silva, Porter, etc. That the book is still in print today, over 20 years after it originally appeared, attests the high level of interest in my humble attempt at cross-pollination.

I will add a final thought: Whenever I meet someone who claims to be a Bible translator, I ask him or her this question: Are you bilingual? Unless one is completely fluent in another language I doubt very seriously whether they have enough experience in translation to qualify as a Bible translator.

11:40 AMI simply must voice my complete agreement with this delightful essay called Und siehe, es ist schön … Theologie zu lesen. Reading good theology is like watching the sun set over the Waianae Range while surfing at Waikiki.

I also agree wholeheartedly that Barth’s sermons in prison are some of the most uplifting messages one can read. But they must be read in the original!

11:15 AMJim West is having way too much funclobbering Chris Tilling. I can only conclude that our dear brother is seeking to discover his real self refined, reconciled, and fine-tuned at a deeper level as he gets past his parent-child hang-ups and moves forward into the next step. Peer-pressured fears can only forge us a steel backbone.

Or something like that….

9:51 AMI’m praying fervently that Becky can come with me to Bethel Hill on Sunday. She desperately wants to be there, and I desperately want her there too. Her bone pain is due to hit sometime today or tomorrow. Come, Lord Jesus, and do what only you can do!

9:22 AMThanks, Adam, for themention. However, I want you to know that I am never pedantic, puerile, pleonastic, or obfuscatory.

8:50 AMI recently corresponded with someone whose goal in life seems to be to defend the King James Version. I think this is a very basic human tendency.

I too was once an apologist for this or that position (homeschooling, for example), but no longer. Christians who thump Bible prophecy or the gifts of the Spirit or a particular view of the ordo salutis will always find a contingent of followers because most Christians have a difficult time distinguishing between what is important and what is of prime importance. We humans also have a tendency to want someone else to sort through the maze of information for us and then give us a digestible summary, so that we can avoid the real work of studying God’s Word on our own. What is the bottom line for you? What would you be willing to live and die for? We all have a priority system. I think a good place to start would be Phil. 1:27. When Paul says “The only thing that matters,” I suppose he really means it!

8:20 AMIn my new book I distinguish between (1) religion as based on a faith that is nothing but a reflection of ourselves and (2) genuine Christianity that is always based on revelation. There’s nothing original in this observation, but it is here that the battle will take place. In other words, we must join the battle at a deeper level than terrorism, political parties, solidarity with the poor, etc, since all these things are simply deviations from true Christianity. To rebuild the church we have to start at the foundation, not the roof. In the coming days and months I will be challenging my readers to go beyond their teacher, to think through the topic for themselves, and to flesh out the implications of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. Of course, more than anyone else, the one I’m putting on trial is myself. The Lord wants to blast us loose from our earthly moorings into a venture of real faith.

Will you join the revolution?

8:10 AMMore excitement overTHE contest! Will you be brave enough to enter?

7:56 AMOver at Reuters, Bernd Debusmann offers a delightful essay calledObama in the footsteps of George W. Bush.

We might as well face it. The more things change, the more things stay the same. Politics is bankrupt. The only righteous nation is the newborn people redeemed by the blood of Christ. Let us then be what we are, the Master’s Minority in a pagan world beseeching men and women to be reconciled to God. Then and only then can we expect any sort of social renewal.

7:46 AMThe Bible always provokes a crisis when people begin to take it seriously. So cheer up,Lionel. The Word of God is a precious gift. It allows us to see ourselves as we are. In its mirror we discover simultaneously how impossible it is for us to obey that Word and how impossible it is for us to ignore it. It constantly disconnects us from our egos and all of faith’s “constructive” forays into morality and politics. It alone suffices. We need no other word.

7:41 AMYet anotherSEBTS student has joined the blogosphere. Welcome, Brian. Remember: blogging is like voting — do it early, and do it often.

Thursday, October 15

8:26 PMBecky spoke with Oshe earlier today. He had some breathtaking news. I’ll let Bec describe it:

” ‘Oshe!  How are you?’  ‘I am very happy!’  ‘Why are you happy?'” 

To make a long story short, Oshe had two reasons for being very happy. First reason: His third child had been brought into the world without difficulty. In Ethiopia, this is not taken for granted! Women die easily in childbirth here. No hospitals, no surgeries, no aggressive interventions or superb diagnostics are available in Burji. Oshe has been stranded for weeks in the capital, a 2 days journey from Burji, looking for a vehicle for the clinic. In typical African fashion the job at hand had stretched into weeks, and Oshe was being faithful at the work, despite his concern for his wife so far away. He is such a rare servant of the Lord Jesus!  “Do you have a boy or a girl?”  “A girl!” “And what have you named her?” (I knew full well they don’t name their children for several weeks or even months…this is a practical tradition, as many children die soon after birth.)  “She is healthy. I think she will be named after the mother of my wife.”  This is another tradition; it is found only in the Burji tribe. The first son and first daughter are automatically named after the parents of the father, and the 2nd son and daughter are automatically named after the parents of the mother. Sometimes it is not until the fifth child that the parents have a choice of names. Oshe already has one son and one daughter…so now they are to the parents of the wife. “What is her name?” “Hantu.” “What does it mean?” (The meaning of names is very important in Ethiopia.) “It means replacement.” My mind immediately goes to all the possible circumstances that could have resulted in a parent naming their child “replacement.” A child’s death…a kidnapping…a war causality. And now, in Burji, that name is being passed from generation to generation.  “Please tell everyone who has been praying for me ‘Amasagenalo betam!'” So, “thank you very much” to all of you who have been faithfully praying for the safe delivery of Oshe’s child.  His wife and daughter are doing very well, and at this time all the neighbors are bringing his wife a very nutritious soup. By cultural tradition, for one month his wife will be waited on by everyone, especially her husband. She’ll have a break from carrying wood, cooking over the ground fire, washing clothes in a wash bucket or river, bringing drinking water on her back or donkey from afar. For one month she has only one job: heal from the work of delivery and care for her child.

Then we discussed the vehicle. We’ve been talking by phone every 2-3 days for the past 2-3 weeks, as they’ve been looking for a vehicle for the clinic. “I’m building a hut here,” Oshe wrote in his last email.  This was his way of saying that it looked like he was taking up permanent residence in Addis, waiting for this vehicle! Although many Ethiopians would love to live in Addis, not Oshe. His heart is definitely with his people in Burji. When we shipped the clinic supplies last Fall, he was in Addis for 5 weeks…a horrible, stressful time dealing with Customs…but he remained faithful and got the job done. And now he was doing another job for his Lord. We found 2 vehicles…the first was sold before we could move on it, and this was the second one. Toyota Land Cruisers, 4 WD, extended bed, luggage rack….anyone working in the rural areas wants this car. So our “competition” has been the United Nations, the Red Cross, World Vision, etc. This car is 11 years old, price tag is $52,000, including registration fees, taxes, etc. Today Oshe paid a deposit on the car, and he has taken it to an independent mechanic for a thorough review. If God is willing, he’ll pay the balance tomorrow and start the journey home. In the providence of God, the money I wired for the vehicle 8 days ago was received today.  And of the $52,000, we are lacking only $5,606. Amazing! We will take that sum from undesignated gifts. Thank you to all of you who do not designate your gifts!

Praise the Lord with us — for His care of a faithful servant named Oshe, and for His provision of a needle in the haystack, an ambulance vehicle for our little clinic in Galana, Burji, Ethiopia!

A personal note. In a very real sense, every Christian is a minister of Christ. Angels too are ministers, sent to wait on the saints (Heb. 1:14). To me, Oshe is minister, angel, and saint all wrapped up into one bundle. Discipleship is costly. Always. It cost American believers the funds to purchase the vehicle. It cost Oshe time away from his family. It cost our friends in Addis who helped us with the purchase. Christianity costs. But we get what we pay for.

I thank God for your prayers on behalf of this vehicle. It is this sort of practical working together, Americans with Ethiopians, that makes such an impact for the Gospel. And it is through prayer that God is free to use us. The result is that both the overseas church and the home church are alike enriched.

Praise be to God! Should we not fall at His feet with the treasure of our years, our service, and our lives?

7:12 PMJust received this email and photo from a recent graduate. Made my day! 

Recently I was approached by some Pastors about learning to read New Testament Greek. Clearly I am no expert but they pressed me into service. We are using your textbook and are three weeks into our class (we just learned Present and Future Active Indicative Verbs). The two initial pastors have been joined by two other students!

Thank you for impressing on my life the importance of learning to read the Bible! Also, thank you for giving me the tools and the confidence to try and return Biblical education to the local church. Attached is a picture of my faithful students. Continue to pray that I grow in my knowledge of Greek, my ability to communicate concepts clearly, and my love for Jesus.

6:51 PMChris Tilling’slatest blog post is too good not to link to. Not even King Jim would do something as audacious as this.

6:05 PMI see that my good friend and colleague from Midwestern Seminary, Radu Gheorghiţă, will be lecturing this Saturday at theAreopagus in Romania on the topic of preaching from the Gospels. Radu, I wish I could be there with you.

Radu was my translator a couple of years ago when I lectured at the Areopagus and in other venues in the land of my maternal grandparents (I am one half Romanian). The final picture below, by the way, is my favorite: the intimate setting of the Areopagus.

5:42 PMHere’s a picture of my in-laws dogs, all four of them.

I love dogs. They have an ability for melting hearts with their unquestioning devotion and unbridled enthusiasm. For me, Sheba and Dayda are more than merely entertaining (who needs a TV when one has pets?). They lend a touch of grace to my life. Dogs teach us the meaning of unconditional love. They teach us to appreciate the simple joys of life. They elicit from us the most generous impulses of humanity. Humorist Bill Keane once said, “I like dogs ’cause if you’re doing something stupid, they don’t yell at you. They do it with you.”

It is utterly foolish to suppose that animals don’t think or can’t communicate. My dogs possess an uncanny knack of knowing exactly how I’m feeling, whether I’m up or down. I have never owned a cat, though I’m convinced that cats make just as good teachers as dogs do. “In order to keep a true perspective of one’s importance,” wrote Dereke Bruce, “everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.” Truer words were never spoken.

To my knowledge, pets are never mentioned in the Bible. Just as strange is the fact that I — the ultimate pet lover — never had any pets growing up. My mother had a strong aversion to them. Today, I can’t imagine life without them. Numerous times I’ve seen how the love of an animal can heal when words can’t. My dogs remind me constantly that I must never take for granted the incomprehensible wonders of God’s vast creation.

12:57 PMJust enjoyed the best homemade soup. Perfect on this cold and rainy day. Thanks, honey! 

12:48 PMAlmost forgot to thankPhillip Marshall and Jamie Johns for hosting Becky and me at HBU. God stretched my own heart by being with you guys. It’s always refreshing to be on a campus that calls students back and back to the person of Christ — studying Him, obeying Him, and serving Him.

12:45 PMUpdate: Bec’s still going strong after yesterday’s chemo session. The real test will come in the next few days. We’re doing some proactive things this time around, so we’ll see what happens. We were blindsided the last time. 

12:28 PMOne of my most pleasant memories of our recent trip to Texas was our meeting with the young married couples class at First Baptist Houston. I’ve found that when church attendance grows past 150 or so, Sunday School classes often become the “congregations,” where not only Bible study takes place but people are prayed for, meals are sent to the sick, and socialization binds the members together. This particular class has outstanding leadership whom Becky and I were blessed to get to know.

