A Virtual Fingerprint for Identifying Christians

Posted on March 12, 2022 by salooper57

(Reading time: 3-4 minutes.)

I worked for the Ford Motor Company during my college years. One afternoon, I climbed the steps to the paint department, walked through the door into the smoldering heat, and was almost immediately met by another employee. Without any preliminary niceties, he asked me, “You are a Christian, aren’t you?”

I answered, “Yes,” and asked in turn, “Are you?” He answered yes. I don’t remember that we said anything else to each other. He turned toward his work area, and I continued toward mine.

I don’t remember ever having seen the man before that day, nor do I remember ever seeing him again. How did he know I was a Christian? I had long hair and a beard and listened to rock and roll. I didn’t go around whistling hymns or buttonholing potential converts. What gave me away?

I suppose it was that I didn’t use profanity, which filled the atmosphere there like smog filled the Los Angeles sky. Or perhaps it was because I had recently stood up for a non-English speaking Muslim man who was being verbally abused by a foreman. Whatever the reason, my questioner somehow recognized me as a Christian.

I have come to believe that Christians should be distinguishable from others. I base this not on personal experience – too seldom have I been so distinguished or distinguishable – but rather on the Scriptures. It seems that God always intended his people to be different.

After Israel was rescued from slavery in Egypt and even before they arrived in their Promised Land, God gave them instructions on how to live. If they followed these instructions, which they sometimes did and sometimes didn’t, they would be different from their neighbors. The instructions included dietary laws, observing religious festivals, Sabbath-keeping, and circumcision. Anyone who followed these instructions would be readily identifiable.

Another distinguishing mark of ancient Jews was their refusal to create images of their God for use in worship. Other ancient peoples thought Israel “godless” because they had no idols. The idea that people could worship a god without the help of some image was a radical departure from the norm.

At times, Israel’s people were virtually indistinguishable from their neighbors. Whenever this happened, their great mission – to be a source of God’s blessing to all the peoples of the earth – was seriously hampered. In 587 BCE, the mission seemed to terminate in failure: Israel lost its national identity and went into exile.

After 70 years, the exiles returned – though far fewer in number – with a determination to live by the instructions they were given and maintain their identity as a people of God. They focused especially on the distinguishing marks of circumcision and Sabbath-keeping.

The coming of Jesus as Israel’s messiah and the world’s savior did not fundamentally change the necessity of being different, though it deepened it beyond ethnic and ceremonial distinctives. Circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, and kosher food laws continued to distinguish ethnic Jews from others, but with the inclusion of Gentiles among God’s people, new and transcendent identity markers were needed.

The Bible recognizes two of these. The first is faith in Jesus, which the New Testament scholar James Dunn describes as “the primary identity marker” of God’s people. But people, as St. James pointed out, cannot see faith. They can only see how faith acts – what St. Paul referred to as “the obedience of faith.”

One aspect of this obedience, which serves as a second layer of Christian identity, is a love for Jesus’s people. These two layers, faith in Jesus as Lord and a loving commitment to his people, serve as a virtual fingerprint for all Christians.

Some groups have preferred to rely on negative markers. They place great emphasis on the absence of certain practices. Hence, the absence of alcohol and tobacco use becomes evidence of God’s acceptance. At different times in history, the absence of dancing, playing cards, listening to popular music, wearing beards, and the use of force have been sufficient evidence for Christian identification.

But there is no substitute for the presence of the biblical markers. Faith in Jesus and love for his people remain the principal indicators – and the biblical standard – of Christian identity.

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Up, Up and (yet not) Away! (A Wide Angle Look at the Ascencion)

Posted on March 9, 2022 by salooper57

(Reading Time: Approximately 3-4 minutes.)

When really big changes take place – the ones that are destined to transform the world we live in – they often go unnoticed. When the first Ford rolled off an assembly line in 1913, some people thought it ingenious, some thought it a novelty, but only a few recognized it as an era-changing event. The same could be said of the first mobile phone call made in 1973 by a Motorola engineer as he walked down the streets of New York City. Or one might mention the Internet Protocol Suite that was introduced in 1982. It transformed the computer networks of a few eggheads into the world wide web. These were transforming events, but their significance was largely overlooked.

A transition of even greater importance occurred during the days after the resurrection of Jesus. St. Luke chronicles the story in the first chapter of Acts. Look at verse 1: “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.”

