New Thoughts (2/26/03-2/27/03)
How easy it would be, at this opening stage, to immediately take a side trail, and seek to come to grips with this word 'Gospel.' But, in some wise, this is really what the whole of a study of these books must be about, is it not? Perhaps on my next pass through I'll pick up that thought with the benefit of what will hopefully prove a deeper understanding. For now, I want to look at some other aspects of these texts which are, in essence, the seeds of the Church, the seeds of faith.
I want to look first at the progression of the message, as regards how it was delivered. We can begin, and perhaps we ought to, in the Old Testament, the Scriptures as known to those whose writings we are reading. As my pastor is fond of saying, God knows the end from the beginning. If you want to know the end, then, you should look to the beginning. The message of the Gospel is certainly there from the opening pages of Scripture in Genesis. The 'proto-evangelon,' as it is called, is heard at the first fall of the first Adam. Even then, God declares, "I have a plan." Yet, throughout the record of the Old Testament, His plan remains hid in types and shadows. It is declared, but it is veiled. As the prophets pick up the thread, it becomes, perhaps a bit more clear. By Jesus' day, Israel was quite certain there was a coming Messiah, they could see Him announced in the texts, yet still they misunderstood exactly who He would be.
Enter the Word. The Word is there in the opening verses of Genesis. Ineffable power spoke the thought of God, and it was realized in creation. The Word is first intelligence. He is the essential intelligence of God, the very thought of God. But the thought of Him who is as far above us as we are above the animals is as incomprehensible to us as our thoughts are to a chipmunk. Something further must occur to make God understood of men. We knew He was, but just exactly what He was eluded us. So, the Word came in the flesh, that He might express that essential intelligence in a fashion we could comprehend. He lived out before the eyes of mankind the fullness of what man could and should be. The last Adam declared by every word and deed, every moment of His life, what we had been, were it not for the first Adam.
The chain of comprehension continues with the apostles, those who were with Him throughout His ministry, eyewitnesses, men staring attentively at something wonderful. These men were with Him so constantly that, were there any slip in His witness to Himself, they would surely know of it. Had there been any such slip up, I think we can rest assured that they would have gone back to their former lives, disillusioned, perhaps looking the more diligently for another more true, or perhaps resigned never to trust the truth of a man again. But such was not the case. He proved True. How could He not? The essential intelligence of God must also be essential Truth. So, in the Word made flesh, Truth was made evident before the eyes of man. This is the crisis of the Christ. This is why every encounter with Him was of such great impact to those He encountered. Truth was staring them in the face, making itself understandable to them, and there remained only one choice to be made: whether to fully embrace the Truth, with all the change it must make in a life, or to reject the Truth, and resign to knowingly live a lie.
The disciples chose to embrace Truth. They were not alone in this, by any means, but through every crisis of growth which this embrace entailed, they held on, and the experiences through which they continued with the Word built faith within them. That faith was not simply some mystical high. It was an intelligent response to experience. The witness of their own eyes made plain that truly, this was the Son of God.
They witnessed the whole thing. They witnessed the highs of seeing this Man heal the unhealable. They witnessed the glory of God descending upon Him. They witnessed the Lord over wind and sea. They witnessed also the lows. They had been crushed by His arrest and execution. Incomplete as yet in their understanding, it about destroyed them. Yet, they held on to belief in spite of disillusionment, and having held on, found their belief not misplaced. He whom they had seen executed, again with their own eyes, came once more among them! Returning to them, He gave them a more perfect understanding of what it all meant, what He meant. And He appointed them to a task. Truly, by His own command, they became, as Young's Translation phrases it, "officers of the Word." He was their commander in chief, and they awaited his command, that they might quickly fulfill it.
These men went forth into the world at His command, to declare this Gospel, the good news, the Word come to redeem the nations. Hear their own testimony as to the message they brought. Peter writes that he was not simply repeating clever stories he'd picked up somewhere, nor were others. No, he says, we tell you of things we saw with our own eyes. We tell you of the power and majesty of our Lord, our Commander in Chief, Jesus the Messiah, the Word, as we saw Him when He came among us (2Pe 1:16)! John expresses the absolute reality of it all this way: We heard the Word ourselves, not second hand. We saw the Word in power by our own eyes. We touched the Word of Life with these same hands that write the letter. And we know that He is from the beginning, the Eternal Word (1Jn 1:1). No vain imaginings these, but the full impact of the Creator made comprehensible upon every sense by which man comprehends.
