The Gospel

A Definition

What is “The Gospel?” Let me propose a definition that I think could fit in every use in the Bible. “A message of good news, sent by God.” This allows for any messenger (an angel, John the Baptist, Paul or Jesus). I believe in some cases the messenger takes ownership of delivery and refers to it as his gospel, but with careful examination you will likely see that he is representing the message as coming from God (see Rom 16:25). 

Yet a definition doesn’t really answer the question "What is the Gospel" does it? Because what the question implies is, “what good news does the message bring?” And this is where the question intersects with our topic of salvation. We often use the phrase “the gospel of salvation.” Yet, the Bible only uses that phase once (the gospel of your salvation See Eph 1:13)

In western, evangelical Christianity, we have been conditioned to think of only one message when we read the word “gospel” in the Bible. Some groups have decide that there are two messages, the gospel of the kingdom of God and the gospel of salvation.

Does the Bible have a single gospel? Has God only sent a single message with good news or has He sent several? If more than one, are they related?

What is the Gospel

If you simply do a Google search using the question, “what is the gospel” you will find the typical response is an explanation of the gospel of salvation. Bible.org has a really good article articulating that typical response. In it they quote the The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia as saying “The central truth of the gospel is that God has provided a way of salvation for men through the gift of His son to the world.” 

There is no question that this is a truth of the gospel message in the Bible. A great example of that is Paul’s words from his letter to the Corinthian Church. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Cor 15:3-4). Here, Paul is referring to the gospel which he preached to the Corinthians (see 1 Cor 15:1) He even says this is of first importance. In a sense, one could even say that Paul is making it the central truth. Yet, if we are to believe this is the complete message of good news coming from God we are left with some difficult passages to explain.

A Quick Survey of the Bible

If you replace the phrase “The Gospel” in the Bible with “the death, burial and resurrection of Christ”, you will find it difficult to make sense of some passages.

To make sense of the Bible’s use of “the gospel”, we must realize that it was used to mean something that includes the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection but is not limited only to that truth. I was used in a way that is more than that central truth.

For example, in Matthew 4:23, we have Jesus, going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. Surely, His death and resurrection was not the central topic in His preaching. In fact, we are told what his central topic is. Of the five references to “the gospel” in Matthew, three of them are explicitly stated to be about “the Kingdom.” 

Again in Matthew (Matt 11:5) and twice in Luke we have Jesus referencing Isaiah 61 when He says that He is preaching the gospel to the poor. (Luke 4:18, 7:22) What are the poor going to do with the news of Jesus’ death and resurrection? Jesus did foretell his death and resurrection at times, but only to his disciples (See Matt 16:21, 17:9) or in a such an obscure way nobody even understood what He meant.(See Matt 12:40 and John 2:19)

(One of the references is Jesus affirming to John the baptist (through John’s disciples) that He was indeed the promised messiah, because he was preaching the gospel to the poor. (Matt 11:5) The final reference is in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper after the woman poured the perfume on Jesus. Here he simply says “Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”)

In his letter to the Galatian Church, Paul tells us that the gospel was preached to Abraham. (see Gal 3:8) It is clear that he was not directly referencing the death and resurrection of Christ but instead the blessing of all the nations. Of course, it was the death and resurrection of Christ that made this possible, but insisting on Christ’s death and resurrection as the entire message of the gospel replaces the end with the means.

The good news is not simply the death and resurrection of Jesus. The good news is the result of His death and resurrection. But not only His death and resurrection, but also his life His teachings, and His enthronement at the right hand of the Father. It includes God’s intention from the beginning of creation to His provision for the end of this creation.(See 2 Pet 3:13) It includes Christ’s birth (see Luke 2:10-11) as much as His death.

When we do a study of the use of the word throughout the scriptures, what we learn is that the word “gospel” was used to represent many instances of good news from God. Some of those messages were proclaimed by Men and some by angles. Some are even difficult to understand how they could be good news (see Rev 14:6-7 - The hour of God’s judgement has come). 

Interestingly, the gospel of Jesus insists on obedience according to both Paul and Peter (2 Thess 1:8, 1 Pet 4:17). This implies admonition. The angel in Revelation also brought admonition with his gospel of God.(see Rev 14:6-7 “Fear God, and give Him glory .. worship Him…”) This flies in the face of the gospel preached by many evangelicals which has no room for admonition. They insist, “There is nothing for us to do. It was all done by Christ.”

A Single Gospel

I will ask this question again. Does the Bible have a single gospel? Has God only sent a single message with good news or has He sent several? If more than one, are they related?

