Wednesday, September 29, 2021

End of Romans

Wednesday nights, at Buffalo Valley Baptist Church, I am generally preaching through a book of the Bible. I try to make each sermon stand alone, meaning I don't recap the previous message and then preach until I run out of time and say "I'll pick it up next week." If you were to come and visit us on Wednesday nights (please do, all are welcome!) you would hear a message, not a running commentary. Last Wednesday marked the 100th and final sermon in our series on the book of Romans. I only mention it, because the world is a different place than when we began Romans 1 two years ago. When we started the book, there was no COVID-19 and wearing masks in public in West Virginia was against the law. It didn't take long for the whole world to change,  but it did. Who would have believed me if I would have said, in the first message, that before I got to the end of the book, some state governments  in the United States would shut down church services, businesses would be shut down and the economy would be wrecked  because of a world-wide strain of virus that came out of China.

Prophets had a hard job, didn't they? I mean, it's easy to comment on events as they happen. You'll have people agree with you and disagree, but punditry isn't that hard. But think about the prophets who warned the kings of Israel of God's coming judgment, when the economy was roaring, the military was strong, and the borders were secure. Judgment? Famine? You're crazy. The prophets foretold the judgment when there was no reason to believe it was coming. Come to think of it, where were the prophets in 2019?  Aren't some of the TV evangelists (i.e., charlatans) supposed to be prophets, getting fresh revelation from Heaven? Here was a sure enough  worldwide catastrophe, and not a peep. I  wouldn't be surprised if they decreed and declared 2020 would be the "year of blessing and harvest."

 

The world changed, but the Bible didn’t change. I didn't switch gears when COVID-19 broke out because I didn't have to.  I didn't need to make retractions or revise my opinions. God's word was a comfort to us, it strengthened us, it fixed our minds on eternal truths. I didn't need to abandon preaching through Romans. Sure, I applied the truth to our lives in light of all that was going on. Romans 13, it wasn't theoretical. God guided us in how he wanted us to live. It was comforting to know that "all things work together for good," when life wasn't. It is encouraging to know, "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." I just kept on preaching God's Word to God's people because what Paul wrote in the book of Romans is still true and has not changed, even though the world did.

 

Friday, September 24, 2021

Power in the Pulpit

 

I recently preached a sermon on "Powerful Preaching" from Romans 16:25-27. I was looking for a quote by Jerry Vines in his book Power in the Pulpit. I logged into a digital book service, queried "powerful preaching" and clicked the wrong link.

I opened a book by Liz Shercliff called Preaching Women: Gender, Power and the Pulpit. I was curious and wanted to see what the lady preacher had to say about powerful preaching. I read the book, so you don't have to. 

"This is a book by a woman preacher, for women preachers, about women’s preaching. One of my ambitions is to challenge some traditional thinking and practice.

Thought showers among ministers and those training for ministry tend to focus on themes of teaching, feeding, inspiring, challenging and comforting. At root such models adopt a ‘preacher knows best’ stance. Authority might be attributed on the basis of: knowledge: because the preacher has studied commentaries and read erudite books and worked on the text for some time….

The assumption is that the preacher knows more than their hearers do about the matter in hand. And so preaching becomes the transmission of knowledge from one person, the one who has it, to other people, the ones who don’t. The preacher is at the centre of the preaching model, as disseminator of the word to their hearers. The preacher decides what needs to be said. The preacher chooses what points to make.

It is a patriarchal privileged power paradigm of preaching.

I define preaching as ‘the art of engaging the people of God in their shared narrative by creatively and hospitably inviting them into an exploration of biblical text, by means of which, corporately and individually, they might encounter the divine’. Here, the preacher is host. The table to which people are invited has been carefully laid, taking into account who will be there and what they need. A meal has been carefully selected and meticulously prepared. It is both a communal and a personal event. Guests are welcomed in, conversation will flow – sometimes among just a few, sometimes as community. It will be a unique experience for all."

