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February 8, 2018

A Guide for Jesus Skeptics: An Interview with John Dickson

Apart from the Bible, what are the earliest historical sources that speak of Jesus? How is he portrayed? And why should skeptics take a second look at this central of all historical figures?

Bible Gateway interviewed John Dickson (@johnpauldickson) about his book, A Doubter’s Guide to Jesus: An Introduction to the Man from Nazareth for Believers and Skeptics (Zondervan, 2018).

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, A Guide for Bible Skeptics: An Interview with John Dickson]

You say this book is an introduction to the major portrayals of Jesus found in the earliest historical sources. What are those sources?

John Dickson: First, there are what you might call the ‘background’ sources: texts and artefacts that set the scene for the life of Jesus. All good history begins with knowing as much as we can about the politics, culture, economics, geography, and religion of the area under investigation. For the study of Jesus, it’s important to explore Jewish writings such as the Pseudepigrapha, Josephus, Philo, the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as Graeco-Roman texts like Tacitus, Plutarch, along with the many papyri we have containing letters, contracts, and the like. One might also include archaeological remains among these ‘background’ sources, which provide a wealth of information about life in Jesus’ day.

Once we have a decent idea of this background, the historian is in a good position, secondly, to investigate the ‘direct’ sources for Jesus, which include some scraps of information from non-Christian writings, such as the paragraphs in Josephus and Tacitus, but really should focus on the New Testament writings—Paul, as the earliest witness to Jesus, and of course the Gospels, which provide full biographies (in the ancient sense) of this figure. Many scholars will also distinguish between sources found within the Gospels themselves—Q, L, SQ, and the like. Just as other ancient biographers and chroniclers in antiquity employed earlier sources in their works, it does seem as though our Gospel writers followed this expected pattern.

What can be determined about Jesus without even opening the Bible?

John Dickson: If we never had a Bible, and just relied on Josephus, Tacitus, Mara bar Serapion, and Pliny the Younger we would still know that Jesus was a famed Jewish teacher of some kind, who had a reputation for ‘baffling deeds’—in other words, healings—and who, despite being executed by Pontius Pilate, was declared the ‘Christ’ and was even worshipped in song by the earliest Christians. We would also know Jesus had a brother named James, who led the Christian movement and suffered martyrdom under the high priest Ananus in about AD 62.

It’s not a lot of information, but it’s enough for most specialists, regardless of their belief or unbelief, to think there cannot be any reasonable doubt about the broad narrative of Jesus’ life. These sources are so diverse—Jewish, Roman, and Syriac—it’s most improbable that an invented story would make it into unconnected writings.

Most people can agree that Jesus was a teacher. What was the heart of Jesus’ teaching?

John Dickson: Sometimes people split apart Jesus’ teaching. They either think of him as a theological preacher who proclaimed the coming of the kingdom of God and the judgment and salvation of the world, or they cast him as a simple ethical teacher of love and kindness. Of course, both are true, and both are connected.

Jesus did preach the kingdom of God. That seems to be his central message, as most scholars agree. But that kingdom, according to Jewish tradition and Jesus’ own statements, involves the overthrow of all evil and the establishment of divine justice and love in the world. Jesus’ ethical teaching is intimately connected to this. He called on people first to repent and depend on the mercy of God so that they might escape the judgment of this great reversal, and he called on people to live now in anticipation of the future kingdom. The kingdom is about righteousness, so we should live in righteousness. The kingdom will establish love, so we should practice love toward all. And so on. Theology and ethics cannot be split apart in Jesus’ teaching.

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Challenge for Skeptics: Read 100 Pages of the Bible]

You say that ‘Christ’ is more than a mere surname. What do you mean?

John Dickson: Yes, I grew up—without any church involvement—thinking ‘Christ’ was his family name. But, of course, it’s a title of utmost respect, employed by both Orthodox Judaism and Christianity.

In the Judaism of, say, the ancient Pharisees or Essenes, the Christ or Messiah or ‘anointed one’ was a figure possessing divine power to speak and act God’s will in the world. One text written in Jerusalem shortly before Jesus says the Christ will destroy all the sinners who dare to tread down God’s people and that he will establish holiness everywhere.

Jesus acted and spoke of himself in messianic ways but any reader of the Gospels knows he was a bit cagey about accepting the declaration that he was the Christ. Even when Peter declares him “the Christ” (Mark 8:27ff), he warns the disciples not to spread the word. Perhaps Jesus wanted to ensure that this title was interpreted correctly by his disciples before he allowed his status to be public. He had come to serve people not conquer them (Mark 10:45), and it seems he had quite some difficulty getting this idea across to the disciples, who were perhaps raised with an expectation of messianic power over all.

Describe how Jesus was seen as a friend during his lifetime.

John Dickson: Jesus was criticized by some in his day as a “friend of sinners” (Matt 11:19; Luke 7:34). It was intended as a stinging insult, since contact with sinners in his day was heavily regulated, especially by groups like the Pharisees and Essenes. But Jesus may have taken it as a compliment.

