Author: W. Keith Brenton

‘Either-Or’ and the False Dilemma

/ W. Keith Brenton / 6 Comments

I know I’ve railed about this before, and if you’re tired of it and wish to pass on this post, please forgive me and feel free to move on.

John Alan Turner, at his Faith 2.0 blog posts Ministry vs. Mission and Defining Missional describes what – to me – are false dilemmae phrased in “either-or” terms.

In the “Ministry vs. Mission” post, it is phrased by an elder interviewing minister candidates: Are you a minister or an evangelist? (In other words, is your focus “inner” or “outer”?)

In the “Defining Missional” post (the earlier one of the two), it’s found in the comments as a description of the differences among traditional, contemporary and missional churches.

I think the choice is artificial.

Minister candidates should answer that elder’s question, “Yes.”

Churches should avoid labels like “traditional,” “contemporary” and “missional” like they were invented by Satan himself. In fact, I’m not so certain that …

Okay, I’ll back off. But isn’t the purpose of labels to divide (and conquer)? To say one is better than the other? More necessary? Morally right? Scripturally defensible?

And shouldn’t all churches be concerned about keeping their members, attracting non-members to Christ AND serving the Lord and the communities they are in?

Shouldn’t all ministers?

I respect John Alan and prefer the way he asks his question: “Which way does your church lean?” It’s more realistic; less absolute. And it has, implicit within it, an expression of danger that “leaning” too far in any given direction will put a church off-balance.

Now I have a question.

Why do we try to limit ourselves, our ministries, our success and God’s preferences by phrasing things like this in mutually-exclusive, “either-or” terms?

A Mother’s Day Blessing – Reprise

/ W. Keith Brenton / 5 Comments

(Originally posted in 2005.)

In 1999 I was asked to lead a “prayer and blessing” for Mother’s Day at Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, and I didn’t exactly know what that meant. I turned it over to the Lord in prayer, consulted a bit with elder John Willis (who was to read a passage and lead another prayer at the service), and put pen to paper in hopes that the Spirit would supply the words I lacked. John intended to read from Isaiah 49. This is what I read that Sunday morning in May:

We call God our Father in our prayers and our private meditations, but we don’t often think of Him in “motherly” terms. Yet, that is exactly how God chooses to express His tender affection and compassion toward His children when Isaiah speaks for Him in chapter 66, verses 12 and 13:

“For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you, and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”

It’s my privilege this morning to lead us in a petition to God for a blessing on those who give us birth, give us homes, give us love and give us themselves. If your mom is nearby and you’d like to hold her hand while we ask this blessing together, please do.

May the Lord always bless mothers like Eve
… who may have been suprised to find they are with child
… who courageously approach motherhood for the first time ever
… and some who later must cope with the untimely death of a beloved child.

May the Lord always bless mothers like Sarah
… who may have laughed at the thought of having a child later in life, but take the job seriously
… who may not see their child married, or see their grandchildren in this life, but have faith that they can still become the mother of nations.

May the Lord always bless mothers like Hannah
… who want a child so badly that they never cease to ask God’s blessing in this way
… who are willing to give up their children to adoption by another family for a chance at a more blessed life
… who dedicate their children to the Lord’s work and His house.

May the Lord always bless mothers like the prophetess Anna
… who may possibly never have children of their own
… and who, without a thought of bitterness, fast and pray for others at the Lord’s house,
… and give Him praise for the children others have and bring there.

May the Lord always bless mothers like Eunice – and grandmothers like Lois
… who teach their children Bible stories
… who tell them of God’s love and will for them
… and give them the gift of a faith as strong as Timothy’s.

May the Lord always bless mothers like Mary
… who meet the challenge of rearing a child very different from His brothers and sisters
… who may have felt a degree of estrangement from a child who describes his companions as his “mother and brothers and sisters”
… but who never stop believing in – and supporting – their children … even at the foot of a cross.

May the Lord always bless mothers … but especially on this day, which is also the Lord’s day. For “as a mother (who) comforts her child” has God so loved.

For all mothers we thank You and praise Your Name, Father; and all these blessings we pray through the Son who expresses Your love to us in its most eloquent way.

Amen.

Do We Really Need Them?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 3 Comments

Do we really need those people in our Christian fellowship who insist that they are right about the Bible; that their interpretation is the correct and only one; that any and all deviation from what they believe and teach will put you out of fellowship with them and with the Lord?

