Fr Tim

During my Sophomore year at the University of Missouri - Rolla (now MS&T), I moved out of the dorm and into an old house with a good friend, John. John was a Chemical Engineering major who was a year ahead of me, and we had become friends in the college band (the kind with tubas, not bass guitars). The house showed its years (perhaps turn of the century era?), the basement flooded with mud after a heavy rain, the stairs were so short and narrow I had to turn sideways and duck my head to get to my room. We burned wood and oil for the radiators, but could never get it above 56 degrees in the dead of Winter. Blowing circuits with space heaters was a daily, necessary habit. We were diagonal to the Pike House, one of the frats, which made it impossible to get to sleep on the weekends from all the party noise. I loved that house and I loved living with those guys in that house.

John's cousin, Tim, also lived in the house. The two of them were close friends, growing up a block apart and attending the same grade school. Tim's dad owned the house and we rented from him. Tim was an Applied Math major, and an easygoing sort. We all pitched in on cooking, cleaning, and repairing, but truth be told, Tim was always the one making sure things got done. He carried more than his fair share. After several months, I learned that Tim's dad was well-to-do from his construction business in St. Louis, but you couldn't tell that by knowing Tim. He didn't act like the son of a comfortably wealthy man.

In this house, we had an Applied Math major, a Chem E major, and a Computer Science major (me), plus whoever the fourth resident was in a given semester. Tim introduced me to late night "toast marathons" - get a loaf of bread, a toaster, and a stick of butter, and eat buttered toast until the loaf and stick were gone. The two of us could knock off a loaf without effort. The house was also home to many band parties (the band was our social group - the kind with tubas, not guitars), juggling parties (nothing important was broken), and Halloween parties. One year, I went as Reagan, and another as Ed Grimley, who was a decent fellow, I must say.

I also attended school over several summers, and when we did, another friend (Andrew) and I would buy cheap season tickets to the Muny theater (the Starlight Theater of St. Louis), drive up on Fridays to John's house, eat half of their food, attend the show, and the spend the night at John's house. Through those trips, I also got to know John's many sisters and his parents.

John and Tim graduated at the same time, and so with them moving out, Tim's dad sold the house (to the Pikes, who immediately tore it down). Andrew and I found another house to rent, and I pretty quickly lost touch with John and Tim. (Back then, the Internet was still ARPANET.) Over time, the computer scientist became a pastor and the applied mathematician became a Catholic priest. Perhaps all those toast marathons were just preparing us for serving Communion. It has been 30 years since I last saw Tim ... excuse me, "Father Tim" .. and I never heard his story of how he became a priest.

Last week, Father Tim didn't show up for morning Mass, so the Deacon went to go check on him and found him slumped over on his desk, apparently suffering a fatal attack sometime the previous night.

Last Sunday after our worship service, I drove over to St. Louis to attend the viewing. The line of visitors outside the church was consistently 200 to 300 people deep for four hours. There had to be a few thousand visitors. From the line, I texted John that I had made it, and he kindly rescued me from the line and took me in to the room where his family was. I got to reconnect with John, his wonderful parents, and all of his sisters. John then cut us both in the line of people snaked through the pews to visit Father Tim's brothers and parents. Father Tim's dad, of course, wouldn't remember my name from a bunch of 30 year old rent checks, but he did cheekily ask if he was a good landlord. John and I spent quite a bit of time just catching up our stories. The time renewed my fondness for John and his family, and my appreciation for Tim as a friend and roommate.

I still haven't heard his story of how he became a priest. During college, he was consistent about going to Mass, but didn't show any tendencies of going priestly. I wasn't a believer at the time, so I'm sure news of my career change came as a shock to him, too. I have no regrets, here - we can't keep up with everyone. But I am struck by the idea that he had an important story that I never heard - a story that clearly affected a few thousand people. Without regret, it is still sad to me that I never heard him tell his story.

How many people are in my life right now whose story I've never heard? And I don't necessarily need to add anything to my schedule to hear those stories. I just need to ask about them when I spend time with people. I just need to be more intentional. Their stories - your stories - affect thousands, and I need to hear more of them.

