Salvation in the Synoptic Gospels

I received the latest edition of JETS (Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society) this week. The article that piqued my interest in this edition was, “The Gospel in the Gospels: Answering the Question ‘What Must I Do to Be Saved?’ from the Synoptics” by Edmund Neufeld (June 2008, vol 51.2, p. 267-296).

Neufeld suggests that there is a different view of salvation in the Synoptic gospels than what evangelicals have rallied around. Evangelicals proudly proclaim that we are saved by faith and not by works. Neufeld points out that the Synoptic gospels demonstrates a salvation that is based not on faith but on the act of obedience.

Neufeld argues that the question “How can I be saved?” actually encompasses three questions:

* “On what basis does a holy and just God grant me salvation?”
* “How does God act to graciously bring people to himself?”
* “What must I do?”

And it is this third question that Neufeld explores by looking at Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Neufeld suggests that there is indeed a work that we need to do, and that this work is obedience. While Christians are so scared of the word “works”, he suggests that when we juxtapose “grace” and “works” we are in fact contrasting “grace” and “merit”. We do nothing to earn the salvation that God has so graciously offered us, but we must act (“work”) in response to the grace.

Neufeld walks through each of the Synoptic gospels as if there were three people reading one of each without having access to any other NT writings.

For example, in Matthew, a reader would discover:

“That one accesses the saving of Jesus by repentance, baptism and confession.”

“Escaping judgment hinges not on ancestry but on bearing fruit worthy of repentence.”
“There is room for process, for Jesus’ people have poverty of spirit, they mourn this poverty, and they need the Father’s forgiveness daily.”

“The Father enables obedience, for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied…”

“People enter by giving Jesus complete loyalty, by choosing him over family and possessions and life itself. They show their allegiance by obeying what he taught…” (p.271-279)

In his concluding summary, Neufeld makes this stark point:

“The NT never separates trusting Christ from obeying Christ, never opposes faith to these obedient works; it never says or suggests that one is saved by believing in Christ rather than obeying him.”

It is this idea that makes me wonder how different our gospel message would be, how different our personal walks with Christ would be if we emphasized this call to obedience rather than a subjective feeling of “just believing”. Have we neutered the gospel and cheapened the grace that God has bestowed upon us by omitting the “work” of obedience?

Understanding Religion in America

Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion has released some very interesting research into religiosity, Christianity and Atheism.

The two items I found most interesting were about megachurches and the relationship between religiosity and superstition.

Megachurches:

Even with congregations of more than 1,000 members, the Baylor Religion Survey found that megachurches surprisingly are more intimate communities than small congregations of less than 100 members (Ch. 5, “Megachurches: Supersizing the Faith”). Megachurch growth is mostly due to their members, who tend to witness to their friends, bringing them into the group, and witness to strangers, much more often than members of small churches.
When compared to small congregations, the survey found that megachurch members display a higher level of personal commitment by attending services and a Bible study group and tithing.

As a person who grew up in a tiny (less than 40 people) congregation, the notion of attending a megachurch has always scared me a little. When husband and I married, we had to find a church that met in the middle. He was attending a baptist church here in Hamilton that had upwards of 500 people a service, and I was attending my little 40-person church. His was too big for me, and mine was too small for him. It was the first and only time I “church-shopped” as we looked for a new community of faith, and we were eventually led to the Nazarene church we are now attending that has approximately 100-120 at Sunday service.

Superstition:

…The ISR researchers found that conservative religious Americans are far less likely to believe in the occult and paranormal than are other Americans, with self-identified theological liberals and the irreligious far more likely than other Americans to believe. The researchers say this shows that it is not religion in general that suppresses such beliefs, but conservative religion.
“There’s an old saying that a man who no longer believes in God is ready to believe in just about anything, and it turns out our data suggests it’s true. That is to say, religious people don’t believe this stuff, but there’s no education effect,” Stark said.

The report goes on to say that those who read “Purpose Driven Life” were less likely to believe in the occult and paranormal than those who had read “The DaVinci Code”. As many know, I have never been a fan of the “Purpose Driven” paraphernalia, but I find it humorous that it has a new “purpose”.

