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A Picture A Day
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen
Category: Articles, Pictures
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Priorities
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple. Psalm 27:4
One Thing – What is the most important thing in life? What must be the absolute goal if life is to be worth living? Before you quickly supply an answer about the relationship with God, consider what the world would say. If you asked the average person what’s the most important thing in life, what do you think you would hear? Undoubtedly, you would listen to the same list of priorities found in Ecclesiastes – with the same result. In the very end, it’s either God or a gun to the head. With Ecclesiastes’ observation in mind, let’s look once more at David’s single-minded focus.
“One thing I have asked from the Lord.” In Hebrew: akhat sha’alti meet-YHWH. The first word is from ehad. You’ll recognize it in the Shema. The Lord is one. Of course, if we were doing rabbinic exegesis, we would connect these two instances of the word. The one thing I ask is from the one Lord. In fact, I ask for the Lord’s uniqueness in me.
Sha’ul paints the pictograph of control, strength and what consumes. In other words, to ask is to control the strength of what consumes – to have authority over someone or something that can provide what you want. If you’re going to ask the Lord, then you better know what you really want. He can provide, of course, but you are presuming on His benevolence by asking, so you must be sure that what you ask is worthy of the request. David understands this, so he asks what the Lord cannot deny – he asks for time in the presence of the One. David desires one thing. He desires to be with the One true God.
Did you notice that the most important thing in David’s life is not the accumulation of stuff, the preservation of power or the reputation among peers? The most important thing isn’t even a relationship with a personal savior. David’s one thing is to be where the Lord is and to contemplate who the Lord is. There is nothing here about asking for me. The entire focus is on worshipping God in His presence.
Our age is defined by its passionate preoccupation with self. Even in our religion, the focus is often on what God can do for me. It might not be as naïve (or heretical) as the prosperity gospel crowd, but it is ever-so-subtle to turn even religious zeal into self-improvement. We want God to make us better servants for His cause or to improve our understanding of His word or to develop our spiritual gifts for the church. Even with God-language, the focus is still on us. But not for David! David just wants to be in God’s presence, to delight in God’s glory and to meditate on the goodness of the Lord. Don’t you suppose that God will honor such a request without delay? What could please Him more? I turn away from the frightening clamor of those deep, dark recesses within me by shifting my focus from me to Him. Want out of the dungeon? Follow the light.
Topical Index: ehad, sha’al, ask, one, Psalm 27:4
Category: Today's Word
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Prioridades
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | Author: Bessy Bendaña
Una cosa he pedido al SEÑOR, y ésa buscaré: que habite yo en la casa del SEÑOR todos los días de mi vida, para contemplar la hermosura del SEÑOR, y para meditar en su templo. Salmos 27:4
Una Cosa – ¿Cuál es el cosa más importante de tu vida? ¿Cuál debería ser la meta máxima para que la vida valga la pena vivir? Antes que me proveas una respuesta sobre la relación con Dios, considera lo que diría el mundo. Si preguntaras a la persona promedio cual es la cosa más importante de la vida, ¿Qué crees que escucharías? Sin duda alguna, escucharías la misma lista de prioridades que encontramos en Eclesiastés – con el mismo resultado. Justo al final, es o Dios o una pistola en la cabeza. Con la observación de Eclesiastés presente, veamos una vez más en enfoque mental singular.
“Una cosa he pedido al Señor.” En hebreo: akhat sha´alti meet – YHWH. La primera palabra es de ehad. La reconocerás en el Shema. El Señor es uno. Claro, si estuviésemos haciendo exegesis rabínica, conectaríamos estas dos instancias de la palabra. Una cosa pido del Señor Único. De hecho, pido la unicidad del Señor en mí.
Sha´ul dibuja un pictógrafo de control, fortaleza y lo que consume. En otras palabras, pedir es controlar la fuerza de lo que consume – tener autoridad sobre alguien o algo que puede proveerte de lo que necesitas. SI vas a pedir del Señor, te conviene saber lo que quieres. El puede proveer, obviamente, pero presumes sobre Su benevolencia cuando pides, así que debes estar seguro que lo que pides es digno de pedir. David lo comprende, así que pide al Señor algo que no le puede negar – le pide tiempo en la presencia del Único. David desea una cosa. Desea estar con el Único Dios verdadero.