One of the striking things about his life is the way he welcomed sinners to his table, or even invited himself to the home of sinners. He had an amazing ability to hold ‘conviction’ and ‘compassion’ in perfect balance. Yes, he preached the judgment of God on sin, but then he sat down at the dinner table with those you might have thought were first in line for judgment. This habit caused quite some controversy, but for Jesus it was an expression of the welcome God wanted to extend to sinners in this period of amnesty before the kingdom fully comes. A series of parables such as we find in Luke 15 is designed to answer his critics on just this question.

What is the portrait you paint of Jesus as emperor?

John Dickson: Jesus as ‘emperor’ is not a dominant theme in the New Testament, but there are numerous connections between Christian claims about their Lord and Roman claims about Caesar.

The word ‘lord’ for one thing—kurios—was a key imperial epithet, as was ‘son of God.’ And in Luke’s infancy narrative (Luke 2) we find emperor Augustus flexing his muscles in a worldwide census as the true Lord is born in the town of David, to fulfil all the promises granted to David about an eternal kingdom. One ‘lord’ acts in brutal power to conquer the world, the other ‘Lord’ acts in humble service to save the world.

Seeing Jesus as ‘emperor’ might feel like a weird idea today but it has a practical power. It calls on us to rise above the culture of our day, to sit loosely to the claims of “empire,” and give priority to the values of Christ’s kingdom. In the New Testament this is called being “citizens of heaven” (Philippians 3:20). This expression recalls how important it was for ancient people to be “citizens” of the Roman empire. But it subverts the notion, asking believers to draw their sense of identity from God’s kingdom, to pin their hopes on Christ’s vision of the future, and to commit themselves to the Pax Christi (rather than the ‘peace of Rome’), Christ’s way of peace through the ethic of love.

What do you want this book to achieve in the lives of its readers?

John Dickson: For Christians, I hope A Doubter’s Guide to Jesus will help them read the Gospels with fresh eyes, and discover again the glorious, multifaceted nature of Jesus. We can’t put him in any one box. We mustn’t domesticate him. Taking in the range of portraits of Jesus—teacher, saviour, judge, friend, God, servant, and so on—will hopefully inspire believers to stand in awe of our Lord. But I also write these books very much for those who don’t yet believe in Christ. I hope such readers will find a calm, thoughtful, reliable account of Jesus’ life that answers a lot of their critical questions—about history or philosophy—and paints a picture of what it might mean to take Jesus seriously.

What is a favorite Bible passage of yours and why?

John Dickson: Perhaps my favorite passage is Romans 8:38-39, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

There’s much in the world that might obscure our view of the love of God—my own sin and foibles, the suffering I see among loved ones, the evil in the world, and so on. But if it’s true that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself in the death and resurrection of Jesus, this is an anchor that allows me to put one foot in front of the other each day, despite all that might diminish a sense of God’s love.

What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?

John Dickson: What a massive service Bible Gateway provides to the world! To make the Scriptures available like this is a gift, and the mountain of trustworthy resources available online is amazing. I have the app on my phone, and it’s a super convenient way to read, and to listen to, the Bible when you’re on the go.

A Doubter’s Guide to Jesus is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.

Bio: John Dickson (PhD, Ancient History) is the author of more than a dozen books, Rector of St Andrew’s Roseville, and a busy public speaker. He has hosted three TV documentaries and is a regular media commentator. In 2007 he founded the Centre for Public Christianity. He has held lecturing and research positions at both Macquarie University (Sydney) and the University of Sydney, where he teaches a course on the Historical Jesus. A Visiting Academic in the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University for 2017-18, he lives in Sydney with his wife and three children.

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February 7, 2018

You Don’t Get Your Own Personal Jesus

Guest Post

By J. D. Greear

When I arrived at the boarding gate, only two other people were waiting to board the late-night flight from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to Charlotte, North Carolina. One was a gentleman I estimated to be 200 years old. The other was a mysterious, brooding young woman in her early 20s with deep brown eyes. I was young and single, so I prayed about where to sit and felt “clearly led” to sit next to the girl.

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, God Is Bigger Than You Imagine: An Interview with J.D. Greear]

She was from Chile, and her name was Berta. She had a strong accent and rolled her r’s whenever she said her name, so it came out Berrrrrrrrrta. She was returning to Boston, Massachusetts, where she lived on campus at Harvard University. I’d just graduated from Campbell University—“ the Harvard of the South”—so immediately I felt we had a bond.

Conversation turned toward what we were doing with our lives, and I told her God had called me into ministry. I explained how I had come to faith in Christ, how he had changed my life, and how I now wanted to spend the rest of my life telling other people about him.

The whole time I talked, she stared at me with those deep, brooding eyes. She said, “You know, at Harvard I am around some of the most driven, intelligent men in the world. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone speak about life with such conviction and purpose.”

I thought, “This is awesome! I’m going to lead this girl to Christ, and then we’re going to get married. This will make a great story for the times I introduce her at Christian conferences and book signings.”

We talked about Jesus for nearly the entire flight. As we began our descent into Charlotte, I thought I better close the deal (um, for Jesus). So I said, “Berrrrta, would you like to trust Jesus as your Savior?”

Without giving it much thought, she said, “No . . . you know, that kind of stuff has just never worked for me. I am so happy that you have found your peace in Jesus, but I relate to my God in a different way.”

