Author: Nathaniel Erickson

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A prayer for finances: modeled on Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8

God, we praise you for the many ways you fulfill your promise to care for us and our needs. As Jesus put it, you care about us more than the sparrows, and you take care of their needs. Remind us of your steadfast faithfulness. Let that be a firm foundation that we can build our pursuit of financial faithfulness upon.

As you have kept your promises, so help us trust you. May the words you have promised your people through Jesus be ever true.

But will you really be served by our financial faithfulness? After all, you own it all. It is all yours. Whatever we find clever ways to attach monetary value to, it’s already yours. The parts, the labor, the ownership of business and governments. You are king over it all. Remind us that we don’t serve you because of your lack. But that in your riches, you provide us opportunity to love you, love others, and teach people the way of Jesus through how we manage our finances.

When we are wronged by those with more money and power than us, and we cry out to you for justice: hear our prayer. Do not let the wealth of the rich enable them to run roughshod over the good of your people, or of our community.

When we are faced with volatility; when the markets fall, or fail; when inflation runs rampant and makes every trip to the grocery store a painful reminder of how little control we have over our own fate; when jobs evaporate, housing prices escalate, and the financial system that gives so much security wobbles; when all that happens, remind us to call out to you. Hear from heaven and act to relieve suffering, to restore hope, and to anchor our hope in you rather than the markets.

When we pass through a season of personal conviction, of heightened awareness about how the financial networks of the world work so strongly in our favor at the expense of so many others; when the tinge of conscience strikes about child miners in the Congo who dig rare earth metals so we can have new, fancy cell phones; when our eyes are opened to the abundance, the excess that we live in, that encumbers so much of our lives and that we spend so much time and effort managing and stressing about; lead us into productive paths of repentance. Teach us the way to live in financial peace and justice which blesses all our neighbors as much as possible, not just the endless pursuit of more.

When we pass through a season of personal lack, where budgets don’t make it, where we’re constantly in the red, where the math never works out, and where financial ruin looks to be around every corner; when we cry out in prayer, hear us! If we have sinned, show us our sin. If we need to learn trust, help us to trust in you rather than our financial resources. Teach us to be content in all things, even when the pocketbook is stretched to the max.

When others hear and see your people living generously, prick their hearts about the idolatry of money. Help them long for freedom from slavery to possessions. Move in their hearts to cry out to you. And hear them!

When our financial faithfulness is lacking, redirect our path. In your mercy, please be gentle. Help us learn generous living in little pieces, bit by bit. But if learning freedom from financial idolatry requires loss, pain, heartache, then, Lord, we ask that you would help us to bear it. As we watch our financial security slip away, turn our hearts to you, the Lord who gives and takes away. As we watch our resources abound, turn our hearts to you, the Lord who blesses that we may be a blessing.

May your eyes be ever open to the needs of your servants. As you clothe the grass of the field with beautiful wildflowers, and as you feed the birds who don’t gather, or invest, so, too, care for your people. Meet the needs of the day. Guard us from the worries about tomorrow. Give us neither too little nor too much, so we don’t fall into temptations. Turn our hearts to walk in your riches.

And may we live in a hope that doesn’t come from wealth; a fear that doesn’t come from poverty; but in all things through joy in you. Our God and Provider.

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You’re already going, so make disciples

Jesus gives the disciples the great commission done in Byzantine art style

Do the words, “the Great Commission,” inspire visions of boldness, or do they inspire a guilty shudder down your spine?

The Great Commission is not the only commission given by Jesus, but it is deeply important. And it has dominated the attention of many strands of his followers today. Usually because we struggle with it. Usually to point out how inadequate we are doing with it.

Hence the guilty shudder.

God is not above making us feel guilty; but sometimes we feel guilty for our own reasons, rather than his.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. What is the Great Commission:

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I have commanded and, behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:19-20

Before feeling guilty about failing to make disciples, consider with me the first part of this command: “Go.”

 of the mechanics of this passage in Greek, especially how the command “go” and “make disciples” relate, see here.

