Unleashing the Scriptures

Unleashing the Scriptures

The room was small, one of those cramped “pretty” rooms found almost exclusively in churches. The furnishings were nice if not slightly, well, no actually, they were completely dated. A picture of Jesus hung on one wall and directly across was an even larger picture of some long gone saint of the church. It truly was difficult to tell who was watching over whom on those walls.

There were six souls in that room as well. Five of them in a state of restless listening and the sixth was just in a “state.” They were all pastors, but this sixth person was probably on the verge of finding some way out of that calling. The sixth pastor was hurt. The sixth pastor was angry. The sixth pastor felt abandoned.

One of the listeners eventually quietly offered a word of Scripture…something about a yoke being easy and a burden being light. Another of the listeners offered a word from the Word that reminded number six that a worker was worth what God had paid for them. Number six remained in a “state.”

In the silence that followed, a person already in the room would have heard hearts breaking and aching to reach a colleague. An observer walking in would have thought there was a death in the family but there was no one relative that united these six pastors – only a calling to serve. A stranger off the street – an outsider – might have sat among them and offered advice about finding a new path.

Eventually the painful silence was broken by the words of one of the listeners. It had to be one that was not only listening to the pastor in the “state” but also listening to the Holy Spirit. They said, “When I was being examined for ordination, the people on the Board used to say to one another, ‘Would I want this person to be my parent’s pastor?’ Well, Scott Sears, I want you to know something. I would not only want you to be my parent’s pastor but I would welcome you to be my children’s pastor, anytime. They could not ask for anyone with a better heart to lead them spiritually! You ARE a caring pastor no matter what anyone else says.”

The state of the sixth pastor…my troubled state…melted away in the presence of Jesus found in colleagues and friends and sisters and brothers.

Yes, there were words from the Scripture. These were words that I had read and heard on my own along with others like a passage from Isaiah that was shared by another friend – “’Remember,’ says the Lord, ‘remember that I have plans for you. Plans for good and not evil.” But on their own, these words just didn’t bring comfort…didn’t bring understanding.

It was only when I was together with a group of loving, forgiving, trusting Christians – a place where I could be myself and be loved – that the Bible and the very Word of God that is Jesus came alive.

Yes, I know that there are times and sometimes circumstances that keep people from being together in groups to study the Bible and to hold one another accountable. But the single most common reason people are not in some sort of Bible Study group is simple – they just don’t want to take the risk.

I speak from experience on this one folks – a painful yet wonderful experience that showed me once again that the greatest place to seek understanding of God’s word, God’s will and God’s way is with a group of loving Christians. (This was not the first time being in a small group made a difference in my life and faith and I am quite certain it won’t be the last.) If you don’t have a small group…build one. If you think you can’t build one…then call me and I will put together those that call so that they can have one another to help, to build up and to encourage in the Word. (And don’t worry about being stuck at home, or work or school…there are always ways for people to get together.) The group I met with and continue to meet with today drives hours to be together. Why? Because! Simply because.

One of the books I read in seminary which happened to be written by one of my favorite seminary professors, Unleashing the Scriptures, argued that Christians really should not be trusted to read the Bible alone – it was a book written in community and should be studied in community. Although I may not go to that extreme, the author, Stanley Hauerwas, is absolutely correct – Christians are a community…not a group of individuals. We must, must, must read the Bible together.

It’s been well over 18 months since that day in the room with that pain and those tears. But the words and the Word…well, nothing has dulled them from my memory. Thanks be to God.

Ask Almost Anything AGAIN!! (I will never get tired of this!)

Is divorce a sin?

When I first set out to answer this question, I thought that it would be one of the “easier” ones for me to tackle. I have been through a divorce and I believed that I had thought through the issue fairly well. On top of that, our denomination is fairly clear on the topic with a stance that does not condone divorce yet at the same time offers hope to a person who is facing or been divorced. It is a stance that I would say reflects my personal views as well.