“But Berrrrta,” I said. “Jesus said in John 14:6 that he was the only way to come to God. He provided a salvation for us that we could not provide for ourselves. He’s not just my way, Berta; he’s the only way.”

She said, “Surely you are not saying that your way is the only way to God.”

I said, “Berrrta, I don’t think you understand. It’s not my way, it’s his way. And I am not saying that; Jesus said that.”

“You’re trying to tell me that if I don’t accept Jesus the way that you have, I won’t go to heaven?”

“Well, yes.”

“That has to be the most arrogant, closed-minded thing I’ve ever heard someone say. I can’t believe anyone today would be so bigoted as to think that there is only one way to God. What kind of God is that? That’s not a God I want to know.”

At that point, I suspected the wedding was off.

I sat there in my seat, a little shell-shocked, unsure of what to say next. As the pilot announced our final descent into Charlotte, I said: “Berrrrta, I sure am glad the pilot of this airplane doesn’t look at the airport the way you look at truth.”

“What do you mean?”

“Say he announces, ‘You know, I am sick of that arrogant little “control tower” always saying I’ve got to land this 737 on a narrow little strip of cement they call a “runway.” That’s their way, not mine. I am an open-minded pilot, so today I am going to land on the interstate. Or try to balance this aircraft nose first on the tip of the Bank of America building downtown.’ Personally, I’m glad that our pilot chooses to enter the airport along that narrow little way the control tower lays out for him.”

She said, “That’s not a fair comparison.”

I said, “Yes, it is. And that’s Campbell University, 1; Harvard, 0, if you’re keeping score.”

I probably should have been more gracious. But even amidst my wounded ego and the crushed dreams of a Chilean wedding, I stand by that comparison.

Like Berta, very few people object when I say that Jesus Christ is my Savior. Some even find it “attractive.” It’s when I go on to say the rest of what Jesus says—that he is the only way to God and the authority on all matters in life and death—that they cry foul. Our culture’s problem is not with Jesus as a good man, a prophet, a teacher, or even as a deity. It’s with Jesus’s primary claim, that he is Lord.

Sometimes I hear people talk about “my God” or “my Jesus” as if he were their possession. Once, I was listening to two people on a talk show debate the Christian perspective on some moral issue. One, to her credit, was trying to explain what the Bible said. The other, who was a bit more “free-thinking,” kept saying indignantly, “Well, my Jesus would never say that.” The individual referred to “his Jesus” so many times that I finally yelled at the television, “You don’t get your own personal Jesus!” I’m aware that he couldn’t hear me. But it still felt right at the time.

God is not “ours.” He is his own. He’s not a salad bar where we take the items we have an appetite for and leave the others. He’s not the Burger King God, where you “have him your way,” or a Build-A-Bear God, where you assemble the deity you like best.

When God appeared to Moses, he declared, “I am who I am.” “I am who I am” is not “I am whoever you want me to be.”

Can we imagine how offensive it must be to God when we attempt to reshape him according to our preferences? How would you like it if someone did that to you? Suppose a writer approached you and said, “I have been watching you, and I’d really like to write your biography. I want other people to know how wonderful you are.” But then their biography presents you as an astronaut with a string of failed relationships who lives alone with 18 cats, none of which are true. So, you say to your biographer, “Uhhh . . . there’s a problem. First, I’m scared of heights; second, I am not that bad at relationships; and third, like all godly people, I prefer dogs to cats.”

They respond, “Oh, but you are so much more interesting as the spurned, cat-loving astronaut. People will only buy the book if you’re like that.”

My guess is that you’d be offended. If we wouldn’t like someone else doing that to us, why would we think it’s OK to do that with God? Do we think that our idea of God is better than who he actually is?

Have we forgotten who we are talking about?

________

Taken from Not God Enough: Why Your Small God Leads to Big Problems by J. D. Greear. Click here to learn more about this title.

Your God is too small.

We like God small. We prefer a God who is safe, domesticated, who thinks like we think, likes what we like, and whom we can manage, predict, and control. A small God is convenient. Practical. Manageable.

The truth: God is big. Bigger than big. Bigger than all the words we use to say big.

Ironically, many today seem turned off by the concept of an awesome, terrifyingly great God. We assume that a God you would need to fear is guilty of some kind of fault. For us, thinking of God as so infinitely greater and wiser than we are and who would cause us to tremble in his presence is a leftover relic from an oppressive, archaic view of religion.

But what if this small version of God we’ve created is holding us back from the greatest experience of our lives—from genuine, confident, world-transforming faith?

In Not God Enough, J.D. reveals how to discover a God who:

is big enough to handle your questions, doubts, and fears
is not silent
is worthy of worship
wants to take you from boring to bold in your faith
has a purpose and mission for you on earth
is pursuing you right now

God is not just a slightly better, slightly smarter version of you. God is infinite and glorious, and an encounter with Him won’t just change the way you think about your faith. It’ll change your entire life.

J. D. Greear is pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. The Summit Church has been ranked by Outreach Magazine as one of the fastest-growing churches in the United States, with a weekly attendance of over 10,000, Greear has a PhD in systematic theology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of many books, including Gaining by Losing and Jesus Continued. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, Veronica, and their four children.

February 7, 2018

How to Live The Bible — When It Seems God Is Silent

Mel Lawrenz

This is the fourteenth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.