Minor Irritation or Insulting?

Sometimes Christians do really stupid things. Okay, lots of times Christians do really stupid things. And for some reason it is always the stupid things that make it into the mainstream media, rather than the good, smart, rational, helpful, compassionate things.

At first this story just irritated but then the more I thought on it, the more it bothered me and saddened me.

Gospel magazine pulled from shelves because it features females pastors on the cover.

A Nazarene Blog to Watch

Well I have dabbled in, and appreciate the Emergent Church movement, I still find myself planted firmly in a more Evangelical framework. But here is a blog to watch: Emergent Nazarenes.

The State of Education

This is hilarious! It’s too bad that this wasn’t played on all media outlets when the Provincial election made public vs. faith-based education a key issue.

Bible Study Starting September 9th

I will be teaching an adult Bible study on Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm at Hamilton First Church of the Nazarene.

We will be going through the book of Revelation. The framework and push behind this study will be that the book of Revelation is a pastoral document, written to a church that was suffering and needed comforting and hope, and so their pastor, John writes this fantastical and mystical letter to help them on their journey.

We will also look at modern “proof-texting” of the prophecy in Revelation, such as:
*Are Gog and Magog really China and Russia? Iran?
*Is 666 really the mark of the beast? (how about 616?)
*What do we do with the 144,000?
*And what about the throne of judgement?
*Why do “prophets” today think they know how to interpret verses in Revelation to correspond to modern events and inventions (helicopters? the Iraq War? etc)

I’m going to encourage those who come to the study to not be afraid of the book of Revelation. That at it’s core is a message of hope. And if a person can read Narnia, Perelandra (the Space Trilogy), Lord of the Rings, Lilith, or even Alice in Wonderland, and get lost in the magic and language of fantasy literature then they can read the book of Revelation.

A Time to Mourn

Today we observe a moment of silence. It is a dark day for North America. It is a dark day for Trekkies everywhere. Today the “Star Trek: The Experience” exhibit in Las Vegas closes.

As many of you know, Las Vegas is one of my favourite vacation destinations. I don’t go for the gambling, I go for the people-watching. There is so much to see and do. There are the shows, the awesome hotels, the Elvis Museum (and the Liberace Museum). There are blackjack tables where you can play with impersonators like Marilyn Monroe, The Blues Brothers, Michael Jackson etc. There are great restaurants and lots of shopping. There is the classic car display, including Eleanor from “Gone in 60 Seconds”.

And then there is Star Trek. At the Hilton hotel, the ST: The Experience was a must see for Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike. They had a museum with memorabilia from all the different incarnations of Star Trek. There was the Klingon adventure and the Borg adventure rides. And then, my favourite: a replica of the promenade from ST: Deep Space Nine. You could dine at Quarks, enjoying a Deanna Troi chocolate sundae. Characters would come and join your table. I had the privilege of dining with two Klingons, an Andorian and a Cardassian. You could shop along the promenade for Star Trek souvenirs, and for the discerning Trekkie there was the Star Trek memorabilia, lithographs, autographs, and works of art.

I had my picture taken on the bridge of the Enterprise 1701-D. Chuck and I had even talked about having honeymoon pictures taken on the bridge of the Enterprise if we had gone there for our honeymoon (we opted for Disney instead).

It is indeed a sad day.

Grace and Promise in Unexpected Ways

What follows is the sermon I preached this morning at Burlington Congregational Christian Church.

Sermon: Grace and Promise in Unexpected Ways
2 Samuel 7:1-17
Burlington Congregational Church
August 24, 2008

Introduction
Have any of you ever taken the “Spiritual Gifts Inventory”? It is a questionnaire that assists in identifying what your main spiritual gift(s) may be. It could be teaching/preaching, compassion, prayer, hospitality, prophecy, administration, etc. My top two, that are practically tied, are teaching and administration. When I tell people that my gift is administration, I usually get a response like, “Oh, you like paperwork!” Well no, that would be a bureaucrat. An administrator is someone who has the gift of organization and the gift of planning. An administrator is someone who can see all the steps that are needed to get to the end result, and knows exactly how to implement the steps to get to the end goal.
I like to sometimes imagine how different characters in the Bible would fair if they took the “Spiritual Gifts Inventory,” and I really think that King David would have the gift of administration. He knew the steps needed to get to the final goal, and was prepared to take the steps necessary to get there even if it took years.

