Undercover Midwesterner

Devin Hester, you are ridiculous!

2010-12-24T10:28:00.000-05:00

Jesus: Superior to Angels

2009-10-13T22:15:00.002-04:00

I encourage all of you to read Hebrews 1:4-14. It's a tad long for a blog post, so I haven't included the passage up front. You can read it here.

Angels, as depicted in Scripture, are not like Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life - meek and wrinkly; rather, their physical appearance most often is consistent with their purpose. They are God's messengers, empowered by God to speak his words and to perform his acts. They are God's warriors and, at times, those who bring God's judgment upon the earth (e.g. Sodom). They are God's servants, acting according to his will.

"Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Thus, the appearance of an angel is often an occasion for fear. Just ask Zechariah, Mary, the shepherds in the field, or the women at the tomb. These are a different sort of beings - heavenly, powerful, even divine. They are exactly the sort of beings who, when they speak, we will believe unquestioningly because they are obviously otherworldly.

However, in addition to being his divine messengers, warriors, and servants, angels are related to God in a way we often forget: they are God's creations. Angels are creatures, just as we are. They live and move and have their being because God makes it so.

So here's the point: Encountering an angel is a fear-inspiring experience, and believing an angel goes without saying. If God speaks through angels and their words are taken seriously, HOW MUCH MORE should we listen to the Word, Jesus Christ!

Jesus had no earthly appearance like Gabriel that would cause us to be attracted to him, fear him, or revere him (Isaiah 53:2). Yet God never said any of these things to angels:

"You are my son; today I have begotten you." (Hebrews 1:5)
"Let all God's angels worship him." (1:6)
"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever..." (1:8)
"You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning..." (1:10)
"Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." (1:13)

All of these statements are directed to Christ alone. In his humility, Christ brings God to us in a way that angels could never accomplish. In his suffering, Christ allows us to better understand the self-sacrificial love that pulses within God's heart for humanity. In his death and resurrection, Christ is the God who calls us righteous and invites us to live in his holy presence forever. For these reasons and many more, Christ is now exalted above heaven and earth, seated at God's right hand, wielding the full array of the Ancient of Days' power and authority (Daniel 7).

The Christ we encounter in the Gospels, the Christ of meekness and humility and loving-kindness, is the same Christ who is more fear-inspiring than any being in existence. Chapter 1 of Hebrews, and even the first few verses of chapter 2, remind us that we humans are fickle creatures. We would listen to divinely-appointed messengers, or even non-divinely-appointed messengers, more intently and fearfully than we listen to the Divine himself, Jesus Christ.

May we remember that Christ alone is God's pure and unadulterated Word, far superior to any messenger sent by God (or not sent by God). If we would listen to God's word to us through other means, including angels, how much more should we listen to the Word that is communicated to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Giving Christ priority over all of the voices that speak to us is the surest way to see God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Conversation(s): How do we give Christ priority? How do we listen to the Word? What does Christ communicate to us that we don't hear much from pastors behind pulpits or fellow believers at Bible studies?

Jesus: Six Statements to Ponder

2009-09-21T23:48:00.002-04:00

Hebrews 1:3-4
(3) The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (4) So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

This could be my favorite passage in the Bible. Here we find some of the richest Christology in the Scriptures. In two verses, we encounter six facets of Jesus' identity that invite our attention and reflection:

1. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory
In Exodus 33, Moses asked God, "Show me your glory." Moses desired the impossible. He wanted to see that legendary brightness, the white-light emanation of God's perfect being that constitutes his "glory." God doesn't oblige Moses (at least not in the way Moses expects, but that's a blog post for another day). God doesn't allow Moses to see him. God actually shields Moses from the brunt of his glory as he passes by, for surely it would have killed him.

What God refused to Moses, he now makes available to all through Christ. Jesus said, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." If we wish to see God in all of his luminescence, we must adjust our eyes to the light of the world, Jesus. But here's the rub: The glory of God that Christ reveals is the glory... of the cross. The Gospel of John frequently refers to Jesus' crucifixion as his glorification. Jesus prays on the Mount of Olives, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you." The glory of God, and the glory of Jesus, is revealed at the cross.

