The Fellowship of the Mystery--Part 7

"In the beginning...."

What does this phrase immediately bring to our minds? On one day, it reminds us of Genesis 1:1. On another day, it reminds us of John 1:1...depending on if we happen to have the OT or the NT on our mind at the time. But of course, the Spirit of God who inspired John to pen his words hundreds of years after Moses was likewise inspired, intended for them both to come to mind. Their connection is clearly intentional, but the philosophical/theological implications of their union have often escaped the notice of many Bible readers. If we step back just a bit and look again at Genesis 1 in the context of John 1, it will shed great light on our faith in Jesus of Nazareth.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus as the Word (i.e. "logos" in Greek) is the key to understanding the "logic" or "reason" both of and for God's Big God-Story. Who He is and what He has done is the integrating factor of (or, the "reasoning behind") all divine/human interactions that makes sense of the various parts of the Story. Jesus is also the One who came as the embodiment/fulfillment of all to which the Law and the Prophets pointed. That is, He is the ultimate "reason for" God's historic activities. John was deliberately setting forth the case that faith in Jesus Christ is reasonable, not unreasonable; believable, not unbelievable, credible, not incredible.

Imagine that all the unique and various parts of the history of God's interactions with humanity were scattered in pieces on a table, like those of a giant jig saw puzzle. Only our assigned task would be to put them together as they are turned face down! This would be a terribly frustrating assignment and a nearly impossible task. If we were somehow able to laboriously fit them properly together based simply on their shape rather than working to replicate a known image...and then...we were able to flip the finished puzzle around...we would see a colorful and beautiful portrait of Jesus the Lord and Messiah. How much easier it would have been to fit the pieces together if we had had the image of that portrait already on the cover of the box and we were allowed to work with the pieces face up.

This is the privileged and graceful vantage point that we now enjoy as we reread, rehearse and piece together the Big Story of Scripture, now, on the "other side" of the first coming of the Christ and the inscripturation of His first apostles' teachings. We get to work with the pieces "face up" and also with the distinct advantage of seeing the "face" of God in Jesus Christ portrayed in the Gospels and the remaining NT literature. Christ appeared at just the "right time" in human history to truly inaugurate a "New Genesis" that would renew all creation and reconcile it to its Creator.

Eph 1:7b-10...according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

The Fellowship of the Mystery--Part 6

I'm back after a writing sabbatical--it's been good for me.

The next series of blogs will be drawing some attention to NT passages that give us insight into how Jesus and the first apostles understood the history of God's interactions with creation, Israel and the nations in light of the Incarnation and the inauguration of the kingdom of Messiah. Their divinely inspired recasting of OT history and prophecy stood in plain contrast to each of the four primary Jewish religious eschatological philosophies of the first century. That is...those ideas promoted by the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes regarding how the kingdom of God would "come". This fact, of course, contributed to the controversy that Jesus and His first followers stirred up in their day among the Jewish sects. It's interesting to note how various elements of these same basic positions are reflected even today in the belief systems of various groups within "Christendom" as they anticipate, and, in some cases, seek to hasten, the return of Christ.

The whole book of Hebrews is a primary piece of NT literature that places the Person and Work of Jesus of Nazareth into this context of the Big God Story of historic divine/human relations. The main point of the writer is to inspire weary and persecuted followers of Jesus to keep Him central to all their spirituality. He compares and contrasts Jesus with many OT players and reveals how their places in the Big Story pointed to the One who would bring an ultimate fulfillment to the larger purpose of which their parts were a vital foreshadowing. God intended that these foreshadowing's would be a source of helping all people groups to accept Jesus as the prophesied Christ when He arrived on the scene of human history. And...it is...when we take the time to look in the "rear view mirror" of Scripture and see how all the parts of the Story are integrated in Jesus.

Hebrews 1:1Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

It kind of sounds like the beginning of Star Wars doesn't it--and like the beginning of many epic stories. It actually does have veiled references to a cosmic war that long ago broke out within the angelic ranks.

There are 4 profoundly simple theological points to notice from this paragraph:

1. God spoke truly through the OT prophets, but in patches and parts...difficult to put together accurately on the front end. These prophecies anticipated and prepared the world for an ultimate Prophet and created an historic context and a reasonable basis for the universal recognition of His appearance.
2. The "last days" have already begun--they were initiated at the first coming of Christ. (So...of course...we are living in the "last days"!)
3. God has spoken to us in the clearest way possible...in Person...by sending His eternal Son from heaven to earth. Jesus is...unequivocally and uniquely...the Word of God.
4. Jesus is the fully divine and fully human...God/Man...the preexistent Lord of all Creation and the Author of humanity's Salvation. He is not a mere angelic messenger...like the ones that God used to help mediate the OT covenants. (cf. Heb 2:2; Acts 7:30)

The Fellowship of the Mystery--Part 5

Jesus the Messiah (His Person and Work) is the integrating reality that brings the Big-God Story of divine/human history together into the world's grandest adventure, mystery and love-story that it is. It has been widely understood that the narratives, poetry and prophecies of the Old Testament scriptures, at times obviously and sometimes cryptically, pointed forward to the Messiah (which, by the way, is a transliteration of the Hebrew word for the Greek word "Christos" or "anointed one"), in addition to simultaneously addressing real people and matters in their historical context.

