Analogy: New Towels, Bleeding and Lint

 Okay. This one is not complicated, and is pretty similar to the last one (dog poo).

We decided it was time for new bath towels. We bought light and dark gray to match the color scheme of our home interior (and the colors are pretty). You know what you have to do with some new materials like towels, right? Wash them separately in case of bleeding. I did. That is, I washed these new towels together, the light and dark gray, but separate from any other clothing or towels.

I might have accidentally led you to expect that the colors bled from dark towel to light. Nope. The colors had been set before sale. However, that would have provided a similar analogy to the one I did notice.

Lint.

The towels are new, so we'll have a period of shedding off the excess fuzzy material. So, now we have light gray lint on the dark towels and dark lint on the light. It reminds me of how we offset the font color and the background, but - hey - I might have a future post there!

The way things work normally in this broken world the corruption (in this case, the opposite color lint) is unavoidable. Put a dark towel in with a light one and you will have cross-contamination. Like I said, the concern or potential problem was bleeding.

Jesus was and is the supernatural anomaly. The Father put the Son - pure white - in the wash with the whole of corrupt humanity - every kind of dark. However, rather than being contaminated Jesus began to bring a reversal we'd only expect from bleach. The curious begin to accumulate white lint as the gospel prods and provokes. Some believe and follow, at which point there is more than accumulation - there is transformation. The dark towel becomes pure white (see Rm 4:22-24), though still exposed to other dark towels (Jn 1:5 with Php 2:15), and though there is intermittent dark fuzz to peel away with the lint roller (see 1 Jn 1:9).

What Jesus does is not only uniquely supernatural. It is also ironic. The very thing it took to wash away and whiten all our corruption was a particular kind of bleeding:

Hebrews 9:11–14 (CSB)

11 But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), 12 he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?

This washing by Jesus gives us boldness and belonging:

Hebrews 10:19–25 (CSB)

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus—20 he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)—21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. 23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

It also gives us a mission for others. What Jesus does for us Christians in the spiritual "wash" he keeps doing through our witness. As the Church proclaims Christ, he continues to wash others. We are not called to withdraw from the company of dirty laundry. We ARE called to be careful (Jude 23b) but not to isolate. Rather, we are called to a sort of gospel mingling where others are influenced by Jesus through us (vv. 22-23a). As we "keep ourselves in the love of God" (v.21) we are agents in the washer, even as the gospel works its holy agitation and then rinsing.

So, understand, Christian, that you are a towel washed white by the bleach-blood of our supernatural Savior. You will still accumulate some of that old lint. Trying to isolate from the world won't stop that, for you are still stuck with the old fibers within yourself. The answer for that lint is John's lint-roller of confession and renewal. No, Christ keeps us in with the wash for how ever many cycles he has determined. Be a cleansing agent, spreading the gospel with every contact. Christ in you will permeate some other soul by exposure, and he will reverse the natural contamination for them too.

Titus 3:4–8 (CSB)

4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6 He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life. 8 This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.

Are You A Creative?

 First, let me say that perhaps the most shocking thing about 2020 is not the pandemic, not the riots nor the tumultuous election (now evangelicals have at least TWO kinds of election about which to argue!). It is that I have not blogged since January. Better, it is that I am finally blogging again now. I suppose the latter is more shocking, since it is usually easier to not blog than to blog. (In defense of my neglect, I will put forth that God did enable me to publish 2 books this year!)

Now, sometimes we creatives can hardly hold it in, whatever the IT is - some idea we feel we must express or burst. The prophet Jeremiah wrote about this, though, I'm not sure he'd consider himself a creative. He DID write poetry. Some of it was rehearsed over and over in Israel's national Lamentations. In Jer 20:9 he wrote:

I say, “I won’t mention him 

or speak any longer in his name.” 

But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart, 

shut up in my bones. 

I become tired of holding it in, 

and I cannot prevail.

It is telling (and convicting) that Jeremiah would even express a desire to HOLD IN God's message, but my point here is that he couldn't. He was compelled. Christians are compelled in a similar way to share the message of God, a message the NT calls the gospel. We are more than compelled to herald this good news (of access to eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ). We are commanded to share it. (Passages like Mk 16:15 are understood to be TO Jesus' original disciples but FOR all of us disciples.)

