5/23: 1)Three Crazy 2) Two-Time 3)Threes One More Time

We'll watch the following NT Wright video (in six short parts) today. There will be seven questions on quiz 3 from the video (see quiz page):






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We'll most likely highlight three stories within Module A today:

1. -Pentecost
2. Ananias and Sapphira
3. -The Greek/Hebrew controversy..

And notice that is not the only group of threes for today's class, We'll also

• Everything in the NT (especially the gospels and Acts assumes the THREE Es of EXODUS, EXILE and EMPIRE
• -Stott's three strategies of Satan (from your text)
• -The classic three stages of culturally sensitive evangelism
• -The three stages of the Pentecost account
• The three phenomena at Pentecost
• -The three Pentecosts (Jewish, Samaritan, Gentile
• -Three Persons of the Trinity in Acts  (Heibert Grid #4)
• _Three more grids from Hiebert  (see the page tab above by that name)

Yikes!  we better stop there!  We'll get three-crazy (:


Let's switch to twos.  We'll "Two time" these questions, each with only two possible answers"

• Do or teach?
• Show or tell?
• Worst sin?
• Harvest or Law?
• Exocentric or egocentric?
• Above or within?

This all leads to the third set  of set theory (fuzzy set)
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THREE STORIES FROM  ACTS (DISCUSSION FROM STOTT)
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1)Pentecost (PAGES 60-87) 


2)Ananias and Sapphira:



From today's discussion, be prepared to talk about
Ananias as

Anti-Barnabas (his opposite)

Sequel to Achan


What was his  their sin?
D

3)The Greek/Hebrew controversy..:




FOR  QUIZ 3:
Read  the story, and read TOP OF PAGE 21, and decide is it really  "cultural tension" or "social administration" that is a deeper problem than "cultural tension" .Or is it the other way around?
Discuss. text of A


FOR  QUIZ 3:


Read Stottt's chapter 4, but especially page 104-105, and last paragraph on p, 124  Talk about his threefold strategy of Satan.
Do you agree that this threefold strategy is found in the texct of Acts?  Discuss.
Does this makes sense of your experience?
Do you see any way his three points agree with/collate/relate to Kraybills analysis of the three temptations of Jesus?

 Stott finds the symbolism of the dragon's three allies in Revela-
tion to correspond to Satan's three weapons in the first chapters of Acts:
persecution, moral compromise, and distraction.
 Satan first attempts to destroy the church with persecution by
means of the Sanhedrin when the apostles are arrested, jailed, tried,
flogged, and forbidden to preach (4:1-22 and 5:17-42).

 The second  ploy of the devil is to ruin the Christian fellowship with the moral
compromise of Ananias and Sapphira. Satan is explicitly identified as
the source of the evil in this passage.

The third weapon of Satan in Acts
is the subtle ploy of distraction. He attempts to divert the apostles from
their calling of prayer and preaching by creating a problem of social
administration (6:1-7). At each point when Satan attacks and the church
overcomes, a new wave of revival floods the church: "So the word
of God spread. (link, read more)

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Everything in the NT (especially the gospels and Acts assumes the THREE Es of EXODUS, EXILE and EMPIRE. 



Even though it happened long before anyone in Acts was born, all Jews had historical memory of their ancestors being in slavery in Egypt until Moses set them free in the Exodus; of their more recent ancestors being in Exile in Babylon, and now they felt they were in bondage again to a foreign occupying power: The Roman Empire.

Wright has argued that most Jews saw Roman domination as a continuation of the exile. Since the biblical promises of restoration (esp. in Isaiah 40-66) hadn't been fulfilled in the way they expected, they believed they were still living under divine punishment, and longed for divine intervention, which would ultimately signal divine forgiveness. So when Jesus came announcing the forgiveness of sins as part of the coming kingdom of "god," he was understood as proclaiming the return from exile and all that goes with it. To everyone's surprise, Jesus set out to end the exile by heading for the Jerusalem temple, where "the satan" had set up shop. There Jesus assumed Israel's role, and viewed his own death, as Israel, as atonement for the sins of the nation  Link

 Event       Date            Location                Deliverer       Result
1)Exodus      1000s BC          Egypt   400 years           Moses               Dance Party on the Beach
2) Exile           500s BC            Babylon 70 years          Cyrus   :            4 Parties
3)Empire  (ongoing)  Israel             Jesus        Kingdom of God

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Follow the empire in Acts..






