The Jesus Paradigm - Book Review

I had originally intended to do a chapter by chapter review of Dave Black's book, The Jesus Paradigm, however, time has not allowed that. I started with a review of the Preface and Introduction, which was very thought-provoking and challenging. The preface set the stage for the rest of the book, and I believe you will not be disappointed in it. You can read here my first review.

This book will be a challenge to some, a blessing to some, and others might want to throw it against the wall. However, I highly recommend this book. It will take you places you may have never been. For me, it was a book that reinforced many of my thoughts on ecclesiology and challenged me in other areas.

I cheered brother Dave on in his chapters on "The Liberated Church", "The Priestly Kingdom", and "The Community of the Spirit," but struggled through chapters on "The Radical Reformation" and "The Politics of Jesus."

I loved his statement,

"The dysfunction of our institutionalized churches seems all too obvious to me."

If you don't believe the church has problems and has strayed from the original intent set forth by the apostles, you will have a hard time with the rest of the book. But read on. Dave Black is not bloviating here. He has a genuine message that needs to be heard by the church. He has the unique platform of being a seminary professor at a Southern Baptist Seminary.

He says that instead of needing revival and reformation we need restoration to what the original Twelve taught about church life. He introduces the original apostolic herald for "every member ministry" and the concept of highly participatory meetings.

"Never in the New Testament do we see the pastor as the "key man" upon whom rests the burden of speaking for the Body in a way that no other person can."

"...there is very little in the New Testament that would support the thesis that the church is to have a special class of Christians who rule over the church in the place of the Head."

"Jesus' model of leadership has nothing to do with status or office."

Dave Black will challenge your thoughts on age-segregated ministry, clergy titles, and clergy/laity distinctions. He says there is only one "Senior Pastor" and that is Jesus! He makes note of the absence, in Paul's salutations in the epistles to the churches, of addressing leaders, elders or pastors. Philippians is the only epistle in which leaders are mentioned in the salutation: "saints...with the bishops and deacons." So is Dave Black saying that leadership is not important in the church? Absolutely not! He asserts that it is out of balance in today's church. When there is a preeminence of leadership, it takes away from the every member ministry and reciprocal or "one another" ministry that Paul highlights all through his epistles.

"The church has only one class of members: blood-bought, born-again believers. Jesus explicitly forbade honorific titles among his people."

Dave uses plentiful scripture reference to back up his thoughts. These are not just idle opinions. However, he makes a multitude of references to the Anabaptists and their lifestyle during the reformation. I found this a little distracting. The chapter on "The Radical Reformation" was specifically about the Anabaptists. However, at the end of the chapter Dave makes it clear he is not promoting Anabaptist as an alternative to the Word of God. He is a great admirer of the Anabaptist tradition, but does not "sugarcoat" their weaknesses. He points out without apology where he felt their ecclesiology lined up more with scripture than did the reformers. What was distracting to me was that I didn't think he needed to do that. The scripture is evidence enough for me. I did not know much about Anabaptist tradition before I read the book, and there is the potential of losing readers here.

The last concern I had was his chapter on "The Politics of Jesus." Since I met Dave almost a year ago he has challenged me on this subject. I have thought through and am beginning to see some of his points, but I think he opined more questions than answers in this chapter. He brought up points about the "just war" tradition and pacifism. This will in my opinion be the toughest part of the book for most readers. If you are a red-blooded, flag-waving, Christian American, you WILL be challenged on your thoughts on these subjects. I came away with no clear thoughts and am not sure what the point was. But, it could be as in the rest of the book, Dave is seeing something the rest of us are missing. I have enough respect for his heart to serve the Lord to give it some more thought.

In summary, this book could and should change your life. Put it the top of your reading list. It will do one of three things: reinforce your beliefs, challenge your beliefs, or make you write it off as rubbish. But do read the book.