That command gets too lightly and easily brushed off in cultures like our modern American Christianity. Preaching is for professionals in the pulpit or the classroom. Gospel proclamation is for the Christian pop creatives in bands like Hillsong and Elevation Worship. I might listen or sing along but I'm not a creative like them.

The premise (it's the professional's job) is faulty or the command is nullified. Scripture militates against the latter, so the former must be the problem. Proclaiming the gospel is for every Christ-follower. The title of this blog belies the fact that I believe the follow-up (I'm not a creative) is also faulty. A strong argument can be made that ALL of us are creatives rather than they are only some subset of people who happen to be gifted in particular art forms. In this I largely agree with Andrew Peterson who makes this argument here, and fleshes it out more in his book, Adorning the Dark.

Now let me put these two thoughts - 1) the command to proclaim the gospel and 2) the reality that the creative God patterned you as a creative in his image - let me put these together in a challenge for us all. God has created you and me as unique messengers to proclaim his amazing creative goodness to the entire cosmos (Eph 3:10-11). This is our purpose first by nature of being humans God made in his own image. It our mandate second by nature of our recreation in the image of God's Son as followers of Christ.

So, the question is not whether but how you are to proclaim the gospel. You don't have to write a song or drama or paint a masterpiece on a chapel ceiling to be a creative. You will proclaim a true or false gospel as you spin the lug nuts on with your pneumatic wrench at the shop. Or you will do it as you crunch the numbers and make your recommendations to your client. Perhaps you have about an hour to do it after the trim while your customer waits for her color to set. Or you will proclaim a pure or corrupt gospel as you try to help your kids - or someone else's kids - with their online or hybrid schooling, praying and waiting for the day they are back on campus! The gospel is your charge even as you wait for the shut-down to end so you can go back to work full-time. It will also be yours when you are back to working more hours than you wish and trying to hang on until the next holiday or vacation.

Are you a creative? I'd say yes, at least to the point that God has created you with your unique personality, background, situation and opportunities, all for one thing. You are to proclaim his goodness by proclaiming his gospel. That means using words, yes, that is true. But it is not true enough. It means proclaiming in every way you live: in your vocation, in your home, in your recreation and in your communities. Our whole lives are living sacrifices, not only of worship but of proclamation (Rm 12:1-2). To proclaim the gospel in either words OR actions is confused and insufficient. We must do both. We speak the words as heralds, AND we live accordingly as servants of Jesus.

Understand that the Apostle Peter was about as down-to-earth as a guy gets. (I doubt he would have called himself a creative!) Remember that he was rough, stumbling and inclined to regrettable screw-ups like you and me. Then hear him call us to both the speaking and the living out of the gospel:

1 Peter 3:14–15 (CSB)

... Do not fear them or be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

2 Peter 3:11–12 (CSB)

11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness 12 as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming.

Analogy: Cleaning Dog Poo & Cleaning Sin

Theological truths hit me at the weirdest times. Probably just me.

Case in point. Over the holidays, some of our kids were coming over with their kids. That meant restless grands needing some space to play and get rowdy. So, I went out ahead of time to pick up the dog poo from the back yard. We convince ourselves we can avoid those annoying moments when the kids race in and the adult spots an off-color and – sure enough – off-SMELLING – footprint or three on the floor just inside the back door. Stop! Check the bottom of your shoes! Ugh! Where’s the disinfecting cleaner!

I do my best, but it is nearly inevitable that the dogs are more prolific than I am thorough. Maybe you’ve been there.

Anyhow, as I was executing my well-rehearsed pickup method with hand in inverted doggy poo bag, I noticed at one point that I had worked a little tear into the plastic – too aggressive about this cleanup. Naturally, I immediately wondered: Did this just happen or has this hole been there for the last few piles? Of course, at risk is the purity of my hand.