I never heard Tim's story. And he never heard mine.

D17 Part 3: Gospel-saturated Discipleship

Paul has a mess on his hands with those Corinthians. The people who claim to follow Christ ... to be disciples ... are taking advantage of the poor in their own congregation, in-fighting, and committing indecent acts against each other. Things were such a mess that Paul had to write them at least four times (only two of those letters have been preserved), send emissaries, and even revisit them personally.

His goal was never to merely adjust their behavior. Paul was always about their discipleship - the quality and strength of their following of Jesus. He taught and encouraged them to cling to the Gospel and let it fill their minds. If they would remain focused on the Gospel, the behavioral issues will largely take care of themselves. By all means, stop doing that stupid thing now, but in the long run, drown yourself in the Gospel for real change.

In 1 Corinthians 15, as he's discipling these believers through his letter to them, he states it plainly: "Now I want to make it clear to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand ... for I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received -- that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (emphasis added). I've got to make it clear to you what is of first importance - Jesus and what He did. Everything about my discipleship of you hinges on this.

This leads us to the third of our 17 truths about discipleship that we have been considering these last several weeks (the "D17"):

Discipleship must be Gospel-saturated (1 Cor 15:1-11).

The process of cultivating one another to become fully formed followers of Jesus must be drenched with the Gospel. We cannot intend to disciple one another without basing everything on who Jesus is, what He did and said while in the flesh, and everything He accomplished on the Cross. Specifically, the books of the Bible we typically call "The Gospels" must be our foundational texts ... moreso than other books of the Bible. The story in the Old Testament is vital. Paul's letters are indispensable. The rest of the New Testament is crucial. But the Gospels are our primary text for discipleship - because in them, Jesus most directly teaches and models discipleship with His followers.

We can even turn the noun "gospel" into a verb - we can "gospel one another." Especially for those who already follow Jesus, we need to continually gospel one another - to keep reminding and encouraging one another based on Jesus' words and actions. We all need the Gospel to continually saturate every aspect of our lives. This is because the Gospel is bigger than just "getting saved." The Gospel does contain the message of receiving eternal life through the forgiveness of sins. But the Gospel also includes walking in obedience, thinking more like Jesus, surrendering more to Jesus, and seeing how the Gospel affects ... and should rule over ... every nook and cranny of our lives.

I took part in an internet-based reading plan where we read through all of the Gospels in a week. We were supposed do that six weeks in a row, but I managed only the first week. Even with that, reading large passages each day, the sweep of the Gospel opened up in surprising new ways. Now, I'm spending time each day reading smaller passages, but staying strictly within the Gospels until I've read them several times through.

I suggest making a goal that you read through (or listen to) all four Gospels at least three times through before going on to study other books of the Bible. Large passages, small passages, in a week or in a month, whatever plan will best keep you on task. (By the way, just three chapters a day gets you through all four Gospels in a month.) Then think about the question, "What is the Gospel about in full?"

Furthermore, consider the idea of "gospeling one another." Paul said in Romans 1 that he was eager to preach the Gospel to the church at Rome - but they were already believers. So, Paul wanted to "gospel" them even though they were already saved. He wanted to see the Gospel apply to more and more of their lives by "gospeling" them. Rather than trying to fix each other's behavior, let's gospel one another instead.

The phrase "Discipleship is Gospel-saturated" comes from Caesar Kalinowski.

Jn 15.1-8

Psg: Jn 15.1-8 (link)
Date: 6/21/12

Read

John 15:1-8 NET

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit. You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.

Record

My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.

Reflect

• We can get very focused on bearing fruit as our motivator. I wanna abide because I really wanna bear fruit. That's very egocentric. The purest notice is that the Father is glorified by the fruit bearing and the disciple proving.
• It begins with God, the vinedresser and the vine itself. Then we abide in that vine. Then fruit is borne and discipleship is shown. It then ends with God's glory. God glorifying himself through us, with our part allowing us to be a part of it.
• I cannot conceive of God's glory, but I can conceive of abiding in Christ and in his word, and having his word abide in me. I can get that much. He puts before me something I can understand, and if I commit to that, then he will accomplish the greater things that I cannot conceive.
• However, the greater thing can and should be my primary motivator.