These men, these officers of the Word, went forth by His command, to do that which He commanded be done: declare the Gospel, announce the Kingdom, make plain that Redemption has come to all. Now, we can understand from Luke, and we know also from history, that these men did not simply sit down and write books, in hopes that others might take them up and read. They went personally. They declared the message. But they did more than this. They did not simply pass through, scatter a few words of wisdom and move on. They took time. Their mission was to make disciples, and this cannot be done in a day. The disciples might spend months or years in a place, teaching over and over again the facts of the Gospel, and the significance of the Gospel. From this opening message of Luke's we understand that the primary effort made by the apostles was an oral teaching.
Only later did others begin to realize the need to capture this message in writing. Oral traditions are a fine thing, and much has been preserved across generations by just such means. Consider how long the ancestral history of the Jews must have been maintained in just such a way before Moses was instructed to write it all down. Yet, oral traditions are subject to errors in transmission. We've all, no doubt, played the telephone game, and seen how rapidly the message can deteriorate as it passes from mouth to mouth. It took great training to keep the oral traditions free of error. Certainly in other cultures those tasked with preserving the histories were dedicated to the task for a lifetime. From youth, they would be repeatedly instructed with regard to these histories until every fact was firmly planted in their minds. And their purpose, as well as to declare and explain these histories was also to ensure that another was trained up to take their place when their days were through. Discipleship. This is exactly what Jesus had done with His apostles, and this is exactly what His apostles were accomplishing as they laid the foundations of the Church which is His body.
Just as Moses had been instructed only later to write it all down, so God moved upon the four Evangelists to write it all down. Each was chosen for a reason, each tasked with a particular purpose in what he wrote, and so we are blessed to have such a vivid image of the Christ even now, and of those apostles who brought the Word to those who had not seen Him. In the written record of the ineffable Word, we have preserved for us the flavor of at least three of the apostles, perhaps more. Matthew and John write directly. Peter, tradition holds, lies behind the message of Mark, and we can be quite certain of Paul's voice behind Luke's words. Some suggest that we may also be hearing James in Luke's writing. I suspect we hear far more voices than that from him who investigated most thoroughly.
That men would commit everything to this office, that they would let everything else go to bring the message forth, is assuredly evidence of the zeal they had, and that zeal was evidence in its own way of a simple fact: it's all quite true! The experience of each one who heard their message likewise testified. Here was an unbelievable message being declared by men both simple and eloquent. From the simple, one might expect to hear such myths, but from the educated? And, besides, how could one expect to promulgate such obvious nonsense when disproving their statements was really quite simple. One had only to investigate amongst the Jews in Palestine, and surely the whole thing would be shown a farce. Doubtless, there were those who investigated with just such thoughts, hopeful of showing the whole thing nonsense. Others investigated in hope, but no less diligently.
Luke, for one, was not likely to accept anything less than thorough proof. The tales of healing doubtless attracted the beloved physician, but until they were shown to be more than tales, I doubt he would accept them as more. He tells us he made thorough, painstaking investigation of this strange message. He had the means to wander the regions of Palestine, he had the connections to meet with many, perhaps even all, of the apostles in his research. Nor does he appear to have stopped with the apostles. Family members were clearly consulted. It is not beyond reason to think he may also have had discussions with Roman officials in the region, perhaps Jewish officials as well. What did he find? It's all true! These are not just clever stories, they are accurate accounts of historical reality, as impossible as it seems! If there were any evidence to the contrary, I think we can be certain Luke would have found it. He didn't. Instead, he found that, in spite of the oral methods being used, every fact was confirmed with fullest evidence. For himself, and for others, he found that it was not only confirmed, but that being confirmed, the Truth had continuing results. Life had changed, and nothing could ever undo the change.
There is something in this that we need to grab hold of, I think. There is something in the Gospel that I think we often forget. Every one of the Evangelists avoided the emotional appeal. They didn't work the crowds, they didn't play to peoples' hopes and fears. They appealed to the minds of their readers. Matthew understood the thinking of the Jewish culture, and he wrote in a fashion that would appeal to their understanding of things. He knew they understood their Scriptures, and it was their Scriptures which declared Him. So, he is careful to show the connections, to make them clear to his readers, as Jesus had made it all clear to his disciples before He ascended.
Mark makes certain we understand that Jesus was not just speaking moral niceties. He was truly the Son of God, hear in power, displaying the power of God, the power of creation. Yes, the message was important, the deeds of the living Word, as were seen and attested to by His apostles, and by others who had been there, who had experienced those powerful deeds, were proof that the message behind the actions was of utmost import.
Luke showed the intellectual that there was far more than a myth being placed before their ears, something greater than their philosophers had appeared on the stage of history. God, the creator of reason and the faculties of thought, had made Himself comprehensible to the faculties He created. The essential Intelligence had expressed itself in the living Word. The Logos had made Himself understandable to mankind.
