Running With Endurance

I'm still working through John's rock-solid introduction to The Revelation of Jesus Christ. He writes,

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. - Rev 1:9 ESV

Tribulation and patient endurance! These themes echo again and again in The Revelation:

"'I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ... "'I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. - Rev 2:2, 19 ESV 

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. - Rev 3:10 ESV 

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. - Rev 14:11-12 ESV

 The Apostle Paul recognized the importance of endurance as well:

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, - Rom 15:4-5 ESV

Just today my wife and I began to make plans to celebrate our upcoming wedding anniversary. I suggested that we go to a local steak house. Now you don't have to ask me to endure the eating of a fine steak washed down with a good mug of my favorite beer. Endurance applies rather to things like my heart bypass operation several years back and the later recovery process. Our spiritual life in Christ is more like that than Sylvia's and my upcoming anniversary celebration. God's Word does indeed speak of Christ's return to carry us as His bride to celebrate in the Father's house. Even now the wedding feast is ready. But we have not yet reached the king's dining hall.

"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast."' ... Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.' - Mat 22:2-4, 8-9 ESV 

Meanwhile, however, we face opposition, conflict, temptation and—what's John's word here?—tribulation ! He calls himself our brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance. The parallel word for tribulation is persecution, something I wrote about in the immediately previous blog. We have great enemies out there in the world, enemies led by the prince of this world (Eph. 6:12; John 8:44; 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). And they do not back down.

Aware of that reality we need to teach and preach the truth about the Christian life. Yes, there are victories. Yes, there are miracles. Yes, Jesus is with us always. But tribulation, opposition, conflict and suffering in both body and spirit are ours as well. But let us not be discouraged. Listen again and again to the apostles as they offer encouragement in the Name of the Risen Christ.  

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. - Heb 12:1-3 ESV

God Is Treating You As Children When You Are Persecuted

It is becoming more and more difficult to be a Christian. That's not to say that this difficulty is the same in every country. Since I live in the U.S.A. I can only speak for us in this country. Here the challenge is to deal with hostility in a quite differing manner than in some other places. Here we face what the Hebrews writer calls hostility in a different way than say in a predominately Muslim country. Listen to what he says.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. - Hbr 12:3-8 ESV

The Greek language has a unique word for hostility, one used primarily in this letter and once in Jude. The word is anti-logia. It would be what we call contradiction or dispute. The primary manner by which we Christians face hostility here is by indirect contradiction. In other words, much of what we stand for is considered irrelevant or narrow-minded. Plenty of examples of this:

• Christians are anti-scientific. They are the idiots who claim that evolution did not happen when all of the rest of the world knows that it did. These dimwits claim that the world is only about 6,000 years old while all the rest of the scientific world knows that our planet is billions of years old. 

• Christians are anti-scientific in another way as well. They claim that the entire world was once covered with a flood that wiped out all mankind except one family. There is no evidence of this. None! And yet they hold to this silly little concept because their sacred book says something like that. 

• Christians insist on something they call a soul. Now we all know that this is an outmoded concept. We are nothing more and nothing less than biological machines that have evolved along with all other forms of life. And soon the day will come when we will be able to download this biological information into advanced computers, eliminating the need for outmoded human bodies. We won't need then to talk about souls or spirits—a medieval, non-scientific mental construct. 

• Christians insist that their's is the only religion. What nonsense that is. As any thinking person knows, all religions have something to contribute to the mankind's search for meaning and relevance. Consequently what is called for in these modern times is dialogue, open, honest dialogue and respect. Then we'll all learn from one another. 

I could go on and on to talk about how many in the upcoming generations are taught by their teachers and the media to view Christians as quaint and well-meaning at best. Above all they are sidelined in a way that says, "We'll put up with you as long as you don't interfere. But be sure that you stay out of the way. We have far, far more interesting and important things to do." 

This, I suggest, is what much of modern hostility is about. And, if you are a Christian committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of Holy Scriptures you know what I mean. We Christians in the U.S.A. are not hauled into court directly for being Christians and then thrown to the lions. No we have to deal with the lions in our workplaces, in our schools and even in our homes. There we are challenged, mocked and despised and then driven at times to weariness and exhaustion. We get so tired of having to take up yet another confrontation, another dispute. Why, why? 

The Holy Spirit's answer to all this is (in Greek) paideia. This was the whole training and education of children. It was the work of parents, mentors and teachers. It was the task of getting children to use their minds, deal with the challenges of making decisions in the right way. It was the task of correcting them so that when they make a mistake they learn from the mistake, grow from it and become better prepared the next time they face the challenge. This is why the LORD allows us to be attacked, vilified, mocked and despised. It is part of the paideia, the discipline and training the LORD is putting us through so that we might grow up. 

