Defining Speech
Every discipline has terms that are peculiar to their field. Such a term is known as an argot, the jargon or slang of a particular group. For example, it might be said of a golfer he got an albatross, meaning he made a hole in three under par on a single hole. Or, in baseball, he got a golden sombrero meaning a player struck out four times in a single game.
In medicine reference might be made to something being idiopathic, meaning a condition that appears as a result of treatment for another condition. Or, something being an exacerbation, meaning the deterioration of a condition.
Each discipline knows its own argots, but others don’t necessarily.
This is particularly true in religion. For example someone might say God spoke to me. By using it most Christians do not mean God orally articulated to them, but it means they were given a distinct impression regarding a certain matter. Or, perhaps a certain Bible verse impressed them regarding an action to be taken.
A very important religious expression that confuses some is “God’s Son,” or the “Son of God.” This leaves some people musing over who was Mrs. God?
The term is not used in the sense of prodigy, offspring. It speaks of association, not generation. The dictionary as well as Scripture recognizes the title “son” as referring to association, not generation.
The apostles James and John were called “sons of thunder.” Barnabas was known as “the son of encouragement.”
Following is how the word “Son” as used in the Bible for Jesus is understood within the Christian community.
In Scripture Jesus is called “God’s only begotten Son.” The word “begotten” is a compound of two Greek words used in Scripture. One word is mono, meaning “one.” The other is genes, meaning “kind, type, or species.” Combined they are used to speak of God’s only one of a kind son. The Greek monogenees is used to mean the only one of the same nature as. In Scripture Jesus is not spoken of as a Son of God, but the Son of God.
Two different Greek words are translated “son” in Scripture.
Teknon stresses the fact of human birth. It is used of homo sapiens.
Huios emphasizes dignity and character relationship. It is used of Jesus.
This is the line of logic that leads Christians to revere Jesus as the nexus of God.
As such, Christians believe Jesus was God manifest as a corporeal, touchable, human being: the man/God-God/man.
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2: 9)
Godhead translates Theotetos meaning not just divine attributes, but the very essence, the nature of God, the totality of who God the Father is, His supreme nature.
II Corinthians 4:4 records: “Christ, who is the image of God…” EIKON, “the image of God” means He is the perfect visible likeness of the invisible God.
That enables persons to give the right answers to these questions raised by the brilliant Henry Van Dyke.
“Are you willing to believe love is the strongest thing in the world — stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death — And that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem two thousand years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love?
James the Lesser
Matthew 15:40 and Luke 6:15
James the son of Alphaeus is the most obscure of the apostles. He is the Don Rickles of the band. His is a life in the shadows. He is the unknown apostle, BUT he was an apostle. If you heard a certain person was an astronaut that went to the moon, but you knew nothing else about him you would still know a lot. Much would be known by the standards used to choose them, by their role and responsibilities. So it is with James II.
The two references to him in Scripture simply note who his mother and father were. That’s it!
Family relations are a bit challenging but from cross referencing names it appears this James was a brother of Matthew, a cousin to James and John, and likewise a cousin of Jesus. He and Matthew would be two of the three sets of brothers who were apostles. The other brothers who were apostles were Peter and Andrew.
Alfred Adler, one of the founding fathers of modern psychiatry, says that the desire to be significant is the strongest impulse in human nature. Adler put it ahead of the sex drive which Sigmund Freud put first. The drive to be somebody is a dominant desire.
James is proof there is room for us nobodies to serve Jesus.
The “fit” of James among the apostles is evidence you can’t have anything large without something small.
You can’t have anything great without something less.
You can’t have a book without chapters. You can’t have chapters without paragraphs. You can’t have paragraphs without sentences. You can’t have sentences without words. You can’t have words without letters of the alphabet. The greater consists of the lesser.
You can’t have a universe without a planet. You can’t have a planet without soil and\or sea. You can’t have soil without grains of earth and drops of water. You can’t have earth and water without molecules. You can’t have molecules without atoms. You can’t have the greater without the lesser.
The age defying, continent spanning, globe engulfing ministry of Jesus Christ exists because of the “James the Lessers” live and serve.
“Little James” walked in company with giants. He was a companion of Jesus Christ. That gave him unusual insight. As He chose the others so Jesus chose him because —
HE WAS CHOSEN TO SEE.
“Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it'” (Luke 10:23,24).
He walked with the great of his era on the greatest mission ever assigned.
HE WAS CHOSEN TO SPEAK.
“After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:1-3).
HE WAS CHOSEN TO STAND.
“I send you out as lambs among wolves.” He was brave and courageous. He went.
HE WAS CHOSEN TO SHARE.
After being sent out the apostles came back saying, “Even the devils are subject to us through your name.” Christ replied: “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:17, 18, 20).
Most persons are familiar with the great literary works of John Gresham, Eugenia Price, Max Lucado, etc. Who knows who first devised an alphabet, designed rules of grammar, or set the type for their books? Yet without the work of the unknowns they would not be known.
