SUNDAY MORNING LECTURES

 I had breakfast with a pastor friend this morning. In the midst of our conversation, it came up that he - like me - considers himself more of a teacher than a preacher.

So I asked him what he thought was the difference between the two. 

And he gave the answer that I think most people would give: A preacher speaks about the application of Scripture to our lives and usually appeals to emotions while a teacher gives background on Scriptural texts and appeals to the intellect. 

What they have in common is this: both are monologues. 

In this sense, in every sermon, a pastor could strive to begin with teaching and finish with preaching.

But I'm not sure that is how the New Testament would differentiate the two roles. This is currently one of my research questions. 

What if the Scriptures don't have "lecture" in mind when it speaks of teaching?

To my way of thinking, teaching is much more hands on and interactive than preaching. 

And I'm not sure an American church would be ready to devote as much prime time to teaching as to preaching. 

In most churches, teaching is for Sunday school and Sunday school is optional. 

IS SEMINARY NECESSARY

If the first seminary didn't come into existence until 1563, it does make me wonder how pastors were being trained before that.

And if the church survived (and spread across the globe) for 1500 years without seminaries, are they really necessary now?

I loved my time at Asbury Theological Seminary back in the late 90s, but I'd have to think real hard to list things I learned there that turned out to be indispensable to any ministry I've been involved in since. 

Though I suppose my seminary classes may have been slightly more useful to my ministry work than my college education classes were for my teaching of high school English. (But that's a pretty low bar.)

Not only that, but I also don't feel like I was ever forced to wrestle through any of the big issues of theology personally. 

And I certainly didn't learn much about human nature there - or all the things that can go wrong within the walls of a church.

Two of my best friends from my Asbury days are no longer involved in full-time ministry. They both got burned by churches pretty badly. I have to wonder if they had been better informed about human psychology, if they might have been better equipped to weather the storms. 

HISTORICAL ANGLE

Apparently, my dissertation will require a chapter focused on my topic's historical angle. And each chapter should be 25 to 35 pages in length. 

To be frank, this prospect is not super exciting to me.

I am not even sure how much information will be available on the only historical aspect I really want to explore.

Since my project involves the teaching skills a pastor should have, I am somewhat interested in knowing how early in church history any sort of official training of church leadership began. When were the first seminaries established? What was done to train leaders before the advent of seminaries? 

I just did a little googling and - if the internet can be trusted - the first seminary didn't come about until the Reformation era, specifically in 1563. Before that, education of leaders took place in the local church, and especially in the larger cathedrals.

I'm not exactly sure where to start looking for information on what was happening in the early centuries of the church, before there were such things as cathedrals, but we shall see. 

SMALL DISSERTATION MILESTONE

I passed a small dissertation milestone last night. 

When the first draft of my prospectus was rejected, one major weakness - according to my advisor - was the "Theological Reflection". It was not "robust" enough. 

And even though I knew first drafts were almost never approved, I must admit that it stung a bit to "fail". 

I have spun my wheels for about two years, intimidated by the thought of revising my prospectus, especially the Theological Reflection.

Those years weren't wasted, though. They turned out to be useful in giving me time to ponder my project and deepen both my interests and my convictions. 

Last night, motivated by a deadline in my surprise class, I completed an entirely revamped Theological Reflection. 

It felt good to complete it - like I can move forward again. 

Now I wait to see how my advisor responds... while I work on the next assignment.

TEACHERS ARE HELD TO ACCOUNT BY GOD

Here are some tough words from the prophet Hosea (Chapter 4) to the "children of Israel" AND, in particular, Israel's priests: 

1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,
for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
and no knowledge of God in the land;
2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and all who dwell in it languish,
 and also the beasts of the field
and the birds of the heavens,
and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4 Yet let no one contend,
and let none accuse,
for with you is my contention, O priest. 
5 You shall stumble by day;
the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
and I will destroy your mother. [Meaning Israel]
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.

The priests are meant to function as the intermediaries between God and humanity. When they lose interest in the knowledge of God, the results are catastrophic. 

With nobody offering to teach the people about the knowledge of God, the people's faithfulness and love begin to fail and they descend into debauchery of all sorts. 

Those in leadership among God's people, Old Testament and New, are held to account for their own attention to the Lord and their ability to pass along truth to God's people. 

A teacher does not need to be a FALSE teacher to be blameworthy in God's sight.

Gulp!

MORE THAN HEARING

How did I forget this one? 

Tonight I need to add to my list of practices which are basic to effective teaching:

In your lessons, whenever possible, find opportunities to involve senses beyond hearing.

The more senses which are engaged, the greater the students' engagement will be. And, thus, the stickier the lesson.

Include visuals at the very least. We all loved "show and tell" in kindergarten and, if you think about it, the fun part - the interesting part - was the "showing". 

(In fact, if you forgot to bring your object, you wisely asked for your turn to be postponed. You knew instinctively that just talking about it wasn't going to cut it.)

They may be rarer, but there are also opportunities from the pulpit to employ touch or smell or taste. 

This morning I was preaching on Luke 1:1-17, which relates the story of Zechariah performing his priestly duty of burning incense in the temple when he is visited by Gabriel and told to expect the birth of a boy to be named John. 

A little bit of research revealed that getting a turn at burning the incense - the smoke of which represented the prayers of the people rising to God - was a once-in-a-lifetime honor. 

So I picked up some strawberry scented incense at Walmart and lit four sticks at the top of my sermon as I was giving the background of Luke's story.

The smoke curled upwards as I read the passage and soon the smell permeated the sanctuary. 

It would be impossible to gauge how much that small gesture brought the story to life for everyone in the pews this morning. 

But whatever it added, I know it was worth the $1.22 and the extra few minutes it took to make it happen. 

CLARITY

Paul's final reference to teaching in Colossians is found in chapter 4 where he asks the congregation to pray for him as he "speaks".

His prayer request is twofold: First, that God would present opportunities, and second, that when those doors opened, Paul would be prepared to make "the mystery of Christ" "clear": 

2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

So it seems the final lesson on effective teaching in this letter is that it does not just happen by opening one's mouth. 

The goal of effective teaching is clarity, and prayer is the facilitator.