How? What happens there that is so glorious? At the cross, Jesus Christ reveals just how deep and wide and long and high the love of God is for humanity. Love and glory are inextricable, for they are forever sealed together at the cross. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory - he makes God's glory visible to all of us - because he has made God's infinite love visible, accessible, knowable, and receivable. God's glory is found in the fantastic reality that he loves his creation enough to die for it. In this way, Jesus is the radiance of God's glory.

2. Jesus is the exact representation of God's being
The Greek word for "exact representation" is charakter, from which English derives character. The character of God - his attributes, his tendencies, his emotions, his intentions - is embodied in Jesus and displayed by Jesus. If we want to know who God is as a personal being, a being with whom we can relate and converse, we must fix our eyes upon Christ.

**For my theologically-minded friends, the Greek word for God's "being" in this verse is hypostasis - the word used by the Church Fathers to describe the 3 persons of the Trinity: God is one essence and three persons (hypostases). Thus, this is one of the foundational passages for our Trinitarian doctrine.**

3. Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word
In verses 1-2, Jesus is revealed to us as the prophetic word of God, the incarnation of God's speech. In verse 3, now Jesus speaks. His ability to speak and sustain all things reveals that he is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, God. Only God can speak and sustain. Only God gives life via words. A professor friend of mine calls this God's ontological speech. He speaks, and it is. The same is true of Christ, who speaks, "Peace, be still!" to the storm, and it obeys his command. Not only is Christ the exact representation - the character - of God, but he is God himself. Not only do we see God in Christ, but we meet God in Christ.

4. Jesus provides purification for sins
This is a massive theme in Hebrews, particularly in chapters 5-10, so I'll leave the nuances for later. However, I can't resist making one observation now: The entire Old Testament system of priests and sacrifices points directly to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the High Priest who offers purification for our sins, and he is also the sacrifice offered for that purification. Jesus does it all. We kid ourselves if we think that our purification before God, our holiness and righteousness, has anything to do with us. Jesus makes the sacrifice. Jesus is the sacrifice. The only way we can be in the presence of a holy God is through Christ.

5. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God
The Old Testament figure who sits at God's right hand is named the Son of Man. He is given all authority and power by the Ancient of Days to bring about the purposes of God in the world (Daniel 7). If Jesus is seated at God's right hand, which is repeated several times in the book of Hebrews, then he is this Son of Man. This gives us two comforts:

First, the fact that Jesus is seated in heaven is proof that the work he needed to do on earth to bring about God's purposes is completed. His death and resurrection are indeed effective in bringing redemption to the world.

Second, Ephesians 1 tells us that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is now being employed by Christ on behalf of the church, and also through the church. We are empowered by Christ to carry out the redemptive mission of God that was inaugurated at the cross, and we know that this mission will triumph, because all authority and power belongs to Christ.

6. Jesus is superior to the angels

The superiority of Christ over all things is a major theme, perhaps the major theme, of Hebrews. In my next post, I'll look at the rest of chapter 1, where this claim of superiority over angels is founded upon a variety of fascinating OT citations. Two observations will suffice for now: 1) Christ is superior to angels because he is God, and 2) Christ is superior to angels because he is human.

Concluding Thoughts

Read these two verses again. And again. And again. Allow these many statements about Christ to sink into your mind, your heart, and your soul. Jesus is beautiful, powerful, triumphant, and divine. He is God's glory displayed, God's love enacted, God's character revealed, and God's being embodied. The Unknowable has made himself knowable in Jesus. This is an amazing thing.

Jesus: The Prophetic Word of God

2009-09-09T21:30:00.000-04:00

Hebrews 1:1-2
(1) "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, (2) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe."

In two verses, the author of Hebrews calls upon all of biblical history to establish God's Son, Jesus, as God's incarnated speech. John's Gospel begins the same way: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus is the Word of God, the embodiment of God's speech. Whatever God says, Jesus is.