More on this next time. 

God's Two Revelations - Psalm 19

I've seen many young people deeply troubled by the assumed conflict between modern science and the Bible. Older folks struggle too. As recently as this week a retired geo-physicist shared his appreciation for the help I gave him to find ways to reconcile his lifelong experience as a scientist with his faith in Jesus and the authority of the Bible.

This is, undoubtedly, a very real challenge for many and a leading cause for the destruction of childhood Christian faith. There are significant resources and great and powerful reasons why that need not happen. Here are some organizations and individuals working toward this common goal of reconciling modern science with the Bible.

1. Reasons to Believe - sample article

Reasons To Believe : Hobbits Grab Headlines, Again!: Our assertion is that the hominids were animals created by God. These extraordinary creatures walked erect and possessed some level of intelligence. These abilities allowed them to cobble crude tools and even adopt some level of "culture." The RTB model maintains that the hominids were not spiritual beings made in God's image, however. RTB's model reserves this status exclusively for modern humans. Based on this view we predict that biological similarities will exist among the hominids and modern humans to varying degrees. But also major biological differences, as this new study attests.

2. Answers in Genesis - sample article

Creationism:There are various forms of creationism, including old-earth creationism, progressive creationism, and young-earth creationism (some also label the Intelligent Design Movement as being a form of creationism). Most forms of creationism contend that an intelligence, not natural processes, created the universe and all life. However, only young-earth creationism is supported by a straightforward reading of Genesis without introducing outside suppositions and beliefs foreign to the text (e.g., that “science” has proven the ancient age of the earth).

 3. Genesis Veracity - sample article

Level of Logic of Old Earth Creationism: Hugh Ross (Reasons to Believe) would have us believe that after billions of years of geological processes (which caused the rock strata that we see), Noah's Flood then occurred only in Mesopotamia, and wiped out all of humanity except the eight who were saved on the Ark. Why would some of the humans have not successfully migrated away from a merely regional flood? And why would have all of humanity (Ross estimates 1 billion people) been confined to merely Mesopotamia, thousands of years ago? (And why would all of the animals also have been only in Mesopotamia, with none having migrated from harm's way?)

4. Evidence for God from Science - sample article

Does Genesis One Conflict with Science? Day-Age Interpretation : I would first like to point out that God has not revealed the entire creation process in the Genesis creation account, but only that which is particularly relevant to mankind. Many events in the creation account of the Bible have been intentionally left out (unicellular life forms, dinosaurs, etc.), I believe, because they would have been difficult to express in the Hebrew language, and would have lead to confusion, since they would not have been understood through the vast majority of mankind's existence (i.e., only understandable in the last two centuries). The interpretation of the Genesis creation account should not be made independently of the remainder of the Bible, as many "young-earth" creationists do. The interpretation presented here is based upon the creation accounts found throughout the entire Bible (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, etc.¹) as it relates to God's creation of the heavens and the Earth, and is consistent with all the biblical texts in addition to the revelations of science.

The Bible was the first written work to describe the expanding universe model for the universe (indicated by verses stating that God spreads out the heavens, 2), which is consistent with the Big Bang model.

5. Rev. Dr. John Polkinghorne - sample article

How the Resurrection Makes Sense: In the history of much Christian thinking, and in much popular piety, people have thought of themselves as if they were apprentice angels. In that case, the "real me" would be a spiritual component, trapped in a body but awaiting release at death. Today, that is an increasingly difficult belief to hold. Studies of brain damage and the effects of drugs show how dependent our personalities are on the state of our bodies. Charles Darwin has taught us that our ancestry is the same as that of the other animals. Earth was once lifeless and life seems to have emerged from complex chemical interactions. Many scientists think that we are nothing but collections of molecules and they write popular books to assert this belief. 

Yet that also is a pretty odd thing to believe. Could just a bunch of chemicals write Shakespeare or compose Handel's Messiah, or discover the laws of chemistry, for that matter? There is something more to us than the merely material. Yet, whatever that extra something is, it is surely intimately connected with our bodies. We are a kind of package deal, mind and body closely related and not wholly detachable from each other. It is a puzzle.

These samples are enough to indicate that there is plenty of controversy among Christian apologists as they work diligently to demonstrate that there are no irreconcilable conflicts between God's two revelations in nature and the Bible.

In addition, there are conservative Jewish resources that are also very helpful. Chief among them is the work of Gerald Schroeder. Once a teacher at MIT, he now resides in Jerusalem.