Soaring

I haven't posted much on flying lately. At work there just has not been much going on. I was in recurrent training for the G-IV in early June. I flew the sim five times, but haven't flown the airplane since early May. I do get to fly Monday, to take the plane to maintenance. But probably will not get another chance this month to fly it.

Today, Jaron and I went out to the soaring club. We haven't been flying gliders much lately either. We did fly last Saturday however. Jaron did a good job, although he had not flown in over a month. Sometimes young pilots forget a lot if they don't fly a lot. Jaron doesn't seem to have any problems. I was the one that was rusty.

We helped launch a lot of the privately owned airplanes (glider pilots call them ships) before we flew. Jaron went up first. Took a 2000' tow, but found more downdrafts than thermals and didn't stay up very long. The tow pilot dropped him off in what we call "blue sky". There generally isn't much lift away from the clouds. He searched around for a few minutes but the "sink" was too much and he made a wise decision and came back to the glider port to land. His downwind leg was the lowest he had ever flown it. Normally we try to be about 1000' above the ground on downwind, but he was a couple of hundred feet lower. He made the proper adjustments and turned his base leg to final a little earlier and made a good approach and landing.

I went up with an instructor today. I am getting close to taking my glider check ride, and I need three prep flights with an instructor. We stayed up for almost an hour and a half. We could have stayed up much longer. We took a tow up to 3000' and ended up thermaling to 6500'. That was the highest I had ever thermaled to and also the longest glider flight I have had.

My next step is to prepare for the oral exam that we have to take before we flight test. I am going to do a couple of flights tomorrow with the same instructor and then do some ground school to prepare for the oral. Hopefully, I can take my check ride within the next couple of weeks.

Jaron is almost ready for his check ride also, but has not taken his written exam. He has been working real hard on preparation and hopes to take his test next week. Then he will be ready to start his check ride and oral prep!

Who are We?

We had a great time of singing, praying and sharing the Word tonight in our home fellowship. I played a few songs on the guitar and then passed it to one of the ladies and we sang some old praise songs I haven't sang in years. The kids had great fun clapping their hands and dancing. We sang His Banner over me is Love with all of the hand motions. We also sang Father Abraham, and we all stood up and did the motions.

It was a great time of joy and laughter. We ended the singing with one of my kids favorites of Blessed be the Name of the Lord. I play it for them and they just love to dance and jump around to it.

Then we got into the Word answering the question of "Who are We?" I started out with 1 John 3:1. We are called the sons of God. Another brother brought up Rom 6. That was very interesting because I would have never thought it would relate to our discussion. However, if we are dead to sin, then we are alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 6:11. That's who we are. We are also His righteousness. 2 Cor 5:21.

Truth is only a theory until you act on it and are obedient. We can discuss the Word of God all day, but until we put it into practice it is of no use to us. Do we really understand that we are sons and daughters of the Living God? Do we really understand that we are His righteousness?

Think about the story of twins born to a king. They are separated at birth. One brought up in house of the king, the other in the house of a pauper. Both have the same heritage and rights, but only one knows he is the son of a king. Only one knows his full rights as a son.

Do you know who you are? Do know that you are an over comer? Do you know you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you? It makes a difference in your life if you do. You are not a slave to sin. You are a blessing. You have a place in His body. You are needed to edify and build up His body. Decrease so Jesus can increase in your life!

What is the Answer?

As homeschoolers, home churches, home birthers, et al, maybe we think we have all the answers. We observe, watch and sometimes judge when others do not meet our expectations. We go to family friendly churches, we protect our children, we promote self-reliance and individualism.

Some look at us as self-righteous, pious and arrogant. We certainly can appear to be that way and sometimes, we may be that way. Last night in our home fellowship discussion, we hit on some hard issues. I personally believe home education should be practiced by most Christians. There will always be exceptions and certain situations that would prevent that. None of our children have dated. I believe some sort of courtship is the best way for our children to find a mate. Four of my children were born at home. The first two by choice were born in hospitals. How unenlightened we were then. At least we felt that way at the time.

