Bringing Focus

One of our campus ministry leaders, Tim Casteel, asked me to write a guest blog on his site. If you are looking for a good place to get ideas for leading in campus ministry Casteel's site offers some great resources. The post, What we talk about, They will talk about, discusses the importance of focusing our efforts in discipleship.

Simply Saying

This morning, I finished reading a classic text in New Testament theology, Forgiveness and Reconciliation by Vincent Taylor. Dr Taylor was a Methodist evangelist in early 20th century Britain, who by the time of his death in 1968 had become one of the leading New Testament scholars of his day. The book examines a great breadth of issues in New Testament theology related to the issue of God forgiving people and reconciling them to a relationship with him.

One of the final paragraphs summarizes his quest.
"The test of a theology is the extent to which, after full investigation, it permits us to describe the Gospel. We ask, therefore, What is the Gospel, and in what manner does it depend on the work of God in Christ? Perhaps, the final test of the theologian would be his ability to write a tract."

In Dr Taylor's opinion the truest test of a robust theology is that it expresses the gospel clearly and simply, especially to those still outside the faith.

What do you think about his statement that "the final test of a theologian would be [their] ability to write a tract"? What makes it difficult to keep things simple and clear? What attracts us to complexity?

When I was in seminary many times I heard people taking shots at tracts like The Four Spiritual Laws. Have you looked at the theology expressed in tracts like Would You Like to Know God Personally? or Two Ways to Live?

Meeting with God

Many times I have sat across the table from another Christian guy and asked them, “Why do you think it’s important to read the Bible?”

Generally, the answers flow out easily. “It takes the focus of myself and puts it on God.” “I feel closer to God when I read the Bible.” “It reminds me that there is more to life than just my day-to-day.”

For a moment I play devil’s advocate, “I have the picture of Jesus that I keep in my wallet. When I look at it, it makes me feel close to God. It reminds to that my life is bigger than myself. Sometimes, it calms my fears as I remember the love of Jesus and reality of eternity. If I’m able to experience all of that, why would I need to read the Bible?”

I follow up with the question, “If the Bible is so important, would you be able to show me something from the Bible that tells me why it’s important and why I should read it?”

Typically, the next 10-15 seconds is filled with silence and flipping pages. I’ve had guys, find John 3:16 and say, “Nah, this isn’t it.” Finally, they tap out, “You’ve got me.”

I have one more question, “Would you like to know why reading the Bible is important?”

Turning to 2 Timothy 3:16–17, we read

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

This one sentence teaches us 3 great realities about Scripture. First, the nature of Scripture is it’s God-breathed. People speak about the Bible being inspired, but the picture here is about Scripture being expired by God. Scripture finds its very origin in God—breathed by him. This aspect of Scripture impacts me in 3 ways.

(1) I can know that certain things are true about the Bible because it is breathed out by God. For example, the Scriptures are true (Ps 119.160); God does not lie (Num 23.19). His word is eternal (Ps 119.89). They are worth my trust (Ps 19.4).

(2) I can come close to God through the Scriptures. If they are truly breathed by him, then when I read the Bible I am having a close encounter with God himself. I am not just doing a religious chore or hearing about what someone else thinks about God; I am coming to meet with the King of the Universe in a way that I am close enough to feel his breath.

(3) The way the Bible works, it often recalls images developed earlier in its own developing story. The image of God breathing is a rather significant one finding itself in the account of Creation, “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Gen 2.7).” The breath of God transforms a heap of dirt into a living being. In the breath of God is life. The breath of God brings life to nothings. I’m impacted when I consider the coldness, the hardness, the seemingly deadness of my heart toward God. Sometimes, I don’t feel I’m bringing anything to him when I come to read the Bible. But, that’s no problem. It’s not what I bring to the Scripture, but the life the Scripture brings to me.


In Scripture we are coming face to face with God. We experience him and learn about him.

The second thing that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us is the function of Scripture. We see what Scripture does. The Scriptures are useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training us in righteousness. I’ve worked with a number of college athletes over the years. Their coaches model this process quite well.

• Here’s what I want you to do (teaching).
• No, don’t do that (rebuking)
• Do it like this (correcting)
• Let’s build in some good conditioning and posture to hopefully make it easier to keep doing (training)

Scriptures benefit us as they move us toward being the right kind of person, the person that God created us to me, one who loves God and loves others. Scripture is changing us and challenging the way we think, act and feel. Scripture will change our lives.

The third thing in this passage is the purpose of Scripture. We see that as we learn of God and he brings change to our life that he does this in order that we would be fully equipped for every good work. God wants to use your life. He has a great purpose for you (Eph 2.9-10), and he uses the Scripture to fully equip his people for the adventure to which he has called you.

Seeing these three features of Scripture gives shape to my reading of the Bible. In Scripture I am meeting God, he is changing my life and equipping me his work. When I read the Bible I ask myself three questions.

(1) What am I learning about God in this passage?

(2) What am I learning about myself in this passage?

(3) What is one response I sense God leading me to make in light of this passage?

What motivates you to read the Scriptures? What difference is it making in your life?

Something to get excited about

I spend a large amount of time around people that are in vocational Christian ministry with college students. Actually, that's part of my job. One of the things I find interesting is how little we talk to another about Jesus. When asked, most of us would readily admit that he is a pretty big deal. But, if you listen to our conversations, it's easy to tell that we're excited about our fantasy football team, the new outfit from Ann Taylor Loft or the recent deal we found on Priceline. The volume of our conversation, the way we interrupt one another and other non-verbals tell even the poorest listener that we're pretty excited about something.

When was the last time you were with a few Christians and the conversation turned to, "Do you want to hear what I admire about Jesus?" or "I've recently been reading the Gospels, and I'm amazed that Jesus _________."

Perhaps, we could take a step forward and lead in the change. Consider, "I can only imagine how excited I would be if my favorite college team had as good of recruiting class as the Buckeyes. Recently, I'm become more excited about what God has been doing in my life. One of the things, I'm growing to admire about Jesus is that he can give me rest even when life feels packed in with responsibilities."

I was recently thinking about the story in Mark 5 where Jesus raises the young girl from the dead. Sometimes, my heart feels a little dead toward the things of God. I can try to do some self-defibrillation. I can listen to some Christian music that at one point seemed motivating to me. I can read a book that at one point really got me jazzed. But sometimes that doesn't make me feel any more alive.

One of the things I admire about Jesus is that he has the power and concern to wake me from the dead. That's a pretty big deal.

Try your own. Let me know how it goes.

If you need some ideas consider reading John 1, Revelation 1, Colossians 1, Philippians 2, or Mark 4 and 5.