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Colossians 4:2-6 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.  5  Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Here in Colossians we find instructions and advise on how to approach friends, family, acquaintances and anyone else we may come across living in  the “World” yet not as the “World”.  Prior to this passage we find instructions on how we are to treat those under our authority and how we respond to those in authority.  Our response to and use of authority precedes our evangelism.  Ravi Zacharias has said, “intent precedes content”.  How we treat others, our intent, will speak louder than what we say, our content.

Bring it to The Almighty

OK, now we start talking to people… Well not quite.  It is appropriate that Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 verse 1 deal with how we approach authority.  Before we approach the world we need to approach The Throne.  We must take each day, each relationship, each interaction we expect and those we don’t expect during the day before God.  Continue resolute with conviction and confidence in prayer.  If we are confident in prayer then we will expect God to respond and we will be watchful looking for the fulfillment of prayer.  We will not just watch for it to be filled in the way we want God to work or hope He will work.  We need to look for God’s response and be thankful for what God provides because He always provides what we need.

Acts 16:14 - A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

While we are praying the words “also for” tells us that we need to pray for our own opportunities and for the opportunities of other Christians.  This is a team effort.  We are asking God to open the hearts of people we talk to so that there will be an entrance point for the word of God.  As we speak that “Word” we trust in God’s word to declare or make known the mysteries of God.  Mysteries which are of greater value then freedom from prison or persecution.  Then the passage calls us to pray for a clear presentation.  Yet the passage says we are declaring a mystery.  How can something be both mysterious and clear?  There is a sense within which the words of the gospel cannot be understood rationally but must be felt. The Bible says that to the World the gospel seems foolishness and even offensive. The temptation might be to use methods of the World to convince people.  Paul would have been well aware of the Sophists of his day who trained politicians and wealthy business men how to use words to manipulate and motivate people to get what they wanted.  One example that most of us are aware of today is the prosperity gospel which tells people they will get worldly possessions, recognition, and power if they come to Jesus.  While it is true that a life lived in accordance with God’s intended order will result in benefits those are the fringe benefits of Christ, the treasure itself is Christ.  God help me to avoid the temptation to manipulate by selling benefits instead of bringing them Jesus.

Heading Out with God’s Word and Wisdom

We are then to go into the world and walk wisely particularly in the manner in which we engage with people in the world.  But how do we walk wisely in the world?  The passage doesn’t just make this statement and assume that we know specifically what it entails.  Paul follows up this statement with specific statements about what it means to walk wisely.  We are to given four instructions on how to approach people in the world.

1. Be prudent with time and place
2. Converse with grace
3. Sprinkle in some salt
4. Know how to answer

The first concern of wisdom is prudence with our time; we must be aware of where we are and the seasons and times we are in considering the time, place and limits we must deal with.  Know what you will have time for and place for.  Be aware of the situation in which you find yourself.  The word “use” here means to buy, ransom or rescue from loss.  We live in a fallen world and in our age as theirs much time is spent on leisure or  busyness but little on what is significant.  We are called to buy that time back and spend that time on that which is of real eternal value.  It’s alright to shoot the breeze but if that’s all you ever do in the end you are left grasping the wind.

Converse with Grace

Next, speak with grace.  We are to approach people with pleasant, winsome, empathetic words. While we say “speak” grace is not grace if it is not considerate, we do not give grace to inanimate objects, we give grace to people and though we “speak” here in this context it is part of a conversation.  We must know and acknowledge the other person.  The first thing to realize is that every person has been created by God in His image, created with the Imago Dei.  Even though we are all fallen and sinful the image of God gives us redeemable qualities, values and conscience which we must look for in others and acknowledge.  We see this when Paul was in Athens and he acknowledged that the people were religious and desired not to miss any deity in their worship to the point of having an altar to an unknown god.  Paul further acknowledged that their poets rightly saw that God truly is larger than any temple that could be built and the source of existence.  These were gracious compliments even though they had not seen clearly they knew something was beyond them because of God’s created image within them.  Secondly, you need to listen; this is a conversation after all.  Ask questions and listen to what the person has to say.  An effective method is called Active Listening.  Active listening requires time to dive into what the person is saying.  The basic steps are to

1. listen and seek to understand what the person is saying.
2. Then remember what they said and respond.
3. The response should acknowledge difficulties and feelings and either restate what was said using similar words or reflect on what they said by rephrasing it possibly with some speculation on how they might be feeling.

