Let's Get Biblical: Recent Episodes
Ben Johnson
Let's Get Biblical is a bi-weekly podcast exploring books of the Bible and asking the simple question: Is this biblical?
Our words define us. John 1 tells us that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. It’s an interesting phrase to call Jesus the Word. In Greek, of course, the word is Logos. Chinese actually grasps the meaning of the word, the Chinese Bible uses the word Dao. This word means the something behind everything. There’s a lot that could be said about that, and it’s awesome, but that’s not the topic today. Well, the translators took this term which was a complicated Greek term in expressing its meaning and translated it the Word. But it fits. Because if you want to know something about someone, you use their words. Angry people use angry words, abusive people use abusive words. Everything God is, Jesus expressed perfectly because He was the Word. Today, we are going to look at our words and our tongue and how important it is to control it.
James is not a theological book. What I mean is that it isn’t like a Pauline epistle which often has a very deep doctrinal section and then applies that doctrine to daily life. But today, we do get into the theological theme of the book when it comes to a belief that behaves. The passage today is a tricky one for some and there are those who isolate it from the rest of Scripture in order to get it to say what it does not say. Or there are those who say this is a contradiction in Scripture when it comes to the doctrine of justification. So let’s look at exactly what this passage means in its context that way we can understand more.
We like the blame game. It’s never our fault. That’s been the truth since the very beginning. Adam and Eve get caught after having eaten the forbidden fruit and what do they do? Eve blames the snake, Adam blames his wife and even blames God Himself and from that point on; the blame began. We don’t want to take responsibility and we want to as it says in Romans 2 that our conscience will excuse ourselves. The fact is that when we caught or when things go bad, we like to blame something and typically, it isn’t ourselves. That’s exactly what’s going on as we continue the first chapter of the book of James.
Siddhartha Gautama was a wealthy prince in India. When he looked around him, what he saw was human suffering. This caused him to forsake everything he had to figure out a better way to live. In the course of this journey, he made what would be called the four noble truths. You may realize this by now, but Siddhartha Gautama is better known as buddha and the founder of Buddhism.
The truth is, Everyone in the world has to figure out what they will do with human suffering. Siddhartah Guatama sought his way, but at some point, everyone wonders why is there suffering. As Christians, One of the great questions we have to wrestle with is how a good and loving God allows suffering in this world. Well, today we start James Chapter 1 and the subject of suffering.
Last time, we looked at our present experience when it comes to what often happens when we allow earthly wisdom to take control. It all leads to conflict. Conflict with ourselves, conflict with others and conflict with God Himself. But does that have to be our experience? The short answer is no, it doesn’t. But how do we get there? How do we go from conflict to peace? Well, let’s look at this next section in the book of James and see.
We saw last time what heavenly wisdom should look like. Really, what we saw is the characteristics of heavenly wisdom are. Now, how does that work in the real world? What does it look like when heavenly wisdom is acted out, or we could say, how does it look when it isn’t acted out as it should? That is exactly what we will look at today as we continue our study in the book of James.
Sources
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1998). James. Moody Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). The letter of James. Eerdmans; Apollos.
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary. Victor Books.
Carson, D. A. (2007). James. In Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament. Baker Academic; Apollos.
Martin Luther called the book of James an epistle of straw. Does that mean it should be completely ignored? Did Martin Luther really want this book thrown out of the Bible? Certainly, this book contains some tricky things that we have to study in order that we understand them completely. Let’s start studying that first book written in the New Testament… the book of James.
God uses difficult times to grow us. Listen to this episode to hear our experience of this past year.
What are your expectations? The Israelites expected a king, but Jesus came first as a Savior.
Light into darkness is a big theme in Scripture. We know this world is very dark, but we also know this: Light has come into the world.
I think now how the first requirement in 1 Timothy 3 is that a bishop must be blameless. That’s an interesting word. When i was taught it, it was pretty well just said that you were never alone with someone of the opposite gender. If you were, there might be accusations and you wouldn’t be blameless. But I am realizing as I have looked at and studied this and other Scriptures, that blameless means so much more. Jesus has a higher standard for spiritual leaders and that’s why he was so strong on the scribes and Pharisees in condemning them.
“Jesus used his harshest words for the religious crowd.”
This phrase is often said many times. As you read the Gospels, certainly you could come to that conclusion. But what if there was more to Jesus’ words than just anger? We certainly want to be balanced on this and not ignore the whole of Scripture, but Jesus’ biggest condemnation when He was on earth was condemning unbelief. His rant, if you want to call it that, here in Matthew 23 was more than just a rant. Certainly, it was a condemnation of the religious system that existed and it was incredibly harsh, but there was more to it. So let’s look at that today, because as we approach these woes Jesus says in Matthew 23, you may be surprised at what is being communicated.
“The best revenge is not to be like that.” —Marcus Aurelius.
When you have come out of a spiritually abusive environment, it becomes easy to focus on the wrong they did. This is especially true when it may have been pointed out time and time again, but either it is swept under the rug and ignored, or when you get someone who can do something about it, it is only halfway dealt with. This becomes frustrating, and once again, you can focus on what they did wrong, how they sinned against you. We can definitely see the marks of a spiritually abusive environment here in Matthew 23, and we will see some more as Jesus condemns them. Still, for today, we will focus on ourselves and what Jesus instructs us to do to be different from these kinds of environments. I’m Ben Johnson, now let’s get biblical.
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Is spiritual abuse biblical? Abuse is a buzzword nowadays, especially in light of the #metoo movement that has taken place. Because of that, to some degree, I believe it has lost some of its meaning. What I mean is that it gets thrown around so much that people are starting to dismiss it. Of course, we know about physical, sexual, and verbal abuse. That's typically what people mean when they say abuse. But what about spiritual abuse? What is that, and what does it mean? Those are good questions, but the real question we have to ask ourselves is this: Is spiritual abuse biblical? In other words, do we see it in Scripture, and how should we approach it? So let's take some time and answer that today.
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Books on Spiritual Abuse
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderan
Something’s Not Right by Wade Mullen
When Narcissism Comes to Church by Chuck DeGroat
Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church by Diane Langberg