Even when the bag has retained its integrity, I always feel like some of the nastiness has somehow found its way onto my hand, so I am cautious and mindful. For example, it’s been my experience that these little rolls of plastic bags have usually gotten too hot at some point. This means one has to lick one’s fingers before rubbing them together on the unsealed end to get it open. This is not an issue for a single-bag pickup, a one-and-done poo extraction. However, when you are clearing a whole yard of a month’s worth of deposits, which requires peeling off and opening multiple doggy bags…

Well, you can see why one must be careful to remember which is the “licking” hand and which is the “picking” hand.

So, in this moment of panicked assessment, a flurry of theological ideas came to mind. I’m odd that way. Still, maybe these will get you thinking as well.

First, I cannot imagine how repugnant and offensive my sin and impurity are to a perfectly pure and holy God. Were I to imagine myself in this moment as perfectly clean, dressed all in white down to the soles of my shoes, and surrounded by the poo of a million dogs, the analogy could still not stretch far enough. I cannot comprehend how offensive my impurity is to God. My reaction to the tracks on the floor in the house could not begin to compare to the proper reaction of God if I were to waltz into his presence with unconfessed sin or an unresolved conflict or angry disposition or some other impurity – maybe a favorite idol stuck to the bottom of my shoe.

I wonder how many times we come storming into God’s house in exactly the same way. Like Sunday mornings, for example. Six days (or more!) out on the playground, picking up all kinds of yuck, and we come barging in looking for food and drink and more fun – maybe some hugs – and tracking mess everywhere! Maybe if we sometimes find Sunday’s worship experience a little lacking, it’s because God is staring at us, pointing to the filth and saying, Really? Take off your shoes outside. You’re standing on holy ground. I am reminded that we, like children, do not think nearly enough, nearly often enough, about cleaning up.

Second, I remember how grateful I am for the cleansing and atoning work of Christ. However long I spent in that yard, I was going to miss something. Likewise, no matter how careful I would be, no matter how hard I might scrub, I would never be able to get clean enough to come into God’s house, to come close to him. This filth of this world – and my own sin – is horribly offensive to God. That makes nearness to him fatal, even impossible (without help).

Think of the Israelites not daring to come up on mount Sinai where God’s cataclysmic presence was (Ex 19). Impurity is the reason God gave the law to them, why the rules about tabernacle access were so stringent, why there was a holy place and even a most holy place. We humans are in desperate need for cleaning up. Jesus is the solution, the cleaning solution, if you will. The rituals God gave the ancient Israelites did not purify them. Their obedience in faith did. The rituals brought them into a state of faithful following, but they looked forward to the real solution for impurity. That was the atoning and cleansing work of Christ’s blood offered on the cross. We now look back on that completed work with another ritual, and it too only symbolizes – but is not itself – the real power of cleansing. Baptism.

As I continued my work, I thought ahead to the fact that I would surely wash my hands thoroughly. I began to think how cleaning works, and that led me to my third big theological thought.

Jesus’ cleaning power is mind-boggling. Think about washing your hands. How does that work? You keep running water over the dirt. Filth washes away. But how clean is clean? When you wash out a rag, how does it get clean? There is repeated dilution. You keep reducing the number of parts per million of microscopic gunk in the rag or the bucket or whatever. How many parts per million is clean? 1000? 100? 1? 0.000001?

I realized that this points to the reality that only Jesus could ever truly clean any of us, let alone ALL of us. The cleaning power of any other man would be limited, and at best could only approach clean. The dirty parts per million number could never get to zero. Only an infinitely pure Man could do that. Only a God-Man could to that. Since God is one, there could only be one God-Man. He is Jesus. 

This is why until Jesus came unclean people had to be quarantined, just like those with the recent coronavirus. The unclean corrupts the clean. When Jesus hit the scene, he showed his power to reverse that. He walked up and touched lepers and cleansed them. He did the same for blind and deaf and lame and even reversed death. This was only the demonstration of his power in the visible realm, so that we might become aware of his real power, that to cleanse spiritually. Jesus CAN clean every impurity in the hearts and lives of us sinners. And he DOES for everyone who believes and who asks.