That former book, part one of Luke’s two-volume history of Jesus and the beginning of the Christian era, is in our Bibles. We know it as the Gospel According to Luke. It begins with the birth of John the Baptist and goes on to chronicle the entire life of Jesus on earth. But here in the opening page of volume two, Luke writes that his first volume only dealt with what Jesus “began to do and to teach.” By implication, this second volume (our book of Acts), is about what Jesus continued to do and teach after the ascension.

Jesus has not been dormant since the ascension. He has continued to do and to teach, but under a different paradigm (and it is important we recognize that). He is still doing and still teaching, even today, but the way he does so has undergone transition.

In verse three Luke says, “After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” The words, “he showed himself” translate a Greek word that means he “stood beside them.” After his resurrection he stood beside them even when they were unaware of his presence. Only occasionally did he (still verse 3), “appear to them.”

When he did appear to them, he spoke about the kingdom of God. Sometimes we get the idea that after the crucifixion the kingdom of God was no longer a relevant issue. But Jesus thought it was, even after his crucifixion and resurrection. The kingdom theme begins in the Old Testament and runs right through the New. Here in the very first paragraph of Acts we find Jesus talking about it, and if we skip ahead to the close of this history book, we will find the Apostle Paul talking about it in the very last sentence. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus opened the kingdom of God to us, and it remains open.

A great transition was taking place, and Jesus was preparing his people for it. So, he met with them and gave them necessary instructions (verse 4): “On one occasion, while he was eating with them (the Greek word translated “eating” means something like “taking salt together” – were they eating popcorn and potato chips?), he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised,” which was (verse 5) “the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the “Father’s promise.” The apostles would never be able to transition to the new era without the Father’s promise. In fact, without Him, there would be no new era. It was the arrival of the Holy Spirit in an unprecedented way that ushered in the new era.

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The End of All Things Is Near (a sermon on 1 Peter 4:7-11)

Posted on March 7, 2022 by salooper57

“The end of all things is near. Therefore, be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.” Peter does not say, “Be alert and of sober mind so that you” can outsmart the bad guys and save yourselves. He says, “Be alert and of sober mind” (when I translated the text, I paraphrased that as “keep your wits about you – no fuzzy thinking”) “so that you may pray.”

You may feel a let-down when you hear that. It is anticlimactic. “So that you may pray” – that’s it? We’d rather Peter said, “Keep your wits about you – no fuzzy thinking – so that you can fight!” But Peter had tried that, remember? Jesus had said to him, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). But Peter did neither. He didn’t watch and he didn’t pray. His thinking was fuzzy. When the temptation came, he lost his wits, found his sword, and tried to fight. It was a debacle

Viewing time: 26 minutes (approx.)
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On the Edge of the Promised Land – Numbers 13-14, with a look ahead to Joshua (Biblical Theology Class 9)

Posted on March 6, 2022 by salooper57
Viewing Time: 54:30

In this class we see how Israel’s refusal to enter the Promised Land put the “Eden Project” on hold for decades. But God remained faithful to his promise. This class fits the wilderness wanderings into the metanarrative of the Bible and finds practical lessons for Christians today.

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Is Prophecy Being Fulfilled Before Our Eyes?

Posted on March 5, 2022 by salooper57

(Reading time: 3-4 minutes.)

The famous televangelist Pat Robertson came out of retirement this week to warn that the end times are upon us. According to Robertson, Vladimir Putin’s real intention in going into Ukraine is to secure a base of operation for a forthcoming offensive against Israel. “He went into Ukraine,” said Robertson, “but that wasn’t his goal. His goal was to move against Israel…”

In Robertson’s reading of prophecy, various Middle Eastern nations will align with Russia prior to a final showdown with Israel – the biblical Armageddon. Robertson exhorted viewers of The 700 Club to “read your Bible” because “it’s coming to pass.”

When Robertson has taken the prophet’s mantle on himself in the past, his record has not been spotless. In 1976, he predicted the world would end in 1982. In 2020, he stated, “I want to say without question, Trump is going to win the election.” He then went on to predict “five years or more of extraordinary peace,” followed by an asteroid collision that might end life on earth.

Pat Robertson may claim that he was right, and that Mr. Trump really won the election, but where are the five or more years of extraordinary peace? And how is it that this prediction of peace was so swiftly replaced by a prediction of war?

When I moved to Michigan in 1988, people were excited about a recently published booklet titled, “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988.” The book, written by a former NASA engineer, sold over 4 million copies, and was sent free to 300,000 pastors. The author claimed that Christ would arrive on earth between September 11-13. Since I arrived in early August, it appeared that my tenure here would be brief.

