Wrapping up

Today we finished class. These two weeks have gone very quickly! It has been a pleasure to get to know these men, and it has been a privilege to play a role, I hope in some part, in their growth as ministers.

I continue to be amazed at God's Word and the power it has when proclaimed! It speaks to their congregations that are in worlds so different from my own, and so different from the world of Crete where Titus was serving when Paul wrote his letter to him. It carries the message of the Grace of God that brings salvation and that transforms lives today. In fact, that is a key theme of Titus -- that same grace that saves us without any work of our own transforms us so that we are zealous to do good works! We work hard not to be saved, but because we have been saved, and both are the work of God's grace.

Teaching has a way of clarifying the teacher's thinking, and teaching this course again has certainly done that for me. It clarifies my convictions about the role and strategies of preaching. And it clarifies for me my convictions about what makes preaching more effective.

An adage that I was taught some time ago rings more and more true: when you go to your study to prepare to preach, you must be absolutely convinced that *you* have nothing to say! The message must be manifestly from the text. When it is, make it clear, make it relevant, and be sure it has captured your own heart and mind as well. And through it all, trust that God is at work.

So I wrap up this episode in the journey. Now the trip home. The taxi is to come to the guest house here at 3am so I can get to the airport 3 hours ahead of the 6:45am departure. It is a big travel weekend here in the Philippines so delays are likely.

Thank you for praying and for your interest in this adventure. I will be glad to share more of my reflections as things continue to percolate in my heart and mind.

Preaching from the heart, and being productive

Today we had our first batch of people's second sermons. As we got ready for the sermons, I was nervous. Would the work we have done in class make a difference? I so much want them to do well, and, selfishly, I want to believe that we aren't just going through motions.

Long story short, I was very encouraged. And more importantly, they were very encouraged. As I require them to preach completely without notes in the second sermon, it feels very risky for everyone. Note that they are not to say whatever comes to mind. In particular, they give me their outline, and part of their grade is whether or not they follow their outline.

What is exciting is that their own expression afterward is that they spoke from their hearts, and they sensed God at work as they did. Rather than saying what the paper said, they said what they had studied and made a part of themselves over the previous days. And they spoke to us, not to imaginary people. The eye contact and passion was so much stronger than before.

But even more, I am encouraged by the power of the Bible. Paul wrote a letter to Titus close to 2,000 years ago, and the words still speak today. They challenge us with real life today just as they addressed reality back then. And they taught me. I was challenged about how I should be leading my family, and I was challenged about how leadership in churches should run.

My colleague here expressed pity with my having to listen to so many sermons! I will have heard 16 this week ... at one a week, I wouldn't have to be in church again until February 19! But actually, I have been encouraged and refreshed. It is a privilege to sit before these men as they express from their hearts the truth of God's word because they believe it deeply and long to help us put it into practice.

And that actually is the big idea Paul had with this letter to Titus: the same grace that saves us also teaches to become like God. It isn't two things ... salvation and growing in godliness. It is the same grace that does both, and when people are inclined to separate being saved from growing to be more like God, they are separating something that Paul said was inseparable. God himself does good works and brings good to other people, and so God's people are to do the same. Living like God truly is the most productive way to live. The alternatives are actually, as Paul says, worthless and unproductive.

I am thankful for the privilege to learn from these men, and hopefully, in some way, also provide a useful service to them as they serve God's people here.

Grading sermons

For most teachers, grading assignments is one of the least favorite activities. That is certainly true for me. And grading sermons is one of the hardest assignments for me to grade. It is hard in large part because for many if not most pastors, their preaching is pretty closely tied up with their identity as a pastor. To give a low grade on a sermon can cut pretty deep.

It is also hard because, by the nature of ministry, God's work is done when the Holy Spirit works, whether or not we have done 'well.'

And yet, God calls us to serve with skill, and to serve to the best of our ability. As such, my job is to help these men understand ways in which their preaching might improve. So I tell them their strengths, but I also tell them what I see that could be done better.

Our top criteria in this class are: biblical, clear, relevant, and interesting. There are other criteria after that, but these are most critical. By biblical, I mean, the sermon accurately and 'manifestly' expresses the main idea of the main text. Accurate is simply that what the preacher claims is the idea of the text really matches the text. 'Manifestly' means that he makes it clear how this text makes that point. Preaching the idea of a text but without showing people it comes from that text reduces the authority of the message. And preaching something other than the main idea of the main text of the sermon might actually be preaching something good, but it speaks without the authority of the Word. Sometimes people preach "the right sermon from the wrong text." That is, they have preached something that is true to Scripture, but it isn't found in this passage. The better job a preacher does of convincing his audience that his main idea is directly taken from the main idea of the main text, the stronger the sermon.