Why does Jesus command “go”?

Why Jesus commands his people to “go”

Here’s 2 good reasons Jesus commands his followers to GO:

  1. He’s the king on the mountain, and his Kingdom should spread
  2. To check the disciples’ impulse of veneration on a mountaintop

Jesus is King on the Mountain…and beyond

Matthew does not record Jesus’ ascension into heaven.

He ends the narrative with Jesus as King on the mountain giving a royal command. So, at the end of Matthew, we see Jesus’ kingdom = the mountain they are on.

His territory + his people = his kingdom

That is good, but Jesus intends more. He is interested in God’s Kingdom come into the whole world. That’s a lot more than the little mountaintop they are gathered on. So, the logical next thing to do is for the disciples to go somewhere else and make disciples.

Where Jesus is worshipped as king, there his kingdom is. Thus, “go!”

Jesus wants his kingdom to spread. To do that, he needs to address the “stay where we are and venerate” impulse his disciples have already shown.

Go and take the Kingdom elsewhere, don’t build a shrine

The disciples already have an ambiguous track record when it comes to mountains, a glorified Christ, and what to do there.

At the transfiguration, Peter says to Jesus:

Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah

Matthew 17:4 ESV

In other words, let’s build a new tabernacle here because this is the place to be to worship!

Granted, it was a crazy experience and the response is entirely understandable. But here, now, at the end, Jesus is really clear that the point is not to turn this mountain into new shrine for his followers to tend. His kingdom is like a seed, compressed down into that tiny little space on the mountain, and it needs to ‘blow up.’

That ‘blowing up’ happens when they “go” and make disciples.

Need I point out that churches today tend to show a strong impulse to stay where we are and worship. We are better at building shrines than going where Jesus isn’t already worshipped as king.

What Jesus commands in the Great Commission

“Go” is an important part of carrying out Jesus’ vision for the Kingdom of God spreading.

Phrased more interpretively, here’s my stab at capturing the gist of Jesus’ Great Commission:

“Go out to where I am not honored as King, and wherever you find that place, whoever you find there, make disciples so that I am honored as King there, too.”

Wherever you happen to be in life, there is certainly room for “going.” And you probably won’t have to go far to find places where Jesus isn’t honored as king.

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The Fear of Holiness

Many of the dynamics of sin in life can be explained by a simple idea: the fear of holiness.

Consider an example.

I slipped walking up the sledding hill.

The sandy soil wasn’t frozen yet. It gave way under the pressure of my foot in a most unexpected fashion. Suddenly my body was in free-fall towards the earth, no longer trustingly supported by my right leg.

We wouldn’t get far in life without deeply ingrained systems to deal with exactly this sort of problem. Without thinking, my left leg shot out to my right side to halt my downward trajectory. A fantastic flailing of limbs followed—I’m sure it was very graceful to see.

And I didn’t fall.

And I walked on up the hill.

Instead of falling, I earned some sore back muscles, a ligament on the side of my knee that was none-too happy about the sudden stretch, and a left hip that is still grumpy about the whole affair a few days later.

The irony of the whole situation? It wouldn’t have hurt at all to just fall over into the several-inch deep snow blanketing the hill. If only I had time to have a little conference with my instinctive fall avoidance system I would have reasoned it into submission: “Hey, look, you’re dressed in all kinds of padded outdoor clothes and there is a bunch of snow on the ground. Just let this one go, it’s not really going to hurt.”

But that instinctive fear of falling kicks in and works to protect the body at all costs.

Even when the costs are far greater than just falling over would be.

Fear

The instinctual fear of falling explains so much about why some sin hangs around so tightly.

The fear of falling triggers whenever you unexpectedly depart from normalcy. Sitting down is normal; you don’t flail limbs doing it. Sitting down and then missing your chair = limbs flailing. As soon as you move slightly outside of normal, the fear-driven instinct of self-protection hijacks your bodily systems and aims to protect normalcy at all costs.

