Working Through Luke and Acts – Luke 1, verses 1-4

Posted on November 21, 2012 by ronelfran

The extended narrative of Luke-Acts is one of my Bible favorites. It covers the earthly ministry of Jesus (Luke), and the beginnings of the ministry of His church (Acts). I’m working my way through these books once again, and thought I’d make my reflections available to anyone who would like to follow along.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is from the NKJV. Numbers in parentheses following a Greek or Hebrew word refer to the Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Dictionaryreference number for that word.

Let’s get started.

Luke 1:1-4 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

Word Study

set in order: Greek verb anatassomai [an-at-as’-som-ahee] (4135), which means “arrange in proper order.”

narrative: Greek noun diegesis [dee-ayg’-es-is] (1335), meaning “an orderly description of facts, events, actions, or words, narrative, account” (http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/1_1-4.htm)

fulfilled: Greek verb plerophoreo [play-rof-or-eh’-o] (4135). Thayer’s Greek Lexicon gives several shades of meaning: to bear or bring full, to make full; to cause a thing to be shown to the full; to fulfill the ministry in every part; to carry through to the end, accomplish; to make one certain, to persuade, convince one; to be persuaded, fully convinced or assured.

Luke declares his intention to give an accurate narrative, verified by the eyewitness accounts of the apostles, and arranged in proper order. His purpose is that Theophilus – and we – may have “certainty” concerning the events we have been taught about.

As I began to read Luke 1, my attention was first drawn to the word fulfilled (plerophoreo). Most translations say “fulfilled” rather than “believed,” as in the KJV. Some versions say “accomplished.” The word suggests to me the fulfilling of God’s plan. These accounts of the ministry of Jesus are not things that just happened – they are the fulfillment of what God shaped the whole course of history to accomplish.

Luke wants to make clear that he is writing of things that are certainly known to have been accomplished among the believers. We can be sure of them because they were delivered to us by eyewitnesses and ministers of the word who were there. So, it is not just that these things are believed to have occurred – it’s much stronger than that. They are fully accepted, beyond doubt. Because of the standing of those through whom the events are related to us, these things are knownby the believers to have been fulfilled. In that sense, they are “believed.” But the emphasis is on the sureness of that belief.

Luke 1:1-4 (AMP) SINCE [as is well known] many have undertaken to put in order and draw up a [thorough] narrative of the surely established deeds which have been accomplished and fulfilled in and among us, 2 Exactly as they were handed down to us by those who from the [official] beginning [of Jesus’ ministry] were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word [that is, of the doctrine concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God], 3 It seemed good and desirable to me, [and so I have determined] also after having searched out diligently and followed all things closely and traced accurately the course from the highest to the minutest detail from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,4 [My purpose is] that you may know the full truth and understand with certainty and security against error the accounts (histories) and doctrines of the faith of which you have been informed and in which you have been orally instructed.

Luke’s reason for writing is that readers may know the certainty of the things in which they have been instructed. It is clear that these early believers were not only told these things as gospel stories, but were instructed in them. Having a knowledge and understanding of these events was very important in the training of believers. These stories of the ministry of Jesus are central to the gospel message.

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Leadership Keys To Preventing and Healing Hurt Feelings – part 3

Posted on July 11, 2012 by ronelfran

Key #3 – KNOW YOUR PEOPLE

In this post I want to share a secret that can vastly improve your effectiveness as a leader in the church. Once grasped and applied, this one secret will have an almost magical ability to help you avoid hurting the feelings of those who serve with you in ministry. So, are you ready to learn this powerful leadership secret? Here it is:

PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT!

Profound, isn’t it? Actually, this observation is not as trivial as it may seem at first glance. I’m sure you are already well aware of how individuals differ from one another. But sometimes we get so focused on the tasks we want our ministry teams to accomplish that we neglect to give workers the individualized attention they need. Giving team members equal treatment does not mean treating them all the same.

“One size does not fit all” may seem to be just a cliché. In reality, learning to minister to a wide range of people who continually demonstrate the truth of that declaration is one of the most important lessons of church leadership. For example, in our church we are huggers. There is a point in the worship service where we all rise and greet one another, and our members love to show their godly affection for one another in that physical way. (By the way, we periodically teach our congregation how to hug appropriately so that nobody gets the wrong idea!). We very quickly learned that some individuals are natural huggers. Others are enticed by the love they see expressed and eventually overcome their uneasiness and become enthusiastic huggers. But for some, the approach of another person with open arms arouses nothing but an overwhelming desire to escape. We have learned that to not offer a hug to some of our members would hurt their feelings, while to even come within hugging distance would be a great offense to others.