I sensed a genuine commitment to discipleship — influencing other believers toward maturity. That takes close relationships and spending lots of time with each other. Anyway, we were welcomed with open hearts and minds, and Becky did a fantastic job of presenting the work in Ethiopia, as she always does.

12:20 PMI saw this landscape mounted on a wall in mom and dad’s house in Dallas and wondered, “Who painted it?”

I did. Years ago. I had completely forgotten.

12:15 PMI must pray for Mr. Obama more than I do. The president is faced with inexorable, ineluctable decisions that manifest themselves with all the force of destiny. He has caught his fingers in a powerful machine, and there is no way he can get them out except by a miracle.Philip Giraldi suggests that the president may have to sacrifice his hand by cutting it off so that his whole body is not dragged in. I wonder if he has the good sense to do that.

Forty years ago, Laurence Peter and Raymond Hall published a satire calledThe Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong. They argued that employees are rewarded for incompetence by being shoved up hierarchies until they reach a position that overwhelms their abilities. “In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties,” they wrote. The more complex the job, the easier it is for incompetent people to hide in, said Peter and Hall.

In this context, I maintain in myforthcoming book that Christian Archy offers us a greater capability of dealing with the present with a clear-eyed view. Our society has succumbed to politics, after having succumbed to religion. Our problem has nothing to do with politics. Nowadays it doesn’t matter what crises we face in foreign policy; we are the problem. The nuclear arms race is something we have brought upon ourselves. The upshot is that any reasonable nation with the means to do so will protect itself from U.S. hegemony (witness N. Korea). The world has become so dangerous because we are utterly incapable of ruling ourselves.

But I can’t yield to disbelief. I mistrust politics; but I mistrust Christendom even more. How poverty-stricken is modern perverted Christianity! To have the conviction that we evangelicals have the “solutions” is folly. The proliferation of solutions in all realms of modern life is a fatal disease. Jesus helps us to face this reality, if we would only listen to Him. Tragically, it is the church, not Jesus Christ, that is the major stumbling block for people.

9:54 AMJoseph Slife looks atthe month of October in Christian history.

9:54 AMLook at what Nate and Jess bought for me for a buck at the thrift store:

The Arabian horse was imported to America in 1730. Most of the Thoroughbreds of the eighteenth century were bred from the Arab. At that time Virginia was a hotbed of racing. In fact, not a mile from our farm stands one of the oldest race tracks in Virginia — a straight quarter mile. My own Arab Cody was the most perfect mount I ever rode. His only fault was his splayed forelegs. He was the perfect cross-country endurance horse. He’d go for miles without tiring. My heart broke when hedied of cancer a few years ago. I still miss him terribly.

What a marvelous Creator our Lord God is.

9:44 AMMaël has just completed his series on the “senior pastor.” He asks:

So what do you think, can the church operate with Christ as her senior pastor, or must we fall into pragmatism?

The Bible provides us with a clear point of view on the subject, and it binds us at the same time to listen to the questions of others. I hope you benefit from this series as much as I did.

9:36 AMThecontest of the century has begun!

9:26 AMI just finished scouring the ETS annual meeting program. What a great line-up of papers. I miss attending annual conferences — the presentations, the fellowship, the publishers.

But frankly, ever since I became intentional about missions, the focus of my entire life has changed, and most of my vacation time is spent traveling to serve Jesus in faraway places where the needs are desperate. The church exists for missions, not scholarship. Then let the church be the church — its activities all determinedly focused on serving a lost world in Jesus’ name. With that first priority fixed steadfastly before our eyes will come a true appreciation of the value of Christian scholarship. Academics will fall into place only when our first priority is seen to be — and faithfully practiced as — FIRST.

I know, you’re thinking, “Yeah, Dave, and m-o-t-h-e-r spells ‘mother’ and ‘a dog is a boy’s best friend’ and what else is new?” If you’re already in the Gospel business fulltime all this will seem trite and obvious to the point of boredom. But the fact is that the practical application of scholarship is a revolutionary concept. We will be out of kilter, out of God’s plan, if we let our scholarship become an end in itself. We’ll collectively waste untold millions of man-hours as we fiddle while Rome burns. We must not let our scholarship be first.

So, are you ready for a new, old, revolutionary, mind-boggling idea from brother Dave? This may seem like a crazy leap of faith, but why not try it? I challenge you to a dare. I dare you to invest as much time ministering in Jesus’ name among the nations as you do attending scholarly conferences. Speaking personally, I have found that being active in the world has kept me innovative, challenged, and occupied in the work I do for the church.

Remember: the greatest danger is for scholarship to be centered on itself. Then, whether in the classroom or the conference hall, it subtly starts pushing itself, not Christ. I believe one of the greatest obstacles to evangelization is the church that is preoccupied with itself. I’m not saying that research, writing, publishing, or attending scholarly meetings is wrong. They’re important to the work of a scholar. But beyond the flurry and din of the hotel meeting halls thunders the Lord God: “Go everywhere and preach to everyone.” The Christian scholar exists primarily to minister to the Lord — to serve and obey Him. Our scholarly life must deliberately revolve around Him.

Of course, the weaver of illusions will do his very best to prevent this from happening. He makes you believe in the supremacy of thought over action, and why not? It’s extremely useful for his purposes. This is yet another example of how our culture overtakes us. It is this absurd belief in the merits of scholarship as scholarship that strikes me as profoundly disturbing. I am most certainly not the first to point this out, but we have to become aware that the situation is critical today.

You’ll never convince me that there is any positive value in scholarship unless it is placed in humble service to the Gospel. Otherwise, I’ve found it to be empty, hollow, and noxious. Here, at least, there is nothing new under the sun.

Non scholae sed vitae discimus!

Cheers,

Dave

Wednesday, October 14

7:36 PMI tell you, the world’s cutest grandbaby grew at least an inch while we were in Texas. Why is it that whenever Nolan sees me he begins to laugh? (Don’t answer that!)

7:20 PMGod gave us a happy day. We spent 7 hours at UNC. Becky’s treatment went without a hitch, thanks to the outstanding nursing staff in oncology. Don’t think for a moment that I take that for granted. I don’t. So a huge “thank you” to all of the nurses (you know who you are) who treated us like royalty today. We’ll see you again in 3 weeks, Lord willing.

7:08 AMToday I’m taking Becky back to UNC Hospital for her second round of chemo. I’m asking God to spare her this time from the excruciating pain she had after the first go-round. Like the three men who walked in fire in the book of Daniel, I’m convinced that God is able to deliver from the furnace. “But if not,” Becky and I will not bow to the gods of doubt and despair. Sometimes God delivers from the fiery furnace. Sometimes He delivers in the fiery furnace. Either way, we are never alone. The Judge of the earth always does what is right, and oftentimes we get to know Him better in the furnaces of life than anywhere else. The Christian is not a cog in a machine. God cares for each of His children, and He is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we ask or think. At the king’s order Daniel spent the night with lions, but it was Darius who had the insomnia. Our God is able to deliver us.

7:03 AMI forgot to mention the name of the Ethiopian restaurant we visited in the Big D. It’s called The Ghion.You must try out their food — it’s extremely hot and spicy, like Ethiopian cuisine should be. I loved it. Like Atlanta, I burned all night.

Contact info: 7001 Fair Oaks Ave, Dallas – (214) 373-4464.

6:55 AMAt Houston Baptist University last week president Robert Sloan gave me a copy of the university’s new publication called The City. It’s a good read. Bob and I had a great time reminiscing about our days at the University of Basel and talking about the future of HBU. To read president Sloan’s 12-year vision for HBU, gohere.

6:48 AMGo ahead. Accuse me ofbribery or of talking in my sleep. But I will continue to speak the truth (in love)!

6:43 AMBothFuller andAshland have openings in New Testament.

Tuesday, October 13

7:55 PMJon Glass continues his excellent series onstudying the Bible. He writes:

Studying Scripture, learning Greek and Hebrew, reading theological books and commentaries are a means to an end.  The end is not only learning, it is about growing.  It is far too easy for God’s Word to become academic.  As the writer of Hebrews says, “the Word of God is living and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword.”  It is fine to spend hours seeking to determine the author of these words, but it is far better to take these words to heart!  May our goal never become knowledge for knowledge sake.  Studying Scripture is a means to an end, it is not the end in itself.

I like Jon, even if he does Tweet during our Greek class on Monday nights.

7:52 PMOur expected high tomorrow is 49 degrees. Where did fall go?

7:41 PMMy father-in-law graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1952. Here’s a picture of his yearbook.

Brad Lapsley is featured in the center left of this photo:

In reading the yearbook I noted that 14 of the 27 graduates that year were headed for the mission field. That’s over 50 percent. Would to God that every seminary could be as committed to sharing the Good News worldwide. Is God raising up another generation of Jim Elliotts and Nate Saints? I fervently hope so. 

Incidentally, you can take the man out of Ethiopia, but you can never take Ethiopia out of the man. Here we are enjoying some great food at an Ethiopian restaurant in Dallas.

Go dad!

7:20 PMThe SEBTS Socratic Club will feature a discussion called “God, Death and the Meaning of Life” on November 3. For details, gohere.

7:18 PMI am honored that Lionel Woods took time toreview my latest book. Thank you, brother. I enjoyed having breakfast with you in Dallas. Here’s a mug shot of the man himself.

7:13 PMCheck out theComfort Cafe for some of Becky’s recently published articles on suffering.

7:10 PMDo people realize that a huge chunk of what they contribute to Christian charities often goes to pay exorbitant executive salaries? Here’sone reason not to incorporate as a 501c(3). I think it’s a good idea to pay one’s own expenses when going on a mission trip or doing missionary work, as was the apostle Paul’s normal practice. No overhead means that funds that are sent, say, for Africa, go to where the needs are, not to pay for salaries, administrative costs, or retirement. As the Master, so must the servant be.

I have already noted on this blog that I am O.K. with heads of missionary organizations raising their own funds.  But profiting from donations – gifts that are sent to promote the relief of the poor – seems to me to be very poor stewardship of the Lord’s resources. I encourage all of us who do missionary work of any kind to keep the example of Phil. 2:5-11 in mind.

6:45 PMMBI in Chicago announces an opening intheology.

8:59 AMI see that Mr. Obama has received the Nobel Peace Prize. Not that it matters, but it seems to me that such honors should come on the basis, not of charisma or promise, but on the basic qualities of experience, soundness, good judgment, and the ability to be right in decisions of momentous impact. Perhaps the prize was awarded as a consolation for losing Chicago. I don’t know. But it boggles my mind.

8:59 AMI haven’t yet congratulated Jim West on hislatest achievement. The good Doctor’s incomparablewebsite continues to inspire the blogosphere with creativity, humor, and enthusiasm. It deserves an avalanche of goodwill. Dr. Jim, you are a sparkling fountain of dynamism, wit, and bright ideas. Your admirers really do appreciate you.

Meanwhile, I adjure all of Kipling’s “first-class fighting men,” the Fuzzy Wuzzies, to keep the pressure on brother Jim.

8:59 AMThis came in the mail while we were gone:

So did this:

For Becky and Dave Black, life does not get any better than this. Our grateful hearts their myriad thanks uprise to Him who cheers our days!

