missio

I write daily devotionals for the church, posted on an internal network. This one hits home for me, and I thought I’d bring it out to the public. It’s from Judges 3.

I want to focus on the most epic story in the chapter, the story of Ehud and Eglon. The intro is pretty usual, a rebellious king (Eglon) has captured the people of Israel, and a leader is raised up to free the people (Ehud). But then the story gets…messy.
In short, here’s what happens: Eglon’s a bit on the heavy side (ok, a lot on the heavy side). Ehud, a left-handed man, straps a short-sword to his right thigh for easy drawing. He enters Eglon’s private chambers (bathroom included), and ends up stabbing up. The short sword is swallowed by Eglon’s fat stomach. With me so far? Good. Here’s where it gets messy.

Judges 3:21-22

21 And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. (ESV)

The sword pierces Eglon’s intestinal tract, evidently, to the point where his dung comes out, which is smelled by everyone in the vicinity. In fact, they think he’s using the bathroom, until they realize he’s dead.

And that’s the lesson I want to learn. What?

Let me explain. Whenever I see a ‘sword’ in Scripture, my mind goes to this verse:

Ephesians 6:17

17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, (ESV).

The sword that the Spirit carries around is the Word of God, or what we know as the Bible.  And here’s the thing I’ve learned:

When the sword of Scripture pierces my core, it reveals my crap.

My sin, shortcomings, and how far short I really am of God’s glory is revealed whenever I read and study Scripture. But thankfully, I don’t have to smell good for God to accept me. I can smell like feces and still be loved by Him. Why?

Ephesians 5:2

2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (ESV)

Because Christ smells wonderful to the Father.

In the men’s cohort that I lead (there’s 4 of us that meet weekly for lunch), we are going through the book of Joshua, extracting principles of leadership from the life of Joshua, and ultimately seeing the Gospel through this man’s biography. One thing I’ve noticed so far, and the other men have picked up as well, is the use of the phrase “three days”. I’ll give you some examples, and then talk about what it refers to.

Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, “Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.”

- Joshua 1:11

This is at the very beginning of the chapter, when God is giving instructions to Joshua, the newly elected commander of the people of God. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, God tells Joshua to tell the people this: “What we’ve been praying, hoping, and waiting for will start to realize. Everything changes in 3 days.” Immediately after this pronouncement, in the very next chapter, Joshua sends scouts to Jericho, and it is there we see the timeframe given again:

And she (Rahab) said to them (the scouts), “Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there for three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward, you may go your way.”

-Joshua 2:16

Here’s the amazing thing: Rahab, the whore of Jericho, tells the Hebrew scouts to wait for three days before leading the Hebrew people across the great Jordan river…without knowing that it is the same timeframe God had given Jericho. She tells the scouts to wait for three days in order to protect them. Joshua is to lead the people across the river in three days. It seems as if God is orchestrating both parties, both Rahab and Joshua, according to His will. In fact, it seems as if this timeframe is somewhat special to God, choosing it as the time-frame between the death of the Prophet Moses (Joshua 1:1) and the entering of the people into the promised blessings of God, the land of Canaan.

The guys instantly picked up on this foreshadowing, and I hope you have as well. This frame between the death of Moses and the entering of Canaan is really just a shadow of the true Three Days that really matters: the three days between the death of the Prophet Jesus and the entering of the Church into the promised land of Resurrection. Jesus’ Resurrection starts our new life, indeed.

It’s amazing to think that a three day span in 1st century Palestine has dictated the entirety of human history. But it has. And I, for one, am grateful.

A week ago I had the privilege of teaching a Pursuit Class (link) on the Scripture entitled “The Divine Autobiography”. The class went great (lasting 3 hours), had a great attendance for our first weeknight study, and I think that people are really reading their Bible (and understanding it!) on a regular basis now. I want to share some resources with you here that may or may not have been brought up in the class, so that you (regardless of whether you go to Harmony or not) will be equipped to read the Scriptures for yourself!

The Most Important Thing

There are two basic principles of Bible interpretation, that when fully followed, will ultimately lead to a correct interpretation of any text (though perhaps not on the first go-around, for soon to obvious reasons). Anytime we open the Scriptures, we should read the text with two things in mind:

1. The text we’re reading should line up with the rest of Scripture. This is much more difficult than it sounds because we don’t instantly know and remember all of Scripture. We could interpret a text one way, and then later read something that contradicts our interpretation. This requires that we review our opinion of the texts at hand. Something that really helps with this is to take good notes during in-depth study, and refer to them constantly. If two different sections of Scripture disagree, it’s not the text that is incorrect, it’s our awareness of how they dovetail together to provide the fullest picture of what’s going on. The Bible is a gloriously beautiful document, given to us by a sovereign and providential God, and we should approach it as such, with reverence, and a respect because it reveals God to us! What a marvelous thing.
2. The text we’re reading should reveal something of Jesus with respect to the Gospel. This is what 2 Timothy 3:16-17 talks about: we don’t read the Bible for information, we read the Bible for transformation. Every time we open the Scriptures, they should speak to our souls, filling in a brighter picture of Christ, that we may know the Man we should be imitating. Every bit of Scripture should reveal something about Christ, that we may look more like Him and that we may have a greater appreciation for His redemptive work on Earth and throughout history.

Class Notes

You can download the PDF of the Class Notes here. It’s been adapted from our GCM document, which is a document I’m putting together to form our Membership class.

YouVersion

For those of you out there who are tech-savvy, I’d recommend YouVersion, which is an online Bible application allowing you access the Bible (and your notes, along with the notes of others) from pretty much anywhere you have internet access. I would also recommend installing the mobile app to your iPhone, Blackberry, or Android phone. Also, you can access YouVersion from a web-enable phone, netbook, or computer as well.  We use YouVersion Live at Harmony Church to provide an interactive experience at our Sunday am gatherings, which includes having the text, my notes, a giving online button, prayer requests, Twitter, and polls right there at your fingertips…in the middle of our gathering.  I would suggest joining the Harmony Church Youversion Group to keep up with our gatherings!

Logos

I’ve recently converted to Bible software that I absolutely adore (that’s hard for me). It’s called Logos, it’s relatively expensive (but worth it, and they allow for payment plans), and it’s amazing. For any serious student, I’d highly recommend it. I’ll end up doing a full-blown review soon on it, but you can check it out here. If you decide to get any version of Logos, shoot me an email first (derek -at – harmonydc.com), and we can both get goodies through a refer-a-friend process. They also have a sweet iPhone client (check it out).

If you have any questions, comments, or other resources you use, post them below in the comments section!