One of the most common spiritual issues is why it seems at times like God is silent. “O God of my praise, Do not be silent!” (Psalm 109:1). This is a plea voiced by numerous authors of Scripture.

There are many different circumstances which may give us a sense that God is silent. When we are having doubts, for instance, even though doubt is a normal part of faith. Or when we are depressed. Elijah the prophet withdrew to the wilderness after a great victory over the prophets of Baal and King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, afraid and depressed. In the end, Elijah heard God as “a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12).

In the midst of intense suffering, it may seem like God is silent. Jesus said from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). The reason for his dereliction was unique, but, on the other hand, almost anyone may cry out of a sense of abandonment if circumstances are severe enough.

When we are confused and looking for answers, or are guilty of a serious sin, or when we are disconnected from other people, or when we have chronic problems—all of these circumstances can make it seem like God is silent.

But, in fact, God is not silent. Psalm 19 says that creation itself is declaring of the glory of God which Paul in Romans 1 amplifies by saying God’s existence and invisible attributes are clearly understood through the creation. We call this general revelation.

Special revelation is the loud and clear voice of God through the words of the prophets and the apostles: the Scriptures. And Jesus himself, the Word, is God’s special revelation, the strong and pure voice of God. The actual words of Jesus echo through the centuries. They shape culture and transform lives.

Through the word of God in the Scriptures we gain “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16), the “wisdom from above” (James 3:17), and “Spirit-taught words” (1 Cor. 2:13). This revelation, which took place over thousands of years, covers every significant life circumstance. God’s voice in the Scriptures is specific and concrete. It is loud and precise and good.

Now someone may ask: Yes, God did speak in the past, but what about today? God did speak to those people, but what about to me?

Here is a crucially important truth: God’s word is eternal, and so what he said in the past is what he is saying now. 1 Peter 1:23 says that we have been born again “through the living and enduring word of God.” These two adjectives, “living” and “enduring” tell us God’s words back then are God’s words right now. Hebrews 4:12 says “the word of God is alive and powerful.” Jesus said in numerous ways that his words would go on and on.

So when we ask, “what would God say to me?” we must first consider the totality of what God has said to us over our lifetimes. This is the voice of God for us. It is not less because it is for everybody; it is more because it is for everybody. Just because each part of Scripture was a word to other people in its original context, it is still a word to us. God’s truth spoken to a group is no less a truth spoken to each individual.

It is also true that God may speak to us personally with what we could call inner promptings. Sometimes the Holy Spirit gifts us with a strong conviction or passion about something we might do. But the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit will never contradict the moral and ethical truth of Scripture. Someone may actually claim that God has told them they could be in an adulterous affair (this actually happens all the time), but that voice comes from the Tempter, not God.

When it seems like God is silent, there are some practical things we can do to open things up. If we have isolated ourselves from others, we should find ways to begin to break out. We should find wise people and listen to them. We should take confidence in the character of God as revealed in Scripture. We should hold on to the promises of God.

And we should be patient. Waiting is a true spiritual discipline. Virtually every significant personality in the Bible experienced different seasons of their spiritual lives. Sooner or later God’s voice breaks through.
________________
Coming Soon… A Book of Prayers for Kids

[If you believe this series will be helpful, this is the perfect time to forward this to a friend, a group, or a congregation, and tell them they too may sign up for the weekly emails here]

Mel Lawrenz (@MelLawrenz) trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s minister at large. He has a PhD in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel is the author of 18 books, including How to Understand the Bible—A Simple Guide and Spiritual Influence: the Hidden Power Behind Leadership (Zondervan, 2012). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.

February 6, 2018

Black History: Africa in the Bible

Jonathan Petersen

The extra attention given to Black history every year is called Black History Month, which is observed in the US (also known as African-American History Month), Canada, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands (Black Achievement Month). According to Wikipedia, it began as a way for remembering important people and events in the history of the African diaspora.

[Browse resources in the Black History section of the Bible Gateway Store]

Written over a period of 1500 years by around 40 authors, the Bible reflects a diverse and multicultural view of the world as it presents its life-altering message conveyed through personal interactions with God. Geographical groups such as Ethiopians, Cushites, Egyptians, Hebrews, and other tribal terms describe people of color and communicate the fact that the Bible includes a strong black presence. Black history has always played a central role in God’s plan for humanity.

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Africa Study Bible Launches with Global Events]

Today, Africa is a thriving hub of Christianity. The Africa Study Bible (Oasis International/Tyndale House, 2017) (@africastudybibl) is the first study Bible created to speak to African hearts and lives. Here are two examples of study notes in the book of Genesis from this Bible:

The Personhood of the African Woman

African women have often been suppressed and oppressed by cultures and traditions that exploit and abuse them. This treatment is seen in widowhood practices and in the customs of patriarchal societies. African women are treated this way because, according to the Yorubas of Western Nigeria, “Men have nine pair of ribs, and women seven. And so women are inferior.”

The biblical account of creation, however, reveals that God made the man and the woman different physically, but both were made in his image (Genesis 1:26-27). He endowed the woman with qualities of personality similar to the man. She fulfilled God’s creation and joined man in the divine mandate to produce children, car for creation, and participate in God’s plan of redemption. Seeing women the way God created them will inspire the church to love, respect, and accept women as people who are equal in their standing before God.

