5 ft. 1 inch Jesus
Read this post by Justin Taylor: What Did Jesus Look Like?
How to Read The Bible
In order to understand the Bible, one must read it. One must read it like any other book. That is not to say that the Bible is only another book, but that the Bible is a book and should be read the way all books are read. The biblical authors expected their books to be read and understood in that way. They used the language and literary forms common in their day. Their books make sense and reward the patient reader with genuine understanding and insight. The meaning of the Bible is straightforward and unmysterious. Many miracles are recorded in the Bible, but what is most remarkable about the Bible is the Bible itself. In it God speaks through the miracle of human language. Through language, modern readers can understand the thoughts of biblical authors who lived thousands of years ago in a culture very different from our own.
-John Sailhamer, The Meaning of the Pentateuch
The Mercy Spiller
Once in a while a sentence of Scripture stabs your heart and wakes you up to realities you hadn’t quite felt before.
This morning I sat on my porch reading and praying through a few psalms. Eventually I came to a sentence, Psalm 40:11. I’m sure I’ve read this sentence many times. This time the sentence read me.
As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
Seriously?
I restrain mercy. I hold back mercy, grace, and love from other people, even the people I say I love the most. My mercy-giving has a limit.
And, other people restrain mercy. Other people have restrained mercy from me. Instead of receiving mercy, I’ve received judgment, punishment, and shunning. My mercy-receiving also has a limit.
But a relationship with the Lord has an entirely different operating system.
His mercy-giving has no limit. He doesn’t restrain his mercy from his children. He never runs out of mercy! There’s an eternal supply! He doesn’t hold back and conserve his mercy, the Lord spills his mercy all over me.
This means my mercy-receiving has no limit. Because the Father spilled all his wrath on Jesus, he can spill mercy all over me every single day of my life, even on my days of greatest failure. So far, today has been a big day of failure for me.
Guess what? News Flash. This just in: At approximately 9am this morning in the San Francisco Bay Area, there was an oil spill of God’s mercy, poured out all over Justin. You should see the spill. It’s beautiful.
God isn’t in the mercy-restraining business, he’s in the mercy-spilling business.
This is so, so hard for me to believe. I’m so used to a life of limiting the mercy I give to others and rationing the mercy others give to me. I’ve been so afraid of running out of mercy. I’ve been a Mercy Miser.
I don’t want to be a Mercy Miser.
Miser
Function: noun. Etymology: Latin miser miserable
a mean grasping person; especially : one who is extremely stingy
I want to be a Mercy Spiller.
The Lord who Delivered from the Paw of the Lion
1 Samuel 17:34-37 34
But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”
Trusting God
On Sunday night I led my last meeting with our 20s Leader Team–a group of people I dearly love. That same night one of our leaders, Jen, sent Taylor and me a great email. I’m posting Jen’s email here because I think it will also be of help to many of you.
Hi guys:
Great being with you tonight for our last leader meeting.As I got home tonight, I was thinking about a passage of Scripture I was praying over last week and thought it might encourage you as you sort through your decisions. It has been encouraging me as God has been challenging me to trust Him in new ways.
Jeremiah 6:16 “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”
I was thinking about how as we stand at the crossroads and seek the Lord, God doesn’t leave us hanging. It says ‘ask where the good way is, and walk in it.’ It seems kind of subtle to me, but this assumes that God shows us the good way since He calls us to walk in it, it seems kind of matter of fact that He shows up. And I was kind of struck by the realization that ‘the good way’ is just trusting the Lord, not a specific answer or decision. Although it’s good to see how godly people have walked before me and give prayerful consideration to next steps, trusting God is when I find real rest for my soul, not when I try to figure it all out and make sense of everything. It’s in me letting go and obeying His call that the Lord really brings peace to my heart. And as you said tonight, He brings healing too. It’s so obvious you are seeking, trusting and obeying His call.
Anyway, that’s just what I feel like God has been teaching me lately and I thought I’d share in case it encourages you in some way. Praying you have peace and rest for your souls during your transition.