John, closing the record of the witnesses, gives us the meaning of it all. The facts of the case have been settled, proven beyond reasonable doubt. What remains is to explain it all. Why did He come? Why did He die? Why was He resurrected? Why is it all so important? Because God so loves this world He created that He was willing to give His only Son to die that His creation might live, and not just live in the sense of continuing to eat and breathe, but to live with significance, to live a life worthy of being called life, to live in the fashion we were created to live.
With the fall of the first Adam, God mercifully cut mankind off from the Tree of Life, ensuring for us that we need not live in eternal guilt. With the fall of the last Adam, God opened the way to that same Tree of Life. Guilt had been washed away. Eternity was no longer a cruel imposition upon man, or at least, need not be. True, many would choose to remain under eternal curse, but the way was open to a better result. The kingdom has come. The King is upon His throne, and He is calling His citizens to begin the journey home. We wander yet in foreign lands, seeking our fellow citizens to be certain they've heard His call. But through it all, we are on our way home.
We are no longer eye-witnesses to the time of His physical presence on earth, yet we share a great deal with the apostles. With them, we too are officers of the Word. We too stand ready to hear His command and to see it accomplished. And, in truth, we too are eye-witnesses, although we have not seen Him. We have heard the evidence of His ministry. We have also experienced the reality of His continuing ministry, for He has never left. He has made His appeal to our minds, and we are fully convinced. He has also given us the record of our own lives, our own experiences to make plain to us, just as he made it plain to those before us, that it's all quite true. The reality of Messiah has been confirmed to our own heart, mind, and soul with fullest evidence. Things have been accomplished in us that cannot be gainsaid.
This is the declaration that the apostles were able to make for themselves, and because of their faithfulness, those who heard them were also able to declare it: It's all quite true! What an exciting thing to recognize! What greater cause for rejoicing can there be? God, Whom to fear is wisdom, God, Creator and Disposer of all things, has disposed Himself to create the means of Salvation, has dealt with us in mercy undeserved rather than the destruction our sin should have purchased. There's a reason that those who listened to the apostles came away changed and convinced. Paul put it this way: The Gospel is not just pretty words [like the philosophers may try to impress you with], but it is power. We teach you not only by prettily packaged thoughts, but by displaying the power of what we teach, a power that comes because the Holy Spirit is speaking through our doctrine. It is the Word of God to change and to save. Philosophers will espouse things they themselves cannot perform, they will recommend ways of life they are unwilling to participate in, but you know us. You have been with us as we taught, and you know that our character proved to be one with our doctrine. In this, if in nothing else, you have seen that power which the Holy Spirit brings, you have witnessed that our doctrine is true (1Th 1:5).
We do not hear from the mouths of the apostles, yet because of the power of the Holy Spirit, because the doctrine is True, we receive the doctrine unmolested, undisturbed and unchanged by attempts of men to modify the message to their own tastes. The Truth shines through. The Truth stands alone as the only message that comes to us with more then words, but with fullest evidence. The Truth stands alone as the only message which invites investigation, invites the skeptic to search it out to his uttermost. The truth stands alone as the only message that an honest skeptic will come to believe, come to promote, come to live. This was the purpose for which the apostles were sent out. It was their hope in preaching, every bit as much as Jesus was their hope in life. They knew the power. They had walked with the Power for several years. Undeniable experience had confirmed to them that He was I AM. There remained no doubt in their minds, and knowing Him to be Messiah, they were fully assured, like the patriarchs before them, that He was able to do as He had promised (Ro 4:21).
They went out at His command. They went out joyfully, as they were given understanding of the vast scope of their purpose. They were not without their disagreements. No family is. But, they had recourse to the finest lawyer available, the Other Advocate we call the Holy Spirit, to bring to mind the Truth they had been taught at Messiah's hand, and conflicts were resolved honestly. They went forth to their task joyful, yet not deluded. "Persecution will be yours," their Teacher warned them, and so it was to be for every one of them. They went out with eyes wide open, decided in their own hearts that the purposes of the kingdom were in every way worth what persecution might come.
They passed that fire of devotion on to those who sat under their teaching, because that fire was not of their own devising, because their teaching was shown to be more than words. Indeed, down to our own day, the message continues to bear in itself the flames of devotion. As we hear the Word, as we discover in our own lives that the Word is not just a nice myth, not just a fine statement of morals, but Truth come in power, Truth borne out in our own experience. The apostles, the voices that speak to us through the Gospels as they declare the Word of God, labored in every way to show us the reality of the Christ, to bring to us the salvation which had come to them, which had walked with them and talked with them. The author of Hebrews declared the hope that was in all of them: "Our hope is that you will show the same diligence as officers of the Word as we ourselves have. We know that if you do, you will experience the same full assurance of hope that we ourselves know, a hope that will endure even to the end" (Heb 6:11).