Glorifying and Imitating God — Genesis 1:31

How many times have you praised God at the sight of a beautiful flower or a herd of wild animals living peacefully in nature? We see the Creator’s wisdom when a beautiful valley stretches out before us and we breathe the fresh air of the countryside. The ocean’s waves, both the gentle ones and the powerful ones, speak to us of God’s intelligence. We hear the loud cry of an animal in the night, the birdsong that wakes us in the morning, the flutter of wings flying quietly over our heads. All these remind us that we are not alone in this universe that God created just for us. Beautiful mountains, plains, and valleys invite us to meditate and to worship the Creator. Thinking about his own work, God “saw that it was very good!”

Because we were created in the image and the likeness of God, we can imitate the Creator in our creative words and actions. God entrusted us with the sacred task of caring for his creation. So let us respect our environment by preserving it in a state of cleanliness, beauty, and “goodness”—a place where we can experience his perfect harmony.

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, How a Small Town Can Teach Love and Faith: An Interview with Eric L. Motley]

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February 6, 2018

God Is Bigger Than You Imagine: An Interview with J.D. Greear

Jonathan Petersen

How big is your view of God? Do you see him as merely an extension of yourself or as the very source of all that is? How does the Bible describe God? What does it mean in modern times to fear the Lord?

Bible Gateway interviewed J.D. Greear (@jdgreear) about his book, Not God Enough: Why Your Small God Leads to Big Problems (Zondervan, 2018).

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog guest post by J.D. Greear, You Don’t Get Your Own Personal Jesus]

You mention that a lot of people have problems with their faith because they have a “small view of God”? What exactly does that mean? And what’s the problem with that?

J.D. Greear: I first noticed it in myself: I had such difficulty feeling confident in faith, passionate in worship, and bold in my witness that I knew something had to be wrong at the core of my faith. After seeking God in this for more than two decades, I began to realize that at the root of all my problems was a diminished view of God. I imagined God only to be a slightly bigger, slightly smarter version of me. So I expected I’d be able to easily understand his ways and that he would always do what I thought he should do.

In Scripture, however, I encountered a God who was big—not just big, but bigger than all the words we use to say big. Only a God of such incomparable magnitude could account for the universe. Only a God of endless compassion and patience would have pursued our redemption. Only a God that was completely other was worthy of my worship. As Evelyn Underhill once said, “A god that is small enough to be understood is not big enough to be worshipped.”

I started to realize that far too much of my faith was the product of an American culture that prefers to see God as the missing piece of our lives, rather than the source, sustainer, and point of all that exists. You can hear that in how we talk about him, how we worship him, and how casually we treat him. The tragedy is that a small and manageable god, while easier to control, is completely unable to help us in the areas we need it most.

How does a person’s view of the Bible affect his or her view of God?

J.D. Greear: Doubt is a common experience throughout Scripture. The question is whether we respond to that doubt by surrendering in humble-though-still-confused wonder, or by modifying and explaining away what God has said. If we believe that God is beyond our comprehension, but that he’s chosen to reveal himself in Scripture, then we’ll be fervent students of his Word. If we don’t start with a posture of trust in Scripture, we’ll find ourselves quietly molding God to accommodate the prevailing winds of our culture.

What do you mean when you say that “the posture of humility is a prerequisite for faith”?

J.D. Greear: Solomon tells us that the fear of the Lord is the “beginning of knowledge.” That means until we see ourselves for how small and dependent we are, and God for how glorious and awesome he is, we won’t be prepared even to ask the right questions, much less receive the answers. Faith in God, submission to God, and passion for God are all rooted in our understanding how glorious the God speaking to us really is.

How does a person’s doubt reshape God into that person’s image?

J.D. Greear: Doubt isn’t the problem. It’s our response to doubt that matters. Charles Spurgeon once said that doubt was like a raised foot, poised either to move forward or to take a step back. We can never move forward in faith without first picking up the foot.

All too often, though, we allow our doubts to push us backwards by modifying God and his Word to fit our preferences. When we edit God into a form we find more palatable, we’re no longer worshiping any true God, just a deified projection of ourselves. The irony behind this is that the more we allow doubt to change our view of God, the doubts become stronger, not weaker.

Either Jesus is who God said he is or Jesus was an impostor. There really are no other alternatives.

How can a person properly grasp (and be astounded by) the bigness and magnificence of God?

J.D. Greear: We find it simply by looking upward. How big must be the God who spoke the galaxies into existence? Astronomers tell us that there are at least three septillion stars. That’s a 3 with 24 zeroes after it. And each one of these stars puts out roughly the same amount of energy as a trillion atom bombs every second. Some are so big they defy description—like Eta Carinae in our own Milky Way, which is five million times brighter than our sun! God spoke all that into existence with a word.

Most of all, we see his glory in the grand events of our salvation. What was Jesus—this perfect, powerful, pure person—doing by willingly laying down his life for those who either didn’t appreciate him, or worse, scorned him altogether? Who but God would have conceived such a plan?

If God is so splendorous and powerful, why is there so much trouble, disaster, heartache, and evil in the world?

