Peace in 2016? Christians, please step forward.

• Put off the old bed clothes

Police, military and a justice system are legitimate functions of government. But, please – we all have a part, too, in making peace happen. So let me say a word to my fellow Christians, if you don’t mind, for 2016. Peace is when people are able to resolve their conflicts without violence and can live together in safety without fear (see Leviticus 26:3-6). I can illustrate it with my two dogs. They are rivals for food, for territory, and for their master’s attention. But they can actually take a nap right next to one another. There can be peace between them. They can live together without harm, fear or violence.

In Christianity, we see ourselves as rebel sinners against God and in need of peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit (Romans chapters 1-5). Having been justified (put right with God) by faith in Christ and having been united with him in his death, burial and resurrection, — we are now called to righteousness, love and truth in his power, not ours (Rom 6-12), and we are called to be at peace with others (Rom 13-16). But how? Romans 13:8 provides the key: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Love empowers people to resolve conflicts without violence and to live together in community without harm or fear.

Last Lord’s Day, a wonderful minister of the Word in Mebane, NC preached as follows: 2016 is a new year. It’s high time to cast off worldly ways. “I deserve to be happy – regardless of God and others.” “I deserve pleasure – regardless of God and others.” “I deserve respect and recognition – regardless of God and others.” Shake off the sleep, dear Christian. Put off those old bed clothes of a culture of me-first. And put on the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s daylight now, so live that way. And be aware that the new day of Christ’s Second Coming is not all that far away (at least from a divine perspective). To quote his text of Scripture, Romans 13:11-14:

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

The fruit of Christ by the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace . . . (Gal 5:22-23). Let’s live as Christians in 2016.

How does sin affect the human mind?

•A brief answer to a friend of this blog.

In May of this year, widely-respected New York Times columnist, David Brooks (a cultural Jew), told Christianity Today, “We need to start talking about sin and righteousness.” In his study of American culture, he noted, “in the late 1940s . . . There were tons of best-selling books, and some movies, arguing that the notion of human sinfulness was outdated, and that we should embrace the idea that we’re really wonderful.” [1]

Along those lines, a friend of this blog has engaged in a quest to gain a better knowledge of sin and how it affects our thinking.  She is theologically astute and framed her question to me in technical terms. She asked, “How does ‘deprivation’ (original sin) affect the ‘sensus divinitatis’ (people’s awareness of God)?” Here is my answer and the answer will end up broadening the question. [2]

• How does sin affect the human mind?

“Deprivation” refers to the change in nature that Adam and Eve experienced when they, our first parents, sinned against God. This “deprivation” involves (1) loss of original holiness and justice and (2) a corruption of nature whereby they became slaves of sin. However, they retained their created-ness in the image of God. They were still thinking, feeling, perceiving, moral, esthetic beings. And to their posterity they passed on both created-ness (characterized by human nobleness) and corruption (characterized by human cruelty).

Romans 1:19-20 teaches that, from God’s creation, humans know God and understand his existence and eternal power – they have “sensus divinitatis,” an awareness of the Deity. The question arises, how does this corruption of nature by sin affect the human mind in its awareness of God? Scripture gives a brief answer without the nuances that a theological or philosophical discussion would have.

Romans 1:21 “For although they [humans] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” This verse summarizes several key teachings. (1) The choice to dishonor God and not give him thanks (i.e. to love self or created things more than or rather than God) is the root cause of foolish thinking, knowing, and believing. Worship drives worldview and one’s basic life creed. (2) Sin causes futility in thinking: you really think you know the truth about reality and especially about Cosmic Reality. But actually you became stymied and come to false conclusions, not because you are human (made in the image of God) but because you are sinful (the descendent of Adam and Eve). And (3) moral darkness clouds the thinking so that a person thinks, feels, and does things that dishonor God. You think your thoughts and engage in your reasonings. But you rebel against God as supreme ruler and judge and instead make yourself as the measure of all things. As a result, your thoughts become subtly distorted.

Titus 1:15-16 “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.” (4) Moral darkness can not only cloud the mind, but when wickedness becomes a pattern of life, the human mind can produce things are just plain detestable and unfit for other people to hear or read. Your pompousness produces impurity of thought.

Elsewhere, the Bible further describes the condition of our minds under sin [3]. Corrupted by sin, the human mind can be:

confused (Deuteronomy 28:20)

anxious, closed (Job 17:3–4)

evil, restless (Ecclesiastes 2:21–23)

rash, deluded (Leviticus 5:4; Isaiah 32:4 NIV)

troubled (2 Kings 6:11)

depraved (1 Timothy 6:5)

sinful (Romans 8:7 NIV)

dull (2 Corinthians 3:14 NIV)

blinded (2 Corinthians 4:4)

corrupt (2 Timothy 3:8)

• How may I overcome the effect of sin on the human mind?

How can we escape the powerful darkening effect of sin on the human mind? In John 12:46 Jesus Christ proclaimed, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” It is important to see that when Christ spoke of “darkness,” he was including the ideas of falseness and moral evil. Earlier in the discourse between Christ and a deeply religious man, it says:

The light [Jesus Christ, the only Son of God] has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. (John 3:19-21, emphasis added)

When you come to Christ – the Light of the world – you come to one who is the embodiment of truth and righteousness. You are not driven to come to Christ out of ignorance and you are not seeking to find education or spiritual enlightenment. Rather you are a thinking person concerned about the darkening effects of sin on your life – on mind, emotions, will, conscience, relationships – and you seek a proper object of love as well as seeking truth, right living, healed relationships, and a renewed mind. You are a human being with an awareness of God (unless it has been repressed), descended from the first human parents, and have the corruption of nature passed on from them.

The invitation from Christ has two parts: come to the light and continue in the light.

• Come to the Light for a renewed mind

There is one source to investigate and come to Christ: the eye-witness era documents of the New Testament from the first century AD. In the second century after Christ, many alternatives arose such as the gnostic library discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, or the apocryphal gospels and epistles, of the second through fourth centuries. In our day skeptics and others bombard us with books to discredit Jesus Christ and the New Testament documents of his apostles and their associates. Yes, the marketplace of idea is filled with the thoughts of contrarians. But consider the spiritual journey of Michael F. Bird. He writes:

I grew up in a secular home in suburban Australia, where religion was categorically rejected—it was seen as a crutch, and people of faith were derided as morally deviant hypocrites. . . . As a teenager, I wrote poetry mocking belief in God. My mother threw enough profanity at religious door knockers to make even a sailor blush.

Many years later, however, I read the New Testament for myself. The Jesus I encountered was far different from the deluded radical, even mythical character described to me. This Jesus—the Jesus of history—was real. He touched upon things that cut close to my heart, especially as I pondered the meaning of human existence. I was struck by the early church's testimony to Jesus: In Christ's death God has vanquished evil, and by his resurrection he has brought life and hope to all.

When I crossed from unbelief to belief, all the pieces suddenly began to fit together. I had always felt a strange unease about my disbelief. I had an acute suspicion that there might be something more, something transcendent, but I also knew that I was told not to think that. I “knew” that ethics were nothing more than aesthetics, a mere word game for things I liked and disliked. I felt conflicted when my heart ached over the injustice and cruelty in the world.