Nuestra era se define por su preocupación apasionada con nosotros mismos. Aun en nuestra religión, el enfoque radica en lo que Dios puede hacer por mí. Quizás no es tan ingenuo (o herejía) como el grupo del evangelio de la prosperidad, pero es aun tan más sutil convertir el celo religioso en auto-mejoramiento. Deseamos que Dios nos convierta en mejores siervos para Su causa o mejorar nuestra comprensión de Su palabra o desarrollar nuestros dones espirituales para la iglesia. Aun con idioma de Dios, el enfoque queda con nosotros. ¡No para David! David solo desea estar en la presencia de Dios, deleitarse en la gloria de Dios y meditar en la bondad del Señor. ¿No supones que Dios honrará esa solicitud sin dilatar? ¿Qué lo complacerá más? Me devuelvo del clamor atemorizante de esos recesos profundos y oscuros dentro de mí cambiando el enfoque de mí hacia El. ¿Quieres salir de la catacumba? Sigue la luz.
Ehad, sha´al, pedir, uno, Salmos 27:4
Category: La Palabra de Hoy
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El Corazón del Tema
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 | Author: Bessy Bendaña
No penséis que he venido para abolir la ley o los profetas; no he venido para abolir, sino para cumplir. Mateo 5:17
Para Cumplir – En 144 DC la Iglesia tacho de hereje a Marcion y rechazó su Biblia truncada. Marcion enseñaba a los cristianos que ya no existía requerimiento adicional de las Escrituras hebreas excepto como interés histórico. También rechazo gran parte del Nuevo Testamento por ser demasiado “judío.” Acepto el evangelio de Lucas y las cartas paulinas como el único canon verdadero para los cristianos. La iglesia rechazo su herejía, pero no demolió la posición teológica detrás de la aseveración de Marcion. La herejía de Marcion se basaba en su creencia que la Ley, y consecuentemente todo lo judío, había sido eliminado con la muerte y resurrección del Cristo. EN otras palabras, Marcion leyó este versículo de esta manera: “No penséis que he venido para abolir la ley o los profetas; no he venido para abolir, sino para terminar.“ Marcion creyó que Jesús completó la Ley convirtiéndola en innecesaria o esencial para los cristianos. La Iglesia excomulgo a Marcion, pero guardó su teología.
Hace un par de semanas, una persona me escribió lo siguiente:
“Las únicas partes de las Escrituras que son para los gentiles son las cartas de Pablo. Lo demás se dirige a Israel. SI, cada palabra que dijo Jesús mientras fue el polvoso nazareno aquí en la Tierra fue para Israel, no para nosotros… Skip, ¡la gracia es lo único que debe estrujarse de todo esto! ¡Esta es la administración de la gracia! ¡La administración de la Ley ha terminado! Cristo es el fin de la ley, Romanos 10:4… La ley de Moisés es una “dispensación de condenación” diseñada para llevarnos a la desesperanza en Cristo. No debemos regresar a seguir la ley, Gal 4:9-11.”
Marcion ha regresado de la tumba. Escribe Abraham Heschel, “Marcion permanece como una amenaza formidable, un reto satánico. En la comunidad moderna, el poder de Marcion esta más vivo y disperso de lo que generalmente se comprende…”[i]
Quizás podemos poner fin a esta herejía de una vez por todas si tan solo comprendiésemos lo que dijo Yeshua en hebreo. Nuestra confusión proviene de la palabra griega pleroo. El verbo griego significa “hacer pleno, llenar” y específicamente en cuanto a profecía “completar, cumplir o llevar al final.” Allí reside la confusión. Este verbo griego también puede leerse con el significado de “finalizar,” pero Yeshua no hablo en griego. Mateo es una traducción del hebreo y en hebreo el significado viene de la raíz kiyem que significa “causar que se levanto o mantenga.” Así que el sentido hebreo de la declaración es sobre la interpretación correcta de la Escritura. Anular la Ley es malinterpretar la Escritura. Cumplir la Ley es interpretar correctamente la Escritura. En cualquiera de los casos, la Escritura permanece.
