Missionary, Pastor, and Theologian

Hebrews 13:7 "Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith."

In light of this passage a few brothers and I have been getting together to read through Eckhard J. Schnabel's book Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies and Methods and it has been excellent. Here is how Schnabel defines mission in the book:

The term "mission" or "missions" refers to the activity of a community of faith that distinguishes itself from its environment in terms of both religious belief (theology) and social behavior (ethics), that is convinced of the truth claims of its faith and that actively works to win other people to the content of faith and the way of life of whose truth and necessity the members of the community are convinced (22).

So far the book has been gospel-centered and faithful to Scripture. Here is how he describes the purpose of the book:

This is my goal in this book: to provide a close reading of the relevant New Testament texts that help us understand Paul's missionary work - proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and establishing communities of believers - in terms of the goals that he had and in terms of the methods that he used (30).

This book has been great, and it has given us a lot to chew on. After giving a solid chronology of Paul's life and work Schnabel summarizes how Paul identified his missionary task in the content of Galatians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Philippians, Corinthians, Romans, Colossians, Ephesians, 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus. After this he summarizes Paul's self-identification of being a missionary in the following list. I am going to begin praying through this list for myself and all the missionaries and pastors that I know!

(1) God is the Lord over all missionary work.
(2) "Success" is the result of God's activity, not men or their methods.
(3) Christ is the content of preaching and the foundation, criterion, and measure of church planting and church growth.
(4) Missionaries are servants of God and His word.
(5) Missionaries make a public proclamation of the victory of God who also leads them.
(6) Paul sees himself as a church-planter establishing new communities of believers.
(7) A missionary's central work is the proclamation of the gospel.
(8) We must pay consistent attention to our listeners.
(9) Paul is not satisfied with the success of his mission, he wants to reach more and more people.
(10) Paul doesn't work alone.
(11) These are the last days, Gentiles don't need to become Jews to then become Christians. Christ is held out to all.
(12) Missionaries, Teachers & Preachers are responsible to God for their work and their motivations.

Schnabel, Eckhard J. Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies and Methods (Grand Rapids: IVP Academic, 2008), 151-4.

As we consider Paul's faith together I hope we will only grow more mature in our faith!

District of Columbia Detention Center

Last night two brothers and I went to do a Bible study on the parable of the four soils from Matthew 13 with about five young men at a detention center just down the road. It was a privilege to be able to share the gospel with these guys. Many could give answers to the questions like they had been in a church before, but they really didn't have an understanding of Christ, and the gospel, and the battle that is going on for their souls. They were tracking really closely and we shared the gospel clearly. In light of the wrath of God to come my heart is heavy for these guys. If you would willing here are a few ways you could pray for them:

(1) That the Holy Spirit might regenerate their hearts and that they would repent and believe in the gospel.
(2) That the Lord would bring their families to salvation and protect them.
(3) That the Lord might put them in a gospel preaching church if they get out.
(4) That they would have a thirst to read the Bible.

The Camel Method Part 2

This is a follow-up to a post I did back in 2007, The Camel Method.

Here is a good 9Marks book review of it. Check it out if you are interested and have the time.

Book Review by Doug Coleman of The Camel

The Camel Method

I just had an excellent conversation about the Camel Method with some friends. In case you aren't familiar with it the camel method is basically the approach to evangelism and missions that uses the Koran as a bridge to draw Muslims to the gospel. It basically is an approach to using the Koran as an evangelistic tool in an attempt to make it "easier" to speak to a muslim about Jesus' holiness, power, and position.

A few thoughts...

1) It seems that this method is a subtle pursuit to avoid persecution.

2) It seems to feed ignorance and insecurity about what one knows about the religion of Islam and makes Christians think that they can't share the gospel without using the Koran. This appears to be a prideful undermining of the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible is the revelation of how mankind might be saved into a relationship with the one, living, triune God. The method seems to undermine the authority of the Bible. This method is not the same as Paul quoting a prophet from Crete (Titus 1:12) or a Greek poet (Acts 17:28)...it doesn't ever appear that he is claiming that those sources have authority (the camel method seems to).

3) It is deceptive and doesn't have a lot of integrity as it is basically a bait and switch tactic. [If we establish in people's minds that the Koran is indeed authoritative how are we going to remove that from their minds? This seems to scream bait and switch.]

4) Christians need to spend more time gaining an understanding of what the Bible teaches about God and themselves. This will enable them to share the gospel and apply the true authoritative Scriptures to the individual situation.