Monday, October 12

8:59 PM I took this photo not 45 minutes ago.

Nate is showing off his new eyeglasses. He’s stopped wearing his contacts in preparation for Lasic surgery in the near future (compliments of his mom and dad).

And Becky? She lost all of her natural hair while we were in Dallas, so here she is sporting her new hairdo. She’s just as beautiful to me as when I first saw her in the cafeteria line 36 years ago at Biola College. She stubbornly believes that God is in control of the world. What’s more, she lives that way.Becky and I accept each other as we are, with all our hang-ups and hold-outs. “Love,” wrote Shakespeare, “is not love which alters when it alteration finds.” C. S. Lewis once said, “Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. Love … is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both partners ask and receive from God.”

Becky and I are living proof that a good marriage is the Lord’s specialty!

8:45 PM Greetings, one and all. Just back from Dallas via Chicago. We flew space available and the flights were jam packed. But the Lord not only got us on these flights, He flew us first class on the Chicago leg and gave us exit rows on the RDU leg! Right now we are utterly spent, having had 6 private meetings and 10 public meetings in just 10 days.

Have you missed the blog? I sure have. But I think it’s a good idea to take an occasional break from blogging lest we grow too fond of it. Anyway, thanks for your prayers during our trip. I often stress to our audiences that Becky and I are just normal, everyday Christians, and that we are doing no more and no less than what every follower of Jesus is obliged to do. Sometimes I feel that the reason people put missionaries on a pedestal is so that they can make themselves feel excused from evangelistic work because they are not engaged in such “heroic” activities. I am convinced that we make too much of missionaries who go abroad. What we absolutely must do is to be sure that we are ready to count all things as loss for Christ and the Gospel, and then serve Him wherever He places us in accordance with the talents and opportunities He has given us.

Lord Chesterfield once said, “He who is not a radical at sixteen has no heart; he who is a radical at sixty has no head.” I was a radical at 16 and I’m still a radical at 57! Jesus — isn’t He enough to get radical about?

Blessings,

Dave

Thursday, October 1

3:45 AM Good morning, fellow bloggers! Becky and I have to catch an early flight for Chicago. Then it’s on to Dallas. For the next 10 days we’ll be speaking to congregations in Dallas and Houston, presenting the Lord’s glory in Ethiopia. Please pray for and with us that God will open the hearts of His people to see the needs and opportunities in the Horn of Africa, and that His people will respond in faith and obedience to what He is calling them to do. Jesus offers each of us the vigor of a fresh my-life-for-yours spiritual transformation. Resurrection power is what gives us our forward motion. Please pray that we will experience this power in the midst of our weaknesses, especially Becky’s cancer. We pray that our work may lead the church to a more simple confidence and trust in the Father. It is He who gave us the greatest possible proof of His love when He sent us His very own Son. Surely He will also give us all things (Rom. 8:32).

Know that we love you, our Internet family. Thank you for your steadfast prayers on our behalf. May God help us to walk through every door He opens, be ready in season and out of season to serve Him, work as if everything depended on our diligence and effort, and trust solely in the blessing and power of God to grant us success.

God richly bless each and every one of you.

Aloha,

Dave

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Friday, October 31

7:20 PM As you know, Nate and Jessie are staying very busy these days remodeling their house. Here’s the latest photo:

7:11 PM Over at LRCTom Engelhardt levels a charge of wanton destruction against the current administration. A taste:

They were undoubtedly being reminded that Bush Rules should rule the future, that no sovereignty but American sovereignty is ever worth a hill of beans, and that a newly enunciated Bush Doctrine “principle” – “you can only claim sovereignty if you enforce it” – should not be abandoned.

That statement about sovereignty is a classic. It reminds me of a saying we hear in Ethiopia: If something you own is stolen, it’s your fault because you didn’t watch it closely enough.

6:56 AM The latest addition to our home page is calledWho Will You Vote For?

6:52 AM How often should you blog? As frequently as possible. Even daily, if you can. But I gotta be honest with you: I detest sites that post frequently. Especially when their content is good. Makes me keep having to link to essays they publish, likethis one orthis one. But I think we can learn from their example.

Oh, if you need impeccable proof that daily blogging is biblical, just read Heb. 3:13: “exhort one another daily.” LOL!

6:42 AM Kevin Schaub has started an excellent series on Mark Strauss’s Four Portraits, One Jesus. Gohere to read part 1.

6:36 AM I’ve begun a very pleasant project — reading the second pages of my grammar revision (due out March 1, 2009). The original edition was typeset by the nation’s best: Eisenbrauns. B & H Academic has now completely reset the book, and I think they have done a splendid job of it. Kudos to my editors, especially David Stabnow!

Thursday, October 30

8:45 PM Guess what Nathan and I talked about today as we mucked out horse manure for an hour? The doctrine of sin. And which great theologian do you think occupied our conversation? Chafer? Erickson? Hodge? Barth? Calvin?

How about the apostle Paul. As in the book of Romans. Nathan is doing another personal Bible study, this time a five-part series on sin. He will type up the results and make copies available for his small church family. He asked me a number of questions. I kept thinking, “Nathan, I’m just a Greek teacher. I’m not a theologian.” He’d ask me anyway. But above all, he is sorting these things out for himself. Here’s how he put it to me: “Dad, we were taught the Bible growing up. Now I need to know for myself what it teaches.” I couldn’t agree more. And he’s doing it completely inductively, verse by verse and book by book!

8:33 PM My dear wife has been working non-stop on the clinic shipment all day. I mean 12 hours worth of phone calls, emails, letters, etc. Right now things are moving along — backwards. It looks like we will have to pay taxes on the shipment after all, if we can get it out of customs. Yes, I said “if.” There are many obstacles, but our God is able! Pray especially for wisdom and endurance for Oshe and Becky Lynn. Becky put it so well in an email she sent out today:

I told Dave, without all these troubles, we would not appreciate the clinic success when it comes. The degree of pain makes the success sweeter. It’s like birthing a baby…the pain of labor magnifies the joy of the newborn and the wonder of birth is enhanced. 

So right now we’re in the throes of labor pains…things seem out of control, there is no escape, worry & frustration dominate feelings. But we trust God to settle our emotions & continue to work out His perfect plan, according to His good pleasure, for the good of His Kingdom in Burji.

Your encouraging emails have meant a lot to Becky and me. As one writer put it in an email we received this afternoon:

We’re praying for parted seas and walls to come a tumblin’ down.

Amen!

8:30 PM Look what came our way today! Tons of stuff for Ethiopia. It came from a dear couple we met last year when I preached revival services at Smyrna Baptist Church in Dinwiddie, VA. They drove all the way to Rosewood Farm to deliver it to us personally. We had sweet fellowship and a good time of prayer for Ethiopia.

Thank you, Dan and Dorothy! You are precious saints in the Lord and prized fellow workers in the Gospel.

7:59 AM Who are they? Our Ethiopian missionaries, that is. Who are they? Let me tell you.

The words of Kipling could not be true of our Ethiopia workers: “The East is East, and the West is West/And never the twain shall meet.”

They are people who form one more link in the chain that is to bind the world to Christ. They are “laypeople” for the most part, without any official titles at all.

They come from your typical Baptist church. None of these churches is elder-led or age-integrated or has many homeschoolers. But the commitment of our team members is genuine, and they can truly be called “Christians” because they are so Christlike in their character and so dedicated to His cause.

Genuine brotherliness is their motivation, and they see in their ministry to Ethiopia a spirit of real unity.

The growth of the church in Ethiopia has been accompanied by intense persecution, but this matters not to our missionaries. Their highest interest is the kingdom, come what may. Through constant prayer they appeal to their God for His sovereign power and care.

Filled with His Holy Spirit, they are prepared to speak — and live — the Word with boldness and love for all.

The worldwide campaign that Jesus ordered means something to these people, and to the families they leave behind. For it is truly a group effort — sent and senders equally sharing the load and conscious of their responsibility for the task of universal evangelization.

Each team member has been selected by and represents his or her own local church, just as Paul and Barnabas were separated by their local church in Antioch under the guidance of the same Spirit for the same work.

Many local churches today are willing to commit their approval to missions but not their prayers or financial support. Not so these congregations. For them, the Christianity of Christ is selfless.

Through the Holy Spirit Christ now continues His selfless ministry through normal, everyday people.

So, who are they, these missionaries to faraway Ethiopia? Simply Jesus-followers who realize their work is too vast, too stupendous, to be accomplished in their own strength at all.

They are “no-ones” who love and serve “Someone.”

In Jesus, their strength is found, but in Him alone.

His message must now be proclaimed and applied if the world is to be changed. 

7:45 AM In my personal study time I’ve begun a fresh reading of the letters of Paul, in their chronological order of course, from 1 Thessalonians to Hebrews. (Did he say “Hebrews”?) As a general rule, Paul’s epistles were written when he was actively engaged in missionary work, moving from place to place in the midst of intense preaching and teaching.

I wonder: Would he have written better — or written more — had he been, like many a New Testament scholar today, sedentary? Would he indeed have written anything at all had he not been, at heart, a missionary for Jesus? Would we have the great Love Chapter had he not missionized the Corinthians? Would we have the marvelous Pastoral Epistles had he not planted churches in Ephesus and Crete? Here’s what I’m saying: For Paul, as for Jesus (Matt. 9:35-38), Christianity was a way of life, not merely a way of thinking or cogitating in the abstract. The experience of actually serving Christ was central in Paul’s ministry and writing. So I ask: Can one be a true student of the apostle Paul and not be a missionary?

7:21 AM Lionel isright: the church is all about people, people just like you and me — a bit hypocritical maybe, and sinful certainly. Lionel, you may not remember the Jesus Movement, but I was a card-carrying member back in the 60s. We left the institutionalized church in droves. After all, who wanted to hang out with all those hypocrites! Know what I discovered when I got to be about 16? That I was as big a hypocrite as all of them folks I left behind in my local church. So what did I do? Well, Jesus said, “I will build My church [not ‘My para-church’],” so I went straight back into my local fellowship and plugged in — big time: youth leader, choir director, deacon. At the ripe old age of 16. Preaching, serving, teaching Bible studies, volunteering for all sorts of things. Including loving…. Today I love this Body chosen by God to display His grace in the world. And no, you don’t have to agree with me on secondary issues for me to love you.

I remember reading about an evangelical church that believed and practiced age-integration. No youth group, no children’s church, no Sunday School. When they heard about a similar, though age-segregated, evangelical congregation in their town that needed help with Awana on Wednesday evenings, know what they did? Helped them! Their members went to that church and listened to the Sparkies say their verses. Compromise, or scandalous love? You decide.

One Lord, one church, one Shepherd, one sheepfold, one throne, one authority, one Body. 

Wednesday, October 29

8:20 PM Becky and I just got back from Duke Hospital in Durham, where she had her left knee aspirated (RA). Second time in 6 months, too. She’s resting comfortably now. I tell you, she is some lady. Tough as nails when she needs to be. God has truly blessed us with one of the best rheumatologists in the nation (he heads the department at Duke University).

Earlier in the day Nate and I ran fence wire along the road and our two driveway entrances in order to keep our dogs in and the hunting dogs out. A brisk wind blew the whole time as we worked in 40 degree temperatures.

