When Zechariah is in the Holy Place burning incense, the angel Gabriel appears to announce that Zechariah and Elizabeth will have a son. Luke records that Gabriel appeared on the “right side” of the altar of incense (Lk 1.11). Why do we need to know this? Wouldn’t it be sufficient simply to record that Gabriel appeared and spoke to Zechariah and leave out the details of where he was in the Holy Place? Apparently not. This bit of information must be important. (more…)
Baptismal Exhortation: Infant Baptism & Kingdom Mission
This is a baptismal exhortation given at the baptism of Anne Sutton:
Luke’s Gospel opens up with the story of the birth of two children: John and Jesus. Their stories are unique in many ways.
John is the last of the prophets of the old creation. He will be, in some way, bringing that old world to an end with his ministry. His conception and birth are, no doubt, special in the economy of God, something indicated by the parallels of his conception with the promise and conception of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah (cf. Gen 18). An angel comes to visit and announce the fact that this older couple, who have not been able to have a child because of the barrenness of the woman, will now be having a child even though they are also well past the age of child-bearing. The angel promises that this child will be special in many ways. He will be the fulfillment of prophecy, one who will go in the Spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. (more…)
Searching For Perfect Parents
Because my parents were not and are not infallible (that is, incapable of error), I can’t trust them and must find parents who are. Through the years my parents discovered that they were wrong on some issues. Some of those issues weren’t so serious. They discovered better diets for me so that I could be healthier, but even before that they never let me starve. Some of the issues are more serious, rising to the level of sin. There was bitterness and unforgiveness between them, and it affected the way I and my siblings relate to this day. Because they were and remain imperfect, how can I trust any of their judgments about anything, much less honor and obey them?
Don’t get me wrong. My parents love me and provide for me doing the best they can with what they have, but they aren’t infallible.
So, as I grow older, because I need psychological stability that comes from parents who claim that they are incapable of error, I go on the search for those parents.
Sounds ludicrous, right? But this is precisely what happens in many Christians lives when they have to live with a church-as-parent who isn’t perfect in all of her judgments and is, sometimes, downright sinful in her decisions. We then set out to find the “perfect parent,” whether that is evangelical church members hopping from church to church or evangelicals taking a journey to the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches. Our present parents aren’t perfect, so we go looking for some who are … and there are a couple out there who will give you your psychological security because they claim a form of perfection. If you will just turn off your brain and not look at the evidence, then you will find your perfect parents.
One of the messy problems with the life of sola Scriptura in the church is imperfect parents; that is, church leaders past and present have made some bad judgments. Some of these have been the judgments that come from immaturity. Some of these have been abjectly sinful. Because the parents God has given us are imperfect guardians of the authority entrusted to them, we don’t think that they deserve honor and obedience. Why should we obey them when they have been wrong so many times?
Because God said so. Yes, their authority is delegated to them by God and is always subject to review. There are times when it would be sinful to obey the church, just as there are times it would be sinful to obey your parents or government authorities. No earthly authority is absolute. God is the only absolute authority, and he has revealed who he is and what he commands in the Scriptures. When we are encouraged or commanded by any authority to do things that run contrary to what God has commanded, then it is righteousness to disobey. However, to obey your authorities in all lawful commands is obedience to God himself … yes, this includes all of your imperfect authorities.
We obey imperfect authorities–parents, governments, and church leaders–by faith; that is, because God commanded us to do so, and we are ultimately trusting him. We don’t blindly or implicitly obey. God has given us a written standard to judge the commands of authorities. If our government commands that we kill our unborn children for population control, we disobey. If our church tells us to pray to dead saints, venerate icons, or encourages sexual deviancy, we reject their commands and do the right thing.
We can do this precisely because we have a standard to judge all imperfect authorities and even ourselves: the Holy Scriptures. It is a difficult business to have to continue to meditate on the Scriptures and judge things that come our way. We have to think, prayerfully weighing what the Scripture says in consultation with others past and present. The answer is not to go searching for the perfect parents. They don’t exist. Give proper honor and obedience to the parents God has put over you and continue to search the Scripture daily to see if all that they are saying is true.
Sola Scriptura & Honoring Our Parents
Scripture alone is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice for the church. This is, in summary, the Protestant declaration of sola scriptura. Final or ultimate authority, however, doesn’t mean the only authority. Scripture being our final authority doesn’t rule out lesser authorities.