I believe the Bible has a single gospel. More accurately, I believe the Bible has a single gospel theme. The Bible contains several instances of specific messages of good news, each of which contain the same theme. What is that theme? It was proclaimed to shepherds by a multitude of angels, “God has good will toward men.” (See Luke 2:14) This has been proclaimed in many ways by many people and most importantly by Jesus himself (see Heb 1:1-2). When Jesus taught that the kingdom of God was within reach, was available to the poor and the persecuted, he was proclaiming the same gospel that Paul preached to the gentiles.

I reject the notion that Jesus did not preach the gospel of salvation. The message of the gospel is very important because, as Dallas Willard pointed out, “What we do or do not understand in any area of our lives, determines what we can or cannot believe. .. You cannot believe a blur or a blank…” If we are to have faith in the gospel message, we must be very clear about what that message is. And this is the crux of the issue regarding the gospel. 

Paul tells us that “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Rom 4:3) We have already seen that Paul said that the gospel was preached to Abraham. (see Gal 3:8) What was it that was preached to Abraham? Paul points out that the specific good news was that all the nations would be blessed in Abraham through his seed. Abraham believed God regarding His word to bring him an heir from his own body.Interestingly, the specific gospel regarding the blessing of all the nations on the earth was a direct result of Abraham’s obedience. (see Gen 22:18 and James 2:21)

What we need to note here is that Abraham did not believe that Jesus died for his sins and was raised again on the third day. He believed that God would do as He said, even if He had to raise the dead. (Heb 11:19) Why did he believe this? Because he believed the basic gospel message that God had good will toward him. His faith was in the character and nature of God.

I will have more to say about faith in upcoming articles. The point I want to leave you with today is that the central gospel message is “God so loved the world… (that He gave His only begotten Son)” (John 3:16), God demonstrates His own love toward us … (in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.) (Rom5:8), But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us … ( even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ) (Eph 2:4), God our Father, who has loved us … (and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace) (2 The 2:16), In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us (and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.) (1 John 4:10), To Him who loves us (and released us from our sins by His blood) (Rev 1:5)

The central truth of the gospel is that God loves us. The good news is that God loves us. There is a great number of professing Christians that don’t even believe that God loves them. They are in a continuous cringe waiting for God to punish them for not measuring up. The common evangelical gospel doesn’t help when we depict Christ as absorbing the wrath of God directed at us. Dr. Jack Arnold said it succinctly, “God took out his wrath on Christ instead of on sinners.” He has a point here that is important. And we will have to address it. However, any depiction of God that can not be represented in Christ does not conform to what the Bible teaches. Jesus stated, “he who has seen me has seen the Father.” and the writer of Hebrews tells us “He [Jesus] is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.”

I want to be clear. The adversaries of God should have a “terrifying expectation of judgement” (see Heb 10:27) but it won’t be for lack of love on God’s part. (see 1 Tim 2:4 and 2 Pet 3:9) And the sinner who falls into the hands of God will find him as David did, reluctant to execute judgement. (See 2 Samuel 24:16)

We have a view of the Gospel that disparages God, that minimizes the main point of the Gospel and emphasizes the means rather than the end. The good news is that God’s love for us compelled Him to devise and execute a plan that will bring us into His good intention. And that intention is the “to” for which we have been saved.

Thank you for reading.

In my next post I will look at God’s intention for us, that to which we have been saved.

To What are We Being Saved

Well it happened just like I predicted in my first blog article. In that article I said "If history is any predictor of the future, I will likely drop this blog by the wayside after a short time." Well, I managed to get four weeks into it before it seemed to drop.

However, let me state here that I have not actually dropped the intent to continue. I have simply had other priorities that required my attention. What has happened historically is that once two or three months had gone by without a post I became afraid of the opinion of my readers and I let that fear prevent me from posting. This article is my way of thumbing my nose at my fear (and possibly admitting that I don't have any readers to fear) and continuing on with my original intent.

So, without further ado, here is the main content of this article.

To What are We Being Saved

When we think of being saved, we often think of it as going to heaven. This is because there are two sides to any form of salvation. The rescue side; that from which we are being saved and the delivery side; that to which we are being saved.  The delivery aspect of salvation is as important, or possibly more important than the rescue side. In the midst of our distress we seem only to think of rescue. We breath a sigh of relief when we learn we are being rescued from tragedy. “We are saved!” we exclaim. However, it doesn’t take long for us to ask the natural next question. “Now What?” To what have we been delivered? 

Explaining the Question

To what have we been saved? When I have spoken on this topic I have found people to be unsure of what I mean by this question. So let me try to be explicit here. By "to what" I mean "what can I expect." Into what condition have we been delivered? Into what circumstance have we been delivered? We have the old saying that demonstrates the relevance of this question. “Out of the frying pan into the fire.” 