Normalcy is key.

My life, your life, right now contains certain patterns of sin and brokenness that are so deep, so connected, so intertwined into who we are that to try to touch them sets off instinctual alarm bells: “protect this area at all costs—this is normal.”

Remove this sin, indeed, touch this sin, and what do you have? Something abnormal.

Never underestimate the power of normalcy.

A deep commitment to normalcy means that my body will sacrifice the health of my back muscles, my knee ligaments, my hip tendons, all to keep upright. Even when it is completely unnecessary to do so. Fear controls. Fear sacrifices to protect its own.

The gossip struggles with gossip because without it their life makes no sense. The porn addict continues on for the same reason. The father with explosive anger hates the explosive anger, but every time life tips slightly outside of normalcy, that is the way to right the ship.

Whatever the sin, those deep-seated ones are always monitoring the situation in life to hijack all systems and protect the status quo whenever any threat emerges. Departing from normal is scary.

Many of the dynamics of sin in life can be explained by a simple idea: the fear of holiness.

Stay tuned for more on fearing holiness.

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3 Sentences to Understand Why Some Christian Teachings are so Hard for Us to Accept

“I can’t accept the traditional Christian understanding of hell and judgment because it’s not fair. It makes no emotional sense for God to condemn finite people in an infinite way. God’s love will certainly win.”

“I’m deeply sympathetic to the arguments you are using and the perspective which they come from, but I think you’re missing a bigger problem.”

That summarizes my perspective on a recent discussion I had with a gentleman at a retreat. He approached me and obviously wanted to talk about a subject near and dear to his heart: why the traditional doctrine of hell and judgement is wrong.

He’s read many books about it. Thought about it. Had a variety of points about the topic and a settled surety on his understanding.

It’s not my intention to defend or critique the traditional doctrine of judgment and hell at this juncture–that’s a major undertaking on its own. I want to consider a bigger picture issue about the way we understand ourselves. You see, the mere fact that there is a traditional Christian doctrine of hell and eternal judgment which has been well-articulated, embraced, defended, and trumpeted for centuries, indicates that there is nothing inherently unfair or emotionally unsatisfying about the idea. That we today feel it’s unfair and emotionally unsatisfying tells us something about us, not necessarily about whether the idea is true or not.

I think my interlocutor hasn’t deeply confronted his anthropological presuppositions.

Wait. Come again. Did I miss something? What are ‘anthropological presuppositions’ in plain English?

Certain truths are self-evident (to you)

Thomas Jefferson famously asserted that it is “self-evident” that all men are created equal, with certain inalienable rights.

Most people today scratch their heads at what that could possibly mean coming from the pen of a slave-holding aristocratic gentleman. Jefferson’s anthropological assumptions were on full display in the words flowing from his quill and in the simple fact that he held many human beings as slaves.

To good ole’ TJ, there was no conflict between saying all men are created equal with unalienable rights and holding slaves.

To us today in the West, we see this as an absurd contradiction in his assumptions about the nature of humanity.

That’s when you know you’re dealing with presuppositions. They make all the sense in the world when you assume them to be true, but upon closer inspection, they are shot through with ideas that might be true, but which can’t be proven and which are often mutually contradictory.

Commenting on how ‘fair’ Hell is/isn’t shows our assumptions about who we are

The claim that hell is not fair or emotionally satisfying will likely stop most discussions today.

That is because we have a radically different notion of who we are than most Christians through most of the history of the world have had. And that understanding of who we are makes all the difference in the world when it comes to thinking about what might await us in an eternal afterlife. How did we get to where we are today?

Here’s a 3 sentence summary of how the Western world has developed in our core assumption about the nature of humanity:

  1. God speaks, therefore I am.
  2. I think, therefore I am.
  3. I speak, therefore I am.

Each sentence represents a monumental shift in human self-understanding that we have inherited today.

