Rightly Dividing the Word?

We, as Southern Baptists, claim to be people of the book. Yet, I don’t feel that we always put the necessary work in when it comes to teaching and preaching from that book. I recently read two messages on the same passage from SBC pastors and neither one of them referred to the context in which the passage was written. There was no grammatical-historical work done on the text at all. I feel that is all too common in our denomination. When we fail to take into account the context and purpose for which a text was written, then we can make the text mean whatever we want it to mean.

I really think it is important for all believers to study biblical backgrounds to some extent. You will find that when you have at least a cursory understanding of the contexts in which Scripture was written, you will have a fuller picture and a deeper understanding of its meaning. One example of a text that is often preached free from its context is Hebrews 10:25 – “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Many of us have heard messages (or even taught them ourselves) from this passage about how important it is for us to be a part of a local church and for us to attend church on a regular basis. Now, I am not saying that is not a valid view, but does it do service to the intent of that verse? When we investigate the reason why this verse was written, we see a deeper (and more serious) understanding of this verse.

The book of Hebrews was written to encourage Jewish Christians to stay firm in their faith. They were being persecuted by other Jews because of their devotion to Jesus. They were tempted to return to full fledged Judaism. This isn’t just a message to lapsed Christians who preferred to sleep in on Sundays or to the person who says “I don’t need to go to church to be a good Christian.” To continue meeting together may have been costly for some of the recipients of this letter, but the writer of Hebrews was trying to tell them why it was so necessary for them to keep gathering, even in the face of this pressure.

One New Testament survey (Encountering the New Testament by Elwell and Yarborough) puts it this way:
“After initial courageous reception of the gospel in the face of bitter persecution (10:32-34), they must not throw away the high level of confidence they had attained (10:35). To stand firm is salvation; to shrink back would mean defeat and destruction (10:39).” The writer of Hebrews’ “central purpose is fairly elementary: Trust in the Lord and stand your ground” (349).

Our failure to seriously engage the Scriptures on a deep level was one of the biggest reasons for the 121 Forum. My hope is that we can show a generation of younger leaders (and older ones as well) that we Baptists in Missouri can be vigorous handlers of the Scriptures and that we can bring first century meaning to bear here in the twenty-first century.

Movements & Margins

We who call ourselves Evangelical Christians owe a great debt to Martin Luther. Luther, a Catholic monk who learned that the just shall live by faith rather than by religious behavior, led a Reformation. His impact demonstrates how movements often happen. Rarely if ever do spiritually renewing movements come from the center of a tradition; rather, most of the time movements start at the margins and bring life to the center. In Luther’s case a radical break had to occur because of the flawed soteriology (among other issues) of Catholicism. Luther began the communion that bears his name and the Lutheran church was born.

Before long, after a century or so, the Lutheran church became mired in institutionalism. Along came a young Lutheran priest named Philip Spener, who saw priests enjoying the benefits of being clergy without the concomitant passion for the gospel. He wrote a book called Pia Desideria in 1675 calling for a renewal, a Great Commission Resurgence if you will, in the Lutheran church.

Spener did not have a lot of demographic data to show him the need for a renewal in his time. His pastoral wisdom and insights from others observing the same thing was enough. Those in the center of Lutheranism did not jump on the idea of resurgence he called for in his book. In summary he called for these points of renewal:

1. A greater commitment to spread the Word of God (we might call this becoming more gospel-centered).
2. A renewed emphasis on the priesthood of all believers.
3. A greater focus given to the development of individual spiritual life.
4. Establishing truth not through disputes but through repentance and a holy life.
5. Candidates for the ministry should be genuine Christians, who have had spiritual training.
6. Sermons should not demonstrate the preacher’s erudition, but attempt to teach and edify.

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