Image via CrunchBase
I am an avid reader of Seth Godin (books, blogs, anything really). I love his ability to crystalize and disseminate wisdom that can be applied to creative (writers, artists) and organizational leaders (marketers, managers, etc.). In this short blog, he writes on the importance of “less is more” and the danger of following after the masses.
Enjoy!
Came across this quote while doing some research work this week and thought it
Courtesy of Jonathan Grassmick
worthwhile to share.
“The God who remained apparently silent on Good Friday is having the last word. He is answering the unspoken questions of Jesus’ followers, and the spoken question of Jesus himself on the cross. And what God is doing is not just an extraordinary miracle, a display of supernatural power for its own sake, or a special favour to Jesus. What God is doing is starting something new, beginning the new world promised long ago, sending the disciples to Galilee in the first place but then, as we shall see, on to the ends of the earth and the close of the age with the news of what has happened. A whole new world was opening up in front of them.”
- N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Vol 2, (198-199), on the Great Commission in Matthew 28.
The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
People ask me often, “What is a good book to read to better understand the Bible as a whole?”
My answer has been for the past five years, “The best single book to better understand the Bible as a whole is Sally Lloyd-Jones’ The Jesus Story Book Bible.”
And you can Pre-Order it for Kindle for only $3.99 by clicking the link below (this is a steal, trust me).
Hardcover edition (click here)
Curriculum Kit (click here)
Jesus Preaching to the Crowd
After traveling to the villages nearby (cf. Mark 1:38-39), Jesus returns to Capernaum and is welcomed by many people gathering at this home. So many people in fact that there was not enough room for them and they spilled out past the doorway.
What do you think the crowds wanted? What drove them to crowd and clamor around Jesus so much? Jesus has begun his public ministry and is used to drawing a crowd. Mostly what drew people were the healings and exorcisms he had performed.
So it’s funny that Jesus “preaches the word” to them. This is a classic moment of Jesus having the crowd in the palm of his hand. If he wanted more popularity, more attention, and more people flocking to him, why not simply do more healings, more exorcisms, more spectacular good works and miracles? Why preach to them?
Jesus has been going around preaching the good news – the gospel – of the kingdom of God, so preaching was important. And great miracles and good works accompanied it. These miracles and good works were important, but they weren’t central. What was central was that Jesus is a new kind of king, setting up his new kingdom and now everyone is being challenged to respond to this king.
The healings, the miracles, the exorcisms and the all-around good works were all bearing out the implications of this kingdom, but they were not in and of themselves the central or primary thing. Jesus was.
Had the privelege of preaching with Martin Ban and Anthony Bianchini for Christ Church Santa Fe Christmas Day Service. We each took 2 minutes to reflect on Luke 2:10-12. Plus, it was very cool to see one my dad’s (Jim Gensheer) art pieces being used as the artwork for the bulletin (and Podcast).
Click the link, take a listen and share your thoughts.
Sermons: http://www.christchurchsantafe.org/media.php?pageID=6
Education Hour/Sunday School Teachings: http://www.christchurchsantafe.org/media.php?pageID=63
Prince of Preachers, C.H. Spurgeon
Read today’s first reading in the C.H. Spurgeon classic devotional Morning and Evening, and this quote stuck out to me. It reminds me of the misnomer of thinking that “eternal life” means “later” when in fact it means something much more profound. Its a quality of life, over and above a time-stamp. In a way, its more like a vintage wine where the “born on date” is significant, but only serves as a factor in the overall flavor and experience of the wine itself.
In other words, today is yet another great time to begin again with God, because we have the hope of beginning our life “forever with the Lord” now through the person and work of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”
- Joshua 5:12
“Israel’s weary wanderings were all over, and the promised rest was attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and howling wildernesses: they came to the land which flowed with milk and honey, and they ate the old corn of the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader, this may be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight. To be with Jesus in the rest which remaineth for the people of God, is a cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon is a double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us. Let us banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with exceeding great joy, in the prospect that this year we shall begin to be “forever with the Lord.”
- C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, Day 1
The following is what I imagine a conversation might have been had between Joseph and a friend once Joseph resolves to marry, Mary. This is an imaginary conversation, obviously. It is springing from what we read in Matthew 1:18-25:
18Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). 24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
A Conversation between Joseph and a “Friend”
Friend: “What??? You are carrying on just as before”
Joseph: “Yes I am”
F: “Why?”
J: “Because I believe that the child is someone special, and that Mary is innocent.”
F: “Have you proved that?”
J: “No.”
F: “Then how can you know for sure?”
J: “I can’t.”
F: “Then why?”
J: “Because God has asked me to believe it and to act on faith in what He says.”
F: “That is inconceivable Joseph!”
J: “Yes, it is, isn’t it?…But isn’t that like God? Wasn’t it inconceivable for the barren fore-mothers of our nation to conceive and bear children, yet it happened. And what if what we expect of God and His Messiah isn’t completely right? After all, when Isaiah prophesized to Ahaz about a “son” being born to a woman of marriageable age, there was Isaiah’s own son that fit the bill…until the Assyrians came in….
Maybe what we expect to happen as usual, is really extraordinary….
…and what if the extraordinary is really usual?”
F: “What are you talking about Joseph?”
