Simple Church Minute on the air

Some of you know that I originally started my blog, tevyebird.blogspot.com, to post the transcripts of some commentaries I had written with radio in mind. Today, I can say that I am finally able to get Simple Church Minute on the air. They will appear on WWIP (89.1 in the Hampton Roads area, www.wwip.org online) at 3:15 pm on Saturdays, beginning this week.

Book review: Release of the Spirit, by Watchman Nee

　

Watchman Nee, Release of the Spirit (Indianapolis: Sure Foundation, 1965)--my personal impressions from reading this book (one may or may not consider this a "review" in the formal sense of the word)

Back on August 10, on Frank Viola's blog, he picked what he considered the five greatest ministry books (frankviola.org/2012/08/10/bestbooksonministry). From that, I decided to read one of them, Watchman Nee's "Release of the Spirit." Back in the '70's, I tried reading Nee, but found it to be something strangely difficult to understand.

Have you ever attempted to assemble an item with a large amount of parts, such that you were following instructions like "put bar X into slot on plate BB, then insert nut J into hole at end of bar X and attach nut K"? After one does it right once, the directions finally make sense. Likewise, the more one has actually walked and lived through some of what Nee describes in this book, the more one can learn from what is left that one hasn't gone through. Conversely, when I attempted to read "The Spiritual Man" in college, when I had only been a believer since high school, and still attended what in this culture is traditionally considered a "church", and certainly had not had the years of following God's direction both correctly and incorrectly nearly as much as now, his writing seemed to be to be too difficult to get much out of, in spite of the words being simple.

Likewise, in reading this, what you have already experienced, you can relate to, even though you may never have seen anyone attempt to describe it in a sentence, and what Nee's writings are notable for is teaching for ministry from one's spirit, as opposed to the western norm of teaching God's ways through the intellect or emotion. The more that one has walked through what he is writing about, the more one can learn from the rest. If one has not desired to do what Nee is describing in the beginning, the harder (maybe it is impossible) to learn from what he writes later. I would guess an unbeliever would find this irrational nonsense, or, in the case of some involved in Eastern thinking, come up with some bizarre interpretation of parts.

Early in this book, Nee refers to Brother Laurance's "The Practice of the Presence of God." That book is short, easy to understand, and something of a prequel. I know that Nee was influenced as a young man by T. Austin-Sparks. As Austin-Sparks made his works available such that most of it is now online (www.austin-sparks.net), but I have yet to read any of them, I may someday wish to add some of those to a list of good introductions to this book, but, obviously, I cannot at this time.

I found the first three chapters of this book to be the most difficult to read, but this is where Nee sets up concepts that are necessary for the rest of the book. This is a book where one cannot just sit down and fly through it, even though it is very short, as books go (under 100 pages)(a). You may need to read a paragraph, or even a sentence, and then stop and think about what Nee has said, and compare it to your experience in following Jesus, with regard to both when you walked rightly, and when you didn't. Chapter 3 is about everyday things that can distract us from spiritual things. Albeit a valid point, I don't practically know how one gets around that when one needs to be in the world working. I am saying this in the light of a person who has held a normal job for most of my life (i.e. not in a church position), but am now in a position where I cannot work eight plus hours a day, and have more time to think.

Chapter 4 is about the worker as spiritual doctor. Some readers may recognize this as an early Reformation concept. Nee uses the same words, but approaches this phrase in the manner of discerning another's spirit, as opposed to plugging a problem into a theological answer. Even here, he is not speaking of modern Pentecostal "discerning of spirits", but a more general realization of whether you sense a person is attempting to follow the Holy Spirit, and opposed to plugging everything into an intellectual or emotional or some type of worldly framework. In my opinion, Chapters 4 through 9 are easier to read than 1 to 3, but I believe that the latter part will not make sufficient sense unless one works through the first third.

Chapter 7 gets to the beginning of Nee's conclusions, with this chapter dealing with God revealing his way of seeing things to us. He refers to this as enlightenment (one must note, with no surprise, that this is quite differentment than the western use of the term, both in Christian and the world's circles of thought), and that only that shows us how to divide soul and spirit. Chapter 8 is titled "What Impression Do We Give?" My feeling is that what Nee says gets really simple now, but all of the previous writing was necessary to build up to this. Chapter 9, the last chapter, speaks more on an idea that has been brought up continually in previous chapters, that to truly move in Spirit-guided ministry, a prerequisite is to allow our spirit to be broken of its sinful independence from God's moment by moment guidance, and submitted to the Holy Spirit's guidance, to truly be God's servant. Nee discusses the qualities that indicate that in a person.

