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Let us return to our study of Genesis 2-4. So far, we have focused on the conversation between the serpent and Eve (Adam?). Read against the idyllic portrait of God’s creation in Genesis 2 of intimacy between God and humanity, humanity and creation, and men and women, Genesis 3 is a tragic tale in which God’s creational intentions are subverted in favor of an assertion of human autonomy. In his sublime song “Jokerman”, Bob Dylans concludes the initial verse with this commentary on the promotion of human freedom apart from God:

Freedom, just around the corner for you; But with truth so far off, what good will in do?

More frightening remains the reality that the themes of Genesis 3 continue to be played out in the lives of women and men to this day.

What is the temptation of paradise lost? It is quite simple. It is the temptation to substitute our own desires and wants for God’s. Why would anyone want to do this? How does a person end up on this road?

The conversation between the serpent and Eve offers a road map. As we have seen, it begins with a simple question: Did God really say…? In other words, the temptation is to trade a moment-by-moment walk with the Living God for a stale conversation about God. It is reducing God to an object in our lives rather than exalting him as the ultimate subject of our lives. When we take this road, we end up with either a naive faith which involves a mere caricature of God or we become ideologues who promote ideologies and causes rather than the Risen Jesus Christ.

Once God is reduced to an object, the conversation between the serpent and Eve turns to the issue of trust. Can we really trust God? Do we truly believe that the God whom we follow holds our best interests at heart? The serpent in Genesis 3:4-5 blatantly declares that Even cannot trust God, that God is intentionally withholding good things from Adam and Eve.

What is left when we know longer trust God? This is precisely the time at which we assert our own will, our own rights and our own prerogatives. We let our own experiences determine the road upon which we will travel.

Look at Genesis 3:6. What happens? Eve sees that the fruit was pleasing to the eye, good for food, and able to produce in her wisdom. So what does she do? She eats it, and so does her husband.

When trust in God diminishes, we are reduced to acting on impulse. We simply do what seems right. The problem is apart from a vital relationship with God, we lack the ability to discern good and bad, right and wrong. Don’t ever think for a minute that Eve knew the end results of her actions. In the moment, she believed that she was taking the correct course.

Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” rings true:

Some times I think it’s a sin when I feel like I’m winning but I’m losing again

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a person, but whose way ends in death.”

Tragedy of all of this: God had indeed provided bountiful food for his creation. Sometimes we think that the temptation was based on the appearance of the fruit. Look back at 2:9: this verse tells us that all of the food was “pleasant to the eye and good for food.” The key then was that it was “desirous to make one wise.” In a context when one’s relationship with God has deteriorated – when we no longer know God and worse yet when we know longer trust that God truly has our best interests at heart – we resort to self-trust, self-reliance, as Paul would say, we live by the flesh. Substitution of self-reliance and self-will for a relationship with God.

What is the end result of this for Christian leaders? Paradise lost… God help us and God help those who look to us for spiritual direction during such times.

Reflection:
How do we avoid the cycle of Genesis 3 in our own lives?
Where in your life are you most susceptible to the subtle temptation to honor self above God?
What if following Jesus Christ were the way to move beyond the tragedy of our post-Genesis 3 world and its power over our own lives?

© 2006 Brian D. Russell

Tags: Biblical Studies, Holiness, Leadership, Old Testament, The Living Word, biblical theology by brian
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I want to continue with additional thoughts on the initial remark of the serpent: “Did God really say…?”

As noted in the last post, Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his Creation and Fall calls this the “first conversation about God.” In other words, the temptation of Eve begins with a relational shift in which God-talk is substituted for a living relationship with God.

This remains a danger in our lives as well, doesn’t it? We are skilled practitioners of God-talk in our seminaries and in our churches, aren’t we? We substitute conversation about God for conversation with God. We can talk about biblical authority without submitting ourselves to the message of the Bible. We trade in a relationship with God for religious talk or practice. We can easily trade in course work or ministry work for time spent in Scripture reading, prayer, fasting, and listening to God.

The loss of a vital living relationship with God manifests itself, I think, primarily in two ways. But ultimately the result is the same: paradise lost.