Respond

• You have laid it all out, provided everything. You are the source, the power, the means, and the end. I am a branch that has been given the opportunity to bear fruit to the glory of the vine and the vinedresser. All I really need to do is abide and you will bear fruit to your own glory.
• Forgive me for seeking my own glory and for being more motivated by being the fruit bearing one than by your glory. Jesus told his disciples to not be fixated on the success of their mission, but that their names are in the book - that they have the privilege of being participants in his Kingdom.
• CR: Use the TODO list. Don't check it off until I connect it to God's glory, especially in motive.

Jn 10.7-18

Psg: Jn 10.7-18 (http://biblia.com/bible/gs-netbible/Jn10.7-18)
Date: 6/15/12

Read

10:7 So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the solemn truth,* I am the door for the sheep.* 10:8 All who came before me were* thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.* 10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out,* and find pasture.* 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill* and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.*

10:11 “I am the good* shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life* for the sheep. 10:12 The hired hand,* who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons* the sheep and runs away.* So the wolf attacks* the sheep and scatters them. 10:13 Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep,* he runs away.*

10:14 “I am the good shepherd. I* know my own*and my own know me – 10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life*for* the sheep. 10:16 I have* other sheep that do not come from* this sheepfold.* I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice,* so that* there will be one flock and* one shepherd. 10:17 This is why the Father loves me* – because I lay down my life,* so that I may take it back again. 10:18 No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down* of my own free will.* I have the authority* to lay it down, and I have the authority* to take it back again. This commandment* I received from my Father.”

Record

The hired hand:

• Not the shepherd - Jesus is
• Does not own the sheep - Jesus does
• Sees the wolf coming - same
• Abandons the sheep - Jesus never does
• Runs away - Jesus never does
• (The sheep are scattered - Jesus gathers them)
• Is not concerned about the sheep - Jesus is

Reflect

• We learn about the Shepherd in part by looking at the hired hand.
• Jesus owns the sheep, never abandons, never runs away, gathers, and is concerned about the sheep.
• The main feature of hired hand is that he’s not reliable, especially when his own well-being is at risk. He might be very, very skilled as a hired hand, but he’s not so committed that he will stay on task when the wolves come.
• By contrast, then, an attribute of Jesus as the Good Shepherd here is that there is no danger that will cause him to abandon us to save his own skin. These are his sheep and even when physical death and separation from the Father threatened him, he protected the sheep.
• Therefore, as a sheep, I am owned, I am never abandoned, I am gathered, and I am the object of the Shepherd’s concern. There is someone who risked his life to keep me safe.
• The Jewish audience had to connect Jesus’ words with Psalm 23.

Respond

• Thank you, Jesus, for your perfect reliability as our Shepherd. Thank you for the sacrifice you took on in order to protect me from the most dangerous wolf of the consequences of my own sin.
• Thank you for gathering me in with the rest of your sheep.
• Because you are this Shepherd, I need never fear that you will run away when the wolves come. I never need to feel abandoned or unprotected. I do need to listen for your voice - I can’t expect to be well protected if I’m not heeding your call.

Jn 17.6-19

Psg: Jn 17.6-19 (link)
Date: 6/4/12

Read

John 17:6-19 NET

“I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. Now they understand that everything you have given me comes from you, because I have given them the words you have given me. They accepted them and really understand that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I am praying on behalf of them. I am not praying on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those you have given me, because they belong to you. Everything I have belongs to you, and everything you have belongs to me, and I have been glorified by them. I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them safe in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I kept them safe and watched over them in your name that you have given me. Not one of them was lost except the one destined for destruction, so that the scripture could be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience my joy completed in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I set myself apart on their behalf, so that they too may be truly set apart.

Record

Keep them safe (in your name, from the evil one). (NASB: Keep them)
Set them apart. (NASB: Sanctify them.)