The scope of this question not only includes the purpose God had in providing salvation, but also what has changed as a result of being saved. Not only does it include "what should I do now that I am saved", but also "what does being saved do to me."

To what have we been saved? Let’s explore some of the typical answers to this question.

No Answer

I did a google search for “what is the gospel of salvation” and found several credible sites. These provide quite typical western, evangelical answers to that question. They are very representative of my experience in the Christian world.

One thing that I found very interesting is that these sites did not address the question of “to what are we being saved.” In my experience we (those presenting the Gospel of salvation) have left people to figure it out on their own. This is a major deficiency because it allows people to form whatever expectations their inference allows. People will evaluate their salvation experience based on these expectations. Two of the four types of soil Jesus referenced in his parable of the sower in Matthew 13 were people who obviously had false expectations of salvation.

Billy Graham’s site did address part of the question. That article asked and answered, “To what purpose are we saved.” His site even has a section entitled “Saved - Now What” but it addressed what actions one should now take as a result of being saved. They didn’t really address the question of “What can I expect now that I am saved.”

One site (carm.org) gave an indirect answer to our question in the section “Count the cost”, in which the author explained that “if you become a Christian, God will take it very seriously. He will work in your heart and in your life to change you and make you more like Him.”

Another site, Bibleunderstanding.org provided a common answer to the question of “what is the gospel of Salvation.” They very clearly articulated from what are we being saved in their section “why do we need salvation.” Then they provided an answer to how one can become saved, but they never address the question of to what are we saved.

Although many books, articles and sermons may not explicitly state an answer to our question, they imply an answer. These answers are so common, you can likely easily state them.

Heaven

The most prominent answer is of course “Heaven.” You have been saved from hell, to go to Heaven. When “witnessing”, we often lead with this by asking the question ourselves. “If you died today, where would you go?” Then we talk about why everyone who is not saved is going to hell when they die and we attempt to explain how they can know they will go to heaven instead.

Clear Conscience

Of course, if the issue that Salvation is meant to address is sin, or more specifically sin guilt, then the natural expectation of the removal of that sin guilt would be a clear conscience. What is meant by that is actually an experience of the removal of guilt feelings.

Just Forgiven

Why don’t we discuss the “to” of salvation? It is because of the misconception of the issue Jesus came to address. In his book So Great Salvation: What it Means to Believe in Jesus Christ, Charles Ryrie very clearly articulates this common misconception:

Some of the confusion regarding the meaning of the Gospel today  may arise from failing to clarify the issue involved. The issue is, How can my sins be forgiven? What is it that bars me from heaven? What is it that prevents my having eternal life? The answer is sin. The second issue is, How can my sins be forgiven? I need some way to resolve that sin problem. And God declares that the death of His Son provides forgiveness of my sin.

“Christ died for our sins” -- that’s as plain as it could possibly be. Sinners need a Savior. Christ is that Savior and the only valid one. Through faith I receive Him and His forgiveness. Then the sin problem is solved, and I can be fully assured of going to heaven.”

It is exactly this view that is concisely expressed in the famous evangelical bumper sticker: “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” This bumper sticker represents the part of our culture that implies so much, so loudly that we can’t help inferring it into everything we read in the Bible. To demonstrate that inference, let me ask you, how would you feel if I told you that the issue involved in the Gospel has little to do with sin, especially sin guilt, which is what Ryrie actually means here. 

How do you feel about that statement? Do you wonder what issue it does address? Do you wonder how I could possibly support that claim? Why don’t we look at the words of Ryrie and ask how he supports his claim. He doesn’t support it, and that is because he assumes you agree. This is the inference of culture in which we find ourselves.

At this point you may be wondering where I am going with this. That is exactly what I want you to do. It may seem foolish, or at least silly to speak against a certain teaching without offering an alternative. In fact, one of my most cherished critics wondered if I wasn’t just setting up a straw man. According to a google search, a “straw man” is a “sham argument set up to be defeated.” (Wikipedia says “an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument which was not advanced by that opponent.”) That is why I gave very specific references with an actual quote.

There is a method for my madness, ill conceived though it may be. I am purposely challenging your inferences to create a tension with them. I want you to be aware of them. If I simply give you my assertions, articulate my main point and then provide some support for my point, I fear you will only hear what you have always heard when people use those words. I’m telling you, “this horse don’t look so good.” I want you to try to ride it for a while and find out for yourself what I mean.

An Assignment

Rather than support my claim, let me give you an assignment to check it out. Use a concordance, or an electronic Bible search and find everywhere the word “Gospel” is used. Then ask these questions when you read the passage in which it is used:

1. What is the good news to which the passage refers? 
2. What makes the news good?
3. Who is proclaiming the good news?
4. Is it their good news or are they simply delivering someone else’s good news?
5. Does this good news apply to me? 
1. If so, in what way? 
2. Do I have to do anything to realize, or experience this good news?

