Robert Lowery » Bob’s Thoughts

Your Exegetical Model?

bob — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:00:14 +0000

Last week I had the privilege of once again teaching Preaching from the New Testament. Over the years I have team-taught the course with Wayne Shaw, Chuck Sackett, and now Jeff Snell. This semester is the second semester Jeff and I have partnered together, and in light of his giftedness as a teacher and how well-read he is, I am looking forward to growing in my knowledge of preaching.

At one point during the first day, Jeff asked the question: Who is your model preacher? From whom did you learn homiletics? The answers were delightful. But then I thought that I had never asked the question: Who is your model exegete? From whom did you learn how to study the Bible?

So I invite you to weigh in on this question. Please be as personal or as impersonal as you wish (anonymous or not), I believe visitors would like to hear you response to the above. Who and how has someone in your life (a professor, a Sunday School teacher, a preacher, etc.) shaped you in your approach to Scripture?

Summer Update

bob — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:52:14 +0000

Dear Readers,

It’s been a good summer for me, and I praise God for the time. First off, I was able to get significant rest (Doctor’s orders!). I feel the best I have felt in many months. My weight remains stabilized, my color is good, and my energy level, though still not up to where it was two or more years ago, is pretty decent.

Second, for the eighteenth summer I had the privilege of teaching at Haus Edelweiss, just outside of Vienna, Austria. This year I taught on the subject of eschatology to students from Russia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. What a marvelous group of people to study with!

Third, near the end of July our three families (Marilyn and me, Brian and Sarah and Eden, and Joe and Rachel, along with Carissa, Jocelyn and Dawson) spent a week together in beautiful Door County (Wisconsin).

Fourth, we returned from Wisconsin on Saturday, July 24, and departed for Brown County in southern Indiana on July 25 and stayed until July 30. A gracious friend provided funds for me to rent a small log cabin in the middle of the woods (a cabin built in the 1830s, by the way) so that I could have a getaway to write. And write I did. I praise God that I was able to finish the commentary up through Revelation 19, and I got a good start on Revelation 20-22. I ask you to join me in praying that, Lord willing, I will complete the work by the end of this calendar year. God provided the place for me to write and the funds to underwrite the project, and I am deeply grateful.

Finally, classes begin for me on Tuesday, August 31. For the twenty-seventh year I will be team-teaching Scripture in Context with my colleague and friend, Dr. Gary Hall. I have learned much from him over the years, and I am looking for joining with him once again. I am teaching I-II Thessalonians during the October intensive week and then Dr. Jeff Snell and I are teaching a class on preaching from the New Testament. We meet four times, one Thursday a month from September through December.

I am eager to begin and covet your prayers that I will teach with strength and clarity.

On Tuesday, September 7, I return to the hospital for a scan to see if the cancer has progressed any. Please pray for Marilyn and me and our family. We will be told the results on September 9. Frankly, I am praying for continued respite, but whatever the news, I hope that I may continue teaching and writing.

Your eternal friend,

Bob

Jocelyn: My Littlest, Mightiest Prayer Warrior

bob — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:30:44 +0000

In late July our three families took a vacation together, our first ever: Brian, Sarah, and Eden, along with Joe, Rachel, Carissa, Jocelyn, and Dawson, and Marilyn and me. We journeyed to beautiful Door County (Wisconsin) where we stayed a week. I loved the time together—the stories, the boat cruises, the miniature golf outings, the shopping, trying new restaurants and revisiting familiar ones, the laughter around the dining table, and countless conversations.

Marilyn and I had decided to take Carissa (6) and Jocelyn (4) with us a day or two ahead of the others. The first night we were scheduled to stay in the Milwaukee area. We had printed out directions but we got lost. We had rented a van, and the girls were sitting in the middle row and heard a rather spirited conversation going on between Papa and Grandma! Jocelyn piped up: “Papa, have you ever considered getting a Garmin GPS?” To which Carissa added, “Mommy and Daddy say that it has saved their marriage. Maybe it will help yours!” We all started laughing. The discussion was ended, and we found the hotel, at last. Marilyn had been right about what exit to take.