It’s the same way with members of our ministry teams. That challenging word of correction that spurs one person on to do better, can depress and demotivate another. The level of oversight that communicates to one how much the leader cares about and appreciates what they do, is perceived by another as micromanagement and distrust of their ability to do the job. When a leader gets mixed up on who requires what, hurt feelings are sure to result.

That’s why it is so important that ministry leaders appreciate who their team members are as individuals. And that requires that we make the effort to really get to know each person.

Prov 27:23  Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds.

We as leaders must work hard – be diligent – to discover how best to relate to each individual worker so that they feel affirmed rather than disregarded or unappreciated. As we work with our team members, we want to meet the standard set by our Lord in Isaiah:

Isaiah 50:4  The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned.

In order to “speak a word in season to him who is weary,” not only must I be sensitive to the signs of weariness (or disappointment, or confusion, or anger, or hurt feelings) in that person, but I also must know that individual well enough to select words that will effectively minister to them. God gives me the assurance that I can call upon Him to give me that insight. But I have no assurance of receiving that guidance if I refuse to make the effort to learn what that person is like as an individual. God honors faithfulness in those charged with the responsibilities of leadership, not laziness and neglect.

So, for each individual serving the Lord under my leadership, I need to be diligent to discover some things about them that will help me to effectively supervise and minister to that person without wounding their feelings. Here are some of the things I look for:

1.  What is this person’s comfort zone with regard to the amount of attention a leader gives them? Too much attention, and they feel smothered. Too little, and they feel neglected, overlooked or unappreciated.

2. What level of detail and specificity is appropriate in the instructions given this team member? Some workers will require a step-by-step plan that tells them exactly what they need to do. Others get great satisfaction out of figuring out the best approach for themselves. These only need to be pointed to desired goal. They will work out for themselves the best way to get there.

3. What amount of praise and encouragement is needed to help each worker stay encouraged and motivated? Some will need constant affirmation. Others are fine with an occasional word of approbation as long as they sense that their contribution is valued. Remember that all of us need to periodically hear sincere words of appreciation.

4.  How blunt can the leader be in giving correction? Some workers can be brought almost to tears by any perceived word of rebuke. With them the correction must be applied in terms that are very positive and affirming. Others can not only take, but may actually require, a very direct assessment of just where they have excelled, and where they have fallen short. Often such people receive rebuke with an “I’ll show them!” attitude that is positive and motivating for them.

By the way, individuals who demonstrate that they won’t receive correction no matter how it is given (the Bible calls them scorners or scoffers) may have to be released from the team. They cannot be allowed to poison the atmosphere with their rebellious attitude.

5.  What makes this person glad, what makes them sad, and what makes them mad? Being sensitive to these things allows a leader to much more effectively minister to team members. For example, for me birthday cards are nice but not really necessary. For others, receiving such a card is a joyful reassurance of how much they are cared about.

6.  What are this individual’s issues, their sensitivities, prejudices, and hot buttons? Are there hidden land mines that a leader must beware of in relating to this person? Be especially careful not to take liberties in commenting or joking about issues relating to gender, race, personal appearance, age, etc. These are areas where a person’s sensitivities may never be spoken of, but they are there nonetheless.

7.  How comfortable is this person with taking the lead vs serving in an individual or supporting role? For example, people with the spiritual gift of serving typically love jumping in and doing a task themselves, but are much less interested in directing or even working with others. Such individuals often actively resent having other workers assigned to work with them, especially if they started handling that responsibility alone and have come to consider it as belonging to them.

These are just some of the things a leader needs to be aware of regarding the people serving under their leadership. You can probably think of others that should be on your own list. The key is to take the time and make the effort to pay attention to who our team members really are. If you will prayerfully consider questions such as these concerning every member of your team, that exercise alone will increase the sensitivity you must display if you are to lead and minister to each one without stirring up hurt feelings in the process.

What do you think?

Key #2 –  KNOW YOUR GOAL

The next key to preventing hurt feelings: COMMUNICATE!

