I link to it because much is being said these days about why evangelicals should become involved in political activism. I am not against activism. I do have some significant concerns, however. My initial thoughts are as follows. I will probably not support a so-called “conservative Christian” political agenda if its proponents:

• Give the impression that they are more “moral” than other people. If Paul could consider himself “the very worst of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), it will not help your cause if you pit “moral people” (like us!) against “immoral people” (like homosexuals, prostitutes, and abortionists). We are all sinners.

• Think it will “bring America back to God.” America has never been a Christian nation.

• Identify the church with any human institution or political party. God is not a Republican or a Democrat. Please do not suggest that agreeing with your particular political position is a precondition to belonging to the kingdom of God. It is not.

• Fail to submit to God’s reign in every area of life, including Jesus’ command to love sinners. Nonconformity to the world means more than just opposing social evils such as abortion; it includes a humble, beautiful, peacemaking, servant-like, self-sacrificial love. It means revolting against everything in our lives that is inconsistent with God’s kingdom, including the temptation to grab Caesar-like political power.

• Claim that their position is the only “Christian” position out there. We must always be on guard against the seductive lure of a kind of hubris that implies that all “sincere” and “godly” evangelicals share the same view about controversial political actions. They don’t!

• Imply that “inalienable rights” and “the pursuit of happiness” are biblical concepts. They are not! I love democracy, I’d rather live in a democracy than in a dictatorship for sure, but nowhere is democracy or political freedom elevated to a virtue in the New Testament.

The bottom line: Jesus’ holiness did not repel sinners. He did go around promoting “faith, family, and freedom.” He attracted tax collectors and prostitutes while the Pharisees kept their distance. The Gospel is a beautiful and powerful grassroots kingdom movement. No, it does not rule out political activism. But the truth is that the kingdom does not look like the thousands of social movements abroad in the land today. The heart of Christianity is simply imitating Jesus.

(From Dave Black Online. David Alan Black is the author of Energion titles Christian Archy, The Jesus Paradigm,  Why Four Gospels? and the forthcoming Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions?. Used by permission.)

“Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day.” I would not pretend that I am yet consumed with a love for the lost as Jesus was. I have, however, begun to travel this downward path of Jesus. Just as all Christians have been joined to Christ and participate in His life, so all Christians are called to the ministry of witness and invitation.

Think about it.

(From Dave Black Online. David Alan Black is the author of Energion titles Christian Archy, The Jesus Paradigm,  Why Four Gospels? and the forthcoming Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions?. Used by permission.)

Before I issue it, some background. I have nothing against public speaking. I am asked to speak all the time. I enjoy listening to other speakers (provided they are well-prepared and not just repeating the same old same old). I have been responsible for organizing two major conferences on campus that featured such speakers as Dan Wallace, Darrell Bock, Moises Silva, Grant Osborne, Keith Elliott, and Scot McKnight. I am speaking, in fact, at a conference today at SEBTS. So what is my warning?

Beware the cult of the speaker!

Our culture, methinks, places far too much stock in the opinions of so-called “experts.” The only opinion that matters is God’s. Two weeks ago in chapel our president Danny Akin put it this way: “I don’t care what you say. I don’t even care what I say. The only thing that matters is the Word of God.” No truer words were ever spoken.

If you are a public speaker, never forget the words of the greatest man who ever lived (sans Jesus): “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The purpose of John the Baptist’s ministry was to point others to Christ and away from himself. He did not form his own little following. (Others formed the “John the Baptist Society,” but long after John was dead.) He didn’t set up his own 501(c)3. Just as the light of the morning star fades in the light of the rising sun, John was content to become nothing so that Christ might become everything.

In other words, John abased himself. This is not self-abasement for the sake of self-abasement. It is abasing oneself in comparison with Christ. The more others exalt us, the more we need to be very, very careful to humble ourselves. One way to do this is by stating publicly from time to time exactly what our president said: “It don’t really matter, folks, what I think. You check out the Scriptures for yourselves, and then go wherever the evidence points you.” In fact, maybe we should say this every time we get up to speak.