The first two questions should help us clarify the issue involved with the Gospel. Now be careful you don't simply infer your interpretation into this exercise. Make sure the text actually says what you think it says.

In my next post, we will pick up the topic of the Gospel.

Thanks for reading.

Tory

PS - Would you like to listen to the audio from this message? Here is a link.

So Great a Salvation

So Great a Salvation

“How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Heb 2:3)

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved” They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:30)

When Paul and Silas were broken out jail by by God, the jailer asked a very important question. However, I don’t think he was asking the question we often attribute to his words. This man was ruined as a jailer and was likely to lose his life. I think he was interested in saving his skin, not his soul. Of course Paul’s answer addressed the man’s question in a way that was different yet relevant. As Jesus pointed out to his disciples, when we have the kind of salvation to which Paul referred, the fact that your employer will soon have you executed no longer carries the same consequence that it did without this life. (See Matt 10:28)

So, when Paul uttered those famous words so often quoted but seldom explained, “Believe in (or on) the Lord Jesus.” he was providing an answer to both questions.

When I was in grade school, my Sunday School teacher encouraged us to “witness” to our friends. So that week when I was with my friend, I asked him if he had ever been “saved.” He enthusiastically said “yes” and then proceeded to tell me of the time he lost his brakes on his bicycle and thought he would be killed because he was coasting down a steep hill that “T”d into a busy highway. I don’t remember the details of his harrowing experience, but somehow he had been saved from what he thought was certain death. What I remember do remember is that he didn’t attribute it to God and I was left without any other approach in my witnessing tool kit so I didn’t pursue the conversation any further.

So what does it mean to be saved? Let’s break this down into a few questions to understand the scope of the inquiry.

• What is salvation - what is the nature of salvation
• From what are we being saved? In what way are we being saved?
• To what are we being saved?
• How does it happen
• Does it come upon us
• Do we have to do anything - what is our role
• What is the result of this salvation?
• How do you grow in respect to salvation (1 Pet 2:2)
• Is this the same as seeing the kingdom of God? (John 3:3)
• Is this the same as entering or getting into the kingdom of God? (Matt 21:31, Matt 19:23 - 26, Mark 9:47, John 3:5)

After we get a possible handle on what it means, we will have to come to the question of how does it happen, or how do we become saved? The question of the jailer is relevant here. What must we do to be saved? This question is much more controversial than you may initially think. The answers range from “absolutely nothing” to some form of cleaning up our act, or performing some payment.

Simply saying believe in (or on) Jesus won’t provide an answer. This is why the next verse says “And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.” (Acts 16:32) This raises the question of what is the “word of the Lord?” Do you think your answer to that question would be same as your answer to this one? What do you think they said to him?

We have what appear to be very clear words from Paul to the believers in Rome when he said, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Rom 10:9)

These simple sayings are easy to remember, and certainly were given as an answer to the question of how we become saved. But we are not honoring our claim to believe the entire Bible if we assert these are the only answer, or that they fully address the entire question of how one may be saved.

Jesus himself said that there will be people who confess him as Lord who are removed from His presence “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’” (Matt 7:21 - 23)

Again in Matt 25, Jesus tells of a day when he will judge “all the nations” by separating them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep will be invited to come and inherit a kingdom while the goats will be commanded to depart into the eternal fire.

I realize that people have very elaborate explanations to explain why these are not speaking of issues of salvation. However, even if their interpretation is correct, it supports my point here. These simple “believe in Jesus” sayings are not the only word on the topic. The Bible provides many other passages that need to be considered. This is a complicated topic. Unfortunately, by taking a simplistic view, it has been made complicated in large part by the prevailing western Christian teaching of recent centuries. In an attempt to square seemingly contradictory teachings, many in the Christian church have erected elaborate houses of cards that often rely on natural language defying acts to remain standing.

But I am getting ahead of myself. I left several questions on the table that must be answered.

From What are we Being Saved

The first part of the answer to this question was announced by the angel who told Joseph what to name the boy who had been conceived of the Holy Spirit in Mary. “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21)

But this is only mildly helpful because it raises another question. In what way are we saved from sin? We will have to save this question for later so we can pursue the one at hand.

The next part of the answer comes from Jesus when He said “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? (Matt 16:25 - 26) If you compare that with Matt. 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” you see that we can be saved from the destruction of our soul and body in hell.

Now, it may seem, we are getting somewhere. But wait, there’s more.