“God’s plan is for lifelong, faithful marriage. The church must be on the forefront of premarital, marital and postmarital counseling in order to create and preserve strong marriages. However, when a married couple is estranged beyond reconciliation, even after thoughtful consideration and counsel, divorce is a regrettable alternative in the midst of brokenness…Divorce does not preclude a new marriage. We
encourage an intentional commitment of the Church and society to minister compassionately to those in the process of divorce, as well as members of divorced and remarried families, in a community of faith where God’s grace is shared by all.” (Book of Discipline, electronic edition page 161)

What happened as I began to answer the question, though, was that I began to recall very vividly the “struggle” I had when I was going through my divorce. Although no one in the church ever spoke a word of condemnation to me, I “felt” it. Most likely what I was feeling at the time was a combination of guilt brought on by thinking I had “failed” and some misunderstandings of my own concerning Scripture.

When you read the New Testament passages that speak about divorce and especially about divorce and remarriage, it is extremely clear that both are considered sinful. (It appears to me that there are four main passages in the Gospels that deal with the issue of divorce – Luke 16:18, Mark 10:1-12, 1 Corinthians 7:10 and Matthew 19:1-12.) The clearest of these passages, the Matthew reference, says flat out that a divorced person who remarries is committing adultery. At that time in my life, age 23, I could not even imagine going through life single. And yet, when I was reading the Bible, I knew that to remarry would mean that I would be breaking one of the commandments. I knew the United Methodist position, but just couldn’t make all the “bad feelings” about myself go away.

To me it was pretty clear, Scripture said that divorce is wrong and remarriage after divorce is sin. Our denomination said that divorce doesn’t preclude a new marriage. How could that be? Wouldn’t the person who divorced and remarried be living in perpetual sin? Wouldn’t they need to “repent” and change their way, their life and stop the sin that they are committing?

I searched the Bible for some way to say that it would be okay for me to one day remarry but I couldn’t find anything. Yes, my divorce did meet the slim criteria set forth in Matthew for the possibility of remarriage but I didn’t want my eternal life hinging on the reasons my first marriage ended. A lot of times – and this was certainly true in my case – infidelity in a marriage is just a symptom of something deeper being wrong. I couldn’t trust my eternal life on how we look at what went wrong. I needed assurance!

It wasn’t for some quite some time that I began to understand that my problem was in how I was reading the Bible. I was looking for a tree – God was offering me the whole forest. It happens each and every time we look at the Bible for some “pat answer” to what is right and what is wrong and how that affects people who follow Jesus.

Romans 13:8-10 says, “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” The single most important thing we do as Christians is told to us in this passage – love one another! (Now, I know some would say, “Preacher, that’s just looking at a different ‘tree’ and basing your eternal life on it.’” In one way I would say, “Yep. Sure is.” In another way, though, this passage isn’t so much a “tree” as it is a “sign” pointing us to the forest God gives us. If you have any doubts, just read John 3:16 AND 17!)

I can tell you this much…there was no way for me to remain married and “love” my first wife. Besides the child we gave to this world, the most loving thing we did for each other was ending our marriage!

And the way I feel about my present wife, Pam? Well, suffice it to say that one of the greatest gifts I have ever received from God is the gift this Godly woman is to me. After meeting Pam and getting to know what a gift she was to my life, it would have been silly for me to reject her based on the passage from Matthew. I would have practically been denying God’s love for me not to accept the love he was sending me through Pam. Marriage was not just an option…It was a fulfillment of the love God had for me!

So, is divorce a sin? Yes, it most certainly is. The question that wasn’t asked is this: “Can a divorced person remarry?” Yes. They most certainly can. We would have to stand in judgment of a person for the rest of their life because of the “sin” of divorce if we deny them the right to remarry when God brings someone into their life that most certainly makes them complete – “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:6 (Not Jerry Maguire!)

I hope this answer was worth the wait…next question? “How was there nothing in the beginning?”

Ask Almost Anything (Leftovers Again…)

One question that came up during the Ask Almost Anything sermon series – where I received text messages and emails from the congregation during and after worship and answered those questions during the sermon time – was a question that I believe is very basic to our understanding and living of the faith: What is the definition of a “Disciple”?

Now, when I first saw this question, I didn’t notice that the word had been capitalized. My immediate (and as usual, sarcastic, response) would have been: “I don’t know…why don’t you try looking in a mirror!” 🙂

However, I think the person asking this question is looking on two levels. First, I think that they want to know what the definition of a “Biblical Disciple” was in the days shortly after Jesus’ death and resurrection. There has always been some interest in identifying the “Twelve” and distinguishing them from others who followed Jesus and giving further distance to those who made up the “crowd.”