Well … yeah.

How different are the two extremes in Christianity today from what they were in century one?

Is a contemporary Christian who views scripture with amber-lensed spectacles – seeing it only as a great legal pad full of ordinances and rules – all that different from a Jewish Christian from century one, who had spent his or whole life trying to obey all 613 precepts?

Is a Christian of today who sees scripture through rose-colored glasses – viewing it as a pink release slip from law and responsibility – not similar in point of view to the Gentile Christian of early church times, who had always lived in liberty and at the mercy of the gods?

And isn’t there a middle ground – not of compromise – but of clearly-focused scriptural interpretation, one that sees God’s Word with untinted lenses, in all of its Technicolor glory?

Paul the apostle was trying to be the Holy Spirit’s scribe when he wrote I Corinthians; coming, himself, from that strict Jewish point of view and also addressing Gentiles who had emerged from pagan “morality.” His answer, in chapter 12, is that we all need each other.

As followers of Christ, we are all given one Spirit. If we call Him “Lord,” it is by that Spirit. He gives different gifts, and different tasks for using them to serve – but in some measure, “God works all of them in all men.” (He doesn’t say “each of them in each person.”)

But they are to be used for the common good.

Then Paul lists some gifts:

  • the message of wisdom

  • the message of knowledge

  • faith

  • gifts of healing

  • miraculous powers

  • prophecy

  • distinguishing between spirits

  • speaking in tongues

  • interpretation of tongues

Paul concludes the list by saying that the Spirit gives these gifts as He wills, – and the implication is “not as we will.”

And he begins building one of the most valuable metaphors in all of Christian theology by saying “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by (or “with” or “in”) one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks (Gentiles), slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”

Each part of the body has its unique and vital function. Each is essential. Eyes need ears need hands need feet need … well, modest parts.

“But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

So, what do spiritual gifts have to do with hermeneutics? What does all of that have to do with our need for each other?

Everything.

Everything we have and are and even believe (v.9; also Ephesians 2:8) is a gift of God. We call Christ “Lord” by His Spirit. Our backgrounds, heritage, natures and resulting perspective on scripture are all His gifts to us. Some of them make it harder to see scripture for what it is. Some make it easier.

– Just as there are some of us who are gifted with poor eyesight or other physical impediments to overcome, we are also challenged by God to transcend ourselves in our view of scripture as well as in our perception of Him through His creation (Romans 1:20).

In the same way Jesus opened the minds of His followers to scripture in century one (Luke 24:45), He promised them that His Spirit would “guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).

Here are some ways that I believe people with different views of scripture can fulfill their mutual needs for each other:

  1. They open each other’s minds to the scripture by the Spirit working through them and through it; by calling their differences back to scripture to see what it clearly, untintedly says.

  2. They can keep each other in check, encouraging each other to avoid extreme positions on any matter which scripture leaves to conscience.

  3. They can appeal to God together in prayer for a clearer, less-tinted perspective on what His will for them is, expressed in His word.

  4. They can maintain active (dare I say “spirited”?) dialogue, which keeps them focused on Christ – rather than on peripheral issues of little or no importance – and that focus will naturally lead them to unity in purpose: serving Him in this world, rather than arguing about Him.

I confess that my lenses tend toward the pink. I have to work and work at it to wipe them clear. I have to work even harder to avoid judgment when I read or hear the words of folks whose lenses tend toward the yellow. You see, I’ve come to realize that the description in my opening paragraph’s question can describe either extreme.

But I am convinced that, as differently-gifted parts of one body, we need each other.

We’re His body in this world.

And He needs us to be one.

Are You Saved?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 5 Comments

Sure, I know; that’s the line of almost every televangelist worth his or her salt.

And it’s a question that I don’t like as much as the one posed by S.M. Lockridge: “Do you know Him?”

But it’s the question that anonymous posed on my blog in response to the post A Universal Appeal. Actually, it was phrased: “So, are you saved, or are you condemned?”

Does anonymous visit your blog often? I occasionally get visits from anonymous, but rarely answer. This time, I did:

anonymous, I don’t generally make it a practice to answer folks who aren’t courageous enough to leave a name with their comments.

But yours is a fair question and deserves a fair answer.

