The Uncomfortable Bible

Yesterday, my Bible reading schedule took me to 2 Kings 22, introducing me to Josiah, king of Judah. Unlike all the other kings of Judah, Josiah loved the Lord completely (as I read today in 2 Kings 23:25). Not surprisingly, then, he responded in grief and repentance when Hilkah the priest found the long-neglected Book of the Law of the Lord in the Lord's house.

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. ¹² And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, ¹³ “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” ~~2 Kings 22:11-13 (ESV)

Chapter 23 narrates the sweeping reforms Josiah made as he eradicated idol worship and occult practices from Judah and re-instituted the Passover in Jerusalem. God's Word completely transformed Josiah!

As I read 2 Kings yesterday and today, of course I got the bigger picture that Josiah's reforms came too late to deter God from judging Judah, and that bigger picture is precisely why I've been reading straight through the Old and New Testaments. At the same time, the above quoted passage made me think about the fact that many people--including professing Christians-- display varying levels of antipathy toward the Bible.

Some of those professing Christians honestly believe they love God's Word, yet they avoid passages about hell, reinterpret passages condemning fornication and homosexuality, supplement it with yoga and/or "listening prayer" and minimize its use in evangelism. And actually, I understand why they add these buffers to it. 

Scripture, by itself, exposes sin before it offers salvation. In order to comfort us with the Lord's mercy and grace, it must first make us uncomfortable by establishing His right to judge us. When we read it honestly, it slices us to the core, and boldly claims that it deliberately inflicts those lacerations.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ~~Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

The discomfort of the Bible leads the penitent Christian into the comfort, peace and joy of knowing the grace of Jesus Christ. In reading 2 Kings 23 this morning, I imagined Josiah's exuberance as he cleansed Judah for God! And I rejoice that Jesus has paid the penalty for my sins! For all its discomfort, the Bible is a gloriously comforting Book.

The Cutting Email

By May 7, we had gotten really fed up with the overgrowth of shrubbery on the sidewalk leading from our apartment to the center of town, and John photographed my laborious effort to negotiate it:

His photo inspired me to type the following email to the town's Department of Public Works (with a Cc to the Disability Commission) the next day:

My husband and I both use power wheelchairs. As residents of [our building's street address], we use H_______ Drive to get into town. The C_______ Condominiums at 59 H________ Drive has shrubbery that  grows over on to the sidewalk, making it difficult and dangerous to negotiate that stretch of sidewalk (I'm always fearful that my tilt switch will catch on the shrubs). We've tried contacting C________, but our call was not returned. On April 25, we reported the matter to Town Hall. Nothing was done. I'm attaching three photos that my husband took yesterday as we came home and I struggled past it.
Please enforce the law; require C________ to trim these shrubs so that wheelchair users can safely travel on that sidewalk.

Thank you.

A mere two hours later, the head of the DPW emailed back, assuring me that he'd take care of it. John and I speculated that my Cc to the chair of the Disability Commission helped my email to be taken seriously, though I'm sure John's photos made it quite evident that the shrubbery did, indeed, obstruct the sidewalk.

On May 9, returning home on The RIDE from a trip to Boston, I glanced out the van's window, telling myself it was ridiculous to entertain the hope that DPW could possibly have acted that quickly. To my amazement, the shrubs had been chopped off, leaving a fine, open sidewalk with nothing threatening my tilt switch. Last Thursday, as I confidently wheeled up the sidewalk, John took a final photo:

An Unpopular Proposal

As "seeker sensitive" models continue to permeate even churches that loudly deny being "seeker sensitive" (reminding me of the famous quote, "The lady doth protest too much"), one obvious question begs to be asked. Is the purpose of evangelism to fill pews and offering plates, or to bring people into a saving relationship with Christ?

If it's the latter (as all churches will invariably claim), won't we fearlessly accompany the Gospel message with warnings on the cost of discipleship? Jesus told His prospective followers, on many occasions, that following Him would result in being rejected, ostracized, persecuted, and possibly martyred for our faith in Him. You see, He wanted true converts, who followed Him with full knowledge that doing so would require everything of them.