While I believe all of these things are important, we must never forget that these things are not the answers. Jesus is the answer! Now that is not very deep or really profound for most of us, because we know that. However, do we really? While I make no apologies for home educating my children and wanting to hold a high standard for their behaviour, I must be careful not to exalt the means. I must be careful not to walk or even appear self-righteous in my behaviour.

Our discussion led us to ask the question of why we do these things. Our answer first of all is, hopefully we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. All of these home-"fill in the blank" can be a fad or the latest christian thing to do. We noted failures in some families we knew of. How it appeared they had done all the "right" things, had all of their "ducks in a row", but still some of the children walked away from what they had been trained to do. The children never took ownership. Now is that the parents fault or the children's? Or is it just providence?

I don't really have an answer to those questions just an opinion that is not worth a whole lot. My thought is this however; I have a purpose and goal in why we home educate our children. I believe we are mandated by God to train and inculcate biblical teaching to our children as parents. We decided to have our children at home because we believed God more than we believed what the doctors said. If we had listened to the doctors we would have not had anymore children. Children are a blessing of the Lord, not a curse or burden. We home fellowship because we believe that when the saints gather every member is a minister and should participate in bringing a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. It is not the job of the paid professional. For those who are screaming "heresy" what about leaders, I do not deny that God has given those to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. What we see in the churches today, however, is not the picture the bible paints.

In summary, know why you believe what you believe. Study to show yourself approved. Being a Christ follower is not a fad or a lifestyle-it is a way of life. It is following Christ to your death. Be led by the Holy Spirit, not by men. Don't swallow "hook, line and sinker" everything that comes down the "pipeline". Make the hard choices, believe God, but walk in humility and love, accepting one another, building up one another and being an blessing to all who cross your path!

Systematic Theology

In Dave Black's new book "The Jesus Paradgim", he quotes Jim Elliot:

"Systematic theology, be careful how you tie down the Word of God to fit your set and final creeds, systems, dogmas and organized theistic philosophies. The Word of God is not bound! It’s free to say what it will to the individual, and no one can outline it into dispensations which cannot be broken. Don’t get it down “cold” but let it live, fresh warm and vibrant, so that the world is not binding ponderous books about it, but rather it is shackling your for having allowed it to have full course in your life."

Maybe we forget that Jim Elliot and his fellow martyrs were on the cutting edge of life. They found life by losing it for His sake. Mt 16:25. They were not trapped in a cultural Christianity, which is a life style. Losing your life for His sake is a way of life; a daily picking up your cross and dying -- not the latest t-shirt, christian concert or fad.

Or as Dave Black puts it so aptly in his book:

"Where I live and work in the southeastern U.S., the Gospel has long been tied to a cultural Christianity that finds it very easy to compartmentalize faith. NASCAR, divorce, flag-waving, and "Victory in Jesus" appear as one and the same thing, so subtly has compromise been woven into the fabric of the post-bellum South."

I am finishing up chapter two in the book now. Hope to have a review of chapters one and two soon! The above thoughts were free of charge.

Faith, Obedience and Repentance

Last week I was in Dallas for my annual recurrent training and therefore missed our Thursday night gathering. It was held at Kevin and Kim's house, and I was happy to hear that it went well. I have been the facilitator of the meetings at our house, and last week it was facilitated by Kevin. My absence did not hinder the move of the Holy Spirit.

This week we met at Kevin and Kim's house again. However, Kevin called me earlier in the day to tell me he was going to be held up at work and would not be able to make the meeting. After discussion with all parties we decided to leave the meeting at their house and I would facilitate the meeting. The point is, the Holy Spirit has been in charge of all of our gatherings. The Holy Spirit put it on my heart to start the gatherings in our house, but that does not mean that I am in charge. He is!

We come together and lift up the name of Jesus. We stir one another up, but I am not in charge.