MULTIPLYING TEACHERS

The "renewal in knowledge in the image of the Creator" Paul places at the center of Colossians is also at the center of a chiasm, bookended by a list of things to be PUT OFF (e.g. sexual immorality and covetousness) in verses 5-9 and a list of things to be PUT ON in verses 12-15:

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Up until now, the focus of the letter has been on what the Colossians already know and what Paul can add to their previous learning. Now he makes it clear that the next step is for the Colossians themselves to become teachers:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 

The ultimate test of whether a student has learned the material is not multiple choice, true or false, or short answer questions. 

The proof of learning is when the student can effectively transmit the material to others. 

Our modern churches give everyone weekly opportunities to "sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs", but how often are church members challenged to teach each other?

In my experience, most adult believers don't feel comfortable teaching spiritual truths to the children of the congregation, much less their peers. 

What are the chances the author of Hebrews give the same admonition to modern believers as he gave to his original audience:

11 About this (Jesus as high priest) we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

THE HEART OF COLOSSIANS IS THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL

As Paul warns the Colossians about listening to the wrong teaching, it is clear that he believes the stakes are high: listening to the false teachers could lead to their "disqualification". 

Colossians 2:18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Again, learning - whether truth or falsehood - leads to practice. Listen to the false teachers and, next thing you know, you're an ascetic who is making a habit of worshipping angels! 

And the influence of sin in your life goes unchallenged.

Paul points to the better path in his third chapter:

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

Where your mind is anchored makes all the difference in the world!

When the mind is set on things above, the believer is enabled to take off the old and put on the new. 

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 

Verses 9 and 10 seem to lie at the very center of Paul's letter to the Colossians:

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

And, once again, we see the centrality of knowledge for the believer. Good teaching leads to good practice which leads to "being renewed" in "knowledge".

And so, again, Paul says that knowledge begets more knowledge. 

And this is the final knowledge and the most important of all because it is central to the restoration of what that individual believer was created to be in the first place: the image of God!

This is a reversal of the original sin. 

Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, taking upon themselves the prerogative of determining right from wrong, independently of God's directives.

Now Jesus the Christ has opened a path to reorient the human mind, renewing its dependence on - and sensitivity to - its Creator's will. 

This is salvation.

A GOOD GOAL, BUT BAD TEACHING

Colossians 1:20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

The "elemental spirits" seeking to take the Colossians captive in 2:8 make a reappearance toward the end of chapter 2. Now Paul is acknowledging these "spirits" still have some pull with the congregation - shaping their behavior - even though the believers have "died" to them along with Christ. 

Once again, spirits are portrayed as being in league with "human precepts and teachings". Worldly wisdom and spiritual deception work together to mislead. 

Paul recognizes that it seems logical that there would be some usefulness in their guidance. On the surface, it looks like they are promoting a religious approach meant to bring the flesh into submission.

Nevertheless, Paul says "they are no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh". 

So it seems that whatever this false teaching is, its pretended goal is the taming of sinful impulses of the "flesh".

It's a worthy goal, but if the proposed path is ultimately false and ineffective, then it is a distraction from true freedom. 

So the good news for Paul as a teacher is that his students want the same end as he does: victory over sin.

He just has to convince them there is a better way than what they have been following so far. And that is what he turns to in chapter 3. 

ALLOW NO CAPTIVES

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 

There is ongoing debate over the exact nature of the locally prevalent "philosophy" which Paul viewed as a threat to proper Christian teaching there in Colossae. 

"Some suggest a pagan cult of one sort or another; others, some form of sectarian Judaism; others, an early form of Gnosticism; others, a blend of some or all of these." (Wright, 25)

Whatever this philosophy entailed, Paul recognized the threat: it could take the Colossians "captive" - sulagogeo, carried off like booty following a victory in battle. 

Carl Jung famously said "People don't have ideas. Ideas have people." And he was right. 

Try shaking a long-ingrained notion and you will find out who is really in charge.

The philosophy in question was built on "human tradition". This is a problem since humans have a hard time distinguishing between "true" and merely "familiar". 

The second foundation was the "elemental spirits of the world". There is debate on the best way to understand this phrase, but Michael Bird takes it to "denote hostile angelic entities equivalent to the 'rulers' and authorities' mentioned elsewhere in Colossians". (76)

If so, then Paul is fighting an alignment between long-standing and widely accepted, yet mistaken, human ideas and the influence of demonic powers. 

That's a potent combination! 

As an expert teacher, Paul does not carelessly dismiss the philosophy in the midst of the Colossian congregation. Instead, he recognizes its draw and reminds them to be on guard before redirecting their gaze to the person of Jesus Christ. 

To be effective ultimately, a teacher of the faith needs to know the competing philosophies well enough to depict them in contrast to the beauty of Christ.  

PAUL AS TEACHER IN COLOSSIANS 2

In Colossians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul continues the education motif he introduced in the first chapter.

1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

Like any capable teacher, Paul is burdened with a great desire to see his students grab hold of knowledge.

Here, understanding brings the benefit of assurance, in fact "all the riches of full assurance". And the focus of knowledge is "God's mystery", namely Christ Himself.

And again, as in Chapter 1, knowledge begets knowledge. When one gets to know Christ, he or she soon discovers "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"! 

But this treasury is in competition with false knowledge - what Paul refers to as "plausible arguments" which lead one away from true knowledge. 

As an effective teacher, Paul is aware of competing ideas and viewpoints. And he knows the competition can capture and deceive. 

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

He continues by encouraging his listeners to follow through with what they have already been taught and then reminds them of their own responsibility. Yes, their teacher is aware of competing ideas, but they also must actively guard against worldly forms of knowledge that run contrary to Christ. 

You've probably heard this truism before, but it is fundamental (but easily forgotten in the pulpit): The effective teacher doesn't just tell students WHAT to think. The effective teacher shows them HOW to think. 

IN THE END, THE ANSWER'S THE SAME

If you always agree with the teaching of your pastor/church/denomination, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

In my opinion, it depends. 

I worked up a little flow chart. 

(It's ugly, yes, but let me know what else you think of it.)

REPETITION

I once served as youth pastor under a senior pastor who was a sweet-natured, earnest, and godly man - which put him head and shoulders above a few other pastors I worked under. 

But he wasn't the greatest preacher.

He once told me, "You know, I only really have three different sermons that I deliver. I just rotate between those three."

And honestly, that was two more than I had noticed!

It seemed to me that week after week he offered slight variations on one particular exhortation: "If we are going to be authentic disciples of Jesus, we must get out beyond the walls of the church and love our neighbors in tangible ways."

Obviously, this is true. I had no problem with the message - I just didn't want to hear it every Sunday.

(Especially when there was an entire book full of God's words to explore.)