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Leadership Keys To Preventing and Healing Hurt Feelings – part 2

Posted on June 8, 2012 by ronelfran

Key #2 – KNOW YOUR GOAL

If you are the leader of a ministry in the church, you may feel that you already have a pretty good handle on what your goals for that ministry should be. You want your praise team to consistently lead the congregation into the presence of God. Or you want your greeter ministry to share the welcoming love of Christ with everyone who comes through the door. Goals like these are very appropriate, and when they are effectively accomplished, the whole ministry of the church is enhanced.

But such goals, important as they are, must not be your primary focus as a ministry leader – not if you want to minimize the confusion, strife and upheaval that inevitably result when someone on the team gets their feelings hurt. If your ministry is to achieve its primary purposes, which, as we have seen, are to honor God and to help team members become maturing disciples of Christ, there is another goal to which you must be committed as your first priority:

Ephesians 4:1-3   I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The apostle Paul says that if we are to walk worthy of our calling, we must be committed to keeping “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The Greek term he uses to describe that commitment, translated in verse 3 as “endeavoring,” is a very strong word. It is spoudazó, and it means to be diligent, fervent, to hasten, to exert oneself, to fully apply oneself. In other words, put everything you have into it!

My #1 goal as a leader is to maintain the unity of the Spirit in my ministry.

Sometimes leaders feel that in order to accomplish the task entrusted to their ministry, they have to do what they have to do and let the chips fall where they may, because, to complete the triplet of clichés, you can’t make an omelet with breaking some eggs. But Paul is clear. If we accomplish the mission but at the cost of allowing disunity and strife to develop, we have failed to live up to our calling.

But how is that possible? I’m sure you’ve noticed that people, even saved people, can be downright ornery! How can any leader avoid all strife while pulling together a group consisting of individuals with disparate personalities, strong opinions, and a disdain for authority bred into them by the rebellious age into which they were born? Of course, no leader can guarantee that. Even Jesus had disunity on His team, instigated by a fellow named Judas. That’s why I’m grateful that the command is not that we must maintain unity, but that we must  endeavor to do so.

Actually, Scripture gives us some explicit direction on how to go about endeavoring to maintain unity. To get a more complete picture, let’s add to the Ephesians passage above two more passages from Paul’s teaching:

2 Timothy 2:23-26    But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. 24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

Romans 12:18   If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

Now, let’s pull some points of guidance out of these passages.

1. I must have a “NO STRIFE!” policy for my life and ministry – Paul says “a servant of the Lord must not quarrel,” and, “as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” So my personal commitment is to do everything I can to stay out of strife in my life, and keep it out of my ministry. I must have a zero-tolerance policy toward strife.

2. “NO STRIFE!” should be the stated policy of the team – team members should know up front, before they accept the invitation to join the team, that strife simply will not be tolerated. If someone becomes so perturbed about team practices or the leader’s decisions that they continually cause disruptions, they cannot remain on the team (Proverbs 22:10). This is not, however, an excuse for a “my way or the highway” type of attitude. Christian leaders are called to walk in humility.

3. I will endeavor to exemplify and model the attitudes that maintain unity– We are all called to “be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” And as a leader, it is my calling to demonstrate an even greater degree of humility, gentleness, patience and love than others may show. When leaders make it clear that they are not attempting to “lord it over” the workers (1 Peter 5:3), the chances for hurt feelings are greatly diminished.

4. I will do my very best to stay away from unnecessary (foolish and ignorant) disputes– many times, it’s OK for Christians to agree to disagree! Every difference of opinion doesn’t have to be settled (see Romans 14, especially vs 5). Leaders need to be prayerfully discerning about which battles need to be fought, and which issues can be overlooked (Proverbs 19:11).

5. I will guide my team with gentleness, humility, patience and respect– everyone in my ministry, under all circumstances, should sense these qualities in me as their leader. If there are misunderstandings or even disagreements, I will gently teach, depending on God to change minds and hearts. Even if it becomes necessary to remove a person with a disruptive attitude from the team (after all efforts to help them change have not borne fruit), I will do so with gentleness, humility, and respect.

All these are steps that are wrapped up in that term “endeavoring.” I must work hard at them, with great diligence and commitment. But there is another step that is more important than all these.

Psalms 127:1    Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

On my own, my very best efforts will utterly fail. Only God can maintain peace in the midst of the devil’s earnest efforts to stir up confusion and strife in the church and in my ministry. I need to pray! The prophet Samuel accounted it sinful for a leader not to pray for those under his leadership (1 Samuel 12:23). Jeremiah counseled those exiled in Babylon on how to have peace even in that very difficult circumstance: “seek the peace of the city … and pray to the LORD for it” (Jeremiah 29:7). So, from start to finish, I as a leader need to be praying for the peace of my church and of my ministry, and leading my team to do the same. For indeed, if the Lord builds the ministry, we will not labor in vain who build it!

