A Theology of the Little Things

Our church, Cornerstone International, has recently begun a summer series in the book of 1 John. I had planned to kick off the study this past Sunday, 28 June, but had to hand over to another capable friend in the church due to the surprised early arrival of our son. Still, I have been reading and pondering the words in this first epistle of the 'beloved disciple', John. And, even more interesting is that, with the arrival of Caleb, God has already begun the teaching process in the first two weeks of his life, even using those ancient words of John.

Hey, could we expect anything less from our Father?!

So, what does 1 John and my son have to do with one another?

The passage that God has recently highlighted is the first verse of the whole letter:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. (1 John 1:1)

When we read this verse, it probably triggers in our mind the very first words of John's Gospel:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

Therefore, we can easily see that John is keen on communicating that Jesus is the one 'from the beginning'. Such a statement is one of eternality. Jesus, the divine Word, was with God and was God from the beginning.

And, even more, John says He is the 'word of life'. This phrase is beautiful in itself. But I've taken time to write about this title elsewhere, so I won't spend time on it here.

Therefore, getting back to the intent of this post - how 1 John 1:1 relates to my son.

No, I am not trying to claim that my son is the divine one who existed from the beginning. I'm not that crazy! But what I am noting is how God has spoken to me through this one verse and connected it to the care of my own son.

I am simply amazed that John pointed out how he and the other disciples go to hear, see, look upon and touch the divine Son. Can you imagine this? If we really ponder this kind of statement, there might be a moment where we receive tingles down our spine. It seems that the twelve did not really grasp everything prior to Christ's resurrection and pouring out of the Spirit, so I imagine that John was kind of pondering what they had been a part of and it absolutely blew Him away. He might even be thinking, 'If only we had realised it when we were with him those few years.'

I mean, come on. This is the eternal Word existing from the beginning. And they got to hear Him, see Him and touch Him. It's amazing that God would use such small intricate details in communicating Himself to humanity. But, for some, they believe that, if God is going to reveal Himself, it has to be in some esoteric, sixth sense, or out of body experience? That's the really spiritual stuff, right?

No. Frankly that doesn't seem to be the pattern of how God works. He is an incarnational One, and this is true even prior to Christ. We see God's presence in the angel of the Lord, the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, the tabernacle and temple where God chose to dwell, and so many other 'incarnational appearances' of the Almighty. It seems that Scripture testifies that God wants to be with His people. Sure, such apperances are veiled. But that's a good thing, since, if we saw Him in all His glory, we would keel over and die (check out Exodus 33:20). Yet, the final words of the Bible conclude that God's consummating desire is that He dwell among His people (see Revelation 21:1-4).

And, so, God re-impressed upon my heart the reality that He is in the small things, even the smallest of the small. You wouldn't think that such things as hearing, seeing or touching another would be important, but they are.

So, here I find myself listening to the gurgles and cries of my son, looking upon his face in wonderment, touching his soft skin, and I'm thinking, 'If John was correct in those first words of his letter, then this stuff is really spiritual. This is truly divine.'

Now, contrary to such beautiful truth, I can easily find myself losing focus and forgetting about the wonderment of listening, looking upon and touching our son. Many times, I want to change his diaper rather quickly, breaking the previous time record. Or I hope it only takes 5 or 10 minutes to rock him to sleep this time, rather than have to walk around the entire apartment for a good 30 minutes. But such chips away at the divine blessing of being fully present with my son in all of my senses, enjoying the sounds, sights and touch of this little one.

Some theologians have noted that, in his letter, John might have been combating the early seeds of gnosticism. Such a dualistic philosophy desires to divide the material from the spiritual. Therefore, they were the greatest proponents of the sacred-secular split. God is all about the spiritual, but He is not too interested in the physical. And you can see how this philosophy has somewhat pervaded the church of the present day. But the opening words of John in his first epistle completely destroy such an unbiblical notion.

For God, there is no sacred-secular split. It all belongs to Him. As David poetically sang:

The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1)

And Paul even tells us that all of creation will one day be redeemed (Romans 8:19-23). It's not just about saving souls. It's about the restoration of all things (see also Acts 3:19-21).

Therefore, from the great prophetic utterances and miraculous healings to the planting of flowers and rocking your baby to sleep, all such actions invite our God to present with us. And, the thing is, He is already in our midst. It's just whether or not we are willing to recognise such.