6. Gerald Schroeder - sample article:

The Age of the Universe:  In 1959, a survey was taken of leading American scientists. Among the many questions asked was, "What is your estimate of the age of the universe?" Now, in 1959, astronomy was popular, but cosmology - the deep physics of understanding the universe - was just developing. The response to that survey was recently republished in Scientific American - the most widely read science journal in the world. Two-thirds of the scientists gave the same answer. The answer that two-thirds - an overwhelming majority - of the scientists gave was, "Beginning? There was no beginning. Aristotle and Plato taught us 2400 years ago that the universe is eternal. Oh, we know the Bible says 'In the beginning.' That's a nice story; it helps kids go to bed at night. But we sophisticates know better. There was no beginning." 

That was 1959. In 1965, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered the echo of the Big Bang in the black of the sky at night, and the world paradigm changed from a universe that was eternal to a universe that had a beginning. Science had made an enormous paradigm change in its understanding of the world. Understand the impact. Science said that our universe had a beginning. I can't overestimate the import of that scientific "discovery." Evolution, cave men, these are all trivial problems compared to the fact that we now understand that we had a beginning. Exactly as the Bible had claimed for three millennia. 

Of course, the fact that there was a beginning does not prove that there was a beginner. Whether the second half of Genesis 1:1 is correct, we don't know from a secular point of view. The first half is "In the beginning;" the second half is "God created the Heavens and the Earth." Physics allows for a beginning without a beginner. I'm not going to get into the physics of that here. "The Science of God," my second book, examines this in great detail.

7. The Torah Science Foundation - sample article:

Time and Purpose in Science and Mathematics: The infinite number of questions asked in every sphere of human culture can be reduced to three general, fundamental questions. These questions contain many more detailed, more elaborately phrased questions, which can be expressed in complex philosophical forms, or spelled out through professional scientific analysis. These questions relate to both the simplest objects encountered in everyday life and to complex cultural or scientific systems, to concrete objects and realities that people cannot help but notice, and to creations of the mind, whose actual existence is uncertain. These three questions may be summarized in very simple words: "What?" "How?" "What For?"

In more abstract language we can say that "What" is the question about the essence of things, their definition and identity, and their relationship to other entities. "How" is the question of the reason for things: why do things happen the way they do, what brings about their existence, and what causes various events. "What For" is the question of purpose: what is the purpose for which certain things are done, or exist.

There is enough information here to keep all of us busy for many, many hours. Regardless of where you end up in your conclusions, there is one thing that impresses me in them all. They take the Bible very seriously. They believe in its authority. God has two revelations, nature and His Word (Psalm 19:1-5). And the two agree with one another.

Compatibility In Marriage

God hates divorce! And He hates everything related to it, because He created marriage as a permanent union of husband and wife in a one flesh relationship. That's the Biblical norm. That's why He created us male and female: "For this reason a  man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).


The Hebrew word (davaq) was translated by the King James Bible as cleave. We no longer use the word cleave in that way. In fact, cleave means quite the opposite in modern day English. The Hebrew davaq, however, does mean to cling, keep close, stick together.

"My bones stick to (davaq) my flesh and to my  skin," writes Job (Job 19:20). 

The word also refers to clinging to another with love and faithfulness. Thus Ruth clung (davaq) to Naomi, her mother-in-law. She insisted that she would never leave her. Wherever Naomi went, Ruth would go. "Your people will be my people and your God will be my God," she insisted (Ruth 1:14-17). This text is often used as the basis for the homily in a Divine Service where a man and woman publicly exchange their marriage vows.


The same davaq word speaks of the love and loyalty with which God's chosen people cling to Him. Joshua reminds the Israelites that the LORD has given them their homeland. Therefore they must never "mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling (davaq) to the LORD your God just as you have done to this day" (Joshua 23:7-8).


That is the kind of undivided loyalty that is essential in marriage. The marriage partners make a covenant with one another, a covenant to davaq to one another for better or worse, in sickness or in health. This is a commitment that transcends what modern culture calls compatibility. Compatibility focuses upon individual feelings, needs, wants and desires. The emphasis is upon common interests, upon being what some call soul partners. That does not always happen. Conflicts and tensions do arise. Marriage partners discover how much they differ from one another. Their initial love grows cold as they realize, for instance, that the husband's love for hunting and fishing conflicts sharply with the wife's passion for music and the arts.


Is incompatibility therefore a reason for divorce, as we often hear in divorce proceedings? Not in itself, especially in a Christian marriage. I will admit that compatibility issues often make marriage very difficult. This is why pastors emphasize counseling before marriage. Couples need to look into these matters so that they may anticipate conflicts and tensions. They need to examine what draws them together beyond physical attraction, beyond the passions they feel when together.