 

Jerry Vine's book was about powerful preaching, but her book is about power (authority) in the pulpit. She's not in favor of it. Paul, the arch villain of liberals everywhere, said people would be strengthened and changed by preaching in Romans 16:25-27. The Greek word Paul used does not mean "the art of engaging people in their shared narrative," but rather, "that which is proclaimed by a herald or public crier, a proclamation by herald." It doesn't surprise me in the least that a rebellious woman, who chose, as a profession, to rebel against God and His order, redefines preaching in her own image. It's hilarious to me that her woke feministic example of a woman preaching is her in the kitchen making supper.  

"As a woman preacher, I have found the idea of preacher as declarer of truth, possessing words from God to be delivered direct, hard to espouse."

 As a Christian, I found the idea of a lady preacher hard to espouse.

 Doesn't the Bible speak about women being silent in the church in 1 Corinthians, and isn't 2nd Timothy pretty clear on the matter? HA! You would say that wouldn't you. One simply cannot read the Bible and believe what it says. One must insert the text into a historical construct, only then can you understand the text is saying the opposite of what anyone with reading comprehension can clearly see in the text. She finds the idea of a preacher as a declarer of truth a difficult pill to swallow. So rather come to the conclusion that she wasn't made to do the job, she decided it was better to continue her rebellion and twist the scriptures. It's the Bible that must be wrong, not her.

"Paul, on the other hand, was an old-school Pharisee. He had been raised with a patriarchal narrative – he was a Roman citizen, structure and hierarchy were important; he was a Pharisee, keen on racial purity. Perhaps there was more than theological concern alone behind Paul’s instruction. Given that we have only one half of the conversation, it is impossible to put the whole into a context, but I wonder whether we take seriously enough Paul’s call, to both his sisters and brothers, to be mature in thinking: ‘Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking … in thinking be adults (1 Cor. 14.20).

Despite this, by the time the second letter to Timothy was written (at least 60 years after Paul’s death), an imperative against women’s leadership had crystallized. Canonization of the New Testament worked against women, for it came at a time when they had no voice; they were trapped in a vicious circle."

 You don't deny Paul said what he did, you shake your head at his old fashioned notions. Had Paul lived today, I'm sure he would have been more sophisticated. Besides, we don't know what the Corinthian Church asked him, so it's really a mystery. As for Second Timothy, that wasn't Paul (don't read 2 Timothy 1:1) because it disagrees with my paradigm, so it had to be written after the Patriarchy had already got their death grip on the churches.

 "It is not enough to dismiss [the Bible] as hopelessly out of date or irredeemably sexist, as some have done. It will not do to accept some bits but not others. Even if we fail to see it, others will surely notice a lack of integrity in a position that encourages us to ignore some biblical texts while taking others at face value. Taking the Bible at face value, we surely conclude that women should neither lead nor preach. Between these two poles, we must, as women preachers, find a coherent, authentic stance about the Bible."

 At least she is honest about her approach of deception. She uses Christian Feminist Theology as a system to interpret the text. Some of the terms she uses come from Critical Theory. She comes to the Bible as a "victim" of the patriarchy, and filters everything through that context. You read yourself into the Bible and if the Bible disagrees with you, find a way to explain it away, or just blame man, preferably a white man. Don't ignore the Bible, she says, rather reinterpret in a different light.

 Satan didn't deny what God said to Eve, that if she ate the fruit she would die, but he just said God was wrong. Eve had to look at the command of God from a different "power paradigm." God had power and didn't want Eve to have it too. You just have to adjust your way of looking at things, and then do whatever it is you want.

 The only problem with this approach, is it's wrong. Sooner or later, you'll come face to face with the Truth, and give an answer to Him.

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

I Believe in Science


I believe in science and I'm a Bible believing Christian! Science, in the general sense, means to know.  Noah Webster said science can also speak of "one of the seven liberal branches of knowledge, viz., grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music." We are continually told to "believe in Science" which is a denial of three of the first branches of knowledge. Science isn't something to believe in, but it's "the state of knowing." Grammatically, you believe in the scientific method or trust the research of scientists. Responding to anyone who disagrees with you by saying they "deny science" is a logical fallacy and showing deficiency in the rhetorical skill to make the case you are trying to make, because calling names doesn't change minds.

