Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so; For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou’art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy’or charms can make us sleep as well And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
-John Donne, “Sonnet X: Death Be Not Proud,” 1609
We are in the days leading up to Halloween. The debate is fresh all over again whether Christians can or should participate at any level. This blog post is not about that. I would rather spend a few minutes with you over the subject of remembering that you and I are mortal.
“Memento Mori” is a Latin phrase that is literally translated “Remember to die.” It may be better understood, though, with the intention of the wording, “Remember, you will die.” The origins of this particular phrase—and more specifically the origins of its repetition and rehearsal at various times—are unclear. Why discuss it? I believe that it is health to reflect on our mortality because it humbles us in the truth of our existence before a holy God. The Halloween season looks at, glances at, or takes death lightly in many cases. What better time to talk about death than now? The following paragraphs take us through a little history, then to some Scripture, and then to an opportunity to reflect on our mortality.
Tertullian is credited with recording a practice observed by at least some Roman emperors that utilizes the phrasing at the heart of this week’s blog post. Here is a quote from his famous treatise Apology, “Even when, amid the honours of a triumph, [the emperor] sits on that lofty chariot, he is reminded that he is only human. A voice at his back keeps whispering in his ear, ‘Look behind you; remember you are but a man.’” It is good to remind emperors (and all the rest of us) of their mortality. It humbles and puts things in perspective.
Plato1 and the Greek Stoics are credited with similar thinking. Marcus Aurelius wrote, “Let each thing you would do, say, or intend, be like that of a dying person.”2 Epictetus wrote, “I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it.”3
The Bard reflected much on death in his tragedies, but especially in Hamlet. In that play, for example, he gives Hamlet’s mother, the queen, the following dialogue, “Thou know’st ’tis common; all that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.” Hamlet replies with brevity, “Ay, madam, it is common.”
All mankind knows death is common. Death is an enemy that separates parents from children, husbands from wives, friends from one another… But I am not asking you to reflect on death. I am asking you to reflect on your mortality and, yes, there is a difference.
Psalm 39 is a psalm of David. The first two verses reflect David’s increasing stress and pain from dealing with the wicked. Then, he writes:
Lord, make me aware of my end and the number of my days so that I will know how short-lived I am. In fact, you have made my days just inches long, and my life span is as nothing to you. Yes, every human being stands as only a vapor.
Yes, a person goes about like a mere shadow. Indeed, they rush around in vain, gathering possessions without knowing who will get them.
Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. Rescue me from all my transgressions; do not make me the taunt of fools. I am speechless; I do not open my mouth because of what you have done. Remove your torment from me. Because of the force of your hand I am finished. You discipline a person with punishment for iniquity, consuming like a moth what is precious to him; yes, every human being is only a vapor.
Hear my prayer, Lord, and listen to my cry for help; do not be silent at my tears. For I am here with you as an alien, a temporary resident like all my ancestors. Turn your angry gaze from me so that I may be cheered up before I die and am gone. -Psalm 39:3-13
Knowing that your life is short changes things. What would you do differently if you knew you had two more years to live? Would you worry so much about what people think about your clothes or your haircut? Would you blow around in the gust of the latest “ragebait” online? Would you spend as much time on social media as you do now? Would you drive your car with entitlement, cutting people off and otherwise driving like a madman? Would you be so curt with your kids? Would you be distant from your husband or wife after a disagreement? Would you continue to neglect that phone call, text message, or (here’s an idea) that hand-written letter you’ve considered sending to that person you care about?
As a Christian, I have come to know that I am very, very mortal. Before I was a Christian I had to live with the effects of death. My father died when I was three weeks old. He and my mother were shocked to learn he was diagnosed with liver cancer after feeling weak for some days. In less than two months, he was gone. As far as I know, he never had a sip of alcohol in his life. He certainly was not a heavy drinker. But liver cancer came just the same. Death was an unwelcome houseguest in the Christman home, but there was nothing we could do about it. God did not see fit to raise my father back to physical life. When God saved me, I was thirteen years old. I began to discover what it meant to be a new creation, a child of God, and a future co-heir with Christ. Even so, it took me a long time to understand death, especially my father’s death. I read Philippians 1:21, which declares that, for Christians, “to die is gain.” I believe that, but it was hard to understand it well as a teenager or in my early 20’s. Over time, I have come to better understand God’s sovereignty and God’s plan for humanity. God did not design us to die. 1 Corinthians 15:26 says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Our species introduced sin into the world and the wages of sin is death. So it is frustratingly simple: death is a part of the world we live in. That truth will not change until Jesus returns.
The longer I walk with Jesus, the more I want to continually surrender to His call to die to myself (Mt. 16:24-25; Galatians 2:20). Jesus said in that Matthew 16 passage that it is how we follow Him. And, man. He’s the only one I want to follow 24/7.
A friend of mine has regularly said to me, “The dead know one thing. It is better to be alive.” I did not know, at first, that the quote is from the movie “Full Metal Jacket.” While that movie’s co-writer and director Stanley Kubrick seemed to be an atheist, that bit of dialogue continues to ring true. So I reflect on my mortality and I invite you to do the same. Consider the following statements and questions as you reflect on mortality. They are by no means exhaustive, but I hope they are helpful:
I am mortal but God is not. He knows better about life, about me, about everything. Is there any reason not to trust His wisdom?
I am mortal and I have done wrong in my life. I have even done wrong according to my own moral standard, which is admittedly lower than God’s. I need forgiveness from what I have done wrong. I need a clean slate. I thank God that He offers a clean slate through faith in Jesus!
I am mortal. I have a limited amount of time on earth to love God in my lifetime. I better get busy doing that!
I am mortal. I have a limited amount of time to love my family, friends, church, and neighbors well. How can I do that to the best of my ability?
I am mortal. I cannot resurrect myself. But Jesus conquered death! God has saved me by grace through faith so that, when my eyes close in death, I will re-open them with a new body and in His glorious presence.
I am mortal. What habits are truly a waste of my time? Habits of worry? Habits of laziness? Habits of addiction?
I am mortal. Life is too short for hatred. Better to obey God and love my neighbors.
I am mortal. Life is too short for bad pizza.
In his work Phaedo, in which he records the events of the death of Socrates, his mentor. ↩︎
“Joy does not come to you if you are spiritually passive; rather, joy is cultivated, but joy is cultivated by things you do. And the ‘things you do’ that cultivate Christlike joy are the Spiritual Disciplines.” -Donald S. Whitney
We come to the final post in our series on the spiritual disciplines. It has been ten weeks of fruitful reflection and writing as I prepare these presentations on the biblical witness and lived experience. At the beginning of this series, we defined the spiritual disciplines as “following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself.”1 As Christ followers, we accept and aim for the goal that God has destined for us. He told us what that destiny is in Romans 8:29a, “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” We want to look like Christ. But we won’t get there through passivity. So we engage the disciplines of studying the Bible for ourselves, prayer, and times of solitude. We live simply and sacrificially. We steward everything God puts in our lives. We serve others, we gather for worship, and we confess sin one to another. The final discipline to discuss is the discipline of celebration.
I can hear you asking, “Celebration is a spiritual discipline?”
“Celebration heartily done makes our deprivations and sorrows seem small, and we find in it great strength to do the will of our God because his goodness becomes so real to us.” -Dallas Willard
As alluded to in the opening quote from Donald S. Whitney, we do the spiritual discplines so that we can become more like Christ. We do not practice the disciplines in order to be saved! If you believe in Jesus Christ and have repented of your sins, you are already saved by Jesus’ work (delivered by grace, through faith), not your works (Ephesians 2:8-19). Christians do good works not to be saved but because we are saved and because they make us more like Christ. Ephesians 2:10 goes on to say, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” Celebrating God and what God does is as inherent to becoming like Christ as reading the Bible and prayer. While we will look broadly at the Bible on this issue, we also want to answer the question, what can we learn about celebration from the life of Jesus?
We know Jesus celebrated the holy days that God commanded in the Old Testament. These holy days marked God’s work in human history to show grace and mercy to His people! We see Jesus and His parents observing the pilgrimage festival of the Passover in Luke 2:41-43. Jesus also observed it at the end of His earthly ministry when He was with His disciples in the upper room just prior to His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22). Like Passover, we have explicit eyewitness testimony that He observed the Feast of Tabernacles (aka, the Festival of Booths, or Sukkot) in John 7 and 8. We also know He observed one holy day not commanded by God in the Old Testament; specifically, we know He observed Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Dedication,2 in John 10. We do not have explicit witness to Jesus observing the other festivals (Pentecost/Feast of Weeks, Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur, etc), but as the only person to ever perfectly keep the Law, we know He observed everything He needed to.3 What holy days do we see the church then observing? Jesus’ birth, His death, burial, and resurrection, Pentecost, and more.
We know Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath, but He also kept the Sabbath. The Pharisees didn’t think He did! But He kept it perfectly at a level they did not understand. God designed the Sabbath for our good. We celebrate God on the Sabbath and what He has done! As Christians in the 21st century, we follow the example of the apostles and the other early Christians, who chose to gather on the Lord’s Day (that is, Sunday) for the purposes of Bible reading, prayer, gathered worship, and fellowship with one another.
“Celebration is central to all the Spiritual Disciplines. Without a joyful spirit of festivity the Disciplines become dull, death-breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees. Every Discipline should be characterized by carefree gaiety and a sense of thanksgiving.” -Richard J. Foster
We see what heaven celebrates in the words of Jesus. If heaven celebrates those things, then we know Jesus does, too, since He is the king of heaven! Luke 15 shows us three incredible pictures on this subject. Each of the three parables there show a picture of something or someone lost who is then found. A lost sheep, a lost dowry coin, and a lost (prodigal) son. In each story, that which was lost is found. The shepherd leaves the flock of 99 to find the lost 1. The woman sweeps the entire house until she finds the coin. The father runs to his returning son! What do all these parables have in common? Jesus uses these stories to show us what heaven celebrates. Heaven celebrates when a lost person is found in Christ! Luke 15:7, “I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.” Luke 15:10, “I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” While we do not have a record of Jesus commenting on the parable of the lost son afterwards, we know that in the story he tells, the father throws a huge, lavish party to celebrate the return of his beloved son. Do you get it yet? Christians celebrate when sinners are forgiven! When the lost are found! When those who were stained by sin are washed as white as snow by the blood of the Lamb!
