One way to go beyond Scripture, according to Daniel M. Doriani, is to go beyond biblical language as with words like Trinity and substitutionary atonement. Another way to go beyond Scripture is to ask questions that the Bible never addresses such as stealing “intellectual and digital property.”[1] Doriani provides a summary of the RHM: “The Bible doesn’t have narratives; it is a narrative.”[2] This view has different meanings. “If narratives present paradigmatic individuals whom the faithful should emulate or avoid, then we have guidance for proper conduct in areas that direct teaching never covers. This is going beyond the Bible. For example, can a Christian work for the government? is not directly addressed in Scripture. But from the narratives of Scripture we have the examples of Joseph, Nehemiah, and Daniel.[3] There are NT exhortations to practice this principle as in 1 Cor. 10:6-10.
Read moreHow can Pastors Follow the Example of Nehemiah by Tim Stallings
This is the second of two posts by two of my D.Min. students’ Discussion Board responses to the question “How can Pastors Follow Nehemiah’s Example” that he set in Nehemiah Five. The first was by Heath Faircloth and this post is by Tim Stallings.
As a pastor and leader in the church, we are constantly being observed in our approach to leadership. One of the areas to show unselfish leadership is to humbly be transparent and vulnerable about our own personal journey of faith. One of my favorite verses for ministry is 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our trouble so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." I believe when a pastor/leader is transparent/vulnerable and shares about his own personal struggles and how he has received comfort, the congregation can see his humility and he can make a connection with the congregation.
In Chapter 5 Nehemiah was firm in his leadership but showed compassion and care for his people as they worked on the wall. He confronted the nobles and addressed their wrongdoings. He provided comfort and care for those who had been harmed.
Another area that a pastor/leader can be unselfish is by occasionally sharing his pulpit with others and allowing them to speak before the church. Personal testimonies from our congregation can be a powerful addition to our preaching. God uses these times greatly. Revelation 12 states that the enemy "is conquered by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony."
How can Pastors Follow Nehemiah's Example? by Heath Faircloth
The next two excellent posts are by two of my D.Min. students’ Discussion Board responses to the question “How can Pastors Follow Nehemiah’s Example” that he set in Nehemiah Five. The first is by Heath Faircloth and the following is by Tim Stallings.
Admittingly, this topic isn’t quite as easy as one might suggest. On the one hand, as a pastor, I desperately want to be an example for others to follow in my life, but, on the other hand, there is a fine line between wanting others to see Jesus in me and being prideful in what Jesus is doing through me. Pride is a dangerous sin. Pride has been the downfall of many men in ministry and in the business world. No one is immune from its evils. Augustine said that “Pride is the commencement of all sin.”[1] However, it is equally as prideful when I am more concerned about how others view me than I am in helping them become more like Jesus. Bloom has well stated, “However, if there is something in my life that is exemplary that might help you, but I don’t say anything because I’m more concerned with how you view me than with helping you increase your joy, that’s just pride borrowing humility’s clothes. I love me more than I love you.”[2] Therefore, as long as my heart is pure, I must help others by being an example.
One way I have challenged people in the pulpit is through sacrificial giving, specifically for special offerings like Lottie Moon. While I do not share the amount that my family gives, I will often give the parameters by which we base our giving: no one gets a single gift bigger than what we give Jesus during our Mission’s offering. For several years, we gave more to this particular offering than all other Christmas gifts combined.
Secondly, I can tell stories of how I am serving others. It could be my neighbors that do not know Jesus. It could be something that happened at a particular outreach event or service project, but remind people that you are there and allow your example to be a way of leadership in these areas.
Next, and this may not always be in the pulpit, but I am a firm believer that the pastor is the worship leader. He may not be the one leading the singing, but he needs to set the example of worship. If he does exemplify a spirit of worship, it is doubtful that those he leads will either.
Finally, I can be an unselfish example by confessing my sin in an open, transparent way when I mess up. I’m not advocating for every Sunday to be an open confessional time, but from time to time, I need to remind my people that I mess up and am in need of repenting of my own sin. Hopefully, this will be a reminder to them that they too need to repent when they mess up and be an avenue that will help them to take sin serious in their own hearts.