First, there is the danger of naivety. Many of us face the danger of paradise lost because we trade in a dynamic relationship with the sovereign Lord, creator, and redeemer of the universe for a relationship with a caricature. We learn to desire a relationship with a God whom we can control through pious sounding formulations of belief. Listen to some of the things that we say among ourselves:

God is good all of the time. This is certainly a true proposition about God, but how many of us would admit that sometimes life certainly doesn’t seem to witness to this reality. One of the reasons that I love the Book of Psalms is because of its poignant laments. “How long O Lord?” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” “I am surrounded by enemies on all sides.” Yet, it is within these very contexts of disappointment, hurt, and true longing for God that a confession such as “God is good all of the time” is appropriate. Robust biblical prayer permits us to have a deep two way conversation with God in which God offers us the chance to say much more than pious sound bytes. Our living God invites us to live by faith even in times of ambiguity.

It’s all good. No, it isn’t. The Scriptures teach us that God can redeem even the ugliest and most sinful actions, but don’t ever think that this somehow makes the atrocities that human beings commit against themselves and against others something more than they are.

The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will. Need I say more… Check out Erwin Raphael McManus’ The Barbarian Way for a thorough refutation of this or simply read Paul’s account of his ministry in 2 Corinthians 11:16-33.

The flesh loves sound bite, but our beings longs for a real meal. That’s the danger of naivety. A naïve faith offers a sound bite theology that begs the real questions and tends to suppress true human longings and feelings. A vital moment by moment relationship with God offers so much more.

Second, there is the danger of ideology. This is the opposite of naivety but it is just as dangerous.

We learn all about what God cannot do, and we trade in the all powerful, all knowing, Creator and Redeeming God of Scripture for a little god that we construct out of our own image and out of our own ideology.

This can be an ideology of the right or of the left. We reduce the Gospel to special interest theologies, or to competing human solutions to ethical dilemmas or social justice issues, or taxation, or, God help us, we reduce the Gospel to making sure one political party or the other controls the branches of government.

God does not desire for us to serve as a naïve preachers nor as proponents of human ideology.

God wants us to serve out of a moment by moment relationship with a Loving and Just, Heavenly Father who has sent His Son into the world to make atonement for sin, injustice, heartbreak, and pain on the Cross.

But do we know that this is true? Do we really know what God has spoken?

The reason that the question Did God really say? is so burning is precisely because of the sorts of things that God has said in Scripture:

God told the first people:
You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.

Listen to some of the things that God has spoken subsequently in the Bible:

Be holy because I am holy

Did God really say these sorts of things? If He did, what shall we do?

How are we doing today? How is your devotional life? Are you taking time to listen to God? Are you reading Scripture? Are you praying?

Why does this matter?
If we are not confident of God’s plans and prerogatives for our lives, we will meander in our commitments, we will lack courage because we lack conviction, and we will retreat back to those safe places of our own creation. Yet the ultimate issue is missiological.

Erwin McManus (from his talk at Willow Creek’s Communicating in Today’s Reality Conference– Oct 2004) says, “If we don’t believe that they are worshipping the wrong gods, we will never pay the price to reach them.” If we are not clear of our mandate and mission, we will never accomplish the tasks to which God has called us.

A temptation for Christian leaders is to trade in a vital relationship with the living God for its pale substitute: God-talk. When we do this, we choose a naïve faith or become mere ideologues. In either case, we have chosen the way of Adam and Eve, the way of Paradise Lost…

What do you think?

© 2006 Brian D. Russell

Tags: Biblical Studies, Mission, Old Testament, The Living Word by brian
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My birthday occurs in late April. As an adult, this means little, but during my teen years, I found it to be a drag. I was always one of the younger guys in my class. While all of my friends were turning 16 and getting their driver’s licenses, I was waiting for my birthday to arrive. This meant that I was dependent upon friends for rides. This led to one of the more exciting moments in my life…