In the broader witness of Scripture, we see more arrows pointing to the simple expectation that God’s people are those who celebrate what God celebrates. Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is a time to laugh and a time to dance (among other things). Psalm 95:2 calls to us, “Let us enter his presence with thanksgiving; let us shout triumphantly to him in song.” Christians celebrate God!
Psalm 118:24 reminds us to celebrate the simple things God gives. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” We so frequently take for granted “normal” things like waking up to see another day. Or eating another meal. Drinking another cup of coffee, or reading a book for pleasure, the joy of seeing a friend, or the blessings of family. Psalm 118:24 is that reminder to rejoice about those good things that God gives. It also reminds us that the source of the good gift is God, not our own efforts or bank accounts!
Philippians 4:4 is an encouraging verse that I also find very, very challenging. It says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Rejoice ALWAYS? What about when things aren’t very good? What about when things are objectively bad? Yes, dear reader. Rejoice even then. Those moments are the ones where rejoicing in the Lord will make the most impact on your own soul. I’ve walked roads where rejoicing is difficult and even seems impossible. I’ve had those days, those conversations, those sufferings. Will you let me tell you that I got through those days with far more stability, comfort, and joy when I chose to obey God by rejoicing in Him? I was not always faithful to obey God with joy on those days; don’t get me wrong. I’ve failed like anybody else. God has used my failures to help me see the incredible difference between the days when I rejoice and the days when I don’t. Furthermore, the reality of experiencing days where we do not feel like rejoicing is evidence that celebration truly is a discipline. It is a structured choice in spite of circumstances. Jesus is our leader and example in this discipline. Hebrews 12:2b says, “For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” There is more joy to be had on the other side of the trial. Hang in there and celebrate God!
“Here is one of the most important disciplines of engagement, yet most overlooked and misunderstood. [Celebration] is the completion of worship, for it dwells on the greatness of God as shown in his goodness to us. We engage in celebration when we enjoy ourselves, our life, our world, in conjunction with our faith and confidence in God’s greatness, beauty, and goodness.” -Dallas Willard
I want to close by once again providing a list for further reading. I cannot recommend these books strongly enough, if you want to read more about these disciplines.
I opened with a quote from Donald Whitney. Allow me to close with one. “The time to pursue godliness is now, and the way that God has provided this for those who stand forgiven by grace is through diligence in the Spiritual Disciplines.”4
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline
Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Mason King, Spiritual Disciplines: How to Become a Healthy Christian
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives
Since Jesus is without sin, He would have nothing to atone for at Yom Kippur. But I would imagine He participated at least in some way. I can’t wait to ask Him what those years were like when I see Him face to face! ↩︎
Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 167. ↩︎
“But that does not mean that confession is a light and easy thing, a simple mouthing of words, a verbal ritual. Mere admission is not confession. We dishonor Christ by a frivolous view of confession that fails to appreciate how much our sin cost Him. Although not a spiritual self-flagellation, biblical confession does involve at least some degree of grief for the sin committed.” -Donald S. Whitney1
Our series on this blog has been to introduce and discuss the spiritual disciplines, most especially through looking at the life and sayings of Jesus. I have defined the spiritual disciplines as “following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself.” This task has been straight-forward as we discussed prayer and solitude, Bible reading, and simple living. In this week’s post, we come to a more difficult subject to glean from Jesus’ life. We are talking about confession of sin.
“Without the cross the Discipline of confession would be only psychologically therapeutic. But it is so much more. It involves an objective change in our relationship with God and a subjective change in us. It is a means of healing and transforming the inner spirit.” -Richard J. Foster2
The reason confession of sin is a difficult spiritual discipline to discuss from the life of Jesus is simply because Jesus never had sin to confess! Jesus was morally perfect (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22).
If the spiritual disciplines are “following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself,” can there be a spiritual discipline that Jesus never seemed to need? That is another great question, reader. Thank you for asking!
Jesus spent most of His time in community.3 In those times, we do find Him doing certain things that connect with this week’s subject. Let me back up and quote Dallas Willard, who said, “In [the spiritual discipline of confession] we let trusted others know our deepest weaknesses and failures. This will nourish our faith in God’s provision for our needs through his people, our sense of being loved, and our humility before our brothers and sisters. Thus we let some friends in Christ know who we really are, not holding back anything important, but, ideally, allowing complete transparency. We lay down the burden of hiding and pretending, which normally takes up such a dreadful amount of human energy. We engage and are engaged by others in the most profound depths of the soul.”4
When we understand confession better, with the help of big brother Dallas Willard, we can better see the connection between the life of Jesus and the discipline of confession. What else could the three year block of training for the twelve disciples be other than Jesus revealing His identity to its deepest level?
The discipline of confession is a Christian revealing the profound depths of his or her soul to a trusted brother or sister. The difference between our confessing and Jesus’ confessing is that our souls include sin. So, our practical expressions of confession to one another will include sin, though Jesus’ expressions never did.
“When I admonish men to come to confession, I am simply urging them to be Christians.” -Martin Luther
God’s aim for Christians is to restore relationship with us. If He is in relationship with us, He knows us and we know Him. That is, as is often observed, a vertical angle: God and man, in right relationship. He also designed humanity to be in right relationship with one another. That is the horizontal angle. We are not meant to be isolated. I am reminded of the famous poem by John Donne, “No Man is an Island.” It reads as follows:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were:
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were.
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
For us to remain isolated and unknown, by choice, robs us of the flourishing God designed for us. He designed us to flourish in community.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks to it in this way. “Confession is the God-given remedy for self-deception and self-indulgence. When we confess our sins before a brother-Christian, we are mortifying the pride of the flesh and delivering it up to shame and death through Christ. Then through the word of absolution we rise as new men, utterly dependent on the mercy of God. Confession is thus a genuine part of the life of the saints, and one of the gifts of grace. But if it wrongly used, punishment is bound to ensue. In confession, the Christian is conformed to the death of Christ.”5
Confession creates a means to a more Christlike character. If our aim is to be those who are “following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself,” then the practical means of achieving that goal are necessary. I have had many conversations with Christians who want to grow as believers. They understand the need to read their Bible and pray and participate in the worship gatherings of the church. But, anecdotally, I see less willingness to be known by other Christians. Leaving this spiritual discipline untried would be like “leaving money on the table,” to use that old saying.
Why do we avoid the discipline of confession?
We fear being known. To be known and yet unloved is terrifying. To be “loved” and unknown is anemic, functionally worthless. We overcome fear with love and trust. We must love and trust the Lord, that He knows what He is doing. That He designed this practice for His glory and our good, and that He did so on purpose. James 5:16a says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.” Confession requires that we trust God, yes, but also that we trust one another. We must trust that other Christians actually do have our best interests at heart.
As scary as it may be and as difficult as it seems, we need confession. Become part of a healthy church. Join as a member. Get to know other Christians in that fellowship. Join a small group or life group, depending on how your church is organized. In that context, confess who you are and what you have done. Do not let pride get in your way. Don’t harbor secret sins that you can keep as some kind of spiritual pet. Have more of Christ in your character! Repent, and walk towards Jesus, arm in arm with your Christian brethren. Confession is cleansing, life-giving, and precious.
And when others confess their lives and their sins to you, you must steward that trust well. That information is not for public dissemination. It is also not a reason for you to treat your fellow believer as less-than. You take in that information and you love that person anyway. You do not hold those sins against them. You encourage them to forsake sin and to follow Christ in righteous living (Hebrews 10:24). You celebrate when they experience successes!
“But if we know that the people of God are first a fellowship of sinners, we are freed to hear the unconditional call of God’s love and to confess our needs openly before our brothers and sisters. We know that we are not alone in our sin. The fear and pride that cling to us like barnacles cling to others also. We are sinners together. In acts of mutual confession we release the power that heals. Our humanity is no longer denied, but transformed.”6
Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 205. ↩︎
We spent a whole post on solitude and how Jesus prayed and processed alone. But it is undeniable that Jesus spent the bulk of His time in the midst of other people, from smaller groups like his 12 disciples, all the way up to the large crowds. Also, don’t miss the post we wrote on the discipline of gathering for worship. Meaningful fellowship with other believers is very much a part of that practice. ↩︎
Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 187-188. ↩︎
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 289. ↩︎
“Don’t tell me you’re trusting God until you trust Him with your pocketbook.” -J. Vernon McGee
This week, we continue our series on the spiritual disciplines with a look at what we can learn about the discipline of stewardship from the life of Jesus. We defined the spiritual disciplines previously as, “following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself.” Jesus was kept the Law perfectly, unlike any of the rest of us. That means he kept the Law with regards to stewardship perfectly. Jesus was a perfect steward.
First, we should define stewardship. Stewardship is a person’s management of resources that are owned by somebody else. The manager of your local Wal-Mart stewards the goods sold at his or her store. The Walton family and various shareholders actually own those goods. Stewardship can be done well or poorly. Either way, it is the management of those resources. Stewardship began in Genesis 1:28 (see also, Gen. 2:15-16).
I have some encouraging news for you. You only have two things to steward in your life! I can hear your relief already. A list of two items? That is a sweet deal. One of the items you steward is your time. The other item you steward is every asset God puts in your life. Ok, so, maybe things are slightly more complicated than two items. But at the same time, it really does come down to those two things. We have time and we have resources. Some of those resources are money, yes, but we also have our physicaly body, our various possessions (clothes, personal items), utility items (groceries, tools), skills, experiences, training, as well as our relationships with family, friends, co-workers, fellow church members, and neighbors. I don’t know about you, but I have found it encouraging to realize that everything God put in my life is something he has trusted me to care for in ways that honor him and in ways that best manage that resource.
With regards to how we spend our time, Jesus said some very important things.1 Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” If you are seeking God’s kingdom and his righteousness first, that will have a measurable and significant impact on how you steward your time! You will prioritize daily private time with God in prayer. You will prioritize knowing what it is God said! And so you will read the Bible regularly. You will prioritize obeying God with your actions, which means you will spend time “doing the do’s” and not so much “doing the don’ts”.
