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June 2014 Blog Archives

Monday, June 30

3:18 PM Just got back from lap swimming and what should I find?

To all you contest winners: the book is in the mail!

P.S. Yes, it was Golda Meir, and the winner is none other than Mark Stull. Thanks to all who played!

9:36 AM Yesterday I enjoyed a brief conversation with someone about wealth. Can I think out loud with you for a moment?

Wealth and possessions are always subordinate goods in the New Testament, and neither their pursuit nor their acquisition can ever be considered a worthwhile goal for the believer. Our possessions are to be regarded merely as a trust to be used for the good of others. Otherwise they become our curse (Matt. 5:42; Mark 8:34-38; Luke 6:27-36; 10:25-37; 14:12-14; 16:19-31; Acts 4:32-35; Heb. 13:5-6). The problem is that it is very easy to speak about wealth in this manner only in the abstract. Many wealthy Christian Americans simply do not believe that wealth has seductive power. In the New Testament, relating to the poor involves relating to specific persons rather than an abstract class called “the poor.” Simply stating platitudes such as “God loves the poor” or giving some money to charitable causes costs us almost nothing. To actually identify with the poor requires a different kind of commitment — a costly commitment in terms of our time, agendas, and personal resources.

To put this another way: Genuine repentance always has an economic dimension. This is rarely seen in our American megachurch mentality. Upward mobility is where it’s at. As Paul writes in 2 Cor. 2:17, there is money to be made in peddling the Word of God. In 1 Thess. 2:5 he states that piety often masks as a cover for greed. In 1 Tim. 6:3-5 he notes that many think that “godliness” can be lucrative. In 2 Pet. 2:1-3, Peter shows us how “Christian” teachers are motivated by greed to minister. Like Judas (John 12:1-8), we are not genuinely interested in the poor but are only using them for personal advantage. The solution to our problem is found in 1 Tim. 6:17-19: Believers who are rich are to be commanded not to be arrogant or to put their hope in wealth. Instead they are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, and to be willing to share. This will require nothing less than a total conversion to Christ’s view of possessions.

May such repentance begin in my heart. May I move out of ownership and into stewardship. May I learn to be generous with my possessions. May discipleship cost me something.

Sunday, June 29

6:18 PM I love blog posts withcatchy titles!

6:12 PM In case you didn’t know, we are praying about overdubbing myGreek DVDs into another language. To do this, we’ve had to transcribe the videos into English, from which the overdubber will work. I thought you might enjoy the transcription I received of chapter 4: Nouns of the Second Declension. What fun! By the way, here’s the “live” class where we videotaped the course (at the Evangelical Theological College in Addis Ababa). A great bunch of guys and gals, I tell you.

And now … here’s the beginning of chapter 4!

DB      Please take your textbooks and open to chapter 4.

Chapter 4 is the second speed bump, ladies and gentlemen. It’s the second hurdle, it’s the second peak. The first, listen, the first hurdle was understanding inflection in the Greek what? Verb. Got it? In the Greek verb.

Let me ask you a question. Did you get over it? Did you make it? Some of you have and some of you haven’t. But you have to get over that first hurdle. You have to understand how inflection works in the what? In the Greek verb.

Now, this lesson is the second … Mount Everest. And I recognize that it’s a huge hurdle. I couldn’t get over it in myself. I could never master it. And that is, the concept of the inflection, not in the verb, but in the what? In the noun. Nouns in Greek do not work like nouns in English. That’s the problem. However, nouns in Greek work just like nouns in German. You say, “Great!” that doesn’t help me. I don’t know German. So, we have to start at the beginning, right? We can’t assume that you know German. We can’t even assume that you know English that well. And we know that you don’t know Greek that well. So we’re going to start at the beginning, ok? We’re going to start at the very beginning.

Now what is the title to this lesson? The title is “Nouns of the Second Declension.” Okay. You’re saying, what do you mean by second declension? Greek has three ways of forming nouns. These ways of forming nouns are called the First Declension, the…Second Declension and the…Third Declension. Let me repeat. Greek has three different patterns of forming nouns. The first pattern is called the First Declension. The second pattern is called the Second Declension. And the third pattern is called…the third declension.

Now you say, “Wait a minute, Dr. Black. Why do you start with the Second Declension? You should be starting, logically, with the First.” First, Second, then Third. There are two reasons, ladies and gentlemen, why we are starting with the Second Declension. Okay.

Number one: The Second Declension is the easiest of all the three. It’s the easiest. It’s not that hard. So we’re going to go from what’s easy to what is a little more difficult, okay.

Secondly, the great majority of nouns in the New Testament belong to which declension, would you guess?

ST       The Second

DB      The Second Declension. And that’s why we’re starting, not with the First Declension, that’s going to be the next chapter, we’re going to start with the…Second Declension.

            Now what this. The object of this lesson is not to memorizeἄνθρωπος, ἄνθρωπου, blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa. No. Now, you’re going to have to do that, yeah, just like you had to memorize λύω, λύεις, λύει…You had to memorize that, but that wasn’t the goal of that lesson. The goal of that lesson was not to memorize λύω, λύεις, λύει. The goal of that lesson was to understand how it works, right? To understand how it works. I’ve, I’ve had people come up to me yesterday who have had four semesters of Greek say, “Now I understand it. For the first time, I understand how it works.” You see, we can all memorize, but memory is not the goal. It’s comprehension. So the goal of this lesson is understanding the concept of inflection in the Greek what? Noun. The Greek noun.

            Let me give you an illustration. Let me give you a sentence, an illustration, of what I’m talking about.This is a sentence in Greek. How many words does it contain? How many words?

ST       Three

DB      Three. What kind of a word is the middle word right here? We call this a …? A verb, right? This is a verb. This sentence is comprised of one verb, and two, what we call…nouns. Two nouns.

            Now, forget about the two nouns for a minute and just look at the verb if you will. See if you, on your paper, on your scratch paper, see if you can correctly translate βλέπουσιν. Okay. On your scratch paper, see if you can correctly translate the verb, βλέπουσιν. Can you do that? And write down your translations. Write it down. You should be able to do this, βλέπουσιν.

Alright. Βλέπουσιν contains how many morphemes, class? Two. What does βλέπ mean?

ST       See

DB      Good. See. What does ουσιν mean? They. So please translate βλέπουσιν for me into English. Go. They see. No problem, right? Because you have understood the concept of inflection in the Greek what? The verb. See that? That’s how that works, okay.

2:42 PM Today I woke up with a major sinus headache, stayed home from church to nurse it, but my mind has been racing in a thousand different directions so I got out the old writing pad and jotted down a blog post, which I thought I would share with you now. It’s about my new book on the church and, in particular, how short and “incomplete” someone might call it. If I were to entitle my reflections, I would call them, well, “Reflections on theology.” Here goes nothing:

“How long is your book on the church?” I’ve been asked that question dozens of times it seems. “Oh, it’s very short. Could read it in one sitting I suppose.” A number of topics have been left over, like crumbs of bread or the edges of a piece of pizza. Actually, my main goal in writing this book is to get people to reflect intellectually on the Scriptures. I have often told my students that sound theology is merely the byproduct of creatively stirring together the Scriptures with one’s continuous experience of ministry, as if in a mixing bowl. The “spoon” that makes it all happen is reflection. Reflection, of course, involves risk. For most of my teaching ministry (38 years) I have been a practitioner of reflection. I believe that assuming responsibility for one’s own beliefs is something clearly different from theorizing about it in the sterile halls of academia. Knowledge comes from doing, and learning from having done it. Perhaps this is why I tend to be so disenchanted by the lectures and sermons I hear these days. So little genuine reflection seems to be involved. Same old same old, I tell myself. But why should this be? A seminary education at its best helps us to recover our theological heritage, and to recover from it. You read Luther and Calvin, but how about Balthazar Hubmaier? The pursuit of theology is like two basketball centers jockeying for position under the basket. Reflection is a contact sport in which fouls are often committed (and rarely called) and where contact can never be avoided.

The first step in reflecting theologically is humility, creating a climate in which theological thinking can take place. There are many ways of doing this, but one of the best is to pick up a book and read it, especially one that requires reflection. The second step is a comparison of what you are reading with everything God has said in His word. There are a good many rules of “theological basketball,” and He invented them all. The third and final step of reflection is stepping out of your comfort zone and making a personal judgment about what is right and wrong, Scriptural and unscriptural. It is this kind of reciprocal dynamic between Scripture and reason that I find most exciting about theology. Its final product is always seen as being in-process and incomplete. But if you put in the time — if you really and truly reflect — theology can be one of the most exciting things you engage in.

No, my latest book is not my magnus opum. But I do hope you will read it, and read it reflectively. My greatest is fear is that I’ve said something really stupid and laughable — as when Union General John Pope told his troops, “My headquarters shall be in my saddle.” One can only imagine the number of jokes about that!

10:58 AM I’m in a contest mood again today. The first person to name the face will receive a free copy ofSeven Marks of a New Testament Church.

Email me atdblack@sebts.edu.

10:08 AM As promised, we now have a complete parsing guide to my first year Greek grammar,Learn to Read New Testament Greek, thanks to the tireless efforts of Jacob Cerone. Gohere, then scroll down until you find it in the section called “Beginning Greek.”

And just a reminder: Jacob’s tenure as my personal assistant will come to an end this summer as he begins to devote his time exclusively to finishing his Th.M. thesis for me. If you are interested in applying for the position (it is halftime with a handsome stipend) kindly let me know. I am looking for web-savvy post-graduate level students who are currently enrolled at SEBTS.

9:54 AM Good morning, intelligent bloggers! The theme of this post is quite simple:

The purpose of the church is to be God’s missionary people in the world.

Missions is not an afterthought in the mind of God. There is no partnership in Christ without partnership in missions (Phil. 1:5). But is this really the top priority of your local church? Of mine? In his outstanding book on the church called The Household of God, Leslie Newbigin writes (New York: Friendship, 1954, p. 165):

It is taken for granted that the missionary obligation is one that has to be met AFTER the needs of the home have been fully met; that existing gains have to be thoroughly consolidated before we go further afield; that the world-wide church has to be built up with the same sort of prudent enterprise.

Such thinking, he points out, is a sin against the truth. The church is to be missionary because that is its divine design. Thus it is vital that the church be other-worldly and this-worldly at the very same time. Only as our congregations intentionally live out their nature as God’s missionary people will the church begin to emerge to become what Christ is creating it to be. This missionary focus of the church as a sent group of people is stressed in Johannes Blauw’s classic work The Missionary Nature of the Church (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1962, pp. 121-22):

If one wants to maintain a specific theological meaning of the term mission as “foreign mission,” its significance is, in my opinion, that it keeps calling the Church to think over its essential nature as a communitysent forth into the world. Seen in that light missionary work is not just one of its activities, but the criterion for all its activities…. It is exactly by going outside itself that the Church is itself and comes to itself.

In other words, missions is the inevitable and indispensable expression of the church’s essential nature as a fellowship of Christ’s disciples. The church is not a hierarchy or an institution but a people in community whose mission is to spread the rule of Christ. The purpose of the body of Christ is to make Jesus visible in the world. In fact, in the present age the church is uniquely the instrument of the kingdom of God in the world. Thus service to the kingdom means service to the world through missional activity.

There is great practical significance to this truth. It means that local congregations must live out their spiritual life not only as church but also as God’s people in the world. Our calling and assignment is to preach the Gospel of the kingdom to the whole world (Mark 16:15). Once again, missiologist Leslie Newbigin captures the essence of what I am trying to say (The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society [London: SPCK, 1989] pp. 232-33):

[I]t has to be said that there can be no going back to the “Constantinian” era. It will only be by movements that begin with the local congregation in which the reality of the new creation is present, known, and experienced, and from which men and women will go into every sector of public life to claim it for Christ, to unmask the illusions which have remained hidden and to expose all areas of public life to the illumination of the gospel. But this will happen as and when local congregations renounce an introverted concern for their own life, and recognize that they exist for the sake of those who are not members, as sign, instrument, and foretaste of God’s redeeming grace for the whole life of society.

That’s some strong language — “renounce an introverted concern for their own life” — but it is absolutely true. What Newbigin is saying is vitally important. Congregations must no longer follow an introverted, self-serving agenda. Our priority must be to become the Master’s messengers in the world. Local congregations must begin to see themselves as satellite offices of the kingdom of God. Each member must consider him- or herself a strategic player in missionary work as both salt and light. Jesus spoke only of the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Both elements must be dispersed if they are to be effective. Churches must get out of the saltshaker – out of their self-centered fellowships that negate their very reason for existence. If you want a good example of what this might look like, check out whatMount Pleasant Baptist Church is doing in Mexico.

I have writtenelsewhere that Christian marriage has a higher purpose than marital happiness and even marital compatibility. Believing husbands and wives must be partners in the Gospel (Phil. 1:5), intentionally creating perspectives, attitudes, priorities, and goals that are in keeping with the Great Commission of Jesus. The same truth can be extended to our families, churches, and seminaries. As members of Christ’s missionary body, our purpose is to build up the community of the saints in mission to the world. This missionary perspective will color, direct, and motivate everything the church does. 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.

It all boils down to priorities. And there is absolutely no reason why our priorities should not change. We must ask ourselves, “How would God have us use the resources He has given us to have the greatest possible impact on the kingdom?” In practical terms, this might mean using the Bible instead of quarterlies in our Sunday School classes. It could mean renting a facility to meet in rather than building an expensive sanctuary. It will certainly mean using all of our resources with a sense of global responsibility. As Paul said, stewardship requires us to ask how we can use the resources God has entrusted to us more equitably (see 2 Cor. 8:13-15). Each of us must examine our lifestyles for wasted resources that could be invested in the kingdom. We must become better stewards of our time, budgets, homes, and physical recourses. Some time ago a woman contacted Becky and me aboutsending us gifts for Ethiopia instead of giving Christmas presents to her grandchildren. The gifts were made out in their names. What would happen if 60 million American evangelicals did the same thing and gave presents to Jesus every Christmas? This is the kind of creative planning that is required if we are to respond to the challenges of global missions.

This readjustment process does not mean falling into the trap of legalism. It does not mean establishing additional “programs.” It is the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, who must be at work so that we may see what the church must become as it emerges from its cocoon and into ministry in the world. Unfortunately, trained seminarians are not always eager to assist their congregations to think about their missionary commitments. It is far easier to maintain the status quo than to involve all members of the church in the work of a missionary community. But ministry is the work of the church among its entire membership and never the exclusive responsibility of its ordained ministers. I strongly suspect that only a grassroots movement in many of our congregations will be able to successfully conquer the forces of inertia. But if we take seriously the idea that every member is a minister and that the clergy-laity distinction is unscriptural, then it follows that we cannot limit theological education to a select few. Ministerial training belongs to and must actively involve the whole people of God.

And what should be the goal of our training? The people must be trained in serving rather than being served. This means that theological education must be “inside-out.” Its purpose is to equip God’s people for works of service to the world. The goal is to teach, train, encourage, apprentice, and mobilize the people of God for the work of the ministry. Church leaders, whether seminary trained or not, will be deemed “successful” to the degree that the church becomes the missionary people of God. Leaders will be judged, not by their rhetorical prowess, but to the degree to which the people’s spiritual gifts are expressed in ministry. Pastors are not called into ministry any more than any other church member. But they are charged with the solemn obligation of preparing God’s people for works of service (see Eph. 4:11-12).

Notice that I have said nothing about leadership as administration or management. Lawrence O. Richards and Clyde Hoeldtke correctly point out in their book A Theology of Church Leadership (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980, p. 6) that the church “is a living body of the living Jesus. Since we are part of a body, not an institution, the task of body leaders must be distinctively different from the management task of institutional leaders.” Leadership, thus defined, calls for people who will be catalysts to mobilize the people of God for mission in the world. These people lead best when they themselves model, illustrate, and perform service to the world. On the other hand, leaders must be wary of assuming a “clergy” role in ministry. One reason the so-called laity are so passive is because leaders have made “ministry” and “missions” the professional roles of a few ordained people. Leaders lead best when they do the tasks and teach others to do them. Effective ministry calls for participation byall.

Think about it.

Dave

Saturday, June 28

7:40 PM Well, I was supposed to be on a plane for DC today but the plane had mechanical issues. After a three hour delay the flight was canceled. No, I’m not complaining. Rather have a mechanical breakdown on terra firma than at 35,000 feet. So what did I do all day? I cleaned out the van, washed two loads of clothes, ran the dish washer, got caught up on finances, replaced a few light bulbs, and otherwise did my house work interrupted only by moments of blogging to maintain my sanity. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy working around the house. It’s just not, well, me. (I promise not to complain about housework — too much.) I love this place called Rosewood Farm, and I’m going to try and let God do His thing here, whatever that might look like. Over the past few weeks I’ve been struck by all the little details He is working out in my life. I’m left in awe of the way He orchestrates our lives, weaving a beautiful tapestry out of the good and the bad, the sorrow and the joy. We are, after all, citizens of His kingdom (and people who refuse to become high priests in Caesar’s court). He’s called us as the church to take up His cause and partner with each other until the lost of every nation have heard the Good News. As some of you may know, this is a huge admission for me — the man who gave the sermon at the Constitution Party’s presidential convention in Valley Forge a mere 10 years ago! Anyway, back to what I was doing today. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my book Godworld (viz. kingdom living) and how our main duty as Christians is to live in such a way that manifests the beauty of Jesus dying on a bloody Roman cross because He loved others more than He loved Himself. I’m proud to know a lot of Christians who live just like that. They’re a model of kingdom living for the rest of us. They’re just obeying God and imitating Jesus. They are serving the world, including their enemies. A lot more could be said and needs to be said (see my bookThe Jesus Paradigm), but this post is getting far too long. As I walked through the house today I couldn’t help but think of Becky, whose presence fills every room. At every turn, no matter what happened, God overcame evil with good in our relationship. He used everything that came into our lives to further His sovereign purpose, and I am looking forward to the day when the two of us will again embrace as we celebrate the goodness of God in our marriage and family and ministry.

Can’t leave you without this:

Aloha au i uka me/Ke kahakai o Pupukea.

I love the uplands/and the seashore of Pupukea.

Sorry, folks – I’m in a nostalgic mood again, and Pupukea was probably my favorite big wave beach in all of Hawaii!

Aloha!

Dave

6:38 PM A USA v. Brazil final? Muito bem!

6:30 PM Last week I received this email from a professor of New Testament and Greek in another seminary:

I’m switching to using your Learn to Read NT Greek for my Elementary Greek classes next semester. Thanks for writing this helpful and clear textbook.

Thank you. My pleasure. He added:

I like my students to check their parsing on their own.  I wonder if you have a more extensive answer key available – one that includes parsing. If so, would you be willing to send me a copy that I can make available to students to check themselves?

Consider it done. Well, almost done. Give us a few more days. I’ll post the parsing key at myGreek Portal. And thanks for the suggestion.

6:16 PM Jacob Cerone is blogging again, and his discussion of the chapter divisions in 1 Thessalonians is outstanding. You can read ithere. He writes:

In the above photo, you can see that HCSB, LEB, and NASB believe a division exists at 1 Thessalonians 3:1, whereas the ESV, NLT, and NRSV see it as a continuation of the section begun in 1 Thessalonians 2:17. This tool allows students of the Bible to know where there is unanimity and disagreement over pericope divisions. Though it doesn’t provide the reasons that influenced the translators’ decisions, it will give the student a starting point for further investigation.

Interesting debate, don’t you think? Should a new chapter division begin in 3:1 or not? If you’ll permit me to enter the fray:

Beginning with 2:17 Paul takes up the topic of his continuing relationship with the Thessalonians. After his hurried flight from Thessalonica he desired to return (2:17-), but being unable to do so he sent Timothy to them (3:1-5), who reported on the faithfulness of the Thessalonians (3:6-10). This news leads Paul to pray for them once again (3:11-13).

See how this section of the letter (2:17-3:13) all fits together? If I am correct, the editors messed up a bit when they introduced a new chapter division in 3:1 since the division interrupts the train of thought.

P.S. How many times have you heard, “The Parousia is the key to interpreting 1 Thessalonians. Every chapter of the letter ends with a reference to the Second Coming of Christ.” Hmmm. Could it be that the editors put the cart before the horse? Could it be that their idea that the Second Coming of Christ is important unduly influenced their choice of chapter divisions? Just askin’, folks. By the way, my quote was taken from an essay I wrote years ago for the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology calledThe Literary Structure of 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

Below: The section in question in my GNT.

5:30 PM Three centuries ago a man lost his job and went home to tell his wife Sophia. Rather than being disappointed she beamed at him and said, “Now you can write your book!” He answered, “Yes, but what will we live on while I’m writing?” Sophia went to a drawer and pulled out a large sack of money. “I’ve always known that you were a man of genius,” she said. “I knew that some day you would write an immortal masterpiece. So every week from the money you gave me I have saved something. Here is enough to live on for one whole year.” The amazed husband went to his study and began writing. His name was Nathaniel Hawthorne, and his book was The Scarlet Letter.

Husband and wife, do you believe in each other? If so, how are you showing it?

5:22 PM Dr. Seuss wrote a book called “Too Many Daves.” It tells of a woman named Mrs. McCave who had 23 sons all named “Dave.” When she calls out for Dave, all 23 of her sons come running at the same time. The story comes alive when Dr. Seuss begins to speculate about all the silly names Mrs. McCave might have chosen for her sons instead of naming them all “Dave.” His point is that when everyone has the same name there is chaos, not order. It is the same in the Body of Christ. The church could not function if everybody had the same gifts. Each of us brings to the group a variety of different gifts that together sustain the Body, and the result is order and not chaos. Every-member ministry is therefore an integral part of that way we call “faith.” God’s kingdom is designed to be a place of spiritual wholeness, individually and in the community. In my judgment, the external form does not matter that much as long as there is genuine community and body life.

6:46 AM Have you ever heard of John Glas? He 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. Oh, did I mention that I’ve just written a book on this subject myself?

Friday, June 27

8:32 PM William Barclay tells an interesting story. Someone was once talking to a great scholar about a younger man. He said, “So-and-so tells me he was one of your students.” The teacher answered devastatingly, “He may have attended my classes, but he was not one of my students.” What did I want my students to learn from me in our Greek class this summer? Among other things, that:

• Knowledge without obedience is downright sinful.

• Saving faith is always working faith.

• Greek is essential but not the Open Sesame of interpretation.

• Don’t argue theology with me if you are blind to the lost people all around you.

• God is best glorified not when we talk about “Christian hedonism” but when the Body of Christ rallies around hurting people and serves them with the love of Jesus.

• Life is a mission trip. Take it! (I stole this from my colleague Alvin Reid.)

As an educator, I love reading the Gospels and watching the Master Teacher at work. Jesus called His disciples not only to learn the truth from Him but to be with Him. In other words, truth can’t be learned in a classroom. Jesus called Peter not merely because He wanted to teach truth to Peter but because He wanted to model truth for Peter. In other words: Christian Education = Likeness Education.

Tonight I’m rereading a book calledLuke 6:40. I encourage you to read it and try to think through your philosophy of Christian education if you haven’t done so already. Seems to me that Thomas nails it in this book.

7:53 PM Oh, the power of a good metaphor! In The Killer Angels, I read this last night. The Confederates are pulling back after Pickett’s Charge.

Goree was down and Longstreet reigned up. The bony man was scrambling, trying to get to his feet….. Bullets still plucked the air; song of the dark guitar.

As a guitar player, I know: the word picture works. One of my favorite metaphors from author Richard Kadrey (Kill the Dead) is “Memories are bullets. Some whiz by and only spook you. Others tear you open and leave you in pieces.” I reflected: The thoughts of a grieving person are not immune from pain.

Becky.

Her memory is often like that bullet. You can’t schedule your response like you can a business trip or a vacation. It just happens. The dark strings are plucked, and your reactions are not like recipes, predictable, guaranteeing certain results. You are swept away, just like your surfboard at Sunset Beach after a wipeout. You see, when death strikes, all of life is reexamined. You become more acutely aware of your strengths and weaknesses, your successes and failures (real or imagined). Grief is never logical. Tears are not just helpful; they are necessary. You ask, “Will the sadness ever go away?” The loss of a spouse is a long trek through a barren wilderness. The good news is that He is acquainted with our grief. He’s sad with us. And because of Him, hope gradually replaces despair. No, you never forget the emotional pain of your loss — those bullets quietly plucking the air — but you do begin to move on with your life, just as Goree and Longstreet had to after their crushing defeat at Gettysburg.

Yes, you go on. You realize again and again that God loves you. He has provided more than you could ever ask or imagine. And He is always with you. Sometimes He shows up in a gorgeous rainbow. Sometimes He shows up in the face of a pet dog. And sometimes He shows up in a novel you are reading. I’m learning to find Him in all these places.

7:23 PM Congrats to Patrick and Chip for winning the prestigious 110 Award on their final exam today. Here they are with their free books:

6:58 AM Beginning Greek comes to an end today. The real exam has nothing to do with paradigms and parsing. The only question is: What will you do with your knowledge? Throughout Scripture, we see only one legitimate response: obedience. God gives us knowledge of His word so that we might become channels of blessing to others. I would submit to you that the single most important hindrance to global evangelization is the lack of total commitment on the part of members of the body of Christ. “Abundance of idleness” is the way Ezekiel puts it (Ezek. 16:49). Beware of knowledge, my friend. I say this as one who has an earned doctorate from a prestigious foreign university. Intent on building “our” churches, we fail to see how Jesus Christ is building “His church” in every nation on earth. In some way, which I still do not fully understand, a seminary degree rarely translates into a lifestyle of radical obedience and scandalous love. But that must be the goal of our instruction.

Thanks to all of my students for their hard work in Greek. While the class is dismissed, the real course is just beginning.

Thursday, June 26

10:32 PM It’s past 10:00 pm and I should be in bed reading my book about Gettysburg. But my mind keeps racing to the memorial service for Baby Kai tonight in Durham.

I tell you, his parents sure are some resilient people. How do you need to be touched by God today, friend? What loss have you experienced recently? Tell God. Hold your weary arms out to Him. Let other people know that you need them to hold you as well. There was an awful lot of hugging going on tonight after the service. Death is a terrain many of us don’t know about too well. It can be so vast and unfamiliar that we can easily lose all sense of direction. But when we hold on to each other, somehow the uncharted waters are easier to negotiate. Experiencing Becky’s death has depleted my heart. Still today I feel numb and raw. I can only imagine what losing a child must feel like. I have no wisdom, no insights, no words of comfort to share that could even begin to dull the razor’s edge of this tragedy. Still, in my talk tonight I tried to communicate what real joy is, that joy is not merely a human emotion but an understanding, an understanding that the God we serve is a sovereign and loving Master who does everything for His own glory and our best good. Everything. I cling to that truth, as I know my son and daughter do tonight. “God’s voice is the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising Morning Star in your hearts” (2 Pet. 1:19). Is it any wonder that the Bible calls Christ the Light of the World? He is our light when we walk through the deepest darkness. Grief is difficult. But it is not impossible to face. We must let go time and time again. Yielding is a step in our grief journey, and a very necessary one. And it occurs when we are ready. Children, don’t rush the process. It’s a process that is repetitive. And some days it is easier than others.

Will you ever be able to move on? Yes. Definitely, yes. You have already begun. All glory to God.

9:15 PM Thanks to all who entered our little contest today. The winner is:

Tim Price

Congratulations, Sir! The face? News anchorman Harry Reasoner.

7:17 AM Contest time again! The first blogger to correctly identity the face will get a free copy ofSeven Marks of a New Testament Church.

(Feel free to make a brief note on your blog about the book when you receive it.)

Wednesday, June 25

8:12 PM A brand new video reveals how the crash of Asiana 214 unfolded at SFO. Gohere to view it. It is absolutely frightening. I am amazed at the fact that Lee Kang Kuk, the pilot who was landing the 777 for his first time at San Francisco, stated that it was “very difficult to perform a visual approach with a heavy airplane.” This is a trained professional? The person who thinks that performing a visual approach on a crystal clear summer day is “very difficult” has absolutely no business piloting a commercial jet. As an educator, I see certain parallels between piloting and teaching. To become a seminary professor, students transit from being pupils to teachers largely by completing certain degrees and completing an increasingly complex series of courses in their subject with yet another “box” checked off. Yet we’ve all known “qualified” professors whose classroom skills weren’t worth a bucket of warm spit. “Qualified” does not necessarily mean “skilled.” I’ve often wondered why teachers at the graduate level do not have to be credentialed like their counterparts in K-12. At least we could take courses in, say, “College Teaching Procedures” or “Tests and Measurements.” I took both of these courses at Biola College during the semester I began Greek teaching there as a fledging M.Div. student at Talbot. More importantly, why aren’t successful classroom teachers mentoring the younger generation? I would love to see this kind of mentoring taking place in our seminaries. (When cutting my eye teeth as a teacher at Biola, I was kept under wing by one Harry Sturz, whose classroom skills were off the charts.)

The point I am trying to make is a simple one: a set of credentials doesn’t make one skilled. Qualified (in the eyes of the credential watchers), yes; but able to fly (or teach), no. One would hope there would be a one-to-one correspondence, but this is never guaranteed. 

7:52 PM This and that …

1) Only two days to go in our summer Greek class. Six weeks have never gone by faster. It’s been a good class and the best part is happening right now: translating our Greek New Testaments (the book of 1 John).

2) Eager to see Thomas and Lesly Hudgins this weekend up in Maryland/DC. “Friendship doubles our joys and halves our grief,” said Dolly Madison. It will be good to get reconnected. Ethiopian food, here we come!

3) Markus Barth audio fileshere. I had the wonderful opportunity to hear the man himself lecture on baptism while taking a course from him on Mark’s Gospel back in 1981. A treasure trove indeed.I double dare you to listen to the fourth lecture and not be totally blown away.

4) I’m enjoying reading the Michael Shaara novel Killer Angels again. The key point to remember is that these kinds of books are novels. The dialogues are purely fictional and imaginary, and it would be fruitless and even dangerous to draw any conclusions about the individuals portrayed in them. Imagined conversations are just that — imaginary — and therefore are only moderately instructive. Or at any rate they are to be read with a grain of salt. As much as I like Martin Sheen and the movie Gettysburg (based on the Shaara novel), I must read history if I am to be accurately informed, say, about Lee’s conduct and strategy at Gettysburg.

5) According to Hansung Kim, “Acts 6:1-7 may provide some valuable insights for the cross-cultural conflicts between Western missionaries and Majority World missionaries.” I hope that everyone interested in cross-cultural missions will read this fine essay.

6) Double rainbow not 10 minutes ago. What a glorious God we serve!

Tuesday, June 24

8:53 PM Hi folks,

I hope you all have had a great day. I just got back from the local Mexico joint having had dinner with a pastor who is staying with me on the farm for a few days on a personal retreat. It was wonderful fellowship around God’s Word. We talked about the Christian life. Satan has woven a masterful web of lies and deceit to confuse the church and ensure that millions of lost people around the world will go to hell because we insist on outsourcing “the ministry” to professionals. As Christians, we must follow the example of the Lord Jesus. We must love our neighbors as ourselves in each and every area of life. And, while we should do all we can to alleviate their misery and poverty, we must never minister to the body at the expense of sharing with them the Good News, the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. God is obviously moving mightily in our churches in America. Now is the time for the family of God to unite as never before just as the New Testament church did to share the work of evangelism and edification. Averting our eyes from the need will not eliminate our guilt. It is the highest privilege in the world to serve King Jesus as an ordinary, run-of-the-mill layman along with thousands and millions of other every-day born-again Americans who love lost souls who are perishing daily without Christ. Tonight we especially talked about our need to support native evangelists in places like India who will bring Christ to the lost millions who have still to hear the Gospel. This is why I believe the West is crucial. I can tell you from personal experience that these native evangelists are men and women of the highest quality. They are determined to witness even though they know it will mean suffering. If these evangelists cannot go because we do not support them, the ultimate shame will belong to the body of Christ in the West who could have helped them.

In Him,

Dave

7:12 AM “Christianity is the land of beginning again.” W. A. Criswell.

Monday, June 23

1:04 PM The Diane Rehm Show had a fiction author on today and something he said fascinated me. He always titled his books after they were written. Which got me thinking. I’ve written a few books. When have I decided on my book titles? For example, my next book is, as you know, called Seven Marks of a New Testament Church. Why seven marks? Why not eight? Or six? Or nine? The fact is that I never set out to write a book about a certain number of “marks.” I actually began with only four (which are mentioned in Acts 2:42 — a very famous verse): the apostles’ doctrine, the fellowship, the breaking of the bread, and the prayers. But then I looked at the context. I dropped a pebble, as it were, into the pool of 2:42 and watched as my study expanded from that single verse to encompass 11 verses (2:37-47). It quickly became clear to me that evangelism was the first mark of the early church (since Peter’s sermon is the most prominent subject of the first part of the chapter), and that the chapter ended up by focusing on the way the early believers cared for each other (sacrificial living). From beginning to end, then, there seemed to be but seven characteristics that Luke was emphasizing, neither more nor less. Interestingly, I found nothing here about expository preaching or church discipline. I found nothing about the “sacraments” either, though both baptism and the Lord’s Supper are mentioned. Thus it was that I titled the book only after I had researched it. Honestly, the idea of “perfection” or “completion” (based on the number seven) never occurred to me, although many have asked me about that. Nevertheless, the frequency with which the number seven is used in Scripture with the meaning of fullness is striking, as in the seven days of creation, the seven feasts of Israel, the seven priests who circled Jericho seven times with seven trumpets, Daniel’s seventy sevens prophecy, the seven “I am” sayings in John, and the seven churches of Revelation. Was perhaps the idea of completion in mind when Luke penned these verses? Possibly, though I am not making that claim. Seven is simply where the text seemed to end.

At any rate, book titles are extremely important. A good title can generate interest and a bad title disinterest. Ernest Hemingway considered two titles — The World’s Room and They Who Get Shot — before settling on A Farewell to Arms. I dare say the latter is far more interesting and provocative! If you are a writer, never underestimate the importance of a title. The title should not be too long and should always be accurate. The catchier the better, too. And you may have to wait until you’ve written the book before coming up with just the right title.

6:44 AM “The dew of compassion is a tear.” Lord Byron.

6:40 AM “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” John Andrew Holmer.

Sunday, June 22

6:50 PM I visited with my daughter and her family today in Durham. They are doing well. They’re practicing the Presence of Christ amid the confusion of the world they’re facing today. One thing they have most definitely decided not to do is play the “what if” game. Good for them. Part of Jesus’ reason for coming to earth was to raise up a people for whom living would not simply be an act of faith but a trusting way of life, who could say “I am God’s child” and smile when they say it, whose ultimate security in the face of stress and heartache would be Someone much bigger than themselves. There are no “what ifs” for the Christian. So why play the game? For example, as a Civil War reeenactor I’ve often heard the words “what if.” If only Ewell had taken Cemetery Ridge at the end of the first day of battle; if only Stuart’s cavalry had been present to feel out the enemy lines and screen Lee’s preparations for an assault; if only Longstreet had attacked at midmorning on the second day or at any time except when he did, there would have occurred all kinds of rosy results. It’s a tantalizing game, this “if” game, but it gets you nowhere. No matter what happens to us as believers, we carry on. That’s why Jesus left us here when He ascended to heaven. He left us behind to serve for Him, love for Him, and speak truth for Him. We are His body, His eyes, His feet, His hands, His heart. If our actions fail to mirror His character, who around us will want to know Him? I think it’s important to remind people of that from time to time. And this family is doing a good job of that.

2:34 PM As I spoke last week to a group of Hispanic pastors taking a course on campus, I noted a phenomenon among the attendees, namely their use of hermanos as self-designations. In the Majority World relationships are very important — even for Christians. One does not have to be fluent in Spanish to realize how beautiful this custom is. To be sure, as believers we have our superficial differences in customs, experience, temperament, gifting, and outlook. But the love of Christ brings us together in the fullest sense and unites us in one family with one goal: to glorify God together in fulfilling the Great Commission. Imagine a church — or a seminary for that matter — where we took Jesus’ words about honorific titles literally and seriously (Matt. 23:1-12). When we see ourselves as mere servants of Christ, when we realize that Jesus is our brother and God is our common Father, when we remember that the kingdom is flat (unlike so many of our manmade boxes into which we force people), we will be free to break with our culture, and cultural differences will become insignificant. Brotherhood is primary; gifts and callings are secondary. God calls us to exercise the variegated gifts He gives us, but our primary identity in the Body of Christ is not based on status and function but on essence and ontology: we truly are brothers and sisters.

Satan will continue to do all he can to destroy our unity and fruitfulness through pride and division. Why give him the opportunity? Above all, let us never forget that God has chosen the nobodies of this world to do His work (1 Cor. 1:27-29). The weak, the lowly, the foolish — that’s us, folks! Can we truly thank God for the privilege of being “nothings”? If not, then we’re ready to learn a bit of humility.

2:22 PM My colleague Nathan Finn raises an interesting question:Should You Pursue a Ph.D.?In my bookIt’s All Greek to Me: Confessions of an Unlikely Academic, I shared my impressions of what studying for my doctorate in Switzerland looked like. For me, Basel was the kind of institution I wanted to be in: ancient, renowned, and a place where one could tap into a vast theological library. I am convinced that doctoral programs in the U.S. should be just as challenging, rigorous, and — most importantly — mentor-led, rather than course/seminar/colloquium driven. The reason I say this is very simple: Christian education is essentially likeness education. We become like our mentors, for good or for ill. American Ph.D. programs tend to be heavy on coursework and light on mentoring. In particular, I think it’s essential that a budding New Testament scholar be tutored and apprenticed by an accomplished one. This means that I normally do not recommend prospective doctoral students to study under an unpublished scholar (the expression is, perhaps, an oxymoron). That is, of course, if your goal as a student is to become a lifelong student of the Word. In that case, the least important book you will ever write will be your doctoral dissertation.

Be that as it may, students intuit whether their doctoral programs are meaningful or just another hoop to jump through on the way to employment by some college, seminary, or university. So please think and pray hard before entering a doctoral program. As well, be sure to give a lot of prayerful thought as to what kind of a program you are looking for. It should be both challenging and enjoyable at the same time. I hope yours is!

9:43 AM What’s up with me and Hawaii? Last time I was there (December) they closed the North Shore because they said the surf was too big. That was a first! And now, just as I’m getting ready to return again, they say Mauna Loais about to erupt. Makes you wonder. Watch them run out of shave ice and plate lunches while I’m there.

9:22 AM “Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10). Joy doesn’t depend on good news. It doesn’t have anything to do with good times. It doesn’t need make-believe smiles. Joy, genuine joy, depends on only one thing: He is with me. He is my God. He is strengthening me. He is helping me. He is upholding me.

Christian joy is as deep as the soul and as wide as the universe.

Psalms 9:9    The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Psalms 10:17    O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear

Psalms 18:28    For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness.

Psalms 23:4   Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalms 34:18    The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalms 46:1   God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalms 48:14    that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.

Read more:http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/18-bible-verses-for-sympathy-cards/#ixzz35NFWdXKE
 

Saturday, June 21

7:54 PM Just stumbled across this essay by Danny Zacharias:Your Intro Greek Teacher Was Wrong: deponent verbs don’t exist. The author argues that the two leading beginning Greek grammars in use today (William Mounce and David Alan Black) incorrectly teach deponency. Instead, argues Danny, these verbs should be identified as middle in meaning: “they are regular old middle verbs.”

This point is well taken. For a long time there has been a movement among Greek scholars toward viewing “deponent” verbs as true middles. Can I give you an example? Here’s a discussion that was originally published a good many years ago:

Some deponent verbs can be explained as true middles in which the subject is being emphasized in some manner. The following categories seem to be involved:

(1) Reciprocity. These verbs describe situations in which two parties are involved and, if one were removed, no action would be possible. Examples include δέχομαι (“I welcome”), λυτρόομαι (“I redeem”), χαρίζομαι (“I forgive”), ἰάομαι (“I heal”), μάχομαι (“I fight”), ψεύδομαι (“I lie”),ἀσπάζομαι (“I greet”), and ἀποκρίνομαι (“I answer”).

(2) Reflexivity. In these verbs the verbal idea turns back upon the subject. Examples include τυφόομαι (“I am conceited”), ἐπενδύομαι (“I put on”),μιμέομαι (“I imitate”), and ἐγκρατεύομαι (“I abstain”).

(3) Self-involvement. These verbs describe processes that the subject alone can experience. Examples include ἔρχομαι (“I go”), διαλογίζομαι (“I ponder”), ἡγέομαι (“I consider”), ὀργίζομαι (“I am angry”), and βούλομαι (“I wish”).

The author? Yours truly. In the very beginning grammar (chapter 12) that is cited by Danny! This is all very curious to me. Did he not see this discussion? If he did, why did he fail to mention it? Was Danny being fair when he claimed I was wrong about deponency? Yes and no. He is correct that I used the term deponency in my grammar. However, my discussion was intentionally nuanced to suggest that the category “deponency” may well need correction or modification. Middle voice seems to be in view instead, at least in the verbs I cited and perhaps in many others as well. Danny seems to have either misunderstood, misrepresented, or oversimplified my position.

That said, I have no substantial disagreement with Danny or the works of Pennington that he cites in his essay. I also agree with him that it’s probably time to “set aside” (deponere!) the term deponency and put it out to pasture, and the next edition of my grammar will reflect that change. It’s been five years since the third edition came out, and five years is a long time when it comes to Greek pedagogy!

My hearty thanks to Danny for all of his hard work in trying to make Greek accessible to students. May your tribe increase! I also wish his new grammar well. And if this is a topic that interests you, I encourage you to read the articles listed by Danny in his essay.

6:38 PM This just in: 

Hi Brother, I lift your daughter, her husband, family yourself and friends to the Lord this morning. I imagine Becky holding onto the precious baby hugging it tight before the Lord. 

Amen!

6:22 PM One of the topics I’m sure will be discussed at the apologetics conference in California this September is the historical origins of the Gospels. As you know, I argue for Matthean priority because the church fathers held to this view. My view is that there are two apparently conflicting historical understandings of the order of the Synoptic Gospels, what I call the Clementine view (named after the church father Clement of Alexandria who stated that the Gospels containing genealogies — Matthew and Luke — came first), and the Augustinian view (which represents the canonical order found in most of our Bibles today). As I note in my bookWhy Four Gospels?, it is possible for Mark to be regarded from two different aspects as both the second and the third—third in order of actual composition, but second in order of authority as the work of the apostle Peter. Thus the canonical order of Matthew-Mark-Luke places the works of apostles (Matthew and Mark = Peter) first. In this way, the Gospel of Mark functions as a “canonical bridge” as it were between the church’s earliest Gospel, that of Matthew (written primarily for Jewish Christians), and the next Gospel to be written, that of Luke (written largely for Gentile converts stemming from Paul’s missionary efforts in the larger Roman Empire).

Does this sound strange? It shouldn’t.Much the same phenomenon occurs with the position of the book of Acts, which is the second volume of Luke’s history of the church (Luke-Acts). Why did the church take Acts, which was written before John, and place it after that writing? The reason apparently lies in the desire of the early church to provide an explanation of how the church got from the ministry of Jesus (as portrayed in the Gospel accounts) to the organized ministration as seen in the epistles. Acts alone provides the bridge of understanding between these phases of the development of earliest Christianity.

Acts also provides an insight into the dynamics of early church life in Jerusalem and elsewhere. As such, it makes the perfect backdrop for our understanding of what a New Testament church should look like. Which is why I am so excited about my forthcoming bookSeven Marks of a New Testament Church, which draws heavily from Acts. I am told the book is now at the printers. That’s pretty cool, considering that my life has been crazy of late. I do hope to take this talk on the road from time to time. Any excuse to talk about the beauty of Jesus in contrast to the ugliness of church politics is fine with me. Which reminds me: I got this email today:

Dave, from time to time when I’ve skimmed through your teachings, I seem to come across a common theme. It is about churches being pastored, not by one man, but by many. I know that you have probably written books on the subject, and you quote other books, but do you have an essay you could send me? I am really studying 1 Cor. 14:26, with the emphasis on “each of you” and would like far more information from one who has studied this subject for years.

That’s a great question. Of course, I devote an entire chapter to this topic in my bookThe Jesus Paradigm. But the question was about essays, so let’s see if I can come up with a couple:

• http://www.daveblackonline.com/what_does_a_new_testament_church.htm

• http://www.daveblackonline.com/sacerdotalism_or_everymember_mi.htm

• http://www.daveblackonline.com/why_church.htm

• http://www.daveblackonline.com/developing_a_biblical.htm

• http://www.daveblackonline.com/who_is_head_of_your_church.htm

• http://www.daveblackonline.com/a_twenty.htm

• http://www.daveblackonline.com/recovering_paul.htm

• http://www.daveblackonline.com/companionate_leadership.htm

How’s that for starters? Of course, it really doesn’t matter one whit what I think. But — I do feel like God would have me speak and write on the subject. Anyway, start searching the Scriptures for yourself and your life is likely to be thrown into a vortex of business. We never outgrow our need to grow!

9:24 AM Last night I was at the hospital with one of my daughters and her husband. They had taken their as-yet unborn son, at full term and due any day now, to the doctor’s yesterday for a checkup. The doctors couldn’t detect a heart beat. A few hours later, labor was induced and he was delivered. He had gone to heaven a few days before. The “Way” lived up to its name as all around me stood people who understood that following the Way of Jesus doesn’t preclude us from suffering and terrible loss. Yet hope shone in the darkness. Genuine, tangible hope. Sometimes things are great and we hardly think about the evils all around us. Sometimes things are hard, terribly hard, and there’s no way to make it better. Sometimes life wins. Sometimes death intrudes its ugly face. But death never really wins. It feels selfish to even say this in the face of death, but I think I understand what this loss feels like. For a man who is 62 years old with a huge irreparable hole in his heart, I think I can imagine what my precious daughter and her husband are experiencing right now. There are so many things I love about life. Just yesterday I took 5 of my grandkids and their mom to the pool where we swam and played till we were exhausted. Such unadulterated fun. I assured them that this wouldn’t be the last time Papa B took them swimming. That same day I made a trip to the hospital. It seemed so surreal. I realized again how incredibly fragile all of life is. It’s all something much bigger than any one of us. And yet there is hope. There is always hope. “Look! Look!” wrote the apostle John (Rev. 21:3-4). “God has moved into our neighborhood, making His home with men and women! We are His people, and He is our God. He will wipe every tear from our eyes. Death will be gone for good — tears gone, crying gone, pain gone. Look! I’m making everything new!”

Every single day, no matter what is happening in our lives, whether good or evil, whether gain or loss, whether it happens at a public pool or in a hospital delivery room, He is making everything new, and we are part of this new creation every single day we are alive on this planet. Which is why I am hopeful this morning in the midst of the tears I’m shedding. Once again, I’ve realized that my life is not ruled by “circumstances.” I am His son. I wear His worth like a crown. And it is He who is ultimately responsible for life, for our lives. Thank goodness for that.

Thursday, June 19

4:14 PM With summer school drawing to a close, I’ll be free to resume my travels, and boy am I looking forward to it. Not that anyone is interested necessarily, but here are some of the trips I hope to make in the coming months:

1) Not this but next weekend, I plan on flying to Dulles to hang out with Thomas and Lesly Hudgins for a couple of days. I have a suspicion they will drag me into DC to see the sights as well as to eat at their favorite Honduran restaurant. Hey, I’m game!

2) On July 7 I leave for the shores of Hawaii to spend a few days surfing in Kailua before holding a conference on the myth of adolescence at Calvary Chapel West Oahu. The conference date is Saturday, July 12. They have also graciously asked me to speak in their Sunday services on the 13th.

3) My August trip has me a mere 10 miles outside of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to speak at the Middle Creek Conference Center both Saturday evening and Sunday morning, August 30-31. Prior to that, I plan to fly up to New York to see Liz and Karen and all the Rondeaus.

4) In September, 412 Church of San Jacinto, California, is hosting its first annual apologetics conference on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 13-14. I am one of the three panelists who will be fielding questions on Saturday night, then on Sunday morning I have been asked to bring all three messages. Somewhere in there I’m hoping to catch a wave or two at Huntington Beach to remind me of the “good old days” when I was a student at Biola. September will also see me on a plane flying back to Asia to continue a Greek class I began there a couple of months ago.

5) The big event for October is a four-day Bible conference at Good Hope Baptist Church in Wake Forest. Looking forward to spending time with my good friend and former student Michael McCray.

6) In November it’s back to Odessa to teach at the seminary there …

7) …while December has me returning to Asia to continue my Greek class.

I’ve neglected to say very much about my trip to Australia that is planned for March of 2015, but I am told it is coming together quite nicely. I will be lecturing in several theological colleges (both in Sydney and Adelaide), then teaching a 3-day class in Fiji, Lord willing.

I begin all of these travels fully aware of how blessed a man I am. It’s not that I wanted to live a single life or be a bachelor, but I want to go forward with eyes wide open to the opportunities to serve King Jesus as He makes me aware of them. I don’t want to be seduced by my culture into thinking that with the loss of Becky I am destined to slow down and give up on life. On the contrary, life has never more intense or thrilling. No matter how difficult it is to live without her, I can’t convince myself to slow down and put the gears into neutral. At the end of the day, there are far worse positions to be in. I am still healthy enough to travel. I am still young enough to dream big dreams. I am still stubborn enough to shrug off all the little aches and pains one gets when one turns 62. I have no idea what surprises my walk with Jesus holds in the future. But I find it all so incredibly satisfying.

Praise be to God.

3:44 PM “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Thomas Edison.

3:32 PM Today our Greek class had quite a treat. Alfie and Joseph Mosse shared with us about their ministry in Ukraine as well as updated us on the political situation within that nation.

Be sure to check out their website,Running the Race. We also reviewed for our take-home exam over chapters 17-21. Tomorrow is the last day of week 5. Only one more week to go. Hang in there, yall!

Wednesday, June 18

10:03 PM I’d like you to meet Alfie and Julie Mosse and their three children who are just back from Ukraine on home assignment for the year. First stop? Rosewood Farm for some R & R. I had Alfie in my Greek class years and years ago in Southern California. He has remained a good friend ever since. He teaches at Odessa Theological Seminary, where I will be teaching again this November, so der Herr will. Here we are enjoying Mexican cuisine in South Boston tonight.

Here’s another great picture from today’s activities — a class in Spanish for our missions students from Latin America.

I had the privilege of sharing with them my pix of Ethiopia this afternoon. Thank you, Edgar Aponte (far right), for the kind invitation. I know I’m not unique; all of us have missionary stories to tell. But I think the stories of God’s goodness in Ethiopia are marvelous and I never tire of sharing them with others.

Finally, more haying today. First cutting is finished, praise the Lord — and without it raining on the hay once!

All in all, a great day. What made your day so great? Have you thanked the Lord for it yet? How ungrateful I can be at times. What a great tragedy that is!

Till tomorrow, Dios te bendiga.

Tuesday, June 17

6:50 PM I swam laps again today. Trying to get in shape for the Hawaiian surf I’m likely to encounter in a couple of weeks. The heat index got up to 100 degrees today but when work has to be done it has to be done.

Tomorrow will be even hotter. Tough life, eh?

6:30 AM How long has it been since you prayed the prayer that Jesus must have prayed daily: “Father, please use me to reach the lost today”?

6:26 AM “Love is not blind — it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.” Julius Gordon.

6:13 AM “Popular opinion is the greatest lie in the world.” Thomas Carlyle. 

6:03 AM The sky last night:

Monday, June 16

7:24 PM In a couple of weeks I return to Hawaii. Can’t wait. It happens that recently I was reading a book on Christian leadership that contained one of the funniest examples of etymologizing I think I have ever run across. The author had taken a trip to Hawaii and noticed how he and his wife were constantly greeted with the word “aloha.” The author noted:

“Aloha,” we discovered, means so much more than “hello.” “Alo” means presence and “ha” means breath. Literally, aloha means the presence of the divine breath. To say “aloha” is to quite literally ask, “How may I be the presence of the divine to you?” It’s a wonderful prayer, rooted in the creation story of God breathing life into man, and an awesome representation of what I must do for the next generation — breathe life into them (Jeff Myers, Handoff, pp. 76-77).

Just think! All those years I spent growing up in Hawaii I thought “aloha” simply meant “welcome” or “goodbye” or “love”!

7:10 PM I’m über-jazzed about the release ofSeven Marks of a New Testament Church. It’s the most exciting thing I’ve written in a long time blah blah blah. Seriously, there are few aspects of Christianity today that require a more radical reappraisal than our ecclesiology. For example, we tend to think of ministry as something exercised only by the proper authorities, whereas the New Testament views ministry as belonging to the entire church. If you look squarely at the New Testament you will also see that there is no place for status and its accompanying titles. (We Baptists love to point the finger at an Anglican bishop reveling in the title “My Lord” while conveniently overlooking our own use of such titles as “Reverend” and “Senior Pastor.”) In the New Testament, we find that ministers were not normally paid for what they did. This would seem to be true of elders as well (see Acts 20). And practically nothing is said in the New Testament about parachuting our leaders in from outside the church. Leadership in the New Testament was home-grown, and leaders were trained on the job, not farmed out to seminaries. I know of nothing today that would prevent us from returning to these New Testament practices other than our own tired adherence to tradition. If it seems that the New Testament patterns are radical, this is so only because we have been disobedient for so long. I have a suspicion that the place to start is learning how to ask the right questions.

Of course, it is one thing to recognize what the New Testament teaches. It is quite another to actually do it. The cup must be emptied and washed before it is filled again. And only the Spirit of God is capable of doing that. The Holy Spirit imparted power for church living in New Testament times. And He will do the same for us if we but ask.

2:12 PM Just back from campus. I have more house cleaning to do before our guests from Ukraine arrive tomorrow. Needless to say, this will be a very busy week. I loved having lunch with Edgar Aponte today at the Olive Garden.

Edgar is the director of Hispanic Leadership Development at the seminary. He hails from the Dominican Republic. We talked about missions and missions and then some more about missions. Loved it! He also saw to it that the seminary’s blog (Between the Times) now has a Spanish edition (Entre los Tiempos). You can read it here. The latest entry asking whether pastors should also be counselors will really get you thinking. Unlike me (who was tweeting long before there was anything like Twitter), you can find him on Twitter. I am eager to get better acquainted with Edgar in the years ahead. Gracias por tu amistad, amigo!

Today, as you can see, we cut all the fields and will bale shortly. I’m doing all round bales for the first cutting, saving the more leafy grass for the second cutting (if the Lord provides one this year).

As I sit here, the farm is quiet all around me. I know deep down that this is the place for me, the place where I can recharge my batteries and also minister to others in the name of Jesus. Needless to say, I owe a lot of this to Becky. It was her vision that we start our own little “L’Abri” patterned after Edith and Francis Schaeffer’s retreat center in Switzerland. Meanwhile, I am so grateful for all of you. Just know that I read and reread your emails and take courage from your thoughts and messages. Thank you for walking bedside me during this crazy journey called “life without Becky.” I’ll keep you posted as the journey continues.

