Bible Study Moment

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John 17 is a prayer of Jesus. Much of it is a prayer that Jesus’ followers would be one, or united. Christian groups that began as unity movements were inspired by this prayer. This includes the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Under the leadership of Barton Stone the Christians in Kentucky began in 1804. Stone would state their goal of unity for all Christians in sayings like, “We are Christians only but not the only Christians.” and “Unity is our polar star.”

In 1809, Thomas Campbell published The Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington (Pa.). This is considered the beginnings of the Disciples in western Pennsylvania. In it Campbell states “That the Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one.”

As followers of these two unity movements came to know of the other group they began to ask “why aren’t we together?” The leaders met and decided to become one group, following the saying “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love”. Unfortunately in later generations leaders rose who saw some issues that the original leaders saw as non-essential as being essential, which led to divisions.

About 50 years ago the Jesus People Movement started and it had some elements of wanting Christian unity as can be heard in this song by Love Song, also inspired by John 17, Let Us Be One.

 

 

Mark Phillips

Bible Study Moment: John 15

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By the end of this story I’ll get to John 15.

In the middle of my freshmen year in college I learned of others in the dorm who were actively seeking to follow Jesus, including the 2 guys in the room across the hall. I went with them to the Bible study/Fellowship group they attended, The Mustard Seed.

This group was a charismatic group, with speaking in tongues, prophecies, and the other charismatic gifts. This went counter to what I had been taught; that those gifts had passed away when the perfect came, 1 Corinthians 13:10, with the perfect being defined as the entire Bible being written.

I had learned that the main teaching about tongues is in 1 Corinthians 12 & 14, so I prayerfully read 1 Corinthians 12, 13, & 14, wanting not to take anything out of context. I decided to pray for one of the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:10 – the distinguishing of spirits.

A couple of weeks later at the Mustard Seed one guy gave a “prophecy” which I recognized as being a rewording from John, either chapter 14 or 15. He was speaking about Jesus being the vine and we are branches, and that we should abide in Jesus; John 15:1-8.

I also strongly sensed that he had probably recently read this passage and felt compelled to share with the group but he didn’t remember the reference, so he shared it through a prophecy instead of within a prayer or some other way.

And I also had the sense that that was kind of sad, to be embarrassed that he didn’t remember exactly where in the Bible a scripture is. After all the author of Hebrews quotes scripture with references like “someone said somewhere” and “in another place”.

Mark Phillips

Bible Study Moment

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John 14 has several well-known passages:

“In my Father’s house there are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”

“I will ask the Father and He will send you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.”

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. Not as the world gives I give. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid.”

All of these are part of Jesus preparing his followers for the time coming shortly when he won’t be with them physically. And the gospel writer has them to provide encouragement for those who become followers of Jesus later (including us) to provide guidance for how to follow someone not physically present with them.

Verse 16 – I will ask the Father and He will send you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever – is understood to be referring to the Holy Spirit. Here it may be helpful to look at the Amplified translation which seems to include every way that the original word or phrase can be translated:

Helper

Comforter

Advocate

Intercessor—Counselor

Strengthener

Standby

 

Years ago when Bette Midler’s song “From a Distance” was popular, it was sung as special music at our church. We (Linda, my sister, and me) discussed it later that we were concerned about the line that “God is watching us from a distance”. What we had learned from experience as well as from ministers and teachers is that God is with us. There is no distance between us and God’s presence. That is one major reason for the importance of Christmas – Emmanuel, God is with us. And also for Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, God is with each of us and within each of us, empowering us and all those descriptors in the Amplified version I listed above. Each of those are meant to bring us closer to God, and each fall short of expressing how close God is to each of us.

 

Mark Phillips

 

Bible Study Moment: John 13

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You might say I’m a week late but I’m going to look at what is in the gospel of John at the Passover meal (also known as the last supper) that Jesus had with his disciples before his arrest. John takes 5 chapters compared to a few verses in the other gospels.

John 13:1 reads in part, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them fully.” This is why we refer to the succeeding events as Christ’s Passion.

In verse 4 Jesus starts washing the feet of the disciples. I believe Mel Gibson should have begun his “The Passion of the Christ” here instead of later since John was his primary gospel source and John begins the passion story with the washing of the disciples’ feet. I think this would have set an entirely different mood (and more correct one) for the movie.

Jesus is teaching them again that he calls us is to be servants. In the sermon that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered 2 months before he was killed, he spoke of Jesus’ call for us to serve. In it he notes “You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

 

Mark Phillips

Bible Study Moment

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A long-time favorite scripture passage is Isaiah 40:31: They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like an eagle. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

A few years ago a minister shared that the phrase wait upon the Lord intentionally has two meanings. One, to passively wait and the other, to serve, like a server in a restaurant. For those of us who used to call servers waiters or waitresses this seems obvious, to wait and to serve can be synonyms.

