Peter and Paul: On How to Make Christianity More Appealing

Sometime after Paul's conversion on "The Road to Damascus" he meets Peter and the Apostles in Jerusalem(Acts 9:26-29). 

After his first missionary journey they meet up again in AD 50 for The Council at Jerusalem―this is a conversation they could have had.

St Peter and St Paul, Ukrainian Orthodox icon

Paul: So Peter how has this new "faith thing" been going for you?

Peter: Ah, okay I guess. How about you?

Paul: Pretty terrific, really!

Peter: Seriously, how about those scars I see showing above the collar line of your                             robe...dude...and what happened to your face?

Paul: Oh those (pointing to his face)? My face got more-than-a-little messed up when they                dropped stones on my head and chest trying to kill me over in Lystra.    

Peter: Well that didn’t go too well for you did it?

Paul: Yeah…I guess you could say that! Hey, Peter check these scares here (pointing to his              back as if a badge of honor) they were left by the angry Jews to whom, I had been                     sharing the gospel. It gets them pretty agitated wherever I go and preach the gospel and           mention the name of Jesus.

Peter: Right!?

Paul: What about you? What has your life been like after becoming a follower? 

Peter: Oh, I was put in jail and was going to be murdered like James, but with God’s help I               managed to escape. Now it seems like I’m pretty much a fugitive and everyone is                    against me for preaching the gospel as well.  I’ve been on the down-low―can’t really              show my face in Jerusalem and have been on the run!

Paul: I know, right!

Peter: Even now I had to sneak back here into the city to testify on your behalf.

Paul: How are the other guys doing?

Peter: Paul serious? You know better than anyone what happened to Stephen. As for James,

          he had his head was cut off by king Agrippa―John the Baptist was beheaded by                     Agrippa’s lunatic father, Herod Antipas. As for the other guys it’s been hard for all of             us. Paul you should know that – look at what you’ve gone through. 

     (Feast of Herod with the Beheading of St John the Baptist, in the Prado Museum in Madrid,  Bartholomeus Strobel's           masterpiece - 10 meters wide)

Paul: Don’t you ever wish it could a little bit easier―after all we are proclaiming the gospel.            What if we could change the message and say something like, “Accept Jesus and you              could be saved from having a hard life to a really good one.”?

Peter: Or something along these lines, “Accept Jesus and all of your difficulties will go away           and when you turn your life over to Him, all things will become easy.”

Paul: Yeah, or we could say, “If you raise your hand to be a follower of Christ―this new                gospel thingy will make all your problems go away.”

Peter: I’m sure that might get us more people. But Paul, I walked with Jesus and knew that               He turned more people away when He said that that following meant dying to self and             picking up a cross.  

Paul: RIGHT! He never said the He came to save us from all of our financial problems or                health problems. Peter as you know Jesus did His miracles, you did your miracles, I did          my miracles and those things are definite blessings but the gospel is not the promise of            financial reward or just a temporary thing like good health. Followers of Jesus can be             delivered from all kinds of destructive addictions and behaviors―but it is so much more         than that―it is the deliverance from the power and penalty of death. It is the saving of             the soul from eternal destruction. It does not necessarily save you from bad relationships         or bad situations nor does it promise protection from hate or persecution―it’s just the             opposite.

Peter: Right! My life wasn’t so bad before I encountered Jesus. I had a good thing going. I                 was middle class and liked my occupation as a fisherman...and doing what I loved to             do.

Paul: Look at how my life has changed. I had everything: title, respect, money, position,                   honor, family. I had a job I was passionate about and one that I also loved doing.

Peter: Do you think we can get more recruits and will suffer less persecution if we tone it                  down and tell them that if they want to know Jesus then everything becomes easy.                    Let’s tell that that it will make your life better. Let's tell them they could have more                  things.

Paul: Peter you're a comedian. I gave everything up and counted everything I had as                          loss―just in knowing Christ. Don’t tell them that we’re fugitives or that we had been in          prison or share with them how I had almost murdered and whipped and flogged for the           sake of the gospel. God forbid. That might frighten them and turn them away. 

Peter: You mean whitewash the gospel in a new version that doesn’t include the call to give              everything up.

Paul: Yeah. Let’s not mention how much it might cost.