According to the author of Hebrews, Jesus has inherited a Name that is far greater than the angels’ (or ours). According to Colossians 1:18, Jesus is to have first place in the church. Are you willing to decrease in order to honor Christ? Am I?

Beware the cult of the speaker!

(From Dave Black Online. David Alan Black is the author of Energion titles Christian Archy, The Jesus Paradigm,  Why Four Gospels? and the forthcoming Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions?. Used by permission.)

But that is not what Christ is saying in the Great Commission. Jesus commands us to teach believers to observe – or DO – what He has commanded us to do. That is profoundly different than saying teach the great doctrines of the faith. The words “observe” and “command” indicate something much greater than just learning truths. They indicate a doing and an obedience to the commands of Jesus, not just a learning of what He said and what He taught. If knowing all the core doctrines of the faith is the indispensable element of being a disciple, then there were not many disciples until recently since millions of believers were illiterate and perhaps millions still are today. And none of His commands had anything to do with enhancing and elevating our own lives.

Our world is in desperate need of this kind of obedience. We know all too well that orthodoxy without orthopraxy is a gross evil. There is deep wisdom in Jesus’ words in the Great Commission: “observe,” “command.” Not that such obedience is easy. Jesus never promised that discipleship would be a piece of cake. He has called us to littleness, to die to our ambitions so that others might believe and live, to infect this dark world with His love. And the people who are changing the world today are the risk-takers who, like Epaphroditus, are willing to gamble away their loves for the sake of the Gospel.

Dave

We are “sideliners” — coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers. Oh that God would make us dangerous!

I thought of these words today when I read this comparison between being “imprisoned” by church traditions and literal imprisonment for the sake of Christ. As many of you know, I often travel to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East assisting the persecuted church. I have seen the suffering, up close and personal. As much as I deplore many of our unbiblical church traditions, I find the comparison unhelpful and inaccurate. Of course many of us feel trapped in our manmade traditions. And yes, we are called to suffer for the sake of Christ (Phil. 1:29). But the suffering of the persecuted church is, in my mind, in another category altogether, and I will continue to do whatever I can to make Americans who are cozy sitting in their padded pews (or on their living room sofas) as uncomfortable as possible about it. Not only do I make no apologies for it, I think that with every passing year it becomes more and more obvious to me that the most important thing we can be doing in our churches — regardless of our ecclesiology — is to get rid of our lukewarm insipid faith and take up the cross of self-discipline, suffering, and real sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel. If I have any prayer for the readers of my blog, it is that God will use it to help you take steps in this direction in your personal and congregational life. Jesus is calling all of us to a radical lifestyle lived from obedience that affects the world. With tears in my eyes, I say that as long as we are content to live out a religion of externals (home church versus institutional church, the Lord’s Supper as a full meal versus the Lord’s Supper as bread and cup, etc.), we will continue to miss the mark. Never in the history of the world has there been so much discussion about the church and Christianity but, I feel, so little real knowledge of God. Jesus made it clear that His mandate for each of us is to do the will of the Father by going into the fields just as the Father sent Him (John 4:34-38). This means that “missions” is not just one of several options for our churches. God is not asking us to give money to missions. He is asking us to make missions the central passion and thrust of our lives and congregations. When I think of your church, is that what I think of? Or of my church? Tragically, many of us have developed a church-first mentality that is distracting us from our main task. I should know, because I have been the chief of sinners in this regard.

There is a way out of this mess. New Testament Christianity is not reserved only for super saints who are doing all the “right” things church-wise. It is for every believer, whatever your church structure, whatever your location or occupation, whatever your circumstances in life. Jesus wants to live His life through us in the world. The only question is: Will we let Him? Our problem today is that we want it all, and we want it now. But we have to choose our priorities. Yes, I will continue to call us back to the Scriptures as far as church life is concerned. But my constant prayer is that God will help me to do it with a broken heart and with a renewed willingness to make a deliberate calculation to accept sacrifice and suffering for the sake of following Christ.