 

The modern Webster's Dictionary says science is, "the state of knowing; knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding." I believe in science because I believe in knowing things and not being ignorant. The pejorative of science denial is really a somewhat more sophisticated way of saying, "I'm smarter than you, idiot." I don't pretend to have all knowledge but not believing everything someone in a lab coat says (who also does not have all knowledge) doesn't make me a Philistine. Disagreeing with scientific conclusions based on competing data sets does not make you anti-science.

 

The Encyclopedia Britannica's article on science says, "Kepler’s laws, Newton’s absolute space, and Einstein’s rejection of the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics were all based on theological, not scientific, assumptions." Having faith and knowing truth about the world around us are not competing ideas. Modern science began when men became skeptical of God and divorced ultimate truth from research. We have now arrived back to the intersection of science and religion, just as in the Middle Ages, only the religion is Science. By removing God and ultimate truth from scientific study, we have exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God as the foundation of knowledge for our own knowledge as the foundation of knowing. The Dogma of this secular religion will not be denied or you will be excommunicated (i.e., canceled). Being skeptical of scientific research of any sort does not make you anti-science. At the same time, skepticism without knowledge doesn't make you a free thinker, it could just make you argumentative. Scrolling through Facebook reading dank memes does not qualify as scientific research (not yet anyway).

 

The omniscience of God is a foundational truth of theology, once called the Queen of the Sciences. Omni comes from Latin which means "all or every" and we know what the latter part of omni-science means. God is all knowing and knows with perfect, pure, infallible, and infinite knowledge. God knows every event, great or small, every word and whisper, every heart and intention. Which is a comforting truth to those who have their faith in Christ. But consider without Christ, to have the Judge know with a perfect knowledge, your every thought. Put your faith in the all-knowing.

 

Friday, September 10, 2021

Assemble and Sing


This year I’ve had to miss some church. Though I was able to watch some live stream services, appreciated being able to listen to the Word of God preached, and was blessed and encouraged, it just wasn’t the same. I missed the gathering, the fellowship, praying together and singing together. As human beings, there are benefits to singing together. That's how God made us and we miss out on a God given blessing of our humanity by not singing together. However, God blesses in a special way when His people gather together and sing of Him. Colossians 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 

God wants his people to sing together. The only way we can teach and admonish one another in song is to actually sing. I’ve heard that people won’t sing in church because they “sing in their hearts.” But unless you have the gift of telekinesis and can admonish me with your mind, you are going to have to sing out loud. Singing with grace in the heart is referencing the person singing, not the manner. I know, not everyone is blessed with the tongues of angels and if their singing voice rang out like the sounding brass or tinkling cymbal, it would be a stark improvement, but God doesn’t say sing only if you have the pipes of an Irish tenor. Sing, because the more who sing out together the more the voices blend. Do you really think that everyone that belts out Country Roads in Morgantown has a good singing voice? I doubt it, but they still will play it on ESPN and it still sounds good. Sing out for one another and for the glory of God.  

 

 Another blessing of attending church and singing out is good songs with good lyrics they teach and admonish us. There are some songs in the hymnals that aren’t fit for public consumption because they just are not true. But singing good hymns, singing Psalms out of the Bible, and spiritual songs of the Christian life that are true teach us great things about our Lord. I learned of the Trinity and had that doctrine firmly grounded in my mind from the Biblical truth in the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy. I remember riding the school bus thinking about “God in three persons” and meditating on that truth. Blessed Trinity.  I’ve seen young men sing rap songs with hundreds, maybe thousands of words. They memorized it and internalized the song because they listened to it over and over again. Songs are easy to remember and how blessed it is to have the words of Christ in our heart, the truth in our mind and be able to sing forth praises of our God and king. What a blessing to assemble together with others who love the Lord Jesus and sing praises together. Before the age of recorded music, if you were going to hear singing, you had to assemble. I'm thankful for that technology and praise God for it, but it's no substitute for gathering and singing.