This means we are welcome in the house, provided we come in with Jesus. That makes us clean. SWEET! Praise God for the cleansing work of Christ, so we can come into the house and be with him!

Revelation 22:14–15 (CSB) 

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (CSB) 

Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 

2 Corinthians 5:21 (CSB) 

He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

Hebrews 10:19–22 (CSB)

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus—he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)—and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

How Do We Ask?

We Christians understand that we are heralds, witnesses and representatives of Jesus Christ to the world of unbelievers around us. At least we understand that if we read our Bibles and or if we sit under good biblical teaching as we should.

We realize that means we must look for opportunities to engage anyone who is interested in talking about faith. We have to ask some questions to find out where someone is spiritually. What is his worldview? What does she believe about God? Is he a theist of some kind? Deist? Atheist? Do they call themselves Christians?

I think in our present situation in the United States, and the West in general, that we are going to have to tweak our list of diagnostic questions. If the question, "Are you a Christian?" ever yielded a fairly well-defined understanding of where someone was coming from, today an affirmative answer really doesn't tell us much. That is, if you asked this question, and 100 people said, "Yes, I am a Christian," I don't think you could be confident that all, most or even a majority of them were actually regenerate followers of Jesus Christ, possessors of eternal life.

I say this because many today describe themselves as a Christian because they are American, or from the Bible Belt, or they are political conservatives. Or because they are members of a church identified as Christian. Or because they are generally good (compared to, you know, criminal types or political radicals or mean neighbors or whatever), or because they think Christianity is probably closer to the right religion than the 2 or 3 other options they know a little bit about. The list goes on.

I think we are naive to think that most people answering that question today mean to say that they are trusting Christ alone to provide the righteousness God requires to have eternal life, and that they are committed to living in obedience to Christ's commands as a living sacrifice in worship and thanksgiving.

I think we are going to have to ask more precise questions today, and probably quite a few of them, before we can begin to get a feel for whether someone is truly born again.

So, what are the options?

• Do you believe in Jesus?

• Do you know Jesus?

• Do you love Jesus?

• Do you trust Jesus alone for eternal life?

• Are you a follower of Jesus?

• Do you serve Jesus?

• Do you obey Jesus?

• Are you born again?

These, and a bunch more targeted questions may lead to more clarity, but the truth is we'll have to do a lot of careful listening and then keep following up with very particular questions every step of the way.

What seems very clear, though, is that we cannot afford to ask something so general as "Are you a Christian?" and then, upon getting a "yes" breath a sigh of relief, check that person off the list and feel good that we have been a faithful witness for Christ. We're going to need to dig deeper than that.

By the way, I am convinced that one of the places today where our general question would yield the most false positives is IN OUR CHURCHES. Many have written about this in recent years, and I would agree that our churches are full of professing Christians who are in fact spiritually dead. As in NOT followers of Jesus. As in NOT born again. As in destined for hell.

We must start getting very specific in questioning people about their spiritual condition - even in our local congregations. If we presume too much, if we ask vague questions and accept equally vague answers, we risk missing real opportunities to see dead people come to life.

Analogy: In the Cards

The other day I was playing a card game called 313 with some of our dear retired church ladies. I was  the appointed shuffler since we played with two decks and that task was difficult for them. I would shuffle each hand, and would deal when it was my turn.

At one point in the second game I realized I had shuffled and passed off the cards to the next dealer, accidentally skipping my turn to deal. As that and future hands played out, I got to thinking about how my mishap impacted not only that first hand but each to follow. In that first case, I realized that everyone ended up initially what would have been his/her neighbors cards. Then as players made decisions about drawing and discarding the ripples of my mistake carried on into the result of the hand. It changed multiple decisions and outcomes. That got me thinking about God's sovereign will and our free choices that flow from it.

Anyone who takes a biblical position on these matters will readily agree that there is mystery in the interplay between God's sovereign decrees and our free will. Any orthodox position will say what the Bible says, that God is sovereign, knowing everything and frustrated by no one in carrying out his will, and that man is responsible for his free choices. Many are uncomfortable with the tension between God's choosing and our own, and want desperately to feel there is no precise point where the overlap between these realities is perfectly expressed. Most talk systemically about where they are on the TULIP scale between the extremes of Calvinism and Arminianism. Usually the conversations (often arguments) come to a head with one's view of sovereignty.

