I was out of town Saturday and didn’t have my Bible programs installed in my laptop yet.  (It involves calling the West coast company and getting precise instructions as to the exact order in which to install multiple disks. So I have delayed.)   But anyway, it made me take time to do something I never do at home, find a place to read my favorite version online.   I found a website called Biblica, the website of the former NY Bible Society.  There I could easily read my favorite version, NIV, online.  Several other versions are available as well.  I could also look up passages in several versions in parallel columns.  For example, I brought up John 1 in NIV and KJV and John 1:14 in TNIV and Amplified.    There is also a concordance that will search for multiple keywords at once.   I searched for “love + righteousness” and it found the passages where both words occurred in the same verse.  There are also a couple of online devotionals on the site.  It’s a good place to go for basic Bible reading and devotional input on the road with your computer.   I’m adding the link to my list of recommended sites.

Not often in my life has it happened that I have stepped in a church and the sheer beauty and grandeur of the architecture, the art and the overall interior design left me rapt in wonder.   At such times there is an immediate sense of awe.  No one has to quiet you for the sacredness of the space is so immediately apparent that a sense of inner hush stops the noise of aimless verbosity.   

Such an experience happened to me Friday when JoAnne and I visited St Joseph’s Cathedral in Hartford Connecticut.    The soaring Gothic span, the breath-taking splash of translucent red, blue and sun-yellow  panes,  the repeated larger-than-life reminders of precious Biblical truths and events all combined together to bring an inner swell of reverence.    It was simply awesome.

Yet at the same time, there was a noon mass coming up a few minutes after we left and only a very small hand-full of parishioners were assembling to worship, presumably in one of the side chapels.  It seemed to be a living commentary on the change in values that has happened in the last fifty years.  The church we were visiting was built in the early 1960’s to replace one destroyed by fire in the mid-fifties.   The “greatest generation” and their parents must have sacrificed greatly to construct this house of worship.  Yet today’s generations were not here today.   Churches across the Northeast are experiencing the same unfortunate contrast, and Roman Catholic dioceses are closing churches in response.   I am saddened as I think about this disparity.

Yet God has not changed.  “His greatness no one can fathom.”    “He is great and greatly to be praised.”  He is still awesome in his sanctuary and desires for us to make his house a house of prayer for all people.   Who are those today who will accept his invitation worship and prayer?    Who will offer sacrifices of praise by confessions of faith, hymns of praise and personal testimonies?   Who will intercede for the sick, for growing children, pastors, and for the work of the kingdom?   I am afraid sometimes we are more like the generation of the OT who lived well in their own “paneled” –read finely decorated– homes and took care of their own pleasure and business well while the house of God fell into neglect. 

May God help us to rise up and fill every house of worship; to indeed remember our Creator while we have strength to offer back to him as our most reasonable and logical worship.  Happy are the people—the generation—whose God is the Lord!

HR

Helpful, encouraging and paradigm-shifting!   Those are words that come to mind to describe this book (Evangel Publishing House, Nappanee, Indiana, 2007) about “balancing professional responsibilities and personal needs” in Christian work.   Everyone in ministry knows what it is to go through times when life seems out of control or things are way out of balance.  Dr. Headley writes this book to help us through such times.   He points out how important it is to recognize that our experience and practice of our work is framed, outlined, shaped, and guided by the metaphors and mental pictures that we have internalized concerning our profession and our role in it.  His discussion brought back to mind key moments in my own ministry.   I recalled one stretch in particular in my early years when I was working too much, living too close to work, and neglecting my family.   I remember having to consciously think of my wife as my number one parishioner.   It wasn’t a perfect metaphor shift but it served at the time as a helpful reframe of the kind that Dr. Headley talks about.   Dr. Headley mentions many much better shifts in thinking that can help us at critical growth times in our ministry to make the adjustment to another size church, another family situation, or another stage in our personal lives. 