On a Saturday night back in 1985, Mark Jones one of my older friends picked me and a couple of other guys up so that we could go riding around the streets of Akron, Ohio. Mark drove a rusty 1970’s green Chevy Monte Carlo. It was a large, all-steel auto with a supped-up V-8. Unlike the unimpressive four-cylinders that many of us drive today, Mark’s car could flat-out haul. The powerful engine responded to the slightest push on the gas pedal. This night we would find out just how fast his car could go. Akron had built a divided expressway that linked some of its suburbs with its urban core. Many people used this highway to commute to and from work, but at night and on the weekends, it was empty. Thus, it was a great place to see how well a car would perform. Mark always bragged to us that he was capable of high-performance driving – this was his night to prove it! We got on the deserted highway and Mark immediately mashed the gas to the floor. His car roared and accelerated well above the legal 55 mph speed limit. As the car reached 100 mph it began to shake. Sitting in the front seat, I remember frantically strapping on my seat belt. I don’t know how fast we went that night. I lost track at about 100 mph…Mark claims 140 mph, but only heaven knows. Regardless, it was the fastest that I have ever gone in an automobile, and we were all 17 and under. But the fun was only beginning…

On the way back home, Mark announced that he had one more high performance stunt up his sleeve. At the end of our interstate exit ramp was a four way stop. Just beyond this intersection was a series of tight S – curves. Mark declared that he wanted to see if he could take these curves as 80 mph. Unfortunately, this meant that as we roared off the interstate Mark would not be stopping at the intersection with the four way stop. I remember my heart pounding in my chest as I gripped the dashboard. Thank God, there were no cars at the intersection as Mark blew through it without blinking. The next thing I remember we were through the S curves and Mark pulled over grinning ear to ear. I screamed at him and opened up the passenger door in order to escape. I walked home that night and I remember thinking: That Mark Jones…he is flat-out dangerous.

You may be thinking the same thing as you read these words. But as I have thought about this frightening experience, I have concluded something that may surprise you. I still think that Mark was acting dangerously that night, but I don’t think that he was dangerous merely because he took a risk. I think that he was dangerous because he took a stupid risk. Let me say this again: taking risks does not make a person dangerous – but only taking risks outside of God’s will does.

As Christians, we are called upon by God to be risk takers. God has not called us to live lackluster “safe” lives for God. Rather God has called us to be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, the one who risked everything so that we might truly live. God wants to unleash each of us into the world so that we may serve in the name of Jesus and reach the lost of the world with the Gospel. This may involve a great deal of risk, but if God is behind it, we must exercise courageous faith and take the plunge.

How does this relate to our study of Genesis 2-4? It is simple. When the stakes are high, the temptations rise as well. Who will we trust? Will we trust solely our own instincts, talents, intuition, or abilities? Or will we depend on God’s leading to fulfill the task? Will we trust God’s leadership or will we assert our own?

Serpent begins his conversation with Eve with a subtle and deceptively simply question: “Did God really say…?” The temptation of a leader begins with this question.

This is precisely the position that Adam and Eve find themselves in Genesis 3. The Serpent begins speaking with Eve. Note how the first question begins: Did God really say…? Isn’t this an astonishing question? In chapter two, the human couple had unfettered access to God. Yet now in the presence of the serpent, God is reduced to a third person object. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his Creation and Fall calls this episode the “first conversation about God.”

Reflections:
1) What risks is God calling you to take?
2) How certain are we in our relationship with God?
3) Do we know God or merely talk about him?

Copyright 2006 Brian D. Russell

Tags: Biblical Studies, Leadership, Old Testament, The Living Word by brian
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I am speaking this week (1/26-27) for a Youth Ministry forum sponsored by the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. I am leading two sessions under the title “Created for So Much More” in which I will trace three key biblical themes: mission, holiness, and community as they emerge from Creation and the early portions of the Pentateuch.

Here is a piece of what I will be sharing on Abraham.

In Genesis 12, a new chapter in the Biblical story of holiness, mission, and community opens. Roughly four thousand years ago, God called Abraham to serve as the progenitor of a new missional community through whom the world would be blessed:

NIV Genesis 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

This is one of the most important passages in all of Scripture. It marks the election of Abraham and the nation of Israel which will emerge from his descendents as God’s new community in the world. In response to the rampant and pervasive infestation of sin (Gen 3-11) into God’s “very good” creation (Gen 1-2), God calls one man who lived during the Middle Bronze age (2000/1800 – 1550 B.C.) as the initial member of God’s covenant people.