6:28 AM “By perseverance the snail reached the ark.” Charles Spurgeon.

6:20 AM “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas Edison.

Sunday, June 15

2:36 PM I woke up this morning and stared at the blank space next to me, the space that used to be occupied be her, the mother of my children. On Father’s Day she would always cook for me my favorite dinner — fried chicken and mashed potatoes. But today she is nowhere to be found. The brightest light in the sky, the wisest of the wise women I’ve ever known, the most dedicated follower of the King has gone to her eternal reward, and I am without her today —  and feeling it. There is a big difference between the decision to go on with your life and the feeling as though you are going on with your life. It is a merciful Father who strips us of what we need to be stripped of when we need to be stripped of it, just as a rose bush needs to be stripped of its fading blossoms. Relinquishment is always a part of the grieving process, and some days I do better than others. But I can tell you this: No child of yours can ever take the place of their mother. No woman can take the place of your wife.

I just had to get away today, get away from the house and the memories, so I did something I had not done in a very long time. I used to be an avid swimmer. In fact, I was a California life guard at one time. So today I found an Olympic-sized pool in Halifax County and swam laps, lap after lap after lap, crawl stroke mostly (my best stroke), turning my mind away, willing it away like a man swivels a gun barrel. But then I thought of her again, powerless to stop that vision. I saw the life ebb out of her emaciated body. At the time, the thing was almost too much for me, but no one knew it. Oddly enough, as I was swimming today I had tears in my eyes. All of a sudden I was aware that I was crying, weeping tears of joy for her and tears of sorrow for myself. I kept telling myself it’s not true, that she’s not really gone, that I will soon hear her voice calling me to the dinner table to munch on a juicy drumstick. I don’t know how to type about this without being totally honest. A half of me has been taken away, and I will never be whole like I used to be.

And that, my friends, is why this Father’s Day, my first without Becky, is so special to me. Once again God is asking me to do the impossible, just as perhaps He is asking you to do the same thing today, whether that means moving from a much-loved neighborhood or giving up an unhealthy relationship or retiring from a job you feel yourself absolutely irreplaceable in. I am being forced to learn again not only the pain of renunciation but the sweetness and joy of a yielded heart. That empty space beside me in bed, that voice that will never again call to me from the dining room — I can choose what to make of them. I can even learn to make them an offering of love. Oh, how the flesh hates this thing, this giving up and giving back and surrendering! But there is no other way except the cross. A servant is not greater than his Master. If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him.

When you are experiencing grief it is hard to think of anything but grief. Amy Carmichael once wrote of being so disabled by grief that she could not think or pray but instead, like the Psalmist (Psalm 141:2), could only lift her hands towards heaven and cry out in pain. One of the most soul-fortifying pictures I have of Becky in my mind is of her lifting her feeble hands toward her Savior and whispering to me in a soft voice, “He is trustworthy, He is trustworthy.” Becky was a remarkable woman, wife, and mother, not because she never suffered, but because she responded to that suffering (even on her death bed) with trust. Neither she nor I understood why God was taking her away from me. It was not our business to know. Our job was simply to accept His answer — the grace that He gives in time of need.

And so here I am, certain that I’m not the same man I was a year ago on Father’s Day. I think I’ve grown since then. I hope I have. I’ve learned to weep more freely and serve more sacrificially and love more deeply. I hope it’s okay that I shared all this with you on this special occasion, because I want you to know that He truly cares about me and He truly cares about you, whatever pain you are facing. Healing might take a long time, but it can come to even the most shattered heart.

Saturday, June 14

8:20 PM Here’s hoping that all of you dads out there have a wonderful Father’s Day tomorrow. They say that publishing a book is the closest thing men will ever come to giving birth. If that’s the case, I’m passing out cigars. Seven Marks of a New Testament Church is now available for preorders!

Gohere to check out the special preorder price. If I counted correctly, this is now my seventh publication with Energion Publications, not counting Becky’s autobiography (which I edited) or the forthcoming Spanish version of myLearn to Read New Testament Greek. That makes Henry my favorite publisher (Baker Book House has only 6 of my titles)! My life is filled with blessings. I am grateful beyond words.

Of course, in my new book I take the “Christian” position on what a New Testament church should look like. Maybe, maybe not. That’s for you to decide. A lot of nonsense has been written about how the characteristics of the book of Acts are impossible for churches today. Impossible, yes – unless the Spirit of God is at work! I believe there is an incredible awakening sweeping across the churches in our nation today. People are realizing just how far today’s institutionalized church has departed from the New Testament. They are convinced that the Scriptural patterns for doing church are as valid in 2014 as they were in the book of Acts. When I was born again at the age of 8, I had no idea that following Jesus would be so demanding, so radically life-changing. Today, like then, I need to simply take God at His word. I must realize that my once-for-all decision many years ago now involves moment-by-moment choices to do things His way or my way.

Friends, it’s one way or the other. His way or my way. May it be no to self, and yes to the Lord Jesus!

And now for that cigar ….

11:05 AM Can I bore you with yet another very kind endorsement, this time from Thomas Hudgins?

Just when I thought I had read my favorite book by Dave Black, out comes this one! Whether God just saved you or you’ve been walking with Jesus for many years, this book is for you. Jesus says in Matt. 16:18, “I will build My church.” From Jesus’ perspective the church was future, it was his possession, and he was its architect! Today, we are tempted to forget about its inception, to view it as someone else’s possession, and to build it with human minds and hands. Second to a wrong view of the gospel, nothing can hurt the Great Commission more than a wrong view of the church. Black’s Seven Marks of a New Testament Church is a necessary reminder that we are to “do” church on God’s terms, not our own. I, for one, have greatly benefited from Black’s careful study of Acts 2:37–47. Believe me when I say, we can’t afford to neglect these eleven verses if we hope to see God turn the world “upside down” in our day (Acts 17:6).       

9:48 AM Live on Oahu? Please join us on Saturday, July 12.

The event is being hosted by our good friends at Calvary Chapel West Oahu. Like I said before, I’ll also be spending a few days just hanging out at Kailua Beach where I used to live and surf all the time. It’s funny, but when I’m in the Islands I feel like an entirely different person. I go from being a hard-working professor to a lazy beach bum in no time whatsoever!

9:18 AM Three cheers for Lesly,America’s newest citizen! Whoo-hoo!

8:42 AM Yet another endorsement has come in, this time from one of my elder-pastors, Jason Evans:

I believe it is fair to say that I know Brother David Black. He has been my professor, and I have been one of his pastors. On a trip to Ethiopia, I recall asking his wife (Becky), “What are Dr. Black’s strengths?” She responded, “Seeing the big picture and making it simple for everyone to understand.” Seven Marks of a New Testament Church is such a book. Clear, concise, engaging, and oozing with heavenly wisdom that will stir your heart and mind to want “gospel-maturity” for the glory of Christ.

Appreciate it, Jason!

7:52 AM Yesterday in Greek class, a student asked me how and why my perspective on missions changed so radically. “When did the Great Commission become a priority in your life”? Well, as most of you already know, for years Becky and I tried to live out the Great Commission in our marriage. (See my essay,A Great Commission Marriage.) I teach in what is intentionally and unapologetically called a “Great Commission Seminary.” I have a seminary president who argues that every professor at Southeastern ought to be a Great Commission professor, and that every student who attends here ought to be a Great Commission student. (Please see hisresponse to the accusation at the SBC convention in Phoenix that SEBTS has a “Calvinistic” agenda. His answer hits the ball out of the park.) And what is that commission? What were Jesus’ final words? What were His “final marching orders” (Danny Akin)? It was not to gather but to go. I like to put it this way to my students:

The gathering exists for the going.

And I do not mean “going” in a purely theoretical sense either. For many years I did not go. I was of course doing many things for Christ, such as preaching and publishing and teaching my classes. It was for others to go, not for me. My job was to support missions, not to be a missionary. Then God began teaching me that the Great Commission is for every Christian, and that includes me. When we learn to run to it and embrace it, when we can habitually plan our lives and schedules in such a way that we become intentional about sharing Jesus’ love with others, then, I think, we’ve begun to live the life of reasonable service described in Rom. 12:1-2. We must be willing to be more than good Greek teachers, good churchmen and women, good givers and supporters of missions. We must do more than meet together to pump each other up. We must be willing to let our lives be broken and smashed in order for the light of the Gospel to break out. We must be willing to stand alongside our suffering brothers and sisters in the world.

There are many practical ways we can enter into this fellowship of suffering without ever leaving the borders of North America. The biblical requirement is that we should voluntarily go out of our way to leave our soft, cushy pews (or, for you home churchers, your sofas) and accept assignments that involve suffering and sacrifice, inconvenience, discomfort, and more. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not promoting agnosticism when it comes to the gathering of the Body. Paul is clear that the purpose of the assembled church is mutual edification. But why assemble if it is not to spur each other on to love and good works, to encourage one another to serve the expansion of the kingdom? I think Paul is a good example of what I’m talking about. He didn’t have to experience beatings and imprisonments and afflictions. I don’t believe he ever desired suffering for its own sake. Instead, he took a calculated risk. Here’s what he said: “I do not count my life dear to myself so that I might finish my course with joy and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). Paul is saying that his sufferings as a missionary authenticated or validated his ministry. For Paul, suffering for others is the proof of discipleship. All but one of the original twelve apostles were martyred for their faith. They were simply walking in the footsteps of their Savior, who said that a servant is not above his master.

The bottom line for me? Let’s get the salt out of the salt shaker! Let’s live lives that are a positive sacrifice for the good of others outside of the church. Jesus says to us, in effect, “All I have to offer you is what I have had — loneliness, rejection, suffering, hardship, pain, sweat, death. I have set before you an example of what it means to be a Christian — putting others before yourselves. Above all, I came to seek and to save that which was lost. Will you do any less?”

It is the Great Commission that ought to drive everything we do as followers of Jesus. Some people think they can be good Christians by attending the fellowship, singing songs, praying prayers, teaching one another, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. We must return to Jesus’ revolutionary, cross-based ministry. How different is this kind of self-sacrificing Christianity from the comfort-seeking, self-serving, ingrown religion so often practiced in our churches. This Jesus who humbled Himself as a servant and who died as a criminal — this same Jesus is the One who was always pressing on to preach the Gospel in the next village. His heart’s cry was for the dead and the dying, for the lost, the sick, the undone. He was willing to let everything go for the sake of lost souls.

When I finally came to understand that this very same Jesus was desiring to live His missional life through me, I felt as if He had shoved a knife into my heart. But finally I knew the work He had for me. The true test of my commitment is not how much I give or even what I believe but how I live. God is not just asking us to give our money to missions but to make missions the core of our lives, the central passion in all we do. Hence, I must insist that Christ meant for His church to be primarily a missionary organism. The church is the living presence of a God whose heart throbs with love for the lost and a passion for dying souls. The church is Christ’s Body, but it is a Body He gave for the world. I therefore ask my dear readers to consider: Are you willing, as was Jesus, to let everything go for the sake of lost souls and for the 1.6 billion unreached people in this world, to give your life to recapture just one inch of territory from darkness and bring it into the light? If and when the Great Commission becomes more than just another option for gathered believers, it is there that I believe I will be able to recognize the true church.

7:30 AM This week I hope to put the final touches on my ministry trips this year. In each of these places I will be speaking the Word. Between now and Christmas these trips include New York, Ukraine, East Asia (twice), and Hawaii, Lord willing. You can see where I’m going with this, right? I will pay for all of these trips myself. May I recommend to all of you a delightful book by Christopher Little calledMission in the Way of Paul (New York: Lang, 2005)? It’s the author’s doctoral dissertation at Fuller Seminary. His is one of several works reflecting recent advances in biblical theology centered on Paul and his work as a missionary.

Among other things, Little shows that any attempt to use Paul as a model for financially supporting cross-cultural workers is groundless. Though Paul granted liberty to others in this matter, he himself refused to operate in this way. Little is also convinced that contemporary Christianity has departed from Paul in its practice of providing for regularly salaried local church leaders, noting that salaries in the U.S. for pastors ($16.7 billion annually) is more than the total amount given by all Christians, globally, for foreign missions. I list here only a few of the many takeaways I got from reading this excellent book:

• Paul never sought support from his churches.

• At times he benefited from his churches in other ways (hospitality, lodging, love gifts), but these were in no way payment for services. Hence Paul can never be conceived as a hired worker of the church.

• By offering the Gospel “free of charge,” Paul was able to reach those at the bottom of the social ladder, seeing that his services did not entail a financial fee. In Paul we see a person willingly stepping down the ladder of social status in order to help everyone, including slaves.

• Paul’s financial independence enabled him to protect the independence of the Gospel. This independence did not come easily for Paul. According to first century sources, the usual work day consisted of daylight hours only. Paul claims that he worked “night and day” (1 Thess. 2:9), presumably beginning work long before sunrise and continuing through much of the day and evening. Paul thus showed how extraordinarily industrious he was. Paul’s practice of preaching free of charge is to be contrasted with that of his opponents, whom he can describe as “retailing” (kapeleuontes) the word of God (2 Cor. 2:17).

• Besides his policy of working for a living, Paul must have viewed the secular workplace as a venue for sharing the Gospel. Thus Paul is best understood as a diligent leather-worker who was also busy preaching the Gospel and serving the churches.

• Paul’s life as a self-sustaining worker in service to the Gospel was intended to be an example for other believers to emulate. Paul’s life and labors were paradigmatic for the church. This is clearly seen in his Miletus discourse to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20. Leaders are to refrain from idleness, provide for themselves by working, and thereby gain the respect of outsiders. Paul’s practice of self-support is reinforced by Luke’s reference to an agraphon of Jesus (Acts 20:35). “It is more blessed to give than to receive” does not mean “It is blessed to give and cursed to receive.” Neither Paul nor Jesus forbade accepting support. In Paul’s case, the saying means that it is more blessed to work and thereby have something to give to the needy than to receive support from the churches. (In passing, this is one of the reasons Becky and I were fully self-supporting in our mission work in Ethiopia: Why should money be used to pay for our expenses when the needs in Ethiopia are vastly greater?)

• The notoriously difficult passage in 1 Tim. 5:17-18 refers, not to pay for fulltime workers, but to tokens of gratitude for spiritual help received. Such honoraria, Little argues, are free-will offerings, the very antithesis to a regular paid salary.

• In the case of other apostles who, unlike Paul, were not craftsmen but fishermen or farmers and who had to give up their work to missionize in faraway places, the “privilege of support” was an option. Apparently Peter and the other apostles made use of this right on their missionary journeys.

• Finally, Little notes that Paul gladly received gifts from others (the Philippians, for example), but he never asked for gifts. In fact, in Phil. 4:10- (where Paul acknowledges receipt of the Philippians’ gifts), he makes it clear that he is not asking for more gifts!

This is a wonderful book about missions that should challenge the church to its very foundations. Paul’s one passion in life was to see God glorified by making His name known to the nations. Moreover, he sought to preach the Gospel in such a way that no one could accuse him of serving Christ for worldly gain. What a contrast to so much that today passes for “missions” under the control of bloated bureaucracies. Paul never established a missions agency, never lived on a missions compound, never built buildings of any kind. He had no “ten-year plan” other than to be obedient. Paul’s style of working as an itinerant evangelist made it possible for him to urge the churches to take responsibility for their own life from the beginning. He modeled for them a relational lifestyle characterized by personal self-sacrifice. He expected the churches he founded to manage their own affairs and pay their own way, even though many of them were extremely poor (2 Cor. 8:2). Even though Paul was involved with the Antiochene church’s famine contribution (Acts 11:27-30) and the Gentile collection for the Jerusalem church (1 Cor. 16:1-3; 2 Cor. 8-9), he focused on the development of local resources for the growth of the churches as opposed to importing resources from elsewhere. Just as Paul was self-supporting, so were his churches.

I’ll conclude this post with a real-life illustration. Recently I got an email from a professor who is raising $5,000 for an upcoming mission trip. I will not give him a penny. However, what I will tell him is this: I will match, up to $1,000, every dollar you take from your own savings/investments/retirement and apply to this trip. Folks, discipleship, if it is genuine, is always costly. If it’s not costing us something, I rather doubt it’s the kind of followership Jesus was talking about.

6:56 AM I love endorsements! This one comes from D. Kevin Brown.

Well, Dave Black has done it again! In his book Seven Marks of a New Testament Church he brings to light the fact that much of what is being done in our 21st-century churches bears little to no resemblance to what the Bible teaches. Ouch! But, it’s true! Dave calls us to take a look at how we “do church” and seek to bring reform. It’s not that we’ve chosen to be disobedient or unbiblical in an intentional way. Yet, much like ocean tides eat away a sand castle, biblical truths are being eroded by our man-made traditions and philosophies regarding church leadership, polity and fellowship. Anyone desiring to lead or be a part of what looks like a 1st-century church should heartily welcome the simple, yet profound principles outlined by Dave from the book of Acts. Thanks again for challenging the status quo Brother Dave!  

Thanks, Kevin. The check is in the mail.

6:45 AM This email arrived yesterday from one of Becky’s Biola roommates:

Doug and I were saddened to read of Becky’s home-going in the current Biola magazine.  I had the privilege of being her roommate one semester at Biola and respected her tremendously.  She was single-minded and focused even in college when many of us were just learning to fly on our own.  All she wanted to do was serve the Lord with a full heart. 

Amen to that.Becky’s life was a very simple reminder to lay aside our schedules, our plans, and our schemes to serve Him in the power of the Spirit. He wants to carry us along to maturity and service, relying on Him for mercy and grace in time of need. 

Friday, June 13

4:55 PM Well, Father’s Day is coming up this Sunday. I sometimes find myself regretting the fact that I never had a dad while growing up. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to come to terms with what my parents’ divorce when I was 3 meant in my life. So for all you dad-less dads out there, I offer a few Father’s Day thoughts. I hope it’s okay.

1) You will never outgrow the heartache of being a fatherless child. Yes, I realize that you do outgrow your self-loathing eventually, but the pain of the loss never subsides. Today, even at 62, I still feel a bit of the sorrow. I still feel an emptiness that comes from never having had a dad to talk to. I am not “over” it completely but I have changed and have grown because of it.

2) Being a good parent to your own children (and grandchildren) never gets easier. You will always struggle with low self-esteem. But keep on doing your best anyway. It is enough for God.

3) Realize that you had absolutely no power over the circumstances that altered the course of your life. It simply happened — providentially of course — but it happened without your choice or say-so. Get over it. You have your own life to live. The divorce had nothing to do with your ability or goodness or lack of virtue. Divorces happen to humans, because humans are sinful. Do not let your life be defined by that tragedy or by any other tragedy for that matter. Your loss was no different than what was experienced by thousands and millions of other children. The loss is real; but you are greater than the loss.

4) Say it out loud: “God will see me through whatever I’m facing.” You simply have to adjust to it, just like a returning army vet has to adjust to a severe trauma that swept over him like a wave in the war zone. God will use these experiences redemptively in our lives if we let Him. He promises to redeem our stories because that’s just the kind of a God He is.

5) Remember, if you lost your dad in childhood, the pain of that loss will never leave you. No one can mitigate your loneliness for you. No one can face it for you. But you will always find people with whom you can share life together. They may have never lost a father in childhood, but they have mourned and suffered too. They understand. Together, we can experience the unconditional love and joy of God.

59 years ago I lost my earthly father to divorce. I am told that, just before he died of cancer, he received Christ. If true, this means that one day I will see him in heaven. I can’t wait.

I love you, dad!

54 years ago I gained my Heavenly Father through faith. Today I luxuriate in His love for me. He gives me more security than I could have ever dreamed possible. And He’ll keep on loving me no matter what. My story is really His story, the story He is writing in my life, pointing to a reality beyond itself to a reality as only He knows and sees it. Never have I felt so broken. Yet never have I been so whole. All because of that day in 1960 when He adopted me into His family.

Thank you, Dad! I love you! I love you!

2:40 PM Hey there, guys and gals! Hope you’re still having a great summer. I’m having the time of my life. Right now I’ve got lots of pots on the fire. For one thing, I’m teaching 6 weeks of beginning Greek. For another, I’m finishing up publishing projects that have been simmering on the back burner for a while. In my newest book,It’s All Greek to Me: Confessions of an Unlikely Academic, I made the following statement:

I never set out to become a professional Greek teacher. I “slid” into my teaching career, no doubt with more than a touch of foible about me.

That is absolutely true! Which is why I took no offense at a comment that appeared the other day on awebsite published by a fellow Greek lover:

I’ve just started at Bible college this year and I’m very disappointed with the Greek textbook we use (Black). I know a textbook has different goals than a reference grammar, but while it may be great at teaching people how to parse Greek it makes almost no attempt to teach you how to understand it. There are probably better textbooks, but I have to wonder why it was even published. And the back of the book says it’s one of the most linguistically informed ones!

Now that is quite a comment! I responded as follows:

Hi Dannii. You wrote, “There are probably better textbooks, but I have to wonder why it was even published.” Believe me, no one was more surprised than I when B & H asked me to write a beginning grammar for them. Recently I published a book called It’s All Greek to Me: Confessions of an Unlikely Academic that documents how I slid into my career path as a Greek teacher and how I ended up writing so many books on Greek. If you will send me your mailing address (my email is dblack@sebts.edu) I will be happy to send you a copy of the book gratis. Best wishes and all the best with your Greek studies. Sincerely, Dave Black

So there you have it, folks. You won’t find me whining about comments like that. Confessions of an Unlikely Academic is intended to be a comprehensive overview of how God took a boy from the beach at Kailua and made him into a guy who gets to do what he loves to do and even get paid for it. In this light, I just noticed that my bookLinguistics for Students of New Testament Greek has now been in print for over 25 years! To those who say I never had the right to write a book on linguistics, I say “You are absolutely correct!” I am deeply humbled and honored to have provided what many consider to be the first book that truly integrated linguistics and New Testament Greek at the student level. It opened a flood gate for others to follow, so that today there is nothing unusual about books on Greek that attempt to integrate linguistic insights. Honestly, I would not have written that book had another more qualified scholar come along and beat me to the punch. And I have no doubt that future writers will produce books that far excel mine. To quote Confessions again:

It is hoped that through reading my books the next generation of Greek students will produce their own texts that will far exceed mine both in quality and depth.

I truly mean that. Still, all this aside, I encourage you to stick with whatever Greek textbook you are using and try to master its contents. Most of us cover the same ground but do so with different nuances. Anyway, I encourage you to learn New Testament Greek. As you will see if you read my autobiography, anyone can learn the language — even a surfer from Hawaii!

Dave

Thursday, June 12

6:53 AM Good morning to you! I’ve been preparing for my Ph.D. course on the exegesis of Philippians for the fall and have been jotting down some initial thoughts about exegesis. I want to be clear that I’m exploring this train of thought. Here goes:

1) In studying exegesis, the emphasis must always be on “praxis” as opposed to mere abstract thinking. We need to “do” exegesis and not just teach it.

2) This means that exegesis must be incarnational, must be brought down to earth, must always be oriented to the pastoral needs of the church.

3) In my view, exegesis and theology belong together. As Paul says in Rom. 12:1, we must present our “bodies” to God as living sacrifices because deeds can be done only through bodies. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus, His heart and mouth.

4) Thus exegesis — the science of interpreting Holy Scripture — is an eminently practical discipline. The Bible itself stresses the importance of practicing the truth. The apostle Paul places an extraordinarily high value on deeds (see Eph. 2:10).

5) That said, exegesis, as I understand the task, is a high-risk enterprise. We study so that we may love and obey Christ. And He promises us trouble.

6) In short, exegesis is from beginning to end a way of life. Great theology must always produce relevant Christianity. Once this is recognized, we can begin to separate ourselves from the dark seductiveness of modern-day Gnosticism. At the heart of exegesis lie sacrifice and service, endurance and suffering, and above all fidelity to the Great Commission and a rejection of any lesser cause.

These are monumental issues. I trust that my students will leave the class championing the inextricable link between theology and spirituality, orthodoxy and orthopraxy, knowing the truth and practicing it. We need to rediscover the fact that exegesis does not mean merely the study of Scripture but rather the relational activity of trusting, living, obeying, serving, and glorifying God, through death if necessary. Knowing Scripture, in other words, involves obedience. It is the chief function of exegesis to unleash the power of the Lord in the midst of His people so that we do His will and thus bring glory to His name. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep My commandments.” To live this way is to revolt against everything in our lives that is inconsistent with the reign of God. To honor the King rightly, we must never forget this.

Long live the King!

Dave

Wednesday, June 11

3:33 PM I’m taking a (much needed) break from correcting the page proofs for Seven Marks of a New Testament Church and my related insatiable obsession with writing to get some farm work done today. In between I managed to have my annual physical checkup and make a shopping trip to town. Anyway, the temps have turned way too hot to work outdoors anymore so I thought I’d update the blog. I am so proud of my summer Greek class. Here they are working in groups of two parsing verbs in preparation for tonight’s take home exam over the entire indicative mood.

Undoubtedly the best approach to verb morphology is one that sees the morpheme and not the word as the minimal unit of meaning in language. I heartily recommend this approach if you’ve never tried it. Let me just say this about my textbook Learn to Read Testament Greek. You’ll be memorizing much less and (hopefully) understanding much more when you have approached the verbs through the eyes of a linguist. At the same time, if you’re a Greek student you can’t just skip over vocabulary memorization. (Vocab is simply learning a whole bunch of lexical morphemes, by the way.) There’s simply nothing illogical about the Greek language. It makes sense — even the so-called “exceptions.” At any rate, I’ve tried to teach the language in a logical way, but I suppose the real test will come tomorrow when the students grade their exams. My hat certainly goes off to these guys and gals who have sacrificed their summer vacation to mastering the language of the New Testament. God bless you, each one!

6:30 AM As the U.S. Open gets underway here in North Carolina, I’m reminded of a great golf victory about ten years ago by the unlikeliest of heroes. It’s a story for all of us who have ever said to ourselves, “Why, I could never do that!” Really?

It was 2003, and American Ben Curtis had just won the British Open, beating such world-class players as Thomas Bjorn, Davis Love, Vijay Singh, and Tiger Woods.

The year before Curtis was playing on the Hooters Tour — you know, the restaurant chain that specializes in, um, fried chicken. However, when Bjorn’s 35-foot birdie attempt on the 18th green failed, Curtis was the surprised and shocked Open champion. “Surprised” champion to everyone but the champion himself, that is. Throughout the competition, Curtis, ranked 396th in the world coming in, was confident and in total control. Not over-confident or braggadocious, mind you. Anyone playing in the Biggest of the Big would feel some nervousness. “I was shaking in my boots, obviously, but I was just out there very focused on what I had to do and let my work speak for itself,” said Curtis. “And if it was good enough, fine, if not, I can live with it.”

Here’s the attitude that brought victory to Curtis: Focus on what you have to do, do the best you can, and be satisfied with the results — whatever they are. What a refreshing approach to professional sports. Listen again to Curtis: “I came in here this week just trying to play the best I could and hopefully make the cut and compete on the weekend. And obviously I did that and went out there and probably played the best weekend of my life.” When he rolled in a 6-footer for par on the 18th, Bjorn was at 3-under but in the process of double-bogeying the 16th. Love, Singh, and Woods were at even par.

“When I looked up at the scoreboard when I finished and saw that I was two back, and [Bjorn] had three holes to play, and those are not easy holes—I knew 17 and 18 especially were playing really difficult—and I knew I needed to make that putt to have a chance,” Curtis said, “I knew I needed that putt on 18 to win—to have a chance, at least, I should say. I didn’t necessarily think it was going to be the winning putt. And then just on the driving range I just was having fun and just trying to keep relaxed and not really think about it.”

“Just having fun.” All the while outlasting Tiger Woods and a collection of super-stars to win his first major championship. “Many people are probably saying, ‘Well, he doesn’t really belong there,'” Curtis said after the tournament. “But I know I do, so that’s all that matters.”

Wow. Lake Placid all over again. David versus Goliath. “The last shall be first.” Little guys can beat the big dudes.

Lessons?

• Give it all you’ve got.

• Have fun while doing it.

• Leave the results to God.

And never forget: It’s okay to be an unlikely underdog.

6:15 AM I was listening to Christian talk radio yesterday when a caller brought up Rom. 13:1-7. The host’s answer was anything but definitive. So I’d like to remind us that our citizenship as Christians is not here on this earth but in heaven because we are members of a heavenly commonwealth (Phil. 3:20). We belong to the only Christian nation that ever existed because we are the people of God. Worldly nations contain Christians and may be influenced by Christian principles, but there will never be a Christian nation except the blood-bought children of God. Jesus offered high praise for those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. This is the same Jesus who said, “No one can serve two masters.” There were times in the early church when there was ample opportunity for suffering. Then and now, many have become martyrs because they refused to bow the knee to the state. As in olden times, so today: God’s people need to be what they are—heavenly colonials and holy nationals, a Master’s Minority in a pagan land. I am grateful to be an American and I obey her laws, but America is not a Christian nation. America is a mission field.

Tuesday, June 10

8:56 PM Okay, this is the last (I hope) of my blog posts about my birthday, at least until next year. But hey, it’s not every day you get a 6-CD set of Beach Boys music in the mail, and in the cover are their signatures to boot.

An awesome gift from an awesome daughter (and her family). Thank you, Lizzy Pie!

And then there was this little goody I found tucked away inside my freezer when I got home today.

Thank you, Nate and Jess! Aaaah. Makes me feel like a Christian hedonist.

Nite, nite, all.

7:38 PM God has been so good to me! I had a wonderful birthday yesterday, the highlights of which were enjoying lunch with our new librarian and then dining at the Queen of Sheba with daughter Rachael. How can I explain this picture to you?

It only represents my daily life for about 15 years — Kailua Beach, where I surfed practically every day. Rachael snapped this photo on her trip there two weeks ago and had it mounted. I can see and feel it now — the sand, the salt air, the sunrise over the Mokulua Islands, learning how to surf there as a child. It was so cool to be having dinner with someone who had actually shared a bit of that adventure.

It’s getting a bit easier, this picking up the pieces and going on. There are a lot of “firsts” in my life right now — first Mother’s Day without Becky, first birthday without her, first Father’s Day, etc. But my wonderful family won’t allow me any time to mope. The rest of you, too. Thank you for all the cards and emails wishing me a happy and healthy dotage. As Rachael and I sat in the magnificent Duke Chapel last night, I stared at the vaulted ceiling and marveled at how big our God is. I was so awestruck I felt like shouting at the top of my lungs and running up and down the aisles — jumping and leaping and praising God, like the man we read about in the Gospels. But you don’t need a church pew to worship God. Open your eyes right where you are and there He is. “Take a long and thoughtful look at what God has created,” wrote Paul in Rom. 1:20. Hear the mountains sing and then join in as the birds praise His name. You can worship Him any time, any place. In sickness or in health. In the kitchen or in love’s embrace. Whether your spouse is still alive or only a dim memory. Indeed, even when you are old enough to enter the hallowed rolls of the Social Security Administration.

Worship HIM!

Dave

Sunday, June 8

8:46 PM As you might know, our daughter Karen is working at a Christian camp and family retreat center in upstate New York this summer, not far from where Liz and Matthew live. It seems this week the camp hosted a few hundred Episcopalians, so Karen was a bit surprised when I told her, “Well, I’m an Episcopalian. At least I was baptized as one.” Curious, she asked me to blog about it, so here goes.

In was in 1952, and my father’s faith was Episcopalian, so naturally their last-born son was baptized into the church. Here I am on that day with my God parents.

I have been told, and am ready to believe, that this was the first and last time I ever set foot (or baby stroller) in an Episcopalian church. Our family did not attend church, even after my parents’ divorce in 1955. In 1960, however, a man named Rudy Ulrich planted a Baptist church in Kailua and as a result I came to personal faith in Christ. Here I am being baptized, along with my mother, in the waters of Kailua Beach at the age of 8 as my public “Pledge of Allegiance” to Jesus Christ.

You’ll forgive me, I know, for being so nostalgic, but I remember it as one of the greatest days in my life. I could not fathom it. God as my Father? Could He really overcome the darkness in my life? Even at that ripe young age I prayed that I would become a living testament to God’s grace.

And let’s be honest: In my view, I was not “re-baptized” at the age of 8. I know that’s a controversial thing to say. But for me, getting wet as a baby made absolutely no difference in my life. There are theological issues at stake here too, of course — I realize that. I hope it’s okay, then, if I quote from my forthcoming book Seven Marks of a New Testament Church. Here’s how I ended my chapter on baptism:

It would not be proper to conclude this chapter without drawing attention to two areas of disagreement concerning Christian baptism that exists among committed followers of Jesus. The first question concerns the proper recipients of Christian baptism: should infants be baptized as well as adults? The second question has to do with the proper mode of baptism: is immersion the only scriptural mode of baptizing a person, or is sprinkling also allowed? My own conviction is that scriptural baptism is for believers only, by immersion only. But how did I come up with that conviction? And how should you arrive at yours?

There are three reasons why I hold to my position about baptism: upbringing and background, training, and personal Bible study. I have always been a Baptist. I was converted in a Baptist church, and I have attended Baptist churches ever since. That is my upbringing and background, neither of which, of course, guarantees that my beliefs are correct.

In the second place, there is my training. My education has reinforced my personal beliefs about baptism. Both Biola University and Talbot School of Theology (where I received my B.A. and M.Div. degrees, respectively) were Baptist-friendly institutions of higher education. Even when I went on to the University of Basel in Switzerland for my D.Theol. degree, I still encountered Baptist theology. I will never forget sitting in Markus Barth’s lectures on the Gospel of Mark and hearing him defend believer’s baptism, not once but several times, and at considerable length. And this in a Reformed university! Markus Barth was hardly alone in his views. His famous father, Karl Barth, had long objected to paedobaptism (the baptizing of infants) and even published a book on the subject (The Teaching of the Church Regarding Baptism).

Finally, there is the matter of my own personal study of Scripture. What guidance can Acts offer? I argue that the book of Acts does not specifically refer to the baptism of infants. “Household baptisms” indeed took place on at least five occasions, but one cannot prove, just from Scripture, that these households included infants or young children incapable of faith and repentance. Whenever the book of Acts speaks of baptism, it is never baptism without faith and repentance. Infant baptism simply makes no sense if you believe that an informed decision is necessary to be saved.

What should your position be on these controversial issues? It seems to me that your view will be shaped by the same three factors that shaped mine: your upbringing and background, your training, and (most important of all) your personal study of Scripture. A good deal has been written on the subject, and it must be confessed that a good deal of it rests more on assumptions than on the wrestling with the text of Scripture. As we mature in the Christian life, doctrine sometimes becomes more confusing, not less. We would be wise not to make our decision without serious prayer and Bible study. And even if we must agree to disagree with our Christian brethren on these matters, this is still no reason for the dismembering of the body of Christ. When Paul and Barnabas fell out with each other (the Greek of Acts 15:39 implies a “sharp disagreement”), they still continued their respective missionary work. And so must we whenever we face in-house disagreements. I am so grateful for the example of Bo Reicke, my “Doctor Father” in Basel, who nurtured me as a young scholar. This amazing man was a committed Lutheran and yet he could work with a committed Baptist. He had not only a scholar’s mind but a pastor’s heart, and today I am glad to be able to pay him the honor he is due. Unity does not demand uniformity. But it does imply interdependence. If the church fails to exhibit it, it contradicts the very Gospel of reconciliation it preaches.

I truly hope this helps you to understand my position on the nature and purpose of Christian baptism. I’m hesitant to write about all this, but the matter can’t be brushed aside. Where I live today, the culture is very “Christian.” As the joke goes, “There are more Baptists in Mecklenburg County, Virginia than there are people.” It seems everyone is on a church roll because at one time or another they were baptized. Recently, Paige Patterson nailed itwhen he said:

First, for 50 or more years, our churches have been in competition, each wanting to baptize more than the other churches in the association. A pastor with 300 or more baptisms comes to the notice of the denomination and often gets his ticket stamped for denominational preferment. In the process of this race for numerical achievement, our church rolls have become gorged with people who “walked the aisle” and were baptized but remained as lost to genuine conversion as Judas. The evidence? Consider the “non-resident” Baptists, who number in the millions.

The issue, then, is not baptism but the problem of cultural or even false Christianity. But God sees thorough our shallow facades and cover-ups. In His eyes we’re all as guilty as the worst criminal languishing away in prison. But He has promised to forgive us and erase our record if we confess our sins and embrace the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Salvation, not any ritual, whether you are an Episcopalian or a Baptist. The only way to be acceptable in God’s eyes is to admit our absolute unacceptability.

Eternal life is a simple decision. You say yes or no. What will it be, my friend?

7:16 PM Always enjoy being challenged by the Word, and this morning Jon hit the nail on the head and me between the eyes when he spoke from Joshua 3. I find I’ve become comfortable with life, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there are several Jordans God still wants me to cross. You’re probably already getting tired of hearing me say this, but even though I am often dissatisfied with status quo living I find myself often living in that world. The thing is, we need to be asking God to give us bigger (not smaller) challenges, to expand our territory, just as Jabez prayed in 1 Chronicles 4. As long as we are not motivated by selfish interests, God has bigger challenges and greater opportunities for all of us. The problem is that I am all too often content with my own little ruts in life. I want to play it safe rather than ask God to expand my territory so that I can become more useful to Him. As Jon pointed out in his message, true faith isn’t a matter of works and will-power on our part but a matter of trusting God’s miracle-working power. I don’t come close to this standard. But I want to.

Afterwards we enjoyed some “real” New York pizza in the great city of Durham and then I retreated home to get some work done in my office.

I thought the pizza was good but really, you gotta be in the Big Apple for the real deal. Thanks, Glasses, for the great food and fellowship. Matthea, only two weeks to go till number 5 comes along. Hang in there!

8:32 AM To those today who are struggling with their vocations: “The Lord will personally go ahead of you” (Deut. 31:8). He knows what lies ahead. He knows every detail of your struggle to find your life’s work. You don’t know where your future will lead, but He does. And He’s right there — at your side. He will “neither fail nor abandon you.”

8:24 AM Talk about whine whine whine. The owner knew the rules of the Belmont before signing up. If you’re gonna lose, lose graciously. Had CC won, the owner would have said nothing.

(Pet peeve.)

8:12 AM Sunday trivia:

1) Did you know that the ancient Greeks had a word forfreckles? They also hadcomputers. Them was some smart folk.

2) Tomorrow is my 62nd birthday. Which means I will officially become an old geezer. Just think: I can now retire under Social Security!

3) This was my California Chrome.

A pure Thoroughbred, I called him Traveler. He raced in California but only won a couple of races, so sold he was at the ripe old age of 6. To me. I loved riding. As someone put it, “The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man.” I never rode Traveler when I was tired. Because he was so high-spirited, he required all the physical and mental energy I could muster. We always went full out — no walking or trotting. It was either a full gallop or a fast canter. I gave up riding a couple of years ago. When people ask “Why?” my answer is simple: “I didn’t get too old to ride. I got too old to fall.” Yep, had a few “unplanned dismounts” while riding that lean, mean racing machine. But I loved every minute of it.

4) Just got a publisher’s catalog with yet another “Introduction to the New Testament.” In my opinion, it was nothing but the same old, same old. Here’s a report on seculartextbooks that flunk the test:

“There’s an incredible sameness about them. They’re following the same script,” she told reporters in a briefing on the study of a dozen American and world history texts issued Feb. 26.

Seminary textbooks can be just an indulgent of group-think and menticide. I for one am grateful that at least some textbooks are willing to challenge the status quo when it comes to long-entrenched views, say, of textual criticism or the synoptic problem.

5)How to choose a Bible version.

Saturday, June 7

7:30 PM Well, Tonalist has won the Belmont. No triple crown winner since Affirmed. Nine years ago I wrote this piece:The Heart of a Secretariat.

6:50 PM Man arrested fordrunk-in-the-Spirit driving.

9:10 AM Yo folks! Got an interesting question for you:

Were elders/pastors/overseers in the New Testament itinerant? Or were they home-grown, settled, with jobs and families and reputations well-earned after many years living in their communities?

I thought about this issue this morning when I read a statement about pastoring by a highly respected United Methodist bishop:

While there’s much to be said for longer pastorates, there is also value in short, focused pastorates in which we pastors do the best we can to follow God’s leading and then high tail it out of town under the cover of darkness. Clerical desire for permanence, enduring legacy, longevity, and eternality are aspirations unworthy of those who work with a living, peripatetic, itinerate, always-on-the-move Trinity.

Of course, I am neither a United Methodist nor an elder of a local church, so what I have to say will probably be taken very lightly by many. But for what it’s worth, here’s my take. Let me frame the discussion by identifying myself as someone who has lived in the Bible Belt for 16 years now. I love where I live in the southern Piedmont of Virginia near the Carolina line. As a farmer, I feel a real part of my rural, agrarian community. One of the things I marvel at, however, is the constant turnover of pastors in our area. (I am speaking mostly of Baptists now; I know very little of the local Methodist congregations in my area.) Typically a pastor will remain in a church for only a handful of years before moving on. Very few put down any roots in the community. Contrast this with what appears to be the New Testament pattern. In the early church we find local men leading local churches. They came from within the local church and were committed to that church. Permanence, far from being something negative and to be avoided, seemed to be part and parcel of what it meant to be a pastor in the early church. Thus the link between the church and the ministry was maintained. However, in our modern system, where “the ministry” is often considered a profession — not always, but often —  men sometimes seek for themselves, or are sent by authority, to occupy this or that post without any regard to this relational/community link, which is thus broken. All too often the danger is that pastors will look upon churches as places that simply offer them opportunities to exercise their ministry gifts or else as steps up the ladder of employment. In addition, seminarians often have to leave their local churches for seminary training and then rarely return to their own congregations for ministry. As Erik Svensenwrites:

The purpose for calling attention to all of these passages is to show the apostolic pattern of training elders.  Far from insisting that a prospective elder uproot and move his family to a new location to receive this training from the apostles, the reverse is true–the apostles went to the prospective elder.  This pattern is by no means confined to the book of Acts but is also found in the pastoral epistles.  Paul left both Timothy (in Ephesus, 1 Ti 1:3) and Titus (in Crete, Tit 1:5) for the purpose of setting the churches in order.  A major part of this responsibility entailed the selection and training of elders (1 Ti 3:1-7; Tit 1:5).  Again we find that this training takes place within the church and by church leaders.

When pastors are thus “parachuted” into the community, they know that, should they fail or get tired or bored, they can always move on to another location. In the city, where the population moves from place to place with ease, this practice is perhaps not so apparent. But in the country, where generation after generation has lived in one locale, the link between the church and its ministers is, I think, of greater importance. The “importation” of a minister who does not know the people to whom he is ministering can become a serious problem. In an excellent article entitledLeadership in the Church, Paul Winslow, former pastor/elder at Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, has noted:

In the letters to Titus and Timothy we are given the qualifications for elders, that is, the means by which they can be recognized. If you look closely, you will see that potential elders have already been at work in the body with their gifts of teaching and hospitality, etc., so that the body is already responding to them. It is on that basis that they are identified as elders. I would say further that the Holy Spirit has a direct action involved in identifying elders. In Acts 20:28, where the Apostle Paul is talking to the elders of Ephesus, he says to them that “…the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” So the Holy Spirit is involved in identifying these men we call elders. They are qualified, as I have said, on the basis of spiritual gifts which the Holy Spirit has placed within their lives. Through faith they have begun to respond and act on the gifts they have; they have begun to serve others. It is only on that basis that they can be so identified as elders, not because they belong to some particular ethnic group, or they happen to be the local banker or whatever.

Wise words. (I encourage you to read the entire essay.) Remember, folks, in the first century of the church’s existence the spontaneous growth of the church depended not only upon the freedom of all its members to preach freely, but also upon the freedom with which churches could provide for any new groups of converts by giving them an organization like their own. Any new congregation chose its own members to assume pastoral roles, men who probably were already employed and thus providing for themselves and in a position to go on doing so. The church may or may not have paid a personal salary, since the practice was made a charge against the Montanists. At some point, however, the congregation may have offered these men some gifts in money to compensate for any loss of time through their pastoral efforts. Either way, whether they were paid or not, these men considered themselves a part of the community in which they lived and labored. Thus, when a couple of years ago our very traditional and very rural Southern Baptist church was led by the Holy Spirit to have elders, we had no difficulty choosing men from among our own number who had lived and worked in our community for many years. We did not “make” them elders; we simply recognized them for who they were: shepherds whom the Holy Spirit had already placed in our midst to give us oversight.

Here is what I have found, living as I do in the countryside. A professional class of “ministers” does not easily encourage the spontaneous zeal of local men who are not members of their profession. The New Testament church was a family in which all members were mutually responsible for the well-being of the whole. Together believers learned to grow in grace under the guidance of their most experienced and respected elders, men who had deep roots in the community and were therefore far less likely to uproot and leave once things turned sour.Today the apostolic conception of elders as local pastors of a local flock, every member of which they knew by name, has been lost. It is difficult to believe that our current practices are either healthy or wise. Put all this together, and you arrive at Winslow’s conclusion:

It seems to me that in the kingdom or structures of the world, the standard for greatness is really, how much power do I have, how many people do I control, how much money do I make? Those are the bases for any future advance. In the Lord’s kingdom, however, the criterion is, How much service can I give?

I am deeply humbled and honored to be part of a local church that has home-grown elders whose greatest delight is to serve and not be served. Theirs is a time-consuming, difficult, and demanding task. My fervent prayer is that God will use their godly example to inspire other area congregations to fulfill the vital role of local church leadership in the kingdom movement He’s inspiring in our day.

Blessings,

Dave

P.S. If you’re interested in reading more about what I have to say about this subject, see chapter 4 of my bookThe Jesus Paradigm: “The Priestly Kingdom: Communal Ecclesiology and Every-Member Ministry.”

Friday, June 6

7:15 PM I am a Hebrews lover, as you all know, and have even had the audacity (or naïveté) to publish a brief defense of the Pauline authorship of this New Testament treatise. Which is why I just had to read arecent essay that claims to examine the recent research being done on Hebrews in the areas of authorship, use of the Old Testament, and theology. I am, quite frankly, not too surprised that my publications are not mentioned. My views are too far out of the mainstream! But I am indeed glad to see that my friend David Allen’s defense of direct Lukan authorship is given a through going over.

Now, if in fact you would like to see what I have to say about the Pauline authorship of Hebrews, you can gohere.

Time for the dogs and me to watch The Longest Day.

6:54 PM Would you have blown this Wheel of Fortune puzzle?

Probably not. But still — I wonder how many of you know where surf city is. Probably only a very few of you. And I’ve surfed it oodles of times!

Of course, the one, the only —  Jan and Dean!

5:42 PM Never has the farm looked more beautiful. But I will need lots of help once the blackberries start to ripen!

5:35 PM Gohere for some high-quality color photos of Normandy.

4:45 PM Hi folks. Thanks for blogging in.

People have been asking, so here goes. “What does your fall Greek 3 syllabus look like?” Well, as of yesterday, it has been posted to Moodle, so anyone enrolled for the course can access it. I’ve also posted our weekly schedule. If you have not yet signed up for the class but would like to know what the course is about, here’s a brief description.

As everyone knows, at SEBTS Greek 3 combines both syntax and exegesis into a single course. (These two subjects should ideally be kept separated and doled out into a two-semester sequence, but such is life.) In the past, I gained quite a reputation as being the toughest Greek 3 teacher out there, and for good reason. Quite simply, I did not feel that I could skimp on anything that had to do with either intermediate Greek syntax or exegesis, and I still feel that way. However, for this fall’s class, I’ve made two major changes (improvements, I hope). First of all, I am no longer requiring my book Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek as a text for the course (leaving that book for Greek 4 students to suffer through instead), and I am no longer giving weekly quizzes over the reading and translation work. Instead, the class be will conducted like a graduate seminar, and I will make the (huge) assumption that students are in seminary because they want to be there and therefore don’t need the albatross of weekly quizzes hanging over their heads to keep them “honest.” Personally, I believe the content of the weekly readings is so interesting that students will be eager to see what I have to say and then come to class prepared to discuss the topic. So … the only two assignments for the class are two exams, the first from Metzger’s vocabulary word lists, and the second being a final translation exam anywhere from the book of Philippians (which we will have thoroughly discussed in class throughout the course of the semester). Our main textbooks will be my:

• It’s Still Greek to Me

• Using New Testament Greek in Ministry

• New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide

Each week we will discuss a paragraph from Philippians, then I will lecture through each of the steps of exegesis: historical analysis, literary analysis, textual analysis, lexical analysis, syntactical analysis, structural analysis, rhetorical analysis, tradition analysis, theological analysis, and finally homiletical analysis.

I am already feeling really connected with this class. I have their pictures and have begun praying for them by name. Oh yeah. I’m thinking about including a lot of stuff about the church in our classroom discussions. After all, thetheme of Philippians is ecclesial unity in the cause of the Gospel. Evangelicals seem to be wrestling these days with how to do church, and I want us to go with biblical principles rather than the older professional standard. One example of what I am talking about comes right from the opening verses of Philippians: Paul writes to all of God’s people who are in Philippi, “along with those who oversee and serve.” I think we should go with this emphasis on activities rather than titles because I think a very weak case can be made that these were technical terms in the first century.

Well, I’ll end by stating that I’m delighted that Energion Publications has been able to move forward the publication of Seven Marks of a New Testament Church. I’m even hopeful I’ll have copies with me when I fly to Hawaii next month. The church is not supposed to be the clericalized monstrosity it is today. It is supposed to be one big Jesus family, a community of people who manifest His beauty and revolt against every notion of worldly power and status. This, my friends, is the church Jesus said He would build.

Rats! Now you’ve got my writing juices flowing, but I have to grab the dogs and check the mail.

Bye!

Dave

7:23 AM D-Day, the moment of discovery. (Pluskat is one of my favorite characters in the movie The Longest Day.)

 

7:12 AM From another reader of my new book: 

Enjoyed every penny I spent on your book 🙂 Thanks! 

Thursday, June 5

7:54 PM So what does a bachelor do on a quiet Thursday evening? He sits on the front porch with the dogs and answers emails and makes phone calls. Then he cooks supper, eats, and washes the dishes. He pays the bills and balances the checking accounts, then sits down with a good book. He prepares for the morrow and the weekend, and gives thanks for the past week. He reflects on the chances God gave him this past week to learn a little more of the meaning of the cross. He reflects how God is meeting him in ways human psychology knows nothing about. He prays for those in need all around him. He thinks about his book Godworld: Enter at Your Own Risk, and how easy it is for conservatives to be traditionalists and blind to those things in the church that displease God and should therefore displease His people too. He feeds the puppies their cookies, pats them on the head, and ascends to his upstairs room, relinquishing the day to the Father, surrendering again his wounds to the Lord, knowing full well that His purpose is love.

5:54 PM Hey there fellow bloggerites! I am one of those souls who loves the outdoors, and since we were able to fix the bush hog it was back to work today, with hopes of baling within the week.

I’ve never seen our hay looking better than it does now, praise the Lord.

I write as one who desperately needs a refuge these days, and I have a farm that exactly fits the bill. Our Lord, you know, is like a Farmer and a Shepherd. He was and always will be my best Friend. As His sheep (“bleat, bleat”) I bank everything on His character. I may not be growing younger but I want to be growing better and more Christ-like every day. The only way to make sure of that is to live every day like it was my last.

To change the subject: I’ve been watching, almost daily, this YouTube of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

 

The orchestra is good, but the conductor is superb. Watch him as he emotes the music — quite the opposite of the meaningless, pompous hand waving so common among orchestral directors. When a couple of my daughters and I heard this piece performed live a couple of months ago in Raleigh I was so totally affected by the music I could not stand to my feet with the rest of the audience at its conclusion. I had been slapped senseless by the visible sign of those glorious invisible realities that we believe with all of our hearts. I gazed into the faces of the bass players (we were sitting in the first row). Sorry, I said to them through my tear-filled eyes, I can’t even try to explain what I’m feeling right now. That was some performance you all did. It brought back the memory of a very dark night of my soul. Where would I be if He had not risen, if He had not taken Becky by the hand and led her into glory? His resurrection means that I no longer have to plot and reason and cogitate and plan how to handle my feelings. My feelings will simply arise out of my life in Jesus Christ. And you, dear orchestra members, reminded me of that great truth tonight. Thank you so much. I would stand if I could but your music devastated me. Thank you.

This Monday is my birthday, and one of my daughters is helping me celebrate by attending a concert with me at Duke. The program is called “Choir of St. Martin-in-the-Fields: Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost.” Gohere for more information. Before that we will probably dine in some fancy restaurant and celebrate 62 years of the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness to me. So you’re growing older and want to know how to handle it? I’ve got the answer:

• Recognize it.

• Accept it.

• Offer it back to God in gratitude and love.

• Offer yourself along with it.

That’s it. There’s no need to fear the future because God is already there. Now that’s cause for celebration!

6:56 AM Jim Wallace had penned a fine piece calledHow Can We Trust the Gospels When the Genealogy of Jesus Is So Different? Many New Testament scholars question the historical reliability of the four Gospel accounts of the life of Christ. They insist that the records are filled with after-the-fact embellishments — a fact that requires scholars to search for the “historical Jesus” beneath the accretions of tradition, much like peeking an opinion to its core. For example, on one of the most important points of the Jesus story — the resurrection and the empty tomb — all the Gospels agree. Yet even when confronted with this evidence many people do not find the truth of the resurrection easy to accept. Nevertheless, belief in the resurrection of Christ is essential to our faith. Apostolic preaching confirmed it and even made it a condition of salvation: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). 

I wrote my bookWhy Four Gospels? not so much to argue for Matthean priority as to affirm the complete historicity and apostolicity of the Gospels. Early in my Christian experience I discovered that the Gospels were — and needed to be — central in my understanding not only of the Good News about Jesus Christ but of life itself. Only the cross of Jesus can supply meaning to life, and that is because the cross and the resurrection are an interwoven reality. Of one thing I am quite certain: Christianity is a historical faith. It is rooted and grounded in historical fact. No “leap of faith” is required to believe in Jesus. As I once heard Francis Schaeffer put it in Switzerland, you don’t have to put your brain in park or neutral to become a Christian. His cross is the center of all history. It is the crossroads of the universe. No one can avoid confrontation with it.

It is my prayer that skeptics may come to the Gospels with an open mind and heart, for there the living Christ is ready to meet Doubting Thomases in their pessimism and the travelers to Emmaus in their intellectualism.

6:43 AM Week 3 of Baby Greek ends tomorrow with our final exam. So far, no 110s (and therefore no 110 Awards). But the final is the easiest of the three exams, so hopefully there will be a winner this time around. I’m eager to give away free books! 