What is unique to Hebrews, though, is that Christ's identity as God's spoken word is set within the context of the Israelite prophetic tradition. "God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets... but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son." Jesus is the prophetic Word of God. Thus, following the Old Testament prophetic tradition,

Jesus is the Word that God speaks against unrighteousness and injustice.
Jesus is the Word that God speaks to his people to call them to repentance.
Jesus is the Word that God speaks to his people to exhort them to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with him.
Jesus is the Word that God speaks to remind his people that he is their God and they are his people.

A decade ago, when the WWJD fad was going strong, people obsessed over what Jesus would do when faced with a particular situation in hopes that they could imitate his actions. Would he freak out, pull out a whip, and go Indiana Jones on everyone? Or would he sit quietly and doodle in the sand with his finger? As those bracelets can attest, the greatest strength and weakness of Evangelicalism is that we are a culture of doers - people who constantly seek to do more stuff.

These two verses that begin Hebrews ask us, in a way, to lay aside our zeal to do things. They ask us to put "doing" in its proper place - after listening. Because Jesus is the prophetic Word that God speaks to us, the question "What would Jesus do?" should actually be rephrased into something far less catchy: "What does God say?" When Jesus is doing, God is speaking.

Example: Jesus enters the temple, where God's people gathered, and he angrily drives out those who have turned a place of worship into a marketplace. If we ask, "What would Jesus do?" then we have missed the entire idea that Jesus is a prophetic Word from God. The appropriate response on our part would be to go into the nearest mega-church that has a Starbucks within its walls and toss the tables. But if we ask, "What does God say?" then we invite God to speak to us through Jesus' life. In this story, perhaps God is saying, This is how I feel about those within my church who distract worshipers with consumerism.

This is one example among hundreds.

The point is that God speaks prophetically to us through Christ, just like he spoke prophetically to Israel through Isaiah, Micah, Amos, and Daniel. When we encounter Christ in the Gospels, let's adopt a zeal to listen first, and do after. Let's put the question, "What would Jesus do?" in its proper place - after the question, "What does God say?" God speaks to us every day through his Son. Will we listen?

A Journey through Hebrews

2009-08-15T12:25:00.008-04:00

It has been a long time since I've written anything here. I chatted with Devin while I was in Chicago earlier this month, and we decided to start blogging again (and to keep each other going with our blogs as well). So...

For the next while, I will be blogging my way through the Book of Hebrews, which currently is my favorite book in the Bible. I hope this will be as edifying and uplifting to any who read it as it will be to me.

The entire message of Hebrews is expressed in the first four verses of chapter 1. My next blog entry will be on these verses, so I'll end this little post with a taste of what's to come:

Hebrews 1:1-4
(1) In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, (2) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. (3) The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (4) So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

(FYI - all Scripture quotations from this point forward are taken from the TNIV unless otherwise specified.)

From Four Laws to Four Circles...

2009-04-16T09:45:00.000-04:00

Countdown to Half-Blood Prince

2009-01-20T22:09:00.000-05:00

Holographic Reporter!!

2008-11-05T15:25:00.001-05:00

This is truly unbelievable. It's like Star Wars in real life. Except without the laser guns or lightsabers. I hope CNN doesn't invent those, too.

God: Stingy or Generous?

2008-04-03T14:07:00.002-04:00

CT just posted an article written by Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary. Here's an excerpt:

"In a speech I heard several years ago, the Japanese-American theologian Kosuke Koyama put it nicely: We all have to decide, he said, whether we have a generous God or a stingy God. And the truth is that we evangelicals often give the impression that we have decided to be a spiritually stingy people. A recent Barna Group survey, for example, offers evidence that many young people in the larger society think of evangelicals primarily as "judgmental" types, hostile toward folks in other religions and mean-spirited in our attitudes about homosexuality. Even many young evangelicals share some of these assessments of the older generation. A leader at an evangelical college said it this way: "A lot of our students worry about typical evangelical attitudes toward people who have different belief systems and lifestyles. It's not that they don't take the Bible's teachings seriously. It's just that they have gotten to know Muslims and gays, and they are embarrassed by the harsh spirit toward such folks that they see in the older generation. If we don't do something about this negative image soon, we could easily lose them for the evangelical cause."

