(By: John Miller)

In recent months the news media has been fixated on issues of health care, due in no small part to the proposal and passing of the new health care bill by the federal government. One of the driving motivations behind this bill for some is the desire for everyone in our country to be able to get the health care and coverage they need. It certainly is a travesty when someone who desperately needs to receive medical attention is unable to receive it for various reasons. Whether or not you think the new health care bill is the proper way to address this issue or not (that is not the subject of this blog), the issue of providing health care is very important.

Of even greater importance than the provision of health care is the kind of care given and received. We live in a day of the proliferation of specializations, and the medical field is especially prone to this trend. Doctors can specialize in any number of areas of medical care, such as pediatrics, geriatrics, cardiology, neurology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, psychiatry, toxicology, radiology, hematology, and surgery, to name but a few of the specialties. All of these specializations have brought great blessing to mankind by the grace of God, as we have delved deeper into the mysterious and wondrous workings of the human body. But one of the dangers that comes with specialization is a lack of focus on the whole person. In dealing with the particulars, it can be easy to get lost in the details, forgetting the big picture. That is why in recent years there has been a growing interest in “Holistic Health Care.” This kind of care is defined as follows: “Holistic medicine is a system of health care which fosters a cooperative relationship among all those involved, leading towards optimal attainment of the physical, mental emotional, social and spiritual aspects of health.It emphasizes the need to look at the whole person, including analysis of physical, nutritional, environmental, emotional, social, spiritual and lifestyle values. It encompasses all stated modalities of diagnosis and treatment including drugs and surgery if no safe alternative exists. Holistic medicine focuses on education and responsibility for personal efforts to achieve balance and well being.” (cf. Canadian Holistic Health Association). Overall, this is viewed as a positive trend in the medical community (although there are disagreements about the legitimacy and use of “alternative medicine”). Clearly, it is a good thing for a doctor to see how his specialized care for a patient fits into the total picture of caring for that person’s health.

Now to get to the point: What is true in the realm of physical care is also true in the realm of spiritual care. Those of us who are called to shepherd God’s flock must take a holistic and comprehensive view of our care for the flock if we are to reflect the heart and care of the Good Shepherd. This is part of the point that Dr. Witmer makes in chapter 1, page 13:

The Lord’s self-revelation as “shepherd” of his people is not merely a metaphor with which his people could clearly relate, but it is one that describes the comprehensive care that he provides for his people. Again, this is clearly seen in Psalm 23, where the Lord’s care for his people leads to the superlative expression of gratitude and praise form his people, “I shall not want.” Nothing is lacking in the care provded for the flock. Not only does he feed them, but he also leads them and protects them. [italics added]

Certainly as under-shepherds in Christ’s church we cannot provide comprehensive care for the flock to the same degree as the Good Shepherd, but we are to provide the same kind of care as the Good Shepherd, reflecting His love and care to the particular local congregation entrusted to our care. This means that comprehensive shepherding will at least include the following: knowing the sheep, feeding the sheep, leading the sheep, and protecting the sheep. These are themes that Dr. Witmer takes up in Part 2 of his book, which we will take up in the days ahead, Lord-willing.

May the Lord our Shepherd graciously and continually make all of His under-shepherds more like the Good Shepherd in His comprehensive care for His flock.

(By: John Miller)

Last week I introduced the book The Shepherd Leader by Tim Witmer. This week I want to share with you one thing that struck me from the first chapter, which is the first of four chapters in Part I: Biblical and Historical Foundations. The first chapter is entitled “Not a New Idea: Old Testament Themes.”