For more on this subject, see my essay Paper Perfect Churches.

(HT: Threads)

(From Dave Black Online. David Alan Black is the author of Energion titles Christian Archy, The Jesus Paradigm,  Why Four Gospels? and the forthcoming Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions?. Used by permission.)

1. William Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek.

Mounce’s beginning grammar remains perhaps the most widely used introductory textbook of New Testament Greek. Speaking as an author of a beginning Greek textbook, I am glad that Mounce’s grammar has had the recognition it so richly deserves and offer my best wishes for its continuance, since the book is a great service to students everywhere. No matter which beginning textbook you used, you will need to own this grammar as well.

2. Dan Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics.

Wallace’s intermediate grammar is a tour de force. It is absolutely impossible to describe the profundity of this book. I prefer to recommend it to you and then let you discover its treasures. The pedagogical implications, however, are such that I cannot agree to them without compromising what is dearest to me as a teacher — simplicity. It would do good service if one day the book could be rewritten and placed on a slightly lower shelf. Oh wait — this has already been done!

3. A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research.

I seldom felt so pitifully incompetent as when I first picked up this book. It almost counts as a “mental autobiography.” Robertson tried to show the effect, upon a growing new science, of the profound transformation that modern linguistics had brought in the way scholars approached the Greek of the New Testament. Most modern teachers of Greek give the book faint praise, then promptly ignore it. In my opinion, that is a huge mistake. I require the book in my Advanced Greek Grammar course, but even intermediate level students who are willing to work will benefit from it.

4. Robert Funk, Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.

At the Amazon site, Dan Wallace writes:

BDF is still the standard Greek grammar of the New Testament even after four decades. It is in the process of being revised (by a revision committee of eight members), but the revision will take several more years to complete. We felt it needed revision because BDF presupposes that the average reader has had much exposure to classical Greek prior to working in the New Testament. This is part of the reason that BDF is so hard to use: most NT students have not had exposure to classical Greek nowadays. Another reason is its cryptic nature, Teutonic abbreviations, and omission of ‘normal’ grammar. Nevertheless, even with these shortcomings, every responsible exegete of the New Testament must own a copy of this goldmine of information.

Enough said.

5. Peter Cotterell and Max Turner, Linguistics and Biblical Interpretation.

In a sense this book could be called a popularization. It seeks to bring linguistics within the grasp of educated people in general rather than leave it in the possession of a closed and mysterious community. The authors have selected the thinkers in the field who have good judgment, and their own comments are accurate and clear as well.

6. Moisés Silva, Biblical Words and Their Meaning.

This book is a retreat from the radicalism of an earlier generation of New Testament teachers that believed in “Holy Ghost” Greek. Silva’s exegetical acumen fitted him well for writing a book on lexicography. This book inveighed me into actually delving into linguistics myself, and when eventually I produced my own book on linguistics it was Silva who agreed to write the preface.

7. Stanley Porter, Verbal Aspect in the Greek of the New Testament, with Reference to Tense and Mood.

This book, which suffers from gigantism, deserves a prominent place in my list because it opened an important can of worms known today as the verbal aspect debate. You mustn’t expect clarity from Dr. Porter, but you must read this book. Porter impresses me as one who has his finger on the heartbeat of the problem, though I disagree with many of his conclusions.

8. Maximilian Zerwick, Biblical Greek.

When I was in seminary I was introduced to this book and lived with it night and day. Despite its recklessly ambitious preface the book largely accomplishes what it sets out to do: introduce the reader to all the categories of New Testament Greek grammar in an understandable way. It really is a first-rate piece of work.