Faith grew from seeds of doubt, and I came upon a whole new world that, for the first time, actually made sense to me. To this day, I do not find faith stifling or constricting. Rather, faith has been liberating and transformative for me. It has opened a constellation of meaning, beauty, hope, and life that I had been indoctrinated to deny. And so began a lifelong quest to know, study, and teach about the one whom Christians called Lord. [4]

The first step is to come to the documents that faithfully witness to Christ – the New Testament. You may read these, hear these read, or hear them taught. The New Testament writer John speaks for his colleagues: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31). But it is not enough to read and study the documents. You must personally believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Otherwise, all your reading and study is in vain. And, in your reading and study, it is vital to remember that the New Testament is incomplete without the Old Testament. You need the whole Bible.

Come, read, hear, believe in Jesus Christ, follow him, and join the community of the faithful. Hopefully, in that vein, you will be able to find a church or a Bible study committed to the faith taught by Christ and his apostles and embodied in the Nicene Creed of AD 325 – the statement of beliefs that summarize the message of the New Testament. This creed takes the confession of faith passed on in apostolic churches and then uses technical language to contrast the faith from error. Christ commanded his disciples to baptize in the name (one name = one nature and being) of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). If the group doesn’t profess one God in three co-equal, co-eternal persons, they follow some other ideology, not the New Testament.

• Continue in the Light to renew your mind

How do people renew their mind through Christ from the darkening effects of sin? To Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, Jesus Christ said:

37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:37-40)

Just as the New Testament Scriptures are the word of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, through his apostles and their associates, so the Old Testament Scriptures (verse 39) are the word of God the Father (verse 38). And the way of eternal life and renewal of your whole being – including your mind – is by studying the Scriptures. They are a history centered on Jesus Christ. This history teaches doctrine, a worldview, and a lifestyle. And it offers plenty of examples of what to do and not to do.

In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul, imprisoned in Rome and on trial for his life, makes a request, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments” (2 Tim 4:13). He wanted a winter coat (a tent-like garment stretching from shoulders to feet), papyrus rolls (“books”) and expensive documents written on animal skins (“parchments”). Being a Scripture scholar and a preacher, the books could easily be early gospel records as well as scholarly writings. The parchments undoubtedly included Old Testament scriptures. Thus, even at the end of his life facing a possible death sentence, Paul wanted – most of all – the word of Jesus and the word of God. [5]

How do you make use of books and parchments? A very bright, thoughtful woman tells her story [6]:

I don’t know when I first became a skeptic. It must have been around age 4, when my mother found me arguing with another child at a birthday party: “But how do you know what the Bible says is true?” By age 11, my atheism was so widely known in my middle school that a Christian boy threatened to come to my house and “shoot all the atheists.” My Christian friends in high school avoided talking to me about religion because they anticipated that I would tear down their poorly constructed arguments. And I did.

Attending Harvard to study government, during her freshman year she encountered a fellow student, Joseph, who was a Christian. He defended with reason and sensibleness Christianity’s answers to the most fundamental philosophical questions as well as to the veracity of the Bible and ethical conundrums. For instance, what about the Euthyphro dilemma: Is something good because God declared it so, or does God merely identify the good? She continues:

And he did something else: He prodded me on how inconsistent I was as an atheist who nonetheless believed in right and wrong as objective, universal categories. Defenseless, I decided to take a seminar on meta-ethics. After all, atheists had been developing ethical systems for 200-some years. In what I now see as providential, my atheist professor assigned a paper by C. S. Lewis that resolved the Euthyphro dilemma, declaring, “God is not merely good, but goodness; goodness is not merely divine, but God.” Joseph also pushed me on the origins of the universe.

She came to accept the idea of a First Cause. What shame could there be in being a Deist like Founding Father Thomas Jefferson? Later she was given a copy of J. Budziszewski’s book Ask Me Anything. She encountered the Christian teaching that “love is a commitment of the will to the true good of the other person.” This theme—of love as sacrifice for true good—changed her thinking. The Cross no longer seemed to be a grotesque symbol of divine sadism, but a remarkable act of love. And now Christianity began to look less strangely mythical and more cosmically beautiful. She notes:

At the same time, I had begun to read through the Bible and was confronted by my sin. I was painfully arrogant and prone to fits of rage. I was unforgiving and unwaveringly selfish. I passed sexual boundaries that I’d promised I wouldn’t. The fact that I had failed to adhere to my own ethical standards filled me with deep regret. Yet I could do nothing to right these wrongs. The Cross no longer looked merely like a symbol of love, but like the answer to an incurable need. When I read the Crucifixion scene in the Book of John for the first time, I wept.

But, of course, the Cross as the beauty of Christ’s love and as the answer to human sinfulness – these do not make it true. So she plunged into alternative views: the Qur’an and the books of leading skeptics. And she read contemporary Christian answers to the objections. But nothing compared, she said, to the rich tradition of Christian intellect: Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, Pascal, and Lewis. When she finally read the masters, the only reasonable course of action was to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But then a problem arose. Her head full of convincing evidence for the Scriptures started to make her feel distant from the story that had brought her to tears a month prior. When reading through the Passion narrative on retreat on Cape Cod in the spring, she remained utterly unmoved. So she went out to pray and took a long walk through the woods. Reflection on Scripture caused her to realize that the will is the driver of the intellect. Who or what you worship is the root cause of thinking, knowing, and believing. In her own words:

If I wanted to continue forward in this investigation, I couldn’t let it be just an intellectual journey. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). I could know the truth only if I pursued obedience first.

She committed her life to Christ by being baptized on Easter Sunday, 2009.

At age 66, when comedian and actor W.C. Fields was dying in a hospital, one of his friends came to see him and found him reading the Bible. The friend was shocked because Fields was anything but a religious man. He said, “W.C., what are you doing?” Fields replied, “I’m looking for a loophole.”

Friend, are willing to give the Scriptures an honest reading and hearing?

[1] Jeff Haanen, “Interview of David Brooks,” posted May 13, 2015 and printed as Jeff Haanen, “Greatness and Grace,” Christianity Today June 2015, Vol. 59, No. 5, Pg 60. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/june/david-brooks-we-need-to-start-talking-about-sin-and-righteo.html

[2] For an excellent theological-philosophical discussion, please read the article Stephen K. Moroney, “How Sin Affects Scholarship: A New Model,” Christian Scholar’s Review, XXVIII, pg 432-451, Spring 1999. http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/ethics/CSRSpring-1999Moroney.html

[3] Rick Warren, “The Battle for Your Mind (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)” address at the Desiring God 2010 National Conference, October 1, 2010. http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-battle-for-your-mind

[4] Michael F. Bird, “How God Became Jesus—and How I Came to Faith in Him,” Christianity Today (web only), April 15, 2014.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/april-web-only/how-god-became-jesus-and-how-i-came-to-faith-in-him.html

[5] William Barclay, Timothy and Titus (Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 2^nd edition, 1960), commentary on 2 Timothy 4:13, online version http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/view.cgi?bk=54&ch=4

[6] Jordan Monge, “The Atheist’s Dilemma,” Christianity Today, March 2013, Vol. 57, No. 2, Pg 88. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march/atheists-dilemma.html

Pics:

(1) Kelsey Bishop, “Attitude Adjustment,” a charcoal on public display at the Gallery, Lakeland Community College, Kirtland, Ohio from January 25 to February 22, 2015.