Wednesday, June 4

8:42 PM Tonight I’ve been praying for my daughters. They are each in a different stage of life. One just started a new job. Another is buying her first house. Yet another is expecting her fifth child. I am praying for each of all, and for all of them together, that God would make them like their mother — a woman who accepted her life situation, whatever it was, as from His hands and was quick to let go of the reins and place herself entirely at His disposal. Becky is a witness (Heb. 12:1) in modern times to the astonishing grace of God that carries faithful believers through all of life’s dangers and toils. Even when she passed into a blackness she had never known before, she never lost the last shreds of her faith in God. Daughters, be like that. God has not forgotten you. In the Garden, Jesus too knew fear and weakness. Yet His “not my will” made all the difference.

I love you.

Dad

7:12 PM In one month I will leave for Hawaii for 8 days of rest and ministry. “For me,” wrote Mark Twain after visiting Oahu, “its balmy airs are always blowing, its summer seas flashing in the sun; the pulsing of its surf is in my ear; I can see its garlanded crags, its leaping cascades, its plumy palms drowsing by the shore, its remote summits floating like islands above the cloud-rack; I can feel the spirit of its woody solitudes, I hear the splashing of the brooks; in my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago.”

My sentiments exactly.

Below: Kanaka Dave in an official elementary school photograph. I had just chipped my tooth in a swimming pool accident. My attitude? Ain’t no big ting, braddah!

6:55 PM Loved this quote (by atrue gardener):

It is hard work (especially  when you endevour to do it organically) but gardening, above all else, is good for the soul. Even when the season is hard, when there are weeds to pull, and the yield is down, I find myself at one with God. As if God were walking with me in the cool of the evening. It is no surprise that God placed  Adam and Eve in a garden and not a city or big home.

6:50 PM Interesting piecehere about the use of “children” and “kids” in American English. I’m reminded of Jesus’ use of “Children” in John 21:5 in addressing His disciples. Now that would have gotten their attention! I wonder why some translations euphemize (e.g.,Good News Bible: “Young men”). In fact, The Message leaves the term out completely. Not good. One version I saw had “lads,” which is hardly any better (it’s too archaic). Why not just go with “kids”?

P.S. Reina-Valera has “Hijitos.” Me gusta mucho!

6:34 PM Free class in Spanish! Estupendo!

6:28 PM From the conclusion of Seven Marks of a New Testament Church (forthcoming this summer): 

It is, then, no longer possible (if it ever was) to assume that theology can operate apart from service to the world. The more we understand the Scriptures, the more we understand our responsibility to submit our lives and our futures to its radical teachings. Once this is recognized, then social compassion will truly be an apostolic focus of the church’s apostolic function. Instead of doing theology for theology’s sake, we will choose to bear witness to the Gospel in both word and deed, by both lip and life. We will, perhaps, also do less pontificating from our ivory towers high up in cyberspace and descend to the balcony, and maybe even to the ground floor.

6:25 PM So glad to see Becky’s rose bushes in full bloom. Burji was her home for many years in Ethiopia. How good the Lord is to me to give me this reminder.

2:03 PM Power outage over. Can finally update blog with somevery good news.

Tuesday, June 3

3:17 PM Riding. There’s nothing I enjoy more, whether I’m riding a wave, a horse, a ride mower, or a tractor. Today I needed to bush hog the edges of our hay fields to get them ready for cutting and baling. The universal joint and jack shaft began giving me trouble half way through my mowing. I tried three times to fix them then gave up after cutting myself. Oh well. It’s time to get a new bush hog anyway. I’ve had this one for 15 years and it was already a dinosaur when we bought it. I’m not very good at it, but I love very small-scale farming, from gardening to keeping livestock to selling organic hay. I guess I’ve been called a hobby farmer, and that’s okay. There’s a huge difference between what I do and agricultural producers. But if you could attach a price tag to personal satisfaction, I guess you could say I’m pretty much a millionaire. That’s one reason I gave up TV years ago. Time not spent productively is wasted. Not that I don’t watch a good DVD from time to time. There’s not much sweat equity in what I do either. But still, I stand tall as a part-time homesteader, even though I’m the ultimate klutz and it takes me forever to get anything done.

Pix to bore you with:

 

12:28 PM Craig, an old friend, had this nice comment about my new book,It’s All Greek to Me:

I just read your book. I couldn’t put it down. Your concluding question hit me hard in the heart. Do I really allow the king to use my gifts, talents, abilities, goals and accomplishments as he sees fit? And to be honest, I have to say that I don’t think I fully do. Praying that the Lord will use that question to challenge many others. 

12:12 PM Today I bid Nigusse a fond adieu after three years of living in my home. Nigu, mom and I invested much in your life. Remember: to whom much is given, much is required. May God bless you to be a great blessing to others. Happy trails and bon voyage!

Monday, June 2

7:18 AM So I was checking the fire alarms today at Bradford Hall …. 

7:06 AM Today it is exactly seven months since Becky died holding my hand. God has a sense of humor. Last year Becky and I watched the old Pink Panther movie in which the lunatic Dreyfus tells his shrink, “Every day and in every way I’m getting better.”

That’s my usual response when people ask me how I’m doing. Every day there is gradual improvement, but I have a ways to go. Thank you, fellow prayer warriors, for standing with me.

7:02 AM “Si Stephanus non orasset, ecclesiam Paulum non haberent.”

6:56 AM Calling all Kindle lovers! It’s All Greek to Me is now available. But you’ll have topay through the nose to purchase it. 

Sunday, June 1

7:16 PM Just had the groomer bathe and trim the dogs. And get rid of the skunk smell 🙂

 Yes, puppies, now you may come inside.

5:22 PM A very kind note:

You may recall selling me a set of your DVDs.  I am writing to express how thoroughly pleased I am with the content.  I must admit I was a bit skeptical as to their value, having already made my way through both your book and Mounce’s text.  My skepticism was unfounded.  The DVDs contain a wealth of great information.  I particularly like your digressions into the origin of the language.  The DVDs deserve a five star rating. 

Thank you!

4:32 PM Today at church we had a PARTY! Nigu gave the message, then we ate, swapped stories, had the Lord’s Supper together, and said our goodbyes. The testimonies were f-u-n-n-y. Oh, and Nigu, about that money tree. Jason forgot to tell you that dads get a 50 percent cut. Sorry about that.

Pix (naturally):

9:02 AM Quote of the day (Mark Stevens):

The mission of God in the world, our witness, and our gathering as God’s people does not rest on our ability to do things in Jesus’ name. Likewise, just because God will bring about a new heavens and a new earth does not mean we can act like bad tenants of that which has been entrusted to our care in the meantime.

8:42 AM Have a spiritual gif? Here’s one of mine. This is one of my grandsons. His name is Graham. I might title this picture “passing the love of Christ from generation to generation.”

Do you have a spiritual gif you can share with us today? If so, we’d love to see it.

7:58 AM I appreciatedthis devotional about friendship. In the end, I’d rather have only one or two buddies like Henry than a dozen fair-weather “friends.” We’ve got a lot in common, not least that we are both aging. Most people think growing old is life’s greatest tragedy. Not at all. It’s just that we know something others don’t. Life is a voyage that is homeward bound. Our home-going is drawing nearer and nearer, and so is yours. But the thought shouldn’t bother us. We get to see the Lord face-to-face on the other side. And in the meantime, if we are really blessed, we get to enjoy a few genuine friendships along the way.

7:36 AM Today, after our morning service lets out (say 12:15-ish), we are all gathering in the social hall to bid a fond adieu to Mr. Nigusse Denano Erkeno, who flies back to his homeland Tuesday morning. Join us if you can. You can find Bethel Hill Baptist Church near Roxboro, NC, on Google Maps or Bing. Ethiopia Cookie Cutters are especially welcome as going-away gifts.

7:22 AM New Testament scholars have been investigating the literary artistry of the book of Hebrews for years. Now comes one of the best, if not the best, treatments of the subject.

In his newly published dissertationThe Characterization of Jesus in the Book of Hebrews, Brian Small takes the rhetorical side of Hebrews seriously. Close attention to both content and style begin to illustrate the rich variety of rhetorical devices used by the author. These include (as Brian summarizes on p. 16 in a footnote) alliteration, anadiplosis, anaphora, antistrophe, antithesis, aposiopesis, assonance, asyndeton, brachylogy, catachresis, chiasmus, circumlocution, climax, cyclosis — and that’s just for starters. I love this approach! After all, I’m the author ofLiterary Artistry in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Brian’s work is a masterpiece. It is about as good as a book of this genre (dissertation) gets. I give it two thumbs up.

Dave Black, literary critic at your service.

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June 2013 Blog Archives

Sunday, June 30

8:28 AM Yesterday I had a long talk on the phone with someone in New York about preaching and about the pastor as “preacher.” Both of us were struck by the modern (mis-)use of the preaching word-group to refer to what the New Testament clearly calls teaching (see Eph. 4:11 and 1 Tim. 3:2).

In Ephesians 4:11 Paul speaks of “teaching shepherds” (lit. “pastors and teachers”). My translation tries to do justice to the Greek construction the apostle uses. The words “pastors” and “teachers” belong closer together than do “apostles and prophets” or “prophets and evangelists.” This does not, of course, resolve the age-old question of whether Paul has one ministry in mind (i.e., “teaching shepherds”) or the unity of two individual groups (“teachers” and “shepherds”). However, Paul’s injunction in 1 Timothy 3:2 makes it clear that an overseer must be didaktikon (“able to teach” or — perhaps —  “teachable”) and that the function of teaching is part and parcel of the pastor’s responsibility.

The famous Great Commission of Matthew 28:19- says essentially the same thing. Here Jesus commands His disciples: “As you go, disciple all the nations,baptizing them…and teaching them….” The two modal participles “baptizing” and “teaching” explain the main command to “disciple all the nations.” Our Lord is saying that His church is to be established through two continual ministries, the one involving evangelism (where new converts come to Christ), and the other involving teaching (where converts are taught to observe the “all things” He commanded). An analogy may be helpful to explain what Jesus meant. Just as the physical body grows in two ways — by the addition of new cells to the body and by the nourishing of existing cells — so the Body of Christ grows in two ways. New believers are added by the Lord to the church, but in order to grow and truly become disciples it is absolutely necessary that they be taught and instructed. Of course, all believers can and should “teach one another” (Col. 3:16). Yet it is also the pastoral leadership of the church that has been entrusted with this task.

The point is this: Pastors are called upon to teach — not entertain, or tell stories, or focus their messages on non-believers. While evangelism can and should be done when believers are gathered, the focus must always be on teaching the Word of God to believers. The only New Testament passage where evangelism takes place within the gathered congregation is 1 Corinthians 14, where the unbeliever is said to be “convicted by all”— not by an evangelistic sermon. Indeed, Paul sums up the exercise of the various proceedings in the assembly in one phrase: “Let all things be done for edification” (14:26). Perhaps it is because we have neglected solid biblical teaching in our churches that so many believers today are still immature, baby Christians. Teaching one another is absolutely necessary to impart the eternal doctrines of the Word of God.

So are we “teaching one another”?

7:22 AM Good morning, world!

The household is slowly waking up. Karen has just left to attend her church in Raleigh (Imago Dei). She tells me that Becky did not have to get up once during the night. Such is the goodness of God. She’s not strong enough to attend our fellowship this morning, especially after the events of yesterday. For this reason, I will represent the Black family at church today. Becky has asked me to tell everyone that she would love to see you if you would like to pay her a visit. It makes sense. She wants to take advantage of whatever energy she has left. I offer this warning, however. Don’t be surprised, as you visit her, when she prays over you and speaks encouragement into your life. You say, That doesn’t surprise me. She’s being Becky. And you’re right.

So if you’d like to wend your way through the country lanes of Southside Virginia to the farm of Dave and Becky Black, please feel free to do so. If you would, please call or email me first (I am the social chairman — how’s that for role reversal?) at Bradford Hall these days. This evening one of Becky’s infusion room nurses from UNC is coming with her husband. Judy and Mitchell, we can’t wait to see you. Then tomorrow Genet (an Ethiopian lady we met in Raleigh) will grace us with her presence. Tomorrow I meet with the local funeral home director, and on Tuesday a dog groomer (who does house calls!) will spiffify our two Shelties so that Becky can enjoy them.

Right  now I am looking at the Greek text of Phil. 4:6. I note that the words “with thanksgiving” are fronted for emphasis. Because apparently ungrateful requests aren’t appropriate for God. Because God’s plans are so much bigger than mine, and so He deserves praise and thanksgiving for being “one step ahead” of us. That’s a pretty cool thought. Can you say “God is good”? God is good.

Stay centered in Jesus.

Dave

Saturday, June 29

8:20 PM Becky wrote an email to one of our Ethiopian sons in Alaba today. Would you care to read a portion of it? It reveals the heart of a true servant of God. I know it will encourage you.

Greetings, Desalyn! Thank you for your email.

I am getting weaker. I am using oxygen all the time. I have little strength. I am losing weight. I am dying in the perfect time of The Lord Jesus. I am eager to see my Lord Jesus, whom I love with all my heart. To die is part of Christ’s salvation….to separate body from soul, so that He can (at the right time) resurrect the body.  It is all a part of His perfect plan of salvation.  Soon my sanctification will be completed….and then I will be glorified to reign with Him according to my faithfulness on earth.

Remember, my son….all of life is vanity, except seeking His heart & serving Him.   Money, children marriage, career, comforts, enjoyment , honors, education…..all of these things turn into air & vanish into nothingness …. And all the energy & time spent in pursuit of those things is wasted.  Such a great waste of the life that Christ has given to us!  

Guard yourself.  Remember, to serve the church is not the same as to serve Christ. Our Lord Jesus cannot be replaced by an organization!  Seek Christ’s “well done”….. Do not substitute anything (even ministry) for Him.

Know that you are loved.  Greet Zenish for me. I have set my heart to serve Him until the last breath…no complaining…only praise & worship…serving others. My heart is completely calm, even as I watch my body die.  Jesus is faithful…..I am trusting Him to be who He said He is!

As you can see, God is absolutely looking out for Becky. And that is enough.

12:44 PM So we decided to do it. Becky and I flew the coop. We grabbed her portable oxygen tank, jumped in the van, and went for a long drive through the countryside. She (and I) just had to get out of the house, just had to go somewhere TOGETHER. And what a wonderful drive it was. We drove past the Berry Hill Plantation where we once spent many happy hours enjoying dinner together. We talked and talked, for hours it seemed. It is a blessing to be able to hop in the car and get away. It’s also a blessing to return to a happy home where you are almost coddled by people who love you. I’ve said it before  — I’m one blessed guy. God’s given me a lamp for my feet, not a spotlight for my entire life. And when He tells you to go on a hot date with your slim and trim bride, well, you just do it.

7:27 AM Right now I’m thinking about our Ethiopia team that leaves next week. How should they — and we — do missions? Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians has some good advice. Here’s a sampler (1:5):

The Good News we brought came to you not only with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with complete certainty. In the same way you know what kind of people we were while we were with you and the good things we did for you.

Did you see that? The good things we did for you. I’m haunted by the idea that God is not so much asking us to tell people what a friend they have in Jesus as in showing them what a friend they have in us. Paul’s mission was show and tell. From beginning to end, 1 Thessalonians is an epistle of sacrificial love. God’s love for the lost. Paul’s love for the Thessalonians. The Thessalonians’ love for their Macedonian neighbors. The letter virtually shouts: Love others! Love them until they ask why!

That Paul emphasizes lifestyle evangelism should not surprise us. Our Lord Himself told us to love our neighbors, not evangelize them. And we cannot love them unless we love Him. Indeed, I would say that our relationship to Christ is the single most important qualification for becoming an evangelist. We simply demonstrate and declare what He has done for us. We are to do as He did, speak as He spoke, love as He loved, live as He lived. There’s no “method” beyond this method. There’s no class at seminary you have to take. Evangelism is simply “Jesus fleshed out,” a second incarnation. That means we must stay in close fellowship with Him. If He speaks, listen. If He sends, go. If He asks, give. It’s just that simple. People see the Light when they feel the love. That’s why Paul got involved with the lives of others. He served them. And he loved doing it. This presupposes:

• Close, regular contact with people (like “living epistles,” 2 Cor. 3:2-3)

• Revealing the character of God (like “light,” Matt. 5:14)

• Cultivating relationships (like a “patient farmer,” Matt 13:1-43)

Remember: Evangelism is show and tell together. To use a popular agricultural metaphor, evangelism involves cultivating, planting, and reaping.

• Cultivating is developing significant relationships with the lost.

• Planting is sowing the seed of the Gospel into their lives.

• Reaping is bringing them to the foot of the cross.

Cultivating appeals to the heart. Planting appeals to the mind. Reaping appeals to the will. If you need an acronym, how about “CPR.” (I made it up.)  Becky and I have noticed that sometimes we reap what we have planted. Other times we reap what others have planted. Either way, people need to hear the music of the Gospel (Cultivating) and see its light (Planting) before they can make a decision to follow Christ (Reaping). We’re not called to shout the Good News from a safe distance and then pull a wheelie out of the parking lot. Paul spent time with people. He was like a “mother taking care of her children” when he was with the Thessalonians (2:7). He voluntarily laid aside the temptation to be detached from the unsaved or to lord it over them. He was “one of us,” they must have thought. No power plays. No condescending attitudes. No need to control, to possess, to dominate. No insistence upon having everything “convenient.” Taking care of children is never convenient. And it’s seldom convenient to cultivate, plant, and reap. I know. I’m a farmer.

The bottom line? Lifestyle evangelism is not a method. It’s a way of living and loving. Paul put it like this in 1 Cor. 9:22: “I have become all things to all men, so that by all possible means I might save some of them.” No gimmicks. No tricks. No manipulation. No gospel blimps. No quickie “decisions.” Remember, Jesus didn’t say “Make decisions.” He said “Make disciples.” Our task involves bringing people to the point of lifelong discipleship.

So don’t confuse evangelism with methodology. Evangelism is simply a way of living that uses methods appropriate to a person’s gifts and abilities. The one thing people are vulnerable to is love. Live the Gospel before them. Cultivate the parched soil of their lives. Model commitment and faithfulness in all you do. Again, we’re not commanded to evangelize our neighbors but to love them. Why? If we really do love them we will evangelize them!

Team, stay in close touch with your Heavenly Father. Ask Him what you should do and when. When it’s time to act, He will guide and empower your efforts. Don’t depend on man-made “strategies.” When God opens a door, go through it. When faced with a green light, proceed full speed ahead. Even if you can’t spell homiletics you can still preach the Word. Evangelism is a lifestyle. Our Lord said as much. “You will BE my witnesses.”

Friday, June 28

6:38 PM It’s a wonderful thing to put down roots. We love where we live in Southside Virginia and feel part of the community. One of the things I marvel at, however, is the constant turnover of pastors in our area. Typically a pastor will remain in a church for only a handful of years before moving on. Very few put down any roots in the community.

Contrast this with the New Testament pattern. In the early church we find local men leading local churches. They came from within the local church and were committed to that church. Thus the link between the church and the ministry was maintained. However, in our modern system, where the “ministry” is considered a profession, men seek for themselves, or are sent by authority, to occupy this or that post without any regard to the link which is thus broken. The result is that pastors often look upon churches simply as places that offer them opportunities to exercise their ministry gifts or else as steps up the ladder of employment. Seminarians often have to leave their local churches for seminary training and then rarely return to their own congregations for ministry. As Erik Svensenwrites:

The purpose for calling attention to all of these passages is to show the apostolic pattern of training elders.  Far from insisting that a prospective elder uproot and move his family to a new location to receive this training from the apostles, the reverse is true–the apostles went to the prospective elder.  This pattern is by no means confined to the book of Acts but is also found in the pastoral epistles.  Paul left both Timothy (in Ephesus, 1 Ti 1:3) and Titus (in Crete, Tit 1:5) for the purpose of setting the churches in order.  A major part of this responsibility entailed the selection and training of elders (1 Ti 3:1-7; Tit 1:5).  Again we find that this training takes place within the church and by church leaders.

When pastors are “parachuted” into the community there is little accountability. They know that, should they fail or get tired or bored, they can always move on to another location. In the city, where the population moves from place to place with ease, this evil is not so apparent. But in the country, where generation after generation has lived in one locale, the link between the church and its ministers is of great importance. The “importation” of a minister who does not know the people to whom he is ministering is a serious problem indeed. Paul Winslow has noted:

In the letters to Titus and Timothy we are given the qualifications for elders, that is, the means by which they can be recognized. If you look closely, you will see that potential elders have already been at work in the body with their gifts of teaching and hospitality, etc., so that the body is already responding to them. It is on that basis that they are identified as elders. I would say further that the Holy Spirit has a direct action involved in identifying elders. In Acts 20:28, where the Apostle Paul is talking to the elders of Ephesus, he says to them that “…the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” So the Holy Spirit is involved in identifying these men we call elders. They are qualified, as I have said, on the basis of spiritual gifts which the Holy Spirit has placed within their lives. Through faith they have begun to respond and act on the gifts they have; they have begun to serve others. It is only on that basis that they can be so identified as elders, not because they belong to some particular ethnic group, or they happen to be the local banker or whatever.

Folks, let’s remember that in the first century of the church’s existence the spontaneous growth of the church depended not only upon the freedom of its members to preach freely, but also upon the freedom with which churches could provide for any new groups of converts by giving them an organization like their own. Any new congregation chose its own members to assume pastoral roles, men who probably were already employed and thus providing for themselves and in a position to go on doing so. The church may or may not have paid a personal salary, since the practice was made a charge against the Montanists. At some point, however, the congregation may have offered these men some gifts in money (honoraria) to compensate for any loss of time through their pastoral efforts. Either way, whether they were paid or not, these men considered themselves a part of the community in which they lived and labored.

6:10 PM Greek students, a few essays just for you:

• Letter to My Greek Students

• Greek Student: Quo Vadis?

• Confessions of a Missional Greek Prof

• Five Things to Do Until You Master Greek

• Ten Best Books for Studying New Testament Greek

• My Academic Journey: Confessions of a Limping Greek Teacher

5:44 PM I feel like I just crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon. The last day of our summer Greek class is now history. The past 6 weeks have been nothing but sheer pleasure for me career-wise. I count it a joy to be able to share what  little knowledge I have with my students, spilling out the modicum of understanding I have about how languages work. I can’t help getting excited about these students. How will they use their knowledge? Where will God take them? We have cried and laughed together, and have “finished the race.” Or a leg of it. The real race, of course, is much more difficult. It involves heartache and grief. You see, I realize that teaching is but a small part of the life God has called me to live out. I’m called to live the Christ-life in my marriage and a host of other relationships. And none of these relationships is permanent, except the one that binds us together forever as brothers and sisters. In the midst of it all, I’m feeling it’s a real privilege to walk this pilgrim pathway. I never feel at home here. I’m just a passin’ through. Some days, Christ can’t come back fast enough. Becky and I have come a long way, baby. And we’re traveling together. I suppose this is what a miracle looks like. Two people just hanging in there together, taking very small steps, singing the praises He’s waiting to hear from His children. Today she had a tough day physically. But we’re together, and that’s what matters. Today I arranged for the local hair dresser to come out to the farm. As I type she is busy preening Becky. I can hear them talking. Becky is sharing a Bible verse with her. Beautiful. And I’m not the only one following the conversation. I know God is listening in as well. I think He’s enjoying it as much as I am. And He smiles through the face of a husband who is thrilled to be part of the conversation.

If that’s all the joy I get out this day, it will be more than enough.

5:35 AM I was reading a church’s website yesterday and ran across a statement that ran something like this:

The most important event in the life of our church is our weekly worship service on Sunday morning.

Friends, please, let’s not forget: the gathering exists for the going. New Testament worship is a way of life. It is not a Sunday morning religious exercise. The New Testament never describes a gathering of Christians as a “worship service.” The reason is simple. According to Scripture, worship cannot be confined to a particular time or place (see John 4:23-24). God designed worship to happen at all times and in every place. Everything in our life should be an act of worship (Rom. 12:1). Moreover, when we do gather, the New Testament teaches that we should “Enter to Serve.” One of the marks of the early church was its highly participatory nature. Whereas our Sunday morning services tend to focus on one man (the pastor), the New Testament focuses on “one another” in the building-up process. Hebrews 10:24-25 indicates that “assembling ourselves together” means much more than sitting still and being entertained for 60 minutes (and God help the preacher who goes past 12:00 noon). The Old Covenant priesthood involved only a relative few saints, but the New Covenant priesthood includes all the saints (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). All members of Christ’s Body are to function as priests when the church gathers (Rom. 12:1-8).

I often wonder: How can we miss something so simple?

Thursday, June 27

8:10 PM It’s blackberry season on the farm!

6:54 PM Quote of the day (Arthur Sido):

The church should never have gotten so cozy with the state when it comes to marriage. We thought it was fine and even dare I say to our advantage to cozy up to the state when the state sort of defined marriage more or less biblically and also showered us with tax breaks for married couples and religious organizations alike but it was inevitable that as the prevailing morality of the world and this nation in particular have changed (and not for the better), so too would our most cherished institutions. Marriage in our culture is subject to legal definition by Caesar even though the actual definition and purpose of marriage is part of God’s eternal decree, a decree not subject to ruling by the courts of men or the winds of popular opinion. So when the culture says marriage means something that it doesn’t we only have ourselves to blame.

6:48 PM Calling all missions minded folk out there! The latest issue of JETS has an essay you’ve got to read. It’s written by one of our seminary grads named Keith Campbell. Keith actually was kind enough to send me his manuscript to peruse before he sent it to the publisher. I support its premise unhesitatingly. Keith titled his essay “The American Evangelical Academy and the World: A Challenge to Practice More Globally.” Got a Ph.D. in biblical studies but can’t find a job? Maybe it’s because you’re looking in all the wrong places. Keith will tell you, there’s jobs aplenty if you are willing to look beyond the borders (and comforts) of the good ol’ U.S. of A. He calls this “academic missions,” and it’s a concept whose time has come. His model? The apostle Paul, who “was simultaneously the church’s greatest theologian and its greatest missionary.” Even if you never relocate to a foreign nation, you can still be an NRM — “non-residential missionary.” It’s what I’ve been trying to be for the past 12 years of so, globe-trotting annually to the Middle East, Asia, and Africa to teach and evangelize, often (though by no means always) in an academic setting. Keith, by the way, is no arm chair academic. He is currently a fulltime professor of biblical studies at Shanghai Normal University. That’s right: The Chinese have hired him to missionize their nation. That is great. That is biblical. And it saves the U.S. church tons of money that could go to the really needy in the world. Thanks, Keith, for calling us to consider international missions as a showcase for our scholarship. I love what you’re doing. I hope that many scholars — unemployed or otherwise — here in the U.S. will follow your example.

5:15 PM It’s hard to believe it, but my Greek class draws to a close tomorrow. We’ll grade our exams, and then my assistant and I will calculate final grades and upload them to Moodle. All this translates into the fact that I’m actually starting my one-year sabbatical on Monday. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this summer Greek class, but I think I’m ready for a break from teaching. I’m looking forward to just sitting with Becky and doing next to nothing, settling into our “new normal” (again). There are times when I miss the old days, days when I could grab Becky and whisk her away to a fancy dinner in town. More often than not, however, I’m learning to be content in my present circumstances. It’s hard to explain how some days all this seems so normal and natural, as though God had planned everything in His Day Planner 36 years ago when Becky and I said our “I dos.” Well, He had planned it. Maybe you’re finding yourself in the same situation in your own life, or a similar one. Somewhere along the line things began to shift in your life. You began to feel lost and disoriented. And then you started thinking about all those Bible verses you memorized when you were a kid, all those words in Scripture that were always meant for “the other guy.” You were left trying to find your way in a new world that suddenly wasn’t yours any longer but belonged to Someone much bigger than you. That’s it, isn’t it? That’s what this life is all about. Pealing back the layers of “normalcy” (is anything ever really normal?) and realizing the glorious truth that you are in the hands of our Creator God, that a bigger Heart than yours is living and loving through you. Given all this, I was really struck today by how normal all this has become. Because there is life after a cancer diagnosis. Because sometimes running towards the Savior is all that really matters in life. In the midst of heartache and pain, you learn something about God you knew all along. He is love. And when we abandon ourselves to His love, I mean really abandon ourselves, our perspective blows wide open and everything comes into focus. He has pursued you, has wooed you to Himself with sure love and unending promises. You are His, and you will never be anything less than that.

You understand me?

6:24 AM Hello bloggers,

Hope you have a great day. Before leaving for campus I wanted to call your attention to a new bog called Missionary Scholar. I strongly commend it to you. No, it’s not your typical blog about dilettantes and controversies bla bla bla. I’m in total agreement that missionaries ought to be scholars. Yet I can’t help but point out thatall of us are missionaries if we are obedient followers of Jesus. Let’s all seek to become better scholars of the Bible. In the meantime, I think this blog nicely expounds on the value of biblical studies (including the languages) for those who seek to live out the truths of the Bible.

By the way, welcome to SEBTS, Cody. Hope to see you soon.

Dave

Wednesday, June 26

7:12 PMHey guys and gals! Check this out:

Брак Великого Поручения

It’s the very first Russian essay of mine to be published at DBO. Praise God! The English title is “A Great Commission Marriage.” My thanks to Dima and Anya Murkin of the Odessa Theological Seminary for this labor of love on their part. They attended my hermeneutics class there last April. Look for more essays and even a few books to be forthcoming in the Russian language. 

Isn’t God good?

6:56 PMI had quite a day. To say it was hectic would be a gross understatement. I was up at 5:30 to drive to school and teach my class, then drive home. Over 400 ccs were removed from Becky’s right lung today. That’s less than the normal 500. I’m calling hospice tomorrow. I’m eager to get as much capable help as possible. I’ve got two more days of teaching, and then I can be home fulltime.  

The Glass family was with us for three days. They’re gone now. We’ve gone from being overrun with children to having only mom here. Until tomorrow, that is. Then Rachael arrives, with Karen arriving on Friday. I love being surrounded by such capable women. Today I had to run a zillion errands, one of which was to take a prescription to the local pharmacy. It was for opium. I never in my craziest imagination thought I would ask for that for Becky. It turns out she is needing a bit more intensive medications. I’m coming to realize all over again that this is the rhythm of life around here. That some days you do crazy things. That there’s no way to tell what’s around the next bend. And, of course, that God’s grace is sufficient for every zany surprise that hits you. Which, at the end of this wild day, is exactly what I needed to be reminded of.

Friend, if you haven’t done so yet today, take a moment to snuggle in the arms of God. Again. It will do you good. Especially when life gets crazy.

Tuesday, June 25

6:48 PM

Yo folks,

Here are a few odds and ends:

1) If you are interested in publishing, do read 10 Lessons Learned About Publishing As An Editor. (As an editor myself, I might take issue with the capital “A” in “As” and “An,” but that’s beside the point.) These two points struck me:

Rejection is extremely common and happens to everyone regardless of stature. We have gotten articles from well-known scholars and we have received submissions from grad students. Because the process is peer-reviewed blindly (anonymously), preference is not given to the “big names.” As an editor, sometimes I cringe when I see that a reputable scholar has to be sent a rejection email. But – that is part of academia.

Comprehensive footnotes are not as important as they used to be. A half-century ago, academic articles were expected to interact comprehensively with a topic (especially before there were online search tools and multiple bibliographic indices). Nowadays, because there are so many journals, and so many ways to get at the same information, you really do not need to cite every article, essay, monograph, and commentary related to every point you make. You definitely need good evidence from sources to back-up your thesis, but aim for the most eminent, cogent, and reliable sources.

Have I ever been rejected? Umpteen times. But then again, by the sheer grace of God, nothing I have written for the public has ever gone unpublished, and none thus far with a vanity publisher. My books are also getting shorter and shorter, with much less reliance on others’ works than in my previous publications. Partly this is because the American attention span is not what it used to be. But also because I really do believe that “less is more” when it comes to writing as well as public speaking.

2) Yesterday Becky sent the following email to our prayer list. I post a portion of it here in case you do not receive our personal emails.

Rejoice with me at our Lord’s goodness!  Today, for the first time in a long time, I have breath sounds in the base of my right lung!!!  This morning we drained only 200 cc.  So it’s clear that the Lord is allowing us to empty the pleural effusion.

It feels SOOOO wonderful to be able to breathe on that right side!  The chest wall on the right side is still very painful, but our Lord’s goodnesses overshadow that little problem.  We rejoice in HIM….and He doesn’t change…so our rejoicing doesn’t need to change.  Isn’t it wonderful?

Becky

Now that is really good news!

3) The 150th Gettysburg Reenactment is almost upon us. For information, go here.

There will be spectacular Battle Reenactments, Field Demonstrations, a large Living History Village, Living History Activities Tents, Guest Speakers and an extensive Sutler Area. Thousands of reenactors from across the nation and around the world will be staging the battle reenactments for this very special reenactment.

Reenacting is a great hobby, and reenactments are a good way to get to know your history as an American. The reenacting community is also a great mission field in which to share the love of Jesus. You might want to check it out.

Monday, June 24

5:55 PM

“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, 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. I wish him well, even though he didn’t get my vote.

Oh, I liked this quote:

The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear.

I quite agree.

5:48 PM If you need impeccable proof that daily blogging is biblical, just read Heb. 3:13: “exhort one another daily.” LOL!

5:43 PM Praise God for yet another recent graduate placed in afulltime teaching ministry.

Our heartiest congratulations and best wishes, Thomas.

7:08 AM Today I will be on campus briefly to teach my morning class, then return home. I am humbled to be a member of such a wonderful profession. The Christian faith is at heart an intellectual faith. As I once heard Francis Schaeffer say to a group of students in Switzerland, faith perfects the mind, it does not destroy it. Faith is the way to a vital contact with a God who is knowable, and not to some abstract “Principle” worked out by syllogisms. Ultimately faith is the key to the universe.

To my students I say: Keep this faith. Hold fast to the truth. Human tradition only perpetuates things that cannot be perpetuated, but God’s truth lasts forever. The life of the church is the life of God, poured out into His church by His Spirit. Remain under the Spirit and under the Word. No other “word” can ever replace or supersede it. To those who have attained worldly knowledge and academic recognition, this Word says, “Be fools for Christ’s sake, take the last place among men, live with those who are uneducated and despised, serve other men instead of making them serve you. When they push you around, do not resist them but pray for them. Take upon yourself Christ’s cross — his humility and poverty and obedience and renunciation — and you will find rest for your souls.”

I leave you with an old Scottish proverb: “Greek, Hebrew, and Latin all have their proper place. But it is not at the head of the cross, where Pilate put them, but rather at the foot of the cross in humble service to Christ.”

Amen?

Sunday, June 23

12:24 PM Wise words from martyred missionary John Stam:

Let us be reminded that the Great Commission was never qualified by clauses calling for advance only if no hardships were involved.

For Stam’s incredible story, gohere.

12:19 PM Recently my inbox has been inundated with pleas to support this or that “conservative” political cause. Not interested. The Gospel is meant to subvert political power, not vice versa. Christians do not need to promote God’s agenda. We should simply bow before the unfathomable expression of His love — Jesus Christ — and “live like He lived” (1 John 2:6). In the kingdom, God always has the freedom to act in surprising ways, quite apart from our human archys. He seeks neither polemics nor apologetics but obedience. This is the way of Jesus.

When we are tempted to bring the church under submission to money or the state or popularity, when we promote social triumphalism, when we engage in religious propaganda for political causes, the only remedy is repentance and faith. Both Scripture and history show us that when the church uses political means to protect itself and its interests, then it is endangered by the very thing in which it trusts. Politicians do not rely upon God. This is why government exists.

As a Christian, it does not matter to me in the least whether America is a great nation, or that I should live in a democracy. The disciple of Jesus plays a role in society that is radical and disinterested. Institutional power is of no concern to God. He raises up nations and then sweeps them away. Some might endure longer than others, but none has an assurance of perpetuity. That the U.S. currently enjoys democracy should be a warning to greater usefulness in the kingdom and to greater love for the nations. The presence of the church in America is no guarantee of future divine blessing. Democracy may be lavishly golden. But it’s a trap. Inside there is nothing of eternal consequence.

One wonders what would happen should America ever cease to be democratic. Would the church have to go underground, as it has had to do in so many other nation-states? Probably. But let me be quick to underscore that the idolatry of power can exist even in an underground church. Power divides and corrupts the innermost depths of man. But institutional power, whether political or ecclesiastical, is of no interest to God. On the contrary, the way of Jesus is the way of downward mobility and powerlessness. In His kingdom, outer props become unnecessary. The essential thing is not what we do but what God does in us and through us. All of our deeds are useless unless they originate from Him.

11:18 AM Just sawthis over at the Tyndale Seminary (The Netherlands) website. Congratulations to Alex Stewart, who begins fulltime teaching this fall.

This is the best part of our doctoral program here at SEBTS — seeing God use your students. By the way, Tyndale still has openings in Intercultural Studies and Old Testament. Interested? GiveTyndale a look. Students, please please please consider using your talents abroad in an international ministry setting!

10:28 AM So grateful for our Ethiopia team. They met at Cresset Baptist Church last night for their final orientation featuring, among other things, a taste of Ethiopian cuisine.

I think this was the first orientation ever that was not attended by Becky. The writer of Ecclesiastes might have said, “… and a time to pass the baton.” We were with you guys in spirit, though.

8:40 AM Greetings, cyber friends! Becky’s home. Nuff said. Am I happy? Are there cows in Texas or brumbies in Australia?

While as a follower of Jesus I know I am to have an attitude of gratitude all the time, on this special day I have a long list of things for which I’m deeply grateful. Being around Becky 24/7 gives me a context for deep gratitude to God for her many excellent qualities. It constantly amazes me that she is so giving, so encouraging, so transparent, so … Becky! Thank you, Lord, for my wife.

I find that, at this time in my life, I’m especially grateful for family, and not just blood family. They have stood by us day in and day out, have gone without food and sleep, have sacrificed to minister to us in countless ways. Yesterday I was needing to get a cell phone for myself (I’ve been using Becky’s), and Liz just stepped in and took over, stopping at Wal-Mart to buy it and then getting on the Internet to set me up with NET 10. In a world where things wear out, where relationships rupture, where sin happens, I’m so grateful for people I can count on. Liz, Karen, Leigh, Rachael, Matthea, Kimberly (our daughters) and a whole gigantic host of others are to me like Boaz in the Old Testament, a man of high noble character who saw those in need around him and then reached out to bless them, even when it was costly. So thank you to my family. You’re the absolute greatest!

Technology. What a great word. What would I begin to do without email or cell phone service? So thank you, Al Gore, for the Internet.

I’m grateful for the ability to adapt to “new normals.” Attitude is everything in life. Becky and I have had (and still have) enormous adjustments to make in our married life. Can stress be the result? No doubt. I find that the key is to ask constantly, “What can I do for my spouse?” Marriage is based on mutual commitment (Eph. 5:22-32). Husbands need to agree to give themselves to their wives just as Christ gave Himself for the church, and wives need to agree to be supportive of and positive toward their husbands (jerks though we may sometimes be) as to the Lord. A good place to start, I think, is speaking to one another with a respectful and considerate tone. Love always seeks the best for the other. And we are called to love. I’ll admit that dealing with a terminal illness is a gnarly situation. It can evoke feelings of sorrow and anger as well as great empathy and care. Constant change is the new normal. But God is there to help. If in the flesh we are weak, in Him we are mighty!

Finally, I’m so grateful for prayer. I’m praying right now for lots of things: wisdom, patience, endurance, Christians in India and Ethiopia …. I continue to be troubled by the extravagance and waste of the North American church in light of the radical call of Jesus. I find myself increasingly frustrated with the “American” gospel because it is so incredibly inadequate. The real Gospel makes all the difference. One happy outcome is that it frees us from self to serve others unconditionally. It helps us remain centered on Jesus and His upside-down kingdom. It makes us do all kinds of crazy things like take a mission trip to places like Ethiopia. The lesson of the Gospel is that even when life is crazy, God is still persistent to bless His people, but that blessing should always lead to activity in loving and gracious ways.

Well, I’ve got to stop. I wasn’t sure whether I should write about all this now or later, but I found myself with some spare time. Thank you so much for all your love and prayers and words of encouragement during this time. I can’t complain, not after what God has been doing in my life and in the lives of those closest to me. Becky’s illness doesn’t mean that God is not on His throne. Even when I begin to cry quietly, He steps in to renew my spirit. He has not changed, and so I find myself fleeing into His arms every time the ground starts to shake, tucking my little body under the shelter of His wings. Charles Spurgeon once said that Christians find God’s footsteps on the floor of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Because He has been there before us, we can take our next step.

Saturday, June 22

8:58 AM Good morning! And it IS a good morning, despite whatever is going on in our lives. I returned to the farm last night to drop Nigusse off and check on things. The two bulls had gotten out of the farm and so I’ve been chasing bovine all morning long. As soon as we’ve ironed out this wrinkle I will get back to UNC. Becky is doing well. We did take her to the hospital on Thursday evening and she was admitted yesterday morning. She now has a catheter draining the fluid from her lung. And there is plenty to drain. They are draining off 500 cc. each day. Had lots of visitors yesterday. We feel surrounded by love. The best news of all: I hope to bring her home today. I’m going to enjoy having Becky on the farm again.

So grateful for your prayers.

Off to Chapel Hill!

Dave

P.S. A thousand thanks to Ed, Joel, Leigh, Thomas, Marshall and anyone else who helped get up our bales yesterday while I was at the hospital. What a labor of love.

Thursday, June 20

3:48 PM Quick update. Becky is struggling. She may need direct doctor’s care as early as this evening; I don’t think we can wait until Monday to get her to the hospital. We’ll see. Liz is with us; Jon and Matthea Glass visited earlier. Many are praying. The elders are on their way to the farm even as I type. Thanks be to God.

9:10 AM Today’s quote? “The work goes on.”

As you know, God has appointed Becky and me to help the Peniel Gospel Team in the far northeast “neck” of India. This location is strategic. It is not in the southern region, where most believers reside, where most ministry investment is done, and where outreach has been done since (literally) the days of the Apostle Thomas.

No, the Peniel Gospel Team is working in a region that is untouched with the Gospel, and it is right next to the “closed” countries of Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. This ministry was started by a pioneer, obedient man who left his comfortable home in south India. As the only believer in this region, he preached and preached and preached. Alone in the work for many years, God saw his faithfulness and has multiplied his work. Today the work of Peniel Gospel Team has 400 evangelists, 2 children’s homes, a seminary, a low-income private school, and outreach to dozens of unreached mountain villages.

However, a big problem exists in the work: It is almost totally dependent upon gifts from USA. Why is this situation a problem?

• The government (Hindu-based) is suspicious of money coming from abroad

• The local community is suspicious of the work as being a “foreign” work

• The ministry budget is dependent upon the faithfulness and goodwill of Americans

• Fluctuating exchange rates, changing bank rules, and money transfer issues create challenges to financial stability.

God has appointed Becky and me to help the Peniel Gospel Team establish a large private (meaning, tuition-based) school that will generate the income needed to sustain this ministry for many decades to come.  There are many benefits to this plan:

• The community gains a benefit through education; this endears the work to them and opens their hearts to the Gospel

• The 2500 students coming daily to learn their A-B-Cs also have exposure to the Lord who loves them

• The ministry gains a stable income source for its outreaches; in fact, we expect that the vast majority of the needs for the evangelists, orphans, and seminary will be met through the school tuition income.

As we have been praying about this project (and it is a BIG project), God has brought a donor who is placing before our DBO readers and ministry partners a challenge to give to this need. Here are the facts about this challenge:

• For the first $10,000 given, there will be a 50- match. This means that if you give $500, the school will receive $750.

• For the next $10,000 given, there will be a 100- match. This means that if you give $1000, the school will receive $2,000.

• For the following $10,000 given, there will be a 150- match. This means that if you give $2,000, the school will receive $3,500.

The deadline for giving is Dec 31, 2013.

When you give, make your check payable to Bethel Hill Baptist Church, and write in the memo “India School Matching.” Mail the check to Becky Black, 2691 White House Rd., Nelson, VA 24580. You will receive a tax-deductible receipt from Bethel Hill in Jan, 2014.

Caution: do not delay until we reach the 150- matching level; the need for funds is NOW.  If God is appointing you to help in this work, be among the first to “launch” the matching. The construction has already begun!

Wednesday, June 19

6:40 PM To change the subject:

 

6:28 PM Where to start today? (I’ll try and make this short, as I am quite sure you’re not wanting a doctoral dissertation on the subject.)

Our main task for the day was simple. Get Becky home. At times it seemed like it would take forever to get her discharged from the hospital. Two doors down a patient had an emergency. (Code Blue. He didn’t make it.) Eventually we got Becky’s blood work done, signed all of the forms that needed signing, refilled her oxygen bottle, and off we went like a herd of turtles. Our life has settled into a rhythm that no one would describe as monotonous. Becky is in the living room right now, talking with one of our daughters (Rachael). We got a hospital bed for her and set it up, but we are waiting for the sheets to be cleaned and dried before she can use it. Her admission to UNC has been postponed to Monday, so she gets to enjoy her farm for a few days of uninterrupted peace. I’ve been doing such a lousy job of taking care of her that we’ve called in the reinforcements. Our daughter Liz arrives tomorrow from Upstate New York for a quickie visit. She will stay with us until Monday. Then, on Monday, Becky’s mom arrives from Dallas for a two-week visit. Also, this Friday another one of our daughters (Karen) will join us for a couple of days. I’m sure we’d be happy to take you in too!

My task for this evening is simple. Get Becky settled in, then chill out. Three guesses as to what book I’ll be reading. It will help me get my mind off of the hospital. Having someone die right next to you calls you back to reality real quickly. It puts this wisp of a life in real perspective. I wish I could sit here and say that things are getting better, that I am full of faith and peace and joy. The truth is, I am kinda struggling right now. Life is sometimes nothing but fog and haze. I find it hard to get the words right. It’s much easier to teach Greek than to negotiate real life, I can tell you that. Thankfully, I still trust God. I still have the Spirit. I still have Jesus interceding for me. So don’t worry about me. God carries me along. I am acutely aware of how important it is to take just one step at a time, and not to throw off my shoes and run full speed, as I used to do on Kailua Beach.

So there you have it. For better or for worse, this blog is the story of my life. It’s been a good life, and still is. Also, I’d like to mention just how encouraging are the dozens of emails we’re received, some from complete strangers. One of them wrote:

For a number of years now I have been encouraged frequently and challenged too by what you share on your blog.  Thank you so much.  Your comment yesterday of rounding third base and heading home moved me deeply.  I haven’t played baseball for many years.  Even so, I recall clearly the excitement of crossing home plate.  In no way does the base runner dread reaching home plate, but yearns for it as the thrilling goal of the game.  Your apt analogy of the Christian’s life was the occasion for God to reaffirm a crucial truth in me:  A life of increasing intimacy with Christ can only fuel our hunger to be home with Him.  I continue to pray for both you and Becky that you would experience Christ’s closeness in every aspect of the journey home, be there much or little road ahead.

It’s emails like this one that mean the world to me right now. Tonight I’m just tired. As for Becky, there’s a good bit of fluid sloshing around in her lung right now. Her chest cavity is very sore. But she’s home and plugging away. Both of us are looking forward to having family here.

Which reminds me: When we got home today, Leigh Humphries and her son Thomas were here cleaning and cooking and mowing, etc. How can one have a pity party in the face of such amazing love?

Tuesday, June 18

6:50 PM Has it really only been 24 hours since I last updated you? Seems like an eternity. Without further ado, here goes…

Becky had her lung drained today as planned. And you know what? She didn’t cough one single time. Unsurprisingly, since so many of you had been praying for this. They will keep her overnight for observation. I am no doctor, but my understanding is that 1.3 liters were drained off. That’s quite a bit of fluid, but here’s more news: she still has another 2 liters in her lung! So what to do next?

Our first priority was to talk with Becky’s oncologist at UNC. And before you could say “UNC is the best hospital in the world” we had Dr. Gehrig on the phone, talking with the pulmonologist at Halifax Hospital. This is the first time I’ve ever seen not one but two doctors “just happen” to be available, at the same time, on a busy week day, to talk to each other. And the news only gets better. UNC is arranging for Becky to have a plurex catheter placed into her chest cavity in order to drain off more fluid and relieve Becky of her shortness of breath. Which means that we will be admitting Becky to UNC either Thursday or Friday of this week for that procedure to be done. They will keep her overnight then send her home. I think that sounds like a good plan.

So we managed to live through a pretty exciting day. Will Becky have to remain on oxygen? No doubt. They tested her oxygen level after the thoracentesis and she barely took 20 steps when it dropped down to 84 percent. Back on the oxygen she went, muy pronto. I know I’ve said this already, but we seem to have turned the corner. We’ve rounded third base and are headed home. It’s such a strange thing, knowing that this day would come but wanting so badly for life to go on normally forever. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but we do so in the full confidence that our Redeemer lives and cares for His own. I think it’s called something like “obedience” or “faith,” this acceptance of God’s plan for one’s life.

So with that I need to sign off for now. I’m going to beat a path back to Halifax and spend the night with the love of my life. I do so rejoicing in the Lord. I can’t even explain how cool it was to hear that Becky didn’t cough even one time during her procedure. It’s hard to understand how anybody could think they could make it through a single day without Jesus. I know I couldn’t. So it’s “Thank you Jesus!” and back to the hospital.

Is this really my life?

Monday, June 17

5:14 PM The Lord has given us an excellent doctor. He’s admitted Becky to the hospital in South Boston where tomorrow he will drain the fluid from her lungs. Becky is resting well but very tired. She remains on oxygen. I’m home to pick up a few items and will spend the night in the room with her. Our hearts are filled with nothing but praise for our great and loving Shepherd Jesus!

11:27 AM Praise the Lord! We have an appointment to see the pulmonologist today at 1:30. Praise the Lord!

7:40 AM We’ve had a wrinkle in our schedule. Becky went to the ER yesterday with shortness of breath. She is now home on oxygen. We hope to meet with the pulmonologist today. (Yes, I am back in Virginia.) Grateful for many things today:

• Grateful to God for getting me a flight home yesterday on such short notice.

• Grateful for my wonderful hosts at CBS in Lansdale, especially my new friend Doug Finkbeiner.

• Grateful for my church family and Nigusse who took such good care of Becky in the ER yesterday.

• Grateful for a good ER that is only a 20 minute drive from the farm.

• Grateful for oxygen.

• Grateful for my assistant Jacob Cerone for covering my classes at the seminary.

• Grateful for your prayers.

• Grateful for a God who never changes.

I’ll be in touch,

Dave

Thursday, June 13

6:17 AM Shortly I’m off to the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Hope to visit the Gettysburg battlefield while I’m there, as well as Amish country. Please pray for my students at Calvary Baptist Seminary in Lansdale, that each one will be motivated by the message of Philippians to become, like Paul, a global Christian and eagerly pursue the downward path of Jesus.

6:02 AM Many of you have asked, How is Becky doing these days? I am grasping at words to answer that question. The short answer is this: Either God is taking us through this cancer process to use it as a platform to perform a mighty miracle, or else He is using it as a testimony of how people who walk with God can go through a time of trial. Every day is a special gift of God. We just keep praying and trusting our way through the valley. Becky’s strength ebbs and flows. One minute she is getting around normally, the next she is crashing and burning. Her digestive system has not functioned normally for weeks. Treatment after treatment has sapped her energy. “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

(Would you pause right now, click out of my blog, and take a moment to acknowledge God’s presence in the midst of your valley today? The God who created you and formed you and redeemed you. The God from whose love nothing can ever separate you. The God who is there for you in the fiery furnace. You belong to Him, and He has never left you nor forsaken you.)

Naturally, it’s been frustrating for me to watch Becky suffer. The past two weeks have been especially difficult. I could not have handled the pressure without getting alone with God. On the farm I have a quiet place that no one knows about, my private Garden of Gethsemane. With tears running down my face I can pour out my soul to God and release my unhealthy fears. I am so grateful for family and friends who are praying for us. We are all clinging to the providence of God. This is the only way to get through the valley of suffering. So many of you email us and say, “We’re praying daily for you.” Believe me, we need those prayers. I have to admit that there are days when I wonder why God doesn’t just step in and do something about Becky’s cancer. There are times, more frequently than I’d like to admit, when I can hardly bear it another day, another hour, a time when I pine only for the days when Becky and I could travel together and do crazy things like riding donkeys again in Ethiopia or camels in Egypt. Married love’s torment is the discovery of our human limitations, the realization that there is so little we can do for the one whose embrace has the largest meaning in our life apart from Christ. There may be some who can stoically endure suffering while they wait for a glorious life after death. I’m not one of them. Thankfully, I have a Savior who was tested in all points as we are, who sends a pillar of cloud each day and a fire each night to lead me out of despair, whose love doesn’t boil and then cool down like a tea pot on the stove, a Savior who is not afraid of Gethsemanes or infusion rooms and who enters the world as a baby only to take up a cross and arch up again through an empty tomb. Faith, as Elton Trueblood once said, is an anvil that has worn out a good many hammers. Becky is strong in faith, and so am I sometimes. We draw strength from each other daily, knowing that we will travel this road together to the end. More than anything else, we cling to Him.

“There is no music in a rest,” wrote the wife of Charles Cowman in the book Streams in the Desert, “but there is the making of music in it.” She went on:

In our whole life-melody, the music is broken off here and there by “rests” and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune. God sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives…but how does the musician read the “rest”? See him beat the time with unvarying count, and catch up the next note true and steady, as if no breaking place had come between. Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune, and not be dismayed at the “rests.” They are not to be slurred over, not to be omitted, not to destroy the melody, not to change the keynote. If we look up, God Himself will beat the time for us. With an eye on Him, we shall strike the next note full and clear.

And that just about says it all.

5:45 AM When the great C. S. Lewis moved from Oxford to Cambridge, his inaugural lecture explored the theme of literary history. In it he questioned the age-old practice of referring to “periods” in English literature, such as the “Renaissance.” Such terms, he insisted, were myths. “The Renaissance never happened,” he said. He argued that “periods” in history are not necessarily facts but rather retrospective concepts shaped more or less by polemical factors. Thus the literature of the so-called “Middle Ages” is no less important than that produced during the Renaissance.

In my forthcoming book on the authorship of Hebrews, I argue that the reception history of the book of Hebrews, a book that always circulated in the early church among the Pauline letters, has shared a similar fate. The evidence for its Paulinity has not so much been refuted as overlooked or ignored. In my bookWhy Four Gospels? I have argued similarly for Matthean priority based upon the unanimous testimony of the earliest church that Matthew (and not Mark) was the first written record of the life and teachings of Jesus. Throughout my studies of the Gospels I’ve been struck by one thing: how Jesus’ ministry broke like a thunderclap on Galilee. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan were of the same degree, I would imagine. In Mark we often read that Jesus’ hearers were completely amazed at His teaching and shocked beyond words at His scandalous deeds.

