Domain Knowledge 8.29.2024

    None of us knows everything. Some of us know more than others. Broad reading across various disciplines helps us to acquire special knowledge and to hone our reasoning. Experts are necessary in virtually every area of human knowledge. We don’t need millions of neurosurgeons. We need a few highly trained, disciplined neurosurgeons who, doing the hard work for all the rest of us, serve us all. Similarly, we need competent, trained, curious, growing people in ministry. We need men and women who recognize the importance of properly prepared, timely, and effective preaching. This work may not be as detailed as neurosurgery, but those who engage in it need to take it seriously and do the work with passion and excellence. 

    Having identified vocational ministry as your domain does not mean that you are free to ignore every other area of inquiry. What good would your preaching be if you could not relate it to the concerns and issues of contemporary culture? Domain knowledge is not exclusionary; it is inclusive. Domain knowledge provides an organizing center for how a person approaches all other areas of inquiry. Before we leave behind our neurosurgeon, consider this.  It seems reasonable to expect someone who has devoted their professional life to such an exacting discipline would filter much of their ongoing reading and information grazing through that discipline. 

    I certainly hope that this is true of most disciplines and speaking to our mutual calling I would argue that it is essential to ministry. As we conduct these regular conversations (albeit I seem to be doing most of the talking) one of my central concerns is integrating all our knowledge acquisition into this one central concern, this one essential focus—preaching. That is our domain, but certainly not our only interest. It helps to organize our thinking, to channel it—not to limit it.  Here are a few issues to keep in mind as you engage in conversation, read, surf the web, and interact with the world in general. 

Be aware of “untethered” theological language

    That is, be aware, not “beware.” By untethered theological language I mean terms that express thoughts, wishes, desires, cravings, and longings in the hearts and minds of people you meet. We might not consider these expressions as theological or particularly spiritual, and the person uttering might not see them that way either, but in my experience these kinds of words speak to a person’s inner life—call it the God-shaped hole at the center of their being. 

    Not only will you encounter these kinds of sentiments in many conversations, when you are actively looking you will find that they practically litter all kinds of writing. We are all spiritual creatures even when we are not feeding that part of our being. We read the following words of clarification in “the Preacher’s” musings in the book of Ecclesiastes.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV)

Many, if not most people who use this unstructured language of longing will not be able to articulate the source of that need. They will be clueless about its resolution. As a student of Scripture and keen observer of human nature—you know and can measure your words to answer those unasked questions you hear every day. 

Be available to “unaware seekers”

    In the same way there are many whose language is unknowingly theological; others are seekers who do not know they are seeking. Their search may take many forms. They may pursue meaning in work, in their children, in music, social-media, or the old option of addictive behaviors or substances. They may even try alternative spiritualities hoping to quell their inner questioning. 

    You may need to help some of these people articulate the nature of their need for the very first time. You may have to help them name it. You don’t want to spy on people, but you must be aware. You must pay attention. Your domain is Scripture and understanding how God was in Christ saving the world. Any reading of the Gospels tells us that Jesus was constantly aware of the unarticulated spiritual needs around Him. You don’t have to be Jesus to pay attention. 

Be skillful but with humility

    The best heart surgeon I ever saw operated on many people from my Church. He never seemed to get tired of explaining to people how a good a surgeon he was. He was not loud and boastful. He was actually sort of soft-spoken. Yet he understood that he was a very good surgeon and was unafraid of announcing how good he was.

    There is nothing wrong with being self-aware and humble. These two things go together. When we understand our abilities, we are able to grow into them and even expand them. We will be well enough aware of our limitations, willing to test them and expand beyond them. 

    When we understand who we are and the extent of our abilities it is then that we can be truly humble. Too many preachers denigrate their own abilities. Preachers who are constantly apologizing for not being better, not knowing more, not being skillful--are not being humble, they are being pathetic and blaming God for allowing them to serve out of their depth. If you find yourself in the deep end of the pool, don’t blame the lifeguard—learn to swim. 

Be truthful

    I don’t know means I don’t know—but I can find the answer. If you can’t help someone, level with them and tell them that you can’t help them. If you think a commonly held doctrine is incorrect, learn how to politely correct people. Don’t allow people to hang on to treasured misinterpretations of Scripture.  There is no way to recover from lying to people or intentionally misleading them. 

    Be truthful and you will be trusted even when people disagree with you. Be duplicitous and even those who see eye to eye with you will have difficulty looking you in the eye. 

