Monday, October 28, 2024

Sermon Recap for October 27 2024

 Here is what you’ll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You’ll also find the embedded YouTube videos of each sermon.

If you’d like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougHibbardPodcast
The video is linked on my personal YouTube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dheagle93
Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons



Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Sermon Addendum for October 16 2024

 We continue on in our sermon series in 1 John. There's not enough space in a sermon or this blog to cover all the details of the Johannine Letters. I would recommend you pick up Letters to the Church by Karen Jobes for some of those background pieces of information.

An important part of the background material on any letters in the New Testament is who wrote it. When you look at the letters of John, there are several theories of authorship related to these three short books. First, you should take note that, unlike the Pauline Letters, John's letters carry absolutely zero authorship claims. The closest you get is that 2 and 3 John claim to be written by "The Elder," but this is a title and not a name.

Our options for authorship are the traditional view that John the Apostle, author of the Gospel of John, wrote these letters. He's not named in named as the author of any of these letters, but longstanding church traditions identify him as the author. We, of course, cannot prove it. This tradition is generally held, it does not really have any significant counter-evidence. It's more a matter of questioning whether or not the lack of evidence is enough to drive us to a different view.

The second view, which does have a fairly solid following, is that there is another early church leader named John who wrote the letters, but he's not the same guy as the Apostle John. This theory separates "John the Apostle" from "John the Elder."

This comes from a comparison of grammar and vocabulary between the Gospel and the letters. Some scholars interpret the differences between 1 John and 2/3 John as showing that the author of the first letter is not the author of the other 2. 

The last viewpoint of significance is that the letters are written much later, after the 1st century, and attributed to John by a group of disciples who trace their heritage back to John. That holds sway in some academic circles, but there are some manuscripts of these letters that do not allow them to be composed much later than 150 AD. 

Why does the authorship matter?

Well, 1 John starts off talking about being an eyewitness to Jesus. If John the Apostle wrote it, he's an eyewitness to Jesus and many other things. If it's written by an anonymous group some fifty years later, that's another matter entirely.

The authorship issues also connect with date issues: when are 1, 2, and 3 John written? They are probably not written in the same year as each other, though 2 and 3 have some similarities that suggest they were written close together.

The timing of the writing then helps us understand what issues may have prompted John to write. It also tells us whether he's writing to churches that possibly have written Gospels of Matthew, Mark, or Luke in hand, or maybe have received letters from Paul.

Information like this does not dictate the meaning of the text, but it helps us as we strive to understand what's happening in the text.

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Book: Nobody's Mother by Sandra Glahn, Ph.D

Today, I'd like to introduce you to Nobody's Mother by Sandra Glahn. Dr. Glahn is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. 

Nobody's Mother started off when Glahn was studying deeply in 1 Timothy, especially the passage in 1 Timothy 2:12 about women being "saved through childbirth." As it does for many of us, that line just hit her as odd.

So, she did the logical thing: dug into an extended study of Ephesus, Artemis of the Ephesians, and how all of the cultural factors weigh on Paul's writing to Timothy.

I mean, that's the logical choice to make when you do not understand something: get the information you need to understand it better. Fortunately, going forward, you or I can grab a copy of Nobody's Mother from Amazon (or direct from IVP) to do our in-depth study. That way we only have to have one footnote instead of multitudes.

Glahn's work in Nobody's Mother points the reader to the cultural climate of Ephesus in the 1st Century. She starts by correcting a commonly-held misconception, that "Artemis of the Ephesians" from the New Testament era was likely a fertility goddess. Instead, the evidence shows that Artemis, also called Diana, was more the goddess of the hunt and an advocate for birthing mothers and virgins. (How the Greeks thought "both" here is something developed in the book, and takes a few pages.)

The evidence cited includes non-biblical writings from the era, inscriptions in the archaeological remains of Ephesus, and examinations of architecture and art. Glahn also notes when the "Artemis as fertility goddess" ideas first seem to appear in the historical sources, and notes that this occurs more than a hundred years after Paul wrote.

She then builds an excellent case for how to understand Paul's intent as he wrote Timothy, with some notes that can expand our understanding of much of the New Testament.

Why do I think this book, overall, is helpful?