I will be the first to confess that Jesus’ teachings did not always strike me in this manner. For many years I was much more attracted to the detailed logic and complex semotaxis of Paul’s writings. But if I am correct in arguing that Matthew is our earliest Gospel and that it may have been written within a decade of the resurrection, then it seems likely that the apostle Paul was well aware of its contents and, indeed, may well have a had a copy of Matthew’s scroll with him on his various missionary journeys. It is not hard to imagine the impact this Gospel of Matthew might have had on Paul’s life and ministry. For throughout the whole account of Jesus’ ministry in Matthew there is a singular and profound focus on the Great Commission to reach the unevangelized nations, ta ethne. The Great Commission requires, not discussion, but obedience. Jesus demands it — of Paul, and no less of us today. And Matthew has provided not only for his own community (in Palestine) but for all Christians of all times and places a marvelous tool for carrying out this commission to the ends of the earth.

This, then, is why I think it is so important for us to read and study the Gospels. And I do hope, in this light, that my students and I do not get so distracted by the many marvelous details in the Gospel accounts that we fail to live out the “Good News” that so captivated and transformed the first followers of Jesus.

Wednesday, June 12

6:50 PM My thanks to brother Mark Vasconcellos for inviting me to dinner last night at the Olive Garden.

Mark is the one coordinating my trip to Guyana this September to hold a pastors conference and to teach in the university. Mark was born in Georgetown, Guyana, raised in Venezuela, and now facilitates missions all over the globe. Stay tuned for a link to his new church plant in North Raleigh called All Nations Church.

Also, a huge “Thank You!” to Becky for making the most wonderful birthday dinner for me this evening.

Honey, you outdid yourself tonight. Ich liebe Dich.

6:42 PM Yo folks,

Hope you’re enjoying your week thus far. I returned home to the farm today. My body is in Virginia but my mind wanders disobediently to Germany. Have you ever seen the Cologne Cathedral? I have, from the inside and out. When builders in the nineteenth century sought to complete the cathedral, it was not necessary to prepare a new plan but only to retrieve and study the design as it was first conceived by Meister Gerard in the thirteenth century. I often wonder why good and thoughtful Bible scholars and pastors so easily forget the scriptural injunction to make all things according to the pattern shown to us in the New Testament. We would be wise to pause a moment and consider how much we need to understand and then put into practice Paul’s broad perspective on leadership in the church.

This will be a major emphasis in my ministry next week in Pennsylvania. Since I will be teaching pastors and pastors-in-the-making, the topic will be all the more relevant. Not long ago I read a book that said that “leading the church is the most difficult job in the world.” The church being envisioned was one led by a solitary pastor upon whose shoulders the weight of preaching and administration was placed. But is this how the Lord Jesus planned for His church to operate? Perhaps our difficulties are self-induced. If pastoring a church is the most difficult job in the world, it is not because our Lord designed it to be that way. Jesus never entrusted congregational leadership to a single individual. Let me repeat that: Jesus never entrusted congregational leadership to a single individual. He gifted His church with pastors (note the plural in Eph. 4:11) whose main responsibility was to equip the saints to do the work of ministry. Pastors and people are to serve together so that the gifts of the whole Body may be exercised. That is what pastoral leadership is all about – not buildings, budgets, books, and broadcasts.

Today I am glad to say that among many young Christians I know, careerism is beginning to take a back seat to humble, team-style leadership. I am beginning to see more and more students come to the realization that every Christian is a minister and that God has given each of His saints, men and women alike, gifts that make an important contribution to the health of the church (1 Cor. 4:7). These students are eager to begin working in a leadership team for the purpose of equipping the saints. They are anxious to labor among servant-leaders who differ in giftedness but who have equal responsibilities. They see themselves as a “fellowship of leadership” (I owe this wonderful expression to Michael Green) who serve as equals, not as CEOs in a chain of command. They understand that Christ is the only head of the church, its only Senior Pastor, and that under His leadership elders are always plural (Acts 11:30; 14:23; 20:17; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 5:17-25; Tit. 1:5; James 5:14-15; 1 Pet. 1:1; 5:1).

The book I referred to above also made a statement to the effect that pastoring is the only job in the world in which one’s impact depends on a 30-minute sermon delivered weekly. Biblically, nothing could be further from the truth. Although the Lord Jesus has provided pastor-teachers for our benefit, and although we should avail ourselves of their ministry, we are not to be dependent on them for our understanding of the Bible. Each one of us has the privilege and duty to approach God directly and to search the Scriptures to determine what is true. Moreover, I believe you will look in vain in the New Testament for the well-crafted 30-minute sermon or the carefully-alliterated homily. I think it is significant that pastors are never described in the New Testament as “preachers.” In Eph. 4:11 they are rightly called “teachers,” because nothing is more necessary for the equipping of the saints than sound biblical teaching from the Word of God. Likewise, in 1 Tim. 3:2 Paul emphases their ability to teach (or to be “teachable” – the Greek allows both renderings). The ultimate purpose of all such teaching is the building up of the church – a church in which all the members are equipped for their various ministries. I have not found a clearer explanation of this truth than the following words of John Stott (Ephesians, p. 167):

What model of the church, then, should we keep in our minds? The traditional model is that of the pyramid, with the pastor perched precariously on its pinnacle, like a little pope in his own church, while the laity are arranged beneath him in a serried rank of inferiority. It is a totally unbiblical image, because the New Testament envisages not a single pastor with a docile flock but both a plural oversight and an every-member ministry.

Do I have no sympathy, then, for the solitary pastor engaged in “the most difficult job in the world”? On the contrary, I pray for many of them daily. Yet I am afraid that we have brought upon ourselves our own difficulties. A greater, wiser, and more efficient pattern for church leadership exists in the NT, and when we ignore it or disobey it we may well expect to suffer the consequences. What would such companionate leadership look like if it were implemented today?

1) Leaders would recognize that each local Body is a theocracy with Jesus Himself the absolute monarch and Head of the church (Eph. 1:20-23). He alone possesses all legislative authority (Matt. 28:18).

2) Congregations would recognize that the nature of pastoral ministry requires more than can be done well by only one pastor.

3) Leaders would acknowledge that they all have equal responsibility in their congregations, so that no one of them could be singled out as the pastor.

4) Congregations would see that shared leadership is a deterrent to any one leader becoming a Diotrephes (3 John 9) who runs roughshod over the church.

5) Leaders would understand and accept the diversity of ministering according to one’s individual spiritual gifts.

6) Congregations would make decisions together, and unanimously. Where there is no unity of the Spirit there is grave danger. Being “of one accord,” the early church sought consensus, not “majority rule.” Unanimity was the goal of every decision (see 2 Cor. 13:11; Phil. 1:27; 2:2; Eph. 4:1-6; 1 Pet. 3:8).

7) Leaders would encourage all believers to have an active role in the Body. They would teach and model the priesthood of all believers. They would not allow the congregation the luxury of expecting their leaders to do everything. “He that is greatest among you will be your servant” would be their motto.

8) Congregations would recognize that plural leadership brings collective wisdom to bear on problems and decisions.

These are but a few implications of companionate leadership. On his blog yesterday, Matthew Malcolmwrote:

I am convinced that one of the biggest contributors to bad exegesis is bad systematics.

My friends, many unbiblical patterns of church leadership are ensconced in some of the world’s leading textbooks on theology. User beware. If a teaching does not comport with the New Testament, it is to be discarded. We have said that shared leadership consists in following the New Testament pattern of congregational life. I myself have not always thought that this pattern of leadership was important or believed this way. But I am learning that God’s Word is the framework into which I must fit my thinking, my beliefs, and my actions. Let’s see to it that we do not frustrate the wise purposes of God by neglecting truth in order to pursue man-made ecclesiastical traditions and structures.

Think truthfully,

Dave

Sunday, June 9

9:58 PM Thanks to everyone who sent or blogged me a “Happy Birthday.” It was a truly wonderful day. Of course, the 64-million dollar questions is: Was Becky strong enough to get up and about?

Well, this afternoon, she did just that. She told me she needed to get out of the house and insisted on taking me to Lowes in South Boston to buy me a birthday present — a new set of drill bits. Of course, by the time we got there, Lowes had already closed. We did enjoy the drive, however. What a crazy life.

Please, please pray that we find a good pulmonologist for her this week. And thanks again for your prayers on her behalf.

Dave (now, at 61, officially a fossil)

9:04 AM My poor Becky. She wanted so badly to cook my birthday dinner today but I told her no. She is just too tired. I just put her back to bed where she is undergoing another treatment. Her back still hurts something terrible. She cannot take a deep breath. We are determined to have her see a pulmonologist this week. Please pray that she can get some sleep this morning. She desperately wants to be active this afternoon and piddle around with me at Maple Ridge. So please ask God for this little serendipity, okay?

In the meantime, I’ve been pondering a question. Which is more important — teaching a Greek class or bush hogging a field to keep it looking neat? I’ll try to give an answer even though I’m not the brightest bulb in the kitchen. (In high school there were A students, B students, C students, D students, and my friends.) Whether an activity is important or not is determined as much by our attitude toward it as by the activity itself. We often fail to see the spiritual significance of our work because we have too narrow a view of the spiritual. Instead, we look on our everyday activities as though they were purely mundane and therefore inconsequential. But what if bush hogging a field is necessary for the maintenance of this farm? And what if the farm is used as a retreat for people needing a place of beauty and serenity? In the final analysis, bush hogging a field may have as much eternal significance as anything I could say in the classroom. In the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, there is a time for work, a time for play, a time for family, and time for everything. Frankly, I need the physical exercise of working outdoors. The neglect of the body is an ancient “Christian” sin. Bible teachers and pastors are notorious for neglecting their physical selves while stressing the importance of the “spiritual” self. This unbiblical attitude stems from the ancient Greek dichotomy between body and soul. The body was the “prison” of the soul. But man is a total being. There is no separation between my body and soul, between my religion and my secular life. Because I am one in all my parts, my life is religious in all of its activities. Both the other-worldly saint and the man of the world fall short of the ideal balance. Living a balanced life is not optional if we are to realize the biblical concept of man as total person. Meaning within gives meaning without. This is simply another way of saying that the Dave Black in the classroom is exactly the same Dave Black on the tractor. And he has value in the eyes of God no matter what he is doing.

I once saw a sign above a kitchen sink that said:

Divine services performed here three times daily.

I urge us today to see all that we do as sacred to God. 

Saturday, June 8

8:07 PM Well, he did it. Spilled the beans. I’m referring to Paul Himes, of course.Read it and be blessed.

8:02 PM I am a happy man. This book arrived today from Amazon.

I am blessed to have visited the Gettysburg battlefield on three different occasions. I have stood on the Round Tops, Cemetery and Seminary Ridges, the Wheatfield, Devil’s Den, and Herr’s Ridge (where the fighting began). I have felt the emotions you have while driving along Reynolds’s Blvd. or walking across “that deadly space,” following the path of Pickett’s men. Gettysburg is not an abstract idea to me. Some pretty famous Americans were there — Custer, as well as Longstreet, Meade, and Lee. The battle defined our nation. If you are planning a vacation this year, you must make it Gettysburg on this, the 150th anniversary of the battle.

6:06 PM Simple. That’s the word that comes to my mind when I think about my life. My existence is not very complicated. I teach my classes, do my farm chores, write my books, do my missions work, and take care of Becky. Speaking of whom, she did me proud today. We invested a total of 10 hours today on Ethiopia (including our driving time). She did much of the teaching. On the drive home she was exhausted. Several times she cried out in pain. (Her spine again.) She can hardly walk. I’ve just put her to bed with a hot water bottle and a kiss.

See, I told you. Simple, isn’t it? You do your duty, cheerfully, trustfully. “In sickness and in health. Till death do us part.”

Of course, simple does not mean easy. Moving a ten ton rock is a simple job but certainly not an easy one. Life is simple but not easy. On the face of it, life seems complicated. Yet all I can think is, It’s so very simple. You simply live out your calling with grace and hope. I have no answers to life’s riddles. I have nothing to add to Paul’s incredible dictum, “For to me to go on living is Christ and to die is gain.” Soon the business of this day will fade away. Tomorrow, my birthday, Becky will be too weak to attend church. We’ll postpone my birthday dinner. Yet no matter how tough life gets, there’s never a day when I don’t want to be here, by her side.

What’s not to like about that? It’s really the only way to live. Simply.

Happy Simpling, everybody.

6:53 AM Today is our third (of four) orientations at Cresset Baptist Church for our trip to Ethiopia in July. On today’s agenda:

• Bible memory

• Spiritual warfare

• Language and social greetings

• Ethiopian society and culture

• Burji orientation

Becky asked me to do the teaching on spiritual warfare from Ephesians 6. Here are my notes, derived from the Greek text:

I will make much of the shift from the present imperative to the aorist imperatives, since the tense of a verb is as much inspired by the Holy Spirit as the words are. I will also note the difference between the aorist participles Paul uses to describe the armor and the two present tense participles he uses to describe the need for continual prayer and watchfulness. The basic teaching of the passage seems to have four themes: the energy for the battle, the enemy in the battle, the equipment for the battle, and the essential attitude in the battle (prayerfulness). At least that’s the way I see things. And no, I do not always alliterate my outlines.

Speaking of teaching, yesterday my Greek students sent Becky a card thanking her for the delicious cake she baked for them. Each wrote a little note. My favorite was:

Dr. Black teaches Greek almost as well as you bake cake.

Never were truer words spoken.

See you after the orientation.

Friday, June 7

4:42 PM Brief note to my Greek 1 students. My secretary and I calculated your final grades today and have been trying all day to upload them to Moodle but no go. Seems IT has not yet configured the system to allow grade reporting. Maybe we are just being too efficient? At any rate, we will try again on Monday. Thanks for finishing well. See you next semester* for Greek 2!

(*That’s on Monday).

4:30 PM Back home again. Here are a few odds and ends for your afternoon reading pleasure…

1) This week I sent my book The Authorship of Hebrews: The Case for Paul, to the publisher. It begins:

The writer who would challenge this learned consensus opinio [that Hebrews is not Paul’s] must either be a hopeless obscurantist or possessed with a morbid desire to commit academic hari kari. Surely there is no easier way to destroy one’s standing in the scholarly guild than to affirm the Pauline authorship of Hebrews. However, to a writer whose daily routine has been to ride pell-mell through the countryside on a Thoroughbred, this is perhaps not as daunting a challenge as it may appear. Moreover, if this writer enjoys an occasional game of devil’s advocate and, in addition, is of the opinion that scholarly acceptability is never an excuse for compromising one’s personal convictions, fear of expulsion from the academy carries with it no great terror.

Aren’t I irascible?

2) One week from today I fly to Pennsylvania. My exegesis class on Philippians will be student led. I am praying that they will work hard at their preparations and presentations. What costs little accomplishes little.

3) I have learned more details about the seminary in northeast India led by our good friend Mammen Joseph. Allow me to copy and paste a recent email from Mammen on this matter:

This year by His grace alone we have some students from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh border and the neighboring states. We have selected some thirty students and we hope and we are praying that we will be able to find some sponsors for these deserving students from many unreached tribes of north east India and neighboring countries. To sponsor a student it would be $25 per month per student. This would cover his accommodation, food, classes and also some basic necessities like paper, pen etc.

Becky sent out an email to our prayer partners with these words:

Imagine giving a man from an unreached area a Bible education for a mere $25/month!!I think their program is 2 years. So that would be a commitment of $25/month for 2 years…less than a phone plan, yet for eternal benefits!

I think this is a good time to stop, reflect, and refocus. The question is not, “Are these men deserving of our support?” The question is, “Is this something I can and should get behind?” We’ve already received an email from a sister saying, “I can commit to that.” Then a brother emailed to say he would cover the costs of 8 students. Please let us know if this is something God is putting on your heart. I will publish more on this very shortly.

4) I wasn’t planning on blogging about this until Allan Bevere brought it up, but Energion is having a summer blowout on several of its books. You might want to check it out:All Your Summer Reading Is Right Here.

5) Today I sent a letter to our email list. Thought you might like to read it.

Dear prayer partners,

I have a confession to make. I would be less than truthful with you if I told you all was well with Becky. I feel like we have just entered the spin cycle. She is exhausted from her treatments. She’s experiencing diarrhea, fatigue, shortness of breath with any serious activity, and back pain. She’s also losing weight – about 1 1/2 pounds each week. 

I’d be flat-out lying if I said I wasn’t feeling concerned. Becky is my best friend. She’s been by my side through thick and thin. Being with her makes me want to serve and love and sacrifice more and more. I don’t want to lose her. I’m not going to pretend that I don’t want to cry about the situation sometimes. And then I remember the words to a song:

Before the sun has touched the sky
Colors bursting from Your eyes
Before the flood of the morning light
Before the earth has felt Your heat
Before I stand up to my feet
Before I begin to feel this weak

Satisfy me Lord
Satisfy me Lord
I’m begging You to help me see;
You’re all I want, You’re all I need
Oh, satisfy me Lord.

This morning I prayed for Becky. I mean, really prayed. I know God hears my prayers. He hears yours too. I know His heart breaks along with ours. I also know He still works miracles. Even if that miracle is nothing more than the strength to get out of bed in the morning or the ability to smile in the face of adversity.  

It’s not hard feeling a little ashamed at my lack of faith. B’s next PET scan is just over a month away. (I’ll be teaching in Ethiopia when she has it.) I am eagerly awaiting the results. Maybe too eagerly. Maybe it’s okay that I don’t know what’s going on in her spine and lungs. Jesus asks me to be content in all situations. So I am reminding myself today that I have much. A sovereign God who cares daily for Becky. A wife who is loved and lovely. Work to do for the kingdom. I am learning all over again what marriage is. It’s not a walk in the park. It’s a climb up Everest. And it’s okay for life to be one big open-ended question mark. Because God is the most amazing and satisfying friend a befuddled husband could ever have.

Dave

And that’s all the news from Lake Woe-Be-Gone.

Wednesday, June 5

5:34 PM Dear praying friends,

As you know, we’re gearing up for a busy summer of ministry. It’s hard to believe it, but the ministry/shelter house is almost open, and God seems to have already picked out a family to stay here for the short term. On June 28, summer school here ends and I leave for Ethiopia the next day. I will be teaching two classes in the capital city of Addis Ababa (Greek Exegesis and Special Issues in New Testament Studies) as well as catching up with a number of friends in Alaba. This month I will also be teaching for a week at Calvary Baptist Seminary near Philadelphia. We do need your prayers for all of these ministries. On a personal note, thanks for your continued prayers for Becky. Her back pain has been severe at times, and yet she keeps pressing on. I sometimes wonder, What will happen tomorrow? I then remember that God’s mercies are new every morning. He sends them when we need them. This means that I don’t have to live on the basis of yesterday’s blessings or even on the anticipation of tomorrow’s blessings. Today’s burdens are covered by today’s blessings. I continue to see God opening doors of ministry for Becky through her illness. So thank you for praying for us. Everything we do – from our farm ministry to our work in India and the nations – depends on the daily blessings of God. By the way, we are grateful for the $5,900 that was pledged through our local church for the new school in northern India. Becky’s essayBuilding for the Future in India has all the details. If God puts it on your heart to help out, let us know.

On a completely unrelated note, this Sunday I’ll turn 61. That’s right — this sweet little guy turned out to be an ornery, recalcitrant old Greek professor.

Several years ago I would have thought 61 described an old man. That’s still probably true. I am told that I look my age. Be that as it may, I do plan on staying as young as possible, if not physically, then at least spiritually. Psalm 48:14 says, “This God is our God forever and ever, and He will be our guide even until the end.” What a wonderful promise, and I plan to claim it often this year. I had planned to write an essay called “60 things I learned in my sixtieth year,” but I got about three lessons into it and quit. However, I will not stop asking, seeking, and knocking (Luke 11:9) or celebrating the rich blessings of the present. Nothing too great for the living God can come my way. Nothing outside of the will of God can cross my path. Christ is not only my reason for living but my resource for living (Phil. 1:21). I am especially grateful that my sweetheart will be by my side again this year, as she has been for my last 36 birthdays. I am blessed to have an incredibly smart woman in my life. She is not only perfect for me but for everything we do together in ministry. Not to mention the fact that she is an awesome cook. When she asked me what I wanted for my birthday dinner, I requested my favorite: Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas. Amazing. Becky has gone through a lot with me (and has never given up), yet she still likes to cook for me!

In 9 short years I will reach the biblical “statute of limitations.” Rest assured, dear readers, that between now and then I will make every effort to exercise the duties incumbent upon all senile citizens: uphold the awful dignity of my age, take no more than one nap at a time, and work hard on passing the baton to the next generation.

3:10 PM Enjoyed a wonderful lunch on Monday with my (former) doctoral student Paul Himes, who promises to post very shortly an essay called “5 years of doctoral work: what went well and what could have gone better.” That’s one post I am really looking forward to reading. His website is calledParoikos Bible Blog.

3:02 PM Hello, virtual friends. As you know, it’s Wednesday, my day to return to the farm. I am tired in body and soul but I need to tell you what God has been showing me these past few days. (You didn’t really think that last Thursday’s post about politics was the last word, did you?) It is, quite honestly, a long story.

For about 15 years now I have been pursuing what the NT calls discipleship – the combination of knowing and doing, theory and practice. Honesty demanded that I face the contradictions between the ideal and the real in my life as a Christian scholar. Suddenly the NT became very simple to me. I noted its constant emphasis on serving. (That theme was hardly hidden or camouflaged.) I realized that missions would have to involve personal sacrifice on my part and not merely supporting missionaries. I began to see that “knowing God’s will” is not something that comes merely through reading the Scriptures but through the process of listening to the divine voice while exploring ways of obeying the Great Commission personally.

This conviction gave me the courage to enter “fulltime missionary service,” even though I have never been ordained in the traditional sense of the word. I began to consider writing books that went beyond the mere formal study of the NT. I developed a suspicion and even fear of scholarship for scholarship’s sake, even though I was blessed with a doctorate from one of the world’s leading universities. As I read sixteenth century Anabaptist history, I began to understand why so many of the radical reformers were reluctant to call themselves “scholars.” It is no accident that in my bookThe Jesus Paradigm – my first foray into the world of Anabaptist hermeneutics – I reflected deeply on how scholarship had taken on a whole new meaning for me. I began to see my work in the seminary less as an academic vocation and more as a calling to serve the church and the world. This in turn gave me the courage to explore a variety of interdisciplinary approaches to Scripture.

One significant result of this exploration was that I became increasingly suspicious of many cherished beliefs that I no longer felt could hold up to serious reflection and inspection. This led to an intense study of the works of Jacque Ellul and Vernard Eller, with a particular focus on their concern to preserve a kingdom focus in a day when the church was being distracted by various “causes.” Indeed, my bookChristian Archy looked to the Anabaptist tradition for assistance, and I found within Anabaptist theology a wonderfully freeing theological approach to issues of modern-day politics and ethics. I became convinced that theology has ultimate value only if God’s kingdom is discerned among us. My entire worldview began to shift with this emphasis, and with this shift came a powerful urge to communicate my beliefs to others. For instance, when I speak about the NT church, I do not begin with the popular “marks” of the church – expository preaching, the observance of the ordinances, church discipline, etc. Instead I use Paul’s imagery of the church as a family in which every member has a vital role to play. I have come to view my primary vocation as one of calling this family to become more faithful to its Founder and Head. At the same time, I am keenly aware that progress cannot be made without sound theological and exegetical moorings. And so I continue enjoy equipping students with an important tool for exegesis (Greek), even as I attempt to model for them the downward path of Jesus, all with the simple prayer that they will thereby be enabled to impact more profoundly the world that God created. In many circles in which I travel, there seems to be a reluctance to pursue the road less taken. We need to exchange our ease with a commitment to wrestling with the text of Scripture itself as we prepare for the coming age of post-Christianity. This is a great opportunity for us to hear the sacred text of the church in new ways and to allow Scripture to mold us into radically new beings. That’s a large part, if not the core, of all I do as a professor. The Bible is not merely an analyzable datum of linguistic investigation. It is God’s tool for grabbing hold of our lives and shaking us. If we truly allow it to do its work, then we can no longer allow scholarship to be our goal. Instead, our work will be marked by witness and involvement.

I have the privilege of standing on the shoulders of the Anabaptists. So do you. Their commitment to unite theology with uncompromising obedience may help us today to avoid a false dichotomy. It won’t be easy, of course. My own life has been a succession of struggles to come to grips with this notion of “scholarly obedience.” I am too intellectual for southern Virginia and too practical for the scholarly guild. Nevertheless, I know who I am. What is peripheral has fallen by the wayside, and what is left is a love for the family and a desire to see it grow in both numbers and depth.

I owe a very great debt to the Anabaptist writers who helped me to understand all of this. I hope that all of us – teachers and students alike – will have the humility to acknowledge our intellectual laziness, biblical illiteracy, and disobedience to Christ’s call to “come and die.” To be clear, I’m not decrying the need for biblical scholarship. As the author of numerous books on biblical Greek, NT interpretation, and textual criticism, I would be the first to acknowledge the validity of certain higher-critical methodologies. Still, I believe the time has come for a serious and sincere reappraisal of graduate theological education. What the church needs from its scholars is not arrogance or elitism but an honest, consistent, and serving faith. What might that look like? And how might scholarship take the priesthood of all believers seriously without disenfranchising itself?

These are questions I imagine I’ll be pondering until Jesus returns or takes me home. But they are good questions, and necessary ones. Perhaps you would like to join me in contemplating them.

Monday, June 3

5:58 AM 150 years ago today the Gettysburg Campaign began. It would determine the outcome of the war. The war-weary armies moved north through the heat and the dust. It was the third summer of the conflict. After his defeat, Robert E. Lee wrote:

No blame can be attached to the army for its failure to accomplish what was projected by me. I am alone to blame, in perhaps expecting too much of its prowess and valor….

The issue had been settled by combat.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is a fictional account of the four days of the battle. It is possibly the best book ever written about the Civil War. Buy it. Read it. It is genuinely compelling.

Sunday, June 2

7:45 PM Every year, on June 6, I watch The Longest Day on DVD. The movie’s subtitles really bother me. When Rommel is speaking, for example, entire phrases are left untranslated or else are only briefly summarized in English. Makes you wish you didn’t know German. According to a wonderful book called Key Terms in Translation Strategies, movie subtitles must work within the parameters of not more than two lines of text, with each line not accommodating more than 35 characters. This means that materials are often deleted, condensed, or adapted. Still, subtitles are infinitely preferable to dubbing. Besides, if you know French and German, you can always ignore the subtitles and appreciate the aesthetics of the original work. I’m bringing all of this up because one of my objectives in our Greek class this summer is to discuss the question of translatability when it comes to the Greek of the New Testament. In other words, what makes a translation “good” or “bad”? Translation invariably involves a loss of meaning associated with the Source Text. The relevance of this for my students lies in the ability to perceive the intended meaning of the text and in the ability to recognize that intended meaning is always subject to subtle variations in translation. I’m anticipating some good discussions. I may even show a German clip from The Longest Day, seeing that all really intelligent people are expected to be proficient in that language.

(Joking!)

7:32 PM I can’t wait to get back into the classroom tomorrow. William Arthur Ward once wrote:

The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.

The apostle James says it’s a mistake for many of us to become teachers. We’ll receive a greater judgment if we do. What an awe-inspiring responsibility. One danger is trying to teach something before we ourselves know anything about the subject (see 1 Tim. 1:6-7). The tendency then is to pander to the desires of our audience. How thankful I am today for my college and seminary teachers who were careful to exercise their calling with integrity and who took care that their lives did not contradict their teaching. May God make me like them.

7:22 PM Looking forward to my next trip to Ethiopia in just a few weeks. Students, don’t wait to graduate to take the Gospel to the nations. The time to act is now. You can sit on the fence too long. This is the message of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland:

The Mock Turtle, in a deep hollow tone, said: “Sit down, and don’t speak a word ’til I’ve finished.” So they sat down and nobody spoke for some moments. Alice thought to herself, “I don’t see how he can ever finish if he doesn’t begin.”

Folks, it’s time to begin. You can’t finish unless you start. Is it hard? Are you kidding? Nothing’s harder. I’ve found world missions to be tough, tiring, and (at times) terrifying. It takes commitment to deny yourself and serve others sacrificially. Finding and working with the lost in our own community is a good place to start. But don’t stop there. Serve the kingdom worldwide. It involves time, effort, and money, but nothing can match it.

9:15 AM T. C. Robinson postsI do not Speak in Tongues. In it he writes:

My friend even appealed to Acts 2:38, “the gift of the Holy Spirit,” to prove his point. At first, I thought he was pointing me to the wrong Scripture reference, because I had never seen that use of Acts 2:38 before to prove that every Christian should speak in tongues.

For what it’s worth, I might note that I’ve always thought “the gift of the Holy Spirit” in Acts 2:38 to be an example of the genitive of apposition (also called the epexegetical genitive). The idea is, “the gift, that is, the Holy Spirit.” A paraphrase of Peter’s words might be, “You will receive the Holy Spirit as a gift.” In other words, there is nothing here of a specific gift of the Holy Spirit (tongues, prophecy, healing, teaching, etc.). The Holy Spirit, Himself, is the gift. Another NT example might be Jesus’ promise that He would give the people “the sign of Jonah.” What He seemed to mean was, “I will give you Jonah as a sign.”

What do you think?

8:08 AM They say “It’s the little things in life that count.” Can you imagine how many “little things” go into setting up a household? So, in honor of all of the little projects accomplished yesterday by Work Force One, I offer this photo collage:

1) What’s a dining room without curtains?

2) This buffet now has sparkling glasses in it.

3) A door stop is a door stop is a door stop.

4) Thank the Lord for toilet paper holders and trash cans!

5) Clothes hampers and an ironing board in the utility room.

6) I suspect these children’s books will get plenty of use (note the Hardy Boys series).

7) Hampers for both trash and diapers in the baby’s room.

8) Bathroom privacy is now assured.

Simple blessings. But they don’t produce themselves. Our thanks again to the ladies (and Ryan) who worked so hard and so long yesterday to make all this happen.

7:42 AM We just received some wonderful news from our friend and co-worker in Burji, Ethiopia: 

Dear Becky how are you? Praise God! Thank to God He heard our all prayer and answered in amazing way.

Today in the afternoon Asegedech she feels pains in her stomach I took her to soyama health centered the specialist examine and told me it may be impossible for them to keep my wife up to delivery time. They told me to look for the vehicle to take her to the hospital.

When I am looking the vehicle I asked for God will. Our God is amazing God. In a very short time (2and ½) hour time she delivered a baby Girl. Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!

Please pass our thank for those who stand with us at this time by prayer. Really God heard your prayer and answered. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Many times please give our thank to all who prayed for us.

Becky thank you very very much for giving us good advice and encouragement.

God bless

Oshe Burje

You may recall that this is the same Oshe whose 4-year old daughter was murdered by the enemies of the cross several years ago.

Becky sent this email to Oshe last night:

Praise God! We serve such a wonderful & merciful God! His Name be praised forever & ever! he is worthy of all our service & worship!

Please give Asegedech my special love….and give the baby a kiss from me. God has replaced the little girl that He allowed to be taken from you. Praise His wonderful Name!

We love you! I will give everyone the wonderful news.

Becky

Now let me say a word about persecution if I may. Persecution is nothing other than sharing the fate of Jesus. The death of Oshe’s precious daughter was an opportunity for us Americans to live as true brothers and sisters with the church in Ethiopia. As Becky put it in an email at the time, “We don’t want the killer jailed. We want him saved.” Let us not become like Peter who, appalled at the prospect of a suffering and dying Messiah, argued with the Lord whose messiahship he had just confessed. In His response Jesus was categorical: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, he must leave self behind. He must take up his cross and come with me.” In many ways, persecution determines His true followers. It distinguishes the true from the false church. The cross was central to the life and work of Christ, and it must be central to the life and work of the Christian. A Christian without suffering is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. It is as meaningless as a Christ without a cross. There could have been no Easter without a Good Friday.

When a Christian suffers, Christians everywhere should not mourn as if something strange is happening. Instead, we should rejoice just as the apostles of the Lord rejoiced because they were “thought worthy of suffering for the blessed Name” (Acts 5:41-42). Suffering is the price of grace. So, as the church in Ethiopia suffers, we suffer with it. As Christ’s cup of suffering overflows, we suffer with Him. But we do not grieve as those who have no hope. If suffering be our lot, it is to help us bring consolation, comfort, and strength to others. Christ turns the table on the devil precisely at the point of what the world considers his triumph. “With all this in mind, what are we to say? If God is on our side, who can be against us?”

Please note: The demons do not fear denominational programs or bureaucratic initiatives. They do not fear our “church growth strategies.” What they fear is a person, not a program – a person who carries on in the midst of pain and heartache, who realizes that nothing can ever separate him or her from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Attacks will come. We know that. As soldiers, then, we must always be ready. To be the true church, there must be a partnership in the sufferings of the worldwide Christian community. Our weapon, paradoxically, is the Gospel of peace. It is the sword of the Spirit, God’s word to mankind. Our assignment is to pray “for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18), and with them. The apostle Paul was never alone in his prison cell or in his ministry because other members of the Body stood with him through prayer and supplication. His request was not for deliverance. It was that he might boldly proclaim the Gospel as an ambassador in chains. Intercessory prayer is emphasized throughout the New Testament (Col. 4:2-3; 2 Thess. 3:1; 1 Tim. 2:14). Would that all Christians were praying Christians!

So, how am I praying for Oshe and the church in Burji today? My prayer is that it will maintain its passion for holiness and truth, and that it will practice love in action, animated by Christian hope and by the assurance of Christ’s victory over sin and death. Toward these ends, I intercede on behalf of the brethren. Whatever our enemies may do to us, the purpose of Christ’s mission is to bring them to the Father’s house.

Today I will also pray for the church in America. You and I are so blessed to live in a country that enjoys freedom from oppression. What a grave responsibility that should lay upon our shoulders as believers. When I look at the suffering church around the world, I become impatient with students who slough off their assignments, who fail to perform with excellence, who take their education for granted. The present generation of Americans has received the most unearned and undeserved blessing of all time. The Lord God has made us the richest nation on earth and we squander our wealth as if we had no obligation to serve Christ wholeheartedly or to take His Gospel to a lost world, dying in darkness without a Savior. Take any problem you might have and multiply it a thousand times and you will begin to understand what the church in Burji faces. It is time we repented. It is time we stopped comparing ourselves with our fellow church members and started comparing ourselves with the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We must get up, raise our sails as it were (Heb. 6:1), and allow the Spirit of the living God to move us out of our apathy, realizing that all of our blessings as Americans are only temporary and conditional. May God open our eyes to the reality of the needs in Ethiopia. Remember, these are real people, with real souls, with real heartaches. But as bad as the persecution is in Burji, the worst scandal of all is the situation here at home as we stuff ourselves with the Gospel while millions the world over are still waiting for their first bite.

7:15 AM Thepersecution of believers in Eritrea is on the increase. They deserve our prayer support.

6:58 AM The Malaysian meal we enjoyed on Thursday night was called a “hot pot.” Hot indeed, and spicy. Thanks again to my student Caxie.

6:45 AM I recall a conversation while staying at the SIM Guest House in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A visitor from California was talking about the church he attended, the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, where Chuck Swindoll had once pastored. He noted dourly that visitors to EV Free were still referring to it as “Swindoll’s church.” Pastor Chuck had not been there for many years, he reminded me.

Newsflash! EV Free was never “Swindoll’s church,” and I am sure Pastor Chuck would be the first to admit that. Yet how unthinkingly we use such language. I attend “MacArthur’s church,” or I go to “Dever’s church,” or I visited “David Jeremiah’s church,” we say. But the church of Jesus Christ belongs to none of these fine men.

Please notice how Paul addresses the church at Corinth in his opening greeting: “to the church of God which is at Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2). Paul does not talk of “my church,” but of “the church of God.” This phrase aptly summarizes Paul’s concept of the local church. His 18-month stay in Corinth (longer than anywhere he had visited except for Ephesus) might have justified him referring to the church as “his” church. The Lord Jesus had given him a significant ministry during this period as he spent time “teaching the word of God among them” (Acts 18:11). The believers there were to Paul “the seal of my apostleship in the Lord” (1 Cor. 9:2). Yet he refrains from calling the Corinthian church “his” congregation, for he rightfully saw that all he had accomplished there was the work of God. Paul’s expression “the church of God” provides us with a healthy corrective. No individual Christian or group of Christians has any special claim upon a local assembly. Christianity today is full of cliques, each following a different personality. There is a distinct lack of humility and of consideration for others. Personality-cults have emerged that would have made the divided Corinthians blush.

When a Christian, or a group of Christians, becomes absorbed with following a particular leader, nothing but false loyalty has been achieved. There is probably no church with any history behind it that has not taken its eyes off of Jesus at one time or another. Often this assumes the form of hearkening back to “the good old days” when pastor so-and-so was there. Genuine appreciation of leadership can often give way to a very self-centered pride. It needs to be said that much division in our churches today arises because the eyes of Christians are elsewhere than on Jesus Christ. “My” church, like “your” church, belongs to God, not to you or to me or to any other person. If that is true, perhaps we would do well to follow Paul’s example in 1 Cor. 1:2 and, at least from time to time, unblushingly refer to our assembly as “God’s church.”

Saturday, June 1

6:24 PM I feel like it’s been forever since I blogged, yet it hasn’t even been 12 hours. Right when Becky and I thought we were falling behind in our work, here come the reinforcements, big time! I look at the faces of those students and friends who helped us today — Sam and Brandon and Melissa and Ryan and Drew and Rachel and William and Karen and Nigusse and Rachael — and I am undone.

You mean to tell me you would actually give up an entire Saturday to come to the Blacks and help us with our work? Rosewood Farm, where the work is never-ending. Rosewood Farm, where it seems we are always only “days away” from finishing the ministry/shelter house. Rosewood Farm, which belongs, every last inch of it, to the Lord Jesus. I think I’m echoing the heart of Becky when I tell you I am ready to shout hallelujah. To top it all off, the Lord gave us a perfect day for working. Our projects included getting the cedar posts up at Maple Ridge for the backyard fence, hanging curtains, assembling chairs for the deck, installing a rain gutter, organizing the kitchen, spraying Round Up, chopping down trees in the North Loop, and edging around Maple Ridge. I’ve said it before — I feel like a child wading on the shore of a limitless ocean when it comes to farm work. All too often it’s easy to forget how truly blessed I am to have such giving and caring students and friends. Today, life rocked. To the core. It was pure joy to find that God had again met our needs, and more. To all those who came and served: Thank you. And to the One who makes it all worth doing, we are your unworthy servants. Thank you for using weak but yielded vessels in your kingdom. We are truly blessed.

Below: Scenes from today’s work day. Photography by Dave Black, Esquire, Jack of All Trades and Master of None.

6:43 AM On Thursday night I was honored to have supper in the home of the Hang family. Caxie is in my Greek class this summer. She and her family are from Malaysia. Much of our discussion centered on church planting in other nations. I was able to share briefly about the work the Holy Spirit is doing to accomplish the evangelization of the tribes in Ethiopia. The most effective church planting ministries in Ethiopia are those carried out by nationals. Everyone who works in Ethiopia can, I believe, attest to that fact. Yes, I realize that many U.S. missionary organizations send personnel to plant churches in Ethiopia. I am not against American missionaries serving in Ethiopia. But this practice does raise a question in my mind. It is a fundamental question that I have been pondering for some time now. And the question is this:

How can we justify sending our well-paid church planters to Ethiopia when Ethiopian evangelists and church planters are eager to do the work themselves at a fraction of the cost?

Becky and I meet these evangelists and church planters wherever we travel in Ethiopia, whether it is in Gondar in the far north, or Alaba in central Ethiopia, or Burji near the Kenyan border. Many of these faithful servants of the Lord are weak, sick, and emaciated. Some are just skin and bones. What a contrast with your typical American missionary. Everything in American society is geared toward ease and comfort. Not only physical comfort, but the comfort of a “normal” family life. Even becoming fulltime professional missionaries involves little sacrifice and suffering when compared to what a typical Ethiopian evangelist experiences. It is not living unashamedly for another world when we drive the latest model Land Cruisers or live in luxurious compounds while foreign nationals suffer.

Here’s my suggestion:

If we, as the church in America, would learn to invest our money more wisely, it could be used to empower and equip Ethiopian nationals to evangelize their own people.

Think about it. They speak the language. They know the culture inside and out (and believe me, Ethiopian culture is not easy to understand). They are used to going without. They do not need to be pampered. How many dozens of Ethiopian evangelists are ready to begin their work if they only had the means to do so? Amharas are ready to reach Amharas. Siltes are ready to reach Siltes. Burjis are ready to reach Burjis. Tigrais are ready to reach Tigrais. Can you imagine what would happen if Christians in America were the grasp the principle of cooperation? Within a few short years, national missionaries would have preached the Gospel in every lost village in Ethiopia.

In my bookWill You Join the Cause of Global Missions? I encourage my readers to view modern missions as “a global, cooperative movement,” a partnership, if you will, between local churches in America and local churches in other nations.

Unfortunately [I continue], many U.S. mission teams fail to coordinate their efforts with the churches of host locations. Recently a student of mine mentioned that his local church was going to plant a new church in China. I asked him, “Have you ever considered simply going to China and asking the existing churches how you can come alongside them and help?” Failing to understand and connect with God’s already-at-work global purpose is one of the greatest mistakes we can make as churches. More and more local churches in America are forging effective partnerships with local churches in foreign nations, asking how they can best serve the needs in those countries. When done well, everybody benefits through this kind of beautiful partnership, and Christ is honored as His people submit to one another in love.

Once we understand that we have only one King and one kingdom, we should be able to begin working cooperatively, side by side with foreign nationals, to get the job done. Once we see this principle, it is the most liberating revelation. We will find ourselves working intentionally with national churches as each one of us does our part to finish the task before night falls.

Of course, I fully realize that this issue tends to divide modern missionaries. Reared in a culture that has sent out church planters to Ethiopia for generations, we argue that we cannot leave the work to nationals on the assumption that we are indispensable. In my book I contest this belief. Slowly and patiently, God is working to create a spirit of cooperation among His church. My prayer is that God will help free us from the tendency to work as though the church in Ethiopia does not exist. My hope is that we will become increasingly aware that He is very much at work in the hearts of Ethiopians who desire, more than even we do, that Christ’s kingdom be established in their nation.

May God help us to see the need to work with the existing churches in Ethiopia to reach that great nation for Christ. Yes, let us send missionaries to Ethiopia. Yes, let us go ourselves. But let our goal be to come alongside the courageous Body of Christ there and humbly ask, “How can we best help you?” If we say this, and mean it, I believe the effect on the church in Ethiopia will be immensely beneficial.

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June 2012 Blog Archives

Saturday, June 30

7:42 PM The word “servant” is often used in the New Testament to describe a Christian. Well, today I spent time with some of the Lord’s choicest servants. When all the finer points of theology have been discussed, what matters is how we live out our Christian lives in the world. Non-Christians don’t want people who preach; they want people who practice what they preach.

First off, my thanks to Becky for doing such a great job of organizing our fourth and final orientation meeting for our July team. Here she is — fighting cancer, undergoing weekly chemo treatments, preparing for a Lapsley family reunion on our farm next week, etc., etc. — and still she makes time to put together a fabulous meeting. She exerts herself to the full in the exercise of her God-given spiritual tasks. So thank you, honey, for a job well done.

Of course, Becky didn’t work alone. She had plenty of help from our Ethiopian counterparts both here (thank you, Nigusse!) and in Alaba (thank you, Tilahun!). I have long been convinced that there is nothing more beautiful on this earth than participating in the Cause of causes along with other like-minded believers. I wish you could have attended the meeting today — you missed a blessing! But since you couldn’t, I just “happened” to snap a few photos of the event.

No talent or ability that we have is small in God’s sight. Each person you see here has placed has his or her talents and abilities at God’s disposal.

We could say that missions essentially means responsibility. It means being good stewards of the varied grace of God. Beware of thinking that you have nothing to offer! Your talent may be very small, yet no one can know what is small and what is great in this world. I am honored to be associated with a group of Christians who refuse to excuse themselves from their responsibilities. They make good use of the gifts God has given them!

There is a sense in which our team meetings are becoming more and more participatory as Becky and I begin to pass the baton to the next generation of missionaries. Here’s Stacey Hatley, who previously made a trip to Ethiopia with us.

This year she will stay at home and “hold the ropes,” caring for her young son while her husband Jason returns to Alaba. Becky asked Stacey to tell the Newbies on the team what their family members will feel when they see their loved ones get on the plane for Africa. Quoting Rom. 8:5-6, 28, Stacey said she trusts God to accomplish something special in her husband’s life while he is away. Rather than sulking or engaging in self-pity, she will be supporting him in prayer. “The key,” she said, “is where I park my mind.” Truer words were never spoken. Thanks for sharing today, Miss Stacey!

The happy trio: Stacey, Garrison, and Jason. As soon as Garrison is old enough, the whole family plans on returning to Ethiopia. Becky and I have always urged families to engage in missions together, and it is fun watching this dream come to fruition.

One of my elders, Jason Evans (who has already made 5 trips with us to Ethiopia), will be accompanied by his eldest daughter this time around. Awesome!

Brother Marshall just can’t seem to stay away from “Utopia.” The man is constantly seeking the highest good of others. Here he is giving a report of the work he did last week with World Changers.

Imagine putting roofs on houses in 105 degree heat and then turning around and going to Ethiopia. Our culture insists that we take plenty of vacations. Yet that is a thoroughly unbiblical idea and has robbed us of a whole storehouse of truth. The night is coming, said Jesus. The time is short, chimed in the apostle Paul. Let’s face it — a lot of us could be doing a lot more for the Cause of causes than we do.

Dale (affectionately known as “Dolly” — the way his name is pronounced in Ethiopia) is our prison minister in Alaba. I just love watching him interact with the small flock of born-again prisoners there. They are bound together in a fellowship that goes far beyond the mere sharing of an interest. Dale is a reminder to me that as Christians we are responsible to every other Christian in the world regardless of their race, color, age, or nationality. He too, by the way, just returned from a grueling mission trip to Mexico. Go Dolly!

Our final orientation always includes a “taste of Ethiopia” for those who have never visited that wonderful country. Becky is an absolutely fantastic cook when it comes to Ethiopian cuisine.

What a vast area of fellowship eating opens up! Of course, there are rules of etiquette to be followed. Here Becky walks us through the steps of enjoying injera and stew without risking offense.

Sister Tope (from Nigeria) is already a pro at eating with her fingers!

Well, this flimsy overview of our meeting today must suffice for now. I can hardly keep my seat for all the excitement! Folks, it’s so easy to get our eyes off life’s real purpose and diverted to secondary issues. In ultimate terms, the Christian has only to please his or her Commanding Officer. And believe me — it’s a WAR ZONE out there. We’ve been called up for duty. The General calls out, “Haven’t you heard the orders? We’re moving out! Forward, march!” Have you “signed on the dotted line” yet? Have you joined up? For the Christian, to live is to be a soldier of Jesus Christ, risks and all. That’s why we require each team member to sign the following waiver.

Yes, it’s a bit sobering, I know. But this is the real world, friends. Can you truthfully say that your Christian service is motivated by a deep sense of love for Christ and others? Are you truly willing to serve others in His name, despite the obvious risks? Only the Christian who is willing to share the burden will share the blessing. May that be the blessed experience of all of us today.

Friday, June 29

7:20 PM Were you aware that SEBTS is hosting the Sixth International Conference on Baptist Studies July 11-14? Gohere for details. Should be a great conference. And a plus: We’ve got a beautiful campus I think you would enjoy.

7:14 PM Quote of the day (Jerry Rankin):

There is little to commend unity among cookie-cutter conformists. Unity is significant only in the context of diversity. We are a diverse denomination ethnically, generationally, and in church size and forms. And, yes, there are variations in how Baptists understand and interpret matters of faith while holding to the same common foundational doctrines.

ReadSBC — Illusion of Unity.

4:52 PM I just now emptied, deep-cleaned, and refilled the donkeys’ water trough. Yes, it’s hot to be outdoors. All the more reason to see that Becky’s donks have nothing but the freshest well water to drink.

4:06 PM Becky is cooking Ethiopian dishes for tomorrow’s final orientation meeting. The house is rapidly filling up with awesome smells.

Think she’d let me snitch just a little?

3:58 PM Dale Allison just asked me to contribute the essay on “Greek Grammar” for the  Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR), an ambitious research tool comprising 30 volumes and published by de Gruyter in Berlin.

The first four volumes have already appeared (2009-12). Am honored to participate.

3:45 PM Too hot for picking up bales. It will have to wait until this evening.

3:05 PM Let’s hear it for Klutzdom! Yes, despite enormous odds, yours truly (The King of the Klutzes) finally finished installing a dead bolt over at Maple Ridge, having made two trips to Ace Hardware (two  — count ’em!) for the tools he lacked (1 inch drill bit, 2 1/8 inch circle saw). But let us not think of the difficulties, the trials; let us ponder the sheer undeserved grace….

We also managed to put together the bed frames for the south bedroom, install the blinds, and even put on the sheets and bed spreads. How does it look?

Purty, eh? We’ve still got the curtain rods to install and the curtains to hang.

Incidentally, here’s what we do at Bradford Hall when there’s a heat wave. It’s not pretty, but it works.

Finally, don’t you just love my front yard? I do.

Now please excuse me — I’ve got to get up hay.

8:52 AM Currently memorizing:

Notes:

1) The shift from the perfect tense in verse 7 to the present tense in verse 8.

2) The amazing collocation of alla, men, oun, ye, and kai in verse 8.

3) Do we have a Granville Sharp construction in verse 10? (The answer will depend on the originality of the articles.)

4) Having mucked trailer loads of horse manure, I do believe I can claim to be an expert in all things skubala!

8:40 AM The Abnormal Anabaptist posts his thoughts about the SCOTUS decision in an essay titledWhat, did something just happen to change the world?  You simply must read it. It’s important to note that the acceptance he’s talking about is not passivity, fatalism, or resignation. It’s not about putting our head in the sand. It’s not about ignoring reality. It’s not about capitulating to evil or a refusal to do what you can do to change things. Rather, it’s a placing of oneself completely at the disposal of the King and His kingdom. It springs from love and trust. We have been shown the pattern by the non-political Jesus, who deliberately laid down His life and now calls us to lay down ours. There is very different from capitulation or Quietism. Where there is no trust, where there is no radical abandonment to Jesus’ upside-down reign, it is not to be wondered at that decisions by SCOTUS easily upset Christians. We forget how the kingdom of God operates. The Anabaptists of the sixteenth century — I devote an entire chapter to them in my bookThe Jesus Paradigm — saw suffering and self-abnegation as normal. Their heroism lay in their acceptance of circumstances that other Christians would have avoided at all costs.

Yes, God can “fix” America if He wanted to. But maybe we’re got the wrong citizenship in mind. There is, indeed, a city set on a hill. There is a pot of gold. But it comes at the end of the journey. Meanwhile, the risen Christ walks with us, transforming us, if we allow Him to.

Speaking of the Anabaptists, you might also be interested in:Would Jesus Have Written a Book?

Thursday, June 28

6:28 PM It was a gala day today — if you enjoy record-breaking heat. So bad did it get that Becky and I packed up early and left a list of projects unfinished over at Maple Ridge. Not only that, but no one had sufficient strength to prepare supper tonight, so the Grand Patriarch took the clan out to the local Chinese place for a buffet. Now that we have “buffet”-ed our bodies, we plan to stay indoors for the rest of the evening with the fans running at full strength. I’m sorry that the Supreme Court ruled for Mr. Obama today, but I propose that we all should conduct ourselves like the good citizens we claim to be and go ahead and pay the “tax.” Though I don’t mean for a moment to disparage the civil authorities, I’ve concluded — as have many others I suppose — that the decision will only make the partisans all that more partisan this election cycle, reawakening election year scenes that are at once exasperating and bewitching. Legislation sometimes repeals wisdom — there seems to be a prevalent misconception in Washington about the U.S. Constitution — but, frankly, I cannot characterize Obama as “radical.” Oh, I also heard that the Republicans have evened the score a bit by censuring Democrat Eric Holder — a minor by-product of all this partisanship we claim to abhor. One thing is certain: Our economic life in the U.S. is being reconstituted by machinery that is both arbitrary and dangerous.

On a lighter note, I am happy to report that Nigusse is one day away from finishing his post-course arguments for the Isaiah class he took with Heath Thomas during summer school. Every member of the family is rejoicing ecstatically!

Finally, the answer to today’s textbook quiz is:

Bruce’s work is filled with page after page of inspiring insights. Like so many authors of his generation, his idiom is scholarly yet accessible, without being in any way pedantic. It is simply one of the best commentaries on 1-2 Thessalonians available today. Delightfully, the good Professor sticks to the actual text, and his pastoral heart shines through as he tastefully articulates the marvels of God’s grace as seen in a small congregation in an ancient city. New Testament scholarship should always be academic and devotional, and Bruce deserves a great deal of credit for exemplifying both traits.

11:10 AM Taking a brief break. Thus far I have managed to stay out of trouble by weeding the garden beds, mulching the rose garden, assembling two room fans, watering the vegetables, and going into town to purchase a box spring for our new bed for the guest house. Still to do: install dead bolts and hang blinds in the upstairs rooms. The heat, thankfully, is bearable. 

8:06 AM My colleague and good friend Alvin Reid isRediscovering Oswald Chambers. I love this quote by Chambers:

June 27: “To look for justice [for ourselves] is a sign of deflection from devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world [for yourself], but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will begin to grouse and and indulge in the discontent of self-pity….The most devout among us become atheistic in this connection; we do not believe God; we enthrone common sense and tack the name of God on to it.”

How about you? Do you read Chambers?  

7:24 AM I’ll be teaching “Exegesis of 1 Thessalonians” in the fall. Anyone care to guess whose commentary I’ll be using? Which one would you require?

Answer anon.

7:20 AM Tomorrow we’re getting up hay. Tomorrow the high will be 103. Tomorrow I will sweat like a mule.

7:15 AM The Stewart family has arrived in The Netherlands! Alex will be teaching beginning Greek there this summer. His class includes students from literally all over the world: Cameroon, Ukraine, Suriname, Romania, Netherlands, Ghana, Ethiopia, USA, Serbia, Finland, Georgia, Myanmar, Rwanda, Kazakhstan, and Brazil. Talk about a trulyInternational Ministry!

Praying for you guys….

7:12 AM Yesterday I had a debilitating sinus headache. Today I am fine. Thankful for a God who heals.

