This article was supposed to be about John Chrysostom and the historical roots of expositional preaching. It is not.

It did not take me long to realize that I had seriously underestimated the time and effort it would take to really understand John as a preacher. I was in over my head as I thought that I could do a couple of days of research and then write a stellar article about him being the first expositional preacher. Ha! As a little boy I know always says, “silly me.” John wrote volumes and volumes and the number of his sermons that are preserved are staggering. And that is only what he wrote! Countless people also wrote about him.

I have seen icons depicting him holding a Bible or a scroll, looking solemn and stoic in churches and on peoples walls, but never knew why he was holding them, and then I learned that he taught verse-by-verse through books of the Bible in the late 300’s B.C. in the High Church, which intrigued me. Before this, I had thought that expositional teaching was the brain-child of the protestant church. There are biblical examples of this style of teaching, which I was aware of, going all the way back to Moses. But outside of the biblical narrative, I thought it was a protestant thing. John’s hundreds and hundreds of preserved sermons proves that wrong.

Expositional Teaching in the Late 300’s B.C.

He loved teaching the Word of God and used it as a tool to help people move closer to God. He explained the scriptures in a plain way so that his congregation could understand the Gospel. He did this until his death, and eventually his extraordinary preaching and living out what he preached was recognized by the church and he was made a saint both in the Catholic and Orthodox churches and given the name Chrysostom, which means, “golden mouth.”

In the part of the world that I live in, saints play a major role in the Orthodox Church, one of them being that each family has a patron saint who has one calendar day each year dedicated to his remembrance. On this day, people take work off, prepare an elaborate feast, and invite friends over to eat and drink. Some of these celebrations have many guests and some only a few close friends, some are celebrated over several days and others just on the day of that saint.

But no matter the details, the celebration always happens. Each patron saint is passed down from father to son, and so in that sense it continues as long as the family line does. There are specific traditions to be followed on this day, both by guests and hosts. I have had the opportunity to attend many of them, including the celebration of John “Golden Mouth.” Each of these celebrations are very similar, the biggest difference being the person depicted in the icon on the wall.

While I like attending most of these kinds of celebrations because of the social aspect, they have very little to do with the actual saint. When I was invited to and attended the celebration of John Chrysostom, I left with exactly the same amount of knowledge of him as I came with. He was not talked about nor was anything about him called to remembrance in a concrete way.

The event was just a tradition, not a teaching moment, and was devoid of anything truly spiritual. John loved scripture and teaching it. So to be remembered, but in no connection with what he loved and what he stood for, was and is disappointing. Something was missing. We were celebrating something that we knew nothing about. At least I was.

Aversion to Keeping Traditions

The overwhelming emphasis the Orthodox Church puts on keeping traditions in general has led many born-again believers I know to have a strong aversion to anything that even resembles tradition. I am also in that group, but for the opposite reason. I have never been a part of a church with lots of traditions and do not see the need for them in my life.

This aversion was never challenged until a couple of months ago when someone shifted my perspective about the role that tradition and liturgy has played in church history. This person shared this analogy. The gospel is like a beautiful diamond and over time it had to be protected, so a box was made to put it in to keep it safe. That box was tradition and liturgy. They were meant to preserve the diamond that is the Gospel from outside forces, such as the Ottoman Empire which sought to stomp it out by the sword.

In this it succeeded, but slowly over time things changed until eventually the unthinkable happened. The box was closed, hiding the treasure inside. What remained visible was only the secondary things: tradition and liturgy. This tragedy is clearly seen today as most who hold the box have no idea what is inside. They do not know the beauty and life-changing truth of the Gospel, only the burden of carrying the box. The box becomes heavier and heavier as the traditions multiply and with it the guilt of falling short until finally they throw the entire box away, never having opened it.

Our task, he challenged, then becomes to compel them to open the box because once they realize what is inside by seeing it (the diamond), the box will be put in its place automatically. It will fade away in the beauty of the sparkling jewel.

The Analogy of a Closed Box

I suggest that this analogy also applies to John Chrysostom and the saints as they have suffered a similar fate. They have also become a shut box, hiding the very thing they sought to make known. John preached, persuaded, and pleaded with his congregation to be in right relationship with God and to live a life worthy of the name Christian. He spent himself trying to point people to the truth of the Gospel by explaining the written scriptures in a way that every person could understand, and he was skilled in doing this.

He held the Gospel out to others and defended it when attacked. But slowly over time, he and the others like him were used for a purpose that they were never intended to be used for. He was hailed a saint and a preacher without equal. But over time, most forgot what it was that he preached. The box was closed, a fancy dinner becoming the main thing, leaving the Gospel he so dearly loved locked away out of sight.

Opening the Box

This is not just a bummer. It needs to change, but in the process of realigning I am not sure that we have to throw the box away. Maybe it can be restored to its rightful place, just as the Gospel is returning to hers. As the box is opened, the diamond will shine and it will mesmerize. It will capture the searching heart, even if it is in a box. The only thing that matters is that it is opened.

That box makes me uncomfortable, if I am honest, and would go as far as to say that in my own life it is not needed. But not everyone is like me. They have been holding that closed box for generations, and it has become precious to them. To pry it from their hands would feel just the same as it felt when the Ottoman Empire tried, even if our motives are different. Force is not the way of wisdom.

What that man was trying to share is that wisdom is to recognize the honorable role that the box has played in history and then to gently open it, even if just a crack. The glory of the diamond will do the rest. It will sparkle even if that box has been closed for centuries. It has not changed. It was cut to perfection already. All it needs is a little light for its splendor to be revealed.

The obvious questions follows, how do we go about opening the box? This is a good and difficult question. I have some ideas, not a fix-all, end-all answer. I doubt there is only one right way to do it. Each person’s box might look a little different after all. Is their box made up of the traditions of saints being mediator to God, instead of Jesus? Or is it that being baptized as a baby into the church guarantees salvation? Maybe it is that the work of keeping traditions ensures salvation?

Each of these require a different approach, a different way of opening if you will, which means that we need wisdom: heavenly wisdom to boldly and gently open each box in the most appropriate way. It might be best done slowly over time, but then again sometimes it should be flung open, if the opportunity arises. One thing is for sure, we cannot muster up this kind of wisdom on our own, but we can ask for it.

Asking for Wisdom

That is what James tells us in his epistle. If we need wisdom, ask. It is that simple! Ask and then patiently wait for Him to answer. He will, and even if we are unsure about the exact science of how to get the lid open, we can be confident that Jesus is a good place to start.

The beauty of the life and work of Jesus is the Gospel. He is the diamond. Talking about Jesus, digging into His life through study of the scriptures, assimilating His paradigm through prayer and allowing it to shape your decisions and desires, openly, bravely following Him with all the failures and imperfections that will inevitably come and humbly admitting when we get it wrong, leaning into a loving community that will spur us on through encouragement and rebuke are all ways to crack open someone’s box.

Even when cracked open, embrace of the diamond will not always happen. It may be closed again and in that way the diamond rejected. That is a choice each heart makes for itself, but at least they will see the options clearly. At least they will see the diamond in all its glory and choose for themselves. Also, by giving this choice, by cracking that lid open, we can preserve the integrity of the saints like John Chrysostom by fighting for the same thing they fought for: to keep the magnificent Gospel visible for all to see; to keep the diamond in the light.

Originally published on Feb 17, 2014

“What were we made for? What aim should we set ourselves in life? What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight, and contentment than anything else? The answer to all these questions is the same: Knowing God!” (from Knowing God by J. I. Packer).

Listen to a young Charles Spurgeon on the subject of knowing God:

“It has been said by some one that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’ I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. … No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. … But while the subject humbles the mind it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe. … the most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatary. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrows? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of grief and sorrow; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead” (from The Immutability of God, a sermon by C. H. Spurgeon).

There truly is no greater objective in life than knowing God, but how is that experiential knowledge of God attained?

The first question we need ask is this: Is God is willing to be known? Is God knowable in a personal sense, in the same way that we know one another? Some say, No, that is not possible. God is too great to be known by man. Deism, theism, and Islam are all views of God that put Him beyond our ability as human beings to know, at least in any personal, meaningful sense. However, the Bible presents us with a God who can be known and actually desires to be known.

Listen to God Himself speaking on the subject:

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer 29:13 ESV).

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant … I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. … for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest …” (Jer 31:31, 33-34).

“For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hos 6:6).

“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true …” (1 Jn 5:20).

So we see clearly from God’s Word itself that God is knowable.

In fact, bringing men and women into personal fellowship with God is the chief objective of the Gospel. Jesus said this in prayer to the Father, “You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as you have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:2-3).

Since God has made a relationship with Him possible, we need to be daily pursuing this wonderful knowledge.

