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Author: Jeff Kennon

I am the director of the Baptist Student Ministries at Texas Tech University. I am married to Paige, and have three children, Krista, Justin, and Josh.

5 Reasons Why We Must Keep The Cross At The Center

Published by Jeff Kennon on April 16, 2014

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The cross is the test of everything which deserves to be called Christian. 

–Jurgen Moltmann

The cross is at the heart of Christianity. Therefore, we must keep the cross central. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. The cross is the revelation of God.

To know God is to know Christ on the cross. To know Christ on the cross is to know him as he is revealed by the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

 When the crucified Jesus is called the ‘image of the invisible of God,’ the meaning is that this is God, and God is like this. God is not greater than he is in this humiliation. God is not more glorious than he is in this self-surrender. God is not more powerful than he is in this helplessness. God is not more divine than he is in this humanity.

                                                                                            –Jürgen Moltmann

2. The cross is our salvation.

God’s revelation of himself in the cross is his provision of salvation. The cross must not just become an example of selflessness. The cross is that in which the sins of the world were atoned (Romans 3:21-26). It is the preaching of the cross which is the power of God by which others might be saved (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 1:18)

3. The cross leads to cruciformity.

We are not only saved by the cross but also shaped by it. We become cruciform people. Living lives defined by the cross leads to self-sacrifice, humility and service (Philippians 2:5-11).

The way to Christian maturity involves the cross. And specifically, it includes suffering. David Garland writes that “the Christian life is not a fast track to glory but a slow, arduous path that takes one through suffering.”

4. The cross transforms our relationships. 

As we become cruciform people who live lives of self-sacrifice, humility and self-sacrifice, this naturally changes relationships.

It is interesting that in Paul’s letters, when he dealt with factions in the church, he wrote of the cross. Paul was convinced that a proper understanding of the cross would lead to unity within the church (1 Corinthians 1:10-4:21).

5. The cross pushes us into the world.

The cross and mission go together. Just as Christ entered the world at it’s greatest need, so we must enter the world at it’s greatest need.

The cross for us means that we enter the world of those who are alienated and hurting. The church, compelled by the love of God, must enter the suffering of the world.

Discipleship of the crucified Christ is characterized by a faith that drives its adherents into the world with a relentlessness and a daring they could not manage on the basis of human volition alone.

                                                                                   –Douglas John Hall

We must be diligent in keeping the cross central.

We must pay attention to the words of D.A. Carson:

I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry.

May we say as Paul..

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Galatians 6:14

 

 

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Jesus Changes The Way You Farm, Ranch, and much more

Published by Jeff Kennon on April 15, 2014

Since I live in West Texas and know several farmers in the area, this video caught my attention. But the reason I like it has much more to do with how this young man views his job rather than the job itself.

God has given us certain passions and talents to be used for His glory. And when we do use them for His glory, whether they be teaching, coaching, computing, ranching, owning a business or waiting on tables at a restaurant, they are not used in vain.

The question for all of us then is how do we view our job? Do we see our work as good? Do we understand that the work we do allows us to help and love one another? Do we realize that our work lives display our worship of God?

The reality is that we can milk cows, farm cotton, and even practice law to the glory of God. The reason is due to what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross and the hope he has given us through the resurrection. Jesus has changed everything so whatever we do, we do so with purpose and direction.

Regardless of how trivial you may think your task at work might be, or even if you think you have an unimportant job, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

The young ranch hand in this video says it perfectly: I may not be Billy Graham, but I can serve God in a blue collar job. How true this is! And how great it is to hear a young man begin to understand his job as an opportunity to work out his calling.

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The Final Days of Jesus

Published by Jeff Kennon on April 13, 2014

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What took place during the last days of Jesus’s life on earth? Below you will find an outline provided with Scripture references.

This outline is from the helpful book The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived by Andreas J. Kostenberger and Justin Taylor.

One other resource for you during this Holy Week is found at Justin Taylor’s website. He will be posting daily videos about Jesus’s final days.