J.D. Greear: Ironically, that God is so splendid and powerful is the only satisfying answer to the difficult question of evil in the world. Many people lose their faith when the “silver lining behind every dark cloud” answer fails to hold up to some painful chapter in their lives or horrific events happening on earth. In Not God Enough, I ask readers to do a thought experiment with me. To go back to our universe, God spoke into existence three septillion one-trillion-megaton-bombs-per-second-energy-producing-exploding-nuclear-spheres with a word. I, on the other hand, can barely lift the corner of my mattress over my head, and only if I wear a back brace and relax for the rest of the day. If the measure of God’s wisdom is as high above mine as his power is above mine, am I really in a place to evaluate it? Would that make any more sense than challenging God to an arm wrestling match? It just makes sense to me that some things may not make sense to me.

The cross shows us, however, that the one thing we can be sure of is that God has not abandoned us. There we see the depths he was willing to go to save us; his willingness to suffer with us. So, whatever the reason for our particular experience of suffering, the one thing we know can’t be is that he’s forgotten about us. The cross proves that can’t be true.

Explain how God is both a God of wrath and a God of love.

J.D. Greear: Wrath is not the opposite of love, but a necessary component of it. When you love something, you hate the thing that destroys it. We hate the cancer that destroys the loved one whose body it attacks. God hates sin precisely because he loves his creation, and us, and his glory that sustains it all. We think we want a God without wrath. But a God without wrath would be a God with no true goodness and no true justice.

Why do you say God is speaking today when it appears that he’s, at best, a silent observer?

J.D. Greear: The Bible is a living book, animated by the living Spirit of the Savior who rose from the dead and promised he would inhabit its pages until he returned. Admittedly, Jesus hides himself from those who do not seek him with an open and humble heart, just as he did in the Gospels. But for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, he’s as alive and active today as he was when he walked the streets of Galilee.

What happens to a person’s actions (and general living) when that person has an appropriate understanding of God’s greatness?

J.D. Greear: Rather than seeking to fit God into the margins of your life, you realize your life exists for him. This kind of self-forgetfulness is the secret—if there ever was one—to fulfillment and joy. We were created to be complete only in worship of—and fellowship with—a God who defies our comprehension. What’s more, you’ll develop a sense of calling and confidence in life that will propel you to meaningful and joyful sacrifice on behalf of his kingdom.

What is a favorite Bible passage of yours and why?

J.D. Greear: I love Isaiah 66:1-2 because it reminds me that the way to know God is through humility, a posture of continual repentance over our proud, sinful hearts, and by faithfully heeding the words God has given us in the Bible.

What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?

J.D. Greear: I love how accessible it makes God’s Word. I use it almost every day!

Not God Enough is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.

Bio: J.D. Greear is the pastor of The Summit Church, in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

The Summit is characterized by its gospel focus and sending culture. Under J.D.’s leadership, the Summit has grown from a plateaued church of 300 to one of nearly 10,000, making it one of Outreach magazine’s “top 25 fastest-growing churches in America” for many years running.

Seating capacity, however, is not the church’s primary metric for success. Sending capacity is. J.D. has led the Summit in a bold vision to plant 1,000 new churches by the year 2050. In the last 10 years, the church has sent out more than 650 people to live on church-planting teams—in North Carolina, across the United States, and around the world.

J.D. is a sought-after conference speaker worldwide. His preaching can be heard through the half-hour weekly program, “Summit Life with J.D. Greear,” broadcast nationally on Moody Radio.

J.D. has authored several books, including Not God Enough: Why Your Small God Leads to Big Problems, Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches That Send, Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary, Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved, and Jesus, Continued: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better Than Jesus Beside You.

J.D. completed his PhD in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, writing on the correlations between early church presentations of the gospel and Islamic theology. Seeing Muslims come to faith in Christ has long been a burden of his, a burden that led him to serve in Southeast Asia with the International Mission Board.

He and his wife Veronica live in Raleigh. Together they are raising four ridiculously cute kids: Kharis, Alethia, Ryah, and Adon.

Learn about God’s magnificence and his other traits by becoming a member of Bible Gateway Plus. Try it right now!

February 5, 2018

Prepare for Easter with Free Email Lent Devotionals

Jonathan Petersen

Lent is the season in the church calendar that marks 40 days prior to Easter. It begins in 2018 on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14, and ends on Holy Saturday, Mar. 31. The word Lent is an old English word meaning ‘lengthen.’ The event is observed in spring, when the days begin to get longer.

Lent is one of the oldest observations on the Christian calendar. Its purpose is to foster self-examination and penitence, demonstrated by self-denial, in anticipation of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. Second-century AD church father Irenaus of Lyons wrote about Lent, but in that period of history it lasted only two or three days. It’s grown to cover 40 days because of the significance of the number 40 in the Bible; for example:

In Genesis, the flood which destroyed the earth was brought about by 40 days and nights of rain
The Hebrews spent 40 years in the wilderness before reaching the land promised to them by God
Moses fasted for 40 days before receiving the ten commandments on Mount Sinai
Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness enduring the temptation of Satan in preparation for his ministry.
Forty days transpired between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.

