Cruciform Bible Reading

Vaughn Roberts describes the important horizontal and vertical dimensions of Bible reading.  Together these dimensions take the shape of the cross.  Perhaps we could call it “cruciform Bible reading.” Roberts explains:

“Try to remember two dimensions when you read any passage in the Bible:  the historical and the relational.

Horizontal Bible Reading

Ask yourself: ‘Where are we in the Bible’s storyline? Where have we come from and where are we heading?  Which chapter are we in: partial, prophesied, present or proclaimed?’  If you are looking at a passage in the Old Testament you will need to consider, ‘How is this fulfilled in Christ?’ We cannot look at King David in 2 Samuel, for instance, without considering how his kingship point to the perfect king, Jesus.  And if you are in the New Testament you may need to ask, ‘How does this fulfill what has gone before?’

This book was written to help you answer those questions.  I hope it makes you feel that you now have a map in your head that gives you the big picture.  The result should be that, wherever you land in the Bible, you can find your way around and know where you are in the overall story of God’s unfolding plan to save the world through Christ.

But that historical dimension is not the only dimension we should consider when we read the Bible.

Vertical Bible Reading

In our desire to take seriously the horizontal, chronological element in the Bible, we must not forget the vertical [a diagram shows a vertical line drawn connecting "God" at the top of the page to "Human Beings" at the bottom of the page].  For example, the message of an Old Testament passage does not simply consist in its fulfillment in Christ.  It will also have something to say about God and our relationship with him. God is the hero of the Bible from beginning to end, and he never changes.  So we must always ask, ‘What does this passage tell me about him?’ He is the same God in both the Old Testament and the New: holy, just, loving and sovereign…

We need to let each Old Testament passage speak in its own right before we consider how it points to Christ.  It will have something to tell us about God, and it may have much to say about our relationship with him…David’s experience of the living God challenges us to examine our own.  Do we love God and worship him as David did?…

Let us make sure that we do not make the mistake of the Pharisees, who diligently studied the Scriptures and yet refused to come to Jesus to have life (John 5:39-40).  As we learn about Christ from the whole Bible, let us determine to love, honour, worship and obey him.

~ Vaughn Roberts in God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible, pp. 154-156.  [The horizontal and vertical bold headings are mine.]

STOP…And Be Quiet

[HT:  More Than Dodgeball]

A Church Of The Cross

From Tim Chester:

Churches of glory will put their confidence in mighty works: stage performances, big budgets, large numbers, powerful arguments, charismatic preachers. A church of the cross will be characterized by power in weakness, wisdom in foolishness, victory in shame. Its confidence will be in the sovereignty of God, the presence of his Spirit, and the power of his Word. Jesus said the kingdom of God has been given to “my little flock.” Most of the time it will be under the radar. But, like yeast in dough, it will grow unseen to fill the earth.

[HT:  Matt Adair and the JollyBlogger]

My two cents: It would be unfair to assume that Chester is saying that “churches of glory” are only big churches and “churches of the cross” are always small churches.  A small church is just as prone to depend on performance, numbers, reputation, money, or the like.  Large churches, too, have the opportunity to be communities whose “confidence will be in the sovereignty of God, the presence of his Spirit, and the power of his Word.”

Tim Keller Resources

If you like Tim Keller, you’ll love this extensive collection of “all things Tim Keller.”

[HT:  Desiring God Blog Photo:  Reason For God Website]

The World’s First Worship War

Those who didn’t grow up in the church or don’t currently attend a local place of worship might be surprised to learn that many followers of Jesus are prone to fight about what style of music is appropriate for praising Him. We veteran church-goers are easily sucked in to what some call “worship wars,” debating whether the musical style of this or that generation is better suited to singing our love songs to God.  So, what type of worship does God like?

Consider Genesis 4, the story of Cain and Abel. You’ll notice that each man brought an offering to God according to his vocation. Cain brought grain. Abel brought meat. God rejected Cain’s sacrifice while He accepted Abel’s. Cain killed Abel in a jealous rage, violently ending the world’s first “worship war.”

Some have suggested that God’s rejection of Cain’s worship had to do with the kind of sacrifice he brought, while Abel seemed to be accepted because he offered the right kind of worship. But this took place long before God had given any specific instructions about sacrifices.  When He did lay down guidelines later in the Law, those directives allowed for both grain offerings and animal sacrifices (see Leviticus 2).  No, God accepted Abel’s gift over Cain’s because Abel offered his gift to God out of a heart full of faith. The kind of worship that is acceptable to God is faith-full worship.  The author of Hebrews explains: “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4). Abel’s sacrifice of worship was more acceptable, not because of its style or kind, but because of its source and character. It overflowed from a heart that trusts and loves the God it worships.  The source of God’s favorite kind of worship is a heart that embraces Him by faith and therefore expresses that faith in a passionate vertical love for God.

But God’s favorite worship style also shows its character in compassionate horizontal relationships with other people.  Cain made plain the condition of his heart and the character of his worship by the way he treated his brother after the worship service was over. He became angry, refused to heed God’s warning, and killed his fellow worshiper. The quality of our worship can be measured by the quality of our relationships with fellow worshipers. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:20-21).

We  make plain the true heart behind our worship by the way we treat the brothers and sisters with whom we worship.  C. S. Lewis explains:

When I first became a Christian…I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and wouldn’t go to the churches and Gospel Halls…I disliked very much their hymns which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit. (God in the Dock, pp. 61-62.)

So, God likes cruciform worship.  God wants worshipers who are so full of the love of Christ that they overflow with love back to God and out to their fellow worshipers. The world’s first worship war and Abel’s faith-full worship teach us a timeless lesson about God’s preferred style of worship. The kind of worship God most prefers is one that transcends personal tastes and never goes out of style: worship from hearts that embrace the cross of Christ and express that faith in love for God and others (Galatians 5:6).

UPDATE: After writing this post I discovered this article, “Real Worship Wars”, at ChristianityToday.com.  It further illustrates some of the concepts I’ve touched on here.