Looking Down [A Few Verses] Might Be Good

Originally posted on the White Horse Inn blog on 10.7.10.

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The theme running throughout the White Horse Inn broadcasts and Modern Reformation issues this year has been "Recovering Scripture." Such a recovery is needed in many areas of our doctrine of Scripture as has been pointed out many times this year already. However, under-girding all of these discussions is a desire to have Scripture properly interpreted. There are many directions one could go in a discussion about "hermeneutics" (the interpretation of Scripture), but the most basic is that a passage needs to be read in context. To isolate (a.k.a. rip, tear, wrench) a particular text from its context may mean that the interpretation that one arrives at can be severely flawed and damage can be done to the clear meaning of Scripture not to mention the application that is drawn for the hearers/readers of such an interpretation.

One of the easiest contexts to look at is the immediate context--what does the rest of the chapter, section, or book say that can give insight into a particular passage? Now this may seem obvious to many of you, but yet it isn't always done in the church today.

I subscribe to a daily devotional from a very popular pastor today. The body of the e-mail contains a Scripture passage (rarely does this ever span more than one verse), the devotional itself (containing a brief explanation of the passage and then application), and finally a prayer (I rarely can stomach getting this far). Every morning I cringe at what I am about to read. Most often the text is totally misinterpreted in a "word of faith/name-it-claim-it" direction which is to be expected from this pastor, but there are times when this pastor has so blatantly missed the immediate context of the passage he is looking at that it needs to be called out.

Do All That is in Your Heart

Scripture

"Then Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you" (I Chronicles 17:2).

Today's Word from ____

What is in your heart today? What are the dreams and desires deep on the inside of you? Maybe you want to start a business, or ministry, or go back to school. Whatever is in your heart, ask the Lord to confirm it to you. God leads us by desires, but we have to first submit our desires to Him. Sometimes we have to allow Him to change our desires, but know that He is always out for your good. It says in the book of Psalms that God gives us the desires of our heart. That means He places desires within us then brings them to pass so that we can live a fulfilled life here on earth. I believe David did this very thing. He was known as a man after God's own heart. He submitted His heart to the Lord, and then Nathan came along and said, "Yes. Do what is in your heart. God is with you." Whatever is in your heart today, submit it to the Lord. Trust that He is out for your good and working behind the scenes on your behalf. As you put your faith and trust in Him, He will guide you in the life of victory He has in store for you! (emphasis added)

If you aren't familiar with 1 Chronicles 17, here are the first four verses:

¹ Now when David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, "Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent." ² And Nathan said to David, "Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you." ³ But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, ⁴ "Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD: It is not you who will build me a house to dwell in.' (1 Chronicles 17:1-4 ESV).

So David wanted to build a house for the Lord, and he mentioned it to Nathan. Nathan said go ahead and do it (as this "devotional" pointed out). However, Nathan was wrong!! Even though he was a prophet of the Lord, he merely assumed that this would please the Lord. God came to Nathan that night and told him that the desires of David's heart WERE NOT God's desires and that in this matter God WAS NOT with David as this pastor requires to make his message sound in accord with Scripture. Later in 1 Chronicles chapter 17, Nathan tells David all the words of the Lord (v 15) which leads to a beautiful prayer of David recognizing that God is going to build a house for David not David building a house for the Lord (vv 16-27). Taken out of its immediate (the next two verses are pretty immediate!) context this passage can be used--no, twisted--to justify doing whatever our hearts desire because it must be from the Lord.

I hope it is clear from the example above that seeing the immediate context helps prevent us from making a determination about a particular text that is clearly not what the text has to say to us, let alone the original audience. However, not looking at the immediate context actually give more work to the interpreter. There are places in Scripture where one text is expressly explained by another text. This can be seen most clearly in some of the parables of Christ given in the Gospels. (Note: the WHI will be doing a six-part series on the parables from October 10-31.) All of the Synoptic Gospels include Jesus' own explanation of the "Parable of the Sower" (see Matt 13:18-23; Mark 4:13-20; Luke 8:11-15) which is a great benefit to us as a guide to how the parables themselves are to be interpreted.

When you are looking at the parables one of the things that an interpreter needs to do is determine what the characters and the items in the parable represent. Doing this task has led many to wrongly interpret the parables, but at times these people do way more work than they have to.

Here is our second example of missing the context:

When Weeds Spring Up

Scripture

"Jesus told them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away'" (Matthew 13:24, NIV).

Today's Word from _____

Jesus is telling a parable in Matthew 13 about a man who went out to his field and planted wheat in the ground. He sowed good seed. This represents that he was doing the right thing, honoring God with his life, and being good to others. But while he slept, an enemy came in and planted weeds. The man didn't know what had happened. He was expecting to have a great harvest; after all, he did all the right things. But the weeds sprang up among his wheat.

Sometimes, things happen in life. Weeds spring up that we didn't have anything to do with. The key is to keep the right attitude and keep focusing on the goodness of God. When these unexpected challenges happen, we can say, "It's just another weed. I didn't sow it. I don't have to reap it." Then we can keep the door open for God to move on our behalf.

Today, don't let the weeds take root. Don't let discouragement creep in. Instead, lift up your eyes of faith to what your father God can do for you. Keep believing, keep praying, and keep hoping because your harvest is on the way! (emphasis added)

The passage cited comes from the "Parable of the Weeds" in Matthew 13:24-30. This interpreter did the hard work and came up with his own identifications in the parable. We are the man, what we plant are our "good deeds," and the weeds are "unexpected challenges." Once I read this I opened my Bible and turned to Matthew 13. My eyes skimmed over the headings and I found "The Parable of the Weeds Explained" just five verses later!! Again the immediate context was missed. Let's see a more authoritative interpretation of this parable:

³⁶ Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." ³⁷ He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰ Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, ⁴² and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear (Matthew 13:36-43).