Love,
Jen
How to Read Proverbs, and Connecting This With the Marketplace
Tim Keller:
So Proverbs cannot be “dipped into.” It only repays very long study in which you keep the whole book in your head and compare passage with passage. How is that best done? In a community! Some commentators argue that the book of Proverbs was originally written as a manual to be studied by a community of young men under the mentorship of older men — for a number of years. Each proverb was to be discussed and considered and compared to the others. Examples from life were to be shared. In other words, Proverbs may have been written to be the basis for deep, comprehensive personal growth through mentoring in community. It touches on every area of life.
It is also noteworthy that in Proverbs wisdom constantly raises her voice in the city’s public places — the commerce/market (where the roads converge), the court/justice system (the gate), etc. (Prov 1:20-21; 9:1-4.) For years I have been struck by the fact that discipling people for faithful living in their vocation is different than other kinds of discipleship. When I try to disciple someone to do work in the church, it is more one-way (I am the expert in Bible and ministry) and information-driven (I download my knowledge.) But how do you disciple a Christian actor to think out what roles to take, or a Christian financier to think out how to invest and how to treat profits? The Bible does not give us so much hard and fast rules as ‘proverbs’ — motives, goals, and values that have to be applied with wisdom to situations in the world. And that wisdom happens more through communal reflection on Scripture, especially a text like Proverbs.
How can we best integrate our faith with our work? I think we need more experienced people in a field meeting with younger persons in that field and working through a book like Proverbs in community, always applying its insights to the work they are doing in the world.
Questions to Ask as You Exegete Scripture and Life
For the last 4 years at CPC it’s been my practice to write in-depth study guides on the books of the Bible that I preach through. That model has worked great here. But for the last few months in Genesis I thought it wise to mix things up a bit, to spend a season training people to ask the same set of questions as they come at a new biblical text each week. We’ve been calling this RENEW.
This has been a great change of pace for us. I’ve found that these questions are giving people a helpful paradigm for exegeting Scripture and life. Below is a cut and paste of one week’s lesson (Taken from this pdf booklet Spring_2010_20s). I tip my hat to many different sources who have influenced me in shaping these questions (Tim Keller, Jonathan Dodson, ESV Study Bible, David Powlison, and others).
January 14 2010
Genesis 10:1–11:26 City
Read this week’s text (try to read it out loud) with 3 horizons/questions in mind: what did this text mean in its original context; how does this text fit in the larger biblical story of redemption; what does this text mean for us today? After your reading, summarize the message of this text in 2–3 sentences:
GOSPEL Disciples of Jesus
What does this text say about God (Father, Son, Spirit)? What does it say about what the holy team has done, is doing, or will do? How can you praise God for this?
If God is really like this, what difference can this truth make to how you live today? What sinful behavior, negative emotions, or false beliefs result when you forget that God is like this? Let this text humble you, expose your idols, and lead you to fresh repentance: what have you been desiring more than anything else; thinking and talking about most often; fearing; loving; trusting; worrying about; worshiping and believing—who have you been a disciple of instead of Jesus?
How have you been preaching the gospel to yourself this week? What stirs your affections for Jesus Christ and what robs you of those affections? How can this text help define and deepen your belief in the gospel and your enjoyment of God?
COMMUNITY Disciples Together
What does this text say about how to live life together? How would your family, roommates, friends, church, neighborhood be different if they lived by the message of this text?
Does this text have anything to say about what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman?
What is this text calling you to do in your relationships/your community group? Is there somebody you need to encourage and remind of the gospel; somebody you need to comfort, confront, celebrate, or counsel with the gospel? Is there something you need to confess or somebody you need to forgive; is there help you need to ask for?
MISSION Disciples for Others
What does this text reveal about the kind of world and story we live in, both its goodness and its corruption? What hope or challenge does this text give for life in the Bay Area?
As you go about your ordinary life this week, how can this text help you take action to speak the gospel to others; make disciples of others; shine as a light in a dark world? How can this text help you in the work God has called you to do—how can you use your unique talents and strengths to advance God’s kingdom?
PRAY
Meditate on what you’ve learned from this text. Adore and praise God for what you’ve learned. Repent before God. Ask God for help to more deeply believe his Word, live his Word in community, and communicate his Word to this world.
