Fruit that proves your repentance. Luke 3.

Pink Floyd:

Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you're okay.
Money, its a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
...
Money, get back.
I'm all right jack keep your hands off of my stack.
...
Money, its a crime.
Share it fairly but dont take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise its no surprise that they're
Giving none away. (lyric excerpt from Money on album, Dark Side of the Moon)

John the Baptist:

So the crowds were asking him, “What then should we do?” John answered them, “The person who has two tunics must share with the person who has none, and the person who has food must do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He told them, “Collect no more than you are required to.” Then some soldiers also asked him, “And as for us – what should we do?” He told them, “Take money from no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your pay.” (Luke 3:10-14 NET)

Christmas in June. Luke 2.

In Yellowstone Park on the 25th of August, the park employees celebrate "Christmas in August in Yellowstone". It's primarily an end of summer party for them, but the decorations and costumes all around the park are big surprise if you happen to be there visiting on the 25th, and don't know about the tradition. (Maybe you'll forget about this if you go sometime.) While the celebration in Yellowstone is all about Christmas trees, and elves, and Santas, and candy canes, it's not so difficult to consider what Christmas is all about, on a hot, ripe, sunny day in one of the most amazing places in God's creation.

We have the opportunity, as we did when reading Matthew, to think about the entry of God into history, in the birth of Jesus. As I said then, the days that are not during the Christmas season can be particularly fruitful to actually think about "the reason for the season". (I intensely dislike that phrase, maybe I'll tell you about that some day, but it's useful here.) So make yourself a cup of cocoa, put on your wool socks, and enjoy Luke's account of the birth of our Savior.

Years ago, the Sunday School class I was in got to take a "Christmas quiz." The purpose of the quiz was to have some fun, but to also separate out what the Bible says from the traditions developed around Christmas. Later, I've given this quiz to other groups, and my life group kids me about this, when they see a production that isn't "quite accurate" in its portrayal of the nativity -- "uh, oh, Jim's not gonna like that." So I thought this morning, I'd create some imaginary Christmas cards, based on chapter 2 of Luke. These will be genuine, 100% Jim-certified and approved cards you could send to your friends and neighbors, straight from the text. Whether they'll have any meaning to the recipients or not, is a totally different question.

The first card would have giant gears at the top, with a God-like hand emerging from the clouds setting the gears in motion. The gears could be seen to be moving the figures below -- Roman officials in togas and soldiers in their armor. The caption inside would read, "At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire... And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He took with him Mary, his fiancée... And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son."

The second card would be a court scene of some sort. In it, we would clearly see that two witnesses are giving testimony, and the judge and jury approves. (I have no idea exactly how one would convey that, maybe they'd all have smiles on their faces, and have their thumbs up.) Inside, the card would say, "For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples: a light, for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

A third card would be more traditional looking. In it, we see a temple courtyard scene from Jesus' time, and several Jewish men sitting in a semicircle, talking with a 12 year old boy, whom we see from behind. The conversation is lively, and interest and wonder show on the men's faces. Perhaps there are a few onlookers scattered around the grouping, men and women and kids, drawn to what's taking place. The caption inside would read: "... they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Jesus were astonished at his understanding and his answers... And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people."

For your enjoyment, here's a more traditional take of Anna and Simeon in the temple:

Familiarity. Luke 1.

One of the things I have to remind myself to do when reading such a familiar passage is to slow down. That starts, of course, by praying before beginning to read, and asking for help in doing that. I don't want to only skim the passage, remembering what it's about, noticing a couple of touch points, and then putting a check mark in a box -- Luke 1? Check. Read that. And while I might be even more inclined to do so in the next couple of chapters of Luke, these first passages describing the conception and birth of Luke's gospel, John the baptist, and Jesus, not quite born, are familiar enough to warrant the precaution.

What then is in the passage that we don't want to overlook? How about the clues Luke gives us at the beginning of the gospel, concerning his motivation in writing this account, the care which he took, and the implications for understanding the message within? For example, the fact that it's written for someone with a Greek name, Theophilus, with phrasing that makes it sound like he's an official, and whose name means "God-lover", provides some indication of the target audience Luke had in mind. The audience is always a key to better understanding of the author's meaning. Luke also indicates this is an orderly account of the testimonies of eyewitnesses, indicating this gospel is factual and complete. That's cool. (Ooooh, I feel it coming on, I can't help it, Paul did it, oh, I was going to avoid it, but, could we say "Cool Hand Luke"?) Have fun pulling out your own keys from the first few verses.

We also get an immediate sense of how Luke writes by observing they way he's structured this parallel account of the announcements, miraculous conception, and births of John and Jesus (anticipated in this chapter). He shows sensitivity in portraying what happened, poetry in the two songs, and attention to detail as he said he would by providing date markers by which to know when this took place. The "song of Mary" in verses 1:46-56, makes one wonder if she was one of the eyewitness accounts Luke gathered.

The miraculous nature and direct hand of God at work is, of course, overwhelmingly apparent in this account. Imagine if we had only Mark's account to go on -- there's John, baptizing; there's Jesus, being baptized; there's Jesus beginning His ministry. No precursors to the moment of public ministry. No indicators of God's intervention from the beginning of these two men, only the assumption that it must have been so.

We learn something about angels, specifically the angel Gabriel. We learn of John's connection to the priests by birth, and to the prophets by calling and through Spirit-empowerment. And we learn that in Jesus, with John as the forerunner, that Israel's long wait, the long silence of God has ended.

"For he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago,
that we should be saved from our enemies,
and from the hand of all who hate us.
He has done this to show mercy to our ancestors,
and to remember his holy covenant –
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham.

This oath grants
that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
may serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him for as long as we live.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High.
For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins."
(Luke 1:69-77 NET)

I love how this chapter ends, and could meditate on just this one verse alone, considering where in my life is the wilderness where I might grow strong in the spirit. "And the child kept growing and becoming strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he was revealed to Israel."

One of your own. Philemon.

Here are a couple of verses from yesterday's reading, chapter 4 of Colossians, to get us started in today's reading.

"Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven." (Colossians 4:1)

"Tychicus, a dear brother, faithful minister, and fellow slave in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. I sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your hearts. I sent him with Onesimus, the faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here." (Colossians 4:7-9)

Making that journey from Rome (likely) back to Phrygia (modern-day Turkey), are those two men so named, Tychicus and Onesimus, perhaps with some traveling companions. One of those men is carrying with him a second letter, to an individual in the church at Colossae. The recipient of that letter will be asked to obey the admonition in Colossians 4:1, in very practical terms. The letter carrier is Onesimus, whom Paul had described as "one of you." If we didn't have a copy of this letter today, how would we ever know that this Onesimus was anyone other than a member in good standing of the church and community at Colossae? And how would we ever know of the repentance and courage it took for Onesimus to deliver that letter, and the hope he had that the contents of the letter would result in a favorable outcome for him, as he went to face the consequences of his past sin?