Take a quick look at the self-understanding each sentence reflects.

View 1: God speaks, therefore I am

Most everyone in the ancient world assumed that humanity was created and/or governed by some higher power(s), be it God, the gods, Fate, the balance of good and evil, etc. Everyone shared the assumption that humanity exists in a world where the table is set by someone/thing greater than we are and we need to get in line.

In this view of life, punishment (and reward) at the hands of the Higher Power makes all the sense in the world. On this view, the idea that there would be no punishment for wicked people is emotionally unsatisfying.

View 2: I think, therefore I am

The French philosopher René Descartes famously wrote cogito, ergo sum, “I think, therefore I am.” (Somewhat ironically, this famous line that conveniently marks out modern man’s departure from God comes from Descartes attempt to prove the existence of God via reasonable argument). This simple phrase signals a sweeping change in human self-understanding.

The thinking person is responsive to the world around him/her, but not simply at its mercy.

In this view of life, punishment at the hands of the Higher Power is ambiguous. We’re still responsive to a Higher Power, but we get a hand in setting the table.

View 3: I speak, therefore I am

The current default views us as definers of our own reality. In place of a created servant, and in place of a thinker who responds, we become “man, the Speaker.” The speaker sets the table and the agenda. More than merely responding to reality, the speaker is a co-creator (or sole-creator) of reality.

In this view of life, punishment at the hands of a Higher Power is rather hard to swallow. Mostly, it is outright objectionable. We view ourselves like artists. Yes, people will probably critique our work at certain points–and maybe even God will–but it’s most important that we be true to ourself.

How we see ourselves affects what we think it is fair for God to do to/with us

These 3 simple sentences chart the course for why we struggle so much with the doctrine of hell and judgment today, even though most Christians throughout the ages have not.

We think about ourselves differently than they did.

I’m not sure which way of thinking about ourselves is right.

Each of the 3 views enhances some aspects of truth and obscures others. They are kind of like putting on 3 different pairs of glasses, each with a different color tint on the lenses. Through red lenses, you’re blinded to the presence of red; through blue glasses, blues become white, and so on. Each color lens privileges different aspects of the visible spectrum, and makes others harder to see.

And this phenomenon effects far more than how agreeable or disagreeable we find the idea of judgment and hell.

Why do people need salvation? Are we mostly good by nature? Do we actually need some influence from the Holy Spirit to walk in the right way, or will meditation and therapy suffice? Why can’t I do whatever I want with my sexuality?

Most of the difficult questions in our modern time emerge from our distinct way of viewing the world.

It would be folly to conclude that the answers to the great questions of humanity from the past–including judgement and rewards–are wrong simply because we assume different things to be true about ourselves today. Thus ensues the on-going need to check what we assume to be self-evident about the nature of humanity and what God can or can’t do with us.

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Why Do We Pray the Long Ending of the Lord’s Prayer? Because it Belongs to the Great Tradition of Faith

Jesus teaching the disciples to pray

Wait, what? What is the long ending of the Lord’s Prayer?

To clear things up right now, the long ending refers to this line: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”

So, what’s the issue?

Observant readers will note that in most modern English Bibles, this line is put in a footnote, not in the text. Is it an original part of the Bible? Why do we pray it?

Here’s the short answer

It’s probably not part of the Bible.

Based on best methods and explanations of the ancient manuscripts we have, this line was not part of the original prayer. It is absent in many of the earliest and best manuscripts as well as the earliest commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer from key early church leaders. Not to mention that there are a few different versions of this long ending scattered in different places.

Why do we pray it?

Because the church has prayed it this way for about as long as we can look back into time.

This ending likely made it into the Gospel manuscripts via using the prayer in church services. It brings a nice, theologically profound, closure to the prayer. As we pray for God’s kingdom to come, as we ask for God to meet our daily needs, we wrap those prayers up in words reminiscent of what the angels proclaim in the heavenlies: Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is filled with his glory.

