Response as the Goal of All Bible Reading

I love purpose statements. I love them because I really don’t like guessing about someone’s motivation. It’s an uncomfortable place to be in. If I’m reading something someone wrote or listing to someone give a talk, I don’t want to be left wondering why they wrote what they wrote or said the things they said. I think this is partly why I like John’s gospel so much.

As the apostle John was drawing his gospel to a close, he thought it would be a good idea to make clear why he wrote it in the first place—to remove the mystery, if there was any. To do that he wrote that, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31, NIV). With that statement, you and I don’t have to wonder or guess about his purpose. John wrote what he wrote so that you and I might believe in Jesus (or continue to believe—there’s some debate about that, but we don’t need to get into it here) and, through believing in Jesus, experience real life.

In other words, what John did with his gospel is to give an opportunity for everyone who reads it to respond to what he wrote. I think that although John is probably the clearest of his fellow biblical authors about his purpose, his purpose is not unique to him. I would guess that if we were able to ask any of the biblical authors why they wrote what they wrote, their answer would be that those who read what they wrote would respond in one way or another to what they’ve read. It’s the same purpose I have in writing what I’m writing here. I want you to respond to it; I don’t want it to be wasted time.

Throughout the church world the language that is often used in relation to what I’m talking about here is application. Most books on Bible reading or Bible study guides will talk about applying the text to our lives in order for it to have any meaning. And I think they’re partly right. If all we ever read the Bible for is to gain knowledge then we’re missing the point, because knowledge alone puffs up (1 Corinthians 8:1, NIV). However, I think talking about application for all biblical texts sets us up for confusion and frustration, because not all biblical texts are equally applicable to us. To be sure, there are plenty that apply directly to us, but there are some—quite a few, actually—that are impossible for us to be able to directly apply to our lives.

Consider this passage from Leviticus 4 as an example of a text that is impossible for us to apply to our lives today: “If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, when they realize their guilt and the sin they committed becomes known, the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the tent of meeting. The elders of the community are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord. Then the anointed priest is to take some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting. He shall dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it before the Lord seven times in front of the curtain. He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar, and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the community, and they will be forgiven. Then he shall take the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull. This is the sin offering for the community.” (Leviticus 4:13-21, NIV)

Right off the bat, it’s clear that this section of Scripture was written to a particular people during a particular time. That people and that time being the whole ancient Israelite community following their exodus from Egypt. You and I aren’t those people and we are not in that time. So if application was our goal in reading this passage, how would anyone today be able to apply it? The short answer is, no one today could appropriately apply it, so why would we ever make application the main goal of reading all the time? This is why I have found it helpful to talk about responding, instead. I think there are plenty of places throughout the Bible where direct application is right and necessary, but the direct application is a fruit of a proper response; application doesn’t arrive on its own.

Even though we are not able to directly apply Leviticus 4:13-21, we are fully capable of responding to it. Our response to that text might be something like, recognizing what God was doing with the ancient Israelite community in how he was being up front about unintentional sin, giving them clear instructions for how to deal with unintentional sin, and how what Jesus did on the world’s behalf in relation to sin somehow relates to what Moses was talking about way back then. I think that’s an appropriate response to Leviticus 4 even though application was never a possibility. And yet there was still a purpose for us with that portion of Scripture—we can still benefit from reading and responding to a section of the Bible that has no direct application to us.

This idea of not being able to apply a text, but still being able to respond to it is not unique to the Old Testament. In fact, we run into the same situation with one of the most famous sentences in all the Bible from the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, NIV). Here we have John reaching back as far as he can into the past and telling his readers what it was like back then. In particular, telling his readers about the Word and his relation to God. How would you apply this text to your life? Is there something you and I are being called to do from this text? I don’t think there’s any direct application for us. There’s nothing in the text for us to do, but that doesn’t mean the text has no purpose for us, because we are still able to respond to it. Our response, though is not by way of application but by way of stirring our imagination in wrestling with the reality of who God was and is. John 1:1 serves us today by giving us something solid to grab hold of, something true about who God was and is, and it’s okay that the text isn’t directly calling us to do anything.

Of course, though, there are plenty of places in Scripture where our response will be made evident by the way we apply the text to our lives. Think of Galatians 5 and Paul’s description of what life in the Spirit is like: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:13-15, NIV) We would be fooling ourselves if we thought there was no direct application for us today from this passage. This is not like what we saw in John 1 or Leviticus 4. This text applies directly to us if we respond to it appropriately. Our response ought to be one of first reflection of our own lives, which includes a comparison to what Paul described, then adjustments in our lives where they’re appropriate. Paul is giving us instruction for life and if all we ever saw it for was simply something to consider as true without any direct application then we would missing out on his intention.