I pray that my feedback is accurate, clear, and helpful. And I pray for hearts eager to learn.

And of course, I pray that they will grow in their effectiveness in communicating the very thoughts of God as expressed in the Bible! What an incredible task! I am thankful for grace.

!Feliz Navidad!

Christmas marketing is in full swing here. On my trip to class the other day in the taxi, we listened to Feliz Navidad! In a Philippine restaurant (Jollibee) I ate to Jingle Bells. There are plenty of Santa Clauses around too. I'm just getting geared up for the marketing blitz at home! (I took this picture from my taxi. The sign must be 70 feet tall or something like that. They have lots of gargantuan signs to get your attention!)

Yesterday in class, the first group of people preached through the book of Jonah. It is great to experience the giftedness of these men. It is also wonderful to be taken again through the wonder of the writing of the Bible. It is just amazing!

I love the surprise of the book of Jonah that the people who truly respond well to God are all pagan enemies of Israel. And the prophet of Israel is the one who responds so poorly. And this story is told by the people of Israel. So much for the post-modern theory that people make themselves the heroes of the stories they tell. Of course that is often the case, but it certainly isn't here.

What is amazing in this book is the patience and mercy of God with a rebellious child. I am thankful for this heart of God. And as one of my students preached, it is not enough to know God. He longs to have his mercy reflected in his people. Am I willing to be so patient and merciful? Unfortunately, no. I mean I agree that it would be best, but I often don't have it in me. And that's why I can relate with Jonah! And that's why this book is such good news.

God doesn't come to bless the good. Rather, he comes to rescue the lost, the unmerciful, people like me.

And hearing these men preach this powerful book, I long to preach this book among people who need to hear this great news! If only people knew the God they so quickly brush aside or even disdain! May we be messengers who bring such good news!

Worshiping in Manila

Today I was privileged to visit Fellowship Center Baptist Church in Manila. What an encouraging morning! I am so impressed by the pastoral staff as well as by their ministry. Here I am with 3 of the pastors as well as several deacons:

They were very kind and hosted me to lunch as well.

One of the encouraging things they did was to have everyone go into discussion groups right after the sermon. People just break up into groups around the sanctuary and take 30-40 minutes to talk about the sermon and how they will respond to it. People tend to be in the same groups week to week, and then end their time in prayer together. Then they call the people back together to sing a final song. It is a great way to build relationships, to build on the sermon, and to explore ways to put it into practice.

They are also working to find ways to reach out beyond themselves. One part of their strategy is something very similar to the building-based fellowships we have tried to do at MSU. That is, they are challenging people to start a Bible study and prayer group at their place of work. They have started one at a medical facility and they are in the process of setting one up for a fire station. May God bless their efforts and their ministry!

Learning from my students

Today in class I encountered the first significant issue (that I’m aware of) where the culture of the Philippine church is in conflict with some of what I am teaching. In particular, I have been teaching that the best preaching begins in the world of the hearers. That is, rather than starting with the text and just assuming that people are ready to learn from the text, preachers should start in the world of the hearers and then take them into the text.

Thankfully, my students very graciously said that the expectation in the Philippine church is very different from that. In particular, until the preacher reads the text, people feel free to ignore what he is saying. Reading the text signals that things are beginning.

But even more significantly, if a preacher really intends to begin in the world of the hearers rather than in the Bible, people will assume that his ideas are just his own and not those of the Bible. Chronologically starting the sermon in today’s world suggests that the thoughts of the sermon also begin in today’s world rather than in the Bible.

It is very kind of my students to help me see this since I will be preaching this Sunday, and I was going to preach with my normal pattern of starting in the world of the hearers. Had I done that, they would have concluded that I was heretical! Thank you to my students!

So what will I do? I plan begin with the reading of the text to alert people to the source of my sermon and my commitment to the Bible as the source of the message. I am then thinking of discussing the setting of the text and making a connection to today’s world. Then I’ll do what I might normally have done as an introduction and continue with the sermon.

I’m not sure if that is the best approach, but certainly it is better than what I would have done!

