Host a "Surrendered Life" Event at Your Church

Connie Goncin

You can host a "Surrendered Life" event at your church. Connie Goncin will share her amazing testimony of how God rescued her out of darkness and into His light (see "A Wild Weed Finds a Home In the Garden of God").

Sue Anderson will follow up with her clear, excellent teachings on "Living Out of Your Identity in Christ" (See the video clip above).

Sue writes: "I have a passionate desire for Christians to know the finished work of Christ in their lives. To know they are a New Creation and the old has passed. My heart is to equip them to never give life circumstances, or the enemy, a voice in determining their identity and relationship with God. We are to run this race well living in faith and relationship with our Heavenly Father showing the world His love."  

Sue and Connie are from my church. We hosted a "Surrendered Life" evening this fall, and it was powerful and beautiful!

To inquire about having a "Surrendered Life" event at your church please contact:

Dr. John Piippo

734-242-5277

johnpiippo@msn.com

The Long Ages of the Patriarchs in Genesis 5

John Goldingay (Fuller Theological Seminary) is one of our greatest Old Testament scholars. In his Genesis for Everyone book Goldingay gives a suggestion about how to interpret the long ages of the patriarchs mentioned in Genesis chapter 5. For example, all the days that Adam lived came to 930 years.

Remember the importance, in interpreting any text, of identifying the literary genres involved.

Goldingay writes:

"We do not really know how to interpret their ages. With big numbers in the Old Testament, more “realistic” numbers may have come to be misunderstood; perhaps an earlier version of this family history had more realistic numbers. But something is going on here beyond simply the ascribing of preternaturally long lives to people; these men don’t even father their first child until they reach the kind of age when we would expect them to die or to be well past fathering. (There are Middle Eastern records that give much more wildly unrealistic numbers for the ages of various kings.) 

Whatever their background, the numbers as they appear in Genesis suggest something striking. Adam lives to be 930; Seth, to be 912; Enosh, to be 905; Kenan, to be 910; Mahalel, to be a mere 895; but Jared, to be 962. Now, when I hear of someone who lived until they were 99, I am inclined to think, “Oh what a shame she didn’t live until she was 100.” There is something about that magic number. In Genesis 5, the magic number is 1000 (compare the millennium in Revelation 20). But no one quite makes it. We will soon read of the famous Methuselah, who almost did; he reached 969. But he, too, died before reaching the magic number. The impression that the numbers are significant will be confirmed by two others that come in Genesis 5: 21– 31. Enoch lives 365 years, the number of days in a year; he indeed realizes a full life. Lamech lives 777 years, another number of completeness. As the number of days in the week, seven stands for completeness, so 777 suggests three times completeness (contrast 666, the number of the beast in Revelation 13: 17– 18)."

- John Goldingay, Genesis for Everyone: Part 1 Chapters 1-16, p. 86.

IN MY TORAH CLASS at Redeemer Sunday night I will...

1.   Teach how ancient Israel was a hearing-dominant culture, which means we have to think differently about “books” and “authors” in the ancient world.

2. Explain how Genesis 1 is to be understood as a Temple story, and what the words “God rested” mean.

3. Give the answer to “Who were the Nephilim in Genesis 6?”

4. Show a 3-minute video from N. T. Wright on how to interpret ancient texts.
5. Explain the old ages of the people in Genesis 5.

6.Have a lot of fun doing all of this and some more from Genesis 1-11!

Suffering In the Believer and the Church's Response, by Lisa Dubois

Our dear friend and sister in Christ Lisa Dubois died on Tuesday, August 16. She was 48. At age 21 she was hit with cancer - Hodgkin's lymphoma. She lived 27 years with this cancer, having many treatments, going in and out of remission, and finally, around 2004, refusing any medical treatment and trusting in God. 

But Lisa lived as if she did not have cancer. People who met or hung around Lisa would not necessarily know of her struggle. This cancer, for Lisa, was an unwanted enemy, and she refused to acknowledge that it had any power or influence over her. Her excellent physician at the University of Michigan Medical Center, Dr. Henry, told Lisa and her husband Marty that she lived way beyond what would normally be expected of someone with untreated stage 4 cancer.

Before Lisa died I asked her to put together thoughts we've talked about on faith and suffering. Here is her essay. Thank you Lisa for writing this! Linda and I and many in our Redeemer family have rarely seen such trust, faith, hope, and joy in the midst of suffering. We are, and remain, deeply inspired and encouraged by Christ in Lisa, the hope of glory.