The result will be that the person you are talking to feels appreciated and you will have a better understanding of their concerns and how they approach the world.

Sprinkle Some Salt

Thirdly, what we say needs to have some salt in it.  As I thought about that statement and what it means to be salty I realized that the statement itself stands out.  Up to this point the bible verses have used words with meanings relative to the topic being addressed.  Here, Paul switches to a metaphor.  It stands out as must salty words.  They aren’t same old, same old words.  These aren’t bland, unremembered words with little emotion or conviction behind them.  But then neither are these compliments that feel good for the moment and then slowly fade away.  In our gracious speech of course we should have some compliments as said previously but this call to season with salt isn’t a restatement of saying words with grace.  As disciples of Christ we are to stand out, apart from the world in what we value and how we approach life.  So what does salt mean.  To borrow from John Piper’s message on this same passage our saltiness is our radicalness for Jesus as seen in Luke 14:33-34.  The stuff of this world that in leisure and busyness the world spends its time on is what we renounce and hold so loosely as if it weren’t ours because we belong to Jesus.  It is also our irrational hope in the promises of the gospel and confidence in its warnings.  To be salt, to season what is said with salt as John Piper’s son put it, “your own mouth has to water for the gospel”.

Luke 14:33-34  33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.  34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?

We are a people who believe in the resurrection of the dead.  We believe that once we have passed away and our body has been decomposed back into the dust of the earth that God will pull it all back together and in our flesh we will see God.  We believe that in Christ this is already beginning as our fallen nature is regenerated into the likeness of Christ.  We are an irrational people by the world’s estimation even so we are confident and bold in our hope.  Possessions no longer possess us but we hold them so loosely that if someone is in need we release what we have.  But not like the world which calls on people to release so that a better society might be built.  We release it because nothing of this earth has a hold on us but we are held by a longing to be with Jesus in eternity, regenerated and risen from the dust in fellowship with The King and desire to see others have the same opportunity.

Further salt as a spice is challenging because we bring God’s perspective to the situations of life.  But the world desires to make its own way and have its own view of things.  At times we may need to be upfront but if that is our only approach then we may be antagonistic and quench their thirst. Another way to approach the person you are talking to is to try and understand how they approach the world; how do they think the world works, who is in control, where does purpose come from and then see where their line of thinking may lead.  Francis Schaeffer called this finding the point of tension.  Schaeffer said that a perspective on actions or circumstances has underlying presuppositions that this or that is true, valuable or ethical.  To find the point of tension look for the potentially untenable perspectives that these presuppositions justify and bring them into the light.  Throw some salt on these presuppositions.  For example if someone doesn’t believe in God then seek to find their source of purpose and ethics.  Has a naturalist ever received a flower from another soul expressing anything of transcendent value  or is each flower merely an expression of the right chemical composition and each gift the right combination of hormones?  The Word of God and the Gospel are real and the only perspectives that align with reality.  Any other perspective has points of tension which are more convenient to ignore.

Finally, know how to answer each person.  As you express your hope in Christ and resurrection from the dead and loose hold on the stuff of the world expect that people will ask you; why?  If this truly is your hope then you will know why and be able to talk about the circumstances that overwhelmed you and lead to such a faith and break with the world.  Some other questions may be more difficult but have faith and prayer for the Spirit’s guidance.  You must look at the world and know that God is and see in the Bible that God is not silent and that he has spoken.  If they ask for other proofs for God’s existence or explanations of the Cross and how Jesus could be a substitution you can research and have a bunch of answers in your back pocket but it may be more effective to say “hey why don’t we look into it together”  that shows a concern and a willingness to spend time and further talk with them and may in the end bring them to Jesus.

1 Peter 3:5 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;

Luke 12:11-12 11″When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

As you read through the bible you will want to start looking more deeply at passages to get all the meaning out of them. This is called studying as opposed to just reading through the bible. There are several methods and we had previously discussed a cross-reference study. Another type of study is a Key Word study. The purpose is to get a broader sense of what the words meant to the culture and people in the bible and to check if the word chosen by the translator is the closest definition to what the verse is trying to say, to the context of the words in the verse. When we use a word we are aware of the connotations and possible meanings a word may have from our language but these may not be the same as the word in the Bible in its original language. A key word study is necessary to get the best picture of the thoughts that came to mind when the original author wrote the passage.