What does that look like, you might ask? Let me suggest three things:

1. Gleaning from those who know God better than we do.

a. Get to know and spend time with older, more mature Christians. Talk to them, ask them Bible questions, ask them about their experiences with the Lord.

b. Make sure your are being taught the Word through the gifted pastors and teachers that God has given to His church for the building up of the body of Christ.

c. Read good books that will help you to better understand God’s Word and His ways.

2. Spend quality time alone with the Lord.

“When the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, one of the things it means is, now, so to speak, Jesus is loose and at large, so that anyone anywhere can enjoy the same kind of relationship with him as the disciples had in the days of his flesh. The only differences are that, first, his presence with the Christian is spiritual, not bodily, and so invisible to our physical eyes; second, that Jesus’ way of speaking to us now is not by uttering fresh words, but rather by applying to our consciences those words of his that are recorded in the Gospels, together with the rest of the biblical testimony” (from Knowing God by J. I. Packer).

3. Listen intently and seek understanding.

What do I mean by that? Reading and meditating on the Word of God.

“Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God. It is a matter of talking to one’s self about God and one’s self” (from Knowing God by J. I. Packer).

This all begins with meeting the Lord.

Have you met the Lord? Jesus is the one through whom we come into this relationship with the Father. To as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become the children of God. Receive Him if you haven’t. Simply ask that He forgive your sins and take charge of your life.

Are you pursuing a deeper relationship with the Lord? Are you getting to know Him better and better? The chief end of man is to know God and to glorify Him forever.

Let me end with one final quote from J. I. Packer’s Knowing God:

“Once you become aware that the main business you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord. … The world today is full of sufferers from the wasting disease known as absurdism (‘life is a bad joke’), and from the complaint (‘nothing taste’). These disorders blight the whole of life: everything becomes at once a problem and a bore, because nothing seems worthwhile. But these are ills from which, in the nature of the case, Christians are immune, except for occasional spells of derangement when the power of temptation presses their minds out of shape- and these, by God’s mercy, do not last. What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiance; and this the Christian has in a way that no other person has. For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?”

The phone rang at 2am again. I knew who it was before answering. In recent weeks, Anita (not her real name) often called in the middle of the night.

She claimed to feel the fires of hell all over her body with no desire to live.

My wife or I would drive to her home and sit down and pray with her. We would speak to Anita and rally the church to pray for her. After a couple suicide attempts through overdoses, she was hospitalized for several months. We rallied around Anita as best we could. We would encourage her and read her Scripture, but it felt like talking to a wall. It was a discouraging time, but also a time when my wife and I felt utterly helpless. We were frustrated with Anita for not listening, and yet, grieved for her inability to listen. We felt defeated as if we had let Anita down.

Anita is not a unique case.

Although her depression was severe, 1 in 5 people in the UK will suffer depression. This highlights the importance of the role of the local church in helping sufferers of depression. But how do we help? Should we feel as helpless as my wife and I felt with Anita several years ago? There are many ways the church can approach depression.

In this three-part series, I would like to briefly look at three things we can do as the church by: Promoting Culture, Providing Training, and Practicing Priesthood.

Promoting Culture

A culture is the way in which groups of people live and think.

Everyone brings their culture into the church, and as the church, we have developed an Evangelical culture that is more based on moral excellence and stoicism than on the realities of our humanity. On Sundays, it is not uncommon for a family to be falling to pieces, yelling at one another in the car, and then walking into the church building with smiles, hugs, and handshakes. Typical church culture relegates life’s hardships and sufferings to behind closed doors. The emperor’s new clothes are “I’m ok, you’re ok.”

Any sufferer in that context can scream on the inside, but fear being viewed as inferior for having a quivering upper lip. In many ways we have an anti-suffering (and anti-depression) theology within the church.

The purpose of suffering is often not considered, and so when suffering strikes (and it will), many find difficulty weathering the storm. Suffering seems an obscure stranger, and our legalistic bent suggests that intense suffering comes upon those who are not trusting God. David Murray is right when he says in his book Christians Get Depressed Too that, “There is still a stigma attached to mental illness and to depression in particular.” Sometimes that stigma is not just that a person does not seem to be coping well, but that he/she fails to trust God.

In promoting a biblical culture, the local church must promote a culture of progressive sanctification. In other words, we are all in process.

We put on a sanctified show for others to see whilst ignoring the fact that we are not as together as we portray. Truly, we make sure the scaffolds of sanctification are erected on the inside of the building rather than the observable outside. This is why D.A. Carson wrote his book on suffering, How Long, O Lord? Carson begins by saying, “This is a book of preventative medicine. One of the major causes of devastating grief and confusion among Christians is that our expectations are false.” Suffering is a human problem, and depression is a form of suffering. People suffer from depression because of others (abuse, expectations, etc.), Adam (the curse, physiological factors, misery in work, death, etc.), and Satan (conspiring with the curse, spinning lies, etc.). These contributors work along the grain of our sinful hearts.

There is no single cause for depression.

Every one of us finds him/herself living amongst the same brokenness vulnerable to its effects. When Paul speaks of overcoming temptations, he points out that they are common to all (1 Cor. 10:13). Thus we must promote a new culture in the church—a culture that recognizes our likeness to one another. Truly, our struggles and temptations are more alike than different. That means that we are not a church that loves to help people with problems, but a church of people with problems.

In other words, we need a church culture that locates ourselves in the community of sufferers, rather than the community of the perfected.

Practicing such a culture would help invite openness about struggles, including depression, so that the sufferer receives care. In many cases, it may provide a preventative dynamic as the community can help hear and carry one another’s burdens before they break an individual’s spirit! This allows us to see ourselves included as sufferers; thus, we can enter into the world of the depressed without excluding them from our world.

Treat those on Christ’s side as friends not foes,
For he who is not against us is on our side. Mark 9:40

We Have Our Own Recipe for Shepherd’s Pie…

We have a wonderful Irish restaurant in our town (when writing to a Christian audience, it seems prudent to call the place a restaurant rather than a tavern or pub). They serve tasty traditional faire and one of my favorites is the shepherd’s pie. The dish is lined with mashed potatoes; filled with savory gravy, vegetables, and ground beef; and topped off with even more mashed potatoes. Now although it is truly delicious, I would generally refer to the above-described delicacy as “cottage pie” rather than a “shepherd’s pie” because its principle ingredient is beef. It seems axiomatic that a shepherd’s pie should have lamb as the primary ingredient. Nonetheless, today the term “shepherd’s pie” can acceptably refer to a dish prepared with either beef or lamb. In other words, beef or lamb are both considered orthodox.

If I wanted to learn to prepare a shepherd’s pie, I would want to use lamb. It just seems right to my sense of values. I am sure the cooks at my local Irish restaurant could teach me quite a bit about their savory gravy, mashed potato, and vegetable ensemble. I just do not want them to substitute beef for lamb. For me, lamb is an essential. It just seems like lamb is how we would do shepherd’s pie in “my” tribe.

Unique, Special, and Part of the Whole

Every tribe has their own sense of identity and values they treasure and that make them special and arguably unique. In Christ’s Church, there are numerous “tribes,” whether they are a denomination, network, association, non-denominational or independent. Assuming they meet the essentials of orthodoxy, then they are part of His Church and presumably interdependent of one another. This appears to be a self-evident Kingdom principle as articulated by Jesus in His commencement address to the disciples in the Upper Room (John 17).

The twelve tribes of Israel were interdependent. The two reasons they came together were worship and warfare. They had a common God whom they were to worship together, and they were to oppose common enemies of their God, enemies who threatened the welfare of the Kingdom as a whole. They were, ideally, not to be engaged in a civil war unless one of the tribes truly posed a threat to the Kingdom. They were all part of a whole Theocracy or Kingdom. Yet they were also independent with a unique sense of identity. Each tribe presumably thought they were special.

The tribe of Benjamin was the smallest tribe, yet they could boast of their famed left-handed slingers, bravery, and fierceness in battle and how they had withstood attacks of the other tribes. Saul, Israel’s first king, as well as Esther and Mordecai, were part of this tribe. The people of Benjamin later opposed idolatry as part of the kingdom of Judah. The great Apostle Paul pointed to his heritage as part of the tribe of Benjamin when asserting a lofty spiritual pedigree. Paul also realized God’s Kingdom would include other tribes—the Gentiles—whom he would not only teach, but receive from. The tribe of Benjamin was part of a greater whole.

Focusing on Christ’s Kingdom

Because of our tendency to focus on our tribe rather than Christ’s Kingdom, we sometimes view other tribes with suspicion, as competitors, or even as foes. Kingdom leaders treat those on Christ’s side as friends not foes. This principle was revealed to the disciples as recorded in Mark 9:38-42. The Apostle John reported to Jesus how the disciples had observed someone from outside their group casting out demons in Christ’s authority. As if to assure Jesus, John told Him how the disciples had stopped this outsider from engaging in unauthorized Kingdom work.