In Luke’s gospel we have a record of Jesus saying “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10 This is a little confusing because he just finished telling Zaccheus that salvation has come to the house of Zaccheus because he was in fact, a son of Abraham. (Luke 19:9) But let’s not get caught up in the issue here about why salvation had come and the fact that it came to his house, but that Zaccheus was being saved from his "lostness".

In Mark’s rendition of the great commision we have these words, “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” (Mark 16:16) So we can see that being saved is contrasted to being condemned, or that we are being saved from condemnation. This is similar to John 12:47 “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” which indicates salvation from judgement.

Another related passage is in Paul’s letter to the Romans. “Having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” (Rom 5:9) Here salvation is from the wrath of God, but notice it is also future tense. In regards to the wrath of God, we are not in a state of salvation, but yet anticipating it.

Also in Romans, Paul mentions that “in hope we have been saved” (Rom 8:24). From what are we being saved in this passage? Surprisingly, it is our decaying, physical body. The hope of which he speaks is for the redemption of our body.

1 Corinthians 1:18 tells us that the word of the cross is the power of God “to those who are being saved.” This is contrasted with “those who are perishing.” So those who are in the process of being saved are being saved from perishing.

Here is an interesting one. At the end of Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, he exhorts the people to “Be saved from this perverse generation!” Hm, what could that mean?

There are many more passage like this. I would like to cover them all, but we won’t have time here to do it. So let me make an assignment. Go home, get a concordance and lookup every new testament verse with the word save, or saved. If you have access to a computer you can go on mywsb.com (My word search Bible) and use that. Then write down a statement explaining from what we are being saved. See if you can get it to fit all the verses that are obviously talking about the salvation of one’s soul.

How can we categorize these various passages? We could probably categorize these several different ways. Let me provide one way to look at it.

Salvation (rescued) from:

• Our enemy - Luke 1:67 - 79
• The reign of the devil - the world, hell
• Sin - Matt 1:21, Luke 7:48
• Death - the impact of mortal death, escaping second death
• Judgement - 1 Thess 5:9
• Current judgement - under the law
• Future judgement - the stored up wrath
• Loss of life - Matt 16:25 Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it
• This different than dying. Losing our life is being condemned to live a life that is not life at all (1 John 5:12)

I have jumped around a bit here. So you may be understandably confused as to my point. So let me give you three "take-aways." These points are really over-arching points for this entire series, so I will return to them several times in subsequent topics. 

1. Salvation today is generally presented as a facile idea. (Facile means "appearing neat and comprehensive only by ignoring the true complexities of an issue.") We should not approach it as such. We do nobody a favor by over simplifying it. We in fact complicate it by trying to make it simplistic
2. Salvation is multifaceted. This is the corollary to the previous point. When we speak of salvation, we tend to mean having your sins forgiven and going to heaven some day. However, the Bible uses it in a much broader sense. Salvation is larger than "being saved." I think using the term saved has lost its value to us. I think there are much better terms that carry the Biblical idea. I think Jesus used a good phrase with Nicodemus - born again - or possibly born from above (a possible translation from the Greek). How about “in Christ” or a Christ follower, or a disciple of Christ? This would work well also. I prefer to focus on the life that is our salvation, so I may prefer spiritually alive - or having spiritual life.
3. Jesus taught about salvation. Does the Word of Jesus fit into our gospel of Salvation? If you do a careful study of the gospel that was taught by the apostles and other early Christians, you will find that it was exactly what Jesus told them to teach - the teachings of Jesus. The idea of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the perfect storm of scriptural miscommunication. This is where our culture has created for us a preconceived notion that leads to a misconception. The Gospel of Jesus, of “The Lord” or “Our Lord” was and is the good news proclaimed by Jesus. This may include the news “about” Jesus, but it is much more than that. It is the good news that Jesus proclaimed. We need to learn what that was and also proclaim it. We should make it “our gospel” just as Paul made it his gospel.(See Rom16:25)

My next post will address the next question, "To what are we being saved."

Thanks for reading.

Tory

PS - Would you like to listen to the audio from this message? Here is a link.

The Difficulty of Communication

The Difficulty of Communication

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in n this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. (1 Cor 3:18)

If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; (1 Cor 8:2)


Language is a very effective means of communication. It is however, not without its difficulties. A conversation involves at least two parties; a speaker (or writer) and a hearer (or reader). Difficulties may arise if the two parties are not synchronized with regard to the language. For example, I still remember a joke my sixth grade teacher told.

A Mexican immigrant in Texas was selling a young horse. His neighbor, a native Texan came by to look at it. As he was examining the horse the Mexican told him, “my friend, the horse, he don’t look so good.”