So, we continue to pray this longer ending as part of the people of God stretching across the centuries longing for the kingdom, the power, and the glory of God to be established in all things.

If your appetite is whetted, find some more answer over here

Here’s a decent place to get a longer answer informed by some basic discussion of the textual tradition and the practices of the church emerging in the Reformation Era: Why Do We Say the Long Ending of the Lord’s Prayer?

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AI Answers the Question, “How Does God Deal with All Those Prayers?”

Deep Thought thinking

How can God possibly hear and answer all those prayer requests? It’s a mind-boggling prospect that one person can interact with so many prayers in an intelligent way. How is that possible, even for God? That’s a question people have wrestled with for ages.

Keep reading below, or watch a short reflection on how AI helps us think about God answering prayers

A Bruce Almighty prayer machine

This question is the premise for an extended gag sequence in the Jim Carrey movie Bruce Almighty. Like many Jim Carrey movies, it’s funny, and really weird, and in this case much more sacrilegious than most. Bruce, Jim Carrey’s character, receives the powers of God. As he’s walking down the street, he starts hearing peoples’ hopes, dreams, and prayer requests. This happens all the time, and it is overwhelming to have to deal with. So, he sets up an email system to handle the millions and billions of requests. But that is too hard, too. To avoid having to deal with them, he just answers “yes,” to all. Chaos ensues.

The gag is premised on the simple idea that God is more powerful than a person, but still finds it overwhelming to have to carry on so many relationships and field so many requests (often contradictory) at the same time.

But we have a different way to picture it, now.

The power of AI helps us picture the power of God

Large Language Model AI, like Chat GPT, have upset the status quo in many ways.

Here’s a good way.

The existence of these AI tools that seem to be able to answer most any question in the blink of an eye—all around the world—gives us a conceptual tool to make a little bit more sense of how God deals with prayers. We made this machine. It is subject to the limits of human power and engineering, and yet it’s power is mind-boggling incredible.

How much more than this AI can the God who created the universe and created us carry on a relationship with everyone all at once and never be overwhelmed. Never be taxed. Never be worked too hard by it.

That’s what God can do.

That’s what God does with our prayers.

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Discussing Deep Theology at the Deep Well – Jesus Encounters the Woman at the Well

Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman at the well, digital art

There are no less than five significant points of theological discussion that Jesus works through with the Samaritan woman at the well in their conversation.

That’s maybe a little different than you often think of this interaction. Let’s face it. If you know something about the Samaritan woman at the well, it is probably that she’s a whore. And the funny thing is, this one thing that everyone knows about her is almost certainly wrong (there are many possible explanations for her serial relationships besides that).

Rather than being suspicious of her sexuality, try this on for size: the Samaritan woman at the well is a thoughtful theologian. That’s what is actually there when we look at the text.

In fact, this is the longest theological conversation Jesus has with an individual recorded in any of the Gospels. And the discussion centers around debates between the Jews and Samaritans about worship.

Look with me at 5 touch points in these theological debates:

  1. Samaritan identity
  2. Samaritan ritual purity
  3. The importance of the Patriarchs
  4. The Messiah as the Knower of Secrets
  5. The proper place of worship
Read on, or watch this video to find out more about how Jesus and the woman navigate these 5 key areas of theological disagreement in their discussion.

Samaritan identity

Many Jews of Jesus’ day considered the Samaritans to be religiously inferior.

Their exact history and origins is shrouded in mystery. According to their own traditions, they were the true Jews. According to most Jewish voices, they were at best potential proselytes, and at worst pagans. When the woman asks about, “Our father, Jacob,” she is making a claim that both Jews and Samaritans stem from the faithful patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Jesus never challenges that. He yields the point that they really are connected to the patriarch Jacob, thus having some claim to being part of the covenant people.

Samaritan ritual purity

This identity question is deeply relevant to a major related concern: ritual purity.