– Ron Franklin

What do you think?

Key #1 – KNOW YOUR PURPOSE                       Key #3 – KNOW YOUR PEOPLE

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Leadership Keys To Preventing and Healing Hurt Feelings – part 1

Posted on June 7, 2012 by ronelfran

Are you a leader of a ministry in the church? Perhaps a praise team leader, or the team lead for the greeter ministry or the grounds crew. If you have a leadership role of any type in the body of Christ, I have a guarantee for you:

Sooner or later you are going to hurt someone’s feelings!

I have been in churches for a good many years now, and must admit that I am still amazed at how frequently it happens. Someone’s attitude or attendance pattern or willingness to serve in the ministry changes. And when you are finally able to get them to be honest with you about what is going on, they detail how someone in leadership said something, or did something (usually both) that bruised their feelings. Now, in response, they have drawn away from whole-hearted participation in the ministry of the church.

Ironically, the leader who is blamed for the problem usually had no intention of causing any offense, and is often totally unaware that offense was taken. But leaders need to know that just by virtue of the delegated authority they have been entrusted with, everything they say and do has a disproportionate impact on those working under their leadership. Plus, many people (especially those who are less spiritually mature or less experienced in the church) have an unstated expectation that godly church leaders will always be perfect in treating workers with Christ-like love and consideration. When they feel that a leader has failed in that regard, their judgment can be harsh.

That’s why, in our church we have begun teaching our leaders some keys that can help them avoid hurting workers’ feelings, and when they do hurt them, as they inevitably sometimes will, to minister to the one who was hurt. In this series of posts, I’ll share some of those keys with you.

Key #1 – KNOW YOUR PURPOSE: it’s not just getting the job done!

A good leader is usually very committed to accomplishing the goal. That’s why it can be easy for them to slip into being more task-oriented than people-oriented. But, if you want a sure-fire recipe for getting feelings hurt on a ministry team, give that team a leader who sees the team members as just instruments to be used in achieving the team’s objectives. That’s why leaders need to be keenly aware that their major purpose is not accomplishing the task! There are, in fact, two other considerations that take precedence over the task itself. Here’s the first and most important of these:

1 Corinthians 10:31   Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

The #1 purpose in life of every believer is to glorify God. Everything I do should have the ultimate aim of letting my light so shine that people who observe my behavior won’t be able to help giving God glory for what they see in me (Matthew 5:13-16). What applies to all of us as individual Christians, certainly applies with double force to those in leadership. One of the primary roles of leaders in the church is to be examples to other believers
(1 Peter 5:2-3). So, if there is anything that church members should see in their leaders, it is our commitment to glorifying God in absolutely everything we do. Therefore, when it comes to the ministry team that has been entrusted to my care and guidance:

My primary purpose as a leader is to glorify God in the way I lead my team.

That comes before anything else. It is more important than anything else. Therefore, anything a ministry leader does toward helping the team achieve its goals must be done in a way that glorifies God. That means, for example, that some common secular methods of getting the results you want from workers are off the table from the beginning: manipulation, threats, outbursts of anger, sarcasm, etc. These certainly don’t glorify God, and Christian leaders should never, ever allow themselves to fall into employing them.

Jesus made it very clear how He expects believers to glorify God with one another and before the world:

John 13:34-35   A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

As a ministry leader, my #1 goal should be to exemplify and model and stir up Christ-like love among the members of my team, so that they are blessed and God is glorified by their participation on the team. Even when confrontation is necessary (and that is a part of the leader’s role), I am committed to “speaking the truth in love” so that whatever the outcome, neither I nor team members ever lose sight of our brotherly love for one another.

The second consideration that takes precedence over accomplishing the task is embodied in the apostle Paul’s description of why God placed various leaders in the church:

Ephesians 4:11-15   And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ.

Paul says that the purpose of the leadership God has given the church is to edify (instruct, train, develop, build up) the body of believers so that mature disciples of Jesus Christ are produced as a result. Whatever may be the specific ministry objectives a leader has, the ultimate goal is making and strengthening disciples. I believe this applies to every leader at every level in the church.

My second purpose as a leader is to help team members grow as disciples of Christ.