Ultimately, this, I believe, explains why there are so many ungodly acts going on in our supposed "churches" and "ministries", particularly among leaders. Nee is speaking about the believer's walking in serving God, which is God's, although not man's, idea of leadership, which is not connected to having a title. Those who are, as Nee describes, are those of unbroken will, be it to favor their intellect, or emotion, or cleverness, or whatever, would misconstrue this criticism. Those who are unbelievers will, or more properly, have considered such books something to be ignored. The last sentence of this book sums up this teaching: "The inward man is freed only after the outward man is broken. This is the basic road to God's service."

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a) Note that most modern books are forced by publishing companies, without regard to genre, with the possible exception of textbooks, to be no less than 160 pages or more than 250 pages. Note over time, if one reads a book in which the material seems to be stretched, that it ends exactly on 160.

I have noticed over the past couple of years that the blog postings of mine that get the most page views are the book reviews. Personally, if I could ask you to read any one of these writings, it would be my post on June 20,2012, entitled "13 definitions of the word 'church'". None of it is my ideas, as indicated by the footnotes at the bottom of it, but I believe that it might make for some stimulating research. If one can read it (if one has not run into it previously) and not look at this idea further, whether to confirm or debunk what I've said, I would question what one cares about.

Larry Norman is dead, and I don't feel so good myself

At my church, one of us is on a gluten free diet, another desires to avoid high fructose corn syrup, and three of us (at least) are taking a fistful of pills per day. For some reason, a little while ago, the concept of the 80's song "American Fast Food" by Randy Stonehill popped into my head. Last night, I went to look it up on the internet, and found four different versions of video posted. Whoever did the one on vimeo (vimeo.com/33369893) really did an excellent job of adding video.

Nonetheless, while glancing through the listings on the search engine, I noticed that Stonehill's mentor in bizarre creativity, Larry Norman, died in 2008. I pulled up the wikipedia entry for Norman, which is long enough to be a short biography. I hadn't heard anything about him since I saw him in concert in the late 1970's, which was billed as his last tour in the area I lived in. As I learned in this reading, he figured that he was on his last tour for the rest of his life, it appears. Some parts of his story are sad, some disappointing, and a lot of it is just creative genius bizarre. I think back and recognize how his music, combined with doing and saying things counter to the Christian cultural norm, made it easier for me, over the years, to at least desire to follow the Spirit without regard to what is status quo, and that, in turn, allowed me to continue to grow in faith. Even though I have hardly anything in worldly possessions, allowing oneself to be free to follow the Holy Spirit is to be free, indeed.

Currently, I am reading Watchman Nee's "Release of the Spirit." I will be posting my thoughts about this book when I am done. I know that the first time I heard of Nee was when Larry told one of the apocryphal stories of what happened to Nee in a Communist Chinese jail on one of his albums. While reading Chapter 8, I couldn't help thinking that what Nee was describing as the person God can use is almost the opposite of Norman's actions, at least as they might be perceived by those who were not his personal friends or acquaintences. Between the two, not that it means anything, my feeling is that Nee is closer to being correct, as to how to be the person God can use. Still, Norman's contribution to the community of believers was important, even for those who had nothing good to say about him.

I have read that, since the last album I was familiar with, he released 27 more. I also realize that the large number had to do with paying medical bills. I don't know if I even want to hear that which I haven't heard already. Yet, again, one of these days, I probably will. His political radicalism which was only there to point people back to Jesus sits well with me. Twice this year, I have been asked what my political alignment is; it's a great question to give a totally unexpected answer to. The last time I was asked that, I said that I have made up my mind who I'll vote for, but I am so unhappy with the choices, I won't tell who it is. Why do I say that? Both major parties have at least one issue in which their stand is roughly congruent with that of one desiring to serve Jesus, and stands on issues that are not, and stands which, if they are congruent with Christian belief, are held for other reasons. That's the reason I have never given a penny to a political cause, and never will--that is unless you consider giving to Voice of the Martyrs, which helps believers in lands where governments punish people for following Jesus.

When I read the article about Norman, I didn't feel too good. Today, I feel better. I know that more of my visit to this planet is over verses what is left to come. Now, more and more, I hear of the passing of those who are my contemporaries. My question is how I can give to the members of the family who are coming up behind me.

For anyone who doesn't know, I am not being insensitive, but the title above is a parody of the title of one of (I think, the last of) comic writer Louis Grizzard's books. I didn't read it, and almost assuredly never get around to it.