If these two letters weren't so real, one could almost imagine this second letter -- to Philemon -- to be an allegory, to teach what Paul meant by "in Christ there is no slave or free." The master is Philemon, which means "kindly one". The runaway slave is Oenismus, which means "the useful or profitable or advantageous one". The play on words -- the useless one has now become more than useful -- is almost heavy-handed. The pressure brought to bear on Philemon by Paul, while trying to allow Philemon the wiggle room to make the decision his own, makes us wonder if Philemon really could have refused Paul's request. And there is the hint of our own rescue from the consequences of disobedience, through Christ's actions, and the changed nature we receive, and its usefulness to God's family. And the guarantee that all debts would be paid.

But these were real people. And Oenismus carried the letter to an uncertain fate. We deduce from the letter's presence in the New Testament that it turned out well -- just as Paul requested.

How interesting are those words in the public letter to the church -- "Oensimus, who is one of you"?

Gone prayin'. Colossians 4.

Back to post later today. You're invited to add your own comment on Colossians 4.

(Heh. I forgot to put this up early this morning.)

And if only I'd written, "gone praying", my work for the day would have been done. So now it is.

Three lists for the day. Colossians 3.

If you'd prefer it to the 3 phrases below, make yourself 3 lists from chapter 3 and figure out why the items in each list are grouped together.

Three phrases for the day. Colossians 3.

Reading from the King James translation of Colossians, v.3:12, there is this phrase: "Put on... bowels of mercies..." In one of my other translations, I read, "wrap yourself in the guts of compassion, good will, humility..."

For us today, this is pretty colorful language. No wonder, the NIV translates this as simply, "clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility..." But I really like that phrase, "the guts of compassion, etc." More than liking it, it's a real call to living that isn't all that easy to answer. My father-in-law talks about getting old, he's now in his 80s, in these ways: "getting old isn't for cowards;" and "it takes guts to get old." In the same way, it takes guts to live a life of compassion, good will, humility, gentleness and patience, putting up with one another.

These qualities Paul is talking about might be seen as weak, or passive -- "let me be gentle in my dealing with you." But the phrasing he used indicates this isn't about passivity. No, it's the guts of compassion, the big, powerful emotions, the passion of compassion and humility and patience and gentleness. It's quite the opposite of what we tend to ascribe to these qualities. Paul would be pleased, I think, that these words grabbed me in the gut today.

And if the list of qualities we are to be clothed in wasn't big enough and challenging enough for us to live in, he then has us put over all these clothes, agape love, Christ-love, like Superman's cape, or the silk shawl that completes a formal gown. Love as the link to perfection, and previous similes aside, our essential garment.

A second phrase from KJV, v.3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...," is colorfully expressed in the Message: "Let the Word of Christ--the Message--have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God!"

Followed by this final phrase in verse 17, "Whatsoever ye do...". Whatsoever? That leaves, exactly, nothing. Again from the Message, "Let every detail in your lives--words, actions, whatever--be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way."

Those are my phrases for the day.

Clues. Colossians 2.

Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart are the authors of an excellent book on Bible study entitled, How to Read the Bible for all its Worth. In their introduction to understanding the epistles, that is, the letters, they say this, "... there is one thing that all of the Epistles have in common, and this is the crucial thing to note in reading and interpreting them: they are all what are technically called occasional documents (i.e., arising out of and intended for a specific occasion), and they are from the first century." They go on to say this about being occasional. "Usually the occasion was some kind of behavior that needed correcting, or a doctrinal error that needed setting right, or a misunderstanding that needed further light." And as they also point out, we often have the answers, but not the questions or problems that the answers were intended to address.

And so we have to look for clues. If we were doing a full study of this letter, the starting place for those clues might be to consult a reference such as a Bible dictionary to learn more about Colossae itself. The next step would be to read and reread the letter several times, each time in a single setting, and in the process develop a basic outline of the letter. As we develop the outline, we often see some of the underlying issues the letter addresses.

In a read through like we're doing, we don't have the luxury of time to accomplish all of this. (Unless you're doing the 60x5x5.) You do have an outline for each book, and can use that to understand the major divisions of thought within the letter. But your primary clues will come from the language of the letter, and some careful thinking as you read.

In verse 2:4 we read, "I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable." That sounds like a clue to me. And since Paul expresses himself by writing "I say this", we know to look in the text prior to verse 4, for what it was he said. Here it is: "My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2:2-3 NET). In other words, what Paul said was that he wanted to encourage the readers and assure them that wisdom and knowledge are resident in Christ.

What I discover from this first clue is that there were those who were teaching some form of philosophy and wisdom that ran counter to an understanding of the sufficiency in a relationship with Christ (confirmed in verse 6). Paul's use of the words "mystery", "hidden", and "wisdom" may be further clues as to the nature of that teaching, and Paul is saying you have all that and more in your relationship with Jesus as Lord -- just continue to live your lives in him. Don't worry about any who might say that wisdom is secret, hidden, a mystery.

The next clue is found in verse 2:8, "Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ." In the text that follows, then, Paul is answering those who are teaching a human philosophy and human traditions, perhaps tied to spirit beings. (Further down in the chapter we see specific references to angel worship.)

Other clues in this chapter about the teachings they're hearing are the references to Jewish customs (food, drink, feasts, etc.), some form of asceticism ("false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body"), and rules and regulations founded on human teachings (don't touch, don't taste, don't handle).

Once we see what Paul is arguing against, we better understand what he's arguing for. When we see a list like this (hook's paraphrase) --

• Don't get hung up on food regulations.
• Don't get hung up on special days.
• Don't get sidetracked by those who claim mystical experiences.
• Don't get sidetracked by the ascetics who think they can tame their sensual appetites with self-abuse.
• Don't trade your new life in Christ for human approaches to humble living and a worship filled life.

-- we now have some perspective to help us get to the meaning Paul intended, and the significance for us.

Today I may not have to worry about feast days, but why did Paul write about them? Well, first, because it was something the Colossians had to deal with. And second, this teaching came from a tradition that had relevance at some point, but was now a shadow of the truth in the light of Jesus' arrival, fully Deity in bodily form. So what do I (us) have to worry about that's like this? Perhaps it's the teaching of someone or some group that seems to be rooted in the Bible, but is a distortion of the full teaching of Scripture. I would put the misuse of the prayer of Jabez in that category. A careful reading of what Dr. Wilkinson said in his book was technically accurate, but was open to much abuse by those who misread, and then especially when retaught from the misreading.