That means that as a ministry leader I cannot just focus on how a team member’s gifts and skills can help achieve the team’s goals. I must also, as a priority, consider how to help that person grow spiritually through their membership on the team. In a very real way, every ministry leader must be a pastor to the members of their team.

Now that I know that my purpose as a leader is first to glorify God, and then to minister to members of my team so as to help them mature in Christ, the next question is: how does that work out in practice? Here are a few practical implications.

1. Always treat team members with respect (honor) and love – they are of much more importance than the task. (1 Peter 2:17; 1 Corinthians 13). This requires much patience, especially when performance falls short of expectations  (Proverbs 19:11, NIV).

2. Always build team members up, never tear them down – words that tear down will cause hurt feelings (Proverbs 15:4).

3. Always maintain a positive attitude toward team members– your “merry heart” (or lack thereof) will affect their spirits (Proverbs 17:22).

4. Never throw a team member under the bus– the leader does not publicize team members’ shortcomings, but allows himself or herself to be the target of any arrows (blame) when the team does not accomplish its goals (Proverbs 10:12; 11:13).

5.  Make a deliberate and conscious effort to be a godly role model– determine to demonstrate to your team how a mature believer glorifies God in the way they handle the issues they observe you dealing with (Hebrews 13:7). And by the way, this includes providing them an example of how you recover when you mess up! (1 John 1:9).

In reality, if a leader just understands and abides by the priorities of glorifying God and ministering to team members, they will have already gone a long way toward doing all they can to avoid hurting people’s feelings. But, there is more to come!

– Ron Franklin

What do you think?

Next key to preventing hurt feelings: KNOW YOUR GOAL

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God, The Creator

Posted on May 28, 2012 by ronelfran

Up until this point in our study of God, we have relied on information from the Bible that we have accepted by faith. For example, we know that Yahweh is God’s personal name only because, as the children’s Sunday School song says, “the Bible tells us so.” As we will see later in our study, there are very good reasons for believing that the information given to us in the Bible is reliable. But in the end, much of it is information that cannot be verified by other means, and therefore must be received by faith.

At this point, however, we are going to turn from faith to physics. The information we want to deal with now consists of facts that have been deduced and verified by scientific observation. Here is a concise, ten word statement of what this evidence indicates:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

That’s physics? Absolutely! The statement is, of course, the very first sentence in the Bible, recorded in Genesis 1:1. But we present it here not as a theological declaration , but a scientific one. Why scientific?

In 1929 astronomer Edwin Hubble (for whom the Hubble space telescope is named) initiated a revolution in astrophysics when he verified that the universe is expanding. His observations, now called Hubble’s law, demonstrate that every astronomical object in the universe is moving away from every other object. It’s the same effect you would see if you tossed a stone into a pond of still water, then observed the wavelets as they rippled outward. Each specific point on a wave is moving away from every other point on the wave as it expands further and further from its origin.

The importance of Hubble’s law is that it indicates that all the objects in the physical universe started their outward expansion from a single point, just as waves rippling outward reflect the point at which that stone you threw entered the water. In other words, Hubble’s observations of an expanding physical universe show conclusively that the universe had a beginning. Known as the Big Bang, this explosive commencement of the universe at a specific point in time and space is now universally accepted as scientific fact that no one disputes.

Further observations, including calculations of the rate of the expansion, and the total amount of matter in the universe, indicate that it will continue to expand forever, rather than eventually falling back in on itself and starting the whole process over again.[1]

So the scientific evidence shows that the universe not only had a beginning, but its beginning was a single, unique, one-time event that has never been, and never will be repeated. Here is how one scientific paper published in “Scientific American” [2] and indexed in The Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System [3] describes that event:

“The universe began from a state of infinite density. Space and time were created in that event and so was all the matter in the universe.”

The fact that the universe began from a state of infinite density is extremely significant. The formula for calculating density is

ρ = m / V, where ρ is density, m is mass, and V is volume.

For the value of ρ to be infinite requires that the volume, V, be zero. Thus, at the time of its creation, the universe had zero volume, which means zero size. There was nothing there! So, not only was the universe created, it was created out of nothing.

Remember, all this is physics, not theology. But it leads to an inescapable theological conclusion. We know from physics that something that does not exist cannot just spring into existence on its own. Thus, the fact that the universe was created out of nothing requires that there be a Creator. And since the universe could not create itself, this Creator had to be an entity that was outside of the universe and able to take action to bring it into existence.