Notes on Philippians 3

On Phillipians 3:1-4:1

            As I may have mentioned in one of the Simple Church Minute commentaries (and I say may in that this is really a minor point), verses were added to the New Testament by a printer named Robert Stephanaus in 1551 (a).  This chapter shows the randomness of how chapters were made, as 4:1 belongs in chapter 3, and these notes treat it as such.

            This chapter is referred to as a digression; Paul, before and afterword, is writing on another theme, but inserts this extended idea.  This was not an uncommon way of writing in Paul’s time.  Some unbelieving scholars build all kinds of ideas off this structure, but it is not an example of anyone playing with the text over the centuries.

            In verse 1, Paul states that he is repeating himself.  This is a principle of all education—we learn by repetition.  “Finally” while normally used a synonym for “in conclusion” as in TEV, can also, and here is, marking the beginning of a digression (b).

            In verse 2, “dogs, evil doers, mutilation”.  Cynic philosophers, of whom there were many, particularly in Tarsus, where Paul grew up, were called dogs.  Here, Paul uses it as a general derisive word.  There were “Beware of Dog” signs in Rome in his day.  “Mutilation (or “amputation”)” can refer to circumcision or castration, and in the Greek the word is a word that sound similar to the word for circumcision, thereby being a parody in sound (d).  “Cutting oneself off”, as appears in Galatians 5:12, can refer to castration or cutting oneself off of community.

            In verse 3, Paul builds on this point: “We are the circumcision” refers to being God’s Chosen People, and ties to OT verses Dt. 10:16, 30:6, Lev. 26:41, Jer. 4:4, 9:25,26. Worshipping God in the Spirit, in the Old Covenant, was connected to prophesying with musical instruments, 1 Chron. 25:1-6.  Jews of that day would have maintained that didn’t happen anymore (an ironic comparison to what many of the 20^th century said about spiritual gifts).  Paul elsewhere compares worshipping in the Spirit to spiritual gifts.  We must remember that the people of surrounding beliefs thought of worship as a ritual in a building, but Jesus and the apostles taught that worship was how a believer lived one’s life.

            Verses 4-11 are biographical of Paul’s journey from Jewish zealot against believers in Jesus to apostle of Jesus.

            Verses 5 and 6 tells of Paul’s qualifications (before Jesus) as far as obeying the Law.  What we might miss is that this was the Diaspora Jew’s confession of faith.  “Zeal” in that day did not imply violence, but the main examples in Jewish history, Phineas in Num. 25:7-13, the Maccabees in the 160’s B.C., and the Zealots contemporary to Paul’s time all exhibited violence as part of the story.

            In Verse 7, Paul differentiates between what a person holding to the Law counted as important verses a person of the Spirit.  Watchman Nee, in Release of the Spirit, notes that, as, in the Greek, “pneuma” is always lower case, it is oftentimes unclear whether a statement in the New Testament is referring to a believer’s spirit or the Holy Spirit, and as we grow in faith, it should be unclear as a practical manner. (c)  “Gain” and “loss” were marketplace, not spiritual, terms.

            In verse 8, Paul mentions “rubbish” or “dung” (KJV), which is something dogs eat, referring back to the “dogs” comment in verse 2. “My” is a confession of faith—Jesus Christ my Lord. (d)

            In 9, the conclusion is that the righteousness of Jesus is sufficient, the righteousness of the Law is not.

            In 10, “know” implies intimacy, although obviously not sexually, as the word is sometimes used in the Old Testament, and that spiritual intimacy is prerequisite to accepting the “fellowship” of his sufferings.  This is not a stretch, as Ex. 33:13 shows that the desire of the Old Covenant believer was “to know Him”.  That reflected both the corporate covenant and personal longing, which is analogous to the relationship to Jesus being both personal salvation and to the spiritual group, the Bride of Christ.

            11:  Suffering preceding resurrection was part of Old Covenant belief, and was an analogy to Jesus’ completion of that covenant.

            13-14:  “prize of the upward call”.  In the ancient Olympics, the winner received a palm branch, a symbolic prize of minimal earthly value.  We are called to salvation, striving for the goal, which he phrased previously as a) that I might win Christ (v. 8), be found in Him (v. 9),  that I may know Him (v. 10), and I might attain the resurrection of the dead (v. 11).  Athletic competition terms were often used as an analogy by ancient moralists.  “Reaching forward to those things which are ahead” is analogous to growing in faith and spiritual maturity, which is what the believer is called to once one answers the call to faith in Jesus.

            15: Corollary A:  If we are wrong, the Spirit will reveal this to you.

            17: Corollary B: Mature believers live as an example to younger believers.  Paul probably was dealing with the idea that some were prematurely thinking they were perfect/mature already.