In these initial verses of chapter Twelve, God calls Abram away from his country, his people, and his family to live in a new land. There God promises to build Abram into a great nation and to use Abram as an instrument by which to bless “all peoples on earth.”

The stories that follow in the remainder of Genesis tell of how these great promises to Abraham pass from generation to generation. The key is to focus on their overall intent. God is not cutting off Abraham from the world in an exclusive move of privilege. Rather Abraham is being called to form a new community for the rest of the world. In other words in context, Abraham’s family will be the agency by which God will bring blessing to the world as described in Genesis 3-11. This is important. Abram is called to separate so that he can learn to embody a new ethos by which the surrounding cultures can be reached for God.

God’s Universal Intent and God’s Particular Election of Abram
Let me emphasize as least two key aspects here: God’s universal intent and God’s particular election. First, verse 3 “…all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” is the interpretive key. God’s purposes here are much wider than merely calling Abraham to a new life and offering promises to him and his descendants. Rather Genesis 12:1-3 demonstrates that the Bible is ultimately the story of God’s working to bring salvation and wholeness to all creation.

Second, God has chosen to work through a called people. This raises the issue of particularity. Why didn’t God call multiple persons from all over the planet? The answer is that God’s plan called for the sending of his own Son. The call of Abraham established a beachhead into which God would send his Son. The point here is that Abram and his descendents were not called to a life of privilege as God’s people. Rather they were called to mission. They were called to be the conduits of God’s blessing to the nations.

The Ethics of God’s New Missional Community
You may be wondering how holiness fits into this story. Does it not appear that the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are unconditional and that their character matters little? After all, none of Israel’s ancestors stand as paragons of virtue – how many times did they pass off their wives as their sisters? (chuckle – chuckle)

These stories are fundamentally about God’s faithfulness in the progress of his mission to bring blessing to the world through Abraham, but there are clear hints that conduct and lifestyle truly matters for this mission to be successful. We will now briefly consider three texts:

1) NIV Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. 2 I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

This text occurs in the wider context of the institution of the rite of circumcision and Abram’s name changes to Abraham to indicate the change in status with the official sealing of the Covenant (see also Genesis 15).

The highlighted passages emphasizes God’s expectation for character transformation as a part of the new relationship forged between Creator and the recipients of the new covenant.

The combination of “walk” (Heb: hlk) and “blameless” (Heb: tmym) occurs elsewhere in the Pentateuch to describe Noah:

NIV Genesis 6:9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

Several Psalms also use similar phraseology to describe the ethical norm for God’s people:

NIV Psalm 15:2 He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart

NIV Psalm 101:6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me.

What precisely this would have entailed for Abraham is not explicitly stated in Genesis. Again, the emphasis is more on God’s faithfulness. The next passage however serves to establish further the force of God’s exhortation:

2) NIV Genesis 18:17 Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

These verses occur in the segment in which Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed and in which Abraham intercedes on behalf of his nephew Lot. With the negative example of the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah in the immediate context, verse 19 clearly presents a contrast between God’s expectations for Abraham and the lifestyle/ethos of Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, this verse establishes an expectation that part of Abraham’s vocation was to “direct” (NIV) his children in the way of the Lord. Implicit here is that Abraham was to instill an ethic of faithful obedience into his household. Note here the links between holiness, mission, and community. Abraham’s family (the new community) was to embody a distinct ethos (holiness) as part of receiving the promises from God (mission – remember: God’s promises are ultimately for all nations).

3) NIV Genesis 26:2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.”

We don’t want to over-interpret these three passages, but the implications are clear: holiness matters. Too much is at stake in God’s mission to disregard this aspect. Too often we make too much of the debate over the nature of the Abrahamic covenant: Is it conditional or unconditional? This is an important question, but it is not the whole story. God’s call of Abraham is certainly an unconditional offer of promise and blessing. It is the unmerited and unexpected grace of God to Abram. Yet, this unconditional offer nonetheless requires Abram’s human response to enact it. These opening chapters of the story of Israel’s mission to the world are more about establishing God’s faithfulness, but the necessity of a holy community is clearly implicit and anticipates a more thorough treatment later in Scripture.

