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As many of you know, the annual FHU lectureship was conducted this past week.  I always enjoy the lectureship.  In addition to the lessons, it’s a great time to reconnect with old friends.

FHU holds many memories for me; mostly good, but some bad.  I’ll share one of the “bad” ones with you.  In fact, moments before this picture was taken, as I was being introduced, I was thinking about this particular painful memory.

During the 1984 lectureship, Dr. Dowell Flatt, the chairman of the Bible Department, asked me to introduce him to those who were attending his two-part series.

Of course, I agreed to introduce him, and he handed me a faxed biographical sketch of himself.  The print quality was very poor, so while I was introducing him, I got to a part where I said, “…And Dr. Flatt attended New Orleans….(then there was a long pause because I couldn’t read the print)”  So Dr. Flatt, seeing I was having trouble, decided to help me and he said, “New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.”  To which I said, “No, that’s not it.”  Well, at that moment several hundred people erupted in laughter at the expense of a very insecure Bible major.  If there was a hole to crawl into, I assure you, I would have.

In fact, I was so embarrassed, I didn’t even return the next day to introduce him.  I figured he could introduce himself!

Anyone else want to share any funny or embarrassing lectureship moments?

Here’s a simple true or false question.  See how you do.

True or False: Moses was the daughter of Pharaoh’s son.  

My guess is that most of you answered “False,” but the correct answer is “True.”  “But how can it be true when Moses was a male, not a female,” you ask?  Well, re-read the statement with proper punctuation.

“Moses was, the daughter of Pharaoh’s, son.”

Ah, now do you see it? [If not, exaggerate the pause at the commas].  It’s all in the punctuation.  Can you imagine what it would be like trying to read and understand the Bible without punctuation marks?

Did you know that when the Bible was first written, there were no punctuation marks?  How much more difficult would it be to ascertain the true meaning of a passage without proper punctuation?

We take a lot for granted when it comes to our Bibles, don’t we?  We expect to see chapter divisions.  We expect to see verse divisions.  And we expect to see punctuation.  But none of these conveniences were in the original text.

Next time you begin one of your prayers with that “generic, catch all” in which you thank God for “all his many blessings,” you might want to remember this one in particular.  We owe a debt of thanks to those who worked before us in paving the way for our understanding of the greatest book ever written!

After all, without punctuation, we might have thought Moses was a woman!

Recently, Jefferson Bethke did a video that he posted on YouTube, and that video has gone viral.  In his video, Bethke affirms his reasons for hating religion while loving Jesus.  His words have resonated with many people.  This “new” and “fresh” take on religion and Jesus, is really not new at all.  I’m old enough to remember some of the same rhetoric being spoken in the 1970′s.

The problem I have with Bethke’s video is that he has created a false dichotomy between religion and Jesus.  He pits the two at odds against each other on opposite ends of the spectrum.  The things that he identifies in his video that appall him, appall me as well.  But instead of addressing and opposing the abuses of religion, he opposes religion.  Instead of  contrasting “false religion” and “Jesus”, he contrasts “religion” and “Jesus.”  Thus he sets Jesus against what he came to establish (Matthew 16:18), and he labels as “worthy of hate” that which James says is “pure and undefiled” (James 1:27).

If I may, I would like to illustrate his mistake with a poem of my own.  Now I know I’m not young and hip, in fact I just turned 50.  So you won’t ever see me on YouTube in a leather jacket reciting the words to this poem.  But if you can identify the problem with my parody, you can identify the problem with Bethke’s video.

Why I Hate Marriage, But Love Intimacy
What if I told you that Jesus came to abolish marriage.
That in terms of seeking justice, saying “I do” is a great miscarriage?

Marriage is an institution that everyone thinks is right,
But from all I’ve ever seen it results in one ongoing fight.

Within the “sacred” bonds of marriage, “holy” vows are broken,
Saying to “love, honor, and cherish” are nothing more than tokens.

In marriage, honesty is scarce, lying and deception reign,
Jesus calls for a transparency that only marriage can feign.

Before you stand at the altar and say your “I do’s,”
You better consider first if you want Jesus opposed to you.

It’s love that Jesus seeks, not some formal institution,
Throw marriage aside, stand with Jesus, let’s start a revolution.

If Bethke wanted to call out and expose false religion, more power to him!  But if he wants to call out and expose false religion under the name of “religion,” then I for one must speak up in defense of what I love.  I would suggest that Mr. Bethke might retitle his video as, “Why I hate false religion, but love Jesus.”  Or even better yet, do a video telling us “Why I love religion and Love Jesus.”

While living in Kentucky, we lived about 20 miles from the Corvette plant and the Corvette Museum.  When one visits the Corvette Museum, he will see dozens of Corvettes on display.  They’re beautiful to look at but one thing is for certain…none of those automobiles on display are for demonstration.  They are for display only.  While the displays were really nice, if they really wanted to grab my attention, they would have let me take the car for a short demonstration.

Surely we see the difference between a “display” and a “demonstration.”  A display is just for looks.  A demonstration invites you to sit in the driver’s seat and take it for a spin.  A display is superficial, a demonstration makes the sale.

With that in mind, have you considered the cross of Jesus?  The cross of Jesus has often been called a “display” of  God’s love.  Yes, it was a display of God’s love, but it was more than that.  It was a “demonstration!”  God didn’t just sent a message, he participated in it!

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Expectations have much to do with our contentment.  Those who place unrealistic expectations upon themselves are generally discouraged, and feel as though they are a failure.  I’m convinced that if people had proper expectations, they would not be so soon moved to discouragement, depression, and despair.  An obvious step to “reeling in” our expectations is to understand the fact that “if Jesus couldn’t do something, we need to stop believing we can.

Consider:

• Jesus couldn’t make his own family believe that he was the Son of God (John 7:1-6), so why then do we beat ourselves up for sometimes failing to do the same?
• Jesus couldn’t avoid sadness and sorrow (Isaiah 53:5), so why do we sometimes act as though we expect life to be a bed of roses?
• Jesus couldn’t go without rest (Mark 6:31), so why do we feel guilty if we aren’t on the go 24/7?
• Jesus couldn’t avoid making enemies (John 15:18), so why are we so surprised when people hate us for our faith?
• Jesus couldn’t cause all men to repent (Matthew 23:37), so let’s be content with our best efforts.  We can’t obey for others.
• Jesus couldn’t even forgive all men of their sins  though he was willing (John 8:24; Luke 17:3), so why do we think we can forgive those who will not repent?

Maybe the first step to contentment is in shedding the guilt that comes from the unrealistic expectations we place upon ourselves.  After all, if Jesus couldn’t do it, why do we think we can?

For years now, I have preached that we never stop learning.  I have taught that one can spend a lifetime studying, and yet still learn something new.  I have also taught that one can be convinced he is right about something, believe it most of one’s life, only to learn that it is not true.  This phenomenon happened to me today.  You see, for my entire life, I have thought that a person is old when he reaches the age of 50.  Well, today I have learned that this just isn’t true.

And you thought it was something more, didn’t you?