Penitent Disciple

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10). Our human tendency is to read into Scripture whatever we want to find there, whether to justify our behavior or to confirm what we have already been taught by our church, our tradition, or by other teachers we look up to. Slaveholders tried to justify their behavior from the Bible; many cults justify their doctrines from the Bible; but sometimes we Christians do the same things. If we fear God, we will want to hear only what His Word teaches us, and hear it as accurately as possible.

We must also be willing to obey God once we hear Him. James tells us that if we want wisdom we (like Solomon) should ask for it (James 1:5). But we need to ask in faith, he insists (James 1:6), and he later explains that real faith is faith that is ready to live according to God’s demands (James 2:14-26). If we really pray for God to teach us the Bible (and we should; see Psalm 119!), we must pray with the kind of faith that is ready to embrace what we find in the Bible. We must embrace what we find there even if it is unpopular, even if it gets us in trouble, and even if it challenges the way we live. That is a high price, but it comes with a benefit: the excitement of often finding fresh, new discoveries, rather than simply hearing what we expected to hear.

Studying God’s Word with an open and yearning heart is one way that we express our love for God. God’s chief command to Israel was His declaration that He is one (Deuteronomy 6:4), hence there is no room for idols. Therefore, He admonished His people to love Him alone, with an undivided heart and one’s whole being (Deuteronomy 6:5). Those who love God in this way will talk of His Word all the time, everywhere, with everyone (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). If God is really first in our lives, then His Word will be central to us, and consume us.”

(Dr. Craig Keener, Asbury Theological Seminary)

Many years ago I subscribed to a relatively new magazine called ‘Relevant’. Though I haven’t subscribed in years, its purpose was – and still is – to examine the intersection of faith and popular culture, with the underlying vibe that faith needs to stay in step with the culture. (The original tag line of the magazine was  ‘God. Life. Progressive Culture.”). To be sure, the primary task of the gospel is to take God’s truth (as revealed through His word) into the world. But the more I’ve observed the trajectory of “progressive culture”, the more I’ve become convinced that the church’s greatest witness is to – lovingly – stand in sharp contrast to that culture.

And yet I see churches desperately trying to appear “relevant”, seeking affirmation and acceptance and a nod of approval from the culture. And in that process I see a deliberate excision of that which makes the bride of Christ unique from the culture at large. I see church-based after-school programs that dare not mention Jesus out of a concern for “sensitivity” of other beliefs (or lack of belief). I see church-based book clubs that focus on the New York Times best-seller list rather than books to help form and grow disciples. In study groups I see a diminution of scripture in favor of personal stories and perspectives. And in preaching and teaching I see God’s word being deconstructed and criticized, to the point that the gospel as presented in the Bible “just doesn’t make much sense” (a quote I read from a pastor in a church newsletter earlier this year).

Certainly, “progressive culture” would agree with that pastor.

Through that deconstruction and diminution of the Word, the position of an increasing number of pastors, and denominations, is that scripture should answer to us. I would argue the exact opposite. As the inspired Word of God, we need to answer to scripture. To argue otherwise is to set ourselves up as God. (That is, of course, the original sin, which plays itself out over and over again).

There’s one thing I believe more strongly than ever: the culture needs the church desperately. And in that interaction, the church doesn’t need to be “relevant” (at least in terms of what the culture is preoccupied with). We need to be faithful. We need to reject the values and “wisdom” of the culture. The Kingdom of God turns the culture on its head, and has ever since Jesus originally proclaimed it. And Jesus Himself tells us we should expect that the cultural “powers that be” will almost certainly despise and oppose us when we work to introduce people to the Kingdom of God.

Australian pastor Mark Sayers, in his book ‘The Road Trip that Changed the World’, describes the culture as “superflat”, where any serious discussions about the big, spiritual, and existential issues of life are off the agenda in the public sphere, and where institutions – including religious institutions – are viewed through a lens of suspicion. In that superflat environment, many of us end up trying to satisfy our longing for meaning and purpose through more shallow, temporal issues and diversions like politics, sports, social media, and streaming video. Yet none of that stuff ever really fulfills those deeper longings – we always end up recognizing that there’s still something we lack. We’re wired for something more.

Our postmodern culture looks down on privilege. But we are a privileged people. We have the privilege of knowing our Creator. Any person who casts that privilege in negative terms doesn’t yet understand the gospel. Any pastor who casts that privilege in negative terms is, quite frankly, working in opposition to the gospel, and should be rejected.

We need a resurgence in “the priesthood of the believer”, especially given the increasing number of pastors who have lost the plot. We have a great story to tell, and it’s not a story of capitulation to the culture. Nor is it a story of securing worldly political power, as some in the church have mistaken it for. All of that stuff – popular culture, politics – has an expiration date. We have a message that latches onto eternity.

To paraphrase Professor Darrell Bock, the gospel is a profound story, with the promise that God supplies what we lack. The bridge to Him can be rebuilt, because He rebuilds it by His grace. It’s a positive message, not a negative one. It’s not just a momentary decision, or simply about avoiding eternal punishment. It’s about reconnecting to the living God. It’s about gaining everything.

In our postmodern times, one thing that most people are still open to is narrative. And we have an awesome one. So let’s jump on that opportunity.