Tomorrow we hope to complete the job by running a strand of barbed wire along the top of the woven wire. Then that will complete the fencing-in of the entire 123 acre farm. Special thanks to Jessie’s brother Jon for helping Nathan set all the posts on Monday. You were a huge help!

As I walked back to Bradford Hall I snapped these pix: my home sweet home, and these two jets flying awfully close together. I love watching contrails and know that if I wasn’t a Greek teacher I’d be an airline pilot (or a cartographer — I love maps as well)!

8:57 AM Lawrence Vance’slatest essay is worth reading if only for these two quotes from the great New Testament scholar and churchman, J. Gresham Machen:

Imperialism, to my mind, is satanic, whether it is German or English.

Princeton is a hot-bed of patriotic enthusiasm and military ardor, which makes me feel like a man without a country.

Incidentally, here’s what non-interventionist Chuck Baldwin has to say about ourforeign policy:

Neither of the two major parties has any interest in bringing our troops home. No matter which of those parties wins the White House, our troops would continue to be used for U.N. missions all over the world. They would continue to stick our nose wherever it does not belong. They would continue their utopian plans of nation-building, empire-building and international meddling. When I become President empire building and playing policeman of the world will come to an immediate halt and the United States of America will once again begin conducting itself as the Republic it was meant to be.

8:37 AM Question: When preachers use Greek from the pulpit, should someone be required to interpret (see 1 Cor. 14:26-32)? The reason I ask is this. Yesterday while driving to campus I heard on BBN a fine sermon in which the preacher, however, etymologized not once but twice. “The Greek word here [he named the word] is composed of two roots [he named them in Greek], the first meaning ____ and the second meaning ____; hence the word means ______.” Or something to that effect. The problem is that his definitions did not comport with actual New Testament usage. He had committed (at least in my opinion) the root fallacy, exposed so long ago by Don Carson and others (including little oldmoi).

Here’s the problem: Who in the congregation is able to check the accuracy of remarks like that? This is where Paul’s teaching about tongues in 1 Corinthians might have an application. (I don’t know: I’m just throwing this out). You will recall that Paul requires the one who might speak in a tongue to provide an interpretation at the same time. Or else someone else would have to be present who could show the value (or non-value) of its worth for the edification of the Body. In this way Paul sought to rob the tongues-speaker of the subterfuge and mystery inherent in “unknown tongues” without discouraging initiative of the right kind.

Maybe this is a good reason to always have a Q & A session after we preach/teach. I’m told that even the great Golden-Mouthed Chrysostom allowed questions during his sermons.

Just a thought.

8:20 AM Rick, I’m toldthe book will DEFINITELY be available at ETS/SBL next month. I think you’ll enjoy it.

7:32 AM Drip…drip…drip. I know I sound like a leaking faucet, but my mind is in Ethiopia again this morning, where exciting things are (always) happening. The latest news is that we were able to purchase 1,080 Amharic Bibles for distribution when our Burji team arrives next month. And we’ll have lots of help with distribution this time (Matthew, are you listening?)! Here are the nine passages of Scripture the children must memorize, word perfect, before they qualify to receive a Bible. It’s quite a task, but they are up to the job.

Here’s Becky with her “family” in the Burji highlands. She grew up among women like these in the very same mountains. The people there have offered to build Becky her own hut so that she could live there and, my word, I think she may take them up on the offer!

7:16 AM Kevin Brown of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro, NC, sent along a link to one of the books we require our Alaba team members to read:Ishmael My Brother. You can read the entire book online for free. Kevin and his are daughter will be making the trip with us to Alaba next May.

7:12 AM Lew Rockwell says, “Don’t vote!”

This year especially there is no lesser of two evils. There is socialism or fascism. The true American spirit should guide every voter to have no part of either. 

I’m a bit confused. I thought there was a third party in the race, and that Ron Paul was voting for Chuck Baldwin, who is certainly no “lesser of two evils.” At the same time, don’t look to Chuck or any politician to do what only God can do in our nation. Reform, if it ever comes, will be from the bottom up, one person at a time and one family at a time.

7:10 AM Scot McKnight’sThe Blue Parakeet is reviewedhere.

7:07 AM Interventionism is the problem, writes Jacob G. Hornberger. NotMuslims. It’s nice to see someone calling the anti-Islam faction on the carpet. God loves Muslims. All Muslims. And so do I.

7:01 AM Will an Obama victory meanthe end of the world? Not for me. I belong to a different kingdom.

Tuesday, October 28

7:28 AM Off to Wake Forest. Students, see you there!

7:23 AM The latest addition to our home page is calledChristianity’s Prescription for Sick Churches.

7:12 AM Tuesday shout out to the Bethel Hill Puppet Team for the great job they did at last night’s timeline rehearsal. Y’all are the greatest!

Monday, October 27

6:03 PM I’ve been sitting here typing away at my latest essay. Today has been gloomy and dark, with a fine rain falling all day long. But two minutes ago I looked out the window only to catch this glimpse of God’s green earth. Breathtaking!

5:26 PM No new developments on the clinic shipment and customs yet. Thanks loads for praying. Don’t stop now. Meanwhile, there seems to be unanimous and thankful agreement that the shipment even arriving in one piece was a miracle. It’s insidiously easy to lose one’s perspective if one is always looking ahead and never gratefully glancing backward at what God has already done for the Burji team. It’s really one of my greatest faults.

Today I’ve been enjoying some of Jessie’s homemade cookies, which are always beautiful to look at and pleasing to the palate. Her mom and brother are here for a short visit. Becky and I have been busy all day with Ethiopia things — well, Becky has. There’s still so much to do and so little time. I keep having to remind myself, “First the blade … then the ear of corn.” How Levitical I’m sounding! Tonight we’re heading back to Bethel Hill Baptist Church, where Becky will teach the young people the salvation timeline she has developed for the Burji youth.

Hope you’re having a good day wherever you are. And thanks again for your prayers for the Burji ministry.

1:57 PM One of our Ethiopian sons emailed us today. As always it was a joy to hear from him. He will be teaching a course in hermeneutics at a small Bible school in Alaba and asked for prayer. In her response, “Mama B” had this to say:

Remember, in hermeneutics, there is no substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit in a holy life. Remember the Apostle Paul said, “I didn’t come to you with fancy words, but in humility & meekness.” And Jesus said to his disciples: When it is time, you will be told what to say. The important thing about hermeneutics is that the preacher be holy before God, surrendered to His plan, following the Holy Spirit, and in the Word Himself, so that his preaching is an overflow of his own learning. In this way, the power of the Lord Himself can flow thru the preacher to the congregation. God made great preachers of simple men like Peter & Stephen & Paul…and He can do the same today as He did long ago!

All I can say is Amen.

Just think, if Becky ever started her own blog…..

10:50 AM Over at LRC, Anthony Gregory reviews Oliver Stone’sW. Here’s an excerpt:

Stone makes clear that the ruling class is people. Not just personalities, but individuals — humans. And these people are neither the embodiment of evil, nor particularly virtuous or incorruptible. The office brings out the worst in the man and his minions, and makes millions pay for it.

As I see it, the failed Bush presidency resulted from a combination of complicated historical factors, not from a man who was necessarily “evil.” False assumptions about the world, fallacious views of the Bible, intelligence badly handled or even manipulated — countless unseen forces were at work, all so illogical in one sense, yet so predictable in another. And undergirding everything was the invisible hand of Lady Hubris.

I dare say this is a movie that has lessons for all of us.

9:10 AM Last night Becky and I watched one of our favorite movies, The Black Stallion. Newsweek has published an interesting essay about the great American icon, the horse, and about the difficulty of managing horses in the wild. If animals aregood for your health, I have no doubt that my horses have had a salutary effect upon me. Winston Churchill once put it this way: “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”

Below: Traveler being spoiled with carrots during Student Day.

7:17 AM The latest addition to our home page is calledWill I Vote for McCain?

7:08 AM Good morning! What a wonderful weekend we had. As I said yesterday, we had an incredible time of prayer interceding for Oshe, the clinic shipment, the Burjis and the Gujis, etc. I enjoyed the fellowship enormously over at Cavel. The Body of Christ is a beautiful thing! I met a lot of new friends yesterday. Over lunch I enjoyed sharing Nate and Jessie’s amazing story with the group at my table. Happiness and gratitude envelope me whenever I reflect on how God brought them together. Jessie is worth a million. Actually she’s priceless. Don’t miss reading their story if you haven’t already. It can be found at Jessie’s blog.

Yesterday I also had a great discussion with a good friend about “lay” ministry. We agreed that a new spirit of volunteerism would go a long way toward restoring every-member ministry in our churches. Many men give their best working abilities to such organizations as the Boy Scouts without any pay. They feel honored to serve in such an organization. To them it is a worthwhile cause that deserves their time, energy, and resources. They give their talents to contribute significantly to its success. It gives them a sense of belonging in the community and neighborhood recognition. The key is motivation. The Boy Scouts is a “happening” thing to become involved in!

As I thought about the apostle Paul I realized that the elders he (or Titus) appointed in the churches were likewise all home-grown, lay volunteers. The genius of that strategy was that leadership grew naturally from within. There was a genuine sense of confidence between leaders and led because the shepherds were themselves, first and foremost, sheep. I feel very strongly that a wider use of the “laity” in our churches must be fully accepted as congregational polity. I so appreciate the spirit we have in our own church family that encourages participation by each member of the Body. The term diakonos is not restricted in the New Testament only to “full-time” workers. All Christians are servants, all of us are important in the Christocratic fraternity known as the church. And the church is every bit the church when it is sharing acts of love, helpfulness, and kindness Monday through Saturday as when it gathers on Sunday morning. The church is simply men and women in fellowship with God and with one another to equip themselves for Gospel service wherever they are in the world.

How I enjoy being a “priest” of the Most High God in this church! How thankful I am that the term doesn’t refer to officiants in a building but describes all believers in their role as ministers! How thankful I am for the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood! How grateful I am that all Christians serve in the role once reserved for the Old Testament priests — whether we are teachers, doctors, lawyers, clerks, salesmen, nurses, students, executives, politicians! Thank God for the “people’s church”! Praise God that in Christ there is no East or West!

Below: North Carolina and Burji unite, summer 2007. This is the beautiful Body of Christ.

Sunday, October 26

7:08 PM Ethiopia, we prayed for you today!

Special thanks to Jon Glass and the brethren at Cavel Baptist Church for hosting today’s community-wide prayer meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 16, six days before our departure for Ethiopia. God bless all of you who turned out and prayed. You mean everything to Becky and me.

Saturday, October 25

9:32 AM Quote of the day:

The genuine Christian never draws attention to himself. Genuine poverty of spirit means that self has last call on our plans, desires, and inclinations, that our first concern is to reflect the Christ who denied Himself for us, before a lost community, seeking to serve them, not antagonise them, to love them, not disregard them.

ReadDoes the Behavior Match the Name?

9:23 AM This is a big weekend for our Ethiopia mission teams. Today an all-Saturday event is being held at Bethel Baptist Church in Roxboro, NC, for the Burji team, while tomorrow evening Tabernacle Baptist Church in South Hill, VA, will host a song fest for the Alaba team. Meanwhile I’m much in prayer for the clinic shipment. I’ve committed the matter again and again to the Lord, and my mind is placid. I will accept whatever happens with alacrity. This is a good time to give thanks for the dedication of Oshe, who is an indefatigable worker in the Lord’s vineyard, and a volunteer to boot (we work with a lot of “laypeople”). As the red tape tightens he just keeps plugging away at the task at hand. I hardly need add that our work in Ethiopia would be impossible without the help and guidance of local church brothers such as Oshe, with whom it is a special joy to work. People of their stripe sacrifice a great deal for the sake of the kingdom, putting aside “things” for people. This morning my heart is especially grateful for them.