(2) Scene at Fowler’s Mill Golf Course, Chesterland, Ohio on 9/16/2015 taken by the author.

What does the cross mean?

•And why did this man have those injuries?

A man and his wife hosted a Japanese student in their home in Cambridge, England. One weekend the student toured the art galleries of Paris. Upon her return, in the course of a meal, she suddenly asked – drawing a cross on the table – “What does this mean? And why did the man have those injuries?”[1]

Great art can depict events and people in a way that excites our emotions, captures our imagination, and stirs our minds. But only words can tell us why. The Gospel of Mark, the shortest of the four gospels, written especially for the busy Romans of old, vividly portrays in staccato-like scenes the story of Jesus and his cross. But Mark brings in enough detail to tell us both the “what” and the “why” – what does the cross of Jesus mean? And why did this man have those injuries?

• The Who

The “why” begins with the “who.” Who is this man Jesus? Mark immediately takes us to the Jordan River, which runs south through the land of Israel. There in the Judean desert a man named John, dressed like the prophet Elijah (eight centuries earlier), proclaims in fiery tones, “Repent (change your ways) and be dipped in water as a sign of your turning from your sins.”  John announces that he has come to prepare the way before the coming of the Lord, the God of Israel. 

Then a strange thing happens. Another preacher named Jesus comes to be dipped in the water of the river. John at first refuses because this Jesus is that coming King, and John is merely his servant. But John finally allows Jesus to be dipped in the waters of the Jordan River. When Jesus comes out of the water, a sound thunders from the sky, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him!” And then a being comes down on Jesus gracefully like a dove. John knows that this is the Holy Spirit of God taking a visible shape. “I saw the Holy Spirit descend,” he says.

John knew that Jesus was a human being, a fellow Jew like himself. Now he (and we) know one other important fact: Jesus is the Son of God. There is one God, according to the “Hear, O Israel” (Deut 6:4) recited by Jews for centuries. But in the fullness of God there is the Father who spoke from on high at the Jordan, the Son standing in the river who has taken on human flesh, and the Holy Spirit who descended according to the prophecy of Isaiah (Isa 61:1).

People inside and outside the land of Israel now hear this Jesus teach and see him heal the sick and even raise the dead, Mark tells us. And the disciples of Jesus hear him and see him for many months up close and personal. For instance, at Jesus’ house in Capernaum (in Galilee, north of Judea), many came to the door for healing. One time four men brought a paralyzed man lying on a mat. When they saw they couldn’t get inside the house because of the crush of people, they came up with an idea.

The four men went up to the roof of this first century Palestinian home, removed part of the roof and lowered the man down in front of Jesus. Jesus told the man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Some Scripture scholars in the house quickly but quietly said, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” So Jesus proved his divine authority to forgive sins by saying to the man, “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” Immediately the paralyzed man stood, picked up his makeshift bed and walked out in front of everyone. The Son of God is God just as much as the Father is God.

After all these experiences, Jesus asked his close disciples a simple but perplexing question: “Who do people say I am?”  “A prophet…,” they blurt out. “And who do you say I am?” he probes. They answer, “You are the Christ (the Messiah, the promised prophet, priest, and king).”[2] Jesus explains, “You did not learn this from yourselves, but my Father taught you this fact.” They (and we) learn one more thing about who Jesus is: he is God's promised prophet (speaking the words of God), priest (offering the sacrifice for the sins of the people), and king (worldwide ruler) - the Messiah.

At the climax of Mark’s story, Jesus is brutally beaten with a whip (scourged) by Roman soldiers and then killed in a slow, excruciating way on a Roman cross [3]. When Jesus dies, a hardened Roman army officer pensively concludes, “Truly this (man) was God’s Son.” Mark ends where he begins: Jesus is a man (human enough to die) and is also the divine Son of the living God. 

• The Why

But why did this Jesus have to die such a horrible death? Again, Mark’s cameos pierce the mind like arrows. On the way to Jerusalem with his disciples, Jesus tells them, “[I,] the Son of Man, came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for the many.” The term “son of man” would remind the disciples of the Hebrew Scriptures. “Son of man” is a synonym for “man” (for instance, Psalm 8:4). “Son of Man” is also the term for the universal ruler at the end time foretold by the Book of Daniel (Dan 7:13-14). “Ransom” is a sacrifice whose death buys a person back from captivity (spiritually, from captivity as a slave of sin). In the Dead Sea Scrolls “the many” are the community of believers. So what Jesus was saying is this: “I can into the world as a lowly servant to offer my life as a sacrifice for the sins of the believing community.”

Then on the Roman cross, when Jesus dies, a most unusual event happens, Mark reports. The curtain in the temple of Jerusalem is torn in two. The curtain separated sinful people from the presence of the perfect, pure, and holy God. With the death of Jesus this separation is now gone. What must we do? We must accept the death of Jesus as the ransom for our sins. We must trust in God in all his fullness – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We must become a part of the believing community. And, as Jesus had earlier told his disciples in the Gospel of Mark, we must “deny ourselves” (give up all selfishness), “take up our cross daily” (putting to death our sinful thoughts, emotions, and deeds), “and follow Jesus” as our new Lord and Master.

• Not so fast – I have my doubts

So did Ivan.[4] He was born in Iraq of a culturally Christian mother from Armenia and a liberal Arab Muslim father. When his dad had to flee Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule, his dad sent Ivan (a teenager) to study on his own in Czechoslovakia. There Ivan lived for eight years and embraced materialistic philosophy, atheism and communion. He looked back at himself:

To me, religion was basically a waste of time. I had no respect for religion because I thought it was all made up of fantasies and myths: that people twisted things to suit their agendas and they created systems of belief to manipulate weak and disillusioned people.

One day he lost his temper with the woman he loved at the time, and she up and left him. He just couldn’t face the loss, and it showed him the weakness of his inner strength and of his materialistic philosophy of life. Suddenly he realized, “I am to be pitied like those people I pitied before.” So he started reading the Bible from its first book Genesis, later went to church, and still later joined a Bible study course that took participants through the Gospel of Mark. Sitting in the course on Mark, he had honest skepticism:

Me being from the Middle East, we always have a suspicious mind, we always think there’s something not true in what people say. So I tried to ask all the questions to find out if the leaders on my table would tell me the truth or if they would try to manipulate me or try to twist things or soften things up so I would think, “Actually it’s not so bad.” I discovered that no, they were just plainly explaining what the Bible was saying.

Through the Gospel of Mark, he started to realize who Jesus Christ really was, what he taught, and what he did – what I have called “the who” and “the why.” Ivan said of Jesus Christ:

I thought: “This is the person I always wanted to be like in my life. I never thought there was anyone who can be like this!” I was totally blown away by his integrity, and the things he did and the things he said. It was when I went on the day away, which is part of the course, that I just came to the conclusion that I could not keep denying the truth about Christ and who he is. And I just said: “That’s it—I don’t know what this is going to do to me, but I trust you and I’m ready to follow you whatever and wherever you take me.” And that was it.

What’s happening now with Ivan? In his words:

Life now has no meaning without Jesus Christ. It’s like a journey I am on with him—with the one person who we were created for. I can go walking all my life knowing that in the highs and the lows, in the sorrows and the joys, he is standing there with me, never leaving me or abandoning me. Not just that: this relationship doesn’t end with my death—actually it carries on forever. And that’s what I can look forward to—that’s what life is all about—not just now but also forever. I will enjoy that loving relationship with Jesus Christ forever.