9.  Neal Windham, New Testament Greek for Preachers and Teachers.

What a pleasant surprise when I first laid eyes on this book! It covers five different areas of reading one’s Greek New Testament, including morphology and the Greek cases. Why it has not attracted more attention is beyond me. I feel it is one of the most underrated books of our generation, and I’d dearly like to see it read by every student of New Testament Greek.

10. Rodney Decker, Koine Greek Reader: Selections from the New Testament, Septuagint, and Early Christian Writers.

Having taught Greek for 35 years I can say with conviction that nothing is more important to the mastery of New Testament Greek than keeping our students in the text. Decker’s book is simply the best reader available today. The readings are all engaging, and the notes are both accurate and helpful. Decker will stretch your students without breaking them. The book is also very user-friendly for the independent learner.

Obviously, by composing this list of what I believe to be essential books, I have no intention of imposing upon you harsh punishment. I can only speak personally, and — speaking personally — I have found each of these books to be a fascinating and helpful read. I surmise you will too. Like all books, they contain unforgivable omissions, and many pay far too little attention to English style. But they all have one thing in common: they will destroy your smugness. The sin of many seminarians is what the ancient Greeks called hubris — arrogance in the midst of prosperity. I am partly to blame if my students graduate with a head full of knowledge and a heart full of pride. I know of nothing that will dispel our inflated egos quite like seeing how much we don’t know. We are all imperfect teachers, but we may be forgiven if we have at least tried to warn our students against self-satisfied complacency.

(From Dave Black Online. David Alan Black is the author of Energion titles Christian Archy, The Jesus Paradigm, and Why Four Gospels?. Used by permission.)

□ The Book of Acts.

Essays by Alan Knox:

□ 1. Elders (Part 1) – Introduction

□ 2. Elders (Part 2) – Character

□ 3. Elders (Part 3) – Leadership

□ 4. Elders (Part 4) – Teaching

□ 5. Elders (Part 5) – Shepherding

□ 6. Elders (Part 6) – Overseeing

□ 7. Elders (Part 7) – Conclusion

□ What does it mean to lead among the church?

□ How leaders work WITH the church.

□ When a leader is just one person among the church.

□ When elders/pastors don’t have to act like employees.

□ By working like this.

□ Why I’m glad not to be that kind of pastor.

□ Pastoral worries.

□ Leadership is not decision-making.

□ When equippers don’t equip.

Essays by Arthur Sido

□ Resumes and ministry.

□ Pastor principal professional pay.

□ Knowledge, edification, and worship.  

□ Preaching the Word is not just for pastors.

Essays by Dave Black

□ Paul’s “Thankless Thanks” in Phil. 4:10-20

□ What Does a New Testament Church Look Like?

□ The Rule of Paul

□ The Thessalonian Road to Self-Support

□ Sacerdotalism Or Every-Member Ministry?

□ Recovering Paul’s Perspective on Pastoral Leadership

□ Companionate Leadership

□ Church as Meetinghouse

□ Greener-Pasture Pastors

□ Why We Must Insist On Every-Member Ministry

□ Building Christ’s Church: His Way or Mine?

Booklet by Alexander Strauch

□ Biblical Eldership

Some of you who have been reading this site for a while may recall that I’ve been working on a new book called Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions? My desire is to reflect accurately what Scripture teaches in the area of associating with non-Christians and their world. I’m not especially concerned with our hallowed manmade traditions of doing missions. I feel like I’ve hit on some insights that provide a framework that allows me to combine the twin foci of unity and missions that we see throughout the New Testament. So if you’ll bear with me, I think I’ll introduce you to a few quotes from the forthcoming book. For starters, here’s something to chew on:

Jesus’ disciples enjoyed community simply because Jesus and not a set of dogmas was at the center of their life. They never tried to “build community.” They didn’t have to. Community was the result of being united in the Christian mission; community emerged naturally when they committed themselves to something bigger than themselves. And so it is in the church today. It is my personal observation that most Christians begin to enjoy genuine community only when they begin to serve the poor, evangelize the lost, and plant churches. The glue that unites them is the missional task of loving their neighbors. A shared sense of mission drives them to community. Their congregations are mission-shaped. Like Jesus, they literally go. For them the Bible, not tradition, is normative, and they hold themselves accountable to each other in love even while they work closely with the surrounding neighborhood, developing strong links between Christians and not-yet Christians.

