7 Men

Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas

These brief biographies offer us shining examples to follow. Rather than merely bemoaning our contemporary lack of heroes (or, if you prefer, role models) Metaxas aims to point us to 7 men worthy to become our heroes.

George Washington

His greatest act of integrity was his refusal to seek or accept the title of King. Without his self-control and example the American presidency would not be what it is today.

William Wilberforce

Not only did Wilberforce work tirelessly to abolish slavery, he also fought for the ‘Reformation of Morals’ in general. What did that mean? He aimed to end the widespread child labor, rampant sex trafficking (25 percent of single women in London were prostitutes in his day), bullbaiting, bearbaiting, public hangings (sometimes followed by public dissections), and alcoholism that plagued England. His Christian faith gave him a countercultural view of human life. He believed that each person was of great worth because made in the image of God. That perspective motivated him to make a difference.

Eric Liddell

Best known for refusing to run his event in the Olympics because it was scheduled for the Lord’s Day (aka Sunday), Eric Liddell went on to become a self-sacrificing missionary to China.

Jackie Robinson

Jackie’s faith helped him to stand up against mockery and scorn as he broke the color barrier in major league baseball.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer was a theologian and man of faith who chose to suffer with his people rather than stay in the safety of the USA during WWII. His faith led him to help Jews escape the Nazis and participate in a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. For those deeds he was executed.

John Paul II

Karol Wojtyla sought to demonstrate Christian humility, believe and practice Christian orthodoxy, and extend welcome to those with whom he disagreed.

Charles Colson

Infamous from the Watergate scandal, Chuck Colson was famously ‘born again.’ His conversion to Christianity led him to refuse a lie that would have gotten him off very easily. Instead, he confessed to another crime! Then, when the judge threw the book at him, he took his sentence gracefully. In prison he served his fellow inmates. After his release Church Colson went on to form Prison Fellowship Ministries, helping to bring prison ministry back into popularity among American churches.

Review

Metaxas has written an excellent book. It’s not only well-written, it’s also timely. We need role models. We need to learn from the mistakes and successes of others. We hear altogether too often about moral failures and cowardice at the highest levels of our societies. Perhaps books like this will serve to stem the tide. Perhaps stories of excellence will spur us on to nobler aims.

I knew something about each of these men. But now I’m inspired by each of them. These stories of courage and sacrifice challenge me to follow suit. This is recommended reading.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson for the review copy. 

How bad is bad enough?

Excluding the damaged

We visited Finch Park this evening. Anne brought along bread to feed the mean, hissing geese. Our dog Henry even got in on the fun, barking his happy barks. We noticed that one of the geese was damaged. He swam using just one leg. The damaged goose kept his distance from the others. Then I saw why. It seems that the others were rather vicious towards him when he came near. Anne said that some birds are that way. Sadly, so are some people.

Damaged people often receive our cruelty rather than our compassion. This should never be the case among God’s children. After all, weren’t we all once damaged ourselves?

Are you a bad person?

One day Jesus was invited to join a Pharisee, a devoutly religious man, for a meal. While they ate, a woman who was known for her sinfulness (she may even have been a prostitute) entered. The woman began to weep. Her tears fell on Jesus’ feet as he reclined at the table. She washed his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed them again and again, and then poured perfume onto them.

The Pharisee who invited Jesus thought to himself that perhaps Jesus wasn’t a prophet after all, otherwise he would have recognized what kind of woman she was.

Jesus then asked the man one of those powerful probing questions that still challenge us today:

"A certain moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. "When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him more?" Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have judged correctly." And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. "You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. "You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. "For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." And He said to her, "Your sins have been forgiven." Luke 7:41-48

I don’t think Jesus is saying that we should all go out and do a bunch of nasty stuff so that we can love him better. I think he is reminding us that God has a special relationship with and attraction to those who see their own need. People who are humble, broken, and desperate are magnetic to God. They’re the kind of people he gives extra grace to (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). He draws close to those with broken hearts and contrite spirits (Psalm 51:17; 34:18; Isaiah 57:15; 66:2).

Becoming bad enough

In a way, I hope you can say that you are a bad person – or at least that you were. It turns out that people who were once very bad make the best Christians. Paul the Apostle, for instance, said he was the worst sinner of all (1 Tim 1:15). Paul was a very bad person. Who loved and served Jesus better than Paul? Or what about Peter? He repeatedly denied Jesus in front of people. Just shortly after that Peter, filled with the Spirit, preached the first Christian sermon. After that he began an amazing healing ministry.

May we grow close to our holy God and see ourselves as we are – imperfect. May we have experiences reminiscent of Isaiah’s when that godly man cried out, “Woe is me! For I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips.”

