Psalm 1 as an Interpreter of Scripture

I published a scholarly essay "Psalm 1 as an Interpreter of Scripture" in Irish Biblical Studies in 2005. I am please to announce that it is available free of charge now in an online format through the excellent work of Rob Bradshaw at Biblical Studies.org.uk

The Old Testament and Missional Hermeneutics

In an article titled “Missional Pastors in Maintenance Churches," Darrell Guder writes this about missional hermeneutics:

"Missional hermeneutics” is a way of interpreting Scripture that starts from the assumption that the NT communities were all founded in order to continue the apostolic witness that brought them into being. Every NT congregation understood itself under the mandate of our Lord at his ascension: “You shall be my witnesses.” The work of apostolic witness was not only to proclaim the gospel of salvation and to establish congregations of believers. Their work was not done when there was a community of Christians now growing in their faith and moving towards its promised outcome, “the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet 1:9). Their mandate was to found congregations where their shared experience of God’s saving love equipped them to become witnesses. They were empowered by the Holy Spirit to spread the word and the evidence of the gospel of new life and hope, and they did it! To that end, the NT documents were all, in some way, written to continue the process of formation for that kind of witness. They intended the continuing conversion of these communities to their calling—and that is how the Spirit used (and still uses!) these written testimonies.

While this quotation resonates with me in many ways, I wish that Gruder would have included more on the contribution of the entire Bible for the articulation of a missional hermeneutics. I think that we can apply Gruder’s thoughts to the totality of Scripture. The Bible is the story of God’s mission. God created humanity to serve as a missional community that reflected his character to and for all Creation (Genesis 1:26-31). The infestation of sin into every human individual and institution (Genesis 3-11) changed the scope of God’s mission. The Bible tells the story of God’s work to reclaim and renew Creation from the results of sin. Humanity, however, continues to serve a key role. God calls Abraham to begin the renewal of humanity (12:1-3). The story of Abraham culminates more than a millennium later in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

The Old Testament serves several key roles in the formation of a missional hermeneutic:

1) Establishes the parameters of the story: God and Creation;

2) Describes the fundamental problem: humanity and Creation have been corrupted by sin;

3) Describes the dignity and vocation of humanity: to serve as a missional community to reflect God’s character to and for Creation.

4) After the entrance of sin, God works to establish a new humanity—Israel to serve as a missional community to reflect God’s character to and for the nations. In other words, mission takes a anthrocentric turn. Creation is still within the scope of mission, but the burning issue becomes the restoration of humanity.

5) The Old Testament points to the fulfillment of God’s mission through Messiah including death and resurrection.

6) Establishes an ethos for God’s people around the holiness of God by clearly articulating holiness in terms of love for God and neighbor;

7) Provides resources to engaging the surrounding cultures without succumbing to syncretism.

What do you think? What am I missing?

If you are interested in a small group resource that introduces the entire Bible with a missional perspective, check out my recent book Invitation.

© 2015 Brian D. Russell

The LORD is My Shepherd: Learning to Pray 23:2–6

In Psalm 23:1, the psalmist prays memorably, "The LORD is my shepherd. I lack nothing!". Read my blog on this verse.

Psalm 23 continues with reflection on the meaning of the LORD serving as the good shepherd of our lives. Verses 2–6 offer specific ways in which the LORD serves as the shepherd that each of us longs to address as my shepherd.

Verses 2-3 build immediately on the declaration of Ps 23:1 with beautiful imagery of tranquility and peace. All is well in the life of the sheep. The good shepherd provides all that the flock requires and actively guides each sheep down the paths of righteousness. These verses ground pray-er in abundance before reflecting on the challenges of life.

In verse 4, the tone and the perspective of the psalm changes. Just in case we have been misreading the good news of Ps 23, it gets better. The good shepherd is no fair weather friend. The LORD is the kind of shepherd who is all in for his flock even in the toughest times in life. Darkest valley is traditionally translated “shadow of death.” In other words, the LORD is present and guiding each member of his flock in all circumstances including even those that put us in the danger of death itself. Verse 4 helps us to understand the right paths of verse 3 more clearly. The pathways of life will likely include both times of joy and times of sorrowful trouble. Yet, God remains steadfast in faithfully guiding us through.