*****

 
SUFFERING IN THE BELIEVER AND THE CHURCH'S RESPONSE
 
By Lisa Dubois


I have observed, in my own experience in the body of Christ, as believers in Jesus and students of the Holy Bible, that we understand suffering to be part of our Christian walk. There are many scriptures that point to this. Some include:

1. Christ was made perfect through suffering.

• Heb 2:10 - In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

2. Suffering disgrace made the disciples counted as “worthy.”

• Acts 5:41 - The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
• 2 Thess. 1:5 - All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

3. Suffering produces perseverance, character and hope.

• Rom. 5:3-5 - Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

4. Painful trials should not surprise Believers…

• I Pet 4:12 - Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.

5. Sharing in His sufferings is part of being a child of God.

• Rom 8: 17-18 - Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
• 2 Cor 1:5 - For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

6. A believer’s suffering may be for the benefit of others.

• 2 Cor 1: 6-7 - If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
• Eph 3:13 - I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

7. Our response to participating in Christ’s sufferings is to rejoice.

• I Pet 4:13 - But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

8. God’s glory is revealed in our suffering.

• 2 Cor. 4:6 - 2 Cor.5:7

9. Paul wanted to “fellowship” in Christ’s sufferings even becoming like Him in death.

• Phil 3:10 - I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

Christ’s sufferings were not limited to those of persecution. He suffered betrayal, rejection, loneliness, fear, physical pain, grief, loss, hunger, lack of sleep, all manner of temptations, etc. As believers, and as humans, we suffer many of these things as well.

Our suffering may originate from different sources than those of Christ’s sufferings. For example, betrayal may come to a believer through the unfaithfulness of a spouse. Rejection may come from a parent who disowns their child. Physical pain may come from a disease brought on by demons or an injury.

In my own personal experience, I give over all my sufferings/circumstances to Him. I desire to “fellowship” with Him in my sufferings. I seek first His possible greater purpose for my current suffering. (Romans 8:28-29: And, we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.) Is the Lord wanting to conform me to the likeness of Christ as in Roman’s 8:29 above? If He does not appear to be in my current sufferings, then I am the first to be rid of them! But my initial response to any suffering is: to submit it to the Lord.

As part of the greater body of Christ, it appears to me that most Christians’ first response to an individual’s suffering is to “pray away the suffering.” That is, to rebuke devils, to pray for immediate physical healing, to pray for persecuting bosses to cease or new jobs to be found, to pray for grief to lift, or for sadness to leave, etc. As the body of Christ, are we praying against the Lord’s will in some of these circumstances— perhaps against His “timing?” Think of the person who has been prayed for countless times and the Lord has not healed them of their grief or despair or physical pain. What does this cause them to believe? Perhaps, as a result, they feel more isolated and lonely. They may feel there is something really wrong with them. They may even begin to feel rejected by God. When we have an expectation that God does not want any suffering to linger in our lives, we may be setting people up for further harm.

How wonderful for me it has been to have fellow believers to come along side me in my own sufferings and walk with me in the perseverance of the faith, encouraging me with hope and comforting me in pain—without an expectation of immediate release or showing impatience with the lack of progress.

Many years ago several lady friends and I spent much time together praying for our troubled marital relationships. Each of us was “suffering.” We spent time being with one another, encouraging one another, shaping (“perfecting”) ourselves in Christ, etc. We have all come out of it stronger in faith and as believers. I wonder what faith would look like, what the greater body of Christ would look like, if we applied a more moderate, patient, enduring, long - suffering approach to individual believer’s sufferings? I do think this does happen actually—but what seems most applauded and celebrated are the quick heals, the quick fixes--when God comes down and rocks our world with what only He can do.

I am not against God doing wonderful, miraculous, instant healings. I just think that, at times, it can be over-emphasized to the neglect of those whose sufferings are of the “long” suffering nature. It seems to me that there are many, many individuals in this category. What does the greater body, the Church of Christ, provide for them? Some believers will seek out their own support network. But I fear that other believers, perhaps younger ones, are left to feel isolated, rejected, lonely and perhaps defective. I have been seeking the Lord about what maybe He would have me do in this situation and I do hope He gives me an answer.

- Lisa Dubois

Je ne suis pas Charlie

In Somalia, protesters held placards reading, "I am Muslim and I love my Prophet."