My salvation is ongoing – a process that began when I turned my life over to the Lord. It isn’t just what happens to me when I die.

Tell me what you think of Paul quoting Isaiah in II Corinthians 6:2. Do you get a different picture?

It’s not a perfect answer, of course. I’d be making a lot more money and doing a different job if I could dispense perfect answers. And, of course, I can’t discern motives people have for asking such questions. That ability would lead to more lucrative employment, too, I’m sure.

Since my post does address the point of view that confidently affirms God’s universal salvation of all mankind, it’s possible that anonymous felt that someone who disagrees with it – like me – might have no good answer to the question. Perhaps just a shruggy, “Well, I hope so!” or “That’s up to God!” or “We’ll soon see, won’t we?” And all of those are acceptable answers …

… to the wrong question.

There is a sense in which salvation is still ahead. In Romans 13:11, Paul urges Christians to behave in love because “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”

Two chapters earlier, the apostle describes it as something already sent (past tense) to the Gentiles.

In Ephesians 1:13, the addressees were “included in Christ” (past tense) when they heard the word of truth – perhaps because their acceptance of it and obedience to it was immediate. (And perhaps not.)

And in Philippians 2:12, he expresses it as an ongoing process that we are to “work out … with fear and trembling.”

So those are more of the reasons behind my answer. Like the whole subject of eschatology and the triumph of God’s kingdom, salvation seems to be one of those “already-and-not-yet” blessings. He works it out with us; and we with Him.

Maybe the better question would be “Are you about your Father’s business of salvation?”

– That is, if you know Him.

Missing Pepperdine; Anticipating the Table

/ W. Keith Brenton / 8 Comments

Reading others’ blogs this week has been more of a trial than usual. So many of my favorite bloggers were able to go to the Pepperdine Lectures, and I couldn’t. I went last year, for the first time, and would gladly make it an annual event if it weren’t for the timing.

This weekend was my daughter’s eleventh birthday party.

My involvement minister was in Tennessee to close on his old house there.

My preaching minister, singles minister and our Family Life Center manager all went to Pepperdine.

I look forward to hearing their reactions to it.

I am also looking forward this morning to a worship hour at my home church which focuses solely on meeting Christ at His table.

As far as I know, it will be a traditional celebration with small portions and forward-facing pews. It won’t and can’t be all that you or I or anyone else might yearn for.

At the same time, I believe – as I commented on Mike Cope’s blog recently – if we give our hearts to the table in whatever setting we find it, Jesus will change us there and draw us closer to His own heart.

The Problem with Tongues

/ W. Keith Brenton / 2 Comments

Do you know what I think was happening in Corinth when Paul had to write to the church there?

A lot of selfishness.

A lot of puffery and pride, and maybe even some fakery.

Don’t go quoting this as scripture, because I’m reading between the lines here. But everything Paul addresses that needed remedying there boils down to selfishness and arrogance: from choosing up sides and smelling armpits to incestual adultery to lawsuits among them to refusing commitment to their betrothed ones to hogging the fellowship meal to – dare I say it? – faking gifts of the Spirit.

Yeah. That’s what I think was going on there, back then. Some folks who wanted to be important, more important than Paul, felt compelled to display the same spiritual gifts he had displayed – or better. They couldn’t fake miraculous healing; they couldn’t fake casting out demons, but they could babble incomprehensibly and claim to be speaking in tongues – in different human languages – just the way Paul had and the apostles in Jerusalem had at Pentecost. He wasn’t in Corinth anymore. He couldn’t confirm or deny it.

So Paul’s inspired remedy was to limit the sharing of those gifts to the benefit of all. Don’t speak in tongues unless someone interprets; otherwise you’re talking to yourself and God and wasting everybody else’s time.

And if fakery was involved, getting it back into their worship times would require collusion. Conspiracy, with someone else who would “interpret.” And in century one, that could be a deadly thing. Stories like what happened to Ananias and Sapphira would make the rounds.

The best part is that out of the Corinthian fakery (which I’m weaving from whole cloth and holes in logic), one of the most genuine chapters of Christian instruction is written: good ol’ number 13.

If we’re not here for each other, then we’re not here for God, either.

Of course, we never fake it in church nowadays … do we?

