When Jesus is executed, two criminals are executed with him, one on either side. While we don’t know what these two men did to deserve the death penalty, we can assume it must have been something really bad, such as murder or insurrection.
Luke’s report of this event gives us a bit more detail than in Jesus’ other biographies. Luke notes that while one of the criminals insults Jesus, the other one sees things differently.
He says the punishment for him and the other lawbreaker is just, getting what their actions warrant, whereas Jesus is innocent.
Then, in an amazing display of faith—since they will all soon be dead—he asks Jesus to remember him in his future kingdom. Jesus says it’s a done deal.
While this criminal on the cross did something bad to get the death penalty, anything wrong we do, whether major or minor, likewise earns us the punishment of death.
Just as Jesus opens his arms to accept a hardened criminal, he can likewise accept us.
This criminal on the cross merely affirms Jesus and asks to spend eternity in heaven with him. We can do the same thing, too.
Read about more biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
As the time for Jesus’s sacrificial death approaches, his enemies come to arrest him. They’re armed. This might be as a show of force or maybe because they expect trouble.
I imagine Jesus smiling a bit at this weapon-wielding mob. “Do you think I’m leading a rebellion?” he asks (Luke 22:52).
For sure they view him as a troublemaker. They see his teaching
as a threat to their way of life and their tenuous position in the Roman empire.
Yes, they may think he is leading a rebellion.
However, Jesus isn’t leading a physical rebellion. But in a spiritual sense he is ushering in a spiritual rebellion, a great reformation.
Jesus Reforms Religion
Jesus comes to fulfill the Old Testament Law. This means a change in perspective and practice from what was to something new.
Instead of following a bunch of rules — some that came from God and a whole lot that men made up—Jesus turns their religion into a relationship with God.
No longer do we need to act a certain way to become right with God. Gone is a requirement that we must earn our right standing with God. He gives it to us freely. We only need to accept it. Personal change occurs after we’re in a right relationship with him.
No longer is good behavior a prerequisite. (Check out Ephesians 2:8-9).
Jesus Reforms Our Connection with God
Two views of our understanding of God occur in the Bible.
One is to fear him, and the other is to love him. Though both perspectives
occur throughout the Bible, we see the Old Testament as more fear-based and the
New Testament is more love based.
Yes, we must still fear God and love him, but Jesus reforms our perspective and we can now focus on God’s love for us and our love for him. Because he first loved us, we can now love him. (Check out 1 John 4:19.)
Jesus Reforms Our View of Others
The Old Testament Law resulted in societal isolation. On
the national level, God wanted his people to segregate themselves from other
nations. He feared the practices of other countries would negatively influence
his own people. He was right.
On a individual level, God wanted his people to separate themselves from those who were unclean, those who didn’t conform to his high standards. This showed them there are people to associate with and not to associate with, but they went overboard with it.
They ended up judging everyone in looking down on those who they felt didn’t measure up to God’s (and their) standards.
Jesus turned this thinking on its head. He reformed how we should view others. Jesus loved the people on the fringes of society, and so should we. Instead of judging others, Jesus showed grace and mercy, and so should we.
The only people Jesus confronted were the religious elite who made a mess of the rules that God originally gave to Moses. We too should confront religious leaders who pervert our relationship of God and what the Bible teaches about it.
Jesus’s Reforms Are a Spiritual Rebellion against the
Religious Status Quo
In a spiritual sense, Jesus is leading a rebellion. And
he invites us to join him in that. Together we can reform the religious status
quo and embark on a fresh new way of understanding God and our relationship to
him.
It’s time for another spiritual reformation.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
This week we visit another new church, our third one so far (the others are Church #2 and Church #7).
This one is essentially a church reboot, with the intent on offering a more accessible gathering within a traditional, conservative denomination. It’s a bold experiment.
The decor is by far the nicest we’ve encountered. Everything looks new; nothing is worn or dated. I suspect the touch of a professional interior decorator.
There are several inviting sectionals, making the lobby look more like a den than a church.
Beyond it is the sanctuary, which is wide, but not deep. It has padded chairs. These traits are common in all three of the new churches we’ve visited (as opposed to longer, narrower sanctuaries with wooden pews).
This church arranges their chairs in a 180-degree arc; everyone is close to the front and has a good view.
There are ten on the worship team, with half singing and half playing: guitars, drums, and keys.
The opening song is seemingly for entertainment, without words, no one sings along. But soon words appear overhead and the people gladly join in.
Some raise their hands in varying degrees of physical worship.
Plans are underway for Vacation Bible School, held in partnership with other area churches. I appreciate their ecumenical spirit in working together.