If I call someone a &%$#^! and he murders me, we have two wrongs:

1. It is wrong to murder.
2. It is wrong to degrade people by calling them things like a "&%$#^!."

It is against the law to murder; it is not against the law to call people names and make fun of them. But both are examples of subhumanity. Both are immoral. Both are ineffective in making this world better.

I don't think governments should try to legislate all of morality. But humane, moral, loving people should self-legislate and not participate in hate-language. Hate-language breeds hatred. (See here, e.g., as the rage-war builds - grâce Charlie...)

This is why Je ne suis pas Charlie, and Je ne suis pas Isis.

Je veux être plus comme Jésus.

Detroit News Article on Chelsea Bruck (Missing Since Late October)

Go HERE. 

Dallas Willard on Breaking Free from Institutional Measures of Success

Dallas Willard's interview on measuring spiritual growth among Jesus-followers is prophetic and subversive. Here are some of the things Willard says:

• Many churches measure the wrong things, "like attendance and giving, but we should be looking at more fundamental things like anger, contempt, honesty, and the degree to which people are under the thumb of their lusts."
• Why don't many churches measure spiritual effectiveness by these things? Because these qualities are "not worth bragging about." "We'd rather focus on institutional measures of success."
• Not every Christian wants to be assessed by these spiritual things.
• Many people in today's American church are suffering, especially pastors and their families, because "much of North America and Europe has bought into a version of Christianity that does not include life in the kingdom of God as a disciple of Jesus Christ. They are trying to work a system that doesn't work. Without transformation within the church, pastors are the ones who get beat up. That is why there is a constant flood of them out of the pastorate. But they are not the only ones. New people are entering the church, but a lot are also leaving. Disappointed Christians fill the landscape because we've not taken discipleship seriously."
• Churches, and Jesus-followers, must change their definition of "success."
  "They need to have a vision of success rooted in spiritual terms, determined by the vitality of a pastor's own spiritual life and his capacity to pass that on to others. When pastors don't have rich spiritual lives with Christ, they become victimized by other models of success—models conveyed to them by their training, by their experience in the church, or just by our culture. They begin to think their job is managing a set of ministry activities and success is about getting more people to engage those activities. Pastors, and those they lead, need to be set free from that belief."

Tomorrow Morning at Redeemer I'm Preaching On...

1 John 5:14-15

A Response to Newsweek On the Bible

I did read Newsweek's crazy-ignorant, unscholarly, hate-filled article on the Bible - "The Bible: So Misunderstood It's a Sin." I thought about responding but I'm already doing a lot (teaching at seminary last week), and assumed scholars better than I would. And so it has happened. 

Newsweek has published a response from Dr. Michael Brown (PhD in ancient and Semitic languages, NYU). It's worth reading. Brown is a hundred times the scholar that the Newsweek writer is. Read it in its entirety and you'll learn a lot about the Bible and interpretation theory.

Here it is: "A Response to Newsweek On the Bible." And thanks to Newsweek for publishing this.

The Performance-Driven Church Isn't Relevant

Jesus-follower and millenial Rachel Held Evans writes on why many of her her fellow millenials are leaving the Church. I'm with her on this. Evans says:

"Time and again, the assumption among Christian leaders, and evangelical leaders in particular, is that the key to drawing twenty-somethings back to church is simply to make a few style updates – edgier music, more casual services, a coffee shop in the fellowship hall, a pastor who wears skinny jeans, an updated Web site that includes online giving.

But here’s the thing: Having been advertised to our whole lives, we millennials have highly sensitive BS meters, and we’re not easily impressed with consumerism or performances.

In fact, I would argue that church-as-performance is just one more thing driving us away from the church, and evangelicalism in particular.

Many of us, myself included, are finding ourselves increasingly drawn to high church traditions – Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Episcopal Church, etc. –precisely because the ancient forms of liturgy seem so unpretentious, so unconcerned with being “cool,” and we find that refreshingly authentic.

What millennials really want from the church is not a change in style but a change in substance.

We want an end to the culture wars. We want a truce between science and faith. We want to be known for what we stand for, not what we are against.

We want to ask questions that don’t have predetermined answers.

We want churches that emphasize an allegiance to the kingdom of God over an allegiance to a single political party or a single nation."

To many who have left "church" the performance-driven, structured ambiance isn't relevant.