J: “I’m not completely sure. I only know that God has showed up in the past in unusual ways, and saved His people in unusual ways. Maybe what we expect to happen, isn’t altogether right. Maybe its not the way we think its supposed to be…but He still shows up nonetheless. And that no one can deny. Why should I deny this?”
F: “So you’re just going to go forward, pretending?”
J: “No! This is not pretending. This is taking it on faith that what God has said is true and worthy of my response.”
F: “And that’s easy for you?”
J: “No! It isn’t! Are you kidding me? Do you know what its like to walk down the streets and here the whispers under people’s breaths? ‘Slut’. ‘Tramp’. ‘Whore’. Do you not think I hear that? Do you not think I find myself saying that in my head myself? Do you not think I have considered divorce?…
…. Or what about what I hear people saying about me? ‘Sinner’, ‘Unrighteous’. ‘Imbecile’. ‘Idiot’. ‘Second-class’. ‘White-trash’. Do you not think I hear those things either? No! I carry those words and those thoughts every day of my life. You ask if this is easy? I assure you it is anything but.”
F: “Then why do it?”
J: “Because maybe…just maybe, the inconceivable is just what is appropriate. Maybe…just maybe, the problem we have is not just that our circumstances are such that they are – that we are held captive by a foreign nation. We tend to locate the problem ‘out there’. ‘It’s the Romans; lets get rid of them.’ Before, it was the Babylonians, Assyrians, Canaanites, etc… Well, ‘friend’, do you not realize we have been saying that same thing from before we ever became a nation?”
F: “What do you mean, Joseph?”
J: “What I mean is that is exactly what Adam did back in Eden.”
F: “Explain?”
J: “When God came to Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit, and after He asked where they were because they were hiding because of their shame, He then asked Adam, ‘What have you done?’ And do you remember what Adam’s response was?”
F: “Sure, it was ‘we ate the fruit we weren’t supposed to’.”
J: “No! Friend. His response was ‘the woman you gave me deceived me…’ Adam located the problem of his disobedience onto others. Eve for sure. And look at how men have historically treated women ever since. They are inferior. They are to blame. We tell ourselves that if I cheat on my wife its because she has ‘Daddy’ issues and I just need a break. Or she’s incapable of understanding my needs, so I take the initiative in my own hands to satisfy myself. We justify our treatment of women because after all, they are to blame!…
…And then we blame God! ‘You’re the one who set this whole thing in motion. Now where are you?’ ‘Why have you made us to do this wicked thing, God.’ ‘Why have you allowed us to suffer.’ ‘Why are you so evil, God, to let this all happen and not get rid of the problem?’.”
F: “And what’s so wrong with that Joseph?”
J: “What’s wrong is that maybe we’ve misjudged where the problem lies. Maybe we’ve determined that the problem lies ‘out there’, outside of ourselves….
….Maybe, just maybe, the problem is with us….
…and God hasn’t gotten rid of the problem because He still loves ‘the problem’, even when it doesn’t make any sense for him to do so. Maybe God knows something of having to deal with the dilemma of the people He loves betraying Him, and yet He still chooses ‘what is difficult all one’s days/as if it were easy’ [Auden, “For the Time Being”, found in his Collected Poems]….
…Maybe, just maybe, the exceptional is really usual…
….Maybe, just maybe, the exceptional is really the way its supposed to be…
…because deeper problems need exceptional solutions…
…after all, the inconceivable happens.”
Just read this quote on another blog and was struck by the timeliness of it as I am in a constant state of worrying about all the things I need to write. My problem is that I can not really act on this advice because everything is due in a week and a half. But for the future, I would like to incorporate this into my work in terms of writing – sermons, articles, and school related assignments:
(HT: Write to Done)
A Writer's Writer
I recently read an insightful post on what it means to preach “being missional” over at In the Time of Postmoderns I Was a Puritan. Here’s an excerpt:
He goes on to provide a brief but helpful list of several areas where we can dig in to what it means to be missional. Read the whole post here.
Michael Spencer, over at Internet Monk, has recently interviewed David Powlison regarding his contribution to the ESV Study Bible. [If you are looking for a single, solid resource for your personal library, let me recommend this study bible to you. It is not only a great translation of the Bible, but this Study Bible contains a wealth of supplemental material to help you understand the historical context of the Scriptures with pertinent, and not overpowering information. Back to Powlison.]
His focus was on reading the Bible and personal application – a task which can often be divorced from understanding the original setting, context and application of the text to its original audience.
The whole interview is helpful (click here for the whole thing), but this quote I found most interesting:
[MS] Can a verse taken completely out of context still yield a Spirit-revealed application?
I’d probably pose your question in a slightly different way, saying “yield a wise application” rather than “yield a Spirit-revealed application.” The Spirit is the source of all wisdom, for believers and unbelievers alike. If a secular psychotherapist says to an angry, entitled, manipulative husband, “You are angry, entitled, and manipulative, and you need to learn how to love your wife and not be so self-centered,” I’d rather say that those words are wise, cohere with Scripture, and express a common grace goodness of the Spirit, instead of saying they were Spirit-revealed. That counselor is missing the saving grace of Christ that is Spirit-revealed in the Word, and that ought to find expression in counseling.
Again, check out the ESV Study Bible (website here) or go to Amazon and order one. It is well worth the investment.