[1] “Sin of Pride,” All About God, accessed at https://www.allaboutgod.com/sin-of-pride.htm
[2] Jon Bloom, “Imitate Me: Laying Aside the Weight of False Humility,” Desiring God, September 22, 2017, accessed at https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/imitate-me
Review of Four Views on Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology (Chapter One: A Principlizing Model by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.)
Chapter One: A Principlizing Model by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. (Colman M. Mockler Emeritus Distinguished Professor of OT and Ethics and President Emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts).
Kaiser advocates applying specifics principles from the ancient text to the contemporary culture. Kaiser provides lists and defines six principles that expose euthanasia as wrong. Kaiser draws principles from different text in his opinion to justify women praying and prophesying. The next issue Kaiser deals with is homosexuality. Kaiser states that no one needs to go beyond the Bible to see that homosexuality is condemned in seven passages. Kaiser believes there are principles in the Bible, such as found in the book of Philemon, that teach slaves should be freed. Kaiser teaches that there are adequate principles against abortion and embryonic stem cell research that no one needs to go beyond the Bible.
Read moreReview of Four Views on Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology (Introduction)
Gary T Meadors, general editor (Professor of Greek and NT at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan), notes that “moving beyond the Bible” is based on I. Howard Marshall’s Beyond the Bible: Moving from Scripture to Theology.
Read moreDon’t Waste Your Life (Psalm 127)
Solomon in the only Pilgrim Psalm (Psalm 127) he wrote, challenged us three times in two verses, not to live a “vain” or empty, worthless, or wasted life. John Piper wrote a book entitled Don’t Waste Your Life. In chapter three, he wrote of two women who some might consider to have wasted their lives. In April 2000, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon, West Africa. Ruby was over eighty. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon. The brakes failed, the car went over a cliff, and they were both killed instantly…. Was that a tragedy?
Read moreGod’s Protection (From everything that is not His will) Psalm 121
David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) the famous missionary and explorer of the continent of Africa, read Psalm 121 and which praises God for his protection as we journey doing his will. Livingston read Psalm 121 to his father and sister before setting out for Africa in 1840. His mother-in-law, Mrs. Moffat, wrote him at that Psalm 121 was always in her mind as she thought about and prayed for him.” (James Montgomery Boice).
Read moreReview of Pastoral Preaching: Expository Preaching for Pastoral Work by Richard Caldwell
Richard Caldwell contends in his book “that these two subjects (preaching and pastoral work) must be joined in our thinking.” He calls this “pastoral preaching.”[1] Caldwell supports his thesis with a quote from Charles Jefferson who wisely observed “When the minister goes into the pulpit he is the shepherd in the act of feeding, and if every minister had borne this in mind many a sermon would have been other than it has been. The curse of the pulpit is the superstition that a sermon is a work of art and not a piece of bread or meat… Sermons, rightly understood, are primarily forms of food. They are articles of diet. They are meals served by the minister for the sustenance of spiritual life.”[2]
Read moreBook Review of First Theology: God, Scripture, and Hermeneutics by Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Kevin J. Vanhoozer is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Chapter One: First Theology: Meditations in a Postmodern Tool shed
Vanhoozer states that doing theology includes God, Scripture, and hermeneutics which he calls first theology or “theological hermeneutics” (9). This chapter introduces “the post-modern challenge to theology” which is deconstructing the Bible of authoritative meanings behind the text, such as, patriarchy. Chapter one seeks to answer which should come first in our study of theology, theology proper or bibliology. Vanhoozer state that both should begin our study. The first chapter introduces “the notion of Scripture as a diverse set of divine speech acts.” This chapter introduces “the importance of learning wisdom by indwelling the biblical texts.” Vanhoozer’s strong contention is that “wisdom is more than information.... It is lived knowledge” (39). Vanhoozer concludes “there is no more vital task facing Christians today than responding faithfully to Scripture as God’s authoritative speech acts---not because the book is holy but because the Lord is, and because the Bible is his Word, the chief means we have of coming to Jesus Christ” (41).