[1] Christopher D. Hancock, “The Christological Problem,” in Donald Armstrong (ed.), Who Do You Say That I Am? (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1999), p 10.

[2] “Christ” in Greek is the same word as “Messiah” in Hebrew and means “Anointed One,” a person designated for a public leadership function by having olive oil poured on his head.  In the Hebrew Scriptures prophets (ex: 1 Kings 19:16), priests (ex: Ex 28:41), and kings (ex: 1 Sam 10:1) were anointed with oil. “Anointed One” most typically refers to kings, both Israelite (Ps 2:2 with vs 6) and foreign (Isa 45:1).

[3] For historical background, see “Crucifixion in the Roman Period,” in David W. Chapman, Ancient Jewish and Christian Perceptions of Crucifixion (Tubingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), pp 69-96; and Martin Hengel, Crucifixion in the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross (trans. John Bowden), Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1977 (entire book = pages 1-90). In Chapter 1, Hengel says: “For example Josephus, who as Jewish adviser to Titus during the siege of Jerusalem was witness to quite enough object lessons of this kind, describes crucifixion tersely and precisely as ‘the most wretched of deaths’ (θανάτων τὸν ἲκτιστον). In this context he reports that a threat by the Roman besiegers to crucify a Jewish prisoner caused the garrison of Machaerus to surrender in exchange for safe conduct.”

[4] “Ivan’s Story,” Christianity Explored. http://www.christianityexplored.org/real-life-stories/ivan. Accessed 9/4/2015.

[Pics used are photos by the author.]

Can music be a salvation to the soul?

•It has soothing power but there’s one gotcha

Take 56 men and 67 women mostly over age 50. Add a barber showing photographs of every head he’s had the pleasure to know. And put the catchy tune and lyrics of Paul McCartney’s “Penny Lane” in their ears and in their eyes –, and what do you get? The Men of Independence (Ohio) and the Greater Cleveland (women’s) Chorus singing “A Beatles Celebration” -- barber-shop style recently at a high school in northeast Ohio. [1]

In the sweet, rich four-part harmony of barbershop – unaccompanied by instruments – the lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the melody, the bass sings low harmonizing notes, and the baritone completes the chord. These two groups winnowed the sonic inventiveness of the Beatles band from 1960 to 1970 and turned 11 independent songs and a medley of 11 more songs into a-cappella sweetness. The rich sounds ran from the playful (“Oh-La-Di” 1968):

Desmond takes a trolley to the jeweler’s store

Buys a twenty carat golden ring (Golden ring?)

Takes it back to Molly waiting at the door

And as he gives it to her, she begins to sing (Sing)

And then the fest ran onto the somber (“The Long and Winding Road” 1970) and the pensive (“Yesterday” 1965):

Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away.

Now it looks as though they’re here to stay.

Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly I’m not half the man I used to be.

There’s a shadow hanging over me.

Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Out in the hallway, after the performance, a male barbershopper momentarily stood beside the president of the women’s chorus. I overheard their conversation. I believe it spoke for the entire audience as the music of the evening had increased people’s happiness, had reduced their stress, and in a small way had given them hope and optimism.

Vicki: “Putting us [men and women] together was so good.”

Scott: “Eight part harmony!”

Vicki: “Awesome.”

Scott: “Keep stacking it up!”

• Can music sooth the soul?

The soothing power of music has long been recognized. A psychotherapist put it this way:

Music is often overlooked as a therapeutic intervention: singing, listening, and creating music of any kind will provide an immediate biological and psychological benefit for everyone. In fact, music can be a salvation and antidote to most psychological challenges: that’s why people sing in the shower and while driving the car, or simply listen to music that’s inspiring and distracting from emotional upset. [2]

In the Bible, King Saul had blatantly disobeyed the command of the Lord through the prophet Samuel (1 Sam 15). Saul had chosen to keep valuable animals from the spoils of war for himself but to offer some of them as sacrifices to the Lord. The prophet termed this to be what it is -- wickedness -- and explained in verses 22-23 (all quotations are from NLT):

      ²² “What is more pleasing to the Lord:

            your burnt offerings and sacrifices

            or your obedience to his voice?

      Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,

            and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.

      ²³ Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft,

            and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.

      So because you have rejected the command of the Lord,

            he has rejected you as king.”

As a result, Saul became tormented with depression and fear (1 Sam 16:14). Scripture regards this outcome as divine punishment for living in a lifestyle of rebellion against God. The spirit causing such depression and fear “came from God.” Rather than dealing with the basic issue of rebellion and its consequences, some of the king’s advisers came up with an idea and told Saul, “Let’s find a good musician to play the harp whenever the tormenting spirit troubles you. He will play soothing music, and you will soon be well again.” “All right,” Saul agreed. “Find me someone who plays well, and bring him here.”

An adviser reported, “One of Jesse’s sons from Bethlehem is a talented harp player. Not only that—he is a brave warrior, a man of war, and has good judgment. He is also a fine-looking young man, and the Lord is with him.” “Conscript him for royal service,” the king ordered. Both King Saul and his son Prince Jonathan were thrilled with David and David took over the task of being king’s armor bearer. Whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp. Depression and fear would leave Saul and he would feel better (1 Sam 16). David became successful with all positions assigned to him by Saul (1 Sam 17).

• Can music save the soul?

In the meantime the Philistines waged war against Israel. A Philistine giant, Goliath, taunted the Israelites to send out a single man to engage him personally. If he were defeated, the Philistine army would all surrender. But no Israelite would venture to engage the giant except one young man: David, the shepherd. After David single-handed killed Goliath, the Israelite army defeated the Philistine army. As the victorious Israelite army returned, women from all the towns of Israel came out to meet King Saul. They danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals and sang this song:

      Saul has killed his thousands,

            and David his ten thousands!”

It was simple Hebrew poetry. There was one line of verse and the second line added punch to the first line. But the word order made King Saul extremely angry. He said, “What is this?! They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next thing you know, they’ll be making him their king!” From that point on, Saul was filled with jealousy and kept a close eye on David. The very next day a tormenting spirit overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp, as he did each day. But Saul had a spear in his hand and, suddenly, he hurled it at David intending to kill him. This happened twice, with David narrowly escaping each time. Fortunately, David then got a remote assignment in the army, far away from the palace (1 Sam 18).

Can music sooth the soul? Yes, resoundly yes. But can music be a salvation to the soul? No, resoundly no. There can be physical causes of depression and fear. But there can be spiritual cause as well: living in disobedience to moral law, living in jealousy of others, uncontrolled anger that drives a person to commit murder or hate. Music cannot save us from such sins or from any sins for that matter. Who or what can?

The New Testament name-sake of King Saul, Saul of Tarsus, who later became St. Paul the Apostle gives us the answer:

¹³ In my insolence, I persecuted Christ’s people. . . . ¹⁵ This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. ¹⁶ But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. (1 Tim 1:13-16 NLT).

King Saul of old could not be soothed. He needed turning from sin, forgiveness of sin and cleansing from sin. Saul of Tarsus found the answer: the saving power of Christ Jesus the Lord.

[1] “A Beatles Celebration,” a musical collaboration between The Men of Independence and The Greater Cleveland [women’s] Chorus plus quartets and guest performers, Gary Lewis and Jean Flinn, directors, April 25, 2015, Solon High School, Solon, Oho.

