Scott's Thoughts – Sun, Apr 7, 2024
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(Apologies for links that make getting back to this ST post a slightly frustrating process. We’re annoyed, too. We try to avoid that, but it’s beyond our control.)
Catalyst Coffee is Looking for a Few New Employees
Pine Cove City: We Pretty Seriously Need Some Help With Momentum and Money
Misc Info
A Few Important Guidelines for Understanding Laws in the Bible
(Apologies for links that make getting back to this ST post a slightly frustrating process. We’re annoyed, too. We try to avoid that, but it’s beyond our control.)
Catalyst Coffee is Looking for a Few New Employees
Pine Cove City: We Pretty Seriously Need Some Help With Momentum and Money
Misc Info
A Few Important Guidelines for Understanding Laws in the Bible
Catalyst Coffee is Looking for a Few New Employees
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Nothing much here to tell you about other than the headline. Catalyst could really use some mature Christians “who have FCC DNA” (which could mean 25 yrs old or 55 yrs old) to help us in “Producing Goodness” and “Promoting Others” in our community as we give away 100% of net profits, which are currently scant since food costs are significantly higher than just a year ago and we are trying to not increase prices much. And what’s with all these big chain coffee shops suddenly springing up on 11E?! Bet they don’t roast their own beans or give away their profits! Anyway, call the shop, apply online at catalystcoffeecompany.com, or email (nathan@fccgreene.org) or chat with Nathan Dickerson our GM.
Pine Cove City: We Pretty Seriously Need Some Help With Momentum and Money
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For weeks we’ve been doing promo in The Pulse video, in the app, and via Kids Min handouts about Pine Cove City for our elementary-aged kids this summer. It’s run by Pine Cove Camps, which is headquartered in Texas, and what they do is they basically bring camp to us. They set up a small carnival of rides and games at our Greeneville campus and 3 dozen well-trained and very energetic young adults run a gospel-centered day camp. … We’ve done this Kids Camp twice before and I can assure you that it’s a fantastic, high quality, and well executed week that your kids will love! … Now, many of you already know much of this, but here’s why I’m bringing this to your attention. … Our goal is 130 kids, which is a lot of kids, and this means two things: (1) Please help us gain some needed momentum. We want to use this to reach out to kids in our community. So get the word out. Invite friends. Register your grandkids, nieces, nephews, etc. (2) Please help us fund this. We have approached the principals of 4 elementary schools and asked them to invite up to 5 kids who could use an amazing week of camp this summer, so we are trying to fund over 20 kids from the community to Pine Cove City for free, as well as helping to fund other kids who need it, and Pine Cove City costs $298/kid. So please consider helping to fund a kid or three with a really amazing week of learning about Jesus in a really fun context. Find out more on the app or at fccgreene.org/pcc. You can give from the link there or designate your giving as “Pine Cove City.”
Misc Info
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- Upcoming Sermon Series Plans – As I have mentioned a few times here and there, we routinely switch between series so that the long ones are done in sections with shorter ones between. What that means now is that we will finish up this current section of Exodus mid-June (chs 19–24). Then we’ll start “Hebrews: The Supremacy of Christ” (mid-June thru late August, Hebrews 1:1–4:13), followed by two series on Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood (4 weeks each), and then we’ll pick up Exodus again in Oct.
- Easter Weekend Services – Good Friday & Easter services were really, really good y’all! ‘Twas wonderful to hear hundreds of believers singing together. While there are plenty we don’t get right, I’m proud to say that we are a singing church. I pretty regularly and intentionally visit other churches to do some R&D and one thing I’ve routinely found is that the vast majority of churches do not sing much, (especially the men.) Thank you for singing as if you mean it! That is itself a witness to God’s goodness that our guests notice, that encourages our people, and that shapes our souls!
- “Honor your father and your mother” Follow-up Questions – Just letting a few folks who asked some clarifying questions on the heels of this recent sermon on the 5th Commandment that my blurb has actually made some progress and I’m getting closer to actual answers. I mean, it’s not done, but it’s closer; maybe ~75% done. See, it’s kinda Death Star operable at this point.
- Sermon Footnotes – Nothing special other than letting ya know I regularly have additional info in the footnotes, sometimes way too much, and sometimes just a smidge if any. There’s no telling because I’m so unpredictable and crazy like that.