As you study a passage look for repeated words, lists or words that are critical to what the text is saying. Then look these words up in a lexicon such as the Strong’s concordance, or those available in bible software such as Logos or BibleWorks or free programs such as The Word (www.theword.net) or online at sights such as new.studylight.org. Another tool is the Interlinear Scripture Analyzer from www.scripture4all.org.   If you have an Interlinear or key word study bible it will list Strong’s numbers above each word that can be used to look up the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the word translated into English. The next step in a key word study is to note the definitions which are the possible denotations the word might have when used in a sentence. It should also be understood that the etymology and consideration of all denotations forms a picture of the sense of connotation which use of the word would also entail.  (An example of connotation would be when I say something is superior instead of saying it is best there is a sense of arrogance with the term superior.)  Record the generic sense that you get from the word whether it has a positive or negative sense or a superior sense. As you look at the references and note the uses of the word this will also build a sense of what connotations the word carried.

Further consideration of the uses of the word in the Bible should establish its most common use or common definition or denotation. Then examples of use should be explored by looking for categories in which the immediate context might be placed that describe types of qualifications that determine the most likely definition or the most correct denotation. From a site like new.studylight.org you can look up a key word and then list its uses either by translation or book of the bible. You may then drill down by translation and get a set of example verses. Looking at how the word is used in these verses. For nouns consider the verbs or actions they take and for verbs consider the subjects and objects.  The Interlinear Scripture Analyzer groups references down to word form and morphology and translation allowing for even greater consideration of the context and translation relative to the meaning of the word.  This may also be accomplished using bible study software and either the search interface or through concordance modules.  Determine if you can categorize these surrounding words into more generic descriptive concepts and record these generic concepts next to the lexicon definition in a table similar to the one inserted below. These generic concepts and categories form the qualifications that can help to determine the most appropriate denotation for a word within the verse you are looking at or considering.  Compare the context of the verses you are exploring and then determine which categories the context most closely aligns to; from this the appropriate translation might be verified.  The assumption is that most of the other translations of the word will likely be accurate.  If a translation may be off it will likely stick out like the proverbial sore thumb as its context (the types of other words around it) will differ from most other examples.

For example re’shiyth can mean first or beginning. In the cases where it generally means first it is part of the object and modifies what is produced so the category would be it qualifies something produced. Whereas when it generally means beginning it modifies an action or role. Then looking for these qualifications the chosen translation of the word in a sentence may be validated considering both its common use and categorization of the immediate context.   The goal shouldn’t necessarily be to the level of textual criticism necessary for translation but to clarify the intended meaning and gain understanding of the broader connotation of a few key words. There are many great online tools as well as bible software programs that may be used to look up key words. For this article the strong’s entries and passage lists can be found at Blue Letter Bible (www.blb.org[1]) and the lexicon at new.studylight.org.

1 Corinthians 2: 14-15 NASB 14But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

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1 Corinthias 2:14-15 AMP 14 But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated. 15 But the spiritual man tries all things [he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things], yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one [he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern or appraise or get an insight into him].

Additionally more advanced keyword studies would include consideration of word forms with in the verse you are reading. Word forms include noun plurality and gender and verb tense, voice and mood. Such considerations place further limits on the meaning and scope or depth of what is being talked about. But this is a topic for further discussion in another article.

As you progress in your study of scripture you will want to take passages and drill down further into what else the bible has to say on the subject and relative to the statements made within each verse.  As indicated in the previous article if you are reading through the bible and memorizing scripture as you start to meditate on a particular set of verses, a passage, other statements from the Bible will come to mind setting limits and expanding the concept.  But since most of us don’t have the entire bible memorized we can use some help.  Some helpful tools are a good cross reference and a topical reference which may be used in a cross reference study.