Sunday
  • Jesus enters Jerusalem – Matt. 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-19.
  • Jesus predicts his death – John 12:20-36.
  • Jesus visits the temple – Matt. 21:14-17; Mark 11:11.
Monday
  • Jesus curses a fig tree – Matt. 21:18-29; Mark 11:12-14.
  • Jesus cleanses the temple – Matt. 21:12-13; Mark11:15-18; Luke 19:45-48.
Tuesday
  • The lesson from the fig tree – Matt. 21:20-22; Mark 11:20-26.
  • Jesus teaches and engages in controversies in the temple – Matt. 21:23-23:39; Mark 11:27-12:44; Luke 20:1-21:4.
  • Jesus predicts the future – Matt. 24-25; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-36.
Wednesday
  • Jesus continues his daily teaching in the temple complex – Luke 21:37-38.
  • The Sanhedrin plots to kill Jesus – Matt. 26:3-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-2.
Thursday
  • Jesus instructs his disciples Peter and John to secure a large upper room in a house in Jerusalem and to prepare for the Passover meal – Matt. 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-13.
  • In the evening Jesus eats the Passover meal with the Twelve, tells them of the coming betrayal, and institutes the Lord’s Supper – Matt. 26:20-29; Mark 14:17-23; Luke 22:14-30.
  • During supper Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, interacts with them, and delivers the Upper Room Discourse (Farewell Discourse) – John 13:1-17:26.
  • Jesus and the disciples sing a hymn together, then depart to the Mount of Olives – Matt. 26:30; Mark 14:26; Luke 22:39.
  • Jesus predicts Peter’s denials – Matt. 26:21-35; Mark 14:27-31; Luke 22:31-34.
  • Jesus issues final practical commands about supplies and provisions – Luke 22:35-38.
  • Jesus and the disciples go to Gethesmane, where he struggles in prayer and they struggle to stay awake late into the night – Matt. 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:40-46.
Friday
  • Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested by the authorities (perhaps after midnight, early Friday morning) – Matt. 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:2-12.
  • Jesus has an informal hearing before Annas (former hight priest and Caiaphas’s father-in-law) – Matt. 26:57, 59-68; Mark 14:53, 55-65; Luke 22:63-71.
  • As predicted Peter denies Jesus and the rooster crows – Matt. 26:58, 69-75; Mark 14:54, 66-72; Luke 22:54b-62; John 18:15-18, 25-27.
  • After sunrise on Friday the final consultation of the full Sanhedrin condemns Jesus to death and sends him to Pontius Pilate – Matt. 27:1-2; Mark 15:1.
  • Judas changes his mind, returns the silver, and hangs himself – Matt. 27:3-10.
  • Pilate questions Jesus and send him to Herod Antipas – Matt.27:11-14; Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:1-7; John 18:28-38.
  • Herod questions Jesus and send him back to Pilate – Luke 23:8-12.
  • Jesus appears before Pilate a second time and is condemned to die – Matt. 27:15-26; Mark 15:6-15; Luke 23:13=25; John 18:38b-19:16.
  • Jesus is mocked and marched to Golgotha – Matt. 27:27-34; Mark 15:16-23; Luke 23:26-49; John 19:17.
  • Jesus is crucified between two thieves – Matt. 27:35-44; Mark 15:24-32; Luke 23:33-43; John 19:18-27.
  • Jesus breathes his last – Matt. 27:45-56; Mark 15:33-41; Luke 23:44-49; John 19:28-37.
  • Joseph of Arimathea buries Jesus in a new tomb – Matt. 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42.
Saturday
  • The chief priests and Pharisees place guards at the tomb with Pilate’s permission – Matt. 27:62-66.
Sunday
  • Some women discover the empty tom and are instructed by angels – Matt. 28:1-7; Mark 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-7; John 20:1
  • The women, fearful and joyful, leave the garden and tell the disciples – Matt. 28:8-10; Luke 24:8-11; John 20:2.
  • Peter and John rush to the tomb based upon Mary Magdalene’s report and discover it empty – Luke 24:12; John 20:3-10.
  • Mary returns to the tomb and encounters Jesus – John 20:11-18.
  • Jesus appears to Cleopas and a friend on the road to Emmaus, later Jesus appears to Peter – Luke 24:13-35.
  • That evening Jesus appears to the Ten (minus Thomas) in a house (with locked doors) in Jerusalem – Luke 24:36-43.
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Don’t Seek Elegant Preaching of the Cross

Published by Jeff Kennon on April 13, 2014

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And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:1-2

It is in the nature of the cross that it cannot be preached elegantly and brilliantly, only in weakness.  –H.R. Weber (quoted in David Garland’s commentary on 1 Corinthians)

David Garland writes…

The subject of the preaching, Jesus Christ crucified, was regarded as weak, those who responded to the preacher were regarded as weak, and the preacher of the gospel came off as week. When Paul preached, others questioned his sufficiency for the task (2 Cor. 2:16; 3:5). 