The stories are true. Let us – each of us – tell them through our words and our lives.

I have some old Bible study software, made for Windows 98, called Quickverse. It was always a little clunky to use, but it came with a big bundle of electronic resources (commentaries, dictionaries, etc.), a small fraction of which are actually quite useful. Those documents are in a format called STEP (Standard Template for Electronic Publishing), developed for Biblical software in 1995 but abandoned in the early 2000s.

In searching for more current software that could read those STEP-formatted documents, I stumbled across an application called e-Sword. It was initially developed in 2000 for Windows, but the latest version (12.1) runs on Windows, Mac, and iOS. Despite having a decidedly hokey slogan (“the Sword of the LORD with an electronic edge”), it really does have some nice features.

To be clear, I still enjoy, and in many cases prefer, the process of pulling a reference book off the shelf, opening it up, and turning the pages. But I do also have to admit that there are times when it’s also handy to have electronic resources, especially for things like lesson and sermon prep. And I really did want to be able to access some of those older STEP reference books, since I already had them in my arsenal of resources.

The “Cadillac” of Bible study software is a package called Logos. Just about any Bible-study-related resource currently (or recently) in print, as well as nearly all public domain resources up to the early 1900s, are available for Logos. (Curiously, most of the public domain resources for Logos cost money – sometimes, a significant amount). Logos costs anywhere from free for the “Basic” package (with no useful resources) up to multiple thousands of dollars for the higher-end packages (with more resources bundled in). Logos cannot open or read STEP documents.

At the other end of the spectrum are the open source Bible study programs (Xiphos, Bibletime, etc.). However, due to the open source ethos, they don’t deal with proprietary file formats (such as STEP), or offer commercial resources. They’ll only open public domain resources that have been converted to work with that particular app.

Somewhere in the middle is e-Sword (along with a few other programs like Olive Tree and Wordsearch). e-Sword is free for Windows (the developer does accept donations). It does cost a few bucks for the Mac and iOS apps. Both within the e-Sword program, and through a sister website (biblesupport.com), nearly all of the major public domain resources are available for free in e-Sword format (including interlinear Bibles for those wanting to get their Greek or Hebrew on). In addition, a selected set of commercial resources are available as well, most of them via a site called estudysource.com, and most of them at a prices significantly lower than the same resources formatted for Logos, Olive Tree, Wordsearch, etc.

An internet connection is needed only to download any desired bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, maps, and other reference works. Once downloaded, the program/app can be used while completely offline.

I was able to get the Windows version of e-Sword running in Linux, but I’ve since also found some additional, older Windows XP-era commentary software as well (used), featuring commercial commentaries not available for e-Sword, so I decided to just run a light-weight Windows XP virtual machine for all of it. It loads up in about 15 seconds.

The main e-Sword screen has 4 panes – for Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, and an editor pane for study notes. The panes can be resized according to personal preferences, and any of the panes can be temporarily enlarged to the full window. Hovering the mouse over scripture references (shown in green above) brings up a pop-up window containing that passage for instant reference. Text from any of the panes can be copied and pasted into the editor pane (or into any other editing app you have open). A little blue “i” icon shows up in the commentary and dictionary tabs when there’s additional information available for a selected verse or word.

Older STEP-formatted books can be opened in a separate window, and the scripture pop-ups, as well as copy/paste, work just the same in those resources. So between the older free public domain resources, the newer commercially available resources, and my existing STEP resources, it offers a really nice study package. (After experimenting with the Mac version of e-Sword on a MacOS virtual machine, it appears there’s no STEP reader for the Mac. Mac users wanting the full functionality – including the STEP reader – would be better served running the Windows version in a virtual machine. The Windows version also offers a slightly larger selection of downloadable resources than the MacOS/iOS versions.)

I did a quick cost comparison a few weeks ago for some of the commentary add-ons available for both e-Sword and Logos (the “Starter” version of Logos was on sale for $236 at the time of comparison, and seemed the closest in bundled resources to what’s available in e-Sword). Logos regularly changes up their packages, but here’s how they compared at the time:

I can, at times, be slow on the uptake. I’ve been on this Christian journey, with varying degrees of intentionality, since 1985. The past couple of years have been a bit of a wilderness experience, and the past 9-10 months, especially, have been a time of refining.

Though I’d opened it occasionally over many years, for most of 2019 I’ve been using Ozwald Chambers’ devotional “My Utmost For His Highest”, and as I’m reading, I’ve often felt like “I’m not this person you’re describing. I can’t be this focused, obedient follower of Jesus. I’m too self-centered, too fickle, too ‘prone to wander’ as the old hymn goes”. Then I read last Sunday’s (Oct. 6th) entry, and things kind of clicked into place for me, and it’s been in the back of my mind all week.

I was right. I can’t live up to the standard of holiness that God demands. Even though part of me knew better, I was still trying to do it of my own volition, using my own internal well of resources. And I was consistently – and predictably – coming up short.

I guess I’m at a point where some of those pieces are starting to fit together. I had read similar ideas before, and on some level understood it, but not fully. I probably still don’t understand it fully. And that’s probably because surrender is a never-ending process, at least on this side of eternity.

If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature — His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.

The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God — “…until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, “Blessed are you…” (Matthew 5:11). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.

Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.