I'm not going to wade into all that discussion per se. There is much good information available to help one think both intelligently and biblically about the issues. My goal here is to expose the beautiful reality of the dance, as it showed itself to me in this game of cards. I also enjoy exploring how far an analogy can be applied before it falls short of the reality to which it points. So, here are my observations.

God is the Dealer. Of course he is more than that. He invented the game, and he made the rules. He made the cards. He made the materials from which the cards were made and from which the plant was built, and the planet, and so on. But for the sake of analogy God is the Dealer. Whatever possibilities there are in all the hands that can be dealt, they come from his hand. He orders the deck with his shuffling, and then he deals out the cards to each of us. So, the range of possibilities in play are set already by his dealing.

Then we Players consider the hands we've been dealt. We think of how we'd like things to play out, and we make our choices. We choose which cards to hold and which to discard. We react to the choices of other players, some of which benefit us and some of which thwart us. The range of choices available are limited in these ways, by what was dealt and by the choices of others. Still, given that range of options, we make truly free choices as we play our part in determining the outcomes. Sometimes we win the trick. Other times we get caught with points counting against us. Whatever the case, this game is not rigged, so we cannot blame the Dealer if things don't go our way.

Now, one's view of sovereignty nuances the application of the analogy. Since chance or luck does not fit a biblical paradigm, we would see God's deliberate will determining the exact cards that are dealt to all. God is not shuffling cards to let chance decide what is dealt but rather orders the options and distributes exactly the hands that accomplish his perfectly wise and benevolent will. Someone with a high view of sovereignty would say that God not only decrees what cards he will deal to each player but also decrees exactly how that player will (the most extreme view would say must) respond to those options. A biblical view does not necessarily demand that strong a view. Many would allow that only the range of choices is predetermined and that all the choices that follow are free choices by each player. These free choices would also include the reactions to the free choices of others.

God created the players. How much of each player's nature did he determine? That this one would be super-aggressively trusting his gut with his choices while that one would be conservative, holding cards based on the best odds? That this one could bluff her way to a jackpot while another would be riddled with "tells?" Theologians have wrestled with these questions for centuries, but in all biblical options there is mystery. We are trying to understand how the transcendent God operates in the world, and much is beyond us. (A large range of the views implied above fit under the theological category called compatibilism, though there are other views of sovereignty.)

What is clear from Scripture is, once again, that no one by his or her free choices can ultimately thwart God's plan, and that we cannot blame God for the final outcomes. We have played our own role in reaching those outcomes. That brings me to one other observation from the card game analogy.

For this, I must shift from 313, a game where winning depends on getting caught with the fewest points over 10 hands, to the kinds of card games where bets are placed, like Texas Hold 'Em. In that game, one's success can ebb and flow over the course of many hands depending on how much one bets. When a player is emboldened by a great hand (or tired of playing, and ready to be done with it all), they go all in. This means they are betting everything they have left that they have a winning hand, or at least that they can bluff any remaining players into believing they have a winning hand. If they scare everyone else into folding (giving up what they already put in that hand's kitty), or if they do in fact have the winning hand, they can win the whole pot. But if neither is true, they lose everything - game over.

This is the other beauty from this analogy. With God, winning or losing is determined by one and only one wild card - Jesus. We either go all in with Jesus or without him, but at the end of this age everyone is all in. We only have this life to decide whether to hold Christ or to discard him, and we never know which hand is our last. Without Christ all is lost, but with Christ all is won. And from the perspective of human responsibility, the Bible is clear. The Christ wild card is available to everyone, and each one will choose to go all in with Jesus or to discard him. Win or lose. Live or die.

So, I celebrate how God awakened me to his amazing work and my incredible privilege to go all in with Jesus. I'm not so lucky in card games. I'm very grateful that God has called me to himself through the hand I've been dealt, and has given me the opportunity to choose eternal life through his Son. All praise to him for the beautiful analogy, and the spiritual reality to which it points!

