Monday Morning Music Ministry

1-20-25

“Oh, you know what I mean.” How often people say that these days. Casual texts, sloppy language, limited-character messages… btw, I’m talking about “initialisms” too, lol. We chat more, but talk less. Our contacts are less personal, more sterile, and, surely, a symptom of social isolation. We hide behind substitutes for communication. Words lose their meanings, but we hope “you know what I mean.”

We tend to talk without telling these days. Words tend to have new meanings or weakened importance. For instance, Christians are to share the Gospel, to “witness” to other people. A verb, an action word, something we should do and not only be. The Great Commission of Jesus was to “go into all the world.” To a lot of people, being a witness – let’s say in a trial – is a lot easier than witnessing to people.

It is a distinction with a difference.

Do you mention Jesus in conversations? Do you ask people about their faith? If you might say “God bless you” (and not after someone sneezes) do you explore that a little more? In another message I mentioned that my son-in-law’s late father used to say, “Can I just take a moment and tell you that Jesus loves you?” – is that a habit of yours? If you might even say to someone after hearing their burdens, “I’ll pray for you”… how often do you take that opportunity, and pray then and there?

Yes, words can be tough to get out, sometimes. But very often we know what to say, easily enough, but we find it hard to say them. The “tell” versus “Oh, you know what I mean…” But as the Bible says, How then will they know about Jesus if they do not believe? And how can they believe if they have not heard? And how can they hear if no one tells them?

Jesus did not die on the cross in order for you to plead shyness or being uncomfortable when you have the opportunity to “witness.” My friend Gordon Pennington has led almost 200 people to faith in Christ in just the past couple of years. It is remarkable: he chats with a waiter, or speaks to someone at the next table in the coffee shop, and engages in small talk that naturally leads to Big Talk, so to speak; but chatty, not confrontational, being curious, being open, sharing stories. I am not aware that one person was offended, but many were challenged, became aware of their need of a Savior, grateful to hear what the Gospel has meant to others… and with tears or smiles or both, many walked away with their lives changed.

There is another side to that coin. There always is. If you know the Truth… if Jesus has touched and changed your life… if you have experienced blessings of any sort… and you don’t acknowledge Him, your willful decision is a sin against Him.

You might plead shyness, or hope that someone else will share God’s love, or avoid mentioning your faith for “business reasons.” If so, you should remember the words of Jesus Himself that whoever denies Him before other people, He will deny that person before God. Chilling.

OK, maybe you are shy, and this is new to you. Yes, even uncomfortable at first. But… if you had a cure for cancer, wouldn’t you want to share that with an ailing friend? If you had the key to the most precious thing in the world (which you do, as a Christian), how could you hide it under a bushel? If you feel foolish at first… remember another Bible assurance, that if you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “as a fool” so that you may become wise; for the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sights of God.

Do you risk losing a friend? Not likely. You can’t lose a friend you never had.

But if you are afraid to witness – whatever the cause of your reluctance – God has a Witness Protection Program. Here it is:

• He will protect you by creating the opportunities to witness. That is, He makes the appointments.
• Jesus has given you the words and the inspiration of wonderful things to share!
• The Holy Spirit will give you wisdom and boldness; and work on the person you talk to… ultimately to make them aware of their ways, their emptiness, their hope.

Go. Know what you mean. And Tell.

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Click: Tell Me the Story of Jesus / I Love To Tell the Story

10-3-22

There are many Holy Bibles “in the market,” in stores and online. It seems there are new translations every year. Actually there are, certainly if you count the world’s many languages and dialects. It is hard to comprehend, but the number of languages including sign-languages, and distinct dialects are more than 3300 that have translations of the Bible, in whole or in part.

There are approximately 1700 versions of the Holy Bible available online alone. Christians rejoice at this evidence of evangelism. Skeptics will suggest that the message of Gospel likely is diluted or manufactured during such processes. Are Bible translations like the parlor game of “telephone,” where mistakes are rife and misunderstandings endemic?