Our culture is full of false teachings, some of them so subtle we may not be aware of them. Some of them are even fostered (often inadvertently) by the church. The most pervasive one I can think of is the idea that it's all about me. Rarely stated that way, this really is the original sin and it's always been present in our thinking. I went to Yahoo just now to look for evidence of this. First glance, I didn't see anything in particular beyond the fact that the most popular TV show is "So You Think You Can Dance". That's not much, and I thought it would be easy to confirm this point. Then I stared a little harder. The first two buttons at the top of the page: "My Yahoo" and "My Mail", are so pervasive I didn't even see them and the implications behind them. These titles on the buttons do serve a purpose, which is that they're easy to understand markers taking me to the place where I've customized what's shown on the page. The subtler message is -- it's really about me. In fact, it's so much about me that Yahoo wants me to be able to shape my own Yahoo. I then noticed the featured article on the page which is about the "most-hated internet words" -- according to a survey. Surveys are subtle ways of ascribing importance to our opinions.

Now each of these items serves a useful commercial purpose, but we're constantly inundated in the U.S. with the message -- it's all about me. Contrast this thought on the "Life" tab on Yahoo with Paul's.

• Yahoo -- How to have the body you want
• Paul -- I struggle, "so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects"

The lessons in the epistles are not always obvious, when rooted in the first century occasion of the writing of the letter. But God has given us these letters because of the lessons they contain, and their significance for our lives. So we watch for the clues to their meaning. We draw out that meaning. And then we may need to look for the clues in our lives and the world around us. Those clues point to the places where the significance of the lessons applies to us personally. And since this isn't all about us, we'd better start with an attitude that submits to God's purposes and seeks His help.

Ignoring the elephant in the room. Colossians 1.

Some days you must think that I'm ignoring the elephant in the room, when it comes to the daily posting on the blog. Certainly our guest writers in Romans took a different approach than I often do when they wrote their entries. (And we'll have more guest writers in the future.) Well, frankly, some days I am ignoring the elephant in the room, and on purpose. This is one of those days.

In Colossians 1, after Paul's preliminaries at the beginning of the letter he launches into what is the heart of this letter to the church in Colosse -- a laser focus on the person and work of Christ as a vaccination against the false beliefs surrounding the church, perhaps even in the church. In v.1:18, Paul says of Christ, "... so that he himself may become first in all things." In many Bibles, this section is often labeled with something referring to the supremacy of Christ. Fair enough. Paul lists attributes of Christ in showing His supremacy. Fair enough. Most sermons on the entire chapter will focus on those attributes. Fair enough.

There's no getting around it. Ignoring this heart of the chapter is like ignoring an elephant in the room. Difficult to do. But I'm going to do it. You can pull out Christ's attributes on your own. It would be wonderful if someone left a comment on the blog about that part of the chapter. I want to look at the beginning of the chapter, in the area of a letter we may dismiss as "introductory", skipping ahead to the meat of the letter. Here's why. I want to connect for you the endings of the last two letters of Paul's we've read -- Ephesians and Philippians -- with what he has written to the Colossians.

If you'll recall, at the end of Ephesians, Paul encouraged the church (all the saints) to pray for the rest of the church. "With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. Pray for me also,..." (Ephesians 6:18,19a NET) As a part of the spiritual battle we are engaged in, we need to help each other out in the church -- in prayer by the power of the Spirit. At the end of the letter to the Philippians, Paul said that in following his advice for right living, and proper thinking, that they could learn from his example: "And what you learned and received and heard and saw in me, do these things." (Philippians 4:9)

Now connect the dots. Pray for our fellow saints, follow Paul's example. First part of Colossians -- Paul describes his prayers for his fellow saints in Colosse. While this certainly isn't the only place in Paul's letters where he tells of his prayers for the letter recipients, it's a really good place to draw from, especially as a way to honor and follow his advice in his last two letters.

Which leads us to this -- how do we pray for other Christians? Here's one way:

• Be thankful for their faith -- exhibited in change lives that manifest in ways such as love for all their fellow believers and a heaven-bound attitude.
• Ask God to help them know what He wants them to do.
• Ask God to give them spiritual wisdom.
• Ask God to help them live a life that honors and pleases Him.
  
• Ask God to help them grow in their knowledge of Him.
• Ask God to give them strength for endurance.
• Ask God to fill them with patience, joy, and thanksgiving.

Amen.

And don't you ignore the elephant in the room.

Reflections. Philippians 4.

Grandfather duty came first today, so after a morning of job hunting and work, the blog had to wait for our grandson's swim and dinner and chores. But in the pool, you can bet I was thinking about today's reading in Philippians, and reflecting on what I read, even as the sunlight reflected off the surface of the pool. Mainly because I wanted to write about verses 4:8,9, where Paul asks the Philippians to think about, dwell on, reason through, ponder, or reflect upon good, noble, true things. So there I was in the pool, watching the reflections, reflecting on Paul's admonition to reflect upon good stuff, trapped in a referential spiral of reflection.

In the verses immediately preceding 8 and 9, Paul has given some great advice about anxiety, rooted in an understanding of the God he served. (The same one we do.) In the NLT, it says, "Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything." This is so fundamental to our living in joy and peace. It reflects an essential understanding of creation that should be ours. You've probably clung to that advice at some time or another in your life -- or maybe that's yet to come.

In some sense, I see what Paul writes next as one way to fill up those moments when we might be anxious. Or angry. Or depressed. Or afraid. Or frustrated. Or uncertain. Or tempted. Here it is:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things. And what you learned and received and heard and saw in me, do these things. And the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:8-9 NET)

What we place our thoughts upon has real impact in our lives. (Whoa, how cliched was that?) For a moment, take some of the specific items Paul said to think about, and reverse them. The reverse of what he said was don't dwell on the unlovely, the impure, the unjust. Now stop again. Did any part of your week include dwelling on the unjust? Did someone get away with something they shouldn't have? Someone cut you off in traffic? Someone cheat on the ball field? Were you unfairly treated in a conversation? How long did you dwell on it? This is so easy to do. We live in a wonderful and yet rotten world. A fallen world. Unjust stuff happens. Unlovely stuff is everywhere.

And because of that, Paul says, dwell on the really wholesome parts of life. Reflect on commendable actions, look for excellence and praiseworthy ideas and occurrences. And as I watched my grandson jump into the water, float, play, laugh, swallow water and cough it up, and gradually get more comfortable in the pool, it was easy to find the lovely, and the excellent in those moments. The chill of the water on my skin, the warmth of the sun, the words of Paul to encourage me to reflect about that very moment. That was an easy moment to follow Paul's advice, even though I might sometimes forget about to think about it without his reminder to do so.

But what about the hard moments? Sitting in the midst of scummy circumstances, and thinking crummy thoughts? I know, for example, that some of you reading this blog are dealing with health issues, or finance issues, or family relationship issues -- hard stuff. One of my wife's close Bible study partner's husband has just died. Can Paul's advice help?