Under promise, overdeliver 

    This kind of goes with what I said earlier about humility. Don’t bite off more than you can chew and don’t write exegetical checks that you can’t hermeneutically cash. You don’t have to solve every theological problem and address the full spectrum of spiritual issues in every sermon. You have next week. You have other teaching opportunities. 

    Do well the single thing that is before you in this message. I don’t want a neurosurgeon to be doing a bunch of different things when she’s working on me. I want her to address the single issue for which she opened my skull. If she can promise what she delivers, fine. If she is able to do more than she promised BRAVO!  It is better to surprise people than disappoint them. 

Final Thoughts

    People need to know that you are skilled, that you are listening, that you are capable, and that you are humble. And none of that matters if you cannot be trusted to tell the truth. If you don’t know. Say you don’t know. If you have drawn conclusions which may not be popular, mainstream, or even acceptable to the “evangelical” mainstream don’t apologize, but be forthright about how you came to think the way you do. And perhaps more than anything else don’t make intellectual promises that your reading and study can’t deliver. Don’t substitute the work of others for what you have not yet done. Find the answers, then answer questions. 

    One of the abiding facts of the preaching ministry is that we tend to speak in a forum and format in which there is no direct feedback. We may pay attention to eyes and body language, but this isn’t football, no one’s going to throw a flag or blow a whistle. Unlike a surgeon our team is not in a position to assist, intervene or steer us if we get off course. We tend to work by ourselves, without a net, in real time. 

    Draw your confidence from the God whose gifting is the call to ministry. Use those gifts. By His grace, in accordance with the measure of the faith within you; work hard to understand His word, to understand His world and to connect the two in your preaching.

Limited Perception of Universal Knowledge 8.22.2024

     When I was 22 years old and fresh out of Bible College, I knew everything. Graduate education was more or less a finishing school—putting on a few extra layers of lacquer on an already completed education. For most of the next 40 years I have been coming to terms with how short sighted, arrogant, and silly that sentiment was. Being educated is easier than being wise. And one of the first lessons wisdom teaches us is that we all have limited perception. We aspire to knowing the answer to “Life, the universe, and everything” and quickly discover how obtuse this pretense to universal knowledge really is. 

    When we think we have all the answers we seldom ask good questions, in fact we may become less inquisitive. Curiosity is the mother of learning. I am convinced that we need ambitiously curious preachers. We need a generation of young people who ask the right questions of scripture, their predecessors, and those who educate them. We need fearless learners who are willing to engage culture at every level and who are willing to broaden their hermeneutical approach while creatively answering the questions of our culture with Biblical solutions. Those answers are seldom supplied by twenty-somethings who think they already know all the answers. 

When we think we know all the answers we seldom learn difficult lessons. In fact, the pretense to complete knowledge tends to take refuge in intellectual safe zones.  Those who feel safe in their intellectual prejudices seldom take risks that endanger long-held conclusions. We need preachers who know the difference between taking necessary intellectual risks and unnecessary recklessness. Maturing Christians, particularly preachers, should not need anyone to tell them the difference.  The point of aging is not merely getting older. The point in aging process is growing wise, and wisdom comes from taking the right risks. 

    When we think we know all the answers we seldom listen to discordant voices. Yes men (women too) are a poison! Who disagrees with you when you need disagreeing with? Anyone? And what about your friends, do you provide responsible feedback? Are you willing to help others find answers or do you too quickly rush in to provide them? I have been blessed throughout my ministry with friends and colleagues who listened to my foolishness, asked appropriate questions and then gave me soft guidance into discovering the answers. We need preachers who are inquisitive and creative rather than doctrinaire and calcified. You will often, after the process of inquiry runs its course, find yourself back where you started. It is during that journey that growth occurs. 

    When we think we know all the answers we seldom engage different viewpoints. A part of intellectual growth is escaping our own, inbuilt confirmation bias. If we do not engage different viewpoints (doctrinal, philosophical, denominational, hermeneutical) all our reading and study amounts to nothing more than a moat around our own prejudices. We need preachers who not only read authors they disagree with, but who actually enjoy and profit from the process. There is nothing more invigorating than discovering and learning the 1 % that is good from a book you disagree with 99% of the time. And yes, it is worth it. 

