Friday Thoughts from Pastor Tim - April 4

Dear Church Family –

Can we correct Jesus?  Can we correct the Bible?

I think it’s part of the sin nature inside of human beings that makes us think we can correct God and the Bible.  It happens in subtle ways all the time.  It happened recently in an unsubtle way.

A Lutheran pastor (it could have easily happened in other denominations), recently preached that Jesus needed His worldview corrected.  He was preaching on the familiar story of Mary and Martha in Luke chapter 10.  Here’s how the Bible tells the story.

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

Rev. Nick Utphall of Advent Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin, claimed that Jesus was putting Mary down when He commended her for sitting at His feet and listening to His teaching.   He claims that denigrated women, consigned them to silence, and denied them their proper leadership roles.

What?!  The plain sense of the Scripture is that Jesus was doing the opposite of what Pastor Utphall says.  Jesus was raising the position of women and giving women equal access to Him and His teaching.  Does he think it’s better for women to be consigned to the kitchen?  That’s what Martha thought was Mary’s proper place.

This is a classic case of reading our own sensibilities into the Bible, and making the Bible say what we want to say.  Rather, we should accept the Bible as the Word of God revealed to us.  We don’t have the option of correcting it.  Our only choice is to trust it and obey it, or not.

This week and next week, I’ve been invited to speak to a group of students at Butler Community College about How We Know the Bible is God’s Word.  The group is CRU (Campus Crusade) led by Eric and Lauren Busenitz and Karlin and Caroline Wiebe from our church.  I enjoy doing it and it’s a great group!  We approach the subject like a court case—we call witnesses to present evidence, and then the jury (you!) decides.  Here’s the main witnesses:

Jesus Christ

The Uniqueness of the Bible

Science

Archaeology

Fulfilled Prophecy

Experience

It’s as A.W. Tozer said, “Any man who by repentance and a sincere return to God will break himself out of the mold in which he has been held, and will go to the Bible itself for his spiritual standards, will be delighted with what he finds there.”

Sunday we’re going to talk about the power, usefulness, and wisdom that God has given us in Christ.  It’s part of the awe-inspiring spiritual riches God has given us in Christ, recorded for us in Ephesians chapter 1.  See you Sunday! – Pastor Tim