Deutero Q

I have been teaching a weekly Bible study on Hebrews and recently focused on the Old Testament tabernacle, the portable tent of meeting where the Lord met His people (see especially Exod. 25-27 for details of the tabernacle).

In many ways the tabernacle typifies Christ, about whom Scripture says He made his dwelling—literally, He “tabernacled”—among us (John 1:14). The furnishings of the tabernacle clearly point to Christ: the altar of burnt offering typifies the sacrificial death of Christ; the laver typifies the cleansing power of the blood of Christ; the lampstand typifies Christ, the light of the world; the table of the bread of the presence points to Christ, the bread of life; the altar of incense typifies the intercession of Christ (incense is associated with prayer in Scripture [e.g., Ps. 141:2]); and the atonement cover—mercy seat—typifies the atoning work of Christ upon the cross.

I have come to a place in my Christian journey where I can affirm with Graeme Goldsworthy that “all biblical texts testify in some way to Jesus Christ. This makes him the center of biblical revelation and the fixed reference point for understanding everything else in the Bible" (Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, Eerdmans, 2000).

The fact that Jesus Christ is the center of biblical revelation should have major implications for preaching, teaching, Bible study, and living.

How important it is that we affirm the centrality of Christ, who is the heart of Christianity as well as the very center of God’s self-disclosure in Scripture.

How pleasing it must be to God to find a worshiper whose singular preoccupation is not with form or ritual, but with the One to whom the liturgy points. Likewise, how pleasing it must be to God to find a worshiper whose primary focus is not on charismatic experiences and spiritual gifts, but on the Giver of the gifts.

In short, worship acknowledges the triune God’s “worthship” and ascribes to Him the glory due His name.

I remember a helpful worship insight I heard from the Presbyterian minister Dr. D. James Kennedy. He said that most people think of the church as a drama, with the pastor as the chief performer, God as the prompter, and the congregation as the critic. But the truth is, the congregation is the chief performer, the minister is the prompter, and God is the critic. That is a good insight.

To put it more bluntly, God is the One who decides whether a worship service gets the “thumb’s up” or “thumb’s down.” God alone is the One who determines whether or not a service is acceptable or “rejectable.”

Unfortunately, the focus of too many worship services is on entertaining the worshipper rather than on pleasing the Lord.

Since worship should be God-centered, not people-centered, a good question to ask ourselves after a worship service is “How did I do?” In other words, was I focused on my feelings and needs or on God and His glory? God is concerned about our needs, of course, but we must remember that worship is not primarily about us but about the triune God.

One of the pastoral challenges I regularly face is trying to help people understand that worship, at its core, is not about liturgical style (whether traditional or contemporary) or personal preference. It can be easy to become fixated on a favorite song or preferred worship format, forgetting that these things are not our goal or destination; they are vehicles to help us glorify God.

The words of the psalmist are instructive: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness” (Ps. 115:1).

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/08/18/worlds-greatest-rope-jumper-manages-six-rotations-in-one-jump/

During a recent Sunday school class, our teacher emphasized Philippians 2:14: "Do everything without complaining or arguing"

She then passed out rubber bands and asked class members to put them on their wrist. She also instructed us to move the rubber band to the oppostie wrist whenever we complained during the week! The point was to take seriously the scriptural injunction about not complaining.

Of course one could go even further with the rubber bands: every time we complain, we could add a new rubber band to our wrist--in which case, many of us would have our arms covered by week's end. Ouch!

The word for “world” in John 3:16 is cosmos (κόσμος), and occurs 185 times in the New Testament (78 times in John’s gospel and 27 times in his other letters). The word has a wide range of uses: it can refer to the created universe, the earth, humanity, people living in hostility to God, etc.

The use of “world” as referencing people opposed to God-in-Christ is common in John’s letters (e.g., John 12:31; 15:18; 1 John 2:15-17). As for John 3:16, many Christians understand “world” there and elsewhere in Scripture as indicative of every single human being.

However, the careful Bible student will note that “world” is also used more generally in Scripture. For example, the brothers of Jesus said to Him, “Show yourself to the world” (John 7:4). Obviously they did not have every single human being in mind, but people in general. The same is true of John 12:19, where the Pharisees said about Jesus, “Look how the whole world has gone after him!” Of course, not every single person in the world followed Jesus; rather, all kinds of people—both Jew and Gentile—followed Him.

Relatedly, and on a personal note, I was surprised to learn years ago that the English word “whosoever” or “whoever” (depending on Bible version) in John 3:16 is not found in the Greek manuscripts from which we get our translations. The literal rendering of the “whosoever” section of John 3:16 is declarative, and reads: “so that every one believing in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus makes very clear in John 6 who the believing ones are: they are people given by the Father to the Son (John 6:37, 44). Therefore many Christians, especially those within the Reformed tradition, understand John 3:16’s “world” in more particular terms: as referring to God’s chosen people—the elect—throughout the world, rather than every single person in the world.

In light of Scripture as a whole, the more particular understanding of “world” (i.e., the elect) in John 3:16 is not without exegetical merit.