John 9:4-5 are the words of Jesus. “We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” On a related note, Jesus calls Christians the light of the world in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:14). Jesus is not in the world right now because he is at the right hand of the Father, but we ARE in the world! And we are the body of Christ. So we must do the works of God while there is still time. The clock is ticking. Jesus will return someday, which will be the end of our work. Many have attempted to predict that day and time, to their embarrassment (Mark 13:32). None of us will ever know it in advance. But when the end comes, the time for evangelism and missions will end. We’ve got to share the Gospel while there is still time!
Jesus also spoke to stewarding time in Luke 9. At the end of that chapter, we read three accounts of people saying they will follow Jesus. The final brief account is Luke 9:61-62, which say, “Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’” Jesus wants you to follow him. Jesus does not want you to wait while you figure out what you are doing. There are men and women, boys and girls headed towards an eternity separated from God forever in hell. There is no time for you to claim to want to be in the kingdom of God, while looking back on your life in the kingdom of Satan as something to gaze upon. John 3:14-15, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” We are to continually be “keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2a). Just as those who were poisoned looked on the image Moses lifted up (Numbers 21:4-9), we are to look on Jesus Christ. We put our hand to the plow and we get to work. That kind of conduct is a discipline. You don’t stumble into it and you don’t engage in it sporadically.
Jesus had a lot to say about money. I know it is a popular thought that “you don’t talk about money.” People think any Christian writer, thinker, or pastor who talks about money is just greedy. I feel sorry for people who think that way. None of the pastors I have served under are greedy and I am so grateful for their example. Jesus had a lot more to say about money than you might guess. If you were to count up the number of teachings or number of verses from the 4 Gospels, and compare how many times Jesus spoke about money versus how much he spoke about other subjects, you might be surprised to see that it is one of the top subjects he addressed. When I read the Bible and I see how much he had to say about finances, I am increasingly comforted and encouraged that it actually is a normal and, in fact, good thing to think about and talk about so that we can manage finances to the best of our ability.
Jesus taught through the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). In that parable, he taught about how God wants us to utilize our resources to the best of our ability. You were given that resource to use it, not hide it!
Jesus taught through another parable, about The Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35). The primary point of that passage is about forgiveness in general, and readers would do well to always remember that. At the same time, we can learn about the ugliness of greed and the beauty of repenting from that kind of greed in that parable.
“He that trusts in the Lord has found out the way to handle matters wisely, and happy is he.” -Charles Spurgeon
Parables are indirect teaching, but Jesus also taught directly on the issue of stewardship. In his direct teaching, he dealt with both resources and time.
In and after his encounter with the Rich Young Ruler (Matthew 19:16-30), Jesus speaks to the issue of financial stewardship. We see in his teaching one way in which it is difficult for those who hoard wealth. Matthew 19:23-24, “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’” Riches may buy the nice house, the slick car, the richest foods, and the flashiest clothes, but it will not buy you entrance in God’s eternal presence as a member of his family. Only your faith determines whether you are in the kingdom or not. As Christians, we already know this truth, but we would do well to be disciplined in our relationship to money.
Jesus speaks to our relationship with money very famously in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” We must know and we must have the discipline towards money that God calls us to. Money is a tool, but it is only one of many. It is not worth pursuing as your highest calling. It is not worth worrying over when the economy gets worse, or when you have to give up a few “wants” from your monthly budget. It isn’t even worth worrying about with regards to your needs! Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Jesus made this same point in the Sermon on the Mount immediately following the verse I quoted at the beginning of this paragraph (Matt. 6:25-34).
I recognize that this is easier to say than to do. I, myself, am still embedding this truth deeper down into my mind and soul. But that which is true is always true, even when it is a difficult truth to handle.
“The Bible does not portray the faithful follower of Jesus as a person who never tastes anxiety or fear. Rather, the Bible portrays anxiety and fear as something that rises unbidden in the heart and must be dealt with from a Christian perspective, a Christian approach, a Christian way.” -John Piper
As the one who kept the Law, Jesus would have tithed. It was taught in passages like Leviticus 27:30-33; Numbers 18:21-32; Deuteronomy 14:22-29, and Deut. 26:2-15. God’s plan for finances among the people of God includes our giving him the first ten percent of our income. He does this not because he needs the help, but because Christians need the help. We need help trusting God. We need help with means of showing a watching world that we trust God. We need help with the self-discipline to not let money rule over us, but for God-with-us to rule money through us. Again, you cannot serve both God and money. Choose this day who you will serve!
One flavor of the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is that of self-control. One of the expressions of Spirit-born self-control in your life will be your stewardship of the time and resources you have at your disposal. He gave you today. He gave you lungs that breathe and a heart that beats. Will you hide and hoard your time and resources? Or will you trust God? Will you keep all your time and resources as a slothful expression of self-obsession? Or will you give away what you can in order to engage in God’s mission to seek and to save the lost? Matthew 16:24-25, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.’”
Develop the discipline for utilizing your time, talents, and treasure as a faithful steward of the Lord God. Don’t waste them. Don’t let them rule you. Let God rule and you follow.
Jesus modeled proper Sabbath rest, as opposed to the legalistic methods of the Pharisees. That discussion belongs in any conversation on stewarding time and the resources of your body, mind, soul, family, etc. However, that discussion is covered in the posts about the spiritual disciplines of prayer, solitude, and gathering for worship. ↩︎
“Some Christians try to go to heaven alone, in solitude. But believers are not compared to bears or lions or other animals that wander alone. Those who belong to Christ are sheep in this respect, that they love to get together. Sheep go in flocks, and so do God’s people.” -Charles Spurgeon
In this week’s post, I want us to continue to look at the spiritual disciplines by looking at the subject of worship. In previous weeks, I defined the spiritual disciplines as the same as a good faith attempt to follow Jesus. More specifically, I said that it is “following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself.”1 Jesus chose a life of attending corporate (i.e., gathered) worship services in order to focus on and respond to God. Can Christians learn something about going to church from Jesus? That’s a great question! Thank you for asking. The answer is both “yes” and “no.” I want to dispel some mistaken conceptions with the “no” side of the answer, and, in the brief length of a blog post, I want to show you just some of the riches of what the Bible has to say on the “yes” side of the answer. We will start with the shorter list of those two, but before that, let’s briefly define worship.
I think Donald S. Whitney defines worship well in his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. He writes, “Worship often includes words and actions, but it goes beyond them to the focus of the mind and heart. Worship is the God-centered focus and response of the soul; it is being preoccupied with God. So no matter what you are saying or singing or doing at any moment, you are worshiping God only when He is the center of your attention. But whenever you do focus on the infinite worth of God, you will respond in worship as surely as the moon reflects the sun.”2 Worship is certainly much, much more than singing songs to God. Worship can be changing your baby’s diaper. It can be a moment of reflection and prayer before you step into your place of work. It can be the washing of the dishes at the end of a long day. Worship can be more than singing and reading God’s Word and responding to what God’s Word tells you in a sermon, but it is certainly not less than that.
Christians cannot learn about going to church from Jesus if by that you consider church to be a kind of service industry that tunes up the tires and engines of your spiritual vehicle. Churches are not interchangeable entities that simply perform the same functions at higher or lower levels of efficiency. Allow me an analogy here. In my neighborhood, we have two Jack in the Box locations. (Very spiritual example, I know.) One Jack in the Box has a perfectly fine track record with me and my family. We get what we pay for. The staff there are professional and timely. The other Jack in the Box has a staff member who has engaged, on multiple occasions, in short-changing our order, demanding we pay him after the fact for things we spoke aloud in our order, and has openly rudely criticized us (“you should have said you wanted that when you first made your order”). I’m not perfect, but I’m also not petty enough to get into it with that manager any more. I simply don’t want to do business at that location any more, so I don’t. I get the exact same products, but I also get them accurately and without undue criticism. It is a worldly—or, really, a biblically ignorant—way of thinking to consider a church to function like any other business. It is worldly to think the church needs to fit everything I want out of a church. It needs to have a great preacher, great music, a beautiful place to meet, hot coffee when I show up to service, and it better only have smiling faces of people who have no problems. And if those people do have problems, well, they better have nothing to do with me. But church is not a fast food place or an auto shop. Church is family. Church is a gathering of God’s people. The gathering of God’s people is meant to glorify God, not you. The gathering of God’s people is to make God known, to encourage one another, to serve as a hospital for the broken, not as a beautiful museum for the saints. If we think church is an American corporation we can simply change for another at our whim or convenience, then no, we can learn nothing about this from the life of Jesus.
“When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy.” -Corrie Ten Boom
Jesus does, however, show us life in the gathered community of God’s people. Jesus participated in the weekly gathering of corporate worship. Luke 4 records Jesus’ rejection in Nazareth, but the context of that rejection occurs around Jesus reading and expounding on the scroll of Isaiah. For our purposes, the most relevant verse is 16, which says, “He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read” (emphasis added). A more literal translation using the Greek word order3 would read, “… He entered according to the custom of his on the day of the Sabbath…” The phrase “as usual” (or, “according to his custom”) translates κατὰ (according to) τὸ (the) εἰωθὸς (custom) αὐτῷ (his).4 I highlight the Greek phrasing here in order to show that the phrase “as usual” or “according to his custom” is not an addition by a modern translator or editor. The Gospels tell us Jesus’ habit was to attend the weekly worship service at his local synagogue. Psalm 95:6 says, “Come, let’s worship and bow down; let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker.” Picture what that looked like when Jesus obeyed that directive in the synagogue in Nazareth and when he was in the temple in Jerusalem. God expects us to worship. Jesus did just that.
If the Bible reports that the perfectly holy, perfectly loving God the Son attended the weekly gathering of God’s people, then the Bible has something to say to mankind in all periods of history, but especially to us in the age of so-called online church or the myopic practices of individualistic Christianity.