The psalmist is so overwhelmed by the realization of God’s presence even in the darkest valley that the prayer shifts from 3rd person “him” language about God to 2nd person “you” language to God. This is prayer at its best. Ps 23 shifts from a song of trust about God to a prayer of faith to God. God is no mere object in the psalmist’s life. God is subject and in relationship with the psalmist. What does this mean? It means that we practice our faith by talking with God rather than merely talking or thinking about God.

God is with the psalmist and brings comfort to him at the point of deepest need. The shepherd uses his rod and staff not as a weapon to punish the psalmist but to guide and comfort.

Verses 5–6 shifts the prayer to its climactic end. The imagery is of a victory feast. The fields, pathways, and valleys have morphed into a well set table. Abundance has triumphed. All of the threats and enemies stand defeated. God prepares and offers a bountiful buffet for the psalmist with former enemies and the dark moments of life now in the background watching.

The message is clear. Trusting God leads to security and abundance. Hardship and darkness will not have the final say. In fact, the pray-er ends with a powerful affirmation of God’s goodness and love in the full confidence that he or she will abide in God’s presence forever (v. 6).

Reflection:
How would you live your life differently if you truly believed that an abundant and good future awaited you?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell

The LORD is My Shepherd: Learning to Pray Psalm 23:1

Following the passionate lament and thanksgiving of Ps 22, Psalm 23 serves as a declaration of deep trust in the LORD. Psalm 23 is written from a first-person individual perspective. It serves as a prayer or meditation on one’s own faith in the LORD’s provision. Is there any better response to the reality of God’s presence in any circumstance than reflecting on the depths of our own trust in God’s faithfulness?

Verse 1 begins memorably with psalmist reflecting on his/her relationship with God. The psalmist choose the words carefully and they are ripe with meaning. The LORD is my shepherd. The psalmist knows his/her God personally and relationally. The Psalmist prays my shepherd and not our shepherd, his shepherd, her shepherd, your shepherd, or their shepherd. Don’t rush past this observation. Trust manifests in the individual. Ps 23 invites us to pray and proclaim our own individual faith in the LORD. Martin Luther once wrote, “Everyone must do his own believing just as everyone must do his own dying.” What does this mean if you are struggling in your faith? Again the Psalter provides words for us to offer to God in times of bounty and scarcity, on days of unshakeable faith and on days when we are closer to the words of the father out of whose son Jesus had cast a demon, “I believe LORD help me with my unbelief.” The faith expressed in Ps 23 can even inspire us in times when we find ourselves barely able to pray at all and teetering on unbelief. The power of Ps 23 is its ability to sustain us even in the darkest times.

The key is not the strength of my faith but its object. Ps 23 directs our faith onto the LORD. In Ps 23, the LORD is imaged as shepherd. What do shepherds do? They abide with, take care of, protect, and guide a flock of sheep. The sheep can live their lives as sheep safe from all harm because of the skill, power, care, compassion, and commitment of the shepherd. This is the metaphor that the psalmist offers us for contemplation as we pray. The assumption of course is a capable and faithful shepherd who has the best interests of the flock. In John 10:11, Jesus exclaims, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

What flows from an intimate trust in the care of the LORD as my shepherd? It is the realization of my own lack of need. If God is truly my shepherd, I am in need of nothing. The same God who invites us “Give us this day our daily bread” can be trusted with all aspects and areas of my life: financial, relational, physical, and spiritual. Praying “I lack nothing” also puts me in a position of generosity. As my needs are met, I can look outward to the needs of those around me as well.

Reflection Questions:
What does it mean for you to pray “The LORD is my shepherd”?

What does the imagery of “shepherd” tell us about God?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell

A Missional Hermeneutic Applied to the Prodigal Son (Luke 15): Part Two

Here is the rest of the essay on the Prodigal son in Luke 15. Read Part One

The Rhetorical Affect of Luke 15

Luke has carefully crafted this chapter. As noted in our first post, Jesus is in conflict with religious authorities. The religious authorities were deeply offended by Jesus’ fellowship with persons thought to be outside the community and unworthy of concern.

Jesus responds with three stories about lost items: a lost sheep, a lost coin, and ostensibly a lost son.