There have been a few times when that chapter has kept me from faking it in church; a few times when I didn’t feel like being there but I had some duty to do or responsibility to perform. And, unfortunately, a couple of times when I didn’t think of it and didn’t want to and went right ahead with being as disingenuous as any babbling would-be spirit-speaker.

And I probably didn’t make any more sense than one.

A Universal Appeal

/ W. Keith Brenton / 3 Comments

God saves whom He wills.

I believe that.

“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” He said that. Paul even quotes Him in his letter to Rome.

God wants to save everyone.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Peter understood that. John said He wants it so much that it cost Him the life of His Son. It was His universal appeal, offering to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.

I believe that, too.

From the very beginning, though, He has offered people a choice. From Eden to Ararat to Sodom to Egypt to Canaan to Babylon to Bethlehem to Calvary to now; He has provided a gate to enter and a path to follow.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Jesus said it. He also said: “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.” And Mark’s gospel adds, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

So I believe that, as well.

And while I love to read of the confidence we can have in God’s love and generosity throughout Paul’s letter to Roman Christians – not to mention His deep desire to draw all men unto Himself – I find the same promise in the middle of it: “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And I find nothing that contradicts His long history of commanding all to repent – through all the prophets, through Christ, through Christian messengers – and His ongoing willingness to put an end to those who continue to rebel; to follow their own path away from Him and to the harm of themselves and others.

Therefore, I believe He will.

Because in describing His own full glory, His very nature, He said: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

He is just and righteous. Therefore He judges and punishes.

He loving and merciful. Therefore He forgives and redeems.

My late dad used to express this dual and dueling nature within God as His two arms: an arm of righteousness and an arm of mercy; an arm of justice and an arm of compassion.

To believe in a God who is only one or the other – who can only be one or the other – is to believe in a one-armed God.

I believe in a God who is mighty to save, and mighty to condemn.

And His universal appeal is not lost on me.

Context

/ W. Keith Brenton / 3 Comments

I believe it’s important to view scripture in context.

I think most honest folks do.

If I Corinthians 14 instructs Christians for all time not to forbid speaking in tongues; to allow two or three prophets to speak; that someone must interpret; that all are permitted to prophesy (in order to convict visitors of their sin); that all things must be done decently and in order; and that women should keep silent … how is it that some folks can isolate only the last two instructions to enforce at the neglect of the others?

If it’s because people today are not gifted to speak in tongues, then is that because we have forbidden them? Quenched the Spirit?

If it’s because tongues have “passed away” (13:8), have prophecy and knowledge also passed away? If that’s true, how can we hope to convict visitors of their sin? Especially if only half of the church is allowed to speak?

Do we still earnestly desire the spiritual gift of prophecy?

Has it ceased to be true that “everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort”?

Is it possible that by neglecting the tradition of letting two or three speak, we are undermining the credibility of God’s holy Word in the ears and eyes and minds and hearts of those who visit our assemblies?

Do we even have or care about those who visit our assemblies anymore?

Okay, don’t worry about me; I’m not going all holy-roller on you. I just want to know some things.

So I am full of questions. Like these:

What good does it do if someone listening to the one-and-only-minister actually does have a revelation while listening there in the assembly and can’t raise his or her hand to share it with the rest? Even if the minister is obviously troubled, perplexed or even misdirected in what he says on the subject? Will it simply do to mention it to him in the lobby later so that he can say, “Well, that’s interesting; I’ll have to study and consider that”?

Do we dare send our visitors away with the impression that we don’t have a clue what we’re talking about – especially if God has chosen to reveal His truth then and there (as He certainly, undeniably, scripturally has before)?

Has He changed His mind about revealing things to women and children? And men?

Didn’t His son choose to stay some extra time in Samaria because of the testimony of the woman at the well?

Did He not reveal the fact of His resurrection first to the women who came to pay homage at His temporary tomb?

Did His Spirit not pour His prophetic gifts into the four daughters of Phillip?

Does it no longer please Him to reveal things to little children?

If we are so dedicated to restoring the New Testament church of century one in the context of century twenty-one, shouldn’t we be praying to be able to do so to the fullest … rather than just by picking the easy “rules” to “enforce”?

Or is it just possible that the entire set of instructions in I Corinthians 14 was directed toward a set of circumstances unique to the church in that time and place and context?

A church where chaos prevailed and women spoke out because what went on was unintelligible and would not submit to their husbands who shushed them because in their church, God was not perceived as a God of order and peace – as in all the other churches?