“The single most important activity of your life is to worship God. You were made for this—to offer your whole life, in all its parts, as a hymn of praise to the Lord.” -Sinclair Ferguson
Jesus’ participation in the weekly worship service of God’s people shows that it is a necessity, not mere tradition or cultural preference. Notice that Jesus spends a lot of time with his disciples and that the disciples spend a lot of time with one another. These decisions are not accidents or coincidences. These gatherings, these times of worship,5 are part of the design. Jesus sang hymns with his disciples at the conclusion of their Passover observance, aka the Last Supper, before they went out to the Garden of Gethsemane in Matt. 26:30. Jesus read the Isaiah scroll and expounded on it in Luke 4, as referenced above. But he also would have stayed silent and listened as others did so when it was their turn.
“Be united with other Christians. A wall with loose bricks is not good. The bricks must be cemented together.” -Corrie Ten Boom
We know Jesus focused on and responded to God in a variety of moments, but I want to encourage you not to miss the night leading up to Jesus’ betrayal by Judas. All four Gospels record that moment at various lengths. Luke 22:42 records an incredible moment in Jesus’ worship through prayer that night. In it, Jesus prays, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Truly, this response to God is the best response to God. May it be true of you and I that we respond to him in that same way every day.
“To gather with God’s people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.” -Martin Luther
Christians today can follow Jesus’ example in the spiritual disciplines by engaging in daily private worship and public worship at least once a week. (Your church may have more than one opportunity to worship together.) Make no mistake: you must have both regular private and public worship in order to best follow Jesus. He deserves our best, but you know what? You deserve your best, too. Engage in daily private times of reading the Bible and praying. Maybe play a worship song on your phone that you can sing along to. But don’t stay isolated! Make sure you at least attend your local church’s worship service in person every week, unless you are limited by illness or mobility. You need it. May we not be indifferent to the regular, disciplined worship of God! May it be true of us what Hebrews 12:28 says, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (ESV).
I want to close with a quote from A.W. Tozer. He said, “If you will not worship God seven days a week, you do not worship Him on one day a week.”6
Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2014), 106. ↩︎
Readers should be aware that Greek word order does not function the same as in English. Greek grammar communicates the function of the various words through their forms, rather than through their arrangement in the sentence. Word order in Greek, therefore, is not limited to “subject-verb-object,” as in English. Rather, it is flexible enough to allow for options that will create emphasis on what the writer wishes to emphasize. So, while I am providing here a word order-based literal translation, that does not make it a better translation than the CSB version quoted previously. It is done here for the sake of understanding. ↩︎
Please forgive how the Greek letters look. I did my best! WordPress isn’t a perfect platform. ↩︎
John chapters 7 and 8 show Jesus spending time at the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem, which would have included times of corporate worship. ↩︎
John Blanchard, ed., More Gathered Gold: A Treasury of Quotations for Christians (Welwyn, England: Evangelical Press, 1986), 344. ↩︎
“WANTED: Gifted volunteers for difficult service in the local expression of the kingdom of God. Motivation to serve should be obedience to God, gratitude, gladness, forgiveness, humility, and love. Service will rarely be glorious. Volunteers must be faithful in spite of long hours, little or no visible results, and possibly no recognition—except from God for all eternity.” -Donald S. Whitney
The biblical witness regarding salvation is very simple. Believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. By believing, you will have life in his name (John 20:13). We are saved by grace through faith, not through works, so that nobody can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). That is, we are saved from the consequences of our sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). We are saved by grace, or in other words, by God’s free gift (also Romans 6:23). That grace is delivered to us through faith (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 10:4, 9-10).
Many theologians and pastors have remarked that, in all the religions of the world, there are truly only two concepts for how people are saved from sin. One concept is the Christian concept, expressed to us clearly in the Scriptures, that we are saved through faith in Christ. The other concept is that people are saved by works. Some things can be true at the same time. When people ask who you are, you can tell them your name, but it is also accurate to tell them what you do for a living, or who you are in relation to your family. But a theology of salvation (soteriology) does not work like that. Only one can be true, and not the other.
Why do I bring this up? Today we’re talking about service and I want to be sure to communicate that Christians serve BECAUSE we are saved from sin, NOT IN ORDER TO BE saved from sin. Christians do not trust in our own works to save us or make our presence in the future state palatable to a perfectly holy God. No. We trust in the work of Christ, whose work was to die on the cross and then to rise to resurrected life on the third day. A preacher I know recently preached a series of sermons called “SAVED TO SERVE.” I think that sums it up very well.
Let’s talk about how we can learn about the spiritual discipline of service from the life of Jesus, starting with that most important part of it.
Jesus’ purpose on this earth was to live a perfect life, die for us, and rise again. That is service! It is service on behalf of all who will believe. There are some elements to notice about this act of service from Jesus.
This act of service cost Jesus personally. Notice, he did not send someone else. God himself died on the cross for our sins, not a man, angel, or animal.
This act of service was for the benefit of others. You may rightfully point out that all service is for the benefit of others. But among sinful man, motives, means, and results can be debated endlessly. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, however, concludes debates. He lives again on the other side of death. There can be no argument in the face of the King of Kings. His service was to the benefit of all who will believe. Our faith in him would mean nothing if he did not die and rise again (1 Corinthians 15).
This act of service was motivated out of Jesus’ love and joy. Jesus’ twin motivations of love and joy for us is clearly seen in the Scriptures. Romans 5:8, “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Love was on display on the cross in the bloodied form of that Jewish rabbi. But look also to Hebrews 12:2b as it comments on Jesus’ motivation. “For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Reuniting us to himself gives Jesus joy just like the joy of the angels that Jesus himself described in Luke 15, verses 7 and 10. How could it be any less than that?
This act of service was conducted not only out of righteous motivations, but also righteous means. Please don’t misunderstand me. The persecutions of the religious leaders, bloodthirsty crowds, and dangerously apathetic Romans were not righteous. What we see in Jesus’ sacrificial act of service on the cross is a man who did not sin at any point along the way. He was pierced because of our acts of rebellion against God (Is. 53:5), not his own. And when he suffered the betrayal, trials, and crucifixion, “he was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth” (Is. 53:7). The eyewitness Simon Peter, son of Jonah, declares in 1 Peter 2:22-24 about Jesus, “He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth; when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
So much could be said about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, but the above paragraphs should suffice for our study on the spiritual disciplines. Let’s turn to the second clearest picture of Jesus and service with help from the Gospel of John.
A look at John 13 allows us to move the camera from Jesus’ death and resurrection to the night just before Jesus’ betrayal by Judas. It’s been another long day, a day of walking and dust and sweat. Preparations had been made to borrow the upper room of somebody’s home. They were planning and expecting to observe the Passover. But there was no servant there to get them ready. These men needed to be ceremonially clean in order to engage in the observation of Passover! Even so, there was nobody to kneel down with a towel and basin of water in order to wash and dry their feet. This kind of job was a dirty job. It would have featured on one of Mike Rowe’s TV shows if they had existed back then. It was unenviable, time consuming, perhaps humiliating to wash the grime and potentially animal feces off the feet of whoever was coming to dinner. The washing of feet is a job for a servant.
Jesus, the King of Creation, who has the Name Above All Names, the One who knew he would die in less than 24 hours, knelt, took up the towel, and did it himself. He washed the feet of the twelve disciples and, presumably, his own. Judas, then, the famous traitor who would hand Jesus over for thirty pieces of silver, was among this number. Can you imagine washing the feet of someone who betrayed you? Jesus did that. He did it before the betrayal, yes, but he did it knowing that the betrayal was coming. And don’t forget Peter’s betrayal! Peter would hang back from Jesus’ side as his master was brought before the kangaroo court we see in the Gospels. When pressed by the people nearby whether he was one of Jesus’ disciples, he cussed and insisted he did not know the man! Jesus knew Peter’s betrayal was coming and Jesus washed his feet anyway.
In the context of another prophetic pronouncement of his coming betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus famously declared in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew’s account of that same moment reflects these words on Christians and service. Matt. 20:25-28, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant . . . even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.”
“That’s all well and good for Jesus,” you might be thinking, “but that has nothing to do with me.” My friend, if that is what you think, you are mistaken. We are to follow Jesus, just as the first disciples were called to do (Matt. 4:19).
John 13:14-15 record these words from Jesus, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” Some of you reading this may come from a congregation or a denomination that regularly holds foot washing services on an annual or more frequent basis. For those who are unfamiliar, some churches hold a service where they plan and then conduct a time where those in attendance have the opportunity to wash the feet of another person in attendance. It is a humbling experience. My point is not to argue that your church should have a service like this. The point is to show that Jesus’ life is characterized by personal service done on behalf of others and so ours should be characterized by the same.
“In the Discipline of service there is also great liberty. Service enables us to say ‘no!’ to the worlds’ games of promotion and authority. It abolishes our need (and desire) for a ‘pecking order.’” -Richard Foster
If Jesus’ acts of service were personal, ours need to be personal, as well. We live in a digital age. We live in the age of drive thru food, coffee shops, banks, and more. We live in a world that we have shaped in our own image.1 We have curated online church with music from this church, preaching from that church, inspirational videos from our favorite Christian influencers, and we call that the Christian life. Meanwhile, we lay back and are spiritually gluttonous. We feed and feed and feed on only the morsels we choose, neglecting those dynamics of the Christian life we prefer to avoid. We prefer not to put up with the bad smells of the bodies of other people. We prefer not to deal with their (in our opinion) bad driving or bad parking. We prefer not to use a public restroom. We prefer not to walk down the street, or drive a few minutes, or catch a bus in order to attend a worship service. “Online church” is not what God had in mind. We are embodied souls!2 We need to spend time in spaces with one another in times of singing, reading, praying, and, yes, service to others. We need to do it ourselves. We cannot outsource service to somebody else. We have to use our own hands to lift the fallen. We have to use our own feet to go to the outcast. We have to use our own voices to encourage the downcast. We have to use our own backs to bear the burdens of one another.
