Christophany or Theophany

Refer to this post.

Well, the poll has been closed for over two weeks, so I ought to talk about it. The question was: Who or what was the theophanic angel in the Old Testament?

With ten votes, the results are as follows:

Christophany	2 (20%)
Theophany	7 (70%)
Mistaken identity (they thought it was God but it was just an angel)	0 (0%)
Angel was an emissary or envoy for God	7 (70%)
Something else	1 (10%)

So it looks like the poll bears out my own opinion: that it really was a theophany (God appearing as an angel), or it was the angel acting as an envoy for God with all the attendant rights and powers that we, in our democratic society, don't really understand.

Funny that the poll should end up matching my own expectations. Wonder how that happened. ;-)

Review: Jim and Casper go to Church

Summary: Jim Henderson, a Christian and former Pentacostal minister, and Matt Casper, an atheist, visit some of the largest and best-known Evangelical churches in America, and also some churches of other flavors. Much of the book is given over to their recounting their experiences at these churches, and of how Casper reacted to what was done in the church. You can find the Amazon description here.

For the most part, Jim allows Casper to speak. He allows Casper to relate and criticize what he has seen and experience without trying to interpret or "spin" it for Casper. Here are some of the criticisms that Casper levels against the churches he visited:

1. The church spends too much time and money on a professional production on Sunday.
2. The church treats the things that it does on a Sunday morning - lifting hands in worship, talking about physical healing- with too much familiarity for someone who has never experienced them before.
   
3. The church spends too much of its Sunday meeting on feelings and belief and not enough on talking about what they do to aid their community.
   
4. The church is given to celebrity worship.
   
5. Most churches lack a "call to action."
6. The church should be more racially integrated.
7. Too much of what happens on Sunday seems scripted and false.
8. Most people in church lack the courtesy to greet strangers.
9. Most of what the church does on a Sunday doesn't seem to have much to do with what Jesus taught.
   

Throughout the book, Jim injected little parenthetical sections about "defending the space." His basic message in these sections seemed to be that Christians should defend a space where they can talk to atheists on equal terms, instead of defending the faith to them. Basically, defending the space entails respecting people and their beliefs enough to listen to them and not be anxious to point out where they are wrong.

I mostly didn't enjoy this book. However, I don't like most Christian nonfiction books, so it is in good company. I find that a great majority of Christian nonfiction books spend their time telling the reader or, worse, the church at large what they are doing wrong. I dislike such books because I criticize myself frequently, and I find it too easy to accept the criticism of strangers. Reading such books often leads me to a sense of hopelessness and despair. This book in particular led to feel like what I've been doing in church for the last twenty-five years has been in vain.

(If you know of good Christian books that don't take this tact, please, let me know. Note that I've never really connected with Max Lucado.)

As I began reading the book, I had the suspicion that Jim had an agenda - that he had particular things that he wanted to say to the Christian church, certain criticisms that he wanted to bring, and that he felt that he had an ally in Casper who would lend weight to his criticisms. As I went through the book I began to wonder why Casper or any atheist should determine how we run church. Isn't our Sunday meeting for believers? Why should a nonbeliever determine how we do things? I got my answer at the end of the book: Casper evaluated Sunday morning meetings because those are the ones that are advertised, and those are the meetings that we are encouraged to bring "our unsaved friends" to. As long as this is the case, Jim asserts, it is reasonable to have a nonbeliever come and evaluate the Sunday morning meeting.

I finished this book about a week ago, and so my irritation with it has diminished somewhat and I have been able to gain a little perspective. There are things that I desire in church that Jim and Casper would appreciate - for example, greater simplicity in our Sunday meeting. I thought that their idea of joining with nonbelievers in existing service projects, rather than starting our own, an intriguing idea.

However, what I am left with overall is the sense that we try to put too much on Sunday morning. We try to make it both a believer's meeting and a meeting sensitive to the needs of seekers and outsiders. These two goals seem to be in conflict. I think that it is very important to preserve a whole-church believer's meeting, and I can't realistically see this happening outside of Sunday morning. I don't think that it is right to steal from the church for the sake of some potential outsiders, because the church needs to be strengthened so that it can help outsiders.

What I think we should do is provide a separate meeting for seekers and outsiders. As part of this meeting, they can be instructed in what we do on Sunday and why we do it. If they decide to attend the Sunday meeting, the seeker's meeting could be a place where they return to ask questions or argue issues.

I'm not sure how well this idea would fly, or whether seekers would skip the main meeting in favor of this explanatory one. However, I think that it makes sense to not force seekers to only learn about our church through a believer's meeting that they may find confusing or strange.

Visiting the cousins

I often have this idea that I would like to "visit the cousins," meaning visit other churches. For a long time I felt that there was no church but The One True Church of NCF ^TM, so why would I visit another? Over the years, though, I have come to realize that there are different bodies and different expressions for different people, and there is a lot to learn and enjoy from these other expressions. Then, there was the period of time a few years ago when I was on worship team every Sunday, and had such difficulty struggling to my own church that the last thing I wanted to do was spend the effort to go to another one. I sometimes visit churches while on vacation out of town, but I have often been disappointed with the experience. I don't have a problem with traditional, hymn-based worship, but I do have a problem with it being perfunctory and merely something to break up the time between the weekly confession and the sermon. So, I haven't really visited many churches recently.