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THREE STAGES OF CULTURALLY-SENSITIVE EVANGELISM:

Read the emtire "How important is culture?"  section  from C. Peter Wagner's commentary on Acts.  Read it all here (pages 31-42).  Pay special attention to the section  "Not all evangelism is the same" ,pages 33-35, as this is where the three stages are talked about)

Also, see the below from THIS website:

E1: Same culture, same language	E1: Gospel in Jerusalem: Origin (1:12-8:3)
E2: Different culture, same language	E2: Gospel in Samaria and Judea & Samaria: Transition (8:4-11:18)
E3: Different culture, different language	E3: Gospel in the Uttermost Parts: Expansion (11:19-28)
And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. (Acts 8:1). So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. (Acts 11:19)   PAUL BUCKNELL

More?  See Ralph Winter:

Many church people, for example, talk freely about evangelizing the world. So often does this happen somewhat carelessly that, years ago, I felt it necessary to develop the distinction between E-0, E-1, E-2, and E-3 evangelism.
E-0 stands for evangelism within the church move- ment itself.
E-1 stands for outreach to those within the same culture as the church.
E-2 stands for a quite different type of missionary cross cultural evangelism within a people quite differ- ent from that of the evangelist, different yet still somewhat similar. Enough different to need a separate congregation but still similar, like English culture and Spanish culture.
E-3 stands for even more strikingly missionary cross culture evangelistic outreach to people in a totally different culture from that of those workers who are reaching out, like the difference between English culture and Japanese culture.
In the first two cases you can use existing congregations or simply multiply the same kind of congregations. This is ordinary evangelism. By contrast, the second two cases, E-2 and E-3 types of activity, merit the designation mission or missionary evangelism for the simple reason that E-2 and E-3 efforts reach into strange situations that are so different as to virtually require separate and different kinds of congregations.
Using these terms, all true mission differs from ordinary evangelism because it is an activity involving the special problems of cross-cultural communication and contextualization. That is why all mission involves evangelism but that there are types of evangelism that do not involve cross-cultural communication and therefore are not true mission.  full article here

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• -The three stages of the Pentecost account:

Note: See   paragraph middleof page 61. where Stott suggests there are three parts to the Pentecost account.

Implications?

The three phenomena at Pentecost:

Note: Was their actual wind? fire?  Read carefully.

Note: sound>sight>speech progress.  Interesting! Implications?  Note speech is last (remember Acts 1:1:"things Jesus did and said"..

Three more grids from Hiebert (see the page tab above by that name)..

HERE's one of them: 

At the bottom of that post, see the scction about "Is it God, or us?"
Then read pages  45-46   of Wagner, and ask is it trie that
"Jesus did nothing on earth as God."
Read this:

Some theologians call this "Spirit Christology" or "kenosis", and whether this proposed theology is consistently true. If it is, it would almost move this question into the realm of "essential" doctrines, because it then provides the very key to how we are to live in relation to daily Christian life, walking in the power and possibilities of the Spirit; doing the "greater works than Jesus" that Jesus flatly and unapologetically predicted we would do. Now, not every proponent of "Spirit Christology" or "kenosis theology" is biblical or orthodox, so hear me when I say that I know I don't agree with everyone using these categories. The basic argument would be this; to put it bluntly, as one preacher did for shock value:

"Jesus did nothing on earth as God! "

Wow, better unpack that! Now, that statement doesn't have to imply He was not God.. He was, is and always will be fully God in my Book! It's just that He didn't. during His earthly ministry, anyway..do anything out of His innate, inherent and intrinsic Godhood. He voluntarily surrendered the rights to use and access His God hood's attributes... such as omniscience, or power to do mighty miracles. Several
Scriptures come into play: John 5:19 and 30 offer that Jesus did nothing in and of Himself, but only did what the Father and Spirit told/led/empowered Him to do. Philippians 2:6-11 asserts that Jesus didn't take advantage of, or even access of the rights and power of His Godhood, which would be "robbery," and a violation of the whole point of His incarnation; His coming to earth. Instead of functioning out of His eternal power and prerogative as Almighty God, He "emptied Himself". A by-product of this, is as Hebrews affirms "Jesus know every temptation we have endured by His own experience" (2:18 and 4:15). I also love to shock congregations by asking "When Jesus did miracles on earth, how was He able to do those miracles?" Well-trained evangelicals of course automatically answer, "Because He was God!" When actually, that may be the wrong answer all together. Of course He was God, no debate. But the only Scriptural answer to "How did He do those miracles?" is "in the power of the Spirit". And witness Matt. 12:28: He cast out demons; not because He was God and could do so, but as a human "by the power of the Spirit." Thus, that is the "key" key, crucial catch, and ancient but overlooked secret as to how we, mere humans, are to do the same works He did, even greater. (Jesus said that, not me. Blame Him: John 14:12) 

Answer: We do them through "checking in" with the same Father Jesus checked in with while on earth; and trusting,...radically; to the point where the supernatural almost becomes natural and norm... the same Spirit Jesus trusted. (Note Jesus, a few sentences later, suggests that is His secret, and ours. He simply passes the torch to us, but not without the sharing the same equipping Holy Spirit: verses 16-17).Such deep trust and dependency doesn't make us Jesus, of course, but they do position us to trust the timing and voice of the Father, and prompting and power of the Spirit, as radically as Jesus did...with similar and "even greater" results! If JESUS never did anything in and of Himself (John 5:19 and 30), who do we think WE are?