 

Dr. Witmer begins by pointing us again to the reality that the Lord God Himself uses the imagery of a shepherd to describe His relationship with and care for His people. The first place that this occurs in the bible is Genesis 48:15, in which Jacob describes God as “the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day.” Remember the context of this statement is when Jacob is blessing Joseph and his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Thus, it is near the end of Jacob’s life. What an amazing statement for Jacob to make, and what a change in perspective from the way that he thought about God earlier in his life. Jacob, the deceiver, was not someone who trusted in God to be his shepherd and care for him. Instead, Jacob believed that he had to manipulate others in order to receive blessing from God. Jacob had manipulated his brother Esau into selling him his birthright when Esau was famished (cf. Genesis 25:29-34). Jacob later deceived his father Isaac into thinking that he was Esau so that he could receive Isaac’s blessing (cf. Genesis 27). And even more ridiculous and foolhardy is Jacob’s belief that he can actually manipulate the kind of young sheep and goats born to Laban’s flock by putting branches with stripes and spots in front of the water trough where the flocks mated! Certainly it was the Lord who caused the young sheep and goats to be spotted and speckled, and not these branches, but Jacob still trusted in himself and his deceptive schemes to take care of himself instead of the Good Shepherd.

 

What about you? Do you trust in your own abilities and your own schemes in order to find blessing? Do you think that you need to manipulate the people around you in order to find happiness, joy, or blessing? Or do you realize that every blessing that you have in your life comes from the Good Shepherd? Do you realize that in spite of all your deception and schemes that it is God who is sustaining your life? And if you are in Christ, do you remember daily that He is the One who will take care of you both now and for all eternity? Oh, may the Lord increase our faith in Him, and may we come to own the words that Jacob uttered near the end of his life early in our lives, confessing with David, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

(By: John Miller)

 

As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to engage the world we live in for the sake of the gospel. At the same time we are called to keep ourselves unstained from the world (James 1:27). So “how do we engage the world meaningfully without compromising the integrity of our Christianity?” How do we as Christians live as those who are “in the world” but “not of the world?” Dr. Azurdia skillfully addresses these issues that are “so essential to the ongoing development and health of the Christian life” by turning our attention to the Scripture in his brief but helpful book, Connected Christianity.

 

The four chapters of this book originated as sermons that Dr. Azurdia preached for the Aberystwyth Conference at Alfred Place Baptist Church where Geoff Thomas ministers.

 

In the first message Dr. Azurdia calls us to a “worldly” Christianity by expounding the words of Jesus in John 17:18, “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” Jesus Christ has given his people a sacred mission to accomplish while they remain on this earth. We have been commissioned to take the gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth, while avoiding the twin dangers of cultural gluttony (becoming so like the world that we succumb to the world’s values, objectives, and desires) and cultural anorexia (radical and decided isolation, insulation, and withdrawal from the world).

 

Instead, as Christians we are called to go into the world as a holy people. Thus, in his second message, Dr. Azurdia expounds Jesus’ request of his Father for his disciples in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.” If we would be effective Christians in this world, we must be sanctified Christians. As Dr. Azurdia states concerning Christ’s disciples, “The extent to which they would be effective in the carrying out of their role would be directly proportional to the degree in which they had been sanctified by the truth.”

 

This leads thirdly to the basis of Jesus’ request for his disciples in John 17:19, “And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth.” Here we are taken to the heart of Christianity, Christ’s work for us upon the cross. This is the only basis upon which Jesus could petition his Father for sanctifying grace upon our behalf: Jesus consecrated himself and earned salvation (including sanctifying grace) for us upon the cross.

 

In his last message, Dr. Azurdia expounds 4:14-16, reminding us that as we sojourn through this fallen world we have a sympathetic High Priest we can turn to in the midst of temptation and discouragement. We have great encouragement to continually draw near to the throne of grace in our time of need.

 

I hope this brief summary encourages you to take up this book, read it, and live it! As one pastor said, “This book will not only keep the challenge before us but give to us clarity and direction for the Christ-centered and Gospel-driven as well as Holy Spirit-empowered answers from the Word of God. You will want to read this…probably more than once.”

(By: Christopher Powell) Today we return to our blogging series in Dr. Mike Emlet’s recent book release CrossTalk: Where Life & Scripture Meet and begin our look at chapter two. (See posts on the introduction, and chapter one). Starting in this chapter and going into chapter three Emlet looks at the nature of the Scriptures. In this chapter he considers the case negatively – “What the Bible is Not (Primarily).” Emlet affirms a biblical-theological approach to the Scriptures focusing first of all on genre.