The Texan was a little taken aback by the comment and told the Mexican in no uncertain terms that he knows horses and he will be the judge of whether or not the horse looked good.


The Mexican simply replied, “but I must tell you, the horse, he don’t look so good.” The Texan was now a little offended and told the Mexican the horse looked very fine to him and that he would buy it.


They made the transaction and the Texan loaded the horse into his trailer and took him home.

Not many days later the Texan came back to the Mexican quite angry. He said, “Say, what are you trying to pull? That horse you sold me is blind.” The Mexican only replied, “But my friend, I tell you, the horse, he don’t look so good.”

Of course this little joke shows what can happen when two parties have a different understanding of a the meaning of one word. However there are other factors that impact our ability to communicate.

The Contract of Communication

Communication is a joint effort. It is contract between two parties that requires good faith by both parties. Communication requires work from both parties. A good communicator will consider his audience and try to make sure to use a common understanding and define his words so they won’t be misconstrued. But this does not solve all the problems of communication. Much of the problem lies with the hearer. That is why Jesus kept saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matt 11:15)

We can assume that God did His part when he communicated through the Bible. What remains of communication lies with us. We can have the help of the Holy Spirit if we would like, but again, the "if" lies with us. There is work to be done even before the Holy Spirit is allowed to do His work.

When a speaker speaks, or an author writes, he is intending to suggest something. That suggestion is called an implication. It may, or may not be explicitly stated. The implication belongs to the communicator.


When we read or hear something in our language, we always infer (deduce or conclude) meaning. The inference is our own. It may or may not be what was implied (strongly suggest) by the speaker (or writer).

Inference from Culture

A significant factor in implications and inferences is our culture. (the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group).

An example of that is Jesus’ words found in Matthew 11:29-30. 

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” 

Now we have some understanding of what a yoke is and we can image how it is used to pull “burden.” However, we miss half of the play on words by not realizing that in the Jewish culture to which Jesus was speaking, it was common to refer to a rabbi’s system of teachings as a yoke. If you sat under a certain rabbi, you were said to take on his yoke. (See Rob Bell's book, Velvet Elvis or this post for more on this idea of yoke.)

Although Jesus was using a figure of speech, we miss the fact that he was implying that he had his own system that was different from what the other teachers were espousing. The other teachers of Jesus’ day were all under someone else’s yoke, not having one of their own.

This was not missed by the crowds in Jesus’ day however. Matthew tells us, “the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” (Matt 7:28-29)

Inference from Preconceived Notions

Another factor affecting implications and inferences is preconceived notions. A preconceived notion is an assumption about something that is formed prior to getting all the information. An example of that can be found in Luke 24. This is where we have the account of the disciples who were going to Emmaus. They encountered Jesus after He had risen, but they didn’t recognize him. He asked them what they were talking about and they asked Him if He didn’t know about the things that had happened. He said “What things” and they said to Him,

“The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:19-21)

They had a preconceived notion about what this redemption meant and how it would come about. This made them, and others like Thomas I might add, miss the very specific words Jesus gave told them about his death and resurrection.

Inference from Misconceptions

Misconceptions are similar, but sometimes even more difficult to avoid because neither party may be aware of them. A misconception is a view or opinion that is incorrect because it is based on faulty thinking. This was the primary difficulty Jesus faced in His day, and still faces today. A great example can be found in his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. You may recall Jesus said to him, “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus replied “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" (See John 3:3-4)

Here, it is clear that Nicodemus had no idea what Jesus was talking about. Jesus understood that very well and said so. “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?” (John 3:10) He also said in essence that Nicodemus’ faulty thinking would make it very difficult for him to understand and believe spiritual concepts. “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12)

Inference from Our Will

Culture, preconceived notions and misconceptions are the very reason people can look at creation and conclude it happened by chance.

But there is one more factor we must recognize. That is our will. Kierkegaard once said, 

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” Søren Kierkegaard 

More importantly, Jesus said 

“If anyone is willing to do His [the Father’s] will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.” (John 7:17)

“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” (See John 8:43-47)

My point here is that we have culture, preconceived notions and numerous misconceptions standing in the way of our understanding. Today we are bombarded with misconceptions due to faulty thinking and wrong motivations. Sometimes our motivation is to justify our own desires, sometimes it is simply to support our preconceived notions and prove our point. But in all of these cases it is our will that is the impediment to understanding. It is our will that infers what isn’t there, that misses the implications and satisfies itself with untruth and non-reality.

To come to knowledge, we have to interpret our observations and experiences with proper understanding. To do that, we must approach our experiences and our studies without preconceived notions, without faulty thinking and without a personal agenda.