When Jesus asked, in Mark 5:30, "Who touched me?," did He mean it, or was this a test? If "Spirit Christology" is true, one could answer the former, without sacrificing an iota of essential, foundational evangelical theology. When Jesus said even He (Matthew 24:36) did not know the day or hour of His return, was that a lie?. No, and this "lack of knowledge" on the part of a member of the all-knowing Trinity poses no problem. I would propose that He knows now, but He chose not to know on earth. This was all part of His modeling a complete self-emptying. This, though, is core to my third question:" How consistent and complete is this theology.? Did Jesus ever do anything 'on earth as God', even though He was God? And Lord, is this profound truth so profound that to miss it allows us to miss the 'normal' life you have intended for us?"

Whatever the ultimate answer to this question the Lord would give me, the bottom line question I keep hearing in the meantime. and "real time" is haunting: "Have I yet trusted as completely and recklessly as I could in the leading of the Father and the power of the Sprit? I almost don't even care if I do a greater work or not, I just want to be found faithful, and be an answer to Jesus' wild and waiting prophecy of John 14:12. 

I love Dwight Edwards' penetrating, "must-be- wrestled- with" self-questions :

1. What have I done recently that could not be duplicated by an unbeliever, no matter how hard they tried?

2.What blatant evidence of the supernatural God has leaked out of my life?

Questions indeed! link

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2222s:  We'll look at several dualities, choices of 2 options.


BOTH THE EXAMPLES HERE WILL BE ON QUIZ 3

1)For example, in light of Acts 1:1, reading Stott, p.  and Wagner, pages 33-35 here..
Ask which comes first Actions or Words?  Ministry or theology? Church or Mission?
Discuss

2)The question we asked at end of last class;

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 I asked this  question on Facebook:

Which is the greater sin?

(Just pick one, and don't add options-- On Thursday, I will post an interesting article about this choice) Feel free to explain your choice in the comments..

Which is the greater sin?

 

	To tell a lie?
	To lose your temper?

 

Be sure to check out the  final vote (Lie-18,  Temper-12 ....interesting!),comments and answers at tiny.cc/greatersin 

Yes, I know the "real" right answer is "neither" or "both".. a "fuzzy set"  and a
"Marker Trick," as Rob Bell would have it in the video below:


I also agree that it might depend on context.

But I was curious to see what answers would emerge, and which would win, among the wide spectrum of facebook friends.  And I sure got some great, and hugely helpful comments.  Thank you.

I also wanted to, after the contest was closed, feature as a follow-up, an excerpt from the book I stole the question from: Duane Elmer's  "Cross-cultural conflict: building relationships for effective ministry."  But it turns out the excerpt I wanted was not online, at least in a format I could paste in here . It is readable on Google Books, so I would recommend clicking here to read  pp. 11-17.


OR if you are really brave, you can watch/listen to me reading that same section here.  I was too lazy to type it all up.  You'll hear the question addressed from a cross-cultural perspective.


Enjoy!


Elmer's story starts like this:

It was Sunday morning in the sleepy town of Amanzimtoti in South Africa's picturesque  Indian Ocean coast.  The heat was very intense.  A light ocean breeze offered some relief, but I hardly noticed.  I was scheduled to preach at a local church and was aferaid of arriving late.  My directions to the church wrere not too clear.  I never knew quite what to expect when I visited a church for the first time.  Sometimes church services woiuld be held in a garage, sometimes under a flamboyant tree spreading under a high umbrella of shade, sometimes in a  town hall, sometimes in a tent attached to a residence.  The people of rural South Africa possessed boundless ingenuity for creating worship spaces.
It being Sunday, the stores were all closed.  And since the extreme heat was . 

...continued on  Google Books, click here  to read the rest, pp 11-17..or watch below to allow me to read it for you

Does whether or not somethiing is a "bad" sin, or sin at all, ever depend on culrure?

Was anyone ever commended for lying in the Bible?
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BACK TO 3s
The third set  of set theory (fuzzy set):


Here below is some help on Fuzzy Sets :

• new nets: bounded sets, fuzzy sets, or centered-sets?

• Rock or Reef:..scroll to page 6-9
• The Attractional Church
• Changing Worldview (scroll to pages 9-12)

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Rob Bell's "Marker Trick" always helps me illustrate thee concept of fuzzy sets:


http://davewainscott.blogspot.com/2010/01/is-church-bs-or-cs.html