Peter: We could do it this way; we could tell them it’s like joining some kind of club.

Paul: Offer exclusive membership with different levels of benefits – Rock concerts –                        climbing walls―choice of coffee and pastries. Tell them they can have it all.  Inoculate          them from suffering of any kind. Make them want more from the place where every                creature comfort is met.

Peter: Hum? That’s good Paul, but that will come later—much later. For now, let’s just keep              telling them that to follow will cost everything—but the glories of knowing Him, the                offer of grace and the promises of  everlasting life—is worth it all.

Paul: Amen and Amen bro. Worth every sacrifice. 

Peter: Worth dying for.

'Oldest' image of St Paul discovered.  Archaeologists have uncovered a 1,600 year old image of St Paul, the oldest one known of, in a Roman catacomb.  

The fresco, which dates back to the 4th Century AD, was discovered during restoration work at the Catacomb of Saint Thekla but was kept secret for ten days.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/5675461/Oldest-image-of-St-Paul-discovered.html    June 2009 

                            Caravaggio's depiction of the crucifixion of Apostle Peter.

Clement of Rome, in his Letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 5), written c. 80–98, speaks of Peter's martyrdom in the following terms: "Let us take the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and envy the greatest and most just pillars of the Church were persecuted, and came even unto death… Peter, through unjust envy, endured not one or two but many labours, and at last, having delivered his testimony, departed unto the place of glory due to him."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter 

The Great Suggestion and the Lazy Bride of Honor

Did you know that the words “The Great Commission” are nowhere to be found in Scripture?

That’s right.  As a matter of fact the word “commission” [epitropē] is only used once in the New Testament and in regards to the Apostle Paul. It was used in a negative connotation in his commission from the chief priest to persecute Christians (Acts 26:12).

Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus sit His Apostles down and says something along these lines, “Okay guys, here is the great commission for you.” The essence is there―coined by someone much later (possibly more than 1600 years later), but that phrase did not originate in the words spoken by Christ nor was it inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

WHAT!?

Because of the heavy emphasis on global missions expressed within the commissioning passage of Matthew’s gospel, this catch phrase was later popularized by Hudson Taylor. Subsequently these words made it into some translations of the Bible as a heading by well-intentioned translators.

Here is the problem.

Because of the elevated status of a commission so great that “The Great Commission” of Matthew’s gospel stands alone in the spotlight (Matt 28:16-20). The notoriety of this passage affords it so much attention that many Christians are unaware that it is only ONE of FIVE commissioning passages in the New Testament. There are several reasons this one stands head and shoulders above the other four.  For example it mentions of Trinity by naming the Father, Son and Holy Spirit which are found side by side for the first time in the New Testament. It mentions the authority of the risen Christ as well as the promises that He will be with us always. Good stuff―No―Great Stuff. However, the other four passages stand in the shadow of its fame by comparison. 

I often wonder how Dr. Luke (Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:4-8), The Beloved Apostle (Jn 20:19-23), and Peter’s scribe, Mark (Mark 16:14-18) feel about being so overlooked (hyperbole).

If there are four other commissioning passages, what do they say and how can they be used to either debrief or to turbocharge “The Great Commission” which has been watered down, lost so much of its punch and has an implied interpretation that has given permission for disobedience?

I’m glad you asked.

I.                   Matt 28:18-20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” In this passage there is one command. There is ONLY one command and that single imperative in this passage is to MAKE disciples.  “Go” is a participle i.e. “going” as are the words “baptizing” and “teaching.”

II.                Let’s check in next with the good doctor. Luke 24:44-49 (post resurrection) Jesus tells his disciples they are to be witnesses of Christ in the preaching to all nations by the power of the Holy Spirit that God promised to send.

III.             In Acts (just before the ascension into heaven), Luke reports the words of Christ, which are essentially the same thing. When I go you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit promised by my Father and when this power comes upon you - you will be my witnesses from here in Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:4-8).

IV.             Mark writes, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:14-18). Some people may want to discount this because these verses at the end of Mark’s gospels do not appear in the earliest manuscript.

So let’s put this on the shelf for a minute and turn to John’s Gospel

V.                John 20:19-23. This is Jesus’ appearance to disciples just after the resurrection where he breathes the Holy Spirit on them and says, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” I know this doesn’t seem like much, but in context this “commissioning” packs a wallop according to Bible scholar Andreas Köstenberger (saving Köstenberger for later, let’s put all five into the collective stew pot and see how they inform each other).