And the answer is, not surprisingly enough, absolutely yes. The trick is to remember to do it. And so Paul told the Philippians, try and remember what he had said, how he had acted, what they had learned when he was with them to help them do that. Now, what can you do to remember to think on the commendable things? One answer is to remember Jesus, Who was all of Paul's list -- worthy of respect, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy. This is one of those cases where, like the youth in our Sunday School learn quickly, if you're not sure of the answer, then answer with "Jesus".

I hope you had a terrific day today, with the 4th chapter of Philippians shepherding your thoughts.

(hook's note: I hesitated to talk about being in a pool today. I know there are those of you who are in worse situations than we are. Let me just say that it's an incredible blessing that the complex where we live has a pool that we can use, and we're thankful to have it as a result of tightening financial circumstances.)

Dogs and dung. Philippians 3.

There's a certain continuity of thought in all of Paul's writings to the churches. No doubt this came both from his experience in the places he was writing to, and from his present circumstance. Reflect back for a minute on the likely reason Paul is imprisoned as he's writing this letter. He took an offering to Jerusalem and when he followed the advice of the Jerusalem church council to pacify those Jewish Christians who were unhappy with Paul's preaching to the Gentiles, he was grabbed by some Jews who made the same accusation -- Paul was preaching against Jewish practices.

So it's natural that Paul spend some time in his letter warning once again that those called Judaizers, who would have the new Gentile Christians adhere to Jewish laws including circumcision, were to be resisted. As Paul does so in verses 3:1-6, he uses powerful words, and a potent argument. Dogs is a real term of derision in the first century. Add to that term "workers of evil" and "flesh mutilators" and we see that Paul has heaped incredible scorn on the Judaizers. He goes on to say, in a powerful argument that he, Paul, knows exactly where they are coming from, knows their zeal for the law, but states that they can't even come close to Paul's own former zealousness for the Law -- following it rigorously in his behavior, and persecuting the followers of Jesus. So if anyone comes to the Philippians arguing that they know what the law demands, the rejoinder is that "we have been taught the gospel from one with more credentials than you could ever have."

As Paul uses that argument, I can almost feel the passion, the zealousness swelling up in his heart, as he shares how empty his former passion was (verses 3:7-11). Yes I had that passion. Yes I was zealous. God, how wrong I was. It's meaningless in the light of God's grace reflected in Jesus' saving actions. It's all rubbish, it's refuse, it's dung. (This is the only use of the Greek word in the New Testament, and we rely on the classical Greek meaning -- rubbish and muck of many kinds: excrement, rotten food, bits left at a meal, a rotting corpse, dung.)

Can we catch a glimpse of Paul's passion for Christ in those strong words? Do we too, measure everything against what we gain in Christ? Listen to this paraphrase from The Message:

"The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness.

I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it. " (Philippians 3:7-11 MSG)

And Paul goes on to say that he will strive alongside God to the end: "Not that I have already attained this – that is, I have not already been perfected – but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me." (v.3:12 NET). Remember Paul's earlier confident prayer in chapter 1 was that God would finish the work he began in the Philippians. Here we see that Paul too, considers the work not fully done in himself, but that he will run the race to the finish as hard as he can (pressing on).

Today, I don't want this blog to get in the way of your own contemplation of the message in Philippians 3. But I do want to challenge you to consider, to think through what Jesus is calling you to know, to be, and to do, as a partner in the working of His grace in your life. And that challenge applies equally to me.

Lazy Friday and thoughts on heresy. Philippians 2.

While it might look like it was a lazy Friday, since this post didn't hit the blog until today, it was actually a very busy Friday. Early in the day, though, as I read through Philippians 2, I was thinking about what to write about for the day. The demands of the day got in the way, but that didn't prevent me from thinking about the importance of this passage in the history of the church -- just from writing about it. I was specifically thinking about the usefulness of writing about heresy, the nature of Christ, etc. This isn't the usual sort of post on the blog, but I hope it will be of some use. The biggest problem with tackling this issue, is that short form writing doesn't lend itself to dense topic, so this will be a summary, at best.

Let's start by putting some Scripture here to look at:

"You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,
who though he existed in the form of God
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped,
but emptied himself
by taking on the form of a slave,
by looking like other men,
and by sharing in human nature.

He humbled himself,
by becoming obedient to the point of death
– even death on a cross!
As a result God exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow
– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11 NET)

The translators have formatted this part of Paul's letter as verse, reflecting its poetic nature, and perhaps the fact that he's quoting a song or confessional statement of the early church. (For contrasting views as to whether this is an early church hymn or not, you can read treatments by Ralph P. Martin and Gordon D. Fee.) It' s not essential to our understanding to have this problem resolved, although if it is a confessional it would indicate that not only did Paul, and other NT writers, address the heretical threat of gnostic thinking, but that a formal recitation in church of orthodox doctrine was an important part of countering these heresies.

Let's get some definitions down, before we go any further.

orthodox - (of a person or their views, esp. religious or political ones, or other beliefs or practices) conforming to what is generally or traditionally accepted as right or true; established and approved.

heresy - belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (esp. Christian) doctrine.

Gnosticism - a prominent heretical movement of the 2nd century Christian church, partly of pre-Christian origin. Gnostic doctrine taught that the world was created and ruled by a lesser divinity, the demiurge, and that Christ was an emissary of the remote supreme divine being, esoteric knowledge (gnosis) of whom enabled the redemption of the human spirit.

Beyond this dictionary description of gnostic thinking, I would add that gnositicism definitely was around in the first century A.D., and consisted of a network of ideas and practices built around a dualism of material and spirit that separated God from creation. Because God was thought of as pure spirit, untouched by and un-touching matter, creation of the universe was delegated to that lesser being, the demi-urge.

When we read the letter to the Colossians, we'll see Paul writing even more specifically to deal with this heresy.

At this point, I want to mention why reading this passage triggered some thoughts in this direction, especially because I don't want us to lose the primary focus of Paul's writing in this chapter, which is that we are to have the same attitude as Christ, Who gave up everything for us. This is essential. And in a sense, it's that essential message that got me to thinking about the role of these verses in the early church. While Paul was using Christ's very nature to teach the Philippians a profound truth for their lives (and ours), these verses, especially v.2:6-8, became both the basis for a heresy, and a truth to combat heresy. It is that dual application of the text that intrigued me.

Most heresies, and for our purposes, all heresies, are predicated on an incorrect understanding of Jesus, the Christ. Typically, they fall into one of these categories: Jesus wasn't God, Jesus wasn't human, Jesus wasn't divine or human, or Jesus gave up everything divine to be human. My own opinion is that in some cases, those who hold unorthodox views do so, not out of malevolence, but out of the difficulty in understanding what is referred to as the "hypostatic union" that describes the incarnation of the Son in this world -- fully God, fully human. But from Paul's time, the church has had to face these inevitable wrong understandings of Jesus, and the trinity -- God as Father, Son, Holy Spirit. As movements, these heretical groups were much more than just groups of people who couldn't figure out who Jesus is -- they were a threat to the entire church and to the correct understanding of the gospel. And they often came from groups hostile to the church. Which is why Paul wrote his words to the Philippians, and as we'll see, the Colossians too.