Repetition is necessary and serves an important role in effective teaching, but it can't be the only arrow in your quiver.

If repetition isn't resulting in changed behavior after a few weeks - let alone a few years - then it's time to step back and see if there is a deeper issue causing a roadblock.

To be effective, a teacher needs to search out those gaps in knowledge and fill them.

THEN the congregation might be able to move forward. 

Without excessive repetition.

PRIVILEGING THE HYPOTHESIS

I've started reading Alchemy by Rory Sutherland. If you're not familiar with Rory and you are interested in human psychology and behavioral science, you can find him in a lot of YouTube videos. He is vice chairman of the prominent British marketing agency, Ogilvy. 

And he knows his stuff.

Anyway, the subtitle of the book is "The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life". 

This book is an example of the stuff I think seminary students should be required to study. Maybe the class would be called Human Psychology and Behavior - Deal with It.  

Here's a snippet I find relevant to church life: "The single worst thing that can happen in a criminal investigation is for everyone involved to become fixated on the same theory, because one false assumption shared by everyone can undermine the entire investigation. There's a name for this - it's called 'privileging the hypothesis'." (p.14)

While Sutherland is talking criminal investigations here, the same holds for theology: it is dangerous when everyone grabs hold of the same false assumption.

It has happened repeatedly throughout church history, beginning with the pharisees who did this bit of logical reasoning:

Premise 1: It is against God's law to work on the sabbath.

Premise 2: No Messiah would ever break God's law.

Premise 3: Healing a person is work.

Premise 4: Jesus healed a man on the sabbath.

Conclusion: Jesus worked on a sabbath and therefore cannot be the Messiah.

This airtight logic was impenetrable by even acknowledged miraculous works performed by Jesus: Because we know He cannot be the Messiah, He must be doing these works by the power of the Devil!

No further investigation was needed. They all agreed that their hypothesis was correct and so it must stand at all costs. 

The pharisees are long gone, but how many hypotheses do modern believers hold as privileged just because "everyone agrees"? 

Why are Bereans in such short supply?

Acts 17:11 - Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

What Paul was teaching went contrary to the Bereans' assumptions, but they did not reject his teaching outright. Instead, they studied the Scriptures FOR THEMSELVES.

SPIRITUAL STAGNATION IS EVIDENCE OF IGNORANCE

After the Apostle Paul holds Epaphras up as an effective teacher of the Colossians - evidenced by the fact that the gospel was bearing fruit in their lives and increasing - Paul goes on to connect spiritual education directly to life growth two more times in the first chapter of his letter. 

First in verses 9 and 10:

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God ...

And then later in verses 28 and 29:

28 [Christ] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

The first instance highlights the believers' obligation to learn on their own, presumably with the aid of the Holy Spirit. Paul says he prays they will be filled with knowledge of God's will "in all spiritual wisdom and understanding".

The result will be believers walking in a manner worthy of the Lord, defined as "bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God". 

It's notable that Paul maintains that as the Colossians walk in the knowledge they have already received, they will receive more knowledge. 

The second instance highlights Paul's prerogative as a teacher to warn and teach "everyone", again with the goal of maturity in Christ. 

Whether learning occurs independently or under a teacher, the predictable result is spiritual growth, fruit, and maturity.  

If this can be reverse engineered, then we can say stagnation, lack of fruit, and immaturity - either on the individual or congregational level - is evidence of a lack of learning, both independently and under another's teaching. 

ATLANTA

Too tired to write anything worth thinking about tonight. I drove from Columbus to Atlanta today to represent Mission Resource at the International Conference on Missions over the next couple of days. 

There were some traffic slowdowns, but overall the drive was pretty easy. I was driving our new car and it almost drives itself - literally. 

I experienced my first Buc-ee's stop, but otherwise the day was pretty dull. 

Tomorrow morning I head to the convention center to set up my display. I will be sharing a booth with our friends from Basic Utility Vehicles of Indianapolis. 

TRAJECTORY

I suppose most Christians walk around with an innate sense that their tradition, their denomination, and their local church have managed to hit the theological nail squarely on the head.

I used to assume my tribe was 100% on target and all other denominations ranged from "really close" to "way off". Other brands of Methodists and Wesleyans were close to holding correct theology while Catholics were really missing the boat.

Then I started looking closely at Calvinism and, at first, I grew nervous that I had missed something essential to faith. There are some really smart Calvinists out there and they write a lot of books and preach a lot of sermons. These men seemed like they really knew their Bible, too.

But the entailments of Calvinism never sat well with me. In time, I began to see the holes and contradictions in their very neat and logical system. 

And once I saw them clearly, I couldn't unsee them. 

Eventually, I got to the point where I viewed their theology as obviously and deeply flawed. 

And although my final conclusion was that Calvinism is a ridiculous error, I never forgot the fact that for a long period of time, I had thought maybe they were completely right. 

I still watch plenty of debates on the subject and - unsurprisingly - nobody ever changes their minds. 

And that brought me to a place of self-reflection: Is it not possible that I could also hold some theological convictions that are just as much in error? How would I know?

As Scott Adams says, "Being absolutely right and being spectacularly wrong feel exactly the same". 

These days, I don't expect to ever reach 100% in my lifetime - there's always more to learn. There are mistaken assumptions to be confronted. 

(And if Scripture never challenges my assumptions, then am I even reading it closely?)

I have decided that the best I can hope for is a lifetime trajectory of moving in the direction of Truth. 

If I am wrong about something, I want to know today so that tomorrow I am on a more accurate course. 

EPAPHRAS: AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER

I have started to look into Paul's letter to the Colossians again since it is the portion of Scripture I plan to use as the theological foundation for my dissertation project.

I want to highlight a prominent motif in the letter that can be overlooked too easily: teaching and understanding. 

It gets underway early - by the 6th verse - where Epaphras is recognized as teacher to the Colossians:

"5b Of this - (the hope laid up for them in heaven) - you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant."

Apparently, Epaphras was a GOOD teacher - the proof being the gospel bearing fruit and increasing in their midst.

The hearing AND understanding are both crucial here - just as in Jesus' parable of the 4 soils in Matthew 13 where the ultimate difference between the first and last soil is "understanding".  

Hearing doesn't automatically lead to understanding.

And without the people grasping the truth, the gospel would not advance.

While it's true that even the best of teachers cannot reach EVERY student, NO students are reached by the worst of teachers.