Celebrate Analogy

A concept has been churning in my thoughts for a while now, and a book I'm reading by Andrew Peterson has stirred me up enough that I think it's time to begin a series on it. (The book, BTW, is Adorning the Dark, and I highly recommend it.)

The concept is that this life is full of analogy. It's not hard to argue that case, nor to support the argument, and so I will in brief. Further, I will argue that the real (and intended) effect of this phenomenon is to point to God, and more particularly, to Christ, as he is the way God makes himself fully known to us.

Think about every epiphany you ever had, not just the huge, life-changing ones when you said, "Aha!" but even those little moments when it was more like, "Oh, I see now." It's like when someone finally explained fractions or algebra in a way that made it click for you. (If that never happened, I'm sorry, but you'll muddle through okay, unless you are in architectural engineering or something. In that case, I'm sorry for your boss.) Or, it's like that moment when the punch line of a joke finally hit you and sent you rolling on the floor. (Or, sadly, left you wondering why the jokester thought THAT was funny at all.) It's like this whole paragraph you have been reading. Our experiences are filled with simile and metaphor, and also antithesis. We learn by realizing what something is like and by what it is not like.

This is why communication is full of analogy, especially poetry and song. What do we say? "Art imitates life." An imitation is analogy. Through analogy art helps us ruminate on and understand life, even DISCOVER life. Thus, some who muse - and help others muse - are called muse-icians. This principle is why Jesus taught so often in parables: "The kingdom of heaven is like [such and such]..."

Before the Incarnation, God taught with analogy through the law and prophets. The law itself was to show what God was like in his holiness so his people would themselves becoming a living analogy to the rest of the peoples of the world. In speaking of the gods of enemy nations, Moses declared, "their 'rock' is not like our Rock.'" God worked over and over through Israel to show the world that he was not like other so-called gods but was the one true God. In teaching his people how to worship, God referenced the practices of the pagans around Israel and said, "Don't worship the LORD your God this way." In other words, true worship is not like that but rather like this.

In the NT, read Peter and see his metaphors: "... you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices." Paul too calls the church a building; and a Body with many members and Christ as the Head; a temple where God's presence is; a household; an inheritance. He talks about Christian life using everyday life pictures like olympic racing, boxing, military service and even prostitution (as antithesis), and on it goes. Analogy.

We are God's art that imitates his life, especially we humans who are made in his likeness. We understand God, and all spiritual reality through the ways we compare or contrast to him. Of course, in our fallen world we humans build a much fuller collection of antithesis than of simile. That's one reason the Incarnation of the Son is so important. Jesus is the full expression of what we can know about God. Knowing Jesus is an eternal well of discovery. That discovery happens in the world he created, and for that reason this world is full of theological analogies, creative works that show us what God is like, that point to Christ.

Just like you begin to get a feel for what an artist is like from her paintings, sculptures, songs or even her clothes, we learn what God is like from his creations - from each other and our life experiences. So, Jesus taught us about his kingdom through kernels of wheat, through poor widows, through stories about sheep and managers.

Of course, we know Christ explicitly through the Scriptures. But the more we are immersed in the Scriptures the more we see Christ and his work imbedded in the world around us, even in those who do not possess his life or his spirit. That's the beauty of his sovereign power and design. God is revealing himself through everything, even through those who are unwitting or, what's more, unwilling analogies. That ancient Pharaoh who refused God's demands and chased down his people? God is NOT like that, but even that Pharaoh served his purposes. The little girl in kindergarten who felt bad for the new kid and brought him something cool from the toy box that lit up his eyes? THAT's what God is like.

My point in all this is to encourage all of us to notice the theological analogies in our mundane lives. And as we notice, then, "Whatever is true, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable - if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy - dwell on these things." Then praise God for what he allowed us to see. Now we are worshiping him. If we share what we saw with others, they may be drawn into worship too. So, when you see spiritual realities, share them.

