A Question For This Sunday's Lecture

Rob did a great job handling a tough passage this past week. He addressed the interplay between faith and works and how James' teaching relates to Paul's on Justification. Some people have argued (I think convincingly) that James was writing his section on faith and works in order to combat false teaching on the topic. The idea is that some people had taken Paul's teaching of faith alone by grace alone and twisted it to teach antinomianism (literally "lawlessness - the idea you can pray a prayer and then live however you want and it doesn't matter). Since Paul's letters had not been written yet, it's easy to see how quickly his teaching could have been twisted in such a way. Therefore some people think (myself included) that James was writing (even before Paul's stuff was in "print") to correct some people who were twisting Paul's "oral" teaching. He firmly reminded them that true faith results in works (as Rob taught last week).

SO HERE'S THE QUESTION:

This Sunday we're going to be adressing the first half of chapter 3 where James talks about the tongue. However, in James 3:1 he says "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment." If he's been teaching on faith and works, and he's going to be speaking about the tongue, why in the world does he bring up teachers in 3:1? Look at the passage in context and post what you think under the comments section. I'll respond to what you put and we'll discuss it in greater detail in class.

Some Pictures from Sunday's Class

Here's a shot of Rob teaching.

Speaking of Rob's teaching, notice the guy on the right who's deep in "prayer" for Rob.

And here's the one you've all been waiting for. wow :-)

Some Thoughts on the Resurrection

I just finished (about an hour and a half ago) preaching a message on 4 observations concerning the significance of the resurrection. My topic was selected, in large measure, as a result of a friends recent post a little while back bemoaning the minimization of Easter in many evangelical churches. It is only in recent years that I have come to have a better appreciation for the significance of the resurrection and so I thought others might benefit from some of my reflections.

I manuscripted my first point in order to help clarify my own thinking. My first observation was that the Resurrection Vindicated Jesus; it's basically devotional reflections on Romans 1:4. I know it's not on James, but since we're in between lessons and none of you were in with the adults, I'm including that first point below and offer it for your encouragement and meditation. Happy Easter!

The Resurrection Vindicated Jesus

To be sure, the resurrection vindicated Jesus, in the sense that it showed He was Who He said He was. The resurrection was the fulfillment of prophecy, especially Jesus’ own prophecy concerning Himself. John 2:18-22 So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?" ¹⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." ²⁰ Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" ²¹ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. ²² Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.” However, the resurrection did more than just demonstrate that He meant what He said and that His prophecies were fulfilled. Listen to the opening words of the book of Romans - Romans 1:1-4 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God ² which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, ³ concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, ⁴ and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Here the resurrection makes plain that Jesus is the Son of God. Does this imply that He was not the son of God previously? Certainly not. Rather, He has by the resurrection been declared, or that word could also be translated “appointed” the Son of God WITH POWER. During the incarnation, we understand that Jesus humbled Himself taking on the form of a servant. With the resurrection He has been appointed to a new status (for lack of a better term). Having been glorified He is no longer the humble servant but now the exalted King. At the beginning of this verse, Paul describes Him as Jesus Christ our Lord. Let me digress for just a moment. This is a phrase we often take for granted to the point that I think we may fail to see its significance. First of all we need to get a hold of the name Jesus Christ. Christ is not His surname, like Nate MIHELIS. Furthermore, it is not as if Jesus is His human name and Christ, His divine moniker. No, the term Christ is a transliteration of the Greek christos which means “anointed one” or messiah. Likewise, lord is not a title that should be taken lightly, sort of like “sir” or “mr.” No, lord was a term used to speak of the emperor, as in “Caesar is lord.” So what do you get when you put it all together? Paul is explicitly saying, the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus the Messiah is King.” After all, this is what Paul and his companions where accused of in Thessalonica. Right after the rulers of the city accused them of turning the world upside down, they charged them with these words: Acts 17:7 “…these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king -- Jesus." Paul’s message is clear: Jesus the Messiah is King and He brooks no rivals!” That’s quite a statement. It’s the kind of statement that changes the course of history. Are you starting to see why the resurrection is so significant?

I know it was long, but any thoughts?

Anybody Out There?

Welcome to our first post. Since we're going to be discussing how all this works in class on Sunday 4/9 this post won't have any theological discussion. Instead, it's an opportunity for you to get your feet wet and get a feel for how blogging works (especially the comment section). So, if you found this website alright, click on the comment section and leave a sentence or two to let us know you made it. Your comments will show up as "Anonymous" so MAKE SURE to leave your name at the bottom. If you accidentally post a comment and forget to put your name, post another comment and add the correction. Unidentified comments will be deleted.