[2] Mark Sichel, “Music Soothes the Soul; music can be a salvation and antidote to most psychological challenges” in the blog “The Therapist Is In,” Psychology Today, July 15, 2008.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-therapist-is-in/200807/music-soothes-the-soul

Pics: the singing groups in footnote one plus student art that was on display that evening in a nearby hallway.

"Time and chance happen to everyone"

•What are you betting your life on?

In one of their classic slapstick shorts “Dutiful but Dumb” (1941), the Three Stooges wonderfully illustrate a human dilemma. The boys are Click, Clack, and Cluck – photographers working for a glossy journal, Whack; the Illustrated Magazine (“If it’s good picture, it’s out of Whack”).

Moe and Larry bungle getting a photo of a movie star and his bride-to-be in their hotel room. But, through a hole in the center of the table in their room, Curly hides under large dinner platter. He emerges when the movie star removes the lid and snaps a photograph of the frightened couple holding each other and kissing. Curly then rushes the negative to Moe in a dark room for developing. A dialogue ensues:

Moe:    ”How long has it been in the soup, rock head?”

Curly pulls up his sleeve and looks at the time.

Moe:    “Hey, what’s the idea of three watches?”

Curly:  “That’s how I tell time. This one runs ten minutes slow every two hours; this runs twenty minutes fast every four hours; the one in the middle is broken; it stopped at 2:00.”

Moe:    “How do you tell the time?”

Curly:  “I take the ten minutes on this one and subtract it from the twenty minutes on that one, then I divide by two in the middle.”

Disgusted, Moe asks, “What time is it now?”

Curly pulls out an oversized pocket watch and proudly announces, “Ten minutes to four.”

After Moe bongs Curly with the pocket watch, Larry emerges from behind the curtains. He looks in the “soup” and exclaims with great alarm, “I can’t find the negative!”

Moe:    “How about the positive?”

Curly:  “I’m positive about the negative, but I’m a little negative about the positive.”

Moe:    “Oh, negative, eh?”

Curly:  “No, I’m positive the negative is in the developer.”

Moe:    “Your brains need developin’!”

• Time and Chance Happen

In the biblical book of Ecclesiastes the three watches that don’t work and the oversized pocket watch that does work are called “time” or, if we wanted to paraphrase it “uncertain times.” And being positive about the negative in our lives and a little negative about the positive is termed “chance” or, if we wanted to use a paraphrase “unpredictable events.”

In chapter 9, the Thinker observes that life just doesn’t always happen the way we had expected and offers us this poem:

¹¹I also saw something else here on earth:

The fastest runner does not always win the race,

      the strongest soldier does not always win the battle,

the wisest does not always have food,

      the smartest does not always become wealthy,

      and the talented one does not always receive praise.

Time and chance happen to everyone.

¹²No one knows what will happen next.

Like a fish caught in a net,

      or a bird caught in a trap,

people are trapped by evil

      when it suddenly falls on them

In “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” from the 1980 album Double Fantasy, John Lennon sang to his small son:

Before you cross the street,

Take my hand.

Life is just what happens to you,

While you’re busy making other plans.

Earlier in the song Lennon told his son, “Before you go to sleep, say a little prayer.” Earlier in chapter 9 of Ecclesiastes, the Thinker recognized that the hand of God was at work in the affairs of humanity (verse 1). Both are viewing life not from the perspective of God who sees the end from the beginning, but from the vantage point of life as we live it. Using the words of the Thinker, how can we deal with time (that is, with the uncertain seasons of life) and chance (with unpredictable events that happen while we’re busy making other plans)?

• The Gospel’s Answer to Time and Chance

The Gospel answers this way. Even in the most trying circumstances such as not knowing where your next meal is coming from (Matthew 6:25-33), the Lord instructs us:

³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The core issue is not the mind and knowledge: what am I going to do? who can I enlist to help me? The primary human issue is love and worship. Whom do I most love? Whom do I most desire? Whom do I worship? To function humanly the supreme object of worship must be our maker and savior – the one perfect in beauty, goodness, justice, and righteousness, God.

God’s kingdom is God’s rule over humanity through his Messiah (“Christ” in Greek), the Lord Jesus. God’s righteousness is the morally upright way to do things in conformity to God’s holy nature. When our heart is focused on God the Creator and Provider, we will then trust in his provision and providence and cast off our anxieties of uncertain times and unpredictable events. We will make honorable plans and live one day at a time. The worries of the past will remain in the past. The worries of tomorrow will stay in tomorrow. We will pray “Give us today our daily bread” and live today with God’s provisions.

• Time and Chance in the Life of Moses

How does such living work out in practice? Consider Moses, a Hebrew (Exodus chapters 1-4). By providence a daughter of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, adopted him as a baby. He grew up with learning and privilege. Around age 40, when he saw an Egyptian unmercifully beating a Hebrew, he killed the oppressor and buried his body in the sand. The next day, realizing that his deed had become known to the Egyptians, he fled eastward to safety in the Midian desert. He was kind to some daughters of the priest of Midian who reported it to their father. The father had the man summoned and a friendship ensued. Moses ended up marrying one of the priest’s daughters, had two sons, and took up the occupation of shepherd. In the meantime, back in Egypt, Egyptian officials had made the Hebrews into slaves and had started to cruelly oppress them. Their desperate cries for rescue rose up to God.

One day when Moses was approximately age 80 (still having the vigor of middle age), he led his flock of sheep far out into the desert and came to Mount Sinai. He came across a bush that was engulfed in flames but didn’t burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I’ve got to go and take a look.” As Moses stepped closer with his shepherd’s staff in hand, the Lord God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied.  “Do not come any closer,” the Lord God warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Out of fear Moses covered his face. The Lord God continued to speak, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt to a new land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 3:1-10)

Moses mounted a series of objections. His first three protests help us see how to deal with the uncertainties of life. Protest #1: “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” God’s answer: “I will be with you.” Despite his objections, Moses made God his supreme love and trust and God was there with him as he went back to Egypt and faced a hostile Pharaoh and all his officials – who had no intention of releasing the slave-nation of Hebrews.

Protest #2: Moses objected, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God’s answer: “I am who I am. . . . Tell them, I AM has sent me . . . Tell them, YAHWEH has sent me. . .” (Exodus 3:13-15). This is a key passage of Scripture and we will do well to pause here for a while. What does it mean that God is “I am who I am”? Pastor-scholar John Piper finds seven implications [1].

(1) God exists. “I am, I exist, I have being.” Whether we like or not, whether we acknowledge or not, God is there. (2) No reality exists behind God. “I am who I am” is saying that God’s personality and power are owing solely to himself and to no other. (3) God’s nature does not change. “I am who I am,” says the Lord, and, therefore, no forces outside of God can determine who he is. We humans have unforeseen circumstances and often have weak resolution in the face of changing circumstances, but not God.

(4) God is an inexhaustible source of energy. If he is the “I AM” supreme over all outside beings and forces, then he by implication is the creator of all matter, energy, space and time. As Isaiah 40:28 says, “Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary.” (5) God says who he is and not us. Thus, God has the exclusive knowledge to communicate the knowledge of who he is. We humans are outside of God and humbly dependent on him. He is there and he is not silent. We have no right to invent ideas of God. He has the exclusive right to communicate them to us. (6) We must conform to God and not he to us. He is the I AM and not us. We must be guided by the Self-Existent One and not suppose that we the dependent ones have the right to impose our will upon him.

