Month: February 2015

Revelation, The Daily WordLeave a comment

Shock and Awe (Revelation 4:2–6)

georgepwood

Who is the God Jesus Christ invites us to worship? Several years ago, J. B. Phillips wrote a helpful little theology primer with the title, Your God Is Too Small. In the first half of that book, he exposed numerous “inadequate conceptions of God which still linger unconsciously in many minds,” including God as a “resident policeman,” “parental hangover,” “grand old man,” “managing director,” “and pale Galilean.”[i] More recently, in Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah and his colleagues told the story of a woman named Sheila, who said: “I believe in God. I’m not a religious fanatic. I can’t … Continue reading Shock and Awe (Revelation 4:2–6)

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‘Come Up Here’ (Revelation 4:1)

georgepwood

Today, many American congregations are casualty-strewn battlefields of the “worship wars,” in which defenders of traditional hymns, pianos, and organs face off against partisans of contemporary choruses, guitars, and drums. Such wars, I fear, reduce the worship of God to a question of style rather than substance: “How do we worship?” instead of “Whom do we worship, and why?” Revelation 4–5 counters this reductionism with a mind-expanding vision of God and his Lamb, whose character and actions call forth our unceasing, full-throated, knee-bending “glory and honor and thanks” (4:9). Let’s take a closer look. The worship of God begins with … Continue reading ‘Come Up Here’ (Revelation 4:1)

Revelation, The Daily Word1 Comment

Wholeheartedness: The Seventh Mark of an Ideal Church (Revelation 3:14–22)

georgepwood

The seventh and final mark of the church, according to Revelation 2–3 is wholeheartedness. It is a character quality that the church in Laodicea lacked (Rev. 3:14–22). Listen to what Jesus says to them: “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Three times in two verses, Jesus drives home the point that the Laodicean Christians were neither extreme in their faith nor extreme in their disbelief. Theirs was a complacent, half-hearted … Continue reading Wholeheartedness: The Seventh Mark of an Ideal Church (Revelation 3:14–22)

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Mission: The Sixth Mark of an Ideal Church (Revelation 3:7–13)

georgepwood

Mission is the sixth mark of the church (Rev. 3:7–13). Before Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, he gave his disciples what we now call the Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18–20). This commission consists of three elements: the fact of Christ’s authority, … Continue reading Mission: The Sixth Mark of an Ideal Church (Revelation 3:7–13)

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Sincerity: The Fifth Mark of an Ideal Church (Revelation 3:1–6)

georgepwood

Sincerity—also known as authenticity—is the fifth mark of the church (Rev. 3:1–6). Its opposite is hypocrisy, which derives from a Greek word for actor. Just as an actor dons a costume and assumes a character for the stage, so a hypocrite dons a public persona that is at variance with his private self. The church in Sardis was a hypocritical church: “I know your works,” Jesus says. “You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” Several years ago, I read an article praising hypocrisy in The New Republic. The author did not voice a full-throated praise of … Continue reading Sincerity: The Fifth Mark of an Ideal Church (Revelation 3:1–6)

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Holiness: The Fourth Mark of the Ideal Church (Revelation 2:18-29)

georgepwood

The fourth mark of the church is holiness (Rev. 2:18-29). At the church of Thyatira, there was a woman whom Jesus refers to as “Jezebel.” The name is aptly chosen, for just as the Jezebel of the Old Testament had done (1 Kings 16:29–34), this woman led God’s people astray. Specifically, she convinced some of the Thyatiran Christians “to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.” We readily understand Jesus’ condemnation of sexual immorality. Although the Old Testament often uses the language of adultery as a catchword for idolatry (e.g., Hos. 9:1), in the church of Thyatira, … Continue reading Holiness: The Fourth Mark of the Ideal Church (Revelation 2:18-29)

Revelation, The Daily Word1 Comment

Truth: The Third Mark of the Ideal Church (Revelation 2:12-17)

georgepwood

The third mark of the church is truth (Rev. 2:12-17). Situated on a conical hill more than a thousand feet above sea level, the city of Pergamum dominated the Caicus River valley below it. Its name, in Greek, means “citadel,” which it certainly was: a fortified city, both powerful and prestigious. The proconsul of Roman Asia resided there, exercising the ius gladii or “power of the sword” over the inhabitants of the province. The Greek gods Zeus, Athena, Dionysus, and Asklepios each had a temple there. Augustus and Trajan erected temples for the worship of deified Caesars such as themselves … Continue reading Truth: The Third Mark of the Ideal Church (Revelation 2:12-17)

Book Reviews, Interesting, Politics & Culture1 Comment

Lincoln’s Creed

georgepwood

In 1920, William E. Barton published The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, a now classic study of the development of Lincoln’s faith. “Lincoln’s religious was an evolution,” Barton wrote, “both in its intellectual and spiritual qualities.” Lincoln’s religious identity seems to have moved through three stages: (1) a Calvinist Baptist in childhood; (2) a skeptical, freethinker in young adulthood; and (3) and a not-altogether-orthodox Christian in mature adulthood. “Too much of the effort to prove that Abraham Lincoln was a Christian,” Barton wrote, “has begun and ended in the effort to show that on certain theological opinions he cherished correct opinions.” … Continue reading Lincoln’s Creed

Revelation, The Daily Word1 Comment

Suffering: The Second Mark of the Ideal Church (Revelation 2:8-11)

georgepwood

The first mark of the church is love. The second is suffering. Please do not misunderstand me. Christians are not masochists. We do not fetishize suffering or go looking for martyrdom. But if two thousand years of Christian history are a reliable guide, martyrdom may come looking for us. I freely concede that persecution and martyrdom are far from the minds of most American Christians. For all the religiously conservative complaints about secular humanist domination of the media, the fact is that Americans have near-total freedom to practice, publicize, and proselytize for their respective faiths—or non-faiths, as the case may … Continue reading Suffering: The Second Mark of the Ideal Church (Revelation 2:8-11)

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Love: The First Mark of the Ideal Church (Rev. 2:1–7)

georgepwood

As Christians, we know who we are: sinners who need to repent. But who should we be? According to John Stott, Jesus’ letters to the seven churches describe “seven marks of the ideal church”: love, suffering, truth, holiness, sincerity, mission, and wholeheartedness.[i] Let us take a closer look at each, beginning with love. Love is perhaps the most indiscriminately used word in the English language. The statements “I love God,” “I love my children,” and “I love crispy tacos at Taco Bell” use the same words to describe radically different affections. After all, if you love God and Taco Bell … Continue reading Love: The First Mark of the Ideal Church (Rev. 2:1–7)