If Jesus’ acts of service were for the benefit of others, ours need to be for the benefit of others, too. On social media, there is almost no content worth reading or viewing. Among all the fluff of wasted time are videos of people who feed the homeless or helping a family experiencing poverty. There are so many of those videos that now there are parody videos mocking them! We do not serve in order to be seen. Matthew 6:2, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.” You may notice the Scripture address there and remember that it comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus also said this in the same sermon, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:16). We best serve when we do it in ways that causes people see the good works, not us, and give glory to the Father, not to us.
We best serve when we do it in ways that causes people see the good works, not us, and give glory to the Father, not to us.
If Jesus’ acts of service were motivated from love and joy for others, so ours need to be, as well. Do you remember the Greatest Commandments? They come into play with regards to everything we do, including our acts of service. Love God, love people (Luke 10:27-28). Love—real love, not the cheap, uncommitted, convenient kind of appreciation that so commonly passes for lovenowadays—and joy go together. Read your Bible, pray, and develop your love for God and others. Don’t hold back from service simply because you think you don’t love people enough, though! Sometimes, it is through our acts of service that we mature in our love for God and others. Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon titled Some Marks of God’s People. In it, he stated, “He who serves God, out of love to him, is the one who really and truly serves him. The Lord of love, the great King eternal, immortal, invisible, needs no slaves to grace his throne. He wants those to do his bidding who serve him with delight and pleasure.”
If Jesus’ acts of service were conducted by righteous means, then we need to do the same. Service must be done with a joyful, loving motivation, but also a joyful, loving means. Imagine a children’s ministry volunteer serving joyful preschool kids with a scowl on his face. (Depending on your church experiences, it might not be too hard to imagine!) Such things should not be. We conduct our acts of service with love, not lashes. Sometimes, we can serve in such a way that we never voice negative words, but our posture, demeanor, facial expression, and other elements communicate a bad attitude anyway. It is not the way of Jesus. James 1:20, “for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.” I am not telling you to force yourself to “feel like serving.” Nor am I saying to “only serve when you feel like it”. (You will soon come to a place where you NEVER feel like it, which is not the way of Jesus.) What I mean is, develop self-control, that flavor of the Fruit of the Spirit. Let God be in charge, and in submission to him take control of your face, body language, and any other element that communicates to people so that you can serve in such a way that they are blessed rather than more burdened.
I want to close with some bite-size thoughts on practical service and even one of its benefits, followed by one more quote.
Service does not care whether the task is large or small. Service is content to serve in hidden ways, not in the spotlight. Service is free not to calculate every result. Service is happy to minister to all, great or small, poor or rich, etc. Service ministers simply and faithfully, regardless of mood or feelings.3 Service is a pattern of life, not limited to one or two instances. Service builds community.
“Therefore, the spiritual authority of Jesus is an authority not found in a position or a title, but in a towel,” Richard Foster.
I would argue that this has resulted in a world twisted out of God’s own design, but that’s another subject. ↩︎
Another subject worthy of its own series of posts. ↩︎
I know I already made this point, but it is so important! ↩︎
“Simplicity is freedom. Duplicity is bondage. Simplicity brings joy and balance. Duplicity brings anxiety and fear.” -Richard J. Foster
We have been going through a series of posts on the spiritual disciplines, which we defined as, “following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself.” The introduction to that subject can be found at this link.
The Bible has much to say about the spiritual disciplines across the breadth of its books, but these blog posts have zeroed in on the life and teachings of Jesus. I do not elevate the words of Jesus over and against the rest of Scripture. ALL of Scripture is God-breathed, after all. Instead, we are focusing in on a more narrow target for the sake of brevity. It may be of more help to Christians who are new to the disciplines to begin with a narrow focus before moving to a broader study of what the rest of the Bible says about these practices.
Simple living is a spiritual discipline. Though it looks a little different than the intense study of God’s Word, or the frequent prayers of a Christian, it is still commanded by Christ. He designed and intends it for our flourishing! Simple living in the biblical sense is not a plaid-wearing, John Denver-listening1 country farm house away from the bustle of an urban center as packaged and sold to us by so many on TV and the internet. Nor is simple living just some form of minimalism. Marie Kondo is not the mouthpiece of Jesus on this issue. (Is a meme from 2019 too old a reference to use here?) Simple living is also not a form of transcendentalism, or trying to elevate the spiritual over the physical. Jesus has too much interest in the physical to be a true transcendantalist. The early church knew transcendentalists as Gnostics and rightly rejected the philosophical divisions they attempted to put between the spiritual and the physical.
Some of Jesus’ modeling of Christian ethics is commanded, and some is not. The subject of simple living is a mixed one. Some simple living is commanded, but some is modeled and NOT commanded. Since the list of that which is modeled but not commanded is shorter, I will begin there before turning to the list of Jesus’ commands with regards to simple living. I will conclude with a definition of simple living based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
The biggest example of an element of simple living in the life of Jesus that is NOT commanded is that Jesus had no home. Matthew 8:20 reports the words of Jesus. It is not a command, but a description, “Jesus told him, ‘Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’” The context of these words is a brief passage where two men claim to want to follow Jesus, but would like to delay following Him. In response to one described as a scribe (Mt. 10:19), Jesus declares he has no place to lay his head. Again, this is a descriptive statement, not an imperative. He does not command his disciples to become or remain homeless. However! It has been true that some Christians will lose their homes as a result of following Jesus. I’ve known people who have been rejected from their families and their literal homes for choosing to follow Jesus as a Christian. Such experiences will continue and may only increase between now and the return of Jesus. But Jesus does not command our homelessness. He has come that we might have life, and life abundantly (John 10:10). He would know the negative impacts of such an experience on most people.2 Other suggestions may be made, but this example of simple living that Jesus modeled and yet did not command will suffice for now.
The next, and the largest, section of this week’s post looks at elements or ways of simple living that incorporate both Jesus’ modeling and his commands.
Jesus took very little with him on his journeys and encouraged his disciples to do the same. We see his words on this element in Matthew 10:10 and Luke 10:4. Look in the Gospels for how Jesus traveled. Did he do so with an elaborate train of support staff, creature comforts, and riches? Certainly not. In Matthew 10:10, he told his disciples, “Don’t take a traveling bag for the road, or an extra shirt, sandals, or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his food.” Oh no! I can hear you saying. “I can only travel with the clothes on my back??” Looking at the context of Matthew 10 helps us see that this sending is a special sending for the 12 disciples/soon-to-be-apostles. But there is wisdom here that is applicable to all Christians. Let me give you an example. All the missionaries I have known do not pack up some ten-room house and move hundreds of pounds of belongings overseas or across the nation to share the Gospel. Often, they have a few bags of clothes and cherished possessions, then buy what they need once they arrive. This notion is right in line with the Sermon on the Mount in Mt. 6:19-24. In those verses, Jesus urges us not to treasure the things of this world, but to store up treasures in heaven. He warns us not to try to serve both God and mammon (aka, money). We can easily and quickly find so-called pastors on YouTube and social media who do not embody simple living with their expensive watches, clothes, cars, and private jets. But remember, pastors are not held to a higher standard! We hold pastors to the Christian standard; we just hold them to it more rigorously. (That’s a whole different blog post, though.)
Jesus taught against greed in the Sermon on the Mount, but also in Matthew 19:16-30. The Rich Young Ruler approached Jesus, asking after eternal life. He even claims to Jesus that he has kept “all” the commandments (Mt. 19:20; check for yourself if you don’t belive me; its a bold claim!). Jesus tells the young man to sell his belongings and the young man walked away grieving! The Rich Young Ruler does not embody simple living. We should take his example as a warning. How much stuff do we really need? How much do we really need in our bank account? If our family is cared for by having all our needs and some of our wants, is that not enough? Can it be true that simply having all our family’s needs covered is enough?3
“Simplicity sets possessions in proper perspective.” -Richard Foster
Jesus taught against greed, but we also see in his example that he sacrificed earthly gain. In John 7, Jesus’ brothers come to him with a proposal. They believed that he could heal after seeing him do it again and again. But they did not believe in him. And there is a big difference! His brothers urge Jesus to go to the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem and show off! If he did so, he would perform in front of huge crowds and could maybe get a lot of money, power, and earthly influence. Instead, Jesus delays (Jn. 7:9-10). When he does go, Jesus does no miracles. Instead, he teaches the crowds and debates the Pharisees. He continues to live simply, seeking no earthly riches, power, or influence. His Kingdom is different.
“But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction.” 1 Timothy 6:9
Jesus’ ethics are simple, but far-reaching: Love God, Love Others. Simple! But they touch on everything and everyone in life.
Simple living impacts our speech. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). If anyone on the face of the planet in 2025 speaks honestly with the most frequency, it better be Christians. Aren’t you tired of Christians lying? Or “twisting the truth”? Why must we act that way? Can we not live a better way, the way Jesus commands and intends? It is the way he designed for our flourishing. It is the way he designed for our best method of loving God and neighbor with our speech.
Jesus’ simple living relates to not just his actions, but also his character. Jesus’ simplicity is seen in his humility. He “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant,” Philippians 2:7. Humility is simple, though it can be difficult. There are many good quotes on humility, but I have long defined it as realizing God is God and you are not, that you are creature/created, and living in light of that reality. Only God himself is perfectly humble. But simple living can assist your learning humility and humility will assist your simple living. I have been an arrogant, grasping person. I have needed a Jesus style simple living to help me love him and my neighbors better. I continue to need it.
Jesus’ simple living includes the fact that he focuses on the things that matter most. He invites the lost into the family of God. He trains the believers. He has mercy on the hurting (e.g., the sick, the paralyzed, the possessed, the grieving). He gave us the task of inviting the lost into the family of God and then training those who would believe (Matt. 28:18-20). He also illustrated for us that he wants us to continue his mercy ministry (Matt. 25:40). We can sometimes confuse ourselves into paralysis with moral dilemmas. But the ethics of Jesus are incredibly simple.
Jesus taught us that God is our provider, so we need worry for nothing (Luke 12:22-34; Mt. 6). We need to do our own work (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but God will provide. Everything we have, including the things we bought and paid for with our salary, are provided by God (James 1:17). Holding this perspective helps keep us humble. It helps us remember we can live simply, without all the excesses that culture would have us vainly pursue.
