Book Review: Archeology And The Structure Of Genesis
Ancient records and the structure of Genesis: A case for literary unity
P. J. Wiseman was neither an archeologist nor a scholar of ancient languages but he was a keen observer, an avid reader and an interested Bible student. These qualities and the fact that he was stationed in close proximity to live Middle Eastern archeological digs in the 1920’s and 30’s made him a reliable source for some thought provoking ideas about the structure and composition of Genesis.
Prior to any real knowledge of ancient literary methods, in fact, at a time when scholars weren’t convinced that any type of writing was done much before the 1st millennium BC, the compilation of Genesis was surmised only through subjective reflection on the text alone. The result was a variety of theories involving several different and unconnected sources – named by the letters J, E, D and P – none of which are substantiated by copies of any kind. Read more
Evangelizing the Religiously Hardened
Filed under: Bible Study, Charity, Evangelism, Ministry Methods of Jesus, Religion
Jesus Breaks Sabbath Law
John 5
Jesus was not a religionist!
His spiritual devotions never involved habitual ceremony. He prescribed no rituals and there was nothing routine with His words or actions. Some responded to Him angrily, none yawned.
Any rituals He may have followed are not recorded for us. If anything, Jesus was religiously unpredictable.
- He traveled to Jerusalem on many occasions but not once are we told He offered any sacrifices. He did, on the very odd occasion, tell someone to offer an appropriate sacrifice (Matthew 8:4) but not once did He bless those ceremonies with His presence.
- Many of the things Jesus did and much of what He said was religiously disruptive: cleansing the Temple (once in John 2, a second time in Matthew 21*), claiming to be Messiah in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4) and healing on the Sabbath (John 5).
- The people about whom He spoke His harshest words, the Pharisees, were excessively religious (Matthew 23).
- It was the ultra religious who were the most instrumental in his execution (Mark 15:1-15).
- Jesus rarely encouraged anyone to be religious. He spoke of disciples as sacrificial not ritualistic.
- Jesus evangelized the religiously hardened and did so by being religiously agitating.
I wouldn’t say that Jesus was anti-religion but I would say that He had no tolerance for religious nonsense. Read more
Evangelizing The Antagonistic
Lessons From Samaria – John 4
Christians talk a lot about evangelism. It is a primary topic. You aren’t living Christian if you aren’t evangelizing but popular efforts to evangelize don’t compare closely to Jesus’ results or His words. According to Him numbers do count (no pun intended).
Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear MUCH fruit; so shall you be my disciples. John 15:8
No fruit, little fruit or occasional fruit equals no discipleship. Fruit is the acid test of your discipleship and lip service brings no glory to God.
By the way, personal growth and character development, which are types of fruit, are not what Jesus had in mind here. A few verses later He said…
I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit… (v. 16)
Very similar to:
- Go and make disciples… Matt. 28:19
- Go into all the world… Mark 16:15
- Preach in every nation… Luke 24:47
- I send you to remit sins… John 20:21 & 23
- Be witnesses to the uttermost… Acts 1:8
And you don’t have to be sophisticated to be effective. Knowledgeable disciples are NOT more likely to bear fruit than beginners. The fact is God can use anyone anywhere to reach souls. I got saved when a lost person – my best friend – shared just a piece of salvation truth – all he knew. One thing he mentioned was hell. I was so concerned I had to learn more.
God used a lost man to bring me to salvation. Go figure. The most important qualities for an evangelist are humility and vulnerability. Jesus modeled both.
Besides, personal growth should happen concurrently while bringing others to Christ. Evangelism and growth catalyze each other. If one is NOT happening neither is the other. If one IS happening so is the other. Read more
The 10-90 Rule of Evangelism
Filed under: Bible Study, Evangelism, Ministry Methods of Jesus
In the last half of John chapter 2 Jesus did some very unusual things. Nothing improper and definitely within the law but very much out of the ordinary. No one saw it coming. He threw everyone and everything involved in commercial activity out of the Temple. We usually say He “cleansed” the Temple but that is just a nice way to say He caused a ruckus.
Taking a homemade whip He drove out all the sacrificial animals and the people selling them. He also turned over the tables on which they were exchanging money and doing business.
At first glance His actions seem a little out of character for the One about whom children sing “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,” but it was exactly what the situation called for and served an important purpose. Not only did He right some very serious wrongs but once done He had everyone’s attention. The only people unhappy about this were the religious leaders, who no doubt benefited from the business, but even they could not ignore Jesus after this sensational happening. I’m sure the crowds and the disciples waited with bated breath to see what came next.
And what did He do next? He performed miracles. We don’t know the number but we are told many people, seeing this, became believers.
The interesting thing is, the Bible says Jesus did not commit Himself to any of these new believers. That also seems a little bit out of the ordinary especially for One who was known for disciple making, but the fact is, He hadn’t yet committed Himself to anyone, including the already named disciples: Peter, Andrew, John and so on. It wasn’t till much later (Luke 5) that Jesus called the disciples into full time service and He didn’t appoint the twelve as Apostles until even later.
He waited until the more fractious moments had come and gone like the people of Nazareth attempting to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4) before calling and appointing Apostles. By then they were beyond infatuation. He didn’t want anyone misunderstanding the call to service.
But, we learn a very important lesson about evangelism from what Jesus did here. Even though the time was not right for Him to commit to disciples the time was right for Him to call the masses to salvation, an exercise we usually refer to as evangelism. His approach to evangelism in this chapter is was I call the 10-90 rule of evangelism. Following explains why: Read more
Parable Of The Talents – Making It Happen
Filed under: Bible Study, Christian Living, Evangelism, Making Money
The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) is one passage that places great significance on human productivity. Not activity, not busyness, not even consistency but results. Caution is almost spoken against. If we read this parable properly we get the idea that God is more concerned about the growth we stimulate than He is about the methods used to get there.
In the passage Jesus tells of an investor, the Master, who gives money to three different asset managers. The amount given to each is proportionate to his abilities.
One man receives five thousand dollars, a second receives two thousand and a third receives one thousand and obviously, the intent is for each to increase those monies through investment.
After an appropriate amount of time the Master returns to check on the growth of each account. To his approval, the first two double the original investment to ten thousand and four thousand dollars respectively.
To his dismay, the third gained no increase and the explanation for this failure draws severe criticism from the investor. Read more
Tim Pepper - Beautiful Frustration