            18-19:  Many who would distract a believer walk in the opposite of God’s way.  Paul wrote that their glory is their shame (an opposite).  “God is their belly” is a reference to “dogs” in verse 2, and then “rubbish/dung” in verse 8.  “Mind is on earthly things”—Paul throughout this chapter uses words that to some degree relate to each other, but also are different, to tie thoughts together.  This is interesting when we note how Paul discusses in _ how some in _ complained that he wasn’t a good speaker.  “Weeping” shows love, but the description shows outrage.

            20: “Our citizenship is in heaven”—that’s now, not, as Marx wrote in our age, “pie in the sky by and by.”  Unbelievers think we are hoping in the future or have been socially persuaded, but the believer knows how God changed things in out spirit at salvation.  “Citizenship” is a correct translation, and “conversation” (KJV) is not.  Keener notes that, unlike in Israel, most persons in the church in Philippi were Roman citizens, and assuredly those who were the homeowners of where the church met, and, therefore, had a greater degree of social acceptance than did the church in many other places.  “Savior”—in Phillipi, the deities and the emperor were referred to by this term.  Paul is making the contrast by stating what Jesus will do.

            21:  The Greeks considered the bodily resurrection of the dead to be vulgar.

            4:1: “Crown”:  to the Greeks, a reward for athletes (Paul is making a tie in to what he said previously, again) and heroes; in Jewish culture, a reward in heaven. 

(a)    Barna and Viola, Pagan Christianity, 228-229, referring to Geisler and Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible: Revised and Expanded, 340-341, 451,  Metzger and Coogan, The Oxford Companion to the Bible, 79.

(b)   Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary—New Testament.  This work contributes to a comment on almost every verse in this writing.

(c)    Watchman Nee, Release of the Spirit, 20. 

(d)   Davidson, Stibbs, and Nevan, The New Bible Commentary, 1039.  I am not quoting this because I believe this to be an exceptional commentary, but because it is one I happen to own.

On Cyber-apologetics

"We all want something; its the essential truth of who we are."

--a man in the commercial for ABC's upcoming series, 666 Park Avenue

In the commercial, the video in the commercial gives you the feeling that this phrase is to be taken sexually, and I almost assuredly will not be tuning in to actually find out, mainly because one of my personal weirdnesses is rarely watching dramas or movies. I meant to watch Ben Stein's "Expelled", but wouldn't pay the price to go to the theater, and never ran into a dvd, although once or twice I actually looked for it. Maybe someday. If you write and tell me that it isn't worth seeing, I won't be surprised.

One thing I don't want is trouble, but to be a believer in Jesus sometimes brings it. Earlier this week, I received an email from someone I didn't know. It came through an internet prayer site, which somehow connected with me via Facebook. I open it up, and find someone sent me a link to an American Indian religion site that maintained that Christian "conversion" is a mind control and persuation technique created in the 1800's. Since this was supposed to be a Christian site, I posted a short rebuttal in part based on my own testimony, in which the Holy Spirit spoke into me while I was mowing the lawn and thinking about what I saw on the news. I later wrote a person whom I thought was the site moderator. Shortly, I found out she wasn't the moderator, and was in agreement with the posting being highly inappropriate. This morning, I was told the person with the posting just was attempting to post the weirdest thing she could without getting kicked off the site.

A little more serious was something I ran into just a short bit later this week. Facebook has this interesting feature of emailing one of all your "friends" who have birthdays this week. One person is a man who was a youth pastor at a church I went to about a decade ago. He was a bar band drummer for about 20 years when, one evening after work, i.e. about 3 or 4 in the morning, he turned on tv, saw a tv evangelist who, at the end of the program, offered a Bible training course. For some reason, he had an urge to order it, and when it came, he studied it, and eventually came to faith in Jesus. He started going to a certain denominational church (which one doesn't matter), ran into their particular odd interpretation, moved to the church I would later be at, and after a few weeks, told the pastor he was called to ministry. The pastor began giving him something, then later something greater to do, until he eventually became youth pastor. My wife and I assisted him with the youth group. Sometimes, he did and said things that I wouldn't have, but we are all unique individuals. He sometimes showed a lack of training, but I also recognized that the head guy didn't have formal training, either. Actually, the leadership was sufficiently weak that I would have left, but I thought my wife liked being there. I later learned my wife wasn't happy there, but thought I was.

