Things We Ignore, Part 1

Sorry for the delay! Here's part 1 of ... Things We Ignore in the Bible...

But before I get started, if you are somehow mired by Judgment Day date setting, stop right now and go to your Bible and read Matthew 24. This is what I did today. Read the whole thing slowly and thoughtfully. Notice these words of Jesus...

Matthew 24:36 (ESV)
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only."

Matthew 24:42 (ESV)
"Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming."

Matthew 24:44 (ESV)
"Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

Another thing in the Bible ignored by some, apparently. How can we "not expect" Him if a billboard is broadcasting exactly when He's coming and the world's media is covering the announcement of this (even if it is as a novelty)? The key thing for Christians is to stay aware of and spiritually charged by Christ's soon return. Be absolutely sure of it. Be absolutely ready for it. Be absolutely desirous of it. If He tarries, then be on fire for it on May 22nd and every day afterwards we have left! Make no mistake, He is returning some day!

OK, back to our regular blog programming. I wrote,

"We ignore some things in the Bible. Here's an incomplete list...

1) God makes sure that many wicked people get what's coming to them (and I don't mean a second chance). The Bible, for many in it, is not a book of second chances, but a book of no more chances."

Start with Cain. Go to Pharaoh. Review the list of conquered kings in Joshua. See Judas. On and on it goes. But the most in danger of "getting what's coming to them" are people who worship idols or other gods. This is true throughout the Bible. If we don't worship the true God, then we worship an idol, to take the Bible at face value. Idols are dead, even those animated by evil spirits. What we become is based on what we worship. If we worship death, we get it. It turns out that the one thing religion isn't is personal. Your religion affects everyone in your life, everyone you touch. The Bible offers life to believers, and - consider this carefully - it offers death to unbelievers. It is good news and bad news. More accurately, it is good news or bad news. If for me it is not good news, then for me it is bad news. No third alternative is offered, although only believers feel both the good and the bad news. A real unbeliever doesn't care and loses no sleep over any of this. It is not a human being passing judgment here, at least not according to the Bible, it is God. This is a sobering thought. If you read the Scriptures entirely through, it is a thought you cannot escape. As a believer, you realize just how gracious God is. He doesn't have to be. He just is. Far from passing judgment on others, this sobering truth compels all who submit to it to the greatest depths of compassion and prayer.

Never accept the unbelief of another. If you do, you might accept your own some day. Quietly, forcefully, continually pray. Expect and prepare for an opportunity to speak the gospel.

We ignore the righteous wrath of God because our hearts are cold and our faith is small. Why was there a cross anyway? Does the cross permit us to ignore its cause? Hardly. Again, it's back to His Grace, back to His Word, back to The Cross, back to Jesus.

Things We Ignore in the Bible, Introduction

We ignore some things in the Bible. Here's an incomplete list...

1) God makes sure that many wicked people get what's coming to them (and I don't mean a second chance). The Bible, for many in it, is not a book of second chances, but a book of no more chances.
2) God's radical, undeniable choice of the Jewish people tells us much about Him, as He has designed it to.
3) "Creation Care" or whatever you want to call it, no matter how much you object to it, has definite Biblical warrant. Pollution is not Christian. It never has been. God cares about His Creation. His first charge to us in Genesis was to assist Him in this.
4) Redemption is not a key to success in this life. It is medicine for all who fail in this life. The second part of this is that all are promised to fail eventually in this life. Another way of putting this is that there are no success stories in the Bible, only faithfulness stories. True success is fully enjoyed in eternity.
5) God is passionately ordered and prepared. He respects time and process. He is the enemy of hurry. He is the God of harvest. Sowing and reaping are His ideas. He never "wings it" or improvises. His Word reveals Him to be found in predictable (from His perspective) structure far more than ecstatic experience.
6) God rarely tolerates people who present themselves as experts in Him in order to have power over others.

So, stay tuned for these installments. May they prod you to think about Scripture in fresh ways.

Reading Forward

Perhaps I'm writing only to myself today. If you have a problem in life, if you feel stuck, the best remedy of all may be reading. Therapy, rest, counseling, time off, coaching, and the like all come second sometimes to simply reading. We can change our lives by reading a book. Most people don't read. Few people ever finish a book. Just by reading a good book from cover to cover, you set yourself apart. Anyone can do this. There are still libraries too, where you can borrow great books at no cost. Through books you can be mentored, coached, counseled by the best and brightest minds in history. Books can bring you inside the minds of the most influential people in the world.

Oh, and the Word of God is a book. You can read it too. Anytime. All its power and truth can be put in your mind and heart. What can stop you? Reading is, perhaps, the key determinant for greatness and significance in life. You are what you read far more than you are what you eat! What a gift. Read forward.

New Bibles, No Drama

At our church, I've been attempting to provoke sharp (fun) controversy over what our new English translation of the Scriptures would be. The NIV 1984 edition will shortly be out of print. Its replacement, the NIV 2011, won't suit our needs as a church, so we have been plunged into the morass of competing translations of God's Word. You can hear the clashing of swords, the gasp of the shocked, the shriek of the terrified. Actually, nothing of the sort whatsoever. It's not even generated enough energy for a child's yawn. People just want to know and get on with things. "Just tell us Pastor John." A few hundred years ago people were literally burned at the stake for daring to translate the Bible into their own language. Now we're bored (and a little confused) in the section of the book store where we have dozens of competing Bible translation product lines to choose from. We're bored at the store rather than burned at the stake.

OK, I'm putting you to sleep just making you read about it. We picked the ESV (2007 text edition). It was a close contest between it and the NASB95. Both are essentially literal as opposed to dynamic equivalent translations. They are word-for-word instead of thought-for-thought translations. For the best Bible study support get both, keeping a King James handy for tradition's sake and maybe an old copy of the NIV 1984 for what probably was the best translation of its kind from the last century.