Here’s where we move from the scientific to the theological: let’s agree to call that creative entity God. Thomas Aquinas called Him the “uncaused cause” of the existence of the universe. And that is exactly who He is.

So, Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,”  is simply a statement of scientific fact. But it is more than that. It is also God’s self-identification that totally separates Him from all the other deities that people have ever believed in. He is the Creator, a role that no other “god” can claim; there is none like Him.

Isaiah 40:25-28 “To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my just claim is passed over by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

So, now we know God not only as Yahweh, the great “I AM,” but also as God the Creator, at whose word the entire universe sprang into existence. What a mighty God we serve!

– Ron Franklin

What do you think?

Notes:

[1] See “The Ultimate Question of Origins: God and the Beginning of the Universe” by Dr. William Lane Craig, Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology. He sums up the scientific evidence this way:
The absolute origin of the universe, of all matter and energy, even of physical space and time themselves, in the Big Bang singularity contradicts the perennial naturalistic assumption that the universe has always existed. One after another, models designed to avert the initial cosmological singularity–the Steady State model, the Oscillating model, Vacuum Fluctuation models–have come and gone. Current quantum gravity models, such as the Hartle-Hawking model and the Vilenkin model, must appeal to the physically unintelligible and metaphysically dubious device of “imaginary time” to avoid the universe’s beginning. The contingency implied by an absolute beginning ex nihilo points to a transcendent cause of the universe beyond space and time. Philosophical objections to a cause of the universe fail to carry conviction.
[2] J. Richard Gott III, James E. Gunn, David N. Schramm, Beatrice M. Tinsley, “Will the Universe Expand Forever’?” Scientific American, March 1976, p. 65. This article is a popular rewrite of their article, “An Unbound Universe?” Astrophysical Journal 194 (1974): 543-53.
[3] Here is the abstract of this article in The Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System:
The evidence for an expansion of the universe is examined, taking into account aspects of isotropic expansion, the concept of the big bang, and questions regarding the gravitational interactions of the components of the universe. Questions concerning the correspondence of the universe to either an ‘open’ or a ‘closed’ model are investigated. If the expansion continues perpetually, the universe is said to be ‘open’. In a ‘closed’ universe the expansion will stop at some time and reverse direction. Attention is given to aspects of gravitational deceleration, the geometry of space, approaches for measuring deceleration, the age of the universe, the average density, primeval density, and plausible cosmological models. It is concluded that the various factors considered strongly support the concept of a universe which will expand forever.

<<What is God’s Name?

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What is God’s Name?

Posted on May 22, 2012 by ronelfran

Did you know that God has a name? Many Christians have never even thought about that question. If you were to ask them what God’s name is, their reply would probably be something along the lines of, “His name is God, of course!”

Actually, for a Christian to think God’s name is “God” is like a 2-year believing that his father’s name is “Daddy.” When you were that age, the idea that “daddy” had an actual name, like Robert or Adam or Sam, probably hadn’t seeped into your mind yet. Well, just as your father is not really named “Daddy,” the Bible tells us that our heavenly Father is not named “God.”

Moses was the first person to learn God’s real name. He lived in a time when people typically thought there were many gods, each of them reigning over a particular nation or people. When he was given the mission of delivering God’s people from slavery in Egypt, Moses knew that the Israelites would demand to know which God he represented before they would follow him. But he didn’t know what to tell them. So, being a direct kind of fellow, he took the simplest route out of his dilemma – he asked God what His name was.

Exodus 3:13-15    Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14  And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” 15  Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’

There is a lot packed into these verses! A lot of awe and wonder; but also, even today, a lot of mystery as well. So let’s look step-by-step at God’s answer to Moses.

“I AM WHO I AM”

The wonder starts with the very first thing God told Moses, an incredibly profound statement about God’s own nature. “I AM WHO I AM” (Hebrew: “ehyeh asher ehyeh”). If you are anything like me, you are already having difficulty wrapping your brain around exactly what that means. Scholars are agreed that it is a statement of the absolute self-existence of God. He is simply Himself, not in any way dependent on anything else.
19th century Scottish minister Alexander Maclaren put it this way:

He says, “I AM THAT I AM.” All other creatures are links; this is the staple from which they all hang. All other being is derived, and therefore limited and changeful; this being is underived, absolute, self-dependent, and therefore unalterable forevermore.

To me, in this crisp three-word statement, God is letting us know that He is not like anything else. The moment you say, “God is like …” you have already misspoken. We can’t categorize or catalog or compare Him to anything else. We cannot define Him. All we can do is to receive and seek to understand, with awe and reverence, what He chooses to reveal of Himself.