Perhaps Jesus’ disciples were upset another follower of Christ, from outside their group, was successful in casting out demons when they had just failed (Mark 9:18). To their surprise, Jesus was not pleased with the report. Instead He told them, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is on our side.”

Kingdom leaders have a sense of unity with other tribes that are a legitimate part of Christ’s Kingdom without being cliquish, elitist, or competitive. Christ’s Kingdom likely includes far more “tribes” than most church leaders are comfortable embracing. Yet they are friends not foes.

Consider the parable of the shepherd’s pie. You can almost imagine those of the lamb shepherd’s pie tribe wailing in dismay that another tribe has prepared a pie with beef and still called it a shepherd’s pie! Those of the lamb shepherd’s pie tribe would likely declare their heritage of faithfulness to the original recipe and traditions with a certain sense of superiority over the upstart beef and, worse yet, ground beef clan. There would be a subtle competition between the proponents of the various recipes, all claiming to preserve the true recipe or to reach a whole new contingent of consumers of shepherd’s pie.

It is not too difficult to imagine the lamb pie clan discouraging their disciples from attending cooking conferences hosted by the beef clan or vice versa. There may be some reluctance to invite a noted chef from the other clan to speak at their conference on meat pies, because even though he was asked to speak about how to prepare vegetables, he might propagate his meat preference and contaminate our young chefs who know not the dangers of succumbing to this charismatic chef’s meat agenda. You get the point …

In light of the call to Kingdom unity and the reasonable desire to maintain the unique characteristics of the relevant tribes in the Kingdom, how do we develop a Kingdom-leader attitude towards other tribes?

In an effort to live this principle, I am suggesting the following four-fold process: culturalization, collaboration, communication and cooperation.

The Four-fold Process: Culturalization

One of the obstacles to Kingdom unity is the fear that members of your tribe, especially the chronologically younger or spiritually less mature, shall be negatively influenced by the values of other tribes that are in conflict with your own. One way to avoid the perceived contamination is ensuring your tribe’s younger members know the values of your tribe (theology and philosophy of ministry). When your tribe’s members understand their values and embrace them as their own, they have developed in their culture. Once developed, they are less likely to be negatively influenced by exposure to other tribes.

The Four-fold Process: Collaboration

As noted, the twelve tribes of Israel came together for worship and warfare. This may provide a model for collaboration. One aspect of warfare can be seen in prayer. In our community, fifteen to twenty evangelical church leaders gather regularly for prayer. As we pray together for the spiritual health and welfare of our community and the advancement of God’s Kingdom, we are in effect engaged in warfare together. Similarly, a National Day of Prayer event hosted by multiple evangelical churches displays the united Church engaged in our common spiritual battle. Another example of warfare collaboration relates to community service projects. Joint projects involving multiple evangelical churches can leverage significant Kingdom resources to minister to needs, present the gospel, and advance the Kingdom.

The worship element is displayed when evangelical churches come together for times of worship and praise. An assembly of local churches hosted a common Sunday morning service at an outdoor venue to display the united Church. These Kingdom leaders cancelled their typical weekend services to gather together as the Body of Christ. We have also had gatherings where each church provides a team to help lead praise and worship among the assembled from multiple churches.

As an aside, I am not suggesting collaboration by various tribes for the purpose of church planting. My personal belief is that combining tribes in that way tends to dilute the systematic theological views and philosophy of ministry values, diminishing their effectiveness in reaching the lost, making disciples, and developing leaders.

The Four-fold Process: Communication

What can you learn from Kingdom leaders from other tribes? What lessons can you impart to leaders from other tribes to help them advance God’s Kingdom? Church leaders, especially those with a very strong affinity for their tribe, tend to be reluctant to receive from or share with leaders from other tribes.

I occasionally meet with pastors from other tribes because I respect them as godly men and Kingdom leaders. I appreciate that I can learn from them as well as learning from other leaders from my own tribe. Perhaps attending a conference hosted by another tribe or hearing a speaker from another tribe will stimulate development.

Consider an opportunity to invite someone who is part of another tribe to partake in a gathering of your tribe. I have discovered that simply attending a service at a church outside of my tribe can expose me to new ideas and perspectives, helping me to grow and be more effective as a Kingdom leader. Again, this presumes maintaining the essential values of my tribe.

The Four-fold Process: Cooperation

Resources are limited, and it is not unreasonable to generally prioritize investing in Kingdom efforts aligned with your tribe. Presumably, you value your tribe and its unique place in the Kingdom. However, do you view other tribes with suspicion? Do you perceive them as competitors? In essence, do you see them as friends or foes? How do you feel when you learn a different tribe is planting a church in your community?

I must confess, my first reaction when receiving requests for resources from other tribes has often been to disregard it. (As long as I am confessing, I will admit I am sometimes offended they are asking for my support instead of limiting the request to their own tribe.) I am convicted that in order to move towards a Kingdom attitude, I need to prayerfully consider how I can cooperate in their Kingdom initiative. Perhaps some measure of support is called for such as prayer, finances, providing excess equipment, or even counsel. This type of support encourages the Kingdom value of unity.

In the Protestant West, we’ve come to see church planting as a mainstream activity for Christians. But I wonder. As we enter an area with no church, the idea of a new one sounds a little invasive to some residents. Yet does a lack of invitation mean there isn’t a need? This reminds me of skateboarders, who rarely ask before trying out a perfect terrain. Can we compare church planting to skateboarding? I want to say we can. My adolescence was spent in the suburbs of Seattle, with miles of urban sprawl dotted with a few haunts occupied by skaters. These were the days I discovered I couldn’t find my balance on a board, but it wasn’t until my thirties that I found I was called to plant a church. I still watch in awe those who fearlessly conquer a half-pipe or effortlessly do a kickback before sliding down a handrail on a staircase only to be chased away by an overzealous groundskeeper. And did I mention the music? Certain skate bands are the only appropriate listening material when caught in Paris gridlock traffic. But you might be asking how does it relate to church planting?

Skateboarding in Paris is an art, as is church planting. I’ve always been amazed at how they’ve occupied forbidden and unexpected terrain here. Sure, there’re the appropriate skate parks perfectly manicured, as one would expect in any big city, but aside from a few parents my age teaching their little ones the art of the board, I don’t see many skaters. And I don’t hear their music. Yet, go to a prohibited corner of the Bastille Opera House or the steps of the Palais de Tokyo Modern Art Museum. You’ll see them tearing up the pavement, utterly unconscious to the world around them. They “know a part of the city no one else does,” a rhythm to life out of sync with all that makes Paris famous; their presence is an urban arrhythmia. The same is true of the church planter in most of Europe.

The Rhythm of Skateboarding

The idea of skateboarding as arrhythmia is a notion I borrowed from reading Brian Glenney and Paul O’Connor’s research on the subject published in late 2022.¹ Using Henri Lefebvre’s, Rythmanalysis, they revealed the more subversive qualities of the sport that had existed since its rise to popularity. From a drought in Southern California in the 1970’s when skaters began using empty pools, the same spirit exists in recent times when the sport flourished during the pandemic. They refer to skateboarding as arrhythmia because of its discord with urban life, its counter-culture existence with danger, and its lack of acceptance in the public space. According to Lefebvre, “Everywhere where there is interaction between a place, a time and an expenditure of energy, there is rhythm. Therefore: (a) repetition (of movements, gestures, action, situations, differences); (b) interferences of linear processes and cyclical processes; (c) birth, growth, peak, then decline and end.”² Arrthymia may go as far as sickness and catastrophe, but generally, the meaning given by Glenney and O’Connor about skateboarding is more discordant and subversive. This may surprise some people, but I believe what these philosophers describe, in principle, should apply to church planting and, in the end, be a strong encouragement for planters.

Messengers of Arrhythmia

The church planter generally isn’t looking for a skate-park-type terrain for their work. As they seek the Lord, they look into a location and spend time there. Some research needs to be done, the on-the-field testing that has all the comfort of the rough smack of pavement on your cheek. But enough prayer and openness lead them to a place with just the right feel. The boards come out, the music of a new work fills the silence, and it all begins. The part of a church plant we all dream of, the people that come to hear the Word of God and the lives changed by the Spirit, is the true arrhythmia of the experience (1 Peter 2:9-10).