The pastor begins a new series on the book of Philippians. He asks, “What does it mean to rejoice?” and then reads chapter one from the NIV Bible. The chapter arc is of Paul in jail, facing almost certain execution—and rejoicing.
After the service a couple introduces themselves. They confirm my understanding of the church’s formation, calling it as “a bold experiment”—one that not everyone at the founding church is enthusiastic with.
As for me, their bold experiment is wildly successful.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
We all know that Jesus had twelve disciples, right? This number occurs repeatedly in all four gospels. And the first three list them by name. Unfortunately, the lists don’t match.
Matthew and Mark list Simon Peter, Andrew, James (son of Zebedee), John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot.
Luke matches eleven of these names, but includes Judas (the son of James) and omits Thaddaeus.
John doesn’t provide a list but does mention some disciples by name: Andrew, Simon Peter, Phillip, Judas Iscariot, and Thomas. Indirectly included are John and James (“the sons of Zebedee”).
However, John also implies Nathanael is a disciple, but he’s not even mentioned in the other three gospels.
So that ups the count of disciples to 14. How do we understand this?
Here are some possible explanations:
Nicknames Were Used Some of the Twelve Disciples
If we assume that Thaddaeus was also known as Judas (the son of James) as well as Nathanael, that explains everything, but this is quite a stretch.
Some Lists Are Wrong
Matthew and Mark completely agree, so their lists must be right while Luke and John must have each made a mistake.
The Group Was Dynamic
Though Jesus only had twelve disciples, there was an ebb and flow over his three years of ministry as disciples came and went.
Twelve Is Not an Absolute Number
We live in a culture that assumes precision. If we say twelve, we mean twelve, no more or no less. We don’t mean about twelve or twelve give or take a couple; we mean twelve.
I dismiss the first explanation as being too farfetched and discount the second theory as being too convenient.
While Jesus’ disciples might have changed over time, it’s more likely that the label of “The Twelve” was a generic reference and not quantifiable.
So that makes Jesus’ twelve fourteen disciples as:
Read about more biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
We Must Distinguish Between Prescriptive Text and Descriptive Text
The Bible contains a lot of versus that tell us what to do and what not to do. These verses stand as commands from God. Bible scholars call these prescriptive texts, as they prescribe the behavior God expects from us.
However, many more verses in the Bible are narrative. They tell us what happened. Bible scholars call these descriptive texts. They describe what occurred, usually without godly commentary.
Prescriptive Texts
The Ten Commandments are prescriptive texts, as is much of the law of Moses. The Old Testament prophets often include instructions from God. These are also prescriptive texts.
Paul’s letters tell the people what to do, which are prescriptive. Jesus leaves much of his teaching for us to interpret, but he sometimes tells people what to do.
Look for passages that start with him saying, “but I tell you . . .” What follows are his instructions of what to do and not do.
Descriptive Texts
However, most of Jesus’s biographies (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are narratives. They tell us what happened. They record Jesus’s words for us. And they document the people’s response to Jesus. They describe what happened.
These are descriptive texts. The Book of Acts is also like this. The Old Testament has many historical books that tell us what happened. Genesis, Joshua, and Judges stand out as descriptive texts.
The first and second books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles are also descriptive passages.
Distinguishing Between the
Two
It’s critical that we make this distinction as we read the Bible. We want to follow and apply the prescriptive texts—especially those in the New Testament—doing what they say.
Sometimes they cover things we should do, and other times it’s things we shouldn’t do.
However, we would be in error to take a descriptive text and turn it into behavior to follow, a command to obey. For example, consider Nehemiah 13:25.
In this passage, Nehemiah is furious at the men for breaking God’s command to not marry foreign women.
His response to their disobedience shocks us. He beats some of them and pulls out their hair. Yes, God’s leader hits sinful men and yanks out their hair.
Keep in mind that the Bible merely describes his behavior. It doesn’t tell us to do the same thing for people who don’t follow God’s rules. Furthermore, we shouldn’t see this as God’s approval for corporal punishment.
It isn’t. It’s merely a passage that describes Nehemiah’s reaction to the disobedience of others.
Where the Lines Blur
However, there’s a slight twist to this distinction between prescriptive and descriptive texts. Consider the short account of Jabez and his prayer. The Bible records Jabez’s prayer for us, but it doesn’t tell us to pray it.
Yet, the Bible notes that God grants the requests Jabez made (1 Chronicles 4:9-10). This confirms God’s approval of Jabez’s words. Though this falls short of a command to obey, it does emerge as an example we can follow.
Yet when God adds his commentary to the behavior of biblical characters, we can take his approval of their actions as worthy of emulation and his disapproval, as conduct to avoid.