The cumulative weight within these commissioning passages is on proclaiming Christ and preaching the gospel. “I’m leaving. I’m going away,” Jesus says. “When I go, my Father will send you the Holy Spirit. When that power comes upon you―I send you to be my witnesses to testify about me―proclaiming the gospel―making me known to the ends of the earth. As you are going (poreúomai - “go” in “The Great Commission”) whereby men get saved―MAKE DISCIPLES (the command), baptize them and teach them to obey everything that I taught.

Without these four other passages to keep The Great Commission in check the commissioning in Matthew becomes less-than-great as it loses its potency and sense of urgency. Since the imperative is to make disciples and we are to be doing that as we are going, we do it as we are going about all of our other business. We turn the participle go into a lazy maid of honor. She’s become worthless to the bride whom she is supposed to be serving. 

Or it would be like anxiously waiting at the door for your son to return home from the pharmacy with a prescription for a very ill loved-one. Two hours later you’re ready to kill the kid (again a hyperbole) when he returns after a game of kick-the-can with some neighbor kids when he tells you the Greek meaning behind your command to go the drug store. He looks you in the eye and tells you the command was to get the medicine and that the word go (poreúomai) you used was not the main directive in the sentence only the means of moving from one place to the other.

You can’t find fault with the kids Greek interpretive skills, but you had no intention of your participle “as you are going”―being so passive. 

This is where the bride and her maid of honor example comes in. According to one of the foremost Greek scholars in the world the word “go” is an “Attendant Circumstance.”

HUH?

Daniel B. Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary says in his Greek Grammar beyond the basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament, that this weak rendering of the participle “to be going” turns the Great Commission into the Great Suggestion. 

The word going here, though a participle is what he calls “an attendant circumstance.”  Wallace writes, “The participle in effect then, “piggy-backs” on the mood of the main verb.”^[1] He gives scriptural validation to this claim by citing Matt 2:13 where the angel says to Joseph and his mother. “Rise and take the child and flee.” In the same way here rise is a participle and loses the urgency if translated the same way we tend to translate the participle “go” in the Great Commission.

In keeping with same methods of interpretation and applying that to Matt 2:13, the angel’s words would look something more like this, “After you have arisen…take and go.”  Joseph’s immediate response, to get up and go, however, helps us to understand that the urgency of arising was more than a mere suggestion. 

In the same way we have made the “Go” in the great commission nothing more than a lazy attendant which refuses to help the Command to carry out its primary function of making disciples.

“Go cat!” 

“Don’t bother me here…(yawn)…I’ll take that as a mere suggestion.”

Our focus on just “The Great Commission” of making disciples loses both the urgency and the commissioning force of the other four commissioning passages which is to proclaim and to share the gospel.  This is not “The Great Suggestion.” In obedience to Christ we should get after what He has commissioned us to do as His sent ones.

You have the Power, the supernatural equipping and the unique gifting to make Christ known and to bring God glory right where He has put you―His purpose for you.  

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:9-11

---

[1]Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar beyond the basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament   p 639-640   Zondervan

* Picture credit (http://lovingtheclimb.com/2014/02)

Zombies Can Come Back to Life

                                    Leave Scarecrow and Rise Zombie

On May 27^th I already answered one very difficult theological paradox. I pointed to the metaphor of Jesus that helped untangle the quandary regarding what seems like polar opposites: Works Vs Rest. 

His call upon our lives, likened to being “fishers of men” offers the perfect solution to an argument that I’m sure Christians will continue to fight over Ad Infinitium. 
            (However, this is not the battlefield He has called us to—btw)

This time, I want to talk about Zombies and Scarecrows in hopes of answering another theological conundrum.  I hope this short explanation will help solve the riddle of that age old question that Christians have been fighting-over for the past two millennium.

We’ll do Zombies in a minute, but let’s begin with scarecrows. In the art of debate there is a tactic employed in emotionally charged arguments called the “straw man” fallacy.

What I do in employing the “straw man” logic is build a false premise that I attach to my opponent as though it represents his argument. Then having built up the straw man I blow it over (since it is made out of straw) thus seemingly beat my opponent by destroying the premise – i.e refuting the very thing (the false argument) I advanced on his behalf.