Notaras que el ministerio de Yeshua se preocupo por corregir la interpretación de la Tora y cuando la Tora se interpreta apropiadamente, esta exige acción. Cumplir la Ley es hacer lo que es dictado por la Ley. Esta es una consideración perpetua que obviamente no fue depuesta por la muerte y resurrección de Yeshua. Cuando la Iglesia se removió de las raíces hebreas, adopto el espíritu de Marcion aun cuando resistió a Marcion personalmente. A pesar de tildar a Marcion de hereje, la Iglesia ha adoptado su punto de vista. La idea que la Ley ha sido eliminada es una hacer bastardas las palabras de Yeshua. Desde la perspectiva hebrea, ese pensamiento es absolutamente imposible. Dios fue el autor de la Ley y no hay nada que pueda anularla, ni aun si dejaran de existir los cielos y la tierra.
¿Vive Marcion en tu asamblea religiosa? ¿Se esconde entre las páginas del himnario, o levanta la cabeza desde detrás del pulpito? ¿Es el autor del material de escuela dominical o de tus devocionales? Hasta que lo entierres para siempre, serás anfitrión silencioso de Satanás, a quién nada lo complacerá más que tu rechazo de la Tora de Dios.
Ley, anular, cumplir, Mateo 5:17, pleroo, kiyem, Marcion
[i] Abraham Heschel, La Inseguridad de la Libertado, citado en Brad Young, Pablo el Teólogo Judío, p. 61.
Category: La Palabra de Hoy
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The Heart Of The Matter
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen
“Do not think that I came to annul the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to annul, but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17
To Fulfill – In 144 AD the Church branded Marcion a heretic and rejected his truncated Bible. Marcion taught that Christians had no further use of the Hebrew Scriptures except as a matter of historical interest. He also rejected a great deal of the New Testament books as too “Jewish.” He accepted the gospel of Luke and ten Pauline letters as the only true canon for Christians. The Church rejected this heresy, but it didn’t quite demolish the theological position behind Marcion’s claim. Marcion’s heresy was based on his belief that the Law and, consequently all things Jewish, was done away with in the death and resurrection of the Christ. In other words, Marcion read this verse as follows: “Don’t think I came to erase the Law and the Prophets; I did not come to erase but to finish.” Marcion believed that Jesus completed the Law making it no longer necessary or essential for Christians. The Church threw out Marcion, but it kept his theology.
A few weeks ago, someone wrote to me with the following statements:
“The only parts of the scriptures that are for the Gentiles are Paul’s letters. All of the rest is directed to Israel. Yes, every word that Jesus said while he was the dusty Nazarene here on planet Earth was for Israel, not for us. . . . Skip, grace is the only thing that’s supposed to squeeze through! This is the administration of grace! The administration of law is over! Christ is the end of the law, Rom 10:4. . . The law of Moses is a “dispensation of condemnation” designed to drive one to helplessness in Christ. We are not to go back and follow the law, Gal 4:9 – 11.”
Marcion is back from the grave. Abraham Heschel writes, “Marcion remains a formidable menace, a satanic challenge. In the modern Christian community the power of Marcionism is much more alive and widespread than is generally realized . . .”[1]
Perhaps we could put a stop to this heresy once-and-for-all if we just realized what Yeshua said in Hebrew. Our confusion comes from the Greek word pleroo. The Greek verb means “to make full, to fill up” and specifically with prophecy “to fulfill, accomplish or bring to an end.” There’s the confusion. This Greek verb can be read to mean “to end,” but Yeshua wasn’t speaking Greek. Matthew is a translation from Hebrew and in Hebrew the meaning comes from the root kiyem which means “to cause to stand or uphold.” So, the Hebrew sense of this statement is about interpreting the Scripture correctly. To annul the Law is to misinterpret the Law. To fulfill the Law is to correctly interpret the Law. In either case, the Law remains.
You will notice that Yeshua’s ministry is concerned with correcting the interpretation of the Torah and when the Torah is correctly interpreted, it demands action. To fulfill the Law is to do what is dictated by the Law. That is an on-going consideration obviously not set aside by Yeshua’s death and resurrection. When the Church removed itself from its Jewish roots, it adopted the spirit of Marcion even as it rejected Marcion himself. In spite of branding Marcion a heretic, the Church has adopted his point of view. The idea that the Law has been set aside is a complete bastardization of Yeshua’s statement. From a Hebrew perspective, such thinking is simply impossible. God authored the Law and nothing will annul it, not even the passing away of heaven and earth.