This way of reading the Bible takes effort on our part—serious effort. The Bible is not some cryptic force that can make you do what it wants you to do. In fact, it has no influence over you if you choose not to give it any. This is the surprising thing about God choosing to communicate his intention and will with his people through the writing of the Bible. He knew that words on a page are easy to ignore (the experience with the Mosaic law made that clear), and yet he chose to go this way with it—and for good reason.

Because God gave us a book that requires us to read, understand, and respond to it, it is up to us to decide if we are going to be shaped by God’s words to us. It is up to us if we’re going to take him seriously or not. And this is good. This reveals to us something true about ourselves. So it’s up to you and it’s up to me to decide—on a regular basis—if we are going to take the necessary steps to not only read, then work to understand what we’ve read, but also to respond to what we’ve read and understood. This is the life of a Bible-reader.

A Church Called Love (Part 1): “…but have not love.”

without love, nothing

Burgers or pizza tonight?

What about burgers or pizza for the next 40-nights? What about for the next 10-years? Or, what about for the rest of your life?

At first the question is simple, because not much rides on it. It doesn’t really matter if I have burgers or pizza tonight, because I could have the other one tomorrow, or something else entirely. Now, if I had to choose one of those foods for the next 40-nights, things get more interesting. Further, if I had to choose one for the next 10-years, or the rest of my life. Now, we’re talking about a big, life-changing decision.

Let’s try another one.

If you could pick only one characteristic for your local church to be known by, what would it be?

Acts of service?
Generous hospitality?
Miraculous healings?
Sound teaching?
Unwavering faith?

I know what I’d choose from those five options. I know what I’d choose because of how incredibly important I believe it to be. Churches live or die based on what is taught and, ultimately, lived-out by those who make up a church. It’s not a far walk from believing that Jesus isn’t really God, to believing that salvation isn’t really possible, and so believing that these “stories” of Jesus in the Bible aren’t worth your time.

That being said, if I had to choose just one characteristic for my local church, it wouldn’t be on the list above. I know, I know, it wasn’t fair how I framed the question, because you didn’t know picking your own characteristic was actually allowed. A thousand pardons, please.

If I had to pick, it would be what Paul considered to be the most important. It would be what he, in 1 Corinthians, exhorts his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to make the foundation of all they do. It would be what Paul believed gave meaning to everything else.

The apostle writes this in 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:3:

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

The message seems to be pretty straight forward. If Paul (and by application, you and I) doesn’t have love, it negatively affects all he does. It doesn’t matter if he can speak in different languages (humanly or angelic). It doesn’t matter if he has prophetic powers, or if he is able to understand all mysteries and all knowledge, or if he has total trust in God. It doesn’t even matter if he gives up his own body. If he does not have love, whatever he has said or done has come to nothing.

The message is clear: without love we are nothing, and there is nothing.

Why is this so? Why is it that without love, it doesn’t matter what we do? To answer this, we must first take a step back.

you are not far from the kingdom of god

In one sense, what Paul just said there in 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:3 doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter to us, nor does it matter to the world, if we have not considered ourselves to be living in the same world as Paul. For Paul, the world as we see it now, was not all there is. There were other things going on that weren’t readily visible to everyone. To put it another way, Paul really believed that God was doing something in this world that really changed the way those who followed him could and ought to live. This thing that God was doing is commonly called the kingdom of God (or heaven).

The kingdom of God was (and is) the reign of God in and through this world that Paul, you, and I live. It is the place within the world where God’s rule, influence, and way of life is being practiced and experienced. The kingdom of God is not some far off dream of an escape one day; it is the actual present-day reality of those who bow the knee to Jesus. And both of Paul’s knees hit the floor in front of Jesus.

Jesus talked about the practical reality of the kingdom of God like this:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. (Mt. 4:43-45a, ESV)

He was confronting this convoluted half-truth that God had called his people to love their neighbors and to hate their enemies. This was never what God had called them to do; instead, it was a manipulation of the real request God had made for his people: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Lev. 19:18, ESV)

And so, Jesus being Jesus, he announces to those who had been following him that if they are going to be a part of his kingdom then they are going to live in the truth of who God was and continues to be: love. Those who live in the kingdom of God (Jesus-people) are going to live like their king, and their king does not hate his enemies. In fact, he died for them (Rom. 5:10). So, his people are not going to hate them; instead, they are going to love them as their neighbor, because the kingdom of God is a place where love reigns supreme.