The fun for the class is that Monday morning the students have to preach for me and the rest of the class. It will be very interesting! In a preaching course, traditionally there is a significant shift that takes place somewhere about half way through the course from delivery of content to student production and feedback. They have to preach as we put into practice things we’ve talked about.

For me personally, it sounds like we will have a chance to get out and see some sights this weekend. I am looking forward to that! Then I preach on Sunday and we jump into our second week of class. It has been going very quickly! I pray that our experiences have been valuable to my students.

Shopping and learning

After class today, I went across the street from the mall I showed you a picture of before. And this is what I found:

 

Amazingly just across the road there is another giant mall. And these aren't the biggest malls in Manila. Clearly shopping is a significant pass time for a significant portion of the population! And Christmas is certainly a part of the shopping experience right now, with Christmas trees and Christmas carols part of the experience.


On my way to and from class in the taxi, however, I encounter another side of Manila as we pass by many squatters who have set up their homes with scrap metal and the like. It is quite a contrast. (No pictures as I am a bit bashful about capturing those sights...)

In class we spent a bit of time today talking about the book of Jonah. One of the challenges I've given to these students is the need to focus on the big idea of a whole book in order to preach any part of that book. It can be a daunting standard, and yet one that is very important.

My metaphor is this: when you travel between two points, say your typical trip from home to work, or home to school, or home to the store, your route goes through various twists and turns. In fact, at some point during your journey I would guess that you might actually being getting further away from your destination (as the crow flies). You are on the right path, maybe even the best path, but if you look at that part of your path in isolation from the overall plan, it might not make sense given your destination. In fact, someone who only saw that portion of your path might think you had a different destination.

The same thing can be true of a part of any book, and it can also be true of the Bible. As with the segment of your journey, it might only make sense when taken in the light of the whole journey.

In terms of the Bible, the most obvious example is the book of Job. That book records the speeches of several people whom we know in the end are at least significantly wrong. Job also says some things that turn out to be wrong, yet it seems that they aren't as wrong as the others.

A key challenge in understanding the book is to understand these pieces in the light of the whole. Some of what is said is actually meant to be an example of how we shouldn't think, but we only understand that by understanding what the whole book is about.

So we spent a bit of time talking about both the whole and the parts of the book of Jonah. It is always satisfying as a teacher to have some sense that "the light went on" for some students as we went through this discussion. I do hope and pray that these challenging ideas are helping them become more effective in understanding the Bible and in communicating it accurately and effectively to others.

And it is encouraging to learn of a God who is immensely gracious and compassionate, even with his prophet (Jonah) who is not. This book is great news for those who realize that they aren't as 'good' as God, and actually aren't even as good as those we would normally think of as the enemies of God. And for those who figure that they are more pleasing to God than their enemies, God graciously acts to bring a change of heart, promoting the kind of humility that truly becomes the people of God.

Teacher and student learn together

Here is my class:

It is great to get to know these men and to interact with them. I am encouraged by their desire to learn, their insight, and their questions! It is so good to be able to learn along with them.

They will be preaching through the book of Jonah next week, so today I assigned them the task of deciding what the big idea of the book is, and also to break down the book into the parts that they will each preach. It will be fun to work this through with them. It is amazing how patient God is with such a "high maintenance" prophet! It gives me hope...

I am processing through questions my students have raised that we will explore together over the days ahead. One of the questions is how to preach texts like Proverbs 6:6-11. This passage is heavy on the obligation to work hard ("Consider the ant, you sluggard!"). That is true, yet the question is what makes it a Christian sermon? Where is the Gospel? While giving priority to this passage and letting it speak, what is the right way to make sure that people don't leave with a load of guilt on their shoulders? I'll share more later what we learn...

First day of class

So today was my first day of class, and I am excited about being a part of this! I have 8 students and 1 who is auditing. They are mostly senior pastors with a college chaplain and associate pastor in the mix. They are enthusiastic and ready to share!

Tomorrow I will show them part of "Unleashing the Word" by Max Mclean. Check it out if you've never seen it. He also does incredible dramatic readings of Mark and other parts of the Bible.

One of the key challenges from class today was 1 Peter 4:10-11.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
(1 Peter 4:10-11 ESV)

The varied grace of God includes both words and actions. The words should be the words of God, and the actions should be in the strength of God. It is a sobering thought that those who speak are to speak the words of God. Of course, if someone stands to preach in a church, they had better be the words of God! In other words, our message had better be the message of the Bible, or else we shouldn't be standing where we do. But it is a mind boggling thought to be God's mouthpiece. If that doesn't put the fear into us, I'm not sure what will! And yet, by the grace of God, we can actually speak His words. He can speak through us.