However...the importance and impact of this on our macro-view of God's eternal purposes has not deeply translated into creating sufficiently "wondrous hearts" in many Christ-followers. Yet, we, who have been born since the first coming of Christ, have a tremendous advantage in decoding the Old Testament scriptures. Not because we are so wise (this is for sure), but in that we have much personal, clear and divinely-inspired commentary of both Jesus and his first apostles in the New Testament on the specific ways that a vast amount of Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled through the first coming of the Messiah. For us, it's like being able to take an "open book" test. It's even more like, obtaining the answer key to the big test ahead of time. (God knows that we need some special help in order to get a passing grade given our track record!)

Still, too many preachers and believers throughout history have not taken the time to deeply study and comprehend the "answer key"--the New Testament writings--which become for us an interpretive template that can be "laid over" the Old Testament writings. (There is an old adage that captures this concept: "The New Testament is in the Old concealed. The Old Testament is in the New revealed.") We would be wise to strive to understand how Jesus and His first apostles understood the Old Testament story-line, it's characters and prophecies, the implications of Him "showing up" on earth that way He did and the historical/theological implications of His Message. This Message was not, in any way, disconnected from all that went before. But who He was, what He did and how He re-framed and illuminated biblical theology and eschatology (the doctrine of the end of this age) was not, and could not have been, fully anticipated by any of the biblical scholars or religious sects of His day--St. Peter said even the prophets who wrote these kinds of words didn't understand the fullness of what they were referring to. More tragically, it has not been well understood by many Bible teachers, preachers and religious movements since He came. We desperately need this fact to change!

The point I have been referring to is illustrated beautifully in the mysterious encounter of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus with the risen Jesus.

Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself... Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:25-27, 30-32)

Jesus and His apostles established their Message to the people groups of all the earth around this dynamic of "opening the [Old Testament] Scriptures" to clueless people and causing their hearts to burn within them through the fire of the Spirit's revelation. Wouldn't you have loved to have been there to hear the risen Messiah expound on the meta-narrative of the scriptures--God's Big God-Story? What on earth do you imagine He said to them exactly? Do you think that maybe some of His insights were captured by His apostles and later recorded in the gospels and apostolic epistles? And...if they were...how important and authoritative do you imagine Christ's insights into the Old Testament actually are? (I hope you're getting a little inspiration at this point!)

We actually can receive and comprehend the very personal insight of Jesus and His apostles into the Old Testament by simply studying cross-references to it in the New Testament and then allowing the implications of those passages to shape and, if necessary, re-shape, our theological presuppositions and paradigms. This long and fascinating journey will not only blow our minds, it will cause our hearts to burn within us.

The Fellowship of the Mystery--Part 4

11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.... Eph 1:11

Without going near all the classic debates on the nature of Divine election (which is a great subject for us to study and ponder in itself and for which there is space for honest and loving disagreement among committed Jesus followers), let me simply make a statement that believers who hold various positions on election can agree:

God continually accommodated and compensated for tragic human choices without being deterred from His kingdom intentions and also without breaking His Covenant with His people or minimizing their responsibility.

I believe this creative, kind, intentional, ingenious, mysterious, powerful, loving, resourceful Divine capacity is the key to understanding the big "God-Story" of the Bible. (The apostolic metanarrative of history is also the context of Eph 1 in the midst of which Paul makes the statement in v. 11.) It is this belief that enables the integration of the various parts of the Story that sometimes appear contradictory, if it is missing. It is the philosophical concept (undergirding the biblical theology), clearly grasped and taught by Jesus (and his first apostles...after their initial struggles with it!), that weaves together the whole history of God's actions/interactions with his entire creation and that also provides our strong hope for a most beautiful and eternal friendship with God in the future.

In my view, the lack of a clear consciousness of and appreciation for this overarching construct is also the source of much historic unbelief in Jesus as Messiah among non-Christians and also much theological confusion about the Kingdom and the Covenant among people who genuinely love our Lord and cherish the inspiration of Scripture.

I'm now looking forward to blogging about the basic outline of this apostolic metanarrative--"the fellowship of the mystery"--as Paul called it. It is our common immersion and interactive participation in the big God-Story that provides us with a genuine sense of belonging to, and a sharing in the same Life with, one another.

The Fellowship of the Mystery--Part 3

“What kind of story have we fallen into?”
Sam to Frodo in The Fellowship of the Rings

Maybe more accurately stated for we who follow Jesus, "What kind of Story has sucked us up into it?" It may seem that some of us stumbled into the faith, but the truth is that resurrection power exerted from an extra-terrestrial, loving and personal Source has drawn us into the realism of eternal life. But...back to the Story.