This is the perennial mission of the Church: to make disciples, to introduce those around us to the I AM, to train them up in the Truth, to answer every skeptical doubt with the power of faith, to be available to the Holy Spirit, to the command of our Lord and King, eager to fulfill His every request. Thereby does the kingdom of God increase. Thereby will lives be given a hope that endures, as they experience for themselves what we, too, have experienced: that it's all true! Woe to us if we should, by our failure to cling to the Christ, to work out our own salvation in fear and trembling, should cause one of these to stumble. Again, Paul was able to point to his own character, his own steadfastness, and say, "see the power of God to change, and to cause to stand firm. This is what is put before you now. This is what is made available to you in Christ Jesus. Take. Eat. This is life." If we cannot do the same, then we should be on our knees, laboring to become able.
Oh, Lord Jesus, can I make that claim? No. There are too many places remaining where I would prefer that eyes not see. Yet, I know with assurance, my God, my King, that You have indeed made great changes. I am not the man I was when You introduced Yourself to me. Oh, there are those aspects of the old self that I cling to too tightly, yet I trust You. You will, in Your gentle way, in Your chosen time, pry my grasping hands away from that which I hold to my harm. I know, too, that the power of Your love has made great changes in my ways. Not that I have attained to the goal, but I am certainly a better man for having known You.
Continue, oh Holy One, Your work in me. Fashion this clay to Your liking. Fire me in the furnace that I may be a tried vessel, fit for service. Bring me to the place, Lord, where I, too, can stand and honestly say that I am an Officer of the Word, where I can honestly say, 'Speak, Your servant listens.' Too often have I said, 'no, not that, Lord.' How can I? How can I, who know Your goodness, Your great and perfect love, deny Your request? How foolish can I be? Lord, once more I ask that You would overwhelm me, even as You overshadowed Mary, and let it be unto me as You would have it be.
One last thing which caught my eye in this portion. We are looking at the beginning of the good news, the laying out of proofs of the historical truth. We are looking at the foundation blocks of sound doctrine, for sound doctrine must be founded on established Truth. In that regard, there is that which Paul wrote which somewhat surprises. Perhaps it is the peculiar stance of the particular branch of faith in which I practice, but even apart from our focus, it seems we are held to a high standard of holiness. Scripture everywhere indicates that God demands purity in His own. With that in mind, consider Paul's comment to his coworker Timothy. This showed up as a parallel passage, and in isolation it seems innocuous enough. "In teaching the brethren these things, you prove yourself a faithful servant of Christ, nourished by the words of faith, fed on words of sound doctrine, and following that doctrine you have learned" (1Ti 4:6).
That sounds well enough. Nothing terribly challenging there. But what was it that Paul was encouraging Timothy to teach? Looking back a few verses, we come to the answer. The message was this: Nothing is to be rejected, because everything has been created by God. God is good. We know that. If He is not good, what are we doing pursuing Him? If He is not good, He is not God, and we are fools to be here. No, God is good, and every creation of His hands is likewise good. Nothing is to be rejected because it is sanctified by God. It is sanctified by His word, it is sanctified by our prayer, and - perhaps most importantly for us - it is sanctified by our gratitude to God!
This is a somewhat shocking message for those who rail against this habit and that. It's not the things, folks! It's not the things. That focus is what led the Pharisees astray. They were so focused on specifics, on avoiding things that appeared to their own thinking to be, shall we say, less than holy, that they missed the condition of their own hearts. They were stuck on the testimony of their eyes, eyes which can see only surface. This is the same error that repeatedly overtook the Church through history. It's the error that caused followers of God to withdraw from the world, and hide away in monasteries, lest they suffer the taint of the world. This is nothing but thinly veiled Gnosticism, the idea that the flesh is somehow innately evil, and only the spirit can be good. This is an insult to the Creator of all flesh.
Again I am reminded of a lesson learned from the Jews with whom we currently share our church facilities, for they understand this far better than we. If we truly believe that it is the hand of God which provides all our needs and wants, and we know He is good, then what cause have we to reject that which He gives us? How rudely do we treat the Giver of every good and perfect gift when we insist on setting the gift aside, never to be enjoyed. How foolish do we appear in heaven's eyes, when we do this and claim that by doing so, we are honoring the Giver? How presumptuous are we, in thinking our own judgment in such matters is better than His own? No! The gifts He gives, He gives to bless us. Give thanks, then, from the heart for what He has given you! Enjoy, as the gift of your loving Father, those things He has chosen to give into your hands. Persecutions will come, yet even in these, if our understanding is clear, we can give thanks for the good we know must come of it. How much more should we rejoice in our Father when his gifts are gifts of delight? Give thanks in all things. That is key. Give thanks, and know that He is good. His gifts are good. His purposes are good. All things will surely work together for good, as we work together for God!