Jesus Storybook Bible Video
My sons love reading The Jesus Storybook Bible and, more recently, love listening to the audio version. Several nights a week have the cds playing in the background as we go about life in our home.
In time for Easter, here’s a great animated video from the book of the resurrection:
Proverbs 3:3-12, A Mini Guide to Life
On The Gospel Coalition Blog, Tim Keller writes:
In my regular, daily Bible reading over the past year I read through Proverbs 3, a passage I’ve studied and preached through many times. But during this reading, I realized that in verses 3 through 12 we have all the themes of the rest of the book, and therefore a kind of mini-guide to faithful living. There are five things that comprise a wise, godly life. They function both as means to becoming wise and godly as well as signs that you are growing into such a life:
1. Put your heart’s deepest trust in God and his grace. Every day remind yourself of his unconditioned, covenantal love for you. Do not instead put your hopes in idols or in your own performance.
2. Submit your whole mind to the Scripture. Don’t think you know better than God’s word. Bring it to bear on every area of life. Become a person under authority.
3. Be humble and teachable toward others. Be forgiving and understanding when you want to be critical of them; be ready to learn from others when they come to be critical of you.
4. Be generous with all your possessions, and passionate about justice. Share your time, talent, and treasure with those who have less.
5. Accept and learn from difficulties and suffering. Through the gospel, recognize them as not punishment, but a way of refining you.
Go here to read Keller’s unpacking of these 5 points.
Psalm 3: Learning How to Process & Approach Life
Psalm 3 is one of my favorites. Today’s reading (I’m praying through the Psalms in 2 month cycles this year) brought me to Psalm 3 again. I love this psalm because its structure brings order to my often disordered life. I want to process and approach life the way Psalm 3 teaches me to do it.
Maybe it would help you to think and pray through Psalm 3 with me today? Below are the names I give to the different parts of the psalm and a few reflections.
SIGHT
1 O LORD, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying of my soul,
there is no salvation for him in God.
David begins with sight. David the psalmist begins this prayer with what’s right in front of him–with what he can see, his circumstances, with what hurts and threatens. David doesn’t pretend. David reports. David is honest before God about the pressure, pain, and fear. David has enemies. And these enemies are “many.” Three times the text repeats the “many-ness” of the threat David faces.
David is in trouble. This is what David sees in front of him. This is where David starts. David pours out his trouble to the LORD.
What do you see? What enemies, what troubles, surround and threaten you? Start there. Tell God all about it. Avoid the temptation of processing and navigating the trouble by yourself. This Psalm calls you out of your self-sufficiency. The opposite of the Christian life is the self-sufficient life.
BELIEF
3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
David starts his prayer with the circumstances he sees and feels, but this is just the start. This is just verses 1 and 2. We have 6 more verses.
Verse 3. Now David interrupts sight with belief. David quickly transitions from what he sees to re-confessing the belief he’s built his life upon. David knows when to insert a “But.” “Life is very hard. But…”
David’s “But..” leads to belief. David’s “But…” leads not to belief in a creed, but belief in a Person. David is talking to the LORD. He knows the LORD. There is a relationship here. David tells the LORD (and reminds himself) who he believes the LORD to be. David speaks 3 images of who he believes the LORD to be: “shield,” “my glory,” “the lifter of my head.”
David’s enemies are “many, many, many.” But David’s God is “shield, glory, lifter.”
What do you believe? What do you believe about the LORD? Have you applied that belief to the trouble you see and face today, or are you keeping that belief on a separate shelf? Remember the relationship you have!
The LORD is your shield. He’s not your shield in theory. You have a relationship with a shield that shows up and protects you in the midst of today’s battle. Do you believe this? The LORD is also your glory. He’s also the lifter of your head. Belief is being able to see through your circumstances to a deeper reality. Do you believe the LORD can lift your head, even today? Do you believe resolved circumstances are the lifter of your head, or is the LORD the lifter of your head? If no enemies and perfect circumstances are the lifter of your head, you’ll be looking down most of your life. If the LORD is the lifter of your head, you can face anything.