    When we think we know all the answers we seldom recalibrate our conclusions. The two most difficult yet important phrases which will help to define a growing ministry are “I was wrong”, and “I do not know”. Both speak to credibility and teachability. What good would a preacher really be if she had reached no new conclusions, rethought no old interpretations, recalibrated no old approaches? Not much. If we view our ministry as a healthy, growing organism we should then be constantly outgrowing our own ignorance, and re-establishing our foundational conclusions. We need preachers whose curiosity is not only insatiable but cannibalistic. It is possible to constantly reassess what others have said, while through arrogance, sloth, or apathy, reassessing none of our own positions. We need preachers who are not only curious and growing but who are also constantly editing themselves and the things they have previously said and thought. 

    We will always have a limited perception of the big picture. Universal knowledge will always elude our grasp. This should motivate our ongoing quest to understand Scripture, deepen our relationship with Christ, and comprehend the nature of our universe. This is a human quest with spiritual nuance. When we engage in this pursuit with faith, we are expressing a central aspect of the Imago Dei that defines the human person. Though not God, we are like Him in ways that allow us to enlarge our experience through growing knowledge. 

    What does this mean for ministry? It means that the best preachers and teachers are life-long learners. However, you may conceive of this divine task to which you are called, you must absolutely see yourself as a continuous student of both Scripture and all the social and cultural tributaries that make you who you are. There are no pat answers to the questions you will be asked in your ministry at the time and in the place in which you live. If you wish to be of service to your Church, your community, and your God then you need to hit the books and become a keen observer of what goes on around you. You may be smart—a genius even—but you don’t know everything. And learning is only one way to learn.

Reason and Revelation 8.15.2024

        Every human being is born with the hardware to think. Our ability to reason is largely dependent upon each of us providing the software. What we think becomes how we think. If we choose not to think or refuse to develop the “muscles of our mind”, that’s really on us, not God. While it is true that not everyone (sorry about the mixed metaphors) will have the same horsepower, we do each have the same opportunity to maximize what we have. Intelligence maybe hardwired, ignorance is a choice. Much of what I write in this space is about choosing wisely the form and content of our thought, specifically in the domain of preparing to preach and teach. 

    We have God’s Word. That is revelation. He has provided us with what He wants us to know to be saved and to honor Him with a devoted life of discipleship. The reasoning part…It’s on us. The question will always be “How do I maximize my reasoning skills to honor God, particularly with respect to understanding Scripture?” Let’s consider that for a bit, shall we?

    It is not uncommon to begin learning to read prior to kindergarten. We learn elementary shapes and sounds, begin to form those sounds into words and thus begin the process of reading. Reading is an both an intellectual and a motor skill. We get better at reading, throughout the whole span of our life the more that we do it. The more we read the better our muscles become at scanning a page, the more readily our minds become at assembling the words we read, the more efficiently our thinking assimilates new information. When we stop learning, the information we already have begins to atrophy. 

    When this happens to our understanding of Biblical truth and application this is not just tragic it is potentially an act of faithlessness. Knowledge, like a building, rests upon a foundation. If it is to be suitable for long-term habitation you’ve got to maintain that foundation even as you build upon it. Reason allows us to know more of the content of Scripture and more of the mind of the God who inspires it. This requires a thoughtful believer to accept the challenge of learning new things, even those that we have difficulty fitting into our prior knowledge. 

    This requires good guides. We will and should disagree with some of those guides and the books they write. If all that we do is read things we already agree with we will become like a weightlifter who never adds more weight to the bar. We will become ever more proficient at doing something that does not actually make us stronger. Disagreeing with the content and conclusions of a book is a part of growing and learning. As we mature, we become more capable of assessing the arguments an author presents and making reasoned judgments. It’s OK to disagree. Maturing disciples grow in the discipline of being able to say why they disagree with something, where the argument went astray, how it can be improved and (this is essential), what can I learn anyway? 

    Every commentary, study, journal article, and monograph you will ever read shares the distinction of being written by someone, just like you, who is trying to come to grips with what is found in the Bible. For every halting step forward, very smart people have made numerable mistakes in interpretation and drawn inconclusive or erroneous conclusions. The best, most humble, faithful Christian scholars are constantly correcting themselves by renewed readings of the text itself. To be a well-read believer is a constant process of recalibrating and rethinking our conclusions as we access new information. This is an act of faithful devotion. The last thing the Church needs is preachers who have an unwillingness to learn and grow. The church is called to make disciples. If our disciple-makers are not growing, then how shall they contribute to the maturity of others?

    A greater breadth of reading content also helps us to understand the wisdom to be found in other faith traditions. I cherish the Restoration Movement and believe that we get a lot of things right. But there are many other Bible-loving traditions whose orthodoxy is not in question that can contribute to our pilgrimage. Again, you won’t agree with everything you read from a Baptist or a Presbyterian. That is, in some ways, the point. 