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in n this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. (1 Cor 3:18)

If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; (1 Cor 8:2)

We need to be ready to set aside our culture, set aside our agenda, become humble like a child and prepare to do the will of God. Then we stand a chance to gain knowledge.

Thanks for reading.

Tory

PS - Would you like to listen to the audio from this message? Here is a link.

The Power of Knowledge - Introduction

Introduction

My father in-law (Dave Schonberg) is writing another book has been bringing us through a series titled “The Power of Explanation.” In this series he has been showing how the Bible provides an explanation to the common riddles for which our culture has no satisfying explanation.

I love this idea and I have been excited about the subject matter. An explanation is truly a powerful thing for questions that exist in the realm of observation. Once we have an explanation for the riddles of observation, we are faced with another set of questions existing in another realm. This realm is nicely stated by Francis Schaeffer’s title, “How Then Shall We Live?” The questions that exist in the realm of living, require more than an explanation. They require knowledge.

What is knowledge

According the second definition provided by Google, knowledge is “Awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.” (emphasis mine) Unfortunately, when we hear the word “knowledge” we think of facts or information, which is a part of the first definition Google provided, “facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.” When the Bible uses the word however, it is always in the context of experiential understanding.” Facts or information, devoid of experience is a modern concept that has been ruining our system of education for the last 60 years.

So when we venture into the realm of “How then shall we live?” we can only experience satisfaction with an explanation if we then realize the reality of that explanation through experience.

My Objective with this series

With this series I intend to provide answers that I find satisfying to some of the persistent questions afflicting the Christian church. These questions persist mainly because they are common and yet they are rarely answered in a satisfying way.

If this series unfolds as I hope, it will be a journey that we take together. I will address what I believe to be misconceptions about topics concerning the Christian life, or more importantly "the eternal kind of life". I desire to present a way of understanding these topics. I also plan to suggest ways we can put this way of understanding to the test and walk together into a familiarity gained by the experience.

If we experience success with my stated objective we should experience what it means to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12) and to be “blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life” (Phil 2:15 - 16) We should also learn what it looks like for God to be at work in you “both to will and work for His good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13)

A Shared Experience

I have wanted to share these thoughts for some time, but I never seem to get to it. Mostly that has been because I have a strong desire for the outcome, but have not felt up to the task. It seems as though the people around me who look to me for leadership are more ready to receive this topic than I am to deliver it.

Not much has changed in that regard. I still don’t feel up to the task, but I have simply come to believe that God is ready to help us if we will work this through together. So I want to stress the nature of this series as being a koinonia experience - a walking together in joint participation. The answers that I have found to be satisfying may not be so for you. They may raise more questions for you. You may have a different perspective that you would like to share that could clarify or even invalidate my understanding. I welcome the back and forth and repeat what Charles Finney wrote in the preface to his Systematic Theology, “Hail my brother! Let us be thorough. Truth shall do us good.”
I must admit that I have also been reluctant to start this series because I am uncomfortable bringing up potentially divisive topics. However, I believe that topics in and of themselves are not divisive, but how the topics are handled may be divisive. So I propose that we approach this as a conversation that adheres to the method that Paul prescribed for the Corinthian Church. “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.” (1 Cor 14:29 - 32)

This has several connotations. First, even if I believe I have heard from God on the topic, I may be wrong. Neither of us should assume I am correct. Second, you should hear me out before passing judgement. Third, if you believe you have something to share that may be directed by God you should have the opportunity to speak. You may use the comments on this blog to do so. If you want to speak in abundance, get your own blog and link to your articles in comments here.

One thing I want to be clear about. I don't believe I am a prophet. I am only using the above reference from the Apostle Paul as a methodology for attempting to get to the bottom of what God may have to say on a topic.

The Content

Since this is to be a shared experience carried out with a conversational approach, I would like to offer a list of some of the areas for conversation so you can anticipate the conversation and so you can also propose other topics.

Some of the questions I propose to address are:

• What is Salvation
• What is Life 
• How does it come to us 
• How do we sustain it 
• What is Faith 
• How do we walk in it 
• Is that different than walking in the Spirit 
• If so, how do we do that 
• Are the gifts for today 
• If so, how do we receive gifts of the Spirit and why don’t we see most of them in action 
• If not, how is the body edified 
• What is the role of sin in the believer 
• Can Christians stop sinning 
• Can Christians be sinless (not necessarily the same question as above) 
• If not what happens when we sin 
• What is the role of sin in the world 
• Is everyone born in sin 
• Can we overcome sin in the world 
• What does it mean to have a personal relationship with God or with Jesus Christ 
• Does God speak today 
• If so does He speak regularly 
• does He speak to ordinary people 
• has he spoken to you 
• Can we experience a conversation relationship with God 

This list is representative and not complete. Nor is it the outline I intend to follow. However, if you have a topic that is afflicting you, maybe we should put it on the list so it isn’t overlooked.