“I AM”

The Hebrew word translated “I AM” is ehyeh. It is a very rare word in Scripture, occurring only here in Exodus 3:14, and in Hosea 1:9. Scholars are still unsure of where the name ehyeh came from, but most believe it is derived from the Hebrew verb hayah, which means “to be.”  Therefore ehyeh, or “I AM” is seen to refer to God’s timelessness. By naming Himself “I AM,” God is letting us know that He is not a being trapped in time, as we are, with a beginning and an end. Rather He is the inventor of time, and totally outside of it. No beginning, no end. He simply and always IS.

Yahweh (Jehovah)

In verse 14 God instructed Moses to tell the children of Israel that “I AM” had sent him. But in verse 15, God commands Moses to tell the Israelites that “The Lord” sent him, and goes on to say, “This is My name forever.” The word translated in most Bibles as “The Lord” is not ehyeh, but a word that is much more widely used in Scripture: YHWH. (Ancient Hebrew was written using only consonants). This, God says, is His name. So …

The personal name by which God is known throughout the Hebrew Bible is YHWH.

Ready for some more mystery? No one really knows how YHWH should be pronounced, because from ancient times devout Jews wouldn’t pronounce it. They believed that the surest way to observe the commandment to not speak the name of God in vain was to not speak it at all. So, the tradition arose that whenever God’s name, YHWH, appeared in the reading of Scripture, the word Adonai (“Lord”) was spoken in its place. Later, when vowels were added to written Hebrew, YHWH was written using the vowel sounds of Adonai. The result is the pronunciation most often used today, Yahweh.

This substitution of “Lord” for the personal name of God is still honored in our modern Bibles. In most translations, where YHWH appears in the original Hebrew text, you will see “the LORD” (in small capital letters) in the English text. Where Adonai appears in the original, “Lord” is used in English. And when Adonai and YHWH appear together, as they do 310 times in the Bible, that combination is rendered in English as “the LORD God,” thus avoiding the awkwardness of “the Lord, LORD.”

By the way, because it consists of four consonants, YHWH is called the Tetragrammaton, from a Greek word that means, oddly enough, “having four letters.”

Much of the most influential biblical scholarship of the past several centuries was done by German scholars. In that language the Tetragrammaton is written JHWH, and pronounced “Jehova.” So, when YHWH was imported into English by way of German, the pronunciation “Jehovah” also entered the language.  “Jehovah” then, is simply the German/English way of saying Yahweh.

The meaning of Yahweh

Obviously, God didn’t answer Moses’ question about His name one way in verse 14 (ehyeh), and an entirely different way in verse 15 (YHWH). These two renderings of His name must be closely linked in some way. Well, just as they are still unsure of where ehyeh came from, scholars are still pulling their hair out trying to figure out where YHWH comes from. YHWH and ehyeh are etymologically closely related, and both essentially mean “I AM.” So, what’s the difference? Here’s the way I look at it:

My name is Ronald. In its Gaelic or Scottish roots, it “means one who rules with counsel.” I don’t know whether my parents chose that name because they hoped it would be an accurate description of the person I would become, but let’s assume that they did. Let’s assume also that their prediction came true, and I am indeed one who rules with counsel. Thus, “Ronald” and “one who rules with counsel” are equivalent terms that signify who I am. However, please believe me that I don’t go around introducing myself as “one who rules with counsel.” My personal name is Ronald, and that is the name by which I am known. But if my name accurately reflects who I am, then when you hear “Ronald” it should remind you that the possessor of that name is “one who rules with counsel.”

That’s how I see the relationship between ehyeh and YHWH. Ehyeh is rarely used in Scripture, but its meaning is fully embodied in YHWH, which is the most common designation for God in the whole Bible. In other words, God doesn’t introduce Himself to us as ehyeh, but He wants us to think “I AM” whenever we speak of YHWH, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, or The LORD.

Jesus, the I AM!

One of my favorite episodes in Scripture occurs when Jesus applies God’s name to Himself so neatly and effectively that it almost got Him stoned. Some of the people were chiding Him about His claim to represent God. They even accused Him of having a demon. Jesus put that lie to rest with just two impactful words.