First, Glahn writes from the assumption that the Bible is right and that we must work to understand the Scripture rather than discard those parts we find hard to grasp. Too many times, a weird passage like 1 Timothy 2:12 will simply be explained away, rather than examined and given a clear light on its original perspective. That's one of the critical steps in biblical interpretation.

Second, Glahn has worked to dig into major recent scholarship on Ephesus and Artemis. One thing that is hard to admit, but does happen, is that many of our "interpretative helps" for the Bible are not new and also not old enough. Rather, they came into common usage between the 17th and 19th century, and have since been repeated to the point of being unquestioned tradition. Artemis as "fertility goddess" is one of those, much like the oft-repeated (and completely wrong) "needle-eye door" understanding of Jesus' teaching about wealth. Someone picked it up, it got passed on, and now to question it will drive some people batty.

But those things which are not definitively in the text should be questioned. The assumptions we make about the culture surrounding the text should be questioned, and we have to realize that newer research can overturn older ideas in history as much as in chemistry or physics.

Do yourself a favor: pick up a copy of this book and stretch yourself a bit in your learning about the background of the Bible. Then, get your pastor/main Bible study teacher a copy, too, and talk about it. Talk about what you aren't sure about, ask a few good questions and go into detail. It can help a lot.

Monday, October 14, 2024

Sermon Recap for October 13 2024

 Here is what you’ll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You’ll also find the embedded YouTube videos of each sermon.

If you’d like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougHibbardPodcast
The video is linked on my personal YouTube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dheagle93
Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons


Here is the sermon from yesterday.





Monday, October 7, 2024

Sermon Recap for October 6 2024

 Here is what you’ll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You’ll also find the embedded YouTube videos of each sermon.

If you’d like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougHibbardPodcast
The video is linked on my personal YouTube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dheagle93
Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons






Friday, October 4, 2024

Smokey and the Bandit Day 2024

 It's October 4, 2024. Which means in the United States, it's 10-4!

Why would anybody care? In truth, probably nobody really does. 

It's just fun nonsense.

And every now and then, a bit of fun nonsense is a great idea. Pulling it from popular culture is certainly a disposable thing, but, again, what's the harm in some disposable nonsense?

The real "life thought" for the day is this:

When is the last time you laughed because you were relaxed and having fun?

Not because you were intoxicated or because you just couldn't figure out how else to respond, but you just, rather spontaneously, laughed. Even a little?

Maybe find those things that are part of your personal and family culture that help you lighten up and laugh. 

You'll probably feel better.




Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Sermon Addendum: Letters of John

So, I just didn't really finish strong on Psalm PSeptember 2024 with additional sermon information. You know what they say: you can't win them all. And I'm a Razorback fan, so sometimes not only can I not win them, I can't close out good starts well, either.

We're going to move forward, though, instead of dwelling on past mistakes, let's go make some new mistakes!

Our next two months of sermons will come from the Letters of John in the New Testament. These three books, labeled I John, II John, and III John (or 1, 2, and 3 John, depending on your Bible printer!) are traditionally ascribed to John the Apostle, but there will be some discussion of that later.

Instead, what I want to do here is give you some resources to look at, partly as a glimpse toward sermon production. I know I've covered some those ideas before on this blog, but let's face it: it's been a while and you probably didn't read those posts anyway.

The first resource for a sermon is the only one that is absolutely critical: you've got to have a Bible. You can't preach without a Bible. And preferably a Bible in your own language, because that's the language you will preach in and your hearers will listen in! Fortunately, gone are the days, at least in most Christian traditions, where the Scripture was read in Latin, the sermon (or homily) was delivered in Latin, and the non-Latin speaking churchgoers just had to hope it was okay.

On Bibles, I like using a more "formal" type of translation. For years, I used the New American Standard Bible translation, the 1995 Update. Then I decided to be a good Southern Baptist and use the very nice Christian Standard Bible translation (2013 version) that Lifeway gave me. Both the NASB95 and the CSB are good translations. The CSB is a little less "formal" than the NASB, and what that means is the English is more like how we talk and a little less like the Greek odd structures. 

These days, I use the NET Bible translation, the most recent print version in their "Full Notes Edition." I like the methodology and such. 

That's always the first thing for a sermon: Bible. If you don't have one handy, preach only what you have correctly memorized. If you're not sure you have the verse right, don't preach it.