In the western Christian church, Sundays during Lent are not counted in the 40 days because each Sunday represents a “mini-Easter” and the penitent spirit of Lent is tempered with joyful expectancy of the Resurrection. In the eastern Christian church, where it’s called Great Lent, Sundays are included in the 40 days. In 2018, Great Lent begins Feb. 19 and Paschal (Easter) is celebrated April 8.

Draw closer to Jesus during the Lenten season with the spiritual insights of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dallas Willard, and others.

Bible Gateway free email devotionals will help you contemplate the meaning of Christ’s loving sacrifice. They’ll help you ponder the challenge of living humbly and sacrificially in a confused and chaotic world. Here’s what you can choose from:

• 40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: this devotional will cause you to consider how to live a life of intentional service and sacrifice. Bonhoeffer—murdered by the Nazis for standing up against Hitler—knew what it meant to follow Christ no matter the cost. His words are powerful and important for Christ-followers today.

• Dallas Willard Lenten Devotions: beloved author and philosopher Dallas Willard wrote much about how to find peace in Christ despite all the distractions and setbacks that life throws at us. This devotional collects his best and most inspirational writing.

• Bible Gateway Lent Devotions: our popular Lent devotional, which alternates Scripture readings and short reflections from the church fathers. A great choice for reading with family or friends throughout Lent!

Click or tap here to sign up for one or more of these devotions. Sign up today so you won’t miss out on any of these inspiring free email devotionals!

And take advantage of ALL of our free email devotional newsletters.

Get to know your Bible better! Try Bible Gateway Plus right now!

February 4, 2018

Bible News Roundup – Week of February 4, 2018

Jonathan Petersen

Read this week’s Bible Gateway Weekly Brief newsletter
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Support Bible Gateway—Browse the Bible Gateway Store
⇨ BibleGatewayStore.com
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Ancient Version of Book of Acts Finally Being Decoded, and There May Be a Bonus Discovery
⇨ CBN News
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Episcopal Church, Diocese of Washington, DC, Passes Resolution to Stop Using Masculine Pronouns for God in Future Updates to Its Book of Common Prayer
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How the Evolution of Language Impacts Bible Translation
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Deaf Bible Spurring Sign Language Bible Translations for 2033 All-Access Goal
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Philippine Senate Has Approved Bill to Declare the Last Monday of January as “National Bible Day”
⇨ GMA News
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New Taskforce Will Keep Up-to-Date Teaching Standards of Special Religious Education—or “Scripture”—in New South Wales, Australia Schools
⇨ Eternity News
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Kenneth Pike and the Making of Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL
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⇨ See other Bible News Roundup weekly posts

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February 1, 2018

How to Achieve Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: An Interview with Peter Scazzero

Jonathan Petersen

What does healthy spirituality look like? How is it achieved? How can you slow down to develop a truly transformational relationship with Christ? Peter Scazzero says Christians cannot grow spiritually while remaining emotionally immature because our souls and psyches are inextricably linked.

Bible Gateway interviewed Peter Scazzero (@petescazzero) about his book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Updated Edition (Zondervan, 2017).

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, The Emotionally Healthy Leader: An Interview with Peter Scazzero]

Below are the time stamps for the video interview above at which point Peter Scazzero begins to answer each question.

00:00 — What do you mean when you say it’s impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature?

00:38 — What are symptoms of being an emotionally unhealthy Christian?

01:33 — How does this updated edition differ from the original?

02:13 — What role does the Bible play in a person having emotionally healthy spirituality?

02:56 — How does “knowing yourself” contribute to knowing God?

03:43 — Explain what “going back in order to go forward” means?

Genesis 39-50

05:17 — How is a person’s soul enlarged through grief?

06:32 — What do you mean by developing a rule of life?

08:20 — How does Emotionally Healthy Spirituality differ from other approaches to Christian discipleship?

09:13 — What is “The Discipleship Course”?

Surveys of regular US church-attenders reveal a devastating secret: most Evangelical Christians have not experienced lasting spiritual transformation. Pete Scazzero, veteran pastor, teacher with an earned doctorate in marriage and family studies, has seen the impact of spiritual immaturity firsthand: when spiritual growth is stunted, churches cannot develop strong leadership and relationships in their communities suffer. Scazzero has invested more than two decades in studying and practicing emotionally healthy discipleship, and he now shares proven practices for spiritual growth in the Emotionally Healthy Discipleship Courses (Zondervan, 2018).

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Updated Edition is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.

Bio: Peter Scazzero is the founder of New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, New York City; a large, multiracial church with more than 73 countries represented. After serving as senior pastor for 26 years, Pete now serves as a teaching pastor/pastor-at-large. He’s the author of two best-selling books: Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and The Emotionally Healthy Church. He’s also the author of the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Church Campaign Kit and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day. Pete and his wife, Geri, are the founders of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, a groundbreaking ministry that equips churches in a deep, beneath-the-surface spiritual formation paradigm that integrates emotional health and contemplative spirituality. They have four lovely daughters. For more information, visit emotionallyhealthy.org.

Get to know your Bible better! Try Bible Gateway Plus right now!

February 1, 2018

Bible Gateway 25th Anniversary Sweepstakes for February

Jonathan Petersen

Bible Gateway is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a new sweepstakes every month this year!