Well, last week I drove past Pike Creek Bible Church, and saw that they had an 8:30 service. Perfect - I can visit this place early, then go to the Barn, I thought. So that is what I and my bride did yesterday.

First, this place is beautiful. They meet in a pretty building nestled back against a woods of mature trees. I think that the woods belongs to the state park, because I saw a group of bicyclists in the parking lot that looked like they were ready to start a ride on the trail.

In the parking lot we were greeted by a kindly older gentleman who wondered to us if he had ever met us before. He hadn't, so we introduced ourselves. He cheerily escorted us to his wife inside, who seemed to be the "official" greeter. Later, midway through worship they had a time of greeting, and several people made the effort to shake our hands and say hi to us. We felt very welcome.

The worship center (I think that is what they called the room) was a large room, wider than deep, which allowed the seating to be arranged so that everyone was fairly close to the stage. It was lit by electric chandeliers. Carpeted floor and nice cushy chairs. At the front of the room was a large window that looked out on the trees, which I much appreciated. They had an overhead projector and screen for the words of the songs, and for the speaker's PowerPoint presentation. They had roped off one section of chairs, and the rest of the chairs were fairly full. I think that there were at least 200 people in the room.

They started with worship. Most of the songs were familiar - one of them was How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin. Worship was somewhat subdued - no lifting hands or spontaneous shouts here - but, for the worship team at least, heartfelt. I felt that I needed to be careful to not lift my hands during worship or get too demonstrative. I don't feel that it is right to challenge or distract other people in worship when I am not committed to the fellowship, but constraining myself this way wasn't too hard. My only real frustration concerning the worship is that they paused worship about every two songs with activities such as greeting each other, announcements, etc. I like worship to be in a block; I think it allows the worship to have continuity and sweep. They ended the worship time with a familiar hymn, which I got to belt out despite it being pitched too low for me.

The worship team was made up of a male leader who played acoustic guitar and sang, a keyboardist, a bass player, I think two electric guitars, two female backup singers, and a poor drummer completely enclosed in a transparent cage. I keyed in on one of the female singers - she looked like she was truly enjoying herself, and even lifted her hand at one point. The male lead was also all smiles and joyful, but he was out of my line of sight for most of the service due to the rather tall man who stood in front of me. The worship leader had an interesting doohickey on - it looked like he had a tube microphone over one ear, and an earpiece in the opposite ear. I didn't see any other type of monitor, and I didn't notice if the other singers had any. I thought that the sound was very good and well mixed. The worship leader shared about some very tough times that he has gone through this summer that showed that he has definitely been living his faith and not just singing about it. He seemed like a really nice guy, and I would have been glad to get together and spend some time with him.

I thought about Jess getting nice comments on her voice when she last went to church, and when we initially found seats (three-quarters of the way back in the middle) there was an empty row in front of us. Good, I thought, I don't have to think about singing for the person in front of me, which is a constant struggle of mine. Then midway through the service Mr. Tall - I actually know his real name, it was printed on his Bible - and his family took the seats in front of us. He didn't end up telling me that I sing like an angel, though. :-(

The church is apparently having a missions summer, so the teaching was by the leader of the Sunday Breakfast Mission in Wilmington. This men's shelter seems like it is doing a lot of good things. They shelter only men, but they serve meals to anyone and they have a thrift store and career counseling. They will soon be breaking ground on a center where homeless families can stay together. Currently, a homeless family that seeks shelter is broken up - the men stay in one shelter, the women and children in another, and any boys over 16 stay at a third place. The speaker also talked about addiction, and its similarity to sin in general. It was a good talk, if hard to hear in some places. Not, because, you know, the sound went off or anything, but because it dealt with hard things. Like the tragic story of the guy who ruined his life over crack cocaine - he was introduced to it at a party in Wilmington and subsequently went through all his money and possessions in pursuit of it. About a month later he ended up at the shelter with no money and no job.

After the service they have coffee and adult Sunday School. Unfortunately, we had to skip out to get to the Barn. According to their announcements and their web site, they also have many programs for discipleship and Bible Study during the week. In all, it looked like a very active fellowship.

During the service I looked at the worship leader and had the strange thought, "Wouldn't it be great if we were all the time the way we appear to be on Sunday - faithful, joyful, godly?" Then I thought that our hope is that one day we will be.

I will be going back to Pike Creek Bible Church - um, because I left my Bible there. And not just any Bible - my good study Bible. Bummer.

Faith teaching, part 3

Here are the earlier parts of this teaching:

Faith teaching part 2
Faith teaching part 1

OK, so back to this verse:

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (NIV)

We are talking about the type of faith that pleases God. Moreover, the type of faith that is necessary if we are to please God. We talked about the first aspect of this faith, which I termed the He can aspect of faith.