The preacher’s task is not to create a persuasive message at all, but to convey effectively the already articulated message of another.

The message is God’s and it is conveyed by means that look weak, foolish, and unimpressive to the world.

Carrying a placard announcing the crucified Messiah as the glory of God in simple unadorned words make the herald look foolish in the eyes of the world. But such “foolishness” reveals that God, not the messenger, is to be credited for saving those who believe that message. 

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The Silence About The Empty Tomb–A Few Responses

Published by Jeff Kennon on April 11, 2014

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A few days ago Philip Jenkins posed the question: “Why did the New Testament writers, outside of the four gospels, remain silent about the empty tomb of Jesus?” He asked the question seeking an honest answer because…

Suppose I face an atheist critic, who makes the following argument. Yes, he says, early Christians believed that they encountered the risen Jesus, that they had visions, but these visions had no objective reality. They just arose from the hopes and expectations of superstitious disciples. Even then, Christians saw that Resurrection in spiritual, pneumatic, terms. Only after a lengthy period, some forty years in fact, did the church invent stories to give a material, bodily basis to that phenomenon, and the empty tomb was the best known example.

As I have thought some about this question, I have come up with a few ideas as to why the silence.

  • Could it be that no mention of an empty tomb was due to the early NT writers not needing it as an apologetic defense? Paul, for example, is writing to specific churches and addressing specific needs. Is it possible that objective evidence of the resurrection via the empty tomb was not a concern?
  • Along the same thought as the above comment, could it be that the concerns of the early church were not of the miraculous resurrection but of the meaning of it? In other words, the issue was not the empty tomb. Everyone knew the tomb was empty. The issue was why? It might be that the issue was not defending the resurrection as much as defending it’s meaning along with the person and work of Christ.
  • On the other hand, is not the empty tomb implied? If Jesus is alive and the disciples saw him, does this not indicate an empty tomb? Instead of writing the tomb is empty, they wrote, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—(1 John 1:1-2).
  • What would an empty tomb prove? It could prove that Jesus was alive, but it could also mean that someone stole the body or moved it. It appears that the proof of the resurrection for the disciples and others was not due to the empty tomb but due to seeing Christ alive. It was this personal testimony along with the early believers die-hard devotion to it, even unto death, that seemed to be the proof that was needed.

The question remains however, as to why after forty years did the gospel writers pick up the empty tomb story? I think this question is especially interesting due to my point above that an empty tomb does not necessarily prove Jesus is alive.

Is it possible therefore, that the mention of the empty tomb emerges not because of needing proof that Jesus is alive but because the empty tomb is part of the story of Jesus. When the women and disciples came to the tomb, it was empty so that’s what Matthew Mark, Luke, and John recorded (Matthew 28:1-6; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-10).

The gospel writers were not seeking to invent stories to give “a material, bodily basis” for the resurrection. They were recording the life of Jesus of which the empty tomb is a vital part. They weren’t trying to prove the resurrection, but just writing that it did, in fact, occur.

So what are your thoughts? How would you answer Jenkins question?

 

 

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Around The Web

Published by Jeff Kennon on April 10, 2014

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Where Everyone in the World is Migrating – It’s no secret that the world’s population is on the move, but it’s rare to get a glimpse of where that flow is happening. In a study released in today’s Science, a team of geographers used data snapshots to create a broad analysis of global migrations over 20 years.

What Americans Like Best About Their Favorite Teachers – What attribute do Americans find most compelling in the teacher they have identified as having the greatest impact on their lives?

Knowledge and Zeal – Zeal without knowledge is dangerous because we can be deeply and sincerely passionate and completely misguided because we don’t know the truth. Knowledge without zeal is equally dangerous. We can become scholastic bookworms who seek to know more and more about God without knowing Him. What is needed is both zeal and knowledge. 

Millennials and the false “gospel of nice” – One might argue that young evangelicals aren’t fleeing core conservative institutions, but flooding them. Perhaps the doom and gloom story seems familiar – if also wrong – because we’ve heard it so many times before. As young scholar Matthew Lee Anderson puts it, the “change or die narrative is presented as a perennial problem.”

Distracted From Shepherding a Child’s Heart – At some point, putting the phone down becomes a matter of spiritual warfare.