This month enter for a chance to win a copy of the CSB Study Bible black premium goatskin leather edition (Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), which has a suggested retail value of $149.99. Two winners will be selected at random. One entry per person; legal residents of the USA 18 years of age and older. Entry period: Jan. 31, 2018 (midnight ET) – Feb. 25, 2018 (11:59 pm ET).

[Read the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) translation on Bible Gateway]

Once you’ve entered, tell your friends and followers about Bible Gateway’s 25th Anniversary—and what Bible Gateway means to you—in your posts on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media; when you do, use the #MyBibleGateway hashtag to communicate the fun!

Sweepstakes Links:

Click Here to Enter This Month’s Sweepstakes

Click Here for the Official Sweepstakes Rules

Bible Gateway’s 25 Years

Venture back to the year 1993. The first widely used graphical World Wide Web browser, Mosaic (later to become Netscape), was introduced, representing a major turning point in the Internet’s journey toward wide-scale user acceptance; US President Bill Clinton put the White House online; the first ever webcam connected to the Internet; and, topping the news in 1993, Bible Gateway, a fledgling idea in the mind of a college staffer, launched as an internal Bible research tool for college students.

Twenty-five years ago, the nascent World Wide Web accounted for only 1% of telecommunications information flow. By 2007, that number rose to 97%. Today, in the center of the information deluge flowing on the Web, sits BibleGateway.com (@biblegateway), the most-visited Christian website in the world; home to more than 200 Bible versions in more than 70 languages; and a trusted resource for more than 140 million people in more than 200 countries every year. Rely on it every day for all your Bible needs.

Everybody has questions about the Bible. With Bible Gateway Plus, you’ll be ready to answer them! Try it free today!

January 31, 2018

How to Live The Bible — How to Hear God’s Voice in Scripture

Mel Lawrenz

This is the thirteenth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.

Some years back, I did a survey of our church’s congregation with the simple question: “If you could ask God one thing, what would it be?” I was not surprised that the most frequent response had to do with the problem of evil in the world, but I was struck by the next most common question: “How can I hear the voice of God?” The various wording people used indicated some were facing important decisions, others wanted to know if their lives were “on track” with God, some were in crisis, and still others expressed feelings of spiritual isolation and just wanted to “hear” from God.

Man Praying illustration

There is a long history and many debates about how God “speaks” to us. Our concern in this lesson is how God speaks in and through Holy Scripture. This must be the believer’s major conviction, that we find the voice of God in Scripture, and that the authority of the Bible trumps all other claims about hearing God. Throughout Scripture, God is talking. Creation took place at the verbal command of God. The Hebrews became a nation when they met their God at Mount Sinai and he spoke to them through Moses. The prophets’ oracles often began with: “This is what the Lord says.”

And the Gospels proclaim a whole new form of the voice of God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Or, as the opening words of the book of Hebrews puts it: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1-2).

Whenever we find ourselves longing to hear the voice of God—wanting to know if we’re doing the right thing, or yearning to know that we are not alone—we must remember this: We have in Scripture thousands and thousands of expressions of the will and the ways of God. We have an analysis of life that is complex and refined, giving us concrete moral instruction and wisdom-based ethics. We have “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). We have the “wisdom from above” (James 3:17 ESV). We have “Spirit-taught words” (1 Cor. 2:13). Do you want to hear God’s voice? Then take in what he says in his Word. Drink deeply. Study well. Meditate slowly. Keep starting over.

It may be that the most relevant question for us is not “Where can we find the voice of God?” but “What prevents us from taking in the voice of God?” Many biblical passages speak to that.

Listening to the voice of God is risky. At Mount Sinai the people said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die” (Ex. 20:19). Moses replied that the fear of God would be good for them; it would keep them from sinning, although it will sting at times.

There are many passages that say we resist listening to God because we know obedience is the next step. In the parable of the soils, Jesus analyzes why the word of God (the seed) does not take root. Shallow acceptance (the rocky ground), and the competition of worries and money (the thorny soil) get in the way. But simple lack of understanding (the path) thwarts a person’s spiritual life.

How can we hear God’s voice in Scripture? It isn’t really complicated. We need to read it. We need to do the work to understand it (which is the point of this blog series). And we need to have the right heart attitude, which is more challenging than anything else. We have to honestly admit that we will resist being obedient to God, and that we will be tempted to make the Bible mean what we want it to mean. That prospect should terrify us. Putting our words into the mouth of God is the height of arrogance.

Here is a caution. For years I sat in Bible studies where the leader read a passage and then asked the group: “What does this mean to you?” Only much later did I learn (and it made perfect sense when I did) that the meaning of Scripture does not flow from the subjective experience of the believer. The question is not “What does this mean to me?” but rather “What does this mean?”

When the apostle Paul said, “I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin” (Rom. 7:25), he meant something specific. It is our obligation to dig and dig until we learn what he meant, and then talk about how it applies to us.

There is only one way to receive the pure and powerful truth of God—and that is to seek to understand what the Bible meant so we can apply what it means to our lives today.

[adapted from How to Understand the Bible: A Simple Guide]

________________
Coming Soon… A Book of Prayers for Kids

[If you believe this series will be helpful, this is the perfect time to forward this to a friend, a group, or a congregation, and tell them they too may sign up for the weekly emails here]

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How to Live The Bible — How to Hear God’s Voice in Scripture

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