Epaphras apparently proved to be a good teacher.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PRETESTING

This past weekend I had the opportunity to put some of my dissertation thoughts into an hourlong workshop at a youth retreat at nearby Southeastern Baptist Youth Camp. 

In keeping with one of the basic principles of good teaching practices, I decided to ask the teens a simple question on Friday night before my workshop on Saturday. I was planning to talk about the gospel being bigger than the typical "you're a sinner so Jesus died for you and if you believe in Him you can go to heaven when you die" concept, and I wanted to know what the kids already knew.

So I asked the retreat organizers to hand out these cards and ask the teens to give their best responses:

When I came in the next morning, the cards had been filled out AND the other adult leaders - local pastors and youth pastors - had read over the replies.

They were aghast!

I had received responses like these: 

• "The gospel is what helps you get closer to God, like listening to Christian music, praying, reading your Bible, or talking to someone."
• "The gospel is the story of Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world."
• "The gospel is a place where you learn about God and what he did for you because he loves you."

The responses prompted talk among the camp leadership of revamping the summer camp teaching for next season! They realized they were entirely overestimating what the teens already knew.

Basic teaching: Before the lesson, find out what your students already know, what they don't know, and what they think they know.

ANOTHER MISSING CLASS

Here's another class that I think should be required for every seminary student: Basic Psychology and Behavioral Science. 

I think a lot of burn out, stress, and conflict in the life of a pastor could be stopped in its tracks by familiarity with the realities of:

• Confirmation Bias
• Cognitive Dissonance
• Framing
• Habit Formation
• Logical Fallacies
• Reciprocation
• Social Proof
• The Dunning-Krueger Effect
• Etc.

The class would be an easy sell because this stuff is flat-out fascinating.

Plus, it could all be incredibly useful for the "marketing" aspect of church life. 

There would be plenty of real-world case studies to look at and it would be fun to find examples of all the various human quirks of thought and emotion in the Scriptures. 

Once you are familiar with the concepts, you see them illustrated left and right throughout the Bible. 

A MISSING CLASS

You can bet that every seminary offers plenty of classes on preaching and Bible study, but I am not aware of any seminary which requires a class on best teaching practices.

I would be curious to find out if any even offer such a class as an elective.

So, if I could wave a magic wand and change the seminary experience for the next generation of pastors, a required class on pedagogy would be at the top of my list. 

I haven't done in-depth analysis, but from glancing over online Bible dictionaries, the use of Greek and Hebrew words associated with the concept of "teaching" easily outnumber those associated with "preaching" in Scripture - even without throwing in all the instances of "knowing". 

Here are the main qualifications for an "overseer" of the church, according to the Apostle Paul himself:

"An overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money." 1 Timothy 3:2-3 

Is it not interesting that "able to teach" gets included while "able to preach" does not?

LIKE ALGEBRA, BUT WORSE

Imagine if your high school math teacher approached algebra like the typical church approaches faith education.

First of all, class would only meet once or twice a week and there would be no expectation of students doing any learning outside of class.

The teacher's sole approach would be lecture. 

Correct answers would be supplied for every problem - no need for students to wrestle through any sort of practice exercises.  

Worst of all, the teacher would skip around the math book, pulling out random, disconnected lessons from week to week. Today from chapter 7, next week a single equation from chapter 13, and then back to chapter 2 the following week. 

The only thread tying the lessons together would be the fact that they all concern numbers.  

It's fair to say that the students sitting under that math teacher would be thoroughly confused and constantly frustrated. 

And bored.

Week after week, they would be no closer to comprehending math than when they started.

Along the way they may pick up some math terminology, but they would not grasp workable definitions.

At the end of the semester, the teacher would still be the only one in the room who truly understood math. 

(If even he did.)

And when all was said and done, most of the students would drop out of further math classes at the first opportunity - unless maybe they enjoyed hanging out with their friends in the class.  

OUT OF THE MIST

I thought of at least one more basic premise of good teaching since yesterday - and it is super basic, but in the pulpit it doesn't always happen.

So here it is: An effective teacher knows the material inside and out. 

If the teacher is confused or unsure, the students will be doubly so.

It has been said that "a mist in the pulpit becomes a fog in the pew". 

The best-case scenario, of course, is when the teacher is utterly fascinated by the subject matter. 

A preacher should be utterly impressed with the beauty, wisdom, and power of Scripture.

A genuine fascination can be contagious.

And one other premise that I am reminded of just now: A good teacher consciously teaches students HOW to think, not just WHAT to think. 

This can only be accomplished if the teacher makes a practice of critical thinking in his or her own study and preparation. 

BASIC TEACHING

If at all possible, I plan to avoid using words like "pedagogy" in my dissertation and keep to a straightforward exploration of "teaching". 

Because teaching doesn't HAVE to be complicated and learning how to teach doesn't HAVE to involve a bunch of $5 words or drawn-out explanations of esoteric philosophies. 

(Is "esoteric" worth at least $5?)

Teaching is a skill, a science, and an art - but the basics of competent and effective teaching are not beyond the reach of any ordinary person. 

Off the top of my head, here are some basics of teaching:

• Start with what the students already know - or think they know.
• Set objectives: what do the students need to know?
• Plan the "test" in advance: How will the students show they have learned the material?
• Determine a logical order of presentation.
• Provide some sort of road map up front. 
• Make the material relevant. You should have a good answer to the question in the back of every student's mind: "Why are we learning this?"
• Review frequently – learning requires repetition.
• Give students time and opportunity to process and practice, not just listen.
• Check comprehension periodically along the way – If you are losing them, you want to know ASAP. 

If you're a teacher or if you've ever sat under an expert teacher, I could use some feedback here: Which other aspects of teaching do you consider essential?

GOOD TEACHING IS HARD TO FIND

(No time to revise tonight - this is very rough drafty.) 

Good teaching is hard to find. 

I know there are standout teachers at all levels, but have you ever noticed that, on average, as the grade level increases, the quality of teaching decreases?

Kindergarten and first grade teachers are masters at the art of teaching. They have to be, or their kids make no progress - which proves to be very apparent at that stage! Administrators and parents put lots of pressure on teachers at the front end of kids' education. 

But by high school? It's fairly common to hear students complaining about "not learning anything" over an entire semester. And often it isn't really hyperbole. 

By the time a student gets to the college level, "teaching" is pretty much synonymous with "lecturing". 