This brings me to another reality about analogy, something I'll call resonance. There is a subjective element here. I realized that subjective side of analogy when I took the ACT many ages ago... in the last millennium. I discovered that analogy was a gift for me in most cases, but a curse when it comes to testing for it. One section of the college entrance exam was all about analogy. As I recall, there were a number of problems that featured a word followed by four more words that might associate to some degree with that word. My job was to identify which of the four words had the strongest relationship to the key word. I was frustrated. In most cases, I could see relationships everywhere, and was hard-pressed to pick one over the others. It turned out I did not resonate as much I would have hoped with the one who created the test. He or she (or they) saw different connections than I did.

Once again we see God's sovereign creativity. Some people see things much like you do, enough so that when you point out a God analogy they too may have an "aha" moment. It might even be stronger than your own, and - this is really cool - it will likely amplify your own when you begin to reflect together on it. Others see things very differently, and will not resonate with your discovery. That's okay. There are others with whom they will be more directly encouraged.

Resonance is why you have favorite teachers or sermons, or favorite singers or songs, authors or books. One person on any given Sunday is perplexed by the preacher on stage, mostly lost, while another is sitting in the same room shouting "YES!" inside (or maybe even audibly) because of the "brilliant" way the preacher just spoke the truth. Brilliance may be involved (hopefully), but I think the greater reality at work is resonance. (This, by the way, is a major liability of having the same guy in the pulpit 52 weeks a year, for you will almost certainly become a congregation largely filled with those who resonate with that teacher. Unless they resonate with the worship leader, the other prominent "resonator" on stage. Most people will gravitate toward a church family in which they resonate strongly with the people in one or both of these roles. Better (in my opinion) than a congregation almost exclusively oriented around one or two people is a church where there is diversity on stage as much as is practical so as to serve a diverse congregation.)

But, back to the subject...

My hard-wiring to see analogy was a curse in that ACT setting, but it has been a great blessing in most every other aspect of life. The longer I live, and the longer I grow in knowing Christ and his Word, the more I see him and his truth everywhere! And I want this for you too.

You have honored God anytime you praise him for your discoveries from him. Analogy is powerful regardless of resonance. So, when God shows himself in everyday life share it with anyone who will listen. It will resonate with someone. Sharing your discovery might even be God's tool to bring the "aha" of new life, eternal life, to someone. It will certainly fire up and encourage and challenge your brothers and sisters in the church.

God designed all of us for analogy - to see it, to learn from it, to live it out. So, when you have a "Wow! So, it's like this!" moment, celebrate it and share it.

In the spirit of that challenge, I will continue from time to time sharing the analogies that have jumped out to me, and I encourage you to do the same. Analogy will likely be a part of all my observations, but when the post is mostly about one particular analogy I will label it with that title. The first one will follow soon, In the Cards. I hope it resonates with many.

A Couple Thoughts on Teaching

I was deliberating this morning about a particular theological topic. In the process I was reminded of a couple of critical points about which all of us must be aware and transparent when it comes to teaching.

First, every Christian is to be a teacher. It is clear that some have the spiritual gift of teaching, and for those there is a unique calling and responsibility. But if we are to be consistent in our interpretation of the Great Commission, every Christian has been commanded to teach.

We will often hear the same exact argument for evangelism: there are some who are gifted as evangelists, but all are called to evangelize, to preach (κηρύσσω) the gospel (εὐαγγέλιον) as Jesus commanded in Mark's record of the Commission (16:15). Luke, in Lk 27:46 uses a different form of this same term for preaching, usually translated here to "proclaim." In v.48, Jesus marries the activity of proclaiming or heralding the good news to our identity as witnesses (μάρτυς).

But why should we think Jesus is commanding all of his disciples to proclaim the gospel as witnesses? Isn't he speaking only to the Eleven? Plenty of reasons to see the Great Commission as a universal mandate are built into the collection of NT church letters that follow. But I think Matthew's account gives us one clear reason to understand that the Great Commission bears on all disciples.