Does Marcion live in your religious assembly? Is he hiding between the pages of your hymnal or peaking over the edge of the pulpit? Is he authoring your Sunday school material or your devotionals? Until you put him in the grave for good, you will be playing silent host to Satan who would like nothing better than your rejection of God’s Torah.
Topical Index: Law, annul, fulfill, Matthew 5:17, pleroo, kiyem, Marcion
[1] Abraham Heschel, The Insecurity of Freedom, cited in Brad Young, Paul the Jewish Theologian, p. 61.
Category: Today's Word
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This Week
Monday, September 28th, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen
Dear Friends,
I will be out of town, and out of touch by internet, for the rest of this week. So, please, if you write or post, don’t be surprised if I do not respond. I’ll be back on Friday.
Skip
Category: Articles
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Preparing To Fear
Monday, September 28th, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen
YHWH is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1
Fear – The children of Israel read the 27th Psalm in preparation for Rosh Hashanah. They do this as a matter of preparation for repentance (teshuvah from the verb shuv). Why is the 27th Psalm so important to the beginning of the Jewish year? The answer is discovered in examining how fearful our true selves really are. An enormous pain accompanies a deep and penetrating examination of what I am really like. So often I discover within me the unrelenting power of the yetzer ha’ra. I find all kinds of dark corners where God’s light is not allowed to reveal my secrets. I discover my monstrous ego, ready and willing to defend its desires and its “honor” at anyone’s expense. No matter how carefully I have tried to uphold God’s Torah, I always uncover areas where I have failed. I assert the truth of Ecclesiastes 7:20, “There is no one on earth that does only good and never sins.” John simply reiterated this Hebrew insight when he said, “If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). It’s a terrible and terrifying thing to look deep within, but it’s the only way to really prepare for fear. Rabbi Burnam taught, “Our great transgression is not that we commit sins: Temptation is strong and our strength is weak. No, our transgression is that at every instant we can turn to God — and yet we do not turn!” We must learn to fear the power of the yetzer ha’ra, a power which we cannot destroy but only domesticate, if we will. Fearing myself is the preparation to fearing the Lord, and fearing the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Ah, but now you will say, “This makes me feel so unworthy. This makes me feel so rotten. Why should I dwell on these things when most of the time I do what’s right?” Most of the time the Herpes Simplex virus simply co-exists with the healthy body, causing no ill effects. It’s there, dormant and disguised. But sometimes things get out of balance and the virus comes raging to the front. Now I can’t ignore it. It’s all over me. Of course, if I pretend that I don’t carry the virus all the time, then I won’t take the steps to prevent its outbreak and I’ll be surprised and dismayed when my mouth is suddenly attacked by cold sores. The yetzer ha’ra is always there, providing passion and energy. Pretending it is not part of being human is a fool’s errand. Pretending it is controllable without the Spirit is a dangerous diversion. And when I really look, when I really peel away the onion of “goodness”, I discover there is a lot more for God to deal with than I thought. Adam was right to fear himself. He just didn’t realize how much.
Of course, David gives us hope. I can’t look into the dungeon of my soul too long without relief, but mood-altering aspirin won’t fix things. In the morning, the dungeon will still be there. God must open the dungeon door and shine the light of the Spirit on what I find in there. It will sear, but it will cure. My hope is in the Lord, not in me. He is able. I am not. But I have to look. So, even when it comes to the deepest of all fears, I can trust that He knows what to do. “Lord, take me. Burn me up on Your altar that I may live again by your Spirit. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I will look. Help me see and then blind me.”
Topical Index: fear, yare, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Psalm 27:1, 1 John 1:8, yetzer ha’ra
Category: Today's Word
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Genesis, Again?
Sunday, September 27th, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen
Writing Today’s Word leaves me with an enormous problem. Scripture isn’t bits and pieces. It’s a whole unit, an extended story of God’s interaction with the world, in particular, with the people He calls Israel. How it all fits together is really the job of exegesis. Dealing with one tiny piece at a time often obscures the whole forest among the leaves of a single tree. So, when I write about one small word, or one part of one small word, it might lead the reader to conclude that bigger things have gone amiss. Where is the illumination of the cross or the blood, the glorification of God or the final victory celebration? Where do we find the grand themes of justification, sovereignty, ecclesiology and eschatology? They are there, but hidden from view in the microscopic detail of an individual leaf.