And this paragraph and the next will likely not make it into my dissertation in any form, but I was astonished by the poor teaching practices I encountered during my two years taking classes at the doctoral level. I had one professor out of 8 who really excelled at TEACHING. 

The others "knew their stuff", no doubt about it, and they were wonderful people. But if they ever took courses on best teaching practices, it didn't show.

(In fact, as I understand it, once I have my doctorate degree, I will be magically qualified to teach at the seminary level - not because I happen to have been trained as a teacher and have years of experience, but by virtue of having a depth of knowledge on some particular topic and a degree to prove it. And, obviously, attaining a depth of knowledge for oneself does not automatically translate into the ability to convey that knowledge to others.) 

So if even those in the teaching profession often fail in educating their students, what hope do we have that pastors will automatically be good teachers? Does attending seminary qualify someone to teach?

I am not aware of any seminary which requires general students to take classes on best practices in educating others.

But what's crazy is this: good teaching IS hard to find, but it's not overly complicated to do. 

PREACHING AND TEACHING

When I started serving as minister at Sardinia Baptist Church two and a half years ago, I quickly realized I was much more comfortable Teaching rather than Preaching.

At first, I wasn't even aware that there was a difference and I'm still not sure where the line between the two actually is drawn.

Maybe I'm being overly simplistic, but I understand Preaching as aimed at the heart and the spirit. It is meant to motivate and persuade.

And Teaching is aimed at the mind, seeking to foster knowledge and understanding. Its goal is to explain and equip. 

Both can and should spur transformation. Under Preaching, it is the transformation of thoughts, words, and actions. 

And under Teaching, it is the imagination.  

I don't suppose either is inherently more valuable, but I do think there is an order: Teaching first, and then Preaching. 

There should be an order and there should be balance.

But in the American church, Preaching has long been prioritized over Teaching.

TWO TROUBLES

Ronald Reagan famously said, "The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so."

And I would say that, unfortunately, American Christianity suffers from both troubles: ignorance and wrong belief. 

Both, in the end, amount to unbelief.

Off the top of my head, here are a few important things I would guess most American Christians are ignorant of:

• The scope of the gospel
• The historical context of various books of the Bible
• The cultural contexts of the original audiences
• The metanarrative of the Bible
• Church history
• The major themes of the Bible

And a few of the things, in my opinion, which many American Christians "know that isn't so":

• Hell as eternal conscious torment
• Calvinism and all its distinctives regarding predestination, election, sovereignty, and etc.
• Penal substitutionary atonement 
• Faith as mental assent to propositional truth

THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM

At the heart of my dissertation work is the importance of education.

To put it negatively, a lack of proper education is often found at the very heart of society's greatest problems. And if it's not at the heart, at the very least poor education exacerbates other societal weaknesses.

Take our nation's current political climate as an example. How much of today's polarization could be toned down if the populace was trained in critical thinking?

I believe this much: if the citizens magically became critical thinkers tomorrow, much of the politicians' rhetoric would fall flat. Their word games would be over and they might be forced to govern instead. 

Fix the education and you fix the culture.

I believe the same is true within the American Church - we have a major education problem. And it's the root cause of all sorts of issues which weaken the witness and the power of the Church. And jeopardizes its future. 

Believers, by and large, simply do not know the Scriptures. In fact, they do not even know how to read them or where to start. They are fully dependent on interpretation done by pastors who are almost as ignorant. As a result, too many believers don't know God's character, His mission, or His provision for humanity.

They certainly don't seem to know the gospel. 

So how does the Church's education problem get fixed? Where do we start?

I know there's no quick fix. 

But I believe the starting point is with the young. 

P.S. I recognize that it's entirely possible this is only confirmation bias on my part - since I am a teacher at heart. Maybe I want to believe that teachers have the power to solve the world's problems. (But maybe they do.)

COMING CHALLENGES

I have a recurring stress dream where I am a new teacher in an unfamiliar school and I'm running late on my first day of classes. As I run down the hallway (sometimes in my underwear), I realize I have forgotten where my classroom is. 

Yesterday, reading the email informing me that I was a month into a class I didn't even know I was enrolled in felt a lot like that.

But only at first. 

After the initial shock wore off, I discovered I wasn't feeling too panicked in general. 

The class's major project will be the completion of my prospectus, a 20 to 25-page paper outlining the parameters of my project and giving a theological justification for it. 

And I have already done that once.

And, yes, my first attempt was rejected - for good reasons.

I am (2 years) older and wiser now and my foundational convictions are firmer. It shouldn't be TOO time-consuming to revise my prospectus. It's always much easier to start from a rough draft than a blank page.

The real challenge at this point will be twofold:

• Narrowing the focus of this beast down to a manageable size.
• And facing what comes next once this step is completed. 

If I'm honest, fear of next steps has been a major factor in my delay in revising and resubmitting my prospectus. 

BACK TO IT

I'm back to writing daily.

Because ...

1. I missed it. I have felt somewhat mentally adrift ever since I fell out of the habit. Writing helps me process life and reinforces whatever the Lord is currently teaching me. It's too useful to neglect.
2. I have a renewed purpose. Today (Noevember 5, 2025) I got notice that - unbeknownst to me - I am a full month into a 6-month class required for my dissertation! 

Yes, I have missed at least one assignment and a Zoom meeting so far.

Wesley Biblical Seminary decided they needed to light a little fire under a handful of their doctorate students who are stalled out - including yours truly. And so they established a new class.

Sure, it would have been nice to learn about the October start date in September rather than November, but I applaud the school's proactiveness. I NEED some deadlines if I am ever going to finish.

In theory, by the end of this class I will have my prospectus completed and, God willing, approved. 

In order to get everything processed and written by the end of March, though, I will need to invest time daily.

So THAT is my renewed purpose for this blog for the time being.

Hopefully, the things I write here in the coming weeks can serve as rough draft material for my dissertation. 

(The last time I tried to reignite my writing habit was in July, just before Melissa and I went to Scotland to celebrate our 25th anniversary. I was too much in the moment to write daily during that trip, but of course I now wish I had followed through with that writing!) 

GRANITE CITY

(I will add some photos to this post when I can.)

Aberdeen.

It's a place name that meant something to me from my earliest childhood, long before I first stepped foot on the campus of Aberdeen University as a college junior the fall of 1988. 

My father's roots were in Aberdeen, South Dakota. It is where my family drove in the summertime for a visit to my grandparents. 

The warm feelings and familiarity with the name "Aberdeen" undoubtedly played a role in making Scotland first choice among the study abroad options available to me.

