by bignorm on August 5, 2010
I bring a fresh thread to bgnmdtnt from my personal study life: thoughts from Marks Gospel.
David Garland’s NIV Commentary has been aiding me, so I probably bring a mixture of thoughts from both scripture and the Dr’s opinions. I’ve deliberatedly made it slowly to chapter three of Mark. Lots to consider here.
Let me open your thoughts for discussion by presenting something that has been a reasonably large chord in my christian awareness recently: unity (or lack or it in the body too often). Jesus proclaims in Mark 3:25 says “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”
Garland comments on this hot area:
“Vicious criticism of others in religious circles stems form a variety of motives: sincere distress over something radically new, genuine alarm over what is perceived to be heresy, a desire to reassure that we belong to the good guys by branding others as bad guys, or a craven dread of losing power.” (Garland p.142)
Someone once said that “character is who we are when we are alone.” To often I’ve noticed that believers get caught up in wranglings about things which don’t really matter; clandestine tittle-tattle that is divisive and poisonous, and ultimately, unnecessary lies and speculation that proves cancerous and paralysing to God’s People and the development of His Kingdom.
There’ll probably be few comments on this post, or answers to these questions, sadly, due to the scale of discord that often exists within the “body”. I’ll ask it anyway for you to ponder at least:
Of the four that Garland mentions, which do you think are most common in your “house”? And, how much are you contributing to the unifying process?
by bignorm on July 5, 2010
Thoughts from Total Church:
What do we mean when we say a church is a “Word centred church?” Chester and Timmis think that we are really just saying that the church teaches a passage from the Bible through a monologue every Sunday. Thus, they say that being “Word centred” really means “Sermon centred”. Chester and Timmis comment that the danger in this assumption is that it assumes that the Bible can only be taught this way, nudging some of Jesus’ primary methods of teaching – stories, sayings and dialogue, into a subordinate position.
They go on to point out that there is little evidence in the New Testament for sermons as we know them today – on a Sunday, from a pulpit. They continue to evidence their argument from NT scripture, saying “sermons” in Acts were Holy-Spirit-triggered unprepared defence speeches before a court or a mob. Not classic “three pointers” using “Powerpoint”, with the band fading in during the appeal at the end.
Their onslaught of Sunday sermons continues when they claim that Sunday sermons are a Constantinian invention, not a NT Holy Spirit inspired model. To reinforce their point they refer to evidence from IBM and the UK Post office. Both institutions carried out studies a few years back that showed that people who learn by hearing alone retain 10%. Whereas, people who learn by hearing, being shown, and experiencing, retain a whopping 65%!
Have a read at the chapter yourself Total_Church_-_Ch_7_Discipleship_and_training.
When I read this chapter I instantly thought of the “collective equipping idea” someone (I can’t remember who) proposed recently. The idea assumes the aforementioned information is correct and argues that the only person who gets the real equipping is the monologue presenter who spends hours preparing and not the recipients who according to IBM retain a mere 10%. Basically, instead of the teacher spending hours alone preparing, the church as a whole would study the passage or Bible topic in advance. They can discuss this passage at “Homegroups”, or comment online, possibly on a forum or email, regarding both their thoughts, and what the Spirit has been teaching them in prep for the teaching on Sunday. The teacher would be able to comment on their comments during his or her delivery of his sermon, and cover areas of interest and questions on the passage. This “collective equipping idea” has potential to provide greater teaching scope, more intensive corporate engagement of God’s word, and ultimately, better equipping of the “Saints”.
Do you think methods of teaching God’s word using stories, sayings and dialogue is subordinate to Sunday sermons?
Maybe you are someone who likes to listen to sermons. What do you think about Chester and Timmis comments on James 1:22: “Sermons count for nothing in God’s sight… James says great teaching counts for nothing… what counts is the practice of the word”?