 

What I appreciate about Emlet so far (in this and other material I’ve read from him) is his ability to use apt illustrations. In trying to communicate the challenges different genres pose to biblical interpretation he uses the example of a magazine article headline: “Tigers Devour Cubs in Record Time” which could be read in one way if it appeared in the magazine Sports Illustrated versus the same headline in National Geographic.

 

So our interpretation of a phrase about Christ in the apocalyptic literature of Revelation is going to be approached differently than an historical account of Jesus in the Gospels. The bottom line for Emlet: “The nature of the Bible – what the Bible is – must shape the way we interpret and apply it.” This is a key hermeneutical principle and one that needs to clarified.

 

 

Emlet asserts next that the Bible is NOT primarily a book of “Do’s” and “Don’ts”. While the Bible does contain imperatives, it is not limited to them – there are many descriptive passages that do not tell us to do anything at all. Emlet incisively points to the fact that we often gravitate to the command passages. As he puts it: “It seems easier to determine what we are to DO after studying the verse or passage.” When I read this I could not help thinking of his “thin bible” illustration which he used as a hook in the introduction. It’s true that we gravitate to the command passages because they are “ditch” passages that are easier to apply. I remember the first time I really had to grapple with how to teach Jesus cursing the fig tree in Mark 11:13-14. Doesn’t really make a lot of sense, but, when you understand it in the context of Israel and the clearing of the temple, you start to see a very powerful visual parable.

 

The other issue that comes up if you use an exclusive law-oriented (do’s and don’ts approach) to Scripture is the conundrum of which laws do you apply? Everyone has no quibble with applying Leviticus 19:11 today, but what about 8 verses later in Leviticus 19:19? Incidentally, this is the problem that was mockingly brought to the forefront recently in A.J. Jacob’s book: The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. Emlet’s point is clear: if the Bible is essentially a book of commands, what gives us the right to pick and choose which ones apply now? We need something beyond the individual commands that puts them in a larger and broader redemptive or relational framework. Jacob’s error is a common but serious one – it is essentially a complete misconception of what the Bible really is.

 

Of course, one other very important issue is the fact that has become very apparent in our own church’s recent expositional studies in the book of Genesis on Sunday mornings. The fact is, God’s commands, his judgments and his actions are never separated from their basis in his redeeming love. To strip the commands of their loving context is a recipe for legalism and discouragement. It is everything that true Christianity is not.

 

Emlet then continues his analysis looking at a list of things that the Bible is not. In summary, Emlet argues that the Bible is NOT.

 

• A Book of Timeless Principles for the Problems of Life
The main point here is that the Bible is not a topical index of various verses for various problems. We can’t ignore the very historicity, culture and social aspects of the Bible in our interpretation. It’s too easy to read principles INTO a text support a cherished belief (eisegesis) especially when a text is detached from its redemptive-historical context. This is really the argument for biblical theology.
• A Casebook of Characters to Imitate or Avoid

This is a variation on the “timeless principles” theme which highlights a particular character and then applies that character to us – the “dare to be a Daniel approach.” Now, there are many legitimate uses of the exemplary approach to interpretation and Emlet does highlight explicit examples of this like in James 5:10-11, 5:16, 1 John 3:11-12, 1 Corinthians 10:7, 10:10, and of Jesus himself in Hebrews 12:3. Emlet’s concern is that by focusing on the characters we lose perspective on the actual main subject of the Scriptures – God himself. Focusing on the characters delivering the feeding of the 5000 for example misses the focus on Jesus who is the author of the miracles. He is the manna in flesh John 6:32-35.
• A System of doctrines
Emlet finally argues against a primary definition of the Bible as a series of doctrinal formulations because it can minimize the depth and breadth of biblical wisdom. While Systematic theology helps to cull the Bible’s teaching it does not exhaust the complexity of what God means to say to the church. He uses the illustration of a book report that outlines and summarizes the contents of a book but is no substitute for reading, pondering, wrestling and relishing a book in its details. An outline cannot be a substitute for God’s multifaceted communication through his word.
• A Christless Document

Emlet ends his analysis by more of an affirmation than a denial. He affirms that the Bible is about Jesus Christ. Many of the dangers of these other approaches is that they do not adequately focus on the Christ-centered-ness of Scripture as a redemptive-historical development.