When Reading the Bible
When we read the Bible, we’ll do well to follow the prescriptive texts, appropriately applying them to our culture and lives today. Similarly, we should read the descriptive texts as narrative and not turn them into examples to follow.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
Sunday we visited a newer church. Their website says “multi-generational contemporary worship service”—and it is. They’re also non-denominational “because God has called all believers to unity.” I like that.
We walk in and people are informally mingling; several introduce themselves. Of all the churches we’ve visited so far, this is the most effective at pre-service interaction.
The sanctuary is a simple rectangular room that seats 55, but I only count 24 present. I forget it’s Memorial Day weekend. There are no pews but comfortable chairs instead.
They say attendance is often near capacity and on Easter they maxed out.
Soon they’ll move to a different facility, much nicer and more inviting; it’ll seat 160 and they’re confident they’ll soon fill it.
Three ladies lead us in singing modern praise songs. Instead of instrumentation, they use accompaniment tracks. They don’t have songbooks but display the words on a flat-screen monitor.
The pastor is in week two of a series. Last Sunday was about God’s sovereignty; today is about God’s providence. He boldly delves into some tough questions about these subjects.
Afterwards, he tells me most members are younger in their faith; they’ve come without any church baggage and are eager to learn. Since they don’t know how they’re “supposed” to behave in church, there aren’t any bad habits to overcome.
This explains the informal nature of the service, the socializing beforehand, and their arriving without Bibles. Their eagerness to learn is why he goes deep in his teaching.
Although the church is expanding numerically, their leader is more pleased with their deep spiritual growth.
As is often the case, it’s new churches, and not the established ones, where people discover God and grow into a vibrant faith. Newer is often better.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Doctor Luke was another companion of Paul. He wrote the Gospel of Luke and The Acts of the Apostles for his dear friend Theophilus, which I address in the books That You May Know (the book of Luke) and Tongues of Fire (the book of Acts).
Despite having penned two major books in the Bible—comprising about 25 percent of the content in New Testament—Luke is only mentioned three times in the Bible, so we don’t know too much about him.
First, we learn that he is a “dear friend” of Paul’s and a doctor. He is also esteemed by Paul as a “fellow worker.” Third, in one of his darker hours, Paul laments that “only Luke is with me.” As such, we see Luke as faithful and persevering.
We also know that Luke was a participant-observer in many of the events he recorded in the book of Acts. We see this through his first person narratives and the use of the pronoun “we.”
Although Doctor Luke was not a leader or an apostle, his contribution to our faith and understanding of Jesus and his church is significant.
Doctor Luke’s ministry function was not leading or preaching, but rather playing a silent and almost unnoticed supporting role .
His work was quiet, but his legacy lives on, loudly influencing Jesus’ followers two millennia later.
Read about more biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Discover What the Bible and Our Experience Teach Us
In my posts, I write a lot about the importance of community, specifically meaningful spiritual community. I’ve mentioned community over one hundred fifty times. Two related words—or potentially related words—are fellowship and discipleship.
Aside from my posts about 52 Churches, I’ve written about fellowship ten times. And apart from book reviews, I’ve written about discipleship once and the related phrase make disciples, seven times.
Let’s consider community, fellowship, and discipleship.
The Bible mentions community eighty-five times and fellowship ninety-four times. But discipleship doesn’t occur at all and make disciples only appears once.
From a biblical standpoint, it seems we should focus on community and fellowship, while not worrying so much about discipleship. Interesting.
These three words can mean three
different things, or they can all intersect. To me they are one. When I talk
about spiritual community, I imply fellowship and discipleship.
Community
A community is a group of people with a shared interest. In a spiritual context, this shared interest is our common faith in Jesus. To achieve meaningful spiritual community involves walking with each other in our daily lives.
We celebrate blessings and commiserate struggles.
It’s a faith-sharing, faith-growing, faith-inspiring environment.
God created us for community, just as he exists in community, which we call the Trinity. He wants us to live in community with other followers of Jesus.
In the Bible, I get a sense that we need to pursue community over church. But if we do church right, it results in significant community.
Otherwise church attendance means little, other than checking off the “go to church” box on our to-do list.
I long to be part of a deep,
meaningful, spiritual community. That’s when I feel most alive and most
encouraged in my faith.
Fellowship
Growing up I thought fellowship was a euphemism for drinking coffee. Indeed, scheduled fellowship time at my church involved serving coffee and nothing more. The adults sat around tables, drinking coffee and laughing.
As the adults sipped their brew and shared amusing stories, us kids ran around looking for ways to entertain ourselves. Our goal was to have fun and avoid getting in trouble. Usually we succeeded.
Of course, drinking coffee at
church is a warped understanding of fellowship, though fellowship can start
with a beverage. But there’s more to fellowship than food.