This truth tends to get lost on the heirs of the Reformation in evangelical churches. Tradition, those words and deeds that have been handed down from our fathers and mothers in the Faith, are given little reverence and practically no authority over what we do. We have, in many cases, thrown out the traditional baby with the ecclesiastical bathwater. As such, we have despised the gifts of God given to us. (more…)
Sola Scriptura & the Israel of God
The aftermath of the sixteenth century Reformation in the Western church isn’t pretty. Death never is. As in the days of old when our fathers and mothers in Israel became unfaithful with the trust that was given to them and God ripped them apart, so we are heirs of the death that was the Reformation. The church of Jesus Christ, though joined mystically as one body, is visibly torn to pieces. There are thousands of communions that are at odds and even at war with other communions. The two big communions—the Roman Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church–are not exempt. They parade a façade of unity before the world, but the emperor has no clothes. I don’t say that with delight. I say it as a fact. One must lie to himself to believe that because he is in the Church of Rome or in an Eastern Orthodox Church he is not in a schismatic church. (more…)
An Upside Down World
The opening of Luke’s narrative seems innocuous enough: “In the days of Herod, the king of Judea….” Historical fact. Herod the Great (the king to which Luke is referring) reigned from 37 to 4 B.C. So, whatever Luke is about to write is within that time span.
However, if Luke had only wanted to give us a calendrical setting, there would have been other ways to do it. Sure, the dates are narrowed down for us as to when everything is happening (and that, in itself, is important), but that is not all that Luke is accomplishing with his opening reference. (more…)
Gospel Catechism
Luke provides the clear purpose for his Gospel in his opening words: that Theophilus might be convinced of the words in which he had been catechized (Luke 1.4). The Gospel is written to be persuasive, to assure Theophilus that what he has learned is true. Luke doesn’t write simply to lay down a great number of facts about Jesus, but he sets his hand to join with others in writing a narrative that is an “orderly account,” a word in Greek that connotes that Luke is setting out a persuasive order of events so that Theophilus will be fully assured of the fact that God has revealed himself in the historical figure of Jesus the Christ.
This is the goal of all Christian catechism. Catechetical instruction is rooted in facts. In its most basic form it can be laid out in question-and-answer format. “Who made you?” “God made me.” Simple. Straightforward. Factual. Getting the facts right is vital to being catechized in the Faith. As we move through the Gospel, we hear of the virgin conception and birth of Jesus, the fact that he lived during the time of Herod the Great under the rule of the Roman Empire. Jesus is baptized, tempted in the wilderness, teaches, heals, is condemned, dies, rises again, and ascends to sit at the right hand of the Father. Facts. Vital, indispensable, facts. Facts that need to be learned. (more…)
Head and Body
Luke writes his two volumes, the Gospel and Acts, to be read together. This is quite obvious from what he writes in Acts 1.1: “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach….” The story of Jesus continues in the ongoing life of the church.
Once you see this, the relationship between the two books becomes apparent. The body–the church–follows the head–Jesus. There are many parallels between the two volumes that tease out this theme of head-and-body. At the beginning of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit hovers over the womb of Mary and creates the body of Christ. At the beginning of Acts the Holy Spirit hovers over the disciples and creates the church. Toward the beginning of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit baptizes Jesus, anointing him with power for his mission. In the beginning of Acts the Holy Spirit baptizes the church anointing them with power for mission. In Luke 5 Jesus heals a paralyzed man. In Acts 3 Peter and John heal a paralyzed man. Jesus raises the dead in Luke 7. Peter raises the dead in Acts 9. Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem though he faces certain death at the hands of the leaders of Israel. Paul sets his face to go to Jerusalem though he faces the threat of death from the officials in Jerusalem. The trial of Jesus and the trial of Paul are also remarkably parallel. (more…)
The Environs of the Spirit
In Luke’s two-volumes, The Gospel of Luke and Acts, the Holy Spirit has a prominent place in the life of Jesus and his church. Whenever the Spirit shows up, our minds should race back to the first place we see him in Scripture: brooding in the darkness over the newly created, unformed and unfilled world. He is the Breath of God that carries the Word to tear apart and put everything back together in a new unified, fruitful relationship: light and darkness, waters above and waters below, seas and dry land, vegetation and ground, and man and woman. All of this is done with an eye on creating an environment for God and man to dwell together (Rev 21.3). (more…)
The Authority of the Gospel Story
Stories are powerful. As we read, listen, or watch stories, we become involved. We come to know characters in ways that we know very few people in the world. We hear their inner thoughts and feel their struggles. They become our friends in a way. Their dilemmas become our dilemmas. Our views of justice, love, mercy, and many other things are challenged, not just at the intellectual level, but on an emotional level. The more involved we are in the stories, the more they have the power to shape our lives.
The gospel is a story; a true story, history, but a story nevertheless. God is the great Author crafting the storyline and moving the characters all in place to drive the story to a purposeful conclusion. The Gospels recount this story as it reaches its climax. They record the story of Jesus, the one they proclaim to be the Christ, the Messiah. We read and hear the stories of Jesus’ birth, a few vignettes from his early life, his choosing of the twelve, his frustrations with the twelve, his healings, his hiding, his teaching, his death, and his resurrection. They are all the story of the gospel. (more…)
