the glorious exchange

A new/renewed “fad/fashion/trend/etc.” in the church is reclaiming the arts and creativity in the name of Christ. And this is a wonderful trend, which I hope continues. But at the same time, we have to realize that we will never acheive the creativity of our God (should we repent of this? of never acheiving the creativity of God? there’s something I’ve never thought of…). I talked about this briefly on Sunday from Revelation 4: the mythical-esque (they’re real) creatures that surround the throne are an overflow of God’s creativity, just as the Creation as we know it is.  A quote on the side of my Starbucks coffee cup reminds me of this:

One can only be humbled by the richness of the animal an dplant life on this place we call Earth - the diversity of life in the oceans - so evident here on the Great Barrier Reef. Hundreds of soft and hard corals, fish species and marine animals. I want to do my part to secure this wonderful world for future generations.

This not only reminds me of our responsibility to steward creation, but also of Romans 1:20 - creation screams of God’s power and holiness. If we pay attention, we might learn something.

Here’s my notes on the fourth chapter of Amos, see previous posts for all previous chapters (links: Intro, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three). The way I’m teaching this chapter is in comparison with Revelation 4-5. You’ll see what I mean.

• Verses 1-3 are directly aimed at the women of Israel. They have gotten “plump” as cows on a fertile plain (Bashan). But pay special attention to verse 1: it is not the fact that they are wealthy that twists and breaks God’s heart. It is how they have become affluent: by stepping upon the heads of the less fortunate. Their sin is that they are using other people for self gain: they have a love for money that surpasses their love for people. This, not wealth itself, is sin. For their sin, they are going to be exported past Mount Harmon by the Assyrians (who traditionally exiled people single file with a fish hook through the lower lip - rough way to go).
• Verses 4-5 are central to the chapter: they express the Lord’s discontent with improper worship, and to us, they reveal the two great enemies of Christ: idolatry and false religion. Bethel was once an idol center, established by Solomon’s son Jeroboam. Now, both Bethel and Gilgal were separate “holy cities” set up during the days of Elijah and Elisha: and the Israelites practiced worship-less sacrifices here in the days of Amos. So God is saying “go ahead and sacrifice, it’s meaningless to me”. They are breaking the first commandment, and in essence, disbelieving the Gospel: that God alone saves.
• Verses 6-11 are God giving physical warnings to the people of Israel, trying to convince them to come back to him. They do not, and compared with all of the other tragedies they face, this is the greatest. The worst possible thing that could ever happen to us as a people is that we ignore the calling of God to Himself. This is ignoring the Gospel, and will only result in the full wrath of God poured out upon us.
• Verses 12-13 are God’s revelation of Himself as supreme, and that He will justly judge those who refuse Him: Christ is ruler over creation, our thoughts and will, and over any kingdoms we try to set up on earth. He is supreme, and we are to will subject ourselves to Him, whether through the love of Christ or the wrath of His judgment.
• So what does this have to do with Revelation 4-5? How does a people go from ignoring a beckoning yet vengeful God as seen in Amos 4 to a “kingdom of priests and kings” before a glorious and beautiful God in Revelation 4-5? The only way is this: a bloody cross and physical resurrection. The Gospel of Christ is the bridge to take a people from Amos 4 ignorance to Revelation 5 worship.

I recorded this lesson, and have it on audio, if you wish to hear it (average quality - I was using a voice recorder). Email me at derek@harmonydc.com.

It’s been a while since I’ve written a ‘technical’ post, so here you go. A large part of my thinking on this subject has been shaped by a single message by Tim Keller, “Gospel and Ministry”, presented at the 2007 Gospel Coalition conference. You can find the message here: Gospel Coalition Media.

Where does one start with breaking down a piece of Scripture? Where should one start with breaking down Scripture for teaching? The answer should be simple here: we should start with the Word: both living (Christ) and written (Scripture).  One of my favorite verses regarding the matter, and is indeed used by Keller in his message as well is Luke 24:44.

“Then He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

All of Scripture, including the Old Testament, reveals Christ. Conversely, without Christ, Scripture is useless and just another “sacred” text, no different than the Koran or Bhagavad Gita. Keller makes a comment, and I vehemently concur, that a lot of times we as teachers go to the text looking for us and those we teach. What should we do, how should we act, etc. This is a works-based approach to Scripture. Instead, we should come to the text looking for Christ and His works. This is a  faith-based approach to Scripture; that is, it relies fully on the Gospel. There are some fundamental questions I ask when I approach a text:

• What does this text say about Christ?
• How does this text reveal Christ?
• Does Christ say something about this text in the New Testament?
• What does this revelation of Christ say about us?

Notice that I do not ask what the text says about us, but rather the revelation of Christ through the text should reveal something about us in relation to Christ.

In conclusion: our hermeneutic should always be Christ-centered, regardless of text or circumstance of presentation. More on this in future posts.

Downs

• My hand caught on fire. You read that right. I was messing around with a creme brulee torch (read: refilling it), and lit it without wiping off my hand or the torch. The spark caught the entire thing on fire, along with the lighter fluid that remained on my hand. I screamed like a girl, and eventually beat the fire out on my shorts. But man, it still hurts.
• The creme brulee didn’t even turn out right. Argh.
• This morning for some reason I woke up really doubting my call as a church planter. The numbers aren’t where I’d like them (which is the problem to begin with), but God has a plan. And no matter what you say ore think, numbers matter.
• A jobsite which we’ve been working on for a while has had a setback: and there’s nothing I can do right now. It’s very frustrating.

Ups

• The steak and spiced new potatoes I grilled tonight came out great. And nothing makes a steak taste good like basil butter!
• Miranda took care of my hand pretty well. What a doll.
• We watched a pretty good movie tonight: Chocolat, which I believe Hirsch and Frost comment on as a good movie for missional thinking (it was). 
• I was listening to a Gary Lamb sermon this morning during my drive (ridge stone rocks 7 - remember), and it was the first salvation message I’d heard first-hand from him. And for some reason, the Gospel really impacted me during my time of doubt: Jesus is enough. I’d heard it from Driscoll and Piper and all the guys, but hearing it from Gary at the time I needed it really hit home.

What a roller coaster life is.

Ed Stetzer is blogging. (link)