(My shyness and lack of foreign language study outside of high school Latin and a year of faltering French at Wabash had already limited my choices to English-speaking countries.) 

It was a strange sensation to be back in Aberdeen for the first time in 36 years. The campus of the University of Aberdeen, like the rest of the city, is constructed of stone - primarily granite - so there is much that has not changed. 

And that aids in my recollections of my year in Scotland.

I can remember the names and faces of a few friends I made through Bible studies on campus. I can vaguely picture one professor as well as the arrogant Englishman who was the campus liaison for all of the American students. I recall trips to the corner grocery store to buy cookies and weekly calls home from the pay phones in a dark hallway just off my dorm's lobby. I vaguely remember taking a bus into the heart of the city on Sunday mornings and then walking up long, wide steps to attend a church with two friends from the Shetland Islands. 

I was thinking of all these things last night as Melissa and I walked through the center of campus. 

Unfortunately, even surrounded by the granite, my memory failed to resurrect most details of my daily life in Aberdeen those 9 months. They have been lost.  

This might sound strange, but I have long hoped that one of the blessings of the afterlife will be the restoration of our memories to perfection. 

I think it would be fascinating to look back over each stage of my life to see what words, thoughts, and events shaped me into the person I am. 

For the next 24 hours, I know I will be chewing on this mystery: who was I before coming to Aberdeen, Scotland and how did the Granite City shape me? 

P.S. In one of those sad ironies of life, my brother Ryan called on Monday to say that our Uncle Spencer had passed away. He was a sweet, loving, and all-around good-natured man. I am saddened to not be able to travel to South Dakota for his funeral. My 3 brothers will all be pallbearers and Spencer will be buried Monday ... in a cemetery in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

I HAVE ARRIVED

Here's what I was thinking as our plane touched down in Edinburgh, Scotland this morning at 10:30 local time (5:30 am Indiana time!):

I have truly arrived. 

And that's because it occurred to me that if anyone had told 21-year-old me back in 1989, the last time I was in Scotland, that I would return 36 years later with my beautiful and talented wife to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary ...

That she and I would have 4 incredible children - 2 handsome boys and 2 gorgeous girls ...

That my oldest son would be proudly serving as an officer in the Army ...

That my oldest daughter would be a successful interior designer living in Myrtle Beach ...

That my second son would be using his college degree in computer science to help program drones ...

That my youngest daughter would be getting ready to study art at Indiana University ...

That I would own a house in Columbus, Indiana packed full of memories ...

That I had made a varied "career" out of ministry, from LeMars, Iowa to Pensacola, Florida to Cap Haitien, Haiti to Accra, Ghana ... 

That I currently had two jobs that I truly loved and felt God's calling on ...

And that I would be working on a doctorate degree ...

If you had told me all this, I would have said:

1) I don't believe you,

And 2) What is a drone?

And 3) If all that IS true, I am glad to hear that I will achieve success beyond my wildest dreams.

(And, by the way, if you furthermore told me that I and my beautiful wife wouldn't be anywhere near to what most Americans call financial security ... 

I would have said:

1) I'm not surprised

And 2) Who cares?)

PEAK EXISTENCE

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."

So said Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I think he nailed it.

And I think this is why Jesus' announcement of the arrival of the Kingdom of God is such good news. I think, deep down inside, we all want to be useful. 

And to be useful to God Himself, the King of Kings? Well, there's no higher aspiration for a human being. 

Maybe Jesus was saying something profound when He said that it is better to give than to receive. 

Like ... it's better for our psyche, our self-image, our soul, to live like God, giving ourselves away. 

When we are useful, we are leaning into the very purpose for which we were created. 

And THAT is peak existence.

TIME ON THE DECK WITH SAMUEL

This isn't really a post. It's an explanation of why I didn't post tonight.

With Melissa and Sarah in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a dance competition this week, Samuel and I have been the only ones around the house. He was fighting a nasty head cold earlier this week and I have been trying to get ahead on some of my work tasks so that I won't have to work over our time in Scotland next week.

So we haven't really spent any time together this week. Heck, we really haven't just hung out since he returned home in May.

I was planning to work some more after dinner tonight, but then I grilled some hamburgers and Samuel suggested that we watch something while we ate. He wanted to introduce me to a show he thought was funny.

One episode turned into two. Then we started talking about music.

I recently switched my phone from a Samsung to iPhone and he's been eager to show me all the new capabilities at my fingertips.

Anyway, I found an old Scottish band called Runrig I was introduced to 35 years ago. We sat out on the back deck and listened to some Runrig on Apple Music and then I remembered another Scottish band I hadn't thought about in decades, The Battlefield Band, and I took Samuel down my memory lane with some of their songs, playing through his Bluetooth speaker.

We talked about how technology has changed so much - for better or worse. How my parents used to watch The Lawrence Welk Show religiously each week. (You can find hundreds of episodes now on YouTube!) How we had CBS, NBC, and ABC and people actually gathered around their TVs to watch their favorite shows. And how, if you missed it, you had to wait months for the reruns to air over the summer. 

During lulls in the conversation, we listened to the music and took turns throwing the dog's rubber bone toward the yard for her to fetch.

It was a truly pleasant evening together and worth every minute of whatever work I might have to make up tomorrow! 

FREE WILL?

I wasted some time this evening arguing with a Calvinist in the comment section of a YouTube video. 

Upon seeing I was a non-Calvinist, he asked this:

"I want to ask a genuine question, do you pray for the non believers? If you do, why? In your world view God can not violate the mighty will of man? This is a genuine question."

I have heard Calvinist say things like this - that indicate they believe their theological opponents hold that man's free will is of such a nature that it cannot ever be overridden by God. I don't know why they believe this. 

It would be a complete non sequitur to say, "Man has free will, therefore God is incapable of ever imposing His own will upon human beings." 

So I wrote back:

Excellent question. I'm glad you asked it because maybe I can clear up a common misunderstanding. Just because we say that man has free will it does not follow that we believe God can never "violate" man's free will. Why would it? 

I don't know if you have children or not but I think of it in terms of a father with his children. The father is both free and "sovereign" while the kids have free will but are not sovereign. 

The father is not micromanaging the kids' every move. They have plenty of choice as to what they play and how they spend their time. The father can say, "It's time to clean up" and the kids can even then decide to disobey. But the father is in charge and is the final authority. So when he says, "If you don't clean up, there will be consequences", the kids need to be prepared to suffer the consequences of their actions or inactions.