How To Share Your Faith Without Being A Jerk – Why do we sometimes come off like insensitive jerks when telling others about Jesus? I think it comes down to the too-often “forced” nature of our presentations of the gospel. No one needs the way we present the gospel to be a sharp stick that is poked in their eye.

Tim Hawkins on Multitasking – Tim always helps me to laugh at myself!

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To Do Mission is To Eat Lunch

Published by Jeff Kennon on April 9, 2014

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Jesus did evangelism and discipleship around a table with some grilled-fish, a loaf of bread, and a pitcher of wine.

                                                                                            –Tim Chester

Jesus came “eating and drinking.” If there was a party, a dinner, or a wedding, and Jesus was invited, he was there. And such behavior by Jesus baffled the Pharisees. Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners! (Matthew 11:19).

When Jesus eats with the “tax collectors and sinners,” his message is clear: “Jesus has come for losers, people on the margins, people who’ve made a mess of their lives, people who are ordinary. Jesus has come for you. The only people left out are those who think they don’t need God” (p. 30).

Tim Chester, in his book A Meal With Jesus, makes this point of who Jesus came for over and over again. Jesus has come for the lost, the broken, and the disenfranchised. And we know he has come for such people because he pulls up a chair, sits down with them, and has a meal.

In the culture of Jesus day, you had to be careful of who you ate with. This was especially true for the religious leaders. They would never eat with someone who was considered “unclean.” But Jesus broke the rules. Why? Because those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick (Luke 5:31).

To those who needed grace, Jesus offered grace. To those who needed hope, Jesus offered hope. To those who needed salvation, Jesus offered salvation. And Jesus offered these around the table. And this is why Chester believes that we need to learn the power of sharing a meal with others.

“Jesus didn’t run projects, establish ministries, create programs, or put on events,” writes Chester. “He ate meals.” So to do mission is to “routinely share meals with others” (p. 89). Meals don’t save people, but they do present an incredible opportunity to know the heart of another. And to know the heart of another sometimes presents moments to speak of the gospel of grace.

But not only does eating a meal provide an opportunity to get to know someone, it also communicates belonging. At a meal you sit as equals. Chester mentions a homeless women who told him at a soup kitchen that “I know people do a lot to help me. But what I want is for someone to be my friend”(p. 83). What this woman is saying is, “I really wish someone would eat with me so I could feel human again.”

The bottom line for Chester in his book A Meal With Jesus is that what God has called us to do in regards to making disciples is not complicated. He writes, “If you share a meal three or four times a week and you have passion for Jesus, then you will be building up the Christian community and reaching out in mission” (p. 16).

I encourage you to purchase a copy of A Meal With Jesus. It has some good practical theology in regards to mission and hospitality and will leave you rejoicing that God is preparing a feast for us in Heaven.

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Why The Silence On The Empty Tomb?

Published by Jeff Kennon on April 8, 2014

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Philip Jenkins, who is the distinguished professor of history at Baylor University, posted a couple of  intriguing questions yesterday.

He writes…

Beyond debate, the Christian church was founded on Christ’s Resurrection. What can surprise though is how interpretations of that event differ even within the New Testament itself. As I think over these ideas, I’d like to state an issue, and ask for a response. And I really am asking: this is not a rhetorical question.

Here’s the question. Outside the four gospels, does any part of the New Testament refer to the idea of Christ’s empty tomb?

All the New Testament writings believe in Christ’s survival beyond death, in some kind of Resurrection. To the best of my knowledge, though, other than the gospels, none refers to that empty tomb story. That does not necessarily mean that they do not know the story, or do not believe it, but they do not use it anything like a modern apologist would. Why not?

Many scholars of Acts believe that these sermons faithfully reflect the content of early Christian preaching as it would have existed in the later first century. But if that’s true, it’s curious that Peter or Paul never ask their audiences how they explain the mysterious empty tomb. Even if they were embarrassed about using the evidence of women, why do those early preachers not cite the male apostles who entered the tomb?

Why the silence?

What do you think? Why do the early New Testament writers not refer to the empty tomb? Wouldn’t it be important to mention it in regards to Jesus’ resurrection?

Jenkins asks these questions seeking some honest answers. And since Easter is in less than two weeks, I thought it would be good to share his questions in search of some answers as well.

I’ll post some thoughts on these questions later in the week, but for now, how would you respond?

 

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