Jesus sacrificed his time. He had mercy on the crowds after John the Baptist’s death, which led to the famous feeding of the five thousand. In Matthew 14:12, Jesus learns of his cousin’s death. Verse 13 reports that he sought solitude,4 but the crowds followed and approached him for healing. He chose to sacrifice his time and his feelings in order to serve those in need. Are Christians exempt from following Jesus’ example? Surely not.
Jesus sacrificed (and taught us to sacrifice) earthly relationships if they rejected faith in Christ. Now, a word of caution is due for this subject. We live in an age of cancel culture and “going no contact” with people. We live in a divisive and angry age. These things are not of God. We must not let ourselves be ruled by foolishness, anger, or hatred. Let’s look at the passages and then talk more detail.
In Matthew 12:46-50, Jesus prioritizes the family of faith over his biological family. When the people tell him his family is outside and wish to speak with him, Jesus replies with the question, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” In verse 50, he goes on to answer his own question, “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Earlier, in Matthew 10, we see a lot of instructions for how the disciples are to go on mission. He clarified the sacrificial nature of committing to Christ. It involves true faith, which will inevitably divide believer from unbeliever. Matthew 10:32-39 says, “Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before others, I will also deny him before my Father in heaven. Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn
a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; the one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of me will find it.”
Christians are people who want to lose our lives for Christ’s sake (“because of me”) so that we can find our lives again. They are found in Christ himself. So, yes, there may be times we have to face tough choices. It is extremely hard for some Christians to be Christians because they come from a family of people who are strong in their faith in a false god. They may be criticized, verbally abused, persecuted, or shunned for their faith in Christ. Sacrificial living at a small scale helps us understand and be ready for sacrificial living at a larger scale.
Remember James 1:19-20, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
We don’t look for reasons to be angry with our unbelieving neighbors, friends, or relatives. We give up the anger of man so we can choose the way of Christ. Truth in love. God’s peace, which surpasses all understanding. We embrace Jesus, who though he was mistreated and persecuted, did not respond in kind (1 Peter 2:23).
But on a smaller scale, there will be times our unbelieving family or friends wants us to do something like get high. Or watch a major Hollywood movie that happens to have nudity or other pornographic content in it. Or they want to gossip. We must tell them in love, “No.” We sacrifice such activities because it is not the way of Christ. Some people will accept our answer. Some people will not. We have to trust God with ALL those people, and all those relationships.
Jesus ultimately sacrificed on the cross! Jesus died so that all who believe in him will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). His death on the cross is the biggest way in which Jesus chose a sacrificial life and it is the best example for choosing a sacrificial life. While we Christians do not die for others as their savior, we do emulate him. We walk the path Jesus walked as we have opportunity to lay something down for the sake of others. We lay down our time, our energy. We lay down our laziness, or our arrogance. We lay down whatever is not of God so that we can take up whatever is HIS and offer to one another.
“Like the Pony Express, serving God is not a job for the casually interested. It’s costly service. God asks for your life. He requires that service to Him become a priority, not a pastime.” -Donald S. Whitney
Living a simple life, as we talked about earlier, is not the same as living on a farm in the country. That’s not what we mean. Living simply means living without duplicity, as alluded to in the quote from Richard Foster at the beginning of this post. James 1:5-8 says, “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.” Or, to go back to a verse we discussed before, Matthew 6:24 reports Jesus’ words, “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Or, in some translations, “both God and mammon.”)
There is no flourishing coming your way if you engage double-minded, split-attention, syncretistic worship of Jesus of Nazareth AND your ego, or the pursuit of money, etc. You will not be the human being God designed and called you to be if you live that way.
Just as simple living does not mean country living, it also does not mean ignorant or lazy living. We are called to know the Lord. He is knowable! He has made himself known through the Bible. And so we are called to study and know God’s Word so we might better know him. Simple living does not mean “never study the Word.” It does not mean “read for 2 minutes,” nor does it mean “consider reading a single-verse Instagram post as your daily Bible reading”. You don’t have to get a PhD from a seminary, but you are called to the renewal of your mind! Give God your best by trying to dig every treasure out of the Word that you possibly can! Remember the parable of the treasure buried in a field (Matthew 13:44). “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.” Dig, and dig, and dig again! There is SO MUCH to be found that will bless your life. Simple living is not intentional ignorance.
“[Christians who seek God’s kingdom first] easily put all demands that come to them in ‘their place’ and deal harmoniously, peacefully, and confidently with complexities of life that seem incomprehensible to others, for they know what they are doing. In the spiritual life, simplicity is not opposed to complexity, and poverty is not opposed to possessions. In fact, as simplicity makes great complexity bearable, so poverty as Bonhoeffer explains it—freedom from desire—makes possessions safe and fruitful for the glory of God.”5
Simple living is an active choice NOT to pursue the love of money or piling up earthly treasures. It is a choice not to make ourselves so busy that we never have time for God or our neighbors. Let me restate that last sentence in a positive way. It is a choice to make ourselves available daily, weekly, monthly, to the time needed for us to love God well and to love our neighbors well. As you do so, you will find yourself engaging not only simple living, but sacrificial living, too.
Let me give you one more quote from Richard Foster before I close. I won’t apologize for quoting him so much on this subject! He’s the best writer I’ve read on it.
“The central point for the Discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of his kingdom first and then everything necessary will come in its proper order. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of Jesus’ insight at this point. Everything hinges upon maintaining the ‘first’ thing as first. Nothing must come before the kingdom of God, including the desire for a simple life-style.” (Emphasis in original)
In closing, Willard has a fittingly concise definition of simple living. In his words, simple living is “the arrangement of life around a few consistent purposes, explicitly excluding what is not necessary to human well-being.”6
It is no sin to thank God that you’re a country boy, but Jesus has something richer and more meaningful in mind for us than John Denver. ↩︎
Many studies, for decades, have shown the negative effects of homelessness on mental health. Deborah K. Padgett, “Homelessness, housing instability and mental health: making the connections,” BJPsych Bulletin 44(5), 2020 Oct. See also PT Fischer and WR Breakey, “Homelessness and mental health: an overview,” International Journal of Mental Health 14, 1985: 6–41. ↩︎
Dallas Willard has much to say about this in his book The Spirit of the Disciplines. For example, “The idealization of poverty is one of the most dangerous illusions of Christians in the contemporary world. Stewardship—which requires possessions and includes giving—is the true spiritual discipline in relation to wealth” (emphasis in original; p. 194). ↩︎
For my blog post about the spiritual discipline of solitude, click this link. ↩︎
Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, p. 205. ↩︎
You can become more like Jesus in your daily living.
I don’t mean you can become divine. Rather, I mean you can fulfill God’s empowering call from Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” But we don’t seek or need a directionless transformation. We need the best direction to head towards. God also said this in Romans 8:29a, “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…”
To look like Jesus in our actions, priorities, and choices, and to sound like Jesus in our words and tone of voice, is a tall order. He is perfect and we are not! BUT! Christians do experience change from the old self to the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). At the same time, Christians do not make good progress merely by accident or via passive accumulation of godly habits. No, our growth in godliness benefits and abounds as we purposefully and actively seek to become more like our Lord Jesus Christ.
Since our growth to become more Christlike requires our active and purposeful efforts, we utilize the spiritual disciplines.
The spiritual disciplines can be defined as “those behaviors that augment our spiritual growth and enable us to grow to spiritual maturity.”1 I would also phrase them as following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself. In the rest of this post, I will cover an introduction to the spiritual disciplines, arguing for what they are at a broad level and why we need them. The end of this post will feature a suggested bibliography for further reading on the subject. Future posts will cover specific practices in detail.
Humanity’s greatest problem has always been and continues to be a spiritual one. Sin entered the world through the choices of human beings. We perpetuate those choices, ourselves, at an early age. Sin’s infection shows itself through things like depression, addiction, anxiety, personal emptiness, consumerism, sex, violence, cultic obsession, and suicide, among other expressions.
We must take seriously the need for human transformation. We also need to realize and utilize realistic methods of human transformation.
Some think faith should make us different all by itself, as long as we don’t have to do anything to make it happen. It’s called the Fruit of the Spirit, so the Holy Spirit does all the work, right? Well, as with anything having to do with the lives of human beings, God chooses to work with you and through you. You ever watch Power Rangers? They have this little object called a Morpher. They hold it out after doing a little choreography, say a little something, and poof, they’re transformed into their Power Ranger gear and are ready to call down the Zords so they can save the day. God doesn’t work like that. Nor does he wave a magic wand over you like Cinderella’s fairy godmother. His hand is extended out to you. Take His hand, follow Him, and together you will change your life.
I want to take a brief moment to comment on the Kingdom of God. It is relevant to this issue. The Kingdom of God is an ongoing spiritual presence. If your faith is in Christ, you are already in the Kingdom of God. You are already forgiven (Eph. 4:32), redeemed (Eph. 1:7), born again (1 Pet. 1:23), as well as a part of the family of God (Eph. 1:5) and a citizen in the Kingdom of Heaven (Phil. 3:20), among other descriptions. God’s presence is with you! Jesus said in the Great Commission, Mt. 28:20, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Where God is, His Kingdom is. If He is with you, then He stands alongside you, ready to empower you and encourage you as you take at least one step every day in your faith journey.
Now that we know He is with us, we can talk about what His presence and power does for us. We must not take this gracious opportunity lightly or flippantly. Through the spiritual disciplines, you will meet with and dwell with the Triune God! That’s an amazing thing! Further, God designed human beings and how we are best to live. Jesus did it perfectly. He mastered it. Just as an apprentice worker benefits from spending time with a master craftsman, we strongly desire to spend time with Jesus to learn from Him. Spending time with Jesus changes things.
G.K. Chesterton was a writer in the 19th-20th centuries.2 He once wrote, “Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried.” Even as difficult as Christianity is, we love Jesus. And because we love Jesus, we set our will to resolve to be like Him whom we love.
Jesus said many beautiful things, but I want to highlight one in particular at this point. In Matthew 11:29-30, He said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (emphasis added).