Below: The brethren, volunteers all, hard at work in Burji, May 2006.

Friday, October 24

5:45 PM Farm update:

1) Here’s Nate and Jessie’s new porch door. Neat, huh? They salvaged it in Oxford. Just needs a bit of cleaning and it will be as good as new.

2) Here’s Nate putting the final touches on his porch roof. He had just installed the rain gutter. Jess and I each held up one end (Aaron and Hur, in Jessie’s words).

3) Here’s the view as I went to check the mail down by the road. Do you think the goats enjoy the fall foliage as much as we do? 

4) Curious ducks at our pond. What beautiful creatures.

Right now Becky’s working on Ethiopia things. For supper we’re having delicious leftovers: liver and onions. Otherwise, this is Station DBO signing off. Good night!

4:11 PM I’ve begun a new Bible study: what Paul teaches about work. Would you like to see how I go about studying Scripture? First, I select my texts. For this topic I’ve chosen the following passages: 1 Thess. 2:9-10, 1 Thess. 4:11-12, 2 Thess. 3:7-12, Acts 20:33-35, Eph. 4:28. Next, I write out the Greek text of each passage.

Then I do a detailed study of the grammar and syntax, jotting down implications and parallels as I go.

Very convicting stuff. For example, with regard to Paul’s teaching in 2 Thess. 3:7-12 (“If a man refuses to work, he should not eat”), I asked myself, “How could Paul say this if his own practice didn’t conform?” I go on in this way until I feel I have covered the material adequately. Already one point seems clear: Paul had a very strong personal work ethic. He was not afraid of hard physical labor. He refused to demand support. He usually refused to take support. He met his own needs and the needs of others. He clearly did not covet material possessions. Et moi? I am gradually learning these lessons: work hard, save, pay your own way (when you can), do not become a burden to the kingdom. Use your money to support missions and help the poor. As a naturally lazy beach bum (remember, I grew up in laid back, hang-loose, “shaka-culture,” Hawaii), this has been a long process and a high learning curve!

2:35 PM We have been blessed with a glorious fall, but today it has turned cold, and rain is expected this evening. Today we had a delightful visit from Sheppie and Sadie, who suddenly turned up at our house. They came, I suppose, to visit with Sheba and Dayda, and everyone now seems to be having a jolly good time in the backyard.

As for human antics, after a hilarious discussion about where to place our new fig bushes yours truly set to work, “digging in the earth like a peasant” (I love that line from the movie The Great Escape). Here’s the crowning result of my efforts with one of the bushes.

Such work will, no doubt, insure the old health for a while longer. I’m still sore from yesterday and, while aches and pains normally don’t rate very high on the sympathy scale in this household, Becky was kind enough to give me a foot soak and massage yesterday evening, which was just heavenly. She even put on a CD of the Haven of Rest music we used to listen to decades ago in Basel, and we reminisced about those happy days along the Rhine. But there I go — bragging on my wonderful wife again.

On a more sober note, we just spoke with Oshe in Addis, who reports that, despite all of our precautions (official letters, licenses, etc.), our clinic shipment is being held up in customs. I feel it is all in accord with God’s will, and we are prepared to accede to the customs agency, but it would be nice if we didn’t have to pay duty, which would entail thousands of dollars. The Lord knows. And it’s all HIS money. From my point of view, however, I see no reason to stop praying diligently — now, it looks like, for a genuine miracle.

9:50 AM Yes, I know about “wars and rumors of war.” But must we be making constantthreats?

Update: Jim Lobe on the Obama factor.

9:34 AM English ison the rise in Africa, even in francophone nations. And it has little to do with the supposed “superiority” of our beloved mother tongue either:

English speakers often assume that this world role for their language owes something to its huge vocabulary and wonderful literature, or at least to the fact that Hollywood speaks English. Nothing of the sort. The sole reason is that the world’s dominant power for the past two centuries has been English-speaking Britain in the nineteenth century, and the United States in the 20th.

How refreshing to hear. Two brief thoughts.

1) How often do I run across a similar misguided sentiment when I hear some scholar waxing elephant about the complex semotaxis of ancient Greek and how superior it was to any other language language of the day. Hence the New Testament had to be written in Greek (rather than, say, Hebrew). Nonsense. Humanly speaking, there’s only one reason New Testament truth was inscripturated in Koine Greek, and that is Alexander the Great — a point I try to make in my essay on Greek in the new ESV Study Bible.

2) If English is on the rise in Africa, this is no reason for us not to learn the local “heart” language. This is true, I think, anywhere you go on this planet. When I served in Germany with Greater Europe Mission back in 1978 I saw American lecturers at the local German-speaking Bible school laughed out of the classroom because their German language skills were so poor. Germans are rightfully proud of their native tongue, even if many of them speak fluent English. Sadly, these missionaries had spent an entire year in language school and still spoke German poorly — and with a southern U.S. accent. Of course, there are three fingers pointing back at yours truly, for I still cannot speak Amharic as I would like to and have to depend on translators for my teaching and preaching. One day I would like to remedy this fault, perhaps by spending 8 months in country. The only hope, I feel, is the “immersion technique.” I do know this: Whenever I enter a village, the people are amazed and deeply appreciative if I can just utter a few simply phrases in their tongue.

9:05 AM Yesterday turned out to be one of those perfect fall days. When I awoke there was no trace of cloud in the sky, and every blade of grass was covered with a layer of frozen fog. Nate and I left for Oxford at about 10:30 to begin our roof painting job just as the day was beginning to warm up. With both of us painting as efficiently as we could, we managed to finish before dusk.

As usual, Nate painted the steeper portions of the roof, while I was assigned the easier jobs. And yes, we did manage to get to the Pizza Hut to enjoy its all-you-can-eat buffet just before it closed at 1:30. I left as gorged as a Strasbourg goose.

The fact that we completed the job earlier than anticipated allowed Nate to do another roofing job in the quaint village of Stovall in Northern Granville County. It boasts this little church building, the front doors of which display Nathan’s handiwork.

All in all, a wonderful day of hard physical labor, the results of which I am feeling this morning in my legs and knees. Great fellowship, plus I helped Nathan make a buck. Life is good.

Thursday, October 23

8:57 AM Nate and I will work ourselves to a frenzy today on a roof-painting job down in Oxford. We hope to finish by dark. Rumor has it that Nate is treating me to lunch at the local Pizza Hut, which is perfectly acceptable to me. I could tell you some great stories of painting tin roofs with Nathan but I’ll spare you. The remarkable thing is that Nathan is absolutely fearless when it comes to heights, whereas yours truly prefers to have his feet planted soundly on terra firma. An undaunted gofer, ’tis what I am. Meantime Becky and Jessie are heading off to South Boston for lunch and to get some things for Ethiopia. A ladies-day-out if you will.

And now, assailed on every side with demands of my not inconsiderable paint stirring talents, I beg your leave.

8:51 AM Zed or Zee? The answer’shere. 

8:45 AM In view of all the anti-Obama emails that have been showing up in my in-box lately, I thought this essay refreshingly on target:Christians and the Pro-Life Ploy.

8:40 AM Quote of the day:

Christian unity costs us something. It costs us our egos, our comfort zones, and our ease. It calls us not to avoid those with whom we disagree, or with whom we have issues, or with whom we’re in conflict, but rather to confront them head-on—and to do so not with anger, or self-assertion, but with love and grace. This is not to say we must do so with approval; there are times when rebuke is necessary, and refusing to speak the hard truths is a violation of unity just as much as refusing to repent of our own sin and ask forgiveness. It is to say, however, that we cannot hang back from the work of reconciliation, and we cannot let mere disagreement become grounds for disunity. We may be rejected by others—but we cannot in good conscience be the ones to do the rejecting; and though there are times when God calls us to correct one another, even correction must be offered with open arms.

Read Rob Harrison’sChristian unity.

8:32 AM Ethiopia, where Barack Obama ishugely popular, will soon boast the largestwind farm in sub-Saharan Africa. Ah, but the Galana clinic will be blessed with solar energy, thanks to the ingenuity and hard work of our resident techno-freak, brother Ed. Last year Ed taught a class in computers to the Burji leadership. This year Ed and his Ethiopian counterparts will be installing solar panels at three sites in the Burji district. Our solar panels are part of the clinic shipment that Oshe is taking to Soyama — your prayers are still needed for a safe arrival down country!

Wednesday, October 22

5:13 PM The clinic shipment is in Addis! And so is Oshe! He will attempt to get the shipment out of customs in the morning. Isn’t God good?

5:03 PM Over at Pisteuomen Michael Halcolm has begun a great thread onevangelism. Whoever is without fault, let him (or her) cast the first stone! This is one tough area. As I see it now, the Great Commission is simply about people — not methods, strategies, or programs. That said, it can be frustrating when you want to develop relationships with a view to evangelism and disciple-making and the people with whom you’re working are going very slowly. One of the hardest things for me to realize is that I may not be able to go as fast as I want to. I must slow down, pull back, and wait upon the Lord’s timing for these relationships to develop. I am amazed at how often I forget that my most powerful evangelistic tool is simply prayer. That’s why I have a daily salvation prayer list. Praise God that He answers prayer. Praise God for every time He has saved a person I’ve been praying for diligently. So I think it’s important to realize that the Acts 13 “breakthrough” we are all desiring will not happen without a supernatural intervention of God.

4:19 PM I took the dogs for a long walk today under a cloudless sky, making a complete circuit of the farm path to Nate and Jessie’s — the dogs spurting with health and happiness. Little Miss Dayda is losing some of her puppiness and is quickly becoming a young lady, though she hasn’t lost her puppy down yet. She has begun babbling in a language known only to her mother, but they definitely communicate with each other. I thought of Alan Knox’srecent post as I watched Sheba “lead” Dayda hither thither and yon, always running ahead at full speed with absolutely no thought of her offspring’s whereabouts, and Dayda doing her dead level best to keep up. I think that’s the way “leadership” works in doggydom and, at times, in the kingdom as well unless I’m greatly mistaken (I’m thinking of Heb. 5:11-14, where the people are told, in essence, “Stop dithering and catch up!”). Otherwise, today I have been working industriously on doing nothing, saving my energy for the post hole digging Nate and I have planned for later on today. Living on a farm is a tonic for anyone but especially for someone who travels as much as I do. I still have Armenia very much on my mind. The scenery was majestic and in places magnificent.

9:24 AM Just spent a few delightful minutes mulling overJohn 1:14-18 in French. Wonderful! 

7:38 AM At Monday night’s meeting, brother Jon Glass of Cavel Baptist Church spoke to us on the need for the richer to help out the poorer so that there might be “equality” in the Body of Christ (2 Cor. 8:14).