The purpose of a cross reference study is to in a sense put a “face” to what has been written.  To better understand what an author is saying we need to establish the foundation from which the author writes; who they are and how they view the world.  Then as we look at what an author says we want to verify our understanding by looking for other statements made by the author that affirm the understanding we get from a particular statement they make.  Finally we look for clarification or further details that might fill in gaps in our understanding of what the author is trying to communicate.

• Foundation – the nature of the author, the text and the characters or subject being written about
• Affirmation – restatements in support of other statements
• Clarification – Statements on the same topic or point that add more detail or clarity

A cross reference study endeavors to be fair to the author by avoiding the traps of taking statements out of context or jumping to conclusions about what the author is saying.  One statement does not address all aspects of an issue and it is not fair to an author, in our case God, to assume that it does.  One passage of scripture is generally not enough to form a consistent theology.

Any good study bible will have cross references either in the margin or the center column.  Cross references are also available in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, TSK, available in desk reference form or on such sites as www.blb.org and www.studylight.org.  Another option is the open bible website which has a topical and a cross reference database which brings together several different sources providing 340,000 cross references.  The cross references are color coded by the degree to which they are similar to the original reference.

http://www.openbible.info/labs/cross-references/

Foundation References

The first thing to show is the nature of the characters the first of which is God and the bible.  The table inserted below gives some key passages establishing the nature of God and the Bible.  Next determine who was the author being lead by the Spirit and use a topical reference to search for verses about the author and note them.  Identify the place and who is being written to and what is being written about and look these up in a topical reference and note them in a table similar to the one below.

Affirmation and Clarification References

Next break the passage down into sets of verses if possible or address each verse on its own.  Determine if the cross reference is either supporting the understanding of the verse or if it is adding more detail to what the verse is talking about and note these separately.  A three column table having the reference, topic or key words and a cross reference column can be used to capture these verses.  An example is inserted below.

Finally, read through the cross references you have gathered. Then reread the passage and consider if what you believe a verse is saying is supported by the cross references gathered or if it is denied.  Also as you read passages the combination of specific meaning or denotations form the explicit meaning of the verse but words and phrases also have connotations which lead to possible implied or implicit meanings.  The implied meanings sometimes have significant implications and affects as connotations tend to hit us at a spiritual level but there is also the greatest danger for seeing a meaning which the Bible does not intend to convey.  It is the cross references which can help validate implicit thoughts from a bible passage and either establish them or exclude them from our mind as we read and try hard to understand God’s word.

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Matthew 18:10

10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”

The face that no one can see and live because of His holiness. The burning ones who serve God before the throne cover themselves with extra wings because even they would be consumed by the holiness of God almighty. The face of the all consuming fire. Before that face each child has angels (more than one) who get an audience. And moment by moment these angels come frustrated, weeping before the Father scores upon scores of angels for scores upon scores of children killed in abortion, abandoned or murdered by selfish parents, and a church barely raising a fuss over all of this. The noise of our sin must be such a din.

“It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God”  Hebrews 10:31

Daniel 9:23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.

God shows His love for Daniel by sending an angel, Gabrel, to explain his visions. God is saying “I’m letting you in on my plans” some of which he is allowed to write down and others are just for him to hear, words given to him in confidence from God. I sat there and it floored me. God is sharing his deepest plans with Daniel, why… Because you are greatly loved I have come to tell you… Just as Daniel got to hear God’s heart, his desires and feelings, and his plans 40 authors over 2000 years inspired by God were sent to tell you, to let you in on God’s heart and plans, why? For you are greatly loved… Every statement in the bible is packed with power and meaning. I don’t need courage I’ve got something greater when I have His word in my hand. Studying the Bible is every Christian’s privilege and duty.

Even before we get down to reading and study we must establish the most basic foundation. To study God’s word we need ACTS; Affections, Context, Text and Study.

• Affections – John 7:17 tells us that our problem with knowing or figuring out what the Bible is saying is not that what the bible tells us is hard to comprehend, our problem with knowing is that we lack the will to do God’s will. Understanding the Bible starts with having the will to do God’s will. Then Proverbs calls us to treasure knowledge, the next step is to value knowing what God wants to reveal in His Word and will. You have to want it. You have to value it. Yielded; you have to be willing to accept what it says whether you like what it says or not. Pray to have the right spirit.