The second aspect of the faith that pleases God is to believe that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. This is an interesting contrast to the first characteristic of faith. The first aspect of faith talked about is belief in who God is. This second aspect talks about what God does. And of all the various activities that God engages in - creating, loving, judging, etc. - faith is the belief that he rewards.

Interesting word, reward. A reward is not an unmerited gift; it is a prize for having done something. In English the word is often used when the thing given is out of proportion to the actual work done, as in "a reward of $1000 will be given for any information leading to the capture of this dangerous criminal." However, in Greek, the word connotes being paid wages for doing work. There is a sense of duty in the giving, of obligation; that the reward given is in proportion to the work done. An amazing thing, this: to be paid wages for earnestly seeking God.

It reminds me of another verse, originally found in Genesis 15:6, but quoted three times in the New Testament. I'll quote it from Romans, because I'm allowed:

Romans 4:3: ...Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. (NIV)

Similar to Hebrews 11:6, a reward (credit) is given for belief. This word translated credited connotes in both the Hebrew and the Greek the ideas of calculating and counting. Again, there is the idea that there is a fair exchange here - on one side, the belief, and on the other, what is rewarded or credited. This is astounding, that one can receive a reward from God just for believing, and it is treated as his or her due to receive it! For this is what Paul goes on to say in Romans chapter 4:

4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Some people would say that God is obligated by the rules of the spiritual realm to credit our faith as righteousness. I don't like to think of it this way, because this makes God subordinate to what He has created. Instead, I believe that He has obligated Himself to repay our belief.

OK, so back to Hebrews. What is the reward given for belief? I think that there are many rewards, but the big one, the ultimate one, the one that really matters is given at the end of Hebrews 10:

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (my emphasis)

This actually comes right before the "faith chapter" of Hebrews 11. We believe and are saved. The reward of our belief is to be saved. Lest there be any confusion over what it means to be saved, the New American Standard renders "saved" as "preserving of the soul." The reward of God, given to those who earnestly seek him, is that their soul may be saved to eternal life, that they may survive the great judgment that is coming and escape death.

Now here is another cool part. In the New Testament, God reveals a new name for Himself. It is the name of his son, who is God in the flesh. That name is Jesus. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name "Yehoshua" (English "Joshua"), which means "Yahweh is salvation." More loosely, it might be said to mean "He saves," as from Matthew 1:21:

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

Above, we saw that salvation is our reward, so to say "He rewards" is similar to saying "He saves." So, in this verse of Hebrews 11:6, we have both of the personal names of God: Yahweh ("He is") and Jesus ("He saves"). Isn't that cool? Faith, then, is believing in the two major revelations of God's personal nature - that He is, and that He saves.

Finally, I want to talk more about this idea that rewarding is something God does. Because rewarding is something that God does, it is connected to the will or desire of God. He is not compelled to do anything; He is God! So God wants to save; God wants to reward. This concept was very important to my growth in faith, that I am pleasing to God when I believe that he wants to reward me. This shatters the idea that it is godly or holy to shrink away from God's provision, to say "oh no, God, you are so very busy, don't bother with poor lil ole me." I can ask God for what I need not only because He can give me what I need, but because He wants to give me what I need - and it pleases Him when I adopt this attitude! Part of the faith that pleases God is the belief that he wants to reward those who earnestly seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

So, finally, let me say that I think of these two portions of faith in this way: Faith is belief that God can, and that God wants to.

Application

I have found that when I lack faith for something, I can usually trace it to having a deficiency in one of these two aspects of faith. Either I am believing that God can't act (He isn't powerful enough, or He is prevented from acting, etc.), or that He doesn't want to. Knowing this allows me to focus in on the specific beliefs that I need to correct. I can then challenge those thoughts and feelings with what I know about God from the Bible.

For example, suppose that I have trouble believing that God will save someone that I am praying for. When I examine my thoughts, I find that I am failing to believe that God can. I am, instead, believing that God cannot violate that person's free will to ignore God. However, I know that God turned the heart of Saul of Tarsus, who was very much against Jesus. My friend is not that hardened against God, so certainly God can turn their heart to Him.

Or suppose that I am praying for my healing, and I find myself lacking in faith. In looking more closely at my attitudes, I discover that I feel that God doesn't want to heal me. Maybe I feel that He can't be bothered with my sickness because it is small compared to others, or that he considers my physical health a less important thing than my spiritual health.

But this isn't what the Bible says. The Bible says that Jesus healed a lot. In fact, the Bible says in several places (for example, Matthew 4:24, 12:15, and 14:36) that Jesus healed all that came to him - regardless of how big or small their illness. Also, in James Chapter 5 the author commands that the sick should be prayed over, and they will get well. James, who comes across as a pretty tough character in his letter, didn't offer up any nonsense about how the sick should be content to stay sick. Clearly, God wants us to be healed.

So, my charge to you is to examine your faith, to see if it is lacking in either of these areas. If it is, convince your heart from the Bible, or through the ministry of the Body of Christ, that God can and that God wants to.