Teaching Colossians in the Middle East

I am enjoying reading Doug Moo's commentary and listening to sermons by Alistair Begg and Kent Hughes.  But as so often, to teach Colossians to people with this faith-background means that the teaching comes out quite differently than it would if you are teaching it in the West.

If people know useful books, pdfs, sermons etc on Colossians, do share them by adding comments to this page.

How Can They Preach without a Lexicographer?

Dear Western Friends,

I wanted to share with you some jottings from this week; I have felt a burden to share with you what it’s really like to attempt expository preaching in an under-developed language.

In short: I fear that some Westerners misunderstand what is actually involved in introducing Bible teaching to nations where the language is still quite immature.

This week I got up to Matthew 7 in our studies in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged”.  And as I prepared, I realised it was a very taxing task to try to explain what that famous little aphorism means.

I read Lloyd-Jones’ sermon on that verse and found it was full of very precise delineations of what ‘judging others’ means and does not mean.

And so I tried to find Kurdish words to say things like:

• we must make astute judgments, but not be judgmental
• We must be discriminating, but not discriminatory
• constructive criticism is right, but a critical spirit is corrosive to a church’s health (some of these thoughts remained in my study rather than making it into my talk, but were part of my mental preparation)

And so I probably spent an hour or two of my preparation time just working on vocabulary, and improving the entries in the Kurdish Wiktionary for ‘nit-picking’, ‘judgmental’, ‘discerning’ and the like.

It would be wrong to say that Kurdish does not have words for these concepts.  Often there are words ‘out there’. But they are little-known and not in most people’s active vocabulary.  Why? Because the Spirit of God has not breathed out his words into many people’s minds yet. And so people are not used to testing their lives by the bar of Scripture.  That’s why they don’t have these words in their verbal armoury.

So, to put all this in perspective, my encouragement to many friends in Western churches is: yes, go on trying to promote expository preaching in the 6,000 language groups of the world.  But wise up to the challenge that faces those you send out to do this task: you cannot simply translate Western Christian books into minority languages. The translator very likely will not have words at his finger-tips to explain Piper, Packer or Stott’s thoughts.  And when you yourself prepare sermons in an underdeveloped language, you have to get inside the engine-room of language development. To switch metaphor slightly, you will have to chisel away at the coalface of the language, working with locals to find words that will explain and hammer home the message of the Bible.

As many of you know, my office work here has focussed for the last two years on developing the Kurdish wiki-dictionary.  We have surveyed and documented all the vocabulary of the NT and about half of the OT. But my work on Matthew 7 this week showed me that although Bible translation leads to massive growth in any language, Bible exposition seems to stretch a language even further.

PS The title of this blog post is a slightly provocative reworking of Romans 10:14-15 (KJV):

"How shall they hear without a preacher?

15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent?"

Of course, at one level I am guilty of over-emphasising the task I'm involved in (and fundraising for!), and adding it to Paul's list of what is necessary for people to be saved.  But I am trying to make the point that those in developed language groups tend to overlook the need for general language development in order that the richness and complexity of Scripture can be explained.

It might be objected that dictionaries are more essential for foreigners like me and that once educated local people are in pulpits, they will not find dictionaries as essential to the task of preaching.  This is true to some extent, but I have observed that even those who are very agile in their mother tongue do regularly use the Wiktionary to help them write well. This is inevitably the case when people simply have not been exposed to a highly-refined and standardised language being used in school textbooks, newspapers and books, and in general conversation.

More about my work: I have had the privilege of working alongside and equipping a select group of young Kurdish people to edit a collaborative dictionary that Kurds from Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and the diaspora use: www.ku.wiktionary.org.  In total our team have made more than 40,000 edits to this dictionary.  It is a joy to me that we did not start this dictionary; we have rather jumped on a bandwagon which was set up by Kurds themselves and had already done impressive mileage.