The full article is definitely worth the read: Click Here.

Reading Links

2008-04-03T11:36:00.000-04:00

If your workday is slow, as mine often is, good reading can be a lifesaver. Here are a few places I recommend if you'd like to get your mind going. Granted, these are places where I have enjoyed reading, so they may or may not be your cup of tea:

On the Square. A blog for First Things: The Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life. Recent topics include "The Violence of Double Standards" and "Where are the Prophets?"
Tomorrow, April 4, is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. CNN is currently running an article on MLK through the eyes of King's sister, Christine, who would like us to remember her brother as a regular guy, not "some mythic character from out of space."
This one's for David Chambers. TIME magazine just ran a cover story titled, "The Clean Energy Scam." Here's the article. (warning: this article is not short)
Way to go, Benny the Bull. Finally, Chicago Bulls fans have something to laugh about that isn't the team's unique ability to blow double-digit leads during the 4th quarter.

I leave you with this NBA-related thought: Chris Paul for MVP.

More on "Jesus for President"

2008-04-03T10:44:00.001-04:00

Posted by blogger Post Haste on CT's Out of Ur Blog - in response to Parts 1 & 2 of the "Jesus for President" book review. Very thought-provoking material:

Who decided that "the American church does not articulate a Christianity distinct from national citizenship." Which American church are we talking about here? Maybe the same American church that equates the audience of Christianity Today with "the American church"?

The truth is that even a radical Christianity in the American context is not one that would bring its practitioners to the brink of execution, and this is so precisely because of the reality of the separation of church and state. Radical, honest commitment to God and God's people is simply not a capital offense in America as it is in the absolutist systems of theocracy or true statism.

I'm not saying the church shouldn't stand in prophetic contrast to our government (it always should), but I am saying that many progressive Christians (especially progressive Christians coming out of conservative backgrounds) overstate the degree to which American-ness impedes Christlikeness.

There's also a frustrating paradox at work here for Christians who've moved beyond the idea of Jesus as political radical (conservative or liberal): It's incredible that so many of the same Christians who watchdog and mourn the dilution of Christ's message within the context of American civic religion still expect their wicked government (designed as a secular apparatus with limited power) to embody Kingdom values on issues of social justice, poverty, and peace. It's fine to appeal to Christ's value system when articulating a vision for peace in the world; not so for articulating a vision for peace, say, in the womb. It's fine to appeal to our faith convictions when supporting the eradication of famine and AIDS and demanding our secular government to pay heed; not so, it seems lately, when one's faith convictions don't end with a vote for Barack Obama."

I recognize that the last two sentences of this snippet touch on some buzz-word topics like abortion, AIDS, and Obama's campaign (none of which I want to go into now), but I hope that their mention will not cloud what I appreciate most about these thoughts: a recognition of the simultaneous pessimistic (even indignant) cynicism and optimistic expectation that are expressed towards the American government by American Christians every day. I have no answer for myself, except that I know I often fall into this trap of condemning my government's actions while expecting it to lead the charge of a social Gospel.

Additionally, the first two paragraphs are intriguing for a different reason: Does the separation of Church and State impede the work of the Church? Put another way, because professing faith in Christ is not a treasonous offense in America, does the health, strength, and spread of that faith suffer?

Conservative Theology Means Smaller Bank Accounts?

2008-04-03T09:50:00.000-04:00

"To Conserve" (as defined by Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary): To keep in a safe or sound state; to save; to preserve; to protect.

New article on Christianity Today titled, "Conservative Theology Means Smaller Bank Accounts." Worth a read, especially if you have pondered (or anticipate pondering) the question: How do I manage and/or use my money for the purposes of God?