Here's a basic classification of the early heresies, minus some of the nuances of difference between them:

Jesus was simply God
Docetism; Monophysitism

Jesus was not God but simply a creature
Arianism; Ebionitism

The Christ was part man and part God
Apollinarianism; Nestorianism; Monothelitism

Paul's clear delineation of Christ's divine origin, and humbling act to take on human form and sharing human nature was the answer to all three of these heretical positions. Not the only answer, and an answer that requires some unpacking for us, but nevertheless one that puts the Son in glory before incarnation, and in glory after resurrection. Some of the unpacking that we need has to do with two Greek words: morphe and kenoo, translated respectively as "form" and "emptied". See the words of the day for more details on these two words.

There is a recent movement in theology, although I have some recollection that this may have been part the Arianism heresy, that in the "emptying" or kenosis, the Son as Jesus was no longer divine in some sense. This is what I was referring to when I said that the Philippians passage has also led to a certain unorthodox viewpoint of Christ. And there are proponents of this point of view who point out that what they're referring to is not a missing divine nature in Jesus, but a choice of divine limitation, based on their understanding of the kenosis or emptying undergone by the Son.

This starts to get really fuzzy here. As humans, we can never fully comprehend how it is God entered history as Jesus. And I accept that some of the attempts at understanding what Paul meant by "emptied himself" are legitimate attempts to better understand it. But this hasn't been the orthodox view for more than 1500 years. I consider the treatment of the passage in this paper an excellent approach to understanding better what Paul meant. But before getting completely bogged down in this, I want to give you something that I hope will help in understanding the "hypostatic union" a little better.

We should be able to understand this union by thinking about ourselves. The relationship of our physical body and our souls is of some form of union where there is both no separation between them, and a recognizable separation. In the creed of Athanasius, the principles of Trinity are laid out, and this analogy is drawn: "As a rational soul and flesh are one man, so God and man are one Christ." How does that work? As a rational soul, you can say "I will never die." But that statement is not true of your flesh, unless Jesus were to return before your physical death. The flip side of that statement is that as a physical being, as flesh, you can say "I won't live forever." And that statement is not true of your soul.

Taking that analogy and applying it to Jesus we can understand how He could say, "You are of this world, I am not of this world," which is true of His divine nature, and at the same time state that He doesn't know the hour of His return -- which is true of His human nature.

So what? Well, there is a so what that I think is important for us to keep in mind. First, remember Paul's primary thought - live and serve as Christ did. Second, the work of Christ on the cross is only one point in the story of God's redemption of humanity. Those of us who have said yes to follow Jesus are a part of that continuing work. In the case of the early church there were opposing influences from the culture that threatened the foundational thought of the gospel -- Jesus' incarnation, birth, death, and resurrection on our behalf. There was an entire world that had yet to hear that message. There were forces that physically opposed the church. And in various forms, or in different parts of the world, those opposing forces and remaining mission exist today. Let's keep at the tasks laid before us, with God's Words to guide us, and our sisters and brothers beside us. Amen.

The gift of suffering for Christ. Philippians 1.

Getting to suffer is a gift? Wait a minute, Paul, run that one by me again.

Well, who would know better than Paul? He's sitting in chains, not sure whether he'll live or die, and outside people are preaching the gospel with the motivation of causing him trouble. And yet Paul is able to say in this first chapter of Philippians, "I thank God when I remember you;" "I pray with joy for you;" "I pray that your love would flourish." Paul recognizes that even in the situation he's in, it's good to see the gospel advancing. He even rejoices in the fact that no matter what the motivation, it's good that the gospel is being preached.

We can conclude that Paul knows what he's talking about when he calls it a gift to suffer for Christ's sake, even if it's a stark truth to stare at. Before looking into this truth further, I want to back up just a bit, to the beginning of the paragraph (v.1:27) where Paul begins one long run-on sentence that ends with this truth, and that he faces with them. Here's the verse:

"Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that – whether I come and see you or whether I remain absent – I should hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, by contending side by side for the faith of the gospel, ..." (Philippians 1:27 NET)

The Greek in this verse, translated as "conduct yourselves" is literally, "live as citizens". As noted in the translators' notes in the NET Bible, the idea is to live as Roman freemen, something that carried privileges much of the populace of the Mediterranean didn't have. It would be somewhat the same as the privileges we have as American citizens compared to much of the world. Not slaves. Not kings. Basically equal to one another. Be citizens, then, with rights and responsibilities, who act in accordance with and in response to, the good news of Christ.

I think it's important to catch this idea of citizenship, because we might take this admonition as applying to us strictly as individuals. Of course, there is that aspect -- our individual behavior contributes to our collective behavior, and vice versa. But it's easy to miss the collective behavior aspect. In essence, Paul's admonition is to the community. Makes sense, since he's writing to the church at Philippi.

I went searching through my various translations, looking for something that captured the spirit of citizenship and community within the admonition for right living. The Amplified Bible uses citizen directly, and the New Living Translation and Today's New International Version both go ahead and say "as citizens of heaven". Finally, I turned to a translation that I look at from time to time by Andy Gaus, and I liked the fact that not only did he catch the idea of community, but he managed to do the translation of the paragraph as one long sentence. Here it is:

"Just act like a community worthy of the good news of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or whether I'm far away, what I hear about you is that you are standing firm, united in spirit, not at all abashed by your enemies, striving as one, joined by your belief in the good news, the belief that is the sign of their destruction and your salvation -- in both cases coming from God; since you were given the gift of being for Christ, not just believing in him but also suffering for him and facing the same battle that you saw me face and now hear that I am faced with again." (Philippians 1:27-30 The Unvarnished New Testament)

I think this understanding of community when it comes to worthy living is also helpful when we get to what Paul says about the gift we receive. In broad terms, the gift we receive is "being for Christ", both in belief and in action -- facing suffering. But we do it in community. And that helps.

For the Philippians, who did suffer, and as hard as it was to hear, Paul let them know this was something special. The history of the church demonstrates that it in times of persecution, the church flourishes. For us today, we may or may not suffer. But around the world, others are suffering for Christ's sake. And they are a part of our community. We need to recognize that. In line with our reading yesterday from Ephesians 6, we need to always keep on praying for all the saints. If you would like more specifics about the persecuted church, and how you can pray, go here or here. This is our community.

Clothed in Spiritual Armor. Ephesians 6.

"Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." (Ephesians 6:10,11 NET)

This is one of the classic passages in the New Testament, frequently quoted, prayed through, used and sometimes even abused. Paul likes the clothing metaphor, and if you remember just a couple of weeks ago we read in Romans about clothing ourselves in Christ. Treat this metaphor the same way in your understanding of what it means to "put on" clothes.