Dr. Headley includes a powerful chapter on the disciplines of ministry and another that develops principles for the practice of ministry.   In these, he reminds us, for example, that retreat is not wasted time as our self-talk is prone to pronounce.  Rather it is following the example of Jesus in pursuing a recreating rhythm of engaging and disengaging that keeps us spiritually strong and our ministries more powerful as well.  Again, how you think about it is crucial.

Anthony Headley is a licensed psychologist and professor at Asbury Theological Seminary.   I heard him speak at a ministers’ retreat recently and found him an engaging and very caring person.  I highly recommend this book for pastors.  It would also be an excellent resource for pastors’ growth small groups such as the Wesleyan LDJ groups.

1.     Why is this passage listed among difficult passages?

The first and chief difficulty is the sheer immensity of the idea of mountain-moving faith.  Did Jesus really mean that could happen? 

 A second smaller issue is how to relate the various contexts in which similar sayings occur. 

This type of saying about mountain-moving faith appears in four different places in the synoptic gospels.  In Mark 11:22-25, it is in the context of the story of the fig tree and teaching about forgiveness follows.  We find it in Matthew 21:21,22 also in the context of the quick demise of the fig tree.   We also find a very similar saying in Matthew 17:17-20 in the context of the  disciples’ inability to heal the boy brought to Jesus immediately after the transfiguration.   A fourth mention is in Luke.  Set in the context of a teaching section on the challenge of forgiveness, Luke 17:5,6 NIV reads, “The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”   6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”

2.     How do we deal with the difficulties in this passage?

The first question we need to take up is, “Is this saying about faith moving mountains intended to be taken literally?”   I believe the answer to this is found in the fact that the saying has variety in the various places where it is found.  In Matt. 17 the mountain moves from here to there.  In Matt. 21 the mountain is thrown into the sea.  In Luke 17 the mulberry tree is uprooted and planted in the sea.  In Mk 11, the mountain moves into the sea.   These differences are what one would expect from a teacher who taught the same basic truth in various settings and used similar but varying illustrations.   Each illustration is then seen to be for the purpose of stretching the thinking of the disciples, of helping them to think that God in them is able to do “immeasurably more”  than all they had up to then “asked or imagined” (Eph. 3:20,21).  The fact that the illustration seemed impossible was part of the point.  The verse is not there to be looked at literally, that is not the point.  But to limit the power of faith would also be to not get the point Jesus is making.  Faith in God is more powerful that we think.  “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Lk 18:27 NIV).   Think about Peter walking the water.  He was doing the impossible and when he started to sink, Jesus chided him for doubting and having “little faith” (Mt. 14:31). 

 Another thing we can do is look for possible Scripture background.  One book pointed out that the question regarding the fig tree would have come as the disciples neared the Mount of Olives. 

 “Now, in current expectation regarding the time of the end, the Mount of Olives played a special part. It would be the scene of a violent earthquake on the day of the Lord. “On that day,” said one of the prophets (referring to the day when the God of Israel would take final action against the enemies of his people), “his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south” (Zec 14:4).” (from Hard Sayings of the Bible, Copyright © 1996 by Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce, Manfred T. Brauch, published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.) 

 Perhaps Jesus’ choice of illustration in the story of the fig tree is influenced by his knowledge of the ultimate history of the mountain they are looking at.    

3.     What are the key truths or inspirational messages of this passage?

Despite all our more methodological questions about the these passages, the main purpose of Jesus is abundantly clear and simple every time.   Each time he was helping the disciples to see that they were living at a level of faith far less than was available to them.   He was encouraging them to step up. Whether it was the charge of watching themselves lest they cause offense to others (Lu. 17:1-3), the challenge of forgiving others (Lu. 17:3-5; Mk. 11:25,26), the desire to be able to heal the boy (Mt. 17:19,20), or the question about the fig tree (Mk 11:20-24; Mt. 21:18-22);  each time the disciples had too little faith to believe that either what Jesus had done or what he had asked them to do was possible.  Jesus was assuring them that they needed more faith and with it they could meet the challenges.    [Additional Scripture to compare include: Mt. 8:13; Mt. 9:29,30; Mk: 9:23; Mt. 8:26; 14:31.]   