That was nearly 33 years ago. September 13th came and went. The author recalculated and declared an October date for Christ’s return. When that didn’t happen, a new book hit the market: “The Final Shout: Rapture Report 1989,” which offered 89 reasons why the rapture would occur in 1989. “The Final Shout” was final; there were no sequels.

The examples above are representative of scores of failed predictions. After many spectacular misreadings of the signs of the times, some Christians have quietly abandoned prophecy altogether. There have been too many Robertson-like prophecies that have come and gone. They would rather make a difference in the world than make conjectures about its end.

The trouble with such an approach is that the Bible does contain prophecies about the end times. Whether these are something we understand or not, they are hardly something that Christians can ignore. The biblical story, unlike the stories of other ancient faiths, is telic in nature – it is moving to a prescribed end. Without this movement toward fulfillment, there is no biblical faith.

People who follow Jesus and affirm the teaching of the apostles are in an awkward position. They must hold the predictions of self-proclaimed prophecy experts at arms-length, even when they have 89 proofs that they are right. At the same time, they must not let themselves become jaded and give up the hope of Christ’s return. They know that with the advent of each new war, the prophecy experts will come out of the woodwork. But they also know that when the day chosen by God arrives, Christ will come out of heaven.

When it comes to prophecy, there are two approaches that lead to differing results. One approach is embodied by those who “love Christ’s appearing” (to borrow St. Paul’s words), the other by those who hunger to know its timing. The latter are motivated by a need to control, the former by a faith that cedes control to Christ.

The date-fixing compulsion is fear-driven. Its goal is to protect oneself, one’s family, and one’s friends by preparing for trouble. Such an approach does not demonstrate faith but indicates a lack thereof.

Those who “love Christ’s appearing” do not announce, “Jesus is coming on this date,” but they do pray, “Even so, Lord Jesus, come!” They do not trust their ability to get the date right, but they do trust Jesus to put everything right.

(First published by Gannett.)

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The Resurrection: “He Is Going Ahead of You” (Wide Angle)

Posted on March 2, 2022 by salooper57

(Reading time: 3-4 minutes.)

We’ve been looking at the resurrection of Jesus over the past few weeks and it is now I time to put on our wide-angle lenses. Survey the big picture. Eve’s son would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15); God himself would provide a lamb for sacrifice (Genesis 22:7-18); the LORD would make his servant’s life a guilt offering (Isaiah 53:10). Remember the law Moses gave, and the festivals he instituted that pointed to Christ, especially Passover and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).

According to the Law of Moses, on the Day of Atonement (and only on the Day of Atonement) the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies carrying the blood of the one sacrifice to make atonement for the people. Before doing so, he would make atonement for himself, for to go into the Holiest Place with one’s sins unforgiven was to invite instant death.

The people would gather outside the tabernacle or temple and wait for the High Priest to emerge. When he did, they would rejoice, for it meant that God had accepted the sacrifice and their sins had been atoned. But if he did not come back from the Holy of Holies, then the offering had not been accepted and their sins had not been forgiven.

We talk so lightly of accepting Jesus (as if we possess a kind of veto power over him. It is not so. By rejecting him, we only manage to veto ourselves). But in the dim light of that early morning outside the rich man’s tomb the real question was not would people accept Jesus, but would God? As our High Priest, Jesus had entered the Holiest Place (Hebrews 9, especially verse 12). Would his offering be accepted, and our sins forgiven? Or would it be rejected, and all hope lost? The resurrection was God’s proclamation that Christ’s offering was accepted. The High Priest had returned from the Holy of Holies, and all was well. By the resurrection, God declared with power that Jesus was The One—that he was his very Son (Romans 1:1-4). No wonder Paul wrote, “If Christ has not been raised. . .you are still in our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). 

Now look at the rest of the angel’s message (verse 7): “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you.” His message to them was, “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you.” What words of comfort those are! Ahead of you into Galilee – that was true.  He would meet them there, just as he said. But he would go ahead of them from now on. Think of where these men went: to prisons, to exile, to beatings, to trial. Jesus went ahead of them and met them there. They would go to Rome, and he would go before them. They would stand before kings and emperors, and they would die ignominious deaths. He would go before them and meet them there.

And still the message to us is, “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you.” Wherever he leads you, he will go before you. If he leads you into marriage, he will go ahead of you and meet you there. If he leads you into a new city, he will go ahead of you and meet you there. If he leads you to a new job, to the mission field, to a ministry, he will go ahead of you and meet you there. You can count on it! And, if he calls you to follow him into death, then know this: he has gone ahead of you, and he will meet you there, Our Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. That is the confidence we have.