Read moreA Biblical Goal for 2021
What day of the year are more goals set than any other day of the year? This coming Friday or New Year’s Day. Michael Hyatt in a video series called 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever says that traditional goal setting doesn’t work. He backs up this statement with these facts:
1. 95% of those who lose weight on a diet plan regain it and some gain more than they originally lost.
2. 25% of people abandon their New Year’s resolution after one week and 60% after six months.
3. The average person makes the same New Year’s resolution 10 times in a row without success.
I read about a recent medical study that reported nearly 600,000 people undergo heart bypass surgery each year in America. Because the procedure is a temporary fix, afterwards patients must make lifestyle changes by eating healthier, quitting smoking, exercising, reducing their stress. It becomes a life or death issue! But the study revealed a shocking result. Ninety percent of heart patients don’t change. They continue the same path prior to their surgery. They know change is important and consequences are life-threatening, but they stay the same
(Reginaldi, Paul; Dodson, Amanda (2013-08-20). Revitalized Church, How To Leave A Legacy Church (Kindle Locations 1316-1322).
Review of The Greatness of the Kingdom: An Inductive Study of the Kingdom of God by Alva J. McClain
Review of The Greatness of the Kingdom: An Inductive Study of the Kingdom of God by Alva J. McClain (1888-1968) who was the founding president of Grace Theological Seminary and Grace College from 1937-1962.
Part One---Introductory Considerations
I. The Greatness of the Kingdom
McClain contends that “The Kingdom of God is, in a certain and important sense, the grand central them of all Holy Scripture.”[1] He adds that “the Kingdom as set forth in Biblical revelation, with its rich variety and magnificence of design, may actually blur the vision of good men to other matters of high theological importance to Christian faith.”[2] Michael Vlach agrees: “When you study the kingdom you are examining the grand theme of Scripture and the solution for all that’s wrong.”[3]
II. Various Interpretative Ideas about the Kingdom
McClain explains briefly eight different views on the Kingdom. The seventh, The Liberal Social-Kingdom Idea is the view that Walter Rauschenbusch and other Social Gospel advocate held to. McClain notes that according to this view “the Kingdom of God is the progressive social organization and improvement of mankind, in which society rather than the individual is given first place. The main task of the church is, therefore, to establish a Christian Social Order which in turn will actually make (next McClain quotes Rauschenbusch) ‘bad men do good things.’”[4]
Read moreThe Three Kings of Christmas
"Larry King, the former CNN talk show host, was once asked whom he would most want to interview if he could choose anyone from all of history. He said, 'Jesus Christ.' The questioner said, 'And what would you like to ask Him?' King replied, "I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me'" (From Just Thinking, RZIM, Winter 1998. Cited by ChristianAnswers.net).
We already have the answer to that question in God’s Word and the virgin birth of Jesus did define history. Luke the historian documents this defining moment in Luke 2. Jesus is one of three kings in the history of the Biblical account of His birth.
Read moreAngelology or Angel Mania
At Christmas, we simply think more about angels. We sing Christmas carols like Hark the Herald Angels Sing. We have angels adorning our Christmas trees. We send and receive Christmas cards with angels on the front. Ladies wear angel like jewelry. We watch our favorite Christmas movies with angels such as Jimmy Stewart’s It’s a Wonderful Life with Clarence the 2nd class angel who is trying to win his wings.
Most of us have heard angel stories from our childhood. Billy Graham in his 1975 Angels: God's Secret Agents told this angel story about his wife’s grandmother’s death: “The room seemed to fill with a heavenly light. She sat up in bed and almost laughingly said, ‘I see Jesus. He has his arms outstretched toward me. I see Ben [her husband who had died some years earlier], and I see the angels.’ Then she slumped over, absent from the body but present with the Lord.”
Read moreReview of Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis by William J. Webb
William J. Webb, professor on New Testament at Heritage Seminary in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in Slaves, Women & Homosexuals divides his book into three parts. These three parts include “eighteen criteria for helping us determine what components within the biblical text have ongoing applicational significance and what components are limited in their application to the original audience only.”[1] Webb states his purpose when he identifies his method as ‘redemptive-movement hermeneutic’ which captures the most crucial component of the application process as it relates to cultural analysis, namely, the need to engage the redemptive spirit of the text in a way that moves the contemporary appropriation of the text beyond its original-application framing.”[2]
Read moreThe Original Creation and the New Creation
What was the raw material or the states of things when God began to create the original creation? The incomplete planet is described in Genesis 1:2 as useless or “without form” as a desert in Dt. 32:10 which is uninhabited. The earth was also lifeless. The planet at this stage was covered with darkness and water. So the planet in verse two was useless, lifeless, and covered in darkness. “Darkness” in Scripture does not always mean evil as here and in Psalm 104:19-24 where the darkness of night is seen as a blessing from God for which he is to be praised.