One person asked, “When we say a person has greater faith, what do we mean?”   It’s a thought-provoking question. We decided together that it meant several things.  First it meant that they had an increased vision of who God is, of his power and a greater sense that he was at work or of what He was doing in the current situation.   As a result of this they also showed increased trust and confidence in God and were able to act on that confidence and infuse others with it too. 

Finally we noted that Jesus may also be trying to encourage us along the line that it really doesn’t take much faith.  If we only have a little (mustard seed size) we can do great things.

Sun peeked out this morning (Friday Feb. 26); the scenery was beautiful with thick clumps of snow clinging to branches.  

Schools closed again today–probably so everyone has a chance to dig out.   It was time for me to clean-up and open up too.   I spent about an hour and a half horsing the snow blower.   JoAnne and I measured about 15 inches from this storm so far.   It was about the weightiest snow I remember trying to move.   What normally took one pass with the blower in 2^nd gear now took 3 trips, two of them in first gear.   The plowman had opened our drive a little but later I heard he blew his transmission battling the heavy stuff.   Later he brought in a Bobcat and finished the job here, piling up 10 ft. banks in places.  

The birds were busy at the feeder including the flock of about eight mourning doves and another of four or five pigeons.  The male and female cardinals look so beautiful against the stark white.   My regulars are the chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, and juncos, with the goldfinches at the thistle seed feeder and crows and gray squirrels on the ground.   My suet cakes attract Downey woodpeckers and red-bellied ones as well as not-so-welcome starlings.  Occasionally we’re visited by blue jays, titmice, hairy woodpeckers, and house/purple finches.  Hawks drop by now and then to make life tough for the smaller birds.  To me, feeding birds adds so much more interest to the winter.

HR

Offer most parents a way to understand their children better and they will jump at the opportunity.   The Five Love Languages of Children (Northfield Publishing, 1997) provides just such a chance to open up new and practical ways of understanding parent-child relationships.    This insightful, yet easy to read book, is a collaborative effort by two highly credentialed and successful authors.    Gary Chapman, Ph. D.  is extending the insights of his 1992 best-seller The Five Love Languages.  Ross Campbell, M.D. is the author of the volume that I had previously labeled the best book on child-raising that I have ever read, How to Really Love Your Child, which has sold over a million copies.   Their collaborative book now contends strongly for that title.

The heart of the book is the section explaining how the five love languages work in the lives of children.   If you have never been exposed to Dr. Chapman’s work on the love languages, you will be completely engrossed and fascinated as you reflect on your own parent-child communication in the light of the five; physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, gifts and acts of service.   Each chapter includes helpful illustrative stories from real life and examples from the conversations of children to help the reader understand the principles.   Chapter seven is a practical chapter titled “How to Discover Your Child’s Primary Love Language.”   The real benefit will be the positive results in your closest relationships as you gain insights and learn to put his principles into practice.

The second half of the book tackles with great wisdom different challenges that face families which greatly affect how we show love to children; challenges like discipline, helping children learn, and dealing with anger.   Also in this section is a chapter especially for single parents that contains, among other things, especially helpful guidance concerning the grief process in children.   And there is a chapter on the five languages as they apply to married couples; a short summary from Dr. Chapman’s first book. 

There is a list for additional reading as well as occasional helpful references in the text.  A section at the end contains a detailed action plan and short group discussion guide for each chapter.

I believe every parent should read this book.   Grandparents, teachers, counselors and pastors would also benefit greatly from it as well.   Dr. Chapman concludes, “I dream of a day when all children can grow up in homes filled with love and security, where their developing energies can be channeled to learning and serving rather than craving and searching for the love they did not receive at home” (p. 193).  This book will help bring that day a little closer.

I decided to work at home today (Thursday, Feb. 25) while the snow fell.  Not that I couldn’t have waded through the snow to my office; it’s only a few hundred yards.   But I needed to read a book in preparation for this week’s message and write a couple book reviews too.   Home seemed a cozy place to accomplish that; now that I have a laptop.   It was great to be at home with JoAnne too.  We played a couple table games in between working on our various projects, and talked to some family members on the phone. 