The first two stories served to draw in Jesus’ audience (the Pharisees and scribes) by using images and ideas that would have resonated with them. The rhetorical affect of the stories about a lost sheep and a lost coin would have been: OK Jesus – I am with you. I would have done the same thing. What shepherd would not go after a lost member of the flock? What woman would not seek diligently to recover 1/10th of the family’s savings? Moreover, it would not be unusual to celebrate the recovery of these items.

Jesus however does push the envelope in these two initial stories by comparing the human reaction to the recoveries to God’s response to the restoration of a sinner into God’s family:

Luke 15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Thus, these two shorter stories prepare the reader for the climax of the passage – the story of two sons (vv. 11-32).

A Father’s Extraordinary Love
If the stories of the lost sheep and lost coin drew in Jesus’ audience, the story of the two sons would have challenged them deeply. It is this final story that emphasizes God’s heart for the lost.
This story shows that a heart for the lost calls for extraordinary measures and pushes the envelope regarding social norms of acceptable behavior. This is particularly true for the Father.

Most of us are struck by the boorish behavior of both sons. Both the younger and older dishonor their father in many ways. The younger asks for his inheritance early (“Father, I wish you were dead.”) and squanders away ½ of the resources that his father spend a lifetime building. He then has the audacity to return home empty handed. The older brother also dishonors his father in his angry response to the celebration that his father holds in honor of his younger brother’s return to the family. These acts of dishonor were very serious in the honor-shame culture of the 1st century Mediterranean world. Each of these was humiliating to the father. But this is part of the power of this text. The father refuses to be limited in his actions by the honor-shame system of his day. In fact, the father’s own actions subvert the system by bringing additional dishonor on himself. The father grants the younger son his wish and gives him the inheritance. He readily welcomes back this same son. The happy scene of the father running to embrace his wayward child may be a Norman Rockwell moment for the Western world, but this was actually a scene of dishonor for the father. It was not honorable for a man of the father’s social position to run to greet anyone especially someone who had brought such dishonor to the family.

Why does the father embrace acts of dishonor? It is to make the point that the father was willing to do what it takes to bring reconciliation to his son. This points us to the heart of God. The father acted out of compassion—so does God. Compassion is the motivation that drives the mission of God.

A lost son or daughter can return to God because God desires this to happen and creates an ethos in which reconciliation is possible.

Yet, the father in the story also is willing to lose face for the sake of the older son who is angry over his father’s generosity and forgiveness of the younger son. The father leaves his party to pursue the older son who has stormed out in protest (and whose actions have brought shame on his father). The father pleads with his elder son to join the celebration. This is a final word to the religious people of Jesus’ day and of ours. It is a word of grace and charity. It is the same call as given to the younger son—“Come home!” It is a call to align with the heart of God.

How far are we willing to go to extend the Gospel to lost persons?
Are we willing to lose face if it means many sons and daughters being reconciled to God?
How would our lives be different if we aligned ourselves with the heart of God?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell

A Missional Hermeneutic Applied to a Prodigal Son

The Church of Jesus Christ in North America is slowly awakening to the reality that the 21st century represents a watershed moment. Alex McManus, innovative leader, has observed poignantly, “The Western world has lost its faith in the shadow of church steeples.” The truth of this statement is self-evident as populations continue to rise while the influence of the communities of faith declines.

In response to this morass, leaders have responded by talking about the need for “missional churches.” I wholeheartedly agree with this solution as it resonates with the revealed heart of God in the Scriptures, but the problem remains in how to create a missional ethos within both new communities of faith and also within existing communities. Without substance, a call for a missional ethos can merely be another program or trendy buzzword.

It is my belief that the movement toward a missional ethos must be propelled by a missional hermeneutic that unleashes God’s people to become a missional community that reflects God’s character in the world. What is a missional hermeneutic? I have discussed various aspects of this elsewhere, but let’s suffice it to say that a missional hermeneutic is one that focuses on the Scripture’s call to conversion. There are two loci for a message of conversion: first, the Scriptures call God’s people to reconvert and recommit to God’s Creational intentions for humanity (mission, holiness, and authentic community), and second, the Scriptures invite outsiders to become insiders by becoming part of the people of God as they seek to serve as a missional community that reflects and embodies God’s character in the world. In other words, the desired response to any reading, teaching, or preaching of God’s word is conversion – nothing more and nothing less.