A few days later, I was sitting out on the deck of the house we had rented, enjoying the cool breeze coming off Lake Michigan. Jocelyn opened the sliding door and came out to join me. We were alone. She sat down beside me and reminded me of an encounter she and I had with a neighbor of ours in Lincoln just a few days earlier. This gracious neighbor had said to Jocelyn and me: “Bob, we pray for you often.” Jocelyn replied: “Well, we pray for papa every night!”

As we were sitting out on the deck, Jocelyn asked me how I was feeling. It had been a particularly demanding day–too much walking. I told her, and I asked her to pray for me. The darkness was coming on. Jocelyn grew silent, and I could barely make her out even though she was sitting right next to me. She was silent for several seconds. I asked her: “Jocelyn, what are you doing?” She replied: “Papa, you asked me to pray for you, and that is what I was doing. Daddy always tells Carissa and me that whenever someone asks us to pray, we should do so as soon possible.”

Amen!

By the way, late last week we bought a Garmin GPS. Our marriage is getting stronger.

Amen!

1:45 in the Morning with Robin Mark

bob — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:15:32 +0000

A few days ago I had what I call a Deuteronomy 28:66-67 moment:

Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread, and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening, you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your heart shall feel.

I tip my hat to the context: God is warning Israel about what will happen if the nation is not faithful to the covenant. But on this particular day, I applied the two verses to my life.

It had been a rough day. One of my friends had been wounded, and I did not know what to say or do. Ministry is like that on occasion. I was down about my physical and spiritual struggles. The night did not bring peace whatsoever. The Tempter stole his way into our house. I was alone, and I was overwhelmed by anxiety, frustration, and anger. So I got up out of bed and began cleaning—dusting, running the sweeper, putting things away, even doing a load of laundry. And I was still restless.

Around 1:45 I decided to listen once again to Northern Ireland’s Robin Mark. His newest recording is entitled Year of Grace and it is marvelous. One song especially brought comfort, “All is Well” (listen to the song on YouTube):

He lowers us to raise us
So we can sing his praises
Whatever is His way all is well
He makes us rich and poor
That we might trust Him more
Whatever is His way all is well
All my changes come from Him, He who never changes
I’m held firm in the grasp of the Rock of all the ages
All is well with my soul
He is God in control
I know not all his plans
But I know I’m in His hands
He clothes us now then strips us
Yet with His Word equips us
Whatever is His way all is well
And though our seasons change
We still exalt His name
Whatever is His way all is well

Some put their hope in chariots and princes. Others put their hope in the wisdom of oncologists, the cathedrals we call hospitals, and the nourishment we find in the latest medications. God can certainly use all these to bring healing. But they are worthless without faithful praying and hopeful living. Ultimately, I must place my faith in Jesus.

And so after listening to Robin Mark I went back to bed, prayed some, cried some, and remembered some, and then I fell asleep in Jesus. But the last song I thought of before I closed my eyes was a psalm that Jesus sang at the end of the Passover Meal as he was heading to the garden: I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death. . . . This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:17-18,24).

A Message from the Lord?

bob — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:15:32 +0000

One of my colleagues received a message from the Lord via one of our former seminary students:

The Lord said concerning Dr. Lowery that he is constantly receiving the glory that belongs to Him and that is why He will increase his infirmity. That dust he will come, dust he will go. He needs to repent. . . . I reluctantly did not want to deliver this message because I know that you and your colleagues might not receive this message, but I am doing this now because . . . as I go on my knees to pray, these words of the Lord are still heavy upon my heart. The Lord constantly asked me to deliver this message to you and this is why I am doing it right now to be free of any guilt. . . . If you and your colleagues have any questions regarding this message, I advise you to direct it to God for I am just the messenger and I do not have any answer.

In the last several months I have received many messages, but never one directly from the Lord via a self-styled prophet. I have received words of encouragement, challenges to examine my walk with the Lord, written prayers, and even counsel concerning remedies for the cancer.

Is this truly a message from the Lord? When I had the word passed on to me, I recalled I Thessalonians 5:19 where Paul writes: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” The context clearly indicates that we must discern any prophetic messages and accept the good and reject the evil.”

I have concluded that the message is an evil word from a false prophet.

First, note in the first paragraph how he does not deliver the message to me but rather chose to deliver it to a colleague. This prophet is a cruel coward.