³⁴ And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. ~~Mark 8:34-35 (ESV)

Calling people to turn from sin in order to entrust their lives hardly makes Christianity appealing! But showing people their hopeless enslavement to sin, and then demonstrating that Jesus paid the penalty for that sin, offers a reason for risking everything in order to follow Him. What they may lose in this present life pales in comparison to the glories of heaven!

Make Believers

How can we make the Gospel attractive and relevant? What techniques can we employ to entice the unsaved into our churches? How can we communicate Scriptural truths without "beating people over the head" with the Bible and consequently confirming their negative stereotypes of Christians?

Those who pose such questions maintain that they reject the seeker-sensitive label, and that they in no way desire to compromise the Bible. They merely want to develop effective strategies for church growth, and therefore think it befitting (if not necessary) to devise methods of evangelism that avoid offending potential converts. Christians, they reason, should show the world that we are just like them, making Christianity comfortable and winsome.

Well, yes.....

And no!

Peter, in his first epistle, certainly urges Christians to love and care for each other, structuring their lives to arouse the curiosity of non-believers. As we respond lovingly in the face of persecution, imitating Christ's humility and submission, we indeed may draw some non-Christians to ask questions that will open up conversations about the Lord. So in that sense, "lifestyle evangelism" definitely has merit.

Yet, downplaying Scripture until we "get them in the door" not only smacks of dishonesty, but it ignores the primary means of communicating the Gospel.

¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. ~~Romans 10: 14-17 (ESV)

At some point in presenting the Gospel, we must appeal to Scripture. Doing so, admittedly, will offend and alienate people, but those who are offended just my  not be  called to salvation in the first place. So, while strategies and methodologies may fill pews (and offering plates), faithful preaching of God's Word yields converts and disciples.

Division For Unity's Sake

Among many evangelicals, doctrine brings connotations of unnecessary division that undermines our unity, therefore damaging our credibility to a watching world. This attitude toward doctrine highlighted the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and extended into the Charismatic Movement of the 1980s before permeating evangelical churches at large. And some verses of Scripture appear to support the abandonment of doctrine:

 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ~~1 Corinthians 2:2 (ESV)

Of course, the context of that particular verse had nothing to do with doctrine. Rather, Paul wanted the Corinthian believers to remember that his preaching depended on the actual gospel message as opposed to the fancy rhetoric of gnostic philosophers.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. ~~1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (ESV)

As a  matter of fact, Paul's letter to the Ephesians flat-out said that solid teaching ("teaching" being a synonym for "doctrine") would provide protection against all the false doctrines that threaten spiritual maturity.

¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. ~~Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV)

According to Paul, who wrote under the influence of the Holy Spirit, God had  provided apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds (or pastors) and teachers to instruct Christians on how  to serve one another, thus promoting a unified faith which isn't swayed by Christian  fads. Good doctrine, rooted in Biblical teaching,  may divide us from error, but it unifies us with the Lord.

Fear, Bringing Tenderness, Mercy And Compassion

Proverbs 9:10 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. As I consider certain points in my relationship with Him, however, I must admit my disrespectful attitudes towards Him, particularly when He's not doing things my way. Lately, He has brought Proverbs 9:10 to me repeatedly, and I again wonder if my self-centeredness will lead  me to rage against Him the next time He allows circumstances that I don't like.

May He teach me healthy fear of Him. Such fear, or respect, is no longer taught in Christian circles, where God's Fatherhood takes on the lopsided characterization of tenderness, mercy and compassion. Certainly, He is tender, merciful and compassionate, but He also loves us enough to discipline us.

All of us (and me especially) need to remember that He is the Lord, worthy of our respect. As we cultivate a healthy fear of Him, acknowledging His authority to  govern our lives as He wishes, He will tenderly, mercifully and compassionately reveal His wisdom.

Let Me Explain

This past five days, typing has been physically difficult for me. I hope you won't mind if I choose to omit the  details, but there are just some matters I'd prefer not to discuss.

My purpose in bringing it up at all is to explain that my blog posts may be shorter than usual, at least for a while, until I can find ways of typing more comfortably. I'll keep blogging, rest assured, but probably not as copiously or intensely as I had been. So, I figured I'd be honest enough to explain this change, rather than leave things open to speculation.

And the situation does show signs of improvement, so it's entirely possible that I'll be back to normal in no time! Please pray that I'll have patience, wisdom and creativity in finding a resolution to this situation so that the Lord might be honored.