Isn’t it so interesting that Jesus invites us to learn from Him? We all take up a yoke or burden in life. For some of us, the yoke is parental expectations. For others, it is societal expectations. Maybe it is a career goal, or a life goal like living in a certain city, or a certain style of home. Maybe the yoke is to be “free,” but eventually we find our so-called “freedom” is a shackle to meaningless or mindless consumption of Netflix, sex, or drugs. We all take up a yoke or burden. Why not trade the difficult and heavy yokes of this world for the only one that is easy and light? Joyfully, Christians make that trade. We often mess up and try to pick up the old, heavy burden. But when we repent from sin, we let it drop to the ground again, choosing to continue down the path with our loving Lord.
Not only are you taking up a yoke in your life, one way or another, you will also learn from somebody, somewhere. If we have learned anything from the age of social media, we have learned how powerful and how easy it is for one person to influence another. A meme goes viral and suddenly middle school kids quote it ad infinitum. A young man who is really good at editing silly YouTube videos gets a new haircut and now you can’t walk through a store or mall without seeing it dozens of times. Or we see a middle-aged adult share a “life hack” or whatever that is supposed to be some health secret. (Remember the “raw water” trend that popped up for a few years around 2015-2019?) More serious examples include isolated individuals who watch social media for an incredibly unhealthy number of hours, weeks, months, or years, and decide to hurt themselves or others with some action (surgical, sociological, political, or violent) they have convinced themselves to take. My point is, you are going to learn from somebody anyway. And what you put your mind on, you become. Preachers often use the phrase, “You become what you behold,” and that is true.
Since you are going to learn from somebody anyway, why not learn from Jesus? Why not learn from the best human being in the history of humanity? The call to learn is right there in Matthew 11:29. He wants to teach you. Will you not learn from Him?
We can learn from Jesus by following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself. He told us this in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Let’s learn from Jesus. Let’s see what HE did so we can see what to emulate.
In the coming weeks, we will talk about individual spiritual disciplines as practices we can utilize to realistically participate in God’s plan for our transformation. The spiritual disciplines include reading the Bible and prayer, as you might expect, but they also include times of (healthy) solitude, living simply, living sacrificially, service to others, confession of sin, celebrating what God has done in your life and the lives of those around you, and worship.
“Ours is an undisciplined age. The old disciplines are breaking down . . . Above all the discipline of divine grace is derided as legalism or is entirely unknown to a generation that is largely illiterate in the Scriptures. We need the rugged strength of Christian character that can only come from discipline.”-V. Raymond Edman
This series of posts about the spiritual disciplines has concluded. Here are direct links to the rest of the posts:
Best known for his book Orthodoxy, which is easily available online, Amazon Kindle, in paperback, etc. ↩︎
Notice I am not posting links. These are simple recommendations. I won’t be making money off of affiliate marketing with this post. Although if you’re reading this and are interested in asking me to review your book…….. 🙂 ↩︎
If you only have the budget or time to read one of these, pick Foster or Willard. ↩︎
Part 4?! “Hasn’t this gone on a little long, Adam?” you might ask. Maybe.
If you’re just discovering this series of posts, part 1 is a survey of ancient literature where Melchizedek is discussed or is a character in both Jewish and Christian sources.
This, the fourth and final post in this series on Melchizedek and Christ, looks at the comparison itself as it occurs in Hebrews 7. The primary focus is the heart of the comparison in 7:1-3, followed by an overview of 7:4-28 as it relates to and clarifies the comparison of vv. 1-3.
Hebrews 7:1-3
These verses introduce the midrash on the passage from Gen. 14 without delay. The author gives the historical context of Melchizedek’s meeting with Abraham in v. 1b, which includes the mention of Melchizedek’s blessing on Abraham. Aside from his name and station(s), Melchizedek’s blessing is the first mention of his actions as a righteous man in this passage. Melchizedek is identified as both the “king of Salem” and “priest of the Most High God” (ἱερεὺς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου). Verse 2a presents Melchizedek’s status as greater than Abraham by way of narrative recounting: Abraham gave a tithe of his spoils to Melchizedek.
The lofty descriptions of Melchizedek begin in verse 2b. The author of Hebrews begins these lofty descriptions with the etymology of his name, presenting Melchizedek as the “king of righteousness.” He then follows Philo by interpreting his station as king of Salem with the phrase “king of peace.” These are, by no means, common descriptions of human beings in the Christian Bible. The author here sets the audience up for a high view of this enigmatic figure. In addition, it is the author’s reminder that the offices of God’s Son, his chosen king, and high priest have all converged in the Christ.[1]
Hebrews 7:3 is the central piece of this laudatory puzzle. It begins with three adjectives, all modified by the negating ἀ prefix. These adjectives describe the king-priest Melchizedek as “without father, without mother, without genealogy” (ἀπάτωρ ἀμήτωρ ἀγενεαλόγητος). As discussed by many scholars, including a large number of those surveyed above, these adjectives are included by the author of Hebrews because of the omission of these details from Gen. 14. Melchizedek suddenly appears in the Abrahamic narrative, and is gone again just as quick. As mentioned above, this is not to say that the author of Hebrews necessarily thought of Melchizedek as some kind of heavenly being. Rather, it is simply a rabbinic method of interpretation that allows him to make these claims in light of the Melchizedek/Christ typology.
Likewise, Melchizedek is said to have “neither beginning of days nor end of life” (μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν μήτε ζωῆς τέλος ἔχων). He is said to continue as a “priest forever.” Again, the Genesis narrative does not include a genealogy, nor does it include a birth narrative or death narrative for Melchizedek. Melchizedek functions within the Genesis narrative as another figure who worships the same God as Abraham, but he also functions within the larger biblical narrative as a shadow of the Christ to come. This description, and those that came before, only become coherent when understood as typology.
It is precisely because of the typology between Melchizedek (type) and Christ (antitype) that the author of Hebrews can make these lofty claims about Melchizedek. The type of Christ is always a shadow, a form, a signpost pointing forward to that which is true. Thus, if it looks like Melchizedek is without father, or if it looks like he has no end, then how much more is Christ lacking an earthly father and enjoying a life of eternity? The author of Hebrews, himself, tells the audience that Melchizedek ‘resembles’ (ἀφωμοιωμένος) the Son of God. With the simple definition of typology given previously, this resemblance naturally falls into that category.
Hebrews 7:4-28
The first three verses of Heb. 7 are the core of the doctrinal teaching that follows in the rest of the chapter. What the reader finds in 7:4-10 is the first unspooling of the propositions found in 7:1-3. This second part of the 7:1-10 unit is a discussion on the significance of this priest. Specifically, the author of Hebrews demonstrates the primacy of the Melchizedekian priesthood as illustrated in the historical tithe from Abraham to Melchizedek.[2] The author of Hebrews and the apostle Paul overlap in a method of critique here. The author of Hebrews demonstrates Levi’s subordination to Melchizedek because he was “in the loins of his ancestor” (v.10) at the time. Paul uses the same logic in Romans 5 regarding the sin of all mankind in Adam’s loins.
The rest of chapter seven continues to examine the implications of the Melchizedek/Christ typology by an exegesis of Ps. 110:4. Kistemaker details a structure divided among words from that statement, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”[3] Heb. 7:11-13 look at the word “[priestly] order” by comparing the two orders of Levi and Melchizedek. Verses 13-14 look at the word “you” in more discussion on the Messiah who fulfills this typology. Verses 15-25 discuss the term “forever.” Jesus is demonstrated as the one who is the superior high priest whose holds an unending term of service.
So What is the Point?
Christians have mulled the question of Melchizedek’s function in Heb. 7 for millennia. By rabbinic and Hellenistic rhetorical devices, the author of Hebrews demonstrates to his audience that Melchizedek functions as a foreshadow of Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews argues for the superior priesthood of Christ in the longest doctrinal section of the epistle, Heb. 7:1-10:25. Heb. 7:1-3 and Melchizedek form one key to understanding his argument. Ps. 110 opened a door through which this once-enigmatic figure from Gen. 14 became important for defining the kind of priesthood the Christ embodies and fulfills. This Gentile priest outside of the line of Abraham, in his small way, embodied qualities of the Messiah. “So what is said about Melchizedek himself in Heb. 7 need not be taken too seriously as a statement about the historical figure in Genesis. Its point is its application to Jesus.”[4]
[4] Richard Bauckham, “The Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology, eds. Richard Bauckham, et al (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 28.
Last week, I introduced several literary threads regarding Melchizedek in ancient Jewish and Christian sources. Melchizedek is treated in various ways in Jewish texts. In a number of Christian sources, I showed a significant trail of thought where several scholars see the Melchizedek/Christ comparison in Hebrews 7 as typology. This week, I intend to survey a number of significant commentaries for their perspectives on the comparison. This survey is not exhaustive, but it is representative of the field. Recent years have produced an increasing number of high quality studies of the Epistle to the Hebrews, with a few particular studies on the question regarding Melchizedek’s function in Heb. 7, as well. These commentaries are considered in the order of their publication.