The planet at this stage is full of potential. How did God bring this raw material to its full potential? With this raw material, the great Potter formed the earth and then man out of the dust of the earth. First, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and then God spoke his first creative words in Gen. 1:3 and day by day for six days God removed the incompleteness and deficiencies of earth.
Paul draws an analogy between the incomplete earth and the sinner before salvation in 2 Cor.4:3-6. The sinner before salvation was also useless, lifeless (Eph. 2:1), and in darkness (Eph. 4:18). But then “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). How did God do this work in the sinner’s life? The same as He did with the useless, lifeless, and in darkness planet. The Spirit of God moved on the sinner’s life (John 16:8) when God’s Word was spoken or preached (Rom. 10:17).
Paul himself, as Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9, is an illustration. Saul, on the road to Damascus, in his spiritual uselessness, lifelessness, and darkness, was struck to the ground by a light that was brighter than the noon day sun. That light was Jesus Christ the Son of God who was and is the Light of the world. As you and I witness the Word of God to unregenerate sinners, God’s Spirit will work at opening satanically blinded eyes so the Creator of the universe can once again create a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
Helen Keller was both blind and deaf. Her world was only darkness and touch. Anne Sullivan, who was partially blind most of her life, began to tutor Helen Keller when she was seven years old. Anne would spell words in the palm of Helen’s hand and let her touch that object. For example, Anne spelled d-o-l-l in Helen’s palm while Helen felt the doll Anne had given her. Anne spelled w-a-t-e-r in Helen’s palm while her other hand was under a water spicket. At that moment as Kevin J. Vanhoozer noted, “the mystery of language was revealed.” Helen Keller wrote in her autobiography: “I knew then that ‘w-a-t-e-r’ meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. The living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free’” (The Story of My Life. New York, 1988, 18). Vanhoozer observed, “Helen’s teacher, a miracle worker like the Holy Spirit, ministered the word and brought understanding” (First Theology: God, Scripture, and Hermeneutics. Downers Grove: IVP, 123).
Who Is Your Favorite Theologian?
Like preachers, I have different theologian that I like and use for different reasons. Ryrie remarks that he did not write Basic Theology for the professional theologian. I find little that I disagree with in Ryrie’s Basic Theology. I know he is not as deep as other theologians but that was not his purpose in Basic Theology. He revealed his scholarship in other writings. He also helps me in communicating doctrines to my church members who also are not professional theologians.
Paul Enn’s The Moody Handbook of Theology is also good for my purposes but he covers Biblical, Historical, Systematic, Dogmatic, and Contemporary Theology, which cuts back on the Bible doctrine content.
I also like and use Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology to add depth to Ryrie. I like his coverage of the attributes of God. He also has a good argument for baptism by immersion.
I like to read Michael Horton’s Christian Faith for even more depth than Ryrie and Grudem. Horton in some of his writings has a strong defense of cessationism and actually refutes Grudem’s continuing gift of prophecy which is significant coming from a Reformed theologian.
I like Mike Stallard’s journal articles on dispensationalism, eschatology, and theological method.
Coming back to Charles Ryrie, in his Dispensationalism in 1995, he gives a scholarly reply to progressive dispensationalism. In his Dispensationalism Today in 1965, he responded to Covenant Theology. Ryrie wrote 32 books which have sold over 1.5 million copies. His study Bible has sold 2.6 million copies. The Ryrie Study Bible, Balancing the Christian Life, and Basic Theology have been best sellers. I mention these facts to show the influence of Ryrie was not only in Academia but among rank and file Christians who have benefited from his writings put on their level. Of course, he impacted Bible scholars from teaching Systematic theology and serving as dean of doctoral studies at DTS. His influence was board and lasting.