An example of this: You all know the story of David and Goliath. Young David goes out and defeats the big mean giant Goliath. With the throw of a stone Goliath is defeated. At the end of the story, the narrator says that David cuts off the head of Goliath and proceeds to Jerusalem where he presents the head in the middle of town. Okay, no problem. What’s your point, Amanda? Jerusalem at this point in history is not an Israelite city. It is a Canaanite city. It is so fortified that no one ever believed it could be conquered. So why does David do this? The gift of administration and planning. He knows, even that early in his career as king, that he wants Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital city. He marches in to the city of Jerusalem with Goliath’s head, and says, “I’ll be back” in his best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. Goliath’s head is a down payment. And sure enough in 2nd Samuel 5, David returns to Jerusalem, conquers it and is renamed the City of David.
Or take for example David’s desire to bring the ark back. The ark ends up in exile in 1st Samuel 4, because the Israelites treat it like a lucky charm. David knows that, in order to unite the religious population of Israel to his newly cemented position of King of all of Israel, he will need to win them over. In order to win them over, he needs to reclaim the ark. In order to reclaim the ark, he needs to once and for all defeat the Philistines to ensure that the ark does not again go into exile. And that is exactly what happens in 2nd Samuel 5.

A House for God: And now here is David, a new city, a palace built by the King of Tyre especially for him. The main enemies are defeated and there is peace (17:1). What’s a new king to do in the Ancient Near East? Why, build a temple!
So David is sitting in his new palace, having a meal with Nathan the prophet. And he laments, “You know Nathan, it really is a shame. Here I am in a beautiful palace, everything a king could ask for, and God is still living in a tent. Isn’t it dreadful?” Now David never actually says “I want to build a temple for God.” But Nathan knows exactly what he is saying. And so, as God’s representative, as His voice, he approves, and without using the word “temple,” says “Do whatever you think is best, the Lord is with you.”
But surprise, surprise, God shows up and turns David’s plans upside down and inside out.
God takes David to task. Did God ask for a temple? Does God need a temple? God’s place is in the midst of His people. Where they go, He goes. Never once in all the years since rescuing Israel from Egypt did God ask for a permanent dwelling.
But God takes the opportunity to completely change the future of David’s family and of the nation of Israel. God puts himself out there with an unconditional, unmerited promise. God will build David’s family into a permanent house, one that will endure forever. And “forever” is emphasized. It is used eight times in chapter 7 (three times by God, and five times by David in response to God’s covenant). Scholars suggest that this promise is the theological turning point of the entire Samuel narrative. I would suggest it is the theological turning point of the entire Israelite narrative. It is this promise that the Israelites will look back to while they are in exile. It is this promise that the Jewish people in the 1st century AD look back to in putting together their Messiah theology. And it is this promise that the authors of the gospels point back to in tying Jesus to the genealogy of David.

Three Points to Consider: I suggest that there are three points that we should look at in this text.

God shows up when we least expect him. Life was good. There was peace. There were no major crises, political coups or spiritual disruptions. Why would God need to show up? Israel had a tendency to use God as an “in case of emergency” fire alarm bell. Whenever there was a problem they would pull that red box that was God and cry out “God save us!” That is the whole story of Judges isn’t it? Life is good. Life is grand. Israel begins to abandon God. Israel gets in trouble, attacked by foreign forces. They cry out to God to rescue them. God rescues them. Life is good. Life is grand. Israel begins to abandon God. Israel gets in trouble, attacked by foreign forces. They cry out to God to rescue them. Over and over it happens.
We do the same thing don’t we? In times of quiet, in times of peace we don’t see the need to call on God. We don’t need God right now; all is good. And then when tragedy strikes or a problem arises, we, like Israel, pulls the fire alarm and expect God to just come and make everything all better. As one of my friends put it: “I’m glad there are daily struggles in my life. If there weren’t I wouldn’t spend as much time in prayer and in the Word.”
God shows up when we least expect him. Even Nathan, the prophet of God, wasn’t expecting God to show up because the Lord was with David. But that is what is awesome about our God. Our God is bigger than our expectations. Our God is not an “in case of emergency” pull box. He is a God that desires relationship with His people and chooses to be Emmanuel: “God with us.”