I'm glad Jesus, the God-Man, let His followers listen to Him, look at Him and touch Him. And I am glad our Father still desires us today to be involved in the spiritual activity of using our five senses to His glory.

With the next diaper change, I don't want it to be a task to quickly complete so I can get back to the more 'important' things, whatever that might mean. I want to learn to revel in the privilege of such a divine and spiritual activity. And, hey, if Caleb is truly a gift from God, and I believe he most certainly is, then changing diapers can only be a very spiritual and godly activity. And remember, even Jesus would have had dirtied his diapers since he was fully human. Just ask Mary.

Therefore, we can be encouraged that God really does enjoy interacting with us in our real human activities. There is nothing too small for God to utilise in revealing His glory and grace and beauty and power. So, let us celebrate the small and the ordinary, for they are just as spiritual as the list of other things on our minds. And I think John is reminding us of such in those introductory words to his first letter.

Donald Miller's New Release

Most Christians, at least in America, are now aware of the present-day author, Donald Miller. Thus far, he has released four books with his most popular one being his first book, Blue Like Jazz, which is subtitled 'Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality'. Well, he has his newest and fifth book ready for release at the end of September 2009. It is entitled A Million Miles In A Thousand Years.

Miller resides in Portland, Oregon, which is specifically known for its non-religious culture. Therefore, he fits in quite well with the northwestern culture, since he would most likely be described as a post-modern, emerging church proponent. As the subtitle of his first work shows, Miller is one who is not too concerned with speaking 'Christianese'.

I always remember that one of the chapters in Blue Like Jazz was called Penguin Sex. He somehow made a parallel between penguins having sex and our spiritual journey in Christ. Then, in Searching For God Knows What, one chapter was entitled Santa Takes A Leak. One day, as a small boy, Miller was in the bathroom in a mall and Santa walked in to use the bathroom, or 'take a leak'. Yet, when Santa finished, he left without washing his hands. For a young child, this was a devastating discovery. And it was this experience that led down the inevitable path of finding out that Santa was not real (I hope I didn't spoil that for anyone reading).

You can see his desire to share 'nonreligious' thoughts.

Donald Miller is willing to share his thoughts as they come, but his thoughts usually come in a more journal-like fashion. Therefore, he is most popular amongst Christians in their twenties and thirties. And I suppose that even non-Christians find his writings interesting, since it doesn't come in a very 'religious' format, though I cannot substantiate his influence on non-Christians.

Still, sometimes his writings can get a little on my nerves, as it feels like he has to maintain that post-modern, emerging image. Therefore, it seems that, many times, he is not willing to just say things as they really are. He is quite keen on challenging the religious, and I appreciate that. But sometimes the nonreligious and non-discipled need to be challenged as well. Nevertheless, I do appreciate his writings (for I am in that 20's and 30's range). But sometimes I wish he would be a little more willing to ruffle a few feathers in the nonreligious sector as well.

My favourtie work of Miller's, thus far, is his second book, Searching For God Knows What. In all, I really appreciated that the book challenged me to be moved with greater compassion for the poor and disadvantaged. If anything, the Gospels outrightly report that Jesus found it much easier to spend time with the down and outs, the downtrodden and hurting. The book helped to open my heart and eyes to Jesus' heart for such people.

He has two other works: Through Painted Deserts, which simply describes his road trip from Texas to Oregon with his friend Paul; and To Own A Dragon in which Miller shares about growing up in life without a father.

So, Miller is due to have his new work released quite soon. An interesting note is that, if one would like, you can get a sneak preview of the book by downloading the first chapter here. On the 'title page' of the PDF document, one will find the disclaimer: Uncorrected Proof. So, there might be a few tweaks here and there in the finished work. But at least one can get an 8 or 9 page taste of the soon-to-be-released work.

I'm interested to check out the book soon.

Justification and the New Perspective

For theologians around the world, or at least the western world, most will be aware of the recent debate that has arisen between John Piper (pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, USA) and N.T. Wright (bishop of Durham, Church of England).

What is this debate?

It all has to do with the discussion surrounding the word justification from a Pauline perspective.

Unfortunately, to this point, I have not yet been able to do a great amount of study in regards to this theological discussion on justification. I desire to do so in the very near future. But for now, I believe I have begun to understand the general debate that has arisen in recent days. Therefore, I thought I might summarise some things as I even prepare to look more into the discussion myself.