7:08 AM Just finished perusingThe Bantam Review (pdf) — the new journal from Concordia Seminary. Jake Neufeld’s (any relationship to Henry?) essay called “Protestant Theosis?” was a helpful reminder to me that the Eastern Orthodox Church approaches anthropology differently from the Western Church. I wish they had published (and not just referred to) Robert Yarbrough’s paper “Bonhoeffer as Biblical Scholar.” Perhaps in a future edition.

6:44 AM The hardest part of doing cross-cultural missions? The barrier of language, culture, and values. Little wonder Jesus originally told the 12 to avoid the Gentiles and the Samaritans and to focus on reaching their own people. To reach people of a different culture demands great sensitivity. We need to become “naturalized citizens” of their world. Paul “made himself a servant, to reach as many people as possible.” In a very real sense, we overcome the cultural barrier only as we become Jesus’ arms and legs and mouth and heart. People are drawn to the cross when we love and serve them. In Ethiopia, for example, greetings are everything.

Often, successful evangelism is simply the fruit of respect. When we communicate, our body language, our intonation, our gestures — all are to reflect the gentleness of Christ. When not-yet Christians see us respecting their cultural norms, they’ve heard the music and maybe, just maybe, they will want to hear the words. Again, Paul puts it clearly: “I make myself a servant to everyone so that I might win as many as possible” (1 Cor. 9:19). The principle is clear: No serving, no winning. Servants have authority precisely because they have abandoned all their rights. The gate swings open. And even our enemies begin putting their trust in the Shepherd.

Wednesday, June 27

8:06 PM I’m with The Scripture Zealot on this one:No, I’m not going to read that article. I am becoming more and more “picky” about what I read on the Net. Of course, I don’t plan to stop reading TSZ any time soon 🙂

7:56 PM Just picked: rosemary, basil, oregano, and parsley. B used them in tonight’s supper.

Which, by the way, included the Baptist Bird (fried chicken).

7:06 PM This email put a smile on my face:

We are so excited about the upcoming Ethiopia trip…. I’m actually trying to figure what I’m going to do first each day since DBO is going to be “offline” while you are away.

7:04 PM Missions quote of the day (J. Stuart Holden):

“Go ye” is as much a part of Christ’s Gospel as “Come unto Me.” You are not even a Christian until you have honestly faced your responsibility in regard to the carrying of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

7:01 PM Fresh blueberries anyone?  

7:36 AM Mark Stevens raisesan interesting question: Can we really “shepherd” people when a group is so large that we cannot know everybody personally? “True Shepherds know their sheep,” he writes. Mark is absolutely correct. To influence people, you must reach individuals.

It’s probably fair to say that the average church in America views the congregation as a collection of isolated strangers. It’s quite possible for this to be true even in smaller churches. So what to do? I’ll just suggest two things. First, identify your networks. To whom are you most naturally drawn? Who would be most responsive to your influence? Jot them down. Network relatives, associates at work, neighbors, friends, fellow students, and the other members of your church. Second, begin to pray that God will use you to bless your networks and even help you to build new ones. It’s imperative that we get to know people as real persons and then recognize, respect, and act upon individual differences. As the relationships grow, you will begin to see affirming responses. In this regard, I often follow in the footsteps of my wife. Becky is a phenomenal networker. Her interpersonal skills far outpace mine. Most of all, she’s a genuine friend who just loves people in very real and tangible ways. And they respond!

Can you do this? Can I? Even in a large class on campus, say, of 100 students or more? I know we can! Pray that God will give you a serving lifestyle and the passion to shepherd those around you. Believe me, He can do it!

7:24 AM Speaking of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War was characterized by division — nations against nations, people against people. Today, the Wall is gone, and, to a degree, so are the walls. Because of the World Wide Web, communities are connected today, and we’re all affected by its benefits. For example, on Monday I linked to an essay about abortion, and almost immediately two of my favorite bloggers jumped on it:Henry Neufeld andAllen Bevere. The networked world in which we live acts just like that. Walls are out. The Internet has connected people as never before. Does that mean that all the interconnectedness is good? The answer is obviously No. (People often ask me for my cell phone number. I don’t have a cell phone.) Nevertheless, how we learn to live in a connected world is perhaps the greatest challenge — and opportunity — of our day.

Tuesday, June 26

5:31 PM Elton Trueblood: “Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservations.” Good word for today.

5:02 PM On this day in 1948 the Berlin Airlift began. Eventually a wall was built to divide East and West Berlin. Its destruction in 1989 was the precursor of the collapse of the Soviet Union two years later. (I’ve got a piece of the wall in my safe deposit box.) Incidentally, if you’re a Germanophile (as I am) perhaps you will remember the “gaffe that never was.” In his speech in Berlin in 1963, John Kennedy spoke the famous words, “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

 

Some argued that Kennedy should have said “Ich bin Berliner,” even though the phrase was translated for him by a professional interpreter. “Ich bin Berliner” would have implied that Kennedy was an actual citizen of Berlin, whereas “Ich bin ein Berliner” implies solidarity rather than identity: “I am one with the people of Berlin.” Oh well. Reminds me of the controversies brewing in certain Baptist circles today. May God somehow protect us from all those eddies of peripheral debate in which we spin round and round, all the while missing the rivers of God’s work both in the church and the world!

2:39 PM Unsure of whether God is calling you to get involved in global evangelization? Then read my latest essay:One Person at a Time.

8:12 AM The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth begins July 2 and runs through the fall. The exhibit features 7 fragments that have never been on public display before. Bible scholars and archeologists will be speaking weekly. I plan on inviting my father-in-law to attend with me. To learn more, simply visitwww.seethescrolls.com.

8:08 AM Hi bloggers and bloggerettes!

In my forthcoming book Paul, Apostle of Weakness, I make much of future salvation and the prospect of receiving a redeemed body to match my present redeemed spirit. The older I get, the more aware I am of my own finitude, weakness, and mortality. I think the same was true of Paul. I am also learning to appreciate more and more the fundamental necessity of the energizing power of the Holy Spirit. Whether it is outwardly apparent or not, I am God’s workmanship. So are you. You are not less of a person if you are single, or if your mental faculties begin to wane, or if you cannot walk. Even though life is painful at times, I can truly rejoice because I know that the process of sanctification only increases the potential of God’s power being displayed in my weaknesses. Happily, some day we will exchange all that is mortal about us for complete immortality. In that day we will “know as we are known.” In the meantime — if I have understood Paul correctly — God’s means of making us strong is by making us weaker and weaker until the divine power alone is seen in our lives. Little wonder, then, that Paul did not merely tolerate his weaknesses. He boasted in them. To trust this reality is to be “born again” day after day, growing in the process of becoming priests and ministers to each other.

So that’s my book in a nutshell. When we are weak, He is strong. Praise God!

Dave

P.S. I have to say that I’m getting totally excited about my trip to Ethiopia in two weeks. (Africa this July. Asia in October. Guyana in November. Ukraine in March. Tough life, eh?) If I’ve counted correctly, this will be my 13th visit to Alaba in 7 years. I was drawn there in 2005 when I heard about the murder of a 19-year old Christian. While there I met the murderer, who is now my son in the faith! Since then the Lord has arranged countless providential meetings with believers and unbelievers alike. Our visits to Alaba always involve intense ministry. Besides being the malaria capital of Ethiopia, there’s typhoid, typhus, and lots of dust to contend with. For me, the most rewarding aspect of our trips is working alongside a persecuted church. Believe me, the believers in Alaba don’t fight over Calvinism. They are too busy living out the radical kingdom of Jesus. The Devil’s throne is absolutely powerless in comparison with the love that flows from Calvary!

Folks, the world has 7 billion people, 2/3rds of whom are poor and 1/4th of whom suffer from malnutrition and disease. Many have never heard that God loves them and that Christ died for their sins. They deeply need to see a Christ-centered lifestyle. Will you pray that I might show them one?

Monday, June 25

5:35 PM Odds and ends …

1) We just had the quickest treatment we’ve ever had at UNC. Grateful for efficient and expert health care.

2) Henry Neufeld writes to tell me that my book Christian Archy is now available onKindle. Take note, all ye e-book fans.

3) Congratulations to “master” Robert Martin.

4) You really have to hand it to brother Jason. Yesterday he covered — in one sermon — the entirety of Romans chapter 7. Wow. (Undoubtedly Peter had Romans 7 in mind when he wrote 2 Pet. 3:16.) I tend to think that Romans 7 is best explained by Romans 8:3-4:

For what the Law could not do, weakened as it was through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, thereby condemning sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, those who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The fundamental concept of the New Testament is that sin is not only avoidable, but righteousness is the norm for every believer (1 John 2:1; 3:9). On the other hand, every one of us sins. The flesh, which is supposed to be our slave, becomes our master. That’s frustrating! Only the Spirit can bring holiness. When He is at work, “oughts” become “wants.” By God’s strength we can stand up against sin and do what is right. Our deepest being begins to delight in God’s law — it never desires to sin. The self that I now am is inseparably linked to the life of Christ (Gal. 2:20). Assuming that one’s conversion is real, it is then that we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Just as there can be no regeneration without the work of the Holy Spirit, so there can be no sanctification without the power of the indwelling Spirit of God. But the progress is erratic. It is three steps forward and two steps backwards. Hence, in my view, we never quite “leave” Romans 7.

Certainly a great mystery remains concerning the interpretation of Romans 7. I myself think it is describing the apostle Paul at the height of his Christian ministry. But I do not wish for a moment to shed any doubt on the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit. The entire Body of Christ should be very grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit. I feel the debt very personally.

10:52 AM Praise God for good news! B’s platelets are up, so it’s off to UNC again to poison her body.

10:48 AM Mike Licona explains the wordostracism. You’ll love it! Don’t you be tellin’ me that Greek ain’t helpful.

10:10 AM Is sacrificial living the solution to America’s abortion holocaust?

I don’t think morality can or should be legislated. I think if Christians want a woman not to have an abortion, then they should offer that woman however much she demands to not have an abortion.

We often talk about the value of human life, but we seldom are actually willing to pay for it. Suppose the mother demands $10,000 for the baby. Many would be willing to pay that price. Suppose she demands $1 million. Well, you tell me, is the child’s life worth that much to you or no? There comes a point at which purchasing that child’s life might threaten your own child’s life. Which is to be preferred? Which is more valuable? What would Solomon do?

There is usually a presumption that the woman should be responsible for keeping the baby and bearing the cost herself. This I suppose comes from a belief in Truth. But I don’t see God imposing Truth on us. Instead I see Him making sacrifice to exemplify truth.

ReadEvangelicalism = Christian Legislation. Followers of the Christian Right might be shocked by this suggestion, but Christian love demands that we take our faith to the street. Those who are the most sincere about fighting injustice are the ones who are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

9:12 AM “Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back” (ancient Chinese saying). If you’re taking Greek 3 with me this fall, are you reviewing your Greek 1-2 this summer?

9:10 AM Awaiting word from the lab to see if Becky’s platelets are good enough for chemo today. Lord, please heal her completely.

8:55 AM A SEBTS gradfinds refuge in ministering to others. We praise God for you, Shane!

7:25 AM Greek students! Check out Helma Dik’sNifty Greek Handouts.

7:16 AM Rick Mang’stribute to his dog touched me. Yes, I am an unapologetic dog lover.

7:12 AM Yesterday brother Jason mentioned that next Sunday will be the commissioning service for our teams going to India, Kentucky, and Ethiopia this summer. His theme will be “Let’s Go!” Amen to that. It’s time, church, to move. How often are our churches like those animated automobiles in children’s books, replete with smiling grills and blinking headlights.

The car is the center of attention. Its wipers swish, its horn honks, its radio blares. But it isn’t moving. It’s still in the safety of the carport. How many of our churches miss the main point? The purpose of the church is to get into gear and go. Instead, we’re too busy showing off our interesting gadgets. How sad.

I’m so grateful to God that at The Hill I’m beginning to hear a series of explosions in our carburetors. The gears are meshed — and we’re moving. Praise God! “Let’s Go” is not an option for a congregation that claims to be following Jesus. Of course, it is nice to move in style (think: Lexus). But if God chooses to use an old country bush hog for His glory, that’s His prerogative!

Sunday, June 24

5:52 PM Almost forgot to thank Henry Neufeld ofEnergion Publications for his kindness in offering to give away my bookThe Jesus Paradigm. So, thank you, Henry! As I tried to show in the book, the Anabaptists got it right by emphasizing witness and service to the world. The Magisterial Reformers placed almost exclusive emphasis on preaching and the sacraments. The resultant stratification is still with us today. The time is ripe for projecting the Gospel into the whole of life through the service of every Christian. Let’s do it!

1:25 PM Guess who’s joined the blogosphere? None other than SEBTS Ph.D. grad Alex Stewart. His blog is calledThe Stewart Chronicles. His latest entry is titled, simply,Dissertation. (Yes, I played a small role in that project!)

I, for one, will be following the Stewart family chronicles as the Lord moves them to Europe for ministry.

1:17 PM Know what the top ten hymns of all time are? “Holy, Holy, Holy” is #2, while “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” is #10. Can you guess what is the #1 hymn before clickinghere?

1:12 PM SEBTS students, Lord willing Dr. Ant Greenham and I will be leading a team to Guyana during Thanksgiving Break this fall. Details will follow, but please begin now asking the Lord if this is a trip He might want you to take. Course credit will be offered.

8:55 AM When I leave for Africa in a couple of weeks I will stop blogging for a while. That’s a very good thing, if not for you, then certainly for me. Blogging is a societally accepted form of idolatry. We find meaning in our words, in our blog creations. It is a “ministry” to others, we feel. These “wholesome” idols are so terribly subtle because we can tell ourselves, “But isn’t blogging a worthwhile goal?” The answer is Yes, but a goal can easily become the goal. It is then an idol, and it cannot help but cast a shadow on God’s glory.

There are so many potential idols. An individual’s entire life may be wrapped up in his or her blogging. Or teaching. Or preaching. Let someone threaten their idol and — watch out!

Blog fasts are therefore a good thing. Sometimes it is better to be silent than to speak. Imagine an art gallery with no paintings. There are no pictures. Lasting ones, at any rate. Life, if it is to be found at all, must be found in Him, not in our giftedness.

Saturday, June 23

6:40 PM Two additional thoughts about ecclesiastical change:

1. Change is inevitable.

2. Change usually brings conflict.

We need to anticipate both.

Believe it or not, folks, not everyone in your church will be happy with forward progress. When conflict does arise, we should be careful that we have not caused it through our insensitivity or foolishness. Of course, not all conflict is bad. If I have to choose between the carnality of a poorly-informed Christian and take a step of obedience, I’d better stick with obedience. We can’t be responsible for another Christian’s immaturity. On the other hand, truth without love — obedience without grace — makes it impossible for the Holy Spirit to create genuine community. The bottom line? When the Lord Jesus shows the church a step of obedience, it’s got to take it. What counts is a consistent, faithful life. Jesus said as much.

So … let’s not be a stumbling block to the weak. But let’s not live in mortal fear of their disagreement, either. A church can spend too much time protecting the weaker brother and sister when it should be educating them.

6:34 PM Well, Arthur Sido is about to take the plunge andstart a house church. Good for him. Go with your heart, friend. Be courageous. But remember: Anytime we step over manmade fences, we will appear misguided by those who planted the posts.

One word of caution, if I may. Keep the Great Cause on the front burner. If I had to choose between a paper-perfect church (i.e., elder-led, age-integrated, weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper as a full meal, etc.) and a group of believers absolutely committed to sacrificially reaching the lost through loving words and deeds, I’d go with the latter every time. Too many Christians are reveling in their new-found ecclesiastical freedom and missing the point. Our mission isn’t to huddle together but to approach the line of scrimmage and play ball. Yes, treasure Christ. Yes, treasure each other. But do try and allow folks to peek at the treasure. Let Jesus shine in and through you!

6:27 PM While Keith and I were working over at Maple Ridge last week we were conversing about life in general when he suddenly said, “We’re going downhill, Dave.” Normally, this idiom means that something’s gone terribly wrong in your life and things are deteriorating rapidly. For a plumber, however, the words are joyful: the drain pipes are correctly angled; they are all going “downhill.”

When was the last time something went wrong in your life? I mean, really wrong. A time when there was nothing you could do but to cast yourself on God’s mercy. And mercy met you. Emptiness was filled with love. Apathy was replaced with cleansing fire. To be a Christian is to see God’s hand of mercy in our trials. It is to turn our tear-stained eyes up to His and whisper, “Yes.”

10:48 AM A Saturday shout out to the followingwinners of free copies of The Jesus Paradigm and Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions?: Drewe, David, Robert, Andrew, and Charles. May God use these books to help you follow King Jesus more radically each day.

10:40 AM Just said goodbye to the Glass family. Here’s where Jon and the kids spent Thursday night. As you can see, Jon loves “roughing it”!

Fishing anyone? I won’t tell you how many fish they caught, but John 21:5 is apropos here, I do believe.

What is the Bialetti Mocha Espresso maker?

Only the greatest invention since the printing press!

I am the “official” pancake maker in the family.

Actually, I call them “pan cookies.” Imagine that — cookies for breakfast!

That little Christian is really growing. He took several steps all by himself!

Ever heard of ladder ball? It’s Nigusse’s favorite game.

Puzzle update: Becky, with lots of help from Jon, Matthea, and Nigusse, is making real progress!

Off to weed the garden.

Friday, June 22

1:01 PM “Tetelestai!” (For all y’all rednecks out there, like me, that means “It is finished!”).

Before …

… and after:

Robbie “Dunn” such a good job we awarded him with an honorary “PhD” from Rosewood Farm. As you can see, he was speechless.

“Why me, why is it always me??????”

Look who brought us lunch today. Thank you Carter, Katherine, and Caleb!

Down for a much-deserved nap!

12:45 PM Be thankful for the cross.

7:55 AM “It’s a small world.” How could I have known that Ben Durand’s wife Betsy is the daughter of a good friend of mine who teaches at Criswell College in Dallas? How awesome!Jim Sibley spent 10 years as a missionary in Israel and speaks fluent modern Hebrew. Last time I saw him in Dallas he was so excited about the journal he is editing calledMishkan. His essayObstacles to Jewish Evangelism (pdf) is well worth your time.

Off to work …

Thursday, June 21

7:14 PM This evening we’re blessed to have Jon Glass and Ben Durand and their families over for dinner. Both Jon and Ben have been to Ethiopia with us, and Jon will be going on our next trip in three weeks. Jon pastors at Cresset Baptist Church in Durham while Ben pastors at North Roxboro Baptist Church in Roxboro, both in the great state of North Carolina. Two more kingdom-oriented families you will never meet.

Becky’s now serving up ice cream!

Pix (of course):

5:06 PM Here’s a huge shout out and “Congratulations” to Becky’s father Brad Lapsley, whose website Good Amharic Books now boasts over 800 books! Whoo-hoo!!!! Praise God!!!!

4:58 PM Well, the work of installing the floor joists is now over, and everyone is rejoicing vociferously. To what, then, shall I direct my colossal energies and talents (ha ha!)? The present consensus of opinion is that we should lay the subflooring and then take a breather before wiring the electricity, framing in the bathroom, and putting up the sheet rock. So the good work continues. Here are the latest photos.

I’m soooo grateful that the Lord is giving me strength for the task day by day. The Lord our Shepherd (Psalm 23), having saved His sheep, now provides everything they need for their daily sustenance. And guess what? Jesus is no mere hireling who lacks personal interest in the flock! No, the Lord is MY Shepherd, and my cup overflows, so well does He tend to His lambs.

Our carpenter, by the way, is Robbie Dunn. Robbie is a SEBTS grad and quite the skilled craftsman. He works in stone, metal, and wood. In fact, I think you’ll find a visit to his website fascinating, as I did. It’s calledDan River Architectural Millworks. And here’s a further thought: Doing construction work is a vivid illustration of living the Christian life, is it not? Paul seems to say as much in 2 Tim. 2:15, where he describes the Christian as a workman that does not need to be ashamed. A Christian cannot be careless or flippant about the work he or she does. After all, God is watching what we do and testing its quality. His approval is always our goal. The Christian who works hard and loyally in response to the leading of Jesus “will be blessed in his doing” ((James 1:25). That certainly has been the experience of this untalented klutz. Our humility serves us falsely when we claim “I cannot do this — it is far beyond my powers.” Paul dares to tell the Philippians, “I can do everything (and face every circumstance) in union with Him who empowers me.” No words could possibly put our privileges in Christ more strongly!

So, dear friend, is Jesus your strength this day, or is He not? The plea of unfitness or inability is an inadequate excuse if ever there was one.

Here endeth my sermon!

Wednesday, June 20

8:41 AM Odds and ends …

1) The high temp today will be 92. The “Real Feel” will be 102. Yes, this is the “official” first day of summer.

2) I see that the 2013 meeting of theSNTS will be held in Perth. Maybe this is the excuse I need to visit my friends in Australia?

3) Fred Luter’selection is cause for great thanks to God. Now if we could only have more ethnic diversity on our campuses.

4) According to reports, the death toll from religious rioting in Northern Nigeria on Sunday was 52 killed and 74 wounded. Let’s remember to pray for our persecuted brethren.

Tuesday, June 19

8:28 PM Hey folks! Hope you’re enjoying your summer (or, if you live Down Under, your winter!). I got a reprieve from work today on THE house, so I mowed several acres instead and then tied up a few loose ends here at the house. Inspired bythis post by Brian LePort, I’m tempted to jump into the conversation (Yes and Yes: Yes, German is absolutely necessary for doctoral studies, as are French and Latin; and Yes, Spanish is an excellent language if you’re thinking missionally — plus there is much being written today in New Testament studies by Spanish scholars), but right now I’ve got to work on a different set of priorities. Our team leaves for Ethiopia in just over 2 weeks, and I’m madly preparing a series of talks for pastors on the book of Romans. I will also be teaching a course on the Pastoral Epistles at the Bible School in Alaba. By the way, I’m really enjoying this post by Lloyd Pieterson:The Pastoral Epistles Speak to Anabaptists Today. Here’s a sample:

The Pastorals have a massive emphasis on “good works”. Sound teaching, as far as the Pastorals are concerned, is not merely for the purpose of right believing but is to promote right living. This is familiar Anabaptist territory! Christian belief is outworked in appropriate conduct. Furthermore, instead of the endless debate as to whether the emphasis on “good works” is a departure from Paul, scholars would do well to pay attention to the fact that this emphasis on good works is “Sermon on the Mount stuff”. Good works, according to Mt 5:16, are essentially mission-oriented and I believe the Pastorals need to be seen in this light too. 1 Tim 2:1-2, which for many serves to epitomise the Pastorals as concerned with “bourgeois Christianity”, is immediately followed by a statement concerning the saving will of God. Prayer for peaceful conditions is not so that the church can be comfortable but to facilitate mission. The author is acutely aware that outsiders are influenced, either positively or negatively, by the conduct of the Christian communities.

This is SO right on! People everywhere are waking up to the truth that the PEs are not simply church manuals. Paul’s message in these letters is that sound doctrine ought to lead to the loving service of others, including our enemies. The goal of our instruction is love, he insists — self-sacrificial love. Both Jesus and Paul consistently refused political power and coercion. The “tradition” that Paul passed on to Timothy was soaked in blood. People with a non-kingdom mindset try to find their security in authority or in law-keeping or in asceticism or in a hundred other substitutes. This perspective is natural for fallen human beings. God responds to this lust for power by sending His Son to die in weakness for the sins of the world. This is simply what it means to be under the reign of Christ. To honor the King, we must reject religion “falsely so-called,” and especially any Christianized form of religion.

A few other things:

• We hope to get the floor joists and beams finished tomorrow.

• I hope to read the final proofs for Paul, Apostle of Weakness soon.

• Becky is spending the night at the hospital with a friend who is having surgery. She is actually one of our team leaders for our Ethiopia trip.

• I’ve been re-reading Vernard Eller and Jacque Ellul, whose works I tried (impudently!) to summarize in my bookChristian Archy.

May our lives reflect the truth that the only hope for the world lies not in politics but in the power of the cross!

Cheers,

Dave

9:58 AM In just a few weeks I’ll be back in the villages of Ethiopia, including this one, far away from so-called “civilization.”

Yes, men hold hands in Ethiopia. Openly. Unashamedly. Incredible but true! What is the basis of this kind of human relationship? Christ says that He loves His Body. It has been given love as no other body has ever possessed love. So we must protect it, praise it, defend it, and pray for it. If you’re ever in Ethiopia, hold hands with your brothers. Even if you feel awkward, do it! Understand how meshed are words and actions in the heart of God. The world is not impressed by our huge denominations or our great buildings or our busy programs. Oh, may it be a way of life for us to enjoy that rich fellowship of oneness in Christ!

9:11 AM How do we practice unity?

• Make every effort to love each other.

• Openly tell others you love them.

• Share expressions of gratitude toward one another.

• Don’t make snide remarks about “other” denominations.

• Lift up the church worldwide in prayer.

• Don’t foster a spirit of arrogance.

• Deal gently with the weak.

• Never seek status.

• Bind the church together by exposing younger to the older and vice versa.

• Forgive freely.

• Allow yourself to be ministered to.

Oneness in the Body of Christ is heaven-made. We are truly members of one another. Let’s act out this unity!  

Monday, June 18

9:02 PM Today was so full I’m afraid I’ve neglected to update my blog. The carpenter and I have decided to work 10 hour days from now on, which means that I will have Fridays off. Our work — like the Christian life — never goes in a short straight line but seems to progress in a zigzag. Happiness comes in the evening when one looks back over the accomplishments of the day. Progress comes through optimistic grit: optimism that all will eventually turn out right, and grit to face the inevitable obstacles fearlessly. “The God of All Patience” — this is one of God’s names, and getting anything that is worthwhile done never happens over night. I think of our ministry home as a masterpiece in the making. Christ’s yoke is easy, after all. Whatever our burden, He can lift us up.

I’m really really trying not just to get older but better. Am I succeeding?

9:20 AM The New Testament church was a brotherhood of believers who were all priests. By the third century it became a community centered in the bishop. This trend can and must be reversed today.

9:12 AM The “public profession of faith” in the New Testament was not signing a pledge card or raising one’s hand or repeating a prayer. It was baptism. You got saved, you got wet. Baptism was a public “pledge of allegiance” to King Jesus.  May it be so again.

8:22 AM Just picked:

7:53 AM Andrew Rozalowskyreads with a pencil.

I had never spent a lot of time with 1 Corinthians and had really wanted to get to know it better. So, I took out my English Bible and a pencil and began to underline and box conjunctions that signalled the flow of the text. It engaged my brain in a way that I don’t always engage when I’m reading and it kept me from zoning out.

I usually read with a pen.

Either way, good advice, Andrew.

7:46 AM Just saw this quote by Spurgeon over at Chip Bayer’s excellent website (Thideology):

“Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.”

Of course, the key is one’s definition of “missionary.” A missionary is someone who, like Jesus, seeks the lost (Luke 19:10) relationally and relentlessly. Need a place to start? Love your brothers and sisters in Christ. Nothing brings people to Jesus quite like unity and love among believers (John 13:35). As the unique manifestation of Christ’s Body, the local church holds staggering evangelistic capacity. Through our non-ecclesiastical vocations, our latent missional potential breaks loose — in our homes, marriages, job, everywhere. We become the secular church — the church in and for the world. Pastor friends, it’s your job to take the lead and set the pace. If you do not have a far-reaching vision for the world and a plan to infiltrate that world, your people will never get on board. Encourage your church to reach and reach — in all directions!

Sunday, June 17

6:38 PM Odds and ends …

1) I cannot thank Nigusse enough for taking me and mom out to Ethiopian food today  — for the second Sunday in a row.

I am so honored and blessed. Igig betam amasaginalo!

2) Let’s see if I can distill brother Jason’s message this morning down to a single quote:

“We’re not going to lead you in the sinner’s prayer. We’re going to lead you to a new Master.”

His text was Romans 6:15-26. If the truth were known, not some, but most Gospel calls are probably inadequate. Easy-believism is a killer. Only God’s truth can exterminate it.

3) A few weeks ago I suggested to some ladies at The Hill that we declare today as Hat Day. This was the result.

Ain’t they beautiful?

4) Please do readWhat Southern Baptists Need to Learn from Whitfield and Wesley. It’s by Tim McKnight and spot on. Here’s a summary:

• First, we Southern Baptists should focus more on reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ than we do upon our differences regarding tertiary theological issues.

• Second, we Southern Baptists must be careful regarding entering into public debates over these doctrinal issues.

• Third, we Southern Baptists must avoid encouraging division by fostering political or theological camps within our denomination that identify themselves with a particular stand on these tertiary issues.

• Finally, we can learn from Whitefield and Wesley by observing how they eventually reconciled their relationship while maintaining theological differences.

5) I’ve been interested for many years to study the New Testament’s teaching about deacons, and one book I’ve found very helpful is by Alexander Strauch.The New Testament Deacon: The Church’s Minister of Mercy may not be Strauch’s best writing, but it will at least get you started. I fear that many of his points will be a bit unsettling to many of us, however.

6) Finally: My Father’s Day present.

Can’t wait for my first cup in the morning.

8:24 AM In 1 John 2, the apostle John writes to the “fathers.” I suppose these were the older men in the congregation, those to whom the younger could look up, men who might be expected to be more experienced in the Christian life and more knowledgeable about doctrine. They had known Christ “from the beginning.” Apparently this means that they had seen Christ in the flesh. In Ethiopia, such a man would be called “Abba.” They have walked a long time with Christ. They are “seniors” in Christianity. I know many of these men at Bethel Hill. The odd thing is that not many of them are very old. But one thing they all have in common is an insatiable desire to know the Word of God and to put it into practice. I thank God for each and every one of them, and today I would like to wish them a very Happy Father’s Day.

8:20 AM Good read here:How to preach the gospel at work without getting fired.

8:14 AM Joshua over at The Daily Bleat istweeting from the SBC Convention in New Orleans this week. I’ll be reading.

8:07 AM From Eric Carpenter’s Tradition Says … comesthis delightful quote:

“I charge you,Pastor Timothy, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the wordbible using an expository method. Be sure to have one primary purpose statement. Include 3-5 points, no more and no less. If possible, make your points memorable by starting them all with the same letter of the alphabet. Use the explanation, illustration, argumentation, and application method (since good illustrations are sometimes a struggle to think of, feel free to gohere for help). Occasionally move out from behind the pulpit to keep the audience’s attention. Conclude with a memorable anecdote. Altar calls depend on the particular tradition of the church you are in. Spend at least twenty hours studying for each sermon. Rely on commentaries only only after doing your own study. Be readyin season and out of seasonon Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, and encourage with complete patience and teachingpreaching.” II Timothy 4:1-2 (TAV – Traditional Altered Version)

Isn’t that great? Now before your feathers get ruffled by what this says about Timothy, it will help you to realize that the church in Ephesus already had pastors/elders. Paul, in fact, had met with them previously in Ephesus. We sometimes forget this whenever we refer to 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus as the “Pastoral Epistles.” Neither Timothy nor Titus were pastors! And unless we’re careful, we’ll think that “Pastor” Timothy is an exemplar of a local church leader. I’m convinced that this misconception is at the bottom of a lot of trouble we face in our churches today. Timothy’s job was that of a personal apostolic representative of Paul. He was ministering in a church that had elders. Am I right? Well, you decide after reading Acts 20.

Church leader, take time to consider the order of things as God revealed these timeless principles. There’s a good reason. The health of your local church may well depend on it.

Saturday, June 16

8:10 PM I have been in such a frenzy of work lately that I haven’t been able to keep up with all the great bloggers who are out there. Our work today was very rewarding. The rough plumbing is all but finished now and very grand!

The kitchen is officially ready for its final framing in and for the floor joists.

We’ve had unusually beautiful weather of late and I’m praying that it will continue into next week. But I’m getting lazy and I, like the nation, find it easy to lapse into splendid docility. Well, at least I’ll take Father’s Day off!

I have given careful consideration to Becky’s suggestion that I ingest a regular dose of Ibuprofen. Strangely enough, the older I get, the more detached I am from my own immediate circumstances and all the more attached to what God is doing. He has given a farm to me in order to share it with others, and my larger family are those who know Christ and love His kingdom. The better I come to know Him, the more devoted I become to what He is devoted to, and the more I desire to live and move and serve and breath for His kingdom to come. Ideologies of both the left and the right lack this essential commitment to Truth. They are trying too hard to push through their liberal agenda or, conversely, their sure-fire remedy to our liberalism. They miss the paradox of powerless Christianity, which alone brings heaven down to earth. The state, like the church, has become sacral, but Jesus is the ultimate anti-sacral Lamb. And at the heart of His thinking was a radical view of leadership in which leaders and led are no longer opposites, but one. Leading from poverty of spirit? You have just described the Gospel. And if you have this humble recognition of God as the ultimate Enabler, you have great things ahead of you. You will never again be satisfied with quickie shortcuts to spirituality. Down and down and down you go, an irreversible downward spiral, until only His strength is seen in you.

Well, all of this probably sounds very paternal, but after all, it is Father’s Day tomorrow. Please do enterHenry’s free book giveaway before it is too late, and otherwise do try to stay out of trouble.

Dave

Friday, June 15

8:08 PM This has been a very successful day. In the first place I survived another day of manual labor and I can say that the work was not easy but it certainly is a satisfaction to know that I didn’t break anything all day long. Thanks to your unceasing prayers for Becky she too had a wonderful day, full of vim and vigor, with only some bone pain to remind her of her recent chemo treatment. Tomorrow I’m scheduled to help our plumber (who schedules me, anyway?) and will have to start work at around 7:30, so there is “no rest for the weary.” This is certainly a healthy physical regiment and it will do me a lot of good if it does not kill me first. There are quite a few good blog posts I’ve run across this evening but none more interesting to me than Henry Neufeld’sHave You Ever Crossed the Street?, in which he bemoans the fact that he had not read Crossing the Street before he crossed the street. (You can’t figure out what he’s saying unless you read his post.)

Well, I’d best relax a bit and get ready for tomorrow. I’ve taken the oath of allegiance to assisting the construction work on the farm in any fashion others deem most useful, and so you will not find me complaining — much. I will never be one of the big ducks on our team, of course, but it is teaching me humility which is a very good thing.

Blessings!

Dave

7:38 AM If work seems slow at the ministry house it’s only because we are still in the preparation phase of construction.

We’ve torn out the flooring and are now working on replacing rotted boards and leveling the floor.

Also, the space between the kitchen and the dining room area has been opened up, making one large room.

We’ve also got the air conditioning units to install, and we’ll need to sand blast the exposed beams to bring back their original color.

We’ve ordered the kitchen cabinets and appliances; they should be here in about 3 weeks. God continues to supply our needs for materials, labor, and purchases, and Becky is feeding us like kings each day.

By the way, if you’re looking for appliances, you might want to check outnumber1direct.com. Their home page has a vision statement about serving Christ. There are no sales taxes or delivery fees. Becky decided on an appliance (based on features and price range), then compared the exact same model with Lowe’s and other online stores, and Goedeker’s was always less expensive. And there is a 30-day price guarantee; if within 30 days of the purchase you find the appliance anywhere else, even on sale in one of their own stores, they will refund the difference.

7:08 AM Here’s a powerful piece by Ted Grimsrud:Jesus and family. A few excerpts:

• Jesus also challenges our notions of family loyalty. This is an especially uncomfortable challenge in this day of hand-wringing about the breakdown of “family values” in our culture. Jesus taught that one must hate one’s father and mother if they come between one and genuine discipleship (Luke 14:26).

• In other words, faith matters much more than birthright, than family ties, than ethnicity, than inherited pedigree. This is the type of openness which the apostle Paul reflects in his famous words from Gal. 3:28: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

• Jesus is totally redefining family in terms of faith. Membership in God’s family is open to all, equally, without discrimination–based only on a willingness to do God’s will. This undercuts any practices in the community of faith that discriminate on the basis of gender, race, social class, age, or any other of our human lines of insider-outsider distinction.

The price of obedience to the Father is high. It could cost you your family. For some of you, it already has. We may be earnestly seeking to be obedient to Him but we may be missing the fact that it is often in our families that we learn to obey Him the most. Jesus was rejected by those closest to Him. If He had refused baptism at the hands of John the Baptizer He might have found life easier but He would have forfeited joy. The thing He longed for, the joy of His life, was pleasing His heavenly Father. Quite naturally, that obedience came at a high price. Can you imagine the heartache He felt? Can you and I fathom the depth of His love for us, His brothers and sisters? We live because He died to family.

Christianity is not an insurance policy against familial heartache. Its price is often separation.

Would you say that price is too high?

Thursday, June 14

8:10 PM Craig Bennett offers hislist of television series he likes. Craig, I might add Hawaii 5-O and Magnum PI, both filmed on Oahu, “my” island. Am I correct in thinking there was once a series that was filmed in Australia? If not, I’ll have to be content with The Man from Snowy River with its spectacular scenery and music.

Love these lines:

Jessica: It changes so suddenly. One moment it’s paradise, the next it’s trying to kill you.

Jim: Yep, that’s how it can be. If it were easy to get to know it, it would not be challenging. You’ve got to treat the mountains like a high-spirited horse; never take it for granted.

Jessica: It’s the same with people too.

How true, how true indeed.

6:34 PM Want a free copy ofThe Jesus Paradigm? Gohere!

6:30 PM I love that Dave Black. Dave worked for 9 hours today, taking only a half hour off for lunch. That means he was on his feet a total of 8 and a half hours.

I think I need to start paying him.

7:56 AM As I read Kevin Brown’slatest update from Mexico/Texas I was impressed again at how important sacrificial living is as we try to flesh out our Christianity. Kevin notes:

The men have been up since 4:30 am and working like dogs. I mean that. The amount of work they are putting in is really unreal. Only a handful of our men use their hands for a living (like laying block). Many are businessmen or school teachers, salesmen and such. Yet, they are working feverishly for the glory of God on the church.

Wow! Here are men and women helping others, motivated solely by the love of Christ. The heart that has no agenda but God’s agenda is always known for its “work of faith” and “labor of love” (see 1 Thess. 1:3, a verse I read in my morning devotions today). The GNB puts it this way: “We remember before God our Father how you put your faith into practice [and] how you made your love work so hard.” What a perfect description of ministry. It takes genuine faith to cleanse our hearts of selfishness in all its subtle forms. I cannot look at your inmost faith, but I can see your works. I cannot see your love, apart from your labor. The truly Christian heart says, with Isaiah, “Here I am. Send me.” God requires us to act.

If we begin each day with the complete offering of ourselves to God and with an acknowledgement that we are totally and completely dependent upon Him, He will certainly use us.

So … off I go for another day’s grueling work, sore hip and all. In every task assigned to us we are co-laborers with Christ, and our help affects the Body of Christ and, by extension, the whole world. And He gets all the credit, since He has done it through us!

Wednesday, June 13

8:40 PM Lookie here. Bec just picked the first zucchini of the year.

And the yellow squash aren’t far behind.

Thankful to the Lord of the harvest.

7:49 PM Guess what I cooked for supper tonight? That’s right — with my “secret ingredient,” of course. Two days of hard labor have me feeling a bit tired — and very hungry. I think of myself as an old plough horse:

Not going to the Kentucky Derby, but not going to the glue factory either.  

5:33 PM In four short weeks our team leaves for Ethiopia again. I’m really going to miss visiting Burji as originally planned, but I won’t regret spending the entire trip in Alaba. I’ll never forget Zemete who needed fistula surgery, or Tesfai whose 8-year old daughter was beheaded because he was a follower of Jesus, or Mohammed who became my son even though he had murdered a Christian, or Demissie our faithful bus driver, or our miracle child, Baby Nathan. The story of Christianity is the story of God’s mysterious ways with individual people. I say “mysterious” because who would ever have thought that I’d have come to know these precious saints? God’s work in the soul is often hidden, like yeast. Deeper and deeper must be the dying. Like the seeds in Becky’s garden beds, we must die or we will never produce the fruit. Even dead carcasses enrich the soil of our farm. This is what missions is all about. Death brings new life. Those who accept the challenge, those who obey the command to go (“but, really, isn’t that for someone other than me?”), receive not only the promise of eternal life but the reality of heaven on earth, where Jesus still serves humanity through His Body. I gather from the number of students who talk to me about this issue that missional living is an object of growing desire among their generation. I do not know what to say to them. The question is what to do. Our thinking cannot merely be theoretical.

So … what does it mean to be a Christian? Why am I here? Is it for nothing? Or is there a Purpose? With terms like Luke 9:23, there will never be a stampede to join the Team. The requirements for discipleship are very much like the marriage vows I took 35 years ago: impossible to keep, apart from a divine miracle.

As the time approaches when we leave for Africa, these questions will become even more real to me. Where, ultimately, is my heart? Where is my real home? My home is where Christ is. I will find my place of service wherever He roams. Somehow, amazingly, my life fits into His plans for the world. And His strong promise cheers me on: “Remember, I am with you each and every day, even until the end of the age.”

5:12 PM Just put in my hours working on the house. I figure I saved us $170 by helping today and not hiring out my portion of the labor. Thank you, Lord, for the strength to work!

8:10 AM You’ve heard of Memorial Day and Veterans Day and Mothers Day. Well, the women at Bethel Hill have declared this Sunday (which also happens to be Fathers Day) as “Hat Day.” Here’s the hat B will be wearing, along the material she will use to sew her new matching dress. Can’t wait!

8:00 AM I am so excited about what the Lord Jesus is doing in my local church. A revolution is taking place — a new revolution that has to take place if our church is to thrive and fulfill the Cause of Causes. And it’s not about the abolition of the clergy. It’s about the abolition of the laity. We are all sent on mission by the living Christ. My bookThe Jesus Paradigm studied this new revolution, this downward path of Jesus. I wish I could give away free copies to every believer. My goal in writing the book — and the goal of godly leadership — is to turn an audience into an army. Bethel Hill Baptist Church, possibly like your church, hasn’t needed renewal. It’s needed “newal.” When the world, and not the church, becomes the playing field, and when “the church” is no longer synonymous with “my pastor,” we are on the threshold of a wonderful future. Jesus accepts us but calls us to shape up. He is the ultimate Man of La Mancha. He looks at Aldonza the Harlot and renames her Dulcinea, My Lady. What grace!

Tuesday, June 12

8:40 PM Odds and ends …

1) Here’s Becky’s latest quilt. A beaut!

2) Had a wonderful phone conference today with one of my Ph.D. students who serves Jesus in Santiago, Chile. So grateful for our doctoral cohort designed for field missionaries.

3) Good essay here: A Christian Pacifist Response to World War II.

4) I see they’re bringing back the series “Dallas” on June 13. Before you know it, they’ll be bringing back “I Dream of Jeannie.” While you’re at it, Hollywood, how about resurrecting Hogan’s Heroes, F-Troop, and McHale’s Navy?

5) Allan Bevere’s latest blog post is a real winner:Grade Inflation: It’s Cause and Consequences. (A slight demurral: It’s “Its” and not “It’s.”)

I always tell my students, “If you’re unhappy with your grade you are most welcome to come and see me in my office. I’m always happy to lower it.”

(*Kidding.*)

6) I worked 7 hours of construction today. Not bad for an old geezer.

7:02 PM As you may know, Becky and I are currently remodeling the kitchen and downstairs bathroom in our antebellum home on the farm that we will use as a house for guests, furloughing missionaries, seminary families who may need housing, elders’ retreats, etc. Our farm is nicely suited to spiritual retreating as it is literally on the way to nowhere. Now don’t think of Scarlett O’Hara when you think of Rosewood Farm. Our guest house is a very functional 2 over 2 with an extension. It’s a happy place that smiles at you when you see it. The floor beams we removed today date back to ca. 1820, and I even found these original pegs.

There is nothing more rewarding than restoring an old beauty, especially if it’s for a good cause. Helping us with the renovation is our friend Robbie, a 2005 graduate of Southeastern. He’s jumped at the chance of mentoring Nigusse. I love watching this modern-day example of discipleship — Robbie the Rabbi patiently instructing his “disciple” (trainee) who is eager to do everything by himself. We are called to be mentors like Jesus. Mentoring is different from teaching (it’s not just about knowing something) and it’s different from training (it’s not just about learning how to do something). Mentoring involves teaching and training but is mostly about showing someone how to be something — in this case, a skilled carpenter. If you’ve got a mentor in your life, consider yourself blessed. I’m excited to see where all of this leads. We’d like to have the house ready before the end of summer.

Monday, June 11

9:13 PM Bec had a great chemo treatment today. Thanks for praying. I just enjoyed a piece of my delicious birthday cake — chocolate, of course. Right now it’s time to dig into my new Jeff Shaara novel as the rain gently falls on southern Virginia, watering our plants and fields. Grateful for little blessings.

5:55 PM There’s been a bit of talk lately about the role of women in the Body of Christ. I’ve expressed my viewshere, but would like to add this personal note. I imagine Priscilla’s role in the church would have been shocking for many in the first century. Becky is my Priscilla. She is a spiritual powerhouse, and I want to see her use the gifts and brain that God has given her to the Nth degree. Becky is a pillar of the church. She’s a great role model. She is a leader among leaders. One minute she’s sewing her own dresses and the next minute she’s addressing an audience of several hundred. She has been a successful businesswoman, investment advisor, ICU nurse, public speaker, missionary, mentor, and wife and mother. She has more “adopted” children in the faith than you can shake a stick at. She is not the woman “behind” me. We are truly equals. We put our total and complete energy into working for Jesus’ kingdom. We walk side by side. We share the Ethiopia ministry in a way that is, I believe, healthy and God-honoring. She is loved and respected by all Ethiopians, from the highest leaders in the churches to the humblest household servant.

Becky does not see mothering or wifing as her highest calling. Becky’s highest calling, and mine, is to be an obedient follower of the Lord Jesus in every area of life. She loves me and needs me, but marriage does not define her as a person. I respect her as my equal partner of the grace of life which she is. We both cook, we both clean, we both speak up at church, we both buy groceries. We pray together, suffer together, and laugh together. My greatest desire as her husband is to see her become the woman that God created her to be. Her strong sense of stewardship and her determination to accomplish her God-given goals are assets that I greatly admire. I could go on and on. Becky is strong and tough and gentle and gracious and brilliant and talented and affirming and funny and beautiful and capable and more than able to stand on her own two feet. She’s my Phoebe and my Priscilla all rolled into one person. I thank God for giving me — and the church — this precious gift. So deep is her love for people – the unlovely included – that she puts me to shame, and has done so for 35 years. One cannot come away from an encounter with her without having learned a great truth about the Lord Jesus: He has a huge heart.

Husband, celebrate your wife. Join her in the great work of serving others. Together, you can have aGreat Commission Marriage. But it won’t come automatically. It’s a choice you must make — together.

3:21 PM Alan Knox has linked to anew blog about church life. I’ve checked it out. Won’t you?

12:13 PM Steve Scott’s latest essay is a real winner:Evangelicalism: Government Programs vs. Church Programs. Steve points out the irony that those Christians who want smaller and smaller government are often the same Christians who want more and bureaucracy in the church. In my bookThe Jesus Paradigm I referred to this as the “FDR-ing of the church.” Steve writes:

Many conservative evangelicals (CE’s) are not only conservative in their theology, they are conservative in their political and civil beliefs. They will talk about the Christian values that made America great….. But oddly enough, when it comes to the church, many of the things they despise about civil matters they adopt for the church. They hate government programs, but love church programs.

The problem, as I see it, is that we have the Gospel treasure in “earthen vessels” but confuse faithfulness to the Gospel with the cultural forms in which we received it. We mistake the vessel for the treasure, and the result is an Anglo-American Christianity that is a cultural adaptation of original biblical Christianity. This calls for, says Steve, a willingness to preserve whatever is within God’s will and change what is not. We do not really honor the Lord, I suspect, by blindly perpetuating traditions or by imposing secular ideals on the church.

7:37 AM Here’s another excellent post on gay marriage that I stumbled upon yesterday:Evangelicals and the Gay Marriage Debate. The author, Joel Rainey, identifies four mistakes evangelicals have made in dealing with the issue of homosexuality:

1) Our early treatment of the homosexual community.

2) Our own perversion of marriage.

3) Our capitulation to the idea of marriage as a “right.”

4) We allowed “toleration” to be confused with “affirmation.”

I believe there is a bright future for the evangelical church in this area if we heed Joel’s advice. It is important to recognize that the acceptance he speaks of is not passivity or capitulation to evil. It is an act of faith, a placing of oneself at one with the kingdom of God and His will, of overcoming evil with good. We have been shown the way on every page of the life of Jesus.

7:30 AM Looking ahead: Meeting with our carpenter this morning …. Becky has a doctor’s appointment and then another chemo session at UNC … Ethiopia team meeting at Cresset Baptist Church this evening. Excitement is building for our July trip.

7:20 AM I simply had to smile when I readthis piece over at the Honolulu Magazine because it’s so true. Hawaii was a great place to grow up, but as an adult you work your fingers to the bone without much time left over for enjoying the delights of the Islands.

Life in Hawaii is probably unaffordable for most of us. The only way I could live there is if I were a fulltime beach bum.

Now that’s an idea….

Sunday, June 10

8:34 PM My thanks to Julia Hall of the Durham Herald Sun for awonderful write up of last week’s graduation service for Cresset Christian High, where I had the honor of delivering the commencement address. Folks, life is all about serving Jesus sacrificially, whatever our age may be. Please do not wait as long as I did to learn this lesson.

8:02 PM Kevin Brown is one of our stalwart missionaries to Ethiopia, but occasionally we loan him to Mexico or Texas. You can read his updates during his church’s current mission triphere. Praise God for what He is doing in and through your team, Kevin! Thanks for your passion for global missions and for leading your congregation in the downward path of Jesus! God bless you!

7:45 PM Jacob Cerone is an up-and-coming scholar of the New Testament. And heloves the famous Scottish Bible commentator John Eadie, as I do. I too love reading commentators who quote the fathers — in the original Greek and Latin. Lenski and Barth were also good at this. Jacob’s post is a clarion call for all of us to get back to the original sources. (The Reformers called this “ad fontes.”) I would say the best commentaries, for me personally, are those that combine vim and vigor with independent thinking and the abundant use of original sources. Eadie’s commentaries nicely blend scholarship with spirituality. If the writing borders on the “dry” side it’s only because it’s commentary and not frivolous entertainment. If you expect Eadie to offer excellent exegesis of texts, you will not be disappointed. I am not a huge fan of buying up commentaries, but I do have several of John Eadie’s on my bookshelf. Kudos to Eadie for his excellent commentaries, and kudos to Jacob for insisting on “ad fontes.”

7:26 PM Wonderful day today. Nigusse spoke from John 3:16-18 at Union Chapel (God’s sacrificial love, and God’s saving love). Nigu’s messages are always so faithful to the text yet at the same time so practical in their application. Then I was treated to a birthday dinner at the famous Abyssinia Restaurant in Raleigh. Never has Ethiopian food tasted better. My thanks to Tegeyn and Genet for their wonderful hospitality. It was like being back in Addis, replete with incense and a delightful coffee ceremony. Genet even asked Becky to pour some of the coffee. Why not — Becky IS Ethiopian.

10:27 AM Got this birthday email:

Happy Birthday, Dr. Black! I’ve heard tell that the next 60 years get even better! 🙂 Also, we expect you to write a commentary on each book of the NT, one a year for the rest of your life.

Everyone’s a comedian.

10:23 AM As a result of her chemo, Becky is very susceptible to bleeding. Her legs look like a war zone. Please pray that no infections develop. Thank you. More chemo tomorrow, Lord willing.

10:18 AM Good morning, friends. It so happens I’ve spent the whole night thinking about my birthday 60 years ago. What is to be done with one’s past? Here’s what I’m discovering.

As Christ’s power changes us within, the world around us begins to change too. Only as we say no to self can we say yes to unhypocritical love. For me, today, my gradual change from a reflexive negativism toward my father to an emotionally honest recognition that he was a human being with flaws and failures (just like me) represents nothing less than Christ’s healing power. Whatever pain my parents’ divorce released into my life, the person the two of them created is something to shout about. My favorite promise in the Bible is Rom. 8:28. It jolts me back to reality. Jonah prays to the Lord and the fish spits him out. This is the “sign” Jesus talked about when He wanted to describe His death and resurrection. Evil may swallow good, but only for a while; ultimately its digestion always fails. No one on earth has such power to hurt as a parent or a spouse or a child. To love is to be vulnerable to that power, to accept the pain, to willingly open ourselves up to the inevitable suffering, to refuse to be “safe.” To love is to surrender all rights to a “happy” life. To love is to see purpose behind and above it all — life out of death is the great MO of the Spirit. So whenever an old wound or a gray glumness begins to pull me down, I cling to that sure promise: In Christ all suffering is the prelude to growth. And we begin by accepting our past for what it is: a disguised blessing. Only in the context of generational healing can any of us make true progress.

It has taken me a long time to learn this lesson. I’ve hardly mastered it yet. But my understanding of suffering has been transformed forever. The focus now is not on the loss. I see my past as a precious gift God has given to me to give back to Him so that He can transform it into something beautiful.

Dave

Saturday, June 9

8:47 PM Before calling it a night I want to thank you for all those wonderful birthday emails you sent me today. I don’t deserve your friendship but I sure do appreciate it. Thanks again, and God richly bless you. Dave

6:35 PM Odds and ends …

1) Having tried and tried and tried, I was so relieved when Keith Clayton stopped by today and was able to fix my hot water dispenser. Keith will be doing the plumbing on our ministry house, but he was eager to help me solve my conundrum. I think he deserves a medal for figuring it out.

2) I never get tired of the farm. I snapped this photo today for no particular reason, except that I have the fondest memories of helping my son build each one of these out buildings you see here.

Farm work is definitely hard work, but nothing can quite top the satisfaction of seeing the work of your own hands as God gave you the energy, the know-how, and the assistance of others to add something of significance to the place where you live.

3) Finally, since it’s my BD I thought I’d show you pictures of my mother and father, John and Elvera Black. Here’s my father holding yours truly.

Dad was born in Honolulu in 1918. He was inducted into the U.S. Army in November of 1941. He met my mother in a USO club in Youngstown, Ohio while being shipped off to fight the Germans in Europe. Mother was the youngest of 10 and the only sibling to be born in the U.S. (the rest were all born in Romania).

After the war they were married and settled down on Oahu, where I was born in 1952, the youngest of four. Sadly, their marriage would only last another 3 years, and I would never know my father while growing up.

Marvin Eisenstadt, writing in the American Psychologist, once published a piece called “Parental Loss and Genius.” In it he stated that the loss of one or both of your parents in childhood, either through death or divorce, is nothing less than traumatic. Some children, he said, are broken for life as a result. However, other children, he said, through a process of “creative mourning,” actually became more capable and more successful in life than they would have been had they not lost a parent through death or divorce. Either way, it’s a make it break it situation, I’d say.