As church planters, we aren’t generally what the Municipality has been looking for to better their city. That’s why friction and resistance are closer to the rhythm of the post-Christian culture we live in than we hoped for (2 Corinthians 6:4-10). They know their population and plan for the residents’ betterment of their vision, but I haven’t heard of many mayors asking for churches to be planted. Lefebvre describes arrhythmia in the city as like a child crying in the middle of the night, an insomniac, or an accident in a prominent intersection.³ It’s disruptive, although it’s part of the whole living organism of human activity. It has its place, but it’s not necessarily wanted. Often we church planters also feel the pressure of mall cops chasing us away from distracting the “paying customers.” Yet, this is part of our lot as we say, like the Apostle Paul said in Romans 15:20, “thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation.” By definition, until the Gospel is regularly preached, and even afterward, we are the messengers of arrhythmia.

But even if the City Council hasn’t invited us, we might want to ask if God has commissioned us. Those dangerous words have been grossly misused to defend a particular obstination to understandable concerns about one’s irreverent or un-gospel-like behavior. This is a great tragedy for the city and gospel unity. I’m not talking about itinerant ministers who feel like they have a call and roam the city under no authority. Jesus has built His Church and uses the leaders He has placed as gifts to the whole for furthering His mission (Ephesians 4:11-15). Given the subversive metaphor of skateboard culture, I understand how my writing could be confused, but that’s where I want to press in. Church planting, done rightly, is a process with the deep involvement of a church, prayer, authority, community, formation, and relationship.

The Everlasting Rhythm of Life

Just like any metaphor breaks down, this is the weakness of mine, but I still maintain the reality of arrhythmia. There’s also a prophetic reason for this. An Old Testament prophet spoke for God and denounced the hurt produced by the rhythms of a society that abandoned their God. They called people to return to the Living God of the covenant, just as John the Baptist was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” announcing the coming Messiah. Church planters and evangelists are also called to proclaim the Kingdom in spiritually desolate places overflowing with people. This call is prophetic because we call people into the light from which our society fled generations ago; we proclaim Jesus. Nothing is more arrhythmic than calling people to know the Lord and reminding them that He is coming soon. And yet, this is the very activity that will produce a harvest going into eternity. An arrhythmia for this world that is passing and will one day be swallowed by the everlasting rhythm of Life. Perhaps a reminder the next time we feel the smack of or pass by some forgotten place occupied by skaters, an excellent visual encouragement for our work.

References

¹ Brian Glenney and Paul O’Connor, “Skateboarding as Discordant: A Rhythmanalysis of Disaster Leisure,” Sports, Ethics and Philosophy, (Taylor & Francis Online, 2022): https://doi.org/10.1080/17511321.2022.213985

² Glenney and O’Connor, “Skateboarding as Discordant: A Rhythmanalysis of Disaster Leisure,” 2022.

³ Henri Lefebvre, Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life, trans. by Stuart Elden and Gerald Moore (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013), 16.

In the 2001 cult classic Zoolander, Will Farrell plays Mugatu, the movie’s antagonist. This evil villain of the fashion world, who intends to use male models as super soldiers by means of hypnotism, repeats his iconic line in multiple scenes throughout the film. In each instance, Mugatu, with his tightly curled hair piled absurdly high onto each side of his head, leans over to one of his latex-clad henchmen and shouts in a slightly Germanic accent, “that Hansel is SO hot right now.”

Well it is the year 2023, and to borrow the words of Mugatu: Deconstruction is SO hot right now.

Now this article will not be another criticism of the ever growing popularity of deconstruction. The path of deconstruction can produce differing potential outcomes. I admit that one direction of deconstruction can lead to the complete dissection of the Christian faith, and unravelment of all belief and trust in Jesus. The theological word for this is apostasy.

The camp of deconstruction holds many apostates who both celebrate and encourage the total abandonment of conviction in Christ. This is not something to take lightly; it is a tragedy. We grieve for those who once found life in the Light and experienced the warmth of Christ’s presence, only to reject Him and the work of the cross, which was nothing short of the greatest revolution this earth and the heavens have ever seen.

However, we cannot allow ourselves to demonize deconstruction as a whole.

Another path of deconstruction can lead to the refinement of one’s faith.

Throughout history, church culture has taken on many statutes and edicts that were based not on biblical principles, but on the opinions of man. The requirement for women to wear dresses or skirts to church; the belief that percussion instruments, drums for example, are the tool of Satan; … or the egregiously false ideology that Black skin originated from the mark of Cain, thus justifying chattel slavery, the transatlantic slave trade, and all the horrors and crimes against humanity that followed.

These are just a few of the distorted dogmas that were once popularized within mainstream church over various generations; these we now understand to be in complete contradiction to the message of the gospel. It was by deconstructing the status quo of church culture at the time, and comparing these misconceptions against Scripture that Christians of the past were able to discern between the will of God and the presumptions and prejudices of man.

I propose that the same is taking place in 2023. To be clear, I am not making the case that engaging in the Christianity debate on Twitter and TikTok is equivalent to the life’s work of Christian abolitionists such as Ottobah Cugoano or Frederick Douglass. But we ought to be capable of identifying the norms and practices that have slipped their way into our churches that do not reflect the heart of God.

We must understand the difference between deconstructing the word of God, and deconstructing the culture of church.

Those who are deconstructing their faith are not our enemies, and often, their journey is a reaction to the misrepresentation of Jesus that they have experienced within the church. Spiritual abuse, nepotism, greed, unfettered pride, and sexual misconduct run rampant within church leadership today, and it has not gone unnoticed.

When earnest believers witness their church’s haste to cover up a pastor’s sin, when young girls have it ingrained into their heads that the highest value that they have to offer God (and their future spouse) is directly attached to their virginity, when brothers and sisters in the church turn on one another because their love for a political party supersedes their love for the Body, we are left with a mass of confused and hurting individuals.

Right now there is an abundance of articles, podcasts, documentaries, and even social media pages that are dedicated to exposing hypocritical, damaging, and even predatory behaviors within churches that have long been swept under the rug.

What the deconstruction movement has shown us is that there is a multitude of former believers carrying the pain of church hurt, and many have turned their backs on Christ as a consequence of the failures of man.

We all live in this fallen world that has been devastated by sin, which is evidenced by the immeasurable injustices suffered by millions. The question of how a good God allows such affliction and desolation in the world is one that has been asked by many throughout history, and a quick Google search, or trip to Kindle Books will produce content and writing that has been dedicated to answer this very inquiry.

However, there is a question in the hearts of those burdened with profound wounds that were inflicted not by cancer or war, human trafficking or poverty, but by pastors, leaders, and very body of believers that were intended to carry one another’s burdens. The question being: Where is God when injustice happens in the church?

I invite you to look with me at Genesis 16 and 21. If you are familiar with Abraham and Sarah, then you probably know of the promise that God made to Abraham: that through him, God would bring forth a nation of His chosen people. The One whom angels describe as the LORD God of Hosts and King of Glory looked upon the faithfulness of Abraham and chose to make a covenant to provide descendants to a childless, despairing man. What follows in the wake of this incredible, hope-filled promise of a miracle becomes a travesty and a miscarriage of justice.

When sinful and fallible humans attempt the work of God through their own measures, relying on the strength of their own hands, or an agenda of their own making, what often follows is pain.

An Injustice in Genesis

In verse one of Genesis sixteen, Sarah hears of the promise that God made to Abraham and immediately takes matters into her own hands. Rather than trusting in the Lord to fulfill His word, she schemes to achieve the results that she desires within a time frame that suits her. Sarah offers for Abraham to sleep with her maidservant, Hagar, in order to conceive a child by proxy. Such was common practice during this time; later in Scripture, Rachel will use this very same method with Jacob and her maidservant, saying to him, “… here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her” (Genesis 30:1).

Yet, we know that just because something is socially common or accepted does not make it right in the eyes of God. For instance, slavery in the United States lasted for over two centuries. It was certainly widely practiced, and it was an affront to the heart of God. Likewise, the impact that Sarah’s actions had on the trajectory of Hagar’s life was a gross perversion of the life-giving, hope-inspiring promise God had made.

Hagar was originally from Egypt, and biblical scholars believe that she was one of the many slaves Pharaoh gave to Abraham (then Abram) back in Genesis 12:16. We cannot be sure of her age, only that she was in childbearing years, which would have been considered anywhere from twelve to twenty or so. She also spent ten years in the desert with Sarah and Abraham, from the point of leaving Egypt to the time of Sarah’s disastrous decision, so it is likely that she would have been on the older side of that spectrum. Either way, she was young and she was a slave.

The very connotation of being a slave removes the possibility of choice. She was given, sexually, to Abraham without her consent. Hagar, a young girl subjected to the humiliating and dehumanizing process of being bought and sold as property, is now further disregarded in her humanity as she is forced to lay with an eighty-six year old man.

