I felt like I gave a mediocre sermon yesterday. It covered the entire book of 2 Thessalonians and went much longer than I normally preach (probably was at least one story illustration too long). You can judge for yourself here #myhonestfeeling #notfakehumbleselfpromotion. Part of the reason for my 'long-windedness' and my general feeling of frustration after speaking on it was the fact that this little book packs so much into its three chapters. Chapter 2 especially makes things complicated as it covers details about the end times. Paul seeks to clear up some confusing teachings that were out there and describes the elements they can look for that will signal the impending second coming of Christ. While there are plenty of different interpretations about the millennial kingdom and the tribulation et al, the point of application is generally the same for all camps. We should live godly lives in preparation for the return of our Savior - whatever that may look like and whenever it may take place. The above song is a Christian classic that echoes similar sentiments - though based off of a different Bible passage (Matt. 24:40-42). It also has been the subject of different opinions and interpretations, with some debate about what that passage is teaching specifically. Like 2 Thessalonians though, the main point of the song still stands no matter what. It will be a sad thing if we aren't ready for Jesus' return.
So as I work through my own overly critical angst about one sermon, I trust you can enjoy a really cool performance 22 years ago of a 40 year old song.
Normally, my Music Mondays post features a Christian band or song. I'm a pastor and that is my world. I'm also an avid basketball fan and last night was Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I was pulling for Golden State, mostly because my Celtics were sent home long ago and I've enjoyed watching the Warriors play excellent ball the past two years. They looked headed for a second straight championship after a historic 73-win regular season. But the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers fought back from the brink of elimination and won the series last night in a great back-and-forth contest. In honor of the Cavs winning a championship for their city for the first time in any sport since 1964, here's a song I find perfectly fitting for the moment:
Given the phenomenal performance by LeBron during this series, there's already been a lot of discussion on sports talk shows about his place in NBA history. While this has nothing to do with the song, I thought I'd add my ranking of the best players of all-time since I'm sure millions of people are yearning for it.
A quick preface is needed however. My rankings follow the approach outlined by Bill Simmons in his immense The Book of Basketball which I consider essential reading if you're going to have a valid opinion about basketball greatness. His philosophy is this in a nutshell: to be a great basketball player requires more than great skill or athletic talent. It requires understanding that ultimate greatness is found in making others around you better. He uses the term "The Secret of Basketball" to label it. Basketball is a team game at its core and requires extraordinary unselfishness as well as extraordinary individual skillfulness. As someone who played high school and college ball and also later coached, I couldn't agree more with Simmons' conclusions.
So this ranking isn't based strictly on who would win one-on-one at their peak. It takes into account their greatness within their era and assesses the extent to which they embraced the Secret and combined it with exceptional basketball skill and talent.
1. MJ - for much of his career, Michael didn't totally get the Secret. Phil Jackson helped change that however and unleashed a basketball monster.
2. Bill Russell - the greatest winner in the history of team sports. College, Olympics, and the NBA. He wasn't the greatest physical specimen, though he had talent. What set him apart was how he mastered the psychological warfare and over and over again conquered better individual players (and teams).
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - All-time leading scorer with incredible durability. I may have put him #2 but he was just enough of a diva at times and was a little overly sensitive to the extent I have to penalize him just a bit.
4. LeBron James - I had him here before this series, but I didn't think he'd ever climb any higher. Now, even a spot at #1 is in play depending on how the rest of his career goes. He does it all as a good rebounder, great scorer, dominating defender and exceptional facilitator.
5. Magic Johnson - A consummate winner who changed the game for point guards. The leader of 5 championship teams.
6. Larry Bird - He is my favorite player ever, but he wasn't healthy long enough to be considered better than Magic. In the public consciousness, he might be slipping into 'underrated' territory. He and Magic both - because stats for their era don't look quite as good as we might expect today.
7. Tim Duncan - He's a machine. He's a model of consistency and shows what excellent fundamentals will do along with a total buy-in to the team concept. He's really a center but whatever, he belongs this high.
8. Wilt Chamberlain - the most talented player ever, but fell short of fully understanding The Secret. And I don't want to hear that he played on inferior teams to the Celtics. Simmons picks that argument apart definitively in his book.
9. Kobe Bryant - Only MJ and Russell can rival his intense competitiveness. That said, a lot of it was "me-focused", even as he was winning rings without Shaq.
10. Jerry West - Truly is underrated because of his inability to beat the 60's Celtics but his overall legacy is truly special.
11. Oscar Robertson - has great stats, but accumulated them in an era where especially rebounds were highly inflated (many more bad shots taken by shooters who were overall mediocre). I rely on Simmons' research here too, because there is significant evidence he was a prickly teammate who didn't make others better as much as you'd think.
12./13. Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaq - In high school our coach kept 13 varsity players in an unusual move allowing me to make the team. I'm doing the same because it's hard to differentiate these dominant big men. Hakeem could do it all and Shaq was an unstoppable force when he had to turn it on. They deserve mention within this tier of players as their accomplishments earn them a spot at this table.
As I was preparing for Sunday's sermon, it struck me that this was a perfect opportunity to revive what had been a regular part of this blog - "Sermon Snippets" - which offered a preview of the upcoming message. This coming week, we'll be studying the book of Philemon. Philemon is basically Paul writing a letter of recommendation to a slave-master (Philemon) regarding a returning slave (Onesimus). So knowing simply that, we are forced to confront a pretty major moral question before we even get into the content of the letter. That question being,
"Why does the Bible remain silent (if not tacitly approving) the morality of slavery?"
