The Gospel is the proclamation that God has triumphed over sin and death through the work of Jesus. Every Christian sermon has to proclaim this Gospel by announcing the death and resurrection of Jesus. Since the whole text of Holy Scripture centers on Jesus’ death and resurrection, every sermon has to explain, illustrate, and apply the sermon text.

The job of the sermon is not merely to explain and instruct in good theology, but to explain and apply the text itself. And while the question of whether or not the sermon should apply the text by telling people what to do is sometimes controversial in churches that believe in salvation by grace through faith alone, applying the text not by giving rules but by applying the Gospel is mandatory.

In other words, the Gospel is not just news that sins are forgiven, it’s also the good news that Jesus is Lord of the universe, and now we are free–by the power of Jesus–to be the humans he has redeemed us to be.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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The Bible makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is still active in the life of Christ’s church. But what does this mean, and how does this look?

For some, the Holy Spirit speaks directly in a miraculous way; for others the Holy Spirit guides by opening doors. How do we know that what we’re hearing or being led to do is coming from the Holy Spirit? By judging the message or compulsion on the basis of God’s Word. So it’s not just the big events that are the Holy Spirit speaking; even the small messages–like being moved to read God’s Word, to pray, to love someone else at personal expense–are clearly coming from outside fallen human nature.

It’s important to remember that the Bible–God’s Word–is primary. What God says in holy scripture is binding on all people everywhere for all time. This is different from a personal prompting of the Holy Spirit, which is not universally applicable to all people at all times. So, as Paul says, the spirits must be tested to see if they are in line with God’s Word.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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Scripture–in some ways–is a reflection of God’s mind, which means that understanding Scripture can never be completely mastered. Like a big city, there is something new and unexplored around every corner for the reader. In other words, reading the Bible is a great adventure of exploration and discovery.

The main foundation of solid biblical interpretation is to read it as the Word of God. Humanity sits under God, so his Word must sit in authority over us. This means that the meaning of the text must come from the text, not imposed upon it from outside. The temptation of all Christian denominations is to map their theology on to the text of Scripture, using the Bible as a series of proofs for their own correctness. But this is turning our theology or thoughts in “sacred scripture”, not allowing the real sacred Scripture to speak for God.

One key to checking our own theological and cultural biases in the attempt to allow God’s Word to speak for itself is to read it in community. Hearing what people from different backgrounds hear when they read Scripture helps us read and hear Scripture from outside our own echo chamber.

Practically speaking, correct biblical interpretation depends on reading the Bible not as isolated sayings, verses, or stories, but as one complete story, and we cannot understand any story–especially the story of Scripture!–outside of the whole story. And the importance of understanding the historical background of the text is also vital to correctly interpreting it. This takes work–digging into the cultural and historical backgrounds of the text means learning from scholars who study the backgrounds of the Bible. But this will keep us from making the Bible mean something it doesn’t, turning it into a decontextualized inspirational message to me.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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For Christianity, marriage is much more than a convenient way to order society and build and protect families. Marriage is at its heart a reflection of two deeper theological realities: first, it reflects the eternal relationship that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have. In other words, God has given his human creatures the gift of marriage so they can look like the Trinity, bearing God’s image in the husband-wife relationship. And second, marriage reflects the love Jesus has for his church.

Because of this, marriage takes on a significance that far exceeds its romantic possibilities, or its economic or social utility. God wants us to remain faithful to our spouses because he is a faithful God.

There are times when the Bible permits divorce–in cases of adultery, abandonment, and (many in the church agree) physical abuse. But outside of these cases, God expects husbands and wives to practice love and faithfulness for each other.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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For lots of Christians knowing when they were saved is very important, and knowing the date they were baptized or the date they first believed becomes a way to assure themselves of the security of their relationship with God. There are two questions behind this issue: first, am I saved because of a decision I’ve made or a decision God has made.

Chuck and Aaron talk about how our salvation is completely founded on God’s decision to rescue us, and even when our initial realization of the truth of the Gospel resulted in what looked like us deciding to believe in Jesus, it was really God working in our hearts to give us the faith to believe.

And the second question: am I saved in one moment or is it a process? So many people have a different experience–some were baptized when they were infants and have never stopped believing the Gospel, some were baptized, drifted away from faith in Jesus, and then came back to him over time and or in one dramatic moment, and some were never baptized but as adults became converted to Christianity, again either in one moment or as a result of an apparent process. And while all these experiences are difficult, one thing remains the same–those who have been saved by Jesus have spiritual life now.

The best way to tell if you are physically alive is not to look at your birth certificate but to check your pulse, and the best way to know if you are a child of God is whether or not you have faith in his son Jesus.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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Prayer, with Bible reading, is a conversation with God. But sometimes it seems that God isn’t listening to our prayers. Is this an illusion of our lack of faith, or is perhaps God not really listening? The Bible sometimes talks about God not hearing prayers, but how does this work for an omniscient God–isn’t it impossible for him not to hear everything everyone is saying, whether to him or anyone else? The key is in the way the Hebrew language uses the word for “hear”. It doesn’t just mean receiving the audible sensation of sound; it means listening to and responding to something someone says. So, when the Bible says God does not hear the prayers of those who are opposed to him, it means he won’t respond to them.

But for Christians, whether or not we feel like God hears and responds to our prayers or not, he does. He wants a relationship with us, and promises always to communicate with us.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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One of the reasons Jesus called himself the Son of Man is the name’s vagueness. The title can simply mean “human”; this is the way the prophet Ezekiel seems to be using it during the many times he refers to himself in this way.

There is no possible way this seemingly innocuous usage could land Jesus in trouble with the authorities. But on the other hand, the title “Son of Man” probably mainly refers to a very important prophecy in Daniel 7, where one “like a son of man” comes and stands before God, and God gives him dominion and power so that all the nations serve him - a kingdom that will never pass away.

This strange personage is a human (“like a son of man”) but is also worshiped (“all peoples…should serve him”). Jesus knows that he is truly human, but he uses the title Son of Man to emphasize that he is more than that - he is also the one true God who is worthy of worship.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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Because love is not primarily an emotional disposition toward someone else but is instead about self-sacrificial actions, trust is baked into such a relationship. We come to know and love someone precisely by trusting in that person enough to get close enough to live in intimacy with them.

This sort of relationship intentionally reflects the inner life of the Trinity, where the three persons of the divine Oneness completely love and trust each other. Unfortunately, in human relationships, sometimes the sin which colors any relationship mars the trust which maybe once defined a relationship. The love might be there, but in such a case the trust has been damaged. This should, however, be seen as a weird, suspended state of a broken relationship, with the goal to be restoring the trust which makes the loving relationships whole again. The model for this is Jesus, who loved us so much he won our trust in him.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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