God’s plans for us are bigger than our plans for him. Let me repeat that. Do we sometimes put God in a box? We expect him to act a certain way, we mold him in our image, in our plans, in our desires. And yet, no matter our noble our intentions, no matter how God-honoring our plans might be, His plans for us are bigger than ours are for him. Israel wanted to be like the other nations, so they demanded a king in 1Samuel 8. Israel wanted to be a military powerhouse that could hold it’s own in the burgeoning ANE. But God had different plans for them. Through them, the entire world would be reconciled. They were a “kingdom of priests” ministering to and demonstrating God’s power in their lives.

God’s promise is given as a gift of grace, not a gift of works. David did nothing to earn this awesome covenant promise. This was a spontaneous gift borne out of God’s grace. True, David was a man after God’s own heart. But we tend to misunderstand what that means. Sometimes Christians portray David in this hazy, rose-tinted aura of perfection. As a man after God’s own heart, he could do no wrong. True, he had that dalliance with Bathsheba, but prior to that “fall” he was just an awesome God-fearing man. I would suggest that, right from the get go, David was a man of ambition who was driven by his power. Take for example 2 Samuel 5. A foreign king builds David’s house (palace) and foreign wives build his house (family line). When we say that David was a man after God’s own heart, we do not mean that he earned God’s favour, that he earned this everlasting promise found in chapter 7. A man after God’s own heart means that he was a person who was the recipient of God’s amazing grace.
Scholars have suggested that David is a holograph of Israel. The interaction between God and David is identical to the relationship between God and Israel. God will never abandon His people, just like his covenant with David is forever. It is this Davidic covenant that Israel looks back to when they are in exile, when they feel like God has abandoned them. They look at the promise to David, that one day a son of David will be a son of God.
Jesus, a descendant of David, fulfills the promise, and in a way that Israel was not expecting. They were expecting a military figure; a conquering king. Instead, Jesus came as a baby. His ministry was not to throw out the Romans, but to reach out to the Gentiles, to the outcast, the sinner, the Samaritan. Jesus is the fulfillment, not just in his earthly ministry 2000 years ago, but in the future. We join together and await the day that he will return as the conquering king, gathering his people to his side.
Jesus’ death, his offer of salvation, is a gift of grace. We have done nothing to deserve his sacrifice. It is a gift in spite of what we have done. Turn to Ephesians 2:1-9. Salvation is a gift, so that no one can boast. The promise of eternal life, of reconciliation with God the Father, is a gift of grace. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.

Song in response. David responds by praising God’s awesomeness. Upon receiving this amazing promise of an eternal family line, David says “For this reason You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.” (7:22). Let us join with David and respond with praise. Our hymn today is #52, “Praise my soul, the King of Heaven.”

Benediction. “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.” And all God’s people said: “Amen!”

Preaching This Sunday

I will be preaching this Sunday at Burlington Congregational Christian Church. I will be preaching on 2nd Samuel 7:1-17, where David receives the ultimate promise from God. I will post my sermon here, probably on Monday, but the main points will be as follows:

*God’s plans for us are bigger than our plans for Him.

*God fulfills his promises in unexpected ways.

*God’s promises are a demonstration of His grace and not given because we’ve somehow earned them.

Reality TV Gone Insane

Okay I realize that reality tv is the “hot” thing and has been ever since “Survivor. But come on, this is ridiculous!

Make me a Christian.