Of course, the father is also at liberty to bring unexpected blessings into the lives of his children: "Hey, kids, we're going to the amusement park tomorrow!"

When I pray for non-believers, I pray that God will put people and events and ideas into the pathway of that person that will wake him or her up to God's reality and goodness. God reaches people in a million different ways, so I don't presume to dictate the means in my prayers as if I would be better equipped to reach that person than their Creator is. 

What does the Calvinist pray for the non-believer? And why?

WE ARE YOUNG!

Melissa, Sarah, Samuel, and I joined some friends last night to enjoy some of the local fireworks from the roof of their house. 

Some of the best seats in the city.

As we were waiting for the show to start, I was doing the math in my head and realized that next year will be the 250th birthday of the nation. 

And then I felt old because I remember the bicentennial! I was 8.

And while I suddenly felt old, it also reminded me that our nation is quite young! Afterall, I've been alive for over a fifth of our history since the founding and I'm not exactly an old-timer myself. 

When I visited Scotland in 1988, one of the first moments that made a huge impression on me was walking into my first castle and looking at an ornate wooden bed with a little plaque nearby claiming the piece of furniture was over 400 years old! 

These days, a lot of people are talking like America's best days are behind her, but we are so, so young still. 

Who knows what some national maturity might bring?

Happy Independence Day!

THE GOSPEL IS BIGGER

We have reduced the gospel to "even though you are a sinner, Jesus died for you, and if you ask Him into your heart, you will be granted entrance to heaven when you die".

And it's so firmly ingrained in the church's mindset, that even the scholars with doctorates don't question it.

But the New Testament presents a much bigger gospel: God's Kingdom has been reestablished on earth, Jesus is the saving King, and He will one day return to earth to fully actualize His authority as King.

The first time the word "gospel" is used in the New Testament is at the advent of Jesus' earthly ministry:

(Mat 4:23) And Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

"The gospel of the kingdom"! This is His message 3 years before His death.

And then look at Luke 9:

1 And Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet has a testimony against them.” 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

Here again, the gospel is clearly equated with Jesus' proclamation that the kingdom of God had arrived.

And, considering the disciples would later be completely caught off guard by Jesus' death and resurrection, they obviously were not proclaiming the same message that we today call "the gospel"! 

RE-ENCHANTMENT

I keep coming across this word: enchantment. 

It comes from the same roots as incantation - the placing of a magic spell on something or someone.

I hear people speaking of our need to recapture the enchantment of life. And everything in me screams "Amen!" 

It feels like we are all vaguely aware that some of the magic of existence has disappeared. Or perhaps it has simply been crowded out.

In this high-tech age where gadgets and AI and doomscrolling dominate what little is left of our individual imaginations, we are less likely than ever to stop and smell the roses. 

Depression and loneliness are common. And deadly - if not to the body, then quite often to the soul. You don't run into too many optimists these days. 

Re-enchantment isn't a luxury. It's a necessity. 

Perhaps the church should lead the way. Afterall, we have not been immune to this general disenchantment.

So often our practice of faith, prayer, and worship are routine. Dried out and stale. And Scripture holds no wonder or mystery.

Where are the psalmists who can remind us of the magnificent magic of God and reality?

The church would make for an appropriate launch site for a renewal of hope and wonder. 

How do we recover the enchantment?

God willing, two weeks from now, Melissa and I will be stepping off a plane in Edinburgh, Scotland. I haven't visited Scotland since I spent my junior year at the University of Aberdeen in 1988/89. I am looking forward to touring castles, drinking some whisky, and eating a ton of fish and chips. 

But what I find myself truly excited about is simply the pervasive magic of Scotland. There is something enchanted about the entire country and I feel like I NEED to experience it again. 

OPTIMISM KICKS IN

I think of myself as a generally optimistic person. 

BUT, I have a tendency to fixate on how anything I am directly involved in could go wrong.

And I realized something kind of weird about myself this weekend: I swing from pessimism to optimism as the due date approaches.

Our church was open to switching up our approach to VBS this summer and doing a neighborhood festival instead. It was still aimed at kids, but we weren't doing any explicit Bible lessons during our time together. It was more about simply having a positive interaction with our neighbors.

Anyway, after spending the last four weeks imagining all that could go wrong - even to the point of experiencing stress dreams at night - the Freedom Festival arrived today. 

And this morning my attitude flipped 180 degrees. Here's what went through my mind all day today:

• What's the worst that could happen? 
• Even if the event flops, God is capable of bringing something good out of it.
• God is in control.
• This is a grand experiment and we will undoubtedly learn a lot. 

And guess what.

We got rained on. Hard. And only a few kids showed up.

But the kids and adults who did show up? They thought it was great to see the church doing something for the neighborhood. 

And it was. 

Not only that, but even with a lot of church members out of town this weekend, many others showed up and worked hard. There's is no question how much these people care for those outside our fellowship.

I can't wrap up without giving a huge shout out to Melissa. She did a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make sure the festival was the best it could be. 

And it all paid off. I can't wait to see what God does with our efforts from today.

In the future, I should be more consistently optimistic. Less anxious. 

(P.S. If I wasn't so wiped out, I would post some pictures. Sorry.)

THE MIST

"A mist in the pulpit will result in a fog in the pew." 

This truism, attributed to Charles Spurgeon (among others), is why I don't think I would have made a very good preacher even 5 years ago. 

Now, one of the great blessings of my position as pastor at Sardinia Baptist Church is the opportunity week by week to blow away the mist in my own understanding of the Christian faith.

It gets me excited every time. 

And I'm not talking about Bible trivia - it's big picture stuff. And how everything fits together. 

I'm coming to see that over the years I've swallowed a whole lot of "biblical doctrines" without examining the Scriptural basis for myself. And then I wondered why my beliefs felt so disjointed. 

I was not alone in this. I think this is a great weakness of the modern church in general. If the pastors and teachers have never applied critical thinking skills to their own presuppositions, the congregation is going to be left in a fog.

And if a congregation is in the fog, there's not going to be a lot of forward movement for that church. 

The average church doesn't need to be berated as much as it needs to be educated.

But there's too much mist up front. 

PUDDLES AND LEAKS

“Are you dealing with a leak or a puddle?”

If you are facing a problem in your life -

(And who among us isn’t?)

- You might find the following distinction from author James Clear useful.