Christ vs Claus

Christ vs Claus

6 Reasons why we should make Jesus not Santa

 centre-stage at Christmas

1. Santa brings gifts to those who have been good; Jesus came to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance
2. Santa comes once a year; Jesus is with us always, even to the end of the age
3. Santa gives material gifts that do not last; Jesus gives us eternal life
4. Santa rides on a sleigh pulled by reindeers; Jesus carried his own cross to Calvary
5. Santa is a myth; Jesus is a real figure from history
6. Santa's most famous words are "Ho Ho Ho"; Jesus gave us the Sermon on the Mount 

What Can be Wrong with Rich Churches Helping those who are Poorer?

In our 5 Nov update, I wrote some strong words about church and foreign money.  One friend wisely questioned me about it, so I thought I'd quote what I wrote and explain my concern more clearly from the Scriptures:

One other fellowship here I was dismayed to witness laying on a big restaurant meal for Good Friday which we were not expected to contribute anything for.  The model is that the CEO of a church has lots of money coming in from abroad and he doles it out liberally.  I was particularly upset that that happened on Good Friday, when we are meant to reflect on the example of self-giving set by the 'CEO' of the church, he who gave himself up on the cross for the sake of his people.

My friend wisely commented that a Western church might in fact be inspired by Good Friday and give so that a poorer church can enjoy a free meal.  I agree that that scenario would not be a contravention of biblical teaching.  However, Westerners might like to know why I feel so strongly about what I perceive to be an 'entitlement mentality' in churches in this region.

1. What does it mean to aim at 'equality'?
   My friend referenced 2 Cor 8:13-14:
   "It is not that there should be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality.[b] 14 At the present time your surplus is available for their need, so that their abundance may in turn meet your need, in order that there may be equality." (CSB)  However, I note that the Corinthians were being asked to provide need for those who were undergoing a famine in Jerusalem.*
   Suffice it to say here that I worry that a lot of money from well-to-do churches ends up going to middle-class people in countries where there is a well-publicised disaster or conflict.  We do have huge refugee camps here with people struggling to fill their stomachs.  But that Good Friday congregation was made up of plenty of 'middle-class' people.  The principle of 'equality' does not mean a crass income-levelling whereby wealthy churches should be striving to raise up the wealth of middle-class people.  We must labour to identify real need (see Paul doing this in 1 Tim 5:3,5) and then seek to feed the hungry.
2. I worry that Christians are being trained to come to church to receive not to give.  This was not a one-off observation.  I have seen so much up-ending here of the biblical maxim that 'it is more blessed to give than to receive'.
3. What I have witnessed so often in evangelical church culture here is an undermining of the culture of sharing food that is strongly present in non-Christian culture.  When a group of relatives go on a picnic together, each household labours to prepare food and bring it.  This happens in schools and universities too: people often bring a big tray of dolma  to share.  A key NT word that characterises the church is koinonia- fellowship, but since that word is often poorly understood, let's think of the church as a 'sharing-ship'.  So not only do I believe the model of the Big Guy at the Top doling out the Goodies is unbecoming of a Christian 'share-ship'; I believe it is even falling short of the standard of sharing that prevails in the communities of this world.
   
   * This is an assumption from 8:4- 'the relief of the saints'.  It sounds like pretty drastic need to me.  Acts 11:28 specifically mentions a famine, though about dates I have not researched. 

Hospitality is Not Burdensome

People wonder 'is it exhausting catering for 20 people at your home every Tuesday night?'  Joy discussed this and we want to spell out why the answer to that question is no.  Yes, it is a certain amount of work, but it is not too much to bear.

Let's use 1 John 5:3-4 to examine the matter. 

"And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith." (ESV)

Yes, we are commanded to show hospitality.  And it feels right not just to worship together but to eat together each week.  But when we think of all that God commands, serving supper every week is not such a hard task.