His was a moving call to share our abundance as Americans with others. For Becky and me this has meant cutting back, limiting ourselves intentionally, living a lifestyle that allows us to put more and more of our limited resources into working for the kingdom. God is urging us to excel in the grace of giving. It’s difficult to balance our own legitimate needs with the need to enable the Gospel to reach out to the ends of the earth. I so appreciated Jon’s reminder that prayer can never be a substitute for obedience. I’m not saying that Becky and I are doing this perfectly — far from it — but it’s our goal to do better all the time. As God knows our heart, “We intend to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of people” (2 Cor. 8:21).

By the way, Jon blogs here.

7:21 AM With the Bush doctrine in shambles and the war party embracing Obama, I went to the news sources this morning to see what people were saying, if anything, about the only non-interventionist in the race for president. (I’m referring to the Constitution Party standard-bearer,Chuck Baldwin.) What I find so odd is the strange silence among the libertarian followers of Ron Paul. It is ironic, given how intently Chuck supported Paul, and given the latter’s public endorsement of the former. There’s no indication that libertarians are thinking about cozying up to the CP candidate any time soon, even though Chuck’s positions bespeak sound economics and a sensible foreign policy (not to mention a sane approach to the abortion issue). This raises the urgent question of just how committed libertarians are to, well, liberty. The libertarians have made a point of distinguishing themselves from the warfare-welfare Bushies. They seemed genuinely surprised when their Gladiator lost in the primaries. Now that their man has endorsed the CP’s choice, it is no time for them to act as if they’re without a candidate who represents old-fashioned conservatism.

Tuesday, October 21

6:31 PM I see I wasn’t the only one gathering firewood today. Here’s a trailer load N. and J. will deliver to Wake Forest tomorrow. They spent most of the day in the woods collecting it. Life on the farm!

Right now I’m cooking Chinese for dinner. O yeah!

1:30 PM My project du jour? Wood-burning fire places (we’ve got five)…

… need fire wood. This should tide us over for a few wintry days.

1:19 PM Quote of the day (Matthew McDill):

Elders do have a particular role of teaching and higher expectation for faithfulness, but all believers have the Holy Spirit and are able to speak the truth authoritatively. Here we see that the church believed that these leaders spoke for God uniquely. To this false spiritual distance was added the recognition, power, and money that came from the State. Thus, we have a pattern similar to the clergy/laity distinction we seek in our churches today (though not necessarily with the State involved).

11:57 AM “Barry” Obama’s Hawaiian pilgrimage is recounted inthis touching essay. Eerie reading for me in some ways. We both were born in Hawaii, we both graduated from High School there (he from the prestigious Punahou, me from the run-of-the-mill Kailua — our schools were famous rivals), we both wore maile leis at commencement, we both lost our fathers to divorce early in our lives, and we both loved water sports and basketball (I surfed every day and, at 6′ 4″, played tons of basketball). He and I both value ethnic diversity (which I miss terribly where I currently live and work). I see he still body surfs (nice form too), as do I. No, I don’t expect “Barry” to bring sanity to our political system. But I don’t think he deserves the low-tech attacks he’s getting either. For a guy whose daddy went wobbly and who grew up (as I did) as an ethnic minority, he’s done well with his life. At least he doesn’t go round mimicking the Beach Boys’ “Barbara Ann.” I wish him well, even though he’s not getting my vote.

11:12 AM Wayne Lehman points outhere how helpful it is to check a new Bible translation according to paragraphs (instead of, e.g., verses). I agree. I always have my students examine a book of the New Testament paragraph by paragraph. They may write their term papers on any paragraph of their choice from the New Testament (whether the paragraph is 1 verse or 12 verses in length). The paragraph, it seems to me, is a basic (if not the basic) thought unit in a discourse. This is one reason I am so befuddled that at the ETS meeting next month several different New Testament exegetes have been asked to analyze Phil. 2:6-11, when everybody knows that the paragraph begins in verse 5. Several years ago I tried to examine the discourse (and paragraph) structure of Philippians in a quest to discover the linguistic macrostructure of the letter, a letter that is beautifully and wonderfully made. One of the things I discovered is that 2:5-11 is simply the illustration of the exhortation of 2:1-4, the latter being the heart of the epistle expressing the rhetorical exigence for Paul’s taking up his pen in the first place: the need for unity in the cause of the Gospel. So it will be interesting to see how all this plays out at the meeting. One thing I know: the more I attempt exegesis, the more I’m confronted with my own limitations and the need to dig deeply before teaching from the text.

7:53 AM I just received this email from a professor in a major evangelical university. Read it and weep (emphasis in red has been added).

Dear Colleagues:

Greetings. I write this letter to several of you at the Seminary because I am coming to Raleigh to speak at an event on Saturday Nov. 8 related to the _____, in my capacity as ________.

I … would like to minister at the Seminary by giving a presentation to your Chapel or other venue, or to speak at a big Baptist Church in the area. Since I am coming to Raleigh for the other event, I offer my services to you. Most of my expenses are already paid, so all I would need is an honorarium.

The reason I am bold to write you is because I am a licensed Baptist pastor (with the _______________ Church), I am a dynamic speaker using PowerPoint, I am the Director of the world-renowned _______ Institute, and am official editor of the _________. My presentation on _______ is powerful, faithful to Scripture, and a strong apologetic for the Christian faith. It is very well received among believers, especially Baptist seminaries and colleges and Churches, where the Scriptures are revered. I received a standing ovation at _______ Seminary and at _________….

I am sorry for the rather short notice, but I guarantee my presentation will exceed your expectations, and your students will be greatly encouraged in their faith and learning.

Your in Christ,
With best wishes,

As the character in Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Children says, while watching a TV evangelist appeal for money: “If Jesus came back and saw what’s going on in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.”

7:45 AM On Sunday, as I enjoyed lunch with a group of seminarians, our conversation turned for a brief moment to Jesus’ words about titles. I had to admit that I ask my students to call me Brother Dave or simply Dave. The reason is because I tend to take Jesus’ words literally. Actually, this topic also came up three weeks ago in my class at the Baptist seminary in Armenia, though these Baptists already had the good sense to call one another — including their president and teachers — brother (or sister). They did tell me one sad story about an American professor who, when called by the students “Brother Dan,” make it very clear that he was to be addressed as “Doctor Dan.” I often wonder why we’re so consumed with our petty, worldly titles and feel we need to puff up ourselves at the expense of the brotherhood. Even Jesus is not ashamed to use the “B-word” with us. I can’t help but think about the Rev. Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice, who’s always extolling the “condescension” of his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. “If you do what I do, she may very well favor you with some portion of her notice.”

Some of us seem incapable of admitting our humanity, spouting a bunch of gobbledygook about “maintaining the respect of the office.” Gracious, haven’t we ever read Matt. 23:8? I like what theESV Study Bible says about Phil. 2:7:

Paul is not saying that Christ became less than God or “gave up” some divine attributes…. Rather, he is stressing that Christ, who had all the privileges that were rightfully his as king of the universe, gave them up to become an ordinary Jewish baby bound for a cross…. While he had every right to stay where he was, in a position of power, his love drove him to a position of weakness for the sake of sinful mankind….” (p. 2283).

If Jesus could do all this for us, surely we can lay aside our thrones, titles, degrees, robes, collars, diplomas, podiums, platforms, etc.

All that to say this: Last night, before I got up to address the messengers of the Beulah Baptist Association, I was introduced simply as “Brother Dave.” Thanks, Jason. What an honor!

7:05 AM My body is in Virginia, but my mind wanders disobediently back to Ethiopia, where even now the clinic shipment is (we hope) about to be loaded onto a truck and driven to Soyama in Burji. In the great pendulum swings of history, God is still very much at work in the small places of the world. So do pray for our dear brother Oshe as he sees that the shipment arrives safely in Burji-land. He has a very grave load of responsibility.

Monday, October 20

9:46 AM I’ve been reading my copy of the newESV Study Bible that the publishers so graciously sent me. I am very impressed with the layout. Some statements are destined to become classics: “[T]hese verses were written not to spur Christians to theological debate but to encourage greater humility and love” (p. 2282, with reference to the Christ hymn in Phil. 2:5-11). On the other hand, on p. 2367 we read, concerning the authorship of Hebrews, “It seems that the judgment expressed by Origen (d. c. A. D. 254) remains correct: ‘Who actually wrote the epistle, only God knows’ (cited in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 6.25.14).” Such agnosticism will not do. Origen, who consistently quoted Hebrews as Paul’s, was uncertain only as to the penman or amanuensis (see “Origen on the Authorship of Hebrews“). Too bad the editors didn’t catch that one. At any rate, I’m enjoying reading this magnificent tome.

7:24 AM Good Monday morning, blogging friends! I’m sitting here watching the fog rise over the pond and thinking, “You are the most blessed man alive.” Not only do I have a great family. Not only do I get to travel the world to share the love of Jesus. Not only do I get to teach the greatest students in the greatest seminary on earth. On top of everything else I get to visit and preach in the greatest churches Sunday after Sunday. Yesterday brought me to Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Colonial Heights, Virginia, where I spoke in their 3 morning services. What a great group of enthusiastic Jesus followers. The church boasts several SEBTS students, and afterwards they treated me to lunch at the local Olive Garden. I was glad (but not surprised) to see they were as interested in missions as they were in Greek!

An additional serendipity: one of them took me to see Robert E. Lee’s headquarters during the siege of Petersburg. Lee was camped here on the morning of July 30, 1864 and heard the explosion of the “Crater.” What fascinating architecture, including the recessed front porch.

Finally, here’s one for Nathan. It’s the second largest magnolia tree in the world. It was planted in 1718. It stands just outside Lee’s HQ. Magnificent.

Tonight I speak at the Beulah Baptist Association’s annual meeting near Yanceyville, NC, which is also noted for its historic homes. I may go early and try to get some pix. I see that my good buddy Alvin Reid is tomorrow’s night’s speaker. Alvin has a great, missional blog.Check it out when you can.

Oh, oh — I just noticed that 3 of our bulls have gotten out of the pasture! Gotta run….  

Saturday, October 18

9:29 AM I was standing in line for a visa at the Yerevan airport when I ran into a group of elderly French tourists. They spoke not a word of English. I regretted intensely that my French was so weak, but it had to suffice. They appreciated the effort, though at one moment they were blushing and at the next rolling with laughter. At any rate, it is no shame to admit it when your language skills get a bit rusty, and for anyone needing to refresh their French I can think of no more helpful or interesting site than Celucien Joseph’sTheological French. See if you don’t agree.

9:18 AM The latest addition to our home page is calledChristian Archy: Some Implications. 

Friday, October 17

4:26 PM Been a good day so far. Despite the rain, I was able to paint the back porch, and Nate worked on framing in his back porch pantry. Meanwhile the trees are beginning to put on their autumn garb, and soon the farm will be ablaze with color. On the political front, as yet my opinions of McCain and Obama haven’t changed. Americans will apparently decide the election based on the relative priority they give to the economy versus social issues. I find little moral foundation in any of this. As if politics was the panacea of the evils of society! No matter who wins, the new New Deal is here to stay I’m afraid. “Government must intervene to relieve the suffering of the people” has become the unchallenged and unchallengeable mantra of the day.