Millions enjoy the music of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and Verdi. Who knows who devised notes, scales, and rests, the building blocks of music? Without the works of these unknowns the works of the known would not be known.
Many who may be consider “lesser” have impacted our lives. The name of Guido of Arezzo isn’t a household name. The result of his work fills our lives daily. He devised a system of writing music in around 1025 AD. He was a monk who devised a system of noting music. From his thoughtful creativity came bars, clefs, notes, and all needed to record musical sounds.
Some lesser form of recording music may well have been around since the time of Christ. It was Guido who opened the door to written music.
Using his system of recording music on paper the first printed collection of music was the work of Ottaviano de’Petrucci on Venice in 1501. These two who lived 500 years apart were lesser lights who have illumined our worlds with music.
Think of great churches and great preachers and try to recall one renown worker in these churches. Yet, without the many unknowns they would not be known.
Simon, the “unknown celebrity” is typical of the legion of unknown nameless heros of the cross. Service, any service, rendered in Christ’s name is as unto the Lord and may well never be noted. Don’t let a lack of recognition dampen your zeal for the Lord.
Remember: “His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches over me.”
Unknown achievers are many. I’ll give a new gold Cadillac or a mess of collard greens to the person who can tell me who John Walters was. He was a math teacher. He had a young student whose interest in math he kindled. His student was Albert Einstein.
Likely no one has heard of an eleven-year-old who loved to swim named Austin Gallagher. He saved his little eight year old friend from drowning. He struggled to get his little friend to the shore. History would have been different if he had not rescued his little friend Abraham Lincoln.
Most people know the name Sam Walton, but who knows the name, Author Neebler. Walton revolutionized merchandising but not as radically as Author Neebler. The first third of this century most people, men and women, wore “long handles” or as they were known “long John’s.” In the early 1930’s many houses got running water and heat. As a result people started bathing more than once a week. It became inconvenient to struggle with a thin man every time you wanted to bathe. Neebler cut off the legs and arms of “long John’s” to make them more comfortable.
He noticed a picture of a French bathing suit with a unique design. He made a pair and experimented with them in a swimming pool. They were bikini like and were held up by braces. He found they came off easily so he put an elastic band around the waste and called them “jockey shorts.” They gained popularity. However, the shirts were awkward to wear with them so he designed a new shirt called a “T-shirt.” Was it ever popular.
He then set about to sell these new designs. Up until this time merchandise was kept in drawers behind the counter. If you went in to purchase underwear the merchant would go through the drawer and find your size and put it on the counter for you. Neebler came up with the idea of wrapping these underwear in cellophane and putting them out on a table for persons to pick their own. Unpopular at first, the idea caught on and led to today’s style of marketing. The unknown, Author Neebler, revolutionized marketing. He is “James the lesser” of marketing.
The cause of Christ has been carried forth by the myriads of privates in His army.
James may not have performed any great work or made any great speeches by which he could be remembered, but Jesus saw something of worth and value in him which caused Him to select James to be an apostle and thus to be among the inner circle of Christ’s closest associates.
One of God’s biggest challenges with average Christians is helping them to get over thinking they are nobodies. Nobodies? There stands the cross of Christ proving you are somebody.
James the unknown was known by name to God.
He courageously went forth. Historian Hegesippus (169 AD) tells of Annas condemning James. He was taken to the battlement of the Temple and given opportunity to save his life by recanting. Instead he shouted of Christ as the Son of God seated at the Father’s right hand and that He would come in the clouds to judge the world. He was cast down. Surviving the fall James struggled to his knees in prayer. Bypassers stoned him while he prayed for the Father to forgive them. Finally a man standing by with a club struck a blow to his head killing him. The symbol of James in Christian art is a carpenters saw. Why? Because tradition says his body was sawed apart and discarded.
James the Unknown made known Christ.
Not Just to Enter but to Finish – Part Fifteen
“Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (I Corinthians 9: 24 – 27)
In the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City John Stephen Akhwari, a Tanzanian Olympian, became an Olympic icon as an entrant in the marathon. The sun and insufferable heat caused many participants to drop out because of exhaustion, dehydration, cramps, and fatigue. Out of 74 entrants 17 did not finish the grueling race.
In an entanglement with other competitors he suffered a fall injuring his shoulder, leg and head. Spectators along the race route urged him to stop and seek medical assistance. Instead he, at great effort, got up, personally worked his dislocated knee joint into place, and bandaged his significant wounds.
Darkness fell over the stadium, the awards ceremony was over, and most of the spectators had long left the stadium. Only a few hundred remained when out of the darkness of the Mexican night, Akhwari emerged in agony. Those who remained were rewarded by seeing one of the most glorious moments in Olympic history. Spectators rose and applauded him as he crossed the finish line last in the competition, but first in their hearts.