I want to make just a couple of points about this passage and encourage you to do the heavy thinking. The first point is to acknowledge the source of inspiration for Paul's thinking here. In part it comes from imagery of the Old Testament. The helmet of salvation, for example, is from Isaiah 59:17. But Paul's primary inspiration was the Roman soldier he was chained to during his confinement. No doubt Paul had ample opportunity to reflect on those articles of armor the soldier relied on.

The second point, is to notice that four times Paul talks about standing in the full passage: Ephesians 6:10-20. Standing firm against something is not the same as marching off and attacking. (In verse 13, Paul's meaning is something like stand up and stand your ground, so that you'll remain standing.) In fact, all the pieces of armor listed are for defense and protection, with the possible exception of the sword. Even there, this sword was for close-in, hand-to-hand combat, and there was a longer sword, and the lance to be used when attacking. When considering the spiritual forces that are allied against us, it's important to understand that we're called to resist them, not go out looking for them.

A third point is that prayer and alertness are equally valuable in this warfare as the rest of the armor. And that this prayer should be continuous and be for all the saints, including Paul. The armor of a Roman soldier had one weakness -- the back was somewhat unprotected. Protection for the back came from all the other soldiers one fought with. "I've got your back," was something these soldiers would understand. Paul points out that we need to be that protection for one another, through prayer and watching out.

Here's a final point from which you can consider the rest of the passage. Think about the role and function of each piece of armor when looking at the spiritual capability Paul compares it to. What is a shield for, and how is faith like a shield?

If you aren't already, get dressed!

Faith walk. Ephesians 5. (Updated below.)

In this letter to the saints in Ephesus, Paul uses the Greek word, peripateo, seven times, including three times in this chapter alone. The most literal translation of that word is "to walk". On your introduction sheet for the letter, walk is listed as one of the key words. If you're using the NIV or NLT translation, in which verses do you see it in this chapter? Oops, not there. So, what's up?

Many modern translations have chosen to take the imagery of walking Paul uses, and translate the imagery into what was likely Paul's primary meaning - "live a life". There's nothing wrong with that translation, but we do lose something when the imagery of walking disappears.

Take a look at the map of Paul's third missionary journey -- the one in which he spent the most time in Ephesus. He began this journey in Antioch, and must have traveled by foot, a distance that looks like 700-800 miles. Paul knew what it meant to walk.

Once in Ephesus, of course, transportation was also by foot. The street to the right is what remains of the Agora, the commercial marketplace. Paul must have walked this street often, and it is speculated that this is where Demetrius and the other silversmiths started the riot described in Acts 19:23-28. Paul walked these streets and preached the gospel, the Way of Christ.

The metaphor of walking in faith is certainly one we use as Christians. You may hear friends say "my walk", or "the Christian walk". You may use that language yourself. For the original followers of Jesus, when He said "Come, follow Me," they did -- literally, walking with Him and learning from Him. In John, we'll read about a teaching of Jesus' that was so hard for His followers to accept that many left Him. John describes that action as "withdrawing and not walking with Him any longer." Paul uses this word almost 30 times in all his letters. So let's explore this idea of walking just a little more, and think about its significance to us.

The first thought I have about walking is that it's not as integral part of our lives as it was in Jesus' and Paul's day. My guess is that that's the reason the NIV translators chose to translate peripateo into the phrase "live a life" or the single word "live". In the American suburbs, at least, walking isn't usually a primary form of transportation. In fact, it's often a recreational activity for us. And while our own faith walk may be pleasant at times, it would be very misleading to think of it as some kind of fun, optional part of our lives.

A related thought is that these kinds of recreational walks have a start and an end. Not so, with our faith walk. Well, let me clarify that. There is a start and an end, but they're of lifetime duration -- beginning when we answer the call of Jesus to "Come and follow Me", and ending as an earthly activity when we die. A word that describes such an extensive walk is journey. But the word journey carries with it baggage that shades Paul's meaning. But journey is a good word in its own right, and worth thinking about another time.

A third thought that comes to my mind as I think about walking is the degree to which I'm plunged into the environment around me, especially compared to other forms of transportation. The tree a half mile ahead takes a some time to reach, walk past, and then recede into the distance. There is time to experience it fully. Or even to simply have it in my conscious vision while other thoughts might occupy my mind. The tree isn't insubstantial, nor is the time it takes to pass it by.

How does Paul use the word walk in this chapter?

• "... walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." (v.5:2 NASB)
• "... for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light ..." (v.5:8 NASB)
  
• "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil." (v.5:15,16 NASB)

Simply put, Paul says the Ephesians (we too) should walk in love, walk in light, and walk in wisdom. Our walk in love has the highest standard -- the love Christ demonstrated by His sacrifice for us. Our walk in light is in contrast with how we formerly walked -- in darkness. And our walk in wisdom requires care and maximizes the time we have available to us.

Go back for a second and look at the two pictures in this post. Paul walked several hundred miles to return to Ephesus, preach the gospel, and build the church up there. What occupied his mind? What conversations took place along the way? Whom did they meet and what words were exchanged? As Paul traveled did he recognize that the steps he took were taken in love, for love, and out of love for the Christ and for others? Did he think about his other walks, perhaps the one to Damascus, when he moved out of the darkness and into the light? Was he careful to take the most direct route to Ephesus? Or did he with intention, take all the time he needed along the way to share the gospel with other travelers, and with residents of the places he passed through?

And every day in Ephesus, as Paul walked to and through the marketplace, how shaped was he by the law of Christ? When he wrote to the Ephesians, did he remember the streets they walked together? Was he asking them to remember how they walked, not just physically, but yes, physically too. Remember the road to the temple of Artemis? Do you remember that you once walked that road as worshipers of a man-made god, children of the darkness? And how everything changed when you entered the light of Christ's love? Continue to walk that way, then. Live your life in love, light, and wisdom.

I don't know if Paul picked the word peripateo, simply because it's the word that conveys one's everyday life in Greek, separated from its original meaning to walk, or if the imagery captured in that particular word had deep significance for Paul. I do know it has significance for me. Walking. My coming and going. Walking with Jesus. In His footsteps as best I can. Close to Him as best I can. Over long distances. To the everyday events and places of life.

Where is your faith walk taking you today?

UPDATE.
D'oh. Context, context, context. It hit me today as I was thinking about walking... where is Paul when he's writing this letter? Under house arrest if we understand it correctly. Chained to a Roman soldier. Walking? What wouldn't he have given for the chance to be walking down the road again?

Counter-cultural. Ephesians 4.

On Sunday, we talked about Paul's greeting in chapter 1 -- "... to the saints [in Ephesus], the faithful in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 1:1b NET) Our understanding of who the saints are is colored by the history of the church, where this word came to take on a particular meaning. Today, many of us think of saints as only those who have led exemplary lives, like Mother Teresa, who is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church. But Paul meant all the believers -- those who were "holy" or set apart for God's work. As believers, our holiness stems from the work of Christ on the cross.