There is one more critical implication of the “I AM” nature of God:

. . .this infinite, absolute, self-determining God has drawn near to us in Jesus Christ. In John 8:56-58 Jesus is answering the criticism of the Jewish leaders. He says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” The Jews then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly! I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

Could Jesus have taken any more exalted words upon his lips? When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” he took up all the majestic truth of the name of God, wrapped it in the humility of servanthood, offered himself to atone for all our rebellion, and made a way for us to see the glory of God without fear. [2]

The “I AM” nature of God is shared by God the Father, Jesus who is God the Son, and by the Holy Spirit of God. Since the coming of Christ, we can only come to the Father through the Son. There is no other way. And coming to God, we come to the One who eternally is and cannot not exist. To the One who is self-existent, who will always be there. To the One who is completely dependable because his nature does not change. To the inexhaustible source of energy, who neither slumbers nor sleeps. To the One who makes himself known and to the One with whom we have to deal with. Finally, plagued by evil in ourselves, thank God – we come to God through Christ who died for our sins and rose triumphantly over sin and death.

How can we deal with uncertain seasons and unforeseen circumstances? By trusting in God - who has such almighty strength and absolute firmness of character that the ancient psalmist exclaims, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress" (Psalm 18:2).

There is one more objection that Moses makes. Protest #3: Moses said, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?” God's answer: Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied. “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back. Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand. “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.” (Exodus 4:1-5 NLT)

What is the significance of the shepherd’s staff for Moses? In a TED talk, Rick Warren proposed the answer [3]:

This staff represented three things about Moses’ life. First, it represented his identity. He was a shepherd. It’s the symbol of his own occupation: "I am a shepherd." It’s a symbol of his identity, his career, his job. Second, it’s a symbol of not only his identity; it’s a symbol of his income, because all of his assets are tied up in sheep. In those days nobody had bank accounts, or American Express cards, or hedge funds. Your assets are tied up in your flocks. So it’s a symbol of his identity, and it’s a symbol of his income. And the third thing: it’s a symbol of his influence. What do you do with a shepherd’s staff? Well, you know, you move sheep from point A to point B with it, by hook or by crook. You pull them or you poke them, one or the other. So, He’s saying, “You’re going to lay down your identity. What’s in your hand? You’ve got identity; you’ve got income; you’ve got influence. What’s in your hand?” And He’s saying, “If you lay it down, I’ll make it come alive. I’ll do some things you could never imagine possible.”

Finally, how do you deal with “time and chance”? You take what’s in your hand (including your identity, your income, and your influence) and you use it for the honor of God and the good of humanity.Anxiety recedes as God and others come into sight and significance.

[1] John Piper, “I Am Who I Am,” sermon on Exodus 3:13-15, September 16, 1984

by John Piper, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/i-am-who-i-am

[2] Ibid.

[3] Here I have benefitted from listening to the TED Talk by Rick Warren, “A life of purpose” filmed February 2006. https://www.ted.com/talks/rick_warren_on_a_life_of_purpose/transcript?language=en

Pics: Three items on public display at Lakeland Gallery, Willoughby, Ohio: Ian Argo, “Forgotten” (photography); Josh Herbert, “Pirate’s Alley” (photography); and Hap Howle, “Fairport Harbor Lighthouse” (painting).

Easter - the greatest bridge in the world

• Where are you headed? Frankly, you will never think your way to God. But it's not for the reason you might suppose.

On 5/16/2011 David Brooks began his New York Times column: “The story of evolution, we have been told, is the story of the survival of the fittest. The strong eat the weak. The creatures that adapt to the environment pass on their selfish genes. Those that do not become extinct.” Is this, in fact, how we find reality in human life in days gone by and today? Is existence on earth just “Nature, red in tooth and claw” (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “In Memoriam A.H.H.” 1849)? Biblically, we know that this is, at best, a half truth for humanity.

Man, in the first place, is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and, therefore, has the attribute of kindness. In all our human interactions, we all carry this image and likeness. And, in the second place, the first humans, by choice, rebelled against their Creator, plunging the human race into selfishness, alienation, shame, and cruelty (Genesis 3). “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Yes, we are also too aware of the human attribute of cruelty, since it is so often reported in the media and protested by the Old Testament prophets. “Thus says the Lord God: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people, declares the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 45:9)

Is there a comprehensive solution? “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Christ – God in the flesh – came into the world to redeem us from our sin and cruelty and to restore us increasingly in the image of God, which includes kindness. At a public religious feast in Jerusalem, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. This person does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).

Consider that word picture for a moment. On the one side of a divide there is sin, death, and divine judgment. On the other side there is eternal life. How do we sinners get across that chasm? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). With firmly relying faith, trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Such a life of repentance from sin and genuine faith in Christ leads to changed life. The people transformed by Christ do tiny acts of kindness that are often only seen by the recipient and by God who sees in secret.

• On which bridge are you?

On display at an art gallery near my home is the pic above, “Bridge Well Traveled.” Thinking of the bridge as a metaphor, we could envision the bridge as the path of one human being’s cruelty against his fellow. It happens in subtleties every day as well as in mass acts of cruelty displaying man’s inhumanity to man. That is one bridge and it is well traveled. Let us be honest enough to admit that we, too, travel that bridge.

There is a second bridge. At Easter, we celebrate the enormous kindness of God through Christ by the Holy Spirit coming into the world to die for our sins as God’s Passover lamb (especially remembered on Good Friday) and to rise again on the third day as a triumph over his having suffered the penalty of sin for us and now as the life-giving Savior (especially remembered on Easter).

How do people react to the events of Good Friday and Easter? Frankly, you will never think your way to God. That is not how human beings are made. We may argue articulately with much reasoning, high sounding logic and great learning. But we are not primarily defined by what we think, know, or believe. It is deeper. At our core, we human beings are defined by what we love and worship. What is worship and love supremely for you? Is it self? Is it money? Is it sex? Is it family? Is it philosophy or self-help or morality or religion or education? Is it fame or fortune or adventure or a myriad of other allegiances? Is it an attempt to escape the hurts, pains, and sufferings of this world? I challenge you today, my friend. Who or what do you worship supremely? Who or what do you love supremely? Who except Jesus Christ has the words of eternal life? What can bridge the gap between human sinfulness and divine purity except the dying and rising of the Lord Jesus Christ?

There is, first, the well-travelled bridge of human cruelty. Then there is a second bridge. “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). That separation between humanity and God has been bridged by what Jesus Christ did for us. We could not do it ourselves. I invite you to believe in Christ and make your way across that bridge right now. If so, there will be a third bridge, the bridge of daily taking up your cross and following Christ in the way of kindness.

• On which bridge was Derwin Gray?

Growing up on the west side of San Antonio, Derwin Gray looked for a way out of an early life of poverty, violence, addiction, abuse, and chaos. And he found it [1]:

Football functioned as my savior. It gave me love: If I played well, I was loved by fans. It gave me an identity: I was Derwin, the football player. It gave me significance: I was somebody because I was a great player. And football gave me a mission. My mission was this: Derwin, you can go to college and make something of your life.