Based on what we can gather from sources of the day, many Jewish teachers would have viewed Samaritans in general, and Samaritan women in particular, as unclean. For Jesus to have this conversation at all, and especially to ask for a drink of water from her, was out of bounds.

Uncleanness was passed on by contact, especially by drinking vessels. And Jesus was asking for a drink, of all things. By his mere presence and asking for a drink, Jesus is registering a theological point about the view many Jews had of Samaritans in his day.

The Samaritan woman is picking up on something important happening here.

The importance of the patriarchs

The patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—played an elevated role in the religious practices of the Samaritans.

That’s because they didn’t use the same Bible as most Jews. They only accepted the first five books of what we call the Old Testament. Because of this elevated role that patriarchs play, her question about how Jesus stacks up against the patriarch Jacob is actually a theologically weighty one.

In essence, she is asking Jesus, “Who do you think you are, saying you are greater than the main vehicles through which God made himself known? What is your authority, you odd traveling Jewish rabbi who is asking me for a drink? where do you stack up against Jacob?”

She’s asking a theological question that is right on the money. After all, Jesus is claiming that he can give her better water than Jacob, the great patriarch. And water that gives life beyond any normal property.

That’s a big claim.

Messiah as the Knower of Secrets

The hinge point of the conversation comes when Jesus reveals knowledge about the woman’s life secrets.

This is really important because, as we just mentioned in the prior point, the Samaritans only accepted the first five books of the Bible. When they envisioned the coming Rescuer from God, they were not thinking of a Messiah in the line of David, like the Old Testament prophets point to. No. They were looking further back.

Back to Moses.

Deuteronomy 18:18 records God’s promise of sending another prophet like Moses. The Samaritans look to this person they called the Taheb. And the distinguishing feature of this Samaritan version of the Messiah was that he would be a knower of secrets who could reveal all things.

And, what do you know, Jesus shows up saying, “You’re right to say ‘I have no husband,’ because you’ve had five husbands and the one you’re with now is not your husband.”

Jesus is revealing secrets.

What’s up with the five husbands?

Jesus pointing out that she’s had five husbands is much more than an attempt to embarrass her with scandalous dirty laundry.

Indeed, since everything else in this discussion is deeply laden with symbolic meaning we’re encouraged to at least think through further why out of all the things he could have said, Jesus pointed to her marital life. Here, we are helped to think of the Jewish prophetic tradition of the Old Testament in which marriage and adultery is a key picture of religious fidelity. Pointing to her marriage history, Jesus at one and the same time shows himself as the Knower and Revealer of secret things and also as a great prophet challenging her on her faithfulness to the God she proclaims to worship.

That the woman responds with, “I see you are a prophet, so let’s talk about the right place to worship,” confirms that she is tracking with this discussion.

The proper place of worship

Any theological discussion between a Jew and a Samaritan has to discuss the proper place of worship.

The chief bone of contention between them is that the Samaritans claimed you should worship God on Mount Gerizim while the Jews claim you worship God on Mount Zion. Since Jesus has so far presented himself as greater than Jacob and one who can reveal secret knowledge, she asks him to weigh in on this thorny question. She is on a quest for knowledge at this point. One might say, she has left her quest for water far behind and is trying to find living water instead.

Jesus steps up to her question with the earth-shaking claim that he is God’s Messiah and is reshaping the landscape of worshipping God so that both Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Zion are taken up into something more complete, and more beautiful.

A bridegroom seeking a bride

The Woman at the well proves to be the perfect bride for Jesus.

No, to be clear, Jesus didn’t marry her (nor is there any reason to believe he married anyone else, either). But, metaphorically speaking, she is the perfect bride. The one ready to receive him as Messiah with worship. Worship in spirit and in truth.

This bride/bridegroom image is encouraged by the very shape of the account.