As unpleasant as it is to dwell on this portion of Scripture and all that it implies, let us remember that this was a real person, with thoughts, feelings, and hopes of her own. Notice that Abraham never took Hagar as a proper wife to be loved, protected, and regarded with honor. Rather she is treated as a concubine. Hagar’s body and her womb are used by Abraham and Sarah for their own purposes yet she never even receives her freedom in exchange: she remains Sarah’s servant. Only God Himself knows the tears Hagar may have cried that night and the nights that followed.

In verse four of Genesis sixteen, Hagar becomes pregnant, and here she begins to show contempt towards Sarah. Which comes as no shock. Perhaps Hagar felt herself superior to Sarah since she could conceive a child and Sarah could not, as many have taught it so. Alternatively, Hagar may have believed that carrying Abraham’s child gave her some sort of protection to finally express a disdain that existed due to the mistreatment she had suffered. Whatever the case may be, Sarah’s response to Hagar’s defiance is merciless.

When Sarah approaches Abraham blaming him for the catastrophe they had both created, Abraham shirks the responsibility to right his wrongs, instead he tells Sarah that Hagar is her maid, and to do with her as she pleases. The Bible tells us that Sarah then deals harshly with Hagar. There is no further clarification on Sarah’s methods, but the Hebrew word used here for harshly is ānâ. Various applications for this words would be: to inflict, use force, to humiliate, or to be weakened.

Commentators have suggested a few different possibilities for Sarah’s course of action. Perhaps Hagar was overworked and worn down past the point of exhaustion. Food deprivation is also probable, and of course, there is potential that Sarah beat Hagar. We will never know the exact details of what transpired between these two women, but it’s important to understand that the author’s decision to include the word ‘harshly’ to describe Sarah’s treatment strongly suggests the implication of abuse.
Sarah was not simply unpleasant or over authoritative with Hagar.

She tormented Hagar, a young pregnant girl to such lengths, that Hagar ran into the wilderness, desperate to escape Abraham and his wife. Consider with me for a moment, what suffering Hagar experienced at the hands of Sarah, that she would rather risk death in the Arabian desert, than stay one more day under Sarah’s ownership.

The ancient world described in Genesis was ruthless. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah displays the lawlessness and brutality humankind had already begun to descend into. The fact that Abraham had been so crippled in his fear of Pharaoh, that he was willing to preemptively give up his wife in order to avoid death, indicates just how much faith Abraham himself had in the civility of ancient society. The concepts of human rights and equality did not exist; for those who lived in this culture, the only guarantee for one’s safety was power. Of course we know that Abraham had the power of God on his side but in this land where power is king, and in this ancient world full of nations, riches, and pharaohs, the same world where Abraham makes covenants with the Creator and Sarah would entertain angels as house guests, who would ever care for least of these: a lowly pregnant slave, who’s powerlessness is evidenced by how little control she had in the making of her own condition?

It is here, in Genesis 16:7, that the Angel of the Lord appears to Hagar, arriving in the midst of her affliction and her pain. However, this Angel is no ordinary angel, rather it is the pre-incarnate Christ. This. is. Jesus. before He ever stepped down into our world in the form of flesh, walking among us, sharing in the joys and the sorrows of humanity. Centuries before He laid down His life on the cross in order to conquer the hold of sin and redeem mankind back unto Himself, Jesus met a broken and traumatized girl crying in the desert.

The Angel of the Lord asks Hagar where she is from and where she is going. When she tells Him that she is running from her mistress, His response is to instruct her to return and submit herself to Sarah. If one were to end their reading here, it might seem unfair or callous even, for Christ to guide Hagar back to the source of her misery, but God sees the bigger picture that she cannot. God promises Hagar that through the child she carries, He will bring such vast descendants that they would be beyond count.

He then names Hagar’s unborn son Ishmael. This is not just a name but another promise, for the name Ishmael means “God Will See.” Jesus calls Hagar to turn back and rejoin Abraham and Sarah, not because He is blind or indifferent to her abuse, but because He has a plan for her and her son that does not involve her dying in the wilderness. With the very name of her son, He assures her that He sees; He knows the trauma that she has endured, and God Himself is going to watch over her.

In turn, Hagar “calls upon the name of the Lord” in verse 13. This phrase is first used back in Genesis 4:26, describing the descendants of Adam: “And to Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of Jehovah.” This is the Old Testament way of describing those who put their faith in Yahweh. You see, Hagar’s encounter with Jesus leaves her radically transformed. The Egyptian girl who likely once bowed down to the vain, lifeless idols of Ra, Isis, and Horus, now trusts in the True and Living God. Her faith is her own: it is not a trickle down from her masters or a lip service.

When this young girl, whose life has been filled with nothing but injustice, meets the God of Justice, her distress is turned to praise as she proclaims, “… You are the God Who Sees” or in Hebrew, El Roi ( el-roh-ee).

Hagar returns to Abraham and Sarah’s camp, though she goes knowing that God sees and her confidence is built on the goodness of her God, rather than any fallible human being.

Now, this would be an idyllic place to wrap things up into a tidy little feel good story, but history does not end here.

Into The Desert, Again

After Hagar’s return and Ishmael’s birth, Sarah would become pregnant and deliver a son, Isaac. Just as God had promised (Genesis 21:2). All the scheming and coercing had been completely unnecessary. God’s plan for Abraham and Sarah would come to pass because God is true to His word, and He is faithful to complete His good work. Had Sarah and Abraham waited on God, they would have spared themselves, and Hagar, the distress, drama, and tension that hung over their dysfunctional family structure as a consequence.

In Genesis 21:8-10, a feast is held in Isaac’s honor, and there Sarah witnesses Ishmael mocking Isaac. So Sarah said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac!” Whenever we take matters into our own hands and strive to accomplish God’s work in our own time, we usually end up making a mess of things. Sarah’s impatience had led to decision making that would leave her home rife with conflict. The result of playing with people’s lives is never pretty.

Abraham loved Ishmael and he was distressed by Sarah’s request. Still, God spoke to Abraham, reassuring him and instructing him to take Sarah’s words to heart. So Abraham rose early in the morning, put bread and a skin of water on Hagar’s back, and sent her and her son away.

Did this mean that God wanted to punish Hagar and Ishmael? Or that God’s promise to Hagar is now void because of this incident? No. God, in His wisdom, would allow these two women and their families to go their separate ways. He would fulfill His covenant to Abraham and form the nation of Israel through Isaac, as He had always predestined.

Sometimes when God is refining our lives and delivering us from the toxic cycles we have found ourselves in, He asks us to make clean breaks. For some, it is leaving a controlling church. For others, it is abandoning a lifestyle or habit that has hindered us from being able to walk in the path that God intends for us. Whatever it may be, it can look differently for each of us.

Abraham and Sarah’s choices had caused chaos for all parties involved; the history between these three had layers of complicated emotions and events as they continually dealt with the fallout of their own failures. In addition to this separation being a measure for their own good, God also allows it because He is demonstrating that His work stands alone. We cannot attain the work of the Spirit through our own means, which is exactly what Abraham and Sarah had attempted. Therefore God guides Hagar’s departure in order to make clear the distinction between His sovereign designs and man’s feeble plans.

But where does this leave Hagar? What was Hagar’s reward for her obedience to God, ergo her submission to Sarah? She and Ishmael are thrown out of the camp and cast into the wilderness.

Abraham was a wealthy man. He owned gold, silver, livestock, and servants. Why did he send his son and the mother of his child into the desert with nothing but a loaf of bread and a single wineskin filled with water? In my research, I found that many pastors and biblical commentators theorize that Abraham sent Hagar out with such meager provisions as an act of faith. They conclude that Abraham knew Hagar would have to rely on the Lord for provision, and as long as God was with her, everything would turn out alright.

Respectfully, I disagree.

God did indeed tell Abraham to heed Sarah in sending Hagar away, but nowhere does He instruct Abraham to do so in such a manner. This was not an act of faith; this was neglect.

The habit of justifying the unjustifiable is one that pervades the church. Our willingness to participate in church environments where spiritual abuse is taking place, as long as the means justify the end, is an epidemic that costs the spiritual lives of believers. Even this hesitation to address Sarah’s cruelty and Abraham’s negligence towards Hagar speaks of church culture’s tendency to sugarcoat the misdeeds of Godly men and women. This can be particularly true when it comes to the highest levels of leadership. Where did this impression come from that there is some sort of enlightened state of leadership where one is no longer capable of sin or even being wrong?

Peter was an apostle that literally walked with Christ; he was personally discipled by, and did life with, God Incarnate for three years. He was instructed to build the church and was given authority by the Chief Cornerstone, yet none of these things stopped him from sinfully practicing racial segregation within the Body. It was Paul, the former hunter and persecutor of Christians, that publicly confronted Peter and charged him to repent. If the Apostle Peter is capable of sinning against the very sheep Christ asked him to love; if King David, a man after God’s own heart, is capable of committing adultery and murder; if Abraham, the father of Israel, is capable of the exploitation and abuse of a young girl, what makes any of us believe that we are the exception to sinful human nature?

Since we are not God and are therefore imperfect, we are all, each and every one of us, whether believer, unbeliever, or deconstructor, bound to hurt and fail others. For those of us in ministry, where so much of our work is interpersonal, it is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. We must remember that God and His Word are inerrant; we as His people, are not.

So the question is, how will we respond when we do cause hurt or harm to those we have been instructed to love? Will we walk in the humility and repentance that every disciple of Christ is called to, or will we dismiss the pain of others?

Oftentimes within church settings, the wounded who express their pain are made to feel as if they are the problem. If we ever hope to reconcile those who have walked away back into the house of God, then we have to get better at taking their hurt seriously. We must be willing to have hard conversations and self reflect on the ways where the church has failed. When we sugarcoat, deny, and gaslight the pain-filled experiences of our former brothers and sisters, we only further the gap between us.

Hagar vs. Sarah

Paul references Sarah and Hagar in Galatians 4, writing that one of Abraham’s sons (Ishmael) was born from a slave and the other (Isaac) was born of a free woman, this being a picture of the work of the flesh vs. the work of the Spirit.

Sometimes we can look at phrases like “the work of the flesh” and automatically associate this with carnality or sinful lifestyle. However, in this section, Paul isn’t highlighting the difference between the church and the world.

Rather, the context of this passage is that Paul is addressing circumcision within the church, specifically Jewish Christians who placed the requirement of circumcision on gentile Christians. Their requirement for circumcision reflects our human proclivity to rely on a system rather than trusting in Christ. Circumcision may no longer be the hot topic it was in Paul’s day, but our inclination to fixate on our own tactics and capabilities to do the work of God remains an issue. When our dependency on the Holy Spirit is replaced with operating out of our own wisdom, our years of experience, our successes, our methodologies, or the instructions of our spiritual heroes, we enter into the territory of the works of the flesh. And this is when people become collateral damage in the church.

Our tendency to categorize in black and white can make us see Sarah vs. Hagar as Good vs. Bad.

Yet, the contrast of Hagar and Sarah is not an indictment of Hagar’s character. Rather it is a visceral picture of what happens when God’s people rely on our own means and our own righteousness in order to accomplish or carry out His work. In Galatians 5, Paul even goes so far as to refer to those who put their hope in circumcision and works as alienating themselves from Christ, and fallen from grace.

Remember it is by grace that we have been saved. It is the gracious love of God that draws the hardened heart to repentance. It is with grace that we have been instructed to speak to one another and conduct ourselves (Colossians 4:6).

Grace is not something that we can create or mimic; like love, it it the fruit of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. When we are no longer reliant on the Holy Spirit, we become void of authentic, God-given grace.

If our church environments lack grace, it no longer matters how sound our theology may be. Growing numbers, trendy aesthetics, dynamic stages, and worship production that could rival Bethel itself, cannot duplicate the work of the Spirit. Naturally these are not negative things in and of themselves, but if our focus becomes the methods rather than the Saviour, we have lost our way. When our eyes are set on results, rather than Jesus, we will soon find ourselves misrepresenting Him.

A Light That Shines Into the Darkness

From a deconstructing perspective, it might be upsetting to some that Abraham and Sarah still received the promises and blessings from God despite their behaviour towards Hagar.

Consider this, we know that we are all prone to make mistakes. Aside from Jesus, there is not a human alive, past or present, who has been able to live a flawless life. When we meet our last day on this earth, looking back, there will have been circumstances where we were wronged, and there will be circumstances where we did wrong.

The inescapable fact is that, in this life, there are times when we are Hagar, and there are also times when we will be Sarah.

The beauty is that God had mercy for both. In fact, God fulfilling His promise to Sarah and blessing her despite her sins is actually good news for us. It shows us that there is nothing that we can do, no sin too awful or failure too exceeding, that can hinder the lovingkindness of God. That is actually one the key components of the Gospel.

As for Hagar …

When last we saw her, she and Ishmael had been sent away with minimal provision, and Genesis 21:15 tells us that while she and her son were wandering the desert, their water ran out.

There are very few things in the human experience more devastating than a mother bearing the death of her child. Of all the pain that Hagar has endured in her life, this is, by far, the worst. Hagar is facing a living nightmare.

Every parent has cherished memories of their children. The small moments spent with our newborns are particularly precious. When night bled into the wee hours of the next morning and time was indistinguishable, when all the world was quiet, but for the tiny breaths joined by the rise and fall of the little chest in our arms, exhaustion could not damper the sense of awe and consuming love we felt. We cannot tell you what the dates were or what may have unfolded throughout the rest of our day, but we can vividly recall the hours spent staring into those big eyes looking back up at us; the wispy eyelashes, the squishy cheeks, the sweetness of their little baby scent, and the grasp of their tiny fingers wrapped around our own.

I wonder if these treasured memories served as pangs, tearing Hagar’s heart apart as she watched her son languish from hunger and dehydration. When both their bodies slowed from fatigue, and her once healthy boy grew feeble, did she replay the memories of his infancy and childhood in her mind while grieving that her son’s life would be cut so short?

Yet again, Hagar is powerless. She was powerless in her subjugation. Powerless in the nature of Ishmael’s conception. Powerless in the face of Sarah’s abuse. Powerless in the loss of her home and safety. Now, she is powerless in the imminent death of her child.

Hagar lays Ishmael down beside a bush and walks away. Do not mistake this as lack of feeling. Here is a human being who has been shattered to their core. Hagar withstood a lifetime of suffering upon suffering, but at this moment, something inside her broke. She genuinely cannot cope. If there was ever a description of an emotional and mental breakdown in Scripture, this is it.

In her anguish, Hagar sat at a distance, with her dying child in sight, and said, “I cannot bear to watch the boy die”… and wept.

When we refer back to Genesis 16, we remember that God had met Hagar in a similar desert, in a similar situation, and there He had made her a promise. For us it’s only been five chapters, but for Hagar it had been a matter of years. Yet, as we saw with Sarah and her old age, when God makes a promise there is no circumstance too impossible, no disaster too great, and no length of time that can make God forget His promises.

Genesis 21:17 says “…God heard the boy crying, and the Angel of God [Jesus] called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘what’s wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is. Get up, help the boy up, and grasp his hand, for I will make him a great nation.’”

God then opens Hagar’s eyes and reveals a nearby well. Hagar fills her wineskin with water and brings it to Ishmael to drink. Either the well was a supernatural provision in that moment of need. Or, God had sustained Hagar and Ishmael, allowing them to continue, leading them as they unknowingly wandered to the exact location of an underground water source in the middle of the desert. Regardless of the how, God delivers Hagar once more and keeps His promise.

Note that the Angel of the Lord personally intervenes to rescue Hagar’s life not once but twice. Hagar was a slave, a woman, and the citizen of a pagan nation, all attributes that would have diminished her worth in the eyes of those around her. Yet, her name appears among the likes of Abraham, Moses, Gideon, David, and Elijah as one who encountered the Son of God, before He was ever called Jesus.

What does this say about God’s heart for the abused and the unseen?

Hagar would settle in the desert of Paran, her son would grow in the wilderness, becoming an archer and eventually, the father of the Arab nation. Though something about Hagar’s fate might not feel as satisfactory. Abraham and Sarah received blessings, wealth, descendants, and everything they had hoped for. Meanwhile, Hagar would spend her days in the sandy wastelands, seemingly forgotten. Once again, Hagar’s outcome does not seem very fair.

But what does Hagar obtain out there in her solitude?

What does she receive that had previously been denied to her, for possibly, her whole life? Her freedom.

To the enslaved and the oppressed, what is more precious than freedom?

God took the desert of Hagar’s exile, and turned it into a sanctuary.

Hagar may have been failed by a man and woman who walked with Yahweh, yet Jesus was sovereign.

Isaiah 61 is perhaps one of the most impactful portions of Scripture in my life. It is a text that I have hidden in my heart for many years. Take a moment to weigh these prophetic words of Isaiah as He describes the mission of Jesus:

The Spirit of the Lord God is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and freedom to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of our God’s vengeance;
to comfort all who mourn,
to provide for those who mourn in Zion;
to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
festive oil instead of mourning,
and splendid clothes instead of despair.
And they will be called righteous trees,
planted by the Lord
to glorify him.

In Indigenous culture, we have a name for Jesus. You can find it in the First Nations Translation of the New Testament (FNV). We call Him Creator Sets Free. Jesus met Hagar in her darkest hours and exchanged her suffering for salvation. He did not stop there; after salvation, came freedom. He is the Creator who sets free. It is His nature. He is the God who is able to take our pain, our trauma, our wounds, all that was intended to destroy us, and somehow bring us to the other side, providing life, healing, comfort, and freedom, if we put our trust in Him.