REMEMBRANCE
4 I cried aloud to the LORD,
and he answered me from his holy hill.5 I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
Now David remembers. Remembrance changes everything. David remembers the enemies he faced in the past, the prayers he prayed in the past, and the help God gave in the past. He remembers how his Shield worked in his life in the past. He remembers protection that enabled him to sleep soundly.
David remembered the many Goliath’s God had delivered him from in the past. David remembered that this same God was the one hearing these new prayers and cries.
What do you remember? Remind yourself today of how you cried to God in seasons of desperation in the past and of how he answered and took care of you. God hasn’t changed. Your circumstances and cries and have changed, but God is still God. God hasn’t forgotten you. He remembered you in the past. He remembers you today. Will you remember Him today? Build your faith through remembrance.
And will you remember this tonight when you stumble into bed? Will tonight be another night of sleeping in fear, or will you sleep like a Christian?
RESOLVE
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
Sight–>Belief–>Remembrance–>Resolve. This is David’s movement as he teaches us how to process and approach life in this world.
David couldn’t have moved directly from verse 2 to verse 6. If all we had were verses 1 and 2, David should be very afraid. But verses 3-5 changed everything. Now David is operating from a different center. Now David is surrounded by a shield, he’s enjoying a glory that he can’t lose, his head has been lifted high, he remembers God’s track record, he knows a good night of sleep awaits him.
So, David resolves. David makes a decision. David considers the evidence of his circumstances and the evidence of his God and he makes a decision to not be afraid. The word “many” shows up again. It doesn’t matter anymore. Even if he has to face “many thousands” of enemies who have set themselves against him “all around,” David knows the LORD his shield surrounds him all around.
This is faith. Faith is resolve. Faith is making a decision. Faith is being able to take a long look at your circumstances and a long look at your God and deciding that God is bigger.
What did you decide this morning? What was your resolve? Either you decided that because God is bigger than your troubles you would not be afraid, or you decided to once again let your circumstances, problems, and enemies decide how much fear you will feel today. David decided to say “I will not fear” because he decided to believe in God more than he believed in his enemies. Who do you believe in more? What “I will not fear…” sentence do you need to write today?
PRAYER
7 Arise, O Lord!
Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
Now David prays. He’s been praying the whole time, but now he makes requests of God for the first time. David makes two requests: “Arise…” and “Save me.”
As I’ve been reading the Psalms recently I’ve concluded that all the prayer requests in the Psalms boil down to one word: Help! This is what David is saying here. “Help! God, help me! LORD, do something! Help me! I can’t help myself. Arise! Stand up. Take action. Only you can do this. Save me!”
David’s prayer request isn’t fancy. Nor is it shy. David just shouts: Help!
What are your prayer requests today? Jesus calls his people to live life with childlike faith. Childlike faith isn’t fancy. Childlike faith isn’t shy. Childlike faith simply says, often and loudly: Help! The older I get, the more troubles I face, and the more Bible I read, I’m finding that the word that comes out of my mouth most often to God is: “Help.”
PRAISE/ASSURANCE
8 Salvation belongs to the LORD;
your blessing be on your people!
David ends his prayer with praise and assurance. David proclaims that salvation (victory/deliverance) belongs to God and that blessing is sure to come from God. The whole situation that started this prayer, verses 1-2, David leaves in the LORD’s hands. The praise that David gives God (“Salvation belongs to the LORD”) is one and the same with the assurance he gives himself (“Salvation belongs to the LORD”).
Who will you let salvation (victory/deliverance) belong to today? Is it up to you? Do you really want to carry that burden? Or will you realize and rest in the reality that salvation belongs to the LORD? He sees your verses 1-2. He knows what He is doing.
Psalm 3 gives us a grid for processing and approaching life in this world: Sight–>Belief–>Remembrance–>Resolve–>Prayer–>Praise/Assurance.
I want Psalm 3 to mark my life. Wouldn’t it be great if our approach to each new day looked like 2 verses of Sight and 6 verses of Belief, Remembrance, Resolve, Prayer, and Praise centered on the LORD?