I firmly believe that without a deep grasp of the beginning – Genesis – we will quickly get lost in the rest of the plot. Everything depends on what God orders at the beginning. Everything moves from and elaborates the deep themes of the beginning. If you can’t find it in Genesis, then you are probably looking for the wrong things.
But what a huge problem this is! The last time I taught Genesis as a group study (not as a quick seminar) it took 18 months to go through the text, 2 hours a week. That’s about 150 hours of study. We could easily have doubled that, but we had to hurry! Today’s Word could spend the rest of my life just in Genesis, one word at a time. We would be far, far richer for the experience. We would know our Lord much, much better. But then what do we do with all the rest? Wait for eternity, I suppose.
So, Today’s Word jumps around. It picks a word here, a phrase there. That might leave you thinking that the WHOLE doesn’t matter, or that it is disconnected from the big issues. Please don’t draw that tragic conclusion. The only reason Today’s Word moves across the biblical geography is to give you a little hint about the depth of every passage. But if I had my choice, we would spend twenty years on Genesis.
Exegetically, Today’s Word deliberately commits a big mistake. We should provide much more background. We should look at the bigger setting of each verse. We should do a lot more work before we pick up a single word. But we can’t – at least not in this format. All we can do is point.
This is extremely frustrating for me. I want to follow a single verse, a single word, deeper and deeper into the heart of God. Where is the time to do that, or the audience who would follow such a path? So, if I haven’t touched on something near and dear to your heart, if you think Today’s Word wanders too much, remember that I came to point. Look here. See what you find. Then go seek.
Category: Articles
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But I’m Afraid
Saturday, September 26th, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen
YHWH is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1
Fear – Maybe it helps to be the king. I can see why David doesn’t fear anyone or anything. He has God on his side and he’s the king. That’s a big advantage. But what about the rest of us? We don’t command armies, order legislation or have the power of life and death in our hands. Does this verse really apply to us? I hope it does, but if I’m really honest, I’m still afraid. I’m afraid of public humiliation. I’m afraid of economic collapse. I’m afraid of betrayal. Or cancer. Or whatever is on the top of this list for today. Funny thing is that David could easily have all those fears too, plus some big ones that go with being the king. So, what makes it possible for David to say that he’s not afraid?
If we read very carefully, we discover that David doesn’t actually say he’s not afraid. He just says there is really no one to fear. That’s not the same as feeling afraid anyway. But David has a very good point. No person should make us quake because God is sovereign over every man. David says God is his light. David sees what life is like because he looks at life from God’s point of view. That clarifies a lot. All those things that I fear start to fade away when I see what the world looks like through God’s eyes. When God shines the light on the dark, I see the truth. He’s there. There’s no monster under my bed.
David also says that YHWH is his salvation. That’s not quite the evangelical word we use. For David, salvation is yishee, deliverance and rescue. It’s very here-and-now stuff, not pie-in-the-sky get-to-heaven thinking. I’m in danger. YHWH rescues me. That’s salvation. It’s tangible and temporal. Yes, I experience rescue from everlasting death (is that an oxymoron?) but the focus of my attention is right now because I live in the right now.
God’s point of view and His tangible rescue mean that I don’t fear anyone. The Hebrew verb yare has five different senses (see TWOT, Vol. 1, p. 399). The first is the emotion of fear. David’s claim doesn’t rule this out. The second is the intellectual anticipation of evil. God’s light and rescue eliminate this, if I stop to mediate on the truth. The third sense of fear shifts toward positive expressions. “Fear the Lord” is the equivalent of showing awe and reverence. Fourth comes fear as righteous behavior. Finally, there is a use of yare in the sense of formal religious worship. So, you see that David is occupied with the distinction between the first and second sense; both negative. But one is normal emotional reaction; the other results from a failure to recognize the goodness of God.
Yeshua employs these subtle distinctions in Matthew 10:28: “and do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy soul and body in hell.” Yeshua’s comment is a word play on the multiple uses of yare. There is only one to really fear – and what “fear” means before that one is the crux of the matter.
Maybe I don’t have so much to fear after all. Maybe my emotional reaction (fear) just leads me to settled confidence in the Lord of hosts (fear). One fear becomes grounds for another fear. Right?
Topical Index: fear, yare, Matthew 10:28, Psalm 27:1
Category: Today's Word
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