    Wisdom is not acquired overnight, nor does it come from hunkering in the bunker with a few favorite tomes that make you feel good about what you already know. Even when we re-read our perennial favorites it should be to see things we may have missed before, always growing, always adding to the inventory of information that will help us understand the Word more accurately and preach it with greater authority. 

    Throughout Christian history there is a recognition that reason and revelation work together informing our understanding of who God is and what He expects of us. We cannot get there purely by some disembodied knowledge, nor can we get there without accepting and comprehending the Bible. As I often say, this takes work. Work is not always fun. Work is productive. Work is necessary. Work is an act of devotion, without which both reason and revelation are empty.

Last Words 8.8.2024

    I spent last week an Oil Belt Christian Service Camp. My primary responsibility was teaching High School students and recent graduates Basic Doctrine. If you follow this blog, or even read it somewhat regularly you won’t be surprised that we spent two days talking about hermeneutics and the last three covering two primary doctrines: Christology and Ecclesiology. In a limited amount of time, I wanted to go into some detail about what is of critical importance rather than merely skimming a broader constellation of doctrinal concepts. One passage I highlighted while we segued from hermeneutical to doctrinal focus was the following:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3 ESV)

    Anyone who knows anything about Paul, even those who are hostile to his theology, understands that Paul endorsed, taught, defended, and preached the whole fabric of Christian doctrine. Yet in this passage his focus was on the basic facts of the Gospel as they led directly to an extended discussion of the resurrection. 

    Some are uncomfortable with the notion that not every Christian doctrine is of equal importance. The phrase “First importance...” Implies that there are matters which are of secondary, tertiary, and even peripheral importance. Some assume that making such judgements is tantamount to denying the inspiration and authority of Scripture. The mere fact that Paul himself makes this distinction should alleviate any fears and give us confidence in making such judgements in our preaching and teaching. 

    By its very nature a sermon, a lesson, a study, a seminar has a limited scope. At some point we must understand that time, talent, and treasure conspire against the idea that everything we do is about everything we know or everything the Bible says. I like the following quotation in Hans Dieter Betz’s commentary on the Sermon on the Mount:

This commentary does not claim to explain everything, or to collect all the evidence on everything, or to deliver the last word on anything. Betz, Hans Dieter. The Sermon on the Mount:  A Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, including the Sermon on the Plain (Matthew 5:3-7:27 and Luke 6:20-49). Hermeneia. Edited by Adela Yarbro Collins. Translated by Linda M. Maloney.  

This is a refreshing admission from a world-renowned scholar. We don’t always need to pretend that our latest lesson or sermon is anything more that the progress we have made on this topic to the present time. In fact, to assume otherwise is an act of hubris, out of character with our task. We are always working to understand the scriptures better. Our judgements are always provisional, always the best we can do to the moment.  We trust God to inhabit our understanding of the Text at the moment of proclamation. That does not mean we should quibble or hedge our bets. It is those who speak for God with humility that understand what Paul meant by God using humble jars of clay for redemptive purposes. 

    We are proclaiming the Word of God. We are called in the Christian assembly to say, “Thus says the Lord!” The message of the Gospel is Gods proclamation in Christ Jesus. Those who are called to preach, are set apart from within His Body as messengers. God knows our limitations. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows and yet allows us the honor to speak for Him. A significant part of that trust is understanding that we are not Him and that we stand beneath His authority. He has chosen to use human beings to animate the inspired Word with a human voice, in a specific context. The moment we begin to think our humble, halting, provisional words are the last word on anything is the moment that we forfeit the trust to speak for Him. 

    This should not minimize our work but enhance it. Every week we enter our study-room with an air of inquisitive faith, determined that the text(s) we exegete will speak to God’s gathered people. Because of that faith, we seek to understand. Because of our curiosity and the needs of God’s people we commit ourselves to diligent study and clear presentation because in working well we honor the God whose gifting is His calling. 

    Every sermon we preach brings our entire understanding of Scripture to this point in this place. We consider the whole counsel of God as we execute the task before us but by God’s Spirit and grace we declare this word, in this time, in this space. Every sermon is preached “as of first importance.” The pretense of exhaustive knowledge leads to burn out, pride, and overkill. Even when the sermon before us is ready to preach, we are not done. God uses the spoken word to engage the indwelling Spirit in each believer. We speak from faith to faith accepting the responsibility not for just for this sermon but for every sermon. We get satisfaction not because we have said the last word, but because He has.