He says there are 2 basic types of problems:

• ‘A “Muddy Puddle” problem, if left unbothered, becomes clearer over time and resolves itself. The best approach might be to take a walk, pray about it, and get it out of your head for a while.

• A “Leaky Ceiling” problem, on the other hand, if left unattended, worsens and brings disaster. The best approach is to stop procrastinating on take the first step toward resolving it.

It’s important to know which kind of problem you’ve got on your plate!

If you want to read Clear’s explanation for yourself, you can find it HERE accompanied by a “sketchplanation” by artist Jono Hey. The little visual helps to make Clear’s point stick. 

CASE CLOSED

When I was younger, I was impressed by any Biblical "expert" who could rattle off a dozen verses proving their particular viewpoint on Scripture. I assumed it meant that teacher really knew their Bible inside and out. 

Now I know that this is called proof texting - and, when it comes to defending a "Biblical doctrine", I consider it a practice which is suspect at best.

There was a (brief) time when Calvinism actually appealed to me. This was about 15 years ago when I was invited to a Together for the Gospel conference without knowing it was organized by Calvinists to promote Calvinism.

The two qualities which drew me in at that time were these:

1. It was presented as a "hard teaching that you just had to accept if you take the Bible seriously".
2. Several well-known pastors gave talks on all the Calvinist distinctives - based on plenty of verses from the Old and New Testaments.

At the time I didn't understand the inevitable damage done to a verse when it is isolated from its context. I was simply impressed that these men (always men!) could cite so much evidence for their hard teachings. 

I never stopped to consider that the flaws in proof texting make it as useful in promoting some obvious heresy like the Prosperity Gospel as it is for Calvinism.

If you aren't familiar with the dangers of proof texting yourself, consider one of the Prosperity Gospel preachers' favorite teachings from the Apostle Paul:

2 Corinthians 8:9 - "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." 

Or these words from Jesus Himself in Mark 11:22-24 - “Have faith in God,” Jesus said to them. “Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

And a little Old Testament for good measure, in Malachi 3:10 - "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure."

How many more verses do you need to see the Bible's clear teaching that God's desire is to bless you with great riches ... as long as you tithe?

The case is settled. Right?

PERHAPS

"15 Perhaps the reason [Onesimus] was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for ever – 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord." Philemon 15-16

As he is writing to Philemon about receiving back his slave, Onesimus, the Apostle Paul is engaging in some conjecture about what God was doing behind the scenes in this whole scenario. 

Many people assume that Onesimus was a runaway slave, but there's nothing in the letter to confirm this as the backstory. It's just as likely that Philemon sent Onesimus to Paul for a short time in order to care for Paul's needs while he was imprisoned. 

Regardless of how Onesimus came in contact with Paul, he seems to have given his life to Christ during his time away from home and Paul now loves him like a son. 

Now, as he sends Onesimus back to his earthly master, Paul speculates that this round trip wasn't just about bringing aid and comfort to Paul.

Perhaps it was because the Lord knew that Paul would persuasively share the gospel with Onesimus, leading to a new birth. 

And THEN - even better - Onesimus would return to Philemon, not to help with household chores, but to function as a co-worker, a brother, in spreading the gospel.

I love the fact that Paul uses that word "perhaps". Even as Spirit-led as the Apostle is, he still only gets glimpses of what the Lord is up to as He guides His children this way and that. 

THE DONKEY

There is a fable about human nature I don't want to forget.

Here it is as retold by Sahil Bloom:

A man and his son were bringing their donkey to the market.

As they were walking along the path, a man passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the man put the boy on the donkey and continued. They passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. They passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

So the man took his boy up with him on the donkey. People began to jeer: "Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey?"

So the man and boy got off and carried the donkey on their shoulders. As they crossed a bridge, it kicked loose, fell over the side, and drowned.

Viewed from the perspective of the man and his son, the traditional moral goes something like this: "Please all, and you will please none."

But I too easily identify with the critics along the road and so I read it as a fable about how inclined we are to sit in judgement of others, even when we know next to nothing about their situation. 

So I might state the moral along these lines: "Those who are being judged simply cannot win."

YOUR OWN SYSTEMATIC

The Church would be much healthier if we ditched the system where each generation two or three persons develop a systematic theology to be shared with millions, in favor of ....

Millions of believers developing their own systematic theology and each sharing their ideas with two or three other believers. 

Wouldn't that be something?

No longer would we blindly swallow what we've been taught by other well-meaning Christians - who have never questioned anything they themselves were taught.

In a way, my unofficial theological project since stepping into the role of pastor has been to develop my own systematic understanding of what is taught in Scripture. I am making good progress but still far from being finished. 

I don't necessarily assume I will finish in my lifetime. 

One of my goals is to make sure there are no blatant contradictions in my faith.

And I think developing your own "systematic" theology would be an incredibly edifying process for any believer serious about his or her faith, not just pastors. 

ALLEGIANCE

Once you start to notice the misalignment of the American gospel with the biblical gospel, it's hard to ignore. 

I am reading Salvation by Allegiance Alone by Dr. Matthew Bates and giving a hearty "Amen!" with every page. The subtitle is Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King.

Here's the book's argument, "reduced to its simplest terms":

1) The true climax of the gospel - Jesus's enthronement - has generally been deemphasized or omitted from the gospel.

2) Consequently, pistis has been misaimed and inappropriately nuanced with respect to the gospel. It is regarded as "trust" in Jesus's righteousness alone or "faith" that Jesus's death covers my sins rather than "allegiance" to Jesus as King.

3) Final salvation is not about attainment of heaven but about embodied participation in the new creation. When the true goal of salvation is recognized, terms such as "faith," "works," "righteousness," and "the gospel" can be more accurately reframed.

4) Once it is agreed that salvation is by allegiance alone, matters that have traditionally divided Catholics and Protestants - the essence of the gospel, faith alone versus works, declared righteousness versus infused righteousness - are reconfigured in ways that may prove helpful for reconciliation.  (p.9)

Not surprisingly, Bates briefly points backward to the era where the church started to get off track and it is the life and writings of one man: Saint Augustine. 

(Someday I would love to do a deep dive into Augustine - he seems like a fascinating individual and to say he had an outsized influence on the church would be the greatest understatement of all time.) 

I wholeheartedly echo this line from Bates: "I hope that the correct identification of the high point of the gospel as Jesus's kingship and a retargeting of "faith" as allegiance will reinvigorate the life and mission of the church today." (p.9)

In fact, this sentiment is what motivates my dissertation work.