The grandmother who raised him was a Jehovah’s Witness and he played high school football under a Texas Hall of Fame coach. He went to college at the Mormon school, Brigham Young University, and was elected to their football’s All American Dream Team. There, in his freshman year, he met a javelin thrower on the track team and married her during his senior year on May 23, 1992. On April 25, 1993, he was drafted by the pro football’s Indianapolis Colts. His god – his supreme object of love and worship – had come through for him every step of the way.

Then he was confronted by linebacker Steve Grant. After practices and games, Grant would take a shower, dry off, wrap a towel around his waist, pick up his Bible, and ask those in the locker room, “Do you know Jesus?” Derwin Gray asked the veterans on the team about him. They said, “Don’t pay attention to him. That’s the Naked Preacher.” So Derwin would turn his back and ignore him.

One time at Derwin’s locker, the linebacker asked, “Rookie D. Gray, do you know Jesus?” Derwin answered, “I’m a good person.” He explained to Steve that he was one of the only men in his family who had not been to jail, who did not have a substance abuse problem, who had graduated from high school and college, and who did not have a child outside of marriage.

The Naked Preacher opened up his Bible and shared two verses: “And Jesus said to him, ’Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone’” (Mark 10:18) and “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). He explained that according to the Bible, only God is good; he is the standard of goodness and righteousness. Everyone else has sinned and falls short. This disturbed Derwin. The linebacker continued, “You can’t do anything to reach a perfect God. But Jesus has done everything for the perfect God to come down and reach you.”

Derwin sat in silence and needed time to think. Over the next five years, he watched Steve Grant live out the gospel. When teammates needed advice, they were at the Naked Preacher’s locker. Steve was involved in the greater Indianapolis community. Steve displayed Jesus in the way he loved his wife and children. Steve preached through his words and actions. In Derwin’s words:

As the Naked Preacher preached, God’s love crushed me. I had achieved the American dream, only to realize it could not empower me to love my wife or forgive my father. My fame and money could not erase my sin, shame, guilt, fear, and insecurity.

Then, between 1995 and 1997, I started getting injured on the field. When a professional athlete’s body starts to fail, he knows his career is coming to an end. I was letting my god—football—down. I was unable to serve it. My body was how I made my living. As it began to give out, I was stripped of everything I thought gave me meaning. I was left with nothing, even though I seemingly had everything.

On August 2, 1997, after lunch at training camp for my fifth season with the Indianapolis Colts, I walked to my dorm room at Anderson University in central Indiana. As I walked, I sensed an emptiness and brokenness like I had never experienced. When I got to my room, I immediately picked up the phone and called my wife. “I want to be more committed to you,” I said. “And I want to be committed to Jesus.”

At that moment I realized that God loved me. Not because I could run fast or jump high or because I was good, or even for what I could give him. I realized that as Jesus hung on the cross, I was forever loved and accepted by God. I realized my sin had been erased by Jesus’ blood. It was as if I could see for the first time. That day I got infected with a “virus” called grace [God’s kindness through Jesus Christ]. The symptoms are now full-blown.

[Pic: Andrew Debus, “Bridge Well Traveled” on public display at Lakeland Gallery, Kirtland, Ohio, April 6-20, 2015.]

[1] Derwin Gray, “Pro Football Was My God,” Christianity Today, March 2014, Vol. 58, No. 2, p 80. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/march/pro-football-was-my-god-derwin-gray.html?start=2

How to deal with unavoidable pain or suffering

• A playwright, St. Peter, and a missionary doctor all grapple with the question.

I had a convergence of three events on Saturday night and Sunday. Seeing a musical play Saturday night at a local civic theater, hearing a sermon Sunday morning, and reading a biographical sketch Sunday afternoon all led me to the same question: how do you deal with unavoidable pain or suffering? [1] At the end I found something absolutely profound.

• “I don’t look normal and I can never change that.”

“Violet” is a 1997 musical play based on a short story, “The Ugliest Pilgrim.” The bouncy music of Southern folk, R&B and gospel plus the storyline of “Violet” tell a tale of the scars we bear – inside and out. In an accident involving an ax on a farm outside Spruce Pine, North Carolina, a girl of 13 becomes horribly disfigured in her face. She experiences unkind words and a certain amount of isolation. Over time Violet’s facial wound heals, but she becomes obsessed with how others view her disfigurement. Seeking to erase her scar, Violet, now 25, takes a bus from her home in the mountains of North Carolina to Tulsa, Oklahoma with stops in Kingsport, Nashville, Memphis and Fort Smith.

It’s September 4, 1964 and she seeks to be healed in Tulsa by a TV preacher. She believes her damaged face could be miraculously replaced with Ingrid Bergman’s cheekbones and Rita Hayworth’s skin. On the bus, she meets and spends time with soldier boys, one black and one white, on their way back to Fort Smith. She discovers that she can see beyond the skin color of the one and the physical beauty of the other to see their true character. The first is an admirable man but the second is shallow, not someone she’d want to marry. The young black soldier goes on to tell her, “My mother said, ‘You pick your road and walk it, one day at a time.’”

In Tulsa she meets the preacher at rehearsal and he turns out to be a charlatan. In private he tells her, “Once I had it [my TV show] all scripted, the Almighty started missing his cues.” A little later, daydreaming about her dad, she imagines that he asks for her forgiveness of any involvement in the accident. She grants him forgiveness and immediately feels like a miracle has happened. But she doesn’t dare look in the mirror. On the bus trip back to North Carolina, she stops to see the soldiers. They accept her as she is – healed of all disfigurement, she thinks. She then opens her purse, grabs her mirror, looks, and . . . is aghast. She still has her horrible scar. She rejects the advances of the soldier with the shallow character, but embraces the love and acceptance of the other one. With new hope, she gains the confidence to accept her scar and continue the journey of life in hope.

How do you deal with unavoidable suffering? Violet’s answer is to have a forgiving spirit, to adopt an attitude that values character above physical beauty, and to embrace the love and acceptance of genuinely loving people. All of this is sound wisdom. But is there more?

• “I want to live for God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and some people don’t like that.”

In the morning I went to church. The pastor has been preaching through 1 Peter whose theme is “suffering well.” The text this morning was chapter 4:12-19:

¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. ¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. ¹⁶ Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. ¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ And

“If the righteous is scarcely saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” [Proverbs 11:31]

¹⁹ Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Learning from my pastor and having engaged in further study, I will now offer some of my own thoughts as we let St. Peter the Apostle teach us all. There are two basic thrusts of the passage. In the first place, Peter says in verses 12-15: don’t be surprised at suffering but, instead, rejoice to the extent that you share Christ’s sufferings. Why should we be surprised? First, it is sinful human nature to dislike and to regard with suspicion anyone who is different. The Christian brings the standards of Jesus Christ to the world as he lives his life. He or she is different and even goodness can be an offense to a world in which goodness is regarded as a handicap. Second, when a man or woman has to suffer as a Christian, he or she is walking the way their Lord walked and sharing the Cross their Lord carried. This is a dominant theme in the New Testament. If we suffer with him, we will be glorified with him (Romans 8:17). It is Paul's desire to enter into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ (Philippians 3:10). If we suffer with him, we shall reign with him (2 Timothy 2:12). If we remember that, any suffering for the sake of Christ becomes a privilege and not a penalty. [2]

Peter knew it well. St. Mark’s Gospel is a literary arrangement of the preaching of Peter. Mark 8:31-38 recounts Peter’s failing:

³¹ And he [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

³⁴ And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. ³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his soul? ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

In the second basic thrust of the passage, Peter says in verses 16-19: don’t be ashamed of suffering as a Christian but, instead, honor God for the privilege and entrust yourself to him. Shame is the feeling that there is something basically wrong with you. “I’m such a failure.” If we have sinned, we have Jesus Christ – who has died as the just for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18). We are sinners and we have come to the Savior to be forgiven, cleansed and granted the Holy Spirit to live righteously. But if we feel shame because we are a Christian, it is flat out wrong. It is not a shame, it is a privilege. We are to honor God for being a Christian even if it means suffering. And not only are we to honor God (“glorify God,” 5:16), we are to entrust ourselves to God, the Creator (5:16).