For dinner tonight we are driving down to Henderson, NC, to get some trout at the famous 220 Seafood Restaurant. Actually, eating out this evening was the request of our yet-to-be-born grandchild (so says Jessie!), and as you can see Becky and I are quite ready to spoil him. Thus far I’m one third of the way into my sabbatical and am enjoying it immensely. I’m feeling great, exercising regularly, and enjoying myself in spite of the rigors of travel and writing. At times I feel like a one-armed paper hanger! But truth be told, I am anxious to get back into the classroom this January. So far I’ve had a delightful and enlightening time wandering around the planet and am conjecturing that my forthcoming trips will be just as interesting and, I hope and pray, beneficial to the kingdom.

I was deeply touched today when Becky found a small envelope in our Ethiopia things containing a 5 dollar bill from a child — unsigned. Just a simple token of anonymous love. God knows the giver. It brought sunshine in the midst of a cold drizzle. Amazing how even children can distinguish the wheat from the chaff and appreciate true values!

Off to get our trout and hushpuppies.

9:33 AM Here’s an important update on the Burji Box:

• It left RDU for Atlanta yesterday.

• Tomorrow it flies from Atlanta to Frankfurt.

• On Monday it flies from Frankfurt to Addis Ababa.

• It should clear customs on Monday.

Sometime thereafter it will head to Soyama, the town seat of Burji, through dangerous Guji territory. (The road has been cut off numerous times recently. I did manage to get through last June.)

Needless to say, we are praying fervently for a safe delivery of the clinic supplies and solar panels and especially for the physical safety of the Burjis who will be in the truck. At our Burji team prayer meeting last night, I thought Cindy put it so well when she prayed: “Lord, send your holy angels to surround that vehicle. But whatever happens to it, help us not to get our eyes off Jesus.” Amen!

8:35 AM Good morning! Care for another brief update about my recent trip?

Armenia is the smallest of the former Soviet republics. It is full of gorgeous mountain ranges. Yerevan, the capital, sits in a valley ringed on 3 sides by hills. Its history dates back to 782 BC. The plains around Yerevan have an unobstructed view of Mount Ararat, rising majestically in neighboring Turkey.

The weather in Yerevan was ideal, with temperatures averaging 75 degrees in the daytime and 50 at night. Huge, defunct factories and apartments, a legacy of the former Soviet Union, are everywhere to be seen. This tenement building houses refugees from Azerbaijan. What a missions opportunity to show the love of Jesus! Any takers?

One-fifth of the population of Armenia lives in the capital city (1.1 million). Armenians have very close ties to the U.S., Russia, and Iran, and most Armenians have at least one wage earner in the Russia and the U.S. Armenians are very proud of the fact that theirs was the first nation to officially embrace Christianity in 301 AD (several years before Constantine), though only a few churches today hold regular Sunday services. 90 percent of Armenians belong to the Apostolic Orthodox Church, and Echmiadzin, where I lectured, is the Armenian equivalent of the Vatican.

I was told that Armenians prize education and books above everything else. I can attest that it is true. I was able to give 8 of my books to the president of Arya University in Yerevan for his school library. Arya is dedicated to Iranian and Caucasus studies and even sponsors a major journal called Iran and the Caucasus (published by Brill). The university is only two years old but already offers masters degrees and doctorates, mostly to Iranian ex-pats.

The president is a renowned linguist, and we spent what seemed like hours discussing the intricacies of Old Persian or Ancient Greek or Classical Latin. When he invited me to lecture to his students I readily agreed. Here I am speaking on Greek morphology to a group of eager first year students. Because they already knew the Cyrillic alphabet, they easily picked up the Greek ABCs. I tried to show them how magnificently God has structured the Greek language, and every language for that matter.

Later in the week I was invited back to speak on the subject of American evangelicalism. My audience was very attentive and even laughed at my silly jokes. It was possible for me to give a clear testimony to the grace of the Lord Jesus in my life and how His Gospel has changed me and IS changing me. I said, “Religion says to mankind, ‘Here’s a book. Obey it!’ Christianity says to mankind, ‘Here’s My Son Jesus. Know Him. Love Him. Trust Him. Serve Him. Follow Him.”

In Ashtarak, a 30-minute drive northwest of Yerevan, I spent a wonderful week teaching the students at the Armenian Theological Seminary, whose new building was erected with the help of North Carolina Baptists.

I lectured 5 times daily, Monday through Friday, and spoke in chapel every morning. I taught the “brothers” how to use Greek in ministry (drawing from my book by that title). (The “sisters” at the seminary are taught separately.) Here’s my hardworking class.

We spent most of our time doing what I like to do best: exegeting specific texts of Scripture, including the opening salutation of Galatians (photo), asking ourselves, “Why is Paul so longwinded and what is the point he is trying to make?”  The structure of the passage gave us clear answers! We also exegeted (in Greek) Rom. 1:1-7, Phil. 1:9-11, Heb. 6:4-8, Heb. 12:1-2 and other key New Testament passages. The students (and I too) were blown away by the beauty of the inspired text — not only its words, but its tenses, moods, participles, structure, etc. We saw 2 Tim. 3:16 in action!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed doing all this teaching and lecturing. I especially enjoyed showing students how practical the New Testament is, and how clearly it focuses not on any man, not on any pastor, but on JESUS. The goal of a seminary education is not head knowledge — a thousand times NO! If Christianity is to make any headway in countries like Armenia, it must be proved to be more than a theory, and we teachers must show by our walk the reality of lives transformed by the mighty power and love of God. We must demonstrate to a culture that worships knowledge and academic achievement that book learning is dead and worthless unless we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, surrendering EVERYTHING in our lives that would interfere with this. As a teacher, this means that I must be just as Christlike to my students as I am to university presidents. As for lecturing at Arya, I desperately wanted my non-Christian audiences to see and know that God loves them with more than the love of friendship. He loves them as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.

Here’s a challenge for you young students, especially all of you doctoral students. Why not use your education on the mission field? Opportunities abound, both for long- and short-term teaching. Even secular universities are willing to open their doors to qualified students, not to mention all the seminaries that are in desperate need of teachers. Just last year I received an email from an American evangelical who is using my beginning grammar in a Greek class at Shanghai University in China! So, instead of taking that vacation in the Bahamas or at Disney World, why not INVEST your education in teaching for a week or two in Armenia or Romania or Ethiopia? I talk a lot here about having a Great Commission Marriage and a Great Commission Family. How about a Great Commission DOCTORATE?

Stepping off my soapbox now. Hard to believe that my next trip abroad begins in only 23 days —  IF my visa is granted!

Thursday, October 16

5:58 AM Off to Wake Forest!

5:56 AM Our family loves old things, especially old houses. While I was gone, Nate and Jessie had a chance to visit one of North Carolina’s most historic homes. Here are a few pix of their tour. I’ll let Nate write the text. Enjoy!

Hill Airy is the plantation home of the Gregory family of Granville County, established on land that had been granted them by King George during colonial days. They originally were granted 25,000 acres on one side of the highway (now US15)  and 35,000 acres on the the other. 4,000 acres are still in the family, owned by Herbert Gregory.  At our request, he was more than happy to give us a guided tour of his family property and homes, though he now resides in a new home he recently built nearby. 

The oldest home on the property was built in the 1830s. It is one and one half stories with a full finished basement. It is built in the then-emerging Greek Revival style. An unusual feature is the recessed porch, fitting between two rooms on the main floor level. The inside of the porch is treated as a room would be, with flush boards and wainscoting. 

The rear of the house is even prettier than the front. The one story appearance of the house disguises the immense size of the structure, with a full finished basement and attic rooms. The foundation and chimneys were built with large cut stones, hewn to a flat, square surface. Nearby is the only remaining 1800s flour mill in Granville County, built by the Gregorys in 1847 (the other 2 historic mills in Granville were demolished in the last few years). 

The side door on the right leads to what was a food preparation area “pantry.” The kitchen used to be in the yard about 200 feet from this porch. The door on the left leads directly into the dining room.  You can see where later occupants of the house added a smaller brick chimney beside the original large one to use with a woodstove.

A close-up of the front porch, with its flush sheathed boards and wainscoting in the manner of an interior room.

When you come in the front door, you are in the central hall, with stairs both to the upstairs bedrooms and down to the finished basement.

The formal dining room. The door on the right leads to a small porch. The door on the left is fake, only being put there to provide symmetry on the wall.   

The bedrooms upstairs are built within the roof of the house, with each room having 4 dormer windows and a fireplace. There is also a small room at the head of the stairs that may have been a bedroom at one time.

Close view of one of the dormer windows.

The formal parlor also has flush wainscoting and Greek Revival details. This mantel is a good example of the early style of Greek revival, before it became commonplace in Granville County.

In the 1890s, the Gregory family built a newer farm in a different part of the plantation, and used the older homeplace as a tenant house for many years.  The following pictures are from the part of the farm established in 1895. Their barn looks like it would belong more in Amish country or the Valley of Virginia than rural Granville! It has a lot of detailed woodwork on the eaves and over the openings. Hill Airy still has a herd of Angus cattle that roams the pastures.

Behind the 1895 house is this neat building, a smokehouse with a shed added around it.  Quite an unusual shape, don’t you think?

Mr. Gregory allowed us to drive around the farm and look at all the old buildings. We found this old barn in a back pasture along with a log tenant house and other tobacco-related structures all dating from the early 1900s.

The Gregorys moved from their old house into this house in the 1890s. What at first glance looks to be an ordinary farmhouse is on closer inspection a finely detailed old place. Note the double-stepped chimney. 

When you need more space, just add on! Here is the union of 1895 and 1930s!

The porch is one of the most ornate ones you’ll find in rural houses.

Here is the detail work on the roof of the porch. 

Hill Airy plantation has been the home of the Gregorys for over two centuries, and it is neat to see how a property changes to suit each successive generations’ needs. 

Wednesday, October 15

6:36 PM Becky’s in the kitchen cooking up a storm. Spaghetti with all the fixings. Want to see what we did today? The sheathing boards are up, and the framing is completed. How do you like Nate’s porch windows?

He’s using old-fashioned roofing tiles, like the ones on the rest of his house. Where he salvaged these from, only he knows. He is the world’s greatest scavenger. 

Today was a first for Sadie. Nate and Jess let her in with the goats. Her herding instinct kicked in right away. Neat to watch.

Way to go, Miss Sadie!

I want you to note carefully who is doing all the work in this photo. Sure keeps you in shape. (I thought of calling this picture, “Lee and Jackson fighting the Battle of the Bulge.”) 

I’m told N and J are bringing up some popcorn after supper. Life doesn’t get any better than this.

6:35 AM I’ve just uploaded part 2 in our new series. It’s calledChristian Archy: Its Major Tenets.

6:26 AM I cannot tell you how much the Burji-Guji conflict is on my heart these days. I completely refuse to accept defeat. To love God means to serve God’s work in the world — including serving Him in the rough and tumble places of this world where hostility seems to abound. And there is only one solution. Jesus is the Light of the world, and light eliminates darkness. The Bible tells us that where just men exist, justice prevails. It’s just that simple. There are no political or social solutions to the conflict! Even religion has no power! Do you not hear the cries of the anguished? Shall we not share their sufferings? Don’t we see their plight? I enjoy my “profession” as a teacher, but, frankly, I have had it with proclaiming God in the abstract. All that I have taught and written will be useless unless it is understood as a call to mission. So please pray for brother Jason and me as we are preparing to go into Guji territory — that God would give us an apprehension of what we can and ought to do in this world in order to live according to the will of God. In the meantime, I have drawn encouragement from the latest issue ofThemelios. Please read this excerpt prayerful and carefully, and then ask yourself: Do I truly love my enemy?