Why is it important to address these and other questions? I will quote Dallas Willard on this topic.

“What we do or do not understand in any area of our lives, determines what we can or cannot believe and therefore governs our practice and action with an iron hand.”

He goes on to say,

“You cannot believe a blur or a blank and the blanks in our understanding can only be filled in by careful instruction and hard thinking. It will not be done on our behalf.” (Dallas Willard, Hearing God, Pg 193)

I once heard a man say “God must offend the mind to reach the heart.” (Can't remember who that was. I later realized it was a rip-off from John Wimber who said "Sometimes God offends our minds in order to reveal our hearts.") There is a point to this, but it isn’t the point the man was making. His point was that God’s truth may not make sense to us, but we must believe it anyway.

I reject this notion and will say that it is not scriptural. We will address this when we discuss in detail the Word of God. For right now I want to make it clear that I believe the Bible teaches us that we will believe and accept the Word of God as truth only when we understand what it is saying. Only then can we be prepared to act as if it is true. This is why the first and greatest commandment is to love God with our mind as well as with our heart, soul and strength. (I think that also may be a Willard quote)


Thanks for reading.


Tory

What Am I Doing?

Introduction

Hello. If you are reading this, you likely know me. (Why else would anyone read this?) If you know me, a natural question will immediately come to mind. "What are you doing!?" You know that I have way too many proverbial irons in the fire. So why would I start (another) blog?

Well, I have several reason to start. 

• I have a lot of content. I have written my thoughts about my Christian journey (and other topics) for the last 30 years, simply in an attempt to wrangle those thoughts into something communicable - kind of like a virus. Until now, I have not shared many of them. I think the incubation period has passed and it is now time to share. (You may have heard the saying "Thoughts untangle themselves over the lips and through the fingertips." That is attributed to Dr. Howard Hendricks here.)
• I speak on many occasions and people often ask for a copy of my notes. This will give me a way to share those notes when asked. If I have recorded my talk I will also be able to share the audio.
• I want to see if my thoughts have any merit. You know how it is. You think you have the greatest idea since the wheel, and when you share it with someone. They ask a question that never occurred to you. That is when you find out your idea isn't as great as you thought. I think it is time to put my thoughts to the test. And you, dear reader have the responsibility to point out the flaws in my thoughts.
• I have several requests outstanding that I need to fulfill. If nothing else comes of this blog, I will at least have a way to deliver my response to those requests.

I really don't know if I will have the time or motivation to continue, but I have enough to start. So, here I go.

What I intend to do

I plan to use this blog as a venue to share my thoughts, past and present. Mostly they are on Christian, moral or philosophical topics. I intend to post them in small pieces that can be digested easily. I also intend to link to media content that I have created when it relates to the topics. As I said above, I already have a lot of content, I just haven't had a venue for sharing it. Well, now I have a venue.

If history is any predictor of the future, I will likely drop this blog by the wayside after a short time. I am actually afraid of that. Well, to be truthful, I am afraid of what my few readers will think of me if I do that. However, I decided to take the advice I used to give to my children when they were faced with fear of failure. "Don't let your fear make the decisions for you." I can't abstain from blogging simply because I fear someone's opinion of me will diminish because I don't follow through with my intention.

There is something really funny about that fear. I don't seem to care what someone will think of me when they read my thoughts and easily point out that they have no merit. If you think I am an idiot, I guess I won't care. If you think I am unstable on the other hand, I suppose I will be hurt, even if it is true. ... Go figure.

I guess that says something about me anyway. What it says I will leave as an exercise for the reader.

If you enjoy this blog (or the related media content) feel free to comment and make my day. By doing so, you will likely help to provide that elusive motivation to continue posting articles and at least help me conceal (or possibly even overcome) my inability to follow through on my good intentions.

If you think I'm an idiot don't waste your time telling me, because apparently I don't care. If you feel sorry for me and want to straighten me out on some unmeritable thought (like the use of that non-word), go ahead and enlighten all of us (me, and my other two readers).

If you are still reading, you may like what I have on deck, so come back and visit (or subscribe / follow). In other words, stay tuned.

Tory

P.S.

You may wonder, "Why Tory Talks?" Well, my first thought was "Tory's Trifles" but then you would expect something resembling the quality of G.K. Chesterton and I may as well admit defeat and go home. My next thought (actually my wife's thought) was "Tory's Tidbits" but that seemed to set the bar too low.

You have heard of "Ted Talks" so now there are "Tory Talks." Of course, I still set the bar too high, so lets just say it is a cleaver way to say "Tory Speaks."