Second resource: I'm using my Tyndale House Greek New Testament. I'm happy to be back preaching in the New Testament because I can do some of my own language work. I won't preach "my translation" because I am not good enough with Greek to correct Bible translators, but I am good enough that it helps me understand better. And I can see what is going on underneath the English. This resource couples with the Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek (GE for quick reference) and the third edition of A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature (BDAG for short). Along with the occasional glance at a reference grammar like Wallace's Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics.

(This helps me understand some of the differences in 1 John 1:1 between translations. More on that, probably next week.)

Third resource stack is the commentary stack. Commentaries come in several "profiles," from technical to devotional. The technical ones do a lot with grammar and historical studies; the devotional ones do a lot with "what it means for us now." Most commentaries do all of the above, but the mix is what defines the profile.

Commentaries also come with different assumptions. Some, like the New American Commentary/Christian Standard Commentary series assume most of the traditional understandings of the text, like John the Apostle being the author, etc., are true and should only be abandoned if there is an abundance of indisputable evidence. Others, like the Word Biblical Commentary Series, tend to go the other way: assume the tradition is not valid unless you can prove it.

There are others that note specific aspects of the text. These look at ideas like "socio-rhetorical" issues or "discourse analysis" issues. Either one helps you look at the text a little differently than just as normal English writing on a page. After all, the original was not mass-printed English writing in a book.

It was hand-written by a person in a culture, place, time, and situation. The more we learn about those, the better we might understand what was meant in the writing!

Commentaries that I will use for 1-3 John sermons? Here's a list:

I, II, III John: A Handbook on the Greek Text (Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament) by Martin M. Culy.

1-3 John (Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament) by Robert Plummer and E. Roderick Elledge.

1, 2, 3 John: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (vol. 38, New American Commentary) by Daniel L. Akin.

An Exegetical Summary of 1, 2, and 3 John by John L. Anderson.

Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John by Ben Witherington.

1, 2, and 3 John (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by Karen H. Jobes.

There will be others--I'll consult with my Ancient Christian Commentary volume that covers these books as well as a few other options, but those ar the starting points.

That is how the sermon series starts: a lot of background learning as well as consulting with others who God has blessed us with, others who can help me understand the text of the Word of God.

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Why so many books?

 If you have ever been in my study at church or in our house, one thing you will probably notice is a *lot* of books. And the visible books are outnumbered by the invisible books: there are some print books in boxes, but then there are thousands in either my Logos Bible Software digital library or on our Amazon Kindle accounts.

So, why? Do we display a lot of books to show off our wealth? No, though I do admit that we have spent a lot of our income over the years on books. If we had a building-related disaster, our insurance won't quite replace them all. Probably it wouldn't get to halfway if we also needed to use insurance money to replace other things like....clothes and furniture.

But we're not trying to show off wealth. If we were, we'd have fancier bookshelves and probably a better organizational scheme. I admit there's wealth there, and compared to what some people are able to have, we're definitely blessed.

Is it about showing off knowledge? I have been accused of filling my church study with books as a way of looking down my nose at people because I think I'm smarter than they are. After all, look at all the books! I must be smart.

It's actually the exact opposite: the preacher and teacher who could have many books but chooses not to have them is claiming that he already knows more than enough. I've known preachers who said, "I just have my Bible and a couple of (books by favorite author), I don't need much else." 

That's great for those guys--but I'm not that smart. I don't remember all the nuances of Greek language or the archaeology of Ephesus. It's not easy to remember some of the theological concepts or better ways to address specific problems in a church, a family, a personal life.

That's why so many books: not because we know so much but because we know so little. Right now, if I need it, I can pull a book off the shelf that guides me in neurodivergent education or one in basic mechanical repair. Give me 20 minutes, I can help you with math from Algebra to Calculus, American History, and Ann can help you with Grammar. (There are not enough grammar books in the world for it to make sense to me.)

We can help you with organizational design, financial management, or communication skills.

Why?

Not because we know so much. 

Because we have books.

Having books is a luxury in many parts of the world, and many eras of history--in fact, I have a book on that--but for many Americans, having or not having books is a choice. If you can make a choice between books or no books---choose books.

Oh, and yes, I have a lot of digital books but we try to get crucial books in print. While you may need a second edition to correct errors in a print book, it's hard to change it accidentally.

Sermon Recap for November 3 2024

  Here is what you’ll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You’ll also...