In Mt 28:19-20, we get a vivid picture of the disciple maker as one who transfers disciple-making "DNA" in others. The command to "make disciples" has imbedded in it the modifier "teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you." This means that making disciples means teaching those disciples to make disciples. So, whether Jesus is speaking to only the Eleven here, or whether to more (Paul mentions 500 witnesses to the resurrection, and Luke records in Acts 1:15 that about 120 were present when Matthias was chosen to replace Judas), the Great Commission clearly extends to each one of us disciples of Jesus.

And that establishes that we are all to teach. We are to make disciples, and that means teaching them to observe everything Christ commanded. Doctrine drives practice. Teaching leads to obedient, godly living. So, every Christian is called not only to proclaim the gospel but to make disciples by teaching. Further, we learn from Paul that we all carry on this teaching activity when we gather for worship and mutual admonishment (Col 3:15).

Second, having established that we are called to teach, let me offer this charge: we must teach from a position of humility. This is true not only because that attitude glorifies Christ, but also because teachers must never cease to be learners. One's understanding of a doctrine will naturally develop over time, and we should proactively seek that development. This is why even when Paul instructs young Timothy to "command and teach" the "words of the faith and the good teaching that [he has] followed" (1 Tm 4:6,11) he also instructs him to "train [himself] in godliness" (v.7) and to make his "progress...be evident to all" (v.15). Since the training is set opposite "silly myths" it seems that Paul is not just talking about training in godly behavior but in godly teaching.

In many cases, we will grow deeper and more nuanced in our understanding, seeing a truth in greater detail or refinement. But sometimes, we will come to realize our understanding was imprecise, something like Apollos did in Acts 18:24-26, or perhaps even to the degree that our previous view was dead wrong. Sometimes, learning requires a shift to a stronger position, to a more solid ground. Other times it requires an outright rejection of a previously held position.

And this is true of the teacher in the classroom, the small group or even in the pulpit as much as it is for the layman who never thought of himself as a teacher.

And this development is healthy, so long as the learning is sound and the shift, to whatever degree, is toward biblical fidelity rather than from it. The community of the church and biblical scholarship - both everywhere and throughout the last 2000 years or so - is indispensable to helping us ensure the right direction in our theological growth. Embrace this wealth. This is why we teach in classes, over coffee and from the pulpit. It is why we read, and the more the better, most of all pouring over the Scriptures themselves.

It also helps to understand that for each of us our understanding of a doctrine is tensed in a couple of ways. First, I simply mean that it is temporal, moving from a past understanding through our current understanding and likely to a future, even more developed and mature one. Even on core and clear doctrines, like those related to salvation, we grow in understanding and appreciation of the truth, though hopefully we have been blessed early on with an essentially accurate understanding. But with other less essential and less clear doctrines - for example, those related to charismatic gifts or the end times - for those we may well come to new conclusions over time.

And those new conclusions, those shifts, come through another other sense in which our understanding is tensed. The term also refers to stretching. Our understanding of a doctrine is stretched by a differing view. If we are wise, we seek to be stretched by those we have good reason to believe are diligent and skilled in understanding the Scriptures. The tension seeks resolution. We wrestle with the new possibility to see if it merits a tweaking of our own position. Again, this is healthy.

But be cautious. This tension is much like that of the spring coils in a mechanical clock like sits on our mantle at home. The tensed coils tend to drive the pendulum the opposite side of center. It swings back and forth until the tension spends itself. Understand that you might be prone to overcorrect your view when it is challenged by a reasonable and coherent alternative. Take your time wrestling with the tension, and give it opportunity to moderate the swings and counter-swings. And don't be overly dogmatic (especially as a teacher) until you are convinced you are at least near the point of rest, where overcorrection has given way to the center of orthodoxy on the matter.

Ironically, we can and should learn to relax in relation to some doctrines that hold inherent tension, whether due to lack of information or incomprehensible mystery. My, how our springs can coil up or recoil over dispensationalism or egalitarianism or charismata or worship liturgies! About some things we should not yet be too sure of ourselves. And for some points of doctrine knowledge will be forever beyond the exhausting our discovery, or our God would not be worthy of worship! But in pursuit of all sound doctrine, let us be diligent and humble.

And from that diligence and humility, let us teach!