We are to deliver God's grace to people. He could do it directly, but He chooses to use people. So as you have opportunity, speak the words of God to people, encouraging and challenging them in His grace. And as you have opportunity, serve people using His strength.

Here in the Philippines, apparently pastors normally preach between 45 and 90 minutes ... that's quite a sermon! Needless to say, I won't let them preach that long in class. Actually, I'm going to give them 20 minutes. If they can say what they need to say in 20, then I'll let them expand upon it in their own settings.

By the way, here's the street where I am living. It is a very nice place.

By the way, I'm told that the mall I showed you pictures of is not the biggest mall in Manila. And I went again today (a Monday) to discover that lots of people are there even on a weekday during the day! I am told that people here really enjoy shopping!

Getting acclimated

Today was a day for getting acclimated. I got up at my normal time for class so that I would be ready to do so tomorrow. I had a good breakfast and then took an exciting taxi ride for about 35 minutes to get to Manila Baptist Church. Obviously the rules of driving etiquette are different in different places! I was sure we were going to get in multiple accidents, but the car didn't have dents and we did fine, so obviously the driver knows what he is doing!

The time at church was very encouraging. It is great to see the heart of the people for missions! It challenges me to think outside of my normal boundaries, both in terms of how I think about missions and in terms of how I think of my life. They presented a fascinating quote: you only have one candle to burn, so why not burn it where light is most needed?

This afternoon I visited a local shopping mall. Actually, it is the biggest and most active shopping mall I’ve ever seen! It just keeps going and going, with floors above ground as well as below ground. It even has an annex that is a separate 6 story (or so) building. And there were loads of people! Apparently it is a good place to go to escape some of the heat.

I’ve done a bit of review for class which starts in the morning. I’m excited and nervous. It will be great to meet these men whom I’ll be teaching.

Travel is good, and imagining a blow torch in Antarctica

So far, so good. Travel went well and I arrived at the guest house. Who would have thought we would have a traffic jam in Manila at 1:30am on a Sunday morning! There are lots of people here. I rested well and will be getting a taxi to head to church here shortly. Here's a picture of my room:

I'll get acclimated today and do some review before I begin teaching my course tomorrow morning. Until then, here's a reflection I wrote on the plane. I find that being on a flight offers me some good constraints so that I take some more time to think.

“And they shall call his name, ‘The pretty powerful, fairly caring spirit who is not completely removed from us.’” (a very poor yet all too real understanding of this verse)

Sometimes we encounter tensions in life, such as between justice and mercy. To hold to one of these ideals too closely seems to negate the other. They don’t seem to mix well. It is a bit like being in Antarctica in a swimsuit and a blowtorch. What can you do? When you try to warm yourself up, most of you freezes while a small part gets burned! The best thing to do might be to use the blowtorch to melt a pool of water in the ice and warm up the water. The water mediates between the two extremes and you get to swim in a heated pool or even a hot tub in you work it right! Finding a blend, a middle ground, helps us survive the two extremes.

When Jesus was born, the angel of the Lord told Joseph that his name was to be the prophesied name, “Immanuel” which means “God with us.” (see Matthew 1:23) This simple statement is a bit like the cold of Antarctica and the hot of the blowtorch. You want a bit of both, but the individual parts actually don’t mix very well, and individually they won’t help! The transcendence of God alone seems to make him too big to do us any good. What or who am I that the creator of the universe would care? And like using the space shuttle to help a toddler up into a high chair, or like trying to learn basic math by studying advanced particle physics, God’s infinite size and power and complexity and my tiny size and weakness and simplicity make it a poor match for any help. It seems that God’s transcendence puts him outside of my reach, and me out of his.

The other half of the statement, ‘with us,’ is a bit easier to handle. We can understand the idea of people relating to each other, and we know how people can help us. With ordinary problems, that is. But someone like me cannot solve my biggest problems, like the problem of death. That person will die too. No mere human has tackled, or can tackle, that problem. But even deeper than the problem of death is the problem of alienation from God. No mere human can convince God to forgive me when I’ve offended him. No one could even offer his or her life in place of my own before God. In short, someone like me is a lot easier to understand and experience, yet someone like me can’t solve what really matters most.