If you, dear reader, have lived through such a painful separation, I feel your sorrow. There is hardly a day that goes by that I am not consciously aware of the loss, the sadness, the “what ifs.” Larry Crabb once made the statement, “In the happiest of Christian lives there are deep pockets of incurable pain.” Very true. Jesus said, “My peace I give unto you.” Also very true. If you have struggled, as I have, with low self-esteem because of a divorce or the death of one of your parents, I can promise you that Christ is sufficient to see you though those deep pockets of pain. And yes, they are incurable. The scars will never go away, but give them time and they will scab over. Believe me.

Be blessed,

Dave

4:24 PM Hello there cyber-friends! I started working this morning at 7:30 and finished at 3:15, with a short break for lunch. (Becky brought the “lunch wagon” to Maple Ridge with lots of goodies for everyone.) Here are a few pix of your friendly neighborhood air conditioning unit installation team. (In German that would all be one word.)

Special thanks to Ed and Jason for their sacrificial help! You guys are the greatest!

But the BIG NEWS in these here parts is that it’s somebody’s birthday today, and the birthday girl just happens to be none other than Miss Mercy Magdalene Rondeau, born this day one year ago:

I thought that was way too cool when God gave this grandpa the joy of sharing his birthday with Mercy’s. What an honor! Now Mercy, do you see that we have just finished preparing the sand box? Do come and visit us soon and try it out, will you?

And just for fun, here are a couple of photos of your Papa B when he was a wee little thing like you. I hope to see you soon, birthday girl!

Friday, June 8

8:34 PM Hay, hay, what do ya say?

Tomorrow: Installing air conditioning in an ante-bellum home.

10:45 AM Puzzle update:

She’s making headway.

7:56 AM The people who came to help us yesterday were awfully nice. Miss Gianna said to Becky, “I’m working and yet I’m having so much fun.” “Yes,” said Becky, “that’s what it’s like when you’re helping others.” The men did a very fine job of completing most of their projects, as did the ladies. It’s been a long time since I worked so hard (like about 2 days), but needless to say I’m so grateful to God for giving us such willing and capable helpers. Our relationship together is heaven-made. When you belong to Jesus, you also belong to all others who are in Jesus. This is such a blessed unity that God had to arrange it. In Hawaii we often spoke about the local church as our “ohana” (family). Sonya (from Hawaii) had a T-shirt on that had the words Kokua Crew. I thought, “What a great name for the Body of Christ: Helping Crew!“ The word kokua can also be translated “help, aid, assistance, relief, assistant, associate, deputy, helper; co-operation; to help, assist, support, accommodate.”

Folks, we will only have unity in the Body of Christ when we have relational unity, when we are helping and serving each other. If you attempt to unify people solely around a doctrinal creed you will fail every time. Once you get everybody to agree to 7 years somebody changes their view to 3 and a half years and then somebody changes their view to zero years, and eventually everyone gets upset because the “unity” of the group is threatened. Now, I am not against a polity or a creed, but you will only get unity of spirit by having the Spirit. Yesterday, all of us were one as worked on the ministry house. Our unity was not centered in the fact that we are all Baptists (though we are) or in a confessional statement or in a theological creed. Our oneness is a way of life for us to enjoy by serving each other in Christ. Jesus Christ demands doctrinal purity. Jesus Christ also demands a lifestyle of relationships. And we’re to guard that unity, preserve it, keep it (Eph. 4:3.) I would say much more but I feel like a broken record.

As promised, pictures:

1) Our crew (left to right): Becky Lynn, Karen, June, Gianna, Sonya, Elias, Jayson (who with his wife Sonya lived on Oahu), Nigusse, Shawn, and Chelsea.

2) The paint crew:

3) The sewing team:

4) Et voila!

5) A nice addition to the porch don’t you think?

6) The rafter sanding crew:

7) The French drain crew:

8) Filling it in:

9) The tree stump removal team:

10) The gravel team:

11) It just needs smoothing out today:

12) Gianna enjoying Becky’s donks:

13) Elias at our farm cemetery. This gravestone says “ANDERSON BOYD, CORP. 59 VA INF C. S. A. ” Boyd was the former owner of our farm.

Once again, thanks to all who came yesterday. We thoroughly enjoyed your fellowship in the Spirit and appreciated your labor of love!

Thursday, June 7

8:58 PM Well we have completed our work day and B and I can hardly walk — except from the car to the Chinese buffet and back again, that is. It was certainly a wonderful day. I will have a full report tomorrow. Right now it is dusk and I am watching the bats coming out of our bat house and the dogs chasing the donkeys. Time to pick up a good book and gel, don’t you think? See ya tomorrow.

7:42 AM Just snapped these pix:

1) How do like our “new” front porch? Beautiful ain’t it? My thanks to Becky for painting and arranging it so nicely. We LOVE sitting here night and day.

2) Earlier this morning Becky remarked to me, “Aren’t spider webs really something?” They are indeed. Here’s one built between our porch spindles. A work of real art, don’t you think?

Hope you’re enjoying “Dave Black Photography, Inc.”

7:20 AM Brian Fulthorp madethis phenomenal statement on his blog recently: “learning German … not necessarily theological either.” He has got it SO right. Theology students, don’t  learn theological German. Learn German. How to speak it, read it, preach in it even. Nothing will reinforce language learning like an active knowledge of the language.

7:12 AM Our project list for today includes … sand rafters/remove nails … remove subflooring … remove stove … put in French drain … remove 2 bushes … level brick hill … move gravel into lean-to and hay storage … install tree swing … paint porch step railings … sew cushion covers and chair toppers … spread hay around fruit trees … and gather up fire wood.

Care to join us?

7:06 AM Congratulations to my Ed.D. student Thomas Hudgins for beinghalf way there. 

7:02 AM You will love this quote by Paul Barnett:

Jesus promises to be with us but he makes that promise insofar as we ‘go, therefore, and make disciples, baptising and teaching them’.

An old Chinese preacher used to say, ‘No go, no lo’. If church people don’t ‘go’ Jesus makes no promise ‘lo, I am with you’. But of course it is not the ‘go’ that is important, but the ‘make disciples, teaching them’. That is the thing, whether we ‘go’ or ‘stay’. ‘No go means no “lo”’.

NO GO, NO LO! Isn’t that great? You will enjoy Paul’s entire essay. It’s calledMake Disciples.

6:55 AM As Ray Bradbury is being eulogized, much is being made of his sensational novel Fahrenheit 451, which presents an America where all books are banned.

Think of it! How could we survive without books? I read, like most of you, vociferously. I have read since I was a child (the Hardy Boys never had an adventure without me in it). There are writers who once tumbled the world upside down for me — Barth, Bonhoeffer, Trueblood, Ellul — whom I no longer read with the same youthful innocence. I could easily add Carson, Fee, Marshall, and Wright. When I’m bored I still find refuge in Shaara or McInnis. If I were on a desert island and could have only one book with me, it would of course be my Greek New Testament — the most fascinating book ever put between covers. Yet I suspect I could never survive on a desert island without books (plural).

A nation in which books are banned? That’s not a country but a catastrophe.

Wednesday, June 6

7:42 PM So what have I done today? Filled in pot holes. Made two more trips to get sand. Sprayed weeds. And took this picture. I don’t think I’ve ever seen prettier clouds or a nicer shade of blue.

It’s time to eat supper and then rest up for tomorrow’s marathon of farm projects.

1:05 PM This has got to one of the best posts ever written by Al Mohler:Southern Baptists and Salvation: It’s Time to Talk. The heart of his message?

We should never apologize for attention to doctrine, especially when those doctrines reach the very heart of the Gospel. But tribalism, whether Calvinist or non-Calvinist, is an affront to the Gospel by which we have been saved and to the mission of the Great Commission that is entrusted to us. May God save us from dividing into tribes, even as we gladly and eagerly talk with one another about the doctrines we cherish, and especially when we discuss the doctrines on which we may disagree.

Incidentally, the SBC convention in New Orleans is almost upon us, and things are really buzzing. Of course, as you may have observed in the news, Southern Baptists are poised to elect the first African-American as president of the convention. Frankly I think he has a great chance of getting in, and I think this will bode well for us as long as it does not devolve into tokenism. I don’t know about you, but I long to see a new cross-cultural Pentecost in place of the current ecclesiastical Babel.

1:00 PM It’s great to see Mark at Theological German blogging again. His is a wonderful website, especially if you are just learning German. Right now he’s exploring the theology of Adolph Schlatter. Welcome back, Mark.

11:15 AM So it’s my 60th birthday on Saturday. We’re starting work that day at 7:30 so in case I don’t have time to reflect then I’ll bemuse you today. To be honest, I’m rather enjoying being “old.” It’s neat to be settled. I suppose I’ve become one of those sedate old curmudgeons whom I used to despise so wholesomely in my youth. I no longer think I have life all figured out, and I’m enjoying my ignorance fully.

Life has been full and satisfying for me, despite the heartaches I’ve experienced. Why, if God had eliminated all the problems I’ve encountered since I first met Him in 1960, He would also have eliminated all of the blessings which they bore in my life. In many ways (I won’t reveal the details — only my wife will be able to read all that is written between the lines) more than once I’ve been stripped of the object of some passion that had shut out God. It’s what C. S. Lewis once called a severe mercy. My heart has constantly needed purifying because the objects of my affections have so often been inordinate. If God is not first in our hearts, if we do not love Him supremely, all our other loves easily morph into self-gratification. Yet even God’s severity is merciful, and from an eternal perspective I can say with the apostle Paul, “Our troubles are slight and short-lived.” The Seen is not the only story and certainly not the end of the story.

As I take stock of my life — like Robinson Crusoe with his battered ship — it is clear that I might have avoided some of my problems and kept a straighter course if it were not for the perpetual struggle between vocation and avocation. All of life is to be lived for Him, and where there is no abandonment to Him it is not to be wondered at that our lives easily drift along aimlessly. I have discovered that in offering us the kingdom of heaven Jesus was offering a very narrow road and a great deal of suffering. He did not offer immunity from pain. He simply asked for trust in the midst of it. And so I trust. As I said, I am glad, at 60, to give up any pretensions of wisdom. The mysteries of life are far beyond my powers of understanding. It is enough to do my part and make my contribution, then watch them go downstream with all of the others. My strength now is to sit still and accept that things are what they are, and that God will not be hurried. Books I would have like to have written I now leave cheerfully to younger and stouter scholars. As for what I have written, I’ve believed everything I’ve said, then and now. Indeed, when there is work to do on the farm I do not even take time to write. Though an academic, I find myself enjoying the company of common folk more than scholars. The trouble is that I can predict with a fair amount of certainty what the professors are going to say, while the others are always surprising me. To be a Christian is to make the kind of choices that bring us into an ever-increasing harmony with our fellow Christians regardless of their social status or education. Jesus found the greatest joy while serving among the common people. In my moments of loneliness I try to remember that it is only the seed that falls into the ground that has potential for life giving. It is for this reason that I got into the Great Commission business several years ago. It has changed my entire outlook on life and revealed to me the glory of suffering with Christ in His redemptive work on earth. I know this sounds like an overdramatization. But if Paul could complete in his flesh the full tale of Christ’s sufferings, may we not also do that?

“Make me a cake,” said Elijah to the widow. There is something all of us can do for God. Is my 61st year the little cake you need from me, Lord? Then I’ll gladly bake it for you.

Below: On my way to church after my conversion at the age of 8.

10:38 AM So glad we’re having a Student Work Day at the farm tomorrow. Would hate to have to spread all this gravel by myself.

10:29 AM Check out Loeb online!  

8:47 AM Do you play a musical instrument and are looking for a summer ministry? Perhaps you should considerEurobrass. It is a wonderful organization, and I speak from personal experience. Growing up in Hawaii I had a streak of indolence that was unconquerable. Nevertheless, I began playing the trumpet in grade school and never stopped until my high school graduation. It seemed to me that I would give anything to lead my trumpet section — except work for it. Yet I must have practiced more or less, for when I was a high school senior I served as first trumpet, first chair in the All Hawaii Band. After my marriage Becky and I took our first mission trip together to (West) Germany, and it was there that I played the trumpet in what was then called Eurocorps. It was pure delight. That’s us below, playing an evangelistic concert on a windy afternoon at the Baltic. (I’m third from left.)

So do consider using your musical gifts for the Lord on the mission field. And perhaps Eurobrass might be a good place to start.

7:52 AM CNN offers10 things to do on Oahu for $10 or less. They are:

1) Take “TheBus.”

2) Taste Hawaiian cuisine.

3) Climb Diamond Head.

4) Pick up souvenirs at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet.

5) Visit Pearl Harbor.

6) Eat shave ice.

7) Cheer as surfer dudes conquer the Banzai Pipeline.

8) Get lost is awe at “Lost” locations.

9) Tour the Dole Plantation.

10) Slurp some noodles.

As a native of Oahu, I might add these ten:

1) Get windblown at the Pali Lookout — the best view of Windward Oahu.

2) Visit Punchbowl — the Cemetery of the Pacific.

3) Go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay — and swim with the fish and eels.

4) Climb Mount Olomana — but be careful; it’s a long way down.

5) Enjoy breakfast at King’s Hawaiian Bakery — Becky and I especially loved their buttermilk pancakes on our honeymoon.

6) Take a long walk on Kailua Beach — the world’s most pristine beach.

7) Eat dinner in the sky at the La Ronde restaurant — and watch the sun set over Waianae.

8) Visit the Iolani Palace — plenty of Hawaiian history here.

9) Take a surfing lesson at Waikiki Beach — even if you never stand up the experience is worth it.

10) Have a plate lunch — my favorite growing was spare ribs with “two scoop” rice and macaroni salad. Help me — I’m drooling!

What are your favorite sites on Oahu?

Tuesday, June 5

8:03 PM Boy did we work Nigusse today. He spent 4 hours Skyping with Alaba, then 2 hours helping his mom, then 2 hours assisting his dad pick up sand for the back yard sand box.

He did get three square meals today, however, as a compensation 🙂

Nigu, take the rest of the day off.

1:55 PM Quote of the day (Arthur Sido with reference to Mark 16:9- and snake handling):

Jesus did not perform his miracles– his signs– as a side show. It’s unfortunate that some of his followers have concluded otherwise. The practice of snake handling is not a test of one’s faith in God; it is a tempting of what will at some point become inevitable.

1:52 PM Did you know that golf written backwards spells flog? Makes good sense to me. I have never picked up a golf club and never will. 

1:40 PM If you’re aspiring to leadership, the following story may interest you. During the Battle of Chancellorsville, General John Gordon had just been put in charge of a brigade of infantry under Jubal Early.

He assembled his troops and called on every man to follow him up Marye’s Heights. The response was unanimous. Gordon told them, “Wait until you get close to the heights. Let every man raise a yell and take those heights. Will you do it? I ask you to go no farther than I am willing to lead!” On that order they all stepped off, Gordon at the head, to retake the heights from the Federals.

Now that’s leadership. “I ask you to go no farther than I am willing to lead!”

8:30 AM Good morning blogdom!

I just finished taking the chain saw to some branches that were hampering a person from taking a nice enjoyable country walk down to the Valley Field, and the ticks were very pleased with my visit. I pulled 6 of them off me before showering. They are now enjoying all the comforts of our septic drain field. Becky is touching up the porch with her ever-ready paint brush, and Nigusse is getting ready to Skype with Ethiopia. Some changes are in store for our July trip and the details demand attention. Looking ahead … we’re having another student work day on Thursday … I’m celebrating my birthday on Saturday by helping an electrician install air conditioning units in one of our houses … Nigusse is speaking this Sunday at Union Chapel Baptist Church … I am purchasing my county sticker (being the good and upright citizen that I am).

Off to the DMV….

Monday, June 4

7:50 PM Here’s a list of Amazon’sBest Books on D-Day (June 6, 1944), which we commemorate in just two days. The best one in my opinion is Cornelius Ryan’s The Longest Day. Of the late Stephen Ambrose’s 30 or so books, his D-Day is my least favorite. It is poorly researched and contains numerous errors.

By the way, the movie “The Longest Day” has now been colorized and is available on You Tube. Here’s a scene from the original black-and-white version (showing General von Rundstett).

7:11 PM Glad to report that Becky had another good chemo session today at UNC. As for me, my headache is now gone entirely. I have taken the day off from doing any work and feel exceedingly virtuous as a result. Of the many farm projects we are currently working on is this one: how to keep the robins from building their nests on our newly painted porch. Nothing we’ve read about seems to really work — though we might try installing mirrors so that Mama Robin thinks someone else has already built in her desired spot. How about school? I won’t teach again until summer school (July 29), but I’ve got Ph.D. and Th.M students to mentor this summer, and as always I’ve got writing to do. I’m afraid that the lure of publishing has found an easy and willing victim in me. Not bad I guess for someone whose state of mental vacuity seems to be constantly augmenting.

Oh yes, tomorrow I have to renew my driver’s license.

1:57 PM On this day in 1989 the Tiananmen Square massacre took place. Many of us watched the events on television in the days leading up to the government assault on the protestors. Who can ever forget this scene?

A young man stood his ground, and moved the world. I am reminded of what Paul told Timothy: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young.” Young person, it’s so easy for us to get our eyes off of life’s real purpose and on to secondary issues. Paul is telling you to be an example for the rest of us by raising the bar of commitment and service. He went so far as to say that his greatest concern in life was that “Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death” (Phil. 1:20). The only thing that matters in life is that we advance God’s agenda on this earth, and that will take courage. But as far as Paul was concerned, things like success and popularity and even life itself were secondary.

The great evangelist Vance Havner once said, “We do not have to live; we only have to be faithful.” For the Christian, to live is to stand up to the forces of this age, not with a rifle, but with unconditional, scandalous love.

12:30 PM I have long been absolutely convinced that there is no substitute for simple, straightforward biblical teaching in order to produce healthy churches and mature Christians. Biblical doctrine has a capacity, a dynamic found no place else. When biblical truth is understood and applied — note the “and applied” — we will be set from our errors and eccentricities. And what does the Scripture say about the kingdom? That it is flat. In Christ there is no East nor West, in Him no South nor North. Earlier I linked to a wonderful You Tube of the great English hymn For All the Saints. One verse reads:

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

What a wonderful truth this is! The kingdom of God is comprised of all the blood-bought saints from every nation — a countless host all singing praises to the Triune God. Christians are not merely people who are trying to become God’s children. They ARE members of the same family, the only Christian nation the world will ever know.

In the past month I have been in two church buildings that have flown the flags of the nations. They are flags that represent the nations in which the congregation is personally involved missionally.

It is my conviction that if all Christians, and especially those in America, could grasp this great truth, their churches would be wonderfully enriched. Our God is color-blind, status blind, wealth blind, and nation blind. It is not a little thing to fly only the American flag in our sanctuaries. Nor is it something that we need to do when there is a wonderful alternative that tells the world that ALL are welcome in our midst — the Mexican migrant worker and the Asian businessman and the Arabic-speaking student. God has given the church a new spiritual wardrobe and he wants us to throw away the rotten rags we used to wear before we came to know Jesus. Now that we are Christians, what matters is not our nationality, our education, our wealth, but our allegiance to the King of kings. This is the mark of being a child of God. Is it a mark in your church?

11:12 AM As you know I spoke at the commencement service for a Christian high school on Saturday. My question today is this: Should we return Christian education to the local church at the adult level as well? Perhaps the most articulate defense of adult education in the local church was offered by that great Quaker scholar and educator Elton Trueblood, who wrote that “Education is too good to limit it to the young” and that “Adult education is the big thing in the church. It is not decoration, it is the centerpiece” (quoted in Richard Foster’s essay “A life of Broad Strokes and Brilliant Hues,” Christianity Today May 23, 1980, p. 20). Likewise, in his book Incendiary Fellowship he notes that “the congregation must, accordingly, be reconstructed into the pattern of a small theological seminary with the pastor as the professor” (p. 45).

What do you think?

From my limited experience, I see two dangers here. The first is that the church seminary will devolve into just another university-modeled, classroom-based institution that is content oriented at the expense of engagement in real ministry. The other danger is that the church seminary will become a place where only “ministry skills” are taught at the expense of serious theological engagement. I know about a church seminary in North Carolina that is just like SEBTS in that the students commute to school, sit in classes, and yet are not fully engaged in the life of that local church. Jesus never taught a course on “The Theology and Practices of the Pharisees.” He engaged the Pharisees in real-life discussion (and confrontation, when necessary). Above all, in my opinion, we must avoid the professionalization of the church seminary. A professional is someone who can claim a body of knowledge not shared by others in the church. Once such a person is installed in ministry, he or she can easily begin to claim a monopoly on the church’s functions and ministries.

So how should we go about developing a truly ecclesiastical model of adult education? That is a matter far beyond my experience and expertise.

Any thoughts?

8:52 AM Odds and ends ….

1) Last night I had one doozy of a headache. Chills too. I was sure it was another malaria attack, but Becky said let’s wait it out and see in the morning. I’m feeling much better today but just what was that truck that hit me last night?

2) Can anyone resist reading an essay calledTen Reasons to Attend Seminary, especially when the author is none other than Scot McKnight? His ten reasons are all sound and good. I would have given the same list 10 years ago. Since then my priorities have changed.

There will always be those who will argue that the seminary has no business being involved in missions. It is an academic institution, they would say, not a center for Great Commission studies. In my opinion, it is a mistake to think this way. It is precisely this kind of toning down of the Gospel that is the source of Christianity’s weakness and introvertedness. When we refuse to acknowledge the centrality of Jesus’ love commands, we are left with one alternative – increasing our inward focus and irrelevance. Seminary professors ought then to renounce all pretensions to be servants of Christ’s church. If we do not believe that the Lord in whom we trust has left us an unequivocal mandate to disciple the nations as our first priority, we have simply abandoned biblical Christianity.

If you’d care to read my essay, it’s called The Purpose of a Seminary.

3) As I am a huge fan of the Anabaptists I completely agree with Arthur Sido’s assessment of them:Anabaptism Is Not The Answer.

4) My good friend David Dockery, president of Union University (and with whom I co-edited two books), announces the publication of a new journal calledRenewing Minds. The first issue includes articles by Scott Huelin (“Religio et Eruditio“), Jennifer Gruenke (“Faith and Science: Hard Questions”) and Hunter Baker (“The State of Christian Higher Education”), Mark Schwehn (“The Liberal Arts”), and Paul House (“Making Christian Minds”). Congratulations to David and to Union on this milestone!

Sunday, June 3

1:33 PM “They appointed elders for them in each church, and with prayer and fasting commended these men to the Lord in whom they had believed” (acts 14:23).It has been done as the Lord Jesus has commanded. All praise to Him!

Since we have just recognized and affirmed the elders whom Jesus has granted us at The Hill, I thought I might list here a few of the responsibilities of the congregation toward their leaders. Taking 1 Thess. 5:12 and Heb. 13:7, 17 into consideration, I have come up with the following list. (It is hardly exhaustive.)

• Get to know them, not just their names but their persons.

• Don’t be a stranger to them.

• Seek their friendship.

• Act kindly toward them.

• Don’t be cold or distant from them.

• Hold them in the highest regard.

• Treat them with the greatest respect.

• Love them because of the hard work they do.

• Consider them as a great blessing from the Lord.

• Greatly value their efforts.

• Be at peace with them.

• Avoid anything that would prove a hindrance to their effectiveness or would alienate their affections.

• Think of all the good that has come from their lives.

• Follow the example of their faith.

In short, our elders are men who are worthy of the greatest esteem from our church. Let us now do our part, my fellow Bethel Hillians.

To Jason, Ed, and Jason: Know that Becky, Nigusse, and I love you in the Lord and highly esteem you. We promise you our prayers and support as you lead our congregation into even greater steps of Scriptural obedience, for His name’s sake and for the spread of the Good News around the world.

Saturday, June 2

6:18 PM My distaste for all formal ceremonies is well known, but commencement services are an exception to the rule, and today’s was a phenomenal blessing to me as I watched 23 graduates receive their diplomas and launch out into the deep. I just love the curiosity, energy, and passion of young people, and so I offer a huge “Thank You” to Jon Glass for inviting me to share this special day with them.

I did my job (as I saw it) and taught from the Scriptures about what our “mission” in life ought to be. I suspect, however, that I was preaching as much to myself as to anyone else, and today I feel more convicted than ever that the Great Cause deserves my very BEST efforts. It is easy, I suppose, for a public speaker to delude himself as to the actual impression made upon the mind of his audience. People may listen courteously, but there is no “response meter” for the measurement of their hearts or their thoughts. That’s all up to God. But the text sure spoke to me powerfully, and I was the speaker! There was a downside to today’s events however. The expected and much anticipated conferral of an honorary doctorate upon the commencement speaker was apparently overlooked in all the hubbub, but I will forgive you, Jon, this one time.

Finally, just for laughs, here’s yours truly just after he graduated from high school. 

Can you believe it?

Non scholae sed vitae discimus,

Dave

8:42 AM Honored to speak today at Cresset Christian Academy’s commencement. My message to the graduates today?Be like Jesus!

8:34 AM Yesterday the temperature was in the 90s. Today it’s in the 70s. Did the Lord know I had to wear a suit today?

8:02 AM This year (June 9 to be exact) I’m celebrating the 39th anniversary of my 21st birthday, along with about 4 million other baby boomers, including the likes of Dan Aykroyd, Roseanne Barr, Liam Neeson, Vladimir Putin, David Hasselhoff, John Tesh, and the one and only Mr. T.

Everyone repeat after me: 60 is beautiful!

So what’s it like to grow old?

Just beyond the reef at Kailua Bay where I was raised we teenagers often encountered some of the biggest and best surf in the Islands. Paddle out a mile or so and you will find plenty of waves and white water which call for enormous coolness and skill. As you take off you turn sharply either to the right or the left, and all at once you are in the heart of the beast, tucked beneath its giant curl.

For hours you enjoy the sets as they roll in from the horizon. It is growing late, too. Perhaps you’ve lingered too long to make it home in time for supper. But there will be plenty of time for food later. Eventually you paddle in and drag your tired body up onto the shore, carry your surfboard back home, eat supper, and in the twilight look back at the reef to see if the waves are still breaking. You watch as the darkness consumes the light of day, and with the darkness comes weariness and sleep. You turn in, only to dream of the wild and dangerous reef.

“Which things,” wrote Paul, “are an allegory.” A professor of Greek has almost reached the Shore. His long journey will one day come to an end, when he can rest and dream and think. But not now, not here. Perhaps if and when I turn 70 I will discover something profound to say about aging, some sage advice to pass on to the younger generation, though most of what I would say is already found in Cicero’s De Senetute or the Book of Ecclesiastes. Some people desire retirement at my age, but I prefer to keep hanging around the beach and riding those monster waves, trying (in vain) to complete that unfinished magnum opus, maintaining my curiosity about this marvelous and crazy world in which we live, caught up in the eternal mundane spectacle we call Life.

Some day my exploits will be over.

But not now, not here.

Friday, June 1

8:51 PM Tens of thousands of hymns have been written throughout the ages but this has got to be the greatest English hymn ever composed.

Listening to it is like a little piece of heaven. The voices are truly angelic and simply incredible. See if you can keep from getting teary-eyed during the last stanza. Praise be to God!

6:14 PM Good evening, bloggers of the world! It’s a cloudy, rainy, forbidding day. The tornado watch has been duly issued, and all eyes keep close watch on the radar. Isn’t it wonderful to have a whole team of meteorologists doing nothing but tracking the latest storms?

Well, I have a confession to make. I’m going to Guyana in November and must tell you shame-facedly that I know next to nothing about that nation (except for Jim Jones). I have no excuse for my delinquency except for my upbringing in an abysmal public school system in the Islands. This morning I had a meeting on campus with one of my students, Mark Vasconcellos, who was born in Guyana and raised in Venezuela and who is leading our trip there this fall. Joining us in our meeting this morning was my esteemed colleague and friend Dr. Ant Greenham who once served as a consular agent for South Africa in both Tel Aviv and Amman and is the author of the new Energion release calledThe Questioning God.

I looked forward to our meeting today with evident anticipation, partly because this will be my very first trip to the continent of South America. I was delighted to learn of the many speaking and teaching opportunities that will be afforded Ant and me upon our arrival. Of course, this will all take place after my trip to Ethiopia this summer and my return to Asia in October. Though to be sure I enjoy my work here in the States, I deeply miss my second home in Ethiopia. The dreaded ennui is inevitable when you feel yourself making a giant effort to stay focused when your mind is 6,000 miles away. Also today I had a wonderful time with one of my Th.M. students who remarked to me that he was very impressed with my “busy-ness” in kingdom work. Believe me, I had to assure him that it has not always been this way. It is insidiously easy to lose one’s sense of purpose in life and become just another cog in someone else’s wheel house, like a circus pony who trots endlessly around in circles all the while thinking he is going somewhere. Hmm. That restless feeling that God has given you? Perhaps it’s His way of moving you out your happy, contented mediocrity. I must confess, as un-American as it may seem, that I view the American Dream as the worst possible substitute for the joyous semi-isolation one experiences when traveling in Asia, Africa, or the Middle East. I mean, you can chuck the whole upward mobility thing as far as I’m concerned; I don’t care much for the idols of the hour. My sinful nature, of course, still hankers after the leeks, garlic, and honey of Egypt, but I try to calm its passions by reminding it that the pleasure of serving Jesus is far greater. Other than that there is nothing new to report here except for one thing. Did anybody noticethis about the recent National Spelling Bee?

Nandipati’s victory in the 13th round came moments after her final challenger, Stuti Mishra of Orlando, also 14, stumbled over the spelling of “schwarmerei,” which means excessive, unbridled enthusiasm or attachment.

I’m sorry, but isn’t the word spelledschwärmerei? The German spelling contains an umlaut, which, I would think, either needs to be indicated or else spelled as “ae.” Perhaps the word has been anglicized?

Keep the faith,

Dave

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Thursday, June 30

7:54 PM A reader sent along this query: 

I saw on your blog that SEBTS was accused at the SBC annual meeting of having a “Calvinistic Agenda.” I also saw you provided a link to Dr. Akin’s response. Unfortunately the video won’t work for me. I was wondering if a transcript or news story existed of his response. I’d love to know what he said.

In essence, Danny said that Southeastern Seminary has one agenda. It is the Great Commission. If anyone has a different agenda, it is the wrong agenda. At SEBTS, “J.C.” does not stand for John Calvin. It stands for Jesus Christ. If, he said, a faculty member should push another agenda at SEBTS, he would gently try to persuade him that his agenda is the wrong one. If he could win his brother, all would be fine and good. If not, that person would need to seek employment elsewhere.

Danny is absolutely correct. His answer leaves no stone unturned. And it does one more thing. It points out precisely what is wrong with anyone who is an apologist for something other than the Great Commission: misplaced priorities. It is just here where I feel some bloggers have made a wrong turn. I should know: I have made many such wrong turns in my own life. At one time I was, for example, an apologist for homeschooling. Ditto for the agrarian lifestyle. And elder-led congregationalism? It’s the only way, of course. I am gradually learning to repent of my misplaced priorities. Note: I did not say that I have changed my views in any of these areas. It’s just that I am no longer an apologist for any of them.

If we were to adopt this perspective, think of the possible consequences. Rather than publicly criticizing the church across town that is wasting its money on the frivolous (something our church would never do, of course), by putting the Gospel first perhaps we could find a way to work with them to reach our city for Christ. Perhaps we could even serve in the city’s food pantry together, or wash cars together for Christ, or support an inner-city evangelist together. Surely this is far better than ignoring the clear teaching of 1 Corinthians 14:

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

I am deeply humbled to be teaching in an academic institution that has its priorities aligned according to the Gospel. You do not know how rare this is. You do not know how delightful and enjoyable it is to experience deep fellowship around the Gospel with my faculty colleagues. You do not know how great a blessing it is to be around students who are not pushing their Calvinism (or their Arminianism for that matter) down the throats of their peers. I cannot tell you how often I have put my nose on the carpet and thanked the Lord God for the privilege of joining Him in the greatest work on earth. I do not deserve this blessing. I am, indeed, ashamed of wasting so many years of my life pursuing lesser goals. So I would simply ask you: What are you an apologist for? When I go to your blog or your website, what stands out? The question is more than rhetorical.

Let me close this post by saying how much I appreciate all of my readers who seek to live the truth in love. No one has tried harder to do this, with less success, than I. Let us all work harder than ever before to receive the truth of God’s Word into our lives submissively — defiantly, I dare say — saying to ourselves, I have not yet arrived.

10:46 AM Oh my. I see I’ve started a “feud.” If I did, believe me, it was unintentional. I appreciate Alan’s efforts to seek a middle way, a tertium quid, a symbiosis that combines edification and outreach as the twin foci of the church. He is certainly correct in his assessment. At least partly. What he perhaps misses is something that has become critical to me over the years. And that is the Great Commission. For several years now Becky and I have been trying to live out the Great Commission in our marriage. (See my essay,A Great Commission Marriage.) I teach in what is intentionally and unapologetically called a “Great Commission Seminary.” I have a seminary president who argues that every professor at Southeastern ought to be a Great Commission professor, and that every student who attends here ought to be a Great Commission student. (Please see hisresponse to the accusation at the recent SBC convention in Phoenix that SEBTS has a “Calvinistic” agenda. His answer hits the ball out of the park.) And what is this commission? What were Jesus’ final words? What were His “final marching orders” (Danny Akin)? It was not to gather but to go. I like to put it this way to my students: The gathering exists for the going. And I do not mean “going” in a purely theoretical sense either. For many years I did not go. I was of course doing many things for Christ, such as preaching and publishing and teaching my classes. It was for others to go, not for me. My job was to support missions, not to be a missionary. Recently God has been teaching me that the Great Commission is for every Christian, and that includes me. When we learn to run to it and embrace it, when we can habitually plan our lives and schedules in such a way that we become intentional about sharing Jesus’ love with others, then, I think, we’ve begun to live the life of reasonable service described in Rom. 12:1-2. We must be willing to be more than good Greek teachers, good churchmen and women, good givers and supporters of missions. We must do more than meet together to pump each other up. We must be willing to let our lives be broken and smashed in order for the light of the Gospel to break out. We must be willing to stand alongside our suffering brothers and sisters in the world. There are many practical ways we can enter into this fellowship of suffering without ever leaving the borders of North America. The biblical requirement is that we should voluntarily go out of our way to leave our soft, cushy pews (or, for you home churchers, your sofas) and accept assignments that involve suffering and sacrifice, inconvenience, discomfort, and more. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not promoting agnosticism when it comes to the gathering of the Body. Paul is clear that the purpose of the assembled church is mutual edification. But why assemble if it is not to spur each other on to love and good works, to encourage one another to serve the expansion of the kingdom? No, I’m not saying that if you really mean to obey the Great Commission you will not care about the gathering. Nor am I saying that to be a Great Commission Christian you will needlessly or carelessly expose yourself to danger. I think Paul is a good example of what I’m talking about. He didn’t have to experience beatings and imprisonments and afflictions. I don’t believe he ever desired suffering for its own sake. Instead, he took a calculated risk. Here’s what he said: “I do not count my life dear to myself so that I might finish my course with joy and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). Paul is saying that his sufferings as a missionary authenticated or validated his ministry. For Paul, as for Bonhoeffer, suffering for others is the proof of discipleship. All but one of the original twelve apostles were martyred for their faith. They were simply walking in the footsteps of their Savior, who said that a servant is not above his master.

The bottom line for me? Let’s get the salt out of the salt shaker! Let’s live lives that are a positive sacrifice for the good of others outside of the church. Jesus says to us, in effect, “All I have to offer you is what I have had — loneliness, rejection, suffering, hardship, pain, sweat, death. I have set before you an example of what it means to be a Christian — putting others before yourselves. Above all, I came to seek and to save that which was lost. Will you do any less?”

It is the Great Commission that ought to drive everything we do as followers of Jesus. Some people think they can be good Christians by attending the fellowship, singing songs, praying prayers, teaching one another, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. We must return to Jesus’ revolutionary, cross-based ministry. How different is this kind of self-sacrificing Christianity from the comfort-seeking, self-serving, ingrown religion so often practiced in our churches! This Jesus who humbled Himself as a servant and who died as a criminal — this same Jesus is the One who was always pressing on to preach the Gospel in the next village. His heart’s cry was for the dead and the dying, for the lost, the sick, the undone. He was willing to let everything go for the sake of lost souls. When I finally came to understand that this very same Jesus was desiring to live His missional life through me, I felt as if He had shoved a knife into my heart. But finally I knew the work he had for me. The true test of my commitment is not how much I give or even what I believe but how I live. God is not just asking us to give our money to missions but to make missions the core of our lives, the central passion in all we do.

Hence, at the risk of further deepening the “feud,” I must insist that Christ meant for His church to be primarily a missionary organism. The church is the living presence of a God whose heart throbs with love for the lost and a passion for dying souls. The church is Christ’s Body, but it is a Body He gave for the world. I therefore ask my dear readers to consider: Are you willing, as was Jesus, to let everything go for the sake of lost souls and for the 1.6 billion unreached people in this world, to give your life to recapture just one inch of territory from darkness and bring it into the light? If and when the Great Commission becomes more than just another option for gathered believers, it is there that I believe I will be able to recognize the true church.

9:28 AM This is truly a historic day here at Bradford Hall. Becky completed her very first “Difficult Level” Sudoku puzzle. Here’s proof.

I have Liz to blame for getting Becky hooked on this pastime. Actually, I have Liz tothank. It was the perfect distraction during all those chemo sessions.

As for me? I’ll take a crossword puzzle any day over a silly numerical brain twister.

9:13 AM The latest addition to our home page is calledLiving in the Wilderness.

7:15 AM I always enjoy the seasoned wisdom of Aussie John — especially when heagrees with me LOL.

7:02 AM If the Lord wills, in exactly one month Becky and I will welcome our son Nigusse to America as he begins his studies at SEBTS. He will be in great demand as a speaker, already is, in fact. Traditional Western missionaries will have much to learn from his experience as a pastor-evangelist on the front lines in Alaba. The Global South has much to teach us about missionary work within the context of experiencing the brunt of focused attacks by people who have an anti-Christian agenda. I might add that the Global South has been characterized by a healthy tendency to be cooperative and thus has avoided the dichotomization that characterizes Western denominations. There are encouraging signs that this spirit of cooperation is becoming more and more a characteristic of evangelical churches in the West. After all, the church must battle all the works of the devil, and divisiveness is a very great evil. I am also convinced that Nigusse’s generation will carry foreword the difficult task of doing contextualized theology in an Ethiopian setting. Indeed, it is to be hoped that one day soon the textbooks used in theological colleges in Addis Ababa will be those written by nationals rather than ones merely translated from English. I yearn for the day when Ethiopian theologians will advance a rigorous theological basis for their churches in their own language.

Below: Nigusse and Becky giving the thumbs up after Aberesh gave birth to a healthy baby boy in March of 2008. Becky tells the remarkable story in her essayJust a Servant.

6:29 AM A cacophony of sounds — that’s the only way I can describe the experience of sitting on my front porch this morning as dawn broke: the birds chirping, the frogs bellowing, the neighbors’ dogs barking — let’s see, was that Pee Wee’s hound or John’s coon dog? — the world coming alive and I? — I am seeking answers in His Word, desiring to move in the same mysterious authority and power that surrounded His earthly ministry. The answer was eloquent, and it stunned me: “All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of His resurrection by sharing in His sufferings and becoming like Him in His death.” Christ’s life is mine by faith. But it is mine only to the degree to which my will is surrendered and submitted, only when I refuse to allow circumstances, family, friends, or even Satan himself to lead me into anything less than His reality, only when I realize that the measure to which I will manifest the life of Christ is the same measure to which I am willing to die to self and allow Him to animate my life and use me for His glory. It is all yours by faith, He seemed to say to me. The test of my spiritual life hinges on how I settle this issue of dying, not on my creeds or anything else in this world, including those “pride of life” sins such as class, race, social status, education, and reputation. Jesus died so that I might die, that I might be plugged into His life, just as the branch is part of the vine. Paul considered all of his talents and experiences as manure (skubala — “unspeakable filth”). He said, “I must start again from zero.” And so must I. This very day. How hard it is to accept this. I want to live this day in my own power and strength — especially with my education. But in God’s eyes it is merely educated flesh. I cannot take my eyes off the Giver and focus on the gifts.

Lord, I confess my sin of pride and self-sufficiency. I confess that I adore my own abilities and talents more than You who have given them. Grant me this day a correct vision of who You are. Allow me to discover Your authority, glory, power, and majesty. Like Moses, empower me from on high, so that I may die again to self and share in Your sufferings, becoming more like You in Your death. Amen.

Wednesday, June 29

6:22 PM My academic dean Ken Keathley chimes in on the creation-evolution debate in an excellent essay calledThe Four Views among Evangelicals concerning Creation.

5:32 PM Good discussion of verbal aspect in Koine Greekhere. My own preference for the e-prefix is to call it the “past time morpheme.”

5:18 PM New posting atwww.persecution.com: The death sentence of Youcef Nadarkhani hasbeen upheld in an Iranian court. His prisoner profile may be foundhere. God bless our dear brother. May he remain faithful whatever happens. Please join me in praying for his release.

12:35 PM Plan now to attend the 2012 Wheaton Theology Conference. Next year’s theme is “Bonhoeffer, Christ, and Culture.” The dates are April 12-13. For information, clickhere.

12:24 PM Need some leads as to the best E-books for studying New Testament Greek?Here they are.

By the way, students. You are welcome to purchase E-book editions of any of my required textbooks, including those published by yours truly (such as the Kindle version ofLearn to Read New Testament Greek).

12:12 PM Missions quote of the day (Samuel Zwemer):

The great Pioneer Missionaries all had “inverted homesickness” —  this passion to call that country their home which was most in need of the Gospel. In this passion all other passions died; before this vision all other visions faded; this call drowned all other voices. They were the pioneers of the Kingdom, the forelopers of God, eager to cross the border-marches and discover new lands or win new-empires.

Which country, other than the U.S., can you call “home” in this sense? There ought to be at least one.

11:23 AM Odds and ends …

1) For several weeks we’ve needed a long, soaking, “farmer’s” rain. Last night we got one. Thank you, Jesus.

2) My friend Elgin Hushbeck reviewsRite of Passage, for which I wrote a brief foreword.

3) My diagnosis yesterday? A bunch of complicated Latin words. The bottom line is: I get migraines every time the barometer changes. Why? What’s the “etiology” (see, I can use fancy words too). Nobody knows. I am just “blessed” with this problem. We’ll try Zonisimide as a preventative and see if that works. Yuck. First time in my life I have to take daily meds.

Cheer up: You’re gettin’ old, Dave.

4) My colleague Nathan Finn justwitnessed the Book of Acts.

10:14 AM The discussion continueshere.

Thank you, Thomas and Lesly, for always seeking to be scriptural in all you do and think. I’ll take a dozen just like you.

9:32 AM Much is being written these days about the purpose of the church. Some (like Eric Carpenter) argue that the purpose of the church is toglorify God through mutual edification. I do not disagree with this perspective. But it seems to me that the emphasis in Reformed circles on the glory of God is rather nebulous. In my opinion, this definition is neither missiologically broad enough nor theologically deep enough. As I understand Scripture, the church is to carry out the Missio Dei of the Triune God at both the micro (individual salvation) and macro (societal) levels, with a view to redemption, reconciliation, and social transformation. I recognize that many Christians today are starving for genuine koinonia and deeper relationships within the Body of Christ. Yet Jesus Christ defines His followers as those whom He has sent forth into the world. Thus, while it is good and proper to unpack the theological and ecclesiological significance of such texts as 1 Cor. 14:26, which speak of mutual edification as a goal whenever the church gathers, I think it is neither scriptural nor helpful to reduce our definition of “church” to the gathering. The ecclesiological challenge must drive us closer and closer to our original mission, not further away from it. An outward focus is critical, not optional.

The Book of Acts consistently emphasizes “missional hermeneutics,” and is clear that the Gospel is the Holy Spirit’s instrument for the formation of faithful witnessing communities that enjoy corporate life both together and scattered in the world. This same Spirit now works through believers to enable them to be Christ’s witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. To be sure, “church” is broader than the missional church. But the focus of God is the world, not the church. Thus, while calls for mutual edification are valid (and sorely needed), it does not help to make the overcorrection of emphasizing corporate discipleship at the expense of Trinitarian mission. The only way Christ is presently incarnated to a lost world is through believers as they carry on His presence, His Word, and His works to a new generation. We are no longer citizens of this world but Christ’s ambassadors, sent to this world from another kingdom, operating in His authority and power. If we’re rightly connected to the Head in this way, it would be hard to imagine making the focus of the church the gathering rather than the going.

Update: I see that Craig over at Trinitarian Danceagrees. I can certainly resonate with these words:

For whether God calls us to live and work overseas in a strange land, or he calls us to stay, work and live within the confines of the community we know – we are called to live as missionaries within our respective communities…answering the call of our Lord to go into our communities, living and breathing among all who are created in the image of God, treating all with dignity and respect and being living examples of the love of Christ.

Tuesday, June 28

11:55 AM Time for lawn and garden work this morning. Leigh and Thomas Humphries are here to help. I bent the blade in my lawn tractor while mowing. Now just who hid that stone in the grass?

9:18 AM Part of my studies in Basel focused on the ecclesiology of Karl Barth. Barth always emphasized the work of the Holy Spirit in ecclesiology. He viewed the Spirit’s work in three phrases:

• The Holy Spirit and the Gathering of the Christian Community

• The Holy Spirit and the Upbuilding of the Christian Community

• The Holy Spirit and the Sending of the Christian Community

I love this balanced approach to ecclesiology. Ecclesiology, properly understood, must focus on the church as called by God to be His witnesses in the world. The gathering and the equipping do not exist as ends in themselves. This is why I am convinced that we need to be careful not to let “doing church right” become so important that we miss the church’s missional vocation. In fact, perhaps it’s appropriate to question the Body-focused reductionism of many in the home-church movement. Barth’s phases might well be the reminder we need to correct our imbalanced approach to biblical ecclesiology.

8:47 AM In John 20:21, John’s “Great Commission,” there are two different Greek words for “send.”

Peace be to you! As the Father has sent [apostello] Me, I also send [pempo] you.

What distinction, if any, can we derive from this fact?

Incidentally, with all mission work, the Sender is Christ, not a mission agency or a denomination. It is His authority that propels, defines, and circumscribes the work. Without a doubt, this truth has sustained me more times than I can count. It is this conviction that compelled men like William Carey and Hudson Taylor to practice missions biblically in their respective countries despite the opposition of colonial authorities. May we be encouraged to do the same.

8:05 AM Duke University announces an opening in theHistory of Christianity. 

7:57 AM The Carolina Headache Institute has decided to have a look inside my noggin this afternoon. They will find a built-in barometer.

7:45 AM Students: I am looking for a second “grader” this fall. If you are interested in assisting me with my work, please contact me at dblack@sebts.edu.

Monday, June 27

7:22 PM Newsflash!Early Church Financial Statement Discovered!

6:06 PM Awaiting processing:

5:51 PM I need to mow but it’s too hot and muggy. So I think I’ll work on overcoming jet lag. Just where is that book on the Revolutionary War …?

1:41 PM If you think that New Testament textual criticism is not important for exegesis,think again.

12:50 PM Mercy me! Becky’sdone it again! 

12:44 PM In most any shopping mall you’ll find “anchor stores” at each end, typically a Macy’s or a J. C. Penney. These stores are essential to the success of the mall. They attract shoppers who will not only shop at the anchor stores but will spend their money at Starbucks or the shore store along the way.

Our Greek 3 class that starts next Tuesday is one of two “anchor courses” that I teach in seminary. The first is elementary Greek, which forms the foundation for the study of the language. The second anchor course is Greek 3. In this course you will begin to build a superstructure upon the foundation you laid in first year Greek. Here we go beyond the basics of our subject and begin to discuss in detail the deeper dimensions of what it means to exegete a passage from the New Testament. In my class, we delve into topics that are sometimes overlooked in syntax courses: textual criticism, linguistics, and discourse analysis, to name but three. Sure, each of these topics is controversial, but that is no reason to ignore them. In recent years much of the debate about Greek grammar has swirled around the “new perspective” on verbal aspect. Regardless of what position you take on the subject, it is a topic that cannot be avoided. Ultimately, no topic that can help us better understand the text is out of bounds. It is especially important that we do not view Greek as an end in itself. I want my students to wrestle with the implications of Greek exegesis for ecclesiology, soteriology, and missions. The church in the twenty-first century needs to keep the primacy of Christian missions in the foreground. In 1993 I wrote a little book calledUsing New Testament Greek in Ministry. I suggested that Greek does no good at all unless we apply it in our lives and ministries. My opinion hasn’t changed since then. May the Holy Spirit teach us how to be and become more authentically “mission people” as a result of studying the Greek text together.

12:14 PM Of the local church leaders I had the privilege of teaching last week, I’d say the great majority of them were tentmakers. Most of them were farmers. That is a great encouragement to me. In a real sense, they model for us a New Testament ministry. In New Testament times, leaders were not normally paid. Unfortunately, some churches today do not feel they can have pastors unless they are are able to support them financially. Apparently, pastors in New Testament days were able to meet their own financial needs and even the needs of others by “working with [their] own hands” (see Acts 20:34). In his book The Normal Christian Life (pp. 65-66), Watchman Nee writes:

It is not necessary that elders resign their ordinary professions and devote themselves exclusively to their duties in connection with the church. They are simply local men, following their usual pursuits and at the same time bearing special responsibilities in the church. Should local affairs increase, they may devote themselves entirely to spiritual work, but the characteristic of an elder is not that he is a “full-time Christian worker.” It is merely that, as a local brother, he bears responsibility in the local church.

The lesson is obvious: Christian finances should go primarily to support the poor and needy among us. In this connection, I’d like to recommend to you a highly readable and challenging essay I stumbled upon today while surfing the web. It’s written by one of my New Testament colleagues at Calvary Baptist Seminary in Pennsylvania. Its title speaks volumes:“Only Remember the Poor…” and Other Texts We Avoid (.pdf).

Now, I’ll be the first to admit my own failings in this area, to acknowledge my own proneness to go with the status quo, to give God a little bit of “my” money or time to keep Him happy. I am finding that I have to keep coming back to God and submit this area of my life to Him along with all the other areas that still need His sanctifying touch. That expensive meal that I enjoyed — did I ask God about it? I am not saying that we can’t enjoy eating out. I am saying that God is concerned about the small decisions we make with our pocketbooks.

Do you remember the poor? Do I? Can we do a better job of it?

10:19 AM Pastor Kevin Brown finally admits it. He’sgot an addiction.

10:08 AM Quote of the day (Thomas Hudgins):

Maybe this is an appropriate place to ask current seminary students… Are you planning on staying in the United States? Have you considered the possibility that God could use you mightily in helping to strengthen His Church throughout the world?

ReadThe Great Commission and Theological Education. Students, the doors are wide open for your involvement in global biblical education. I hope you will pray about it.

Sunday, June 26

8:13 PM Becky asksHow Disconnected Are You?

7:35 PM More odds and ends …

1) Nice serendipity: Shot this pic of Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River on my flight up to Dulles. This is one of America’s most historic battlefields.

2) And here’s “our fair city” — Clarkesville, VA. This is one of America’s least historic towns LOL.

3) Still working on emails. Hang in there — I WILL respond to your correspondence eventually.

4) While I was abroad I received a request to have my beginning Greek grammar translated into Modern Hebrew for use in Bible colleges in Israel. Permission granted! 

5) Also received this kind note:

I have been enjoying your blog as usual and pray that your remaining teaching years will be viable, vibrant and enjoyable ones that see much more fruit than your previous years have done. I also pray that the Lord will raise up students who catch your passion for mission, Scripture and church – and that your understudy students will be a source of mutual stretching and blessing.  May the Lord bless you and sister Becky during your time apart, keeping you both safe, well and in strength. 

My thanks to all who wrote to me while I was traveling. I deeply appreciate your love and prayers.

1:58 PM Odds and ends …

1) Home from the assembly and just got myself unpacked. B is cooking me an American dinner. I doth drooleth.

2) My suitcase was a lot lighter coming home than going. I left behind copies of most of my books for their smallish English library.

3) In case you’re interested in my trip, I’ve been asked to give a report at Bethel Hill on Wednesday, July 27, at 6:30 pm. Here’s one of the pictures I’ll be sharing. Our class exegeted, in depth, the famous warning passage of Heb. 6:4-6, where the participles hold the key to the interpretation of this difficult text. All of us came away from this passage with a renewed appreciation for just how beautifully and wonderfully made God’s Word is.

4) This morning at The Hill we welcomed a speaker from the Voice of the Martyrs. Thank you, brother Warren, for coming and sharing with us what God is doing in the persecuted church worldwide. If you’d care to have a Voice of the Martyrs speaker address your assembly, you can contact VOM atwww.persecution.org.

5) Fantastic news! Our son Nigusse has been granted a visa to study at SEBTS! Praise God! Thank you for praying! Lord willing, he will arrive here on July 29th.

6) The SBC convention in Phoenix is now history. You can read the 6 seminary reportshere. The passion for the Great Commission is unmistakable in each of them.

7) I was unable to answer any emails for the past two weeks. Please allow me a day or two to get caught up. I may sneak in a nap as well.

9:03 AM Got home early this morning, safe and sound, thanks to the goodness of the Lord and your prayers. Great trip. I taught twelve 3-hour lessons and spoke to congregations 3 times. Lots of relationship building too, with a view toward evangelism. There were challenges. Not everything went according to plan. I was reminded: Events do not change us. It’s our response to events that does. Life is a complicated business. God’s work in a soul is often a process of blind trust. Toward the end it boiled down to sheer tenacity: Left, right, left, right. Each day dying a little more to self. Deeper and deeper must be the dying, because wider and fuller is the relationship God desires to have with me. This is what the crucified life is all about. Watchman Nee called this the “normal Christian life.” We live, not a “changed” life but an “exchanged” life. Christ lives His life through me. As I taught hermeneutics to 26 church leaders, as I took them through historical backgrounds, through textual criticism and lexical analysis and structural analysis, etc., as I gave example after example of how practical Greek can be, I realized just how difficult the task of biblical interpretation really is. God has been faithful to give us His Word. Now we are asked to answer with our fidelity. With terms like that, there will never be a stampede to join the movement. Our only recourse is to our knees.

I do not know what will come of this past week’s labors. I have tried my best to be faithful to my assignment. I pray that my students would draw closer to the Savior as a result. May His love shine through them. May His Word become more precious to them than ever before. Even as I type these words I see their faces. I scan their eyes, the eyes of men whose enemies spend a good deal of time crouching and creeping, predatory opponents waiting in the underbrush for an opportunity to pounce. Will my students remember the Unseen? Will they sense His ministers of fire, commissioned to guard them? Will they recall that His love is always aware, always awake, always protecting? George MacDonald once said, “Jesus suffered not that we might not suffer, but that our suffering might be like His.” And part of this suffering is sacrifice — sacrificing our time and effort so that our teaching and our preaching is not slipshod or inadequate.