5) You don't have to have an understanding of every religion in the world (and their writings) in order engage people with the gospel. A good solid understanding of the true God and the true state of man will enable us to share the gospel most effectively (similar to how one is trained to identify counterfiet money...they don't look at all the possible fakes...the just study the true thing intensly and analytically).

Any thoughts??

Mitzvah, Kosher, Heaven, & Hell: Part 2

[FYI...I edited this a little today out of respect for the folks I was speaking with 5/21/07. I'm afraid I was cynical in my original post. I'm sorry.]

My conversation with the rabbi…

The couple I was speaking with earlier (on 5/16/07) left and I walked into the rabbi’s back room and said, “I think that couple I was talking with out there was explaining things to me wrong.” He said, “Well, what did they tell you?” So I proceeded to tell him how they said that basically when we sin against God there are no repercussions, “He’s just bummed a little.” I asked him if that’s correct in his view.

At first he started to discuss how if we break kosher or mitzvah (commands) then we are sinning against God. I was assuming this meant what Scripture teaches about the fact that since God is an eternal God a sin against His holiness would mean that it is an eternal sin that merits eternal punishment…but that’s not what he meant.

I said, “Then when we sin against God and break His commandments then we merit eternal punishment in hell, right?” He said, “No!” So I asked if Judaism believes in a heaven and a hell. He said, “Not in the same way that you do.”

So I asked in what way does Judaism believe in heaven and hell? What he described was interesting to say the least. He didn’t describe either in regard to places that one goes to either be with or without YHWH. I’ll try to explain what he described.

Heaven…he didn’t have much to say other than that democracy as it exists in the U.S.A. is built on torah (laws of God). Seems like it’s a concept that by following the torah we can achieve a God pleasing society?? I asked about the afterlife and he didn’t have much to say at all. This was difficult for me to understand! From what I understood the rabbinical worldview believes in an almost post-millenial view of the kingdom of God (only without Jesus)…that God’s kingdom is being built on earth now through us. I haven't had the opportunity to ask how they believe the mosiach (messiah) will come...but hopefully I will. I pray I can share the gospel clearly, somehow.

Hell…this was interesting. He went back to the parent analogy that the couple I was speaking with early alluded to. He said that God loves and is merciful…why would he create children and then send them to a place like Christians envision hell to be. I said, “Well, we believe that when we sin against God’s holiness and justice it merits eternal punishment…that’s not what you believe?” He said that God’s not like an angry parent handing out punishment for something His children couldn’t control. (It seems that he considers all humanity to be children of God. I thought Jews would not consider all humanity as children of God…only Jews as chosen children of God maybe this is just my misunderstanding.). He described that God isn’t just an angry being handing out condemnation eternally. He drew another analogy to nakedness. He said that to a Jew being seen in your true essence of nakedness is the ultimate shame. I started to relate that to Adam and Eve’s response to God when they were ashamed of their nakedness (Gen 3:7, 10-11) and Noah (Gen 9:22-23), but he didn’t have much to say about this. He proceeded to tell me that in Jewish culture that if he was to see me naked in the shower that is the ultimate shame and ignominy that could happen and we very well may never speak to each other for the rest of our lives. I was trying to understand what this had to do with hell…so I said, “So if you break the mitzvah (commands) and torah (laws) of God then you will suffer in hell eternally.” He said, “No!” I asked with him to explain clearly what they believe. So he said that when we don’t follow God’s commands it is sin. These sins get in the way of us being able to please God, and be happy ourselves. As we miss these “opportunities” to experience God in His law they pile up like garbage in the essence of who we are…he said it’s like, “being filled up our clouded with sin.” The punishment for sin is basically the consequences of not being able to please God and experience punishment on earth for sin. He talked about the soul as being free from the sinful body by following God’s laws…sounds similar Gnosticism to me. Like murder (another analogy)…he started to tell me about Jeffrey Dahmer and how his punishment or hell was the terrible things in life that he experienced and the punishment that he experienced in jail and the death sentence. He told me that he believed that the Christian view of hell is why people are leaving the Christian churches. He said, “I can’t tell you the countless number of women that come into my deli afraid of God…and His wrath and punishment.” I said, “But the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov 1:7), the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10).” And he said, “Yeah, but not that kind of fear.” When I read the interactions of the Old Testament between God and humanity it seems that they were pretty AFRAID, TERRIFIED, and SCARED. Just seems wrong to say that…

There was almost no reference to the afterlife in our discussion regarding heaven and hell. It was hard to understand. I don’t know how one can come to these conclusions with an honest measured and rational reading of the Hebrew Scriptures. In the future I will try to understand more by reading the Scriptures instead of talking philosophically like we were.

