SCRIPTURE:
“11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
1 John 5:11
PROMISE
Kanye West and Charity gave me the same advice…
In a conversation with Charity she mentioned that she wants to hear more expository preaching. Expository preaching is (this is without a google search and off the tope of the dome) preaching that teaches the historical context of the scripture, focuses on less verses, uses Greek and Hebrew to interpret, and after teaching all that, it takes the lessons that the first century Jews and followers of Jesus would have learned and brings those lessons into our context. It’s quite complicated. But many people feel it’s the faithful way to preach. Even Kanye West!
There’s a clip of Kanye talking about expository preaching and why he prefers it. Kanye defines it as preaching that goes “line for line.” Kanye says
“[I don’t] need any sauce on the word. [I] need the word to be solid food.”
- Kayne West
One writer vouches that Kanye is for “Expository, not extra-sauce-itory,” preaching.
Well, I would just say that this is a preference in preaching style. To say that there is one way of preaching that is faithful is to put judgement on preachers that don’t preach like this who are still called by God. BUT! I like expository. So let’s do some expository devotionals. The only thing is that expository devotionals will take longer because there’s research involved. It’s like a mini Bible study. Let’s focus on today for example. Many people believe that John, Jesus’ beloved disciple, wrote this scripture in his old age.
Let’s stop right there for the sake of time. What does eternal life mean to a follower of Jesus who is in his old age? How important is it to him or to her? We don’t even have the time to breakdown the dual nature of eternal life, the Jewish belief of heaven, the messiah’s role in heaven, and so many other important notes. But we can talk about the dual nature of eternal life. Eternal life is a place the we go to in the after-life and a life that we can experience in this life by imitating Christ. Like Kanye’s Sunday Choir says in the song Paradise,
“Oh, we knew life would be alright
But who could have known it’d be this good?
Oh, Lord
It gets better, better, better, better
Give your life to Christ, he’ll give you paradise”- “Paradise”
Well, as a Christian are you experiencing a sort of “paradise,” on earth? Is this Christmas season a reminder that even in the midst of pandemic we can experience eternal life because we are in Christ? I don’t know. Lots of questions and theories to consider in today’s devotional. But for now chew on this. What do you think about expository preaching?
How does the meaning of eternal life change near the end of your life, like John. In reference to death? What does that mean in today’s world to older people who are afraid of Covid? What does eternal life mean to them? Think about eternal’s life double meaning?
That is can be experienced here as a sort of “paradise.”
Are you living in paradise?