When interviewed and asked about his never-say-die attitude, he responded: “My country did not send me 5,000 miles just to start the race; they sent me to finish the race.”
Akhwari is an example of the loyal Christian in the spiritual race. We have a divine exemplar, Jesus Christ, who experienced suffering and knew pain, yet He remained faithful and finished well. He knows your losses and crosses and offers to sustain you.
As a follower of Jesus you can expect injuries and insults. The goal is to keep the objective in mind. He who faithfully ran His race awaits at the finish line to extend His nail scarred hand and say, “Well done.” Focus on this fact and be encouraged by it.
God’s word appeals: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and LET US RUN WITH ENDURANCE THE RACE THAT IS SET BEFORE US, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Often this passage is interpreted as meaning we are all in the stadium of life with the faithful who have gone before us in the heavenly stadium watching to see if we will be faithful.
It rather depicts those who have gone before us not as spectators watching us, but rather as experienced witnesses testifying to God’s sufficiency in their lives. As He was with them, so He is with us. It is as though they are saying He is able to make you a winner, fight on. They struggled and became victorious. In your struggles, fight on, you, too, can be victorious. Finish strong.
Perseverance Pays Off – Part Fourteen
Wilma Rudolph was born in a poor family at four and a half pounds.
At age four she contracted polio, Scarlet fever, and pneumonia. Her doctor said she would never walk. Over long months of struggle she learned to hobble with a brace. Still her left leg limited that. Her caring mother lovingly urged her on. With courage and perseverance she learned to run, not only to run, but to run fast.
Her mother had a deep Christian faith and taught her that God had a purpose in her life saying, “Honey, you have to believe in God and never give up hope.”
At age 16 she made the Olympic team. Folks in her hometown made up money for her to go to Melbourn, Australia. She lost her first race, the 200 meter, but her relay team won the bronze, her first Olympic medal.
Four years later, Wilma was back. At the 1969 Olympics in Rome, Italy, her speed was legendary. People would say, “Don’t blink or you will miss her.”
During the 100 meter race, the crowd began screaming. Wilma looked behind her. She was way ahead of everyone. When the race ended Willma had won her first gold medal.
The relay race wasn’t so easy. Wilma dropped the baton as it was handed to her. She saw runners race ahead of her. With a great burst of speed, Wilma caught up with all of them and sped by them. Wilma had won her third gold medal.
Wilma died on November 12, 1994, but she still inspires people today. Each year the Women’s Sports Foundation gives the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award to a woman athlete who shows the kind of strength Wilma had.
Wilma was an avid reader of the Bible and a follower of Jesus to whom she gave praise. Of her struggles and successes she said, “Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle.”
As you struggle, and we all do, consider it a part being used by the Lord to make you stronger spiritually.
“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40: 31)
Winning the Greatest Race – Part Thirteen
“Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (I Corinthians 9: 24 – 27)
Carl Lewis’ name is etched into Olympic history. In the toughest of Olympic sports, track and field, few have dominated for so long. The record speaks for itself: Lewis’ first Olympic Games was Los Angeles 1984. His career lasted until the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. During this time, he won 10 Olympic medals, including 9 gold. Outside the Olympics, he won 10 World Championship medals, including eight gold. He set world records in the 100m, 4 x 100 m and 4 x 200 m relays.
The result of these performances was a host of awards and recognition. In 1999, Lewis was voted “Sportsman of the Century” by the International Olympic Committee, elected “World Athlete of the Century” by the International Association of Athletics Federations and named “Olympian of the Century” by Sports Illustrated.
Lewis spoke of the importance of his faith. “Knowing I have the Lord with me, I feel that there is no greater strength that I could have going into a competition. To inherit the kingdom of God, it didn’t matter that I had accomplished a feat that day only accomplished once before, and that by the legendary Jesse Owens. I had to do what everyone must do: avail myself of what Jesus Christ’s death on the cross made possible; salvation for anyone who calls on the name of Jesus Christ.”
Carl postures himself as having done what he said everyone needs to do, avail Himself of what Jesus Christ’s death on the cross made possible.
Faith in Jesus is essential resulting from Jesus’ death on the cross. Salvation has been defined as follows. “You walk up to a bridge in the woods and you consider whether or not it will hold you up. You investigate the piers anchored to the ground. You look underneath it to see if you notice any damage. Finally, you are convinced the bridge will hold you up.
But saving faith isn’t just looking at the bridge and believing it will hold you up. Saving faith is crossing the bridge. The bridge is Christ. He alone is the object of saving faith. You must not merely study Christ and have a sound understanding of who He is and what He has done.”
It entails a faith commitment resulting from believing in Jesus’ substitution death on the cross with the result being the removal of the sins of the one who trusts Him. It furthermore involves Jesus’ righteousness being credited to your spiritual account.
Carl said, “I had to do what everyone must do….” If you have never done it, now is a good time to do so.