Proper biblical interpretation is impossible. Impossible, that is, without His help. My trip was overwhelmingly exhausting. But such work is also the most emotionally satisfying of my life. I will soon forget the labors of last week; my summer school class begins in just 9 short days, and life will move on. When a coin is spent it’s gone forever. Was the investment worth it? Eternity will tell. Patience. Sacrifice. Service. Responsibility. Weariness. That’s what we’re here for. The pain, the loneliness, the physical exhaustion are a part of the process He is at work on. All that will one day be exchanged for wholeness.

In the meantime, we press on.

Tuesday, June 14

6:02 AM Off to “regions beyond” (2 Cor. 10:16). Why? I’ve discovered that upward mobility is a downer. I’m haunted by the idea that God can take average everyday people like me and use them for His purposes. There was nothing special about the 70 whom Jesus sent out two by two. And I imagine they were scared to death to be sent too. But they did what they were told to do, because Jesus was their Boss. So they girded up their loins, tightened up their sandals, took a deep breath, and away they went, elbows swinging with every step, preaching, teaching, healing. And it worked! Miracles happened because He was with them.

Serving Jesus is like making a 60-yard touchdown run. (Yes, God plays football.) And the ball’s in our hands. Let’s get out of our holy huddles (especially those of you who have the “perfect” church) and run a play or two for Jesus. Yes, you will get scraped up (or beat up — ask Paul!) along the way. But it’s pretty hard to deny the need that is out there.

By the way, there’s no sense in playing unless you expect results. Don’t limit your playing field to the stained glass aquarium (or to your living room). Jesus is building His church worldwide, and He wants to use you. That’s why you’re here in the first place. Serve Jesus and there will be pain. Live for yourself and there will be pain. There will be pain either way. So why not get your pain working for you rather than against you? Let’s unleash foot soldiers for Jesus. Don’t need to go across the world to do this either. Know how to bake a pie and take it to a neighbor? Welcome to the mission field!

We’ll, enough preaching for one day. (I have a feeling you’re a member of “the choir” anyway.) As I leave for the airport I feel very much alive. The birds are singing, and the donkeys have started munching the grass (donkeys don’t “graze”; they “munch”). God has provided all of this and a good deal more — the stars, the sun, the breeze, wives and husbands and sons and daughters and “infants to sweeten the world” (to use a phrase from an ancient prayer). I am but a tiny speck in the universe, a ripple on the ocean of life, yet God does not overlook me, cannot in fact, because He created me, redeemed me, even promised He would never leave me nor forsake me, taught me to trust Him when I was only 8 years old, a mere child but old enough to realize that we are not doomed to meaninglessness, even in the wilderness of loneliness, even when “God’s megaphone” (C. S. Lewis) of pain shouts to us, despite my keen sense of past failures, my blindness, my selfish isolation. It is heartening to think that even when the work seems so daunting, even when I feel so inadequate, I can still be a vessel bearing the life of Jesus — the way that James Fraser gave himself to the people of China many years ago because God had called him to forsake selfishness and to cease to live for himself, or the way Jim Elliott taught the Aucas what God’s love looks like by dying for them. I have been given a small assignment, but no assignment is small when God assigns it, when it helps to complete the quota of Christ’s sufferings, when we say YES to what He requires of our journey with Him simply because it’s the journey He wants to share with us. And so —

“We follow, now we follow — Yonder, yes yonder, yonder. Yonder.”

— Gerard Manly Hopkins, The Golden Echo.

Monday, June 13

12:32 PM Just finished hoeing the garden and wondering Where in the world do all the weeds come from? I’m also finishing up packing and trying to decide what to take and what to leave behind, even though it’s only a 12-day trip and I won’t need that much really. Right now the main thing is to get my mind focused on Christ, what He has done for me (and for the world), and my relationship with Him. My friend, have you noticed? Once you fall in love with Jesus, you will do everything you can to introduce others to Him. He’s an awesome, magnificent, glorious, loving Lord, and He’s asked you and me to join Him in the great harvest field. I guess that’s what keeps motivating me these days to follow hard after Him. As tough as global evangelization can be, it’s worth it when you see someone fall in love with Jesus.

By the way, we harvested our very first cucumber today. Which reminds me: A farmer would starve to death if he or she just planted and cultivated and weeded. Ultimately you’ve got to reap. I think I’m awfully proud of this little cuke.

The “first fruits,” if you will, of an abundant harvest? I get jazzed just thinking about that first cucumber sandwich. Now I’m eager to sow the Word into the hearts of people. Will spend the next two weeks doing that over and over again on foreign soil. Of course, good seed does best in good soil. Please pray for me and with me, will you, that the soil will be well-prepared by the Master Gardener, and that, for His glory, there might be an abundant harvest.

7:15 AM Aussie John (who blogs atCaesura) sent along a link to this incredible You Tube video:

Cowabunga, dude. Can’t wait to open the Australian campus of SEBTS. I volunteer to teach Surfing 101.

7:12 AM Hope everyone is enjoying the SBC convention in Phoenix this week. I will have to miss it this year. But you can read my post-convention report from last year’s Orlando meeting here:The Future of Southern Baptist Missions. My mind hasn’t changed.

Sunday, June 12

5:08 PM Bad sinus headache coming on. Yes, another thunderstorm is headed our way. I don’t need a weathercast to tell me that.

5:02 PM A thousand thanks to Ed and Dolores Johnson for having pity on this here bachelor and inviting him to dine with them for lunch in South Boston today. We had a good time but missed having Becky along. Enjoyed teaching Sunday School today (I spoke on the two cries of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer: “Jesus is Lord,” and “Abba, Father!”), as well as engaged in some theological deep sea diving as brother Joel continued his excellent series in the book of 1 John. To see even a flimsy outline of the great salvation that God provides for those who trust Christ is a blessing. We also laid hands on several in our midst who are in need of special prayer and support. My, what a wonderful, zany, joyful, loving, caring, genuine group of brothers and sister I get to meet with every week. I sense we are on the road to reality, which means that we are moving outside of our comfort zones and into the frying pan of costly discipleship. Seneca, the famous Roman philosopher and advisor to Nero once said, “To live is to be a soldier.” For the Christian, to live is to be a soldier of Christ, which means that whatever happens we don’t allow ourselves to get our eyes off life’s real purpose and on to secondary issues. Only the Christian who is willing to share the burden will share the blessing. God, help us not to evade the burden.

8:20 AM There are “big” missions and there are “little” missions. Have you ever thought about that? For example, all this week my friend Kevin Brown and his family are in Mexico. That’s a “big” mission. (You can read about ithere.) But let me ask you this question: Who worked behind the scenes to make this mission trip possible? Who enabled and equipped the missionaries? These names are probably known only to God. But these “little” missionaries are equally servants of God.

Let me give you a New Testament example of what I’m talking about. Everyone agrees that the apostle Paul was a key figure — perhaps the key figure — in spreading the Gospel in the early church. His ministry was literally “worldwide.” Just read the book of Acts. Yet his “big” mission had much to do with the “little” mission that God had entrusted to an obscure figure of the Bible. Had it not been for the ministry of Ananias in Paul’s life (Acts 9), Paul’s mission would have been short-lived indeed! Yet who remembers Ananias when they think of Paul’s ministry?

It is abundantly clear that the term “mission” has become a cliché today for “big” missions. Perhaps the church needs to do more to acknowledge the work of those who are involved behind the scenes in “little” missions. When Jesus walked with the Twelve, little did they know that they were soon to become members of the “second incarnation.” When He ascended into heaven He commanded His followers to “make visible” the living God in the same way Jesus did. Jesus has now passed the work on to us. Whether your work is “big” or “little,” never forget that you are Jesus’ legs and arms and heart. When people look at us, they should see Christ, the hope of glory. And remember: Only God has the real glory. All other glories are derived from His. So wherever He places us, let’s display His glory. If you live in Bethel Hill, NC — display His glory! If you live in Northern Iraq — display His glory! Serve where you’re planted. God probably won’t send a missionary from South Korea to reach your web of relationships. That’s your job!

7:15 AM Praying about graduate school? Why not consider one that has a Great Commission passion? My colleague Alvin Reidexplains. Incidentally, I know of no one more passionate about the Gospel than Alvin. He is the exact opposite of a Canadian River in the winter — frozen at the mouth! This includes the way he uses social media to share the love of Jesus with others (his Twitter account is probably the best one I know). The man has an overwhelming sense of the love of Christ. I am honored and humbled to be on the same faculty with him and with other colleagues who model what a Great Commission seminary ought to look like.

7:06 AM Jason Kees reviews a very important book, in my estimation:Baptists and the Bible. The book was co-authored by my former dean, Russ Bush, who is now with the Lord. Everyone has some sort of attitude toward the Bible, from inerrancy to fable and folklore. Everything hinges upon this one question, for if the Bible is not God’s Word the whole building crumbles. This includes the Gospel itself, for John 3:16 rests on 2 Tim. 3:16. I will say it plainly: I believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. I am not ashamed of such simple faith. I take the book for what it claims to be and rest my weary soul on it. Jason concludes his review with these words: “All Baptists should read this book. It is that important.” And not only Baptists.

6:55 AM Yesterday someone sent me an email about Clark Little. He’s a photographer in Hawaii whose photos are unbelievable. Here’s an example:

I also appreciated this shot. It must be of Sandy Beach, where the waves break right on the sand.

No surprise that this beach has produced numerous broken necks through the years. I used to body surf it as a teenager. We were crazy back then. Of course, for a 16-year old, life is an endless highway. You can check out more of Clark’s photography here.

Saturday, June 11

2:24 PM I’m all for Christian unity, but ecumenism at the expense of the Gospel? No thank you. Desmond Tutu’sessay today at the Huff Post includes this amazing statement:

Every human being is precious. We are all — all of us — part of God’s family. We all must be allowed to love each other with honor. Yet all over the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are persecuted. We treat them as pariahs and push them outside our communities. We make them doubt that they too are children of God. This must be nearly the ultimate blasphemy. We blame them for what they are.

Questions of sexism aside, the good bishop is wrong. With all due deference to storks, we can state as a categorical fact that new life begins with new birth. Unless a person has experienced this new birth, he or she is not a “part of God’s family.” Paul tells the Christians at Rome that “all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14), and he reminds the Christians in Galatia that “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, though faith” (Gal. 3:26). No one other than the believer in Jesus Christ has the right to claim that astonishing relationship with God.

We should never allow ourselves to be so caught up with issues of justice and equality that we lose sight of the new birth.

1:45 PM “The nail that sticks out is hammered down.” Japanese Proverb. Good to remember if you’re going to challenge the status quo with the Bible.

1:41 PM I see I’m not the only blogger who enjoys the good oldout-of-doors. Way to go Craig. I’m with you, man!

12:53 PM Glad to see Arthur Sido’s review of Kevin Brown’s new bookRite of Passage for the Home and Church. You can always count on Arthur for fair and balanced writing.

12:45 PM Can I bore you with a brief farm update?

1) This was the week for birthdays. It was two years ago today that our own little Nolan Elijah Black entered the world. Here mom and dad leave UNC with their precious bundle. What a wonderful gift from the Lord. Happy Birthday, Nolan!

2) Doubtless you share my elation over the birth of our first grand-daughter, Mercy Magdalene (don’t you just love that name?). Becky just sent me some photos of the newborn, though pictures are hardly a satisfying substitute for the real thing. (I’m trying to be patient, Liz!)

3) Mama B, of course, is always in the middle of the action. She looks quite the grandmother with her beautiful gray hair, wouldn’t you say? Liz and Mercy are due home tomorrow — where there is a surprise waiting for them.

4) Meanwhile, I’ve been in a frenzy for days trying to get ready for my 12-day trip to Asia next week. I think the worst is over and that now I’ll be able to return to more mundane matters. Today I mowed and edged, then picked blackberries. God seems to have blessed us this year with an abundant crop. Here’s a bush growing near our farm’s entrance. In the background you can just barely make out Nate and Jessie’s 1820s farm house.

5) Let’s see, what to do now? Oh yeah: “Drain well, put into quart-size zip lock bags and put in outside freezer.” (This comes from my “list of things to do” left by my ever-efficient wife!)

6) Soweit die heutige Nachricht. Am loving my days off but can’t wait to get back into the classroom. Students, see you on July 5th Lord willing!

Friday, June 10

6:10 PM No new developments here, except that the donks want to know where Mama B is. I’m afraid I’d make a fool of myself trying to tell you what I told them. I’m feeling splendidly, getting lots of exercise and working outdoors when it’s not too hot. I have not written in my book Godworld for some time and I think I’ll rectify that omission this evening. That is, if I do not spend the time in concentrated loafing. It is certainly interested work and I enjoy it very much.

This pic is for Bec. Tinnish Koi and Tolo Tolo say hello to you. I fed them some carrots in your honor.

3:07 PM Becky just got back from visiting Liz and Mercy. Tonight Matt will keep the boys at home and Becky will spend the night with Liz in the hospital. The last I heard, Liz and her baby should be coming home on Sunday. What a reunion that will be. I’m enjoying everything vicariously, as you can tell. The only thing is missing are some pictures of the wee one!

2:17 PM Awfully proud of recent SEBTS grad Lonnie Bell who is mentioned inthis blog post by Larry Hurtado of Edinburgh University:

Lonnie Bell is working on the 2nd/3rd-century manuscripts of the Gospel of John, probling the nature of the transmission of GJohn in this early period.  These are the earliest direct witnesses to the GJohn, and his project promises to enrich our grasp of what forces and practices were at work in the textual transmission of this text (and, by extension, other NT texts).  It’s quite common for scholars to assert that the 2nd century was a time of “wild” textual variation.  Bell’s work may help us to get a firmer picture of things.

This is, of course, very exciting to me as Lonnie is one of my former students. If you are a SEBTS student and are contemplating doctoral studies in the UK, then you should definitely keep Edinburgh in mind. For more on how their program “shakes out,” gohere.

1:05 PM Apparently Germany has declared war on home schoolers. But why? I know of no better answer to this question thanthis superb blog post in which the author, after  a lengthy and balanced discussion of the ins-and-outs of the issue, concludes:

The reason the German state wants a monopoly on education is ultimately to control the world view of individuals. It doesn’t want people thinking (too) differently from the official state line on a whole range of issues. When it boils down to it this really isn’t that different in principle from clearly totalitarian states such as Nazi Germany (1933-45), communist East Germany, the Soviet Union or modern day North Korea. While it may not be as “hard” a form of totalitarianism as those examples, it is still a form of totalitarianism nonetheless.

I am not in any way trying to tell you that you must home educate your children. Christianity does not bring us into the world of slavish obligation but one of freedom. This should be a matter of personal choice and conviction. But what has happened in Germany can easily happen here. There are different forms of totalitarianism and different currents in it. But it is obvious to me that when the state seeks to control the education of our children, then it has overstepped its bounds.

12:16 PM Alan Knox, in an outstanding blog post calledThere was not a needy person among them, reminds us how important mutual care was in the early church. He writes:

When a new brother or sister was in need, someone took care of that need from their own property. When someone was hungry, that person was fed. When someone needed clothing or housing, that need was met. They considered their relationships with one another as more important than their own physical well-being or their material possessions.

Today, caring for those in need is left to government agencies or parachurch organizations. Christians tend to give a little money and consider the problem shifted to others. The American Dream has replaced the concern for other Christians who are in need.

If I understand Alan correctly, he is arguing that social activity (such as feeding the poor, housing the homeless, etc.) is a fruit of the Spirit. In other words, when a person is regenerated by way of the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-), then he or she will naturally want to implement the horizontal dimensions of the Great Commandment (Matt 22:37-39).

Surely this is a vital dimension of biblical Christianity. And the order, I believe, is significant. In some circles, “missions” is almost completely disassociated from evangelism. According to Weber and Welliver (Missions Handbook, 2007, p. 13), in the U.S. the increase in income from 2001 to 2005 for relief and development was 73.4 percent while for evangelism and discipleship it was only 2.7 percent. I have personally known some “mission” organizations in Ethiopia that engage in service to the community (building hospitals and schools, digging wells, etc.) without any mention of the Gospel. In my opinion, they have failed to keep the main thing the main thing. The supreme need of the nations is the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

But I need to add a careful rider here. Evangelism and social action are not opposed to each other. They are, as John Stott puts it, “two blades of a pair of scissors.” Because Becky and I believe this to be true, we have become involved in several efforts in Ethiopia to address the economic and health concerns of the people there. Perhaps the most visible expression of this concern is the Health Clinic we opened in Burji several years ago. (It has since been upgraded to a Health Center.) I need to emphasize, however, that the primary purpose of the Health Center is evangelism because we firmly believe that individual regeneration by the grace of God is, in the final analysis, the best solution to humanity’s individual and social problems. As Alan noted in his post, Christian social responsibility presupposes socially responsible Christians, and it is only through evangelism and discipleship that people can become committed to holistic missional work.

I remain deeply concerned about what I perceive to be a growing shift in emphasis today from proclaiming the kingdom of God to a purely economic and social gospel. This is like putting the cart before the horse. The Anabaptist Balthazar Hubmaier answered the charge that he required communal ownership of property by stating:

Concerning community of goods, I have always said that everyone should be concerned about the needs of others, so that the hungry might be fed, the thirsty given to drink, and the naked clothed. For we are not lords of our possessions, but stewards and distributors. There is certainly no one who says that another’s goods may be seized and made in common; rather, he would gladly give the coat in addition to the shirt.

The Anabaptists held that the church is a voluntary society comprised of Christians who are bound to each by the reality of the new birth. These “believers” live apart from the world but do not shun it. They do not accumulate wealth but are content with their basic necessities. They help each other faithfully, having everything in common out of sheer love for their neighbor. They live a lifestyle that matches their responsibility to a lost and dying world.

This too was apparently the blessed experience of the early church in Acts. Through their relationship to Jesus Christ, these believers became detached from their worship of earthly things. They experienced freedom from covetousness and greed and seemed to be able to escape the “spend-and-consume” merry-go-round that Satan is now using to hold our American families in bondage. But, thank God, escape is still possible today! When we learn to embrace the Jesus way of life, when we can plan habitually to go without things for Christ’s sake, then we have begun to live the life of “reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1-2) that is acceptable to God. Wherever you are, there are needy neighbors. And there is a cross for you to bear. God has a path of self-sacrifice for every one of us if we will but ask Him for the privilege of self-denial.

8:06 AM Grand Rapids Theological Seminary announces a conference on “Text and Culture,” to be held Oct. 3, 2011. Speakers include Doug Moo and Scot McKnight. Informationhere.

8:02 AM Beautiful morning. Garden is watered, doggies fed. Birds are singing. Donkeys are happy. (They’ve begun bonding with yours truly. They are some sweet animals.) It will be a cool day with a high of “only” 91. Becky reports that Liz and baby are doing great.

Thursday, June 9

9:20 PM My prayer for you tonight, Liz and Mercy: 

 

9:09 PM Announcing the arrival of Mercy Magdalene Rondeau, who was born at 5 pm this evening. Vitals: 6 pounds, 4 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long. Mother, baby, father all doing fine. Becky’s in tenth heaven. So am I — she was born on my birthday!

I had very good intentions about blogging more this evening but I have been awake since 2:30 this morning and consequently am barely coherent. Till tomorrow, grace and peace. Dave

6:15 PM Shout outs to Thomas Hudgins, my Ed.D. student. Thomas currently lives and works in El Salvador.

And to Heebum Lee, my newest Th.M. student. He hails from, Seoul, South Korea, and is a graduate of Chong Shin University, where I have taught summer classes.

Heebum and his wife invited me to their home today for lunch. Greatly honored.In case you can’t tell, I love international students.

4:40 PM The church has not yet freed itself of the strange evil of racism. The ghost of the past still mocks us. Even among Bible-belt fundamentalists. It is discomfiting to receive an email (as I did yesterday) from a former student whose selection as pastor was denied by a few people in the congregation because he was black (and “he might bring black folks to the church”). I find it extremely difficult to understand such an attitude, but it exists. I will stop here as I cannot write dispassionately and without bitterness. I hurt inside, not so much for this dear brother of mine, but for a congregation that is being chased by a bunch of second grade bullies. I try to smile at these simpletons. It keeps me from crying.

Ultimately the church must stand its ground and confront the enemy. The problem is that the enemy is all too often us. Any church that builds walls of race is lost, and sick. Oh, it may sugar-coat its racism with sophistication, with consummate urbanity, but at what cost?

At the cost of the entire Gospel.

4:04 AM Leaving for the airport. Becky flies from RDU to Albany today to meet up with three very special boys (plus their mommy and daddy and puppy doggy). Baby sister is due shortly, and Becky’s services (mothering, grandmothering, cleaning, spoiling, etc.) are much in demand right now. Of course, I will be sorely missed up in New York as I, and I alone, am the only person on this planet who knows how to tell Henny, Jenny, and Penny Stories.©

Yall do try and enjoy yourselves without me. I’ll be with you in thoughts and prayers, that’s for sure.

Wednesday, June 8

7:29 PM I think Becky’s quilt deserves an encore, don’t you? Here it graces the bed of one of our upstairs guest rooms.

Care to light a natural hardwood fire in the fire place while enjoying the peace and quiet of Bradford Hall?

The room, incidentally, is called the Renn Room, so named because the paneling, wainscoting, etc, you see here all came from a 1790s home in Granville County, NC, called the Renn House. The flooring you see came, of course, from the pine trees on our own farm, which we sawed, planed, dried, and installed with cut nails. That was a fun project — brings back many happy memories!

6:20 PM Looking forward to lunch tomorrow with current Ed.D. student Thomas Hudgins — a superbblogger I might add. 

6:14 PM Meeting with a prospective Th.M. student tomorrow. Got room for a couple more in that program. Email me if you’re interested: dblack@sebts.edu.

1:18 PM Quote of the day (fromMy Blog):

It would seem to me that if we explicitly made the goal of our “church services” to make disciples or to train people to live as the light Jesus said they were, then evangelism and missions would take care of themselves, because each Christian would use their gifts to do the things God wants the whole church to do. There would be no need for expensive programs and costly mail outs because people who intelligently follow Jesus would find creative ways to do good in his name in their towns, over seas, and in their homes.

11:46 AM Becky’s love for donkeys? Looks like it’s hereditary!

11:43 AM Does your pastorknow Greek and Hebrew?

10:40 AM Becky’s dad just sent along this photo of Becky riding her donkey named “Honkey” in Ethiopia. She’s being led by her mother, Betty Lapsley.

Ain’t that sweet? Once a donkey lover, always a donkey lover!

10:04 AM Recently Koreans and Scotscelebrated together the publication of the first translation of the Bible into Korean. The translator was a Scot named John Ross.

I wish I could have been there to celebrate with them. I do have one question, though. Does anybody know what Ross’s base text was? Was he working from the English or from the original languages? And finally, if he worked from the Greek, which edition of the Greek New Testament did he use? I have made 6 trips to Korea and have yet to get a clear answer to these questions. Help!

9:45 AM Now online at Biola’s You Tube Channel: Tenth Annual G. Campbell Morgan Theology Conference. Also, if you missed the Wheaton Theology Conference this year, the conference messages are now onlinehere. My favorite speakers were Andrew Walls and Ruth Padilla DeBorst.

9:30 AM My colleague Maurice Robinson (who does not blog) chimes in on the “What’s the correct way to pronounce Koine Greek?” debate in the comments sectionhere. Always good to know what Maurice is thinking.

9:23 AM To all of you students who are studying New Testament Greek on your own: Did you that William Carey, the great missionary to India, borrowed a friend’s grammar book and proceeded to teach himself New Testament Greek?

It can be done. Chins up and knees down!

9:15 AM David Stark notes that thelatest issue of New Testament Studies has been published. This essay piqued my interest:

Michael Martin and Jason Whitlark, “The Encomiastic Topics of Syncrisis as the Key to the Structure and Argument of Hebrews.”

I love it whenever somebody finds THE KEY to anything in New Testament studies. Not that it matters much, but I published my two cents worth in an essay calledThe Problem of the Literary Structure of Hebrews: An Evaluation and a Proposal. I concluded that

… the detailed literary and stylistic investigation attempted by Vanhoye has resulted in the amassing of a phalanx of objective literary facts which simply cannot be ignored. Even if his study should prove to be factually untenable inthe present case, the modern exegete should not shrink from a discreetly handled structural analysis of the text.

8:39 AM I would love to be able to require this book in my New Testament Introduction class this fall:Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology, and Practice, edited by Trevor Burke and Brian Rosner. But the price? $130 USD. Would you pay that for a 288 page book? What are the editors/publishers thinking? The price is absolutely, utterly ridiculous.

8:24 AM Ryan Collins has posted an excellent piece calledAnimal Slaughter & the Gravity of Sin.

One comment, if I may. We in America need to remember that in many parts of the world today the slaughtering of animals is a normal part of daily life. This is certainly true in Ethiopia. Hence, when I first arrived in Alaba and was told that a believer’s 8-year old daughter had been “slaughtered” by their Muslim neighbors I understood what was meant. They slit her throat and decapitated her. That’s what is done on a daily basis with goats. Death is a normal part of life in Ethiopia. So is bloodshed. I imagine that’s the way it was in ancient Israel as well.

In the U.S. we have slaughter houses that protect us from this reality. Not here at Rosewood Farm, where we have slaughtered and butchered our own cattle. But a hundred years ago in America this was commonplace.

8:22 AM Great news! The church meeting hall in Zobechame is under construction, and I’ve got pictures to prove it, thanks to our son Nigusse.

Becky tells me we have now received gifts covering 25 percent of the construction costs. That means that $10,000 of the total of $40,000 has already come in. What a great God we serve. And thanks to each of you who have participated in this project. For more on the church in Zobechame, you can clickhere. Once again: Praise the Lord!

8:12 AM Odds and ends …

1) Only 1 day away from my birthday and 3 days away from Nolan’s. I must be older than him.

2) Must-read essay for all language students:Some thoughts about language learning.

3) Chuck Tackett reviews a book I co-edited:Ultimate Allegiance: The Subversive Nature of the Lord’s Prayer. 

4) Becky’s flower beds now surround the front porch. I wish you could see the flowers in person. Dainty little things, they add a fabulous touch to our entrance. It’s just amazing how much work a house and garden is.

5) Students, I’ll be on campus tomorrow (so der Herr will). The door to my office is always open.

Tuesday, June 7

7:50 PM My project du jour was to discontinue two garden beds and prep them for Becky’s next crop.

So today we said “Bye Bye” to the cabbage and peas. We sure enjoyed them while they lasted.

4:58 PM The weather has finally cooled down a bit. Time to get back into the garden.

4:43 PM As you know, my next opusculum is my revision ofPaul, Apostle of Weakness. When I wrote the first edition of the book I was young and inexperienced. Intellectually I was greatly influenced by Barth (another thing that Mark the gardener and I apparently have in common) and Cullmann. I do not deny that this was due largely to my circumstances as a student in Basel. Moreover, it was in Basel that I came to abhor the Marxism of Europe’s elite. My political leanings were such that I felt it impossible to conceive of being both a Christian and a Democrat.

Since then I have experienced a few “severe mercies” (C. S. Lewis) and have, perhaps, grown up a bit. The strange result (I say “strange” because it was so unexpected) was that the more I studied the historical Jesus of the Gospels, the more I came to see not only how impossible it is to support any earthly archy (see myChristian Archy) but also how impossible it is to follow Jesus with one’s intellect alone (see myThe Jesus Paradigm). The 1984 edition of Paul, Apostle of Weakness was a purely academic work. The 2012 version will, I think, reflect a heart commitment to a certain lifestyle and to a certain service that God requires. I do not blame myself for not having this perspective when I was 30 years old. Nor am I arguing that we should dismiss the academic contributions of younger scholars whose life experience is lacking. I am arguing for what I take to be the biblical message, namely, that thinking can never be wholly divorced from doing, and that the follower of Jesus must therefore scrupulously avoid appearing to be to others what he or she is not. I have very concrete knowledge of this latter failing, and so I am all the more eager that my students do not succumb to the same temptations that I once did. In other words, we cannot truly be on the outside what we are not on the inside. If I try to live otherwise, it is only a bluff. And I think we can all agree that the church doesn’t need any more hypocrites.

4:18 PM We have a winner! He is none other than Hebrew/Greek/Latin scholar par excellence Jacob Cerone, who blogshere. In case you were wondering what the answers were:

1) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

2) General Dwight D. Eisenhower

3) Field Marshall Erwin Rommel

4) Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery

5) Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstet

6) Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Jacob chose the bookChristian Archy as his prize. And please do drop by Jacob’s site, where you will be treated to such fine blog posts as this one:Has Christian Education Failed Us?

12:55 PM Paul Himes, who is writing his dissertation on 1 Peter, thinks it’s time he produced an overview ofresources for studying and preaching 1 Peter. I’m glad he did. And just where does he get that zany sense of humor (see his statement about Derek Jeter)? 

12:19 PM Oooo,this is good. Took gobs of courage to write too.

I don’t know about you, but I no longer ask a person I’ve just met, “Say, are you a Christian?” The word “Christian” means nothing in our culture. Instead, here’s what I ask: “Say, I’m curious: Are you an obedient follower of Jesus?” The answer reveals everything.  

11:26 AM More on studying Greek: I am probably guilty of a bias toward my own beginning grammar (Learn to Read New Testament Greek), but every grammar has its strengths and weaknesses. As you begin to review for Greek 3 this summer, please take a week or two and thoroughly review whichever beginning grammar you used in first year Greek. If you did not use a grammar in class (but your teacher’s notes instead), you might consider acquiring a beginning textbook. Here’s alist that will help you to decide which one to get. 

11:15 AM Summer Greek students! To supplement Metzger’s vocabulary lists check outthis online resource. Outstanding aid.

10:44 AM Finished!

10:26 AM People often ask me: “What are you an apologist for? Home grown elders? Home education? Age-integrated services?” My answer is very simple: “I am an apologist for the Gospel.” I’m a Gospel guy who believes that what we need before anything else is to pray, “Lord, break my heart with the things that break yours.” I’m convinced that the acid test of Christianity is being motivated by the things that motivate God. And what motivates God? The Great Commission and bringing in His Reign. I believe that every detail of our lives ought to be measured by this yardstick. That’s why the risen Christ left us the Great Commission. He knew there is a heaven and a hell. He loves lost souls and wants them to spend eternity with Him.

That’s why I am so appreciative of what Matt Emerson had to say on his blog yesterday about unity (Ephesians 4 and the SBC). In the Great Commission, in this great work of reconciliation to which we are all called, there is only one harvest and one Master of the harvest. We therefore need to work together under His direction and support each other in the common task. The Great Commission leaves us no option, If any of my pet doctrines — elder-led congregationalism, home-churching, etc. — has its grip on me more than Jesus and the lost world He came to save, then it has become a god. Each of us must settle this point once and for all. (This includes me!) Satan will use our pet doctrines to destroy our walk with God and our unity as Christians. I’m convinced that, if we would adopt a truly Gospel-centered lifestyle, we would turn the world upside-down for Christ.

Note in the margin: I think that blog entries such asthis andthis are unhelpful in building unity between believers. They tend to breed an us-versus-them mentality that, honestly, we could do without in evangelical Christianity. I would ask those who are home churchers — is the Gospel paramount in your theology, in your ecclesiology even? Remember, folks: The gathering exists for the going. Pure and simple. I would rather be part of a group of traditionalists who are passionate about the Gospel than part of a group of simple-churchers who give the impression of being ingrown and fellowship-centered.

Again, I’m pointing the finger at yours truly. One of the main reasons B and I are at Bethel Hill is because of its commitment to being the hands and feet of Jesus in the world. Without question, that’s our passion. At the same time, we’re working toward a more biblical ecclesiology. We love it!

9:50 AM Good morning bloggers! I slept from 10:00 pm to 9:00 am. Musta been tired. As I crank up the old bod, here are a few odds and ends …

1) No new sightings of Bambi this morning. You’re free to hang around the pasture, young lady, but don’t you dare come near my garden.

2) Mark Stevens continues hisreview of Why Four Gospels? over at Near Emmaus. I am deeply grateful and mortified for putting him to all this trouble.

Speaking of Mark, here’s a photo of the Mad Gardener himself. I threatened to use it as “Black” mail against him, but he wasn’t a-feared. I tell you, the man is shameless.

But he’s one DY-NO-MITE gardener. Here’s proof:

3) Only two days before Becky leaves for New York and one week before I leave for Asia. I’m already missing her.

4) “She bringeth her food from afar.” Well, at least from our driveway.

Becky tells me these are “twice-picked” blackberries. She dropped them when she heard a snake in the grass.

Or was it a bee that frightened her? Whatever the culprit was, these berries are gonna make some awfully good jam.

5) You mean the paragraph titles in our Greek New Testamentsmay be wrong?

6) Our name-the-face contest will stay open until this evening. So far the best you’ve been able to do is 5 out of 6. I will also open the game to non-bloggers.

Monday, June 6

8:47 PM Was a long and tiring afternoon. B and I had some business to attend to in Danville, which ate up about 5 hours, then we stopped by Wal-Mart in South Boston, then we tended to the animals. Becky has “the gift” when it comes to those donkeys. They could care less about me but can’t get enough of Mama B.

Maybe it’s because I’m the guy who applies the fly spray while Becky holds the feed bucket?

12:44 PM Here’s what B and I saw a few minutes ago as we sat at our breakfast room table, eating home-made fajitas for lunch.

Isn’t she a beaut?

11:28 AM Glad to see I’m not the onlysurfing freak out there who loves Jesus. Cowabunga, Down Under Dude!

10:10 AM “Master Pastor” (go here) Mark Turner has a good post up aboutsocial networking faux pas. I just hope I’m not guilty of #3!

9:55 AM Becky Lynn updates her quilt project:

In our last photo, I was sewing the strips together to form the edges of the quilt. Here I layer the top strips, the polyester batting, and the bottom fabric. Yes, I do this on our kitchen counter. When the house was built, Nathan made the counter to be about 3″ higher than the standard counter. It is a wonderful place to work…big and high…so the fabric lies flat and I don’t get a backache. In the background you can see the artwork of Caleb, Isaac, and Micah Rondeau, grandsons whom I love very much!

I moved to the formal dining room to machine-quilt the edges. I need space! The full dimensions of each side is about 12 ft X 3.5 ft, so I had to fold it to keep all the bulk in order. Notice the rose in the foreground. Dave brought that in from our garden. “A rose for a Rose,” he said as he handed it to me. This is consistent with all his behavior towards me. He rules me with his love, and I praise God that the love gets more rich with each passing month!

After completing the quilting, I trim all layers along the bottom edge, but only the top two layers along the other 3 sides. The untrimmed back edge will form the overlay finishing. This is the first time I’ve put a quilt together in this manner…so it was a learning experience! During major sewing projects, the whole kitchen/dining area looks like it is hit by a tornado! I’m getting eager to finish and get things back to order!

Now comes the hardest part of the whole project…joining the 4 big edges to the center quilt. The long seams were not hard, but getting all that bulk to go smoothly around the inner corners was a matter that involved much pleading with the Lord! In the end, I was pleased…it lays flat and looks somewhat professional 🙂  Thank you, Lord!

Now the easiest, quietest work…hand stitching the back overlay to cover the seams. I watched some programs of The Texan (being a 5th-generation Texan myself!), listened to worship songs or the audio Bible (am now in the book of Joshua), or just prayed as I worked.

We’re almost finished. Are you ready for the finished project? I am!

9:18 AM On this, the 67th anniversary of D-Day (our invasion of Nazi-occupied France), I can’t help but reflect on World War II. My parents’ generation has been called “The Greatest Generation” because they fought the Nazis and mobilized for the Cold War. What we forget is the fiscal burden they placed on their posterity, producing an American political system that seems utterly incapable of tackling any big multigenerational problems, including our national debt. America has entered an irreversible downward spiral. We had better understand this new era we’re entering. The American spirit — “We are entitled to whatever we want” — demands growth and consumption. We want the appetizers, the entrees, and the desserts, all at once. Today each follower of Jesus stands at the crossroads on the question of personal priorities. Will we surrender to the spirit of this age, or will we resist and join the downward movement of Jesus, making a conscious choice to deny the normal comforts and conveniences of life for the sake of others? We honor those who die in military service, we celebrate the accomplishments of our nation’s athletes, we honor fire fighters who perish in public service, but the minute a Christian young person refuses to accept the American Dream and voluntarily takes on an assignment that involves suffering we spend hours trying to talk him or her out of “going overboard.” I am not saying that every Christian must become a professional missionary. No, I am saying that if you are really sincere about following Christ you will not be at peace until the whole world knows of Him, and you will be intentional about using whatever He has given you — your wealth, your vocation, your vacations even — to serve the expansion of His kingdom. “What good is knowledge unapplied?” asked one of my pastors recently. What good is an education unless we place it at the feet of King Jesus? Students, my parents’ generation, and my own as well, have failed you because we have catered to the rotten spot in the soul of our nation. We have taught you to expect instant gratification, that the “good life” is the only life there is, that extravagance and waste are the normal patterns of our human existence. We have clenched our fists — not all of us, but many of us — and have refused to receive the nail prints of the cross, unwilling to make even small sacrifices to reach the millions of lost souls in our world. How different this is from the self-sacrifice of our spiritual forefathers in the book of Acts! Something is desperately wrong, and it is up to your generation to turn it around. The only way Christ will be incarnated to a lost world is through you. As the Father sent Him, so He is sending you so that others can taste and feel and see His presence. Could it be that He is calling you — each and every one of you — to manifest His light and power in a dark world? My answer is yes — a million times yes!

P.S. If you are interested in changing the world for Christ, I want to hear from you. I’m currently in the mentoring phrase of my career, having approximately 6-10 years left of fulltime teaching. During this time I am looking for 5-10 additional students into which I will pour my life in our Th.M. and Ph.D. programs. My hope is that not only will your faith be strengthened, but that your love for the world will be deepened and the flame of His gift in you rekindled, so that you will be “blessed in your doing” (James 1:15) and not just in knowing the Gospel. I don’t want one who preaches, I want the one who practices. I’m looking for men and women who are willing to put the Great Commission over pay and career advancement, who are eager to destroy worldly ambitions and selfish priorities and who are serious about following Christ all the way. If you are interested, send me an email at dblack@sebts.edu.

6:45 AM Please join me in welcoming Matt Emerson, one of my seminary colleagues, to the blogosphere. His blog is calledIntertextual Interpretation. You won’t believe his first post.

6:32 AM On taps to watch this evening:The Longest Day. This is a family tradition that goes way back many many years. (On December 7 we watchTora! Tora! Tora!) Speaking of D-Day (June 6, 1944), a free book to the first blogger to correctly identify these major players on that fateful day in world history. You can choose betweenChristian Archy,The Jesus Paradigm, orWhy Four Gospels? — all published by our good friends Henry and Jody Neufeld at Energion Publications.

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Sunday, June 5

8:44 PM Awesome evening at Cal Berryhill’s farm in Person County, working with our Mexican vencinos who are here for the summer, feeding them tons of pizza, each of them receiving a Santa Biblia (Reina Valera, of course) and a simple Gospel tract, and otherwise just hanging with some really hard working guys.

We’ll be meeting together every Sunday night for the foreseeable future for food, fellowship, and Bible teaching. You should have seen all of us gringos trying to converse in Spanish. I think I was probably the worst of the lot, but I am determined to improve.

For toppers, Becky and I arrived home tonight only to find that our new magnolia tree has its very first blossom, which means that more are to come (Lord willing) and that one day, when I am dead and long gone, my grandkids will get to enjoy their grandparents’ foresight.

A day cannot get any better, I really mean that — meeting together for mutual edification, going out to reach the community, spending time with my church family and then the neighborhood family, eating, choking on my Spanish, hugging on people, and making some new friends (Nacho — hola amigo!). I can only call this amazing grace. 

3:14 PM Lots of good takeaways from brother Joel’s excellent message from 1 John 2:12-14 today:

“The Christian faith is not a lazy thing. It’s a faith in which the Gospel drives me to live a holy life and pursue a kingdom agenda.”

“The Gospel message is that God saves, and for the rest of your life God is changing you to use you for His purposes in the world.”

“We at Bethel Hill Baptist Church should teach and live sound doctrine that provides a nurturing environment in which young Christians can grow in their faith.”

“We need to obey the Word of God even when it conflicts with the culture and when it conflicts with traditions in the church.”

“We as mature Christians must mentor and care for those under us. We ought to be seeking out younger believers to mentor and share in their lives.”

And my favorite:

“What good is knowledge unapplied?”

2:55 PM Just back from taking Becky to Mexico Viejo, our favorite Mexican restaurant in South Boston. As we entered I told Becky, “From now on it’s Spanish only, okay?” You should have heard us trying to speak Spanglish with our servers. At one point I said, “Yoquierouna tazadecafé pormiesposa.” I was gently corrected, “Para mi esposa,” said our kind waiter. Another server who looked Hispanic turned out to be from Morocco. She knew no Spanish but spoke good English and even better French. We left, after leaving an extra large tip to cover the service — and their patience — thinking, Yes, the world really is flat. The funniest thing was poor Becky couldn’t keep her Amharic from sneaking into the conversation. Still, she gets an A+ for effort. We both do.

8:38 AM Quote of the day (Mark Lightman):

ου διαφερει, κατα με. ει εγω καταλαμβανω τινα λεγοντα Ελληνιστι εμοι, ἡ προφορὰ τουτου καλη εστιν. ὁ Sean Connery και ὁ Mel Gibson και ὁ Bill Clinton λαλοῦσι Βρεττανικῃ ου μεν ὁμοιως, αλλα παντες καλως. ὁ μεν λεγει tomayto, ὁ δε tomaaato. εν τῃ συναγωγῃ, ὁ μεν λεγει shabBAT shalom, ὁ δε gut SHABbas. ὁ Αθηναιος μεν ελαλησεν “φιλῶ την γην,” ὁ δε Δωρικος ελαλησεν “φιλῶ ταν γαν.” αμφοτεροι εφιλησαν και τε ελαλησαν καλως. το κυριωτερον εστιν το λαλεῖν Ελληνιστι.

Mark is absolutely correct: It really does not matter which pronunciation method of Greek you use (Erasmian, Restored, Modern) as long as you read Greek aloud and are consistent in your pronunciation. Incidentally, an occasional visit to B-Greek: The Biblical Greek Forum would be well worth your time!

8:26 AM Students, if you are taking my Greek 3 class that starts on July 5th, you can begin now to prepare your translations from Philippians. Of the many online texts of the Greek New Testament, one of the very best is http://www.laparola.net/greco/. I  am a huge supporter of this online tool. It will parse each Greek word for you and also show you any major textual variants if you click on the “Manuscript Comparator.” Also, here’s a list ofadditional resources you can use to supplement our grammar textbook,It’s Still Greek to Me.

Enjoy translating Philippians, which is all about Christian unity for the sake of the Gospel!

Saturday, June 4

9:16 PM Brian Fulthorp adds some solid insights to Becky’sessay on cursing, suggesting that cursing (cussing) is often tied to an anger problem. But you can read the whole thinghere.

P.S. Did Jesus prohibit all anger or only unrighteous anger? The key is a textual variant in Matt. 5:22. If you’d like my opinion on whether “without a cause” is original or not, I’d be happy to send you a gratis copy of my Novum Testamentum article, “Jesus on Anger: The Text of Matthew 5:22a Revisited” (first page here). Just send me an email.

8:32 PM Saturday night shout out to my doctoral student Alex Stewart, who has agreed to give a special lecture in my New Testament class this fall. The title of his talk will be “Revelation as Prophetic-Apocalyptic Exhortation.” (Whatever that means, LOL.) Thanks bunches, Alex!

8:14 PM Have you had your evening stroll yet? We just got back from ours.

And who did we find surveying the grounds? None other than Master Nolan Elijah Black himself and his mommy.

He is quite the kisser, but don’t you be tellin’ no one.

Jessie says Nolan now has five new chicks, including an oversized one. When I asked Nolan what its name was, he replied, “Nonan Jaja Chickin'” = Nolan Elijah Chicken.

Ain’t that boy somethin’ else?

5:50 PM Off to cook Chinese again for supper. Am I stuck in a rut or what?

5:45 PM Eric Carpenter’slatest post reminds me of something John Havlik once wrote (People-Centered Evangelism, p. 47): “The church is never a place,” he said, “but always a people; never a fold but always a flock; never a sacred building but always a believing assembly.” Then he added this: “The church is you who pray, not where you pray. A structure of brick or marble can no more be the church than your clothes of serge or satin can be you.” There’s much wisdom here. Thank you, Eric, for showing us what the church looks like!

5:41 PM Graham Michael (who has not left for Israel yet — my bad!) pursues a pacifistic line in his essay calledIsrael: A History. An excellent book on the subject is Guy Hershberger’sWar, Peace, and Nonresistance, which distinguishes between pacifism in the modern sense on the one hand and nonresistance or “defenseless” Christianity on the other. Another book that has informed my understanding of war and peace (and which I quote inThe Jesus Paradigm) is John Howard Yoder’sThe Christian Witness to the State. I commend both tomes to all who are in interested in the Radical Reformation and especially the Anabaptist vision.

9:43 AM The line between superb confidence and tragic overconfidence is often hidden from even the greatest leaders. Case in point: Just before his ignominious defeat at the hands of an army less than half the size of his own, “Fighting” Joe Hooker raised a glass and shouted to his commanders:

God Almighty will not be able to prevent the destruction of the rebel army!

Students, beware hubris! It was tragic overconfidence that brought disaster to the Federal army at Chancellorsville. Only as we abide in Christ — and give Him the glory for anything “we” have accomplished — can we abound in Him. Only what is produced in our hearts by Him is acceptable to Him. Are you doing well in your studies? Are you a successful graduate? Then give Him all the glory.

9:22 AM Did you know that Bryant wrote his magnificent poemThanatopsis when he was only 17 years of age? Young person, don’t be squeamish about writing. You learn by doing. Blog. Tweet. Leave comments on other people’s blogs. Let no one despise your youth.Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. You go Katy!

8:50 AM Bobby Auner has some good thoughts today aboutcriticism: how to give it, and how to receive it. He concludes:

Without our Spirit led conscience crying out there is no use giving criticism a second thought. I am convinced that the best thing to do is say what you mean and own it until the Spirit tells you otherwise. If our tongue needs some taming, he will let us know. Till then, we shouldn’t quench the Spirit within us.

By the way, do you know the difference between constructive criticism and destructive criticism? Constructive criticism is whenever I criticize you. Destructive criticism is whenever you criticize me. (*Smile*)

8:42 AM Aaah, the plants are now refreshed and HAPPY. So am I. I had to smile when I saw this headline over at The Saint Augustine Record:Long-lost church found. I thought maybe somebody had discovered the Book of Acts. (Aren’t I being persnickety this morning?)

8:03 AM Off to water the garden.

7:53 AM SinceBrian (and others) are recommending good books to read, I’d like to add one to the list if I may: Dietrich Bonhoeffer’sLetters and Papers from Prison. For anyone desiring to follow Jesus unreservedly in the 21st century this book will be quite convicting. One quote I use in my bookThe Jesus Paradigm:

The Church is the Church only when it exists for others. To make a start, it would give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The Church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.

Of course, it is not mere instruction and books that we need. Instead we need men and women who will make costly discipleship a deliberate choice — which is exactly what Bonhoeffer did and which is why I love him so much.

7:46 AM I had no idea it was sodry in Australia. If it’s any consolation, Mark, we’ve had to begin watering our garden as well. Believe it or not, drought is not uncommon in North America. As for Mark’s “Here’s to another bumper harvest!” I would only say this: one must be extremely careful about enumerating one’s poultry while the process of incubation is still incomplete.

7:34 AM Yesterday I received an email asking me what I thought of the so-called “Insider Movement.” It seems that some people who are affiliated with this movement have come to believe that Lamsa’s Aramaic New Testament is greatly to be preferred over Greek-based translations. Inasmuch as all of us who follow Jesus are to be fulltime missionaries, I suppose it is necessary for us to become familiar with what’s going on. If asked to choose just one essay on the topic, it would bethis one. Like almost every other response, it recognizes Greek as the base text of the New Testament.

Friday, June 3

5:44 PM Wise words from a great Baptist theologian and pastor in Philadelphia:

[The apostles have] taught us by example how to organize and govern churches. We have no right to reject their instruction and … insist that nothing but positive command shall bind us.

— J. L. Dagg, Manual of Church Order (Harrisonburg, VA: Gano Books, 1990; first published in 1858) p. 84.

5:22 PM Andrew Bowdenresponds to Becky’s essay oncursing. Excellent insights, Andy. Thank you for sharing them with us. 

5:18 PM I was sitting on the front porch a few minutes ago, enjoying the animals, when I noticed this interesting vapor trail formation. Sure looks like a Greek letter, doesn’t it?

I think I’ll call it “Pi in the Sky”!

4:14 PM Hans Küng, in his latest book Ist die Kirche Noch zu Retten? (Can the Church Still Be Saved?), says that only by becoming radical can the Catholic Church survive. This according to areport at The Christian Century.

Küng himself is a radical thinker. A case in point is his 1972 bookWhy Priests? A Proposal for a New Church Ministry, in which he argues that the crisis in the Catholic Church is nothing less than an inadequate biblical foundation. He calls for the rediscovery of the laity and for a return to the New Testament concept of the church, not as a highly organized institution but as a community in which every follower of Jesus is responsible to be a witness to the power of Christ in everyday life.

Point well taken. Protestants, of course, have long cried sola scriptura! But do we really take that claim seriously?

1:58 PM I have benefited greatly from what Guy Muse, a Southern Baptist missionary, wrote on his blog today. In a post calledBaptist Identity, Guy quoted the London Baptist Confession of 1644/46 to this effect:

THAT the ministers lawfully called, as aforesaid, ought to continue in their calling and place according to God’s ordinance, and carefully to feed the flock of God committed to them, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.

Guy infers from this, correctly in my opinion, that pastors are to continue in their professions when assuming pastoral roles within a congregation. Writes Guy:

“…ought to continue in their calling and place…” means to me that if they are a school teacher, they are to continue in that profession and not abandon it for the ministry. Our modern idea of having full-time professional church ministers seems out of tune with this earlier confession of Baptist belief and practice.

Isn’t this wonderful stuff? Some, of course, will ask, “How could a man possibly work fulltime and pastor a church effectively? One or the other will have to suffer!” This is a perfectly reasonable objection. It is obvious to every non-professional minister that the average layperson spends most of his or her time weekly providing for their families. Since they spend an enormous amount of time working for a living, their “church time” can only be a fraction of their ministry. Of course, the solution to this problem is obvious. Simply put, Jesus Christ never entrusted leadership in a local church to a single individual. Leadership in the New Testament was shared. Not surprisingly, therefore, when Paul refers to church leaders (e.g., 1 Thess. 5:12-13) the reference is to a plurality of leadership. In order to be an equipping environment, then, the local church must be structured for shared leadership — what Michael Green wonderfully refers to as a “fellowship of leadership.”

It is strange to think now how far away the London Baptist Confession era seems. It may be due to the subtle influence of the Enlightenment. The old traditions are lulled to rest, replaced by new traditions emanating from the “experts” and “church growth gurus” sitting behind their mahogany decks. I confess that even my own profession has not been immune to such thinking. “No one but a blockhead ever wrote except for money,” declared Samuel Johnson. In that light, the Bible’s “not for filthy lucre” sounds very quaint indeed.

I have taken too many words to say what must be painfully obvious. The Restorationists of 19th century America maintained that no creeds were necessary because the New Testament itself provided a perfect constitution for the church. Are salaries for pastors biblical? Intensive study is leading a new generation of restorationists to conclude that it is not. For them, the Bible is a textbook of revolution.

11:20 AM One thing I so deeply appreciate about Eric Carpenter is that he is rigorously consistent in his primitivism. If it was good enough for the church in Acts, it is good enough for brother Eric! Thus he reckons professional pastors who are parachuted in from the outside of the community to be less than desirable. (He speaketh frompersonal experience.) We have seen that no fixed ranking of fulltime servants in the church can be established from the New Testament. It is also clear that the elders Paul appointed from town to town were all home grown. The blunt fact is that this is the scriptural pattern. It is striking, then, that so few churches practice it. We are much like Zwingli in this regard, who, despite his biblicism, could not conceive of any other order than holy orders. It should not surprise us that the Zürich City Council banned independent Bible study groups. The Anabaptist approach was essentially a lay movement, even though many of its earliest leaders were ordained clerics. Today there is a refreshing revival of this spirit by new movements in the church. For it is indeed the ministry of the laity that is of paramount importance in the contemporary scene.

11:12 AM SEBTS students! If you are at all interested in our new degree in Bible translation and linguistics, then you must check out this post by Wayne Lehman about the need and importance oftranslation checking. It’s a great way to put your language skills in Greek and Hebrew to good use!

6:40 AM Becky’s latest essay is calledIs It Wrong for Christians to Curse?

Here’s an anecdote that goes along with her essay. In Gods and Generals, Jeff Shaara has Robert E. Lee walking through Fredericksburg just after Federal troops have looted it. Shaara writes:

He turned, walked down a side street, saw more of the same, began to move quicker, to the next main street, saw a huge pile of broken furniture, pieces of porcelain, grand vases and small pitchers, dishes, cups, all shattered into pieces. In front of one house a pile of books lay in the mud of the yard, covers ripped off, bindings split, and finally stopped, felt the hot anger tighten in his chest. He clenched his fists through the soreness, lowered his head.

“God …” He fought the anger, felt the sharp edge of the curse rising inside him, held it hard, pushed it back, away. “God, forgive them for what they have done.”

Thursday, June 2

8:06 PM Just checked the mail with Becky and fed the donkeys apples. It was finally cool enough outdoors to drive the tomato stakes.

I always look forward to my first mater sandwich of the summer. Don’t you?

5:30 PM O my,this is good:

Even as Christendom is in the midst of its death throes, the future is brighter than it has been in a long time. Instead of bribing and begging kids to stay in church, it is high time we challenge kids and young adults to step up and be leaders. I am confident that they will respond far better to an expectation to do more than being treated like slackers who can’t handle the truth.

All the more reason to consider acquiring a copy of Kevin Brown’s new book,Rite of Passage for the Home and Church.

5:02 PM In his outstanding book Your Other Vocation (p. 52), Elton Trueblood writes:

If we should take lay religion seriously as was done in the early Christian church, the dull picture presented by so many contemporary churches would be radically altered…. pastors would not be performing while others watch, but helping to stir up the ministry of the ordinary members.