Abraham’s Legacy
1) The call of Abraham cannot be overemphasized. It is a key moment in God’s salvation history. It establishes the thread that would ultimate reach its climax in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (the son of Abraham – Matt 1:1). The call of Abraham links the Creation – Fall sequence of Genesis 1-11 with the story of Israel (Genesis 12 and following). How does Israel fit into world history? It was the nation through whom God chose to bring salvation and blessing to all Creation. Israel’s purpose was to serve as God’s missional community to the world. Abraham marks the beginning of this legacy.

2) Paul offers Abraham as the Forerunner of the Gospel
For Paul, Abraham is the OT example of the good news received by faith and lived out (Romans 4). Paul also clearly saw in Jesus Christ the end time fulfillment of Genesis 12:3.

NIV Galatians 3:6 Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

3) Linkage between God’s grace and human response. Abraham also offers a portrait of the tension between God’s promises and the need for human response. As noted above, Abraham was called to embody a new ethos in which God’s character was reflected in his life. Modern believers often struggle with the tension between salvation by faith and the demands of obedience. How many of us are not taken aback for example by James’ appropriation of the Abraham story (especially in contrast with Paul – see above):

NIV James 2:20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

James is merely making explicit the necessity of holiness is fulfilling God’s missional purposes. As we discussed above, this is mainly implicit in Genesis in comparison to the theme of God’s faithfulness, but it becomes explicit in the Sinai covenant. The key though is to not make the mistake of making obedience the grounds for salvation. Holiness is created in followers of Jesus following their reception of salvation. Faithful obedience is the human response to God’s grace.

4) Model for living as a sojourner in a foreign land. Abraham died before seeing the substantial fulfillment of God’s promise of the Land of Canaan. Genesis tells us that Abraham and Sarah die possessing only a toehold on the land. At their death, they possess only the cave in which they will be buried. It was for later generations to experience the full gift of the land. Abraham spent his days moving around the land of Canaan living as a stranger in a strange land. This is the calling of the modern believer as well. Following the resurrection of Jesus, Jesus sends his disciples into world (Matthew 28; Luke 24; Acts 1). Paul reminds the proud citizens of Philippi that there true citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). In other words, followers of Christ today find ourselves in a position similar to Abraham. We live in a land that is not truly ours. Instead, our focus is to live as tangible embodiments of God in our world. Like Abraham and through the life, death, and resurrection, we become Jesus’ ambassadors (2 Cor 5) and conduits of God’s grace to the world around.

What do you think?

© 2006 Brian D. Russell

Tags: Biblical Studies, Community, Holiness, Mission, Old Testament, The Living Word by brian
2 Comments »

The story of Israel does not end with the close of the Old Testament, but rather it carries on into the New Testament.

Jesus Christ

The birth of Jesus the Christ (or “Messiah”) marks the climax of the trajectory that began with the call of Abraham in Gen 12:1-3. Jesus in his life and ministry embodies all that the nation of Israel as a whole was to be. The New Testament repeatedly makes reference to Old Testament Scriptures in order to understand the meaning of Jesus.

Jesus is the Servant that Isaiah spoke of who would redeem Israel and establish God’s reign in the world. Jesus is the seed of Abraham through whom all nations would be blessed. Jesus is the long awaited King who would end the exile of Israel. Yet all of these OT portraits are re-envisioned by the means through which Jesus accomplished the work of God the Father - the Cross.

Church

The Church exists as the New Israel.