Yet there is a radical gulf between being like me and being God. They seem to be mutually exclusive qualities.

But perhaps, I wonder, could we blend them in some useful way? Maybe we can do something like making a warm pool of water with the blowtorch in the Antarctic, a kind of blending of the two extremes, the transcendence of God, the being so unlike me, and the immanence of man, the beings so like me, into a merged middle. So instead of having the transcendent God being present with particular people like me, he becomes “the pretty powerful, fairly caring spirit who is not completely removed from me.” That’s a pool I can swim in without freezing and without getting burned. It fits my world. God is like us, just a bit bigger and nicer.

And yet, it also is a pool that no longer accomplishes either thing that I really want. He isn’t big enough to solve my core problem, since only God could do that, and he isn’t small enough truly to be with me, for only a human can do that. Maybe it’s kind of like a warm shower standing outside in sub-zero temperatures. You can’t immerse yourself in it so the cold still reaches you.

The better solution, I think, is not to merge these two extremes, but rather to recognize the paradox of merging the two in one. The transcendent, creator, perfect, holy God became human. He truly became like us so that he could truly be with us and we with him. Yet he was still the transcendent God, so He could solve our problem with having offended God and our problem with death.

But it’s hard to hold on to these two ideas at once. What does it mean? What does it look like? In a way I can imagine it in the person of Jesus Christ, yet even that is problematic. What does it mean that the eternal God had to sleep and eat or he couldn’t continue to live? And the problem is even greater when the transcendent God isn’t visibly present here today. It is one challenge to imagine the man Jesus of Nazareth as God. It is another problem to imagine the creator God truly being present with me today.

So I tend to merge them in different ways. I suspect that you do the same. I also suspect that you and I have our favorite patterns. For me, my tendency is to emphasize God’s transcendence at the expense of his immanence. He is great. He is all knowing and all powerful. But I then conclude that he is distant from me. He is not really aware of my life and he won’t really do anything about it. And I can offer up plenty of evidence that I think supports my claim that God is distant. I want to believe he is close, but I tend not to keep that in mind. It’s a hard tension to hold, and so it easily slips from my grasp.

I suspect that others see God as like us at the expense of his transcendence. He is compassionate and caring. He understands our struggles. Yet he loses his sacredness, his holiness, his moral perfection.

Generally I end up with a muddle in the middle, a being who isn’t truly holy and sacred and all power, and at the same time is not truly with me in the deepest sense of the word. He is neither wholly other nor wholly with me.

But when I can catch a glimpse of the eternal, almighty, sovereign God specifically compassionate for me, specifically working things for my good, I am awestruck. It brings a deep joy even in the midst of sadness or trouble or risk or danger.

Oh, that I could keep this incredible vision in view! When I do, it transforms ordinary days as well as deeply troublesome days into something far better, even if the conditions don’t actually change. For then the God for whom all of my problems are no problems at all is also the God who is truly concerned about me and taking action, albeit usually unseen, for my deepest good.

You can see it in the life of Christ, the God who became man while still being God. He was at the same time quite ordinary, having to rest and eat and drink, and quite extraordinary, being able to perform miracles and even to raise himself from death!

Thankfully, he is “the transcendent, all-powerful, all holy, sovereign God who sees me not just people like me, who seeks me not just people in other places, who provides for me not just the generic ‘humanity,’ forgives me not just an abstract sense of his children, who lives me not just someone else somewhere else.” Thankfully he is “God with us.” And that reality gives me both a joy for today and a great hope for the future as I trust in him.

My travel plans and some initial thoughts

I will be leaving later today (Friday, October 14) for a direct flight from Detroit to Manila ... just over 19 hours! Manila is exactly 12 hours ahead of us here in the eastern timezone. I return on October 29. I am going to teach homiletics (preaching) for Asia Baptist Theological Seminary. Over the course of these two weeks, I plan to reflect upon teaching, preaching, travel, and my interactions with my students. My teaching is centered on ideas. People inevitably live out their core ideas. My goal is to help these pastors grow in their ability to think clearly about ideas of the Bible and to communicate them in such a way that people's own thinking is changed, rather than just adding more information or a good experience. A question I ask myself is this: what ideas drive my attitudes, my emotions, and my actions? Are they good ideas? What would that mean? Your thoughts? Well, back to packing and hoping I don't forget anything critical!