"Yeah - look at me. I'm Awesome!" 

Going a little further down the path of the “Works Righteousness” argument, often leads directly to the feet to the straw man. Here is the proposition that is offered up as this sacrificial being (our poor hypothetical Scarecrow) who we are so anxious to destroy: 

  

 “Can a Christian do anything to add to his salvation?”

This might have been a good question for the Church to wrestle with for the first fifteen or sixteen hundred years.

It certainly was a valid question at the time of The Reformation and was given much consideration by Luther, Calvin and the reformers. Protestant Christianity had been freed from the tyranny of the Catholic Church and liberated from the oppressive doctrine of works righteousness which happens to be the basic doctrine of Justification by faith alone—Sola Fida.  

Sola Fida is our battle cry taken directly from Ephesians 2:8 and 9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.”

The funny thing is, this straw man argument still lives on among Bible believing Christians.  LISTEN! It is employed mostly by those desperately seeking a way to rationalize laziness and apathy in their Christian walk that is void of any kind of works i.e. the evidence of faith.

  

“HAH! The Bible saith, ‘We’re saved by grace through faith alone’ So there!”

YET, TODAY–the proposition of “adding to one’s salvation” is pretty well universally understood. It was answered at The Reformation in the doctrine Justification that has now been taught for 500 years and understood by most believers. The straw man is dead and should remain dead. Why does it have life? Only because, if I chant this mantra and then proceed to blow it over, I can stare you in the eye—having victoriously defended myself as if there is nothing to DO after salvation.

ARISE THE ZOMBIE!

Read the next verse Christian (use whatever version you want) Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Let me repeat these words of Scripture. We are created in Christ “to do good works.”

Does that nullify the previous two verses?  No. Sola Fida—wins. We are incapable of doing anything outside the atoning sacrifice of Jesus and His bloodshed on the cross for the attainment of salvation. It is a free gift and no amount of works can get us into heaven.

            Q. Can I add to my salvation?  
            A. Of course not!
How can anyone hope to add to the perfection of blood atonement of the Lamb of God.  It’s Done—BAM! A more fitting description is found in the words of Jesus on the Cross “IT IS FINISHED!” 

The writer of Hebrews declares it to be, “Once for all.”  HELLO?  WE GET IT! 

In the good ‘O King James, Paul says it this way, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

¹³ Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

¹⁴ In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” Col 1:12-14

John says this, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” Jn 4:24

Enter the Zombie!  We were once alive walking around this planet in our earth suits but the Bible describes us as being dead. By believing in Christ… we are TRANSLATED from the kingdom of darkness and have crossed over into life.

The Bible is describing us as though we were once Zombies—dead walking people.

It is Paul who writes for us in Ephesians 5:14-15

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

WAKE UP! Quit living like Zombies—that’s your past. You are a new creation. God, Himself, has given you life.

He has saved you.

He has redeemed you.

And He has deposited His Holy Spirit in you so that, now—this side of Justification—being made alive, you can respond to God in faithful obedience that produces the fruit of faith, evidenced by the WORK He has ordained for us to walk in.

"Talk all you want" James is trying to say… “Talk is Cheap – you can see the evidence of the new life given to me by grace through faith in the work it produces through me. 

RISE ZOMBIE – listen to the voice of God who puts the flesh and blood on dry bones. Walk in the newness of who you truly are in Christ… so that men may see the good deeds you do and Glorify our Father in heaven.

Maybe this is why the Prince of Preachers says, "Do something, Do something, Do something."   Charles Spurgeon     

  

Elephants and Ice Cream: Get Your Spoon Out!

Could you eat two scoops of Ice cream?

This whole “Eating an elephant one bite at a time” thing can be problematic―especially when it comes to evangelism.  It lulls us into complacency because is it an example of something that none of us would ever do in reality.  I’m never going to eat an elephant―not one limb―not one shovelful―and not one bite at a time.  If evangelism is about starting with small steps likened to a bite of an elephant―then no thank you. 

       Eat an elephant? Yuck! Why even try.

A cow?

Maybe a cow…right?  Would it be better to ask,                   “How do you eat a cow?”