Second, note in the same paragraph where he does not want to be held accountable for what he has delivered: if we have any questions, we must turn to God. Such a “prophet” may not want to be held accountable by the Christian community, so I shall leave it up to God to hold him accountable.

Third, this “prophet” did cause me to reflect on what I have been saying these last few months and how I have been acting. He has challenged my motives and has concluded that I am receiving glory rather than God. Frankly, I paused and reflected on this. Visitors to this site and those who have talked with me know that my fervent prayer from the very beginning has not been for healing but rather that first and foremost that God be glorified. With regard to repentance, there is not a day that passes that I do not confess and repent.

Finally, I recall a story told by the Scottish professor, William Barclay. His daughter died in a boating accident and a person wrote to Barclay telling him that God had taken his daughter because of Barclay’s liberalism. I will echo Barclay’s response to this person in responding to this false prophet: Your God is my Devil.

A word from the Lord? I think not.

Health Update – 20 June 2010

bob — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:43:04 +0000

Colleagues and friends–

I went to see my oncologist Thursday, June 17, after having had a scan earlier in week. The scan showed no new growth of additional tumors and no growth of the tumors already there. My doctor told us that given the kind of cancer I have, it was a delight for her to share with us that the cancer has not advanced in the last three months. She said this is quite remarkable. Praise the Lord! Of course, this does not mean that I am cancer-free, but at least it appears as if the current treatments are having some benefits. Her recommendation is that I continue taking the special cancer medication, continue getting a monthly injection to help minimize the symptoms, continue getting sufficient rest, and continue to monitor what I eat and drink. The key word that the doctor kept repeating is that I am currently stable. (For anyone in the Lowery family to be stable is quite remarkable!)

She encouraged me to do what I love to do: teaching, preaching, writing, mentoring students, spending time with family and friends, and in her words, “enjoying God’s goodness.”

Please join us in praising God for this respite, no matter how long it lasts. We thank you for being on this journey with us.

Who is John Stott?

bob — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:33:15 +0000

This piece by David Brooks, “Who is John Stott,” appeared in the November 30, 2004, edition of The New York Times. John Stott has been one of the most influential people in my life, even though from a distance. The first book I read by him was Basic Christianity, and I believe I have read every publication of his since the mid 1960s. I have heard him speak and briefly met him many years ago. He is a disciple of Jesus who models servant-leadership. May God raise up more men like him.

12 Reflections on War in the Book of Revelation

bob — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:19:32 +0000

The STORY of the Bible is the STORY about warfare: God is a warrior (Exod. 15:3), and from Old Testament to New Testament times up to the present, God has called upon his people to be a warring people (Eph. 6:10ff.).
As a Story, Revelation develops this theme of war from the first chapter to the last (Rev. 1:5b-6,8; 2:7, 11,17,26; 3:5,12,21; 5:5; 17:14; 19:15, etc.).
God is commander-in-chief, and through the centuries, God’s people make up his army.
On the other hand, Satan is the commander-in-chief of the forces of evil. His army is made up of individuals, institutions, and different kinds of structures (e.g., economic, etc.).
God is commander-in-chief who is both for and against his people, depending upon their own faithfulness or lack of loyalty.
Jesus was a divine warrior, opposing and defeating the forces of evil (Matt. 3:11-12; 10:34; Col. 2:13-15; Eph. 4:8).
The Church, the Body of Christ, is to be the Church of warriors, confronting the forces of evil and bringing liberation to prisoners-of-war.
Consider the make-up of the armies, the strategies, the weapons, the outcome, the battlers, the defeats and the victories, etc.
Though Satan has been defeated, he is still able to make war. The period between the cross and the final coming is the time between the battle that secured the ultimate victory and the final defeat and cessation of hostility.
In the meantime the battle continues, and the church is called upon to wage war against God’s enemies just as Israel was God’s army in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God and his people fight against flesh and blood enemies. In the New Testament, Jesus directs the church in a battle against the spiritual forces of evil while it also anticipates the climactic war that takes place at the end of history.
Like Yahweh who rode clouds into battle on behalf of his people (Ps. 68:4; Dan. 7:13; Nahum 1:3), Jesus will return as a warrior (Rev. 1:7; see also 19:11-17; 20:7ff.). And yet, there is NO BATTLE! In the words of Martin Luther, “One little word shall fell him” (the “him” being Satan).
“The safest place to be is on the battlefield with Christ.” Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination, p. 160.