The historic evangelical (and especially more reformed) view of justification is that it is mainly a legal term used to describe the act in which God imputes the righteousness of Christ to all believers through faith, this being made available through Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead. And this would be Piper's viewpoint on justification.

Yet, many are becoming more and more aware of N.T. Wright's challenges to such a view. Now, it is my understanding that Wright does believe that we, as God's people, have been given a righteous standing in Christ. So please don't think he has gone off on some works-oriented righteousness. But, Scot McKnight, author and religious studies professor, who has gone into great detail in regards to Wright's distinctive teaching on Pauline justification, says:

Wright has refashioned justification less in terms of personal conversion and more in terms of "who is in the people of God."

Therefore, it seems that N.T. Wright is trying to consider the proverbial 'bigger picture', or even a 'holistic view', in regards to justification. And he has looked to found such a view from a historical understanding of first-century Judaism and what Paul would have been combating in those early days of Christianity.

Scot McKnight has pointed out on his blog that this discussion did not actually start with in the past few years. Rather, it has only become popularised in the last few years. N.T. Wright has been discussing such a 'new', or 'fresh', perspective on justification for some 30 years now, but such a debate has only come about recently through the publication of John Piper's book, The Future of Justification: A Response To N.T. Wright, published in late 2007.

Here is a summary of the book's contents found in the product description on Amazon.com:

Wright's confidence that the church has gotten it wrong for 1,500 years, given his enormous influence, has set off warning bells for Christian leaders such as John Piper, a pastor and New Testament scholar. If Wright's framework for interpreting the New Testament text and his understanding of justification find a home in the church, not only could the doctrine of justification be distorted for generations to come, but the New Testament writers' original intent could be silenced. So Piper is sounding a crucial warning in this book, reminding all Christians to exercise great caution regarding "fresh" interpretations of the Bible and to hold fast to the biblical view of justification.

With the publishing of Piper's book, Wright felt it necessary to pen a response to Piper. His work, entitled Justification: God's Plan & Paul's Vision, was only recently released in 2009. And, just as a side note, it seems that neither Piper or Wright are being childish in their responses to one another, but they have rather looked to theologically debate the topic with integrity. This is a breath of fresh air to say the least.

Richard B. Hays, of Duke University, gave this review of Wright's recently published work:

For some time now, I have watched in puzzlement as some critics, imagining themselves as defenders of Paul's gospel, have derided Tom Wright as a dangerous betrayer of the Christian faith. In fact, Paul's gospel of God's reconciling, world-transforming grace has no more ardent and eloquent exponent in our time than Tom Wright. If his detractors read this book carefully, they will find themselves engaged in close exegesis of Paul's letters, and they will be challenged to join Wright in grappling with the deepest logic of Paul's message. Beyond slogans and caricatures of 'Lutheran readings' and 'the New Perspective,' the task we all face is to interpret these difficult, theologically generative letters afresh for our time. Wright's sweeping, incisive sketch of Paul's thought, set forward in this book, will help us all in that task.

But, interestingly enough, as I mentioned earlier, this debate on justification did not begin in recent years. It has actually been going on, at least in this form, for some 30 years. Scot McKnight details how the dispute has unraveled over the past three decades. He notes that there were mainly three theologians that preceded the current discussions, and McKnight lists the works of these three as worth reading in regards to the justification discussion.

First off, back in 1976, there was Krister Stendahl, who supposedly written only one chapter on the topic in his book, Paul Among Jews and Gentiles. McKnight summarises the intriguing chapter with these words:

Stendahl argued that the post-Reformation doctrine of justification was rooted, not so much in 1st Century Judaism or the apostle Paul, but the "introspective conscience of the West."

Next came E.P. Sanders with his instrumental volume, Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion. Scot McKnight goes so far as to call it the most influential book of the second half of the 20th century in regards to 1) understanding Judaism and 2) how to understand Christianity's relationship to Judaism in light of the first point. McKnight summarises E.P. Sanders work with these words:

Sanders argued that Luther imposed his complaints with Roman Catholicism upon Paul's complaints with Judaism. Sanders argued that Luther got it wrong and that Judaism was not a works-righteousness religion. It was instead a religion of what he called "covenantal nomism." The covenant got you into relationship with God and the law was given to maintain that relationship. Therefore, much of our reading of Paul since the Reformation has been wrong.