We’re not meeting next week, but I’ll be sure to post more of our discussions in the future. Interesting stuff. If you have the opportunity please pray for these folks. Please pray that they might be receptive to the gospel.

Mitzvah, Kosher, Heaven, & Hell

I had a fascinating conversation with a couple before I met with the local rabbi last night.

We were talking at the kosher deli and a woman came over to get some chocolates. She was pretty upset because they were out of non-dairy chocolates. The couple I was discoursing with was explaining to me that they have to wait six hours before and after eating meat to have dairy products.

I have known a lot of Jews that don’t follow this mitzvah (command) so I started asking a lot of questions, because I honestly am trying to understand what their perspective is and where they are coming from.

I asked, “What happens if you don’t follow the mitzvah and you break kosher?” They said really nothing happens. They said it was a command from God and if you follow it then you make God happy, but if you don’t follow it then God in His mercy is just a little bummed. So I said, “I bet you have to be really careful to eat at a restaurant other than here.” And they told me that they can’t in order to keep kosher. I said, “Is it because there is blood in the meat?” (thinking of Gen 9:4; Lev 3:17; 7:26; 17;12, 14; 19:26; Deut 12:16, 23, 27; 15:23; 1 Sa 14:34; Psalm 50:13; Ezek 33:25). They said, “No!” They explained that it’s only because of the manner in which the meat and food is prepared. I always thought kosher meant the food was blessed by a Jewish priest, but from their perspective it’s just the ritual preparation of the meat.

So back to mitzvah (command). I said so if you break the mitzvah of kosher then God is upset with you? They explained that if you break a mitzvah God isn’t upset He’s just bummed a little. So I said, “Then if you break God’s mitzvah He’s not pleased with you.” The woman looked at me and said, “Well, everything is relative…isn’t it?” I was a little confused what she was talking about, but I asked her to explain. She said that it does bring God pleasure when we follow His mitzvah, but if we don’t it’s no big deal, you can just do what you want to do, it’s a pretty diverse approach. Then the gentleman looked at me and said that they don’t look at God the way Christians do. I asked him to explain. He said that I have the wrong perspective on God and that there really is no consequence if we don’t follow God’s mitzvah, but that we just miss opportunities to connect with God when we don’t follow His commands…that we basically do things to make God happy, but if we don’t it’s no big deal. He said that it’s like parents. Parents don’t have children to punish them, rather to love them. When the kids do bad things against the command of their parents the parents are just a little bummed, that’s all.

Then I asked, “Do you believe in heaven and hell?” And they said yes, but not in the way Christians do…

I was really confused…and they left shortly after all of this. If you are a Jew and can clarify some of what I understood, or support what this couple was telling me that would be great. Is this what all Jews believe, or just this couple? If yes, think we disagree on the interpretation of the Hebrew Scripture. Stay tuned, in my next post I’ll write a little about my conversation with the rabbi that flowed out of this conversation.

The Use of Methods in Evangelism

"Whenever wrong methods are popularized, on the basis of a weak or erroneous theology, the work of God is marred and confused. Dependence on men, whoever they are, or upon means, is ultimately the opposite of biblical religion. But where sound theology is weak it is quite possible for success to appear to lie in the very things which out to have been avoided rather than approved."

Iaian Murray p. 412 from Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 1750-1858

Good Friends and The Pines Mission

Check out the Crannells', the Kunzes', the Barbers', and the Careys' blog at The Pines Mission blog.

I just found out about this yesterday [to my shame]. Please pray for them as the serve on this short term mission trip!

In Christ
Noah

The Presence of God in The Deep, Frightening Waters of Life

"To live with the Lord when things are light makes real the potential of realizing His presence when things are dark and when finding Him is not easy. The more we value our daily walk with Him when all is going well, the greater the potential of experiencing His fullness when moments of crises come. From the well of rich, historical experiences we are able to draw forth the lessons to be learned from those traumatic times. How wonderful to walk through the deep the frightening waters of life and emerge on the other side with a new understanding of the reality of the presence of God!"

[James, Sam Servant on the Edge of History: Risking All for the Gospel in War-Ravaged Vietnam. Copyright Sam James, 2005. Garland, Texas. Pg. 45]

When It Rains It Pours!

Wow...what a week...sheesh!

Bible study @ work Friday 2/09/2007...I talked to my boss about the "political correctness" of doing a bible study at work. She got back to me later in the day and told me it would be cool if I did. And she told me how I can do it following company guidelines. Pray for her...she's been a great help. Also, a co-worker that is a sister in Christ has set up a conference room for the future after this week. This was a huge help. Praise the Lord for her.