There are at least three key developments in the New Testament’s understanding of the people of God:

1) Universal Outpouring the Holy Spirit on all followers of Jesus Christ - Spirits work includes cleansing and empowerment for service/witness

2) Gentiles have been grafted into the Family Tree (Romans 11; Ephesians 2:11-22; 1 Peter 2:9-10). This reality is seen most clearly in one of the high points of Paul’s writings:

3) Mission involves an explicit engagement with the World (Matt 28:16-20; Luke 24:45-49; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 9:19-23; 1 Peter 2:11-12 and 3:15)

The Church exists in the world as an instrument for the fulfilling of God’s mission. Presumably all of the NT communities were “founded in order to continue the apostolic witness that brought them into being” (Darrell L. Guder “Missional Pastors in Maintenance Churches” Catalyst 31.3 (2005): 4.

New Creation
I don’t believe that it is coincidental that the New Testament closes with the book of Revelation. Strikingly, Revelation concludes with a vision of a New Heaven and Earth:

NIV Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Revelation is not the only place in the New Testament in which a profound future is envisaged:

NIV 2 Peter 3:13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

NIV Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Notice that this brings us full circle from where we began. The Scriptures open with the creation of a Heavens and an Earth that are “very good.” The Scriptures see the end as the recreation of a New Heaven and New Earth. In Genesis, divine activity occurred in the Garden of Eden; in Revelation the focus is on a New Jerusalem

Some Conclusions and Implications of the Big Picture:

1) All of Creation matters to God. God’s ultimate mission is not merely to redeem lost people but to redeem all creation. Mission began at creation.

2) It is a gross understatement to talk about a “biblical basis for missions.”Rather we should talk, as Chris Wright suggests, about a “missional basis for the Bible.”

3) Mission is the reason for which the Church continues to exist. It is the role of each individual church
and each individual Christian to find his or her vocation in light of this reality.

4) We need to learn a new way of reading the Bible that reemphasizes the missional center of Scripture. It can no longer function primarily as a source of private piety. We need to relearn to read Scripture through a missional lens in which those who already follow Jesus are shaped into missionary witnesses and those who are not following Jesus are invited to full participation in the only community that truly exists for the benefit of the world.

How do we learn to read this way? I will begin to sketch this out next time.

© 2006 Brian D. Russell

Tags: Hermeneutics, Leadership, Mission, The Living Word, biblical theology, communication, education, emerging church, humanity, metanarrative, missional church, missional hermeneutic, missional leadership, missional reading, missionary by brian
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Making Them Hungry: A Reflection on John 6:1-15

NIV John 6:1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Feast was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14 After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Some call it “Black Friday.” The day after Thanksgiving in the United States is traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of year. Typically, it is viewed as the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season. Retailers open very early in the morning, and customers enthusiastically line up outside of stores in hopes of finding a bargain. Competing stores lure consumers through extravagant promises and cut-throat pricing on certain items. The hope of course is that those coming for sales items will also spend money on other full priced products. This past “Black Friday” at a prominent retailer in Orlando Florida, a large crowd lined up outside of the store and nearly rioted when it was discovered that there were only a dozen of the heavily advertised low priced DVD players available. The store was reduced to literally tossing the available players to random members of the crowd. Police had to rush to the scene to restore order. Such a scene is not uncommon in other parts of the country as well. The problem results from a mixture of false expectations by consumers and the inability of retailers to fulfill the needs of its customers. After all, the ultimate goal of “Black Friday” is the realization of “Green Friday.” In other words, retailers are more interested in the seeing the green of dollars than serving the actual needs of shoppers.

The Setting
Our text for today locates Jesus in a similar context. His ministry has been incredibly successful. He has gained a reputation as a miracle worker and as a poignant teacher and preacher. His followers include a prominent Pharisee and a marginalized Samaritan woman. Our text reports that Jesus had withdrawn to the region of Galilee and that a large group of people continued to follow him because of the healings that Jesus was working on behalf of the sick. In other words, it seems that people were drawn to Jesus precisely because Jesus was meeting key needs. Jesus not only attracted large crowds; he delivered the goods. The challenge in this passage comes not from Jesus’ inability to meet the expectations of the crowds but from the reality that the mission of Jesus actually transcends the felt needs and expressed expectations of those who gathered around him.