In a previous war, a British soldier was mortally wounded. A corpsman, seeing that he was going to die, and wanting to call a chaplain, asked him, “What is your religion?” The man answered, “I belong to the church of Jesus Christ.” Well, that didn’t tell the corpsman whether the man was a Catholic or a Protestant, so he asked again, “I mean what is your persuasion?” And this is what he whispered: “I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).  

He has gone before us, through death and beyond. In his great love, he will meet us there!

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Eveready (A sermon from 1 Peter 3:14-4:6)

Posted on February 28, 2022 by salooper57
Viewing Time: 26 minutes (approximate)

What does it look like to be ready for Christ? How do we get ready? Peter shares 3 areas in which Jesus’s followers need to be prepared.

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Biblical Theology: The O.T. Confession of Faith (Exodus 32-34, Class 8)

Posted on February 27, 2022 by salooper57

After this class, I had to apologize to my co-teacher Kevin, and now I need to apologize to the class as a whole, both in person and online. In preparing for this class, we exchanged emails and Kevin sent a final draft of the notes, which I printed for both of us. But I had already pasted my notes into an earlier draft and had printed them. On the morning of class, I placed the wrong set of notes on Kevin’s stand and left the correct set in my notebook.

When Kevin came to his first major section, all the notes said was: “Exodus 32 – Kevin.” The same thing with chapters 33 and 34; he was missing all his content. Nevertheless, he did an exceptional job teaching from these rich and deep chapters without any notes to help.

Despite my error, this class provides insight into the character of God and an inspiring glimpse of the big picture of the Bible. Please join us for “The O.T. Confession of Faith.”

Viewing Time: 56 minutes.
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The Bible’s Commands Ranked?

Posted on February 26, 2022 by salooper57

People seem to have an innate desire to rank things. What was the best Star Wars movie? Who has New York’s best pizza? What was the worst television show of all time? What are America’s 25 best beaches?

This penchant for ranking things is nothing new. When Jesus was on the earth, he was approached by a biblical scholar who wanted him to rank the biblical commandments. “Which commandment,” he asked, “is the first of all?”

I wonder what he expected Jesus to say. Was he hoping that Jesus would rank the Ten Commandments in reverse order from least to greatest? (This, by the way, has been attempted.) If he was, he was disappointed. Jesus did not even mention the Ten Commandments.

Instead, he quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5, a passage that all Jewish men, Jesus included, were obligated to recite daily. The commandment he ranked as most important was: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Though he was only asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus went on to list the second greatest commandment as well. Once again, he bypassed the Ten Commandments, this time going to Leviticus 19:18: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus highlighted these two as the chief or greatest commandments because, in his own words, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” The rest of the Old Testament (“the Law and the Prophets” for short), is a working out of these two commands. Humanity, it appears, was created by God to love, and be loved.

So far, so good. The greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is to love God. But how can someone know whether they love God? People can know whether they have committed adultery, stolen, or told a lie. But how can they know if they have loved God?

The 17th century Cambridge educated Non-Conformist pastor Thomas Watson proposed fourteen signs that a person loves God. Spectators cannot easily spot these signs and even the person in whom they appear may be unsure of them at times. Yet the preponderance of these signs (or, better, traits) is evidence of a genuine love of God.

Among Watson’s fourteen signs is a mind that thinks a lot about God. “He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon God,” says Watson. Simply put, people who love God, like newlyweds who love each other or parents who love their children, think frequently about the person they love.

Watson’s other signs include: grief over our unkindness to God (our sins); a desire to be close to God; courage to stand up for God; a concern not to displease God; a desire to speak of God’s virtues to others; a willingness to engage in difficult or disagreeable duties for the sake of God; and an increasing love for the things God loves.

With this last sign – a love for what God loves – Watson has struck the same chord that Jesus played when he said that the second greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself, for to love a neighbor is to love what God loves.

It is easy to deceive ourselves into thinking that we love the God whom we have not seen. It is not so easy to convince ourselves that we love our neighbor whom we have seen. Thus, a genuine fulfillment of the second greatest commandment – love of neighbor – is an indication that we are fulfilling the first – love for God.

It is important to remember that this kind of love is much more than a feeling. It is a whole-self orientation to promote the good of another person, so it acts with patience and kindness and without envy or boasting. It protects others and honors them. It willingly sacrifices for their benefit.  

This kind of love is not something people simply choose to do (though it won’t happen if they don’t), still less something they happen to feel. It emanates from who they have become through a transformative relationship with the loving God; hence, St. John’s conclusion: “Love comes from God.”