Such a hermeneutic allows old texts to regain their old vigor. When Scripture comes to life, God’s people are propelled into the world as God’s witnesses.

Let’s look at a familiar story that may have lost its poignancy for many due to misreading its missional intent. The story is the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15. If you have been around a community of faith for any length of time, you have likely heard scores of sermons based on the power story of redemption of a lost son who returns home and experiences a profound reconciliation with a father who is quick to forgive and celebrate his return. Many of us have found ourselves in this story, but let me suggest that most of us have only scratched the surface of this powerful narrative. A careful reading of Luke 15 serves as an effective test case and illustration of the power of a missional reading.

First, let us make three observations about the context of Luke 15.

Jesus is responding to the challenge of religious authorities to his mission.
The narrative frame for Luke 15 is found in vv. 1-2. The narrator informs us that outsiders were coming to Jesus to listen to his message. Who were these outsiders? They were tax collectors and sinners, i.e., persons believed to be outside of God’s covenant community and unworthy for fellowship. Yet profoundly, these are the sorts of persons with whom Jesus routinely interacted. The religious leaders and Bible scholars of Jesus’ day were taking exception to this. They were offended that Jesus was engaging these lost persons.

Luke 15 as a whole is about the missional heart of God
In response to this fundamental opposition to his work, Jesus tells a series of stories about lost things—a sheep (vv. 4-7), a coin (vv. 8-10), and a son (vv. 11-24). Each story is a portrait of God’s heart for the lost. In each story, there is an emphasis on celebration. There is a party thrown in celebration of each lost item’s being found. Vv. 7 and 10 emphasize the joy in heaven for the salvation of every lost person. Each story has a character representing God who focuses outward on the lost. My great-grandmother used to say, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Most of our churches agree with such conventional wisdom. Yet the heart of God is like a man who leaves 99 sheep to find one lost sheep or a woman with 9 coins who focuses on finding one.

This however is the heart of the good news of the Gospel—God longs for the salvation of all people. He desires to restore relationships with lost people. This has been true in Scripture since God’s poignant call in the Garden of Eden, “Adam, where are you?”

This is no way downplays the destructiveness or ultimate consequences of sin. But it is a clarion call to God’s people to gain God’s heart for the lost and to be willing to embrace and accept the outsider as a person for whom Jesus Christ went to the cross. This involves a willingness to be open up the community to receive such persons into authentic fellowship.

The Climax of Luke 15 is not the story of the Prodigal Son, but the story of the Older Brother
God’s desire to celebrate the return of a lost son is the source of the conflict in the epilogue of the Prodigal Son (vv. 25-32). In fact, based on the overall context of Luke 15, the conflict between the Father and the Older Son is no mere epilogue—it is the heart of the message of Luke 15. The older son represents the religious authorities with whom Jesus is in conflict in 15:1-2.

Notice that there is no ending. Jesus leaves his audience hanging. What did the older son do? Did he join the party? This narrative invites us as readers to work out the ending for ourselves.

Read the rest

© 2015 Brian D. Russell

Reading Psalms 146-150

Pss 146-150 serve as a climactic symphony of praise to the LORD. The praise of God’s people is a bold and daring reminder to the nations that the LORD is indeed king. The journey through the Psalter is a difficult one. In the Psalms, we encounter the good and bad of life. There are celebrations of God’s abundance and laments over the perceived absence of God. There are liturgies for giving thanks and historical retellings of the failings of God’s people. There are praises for God’s reign and confessions of sin.

The Psalter however does not end in ambiguity. The life of faith has a destination and the faithful will reach it: the constant and perpetual praise of the Lord. Through the journey, God has showed himself trustworthy and faithful. God has called God’s people to serve as ambassadors to the nations and the end of the Psalter demonstrates that this mission will succeed. If the introduction to the Psalter (Pss 1-2) opened with an invitation to the nations: Blessed are all who seek refuge in him (2:12b), the Psalter concludes with an exhortation to worship: Let everything that has breath praise the LORD (150:6).

Is your life marked by obedient praise of God? How would you live differently  if you anticipated history reaching its climax in a chorus of praise to the LORD?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell