Drinking Deeply

Deuteronomy 7:6–9 (ESV)

6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Why does God choose us and make us a treasured possession? Why does God set his love on us and choose us? It’s not because of our might and strength and power, but because God is keeping his oath, because God is the sovereign Lord of all! Israel doesn’t deserve God’s love just like we don’t deserve God’s love. We were not great, God did not decide, “oh yeah, Mickey is a smart guy, I’ll choose him for my team.” No, God’s electing choice of me points me out as foolish and weak, as empty and worthless to the world, but chosen in order that the world might be shamed. May I never forget my former ways of life, my hostility, my emptiness, my pride and boasting in my self. Praise the Lord, God saves sinners.

Labels: Deuteronomy, Reflections

In general, I lean much more on the conservative end of the "courtship/dating" debate. I believe that in an ideal situation, the father of the woman should have a lot of input and responsibility over their relationship.

The argument for that position generally flows from the OT - how in Numbers 30 the father has the authority to void vows made by their daughters.

The summary of that position is that, "sons leave, and daughters are given." A son leaving his home and setting up a new household as he marries someone else's daughter, who is given by her father.

It's interesting that this picture isn't entirely what the OT puts forth. Abraham was still the head of his household, even after his sons got married and had children. It was Abraham and his whole household throughout. What did Isaac do upon his marriage? He doesn't leave his family structure to start his own, but he brings his wife into his mother's tent (Gen 24:67).

Just a random thought.

Labels: Reflections

Random thought -

Many of my best conversations with people have come in a car with them. When you're with someone for even 10 minutes, it's surprising how easy it is to share what's on your mind and ask what's on theirs.

Labels: Reflections

one quote, and one thought that flows out of the sermon that the quote came from:

Quote

Being in the world is not about being culturally relevant, but it's about being culturally engaged - Paul Poteat in a sermon at Bethlehem College and Seminary Chapel.

You can watch all the movies, read the newspapers, and listen to the music that the culture is taking in, but if you aren't involved in people's lives, if you aren't interacting with a goal to win people to Christ, then it's worthless.

Thought -

Oftentimes 1 Corinthians 9:22 is quoted by people who are more involved with the party scene, the movies, the "hip" scene, etc as a way to justify their involvement-

I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

While I don't think that this verse is actually saying what they think it is saying, my major issue is that those people are not really applying the verse consistently. Why aren't they joining the chess club to reach out to the chess team? Why aren't they brushing up on their physics to reach the nerds and geeks of the world? Why aren't they trying to reach the socially awkward and physically unattractive (to the world)?

Why is it that to them, "becoming all things," means joining the "cool group" and the "accepted group" and the "interesting group"? And why is it not joining the outcast and the shunned? The people that everyone feels really awkward around?

1 Cor. 1:26-28

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.

Labels: Quotes, Reflections

Before I started learning Greek, I thought learning Greek would really solve all my exegetical questions. That somehow, the people who knew Greek would have all my answers. I'm sure I pestered my pastors about answers about this or that many a time, expecting them to say, "well the Greek says this..." and that would settle it.

Little did I know that reading your Bible in Greek actually doesn't solve all those problems, but in fact, raises a whole host of new ones! It turns out that our English translations often clarify a lot more than the Greek!

But sometimes, there's something really really cool that you can see in the Greek text that you might miss in the English (it's there, just harder to see)

Last week I had the opportunity to translate through Ephesians 2, which is a source of incredible joy. You were dead in your trespasses and transgressions... but God!!! What a beautiful phrase!

But I digress - here's a passage that totally floored me.

Ephesians 2:

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

Specifically, verse 6 jumped out at me. "Raised us up with him and seated us with him" - and that instantly reminded me of the same idea that showed up in chapter 1:19-20

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

It turns out that in the Greek, those two verbs in verse 20, "raised" and "seated," are exactly the same verbs used in verse 6 of chapter 2, except with a prefix "syn" which, if your vocabulary is better than mine, you'd know was the prefix meaning "with" (ex: synchronic - syn + chronos - at the same time)

What does that mean? If we were to keep the verbs that Paul is using as one word, might say "God raised-with us and seated-with us, with Christ." It seems that Paul is directing us back to that earlier passage and saying, "do you remember that great power that raised Jesus Christ up from the dead? That power that seated him above all the thrones and powers and dominions and anything else? That same power is working in you to do exactly the same things, with Jesus."

That really blew me away. And I was reminded of the call of John Piper's book God is the Gospel. I don't want to be sinless, alive from the dead, seated in the heavenlies, but without Jesus! I don't want the power of God working in me for my good if He withholds the greatest good of all - being with Jesus. I don't need crowns in heaven if I don't get to worship Jesus with them.

Eph 3

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God

Labels: Greek

Here's an email update. If you'd like one but didn't get one, let me know. I probably just forgot.