John 7:17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

• Context – One of the most powerful statements I ever read which just opened up scripture to me was made by J I Packer in “Knowing God”. Packer Said “We feel that we are, so to speak, on the outside of the Bible world, looking in… The sense of remoteness is an illusion which springs from seeking the link between our situation and that of the various Bible characters in the wrong place… epoch, culture, etc… The link between them and us is not found at that level. The link is God Himself. For the God with whom they had to do is the same God with whom we have to do.” I believe knowledge of the cultures and original languages will add to that understanding but I do not believe it will ever turn the meaning around 180 degrees or even 90 degrees for that matter. It may skew it slightly but for all intents and purposes what God wants us to learn we can get from a good, honest translation. The context of the words in scripture will lead to an essential understanding of scripture. The Bible is written for all; it is more significant that it was written from God’s perspective than that it was textualized to ancient Israel. To understand what we are reading; in order of significance we need to consider literary genre, immediate context, surrounding context and historical-cultural context.
• Text – The next thing needed is “a good honest translation”. I believe that where a translator cared about preserving God’s word God Himself protected His word and what we have in such translations captures the essential meaning God wishes to communicate. Where the translator sought to capture the fullest meaning versus convey understanding God participated to the preservation of His word. Translations that are dynamic or paraphrase to varying degrees are the take of the translator on what phrases meant to convey or communicate. These translations such as the NLT, NIrV, and even the NIV are a good place to start but a translation that endeavors to preserve connecting words, verb tense and fullest meaning is needed to get to the fullest understanding of what God is saying and ensure we are not just accepting a translator’s mistaken understanding. A good critique of translations may be found at http://www.bible-researcher.com/versions.html. Also the chart below is a comparison of reading level and literal accuracy which should help in selecting a text. The scale going down the left side represents the grade level, 3 being third grade, to which the particular version of the bible was translated and the scale across the top represents how closely it is translated word for word, 14 being the closest. (The chart of bible translation reading levels to literal accuracy was the result of analysis of charts and tables from Zondervan, Bible Gateway ^[1] and Not Just Another Book ^[2] as well as personal research and experience with these versions.)
  
• Study – Finally you have to study the bible. This starts with reading and memorization to develop a picture of what scripture is saying at a high level and to acquire and retain Gods word. From this one should proceed to meditation in deeper study of what the Word is saying. This high level understanding coupled with the Words of God hidden in the heart is then brought to bear when you seek to understand scripture’s fullest meaning. As we look deeply at a particular passage other passages from Scripture should come to mind placing limits on what the passage may mean while removing other limits allowing the Spirit of God to bring to light further meaning. Once this is achieved methods of exegesis such as key word study, inductive observation and proposition analysis (arcing) can be employed for the deepest levels of study.

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Have We Really Progressed So Much

We proudly look at our home libraries, computers, ebooks and internet and assume that we have progressed so much. But could there be another possibility? The ancient cultures of the bible had a strong oral tradition. What has amazed anthropologists when they analyze recorded oral records is the accuracy with which the accounts have been passed down over centuries. In many cases it is close to the level of transcription errors by scribes of written works.

By age 12 a Jewish boy would have at least the first five books of the bible memorized and in the next five years many would memorize the entire Old Testament. The problem is you don’t know what you don’t know and unless we can associate things with terms to search for we really can’t search these electronic tools necessarily for concepts or examples of such concepts. When Jude calls us to contend for the faith once handed down to us we are actually in greater danger now. We do not have such an oral tradition where the words of the Bible might come to mind when confronted with new ideas or perspectives. What comes to our mind is a limited set of scriptures that we have personally identified with and that match our view of the world. Most of us do not have the pallet of Biblical verses that a 12 year old Jewish boy would have.

When God created man and called His creation good, was Adam then less developed then we are? Did a primitive prehistoric cave man make a willful, sinful choice that condemned us all? Or did God create man with great capacity to understand? We know that necessity is the mother of invention. Could it be that we have digressed instead of progressed? Could it be that maybe we need more crutches like laptops and the internet because our capacities have diminished?