Reflect

• Sifting through the long, amazing prayer, these are the things Jesus is asking for.
• The first "keep safe" is in the context of giving us truth and then leaving this world.
• The second "keep safe" is in context of opposition.
• The "set them apart" is in context of sending us out.
• We will need to be kept by God because:
• He will not be walking among us physically (although "I am with you always").
• We will have opposition.
• We are sent into that opposition without Jesus physically there doing most of the talking, as he had been.
• If we didn't have opposition and if we didn't go out, we wouldn't need to be "kept" much at all.
• Jesus prays this out loud for the benefit of his disciples (including us).
• He wants us to know (it seems) that this is the kind of communication he has with the Father on our behalf. Elsewhere, Scripture says he is our perpetual advocate.
• He perhaps also wanted them to know what their life was going to be like as his disciples, and where our help is going to come from.
• Also possible is that he wants us to know how to pray as we go forward.
• Jesus also takes on an active role for the same goals as this prayer.
• If we are not kept by God, we are not kept at all.
• We can go out (being sent) into the opposing world because we are kept in God's name.
• We will always be as safe as he needs us to be if we are "being sent."
• Even if they kill the body, we are totally, completely kept.
• Therefore, we can be completely bold.

Respond

• I lose too much of my life because I try to save it. You have sent me. You will keep me in your name. What can man do to me? He can do a lot of unpleasant things ... but that's it. That's all man can do to me. You are my protector, keeper, and strength. You are also the message I need to bear to them.
• Teach me more what it means that I am kept in your name. Not just that you keep me, but specifically in (or "by") your name. Your name in Scripture is described as a powerful force, a monicker of your very attributes. Make me to know how safe that name is for me to find my true safety in.
• Forgive me for all the ways that I seek to be kept by anything else: my knowledge, my skills, my community, things. May I truly live in a manner where my only real protection is your name, but with the trust knowing that your name is the safest space in the universe.
• Your name is like an impregnable tank - perfect protection allowing me to mobilize across enemy lines.

Jn 10.22-30

Psg: Jn 10.22-30 (http://biblia.com/bible/gs-netbible/Jn10.22-30)
Date: 6/2/12

Read

10:22 Then came the feast of the Dedication* in Jerusalem.* 10:23 It was winter,* and Jesus was walking in the temple area* in Solomon's Portico.* 10:24 The Jewish leaders* surrounded him and asked,* "How long will you keep us in suspense?* If you are the Christ,* tell us plainly."* 10:25 Jesus replied,* "I told you and you do not believe. The deeds* I do in my Father's name testify about me. 10:26 But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep. 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 10:28 I give* them eternal life, and they will never perish;* no one will snatch* them from my hand. 10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,* and no one can snatch* them from my Father's hand. 10:30 The Father and I* are one."*

Record

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all.

Reflect

• The visual image here of the hand to convey security is compelling, but it is an image that by itself conveys no causation. What makes security secure is the fact that the Father gave the sheep to Jesus, and that this Father is greater than / superior to all.
• Whatever the Father does, there is no one greater who can forcibly undo it (all undoing is specifically allowed by him).
• So, the only way for someone to lose salvation is if the Father allows it (like he allowed the rebellious angels to lose their place).
• The question of security, then, would be whether God allows it. The tenor of this passage is that he does not.
• The Father gives the sheep to the Son.
• This is a sovereign act.
• This includes the Calvinist debate.
• What exactly is the act of this giving? It seems to be the granting of eternal life, in effect. Those who are given to Christ are the ones who have eternal life, and those outside this group do not.
• They will never perish.
• Jesus sheep have eternal life and they will never perish. Period.
• This statement does not allow for losing one's salvation, nor forfeiting one's salvation.
• Not only is our salvation part of a larger spiritual battle, it is also part of a larger event between the Father and the Son.
• The Son pays a transaction via the cross to the Father.
• The Father gives to the Son glory, honor, and a gift - the flock.
• We are God's gift to God (Father to Son). Not that we're so special and valuable, but that our salvation and sanctification, both works of God, comprise a gift of glory to the Son. We are the result of the work he has done. When we are complete in Christ, holy through and through, then we will be a gift fit for the Christ. Not sufficient, but fitting (he deserves so much more, but we will part of what he deserves).