When we see our own inadequacy we learn to lean on and love our God. When we remember our sinfulness we learn to show compassion toward the damaged among us.

Photo by Jim Ario

Resources for Bible Students

Commentaries 

Nelson’sCross-Reference Guide to the Bible – recommended

New Bible Commentary – A good single-volume commentary

IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament – Good resource 

IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament – Good resource

Expositor’s Bible Commentary – NIV based 13 volume set

Expositor’s Bible Commentary – 2 volume Abridged Edition

Tyndale New/Old Testament Commentary – Good set (48 volumes), in-depth without being overwhelming, $480 from CBD

Beacon Bible Commentary – a good resource, this 10 volume set is out of print but can be found used online for $200-300. A new Beacon set is slowly coming out now. Several volumes are available already.

Counterpoints Series – these books are not traditional commentaries. They present different views on controversial topics such as: Four Views of Works at the Final Judgment, Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? Show Them No Mercy: 4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide, Five Views on Sanctification, Understanding Four Views on the Lord’s Supper, Four Views on Eternal Security, Four Views on Baptism, Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, Four Views on Hell, Four Views on Divine Providence, Three Views on the Rapture: Pre-tribulation, Pre-wrath, or Post-tribulation, etc.

Bible Dictionaries

New Bible Dictionary – Recommended

The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary

Atlases

Zondervan Atlas of the Bible

New Bible Atlas

Hebrew/Greek

Mounce’s CompleteExpository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words

The Strongest Strong’s

Online

www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/  -- some excellent resources here!

Freebiblecommentary.org – these commentaries aim to help you dig into the meaning of the text

Studylight.org/com/ -- an impressive array of older commentaries

Software

IVP Essential Reference Collection – Excellent resources at an incredible price

Tyndale New/Old Testament Commentary – Good set (48 volumes), in-depth without being overwhelming

Esword – good free software. Several good and free commentaries are available with it.

Mysword – like Esword but for Android OS, free

Hermeneutics (How to read the Bible)

How to Read the Biblefor All its Worth

Grasping God’s Word

Hermeneutical Spiral – excellent resource (for advanced students only)

Etymology of Cool

He leaned nonchalantly against his 1953 Ford smoking a cigarette and caring about nothing. Dean was his name. And cool was his claim. What made him so cool? Was it his clothing? Yes. But that’s not all. Was it his cigarette? Sure. But the single most important factor in the mix that made him cool...was his coolness.

I knew a cool kid in ninth grade. He showed me some things on the guitar like “Say it Ain’t So” by Weezer. If I remember correctly, the video for that song featured The Fonz – another exemplar of coolness. Anyway, my guitar playing friend didn’t seem to care about much (his marijuana use probably contributed to his uncaring/non-responsive aura). His apathy was cool. He was too cool to care.

The other day I was thinking about the etymology of the term cool. Here’s what I found at the Online Etymology Dictionary site:

Cool (adj.)Old English col "not warm" (but usually not as severe as cold), also, of persons, "unperturbed, undemonstrative," from Proto-Germanic *koluz (cf. Middle Dutch coel, Dutch koel, Old High German kuoli, German kühl "cool," Old Norse kala "be cold"), from PIE root *gel- "cold, to freeze" (see cold (adj.)).  

Applied since 1728 to large sums of money to give emphasis to amount. Meaning "calmly audacious" is from 1825. Slang use for "fashionable" is 1933, originally Black English; modern use as a general term of approval is from late 1940s, probably from bop talk and originally in reference to a style of jazz; said to have been popularized in jazz circles by tenor saxophonist Lester Young.

I had suspected something to that effect. To be ‘cool’ meant to be “unperturbed" before it ever came to be a 'general term of approval'.  

By that early definition, Christianity is not cool. It never has been and never will be . Christianity is certainly not "unperturbed." Christians are disturbed by the wickedness in this world. And we cause a disturbance as we confront and reject the evils of our societies. Neither is Christianity cool in the sense of fashionable. It's always been a counter-cultural religion. It'll never really be fashionable. 

Sadly, many Christians are quite cool. We can see suffering around us and respond with apathy. We can see abortion clinics in our towns and turn a blind eye. Caring so much that you fast and pray and speak with intense earnestness is not en vogue, not even among Christians. Instead of brightly burning flames of passion for God and lost souls we often choose cool complacency. We sacrifice our souls (and the souls around us) at the altar of fashionability and coolness. 

Jesus called his followers to abandon all sorts of things – money, jobs, family, romantic relationships, everything really. But what about our cool? Do we dare to lose our cool for Jesus? Do we dare to care?