11 Reflections on Witness in the Book of Revelation

bob — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:02:36 +0000

A witness is someone who “testifies” to the truth he or she holds. As God’s people, we are to witness to the covenant that exists between God and us, and we are called to invite others to enter into that covenant relationship as well.
The Greek word for “witness” is “martyr.” Such witness may mean martyrdom. The witnesses who testify to the saving death of Jesus may seal that testimony with their own death (Rev. 6:9; 12:11; 17:6; 20:4-6).
God’s people are called to be a standing “witness” to the covenant (Isa. 43:12; 44:8; 55:4). In the New Testament we read of John the Baptist bearing witness to Christ (John 1:15,19,32-34). We who benefit from the work of Christ become witnesses because we are filled with the Spirit (John 15:26-27; Acts 1:22; 10:41; 22:15).
The Christian life is a life of imitation of Christ: as he was the faithful witness (Rev. 1:5b-6), so we are to be faithful witnesses (Rev. 2:13; 11:3; 17:6; 20:4). The witness theme is found in the first chapter (1:6,12) and in the last chapter (22:17).
In John’s day, the terms “witness” or “to testify/witness” were legal terms. The world was bringing witness against Christians, and Christians were bringing witness against the world by the way they lived and by what they called upon people to do. Christians may be on trial; but ultimately the world is on trial. God will render the verdict of “Guilty” or “Not guilty” on the basis of their response to the witness concerning Christ, a witness proclaimed by the Church.
There are two kinds of witnessing emphasized in Revelation: lifestyle and verbal.
Christians must speak the Gospel truth in good times and in bad times.
Sometimes speaking the truth can get you into trouble; sometimes it can get you killed.
Christians who witness will be vindicated by Jesus (12:10; 20:4-6).
Witnesses throughout the Bible are roundly criticized by God if they fail to tell the truth, the whole truth and noting but the truth. Of course, they may well stand condemned by the world for telling “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
In commenting on the rejection of the Church in Revelation 11, one author wrote: “The passage shows that the Church has something more important to do than simply to survive. It is set in the world to bear witness to men, even when the witness is resisted with force. The darker the hour, the more need for the Churches to be what they are: lamps, through which Christ’s light shines. Witnesses may be crushed, and lamps put out, but in the end both witness and light achieve their desired object: men give glory to God.” George Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation, p. 181.

10 Reflections on Worship in the Book of Revelation

bob — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:00:57 +0000

“Worship is our response to God’s initiative” (Dr. Dinelle Frankland, Professor of Worship Ministry, Lincoln Christian Seminary).
Revelation’s notion of worship fits in with the teaching of Jesus (see John 4:23) and Paul (Rom. 12:1-2).
John focuses on both a narrow and a broad view of worship: We must cherish the times when we can celebrate God’s faithfulness and give him glory as a community, and we must also realize that worship is ultimately 24/7/365. The corporate worship gathering prepares us to worship God when we are “alone,” trying to live out our lives as faithful disciples of Jesus. The worship we offer God on a daily basis makes us eager to be reunited with brothers and sisters so that we can praise God and encourage one another.
Not only is there good worship, there is also bad worship: Everybody’s gotta worship somebody!
The worship we offer to God in this life foreshadows the perfect worship we will offer to God when God brings the new heaven and new earth.
The worship we offer on earth should mirror the worship the saints and heavenly beings are offering to God in his presence.
In Revelation worship is an act of war.
In Revelation worship offered to God is voluntary; the Dragon forces worship or seduces people to worship him.
Worship serves as a link uniting the past, the present, and the future.
“Liturgy plays the part it does in Revelation because of the conviction that what people do in their worship lies behind what they do in the world: if God is truly acknowledged, the war at the heart of things is resolved.” (J.P.M. Sweet, Revelation, p. 20).

(And one more — “The worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the basis on the terms that he proposes and in the way that he alone makes possible.” David Peterson, Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, p. 20.)