- Random Thought I Had – If, (like me), you were enculturated into a Christian faith that taught you to say words about personal sin without understanding your condemnation before a holy God, (then, like me), you are a prime candidate for pride and self-righteousness, you likely were shepherded by human words more than God’s Word, and you need to understand your own spiritual death so you can understand your new life.
A Few Important Guidelines for Understanding Laws in the Bible1
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- From Genesis 3:7 on, everything is happening in a world fundamentally broken by sin in a way that no mere human can actually fix (Genesis 3:17-19, 24; Psalm 14:2-3; 103:15-16; Romans 3:23; 5:12-13; 2 Peter 1:4). This means we must remember that the curse is real and reset our expectations of this world accordingly (Genesis 2:17; 3:17-19; Matthew 6:19-20; Romans 8:18-20; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 John 1:8).
- God’s laws are good because they come from Him, reflect His character and nature, and are meant to be embodied for His glory and our good (Exodus 19:5-6; 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:24-25; Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:1-3; 19:7-11; Romans 7:7, 12-14; 1 Timothy 1:8). But they are not means by which we achieve saving righteousness, implement utopia, or initiate heaven. They cannot carry that freight (Acts 13:39; Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16; 3:11; Hebrews 10:1).
- Therefore, laws are regulations and controls to restrain sin and in a post-Fall, actually-broken world, and the presence of a law in Scripture about sinful activities doesn’t mean God condones it. Laws are not ways to implement perfection, they are controls against the unhindered effects of sin.
- Every law has a foundation, a prescriptive principle undergirding its descriptive application, and the descriptive application isn’t necessarily something that is germane to us. But it might be.
So… and this is true of any questions and not just Bible questions: Be careful asking questions the Bible doesn’t intend to answer.2 For example, when we come across laws and regulations in the Bible about murder, does it follow that we should assume that God condones murder? Of course not! Or, because God gives laws and regulations about slavery, does that mean He condones chattel slavery? Likewise no. We need to be careful about understanding exactly what is being asked, and why, and parsing out what applies and what doesn’t, for both the questions and our answers.
1 I am not trying to say everything that could or perhaps even needs to be said about how law(s) function(s) in the Bible, but I am just trying to provide some helpful guardrails for understanding and interpreting them in Exodus, (though they pretty much apply to the entire Old Testament.)
2 I am being careful to word this not to say the Bible doesn’t have answers to things we want to know, nor to the most important questions, nor that it isn’t beyond or deeper than our understanding, and certainly not that the Bible is too simplistic to answer the most important questions. But more often than we are aware, we are conditioned to ask questions assuming the Bible has the answers to our/somebody’s/all-the-world’s questions and then incorrectly perceive it as lacking when they’re not there, as if the problem is God’s intent for the Scriptures and His reasons for revealing what He has revealed. Perhaps our questions are hindering us from learning what God has revealed instead of what we think we need? Perhaps a humble openness to hear what is there instead of what we want to see is where the truest and most needed sanctification happens? Perhaps God has reasons we don’t yet understand for revealing what He has and we grow by searching out why and being shaped accordingly? (FWIW, this isn’t an argument against doubting or testing the Scriptures, for they are more than able to bear that weight and the church should be a place to learn, ask questions, and work through doubts.)
2 I am being careful to word this not to say the Bible doesn’t have answers to things we want to know, nor to the most important questions, nor that it isn’t beyond or deeper than our understanding, and certainly not that the Bible is too simplistic to answer the most important questions. But more often than we are aware, we are conditioned to ask questions assuming the Bible has the answers to our/somebody’s/all-the-world’s questions and then incorrectly perceive it as lacking when they’re not there, as if the problem is God’s intent for the Scriptures and His reasons for revealing what He has revealed. Perhaps our questions are hindering us from learning what God has revealed instead of what we think we need? Perhaps a humble openness to hear what is there instead of what we want to see is where the truest and most needed sanctification happens? Perhaps God has reasons we don’t yet understand for revealing what He has and we grow by searching out why and being shaped accordingly? (FWIW, this isn’t an argument against doubting or testing the Scriptures, for they are more than able to bear that weight and the church should be a place to learn, ask questions, and work through doubts.)
Posted in Scotts Thoughts