(First published by Gannett.)

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Wide Angle: The Resurrection (“Just as He Said”)

Posted on February 23, 2022 by salooper57

(Reading time: Approx. 4-5 minutes.)

The men who pushed and manipulated the governor into delivering a death sentence on Jesus went back to the governor after the execution with an odd request. They asked that a guard (the word is koustodia in Greek) be stationed at the tomb to protect it from would grave robbers. The last recorded words of Pilate are given in Matthew’s Gospel are: “‘Take a guard,’ Pilate answered. ‘Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.’”

“So, they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.”  We owe these men a great debt.  By sealing the tomb and posting a guard they gave the lie to their own story.  They made ridiculous the idea that the disciples could have stolen Jesus’ body.  Those who make plans against God find their own schemes turned against them. I am reminded of the words of the Psalmist: “They spread a net for my feet . . .  They dug a pit in my path – but they have fallen into it themselves.”

So, the guard (which the original language calls the koustodia) was posted at the tomb. If Matthew means us to understand a koustodia proper, this was a special forces unit comprised of sixteen men.  These were some of the toughest men in the empire.  They had no doubt about their ability to fulfill their duty.  They certainly had no fear a few Galilean fisherman.

And yet, put yourself in their place.  On the day of the crucifixion uncanny things had happened.  There had been an eclipse of the sun.  At the moment Jesus died, an earthquake convulsed Jerusalem and did damage to the temple.  Everyone was still talking about it.  There were even rumors that the quake had collapsed the ground around the local cemetery, breaking open a number of the graves – and now the bodies were missing! (Matthew 27:52).  They knew that the ranking officer on duty at the crucifixion was telling people that the executed man was surely the Son of God. And now, for some mysterious reason, the governor himself had assigned a koustodia the duty of guarding a dead man. It was enough to make even a battle-hardened soldier a little jittery.

Early on Sunday morning, for the second time in three days, an earthquake shook the ground, and tossed these men around like toys soldiers.  But that was nothing. With the earthquake came the sudden appearance of an angel. Verse 2: “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.” The word the NIV translates as “going to” (proserchomai) is often used in a hostile sense: of one combatant approaching another to do battle.  This angel came at the soldiers, and he was combat-ready.

We think of angels as effeminate, wispy-haired creatures that look as though they wouldn’t hurt a fly.  But verse three says that “his appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.” Have you ever looked at lightning up close – say, within a hundred yards?  I did once, and I hope never to do so again. The effect is unnerving, to say the least.  So, it was with these guards. They “shook (Matthew 28:4) and became like dead men.”

That shaking, I think, was not just fear.  It was more like a seizure. God, the scripture says, “makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire” (Hebrews 1:7) When this being that looked like lightning and burned like fire, came toward them, the guards short-circuited.  His presence caused their nervous systems to overload, the way an electrical surge that will overload a computer or TV when lightning strikes nearby.  I doubt they even knew what happened to them. These soldiers, who would choose death before dishonor, simply came undone.

And just think, if it is so terrifying to stand before an angel, one of God’s servants, what will it be like to stand in the presence of God himself?  Before him Isaiah was undone, mighty seraphim cover their faces, and heaven and earth flee away (Revelation 20:11). When you stand before him, you had better have an advocate—the Advocate—or you will not stand at all.

By the time the women arrived, the entire koustodia was out cold, and the tremendous stone had been tossed away as though it were a pebble.  The first thing the angel said to the women – who, though not subject to attack like the guards, were still scared stiff– was, “Do not be afraid.”

“Do not be afraid,” he says (Matthew 28:5), “for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.”  The Greek here is interesting.  Matthew uses a perfect tense verb, which indicates an action in the past with continuing consequences.  “I know that you are looking for Jesus, the crucified one.” Jesus is ever the crucified one.  We might seek Jesus the healer, Jesus the teacher, Jesus the example, Jesus the Friend, but we will only find him in Jesus the Crucified One. If we will not know him in that way, we will not know him at all.

“I know you are looking for him, but he is not here,” the angel says. “He has risen, just as he said.”  One day we will discover that he has done everything “just as he said.”  Not one word of his has ever fallen to the ground.  He said, “I will be with you,” and he meant it. He has been with us every step of the way.  He said, “Do not be afraid,” and we need never be afraid.  He said, “I will give you rest,” and that offer still stands.  His word is as good as gold—or rather, is better “than much fine gold.”  If he said, “I will come again and take you to be with me,” then we should stand watch, for he is coming.  It will be “just as he said.”

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