Snow days are one of the privileges of this climate.   You can feed the birds and the watch them at the feeders; build a fire in the fireplace insert and enjoy its warmth; work on a big jigsaw puzzle for awhile.   Move a little snow with the snow blower and shovel and have some hot tomato soup with bread and melted cheese for lunch.   We also spent a little time watching the winter Olympics.   My jaw drops open when I see ski jumpers twisting and turning in the air and landing on their feet.  How do they ever learn to do that without getting killed?  For her part, JoAnne loves watching skating.

1.     Why is this passage listed among difficult passages?

People have always wondered whether Jesus should be taken literally or figuratively here when he speaks of gouging out an eye or a cutting off a hand.  Here’s an interesting historical note I found that assures us the problem is not new.

“Shortly after the publication of William Tyndale’s English New Testament, the attempt to restrict its circulation was defended on the ground that the simple reader might mistakenly take such language literally and “pluck out his eyes, and so the whole realm will be full of blind men, to the great decay of the nation and the manifest loss of the King’s grace; and thus by reading of the Holy Scriptures will the whole realm come into confusion.” So a preaching friar is said to have declared in a Cambridge sermon; but he met his match in Hugh Latimer, who, in a sermon preached the following Sunday, said that simple people were well able to distinguish between literal and figurative terms. “For example,” Latimer went on, “if we paint a fox preaching in a friar’s hood, nobody imagines that a fox is meant, but that craft and hypocrisy are described.” 1

(from Hard Sayings of the Bible, Copyright © 1996 by Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce, Manfred T. Brauch, published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.)

2.     How do we deal with the difficulties in this passage?

There are multiple reasons to say that Jesus is speaking figuratively. 

1. If we ask why Jesus mentions the right eye or hand, we have to answer that it is probably because the right hand was considered more valuable as most people were right handed.  And often our dominant eye is the same one that we are handed too.  So if Jesus picked these for a reason like that, it means his point relates to the item’s importance to us and its influence rather than to the literal body part.
2. Speaking of an eye or a hand causing us to sin is easily recognizable as figurative expression.  Jesus spoke of how sin comes from inside us, not outside (Matt. 15:18,19).  Our eye or hand does not cause sin, it is our mind and heart that are led astray (James 1:14,15.  Another way to think about this is to think of the fact that it is patently absurd to think that cutting off the hand or gouging the eye would actually do away with lust against which Jesus was preaching in v. 28.    The very absurdity of it forces us to go deeper and look elsewhere for our answer.
3.  A couple different people at our Bible study observed that this saying seemed to them to be of the same type as his saying about his body and blood;  “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink” (John 6:55 NIV).   In both sayings, Jesus makes his point in such an exaggerated way that one is forced to look beyond the literal meaning.  Those listening at that time had the same trouble discerning between literal and figurative.  Finally Jesus pointed out that    “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (Jn 6:63  NIV).   This helped point the disciples past a strict literal reading of his words.     
4. There is a consistent record in the church of interpreting Matthew 5:29 figuratively.

3.     What are the key truths or inspirational messages of this passage?

1. One important lesson here is this.  Jesus is asking us to remove things in our lives that are sources of temptation, even things that are near and dear to us.   A good OT example is the reward that Gideon received for leading Israel in battle against the Midianites (Judges 8:25-27).  While it started out as an innocent reward, it ended up as a snare to Israel.

2. Another important part of the passage is the warning about the consequences of not separating ourselves from the source of such temptations.  They can result in the whole self being spiritually lost.  Sin that we harbor, at the very least, hinders our prayers and hardens our hearts, stopping any spiritual progress and making us insensitive to God’s further corrections.  Most often sin causes obvious spiritual retrogression and proves much more addictive and enslaving than we had thought.  Here Jesus warns that such a path leads to hell.

So the key question for us to ask ourselves is this;   Are there things in our lives that are causing us to lose spiritual focus; to make wrong decisions; to persist in sinful actions?  In order to take Jesus’ warning seriously, what are we going to do about them?