Have we applied the specific instructions of a church in trouble during century one to a church relatively untroubled by such chaos for the next twenty centuries?

Why have we not been praying earnestly, unceasingly, forcefully and together for the discernment to know what eternal principles are revealed by this and other scriptures, and what instructions were intended as remedies for specific infractions of good manners and others’ rights to hear, understand and, yes, speak the truth of His Story?

Praying for Pentecost

/ W. Keith Brenton / 1 Comment

We could have a countdown to Pentecost. We know it’s coming.

Although the followers of Christ in century one could have had one, too – I guess it’s always fifty days after Passover – they probably couldn’t have known exactly what was coming nor when. So they took care of business. They selected a replacement for Judas in the apostolic ministry.

And they prayed without ceasing.

But even though we know the date is coming, I don’t know of many Christian groups who pray for what came then to come again.

Are we afraid of tongues of fire?

Do we fear the repercussions of everyone hearing the Story of Christ in his own language?

Are we apprehensive about the thousands who might respond, and what it might do to our lives and what we might have to sacrifice if we met daily at God’s house and shared everything we had and devoted ourselves to teachings about Christ and to prayer?

Are we terrified that we might give in to the Spirit’s leading if He actually poured Himself into our lives?

I know I am.

Yet I am dedicated to praying for it.

I am going to try to put my fears aside. I’m going to try not to set a deadline for God; to care what day or days it takes place. I’m going to try to not care what form His Spirit may take: whether tongues of fire or descending doves or mighty rushing winds or lives changed forever – even mine.

I am going to pray for Pentecost to occur again, in my life and the lives of Christians I know and don’t know.

I am going to pray for revival in that seemingly endless interim between the Lord’s ascension and what I anticipate as His return.

I am going to pray, starting today.

Will you pray with me?

Authorized in Triplicate

/ W. Keith Brenton / 4 Comments

It’s clear to me that Jesus did not take kindly toward people who declared that there was no scriptural authority for things that He and His followers did.

In Matthew 21:23-27 (and Mark 11:27-33 and Luke 20:1-8), He had just cleared the temple, healed the blind and the lame, refused to discipline children who shouted praise at the temple, and wilted a fig tree – and it did not go over well with the powers-that-thought-they-be. When they asked Him by what and whose authority He did these things, He struck a bargain with them: Answer my question and I’ll answer yours. Their answer was dishonest and disingenuous, and He refused to answer theirs.

He (and His disciples) did a lot of things that weren’t specifically authorized by their scripture: the Law and the Prophets.

His disciples picked and ate grain on the Sabbath. Sometimes they didn’t wash before they ate.

He miraculously transformed water into more wine than was probably necessary at a wedding feast.

He drove moneychangers and animal merchants out of the temple courts. Maybe even twice.

He healed people on the Sabbath. Again and again. And yet again.

No one quibbled that He taught on the Sabbath. Reading in advance, preparing His commentary, sharing God’s will to men – that wasn’t work. But if He healed a cripple or two, He was somehow going the extra mile beyond what was permitted on their holy day of rest. They could make an exception for circumcision on the Sabbath, but not for healing.

– Even though, in many if not most of these instances, the intent was to teach and draw people to God and the direct result was that God was praised and the teaching was confirmed as authoritative.

You’d think it would have been obvious that the freedom to transcend the restrictions of the Law had been authorized by and for the One who transcended His own laws of creation – and could authorize His followers to do so, too.

Surely, in this enlightened Christian age, Christian folks would not deride and condemn other Christian folks for being like Christ to the extent that they would do things on a holy day like Sunday that are not specifically authorized in scripture.

Assuredly, they could not maintain that – since the Law and the Prophets have been fulfilled in Christ – that we are bound by the jots and tittles of laws that must be presumed by their conspicuous absence in God’s word.

Certainly, they would not themselves engage in holy day activities taking place in facilities augmented by amplification devices and visual projectors and bound books of vocal music – none of which are authorized by scripture – and still accuse others of greater and worse offenses.

Clearly, they would never neglect the doing of good toward people and the drawing of the lost to God by concentrating massive resources to the defense of such a gospel that is no gospel at all, but rather a divisive and self-righteous conglomeration of the precepts of men.

Would they?