To the church: Let us be a people who remember the grace that met us in our own wilderness. Let us seek to live our lives by that same grace as we interact with those both inside the church and out—a feat only possible when our eyes are set on Jesus, and our hearts are submitted to the Holy Spirit.

To those deconstructing: Like Hagar, you may have been wounded in the places and by the very people meant to represent the heart of God. Instead you experienced the sting of sinful humans sinning. Your pain is valid, and God sees. His desire is to meet you in the confusion, the frustration, the bitterness, the untangling, and the deconstructing.

Hagar put her trust in God. Though she may not have felt warm fuzzy feelings towards those who hurt her, it did not stop her from recognizing the character of God. The tragedy is that when man’s moral failures cause us to mischaracterize God, we can end up running from the arms of the very One whose love for us is infallible.

If those in the church who have lost sight of Jesus cause harm to others around them, and those who have been harmed lose sight of Jesus in the midst of their pain, we end up with a great deal of people from both sides, living a life devoid of the joy, restoration, and hope, that only Jesus can bring.

If there is one thing that we should be able to agree on in 2023, it is that this world is a dark place. There is suffering in every corner. Atrocities are committed inside the church and every other community outside of it. These are all reflections of sinful human nature.

John 1 says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and that in Him was life, and that life was the light of men. And the light shines into the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus is at work in the world, just as He is at work in our lives. Unlike us, Jesus is the embodiment of all things good, Holy, and righteous.

We can and should examine church culture and norms. We can and should hold pastors and leaders accountable. We can and should leave church environments where leadership abuse their position and corrupt the Body.

Yet, if I can, I urge you, in all these things, hold fast to Jesus.

Jesus does not manipulate, He redeems. Jesus does not control, He sets free. He does not abuse, He restores. He does not condemn, He forgives. He alone is worthy; not nations or leaders, ideologies or influencers. In this world of overwhelming injustices, Jesus is the One who brings light into the darkness. He is El Roi, the God who sees.

And just as He saw Hagar in her hour of need, He sees you.

Part 3 of 3

* This article is adapted from a series of papers written for Western Seminary.

To recap the previous articles in this series, while acknowledging that the primary focus of the incarnation is upon the Son of God putting on flesh, being born in Bethlehem, and being given the name foretold by the angel Gabriel as Yeshua, the rescuer of Israel, this three-part Advent series seeks to also acknowledge that this act of Jesus’ incarnation is a harmonious activity with implementations involving all three Persons of the Godhead.

My intention is to present the Advent by focusing on the Holy Spirit’s activity in the nativity story. It is important to recognize that the Holy Spirit is present in the incarnation, ministry, and resurrection of the Son. In each implement of the Father’s plan of redemption, it is the Spirit that empowers and reveals what the Son is accomplishing. It is through the eternal Spirit that Christ offered Himself without blemish to God (Heb. 9:14 CSB). Therefore, it is fitting to see how the Spirit operates also in the complete nativity story. My goal is to do just that by focusing on the Spirit’s activity in terms of prophetic pronouncement, conception, announcement and reception, and finally, illumination.

Prophetic Pronouncement

The Holy Spirit’s involvement in the incarnation was not one of unique character to Himself nor was it an act that went against His characteristics. The Holy Spirit’s first revelatory illumination to us concerning Himself is His participation with Father and Son in the creation of all things. The same Spirit that hovered over the chaotic waters during creation’s coming into existence through the Word of God is the same Spirit that gives life to flesh and anoints the Son of God in the flesh for His particular office as Messiah. As Christopher J.H. Wright explains, “He is the Spirit who anointed the kings, and ultimately anointed Christ the Servant-King. And he is the Spirit through whom the whole creation will finally be renewed in, through and for Christ.”^[1] Therefore this act of prophetic pronouncement of what He will do in the conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb throughout the centuries through the prophets is consistent with His creative and life-sustaining character. Isaiah 61:1 is an example of this consistency. The Spirit of YHWH is upon Isaiah and has anointed him to prophetically declare the Gospel coming. The broken will be healed, the captives will be liberated, and the prisoners will receive their freedom.

This consistency of the Spirit’s character to not only pronounce this but to fulfill it through the Messiah Jesus is a powerful one. Therefore, it is simple consistency that Jesus returns from His temptation in the wilderness full of the power of the Spirit to then preach the prophecy of Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 61, as fulfilled in His Personhood. Jesus taught us that one of the primary characteristics of the Spirit is that He comes to convict the world about sin and righteousness. Sin and righteousness are in a way the example of humanity, sin representative of the first Adam, and righteousness representative of the second Adam: Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit knows perfectly both sides. Christ and His righteousness being the answer to our loss in sin.

The prophets understood this as well. During the time of the prophet Micah, false prophets were proclaiming an ease of sin and a false righteousness. The answer from Micah was the filling of the Spirit to bring cleansing truth: “As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.” (Mic. 3:8). However, the prophetic word finalizes in the promise of compassion and that one day the iniquities of the nations will be vanquished and all of our sins will be cast into the depths of the sea. Who will do this? The incarnate Son of God.

Conception

The life-giving Spirit is given the privilege of harmoniously and supernaturally conceiving Jesus in the womb of Mary. There are two facets understood in Scripture that occur that are not mutually exclusive but are both expressions of the Trinity. First, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. Second, the Most High will overshadow you. There is mystery in the execution of this act that Scripture simply does not reveal. However, the term “overshadow” has connection to the presence of God over the Tabernacle and the Temple. I. Howard Marshall, in the New Bible Commentary, explains “The description is reminiscent of the glory of God coming to rest upon the Tabernacle (Ex. 40:35). Overshadow is not a euphemism for ‘beget’: the language does not indicate any kind of sexual intercourse between God and Mary.”^[2]Once this occurs, it seems as if the Holy Spirit is directly connected to the narrative of Jesus all the way to Pentecost with the continuation of His ministry.

Matthew records it this way: “What has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 1:20). Frederick Dale Bruner reflects that this work involves two major acts, stating, “The Spirit brings Christ down to earth and makes Him human (as here and in 1 John 4); second, the Spirit lifts Christ up and shows Jesus’ divinity. In other words, the Holy Spirit is a good theologian and gives two main courses: The True Humanity of Jesus Christ the first semester, and the The True Divinity of Jesus Christ the second. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, in either course, to bring Jesus Christ into human lives. ‘Into’ is the key preposition for the work of the Spirit.”^[3]

Announcing and Receiving

The next occurrence of the Holy Spirit in the incarnation story is the presence of the Spirit in announcing the coming birth of the Messiah through the leaping of John the Baptist in his mother’s (Elizabeth’s) womb. According to Luke 1:41, Elizabeth hears the voice of Mary, and immediately the Holy Spirit fills her. Through that filling, Elizabeth receives the word of knowledge through the Spirit that Mary is carrying the Messiah. As evidence of the Spirit’s presence, John the Baptist leaps for joy in his mother’s womb. From here it seems Mary is moved to worship the Lord in prophetic song, a song reminiscent of Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2. The song is not quiet or reflective but is again representative of the Spirit’s consistent message of redemption from sin and judgement against the proud, mighty, and the rich. This consistent message of judgment over sin and eventual righteousness imparted upon the forgiven has a dominating quality.

This revelatory announcement from the Spirit continues through Jesus’ birth into His circumcision rite in encountering the elder Simeon. This elder has the marks of a prophet and is described not only as righteous and devout, but specifically: “… and the Holy Spirit was on him.” (Luke 2:16). The Holy Spirit is mentioned three times in the narrative concerning Simeon’s life and activity: The Holy Spirit was upon him, The Holy Spirit gave him a promise concerning his witness of the Messiah, and he was guided by the Spirit into the Temple. Even this case presents a rarity concerning a simple, faithful elder living in Jerusalem, and not a high religious leader of the day. Again, consistent with the Holy Spirit’s message since the fall of man, Simeon’s spirit-filled song announces that this boy’s act of redemption will not only affect Israel, but all of the world, fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant of all nations being blessed: “A light for the revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:32).

Illumination

Finally, the beauty of Jesus’ incarnation through the Spirit is that we are finally given the privilege of illuminative witness to the Trinity themselves. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians beautifully accounts that this work of adoption for all who believe has always been a harmonious activity of the Trinity together. The Father has chosen us, the Son has purchased us, and the Spirit has sealed us by the gospel of salvation, in which we have believed. Paul writes, “The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.” (Eph. 1:1-14).