Evangelism @ Post Office Saturday 2/10/2007...I had a 40 minute discussion with Tom at the Waukee Post office about the gospel. We talked about everything from substitutionary atonement to how Christianity helps the government. He wouldn't repent and believe in Jesus, but I made it clear that that is what he must do. I made it clear the Jesus is exclusive in order to experience heaven with the Lord [I posted about it here]. Please pray for him.

Evangelistic Bible study @ work Monday 2/12/2007...I asked around 8 guys to do a Bible study with me here at work. Some were more interested than others...I don't know if most of them are Christians or not...but I felt like God would want me to do this. So it will be an "Evangelistic Bible" study. We will study Mark...and hopefully they will come...and hopefully they will be confronted with who Jesus Christ is. Please pray for them to come and be open to talking about the gospel.

Evangelism to Neighbor Tuesday 2/13/2007...I was out shovelling after work and I got into a conversation with my neighbor. He is Hindu. Anyhow, once again we talked about everything from substitutionary atonement [I didn't use this word though] to whether or not the Hindi faith is exclusive or not. I gave him a Tim Keller talk "Who Is This Jesus" and he wouldn't take it. I explained how I'd listen to anything he would give me. But he kept refusing. The conversation wasn't abraisive but he didn't really respond favorably when I started to explain that the only way to heaven is through Jesus. He said Hinduism believes in Christianity, but I told him it didn't. He didn't like that. Please pray for him and me...that he'd be softened and I would be humble.

Sharpening by/with a Brother Wednesday 2/14/2007...I was involved in a pretty intense discussion about election/predestination with a fellow Christian at work. He clearly doesn't agree with what I have read in the Bible...but that's okay. We're here to sharpen each other...him me, and I him. Please pray for us.

Evangelistic Bible study @ work Thursday 2/15/2007...We start the evangelistic Bible study at work [I'll post more later as to how I came to the conclusion of doing this]. Please pray for us.

Tonight we celebrate Valentine's Day and then I study Hebrew, have a writing assignment to do, etc. This week has been crazy! I've been emotionally high, low, have felt spiritual warfare...and am tired. Praise God for a week well spent!

Soli Deo Gloria
Noah

The Post Office, Patience, and The Gospel: Journal 2/10/07

It seems like a unlikely combination...I know. But that is my story today.

I had to mail some books back for the classes I didn't end up taking. Also, I had to mail in some rebates for our cell phones [among a few other things].

The Post Office on a Saturday

It's ludacris to go to the post office on Saturday morning from 11:30 to noon. Guess, what time I pulled up...11:45am. I knew I was going to have to be patient. So, I walked in.

I stood in line for about five minutes and then realized I wanted to send the rebates certified mail with a slip to be mailed back to me upon receipt at the destination. So I walk out of line to get the slips and I fill them out. I turned around and about five people arrived and jumped in line.

After waiting in line for about twenty minutes I got to the counter. The man behind the counter was a really nice Chinese guy named Tom. Anyhow, he rung up a bunch of stuff I was mailing...and then he pointed out that I had not boxed the boxes up correctly. I asked him what I needed to do and he told me.

Patience

I asked for help because I don't ship stuff very often and he abruptly said, "Sir, we are really busy, and we don't have time to offer these kinds of services." I turned around and sure enough there was a line behind me about as long as it was when I arrived. I thought, "Oh great, another 20 minute wait." I apologized and said to go ahead and ring everyone else up. He snapped at me and said, "I've already started to ring up your stuff." I tried to patiently say, "Well, let's ring up this stuff...then I'll go package this stuff appropriately...and you can ring everyone else up...and then we can take care of my boxes." Thus, I proceeded.

I went over to the area where they sell stamps and stuff, and started to put labels, and rebox items. He helped everyone else and then started to close everything up. Then I went back over and we started to take care of business again.

The Gospel

He asked what was in the boxes and I said, "Books, and shirts." Then I said the books were for a class I couldn't take. He asked what my major was. I responded, "Biblical and Theological Studies." He asked what classes I'm taking right now, and I said, "Hebrew and some others."

Then he asked me if I was a Jew. I said no. He was puzzled and asked why I'm taking Hebrew...as a Christian wouldn't I be taking Latin? I chuckled a little and asked him if he's ever read the Bible. He laughed and said, "No." Well, I explained, the first part of the Bible is called the Old Testament and it was written by the Jews in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written around the time that Jesus Christ was on earth and it was written in Greek. So the languages of the original manuscripts of the Bible are Hebrew and Greek. He was a little surprised.