One day, as was pretty typical, someone came up to Jesus with a question about what type of life God had actually called his people into:

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Mk. 12:28-34, ESV)

The scribe knew what he was talking about, but I’m not sure he knew the implications of what he was talking about, or he at least didn’t want to fully accept them. There is nothing more that God asks of his people than to love those who were made in his image. This is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. In other words, there is nothing more special to God that you could offer him than to love other people. The implication, however, of agreeing with this is striking. If you trust Jesus and you trust what he has said then you are not far from the kingdom of God. You’re right there. You’re at the doorstep of living in the reality of God being king; the reality of Jesus being king. The next step is to move forward from mere agreement to living it out.

called to love

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn. 13:31-35, ESV)

One of the last things Jesus tells his disciples, before his eventual crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, is to love one another. Now, on one level this is not a new command. This had been given ages ago. God’s people were always instructed to love one another. However, on another level, this command from Jesus was as fresh as could be. Here he is, the king of the kingdom of God letting his disciples know that he is going away and there is but one thing they are to do: love one another. The reason, as Jesus says, is that by their loving one another the world will know that they are his disciples. And, as a result of the world knowing that they are Jesus’s disciples, the world will have a chance to know Jesus. That’s how love works in the kingdom of God. It is given to others, so that others would know God.

The Apostle John drills down on this point in his epistle to an early church body when he writes that, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8, ESV). It’s not hard to see how Jesus’s words in John 13 still hung in the ears of John years later. He took to heart what Jesus meant by calling his disciples to love one another and that was worked out for a group of early Jesus-followers through John explaining that those who don’t love, don’t know God, because God is love. It’s pretty cut-and-dry. They (and we) could not call themselves disciples of Jesus (i.e., God) and have no love for others. The two are (and continue to be) mutually exclusive realities. They either do not love others and thus prove that they don’t love God. Or, they love others and thus prove that they actually love God.

John naturally continues this line of reasoning in writing that, “…we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn. 4:16, ESV). Those who remain/live in love, remain/live in God. The two realities go hand-in-hand. It’s not like there are a bunch of hoops to jump through in order to be connected to God and helpful to the world. The calling is simple: love.

okay, but, what is love?

Now, although the calling is simple, the practicalities and real-world application of that calling bring with it all the complexities we could imagine, which is why we ought to be so thankful for Paul because of what he wrote down for the Corinthian church (and us, two-thousand-years later).

Paul began with the truth that our speech and our actions are meaningless if we do not have love. Next, he will continue down this road by describing to us some of the characteristics of this slippery word love. Because, if you’re anything like me, the question that’s been buzzing around your head throughout this article is: what is love?

Exegetical Meditations (23)

“The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting.” (Leviticus 1:1, NIV)

“The LORD spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting…” (Numbers 1:1, NIV)

What a difference a word makes!

In the beginning of the book of Leviticus—before God had given his instruction through Moses to the people of Israel regarding their state of cleanliness in his presence—Yahweh (the LORD) spoke to Moses from the tent of meeting.

Why, from?

Because Moses could not enter; this was before the instruction had been given.

Then we continue reading and God (through Moses) gives to the Israelites everything they need to do to be clean before God. The rituals are extensive and somewhat boring and out-of-touch to us, but they meant everything for the Israelites. You see, there was a problem between them and God.

God was holy and they were not.

And because God’s people were not holy, they could not stand before him and be safe. Nothing impure could come before God. God created them upright, and they chose to walk away from him and so, they had to live with their choice. God, however, did not abandon them. He was making away for them to come before him—to restore the relationship that had been ruined—and he was doing this through the Levitical instruction or law.

So, before moving on, remember that Leviticus begins with God speaking to Moses from the tent of meeting because Moses could not be in the tent of meeting with God.

How does the Book of Numbers begin?

God is still speaking to Moses, but this time a word has changed…a word that changes everything. Instead, of God speaking to Moses from the tent of meeting, Numbers tells us that Yahweh spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting!

Do you see what this means?

This means that what God set up in Leviticus did what it was supposed to do. It made a way for God’s people in the Old Testament to come before him through Moses (and the Levitical priesthood). The extensive rituals given by God had made a way for an unclean person to walk into the presence of God without being destroyed by the holiness that is God.

What, you may ask, does this mean for us now?

What God did for the Nation of Israel in the Old Testament was perfect for them. However, it doesn’t work for us, because it didn’t apply to us then and it doesn’t apply to us now.

Before you start to feel like God has left you out, remember that he has done something even better for you. That better something God has done is actually a someone and that someone is Jesus.

The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the better someone that God has given. God gave of himself and, in the person of Jesus, he has made a way for those who would believe to come before God on their own. No longer do we need someone like Moses (or the Levitical priests) to speak to God on our behalf; now, through our relationship with Jesus (made possible by his sacrifice), we may speak to God because of what Jesus has done to us and for us.

Because my words would quickly fail me in trying to explain the work Jesus did on our behalf, I thought it best to let Hebrews do it for me. So, let me leave you here with this.

“Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Hebrews 10:11-14, NIV)