Malcolm B. Yarnell explains it in this way, “God the Father is the originating subject of the blessing; the Lord Jesus Christ is the active eternal agent that brings the blessing into history through the incarnation and the cross; and the Holy Spirit is the blessing made continually present to humanity. Where the metaphysical hymn of Ephesians 1 demonstrates the descent of divine grace, Ephesians 2:18 demonstrates the ascent of humanity to God … Incorporated with Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the new humanity is brought before the Father. ‘For through him [Jesus Christ; v. 13] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father’. Ephesians 1:3–14 evinces both the descent of blessing from God and the ascent in glory to God.”^[4]

Holistically Presenting the Incarnation and Nativity Story

In conclusion, if the three Persons of the Trinity are harmoniously involved in the creation, redemption, and consummation of all things, then we are charged as shepherds and teachers to holistically present the incarnation and the Christmas story as a harmonious Trinitarian act as well. We have access to the blessing of illumination as we invest in a more trinitarian perspective as we preach. Consequently, a broader trinitarian perspective leads us to preach even more. Specifically, when we focus on the activity of the Spirit, and we make obedient action concerning a deeper submission to His present active work in our lives, we find we preach Christ more authentically, because the Spirit proclaims the ultimate work of Jesus as being one that brings glory to the Father. Ultimately, it is the Spirit that bears witness of Jesus as John the Gospel writer attests, and He will take what is Christ’s and declare it to us. We simply need to have our ears open to hear and be illuminated (Jn. 16:14).

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References

^[1] Christopher J.H. Wright, Knowing God Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2014 ), Kindle Edition, 412.
^[2] I. Howard Marshall, “Luke” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, 4th ed., ed. D. A. Carson et al. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 982.
^[3] Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary Volume 1: The Christbook Matthew 1-12 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2007), 27.
^[4] Malcolm B. Yarnell, God the Trinity: Biblical Portraits (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2016 ), Kindle Edition.

Part 2 of 3

* This article is adapted from a series of papers written for Western Seminary.

Continuing this three-part celebration of Advent, this article centers around the coming of the Son of God in the flesh—the redemptive plan of God the Father accomplished through the working of the Holy Spirit. Specifically, my intention is to focus on the involvement of the Son, the second Person of the Trinity. As a result, we will better understand the means of our justification as well as the pattern we can follow toward sanctification and formation.

The Incarnation

While debated by some—(The ancient Arians asserted that Jesus wasn’t equal with the Father, and the modern Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims make similar claims)—the doctrine of the Trinity, at its core, asserts that Jesus is as much divine as is the Father, with both sharing the sovereign will, power, and authority that belong to God alone. As a result, the doctrine of the Trinity asserts that the one who came forth from Mary in human flesh was, in the language of the Nicene Creed, “very God,” not some lesser divine being, or a would-be God-in-the-making. Unless Jesus is one with the Father, He can’t really be Emmanuel and the doctrine of the Trinity provides the core root that supports and sustains the season we celebrate as Advent. As Douglas Wilson explains it in God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas is the Foundation for Everything,

Christ came to “ransom captive Israel” and to “disperse the gloomy clouds of night.” In our insolence, we were “doomed by law to endless woe” and were necessarily and justly consigned to “the dreadful gulf below.” But this darkness we had created was invaded by the heavenly host, “Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way,” and the night above the shepherds lit up as though a lightening bolt had refused to go out, had refused to stop shining. The road was weary, but now we may urge others to “rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing.” We needed this salvation just as He gave it. “O Savior, King of glory, who doest our weakness know.” The God who knows our frame timed it perfectly.^[1]

Immanuel, God with Us

While the incarnation is an event that encompasses the entirety of the Trinitarian community, it is most profoundly an event that concerns the second Person of the Trinity: God the Son. The Father and the Spirit are active in the sending of the Son, but the Son alone is changed, humbled or “incarnated.” The English word incarnation comes from the Latin caro: “flesh,” so the Christmas event is the “en-flesh-ment” of God. This is the teaching of the New Testament at several key points. For example, Matthew 1:23 states, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us)” (ESV). Here we see the redemptive plan, which was prophesied in the days of the prophets, has come to pass. The virgin is bringing forth a male child, and this child shall be called God with us!

There are many stories of unlikely and miraculous births throughout the lives of the patriarchs and Old Testament saints, but each of those surprising and miraculous pregnancies resulted in an ordinary child being born. This was often a child who ended a lifetime of barrenness for the mother, and who would often go on to be a notable character in the following chapters—but an ordinary, human child nevertheless, with strengths and weaknesses, flaws and virtues, just like every other boy or girl on the playground. But there is something different and notable about THIS miraculous birth. This child shall be called Immanuel, which means God with us. The introduction of Jesus in the opening chapter of the New Testament makes it clear that He is God, enfleshed. John 1:14 states, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The Word, Logos

The beginning of John’s gospel reaches back to the beginning and speaks of the Word (Logos), who is with God, and yet is God Himself as well. Jack Kilcrease writes, “John begins his Gospel by stating that Jesus is God’s eternal Word, who created the universe (John 1:1–2). The Word is the self-expression of God, His active force in the world.”^[2] In the beginning He spoke and the world existed. As Psalm 33:6 reveals, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.” And Psalm 107:20 reveals, “He sent out His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.”

For us today, words are an essential part of our communication. (Not all communication is verbal, but a lot of it is!) Autism parents often use the phrase “use your words” in an attempt to help silent neuroatypical children express to the outside world what is going on in their secret interior mind. Likewise, God’s Words are expressions to others revealing what His interior life is like. In time, the Word became incarnate and dwelt among humanity allowing them to behold the glory of God. My seminary professor Gerry Breshears explains it like this: “The Logos is one of the strongest arguments for the deity of Jesus as the personal, eternally existing creator of the universe, distinct from yet equal with God the Father, who became incarnate (or came in the flesh) to demonstrate His glory in grace and truth to reveal life and light to men.” ^[3]

Fully God, Fully Man

For the second Person of the Trinity, the events of Christmas were deeply experiential, with real and profound implications on His life, from that point onward. He left the comforts and adoration of heaven to become a human with all the accompanying frailties and limitations. He was born into a country, culture, and people. He was born into a family and subculture, thus destined to wear the same clothes that everyone else wore and participate in the same traditions. He ate and slept. In short, He became one of us. Not God masquerading as a person, but Jesus dwelling bodily. As Breshears puts it, “Therefore, by incarnation we mean that the eternal second person of the Trinity entered into history as the Man Jesus Christ.”^[4]

How could God become a man? The Heidelberg Catechism summarises the incarnation in these words: “The eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took upon himself true human nature from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, through the working of the Holy Spirit” which is based on the truths of the Chalcedonian Creed. The Chalcedonian Creed states that Jesus Christ is “truly God and truly man, of a rational soul and body; coessential with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin.” In sum, the creed declares that Jesus Christ in one person with two natures (human and divine) who is both fully God and fully man.

The change implicit in the incarnation (as mentioned above) was not a change of subtraction, but of addition. Augustine puts it succinctly when he writes that the second Person of the Trinity “was made what He was not, without losing what He was. The man therefore was added to the God, that He might be man who was God, but not that He should now henceforth be man and not be God.”^[5] How should this effect us today? Chiefly and foremostly, the coming of Jesus is to deliver sinners from judgement and to establish His kingdom on earth. The hymn “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” poetically summarizes it in this way:

Born Thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now Thy gracious kingdom bring.

Unparalleled Humility, Then and Now

In addition to the rescuing of sinners and the establishment of His kingdom, His birth, way of life, and even the manner of His death are exemplary for Christians. Jesus exemplified unparalleled humility in lowering and emptying Himself of the comforts, power and glory of the independent exercise of His divine attributes in exchange for a life of humility. Philippians 2:5-11 describes the cascading levels of lowering and humility that Christ underwent in order to accomplish His mission: coming as a human, and not only that, but as a serving human. Then He comes to die, and not only that, but even death on the cross! Paul uses this example to call Philippian Christians to a humble lifestyle and to develop habits of preferring others above self. As Breshears states, “In his incarnation, the Creator entered into his creation to reveal God to us, identify with us, and live and die for us as our humble servant.”^[6] The humble incarnation of God the Son has provided the means by which we are justified and sets a pattern for our sanctification and formation as well. In humility we were saved, and in humility we should follow in His footsteps.

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References

^[1] Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas is the Foundation for Everything (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2012), 15-16.
^[2] Jack Kilcrease, “Jesus’ Incarnation,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2018).
^[3] Gerry Breshears and Mark Driscoll, Doctrine: What Every Christian Should Believe (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2010), 214.
^[4] Breshears and Driscoll, Doctrine, 20.
^[5] Augustine, “Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 21” https:/www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701021.htm.
^[6] Gerry Breshears and Mark Driscoll, Doctrine: What Every Christian Should Believe (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2010), 231.