Perhaps this article will seem strange to some, especially since it appears on a website about effective Bible study. However, I think it is important for those who teach and preach to know that you should and can draw inspiration and illustrations from a wide variety of sources.
Currently there is a movie available only through Apple TV+ starring Tom Hanks called Greyhound. It is a movie of historical fiction; in other words, it is a fictional story of events firmly rooted in history.
Yesterday, August 1, was the 3rd anniversary of the death of a friend of almost 50 years. I first met Rick and Betty Smith in 1970 while enrolled at Florida College in Temple Terrace (Tampa), Florida. Over the following years as we both pursued our Lord Jesus and His work for our lives, we often supported each other in ministry. We even spent many hours on the golf course together, even though I didn’t even like playing golf, because I loved to be with this guy.
My family was ministering in Huntsville, Texas while his was in Cleveland, Texas. We were in Orange, Texas while they were in Artesia, New Mexico. We both returned to Florida in the early 1980s to work and worship together in the same congregation in Gainesville, Florida. There we also had the blessing of working together with Betty’s father, John, whom we all dearly loved.
I’m spending much more time than usual at home as mandated by our state and city governments… and by the president of our school! This means I have more time to look at the many emails and other digital media that come my way daily from the larger Christian community.
I have been on the mailing lists for some time of various ministries, publishers and respected leaders. Though I might have significant differences with some doctrinal views and practices, I respect these men and women for their deep faith and commitment to the fundamentals of the Gospel. That is never more evident than now as the whole Christian community is being powerfully impacted by the current pandemic. Combine this with their thoughts at the approach this Sunday of Easter in much of Western Christianity… and the fact that all public celebrations of it have been cancelled.
As I write this, our city, state, nation and world are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Already over 10,000 deaths are attributed to it, and projections are that those numbers will go much higher. In this nation our national and local leaders have instituted numerous laws and requirements to try and slow the spread in our population.
I am not writing this either to stir up further hysteria or to make light of this very serious threat to us all. Instead I have been thinking for several days about the lessons we can draw from our own Christian history and what our response as followers of the King of Kings should be. As both a teacher and student of church history, other times in our history when the church faced similar circumstances easily come to mind.
One of the most significant lessons I have learned about interpreting and teaching the Bible is captured in a small poem written by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). This is not to say that Kipling was specifically writing about the Scriptures at all. Rather, he had begun his career as a journalist, and continued to intermittently work that craft even though he became famous for his books, short stories and poetry.
Since God chose to reveal Himself and His will to us through the seemingly ordinary means of human language and writing, it makes sense that we can understand that revelation using the same principles with which we seek to discern other communications in human language.
“Publish or Perish” is an expression often heard in the academic community to describe the pressure many scholars and researchers feel. They are expected to submit articles, research results, and more to appropriate academic publications as part of advancing in their careers, achieving tenure, or perhaps justifying receiving grants and funding. (see article on Wikipedia.)
However, I want to use this saying in a different way unrelated to the above. I realized early in my preaching and teaching ministry that the moment I stepped away from the pulpit or classroom podium, almost everything I had said was lost forever! I had entrusted my spoken message to the fallible memories of my audience, and the vast majority of what was said would no longer be remembered even one week later! Those who said, “Great lesson, preacher” on Sunday morning could seldom remember the main points by Sunday night.