Fabulous quote! In recapturing every-member ministry, the pastors in our churches have a tremendous responsibility. Their role in reform is a major one. They must begin where their people are and move them to where they should go. Which is one reason I am so thrilled to be a part of Bethel Hill. Our pastors are eager to model for the congregation what empowering the laity looks like. In the coming months the pulpit will be filled by several non-pastors — men in the church who have the gift of teaching and from whom the congregation has much to learn. We are rightly proud of our “home-grown” leaders. We will perhaps never be known for the pulpit prowess of one man. This is not important. In your traditional Southern Baptist church, the laity typically act as assistants to the professional clergy. It is my belief that the clergy’s expertise should be used  in helping the laity to rediscover their sense of ministry right where they are. This practice of empowering and equipping and releasing the laity for ministry is not unknown in Southern Baptist life. But it is mostly restricted to special Sundays typically known as “Men’s Day” or “Youth Sunday.” On these occasions the pastoral staff takes a low profile. The entire service, from beginning to end (including the “preaching”), is done by the laity, including the young people. On these special occasions it is clear that people are eager to participate if given the chance. The old saying “Ministry is more caught than taught” comes alive. It is learned by “on the job” training.

What does this imply for pastoral leadership? What is done on one or possibly two Sundays could easily be duplicated each and every Sunday of the year. I am not calling into question the necessity or value of pastoral leadership. Far from it. I am simply raising the question of the most strategic use of pastoral ministry in the deployment of the entire congregation for works of service both in and out of the church.

Elton Trueblood is right. There is little biblical justification for a setting in which pastors perform and people watch. Every “worship service” can become a training center for Christian vocation.

3:02 PM Yard work is officially done. I still need to pound some tomato stakes for Becky, but the heat index is telling me I need to stay indoors until this evening. I think I’ll go down for a little rest, but not before calling your attention to an absolutely fantasticcomment by brother Art Mealer over at Alan-the-Assembler-Knox’s site.

Cheers!

11:22 AM Odds and ends …

1) Great news! Steve Frary of the seminary’s library, whose essay “Who Was Manifested in the Flesh? A Consideration of Internal Evidence in Support of a Variant in 1 Tim 3:16a” appeared in the journal Filologia Neotestamentaria, will be my guest lecturer in New Testament Introduction 2 this fall. He will joined by our resident text-critical expert, Maurice Robinson (“Big Mo”). The date is Nov. 2 at 2:00 pm in Binckley 101. Steve and Maurice will be defending the reading “God.” Come on out if you’re at all interested in New Testament textual criticism.

2) Glad to see that Mark Stevens has jump-started his fabulous websiteThe Parson’s Patch. Any words of a fellow gardener are most appreciated. I wonder if Mark will now revive hisBlack Tuesday series?

3) Becky has just written a fine essay in response to the question, “Is it wrong for Christians to curse?” I hope to publish it tomorrow.

4) Andy Bowden, who plans on pursuing his doctorate in Germany, is excited aboutsome books he’s gotten on that fascinating country. Andy, don’t forgetGermans by George Bailey. It’s a real classic.

5) Speaking of the Germans, did you know that they love to reenact the Civil War? TheAmerican Civil War, that is!

6) Time to mow the lawn.

10:16 AM I am blessed to have a father-in-law who loves Ethiopia as much as Becky and I do. In fact, were it not for Brad and Betty Lapsley, Bec and I would probably not be connected to “Utopia” at all. I feel certain, however, that Mr. Lapsley must be harboring some hidden vendetta against me in view of the .pdf he just sent us. It’s calledA Contextual Study of Guji-Oromo Proverbs: Functions in Focus. This somewhat esoteric sounding work originated as a masters thesis at Addis Ababa University. Undoubtedly dad actually intends for me to read it.

Well, since I am a lover of all things Guji, I have decided to take the plunge — then pass the work on to Alvin Reid, who is hankering for some good summer reading (only kidding, Al!). Who, you ask, are the Gujis? Only a tribe with a reputation for being the fiercest fighters in all of Southern Ethiopia. This may or not be true, but I tend to believe it. It was among this tribe that brother Jason and I evangelized three years ago, knowing full well that the last two Burji evangelists to work among the Gujis (Guyo and Guba) had been murdered there.

James, our 24-year old translator (shown above), was murdered soon after our own visit to the Gujis. Personally I owe James much — and not merely because he risked his life to serve with us. He was a man of contagious joy, as devout a Christian as I have ever met, yet unlike so many of us Americans he was rarely the prey of black moods and morbid, overconscienteous fantasies. I was never wholly at ease with him accompanying us, but he was not to be stopped. “The Lord Himself has told me I must go with you,” was his quiet reply, and that was that. When Gideon and his 300 mighty men attacked the Midianites, they had to smash their earthen vessels in order to confuse the enemy with the sudden light. This is, I believe, exactly what Paul had in mind when he referred to the Christian as an earthen vessel (2 Cor. 4:7-8). We want people to admire our vessels and we show off how talented and educated and valuable we are. James realized that there is no experience of Christ without the cross, that no power is released unless we risk suffering for His sake.

I hope indeed to learn much about the Gujis by reading this thesis. I have not given up on my hope of returning some day to Gujiland. God has a path for each one of us if we will but ask Him for the privilege of suffering. 

Wednesday, June 1

8:33 PM Inthis outstanding blog post, Paul Burleson likens the church to a symphony orchestra under the “baton” of the Lord Jesus Christ. This analogy has often occurred to me as well. The other night I mentioned to you that I was watching Brahm’s German Requiem on You Tube. The thought of “This is the church!” kept going through my mind.

Individual players. Each exercising his or her own gift. No instrument more important than the next. (Even the “ding ding thing” — the triangle — has its place in an orchestra.) Some players more experienced and further along in their craft than others. Perhaps there’s even a concert master (usually the first violinist). Certainly there are section leaders. But when the orchestra plays, no one instrumentalist is more important than the next, and ALL are under the direction of the conductor. (And there is only one conductor!)

Why is this so hard to see? This is the church!

7:59 PM Our good friend Arthur Sido is leading a Bible study and seekssuggestions as to which curriculum he should use. Please don’t think me obnoxious, but one really need look no further than the Word of God itself. In Ethiopia that’s all we teach. We don’t use Piper, or MacArthur, or Warren, or even any of my books. Every person who teaches for us agrees to teach the Scriptures, verse by verse. Here’s one of them:

Dale taught through the book of 1 John. You know, sola scriptura and all that. Honestly, I don’t know of a book other than the Bible that better matches Arthur’s criterion:

I want something substantive and challenging, something that will stretch minds.

5:02 PM This fall I have decided to ask my New Testament class to readThe Jesus Paradigm. There’s a story behind this decision. Care to hear it?

I’ve had a long and happy teaching career, broken only by graduate study in Basel. I have, of course, taught thousands of students in person, but I fancy myself in thinking that I have also had the privilege of instructing a good number of them through my publications. I was once asked by a budding author, “For whom should I write?” His “target audience” was behind the question. It might amuse you to know how I answered it. “I always write for my students.” I may be wrong, but I imagine that my colleagues in the guild are either too busy or too disinterested in anything I have to say to read my books — but my students! They are an eager bunch indeed; and, I believe, it is their generation that will rewrite the future.

Half the advantage of going away to school is, well, going away to school. You’re off on your own, making your own way in the world. For me, arriving at Biola in 1971 meant migrating from the balmy climes of Hawaii to the invigorating intellectual atmosphere of Southern California. I was doing, literally, what no one in my family had done before. I had gone to college. I became captivated in school by the biblical languages, the wisdom of the church fathers, the skepticism of the skeptics and the theology of the theologians. My Greek professor in college, of course, did his best to weed me out, but little did he know that I was destined (divine passive!) to be a lifelong student of New Testament Greek. At any rate, he eventually hired me to teach 11 units of Greek at Biola, which meant that I could indulge in my favorite pastime and even get paid for it.

As a matter of fact, I had never set out to become a professional Greek teacher; I “slid” into my teaching career, no doubt with more than a touch of foible about me. I suppose my public reputation was one of a Greek scholar, as far as the academic public was concerned. But my main interests did not catch the public eye. When I began to teach the New Testament documents I was not mature enough to grasp all of their implications. I have no doubt that, like my Doktorvater in Basel, I was drawn to Gospel studies. To me his lectures on New Testament history were intensely stimulating and made a deep impression on me at the time. I had no doubt that Bo Reicke was on the right side of the synoptic problem. I still think so. It is curious, then, that my dissertation dealt with a problem in Pauline lexicography. It was not until the year 2000 or so that I had the courage to publish my views about thehistorical origins of the Gospels. I discovered, in reading the Gospels for myself, that a deep and subtle change was taking place in my life. I had the impression of being in the presence of a great man. In school I had been taught about Christianity; the Gospels were teaching me how to be a Christian. It stole my heart to see such a man as Jesus stoop down and wash His disciples’ feet, as if it were a matter of supreme importance to Him. It suddenly increased my own sense of hypocrisy. To discover that you are a professor of New Testament and Greek without possessing the self-effacing mind of your Savior — well,that is life changing.

I fear my published attempt to recount the dramatic shift that took place in my life — The Jesus Paradigm — is not my best work. But it is as good as I knew how to make it. To my disappointment, Learn to Read New Testament Greek outsells The Jesus Paradigm by a hundredfold. I do not pretend to be able to explain this. There is certainly less attention in Greek classes to costly service for Christ than the rules and exceptions as set down in the grammars. But who can gaze into the pages of the Gospels and not have his or her life turned upside down? It is as if an old lion has turned in his cage to look at you, only that all the bars have magically disappeared.

Life, for me, was undeniably barren until I encountered Him. Oddly enough, one can be a fulltime seminarian (on either side of the desk) and not realize this.

4:45 PM This will be an exceptionally busy summer for Becky and me. On the 9th of this month Becky will comfortably install herself in the Upstate New York home of our adopted daughter Liz, who is about to have her fourth child (a girl this time). As you know, one of Becky’s spiritual gifts is grandmothering, and I will consider myself blessed if I see her before the end of summer. (Actually, she has purchased a round trip ticket and will return home on the 20th.) My own calendar lists a 12-day trip to Asia this month, a summer school course in July, and theSNTS meeting at Bard College in August. Of course, this summer Becky will have the second of two CT scans. My wife, whose instinct in such matters is infinitely truer than mine, has absolutely no anxieties. Why worry when you have each other, and God besides? I have discovered, in these years of fading health, that friendship, and especially a friendship that may one day soon be sealed by death, is a significant blessing. How can I, with such a friendship, ever complain?

4:38 PM I am not a grouser, but I had hoped for better thanthis — first, because a mere listing of names accomplishes nothing, and second, because it takes a great deal of mental gymnastics to associate a John Howard Yoder with a Thomas Müntzer. Yoder detested religious militarism. He said so.

Wikipedia is incredible — I use the term in an intentionally ambiguous manner.

10:42 AM Recently I had a student visit me with a question. “What areas of church polity,” he asked, “might make a good topic for a doctoral dissertation?” At the time I despaired of coming up with an answer; there were simply too many thoughts bouncing around in my mind. The church restoration movement is neither a single social organization nor a single intellectual movement. I therefore despair of coming up with any exhaustive list of what I believe a New Testament church ought to look like. The notion of a royal priesthood captures well, I think, my overall perspective of the composition of an authentically New Testament church. I have frequently argued this point on my website and in my more recent print publications. However, there are several strands in this perspective that bear unraveling, if only in a tentative way. The following list is, perhaps, a good place to start.

What, then, can we learn about New Covenant ministry? What convictions might we draw from the New Testament evidence? I offer the following as a humble attempt to move the discussion forward.

I am convinced that the house church rather than the sanctuary church was the New Testament norm.

I am convinced of the normacy of tentmaking leadership.

I am convinced that the church exists in part to equip all of its members for ministry.

I am convinced that the leadership of the church should be shared for the health of the congregation.

I am convinced that top-down structures of leadership are unquestionably more efficient — efficient in doing almost everything than equipping, which is the primary task of leadership. 

I am convinced that the process of appointing new elders is best done on the basis of recognizing who is already serving as an elder in the church.

I am convinced that any local church that takes seriously Jesus as the Senior Pastor will not permit one man to become the titular head of the church.

I am convinced that the essential qualifications for ministry in the church have little or nothing to do with formal education and everything to do with spiritual maturity.

I am convinced that the church is a multigenerational family, and hence one of the things that makes the church the church is the presence of children, parents, and other adults.

I am convinced that because every local church has all the spiritual gifts it needs to be complete in Christ, believers should be exposed to the full expression of the charisms (grace-gifts) when they gather, in contrast to specialized ministries that center around singularly gifted people.

I am convinced that the local church is the scriptural locus for growing to maturity in Christ, and that no other training agency is absolutely needed.

I am convinced that the local church ought to be the best Bible school going.

I am convinced that Paul’s letters were not intended to be studied by ordinands in a theological college but were intended to be read and studied in the midst of the noisy life of the church.

I am convinced that the church is a theocracy directly under its Head (Jesus Christ), and that the will of the Head is not mediated through various levels of church government but comes directly to all His subjects.

I am convinced that the goal of leadership is not to make people dependent upon its leaders but dependent upon the Head.

I am convinced that since all believers are “joints” in the body, ministry is every believer’s task.

I am convinced that pastor-teachers, as precious gifts of Christ to His church, are to tend the flock of God by both personal care and biblical instruction, equipping God’s people for works of service both in the church and in the world.

I am convinced that the role of pastor-teacher is a settled ministry in a local congregation.

I am convinced that leaders should communicate that every part of the body is interrelated to the other parts and indispensable; every member will be appreciated, every charism will be treasured.

I am convinced that the whole church, the community of all the saints together, is the clergy appointed by God for ministry.

In conclusion, the fundamental premise upon which I operate is that each believer in the church needs to be equipped for his or her own ministry both in the church and in the world. If the church is to become what God intended it to be, it must become a ministerium of all who have placed their faith in Christ. The whole people of God must be transformed into a ministering people. Nothing short of this will restore the church to its proper role in the kingdom of God.

(This blog post has also been published as an essay on our home page under the titleWhat Does a New Testament Church Look Like?)

7:24 AM Have you ever been awakened in the early morning hours, seemingly by the voice of God Himself, a whisper initiating you to Come, spend time with Me? Becky has, and offers her reflections in her latest essay, which has the inviting titleA Sunrise on the Front Porch.

7:18 AM My colleague Alvin Reid lists hissummer reading. Wish I was as organized and disciplined as he is. I completely agree with this sentiment, however:

I have so much to learn, so many areas where I am not what I should be for my students. I pray reading these books will help to stretch me so that I can in turn stretch those I teach.

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June 2010 Blog Archives

Sunday, June 13

6:28 PM Quote of the day (George W. Peters):

God is a God of missions. He wills missions. He commands missions. He demands missions. He made missions possible through His Son. He made missions actual in sending the Holy Spirit.

 

6:21 PM Becky’s been blogging again. As usual,great stuff.

6:18 PM A big Sunday shout out to Nicholas and Joyce Muteti of Rollesville Baptist Church in Wake Forest. Nicholas is a former student of mine and has been shepherding at Rollesville for over a decade now.

I was privileged to speak during their annual “Homecoming” service this morning. The congregation was formed in 1859. Their current building (constructed in the early 1900s) is now a historical landmark.

I could tell at once that I would love this congregation. Why can’t all of our churches be as ethnically diverse as this one!

If anything we Baptists know how to do well, it’s eat.

Thank you, my brothers and sisters, for your warm welcome. Let’s keep the Mutetis in prayer this week as they return to their native country of Kenya (for the first time in 16 years) to help establish a new church plant among the Massai.

Saturday, June 12

9:47 PM Want to play around a bit with the Amharic language of Ethiopia? Check outthis delightful site. Some great links too.

9:22 PM Quote of the day #4 (Carl F. H. Henry):

The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.

7:15 PM I see that Messiah Baptist Church’s newest tradition isgathering on the beach. Reminds me of my Jesus Freak days when we used to “go to church” at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Sunday mornings. There’s nothing quite like surfing for a couple of hours, paddling in, gathering with the Body, then paddling back out again. The services were sponsored by the Waikiki Beach Chaplaincy. Those were the days.

6:49 PM Excited and honored to be speaking in Wake Forest tomorrow morning. Then it’s 2 Ph.D. orals on Monday before flying to Orlando early Tuesday. May Jesus be honored in it all.

6:05 PM Quote of the day #3:

If you are a member of an SBC church, watch and pray. If you used to be a member of an SBC church or if you are a Christian and have a negative opinion of denominations, please, pray for us. There is really only one Church. As the SBC we have an incredible network of churches. We have deep pockets of resources. Therefore we have enormous accountability. It’s time to quit focusing on internal politics and time to focus our internal resources on an external world that is lost.

ReadWhy I Am Going To Attend My First Southern Baptist Convention.

5:52 PM Quote of the day #2:

As we have a high old time this Christmas may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance. May we be moved with compassion as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance for these we have failed to bring out of darkness. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha.

— Nate Saint, two weeks before he was martyred by the Auca Indians.

1:46 PM Quote of the day (Eric Carpenter):

In humility and complete dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit, we must be willing to let scripture challenge any beliefs, practices, and traditions we have. This can be painful. It can be very humbling.

ReadMere Traditianity.

1:34 PM More good news! I just finished writing the new postscript to Why Four Gospels? All I have to do now is type it up. Good feeling.

1:22 PM Good news! I’ve just added a new link to our sidebar: Amharic Essays. Special thanks to Nigussie Denano (below right) for translating these essays for us. Nigu, you are boop amaaazing!

Be sure to tell all of your Ethiopian friends about it.

12:11 PM I am deeply moved by the story of Abby Sunderland — her courage, and the courage of the crew of the French fishing vessel that saved her life.

The vessel’s captain was washed overboard in the rescue effort but later was “fished out of the water.” A spiritual application? Again, the teenagers in our churches are not averse to humongous challenges and even risk-taking for a cause they deem worthwhile. Note this statement in a recentTelegraph article on Abby’s rescue:

Many criticised her parents for allowing her to sail off alone in a small boat, knowing it would be tossed about for 30 or more hours at a time by the giant waves that rake the southern hemisphere’s oceans this time of year.

Her parents have dismissed the criticisms as symptomatic of modern, risk-averse society, saying a teenager could just as easily die while driving a car.

Mom and dad Sunderland, I applaud you.Our teenagers are capable of doing adult kinds of things — precisely because they are young adults. John writes about them when he says, “I am writing to you, young people, because you are strong, because the Word of God abides in you, and because you have overcome the world.” The teenage years ought to be the best years of our lives — and they can be if they are invested in things that last for eternity.

I am also awed by the courage of the crew of that French fishing vessel. Sounds like missions to me: you risk your life to save another person, no matter what their nationality might be. The great old hymn by Philip Bliss puts it this way:

Brightly beams our Father’s mercy,
From His lighthouse evermore,
But to us He gives the keeping
Of the lights along the shore.

Refrain:
Let the lower lights be burning!
Send a gleam across the wave!
Some poor struggling, fainting seaman
You may rescue, you may save.

Dark the night of sin has settled,
Loud the angry billows roar;
Eager eyes are watching, longing,
For the lights along the shore.

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother;
Some poor sailor, tempest-tossed,
Trying now to make the harbor,
In the darkness may be lost.

I urge all of us to stop chasing our own ambitions, dreams, and plans and get busy with saving the lost seaman whom the Lord puts in our path. Attending missionary conferences won’t get the job done. The work remains undone because we don’t have men and women, including young men and young women, with servant hearts who will lose their personal identities in getting the work done and the commission fulfilled.

Friday, June 11

4:51 PM Off to our local Chinese restaurant to celebrate Nolan’s birthday.

4:48 PM Quote of the day (Hudson Taylor):

If I had a thousand lives, I’d give them all for China.

I feel the same way about Ethiopia.

4:44 PM Arthur Sido reminds us that shepherds (i.e., pastors) arestill sheep and part of the flock.

My point is that shepherding can only be correctly understood when we recognize Jesus as the Shepherd and ourselves, even the most famous pastors, as sheep. We may perform some shepherding functions but when we lose sight of Christ as the Shepherd and the only Shepherd of the church, we get into trouble.

Has this great truth an implication for the titles we use in our churches? If Jesus is in fact THE Chief Shepherd (Senior Pastor), isn’t it an affront to Him to assume that title for ourselves? (“Lead Pastor” carries the same connotation in my thinking.) Why not be content to recede into a group of non-hierarchical elders? Do we really need to be so status conscious?

By the way, when I teach about leadership (whether in Ethiopia or in other places) I often teach from John 10. So much to learn from the Good Shepherd about shepherding!

1:36 PM The latest issue of CT features Ed Stetzer on denominations. Ed’s peroration:

To paraphrase Churchill’s comments about democracy: Denominations are the worst way to cooperate—except for all the others. They are riddled with weak, ineffective, and arrogant leadership, prone to navel-gazing, and often move more slowly than they should. But these aspects are products of human fallibility and sin. Every time churches work together, ego, failure, and inefficiency will arise. And when they don’t work together, ego, failure, and inefficiency will arise. People, not denominations, are the source.

Denominations at their best are not places to get something but places to give and to serve. Our gifts, passions, and experience have greater influence through a worldwide denominational network. Through a denomination, we can provide resources to people we will never meet, reach places we will never go, and preach the gospel to lost souls who are beyond our personal reach. We can find what we need and give as much as we want—because the key to cooperation is to both give and receive.

Food for thought, for sure. I think I’d also emphasize the need for local churches to work directly with other local churches (regardless of their denomination)  in kingdom work, with most (if not all) of the work being done by volunteers. This would cut out (or reduce) the administrative overhead and bureaucratic bloat that often characterizes large denominations. Returning missions to the local church would, of course, require a return to every-member ministry and fly in the face of the professionalization of ministry that has become the backbone of the modern missionary enterprise.

12:40 PM Read German sermonshere.

12:28 PM The Unreached People of the Day are theAceh of Indonesia.

Pop: 3,758,000

Religion: Islam

Percentage of Evangelical Christians: 0.00

Read those stats again. And we don’t need a Great Commission Resurgence? Tom Elliff said itlike this today:

Some might suggest that the report’s acknowledgement of other “Great Commission” avenues of doing our work will somehow weaken our support of the Cooperative Program. I see, instead, that these recommendations are a fresh call to embrace the Cooperative Program. After all, nothing is to be gained by pretending that we alone have a corner on the Kingdom.

The heart of the Lord Jesus whom I love beats for the lost. Until we Christians have entered that heartbeat, we don’t have the strength to pick up our cross and follow Him, regardless of what our denomination might be. Does a passionate commitment to world evangelization seem improbable to you? May I ask you to take a minute and do a spiritual inventory of your life? What are living for? What would you be willing to die for? When was the last time you laid aside your agenda and said, “Here am I, Lord, send me”?

Yes, I am speaking to my beloved colleagues in academia!

10:10 AM The garden needs weeding and the yard needs mowing. I need exercise. What a great combination. 

9:49 AM Bec and I have been praying for some dear friends who are facing an important decision. Oswald Chambers once said: “Never run before God’s guidance. If there is the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt — don’t” (My Utmost for His Highest, Jan. 4). James says it even better: “If you need wisdom — if you want to know what God wants you to do — ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking” (NLT). Scripture clearly teaches us: If your heart is sincerely open to doing ONLY God’s will, you will hear His voice. But remember: “His voice is so gentle that it is easy to ignore” (My Utmost, May 13).

9:42 AM Being a person who pleases God has nothing to do with my circumstances, my family, my friends, or my work, but everything to do with how deeply I abide in Christ. 

8:02 AM Born a year ago today:

How I praise God for His goodness in giving us Nolan. Even more exhilarating is the knowledge that God’s purposes for us, from the moment He created us, have never changed. I pray that Nolan may come to know God intimately and follow Him in a way that others can taste and see again the presence of Jesus walking and living among them. Praise the Lord for his godly parents. May God’s Cause be furthered through you in this dark and dying world. 

Thursday, June 10

8:24 PM Here’s a crazy notion. If we took Phil. 2:3-4 seriously and literally, we would have ads for TEDS featuring the benefits of studying at Talbot. Unfortunately, our Christian magazines are full of photographs and statistics designed to show how great we are.

In the world of advertising, the church has become just like the secular world all around us. There is little self-denial. SEBTS is a great place to study, but if you leave Southeastern to study at DTS because you believe this is God’s will for your life, I’ll be your greatest cheerleader.

When Jesus dramatically washed His disciples’ feet, He demonstrated the attitude He expects of His followers throughout all time and in all circumstances.

2:48 PM I’m hoping the theme of next week’s SBC convention in Orlando will be humility before God and each other. We must realize that while God really desires us to be shining lights in the world, it is equally important that we are not offering service to God in the power of the flesh. As never before, we need leaders who will not only tell us what a Great Commission Resurgence looks like, but who will show us what it looks like by their lives. I’m so grateful to God that we have many such men and women in our churches today, including my colleague Alvin Reid who left today on a mission trip to Thessaloniki and President Akin who recently spent time in southern Sudan.

8:22 AM Question for you. In Phil. 2:16 did Paul say we are to “hold fast to” or “hold forth” the Word of life? My personal preference is the latter interpretation because I think it better fits the context (“shining as lights in the world”). Plainly, however, Paul could have intended both meanings (thus making the expression a case of intentional ambiguity). His point, then, would be that while it is important, vital even, to hold fast to the Gospel (i.e., preserve and protect it from error), that is never enough. We must protect and proclaim the life-giving Word. This notion is consistent with everything we read in the Pauline epistles. Paul was no mean theologian, but he was every bit as much a great evangelist, perhaps more so. And, since he invites his readers to share his attitude in these matters, he implies that doctrine is never sufficient in itself, unless that doctrine is applied in practical ways. This dual emphasis upon the sanctity of the Gospel and our responsibility to share it with others is present again and again in Paul. To put it another way, a church should never be centered on itself. Every true Bible church is also a missional church.

8:04 AM Quote of the day (Jürgen Moltmann):

It is only when human beings see themselves simply as human beings, no longer as gods, that they are in a position to perceive the wholly other nature of God.  It is only when we cease to be unhappy supermen and pathetic mini-gods and permit ourselves to become human beings through and through again that we let God be God.

7:41 AM What were you doing 30 years ago? Exactly 30 years ago I graduated from Talbot Seminary with my M.Div. I was 28 years young.

It was 30 summers ago that Becky and I began the process of moving to Basel, Switzerland to begin doctoral studies under Prof. Bo Reicke.

My first journal article would be published at about that time (GTJ, 1981), though I would have to wait another 4 years to see my first book in print. 30 years ago I was a Los Angeles Rams and Lakers fan, bar none. I already had 4 years of teaching experience under my belt at Biola College. I was using Chase and Phillips’ beginning Greek grammar in my classes. Eventually I changed to Summers. We were apartment dwellers at the time. No pets. We attended the College Church in La Mirada. Our favorite restaurant was El Cholo’s.

Fast forward 30 years. So what have I learned in this time?

• That I am called upon to live in the light of the cross.

• That I am to sacrifice my self (and my body if necessary) for Christ.

• That I am required as a follower of Jesus to forfeit things that I consider perfectly legitimate in order that I might win others with the Gospel.

• That I am told in the Scriptures not only to be good but to do good.

There is pain in these reflections. The past 30 years have not, for the most part, been lived for others. Not, at least, in any sacrificial sense. Nor has love been my constant priority. To fail in love is to fail completely in our witness to Christ. I have grown, perhaps, in my theological grasp, my teaching ability, my leadership qualities, my publishing record, my loyalty to the local church. The fact remains, however, that all of these things are irrelevant in the eyes of a lost world. My academic attainments, my scholarly reputation, my list of publications — these are purely secondary when it comes to my witness to others. What the world knows, and sees, and recognizes, and values, and needs is love. As Francis Schaeffer once put it, love is the distinguishing mark of the Christian and the greatest apologetic for Christianity. Has love been my constant priority these past 30 years? Hardly. But gradually, year by year, I’ve begun to realize that the great blows of God are designed to awaken me from the slumber of my tiny humanity and make a Christian out of me. My trials have produced spiritual muscles even as my body grows feeble and flabby. I have been forced — yes, trials push one towards the love of God! — forced, I say, to stop trusting in my own looks, eloquence, power, or ability and to trust instead in the incredible grace of God in Christ. 30 years ago I had the world wrapped around my little finger. Christianity was easy. Today I gladly admit: There is no such thing as easy Christianity. As never before, Christ’s love has gripped me, propelled me, and impelled me along one magnificent obsession: To know Him and to make Him known. I am rich in Christ, and these riches have nothing to do with diplomas or degrees. That sounds too simple, perhaps, but it is the voice of 30 years of experience speaking. If you are a Christian, you are rich too. I hope that you too will find true riches, know them, claim them, and live in the proved experience of them.

Wednesday, June 9

9:17 PM Shot this tonight. Our Creator is awesome.

6:33 PM (Another!) farm update: We were able to get up a few of our bales today. Spent most of our time helping an elderly neighbor get up his. O Ripple Field, O Ripple Field, if the weather cooperates we’ll finish thee tomorrow.

One final thought on this, my birthday. Reaching adulthood is one thing. It doesn’t mean we stop maturing, however. One can never say, “I have arrived. I have reached the pinnacle of Christian living. I’ve no more learning to do. So let others come to me and glean from my vast wisdom and experience.” Spiritual adults make their relationship with God their top priority. And this always results in our own continuing growth. At 58 I’m beginning to feel my physical age. But the important question is: Am I still maturing spiritually? I hope so.

9:47 AM Brief farm update: Nate (the master of the harvest) tells me the hay is still a bit too wet to be baled, so very shortly we will be putting yesterday’s harvest into the barns. In the meantime I am making very good progress on writing the new postscript toWhy Four Gospels? When that is done I hope to bring the bibliography up to date. I am eager to see the book republished and even more eager to see our students rethinking the whole synoptic problem.

9:06 AM I have two doctoral students taking their orals next Monday. Want them to know of my prayers. By the way, I’m thinking of doing the orals in German.

(*Joke*.)

8:54 AM I’m reading Colossians. In Col. 1:23 Paul says he became a “minister” of the Gospel. Apparently Paul could not speak of the Gospel without thinking of his own role as a minister (or servant — the Greek term is diakonos) of the Gospel. At the same time, in 1:25 he calls himself a “minister” of the church. What a powerful combination. Paul serves the Gospel and at the same time he serves the church. Could these terms be used interchangeably to describe me? Am I a servant of the Gospel? A servant of the church? I want to be. I need to be — if there is to be any Great Commission Resurgence. 

7:44 AM From my morning devotions in Romans: “How beautiful are the feet of those messengers who announce the Good News!” How beautiful indeed!

7:37 AM Food for thought:

The stubborn adherence to Markan priority in the face of all its weaknesses compels one to conclude that it has been regarded almost unconsciously as a dogma of scholarship….

Why Four Gospels? (p. 58).

7:26 AM Lord willing, a week from today I’ll be hosting a table at the SEBTS alumni luncheon in Orlando. Hope to see many alums there.

7:23 AM When God says “Fear Not” He means it. 

7:20 AM Today I am officially on old geezer. Or was that last year’s birthday lol!

Tuesday, June 8

7:27 PM Just scarfed down the leftover spaghetti from yesterday’s party. I refuse to cook spaghetti ever again — at least not when Matt’s around to prepare it.

7:04 PM Haying, Day 2:

We began the day by putting up several trailer loads of hay into one of our barns.

You may recall me documenting the construction of this barn. It’s a simple building with cedar posts and pine rafters. All the lumber and tin was scavenged.

Any broken bales go to feed our Angus or our Holsteins.

No explanation needed:

The field we worked on yesterday required more raking and baling today. This too went into our barns.

Then it was off to the “ripple field.” The name derives from its undulating features. My job was to rake it.

Here’s Nate preparing to bale it.

We worked from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. The day closed with Jessie driving the hay to the barn.

Someone once quipped, “I love work; I could watch it all day.” Well, I do enjoy watching hay being baled.

And I enjoy picking it up too. Square bales are not seen much in these parts. That’s because square baling is too labor intensive for most farmers. I’m grateful for the physical strength to do this kind of work.

Tomorrow: More haying.

8:37 AM I apologize for yet another farming video, but there is nothing I enjoy quite so much as getting up hay.

 

7:44 AM A few pix from yesterday.

Here we are at the Staunton River State Park. The pool is Olympic-sized. We explored, I think, every nook and cranny in it.

Micah enjoyed the wading pool.

On the way home we noticed Nate and Jess out haying.

I got on my grubbies and proceeded to man my duty station: the rake.

We got up several trailer loads.

… including this monster. Do I look like a strutting peacock or what?

Jessie drove the truck. Nolan has a “desk job” (the expression is Nate’s).

When we finally arrived back at Bradford Hall, Matt was busily preparing our birthday dinner.

With lots of help from Liz of course.

The table was beautifully set.

Waiting for Mama B to say the magic word before we can start eating: “Enjoy!”

Little wonder I call him the “balloon boy.”

How many people does it take to light 59 candles?

I needed lots of help blowing them out, too.

Only one of those 59 candles was Nolan’s, and it was the biggest of the lot.

The dessert was yummy.

Did I say the dessert was yummy? 

Nolan agrees.

Micah loves his Papa B, and his Papa B loves him!

Time to open presents. Mine were mostly of the gastronomic variety, including salsa and chips.

Here Caleb reads Nolan’s birthday cards to him.

Time to say goodbye and goodnight!

All except for Nate and me. We had more bales to pick up out of the fields.

And thus the day drew to a close.

I want to thank Becky, Matt, Liz, Caleb, Isaac, Micah, Nate, Jess, and my co-celebrant Nolan for making my birthday dinner so wonderful. I could not imagine a more perfect day!

Monday, June 7

11:08 AM Believe it or not, I can’t find my swimming trunks. This is embarrassing for anyone who hails from Hawaii. Looks like I will have to swim in my jeans. Tell it not in Gath!

10:24 AM Gohere to read about the Tigre, the “Unreached People of the Day.” The Tigre people of Eritrea (and Ethiopia) are very close to my heart. The Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is Tigre (pictured below), as is the current Prime Minister. This is just one of many tribes in Eritrea and Ethiopia out of which God is calling a people to worship in His presence (Rev. 5:9).

By the way, while you’re at the Bethel Hill site, take a look at Becky’sinterview with our new Sunday School Director (and former missionary to Ethiopia!), Stacey Hatley.

9:24 AM Just published: El Camino para Auto-Apoyo según Tesalonicenses. For more Spanish essays, go here.

9:08 AM I think my favorite part of the movie The Longest Day is the portrayal of the assault by British glider commandos on the Orne River Bridge at 11 minutes past midnight. Imagine being the first allies to land in occupied France, surrounded by your enemies and knowing that relief could take hours if not days to arrive from the coast.

I think it takes as much unflinching courage to be a missionary today in some places of the world. The truth is, every Christian is a soldier. We must be so committed to our cause that we are prepared to maintain our objective even at the cost of our lives. We are to “wage the good warfare” (1 Tim. 1:18) and “take our share of suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:3). To be honest, there is nothing more difficult in my life than traveling to rural Ethiopia. It’s just plain hard on the old body. But even harder than the physical discomfort is the spiritual opposition. The devil is indeed a “roaring lion prowling around looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Satan will do all he can to undermine the kingdom of God in Ethiopia, but not only there but also in Mecklenburg County Virginia. There is a very clear lesson for me here. I cannot escape the battle. I cannot declare myself a conscientious objector and sit out the war. Every Christian faces diabolical and personal opposition (just read The Screwtape Letters). And we must be determined to repel every attempt of the enemy to occupy God’s territory.

Thankfully, we do not fight alone. Jesus is always with us — and not only is He present. I can draw strength and courage from my fellow soldiers like Cindi and Danny and Jon and Nicole and Jason and Rick and Matthea. After all, we are on the winning side!

8:32 AM A bearing in the haybine is kaput. Hope to have it replaced today. Looks like Tuesday and Wednesday will be baling days. Today it looks like I’m going swimming with the boys. Tonight is THE birthday party to end all birthday parties!

8:20 AM Two more quotes about the church from my 1980 master’s thesis The Address of the Ephesian Epistle:

Eduard Lohse (Die Entstehung des Neuen Testaments, p. 192):

Ob in der Mehrzahl oder in der Einzahl von der ekklesia gesprochen wird, immer handelt es sich in der Versammlung der christlichen Gemeinde um Gottes heiliges Volk. Der einzelnen Gemeinde fehlt also nights, um die Kirche Jesu Christi vollständig repräsentieren zu können. Gottes Volk ist versammelt in Thessalonich, Philippi, Korinth, Rom, Braunschweig, Gandersheim und wo immer sonst.

Herman Bavinck (Gereformeerde Dogmatiek, 4:302):

In de verschillende plaatselijke vergaderingen der geloovigen komt de ééne gemeente van Christus tot openbaring.

My conclusion was as follows:

Thus the epistle was written to the Ephesians and addressed to them, but Paul used a form to emphasize the Ephesian assembly as a representative of the universal church, rather than as a local church. This was appropriate, because for Paul the local church is nothing more than the result of the expansion of the one universal church.

By the way, I included an appendix that provided translations of all foreign language quotes.

Sunday, June 6

5:38 PM I was blessed by brother Danny’s testimony today. Danny is returning to Ethiopia with us on June 29. He said we cannot offer service to God in the power of the flesh or with an impure heart. Living off our own resources leads only to death and flames. There is absolutely nothing in us — not our education, not our abilities, not our riches — that will enable us to live a life pleasing to God. Jesus died and rose again so that we might live off His resources. Danny also emphasized that we cannot let circumstances, friends, or family keep us from doing the will of God. We cannot let knowledge and information replace actual obedience. Powerful truths!

I’m honored and humbled to be serving alongside men and women like Danny. Truly the church is an amazing organism!

12:53 PM I’ll watch this tonight in commemoration of this day in history:

I love it when the Germans speak German and the French speak French.

12:43 PM Praise God for another project completed! Here are the clinic door signs Becky designed. We’ve had three people check the Amharic for us. She even color-coded the signs for those who might be illiterate. Neat.

Saturday, June 5

10:31 PM Mr. Self-Confidence and his mom and dad joined us for an Ethiopian supper tonight. Yummy. Becky cooked it herself.

Nolan’s first birthday is this week, along with my 58th. A celebration is planned for Monday night. Care to join us?

5:04 PM Nate cut more hay today. Lots of it. Looking forward to getting it up and into the barns next week.

4:49 PM In case you’re interested in such things, below are a few pix from our final orientation meeting before we leave for Ethiopia. I feel very virtuous for not eating any of the Ethiopian food that Becky had prepared. Seems everyone thoroughly enjoyed it though. (There’s a rumor that even Marshall thought it tasted good.) And thus our preparations have come to a conclusion. One thing is sure: life never works out exactly the way one plans. Despite our very best efforts to be “prepared” for this trip, surprises will come. Of course, if we have the eyes of faith, they will all be grace surprises. As for me, I want to have the wise eyes to delight in whatever God has in store for me. The bottom line is that the kingdom of God is expanding in Ethiopia and Satan is not very happy about it. The drama of gun shots, the ugliness of murder, people trying to cope with chaos — I’ve seen it all, but “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20). It is the grace of God that makes all the difference in life, isn’t it? But that grace requires our response, and we respond best, I think, by serving the interests of Christ wherever we may be. Ministry exhausted Jesus. It will do the same for our team members, young and old alike. But on the other side of the equation is the realization that God delights in using unworthy vessels to transform darkness into light. This is what our team hopes to do in Ethiopia, and what we are equipping others to do as well.

But enough jawing. Here are the pictures. The final one shows brother Jon Glass, pastor of Cresset Baptist Church who hosted us today. Our heartfelt thanks to him —  and them — for serving our team in this way.

9:02 AM Got some great writing done this morning on my new post-script for Why Four Gospels? Even talked about (wink, wink) “dispensing with Q.” Now I’m off to meet with an awesome group of missionaries. 

Friday, June 4

9:04 PM Great time of celebrating tonight. Focus: The faithfulness of God to our family over the past 11 months.

So much to be thankful for. Really, the list is endless. At the top is the joy Becky and I share in our life together. In the past two days, while driving hither and thither, we’ve had many good jokes about the experiences we’ve had together over the past 33 years. Like almost being ticketed by a cop in Paris for sitting on the grass near the Eiffel Tower. Or seeing a sign at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii that said, “Bathroom behind trees.” Or how about the street sign in Kaneohe that said, “Right turn dangerous.” (The sign was bent over at a 90 degree angle.) In any case, we have no complaints. Gratitude has a lot to do with one’s outlook on life. And forgiveness is the queen of virtues.

Switching topics: Below are our fantastic servers at the Abyssinia.

Ginet (left) just arrived in the States from Gondar, a city in northern Ethiopia we’ve visited several times. Welcome to America, Miss “Heaven” (that’s what her name means). So many changes you’ll have to make. The adjustments may not come easy. We hope you will look to Jesus for help. Thanks for your outstanding service to us tonight. We’ll be back, Lord willing.

4:01 PM Off to Ethiopian food!

3:33 PM Photo of the day:

And how is your garden doing?

3:27 PM Quote of the day #3:

When Christians seek to apply the Bible, they treat it only as an instruction manual to be consulted on occasion when they need to know how to do something or when they need an answer to an important question– Scripture as reference work. To embody the Bible is view it as the Constitution that gives the church it’s identity because its pages bear witness to the writer of the Constitution– God.

ReadDon’t Apply Scripture, Embody It.

1:22 PM Quote of the day #2:

To declare homeschooling a haven for child abusers and slack jawed yokels because you disagree with a well written editorial penned by a homeschooler shows an incredible lack of perspective and what can only be labeled ignorance and intolerance.

ReadThe intolerance of those who consider homeschooling intolerant.

12:56 PM Working on the syllabus for my Septuagint class. In addition to the book of Ruth, we will be translating “samplers” from the rest of the LXX. Any suggestions? Psalm 23 (22) for sure!

Note the verb “The Lord shepherds me” in verse 1 (translating a Hebrew qal participle) instead of “The Lord is my shepherd,” and the articular infinitive in verse 6 (to katoikein me). Lots of interesting and instructive stuff here.

12:24 PM Check out Thomas Schreiner’sreview of The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown, a book whose three authors include two of my esteemed colleagues. Tom concludes:

Certainly no one will agree with everything in a book that is so comprehensive. We can be thankful for the scholarship, the reverence for God’s word, and the accessibility of this volume. I suspect it will be adopted as a text in many classes.

11:57 AM Just weeded the garden beds. Garden is happy. Weeds are not.

10:02 AM Right now B’s in the kitchen cooking up a storm of Ethiopian food for tomorrow’s final orientation meeting at Cresset Baptist Church in Durham: Doro wat, tsige wat, alecha wat. We’ll buy the injera at the restaurant tonight.

9:55 AM One of the greatest joys of working in Ethiopia is the privilege of ministering among the masses of people who live in the villages. I think Jesus, too, must have enjoyed working among the common folk. The bulk of the people in Galilee were rural peasants called “the people of the land.” The Pharisees studiously avoided contact with such “riff-raff.” Their arrogance kept them from mingling among the masses. Jesus, on the other hand, identified Himself with the working poor. Even foxes and birds were better off than He was! His new kingdom had a place for the lowly. I am eager for the newcomers on our team to visit the villages of Burji and Alaba. Forget extravagance. Forget electricity and running water. But be prepared for plenty of good fellowship. You will be welcomed with open arms and hearts. You will live and labor and eat and sleep among people with whom you will spend all of eternity. And you will be reminded that God does not require elaborate buildings and complicated ritual to please Him. In fact, Jesus didn’t come to establish religion at all.

I am convinced that the church is the finest society on earth. It has been given love as no other body on this planet has love. It is God’s “masterpiece” (Eph. 2:10). That is not said of the family, the government, or any other institution.

8:02 AM Quote of the day:

A hallmark of biblical hermeneutics is that God gave us in Scripture what was necessary for our salvation, but not our curiosity. That’s why we find so little about the first 30 years of Jesus’ life. A Bible that draws more attention to the frivolous details not intended by the original author may do more harm than good.

ReadThe Future of the Bible.

7:58 AM We must stop confusing self-discipline for legalism. Jesus hated legalism but practiced obedience. I yearn to become like Jesus in this regard.

7:48 AM From the New York Times: The latest on theEthiopian elections.

Thursday, June 3

9:46 PM We’ll know we are Great Commission Christians when we are willing to give up our children to go to a faraway country, if need be, never to return, in order to serve King Jesus.

9:40 PM Big event tomorrow night! If Becky is feeling up to it I plan on taking her out to the Abyssinia restaurant in Raleigh for some spicy Ethiopian food to celebrate the end of her treatments. My mouth is already watering.

8:05 PM The ETC site recently posted some theses onNew Testament textual criticism. Not that it’s very interesting, but here’s my masters thesis from 1980, written under Robert Thomas at Talbot (then Seminary, now School of Theology).

My focus was on the destination of Ephesians and I concluded that the reading en Epheso in 1:1 is indeed original and that the original readers of “Ephesians” were in fact the Ephesians.

In rereading the thesis I see that it contains numerous foreign quotes —  German, French, Dutch even. An even stranger fact is that I quoted the essay of a man under whom I would eventually study at Basel: Bo Reicke’s “Unité Chrétienne et Diaconie,” in Neotestamentica et Patristica (Leiden: Brill, 1962). Here’s a marvelous quote from that essay:

La totalité de l’église c’est pour saint Paul le fait primaire, sa localisation en est seulement un corallarie.

This is still exactly how I feel and think about the church today! For Paul, every local church is nothing more than the representation of the one universal church. This is why I do not think of “my” church as Bethel Hill Baptist Church only. “My” church is also your church, and the church in Ethiopia, and the church in China. Thus if one church suffers, I must suffer with it; I have no choice because Christ does not have “bodies,” He has one Body. In the words of Reicke (from the same essay):

En effet, Paul est enclin à regarder chaque église locale, non seulement comme une copie de léglise universelle, mais comme étant l’église univiverselle elle-même, réalisée dans ce monde.

Isn’t that great stuff? To think that I can still be encouraged from something I wrote back in the Dark Ages!

7:30 PM Time for you know who to make pancakes for supper.

7:25 PM I see that Nate and Jess have been working on the equipment sheds off of the new barn. (Nolan, too. He’s the supervisor.)

Using scrap lumber and tin, of course.

I think there may be a kingdom principle here. Working in the kingdom of God is like building a structure. One person may build the frame, another the door, and still another the roof. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter who is doing what so long as the structure gets built. The main thing is that love rules among the workers and that everybody does their job to the best of their ability. There is no other way to reach the 6 billion souls in this world. The Lord is looking for individuals who are willing to work together to reach these lost billions with salvation.

2:28 PM Been a productive day so far. Just finished pressure washing the exterior of Bradford Hall, trying to get rid of the mold and grime that had collected over the winter. Looks pretty nice, eh?

I couldn’t have done it without this very handy contraption.

Then I mowed the yards, which are deep green thanks to all the rain the Lord has sent us this summer.

Finally, I couldn’t help but take a couple of pix of B’s beautiful roses.

I especially enjoyed this solitary beauty.

Right now I’m off to town to get Becky’s Nulasta from CVS and then run a few other errands. Becky too worked very hard this morning. Right now she is sound asleep 🙂

11:14 AM Will Willimon onThree Signs of a Miserable Job. I recall once having two miserable jobs, simultaneously. I was delivering tax returns to offices in downtown Los Angeles, and I was working 12-shifts at a vitamin factory. The only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that the money earned (and saved) would help us live in Basel. Sometimes miserable jobs are necessary!

10:52 AM We apply a double standard in our churches when we automatically approve building repairs and then debate supporting foreign missionaries.

10:29 AM New at TIME magazine: Young Evangelicals: Expanding Their Mission. Lots of interesting stuff here.

Today’s young Evangelicals cut an altogether different figure. They are socially conscious, cause-focused and controversy-averse.

Read more:http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1992463,00.html?xid=rss-topstories#ixzz0pnf7uzH6
 Today’s young Evangelicals cut an altogether different figure. They are socially conscious, cause-focused and controversy-averse

Read more:http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1992463,00.html?xid=rss-topstories#ixzz0pnfBOFSV
 

10:10 AM I fear for the country whose churches have forsaken their duty to take the Gospel to the nations.

10:03 AM In my morning devotions today, this repetition struck me: “admonishing every person and teaching every person in all wisdom in order that we might present every person complete in Christ” (Col. 1:28). Whatever you do in life, don’t do to the multitudes only. Every individual is important to God. Are you a teacher? You dare not leave your office door closed. Are you a missionary? The bottom line of all missionary work is the individual. A few years ago I asked God for the privilege of discipling a handful of men, and He has honored that request. My own life was enriched and deeply changed when I began to meet one-on-one with certain of my professors. Paul concentrated on a few, selected them carefully, and then poured out his life into them.

Why shouldn’t we do that too?

9:29 AM The first step in a resurgence of interest in the Great Commission is to rediscover the full work of the cross.

9:13 AM Couples married for 40 years are notdivorce-proof:

“It’s the whole phenomenon of living longer, of having sex longer, of being healthier, oftentimes of being wealthier and feeling that they can easily pursue a no-fault divorce,” says divorce lawyer John Mayoue of Atlanta. “I think we’re seeing persons in long marriages questioning whether in fact there’s a better life out there.”

The Gores apparently just grew apart. “They have their separate lives and they were both relatively happy being without the other person.” So easy to happen. And it CAN happen to you — and me.

If you think you stand, take heed lest you fall.

9:05 AM Very excited to read that my colleague Alvin Reid is soon to be honored by a Festschrift. I know of no one who is more deserving. For more on that announcement, as well as Alvin’s summer reading suggestions, gohere.

9:00 AM If you’re taking our LXX class this fall (co-taught by Bob Cole and yours truly), you’ll find thisWordle interesting:

We will be translating Ruth in both Greek and Hebrew. We chose this book partly because of its fantastic message: God loves the needy in this world and is a rewarder of those who help them. Great book. Great story. Great Savior.

Wednesday, June 2

9:32 PM Christianity, when it is open to people at intimate levels, has the power to change entire societies.

9:23 PM Good news! The second edition of Why Four Gospels? will be out Nov. 1, in time for ETS and SBL. Right now I am writing a new postscript.

6:16 PM At this moment Becky is cooking Chinese stir fry for supper. Patience, O mouth!

6:11 PM The more missionary responsibilities I have, the more I realize my need to let go of my desire to exercise control.

6:03 PM Today, during our faculty meeting, I was reminded again why I love working with such humble colleagues. God always frustrates the efforts of the proud to pin Him down, but He gladly reveals Himself to the downtrodden. The old Scottish proverb says it well: “Greek, Hebrew, and Latin all have their proper place, but it’s not at the head of the cross where Pilate put them, but at the foot of the cross in humble service to Jesus.” Anyone can say “Scholarship on fire.” But at Southeastern I really believe this is more than a wall motto.  

4:11 PM Got my fall textbook orders in today. I’m using Guthrie’sHebrews in my course by that title. I chose it because of its excellent combination of scholarship and practical theology. Here’s amarvelous interview with George in which he discusses his work on Hebrews, discourse analysis, etc. As you can see, the good professor is a churchman at heart and believes the best scholarship is done within the context of the local church. Sweet.

4:04 PM Congratulations to Mark Liederbach (new dean of students) and Ken Keathley (new dean of the seminary)! Looking forward to working under your leadership gentlemen. And a big “thank you” to their predecessors Allan Moseley and David Nelson. I know of no place I’d rather be than at SEBTS.

7:15 AM So, has God healed Becky? We’ve done all we can, but I’m not placing my hope in treatment. The Gospels show us that Jesus was never bound by one technique in healing. His approaches were endless. Some healings were instantaneous, others were gradual. Becky has shown nothing but steadfast faith throughout her ordeal, and I have no doubt whatsoever that her faith will be crowned and rewarded, whatever the outcome. As for me, I think I’m more like Peter who wanted his mother-in-law healed. (By the way, she was probably suffering from typhus, a common aliment in Ethiopia.) Her healing was immediate; no period of convalescence was needed. Jesus simply came, stood over the woman, and rebuked the fever. And what did she do after she had been made whole again? Served Jesus. Now if that doesn’t sound like my Becky! I’m not one to think there is there “healing in the atonement” (Isa. 53:5) in the sense that God is obligated to heal our mortal bodies. Yes, Jesus often functioned as a Healer but that’s not why He came. He was the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. But Christ’s work today is not limited to the spiritual. The centrality of the cross is not destroyed when we seek to ameliorate the suffering of others.

So Jesus is our hope. He isn’t finished with us yet. We are still growing into what He wants us to be. I can’t stress enough how important it is for sufferers to be yielded to His Spirit during their trials, trusting Him to guide their thinking.

Christ-likeness, not perfect health, is our goal.

7:04 AM Arthur Sido makes this astute observation about theAnabaptists:

The original Anabaptists and their modern progeny have much to praise but likewise they have much to be cautious about. I try to remember when praising the Anabaptists that they have their flaws and that we should not seek to “become Anabaptists”. Anabaptism is not the answer, but Anabaptism does help point us to the answer.

Point well-taken. I put it this way in The Jesus Paradigm:

I hope no reader will suppose that Anabaptism is being put forward as an alternative to the Word of God, as if any man-made movement is preferable to the testimony of inspired Scripture. The record of Anabaptism is by no means a spotless one. Like every movement of the Holy Spirit it is the story of a weak, stammering church that moved over a field of ecclesiastical rubble. I’m not condoning everything in the movement or offering pious panaceas. If I have left an overly positive impression, it is because I believe that an appreciation of Anabaptism can prove fruitful in many areas of Christian life and witness. The important point is this: Anabaptism was a valid, if incomplete, representation of Christ’s Body – nothing more, nothing less. I also hope that this chapter might have a mollifying effect on those modern-day traditionalists who view dissent as inherently misguided and dissenters as mere fanatics or Schwärmer. (The parallel with Luther and Zwingli will not escape the reader.)

Learn from them; but don’t worship them.

Tuesday, June 1

9:55 PM It’s time to Praise the Lord! Becky’s final chemo treatment is now history. I tell you, it was a crazy day. B was the second patient to arrive at the infusion clinic and the second to the last to leave it this afternoon. But all’s well that ends well. I have to tell you that through all of the treatments, all of the driving (we put over 14,000 miles on the car), all of the triumphs and frustrations of our journey with cancer, God’s plans for me have not been less than my hopes and dreams but far more. He can be trusted! When we started this course together we never looked back. We determined from the get-go that there is no need to pare down God’s promises until they square with scientific probabilities. We serve a first-rate God, not a second-class flunky. And any journey with Him is an exciting pilgrimage.

Fellow cancer sufferers, through thick and thin, through hard times and good, be who you are — precious children of the one who “shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth.” Yes, Praise Ye the Lord!

Below: I would never show a picture like this one without Becky’s approval. In fact, she is the one who asked me to take it. Doesn’t she look good?

You did great honey. I love you.

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