Love of the ethnic enemy—of every enemy—is what must characterise the church as the body of those who were themselves enemies of God and were reconciled through his love precisely when they were enemies and as enemies, in order that they should be enemies no longer (Rom 5:10). Having received that love and experiencing now its transforming power, God’s own people can and must demonstrate it in the quality of their common life and in their engagement with a world of ethnic discord. Such love demonstrates grace and pardon. It pursues truth, justice, and peace across ethnic divides in society as well as in the church and personal relationships. It is radically countercultural—and dangerous. It is not natural but extraordinary and an affront to conventional human wisdom, exactly as the Samaritan’s love was, and the Father’s. But it is that very outrageous and supernatural character which brings conviction and the only true and lasting hope of communion beyond ethnicity, for ‘by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another’ (John 13:35).

Below: Guji women and children (including one with Down’s Syndrome on the left). I snapped this photo last June when I trekked into Guji territory. I love these people so much it hurts.

6:12 AM I was blessed by this quote fromVernard Eller:

The brew of the Master was bitter; there was nothing likeable in it. In fact he prayed that the cup would be taken from him…. So choose you this day which cup you will drink – the Meister Brau, brewed for the likes of you, or the Master’s Brew, brewed for the life of you.

6:02 AM Good morning, bloggers and bloggerettes! I am delighted to report that our plans for the Burji trip (which begins this November) are coming along splendidly, thanks to Becky’s hard work. I think she works harder than any “professional” missionary I have ever known. In fact, I’m certain of it! You should see her master plan for our 12 team members — as carefully thought-out as the D-Day invasion. We make our plans, then commit it all to the Lord. He is the one who works out the details, and we simply submit EVERYTHING to Him. We’ve also begun planning for our trip next May to Alaba. I regret intensively that there is so little time to “gospel the nations” for there is so much work to do and so many great people to partner with. Last Sunday, while I was flying home, Becky held the first training session with our Alaba team in North Wilkesboro, NC. Interestingly, we had planned this May-June trip long before we found out that Jessie was expecting (her due date is around mid-June). Of course, as grandparents we would love to be here for the delivery, but our trip will go on as scheduled. Please don’t think we are super Christians for doing this! It’s just a matter of priorities, I suppose. Maybe the baby will come late, after we return! God knows. I thought about all this as I read Jacque Ellul’s magnificent book The Seduction of Christianity on my flight home. Here’s what he writes on p. 24:

[The Christian] may be in this world, it is true, but all his “ties” are elsewhere; all his ties of thought, truth, and fidelity depend on his Lord, and he owes no allegiance to the world. Further, when we speak of “this world,” we are referring to concrete realities: the nation, the State, the family, work …. To all this the Christian cannot swear an unconditional loyalty. His first duty is to be faithful to his Lord (Matt. 10:37).

Ouch! But Ellul is absolutely right. The time is short, friends. Are you and I doing all we can to reach a lost world redemptively with the only truth that can change their lives for time and eternity? 

Meanwhile, it’s another glorious day here in southern Virginia, and I’ve postponed my trip to campus one day so that the roofing team can finish its work. I’m still a bit jetlagged, but otherwise I’m feeling great and working hard. Besides, working with Nate is a veritable riot of fun. Not to mention the show on the sidelines: his dogs and cat mixing it up — a battle of gigantic wits to which we are amazed bystanders!

Tuesday, October 14

4:01 PM ‘Twas a most beautiful day to work on Nate’s porch extension.

Can they get all of the sheathing boards up today? That was the burning question of the hour.

Not quite. Nate had to quit early to make a bank/grocery/manure run to Oxford with Jessie. (Yes, I said “manure.” Who else do you know who makes a manure run?!)

When I looked down at my shoes, here’s what I saw. I guess you could say I had a close call. What fun!

8:43 AM Congratulations,Matthew!

6:45 AM Now this is sweet. I cooked Chinese food last night and invited Nate and Jess to join Becky and me for supper. As Jessie was getting the water glasses out of the cupboard, she automatically got out five, not four.

By the way, Jessie has updated her blog. I think you’ll really enjoy thepicture she posted there.

6:33 AM One of the many places I visited on my trip was the Armenian Orthodox Seminary in Echmiadzin, often referred to as the “Vatican” of Armenia and the seat of the Orthodox Catholicos. Here I had been invited to lecture on two topics: “Is the Text of the New Testament Reliable?” and “How to Teach and Preach from the Greek New Testament.” The students were as sharp as a tack.

Afterwards I was given a tour of the ancient church that stands in the center of the city. The original edifice was built over a pagan temple and dates back to 301 AD.

While there I was able to donate several of my books to the seminary library. Shown here is the dean, who hails from Constantinople (Istanbul).

Once again, let me thank all of you for your prayers. One of the loveliest things in life is the way in which we can pray for each other (“helping together by prayer,” 2 Cor. 1:11), and I certainly felt your prayers and the support of the Holy Spirit as I tried to show clearly and convincingly that the Bible is the Word of God and can be trusted and relied upon for doctrine, reproof, etc. This Word is life, gives life, and promotes life. All too often it is warped and twisted and distorted by our manmade religious traditions (and evangelicals are often just as guilty of traditionalism as any other group of Christians). My message was simply that law-keeping and good works are of no more use for salvation than the garbage we throw away in the trash every day (Phil. 3:8-9).

6:12 AM Nice serendipity: The Haven of Rest Quartet CDs arrived while I was gone. Becky and I can’t stop listening to them. They bring back many happy memories of our time in Basel in the early 1980s when I was a student there. We would listen to them as we went about our daily work. My favorites are Greater Is He, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go, We’re Just the Singers of His Song, Care for My Lambs, Channels Only, Softly and Tenderly, and Behold, Bless Ye the Lord. These are great hymns to have milling around in your noggin as you go through the day.

6:04 AM I’ve begun a 4-part series on what I am calling “Christian Archy.” To read the first installment, go here.

Monday, October 13

1:50 PM Just took a farm walk. Becky planted some fruit trees while I was gone. Peaches and pears. Should be scrumptious.

The daring duo (make that “trio”) have been expanding their pantry and mud room. As you can see, the framing is almost completed. They’ll call on me for help when they need (*ahem*) “skilled” labor.

Nate was able to practically fill our new barn while I was gone, thank the Lord. I can remember when this barn was nothing but a sketch.

As you know, one of our main crops at Rosewood Farm is horse quality square bale hay. People have even come from Charlotte to purchase it.

I really missed our goats when I was gone. Funny thing, neither Jessie nor I could get them to come to us when we called. Then along comes Nathan with his patented goat call, and there they were! 

The photo of the day. Here’s Nathan with Sheba, Sheppie, and Dayda (mama, papa, and daughter). My how big Dayda has grown in just two weeks!

Can anyone tell I’m happy to be back home again? 

1:15 PM I see we’re not the only ones who are excited!

12:45 PM In just five and a half weeks, Becky and I will return to Ethiopia with our Burji Team. While I was abroad she kept herself very busy with trip preparations. I asked her to prepare the following update. (For a printable version, go here.) It’s all very exciting. As you can see, being in the Gospel business “fulltime” can keep you hopping, but we wouldn’t change it for the world!

This from Becky:

Clinic Provisions: Praise God for His help in supplying the clinic! On Tuesday, Oct. 7, we loaded up 2,059 pounds of goods. This included medical supplies, solar power equipment, wheelchair/crutches/walkers, teaching tools for the chaplain, an EKG machine, etc. All of this was put onto 3 pallet crates, and started on their journey to Ethiopia. After stops and layovers in 3 airports, the crates will land in Addis Ababa on Monday evening, Oct 20 (next week).Please pray for safety, and that nothing gets lost along the way in these airports.

Then comes the laborious task of getting the crates out of customs. Please pray that God will give us grace and the supplies will be released to the Burji church without a huge customs fee. This process will be done Tuesday, Oct. 21 (and possibly a few days after that).

Then the crates will be loaded onto a truck and driven slowly over narrow/rough roads for about 15 hours to Soyama; this involves traveling about 2 hours on a gravel road through Guji territory. Please pray for safe travel for both the equipment and the people traveling with the truck.

Ministry Items Purchased:  The Burji church leaders are collecting in Addis other items needed for our ministry in November. Two days ago I wired $4,750 to the International Bible Society to pay for 1,280 Bibles. What a glorious ministry this is! Each person receiving one of these Bibles has memorized 9 passages (which we have selected). It will be a great joy for us to personally give these Bibles when we are there in November.

Also, we are purchasing 800 wash basins and 800 bars of soap. These will be given to each woman who attending our hygiene class, learns a Handwashing Catechism, and memorizes 1 John 1:5-9 about the spiritual cleansing that comes from the Lord Jesus.

Also, we have purchased 35 copies of a commentary (in the Amharic language) on 1 Corinthians. The commentaries will be given to each rural church, the clinic, and the Bible school. The rural churches are sending their men into Soyama Town for attend a 4-day Bible Conference on the book of 1 Corinthians; these men will walk many hours on country paths to get to the conference. To qualify for this conference, each man must do the following:

• read 1 Corinthians twice

• memorize 1 Cor. 1:18-31 and recite it to a rural church leader

• memorize the books of the Bible and be able to easily find Scripture passage

• commit to teach 8 lessons from 1 Corinthians to their congregations within 3 months of the Conference

Wells being dug: The well has been place for the clinic! Praise God!! We hit water at 75 feet and are now putting a hand pump in place. We have identified 5 more rural church sites for continuing this ministry. Our vision is to have a well with continuous Gospel presentation (through loving word and deed) to the villages in Burji. In November, we will place the solar power for this ministry in 3 of these churches (and already plans are being made to return in May for additional churches). 

Ministry Items still needed: As you can see, things are moving fast and furious toward our departure on Nov. 22. All of Burji is a-buzz, all of Rosewood Farm is a-buzz, all of Roxboro, NC is a-buzz … are you joining us?

We have received funds to pay for many of these things, but we still need to buy the food for the widows and the Bible Conference; we will buy these items when we arrive. We’ve had many supplies donated, but we still need some specialized medical equipment (otoscope, laryngescope, and fetal doplar). A couple churches have hosted a “bandage rolling party” and a “flannel graph cutting party.” Everyone on the Team is finalizing their personal ministry preparations. The Burji churches are fasting and praying for the ministry. We’re all before the Throne to ask for His work to be done in the Guji tribe. But we need more prayer…consistent, faithful prayer coming from people who are pure before God.

WHAT A PARTNERSHIP GOD HAS ALLOWED! You … us … the Burji church … the Alaba church … the Gondar church … all for the advancement of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus. May His Cause be realized! May His Name be glorified!

8:20 AM If you’re still thinking about voting for the evil of two lessers, Lawrence Vance wants to talk to you aboutChuck Baldwin. Then go and read Chuck’s own take here.

8:05 AM I’m BACK! Everything went splendidly well, thanks to your prayers. Just a bit jet-lagged. I’ll try and post an update later. But first the really BIG news: Nate and Jessie are going to have a baby. Due June 10 (one day after my birthday). Let’s see … I go abroad and Nathan gets engaged. Then I go abroad and they announce that Jessie is pregnant. I need to travel more often!

Talk at ya soon, and, again, thanks for your prayers and emails.

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