How Can We Progress

Through out John Jesus says I tell you the truth, over and over. The Bible calls us to seek knowledge and when the bible says I tell you the truth then it implies that we can know it and when the Bible says this is hidden until the end then it implies that we can’t know it. John 7:17 tells us that our problem with knowing is not that what the bible tells us is hard to comprehend, our problem with knowing is that we lack the will to do God’s will. Understanding the Bible starts with having the will to do God’s will. Then Proverbs calls us to treasure knowledge, the next step is to value knowing what God wants to reveal in His will.  Thirdly we have to read and memorize God’s word.

John 7:17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

We cannot know all of God almighty but we can know what He chooses to reveal to us and what the Spirit will make real to us if we are in His will in our current circumstance as we face the world being a Child of God under the Lordship of Christ.

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Does the Bible say that all sin is the same?  I can’t think of a specific verse which makes this statement so where does this idea come from?  I believe this idea is drawn from several passages.  The first being the Sermon on the mount where Jesus addresses the ideas of justifying one sin because of a similar yet more heinous sin.  The religious leaders had given them instructions but Jesus was contradicting their teaching.  Jesus would say “You have heard that it was said”.  Jesus was essentially saying that its not about finding a way which is convenient for you, the measure is holiness for God said “Be holy because I am holy”.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus compares murder to hating your brother and even being angry with your brother.  Jesus seeks to squash justifying sin but does not mean to infer that sins are equally bad or unacceptable. To do so ends up with the same problem; it minimizes sin and opens doors that shouldn’t be open. For example; If I am attracted then why not flirt and since it’s all the same and we are consenting adults then what’s wrong with the next step of adultery.  The second place is in 1 John.  In this epistle John calls the church to purity and holiness.  The focus here is on the doctrine of regeneration.  It is expected  that if a person is truly born again they will not make a practice of sin but abiding in Christ will be transformed into His likeness.

Matt 5:21-22 21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. ESV
1John 3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. ESV

There is no explicit statement that all sins are equal in these verses but it may be seen as one possible meaning that the verses may imply, a implicit inference which might be drawn from the passage.  Implicit meanings are generally suspect to some degree because there is a greater chance that the author did not intend to convey such an implicit meaning.  This is a possible implication but implicit meanings drawn from a text, especially, need to be brought under the scrutiny of other bible passages.  The reformers taught that sacred scripture is its own best interpreter.  We find in several passages God taking a stronger stand against certain sins.  For example Proverbs 6 lists sins God hates and detests (haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands quick to shed blood, etc) and in Matthew 18 God says if anyone leads little ones astray they would be better off having imploded in the depths of the sea.  God does show greater disdain for certain sins.  Scripture does not say all sin is the same; all sin is unacceptable by the Holy God, but, it is not equally disdainful to God.

Each sin creates an insurmountable gulf between us and the requirements of holy justice.  Only the cross can pay such a debt and bridge that gulf.  God in His holiness must look upon sin with disdain but that doesn’t mean it is equally disdained.  But neither are we to look upon our brothers sin as an excuse for our own because that is a sin as well as we presume to take the place of grace and justify ourselves.  The point of the sermon on the mount and of 1 John is that God removes any pretense we may have for justifying our sin by comparing it to any other sin or anyone else’s sin.  When it comes down to the end, at the final judgement there is only one standard and that standard is God’s and His Holiness.

Romans 2:4-5
⁴Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

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When some friends of mine started reading some books by leaders in what is now termed the “Emergent Church” several years ago I was curious and started to read some of the books, listened to interviews and read some blogs. Over the past four years I have watched several conferences on the subject and considered what was being said. I have decided that it is time for me to throw my hat into the ring. In a few previous articles I touched on some talking points but I feel that now is the time to address the topic more formally and more thoroughly. The underlying principles of the Emergent movement find their roots in post-modern philosophy. Before we can address this topic I think it would be helpful to look at post modernism in general and then look at a few ways it might be encountered in the church. At its highest level we are all seen as nodes in sets of social/cultural systems that form a frame work or context within which we live and interpret experience. The table below attempts to define and compare the difference between Theism and Post-modernism as they relate to key philosophical concepts.

1 Sire, James W. The Universe next Door: a Basic Worldview Catalog. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2009. Print.
Many of these concepts and definitions for Theism are extrapolated from The Universe Next Door. The definitions for Post-modernism are a combination of my observations from Sire’s book, conferences and evaluations of the movement.