Jesus is sitting with his disciples on an unnamed mountain when he spies the oncoming masses. Jesus reacts by suggesting the need to purchase food for the crowd. The crowd had come for healing — Jesus responds by raising the additional need of sustenance. This serves as the backdrop and launching point for a powerful miracle of feeding more than 5000 people. Along with Jesus’ resurrection, this is the only miracle story that is included in all four of the Gospels.

A Miraculous Meal
Philip, one of the disciples, scoffs at Jesus’ expressed desire to feed this vast multitude. It is simply not humanly possible. Even if they were to have in their possession a half year’s wages, this would only purchase a few crumbs for each person in the crowd. Another disciple, Andrew, brings forward a boy who has five small loaves and two small fish. Yet, Andrew sees this contribution as merely a drop in the bucket compared to the needs of all of the people.

Jesus, however, has other plans. Our text does not report the “how” of the miracle, but it does tell us the result. Jesus invites the crowd to sit down in the abundant grass in that part of Galilee. Then, he took the loaves, gave thanks, and passed out the bread. He did the same with the fish. Amazingly, everyone received his or her fill. Furthermore, what began as a food scarcity ends in abundance. Not only did each person receive plenty to eat, but in the aftermath of the feast, Jesus’ disciples filled up twelve baskets with the leftovers.

Responding to the Meal
The response of the gathered multitude was immediate. They recognized in Jesus the hand of God. They had followed Jesus into Galilee, and they were not disappointed by their decision. They saw in the Jesus a person who could heal the sick and put bread on the table. Their needs of moment had been met so they wanted more. They believed that Jesus was the long awaited Prophet from God so they intended to anoint him as their new King. Yet at precisely this moment of seeming success, Jesus slips away because he did not want to be made king by force. Why did Jesus, who will later die with a sign reading “King of Jews” nailed to his cross (19:19), retreat to avoid being anointed at this time?

There are at least two related answers:
1) Jesus is the real meal. The nature of Jesus’ life and ministry was not merely about an abundance of food. It was about discovering that Jesus himself was the sort of deep “soul food” that everyone needs. Back in chapter four in his encounter with a Samaritan woman, Jesus had claimed that he could offer living water:

“…those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (4:14).

Here in 6:1-15, Jesus uses a meal to point to a deeper reality. Later in the chapter this becomes explicit in his words, “I am the bread of life” (6:35).

2) Jesus does not bring wholeness and healing by offering bread, but by offering himself. Jesus is one worthy of Kingship, but he is not a king who merely meets human need by giving gifts. Rather he will willingly die on a cross so that his people, those who trust in his person and not merely in his deeds, may live.

ConclusionWho is Jesus? He is certainly the long-awaited prophet sent from God, but he is so much more. The miracle of the loaves and fishes met the felt needs of his audience, but in terms of Jesus’ life and ministry. This miracle was a mere appetizer. The signs that Jesus performed function to point to a greater reality about Jesus. From this point on in John’s Gospel, Jesus will begin to reveal more fully his true nature and mission. Jesus has come to be so much more than merely a crowd pleaser; he has come to offer true life and wholeness to all who receive him. The Gospel of John has two clear reminders of this greater reality that serve as bookends around the whole of the narrative:

In 1:12-13, John writes, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”

Near the end of his Gospel (20:30-31), John declares, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”

Following the unsuccessful attempt by the crowd to make him King, Jesus begins to reveal the deeper truths about himself in a series of seven “I am” sayings. These methaphors serve to make explicit the identity and goals of Jesus’ life:

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (6:35)

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (8:12)

“Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep…I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (10:7, 9)

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (10:11)

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (11:25)

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (14:6)

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. (15:5)

Jesus accomplished his mission not on “Black Friday” or “Green Friday”, but on the aptly named “Good Friday.” Jesus’ dying words on the cross were “It is finished” (19:30). Jesus’ resurrection on the third day provided indisputable attestation of this truth.

Reflection
How do we respond to Jesus’ deeds and words? Those who encountered Jesus in the Gospels were always faced with a crucial decision. Those gathered today are no exception. Jesus’ deeds and words serve as an invitation to all. What if following Jesus Christ were the only way to have our deepest needs and longings as humans beings satisfied and to live a life of true worth and value?

Tags: Mission, The Living Word by brian
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