As a young, recently married follower of Jesus with what would be considered by most who label such things to be a relatively conservative theology, this article definitely got my brain firing on all cylinders. More to come on this topic in the near future...

Random Thoughts

2008-04-02T12:52:00.000-04:00

So much for regular updates...

I've been spending more time recently reading different articles from the website of my former place of employment, Christianity Today. Here are some highlights from the past several days:

Heaven Is Not Our Home - N.T. Wright - Excellent piece on the social responsibility of a Christian now that the resurrection has taken place. An interview with Wright dealing with the same topic can be found here.
Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw have recently released a new book, "Jesus for President." Leadership Journal's blogged review of their book can be found in three parts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 (coming soon).
A new writer for CT's Ignite Your Faith, the high school publication, had their first article published online late last week. You can read it here. (this may or may not be shameless self-promotion)
Compelling discussion between a staunchly evangelical writer, Stan Guthrie, and a thoroughly Jewish Rabbi, regarding the sharing of the Gospel to the Jewish people. The initial article by Guthrie is here, and the subsequent conversation between Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko and Guthrie can be found here.

In other news, Robin and I are headed to Jersey for a much-needed weekend away from home and with family. I'm excited to hang out with the in-laws for a couple days, and I'm also excited to hit some warmer weather. Essex has been cold, even by a Chicagoan's standards.

More to come soon... I'm going to try and update my reading links on a regular basis, but we'll see how that goes. After all, it's taken me three months to write a blog entry.

Reentering the blogosphere

2008-01-02T14:51:00.000-05:00

At best, I've been a spotty blogger over the past few years. Generally, I am not the sort of person who enjoys spewing random thoughts onto the world wide web for anyone and everyone to read. Why? Perhaps I cling too tightly to the musings of my little brain. Perhaps out of insecurity or a lack of self-identity I fear the reaction of the outside world to those musings. Perhaps I'm not comfortable with "introspection" in the 21st century blog format. Perhaps it's something completely different, like that Monty Python movie. Whatever the reason, blogging hasn't been my thing.

However, as 2008 begins, I feel that my blogging itch needs to be scratched once again. I attempted to keep a blog updated on Xanga for a few years, but I lost interest last April. My final post included three pictures of the yet-to-be-released Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows dust jackets. I had just finished reading the series two times in two months. To those of you who haven't read J. K. Rowling's seven-part masterpiece, it is worth your time to pick up the first book and give it a chance.

I've titled my new blog, "Undercover Midwesterner," because presently that's what I am. On July 22 of last year, I married the most wonderful woman in the world, Robin Giberson. A month after our marriage, we moved to Essex, a small town located 45 minutes NE of Boston, Massachusetts. I had lived 23 years and 2 months in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois before the move. The land of Cubs, Bulls and Bears still feels like home, and I'm guessing that it will for a long time. O, to be able to hear a bad word spoken about the Patriots...

New England is... different. The culture here is different. Thus, Christianity is different. The influence that culture can have upon religion is staggering. The self-critical Bible scholar within tries to convince me that I didn't need to look much further than Matthew's portrayal of the Pharisees to figure that out. I retort that hermeneutics is not a worthwhile endeavor if it does not incorporate an element of personal experience.

As the above inner dialogue no doubt reveals, I miss school. I'll be starting at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in June or September of this year. The starting date depends upon the decision to pursue a Masters of Divinity (MDiv) or a Masters of Church History (MA). One sets me on a track towards the pastorate, while the other sets me on a track towards a doctoral program and teaching. I have no idea what to do.

From this point forward, I'll be updating this blog with commentary of a theological, political, and/or cultural nature. I'd like to use this piece of webspace as a safe place for proclamations, discussions, questions, doubts, hypotheses, and the like on a variety of topics - especially topics that arise from my time working with 35 7th-11th graders as their youth pastor. I also wouldn't be surprised if some Chicago sports propaganda made its way into the mix. But in it all and through it all, my prayer is simple: Soli Deo gloria. To God be the glory.