Next came the well-know theologian, James Dunn, who began using the now notorious phrase, 'the new perspective', though, still, McKnight reports that the phrase would have first been used by N.T. Wright in one of his lectures in 1978. Dunn's first work on the topic was Jesus, Paul and the Law, but he recently published a work in 2007, oddly enough, called The New Perspective on Paul.

Scot McKnight sums up Dunn's purpose in writing:

Paul was against the boundary-marking characteristic of Judaism that kept Gentiles out, and that Paul's mission was to get Gentiles into the one covenant God had made with Israel.

Then, and only then, did N.T. Wright really come into play as the major modern-day proponent for the 'new perspective on Paul'. But seeing the brief history above, we see that this is not all that new. The discussion is not old, but it isn't new either. But, as I pointed out, it is through Wright and Piper's more recent writings that the discussion has become popularised within Christianity.

Interestingly enough, Christianity Today has recently published an article summarising the debate between Piper and Wright. It is quite a helpful summary in regards to the debate, breaking it down into seven main focal points:

• The Problem (pointing to sin/the Fall)
• The Law
• God's Righteousness
• First-Century Judaism
• The Gospel
• How This Happens (how justification happens)
• Future Justification
  

The article, originally compiled by Trevin Wax, looks to faithfully summarise both Piper's and Wright's views in regards to these seven points. Wax even notes on his blog:

Please note that both John Piper and N.T. Wright looked over my work and made some slight revisions regarding their respective summaries.

Therefore, we can be assured this is a very helpful summary of each view. In the article, you will notice that both Piper and Wright have similar views in regards to some of these areas, for example, their views on Future Justification seemed quite comparable. But you will notice distinct differences in the debate in such areas as The Law, God's Righteousness, First Century Judaism and The Gospel.

The above article posted at Christianity Today is somewhat brief, but if you are interested in a more in depth analysis of the discussion, then I would encourage you to check out Scot McKnight's articles, as he has now posted 20 articles over the past two months. Here is the link to the first article and here is a link to the rest of the series.

As I said above, I have yet to personally undertake an in depth study of this debate on the new perspective of Paul, though I have briefly tried to keep up on some the more recent thoughts on the topic. But it is my desire to take up such a study in the near future. And, thanks to McKnight, the reading list for the discussion has just expanded by three authors. (I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing!)

So, if you have been interested in undertaking such a study on the 'new perspective', I hope you have found this summary post and subsequent links helpful. If you are aware of other important works for the discussion, please feel free to leave comments and/or links.

The Naming of Our Son

As I wrote in my last article, our first child was born to us on 21 June 2009, Father's Day in both America and the UK (I'm from the US and my wife is from England).

His name: Caleb Benjamin Lencke.

It's always interesting to hear how the naming of a child comes about. Some name their children with names that have been in the family for generations. Others name their children with a more unique and original sounding name, which can become fascinating. And, of course, there are a plethora of other reasons. None are invalid, but just a variety of ways we come to name our children.

I wanted to share how we came to the name our son Caleb Benjamin.

It was quite ironic that Cat and I always had a girl's name in mind when it came to children. For some reason it was just a little easier. But with a boy's name, it was much more difficult. It took us a few months to really come to a conclusion. I had prayed a few times that, if God had a specific name for our son, He would make that name known. Not to overspiritualise everything, but I simply desired to hear the heart of God for our son. The reason for this?

Well, in Biblical times, the naming of someone was quite important. One didn't simply choose a name for the sake of choosing a name. There was a sort of prophetic significance being proclaimed as the child was donned with the particular name. We see this in the naming of Eve (Genesis 3:20), Cain (Genesis 4:1), Noah (Genesis 5:28-29), the renaming of Abraham (Genesis 17:5), and so forth and so on through Scripture.

Naming someone was important, because, as I said, it was a prophetic statement over the life of that person. The greatest example would probably be Jesus (or Yeshua in Hebrew). The name simply means, 'Yahweh saves.' And that is what Christ came to do - usher in the saving and redeeming kingdom rule of God amongst humanity so that they may be reconciled back to the Father. Hence, we refer to Jesus as Saviour.

In regards to the first name of our son, most would be aware that Caleb was somewhat of a significant figure in the Old Testament times. He did not reach the recognition of a Noah, Abraham or Moses, but he had a unique role amongst God's people after their miraculous exodus from Egypt.