Meditate with me for a few moments on the following Scriptures in light of this premise: this Gospel of Jesus, that we have embraced, is essentially about the Person and Event of all time and eternity and that brings to light the true meta-narrative of Divine/human history, integrates its various sub-plots and provides the essential interpretative template for rightly understanding God's intentions and activity throughout time and eternity. (I know that these are really big thoughts, but...come on...it's good for us to "go there" on occasion! Oh, we so often don't perceive or remember what has actually come upon us.)

So...here is a smattering of such passages from the apostolic record (read the words slowly and contemplate their meaning and implications):

...3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery… 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets…. 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord…. Eph 3:3, 5, 9-11

9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. Eph 1:9-10

25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began 26 but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith…. Rom 16:25-26

1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. Heb 1:1-2

Our seemingly, but apparently not so, little lives and life stories are mysteriously nested in this Greatest Story ever told. The Gospel is truly the uber-intriguing mystery/adventure/romance epic imaginable and you're a player in the drama of it. "Unbelievable!," say the fearful. "No...Believable," say the courageous.

The Fellowship of the Mystery-Part 2

Definition: Metanarrative--a controlling story that informs our worldview and operates at a presupposition and precognitive level.

Is there such a Story in this world that is authentic and that possesses the animating force and informing power to integrate all aspects of reality? If so, there is only space in our hearts, minds and imaginations for one such story. No other smaller story could or should or would actually compete with the way this Story would effortlessly capture and focus our entire being. All that we would be and do would flow out of the subterranean culture that it would create in our deep heart.

As I write this morning, I am aware how few of our teachers in the faith have understood or labored to present the Story of Scripture, that truly is a beautiful and compelling whole--"God's one big God-Story". I've called this series "the fellowship of the mystery" which is a phrase used by the apostle Paul in Ephesians because, in the context of that passage, he is speaking about the metanarrative of Scripture and ... he spoke of it often in his epistles. I don't think the book of Romans can be properly interpreted or applied without first seeing it as the apostolic metanarrative of the entire history of God's intentions and interactions with all humanity.

“All of human life is shaped by some story...If the Bible is fragmented into little bits...then it will be absorbed into our cultural story...Our whole lives will be shaped by our idolatrous cultural story rather than the story of Scripture.” Jason Zahariades

What Jason warns us about above, sadly, has happened to most believers and church communities. I believe this is a main reason for whatever degree of spiritual impotency by which we are plagued. N. T. Wright has said that if we do, however, get this big picture of God's Story deeply seated in our hearts and minds then it will answers these ultimate kinds of questions (which we all share) quite sufficiently: Who am I? Where am I? What is wrong? What is the solution? What time is it?

More to come....

The Fellowship of the Mystery--Part 1

I'm getting ready this morning to minister to a well established congregation in the area and I'm deeply stirred once again about how the Bible is an account of the one overarching and authoritative God-Story of universal history. (Still, in my humble opinion, there are details, interpretations and implications of the Story of "secondary importance" that are up for honest debate among genuine God-lovers and Christ-followers. Some segments of our brotherhood are inclined to project that their particular views of such details are the only valid and "orthodox" beliefs on these points of doctrine.)

Yet, the bigger Story clearly rings out across the breadth of the pages of the Scripture and we ourselves have "fallen into this Story" in Jesus the Christ. Here is just one brief reference to this reality:
Eph 3:9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church (i.e. simple people like you and me!) to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord….

For too long and in too many quarters of the Church, we have understood the Bible in "pieces" and have not been taught it as God's "metanarrative" (def. a controlling story that informs our worldview and operates at a presupposition and precognitive level.) of universal history. Here are just a few quotes from some deep thinkers that relate to us the problems that this creates for our lives and witness.

“The whole point of Christianity is that it offers a story which is the story of the whole world.” It is public truth.” N.T. Wright

“I can only answer the question “What am I to do?” if I can answer the prior question “Of what story do I find myself a part?” Alasdair MacIntyre

“The way we understand human life depends on what conception we have of the human story. What is the real story of which my life story is a part?” Lesslie Newbigin

“As I read the Bible I find in it a quite unique interpretation of universal history, and therefore, a unique understanding of the human person as a responsible actor in history. You Christian missionaries have talked of the Bible as if it were simply another book of religion.” Badrinath (Hindu scholar)

“… the Bible provides us with an overarching narrative in which all other narratives of the world are nested. The Bible is the story of God. The story of the world is first and foremost the story of God’s activity in creating, sustaining, and redeeming the world to fulfill God’s purposes for it.” C. Gerkin

“Scripture teaches one universal kingdom history that encompasses all of created reality: past, present, and future…its vision of history extends backward all the way to the beginning of time and forward all the way to the last day…the biblical vision of history spans time from the first creation to the new creation, encompassing all of created reality.” S. Greidanus

I must and will say more....