Wow!! Instead of a "parable" focusing totally on man and what we are doing, Christ says this parable is about himself, the kingdom of God, and the close of the age. What a total contrast from what the devotional said this parable is about! The "application" we are to draw from this parable is completely different as well.

Devotional - "Today, don't let the weeds take root. Don't let discouragement creep in. Instead, lift up your eyes of faith to what your father God can do for you. Keep believing, keep praying, and keep hoping because your harvest is on the way!"

Christ - "The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear."

One talks about a harvest of personal blessing today, whereas the other tells about a harvest that will come at the end of time with eternal significance. If you happen to feel blessed now, then you don't need the interpretation of the devotional. However, Christ's interpretation of this parable needs to be heard by all men and women everywhere and in every time because "law-breakers" are liable to the fire of God's wrath. But the good news is that in Christ God's people have been planted as children of the kingdom, are counted righteous, and will "shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

So what are we to do? God's Word is the final authority and everything that is preached "in the name of the Lord" needs to conform to Scripture. This is one of the roles that elders are to have in the church-to maintain the purity of the preached Word. However, laypeople too can do this. Listen to what Acts 17:11 says, "Now these Jews [from Berea] were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."

You might be thinking that what I have presented here is a worst case scenario picking out two specific devotionals. I really do hope and pray that this is the case; however, my wife heard a sermon while visiting a large Evangelical mega-church where the pastor stopped his Scripture reading one verse short. By doing so all he preached on was man's duty (law) instead of what God has done through Christ (the Gospel).

James 3:1 gives some very humbling (and scary) words concerning teachers of God's people, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." The pastor who wrote this devotional and who millions of people hear every week will be held accountable for these blatantly false interpretations of Scripture and he will be judged with a greater strictness. Paul tells the young minister Timothy, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Tim 2:15). This is the goal of anybody who steps into a pulpit (I guess now days it "steps behind a pulpit" if there is one in the first place): we are not to be ashamed because we rightly handled the word of truth. The same cannot be said for the examples given here.

This just makes me angry

Repost from the Gig Harbor Reformed Bible Study blog

So Joel Osteen is coming out with a new book on November 3. The title of the book is It's Your Time, which considering the current economic depression a title like that is bound to sell millions. Obviously I am not angry with Joel for writing a book--he can write whatever he wants--but he cannot call this a "Christian" book. Why do I say that? Well, Joel is offering an excerpt from his book that contains an introduction and the first chapter. All in all this selection is 14 pages long and not once, NOT ONCE, does he pen the words "Jesus" or "Christ". How can you write a whole chapter of a book without mentioning the central character of our faith? This is just another sad case of American Evangelicalism reducing its message to nothing more than platitudes that narcissistic man can't get enough of.

Joel does talk a lot about "faith", but he never gives that faith an object. It is just generic faith, at least what I read here. Faith has to have an object and that object is Christ and all he accomplished. From what I can tell, faith for Joel is a belief in blessings from God, material and physical blessings right here and now. Sure we can trust in God to provide for our needs, but our faith is in Christ and Christ alone. What Joel is giving is what Martin Luther called a "Theology of Glory" instead of the proper "Theology of the Cross."

There is a lot more I could say, and I might use this popular form of Evangelicalism to springboard into the truth of the Bible concerning Christ and our redemption through him. In the mean time I want to point you to two resources that are invaluable in evaluating the theology of Joel Osteen. The first is a "Case Study" on Joel Osteen and the Glory Story which can be found here. This essay discusses the "Prosperity Gospel" and the need for a proper understanding of the Law of God especially as it relates to our sin. The second is a review of Joel's last book, Become a Better You, which gives a really great insight into the "theology" of Joel and how it works itself out. That great review can be found here. If you know people who are enamored with the message of Joel Osteen then please pass along these documents to them.

How Does He Figure?

So everyonce in a while when I have to run a quick errand I will turn the radio to the Calvary Chapel station coming out of LA. They usually have some speaker on, which is what I want to hear (I know I am a sucker for punishment). So this evening while I was traveling to Albertson's I was listening to some gentlemen talking about the end times (I don't think that was the focus of his message per se, but that is what he was talking about). So he was talking about the rapture when Christ, according to Dispensationalists, will come halfway down to earth and all the dead will be raised. Yada, yada, yada... heard it all before. But then to prove his point about what that tribulation period would look like he turned to 1 Thess 1:9-10 which says,

For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thess 1:9-10 ESV).

Now his point was in that very last phrase "wrath to come." I am not going to exegete this passage and look at the point Paul is making right now, but I am going to look at what this speaker said this phrase meant. He said, "In the Greek this phrase means in the Bible 'the tribulation.'"

So why am I writing about this right now? Because I cannot for the life of me figure out where the heck this guy got that "Greek" translation from!! The Greek phrase is actually, literally, "the wrath/anger to come." There are four other times these words appear together in the NT, and none of those equate this phrase with something even close to a 7-year tribulation period on the earth. Of course the wrath of God is coming (and has come when it was poured out on Christ on the cross for the sake of the elect), but for unbelievers that is at the final judgment, which for Dispensationalists is 1,007 years after the rapture.

So why do I make this point? I make it because the thousands of people hearing this speaker live and on the radio took this speaker at his word. He had no proof to back up his claim that this phrase in Greek meant the "tribulation period." They, in a word, were being deceived since they didn't have the ability to check up on this guy. This gentlemen twisted the words and somehow even twisted the Greek. It is scary when this sort of stuff happens, and Lord willing I won't make the same mistake myself in pursuit of some powerful point.

Now, I may be wrong, so if somebody can prove something other than I presented, please do!