Fellowship is a hospitable and egalitarian gathering of people. It implies a close connection, with the words friendship and camaraderie adding clarity. At its best, Christian fellowship is spiritual community.
Discipleship
A disciple is someone who embraces the teachings of
someone else, in our case Jesus. Disciples are active in their adherence. They
share their beliefs with others. Discipleship is the act of being a disciple. Disciples
make more disciples.
In my experience, the church talks much more about
discipleship than about community and fellowship. I wonder why.
Aside from the Bible’s singular command to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19-20), Jesus gives a related warning to people who do this poorly (Matthew 23:15).
If we smugly think Jesus isn’t referring to us, it’s a sure sign we’re deluding ourselves and that this warning of woe applies to us.
Discipleship best occurs in community. We learn discipleship through example, not discourse. That is, taking a discipleship class falls far short of making disciples.
Instead, people catch discipleship through example, which can happen in a meaningful spiritual community.
Community, Fellowship,
and Discipleship
Community can be a trivial social exercise that
specializes in small talk. Or community can be a significant spiritual
experience that brings us closer to each other through faith and closer to God.
Fellowship can mean sitting around drinking coffee and
avoiding significant discussion. Or fellowship can be a like-minded gathering
of Jesus’s followers who get together to celebrate their common faith and
spiritual life.
Discipleship can mean sitting in a boring class that stuffs knowledge into our heads, void of action. Or discipleship can be living for Jesus and serving as an example to others.
Participating in significant spiritual community results in meaningful fellowship and actionable discipleship. This reveals why spiritual community is so important. Though some churches begin to tap into this level of community, most don’t.
For most of us if we’re going to experience meaningful Christian community, it’s something we must pursue on our own.
Our faith in our future depend on it.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
It’s a quintessential country church and our third Baptist congregation in six weeks. With no online presence, what we know is from their sign out front: its name and service time.
The sanctuary is smaller than I expected. One lady greets us warmly and another scurries to fetch us a bulletin. We fill out the visitor card and drop it in the offering plate.
This information must be important; at least two more people will offer us one before the day is over.
With thirty in attendance, it’s surprising that four members have birthdays this week. We sing “Happy Birthday.” Also are four anniversaries.
A few songs into the service is an extended greeting time, followed by prayer requests. There are many mentions of health concerns, some for travels, and a few for jobs.
Sometimes when a group shares prayer requests, the focus is more on the news than on prayer, which I fear is one small step removed from gossip. Not so with this group. They share, confident that prayer will follow.
Afterwards they invite us to stay for refreshments. This is not a quick event but an extended one. More people greet us; we must have met just about everyone.
With broad smiles, each one thanks us for visiting and invites us back to their small country church.
They’re hopeful for our return but not pushy. I really like them but don’t want to give false expectations, so I simply respond, “It was good to be here today.” And it was.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
In the Ultimate Battle Between Good and Evil, the Winner Is Clear
For the first part of my life I assumed God and Satan were equal yet opposite forces.
I picked up this inaccurate image from culture, starting with the old cartoons of the devil sitting on one shoulder whispering bad advice into a person’s ear, with God sitting on the other shoulder whispering good.
In my memory (which may be faulty), the cartoon character, after vacillating between conflicting instructions, followed the more appealing temptation of the devil. With a smile, the cartoon character went down the evil path and did wrong.
Yes, there were consequences, but what stuck with me was this conflict between good and evil, God and the devil on equal footing, with Satan too often prevailing.
Discover What Satan Can and Can’t Do
This, of course, is wrong. Satan is not an equal to God. The devil is less than God, much less.
First, Satan is an angel, albeit a fallen one. God created angels, just as he created you and me. The creator has power over his creation. This confirms that God has power over his angels, including fallen angels.
Yes, the devil, also known as Lucifer, may have been a higher angel, an Archangel like Michael, but this is speculation. Regardless of Satan’s original angel status, he has limits. God doesn’t.
God is present everywhere. He is omnipresent.
Satan is not. He can only be in one place at a time.
God knows all things. He is
omniscient. Satan is not. His knowledge of the future has limits.
God is all-powerful. He is omnipotent. Satan is not. True, the devil does have angelic power, but his power isn’t all-encompassing. There are things he can do and things he can’t do.
He’s limited. We must remember that.
God Will Prevail for All Eternity
If we’re on God’s side, we’re on
the winning side. If we follow Satan and obey him, we’ll find ourselves on the
losing side. And we will lose for all eternity.
Some people quake in fear at the
power of the devil, but they would do better to quake at the all-powerful God
who created him.
In the end, the final score will be
God 1, Satan 0.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