 

Emlet’s analysis here is helpful. While there is much debate about the interplay of systematic and biblical theology, I believe the point is true that the Scriptures are centered on God and His revelation in history. Jesus Himself made this point after His resurrection as He traveled on the road to Emmaus. He makes it clear that all Scripture relates to Him (Luke 24:27).

 

Next week we’ll explore Emlet’s teaching on what the other side of what Scripture IS and set the stage for how we are to wisely apply the Scriptures to life.

(By: Nicholas Kennicott)

I love giving away good books (not mine, but copies that I buy for others!). Over the past several months, one of the books I have given away frequently to Christian fathers is Voddie Baucham’s latest volume entitled, What He Must Be… if he wants to Marry My Daughter. As a pastor, I am frequently observing the devastating effects of unbiblical relationships as young people pursue mates while their parents take a back seat and “hope for the best.” As I read Baucham’s book for the first time, I had to refrain from standing and shouting “Amen!” on several occasions. I am thankful for his wisdom and courage in a day when the pursuit of a biblical framework for relationships is chided and ignored, even within much of the Church.

Baucham writes in chapter 1:

This book is built on a single, simple premise: I believe fathers have a God-given responsibility to see to it that their daughters marry well and that their sons become worthy husbands. As such, I believe it is necessary for fathers to model biblical manhood, teach biblical manhood, and hunt for biblical manhood on behalf of their daughters. Similarly, I believe fathers with sons have a responsibility to prepare their sons for marriage. (27)

This is a great read, not only for fathers with daughters, but also for those with sons. Baucham does a masterful job in describing what biblical manhood looks like, and what a father should be looking for in a potential mate for his daughter, or what he should be instilling in, modeling, and teaching his son. With very few examples today of what men are called to be, it is imperative that Christian families understand God’s design, purpose, and desire. So, according to Baucham, what must a man be if he is to marry his daughter?

• He must be a follower of Christ
• He must be prepared to lead
• He must lead like Christ (Ephesians 5)
• He must be committed to children
• He must practice the four P’s (Protector, Provider, Prophet, Priest)

Each of these elements comprises an entire chapter in What He Must Be. Additionally, Baucham provides biblically sound, practical wisdom regarding the father’s role, namely that he is to walk his daughter through the process of finding, vetting, courting, and marrying “Mr. Right”. Baucham provides ample evidence from the Old and New Testaments of the Scriptures and soundly defeats many critics who suppose much of what the Bible teaches on relationships is “cultural” in nature. What He Must Be is a “must read” for Christian fathers, and would also be a great read for young men and women who are preparing themselves for courtship and marriage.

If for no other reason, I recommend reading Baucham’s book for his excellent analysis of the current crisis in marriage and “dating” relationships:

Little thought is given to preparing our sons to be husbands. Thus, they meander through life without the skills or mind-set necessary to play the most important role until one day, having met ‘the one,’ they pop the question, set a date, and — in the rarest cases — go to the pastor to learn everything they need to know about being a priest, prophet, provider, and protector of a household in four one-hour sessions. In the words of that great theologian Dr. Phil, ‘How’s that workin’ for ya?’

As a result, we have families led by men who haven’t the foggiest idea what their role is or how to carry it out. We have wives who were created with a God-given need to be led by godly men, a curse from the days in the garden that puts them at odds with this arrangement, and a cultural mandate to fight against male headship. Top this off with children who long for security that can only be found in clear roles and boundaries in the home, and the result is a frustrated family mired by dysfunction. Sound familiar?

Yes, unfortunately it sounds all too familiar as it plays out in the Church across America because many have decided to adapt to the world’s systems instead of clinging to the wisdom of God.