Ephesians and Grace

I was doing a little research on a Greek part of speech for an upcoming class. I was consulting my old Greek text (Greek To Me by J. Lyle Story & Cullen I. K. Story) and I came across this quote that reminded me of my purpose in preaching.

The imperative mood aids our understanding of the letter to the Ephesians. In the first three chapters, the imperative appears only once (2:11), because at the outset, the writer desires to highlight the grace of God that unites Jew and Gentile in one body in Christ. The indicative mood pre-eminently, can do just that. In contrast, chapters 4-6 contain some 38 imperatives, which point us to the disciplined life that flows forth from the grace of God portrayed in chapters 1-3.

I have taught for a number of years that most of Paul's letters have a pattern to them. Paul first reminds his readers of the grace of God in Christ. Then he tells them have to live in view of that grace. Paul's use of the imperative mood in Ephesians really brings home this pattern. This pattern also becomes my two purposes in preaching.

My first purpose in preaching is to proclaim God's mighty act of salvation and deliverance in Jesus Christ. It is an accomplished task that didn't need or use any of we humans to accomplish (yes he used us in carrying out the plan - like Judas - but not in the sense which I mean in this sentence). It was done solely by God. It is given to us freely. We didn't earn it.

The other purpose in my preaching is to make known that God's grace binds us to the "disciplined life." This life can only be lived out in the context of the cross. We preachers need to make sure that we pay as much attention to preaching about the grace of God through Jesus Christ as we do how to live the Christian life. Our folks need to know that while they live the Christian life God is graciously smiling down upon them because they are living that life while trusting in him.

It's My Party

Okay, today is my birthday. What year was I born? Here are some clues:

Events
1. Georgi Malenkov is named Premier of the Soviet Union
2. Japanese runner Keizo Yamada wins the Boston Marathon
3. JFK & Jackie announce their engagement
4. FCC approves color for TV
5. Small Business Administration is created
6. Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay become first humans to reach summit of Mt. Everest
7. Queen Elizabeth II is crowed in England
8. Earl Warren is chosen as chief justice for the Supreme Court
9. TV Guide begins publication
10. New York adopts the three-color traffic light

People born the same year
1. John Malkovich
2. Kim Basinger
3. Louie Anderson
4. Bobby Rahal
5. Mary Steenburgen
6. Joanna Kerns
7. Rick Moranis
8. Tony Blair

Movies
1. From Here to Eternity
2. Peter Pan
3. The War of the Worlds (w/o Tom Cruise)
4. Gentleman Prefer Blondes
5. Shane
6. How to Marry a Millionaire

Sports News
1. World Series - NY Yankees
2. US Open Golf - Ben Hogan
3. Pro Football Champs - Detroit Lions (pre Super Bowl days)
4. Indy 500 - Bill Vukovich (128.740 MPH)
5. Stanley Cup - Montreal Canadiens
6. NCCA Basketball - Indiana (pre Bobby Knight days)
7. College Football - Maryland
8. Heisman Trophy - John Lattner from Notre Dame (Go Irish)
9. Braves move from Boston to Milwaukee

Here are the clues. Can your brain figure it out? Can't figure out the year? Then figure out the decade. Was it early in the decade or late? I'll give you the answer shortly.

So whadda you think?

Is this a father/son look-a-like pic fest or what?

A Link & Some Tools

Apparently I'm not the only one who connected the new movie "Evan Almighty" with commercialism. Read what Pulpit Magazine said about it here. John MacArthur is the editor-in-chief of the blog.

I always have trouble remembering where I've left comments, especially if I follow a link to a new blog I have visited before. Plus I forget to bookmark the blog. CoComment is a new site to help you keep track of your comments and the comments on other blogs that are of interest to you. I don't think it works at all blogs (it hasn't worked at Tim Archer's Mac blog but it does work at his Blogspot blog) but I've found it works at almost all of them. When you go to the comment page, there is a bar at the bottom of the comment box and once you start typing a check appears that says you want this comment followed. It is still in the beta format but appears to be working fine. Check it out.