1. Every member should be serving, not just us the hosts (Eph 4).  Praise God one of the baby believers comes early each week and helps cook.  The expats help humbly too.  Amazingly, we've even seen the K men help out with clearing up and making tea- usually the prerogative of the hens not the roosters!
2. We get the children to help.  This sometimes goes well, not always; but we see ourselves as a household serving the saints together (1 Cor 16:15)
3. We are 'reducitarian' in diet.  We think of meat as something special (cf Luke 15), not something to eat every day.  So we are content with rice and beans and salad.
4. Notice in 1 John 5: what is it that makes this kind of hospitality manageable?  Let's paraphrase these verses a bit:
   And his command 'show hospitality' is not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world's demand that eating together always be fancy. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith that God is calling together a group who will carry eachother's burdens."

A Watermelon for anyone who Memorises the Beatitudes!

I know some others are currently in a sermon series on Matt 5-7.  Here are some thoughts as I go along; others may be able to sharpen my understanding and praxis.

Memorisation

I am offering a watermelon as a prize for anyone who can recite the Beatitudes from memory in Behdini Kurdish.  Maybe next week it'll be a bunch of grapes... then a punnet of peaches... and then a plain old apple.
I plan to produce flashcards and cut them up more and more each week, so people's memorisation deepens each week.  We sometimes forget that memorisation is not a black and white matter.  A good start would be to see two columns of flashcards and be able to match up mourn with ...comforted and hunger & thirst with ...be filled.  In reality, many mature Christians have memorised around 10% of the Scriptures.  Hard to quantify, of course, but just because we can't recite Isaiah from beginning to end doesn't mean that we haven't memorised a lot of it.  Some of us can have a fair shot at telling you some of the contents of any given chapter in Isaiah.  We should aim for memorisation in a whole range of ways; perhaps get people to memorise the contents of Mark, for example, or in the case of the Beatitudes, to know it word-perfectly, because it's kind of poetic: it's recorded in such a way as to make it easy to remember.

I used to know the Beatitudes a bit like a cricket line-up, (I always think of Hunger & Thirst as a solid No.4 Batsman :-) ), although it only gets up to batsman no.8!  Better, I suggest, to line up each Beatitude with a day of the week, with Persecution squeezed in to the events of a Friday evening, which frankly might be quite apt since people here sometimes get fired up to do dastardly things after hearing some chap get hot under the collar midday on Friday.  So, here it is with Saturday is the first working day of the week:

Sat Poor in Spirit

Sun Mourn

Mon Meek

Tues H&T for Righteousness

Wed Merciful

Thurs Pure in Heart

Fri Peacemakers

Fri night! Persecuted

Resources

Kent Hughes- Free mp3s of his sermons that became the Preaching the Word book on the Sermon on the Mount.  All of his books of expositions seem to be available in their original sermonic form.  As ever, good exegetical insight, some good illustrations and examples from Christian history, despite the messages being quite short.

One verse--and a world of difference

I've got to Isaiah 12 in my OT devotions and I recommend v6 as an incisive summary of how a the church differs from the majority faith all around us:
Isaiah 12:6 CSB
Cry out and sing, citizen of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel is among you in his greatness.”

Firstly, we love to sing passionately : Cry out and sing, citizen of Zion

and secondly, the reason why we express our doctrine in song: our God is GREAT, but he is great AMONG us. Our neighbours here loudly proclaim that God is great, but generally deny that he can be among us. They might object that this damages our reverence for the awesome transcendent God, and sometimes churches lose their trembling in order to make worship entertaining, but even here in this one verse there is an answer to that objection. Who exactly is AMONG us? The Holy One of Israel. Ultimately our Christian celebration, especially our weekly gatherings, centres on the jaw-dropping wonder that the Holy God in Christ has come to dwell among us, satisfying both his holiness by paying the price of our sin and his love by being willing to accept us as his people, dwelling among us and comforting us step by step as we make our way painfully to our destination where
"God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them." Revelation 21:3 CSB