It's this idea of set apartness I want to look at today. In chapter 4 of Ephesians, Paul describes a number of behaviors or characteristics that the saints should have, and some that they shouldn't. For example, he says in verse 29 that as saints, we shouldn't let any unwholesome talk out of our mouths, and instead speak words that build up others. Many, if not all, of these behaviors and characteristics ran counter to the culture of Paul's day -- and do to ours as well. Christians are to be counter-cultural!

In chapter 12 of Romans, we just read that we are to no longer conform to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed. Again, we are to be counter-cultural. It's not so much that we are defined by opposition to the culture, rather it's that we are called to be set apart from the culture -- because our priorities, our tasks, and our very being are rooted in the One we follow, Jesus. Not in the culture.

In Paul's day, and in the Gentile world, there were very distinct occasions where what the culture required ran counter to what a faith in Jesus required. The most obvious example is that the Caesar was to be considered a god, or a son of god. If you were a Christian, you couldn't consider that to be true. Likewise, there were gods all over the place -- in the market, in education, in the civic arena -- and sacrifices were to be made to one or more of these gods. Whoa, can't do that as a Christian, either. And much like today, the Christ was perfectly welcomed in the culture as yet another god, yet another truth if you will. That idea too was and is antithetical to what it means to worship the One God in three persons -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Aside from these obvious places where a faith in Jesus bumps into the practice of the culture, there is a whole set of values that run counter to the values of the culture. We've talked about many of them over the course of the year: to be first one must be last, Jesus came to serve, not to be served, blessed are the meek, the poor in spirit, the peacemakers. In this chapter we see some of those values reiterated by Paul, and some of those values extended by Paul. In verse 2, for example, Paul says to live "... with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." While gentleness was considered a virtue in the Greek world, humility, or meekness, was not. Unless you were someone who supposed to be servile because of your position in life.

The climax of Paul's instruction on living in holiness, comes in verses 17-24, with further instruction as to what "set apart" living looks like in the verses that follow. As he says, don't be like the others around you, living dark lives given to the fulfillment of appetites of indecency, and hardened to God's truths. Instead live as new creations in God's image, with righteousness and holiness that comes from the truth. Counter-cultural.

While the idea of the canonization of individuals as saints because of their exemplary lives and the inspiration they provide to others is a change from Paul's meaning, it's an understandable one. If we live as Christians in the culture, meeting the standards that Christ calls us to, the standards Paul reminds us of, then we might well look like saints -- extremely virtuous people -- to the rest of the culture. And it truly does set us apart.

For this reason. Ephesians 3.

At the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul praised God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- for accomplishing His purposes and blessings through Christ. And after praising God, Paul was moved to pray. "For this reason..." marks the start of this prayer, and connects his prayer to what he's just written.

Chapter 3 begins with that same phrase, "For this reason...", but then Paul doesn't pray immediately. What happened? Let's take a look at chapter two, to see the reason Paul was ready to pray again. Chapter two is about reconciliation. First, there is the reconciliation of people (sinners) to God, expressed in verses 2:5&6 -- "But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved!" In this great reconciliation of all people, God has also reconciled Jew and Gentile to each other. The hostility has ended and the groups are to become one body. Together we are being formed into a holy temple for God.

This is a stunning result of the work of Christ on the cross. It still happens today -- Jews and Arabs who become Christians are a part of the church together. And Paul has been a messenger of that work. For this reason he's ready to pray for a stronger understanding of Christ's love for them. One can almost imagine Paul moving to a position of prayer, and in that movement disturbing his chains, reminding him of his position in prison. And so he stops for a moment, and explains the situation and how it's his privilege to have delivered the gospel message to the Gentiles. Don't lose heart, it's all worth any price.

And then, having written those words of encouragement, Paul finishes his movement, kneels and prays for them, "for this reason...", and asks his scribe to record the words of his prayer.

And for this reason, it's my privilege to write these words each day, in the hope they will encourage you to think about your reading for the day.

A Meditation. Ephesians 2.

This letter of Paul's contains so many rich individual verses and paragraphs that in a read through like ours, there's a certain tension between focusing on the big picture, and sampling those individual verses. This morning I'm going to do the latter, and then I may have a second post later today that addresses the bigger picture.

This is the verse that really captured my attention this morning: "For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them." (Ephesians 2:10 NET).

First of all, I sense a verbal "riff" going on by Paul -- "not by works" (v.9), "we are his workmanship", "do good works". I love that, because my mind works that way too.

Mainly, though, this expression of purpose for us, God's purpose, hit me profoundly today. There are many ways we can describe our purpose in life, like we've been created to worship God, or we're to go and make disciples. This is one more way of God describes His purpose for us. God had an idea in mind for us, and Christ's saving act on the cross allows us to accomplish it.

I really don't want to carry that thought any further here. This is the verse out as one that I will meditate on today. Maybe it's one you can meditate on too. You can read more about how to meditate, here.

Did something else speak to you today?

Worship. Ephesians 1.

As I finished my third reading this morning of Ephesians 1, I thought to myself, "Why is this chapter so mushy in my brain? I can't seem to follow Paul's thinking, and I have no idea what to write about, let alone what to take away from God's Word for my day." What to do?

Aha! Bad preparation. Go back and seek God's help.

It turned out, that especially in the first 14 verses of Ephesians 1, I was failing to see the full extent of Paul's expression of worship as the start of his letter. Once I saw that, everything seemed to fall into place. Our expressions of worship should be extravagant, broad reaching, imaginative in considering Who God is, and what He's done. Paul is doing that here.

If you've been in a group prayer setting, where the start of the session is centered directly on God - "our Father in heaven", you might recognize what I mean. Even when the expressions of praise are limited to one and two-word phrases of recognition, the magnificence of God, the glory of God, the awesomeness of His nature come through: creator of the universe, all-knowing, all-powerful, loving Father, Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Nissi, El Shaddai, Adonai, mighty one, redeemer, counselor, just, kind, righteous... what starts as as a trickle, continues building into a floodwater of understanding and response to the One Who made us, loves us, and has rescued us.

Three times Paul uses this phrase: "to the praise of His glory". Each use signifies Paul's response in worship to one person of the triune God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Blessed be the name of the Lord! I got it. Time to live it.

Meaning, implications, and significance. Romans 16.

I don't know about you, but I really enjoy the personal notes in the letters of the New Testament. They provide glimpses into the life of the early church, and I'm intrigued by the mention of these individuals. Who was Phoebe? How did Paul know all these people in Rome? In what ways was Rufus' mother a mother to Paul? (I had a couple of friends in high school whose mothers were surrogate mothers to me. Was it like that?)

While letters are raw material for historians, it isn't enough to simply have an historical interest in their content, as fun as that might be. After all, God intended that we have this letter in its entirety, not just the doctrinal parts. Eventually, we need to ask ourselves, what did God want to say to us through this final chapter of Romans?