If you want a program to help you keep track of stuff you read on the Internet without having to open up Word and paste it to a document, there is a program called ClipMarks. You can clip text or images and put a tag on it (as Google Mail does with labels) so you can find it easily. I've been clipping images of books I find that I might want and tagging them "books" so that I can order them later on. I've also found text and images on other blogs that I want to keep so this helps me organize them and know where they are. Great program.

If anyone does go and try these new programs let me know how they work for you. If you have any programs that will help me let me know about them as well. Have a Great Weekend!

Long-haired Bobby

This picture was taken at Pepperdine University, downtown campus, winter of 1971. My sister Renee sent it to me. This isn't the longest my hair grew but it's the only picture I have of me with long hair. My family might have one or two others around someplace - hidden probably. When I left for Pepperdine in September I just started letting it grow. I wasn't a hippie or anything (too conservative in politics to be a hippie), I just wanted to look cool and exert my independence. When I got back in April after my first year, I cut it. I wanted to work for the summer and earn money for a car. Back then long hair on a young man just wasn't accepted in the workplace. I got a job at McDonalds. Maybe I'll see if my family has any pictures of my first car (1964 Corvair Monza. What a car!). What do you think Jel? Do I look good in long hair?

More on Ministry and Commercialism

Found this excerpt from a William Willimon article over at Theocentric Preaching. The excerpt come from an article you can read by clicking here. Willimon is another of my favorite authors.

We live in a consumer-driven, avaricious society where everything is turned into a commodity, even the gospel, and life is said to be fulfilled only through our choices, our ability to consumer cars and clothes and, even Christ. In such a climate, we must be careful about turning Sunday worship into just another opportunity to say, “Give me some of that.”

…Jesus is not simply about meeting my felt needs; he is also about rearranging my needs, not only about fulfilling my desires; he is also about transforming my desires. Jesus is wonderfully nonchalant about so many of my heart-felt desires. It’s amazing how many of my needs (material affluence, security, sexual fulfillment, happiness, etc.) appear not in the least to interest Jesus…

I recall that great preacher, William Sloane Coffin, telling us Yale students, “I don’t see how you can attract folk to Jesus by appealing to their basic selfishness - ‘Jesus can fix everything that’s wrong with you’ - and end up offering anything like the self-less, self-denying faith of Jesus.”

When, in Seeker Services, do we pull out the cross? When, as we’re touting all the benefits of Jesus, do we also say to them, “By the way, Jesus said that anyone who bought into his message would also suffer and die.”

I believe that today’s “Seekers” are seeking many things, but I am unsure that many of them are seeking a cruciform savior or a cruciform life. That’s fine since the Bible hardly ever, almost never depicts anybody seeking Jesus. Rather, the story is about God’s relentless seeking of us in Christ.

Willimon has really tried to push his agenda of not preaching to felt needs in the past few years. I think that he is beginning to see the end result of such preaching. It comes from the "be all you can be" kind of thinking. This is great for the military and for the business world. In the religious world Jesus came to be all we should have been. Thank God my lack doesn't keep me from a right relationship with God. Thank God that his perfection makes me whole.

Beatles Survey

Forty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released (June 2, 1967). This album generated more attention than any other Beatles album. The reason for the platitudes was that it was the first "concept" album. Most everyone agrees that musically it may not have been their best album but it certainly created the most buzz. Anyway, in honor of the this grand occasion here are some survey questions.

1. Did you watch their first TV appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show?
2. Did you watch any of their other appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show?
3. Did you ever see them live in concert?
4. What is your favorite Beatles' song?
5. What is your favorite Beatles' album?
6. Which one is your favorite Beatle?
7. What is your favorite song on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album?

If you have some trivia about the album please share it. I love to hear stories about the Beatles and their exploits. Have fun!