It is an odd word, “translation,” when I focus on new (and ever newer) versions in English. A very incomplete list of English-language “versions” of the Bible available today include:

King James Version, New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, The Holy Bible in Modern English, Young’s Literal Translation, Douay, The Geneva Bible (“Breeches”), Knox Translation, Today’s English Version, The New English Bible, The Moffatt Bible, New International Version, The English Standard Version, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, Good News Bible, The Living Bible, The Amplified Bible, Phillips Translation, The Message…

I am not including the plethora of Commentaries and Concordances like time-honored, multi-volume Strongs, or excellent study Bibles like Ryrie and the Expositor’s Study Bible.

For centuries the Roman church forbad any translation of Scripture from Latin; indeed it frequently opposed the personal reading or ownership of the Bible, even in Latin, to anyone but clergy. These policies were enforced under penalty of death, and the list of martyrs, both famous in history and anonymous, is long.

The honor roll of those who believed God wanted every believer to have access to God’s Word (and were cruelly persecuted) is long: Wycliffe, Tyndale, Hus; Luther’s offense was not only criticizing the corruption of the papacy, but daring to translate the Bible into German. He escaped the death sentence.

One of the first English translations followed Luther’s, that of the Frenchman living in Switzerland, John Calvin. It was his “Geneva Bible” that was standard in English and was relied upon by the King James translators – and was the Bible carried by the Pilgrims and read by the Colonists in North America; those who designed our government

I was honored to be on the editorial team that produced, after centuries, the first reprint (changing nothing but thees and thous and grammar) of the 1599 Geneva Bible.

Reverting to the inevitable carping of skeptics, the great number of translations, versions, and updates is not necessarily evidence of a diluted message, but rather the reinforcement of truth and integrity. How the Bible came to be, so to speak, is either a miracle, an implausible coincidence, or proof of Holy Spirit inspiration.

The Bible includes 66 books, written by many different people over different centuries and on different continents. Yet they have common themes and references; prophecies and predictions made and fulfilled; and – when you think about it, maybe the most profound distinction – this Book has affected millions of people. Changed lives. “Spoken” to multitudes from wildly disparate backgrounds, circumstances, and… languages.

It is a Miracle Book, a book of miracles, written in so many ways “under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” Inspire means to “breathe into”; God whispered to the hearts and minds of those who wrote Scripture.

I will confess here that I am not a fan (not quite a rejectionist, but sometimes close) of recent translations. Some projects are so concerned with contemporary readers’ inability to understand big words; or they are so motivated by Political Correctness, that they corrupt Scripture. It is not yet the case that the Ten Commandments are being changed to the Ten Suggestions… but, for instance, “gender neutral” translations are dangerously close to claiming that “In the beginning, He, She or It created heaven and earth…”

No, the message is simple. The Eternal God created everything; His children incline toward sin and rebellion; we cannot be reconciled with a perfect and a just God without a remedy; He provided means of forgiveness, redemption, and sanctification by offering His Son as a sacrifice to put the punishments we deserve upon Himself; and by believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for our sins, rose from death, and ascended to Heaven… we are assured of eternal life with Him.

Yes, that is pretty simple. Humankind – those darn intellects and pride and jealousies – make it complicated. Denominations get in the way. Publishers need product.

In the 1930s, the Limited Editions Club published, unbelievably after several centuries, the first major Holy Bible in the original King James format – that is, without verse numbers, citations, notes, and superscripts. I read “that” Bible (there have been others since) and was thunderstruck. Study-formats can help us, yes; and bless us. But reading only the texts – God’s story; His conversations; in many places reading like a novel – was like reading some familiar passages for the first time. I recommend it!

I was a little snarky above about the motivations of Bible-revisionists. As with the Geneva Bible reprint project, it can be useful to have access to contemporary language and grammar. Of course. I have a set of Shakespeare’s folios, and the spelling and language of those times make them virtually inaccessible, requiring modernization. But, again, that is the language, not the message.

So. People try to change the Bible for a variety of reasons, some good, some bad; some sensible, some questionable. But I pray that we never lose sight of the very pertinent issue.

We are not meant to change the Bible. The Bible is meant to change us.

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Click Video Clip: Tell Me the Story / I Love To Tell the Story