The [Greek] word he [Peter] uses for “to entrust” is paratithesthai, which is the technical word for depositing money with a trusted friend. In the ancient days there were no banks and few really safe places in which to deposit money. So, before a man went on a journey, he often left his money in the safe-keeping of a friend. Such a trust was regarded as one of the most sacred things in life. The friend was absolutely bound by all honour and all religion to return the money intact. [3]

We are to entrust our lives as Christians to God. As all-powerful Creator and Sustainer, he can be absolutely trusted with keeping us safe in this life for eternal life with him.

• “That I may know him”

Born in 1925, Helen Roseveare [4] was raised in a comfortable English family and loved the quiet atmosphere and rich ritual of the Church of England. But, leaving these services, she felt a great sense of emptiness and futility, a deep void. She asked herself, Where is God? How can I find Him? How can I meet my own need and the crushing, overwhelming problems of the world? Drawn toward medicine, she enrolled in Cambridge University and came to participate in the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union. At a student retreat she opened her heart to God and experienced forgiveness in a personal way. On the final night of the retreat, veteran Bible teacher Dr. Graham Scroggie wrote Philippians 3:10 in her new Bible, where St. Paul says:

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death

And then Dr. Scroggie said to her:

Tonight you’ve entered into the first part of the verse, “That I may know Him.” This is only the beginning, and there’s a long journey ahead. My prayer for you is that you will go on through the verse to know “the power of His resurrection” and also, God willing, one day perhaps, “the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” [5]

Sensing God’s call to missions, after graduating from Cambridge as a medical doctor, at age 28 she applied to the World Evangelization Crusade (WEC) for service in Africa. She served with WEC from 1953 to 1973. She was first assigned to the northeastern part of Congo (later called Zaire), where she was the only doctor for two and a half million people. She experienced the stresses of pioneer medical work, but her medical, administrative and training skills allowed her to do much good.

On June 30, 1960 Congo achieved its independence from Belgium. But during 1960 to 1965 civil wars broke out. Most Europeans fled, but Dr. Helen Roseveare elected to stay. Church History Timeline picks up the story: [6]

Helen was well aware of her danger. Many mission women had been raped by the marauding rebel armies. She stayed on, believing that “If Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.” That was her mission’s motto. . . .

On this day, Saturday, August 15, 1964, a truck-load of soldiers took over the hospital compound at Nobobongo. They occupied it for five months. “They were brutal and coarse, rough and domineering. Their language was threatening and obscene. All of us were cowed. We did exactly what they demanded, mostly without argument.” Tension was terrific.

“We heard that the local chief had been caught, bound and beaten; then he was taken to the people’s tribunal at Wamba, found guilty, flayed alive and eaten. No wonder we did not sleep well. No wonder we were not hungry.”

Then Helen and others were taken away. “...We were put off at a house in the jungle--nineteen defenseless women and children surrounded by some seventy-five men, soldiers and others, all filled with hatred and evil intentions toward us... And in my heart was an amazing peace, a realization that I was being highly privileged to be identified with [Christ] in a new way, in the way of Calvary.”

She was severely beaten and was raped. Finally, the national army with the help of mercenaries defeated the rebels. Helen was rescued and flown back to England. After furlough, she returned to Congo in 1965 and resumed her medical missionary work.

In her address to Urbana 76, she spoke of the five months of being repeatedly beaten. [7] How do you deal with unavoidable suffering? St. Peter in Scripture gave us his answer. Later he lived out his answer as he suffered the martyrdom of crucifixion at the hands of the Roman Emperor. Dr. Helen Roseveare also lived out the answer and has profoundly repeated it for our benefit:

I wasn’t praying. I was beyond praying. Someone back home was praying earnestly for me. If I’d prayed any prayer it would have been, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” And suddenly, there was God. I didn’t see a vision, I didn’t hear a voice, I just knew with every ounce of my being that God was actually, vitally there. God in all his majesty and power. He stretched out his arms to me. He surrounded me with his love and he seemed to whisper to me, “Twenty years ago, you asked me for the privilege of being a missionary. This is it. Don’t you want it?”

Fantastic, the privilege of being identified with our Savior. As I was driven down the short corridor of my home, it was as though he clearly said to me, “These are not your sufferings. They’re not beating you. These are my sufferings. All I ask of you is the loan of your body.” And an enormous relief swept through me.

One word became unbelievably clear, and that word was privilege. He didn’t take away pain or cruelty or humiliation. No! It was all there, but now it was altogether different. It was with him, for him, in him. He was actually offering me the inestimable privilege of sharing in some little way the edge of the fellowship of his suffering.

In the weeks of imprisonment that followed and in the subsequent years of continued service, looking back, one has tried to ‘count the cost,’ but I find it all swallowed up in privilege. The cost suddenly seems very small and transient in the greatness and permanence of the privilege.

Can you—will you—believe it and enter into it?

Footnotes

[1] “Violet” with music by Jeanine Tesori and lyrics by Brian Crawley was performed at the Lakeland Civic Theatre, Kirkland, Ohio, under the direction of Dr. Martin Friedman on 2/14/2015. Scott Kennedy delivered the sermon on 1 Peter 4:12-19 at Parkside Church Lake County, Kirtland, Ohio, on 2/15/2015.

[2] William Barclay, Commentary on 1 Peter (originally Louisville KY: Westminster John Knox Press, revised edition 1975), now online. http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/view.cgi?bk=59&ch=4

[3] Ibid.

[4] This section is mostly based on a short but fully researched biography posted on the Intervarsity / Urbana website: “Helen Roseveare,” February 18, 2007. https://urbana.org/blog/helen-roseveare

[5] Cited in the biography: Helen Roseveare, “The Cost of Declaring His Glory”, address at Urbana 1976, page 33. https://s3.amazonaws.com/urbana.org/general_session_audio/urbana-76-helen.roseveare-cost.of.declaring.his.glory.mp3

[6] Dan Graves, “Congo Rebels Reached Helen Roseveare,” Church History Timeline.

http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1901-2000/congo-rebels-reached-helen-roseveare-11630820.html

[7] Helen Roseveare, “The Cost of Declaring His Glory,” op. cit.

Pics: (1) Young Violet with Father and (2) one segment of the bus trip – both in “Violet,” Lakeland Civic Theatre, Kirtland, Ohio 2/14/2015 photos taken by me. (3) Simone Prince, “Hard Working Man,” part of the “Juried Junior & Senior High School” exhibit, January 1 to February 22, 2015 in the Gallery at Lakeland Community College.