Simon J. Kistemaker’s 1984 commentary on Hebrews is a significant study, renewing academic and ecclesiastical interest in the epistle. Kistemaker acknowledges that contemporary readers know little of Melchizedek since he is only mentioned twice in the OT, so he explains that “the author of Hebrews reasons from the silence of Scripture and constructs his argument on the significance of the king-priest Melchizedek.”[1] In fact, “[the author] reasons like a rabbi of the first century.”[2]
This expositor is also helpful regarding the lofty descriptions of Melchizedek in Heb. 7:3. Kistemaker makes the point, “A prerequisite for holding the office of priest, therefore, was a proven genealogy. . . Melchizedek, therefore, is unique. He does not fit into the genealogies recorded in Genesis. He seems to belong to a different class.”[3]
Harold W. Attridge published a commentary in 1989 in the Hermeneia series. His commentary details Heb. 7 and the question of Melchizedek further than Kistemaker’s. He begins by describing the passage as “a playful exegesis of the Genesis story.”[4] Specifically, he names the author of Hebrews’ method as a gezera shawa kind of midrash.[5]
Gezera shawa is more popularly known in Christian circles are “verbal analogy.”[6]Gezera shawa is defined by Strack and Stemberger, “strictly speaking this is only to be used if two given Torah statements make use of identical (and possibly unique) expressions.”[7] It is also somewhat flexible, however, as it closely related to “the so-called heqqesh, i.e. the (less strictly regulated) topical analogy.”[8]
In Attridge’s eyes, the author of Hebrews utilizes a popular form of midrash in the late first century[9] to draw an analogy between Melchizedek and Jesus Christ in order to demonstrate the better priesthood of Christ. Attridge presents two options for understanding the nature or status of Melchizedek, which would allow the figure to stand as a useful type for Christ. First, he presents the claim that Melchizedek is “simply a scriptural symbol.”[10] That is, the comparison rests primarily (if not exclusively) on a literary comparison. “[The author of Hebrews] would appear, like Philo, to be uninterested in the person of Melchizedek himself and only concerned with what he represents.”[11] Second, Attridge describes how some readers think Melchizedek is treated as a heavenly being of some sort. He points especially to Heb. 7:8 and Melchizedek’s ‘life.’ “His argument there makes little sense if the Melchizedek whom Abraham encountered were not greater than the patriarch precisely because of the unlimited life attributed to him.”[12] Attridge ultimately rests his case with the latter perspective, citing the material from Qumran as justification for then-contemporary speculation regarding Melchizedek.[13]
Attridge demonstrates the author of Hebrews’ midrashic method, and explains, based on then-contemporary speculation as evidenced in the Qumran scrolls and the difficulty of Melchizedek’s ‘life’ in Heb. 7:8, that Melchizedek was a kind of heavenly being. An interesting rebuttal to the idea of Melchizedek as a kind of heavenly being is discussed in the section on Luke Timothy Johnson’s commentary, below.
2001 saw the publishing of Craig R. Koester’s commentary on Hebrews. Koester demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the ancient literature relevant to Melchizedek. One significant contribution is his analysis regarding an eventual genealogy for Melchizedek. “Because extant sources that identify Melchizedek with Shem are later than Hebrews, interpreters more commonly propose that Jewish sources gave Melchizedek a genealogy in order to counter Christian claims.”[14]
Koester, like the other Christian theologians surveyed, understands the author of Hebrews’ methodology as an argument from the silence of Genesis regarding Melchizedek’s father, mother, etc. In contrast to Attridge, Koester does not claim the author of Hebrews’ perspective to include Melchizedek as a kind of heavenly being. The nature of Melchizedek does not rise to the same importance for Koester as it did Attridge. The point of Hebrews’ comment on Melchizedek’s genealogy is not to describe Melchizedek as a heavenly being. Koester puts it this way, “Hebrews, however, takes silence to mean that genealogy cannot be the defining trait of a priest. If the lack of genealogy did not bar Melchizedek from priesthood, then it should not disqualify Jesus.”[15] For Koester, then, the lack of genealogy is an opportunity for the author of Hebrews to demonstrate Christ’s qualifications for priesthood outside of the Levitical line. This seems more naturally in line with the concerns of the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Luke Timothy Johnson’s dense monograph from 2006 is a tightly-argued exposition on the epistle. The earliest contribution of his book relevant to the present study is in regard to the analogy employed by the author of Hebrews between Melchizedek and Christ.[16] Johnson tells his readers, “as in all analogy, two elements are required: an element of similarity (or continuity) and an element of dissimilarity (or discontinuity).”[17] With this in mind, Attridge’s argument that the author of Hebrews viewed Melchizedek as a heavenly being becomes much weaker. The reader of Hebrews finds several elements presented in continuity between Melchizedek and Christ. However, the author of Hebrews refers to him as “this man” several times. What the author of Hebrews does not do is declare a positive assertion that Melchizedek is a heavenly being of some kind. With these elements of continuity having been presented, where is the element of discontinuity? Christ is the God-man, the divine human. Melchizedek is not identified as a heavenly being anywhere in Hebrews. While this does not completely prove the author of Hebrews’ perspective on Melchizedek as a scriptural symbol, it demonstrates that Attridge’s conclusion is weak.[18] Since the author of Hebrews’ perspective on Melchizedek as scriptural symbol of heavenly being is so difficult to locate, it seems prudent for exegetes to tread lightly in this area.
Regarding the grand descriptions of Melchizedek in Heb. 7, Johnson illuminates that “our author follows the interpretive principle that has been called non in tora non in mundo. The silence of Scripture on a given point can be taken as evidence that something did not exist in the extratextual world, either.”[19] It is also worth noting that Johnson comes to the same conclusion as Attridge, that the author of Hebrews views Melchizedek as a kind of heavenly being.[20]
John Paul Heil’s 2010 monograph contains a brief introduction explaining his view of Hebrews as an epistolary homily intended for a public performance.[21] This book breaks the entire epistle into chiastic units, from start to finish. Heb. 7:1-10 is one of those chiastic units.[22] Heil follows the understanding of previous scholars regarding the grounds for Melchizedek’s lofty descriptors in 7:1-3.[23]
David L. Allen is the scholar who produced the New American Commentary on Hebrews in 2010. It is a significant contribution to the field, clocking in at over six hundred pages. Allen identifies the Melchizedek/Christ comparison as the Hellenistic rhetorical device “synkrisis” and homiletical midrash.[24] “Synkrisis” compares two subjects of similar quality.[25] One can see the similarity between “synkrisis” and gezera shawa, as they function as comparative devices.[26] Allen, therefore, also supports reading Heb. 7’s laudatory descriptions of Melchizedek as stemming out of the silence of Scripture, as well as the typological understanding of the Melchizedek/Christ comparison.[27]
Gareth Lee Cockerill has been thinking on the epistle to the Hebrews for years. His 2012 commentary in the NICNT series is an excellent resource for Hebrews studies. Unlike many other scholars, Cockerill does not consider the Melchizedek/Christ comparison as typology.[28] To the contrary, Cockerill asserts that the typology with regards to Christ’s priesthood is between Aaron (type) and Christ (antitype). Melchizedek is described merely as a foreshadow and anticipation of Jesus Christ.[29] His argument primarily rests on the fact that Melchizedek is outside the “old order” of the tabernacle, priesthood, and the Law.[30]
Cockerill does not consider Melchizedek as a kind of heavenly being or as a pre-incarnate Christophany. Melchizedek is simply a human being who is given a significant role to play.[31]
[The author’s] commitment to a literal encounter between Abraham and Melchizedek and his concomitant assumption of Melchizedek’s humanity frees him to use Melchizedek without fear that Melchizedek might become the Son’s rival. Thus we have a Melchizedek adequate to foreshadow but unable to compete with the Son.[32]
For Cockerill, a type/antitype comparison between Melchizedek and Jesus puts Melchizedek in competition with Jesus.
Cockerill’s commentary is a significant contribution to the study of Hebrews, but his use of the terms of typology is too rigid. It creates and imposes a problem on the text that the author of Hebrews did not create, himself. For the purposes of this study, a simple definition of typology suffices. “Typology…deals with the principle of analogous fulfillment.”[33] The imposition of modern literary categories on ancient literature is difficult at best. Rather, this study seeks to peek over the author’s shoulder, as it were, to illuminate and understand what is already there. It is problematic to sharply define the categories of “foreshadow/anticipation” and “typology,” as Cockerill does here. The author of Hebrews clearly portrays Melchizedek as someone who embodies some features of the Christ; specifically, Melchizedek foreshadows the nature of the Christ’s priesthood. This is typology.
This concludes the survey of contemporary thinkers on the topic at hand. Next week, I plan to present Melchizedek’s two Old Testament appearances. It will be fairly brief, since he appears in less than half a dozen verses of the OT altogether. They are, however, necessary to get at the meaning likely intended by the author of Hebrews.
[3] Ibid., 185. It is also interesting to note an observation Kistemaker made that would have assuaged Martin Luther’s concerns about the Melchizedek/Christ comparison. On page 186, he states that Melchizedek is compared with the Son of God, not the Son of God with Melchizedek. Kistemaker, himself, was reliant on John Albert Bengel’s Gnomon of the New Testament, vol. 4, ed. Andrew R. Fausset, 7th ed., Edinburgh: Clark, 1877 for that observation.
[4] Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Hermeneia, ed. Helmut Koester (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989), 187.
[6] H.L. Strack and G. Stemberger, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash, trans. Markus Bockmuehl (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1991), 21. For an incredible list of sources discussing NT use of the OT, see Martin Pickup, “New Testament Interpretation of the Old Testament: The Theological Rationale of Midrashic Exegesis,” JETS 51 (2008): 353-82.
[13] Ibid., 191-92. For example, he says the author of Hebrews got the high descriptions of Melchizedek from a hymn to Melchizedek as a source.
[14] Craig R. Koester, Hebrews: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Vol. 36, The Anchor Bible, eds. William Foxwell Albright and David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 339. See also John Bowker, The Targums and Rabbinic Literature: An Introduction to Jewish Interpretations of Scripture (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 196-99.
[16] Luke Timothy Johnson, Hebrews: A Commentary, The New Testament Library, eds. C. Clifton Black and John T. Carroll (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 175. He also identifies this as gezera shawa.
[18] In addition, if the author of Hebrews viewed Melchizedek as a kind of heavenly being, like an angel, would he not present an argument for why Jesus is better than Melchizedek, like he did regarding the angels in chapter 1?
[21] John Paul Heil, Hebrews: Chiastic Structures and Audience Response, vol. 46, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series, ed. Mark S. Smith (Washington, DC: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2010), 24-25. Heil seems strongly influenced by the rabbinic practice of verbal analogy. This is not to denigrate Heil’s structure. It is actually somewhat compelling. For another scholar who sees a chiastic structure to the epistle, see also Linda Lloyd Neeley, “A Discourse Analysis of Hebrews,” Occasional Papers in Translation and Textlinguistics 3-4 (1987): 1-146.
[22] While it is an interesting argument, it is not especially relevant to the present study on Melchizedek in Hebrews.
[28] Gareth Lee Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Gordon D. Fee (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 46, 51, 54, 304.
[33] Grant R. Osborne, “Type, Typology,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed., ed. Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 1222.
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