Respond

• When I ignore you or sin against you, I am not living as an appropriate gift from the Father to the Son. You are at work in me to sanctify me, and you will complete the work you started, but I could be a more appropriate part of this gift. You make available to me all that I need in order to be more fitting - what I lack is total abandon. Because of the security that you give, you will be trustworthy for us as we abandon ourselves more and more to you.

--

Colby E. Kinser

http://gplus.to/ColbyKinser

For God so loved the world...

I don't like to talk too much about the original languages of the Bible when I teach. I'll bring it up when I think it's helpful, but it's usually not all that helpful, really. It sounds impressive, it feels like we're learning something, it's interesting to a number of people, but let's be honest: sometimes an aorist is just an aorist - you know what I mean? (If not, then I've made my point.)

I do, however, try to study aspects of the original languages when I prepare a teaching. I try to do good homework, and make sure that what I teach is as accurate as possible. I need to do the work (and I should do more of it than I do!), but that doesn't mean that the details need to fill time in a sermon. More often than not, it improves preaching without becoming the content of preaching.

Then there are those times when it is necessary to spend a little, or a lot, of time describing the original languages. It's a tough call to know when it's helpful, and when it just strokes my own ego. ("Hey, look, I can't remember Hebrew grammar very well, but I can still pronounce it! Impressed?")

One of those cases where it is actually helpful is in perhaps the most recognizable verse in all the Bible - John 3:16. Most translations read something like, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son..." This is an accurate English translation of the original language. But there's a distinction that Greek makes that English can mask.

"God so loved the world." If you're like me, for a long time I took this to mean that God loved the world so much that look! He gave us something! His only Son! Wow! He sure loves us a lot.

The translation is accurate. The word translated "so" can mean "so much," but it can also mean "thusly." One is magnitude, the other is manner. It's the difference between "she is so smart" and "she carefully arranged the flowers just so."

If it's the second definition that applies, then the verse says, "For God thusly loved the world that He gave His only Son..." (the NET has "For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son...").

That's different. Not monumentally. Nothing in our theology is shaken because of this. But it's different.

Does this say that God loved us that much (so D.A. Carson), or does it say God loved us in that manner (so R.H. Gundry)? The second choice is the most common use of that word, but there are cases when it means the first choice. Some even argue for both meanings, since John is no stranger to intentionally picking a word to mean two things. Certainly, both statements are true. But what is this verse saying?

The Gospel of John uses that same Greek word 13 other times, and in every one of those cases, it means thusly. Therefore, I believe that it means thusly in 3:16. In what manner did God love us? By sacrificially sending His one and only Son to die on a cross so that we can have eternal life by faith. That's the manner in which He loved us.

Yes, He loved us that much, but He loved us in that manner - which is what I believe John 3:16 is telling us.

(By the way, the word "loved" is in the aorist tense - just in case you were wondering.)

Less is More

I was in John 3 this which, which includes John's statement in response to some of his disciples leaving him to follow Jesus, "He must increase; I must decrease." I generally get what John's statement means for an individual, but then I wondered what it means for a church. Is there a sense where a church says, "He must increase; we must decrease"?

In a sense, yes. Of course we want every local church to grow (increase), which means that Christ is increasing. But like John, we also want "our" disciples to "leave" us and follow Jesus directly - meaning that they become less disciples of Grace Fellowship (and her elders) and more disciples of Jesus directly. They leaders become less - the people become less dependent on the leaders, who become less of their connection to Him. Instead of a church that builds a following of the leaders, we want to "lose" our following like John did. Just the image of disciples leaving the tutelage of John specifically to go follow Jesus directly is a clear picture in my head of our task - to "lose" disciples to Jesus. This can happen while we grow in numbers - we still "decrease."

As one of the leaders, I want to eventually become less important in your life as a leader (but more important as a friend!).