Is there a theological consequence to life on other planets?
I was actually asked this question by a pastoral search committee once. The question was “How would I respond to the church if it was reported by the news media that life had been discovered on Mars?” Recently this issue was brought up by National Geographic Magazine on September 14th. The article title was “Possible sign of life on Venus stirs up heated debate” by Nadia Drake. She wrote: "Something deadly might be wafting through the clouds shrouding Venus: a smelly, flammable gas called phosphine that annihilates life-forms reliant on oxygen for survival. Ironically though, the scientists who today announced of this noxious gas in the Venusian atmosphere say it could be tantalizing, if controversial, evidence of life on the planet next door."
Read moreSermon Evaluation Form
Here is a sermon evaluation form that can be used in internships and preaching classes.
Preacher Sermon Title Scripture
__________________ Date ________
I. Textual Faithfulness 1 2 3 4
A. Overall, was the sermon faithful to the text?
B. What was the MPS of the sermon?
C. What was the main divisions that developed the MPS?
II. Instruction 1 2 3 4
A. How did this sermon engage your mind?
B. Were you persuaded by the sermon’s MPS?
C. Was the passage adequately explained?
III. Communication 1 2 3 4
A. Movement
1. Introduction got my attention
2. Introduction laid foundation for the sermon
3. Did sermon have clear outline?
4. Sense of momentum?
B. Order and Unity
1. Main divisions developed
2. Organized progression to sermon
3. Illustrations subservient to truth
4. Transitions were clear
5. Was the sermon unified?
6. Length of sermon
IV. Delivery
A. Language and vocabulary
B. Voice inflection/volume/clarity
C. Eye contact
D. Pulpit presence
Take sermon notes at bottom to finish statements & questions below
1. Mention one positive
2. Mention one area of improvement
Key Words and Markers in Mark
The following connectors help students and preachers of God’s Word know where the author is changing from one scene and theme to the next.
1. “again” πάλιν
10:32 Mark uses πάλιν (temporal adverb) mostly to simply express repetition as “again.” Decker notes, however, there is a discourse use of πάλιν which provides textual cohesion at the discourse level when it links different episodes as in Mark 10:32. Decker states that πάλιν “marks a seam between two periscopes and, along with the geographical notation, serves to introduce the second.” In Mark 10:32, the geographic location is Mark’s first reference to Jerusalem in the second section and along with πάλιν introduces Jesus’ third prediction.
Read moreReview of Markan Sandwiches: The Significance of Interpolations in Markan Narratives in Novum Testamentum XXXI. 3(1989) 193-216 by James R. Edwards
Inclusios differ from intercalations. While inclusios “bookend” episodes, intercalations interrupt and “sandwich” a single episode. (Mark L. Strauss. Mark: Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 47). Inclusios differ from intercalations.
Bookends in Mark
The healing of the blind man (8:22-26) is in two stages or through repeated touches. In the first stage, the blind man has his sight partially restored. In the second stage, his sight is completely restored. Jesus repeatedly teaches His disciples who He is because of their spiritual blindness. The myopic disciples are like the blind man in stage one. They are only partially seeing who Jesus is.
Conclusion to the inclusio: The healing of blind Bartimaeus (10:46-52) at Jericho, which is only seventeen miles north of Jerusalem. They are almost at the end of their six months journey to Jerusalem and discipleship and still the disciples do not see orunderstand who Jesus is or who they are as disciples.
Sandwiches in Mark
The third section of Mark opens with an intercalation. Jesus enters Jerusalem but finds no spirituality (11:1-11). The cleansing of the temple is “sandwiched” with two episodes about the fig tree. He curses the fig tree that has no natural fruit (11:12-14). Next, Jesus cleanses the temple where is no spiritual fruit (11:15-18). The next day, Jesus and his disciples find the fig tree withered down to its roots (11:19-20). Rhoads and Michie call this “framing” which, like in movies, creates suspense. “Framing also provides commentary. The two related stories illuminate and enrich each other” (David Rhodes and Donald Michie. Mark As Story: An Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress Press) 1982, 51). The fig tree and the temple, both lacked fruit that Jesus expects from his disciples.
Read more