John 8:56-59    Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” 57  Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” 58  Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was,
I AM.” 59  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Did you catch what Jesus did? He didn’t say, “before Abraham was, I was.” That in itself would have been an amazing statement for Him to make. And it would have been the appropriate grammatical construction (“before Abraham was, I was”) for making what was essentially a claim to immortality. But Jesus took it so much further than that. “Before Abraham was, I AM.” His words in Greek (Ego eimi), are in the present tense, signifying boundless, continuous existence. He was not saying that His beginning was before Abraham’s beginning. In those two words, “I AM,” Jesus proclaimed that He had no beginning and would have no end, and took upon Himself the very name of God. It was, of course, a declaration that He is God. And the crowd understood exactly what He was saying. Since they didn’t believe He was God, they heard His words as the rankest blasphemy, and took up stones to kill Him.

So, now you know that God’s own, personal name is YHWH, or Yahweh. It is, as He told Moses, His name forever. And we should forever celebrate that name. For He is indeed, the great I AM!

– Ron Franklin

What do you think?

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About This Blog

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ronelfran

Welcome to The Word In Life! This blog is about the practical understanding and application of Scripture in everyday life. Come along as we explore God’s written word together.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is quoted from the New King James Version (NKJV).

Ron Franklin

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Getting To Know God

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ronelfran

Who is God? If God really is the creator and ruler of the universe, then there is no more important question that could be asked. The Bible puts it this way:

Proverbs 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.   

So, for a Christian, or for anyone considering becoming one, getting to know God is priority number one. But how do we go about it? Where do you go, or who do you ask to get reliable information about God? This is something to be very careful about, because there are many people who have all kinds of ideas about God that they would like you to believe. But what we need is information that is reliably accurate. Think about this:

What do you know about me? What kinds of food do I like? What activities do I find enjoyable? Before I was married, what kind of woman did I want as my wife? (By the way, I got her!). Would I rather relax by reading a book or by playing the piano?

How would you go about getting reliably accurate answers to such questions? There is only one way – you need to get the answers from me. Even the people who are closest to me, like my wife, Priscilla, can only know me by what I, myself, reveal to them by my words and my behavior. There is no way that just by hearing my name, you can figure out what kind of person I am. And in the same way, there is no way that just by hearing the name, God, you can figure out what kind of Person He is. We can only know about God what He Himself chooses to reveal to us.

That’s what the Bible is all about. It is the divinely inspired book in which God tells us things about Himself that we could find out in no other way. So, it is to the Bible that we must go in order to get to know God. (We’ll see later why we can know that the Bible is indeed God’s written revelation of Himself.)

Ways God Reveals Himself

The Bible tells us that God reveals Himself to humankind in three different ways: in creation, in the Bible, and most importantly, by His Son, Jesus. We’ll deal with the first two here, and talk about the third later. Let’s see how God reveals Himself through creation.

Psalms 19:1-3    The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.  2  Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.  3  There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.

The first and easiest way to know about God is just to look up! The majesty of the sun, moon, planets and stars reflects the majesty of the One who set them in their places. The intricate complexity and purposeful order that we see in all of creation leaves us in no doubt that there had to be a Creator. It doesn’t matter what nationality a person may be, or what language they speak, or when they live in history. No one can escape the evidence of God’s wisdom and power in creation. In fact, the Bible has a precise, technical designation for anyone who can look at creation and not acknowledge the Creator:

Psalms 14:1    The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” …

There is, the Bible declares, simply no excuse for anyone not to acknowledge God.

Romans 1:18-20    For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,  19  because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.  20  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

So, the first way that God reveals Himself, so that no one can miss it, is through the majesty and intricacy of His creation.

The second way God reveals Himself is the Bible itself. Creation reveals the existence of the creator God, but cannot by itself tell us with any precision about most of His attributes and how He purposes to deal with humankind. That’s why God caused the Bible to be written. It is His detailed, written revelation of Himself, and how He wants us to relate to Him.

2 Timothy 3:16    All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

John 20:31    but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

So, as we go forward in getting to know God, and understanding the foundations of the Christian faith, the Bible will be our guidebook. Our purpose will not be to try to figure God out, or to air anybody’s opinions about Him, but to see and understand what He says in His own book about who He is and how He wants to relate to humankind. And believe me, what God has to say is fascinating!

– Ron Franklin

Next:  How does God identify Himself?  

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Should Christians Plan?

Posted on May 9, 2012 by ronelfran

The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.      Proverbs 21:5 (NKJV) With many Christians, planning has a bad name. Some think that if they make plans concerning … Continue reading →

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