We are first introduced to Caleb in Numbers 13 and 14. Numbers is not the most prolific of texts in the Bible, meaning we would rather read the Gospels, or Psalms, or Romans, etc. But I think the overall message of Numbers is a very relevant statement for the church today. But that is for another article sometime down the line.

But while Caleb was introduced in Numbers, my main recollection was of what happened near the end of his life mid-way through the book of Joshua. I had remembered Caleb as a strong man all the way to the end of his life. Matter of fact, he and Joshua were the only two from the older generation that had come out of Egypt who were allowed to enter the Promised Land of Canaan (see Numbers 14:30). Everyone else had died out in their 40-year wanderings in the wilderness, a judgment from God for their continual hard-hearted disbelief and complaining.

So being one of only two from the original group that was able to receive the promises of God, I had remembered him as a strong and faithful man even to end of his days. And this is confirmed in Joshua 14:6-15. Specifically, I was re-reading the story this morning and found these words quite encouraging:

10 And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. 11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. (Joshua 14:10-11)

And it was that last part of vs11 that had stayed with me: 'my strength now is as my strength was then.' Here was an 85-year old man still going strong in God, a man still persevering to the end. That is what I had remembered most about Caleb. And, therefore, in naming our son Caleb, I was making a declaration over his life that he would be one that would persevere and stay strong in God even to the end, all by the grace and strength of the intimate and Almighty One.

But recently, I have been reading through the book of Numbers, which is, as I said, where we are actually introduced to Caleb. In Numbers 13, we read that the LORD had commanded Moses to send twelve spies into the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, to survey the land in preparation for entering it. After this 40-day excursion, the twelve spies returned to give a report to the people of Israel. Ten of the spies confirmed it was a really good land (flowing with milk and honey), but this was overshadowed by their report that there were some serious obstacles in regards to the people who presently occupied the land. Thus, they were gripped with fear and they were unable to believe that they could successfully take what God had promised to them. (I sense another article/sermon here, but on we go...)

After the negative response of the ten of these spies, we read these subsequent words about Caleb:

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it." (Numbers 13:30)

When I read those words of Caleb, my heart lept with joy. I was holding my son, who was in a deep sleep, while I was reading this passage. First of all, Caleb quieted the people. This brought to mind a man of grace and wisdom, seeing he was able to quiet a very large group of people. But, even more, I prayed over him that he would be one that would always know that, in God, 'we are well able to overcome it.'

This simple phrase also brings to mind the well-known passage of the New Testament:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)

Therefore, I was declaring these words of Caleb over our son. In Christ, our son is to overcome in all adversity. As Paul stated, we are a people that are more than conquerors.

Finally, I was also strongly encouraged by these words about Caleb as found just one chapter later in Numbers 14:

But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. (Numbers 14:24)

These were the words that had caught my wife's eyes, that Caleb had a different spirit. Caleb was marked by a spirit after the heart of God, willing to follow His heart fully. This could really only be imparted by the Spirit of God.

And so I was also able to pray these words over my son as he lay asleep in my arms yesterday, that he would be one of a different spirit. When others do not see a way forward, he would see a way forward in God. When other people react in ungodly ways, he would respond with godly wisdom and grace. When others are pursuing those things that are not of the kingdom of God, he would be marked by that different spirit to passionately seek first the kingdom and its righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

Lastly, how did we come about the name Benjamin?

This also is a very well known name, in the Scriptures and in general life. Each of us probably know five different Benjamins (or Ben for short). But the reason why this name was chosen is that the literal translation of the Hebrew name is 'son of the right hand'. In Hebrew, Ben means 'son of' and yamin mean 'right hand'.

Therefore, this was a declaration about the relationship that would exist between myself and my son. He would be the son of the (or my) right hand. I want to build towards a close, intimate, fatherly relationship with my son. I want our relationship to consist of sharing life together, sharing conversation, sharing fun times, sharing hard times, sharing laughs, sharing tears, sharing guy times, and so much more. Thus, Caleb Benjamin was to be the son of my right hand.

So this is what we have prayed, even prophesied, over our son. We are exited to see this little one formed into the image of Jesus through the whole journey of life. This will by no means be 'easy', but it will definitely be life-changing. I can only imagine that we will learn so much about God's father-love through the raising of our son. In the end, God might teach us more through our son than He will ever use us to teach Caleb. And I will be ok with that. But it will be an epic experience for all.

We are truly elated to begin this journey with Caleb Benjamin Lencke.