Over time, something happened sufficient that we left, and lost track of the person whom this is actually about. We moved to another state, and after a few years, I started playing with Facebook--the game: "Who can I find that I remember?" This man's name came up, and he was there. The notation was that he now pastored a church in that town. I have no clue how big, and it is in the normal for western culture form of a building, titles, and I imagine he speaks every week. Anyway, Facebook let me know that, earlier this week, his birthday was this week, so I figured to type in "Happy Birthday." Since I really haven't spoken to him in years, there wasn't much more to say. That is, until I see a posting that his church was celebrating one year of having moved their services to Saturday, which is an idea he got after reading in the Old Testament about the Sabbath. I thought for a couple of days about whether to respond, and how. This morning, I decided to ask him how he would explain Acts 15:28-29, where the elders of Jerusalem state what of the Old Testament Law should carry over to New Covenant believers, which is to refrain from sexual immorality and some things about eating meat offered to idols. I typed in my response, which immediately wiped out (whether that was my incorrectly using Facebook's functions or how he has things set up, I don't know). Then I see another person asking him, "Are you now KJV only?" to which he replied "Come to our service and find out." Somehow, this rings quite similar to the Joseph Prince comment that I wrote about two weeks or so ago.

On Sunday, at my church, Andrew Sullivan's Newsweek article from last April got brought up. I had not read it, but I was more familiar with Andrew Sullivan's previous work than the two persons who had read it. If you have not, on the April 9, 2012 issue, the cover picture is of a man who looks like the typical picture of Jesus, long hair, beard, mustach, crown of thorns, looking upward, but wearing modern American casual clothing--jean jacket, blue checked casual collared shirt, with the title, "Forget the Church, Follow Jesus." While those of us in the SC/HC flavor of following Jesus would agree with the title sentiment, that it is followed by "by Andrew Sullivan" might give rise to going in a different direction. For those who don't know, Andrew Sullivan, who has done political commentary for a number of different sources, is the prototypical "gay Republican", extremely liberal on social issues, conservative on money issue, and popular to quote in that his perspective is, might we say, catchy and unique. To summarize in a way Sullivan might consider unfair, he starts with Thomas Jefferson cutting up the Bible down to just the phrases he liked, and taking off with a "Jesus" of his own sociopolitical creation. The article doesn't give any reason to use Jefferson as an authority, and is Sullivan opinion from there. I'm not sending Sullivan an email, and, by now, I am certain he has received some from Christians who have put together well thought responses, and some less so.

I really never wanted to take a stand of faith via writing on the net, as their is no way to indicate by tone of voice, inflection, and other methods of communication other than words whether I am speaking in a loving, or on the opposite, accusitory, mean manner. That such a thing come up twice in the same week is unfortunate and slightly unnerving. Now, I have never met Andrew Sullivan, but I could sit down and speak in private, that might be a different story.

Passing along a good word

Today, my friend Don Davis posted a good posting about finding a house church if one is new to an area. Find it at
http://dondavis.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/looking-for-a-house-church-its-not-easy-if-you-are-new-to-the-area/
One could argue that, in the end, it doesn't answer the question for everyone, but Don's dealing with reality, not just trying to sound good, a foible many of us have tired of.

Humor and a little investment advice

I believe that in the near future, I will finally get some of the five minute Simple Church Minute programs on a radio station in my area. Since I've been working on this project on and off for a couple of years now, it begins to feel like an end and a beginning, similar to when I was at a community radio station about 30 years ago, when it was finally to go on air. Even if very few hear, it is something.
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As I've said in previous blogs, I collect quotes. As a collection, it doesn't cost hardly anything. They tend to be humorous, and shows how I follow sports, to a degree. This will finish up with a piece of information on money I heard just about a year ago, and I just found the scrap of paper.
(to the tune of the Scooby Doo theme)
Scooby Dooby Do, where are you?/Can't you afford a G P S?/If you had a better a-a-agent/Maybe the answer would be "Yes". --me
Pro football is the only field where you have to overcome the stigma of having gone to Harvard. ---Mike Greenberg
What differentiates me from my colleuges is--I'm a Mexican, ... not a Mexican't. ---Aaron Sanchez
If a basketball team took the nickname Bitter Buzzards, then, when they finally won a game by making a shot at the final horn, it would be a Bitter Buzzards buzzer beater.
I was sent to the grocery store to get some celery. I couldn't find celery, so I bought a hammer. I was not sent to the grocery store again.
If one had a team called the Auks, then one could say that on their home games, the opposition always comes to the game auk-wardly.
Holding a grudge is like letting someone live rent free in your head. --anonymous
Gold tends to go up in September because tradition in India is that that is the time to get married, increasing demand for gold in that part of the world, and therefore, the whole world. ---Jim Kramer, Mad Money, 8/23/2011