Tonight we talked about faith, obedience and repentance. I wasn't sure what was going to happen tonight, but the Holy Spirit did.

Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

2Co 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

It takes faith and obedience to repent. We have to believe that God truly does love us and it is His goodness that leads us to repentance. That takes faith. Then we must obey.

Rom 2:4b - not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

I am glad I am not in charge. The Holy Spirit does a much better job than I could. It is a pleasure to watch the Holy Spirit direct His body in concert with each other. Everyone has a place. Everyone has a word or a thought, a gift. Everyone has something. It's His body. Let him direct it as He pleases.

The Jesus Paradigm - Book Review

I met Dave Black last year when he and his wife came to our fellowship. Dave is a Professor of Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He and his wife are self supporting missionaries to Ethiopia. They use all of their vacation and spare time to minister to churches there and around the world. Dave is an interesting man. He is a civil war buff, and attends and ministers at various civil war re-enactments. He is a prolific writer and has authored over a dozen books. For a complete biography click here.

I just received an advanced copy of his new book The Jesus Paradigm. In order to get an advanced copy, I agreed to do a review of the book. Dave has challenged me in many areas and I am looking forward to reading the book and commenting on it.

I have not read the whole book yet, but I have begun reading it. My goal is to review the book as I read it. For starters I am going to review the preface.

How many of you read the preface of books you read? Many times I skip over or just skim through the prefaces of books I read. However, as I read the preface to this book, it captivated me. Dave Black makes a lot of powerful statements which entice me to read on. He starts off with this:

"I now realize that I exist for one reason: to live for Jesus by serving others in his name. I was raised to think that the world exists for me. Now I realize that I exist for the world."

He then goes on to say:

"This book is written for anyone who is dissatisfied with cultural Christianity and who longs for a greater reality in the whole body of Christ."

This is a powerful statement coming from an academician at a southern baptist seminary. Although he is right in the middle of what I consider one of the main problems with christianity in America: the production of paid professional ministers out of our seminaries, he is on the cutting edge of changing the mold of what leadership should look like in the church. Gone will be the days of sending fresh seminary graduates out to pastor churches. It is one of the most unbiblical practices we observe in western christianity.

Although Dave may appear to be unorthodox to many, he says he is a strong believer in doctrinal purity, "but orthodoxy is incomplete--a disastrous aberration even--without orthopraxy." While he is "making the Jesus way of life known" all over the world in his travels, he says:

"Amid all the debates over Calvinism, and the King James Version, and the emerging church and worship styles I have come to a slightly different realization: that God is calling out a people who are committed to living lives of genuine obedience to Christ, a community of faith that functions in Christ-like ways - visibly, voluntarily, sacrificially -to show people this thing Jesus called the Kingdom."

Having spent time with Dave and his wife, Becky, I have seen how they live lives that transcend the latest theological debate. They are more interested in sharing the love of Jesus and serving others than getting caught up in debates that drive wedges into the body of Christ.

However, he will challenge you on your political thinking. He says, "...this way of the cross, transcends political loyalties." "...anyone who tries to make Jesus into a conservative or a liberal, must be reading a different Bible than the one I know and love. I believe that the church should be moving away from, not toward, political solutions to the world's problems."

While he does not deny the need for christian participation in the political arena, he says, "The Christian Gospel cannot be equated with any political movement or cause."

As he brings the preface to a close he gives a warning: "...this book is not for the timid. Within these pages you will find tough questions and (hopefully) straight answers. I may be wrong, but know one can say I am afraid to speak my mind or to take on hard issues."

I believe Dave Black's ultimate goal in this book is to challenge our orthopraxy. What does the bible really say about how we practice our Christ following lives. I think he has noticed like many of us have, our orthopraxy does not follow our orthodoxy. In many cases our "doctrinal purity" is rife with our traditions and doctrines that make the Word of God of none effect.

Hang on, more to come!