When we look at the whole Bible we see a repeated pattern of meeting by a well. Jacob’s servant meets Rachel by the well, Moses meets Zipporah there, etc.  And this isn’t the first time in the Gospel of Johwn we’ve encountered the picture of Jesus as a bridegroom in search of a bride.

The wedding feat at Cana back in John 2 encourages us to see Jesus as a bridegroom come looking for a New Israel, a New People of God, that is, a new bride.

The woman at the well stands there toe-to-toe, asking all of the good questions, and coming to all the right conclusions as Jesus leads her on into a new understanding. This is exactly the new sort of bride that Jesus comes to rescue.

This woman and her conversation here is a picture for all time of how to receive Jesus.

And it’s a beautiful picture that unfolds in this deep and thoughtful theological discussion.

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Explain what Valuing that Lives are Changed in Relationships Means at Three Levels

For a church to thrive, it must value relationships. That’s where meaningful life change happens. These three pictures show how lives are changed in relationships.

Level 1: Wearing the same shirts

Imagine showing up to The Big House and seeing 50,000 other people dressed in maize and blue shirts, just like you. Immediate connection. The shared shirt brings you into something bigger than yourself: a relationship.

The starting point for changing lives is making connections.

Level 2: Learning to swim

Swimming is easy, once you’ve learned how. Since your body more or less floats anyway, the art of swimming is learning to relax into the support of the water rather than fight to stay on top. Gaining this comfortable familiarity requires time wading in the shallows, then venturing out into the deeps.

Lives are changed in relationship as people build comfortable familiarity. This comfortable familiarity allows people to take off their masks, to be more open and honest with each other about their strengths and weaknesses–and the odd ways those are intertwined.

Level 3: Sheep yoked together

A friend with a sheep farm occasionally had rams that wouldn’t stop fighting. The solution? Tie them together with a very short strap. The result? After being forced to do everything together–eat, sleep, play, walk, etc.–they became fast friends.

The deepest change comes in lives that are bound together by a lasting relational connection. Lives are deeply shaped by sticking together and sticking it out.

Want a thriving church? How are you moving from shirts to sheep?

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Explain What Valuing Biblical Truth Means at Three Levels

Level 1: Beginner – Signs

Biblical truth is like a sign. Road signs give an important piece of information to guide you about the right way to act at the moment: STOP, turn right, get on the off ramp, etc. Signs are extremely useful.

Just like road signs, biblical truth gives important information to guide you about the right way to act in the moment. Some famous signs in the Bible: the 10 Commandments, Jesus’ Great Commandments, and the Golden Rule. Valuing biblical truth begins with following the signs.

Level 2: Intermediate – GPS

Signs are helpful, but only when you already know where you are going. You could drive around a roundabout forever and never violate a sign…and never get anywhere. Enter the GPS. It tells you how to get from where you are to where you are going. The big picture is essential for successful travel.

Just like a GPS, biblical truth gives the big picture of where life should go. Valuing biblical truth deepens through learning the big picture to make sense of life.

Level 3: Advanced – Conversation Partner

A GPS is great for guiding your journey from A to B. It helps with the “how.” But it doesn’t do much with the “who,” as in, “who are you?” For that, you need a conversation partner. A skilled conversationalist draws out who you are.

Biblical truth is a skilled conversationalist that draws you toward grace, again and again. Valuing biblical truth means engaging the conversation.

biblical truth 3 levels

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1 Peter 4:5-6 – what about proclaiming the gospel to the dead?

Jesus harrowing hell

There are some passages of scripture that encourage endless speculation. What are we to make of 1 Peter 4:5-6:

5 They will face a reckoning before[a] Jesus Christ[b] who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 Now it was for this very purpose[c] that the gospel was preached to those who are now dead,[d] so that though[e] they were judged in the flesh[f] by human standards[g] they may live spiritually[h] by God’s standards.[i] (NET)

Here are a few thoughts on this passage.

There are lots of details to debate in this passage. But here’s the big picture: the dead in Christ have eternal hope; the dead outside of Christ…not so much.