He proceeded to ask me what the difference is between Christians and Mormons. "Well," I explained, "Christians believe in what is called the Trinity, and the Mormons don't. I explained that there is one God eternally...and that One God exists in three different states/forms/persons...God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It seems like there are three Gods, but it's really One. The Mormons believe that we humans can become Gods, and they don't believe in the Trinity...among other things." He was intrigued.

He asked me what good Christianity is to the state/government. I described that most Christians would desire a separation between church and state because we would never want the government to impose on religious beliefs. I asked him if he's ever heard the “gospel” or the “good news” about Jesus Christ. He said, “No.”

So, I described that there is and always has been this One God. He created all things...and every good thing on earth comes from Him. He created humans [Adam and Eve] and they sinned by disobeying God's laws. This sin is also in us. I pointed at him and said, "So that means you’re sinful," then I pointed at myself and said, "and I'm sinful." I told him that we are created to be in a relationship with God and that if we don't repent in believe in Jesus Christ [in that our sins were paid for by Jesus' death] the Son of God for the forgiveness of our sins then we will spend eternity in hell. I described hell means separation from God and all the good things we encounter on earth [never ending torment].

"So," he said, "why are there all these denominations?" I described how a Christian denomination is principally grounded in the fact that the people that are a part of it believe in the gospel that I just told you. He asked why in the Middle Ages that Roman Catholics disagreed with some of the things the denominations believed [He was trying to make a case that basically all generations of Christians negate the truth of their message because it's different in every age]. I told him that part of the reason that people thought differently back then was because people couldn't read, and the leaders did not teach what the Bible says. He seemed to acknowledge my rebuttal.

"So," he said, "are you going to be a priest." I said, "No." I described how, Lord willing, I will be a minister/servant and a pastor. Then he started asking how I would make money as a pastor. I told him that a portion of the money that people give to the church will provide for my food and house and stuff. “As a pastor,” I described, “I will labor and work take care of the people God has brought to our church body by studying the Bible, helping spiritually, and in times of need.

He said, "So, like the bigger churches in West Des Moines...does that mean that you'll make more money the bigger the congregation. So being a pastor is a pretty good business strategy." I described how the "church" is not the building and it is the people that gather together. I told him that he's spot on in his observation that pastors of larger churches make more than smaller churches. I told him that private planes though [that he cited] is probably a poor use of God's money. I described that Christians see the money they have as God's money so it's used to teach about the gospel which is the power unto salvation. I told him that it’s not a business strategy…it’s people coming together to worship God and teach about Him to the world.

He said, “Yeah, like in Europe…they don’t believe in God anymore and so Christians send missionaries there to teach about what they believe.” I told him that he’s right. He said, “So then, there are not Christians anymore in Europe.” I told him, “Because Christians didn’t keep teaching the gospel in Europe [and many other factors]…it is largely an unbelieving place now. I told him that there are Roman Catholics there, but it is largely not effective in teaching the gospel.

I asked him if he wanted to meet sometime and he said, “No, I’m too busy.” I said, “How are you too busy?” He said, “Well, I have to work, sleep, and do things on my computer.” I told him he should go to the little Waukee Baptist Church [a block away] sometime and just watch what Christians do. He seemed a little uncomfortable with that.

I asked him if he had a Bible, and he said he did…so I told him to just pick it up and read it sometime. He looked at me and said, “You’re one of the most patient people I’ve ever seen here.”

Conclusion

Needless to say, if you go somewhere and you’re ticked because something inconvenienced you and you have to be patient...BE PATIENT! God might have ordered those events so that you might witness the glorious gospel. Praise God that I was able to today!

I intend on doing more business at the Waukee Post Office! See you soon Tom!

Soli Deo Gloria

Cherished Memory

Here's a picture collage of a trip that changed my life. I just thought I'd share...

I'm not feeling the greatest today. Pretty dejected and low. This picture encouraged me. If you have the opportunity please say a prayer for me to be renewed in Christ. I could use it today.

For His name's sake!
Noah

"When was the last time you shared the gospel...Verbally?"

I like to make it a practice to do this with folks I see regularly...like my barber and the guys that work on our car.

There are a ton more people that I could talk about the gospel with, but these are the guys, most recently, that I've had pretty good conversations about Jesus Christ.

Anyhow four key points I try to hit!

(1) God [creater/sovereignty]
(2) Man [the fall specifically/need for atonement]
(3) Jesus Christ [atoning sacrifice]
(4) Response [will you repent of your sins and believe this]

I'll share more about John [guy that works on our car] later, but just getting your brain ticking:)