This seems an appropriate moment to introduce three words we may use somewhat carelessly when reading, studying, discussing, sharing, and living out the Bible. They are: meaning, implications, and significance. I'm going to use the descriptions/definitions provided by Robert Stein in his book, A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible.

Meaning: "The meaning of a text is that pattern of meaning the author willed to convey by the words (shared symbols) he used."

Implications: "Implications are those meanings in a text of which the author was unaware but nevertheless legitimately fall within the pattern of meaning he willed.

Significance: "Significance refers to how a reader responds to the meaning of the text."

These definitions are fairly self-explanatory, but here are a couple of additional thoughts, and then an example. The meaning of a text comes from the author, not from the reader. There is only one intended meaning in a text, and one of our jobs in study is to uncover that meaning. Stein uses the phrase "pattern of meaning" since a meaning may not be isolated into a single thought. We might think of implications as something like the underlying principles we draw from a text. In many cases, that's exactly what we're talking about. Significance is where the reader really enters the picture. When you hear the phrase, "this is what it means to me," that person is not talking about meaning, but about significance. The significance of Romans 1:17 to Martin Luther, for example, put him at odds with the entire church establishment, and lead eventually to the Reformation. We're not in Luther's position today, and so the significance of that verse is also going to be different. Paul's meaning, though, never changes, because it's cast into the written word and cemented in place.

If the differences between these words is still fuzzy, here's an example using Ephesians 5:18. First, the text: "And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit..." Clearly, Paul is telling the Ephesians not to become intoxicated with what they called wine (a mixture of wine and water). A very clear meaning. Does this mean that as an Ephesian, I can get drunk on beer? As Paul might have said, "Certainly not!" The reason he would say that is because it's an implication within his original pattern of meaning. While the Ephesians probably weren't drinking beer, and certainly not whiskey, Paul's meaning has to do with intoxication, and would apply by implication equally to other alcoholic beverages. What about the abuse of narcotics? If Paul's pattern of meaning was something like this: "don't take into your body substances like wine that cause you to lose control of your senses and natural inhibitions", then narcotics would be covered too, whether Paul was ever consciously thinking about anything like them at the time of his writing.

Stein concludes that the main concern for interpretation most of the time is to "understand what the legitimate implications of an author's meaning are." That sounds right to me.

When it comes to understanding the significance of Ephesians 5:18, consider the difference between someone who never drinks alcohol and someone who does. For the person who drinks, this admonition actually has significance in their life, and will temper the way in which they consume alcohol. For the non-drinker, the significance of this particular implication of what Paul wrote, don't get intoxicated, will have nothing to do with their own consumption of alcohol. However, its significance might lie in how they think about others' actions, or how they might counsel someone wrestling with alcohol. At the same time, the significance of other implications in the meaning of Paul's admonition, like the abuse of drugs, might be more direct.

In thinking about Romans 16, then, what meaning, implications, and significance can we draw from his closing comments? Here's a partial list of observations related to meaning.

• Paul is vouching for Phoebe (the letter carrier?), so that she'll be well received.
  
• Paul knew a lot of people in Rome.
• The church in Rome was significant, without Paul's planting.
• There were a lot of people involved in Paul's missionary work.
• There were a lot of women involved in Paul's missionary work, and given equal esteem in what they had accomplished, and how Paul felt about them.
• Priscilla and Aquila must have been significant workers in the early church.
• Paul has a genuine affection for those he has worked with.

Paul's meaning seems to be no more complicated than expressing his affection for these individuals, commending their work for Christ, and making Phoebe's arrival in Rome a welcomed one. Some of the implications I see in this text are:

• It takes a lot of people to do a work like Paul's
• There are, as Paul has said, many members in the church body, and each has a role to perform.
• Women are a significant part of the work of the church to be highly regarded. (How significant is something left for another discussion.)
  
• Working together builds bonds of friendship that last over time and space.

I'd like to end on an item of significance for me. Paul takes the time to remember and name a large group of individuals, 27 by name, and a few by relationship to those named. It certainly would have been easier to simply say greet all the brothers and sisters in Rome. In our world, we get so busy that we tend to take shortcuts like that. I need to remember that.

Having said that, I'd better change what the thank you I've written on the right side of the page. Talk about significance.

Winding down. Romans 15.

In chapter 15 of Romans Paul seems to be winding down in his message. Whether it's his writing, or my reading, I have a sense that the pace has slowed, and Paul is just tying up a few loose ends. They are important ones, but gone is the tight wording of his arguments from earlier, the raising of objections to his statements and the refutation of those objections. He has unburdened his heart for his fellow Jews in chapters 9-11, and delivered most of his practical considerations for what a life in Christ should be like.

There's a thread running through chapters 13 and 14 that Paul closes out in chapter 15 that I want to look at for a minute, and then, like Paul, begin winding down. In verses 1 and 2, Paul writes, "But we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not just please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up." This is pretty much Paul's last word on relationships between Christian brothers and sisters, especially when considering levels of maturity between them. In the next verses, Paul says be like Christ, Who has accepted each of us, and acted as servant to God's will to bring praise to God.

The thread really starts in 13:10 (or maybe even in chapter 12), when Paul writes, "Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." All through these chapters, Paul is spelling out some ways that loving one another is lived out. Accept the ones whose faith is weak. Don't sit in judgment. Rather, and this is really cool, use your judgment to help those whose faith is weak. Don't be a stumbling block. Do what leads to peace and growth and unity. Finally, bear the failings of the weak. For their benefit.

And we seemingly need to be reminded often that this is for God's glory, by God's power -- "Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (v. 15:5,6).

If you felt any sense of relief from the intense thinking required in the first part of the letter of Romans to follow Paul's line of argument, there is no letup in Paul's calls to right living according to the "law of Christ". The implication of what it means to be a living sacrifice requires thought and effort on our part all the time, and the ongoing assistance of God's Spirit within us.

In the last part of Romans 15, Paul does begin to deal with practical matters. Starting in verse 14, Paul talks about how he arrived at the place he is now, and what he hopes will happen next. In the process he affirms what he said at the beginning of the letter: he wants to come see the believers in Rome. He also wants to eventually go to Spain where he can begin a new work. Paul definitely knew what part of the body, the church, he was called to be. He was the pioneer, the evangelist, the church planter, not the long-term shepherd, or the one who comes behind the pioneers.

What I notice here is that the practical thing he advises the Roman church to do for him is to pray. In recording Paul's plea for prayer, I think the NIV translation is somewhat misleading, in that it implies that Paul wants the Romans to pray for him about some struggle that lies ahead. No question that there is a struggle ahead. But here's how the NASB reads in 15:30: "Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, ... " In other words, the struggle, the striving is in the prayer.

Think about what it means to struggle or strive in prayer. No, really, think about what it means.