I think it’s very clear that the New Testament affirms Christian mission as the basis for our unity in the Body of Christ. I feel compelled, out of fidelity to Jesus, to repudiate the notion that cooperation is impossible on a practical level. I’ll leave you with this teaser thought: Jesus prayed for our unity in John 17. Can Jesus pray a prayer and it not be answered?

Enjoy the Lord’s Day!

Dave

(From Dave Black Online. David Alan Black is the author of Energion titles Christian Archy, The Jesus Paradigm, Why Four Gospels?, and the forthcoming book Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions. Used by permission.)

Such harmony could arise in two ways. One possibility is that there is considerable toleration of different points of view, so that people do not fight over differences of opinion on nonessential matters. The other possibility is that people are united because they are in agreement about how they should think and act.

This is excellent advice from a leading evangelical scholar. Let’s say, for example, you are a leader in a traditional Baptist church and have a desire (which you share with a few others) that the church move forward toward what you consider to be a more biblical ecclesiology, in this case a plurality of elders (“elder-led congregationalism”). This desire, if pursued, is likely to lead to divisions in the church if carried out selfishly – that is, if you fail to consider the needs of others rather than just your own. So, although you are convinced that having multiple elders is a healthier and more biblical pattern for the church than having a single pastor, you are not interested in fighting to get your way. In seeking to introduce change to our churches, there can never be any irritation or ridicule toward someone with whom we might disagree. We must banish from our mindset once and for all both censoriousness and contempt. At the same time, it is still possible (and, I think, both desirable and needful) that every congregation consider carefully what the Scriptures teach “about how they should think and act” (as Marshall puts it). I think this is what Paul means by “being of the same mind in the Lord” in Phil. 4:2. He is referring to a disposition of like-mindedness whereby we bring to the table an attitude of unity, cooperation, amity, and harmony. This is a far cry from putting our brains in park or neutral. And it is certainly no excuse for sloppy thinking. There must be agreement in the congregation that the Word of God comes first, and that whatever course of action is decided upon must be dictated by conviction and not simply by convention. We would all do well to remember that it is our duty to have biblical convictions, and that it is our equal duty to allow others to have theirs. But I’m talking about convictions, not blind allegiance to tradition.

I’m hopeful that all of us, but especially the 20- and 30-somethings in our churches, might be willing to be nothings in God’s great kingdom-building program, and that we will refuse to overemphasize the “distinctives” that divide us rather than the faith that unites us. It is my constant hope and prayer that we will adopt a big-hearted and grace-awakened approach to kingdom work without legalism, traditionalism, manipulation, negativism, bitterness, and perfectionism. The quality of our churches depends on it. Paul wrote about putting away childish things when we became adults (1 Cor. 13:11), and that includes mindless adherence to ritual. The readers of Hebrews were sternly chastised for their inattentiveness to God’s Word and to their responsibility for spiritual growth (Heb. 5:11-14). It is folly to limit our understanding of the faith to what we learned when we were spiritual infants.

Friends, we have so often failed on character, we have so often failed on kindness, we have so often failed on love. But there is nothing weak or effeminate about grace. At the same time, the church must always be reforming itself. It is just as easy to fail on truth as it is to fail on love. So let’s be patient with each other, remembering that there are some things that will never clear up until we grow up, and others not until we go up.

(From Dave Black Online. David Alan Black is the author of Energion titles Christian Archy, The Jesus Paradigm, and Why Four Gospels?. Used by permission.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blessings,

Dave

(From Dave Black Online. David Alan Black is the author of Energion titles Christian Archy, The Jesus Paradigm, and Why Four Gospels?. Used by permission.)