In the movie “Chariots of Fire” the meaning is expressed in this scene where Eric Liddle, a British runner in the 1924 Olympics has made a decision to follow his beliefs rather than give into the pressures of being patriotic; that is choosing to serve God rather than King and country. He reads selected verses in Isaiah 40, starting with verse 15, while the film makers show weary runners who look like they might faint.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjF59VB0h6g&t=21s

 

Mark Phillips

Bible Study Moment

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Since she would introduce me as her chosen son, instead of son-in-law, it would seem logical for me to refer to her as chosen mother, but my technical nature figures that Linda chose me, I chose Linda, and our families were byproducts. Anyway, on Maysel’s dresser she had the first part of Psalm 119:105 displayed among her pictures of family – “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet”, which is an accurate summation of how she lived her life.

The psalmist clearly has God’s Law in mind. Psalm 119 is a psalm celebrating the Law. It is also an alphabetic acrostic poem in the original Hebrew. The part for the Hebrew letter NUN is Psalm 119:105-112.

Even though this was written in Hebrew maybe we can look at the Greek word for word, Logos, which can mean the entirety of communication, and think how God communicates with us. As Christians, this should begin with Jesus Christ. Then we can add other items; the Bible, prayer, nature, other people, etc.

For me I can’t read the verse without starting to sing in my head Amy Grant’s song “Thy Word”.

 

 

Mark Phillips

Bible Study Moment

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“I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:6-7 RSV).

If you were to ask me what my favorite Bible verse is, this would be it. And these Bible Study Moments are my attempt to use one of my “gifts”. Through the years when events have been held to help people identify their gifts or talents knowledge has consistently been at or near the top for me.

The next few weeks I’ll share some other scripture passages that are important to me. (I know, that’s what I’ve been doing all along.)

For this verse I think it is especially meaningful that Paul tells Timothy to use his gifts with love, of course; but also power and self-control, two things that need to be kept in balance. It is easy to use power but with no self-control, and too much self-control will lead to the spirit of timidity that Paul says God does not give us.

 

Mark Phillips

Bible Study Moment – Women Apostles

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“Say hello to Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners. They are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before me.” (Romans 16:7 CEB)

The campus ministry that Linda and I were a part of in college had a retreat at Tall Oaks in the mid ‘70’s with the guest speaker being a biblical scholar within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) tradition. He spoke briefly about this verse, pointing out that at least one of the names is feminine; therefore it is reasonable to conclude that there were women leaders in the early church.

During this time and for a few years before, there was the Women’s Liberation Movement and some churches were beginning to include women in leadership positions. It is important to me to be able to see biblical evidence to support such a move, and the change not being just a response to the wider culture. So hearing what he said about this verse was very important to me.

 

Mark Phillips

Bible Study Moment: Phoebe

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“I’m introducing our sister Phoebe to you, who is a servant of the church in Cenchreae.  Welcome her in the Lord in a way that is worthy of God’s people, and give her whatever she needs from you, because she herself has been a sponsor of many people, myself included.” (Romans 16:1-2 CEB)

I’ve heard that the Greek word translated servant here is the source of the English word deacon, and that it appears in the King James Version as deacon or minister except here, which may be why Phoebe is described as a servant in many translations. Other versions translate the word as either Deacon (Deaconess), Minister, or Helper. All these words are accurate, but they each say something different to the reader.

It appears that Phoebe is the one who is bringing this letter of Paul’s to the church in Rome. According to the custom of the time, she would be the one reading the letter to those assembled, answering any questions that may be asked. So it is reasonable to conclude that Phoebe is the first commentator of Paul’s letter to the Romans, something that we would associate with a person highly trained in theology, like a minister.

Mark Phillips

 

Bible Study Moment: Mary Magdalene

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Mary Magdalene is mentioned as one of the women who helped to support Jesus’ ministry. In that passage it is mentioned that 7 demons had been cast out of her. The only other occasion that she is mentioned by name is at the empty tomb on Easter Sunday, although there have been additions to her story both inside and outside of the Church.

While in Matthew, Mark, and Luke Mary Magdalene is mentioned by name, so is at least one other woman. It is only in John’s gospel that Mary Magdalene is the only one mentioned as going to the tomb, and interacts with the risen Christ after first running to tell Peter and another disciple that the tomb is empty. This second trip to the area of the tomb (John 20:11-17) is the inspiration for the hymn “In the Garden”.

 

Mark Phillips