This is also why faith commitments are critical. When both come together sharing a common belief in Christ's love and forgiveness for them, they find in that love the strength and power to work through their conflicts, to make allowances for differences, to forgive one another and to move forward in spite of compatibility issues.


The commitment a man or a woman makes to davaq to the other transcends feelings, interests, desires and needs. I know, I know. That's a very hard thing to say and most marriages cannot exist on the basis of commitment alone. Yet this is the ideal. And this is sometimes the only glue that holds some marriages together.


I need to say more about the concept of one flesh next time. 

Conflict Among Brothers

It's one thing to have to deal with conflict, but it is quite another to have to deal with slander and betrayal by one you thought was a close friend. And the pain grows when this one is not only a close friend, but a believer with whom you work and pray with in the church. In those times we all begin to feel like David when he prayed, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest" (Psalm 55:6).

Conflict among and between friends in the church is a very bitter pill to swallow. It seems but natural in those times to want out, even to long for death and the joys of heaven. Short of that, I've prayed for the LORD to take me to another town, among another people. That, however, only increases the pain, for then I would have to deal with the loss and support of other dear and close friends.

There once was a time in my life when this prayer for wings like a dove filled my heart. I did not want to abandon my wife and children. I did not want to leave my friends who were so precious to me, but I wanted out, I wanted to escape somehow. I wanted rest. I wanted to go home at night and not have to discuss the conflicts with my wife or burden my children with the anger and disappointment that never left me. I wanted to smile and not have to pretend. I wanted to laugh and really feel happy. But it was not to be. The wings of a dove were not mine to have.

What does one do in times such as this? How does one survive? The prayer of Jesus sustains us all in such times. He anticipated that this very thing would happen to him when his dear and close friend Judas would betray him. Once, when many disciples rejected him, Jesus said, "Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil" (John 6:70-71). Later, while the disciples were sharing the Passover on the night before His crucifixion, Jesus said to Judas, "What you are going to do, do quickly" (John 13:27).

As always, Jesus knows and understands what we must at times endure. He knows in His heart the pain of being slandered and betrayed by close friends. He knows the longing for the wings like a dove and the passionate desire for rest. Yet it is through us that He brings His Word and shares forgiveness and compassion.

So our High Priest prays, "I am no longer in the world, but they are, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. . . I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one" (John 17:11-15).

If you are dealing with such matters or ever have to, take Jesus' prayer to heart. His prayers are ever heard by the holy Father. And while you remain in this world and find you must continue in the vocation and calling assigned to you, the same Father will give you the inner peace and strength to endure the conflict and continue. Here again are the words of David.

"Cast your burden on the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved" (Psalm 55:22).

Quarrels and My Christian Family

One of the things I learned in my years of pastoral ministry was that quarrels among the people of God are inevitable. The Apostle Paul addresses this issue in the very first chapter of his letter to the Corinthians in this manner:

"I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas; still another, "I follow Christ."

"Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power" (vv. 10-17).

At the same time I found many wonderful and close brothers and sisters in God's family. It has been over fifty years since I first began to serve as a public minister of God's Word. I still receive emails and other correspondence from some of the people I served in those early years. Sylvia and I go back to the congregations we served and are immediately received warmly and with great affection. This is one of the reasons I claim to be among the wealthiest of men. My wealth consists of the love and affection I have received and long to share with those, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

The point is that we who are baptized into Christ become family. Our ties transcend any differences we may have because of culture, race or status. What we have in common is the cross of Christ, that power of God to rescue and save us from our own very human weaknesses and failings. In receiving that free and undeserved grace and mercy, we find a unity unknown in any other area of human life.

There are folks with whom I have great conversations about intellectual matters. We talk about history, science and the natural world at great length. I really enjoy those conversations. But this or that person I have in mind is not my brother.

There are people who help me to manage my money. We talk about the best way to invest, the future of the stock market and our mutual distrust of the IRS. We moan and groan about political matters and decisions by congress. Some of these people are and some of these people are not my brothers.

I attend conferences that discuss writing. I attend conferences that offer insights into social problems and solutions to psychological problems. I learn from the presenters, but I know that many of them are not my brothers and sisters.

There are members of my extended family who send me Christmas cards and with whom we share gifts and even hugs and kisses, but some of them are not my brothers and sisters.

You see what I say? Being baptized into Jesus Christ changes everything. In Him we find our unity, not in intellectual pursuits, social status or political leanings, not even in our family. In Christ we are bound together in a spiritual unity, both in this life and for all eternity. What an awesome revelation. What a wondrous reality.

I like the motto adopted recently by the little congregation Sylvia and I attend. It helps me to think about this matter: "Living Today for Eternity."