I now live downtown Minneapolis with a group of 9 guys (we call our house “The Manhouse”, like a madhouse but with men in it). I’ve been here since April, but just started seminary two weeks ago. I will spend the next 4 years here working on an M. Div with the same group of 15 guys learning the original languages, exegesis, preaching, ministry, and theology. Thus far, it’s been a complete blast. It’s pretty busy (I’ve never worked this hard in my life), but God has been abundantly gracious to me in so many different ways.

My cohorts (companions at seminary) are all incredible men who fear the Lord and long to honor Him. Some of them are training for missions to an unreached people group. Others are praying about becoming full time pastors at a church in the US. All of them strive to live out and share a living and vibrant faith. I have much to learn from each of them. Just last night I was freaking out about how much work I had this weekend, and Scott (a housemate and cohort) was commiserating with me. But at the end of our worries he stopped and said, “Mickey, let’s pray.” I was blessed – oh how much I need to learn that daily dependence!

Classes have been incredible. I’ve just finished sentence diagramming Ephesians 1:3-6 and am struggling to understand what Paul is getting at. “Blessed be God” or “Blessed is God” - Does he desire that the Ephesians join him in blessing God or is he exclaiming that God is a most blessed God? But whatever the case, praise be to the Father who has chosen us and adopted us before the foundation of the world! I feel like I have learned more about reading my Bible in the 2 weeks of classes than I have in the last two years. We’re wrestling through difficult topics like textual criticism (what words were actually in the Bible?), source criticism (did Moses really write the Pentateuch?), worship (why and how should we worship God?). Each topic has been filling and incredibly interesting (well, source criticism is not too interesting) and I’m looking forward to learning more and more as the years go on.

I’ve also gotten a part time job. I’m tutoring math again! I love math and I love kids, so I’m hopeful that this will be a rich opportunity for me. It will also be just enough to get by financially (I hope!), so praise the Lord who provides us beyond anything we hope or dream!

I actually spent much of the summer working a full time data entry job. Tedious, but not too much so. It will be hard to leave (next week is my last). I’ve actually learned a tremendous amount of stuff from the job. Two of which I’ll list here:

1) The importance of single-tasking – I had a couple of major tasks, each one was tedious and long. But I would have all day to do it. So I’d work on something for a couple hours at a time, and then switch. And the great thing of working on one thing for a long time is that you can figure out faster ways to do them, you can understand how the information all ties together, and all these things make you faster and faster the more you work on that one task. I feel like I could get more done in one 8 hour block than I could in 16 1-hour blocks.

2) Keyboard shortcuts are your friend – I spent a couple of breaks looking up keyboard shortcuts for excel and word and now I can zoom through Word and Excel. Add a row, jump to the last entry of the page, hide a row, sum a row, make a table of contents. All done with a few key presses.

One last thing – if you have the time, I would love your prayers for my character and holiness. I was just reading 2 Peter 1 today and this passage caught me:

1 Peter 1:5-8 make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I don’t want to be useless. It is so easy to think that my usefulness to the Lord will be in the knowledge and experienced gained here at seminary. Peter cuts through that and reminds me that it’s about character. With that in mind, please pray that I would grow to be such a man - one of virtue, knowledge, self-control, godliness, brotherly affection and love. Pray that these attributes would be ever increasing as I face the many different pressures of school, work, potential father-in-laws and serving the church.

Longing to be a servant of the Lord with you,
Mickey Sheu

Labels: Reflections

When people talk about faith, they often talk about it like it were some substance that we can put in a can. If I somehow just had "more faith" life would be easier, I'd get that job, I'd know what to do. We pray (correctly) "increase our faith!" Of course, that's not incorrect, but do we really know what we're asking for?

When we ask people to "believe in Jesus" or "put their faith in Jesus?" What does that mean?

When I tell someone that "I have faith in you" I'm not telling them, "I believe that you exist," but instead, "I trust your promises - I believe that your abilities will be able to accomplish this task." Having faith in God amounts to exactly the same thing.

When we are given a new heart and we put our trust in Jesus what are we saying? We don't just believe that He exists, but that his words are true. Maybe not these statements themselves, but a very similar content -

We've fallen short and offended a holy and righteous God.
We are dead, unable to lift a finger towards saving ourselves or setting things right.
But God who is merciful and gracious has stooped down to earth and appeased his own wrath through a substitute, Jesus.
Thus we are no longer under wrath but have a new lease on life.

And as we grow, what deepens our faith? Statements like this -

"No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

"For nothing will be impossible with God.”

“Your son will live.”

"And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

"it is finished."

(just some scattering of verses that has crossed my path the last few weeks)

As I think about faith, I remember that faith is a "faith in something." That something (or someone) is Jesus Christ. If I want more faith, I need more promises. Either I need to learn more about Scripture and thus have more promises of God in my head, or I need to remember the promises that I do already know and apply them to more and more situations.

I still do pray "increase my faith." It's a gift from God and only He can give it. Along with that prayer, I'm praying, "teach me and remind me of your precious promises!"

Labels: Reflections