2 Driscoll, Mark 2006 Desiring God National Conference; Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World.

Mt 24:4-14, 36 ⁴ And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.⁵For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.⁶And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.⁸All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

⁹“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.¹⁰And then many will fall away ^F103 and betray one another and hate one another.¹¹And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.¹²And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.¹³But the one who endures to the end will be saved.¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

³⁶ “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, ^F104 but the Father only.

I think just being prepared to be prepared might cause unnecessary fear, suspicion and worry, which Christ warned about and said “are you not worth more than these sparrows… your Heavenly Father knows what you need.” Why does Jesus give us prophetic signs in scripture? What is the purpose of these scenarios described in metaphoric language. Jesus gives us signs to look out for in the end times not so that we escape physically but so that we may “endure to the end” Mt 24:13. We are given signs to survive spiritually. This endurance is not physical survival but where he want us to endure is of spiritual and eternal value. The verses in Matthew 24 describe some risks which believers in Christ will face during the end times. These risks are of great significance because they proceed the call to endure. The signs of the times, the tribulations and disorder in the world will occur around us no matter what. But these warnings are something we can watch out for and take personal action to avoid and endure. Below is a break down of these personal warnings.

1. Mt 24:10 avoid betraying and hating
2. Mt 24:4-5,11 avoid being mislead by false teachers
3. Mt 24:12a avoid lawlessness
4. Mt 24:12b avoid growing cold and loosing love
5. Mt 24:14 love the gospel of the kingdom and bring it to the ends of the earth
   (have to be careful with this one because many think of kingdom in earthly terms and try to build heaven here on earth. The word for Kingdom in German is Reich and Hitler used this idea of building a Kingdom here to stir up Germany to create the Third-Reich).

The end of it all is not our physical protection but the value of the spiritual and eternal. In a recent sermon at my Church the director of ministries spoke and brought up an episode of Happy Days. In the Happy Days episode -Be the First on the Block Mr Cunningham wanted to be the first on the block to have a nuclear bomb shelter. As word got out everyone started coming over to stake out a place and there was no room for anyone to fit. In the end the family voted and decided not to survive if it meant they had to leave all their friends and loved ones out because they just couldn’t fit everyone in. The last scene really makes you think.
Keep these things in mind but also as Michael Medved puts it start the morning with the news paper in one hand and the bible in the other. In other words the Bible helps us makes sense of what we see in the news. So its good to keep an eye on things as long as they don’t take charge of our life or take you away from the Word.

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I personally will not be going out into the street and celebrate but I am not going to judge those that do either. There are many imprecatory psalms that call for justice against the wicked and celebrate their judgement. The bible doesn’t call for us to be stoic but acknowledges our feelings and at times calls for us to express them while at other times calls for reservation.

Proverbs 11:10 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; And when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.

I believe there are two points which are in tension. To see that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth, to recognize that celebration may add fuel to Islamic fires, the call to love your enemies (but no their ideologies).  But then there are points of tension which we may fail to acknowledge while we try to be overly pious and look down on our brothers who do celebrate. Can’t celebration communicate our love for justice?Might a lack of celebration communicate a minimization of the evil of Bin Laden? In celebration might we show conviction and empathy for our country men that fell?  But our love should be for justice and an end to unrighteousness not for the calamity that brought about justice or to see the unjust suffer, not to see a person suffer but to see wickedness itself repaid with justice.

Ecclesiastes 3:8  (There is) a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Psalms 58:10-11:10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. 11Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

Psalm 139:21 Lord, don’t I hate those who hate You, and detest those who rebel against You?

conversely we see verses like this

Proverbs 17:17-18 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him.”

Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

Shouldn’t God’s people make known to the world that there is a God who judges the earth?  Part of the Gospel, the good news, is also the bad news about our sinfulness and fallenness and the lostness of the entire world that we may try to downplay to avoid ruffling feathers.  But in so doing the world might loose track of the reality that it is lost.  Then when we come to the world and say “You need a savior” the world answers back “A savior, for what?”.  To which we then might be tempted to respond “how about a role model” which is a redefinition of Christ and a corruption.

There are many times more ways to look at something and I am not taking a side here but I think the other side of why someone who is a Christian might felt led to participate in some celebration might not be considered.