This first part of the question can be answered fairly briefly: a “Disciple” is one of the Twelve, was one of those Jesus called to follow him and who were witnesses to his resurrection.

A second a deeper part of this question, I think, has to do with what makes one a disciple of Jesus today. And the answer begins in the same way…those who are called by Jesus to follow him and who are witnesses to the power of the resurrection in their lives.

There does need to be a sense of “calling” for someone to be a disciple. Those callings come in many ways. Some hear or feel the presence of God leading them to some deeper relationship to him that is found in Jesus. Others feel some sort of void or absence in their life that only the presence and calling of Christ to become a part of something bigger than themselves can fill. Either way…a person is called. (I guess in United Methodist circles, we would call this the grace of God at work in our lives even before we are aware of it – something called prevenient grace.)

A disciple also should be able to show that they are witnesses to the power of the resurrection. (The original “Twelve” did the same, however, they were also physical witnesses to that resurrection.) I like to think about it like this…As those who have heard some call from Jesus and answered it to follow him, we discover that this man chose to give up the power of heaven to become human while remaining the very Son of God. As that person who walked, talked and taught among other humans, Jesus found himself constantly on the outside of both religious and political power by introducing us to a new way of seeing the Kingdom of God being present with those around him. Eventually, Jesus was arrested and killed on a cross for the sin of humanity – failure to see the power of God at work in the humbleness of the servant Jesus, the servant God who wants to be in relationship with each and every one of us.

In a very real and powerful way, Jesus showed his love for all human beings by allowing himself to become this sacrifice for us. God accepted that sacrifice and resurrected Jesus to show that death – the ultimate price of sin – would no longer hold power over anyone who followed Jesus. We become witnesses to the power of the resurrection not when we talk about the glory of heaven or about the gift we will receive for following Jesus, but when we do the very same thing Jesus did – love one another as he loved us.

So, the brief answer for the second way of looking at this question can be found in John 13:31-35.

You can know a disciple…by the way she or he loves. Short and simple.

Until the next question…keep heading towards home!!

A great detour…

Thanks to Amy Shanholtzer for sharing this video. It really is worth the time to watch. I think this would be a great detour on any journey home.

Watch “Take a Seat – Make a Friend?” on YouTube

“Torn” – A Book Review

It is not very often that I come across a book that I feel compelled to both recommend and talk about, however, “Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gay v. Christian Debate” is one of those books.

I wrote my review on Goodreads…You are free to read it there if you so desire or just read it below.

I encourage your comments about the book and the topic, but please know that I will be moderating them to make sure they maintain a level of “love for neighbor” that comes close to Jesus’ love for us.

Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate by Justin Lee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are very few books on “current” theological debates that I have read in the last decade that have the power that this particular book brings. I truly believe that this one is a “world” changer.

Justin Lee enters into the fray of the most fractious debate among Christians from a narrative standpoint – his narrative. He openly shares his story, his struggles and his ultimate quiet triumph.

I do not believe Lee set out with an agenda in telling this story any more than he set out in life to be the person that he became. Therein lies the power of this book. He shares. He simply shares his story. The reader can respond but will have a very difficult time dismissing what Lee has to say. He is a person who has wrestled with his faith, his church and his Bible and came out of the struggle still able to love and be loved by God, still be in touch with a community of believers and above all else love those around him who will no doubt disagree with him and use that disagreement to fuel the fires of this debate.

As a United Methodist Elder, I know what my limits are and will uphold them based on our Book of Discipline, however, I do believe that this writer has brought us new light to shed upon the debate. The greatest part of that light I would paraphrase by saying, “Stop fighting and start loving one another as Jesus loves you.” It is an incredibly simple sentence but given the “heat” of the Gay v. Christian debate, it will be a very difficult task to carry out. Interestingly enough, this “light” does not, as far as I can tell, go against anything in our Discipline whatsoever.

If there is any one book I would recommend my friends to read…it is this one. Enjoy!

View all my reviews

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