With the answer being, “You eat a cow one hamburger or tri-tip at a time.” 

Maybe. Realistically, however it would take the average person 10 years to eat the weight of a butchered cow… not including hooves and eye-balls and other body parts. Maybe it is easier to image eating a cow over the idea of eating an elephant, but in all reality “forget-about-it” because it’s still too big of a project for the mere mortal to engage over the course of a year.   

If the cow example doesn’t work, than let’s try this one? 

How do you eat a mountain of ice cream? 

I love ice cream and even though I’d like to give it a shot, I know it would be impossible for me to eat a mountain of ice cream as big as Mount Everest.

You just couldn’t do it!

But what if several million people all picked up a spoon and began eating.

                        Together, we could indeed eat an entire mountain of ice cream.

When we think of evangelism it would be easy to be overcome by the insurmountable odds of getting the message of the gospel out to the billions who are perishing―that is like eating an elephant, a cow or a mountain of ice cream. But when we understand that we are called into this together and that each one us only has to eat two scoops of ice cream it suddenly makes the whole idea seem very simple (and if not enjoyable). 

Even with the faith of a mustard seed WE can move mountains. Don’t even begin to think it is something you must do by yourself. Simply pick up your spoon and influence the couple people that God has placed around you. Trust God and have faith to be used by Him in the course of everyday living in making Him known and extending His glory. Become intentional with relationships. Pray for transformational encounters and actively encarnationally engage the world next door.   

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. 

                                                                                                                                       Eph 3:20-21

You are perfectly positioned and supernaturally equipped by God. Believe that He can use you to win one person in one year for the sake of His Holy Name.        Pick up your spoon! 

Solving the riddle of Biblical tension that has riddled the Church for 2000 years.

I was born into a a family of avid fisherman.


                However, I was different!

(That's me on the far right)


I'm sure that being forced to choose between having bamboo shoved under your fingernails and fishing I would choose fishing. Other than that, there are few things I like less than fishing.


Jesus said “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mk 1:17).

I'm just not wired for fishing. If you enjoy fishing like my father or brothers then odds are in your favor that you are not certifiably ADHD. I told my brothers that if they could put pole in my hands while I'm water skiing behind a speeding boat then there is a chance that they might have me hooked (that is a pun - of course). Although, fishing literally hurts something inside of me―the metaphor of fishing, however, is not lost on me.

What I do understand from fishing helps me to answer the biblical dichotomy between "rest" and "work."

You've have likely seen the plethora of bumper stickers that have to do with fishing. 

 

and the classic 

Okay, I might not like to fish... but I get it! 

What I do get is that most true fishermen―like my dad and brothers LOVE TO FISH. 

They set out with great expectation of catching fish, but love everything about it even when they don't catch fish. Whether sitting on the shore of a river or on a boat or standing knee deep―the WORK is relaxing, it is therapeutic, it is does something that refreshes the soul. 

Fishing is WORK and REST at the same time!  The terminology that Jesus used "just so happens" to be perfect metaphor for our Christian walk of faith. When He said "enter my rest" "you will be fishers of men" and that you are created "for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" solves the tension between the seemingly polar opposites of the works and rest debate that seems to get everyone bent out of shape.

When we are bent into His shape...transformed more and more in His image (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18), the more we long to be out fishing and the more we are refreshed in our inner-man as we engage in the activities that we were created for. 

The good news we don't ever go fishing alone. We sit in the boat right next to our heavenly Father. We draw closer and build intimacy with Him as we put our lines into the water...sometimes quietly―sometimes in conversation―but always together. 

This is work that is filled with hopeful expectation and that brings great joy. It is relaxing, it refreshes and it also means that we will eventually catch something if our line is in the water long enough ―i.e. bear fruit!  

As fishing was a lifestyle for those initial fishermen called by Jesus - being a fisher of men should be a lifestyle for all who are called by Him and bear His name: Christians. 

It's not complicated. Simply toss your line in where you live, where you work, where you go to school, and where you play. Live the gospel intentionally in front of others as the bait that draws people to Jesus.   

Have Fun! 

It is not out of compulsion but done out of love for God that works it way into loving others!

You are called!
You are perfectly positioned!
You are supernaturally outfitted!   

(Dad baiting hook for 6 boys off of the Santa Monica Pier)