I will get to a direct answer to that question, but first it is helpful to understand slavery in the Greek and Roman world of the Bible.
When we as Americans hear "slavery" and "slave-master", images and ideas come to the forefront of our minds that are associated with our own nation's awful practice of slavery. Recent depictions of the Civil War era like 12 Years a Slave, Django Unchained, and Roots have to different degrees sought to depict what it was like.
If at all possible, we should divorce ourselves from those specific connotations as slavery in the Greco-Roman world was different than American during the Civil War period.
How was it different?
Well, below is a graphic which compares the two, along with present employee/employer relationships.
In essence, Civil War-era slavery was based on racism, a relationship of cruelty, the practice of kidnapping, and was a social system where the authority had absolute control of the slave.
Slavery in the Greco-Roman World was not based on race but rather was a working class level of status. There is clear evidence that masters were compelled to treat their slaves with decency, in order to get the most out of their workers. There were certainly plenty of exceptions where abuse and violence were perpetrated, but as a rule, slaves were treated decently. Also, rather than straight kidnapping, slaves came from a variety of entry points. Some were captives of war who'd otherwise face death, some were born into it, and sometimes people would sign contracts to be slaves for limited periods of time in order to improve their financial or social status. Finally, the Bible-era slave had relative freedom in their daily lives compared to the overbearing tyrannical control of the American (and British) systems.
So with that information in mind, does the original question still burn in your mind? Does the context help 'soften' the harshness of your objections?
It does for me, but at the same time I believe the question is still legitimate. If we are all made in the image of God as Genesis 1-2 tells us, why doesn't the Bible outright condemn slavery? Why
didn't God come out and call them to abolish it?
Having researched both Ephesians 6:5-9 and Philemon recently, I've come to two conclusions.
The need to abolish slavery was not urgent during this point in history.
In other words, the level of slavery's evil and abuse was not as pervasive as it would be under the English and American empires. Scripture certainly speaks to how individual slave-owners of their day were to treat their slaves, but it had yet to become enough of an cultural problem for the people of God to address it theologically. Ultimately they would and Christians like John Wilberforce were at the forefront of eradicating what had become a grave communal sin. But slavery in the Roman empire was not inherently evil like slavery in later times would become.
The Church had a more important mission at this point in history.
The Christian faith was still in it's infancy during the time the writers were penning the New Testament. Early on they were seen from the outside as a sect of the Jewish faith. As the Early Church wrestled and grappled with differentiating themselves from this label, they also needed to legitimize their movement and clearly communicate what it is that they were adhering to. New religions were looked on with great suspicion in the Greco-Roman world and we know early Christians battled false accusations such as cannibalism because of their beliefs and practices (celebrating Communion). Before they could fix all of the cultural ills of their day, they needed to establish their message and identify who they were and what they believed. In the long term, the pieces were in place to abolish slavery. But the highest priority was to proclaim Jesus as Savior to a lost and dying world.
Now that we've laid the above principles as a foundation, we can properly study the book of Philemon. It is a short letter that causes us to ask plenty of questions itself as it is filled with compelling nuance and ambiguity. But hopefully this basic treatment of Scripture and Slavery has been helpful. Below I will post references to a number of commentaries that I've found helpful in gathering this information.
Garland, D. E. (1998). Colossians and Philemon (The NIV application commentary series; NIV application commentary). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan. Pg. 359-366.
Lincoln, A. T. (1990). Ephesians (Word biblical commentary, v. 42; Word biblical commentary, v. 42). Dallas, Tex.: Word Books. Pg. 411-428. O'Brien, P. T. (1999). The letter to the Ephesians (The Pillar New Testament commentary; Pillar New Testament commentary). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co..
Saarinen, R. (2008). The Pastoral Epistles with Philemon et Jude (Brazos theological commentary on the Bible). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press. Pg. 199-211. Snodgrass, K. (1996). Ephesians (The NIV application commentary series; NIV application commentary). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan.
A random idea for a featured song came into my head today. It was a song that was very influential in my life as a kid. It is a song that still affects me today. However, it is a song that was never on the radio. And it's a song I can't find on YouTube. (Seriously!) It is a song I highly recommend that everyone learn though. What is it? The Books of the Bible song I learned in Kid's Action Club (think Awana without the badges). We learned all 66 books of the Bible by singing them in order. Now there are a ton of songs out there that rap or sing the books of the Bible in order. But none of them that I found did it in the memorable pace or tune that Mr. Paul (Refior) our fearless leader taught us. This is the closest:
Here is my personal Music Mondays debut singing the original version that we learned, admittedly completely off-key:
Really the point of all of this is not song itself, nor my lack of singing gifts. The idea itself is what matters. Being so familiar with God's Word that you are adept at navigating it's diverse landscape is crucial because we are called to explore it our whole lives (see Psalm 119). As a pastor, I still recite this song in my head from time to time to find specific books. The value of this smacked me right in the face this past spring when I taught a freshman Bible Study Methods class at my Alma Mater. There was a significant portion of the 22 students who were resigned to starting in the index of the Bible to find a passage I was asking them to look up. Others bravely, but slowly combed through their holy texts hoping they'd stumble upon the intended destination. Memorization is a helpful life-skill. It becomes spiritual cheat code when applied to Scriptural concepts, making biblical studies so much easier. If this song doesn't motivate you to memorize the books of the Bible, find one that does - it is worth it and there are plenty out there.
