Listen in Order to Love

Dr. John Kleinig has a 14-week course on Christian Spirituality freely available here.  In lecture 7a, while teaching on Deuteronomy 6:4-9, he refers to the first word (shema; hear, listen) as the most important noting it is an imperative verb.  This is followed by the waw-consecutive perfect "you shall love the Lord … "  He mentions that in these cases the waw-consecutive perfect can be imperatives or commands, so that the translation is as found in most English translations hear … love, but the more common force of the grammar indicates purpose, result, or consequence resulting in the translation hear … in order that you may love.  This puts an entirely different light on the passage.

Previously, believers looked at this passage as needing to work with the greatest fervency that can be mustered knowing that it will never be enough because we certainly fail because of the old man still working in us.  This new way of viewing the passage frees us because the emphasis for empowerment is God.  We are on a continuously learning path of life if we remain close to his word and receive from him.  Ours then is to accept what is freely given, walk in it, and pass it along to another so they might do the same.  The love, then, becomes the natural outgrowth of this process causing the fervency and desire to increase.  It is not manufactured by artificial or contrived stimulation but results from a life of obedience in the Lord.

Jesus taught this was the greatest commandment, but the second like it also mentions love—this time to our neighbor.  Since he put these together, we can deduce that the same thought is in view: if we listen to the voice of God through hearing and reading his word, it results in our love for those around us.  The Sanhedrin's problem was that the members had mostly closed their ears and minds to what God was telling his people through this special revelation.

Later in the Upper Room, Jesus would give his disciples a new commandment:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.  (John 13:34-35)

Seen in the light of what we have reviewed, Jesus is not so much heaping on the demand for greater exertion or deliberation in the command to love but rather adding himself as the supreme example to follow—what I have done and will do, you do also—then reinforced what he said earlier by explicitly teaching:

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.  These things I command you, so that you will love one another.  (John 15:12-17)

And there at the end Jesus comes full circle with a repetition of what was given through Moses to Israel: listen so that you will love.

A common plight in liberal churches is performing acts of "love" in order to gain merit in God's sight and somehow outweigh the lifetime of bad.  Sadly, a great preponderance of evangelical Christians do the very same.  Believing in Christ as their ticket to heaven, they try to gain a special sanctification status or build their heavenly treasure trove to overflowing, when in reality none of it is of ourselves.  All we have materially and spiritually is from the Father who blesses us for Christ's sake.  We live out what has been richly bestowed in the Beloved.

Rejoicing in God as He Rejoices in Us

Praise is, in fact, one of the sacrifices that please [God] most of all (Heb 13:15-16).  What’s more, he has created the church as his choir to stand before him and praise him. He has appointed us as his praise singers for the good of the world and its people, for through our praise he reveals his glory and his grace to suspicious people in a fallen world.  When we sing our songs of praise in the divine service we preach the gospel with the whole of our being to each other and the world.  Our praises disclose the mystery of Christ, the incarnate Son of God, who reaches out to us in word and sacrament, to fill us with the Holy Spirit and give us access to God the Father.  In praise the church not only announces that heaven has come to earth in Jesus; it also receives a foretaste of heaven as it gives thanks and adores the triune God.  So then, by praising God we enjoy him and share our enjoyment of him with others.  That’s why God is so pleased with our orthodoxy, our right praise of him.  We rejoice in him as he rejoices in us.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

Praise Transforms the Worshiper

We are transformed as we praise the triune God.  As sinners we are turned in on ourselves and seek our own glory.  Like Narcissus we admire ourselves and boast of our achievements.  But praise of God changes our orientation, the idolization of ourselves.  It takes us out of ourselves and opens us up to the glory of God.  As we contemplate and glorify our Lord Jesus, we too are glorified (2 Cor 3:18).  We become what we are meant to be, people who reflect the glory of our Creator.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

Adoration of God Gives Us a Foretaste of Heaven

All thanksgiving ultimately leads to adoration of God (2 Cor 4:15).  When we stand before him and discover what he is like, we cannot but adore him.  That’s what the angels do as they surround him and serve him in heaven (Rev 4:11; 5:12; 7:11-12).  They sing: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty” (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8).  As they stand before him and see the glory of his Son, they sing: “Glory” (Ps 29:9; Rev 5:13).  Ever since the incarnation of our Lord they invite us to stand with them before God the Father in the divine service and join with them in giving glory to him (Luke 2:13).  Our adoration of God therefore gives us a foretaste of heaven.  As we adore the triune God we begin to do on earth what we will do forever in heaven; we begin to enjoy our God who is so good and great that we never come to the end of our enjoyment of him.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

Angels Assist Us in Praising the Triune God

Since Christ has become incarnate and is now present with us to bring us peace and make us holy, we adore him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, by singing these songs together with the angels and the whole communion of saints.  The angels, who have been appointed as liturgising spirits to serve us, assist us in our adoration of the Triune God (Heb 1:14; 12:22).

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

Praise Plants God's Word Deeper So To Praise Him More

Paul speaks about this kind of praise-full proclamation [of God's goodness] in Colossians 3:16 and explains how it functions in the church.  He says: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you and hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”  The last clause could also be translated: “as you sing about God with Spirit-produced psalms and hymns and songs with grace in your hearts.”  Praise begins with Christ himself.  Through his word, the message of the gospel, he teaches us God’s grace and speaks that grace to us.  By his word he gives us the reason for our praise and its content.  And more than that, he actually produces our praise by giving us his Holy Spirit through his word.  So then, the more Christ’s word dwells in a congregation, the richer and fuller its praise.  This affects us corporately and personally.  On the one hand, by the use of songs that are inspired by God’s word and full of the gospel we teach and admonish each other to take in God’s grace and to praise him for his grace.  We therefore proclaim the gospel to each other in our songs of praise.  On the other hand, as we sing the psalms and hymns and songs that the Holy Spirit generates, Christ plants his word deeper and deeper into the hearts of each person.  The sung word imbeds God’s grace there, so that it can bear its full fruit in our lives.  That grace produces thankfulness, a sense of overwhelming gratitude at the generosity of God.  That, in turn, issues in greater praise.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

Praise Communicates God's Goodness

God does not need us to flatter him, but he does want us to tell others about his goodness, so that they too will put their trust in him and enjoy his good gifts.  And that is what we do when we praise him in songs that proclaim his goodness.  In fact, most psalms of praise do just that.  They do not address the Lord, but address the congregation and anyone else who cares to listen.  They sing about God and his goodness.  These psalms have three main parts to them.  First, they name the Lord and announce his presence in the divine service.  Second, they praise his goodness and speak about the good things that he has done.  Third, they invite their hearers to join with his people in receiving his gifts and praising him for his generosity.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

Jesus Leads in Songs of Praise

Jesus leads the church in its songs of praise.  He does not just proclaim his Father’s name to those who are his brothers and sisters; he invites them to join with him as their lead singer. He teaches them to praise by giving them his word (Col 3:16) and his Holy Spirit (Eph 5:18-20).  The church then sings its songs of praise together with Jesus.  This amazing result of the incarnation is expressed in a number of different ways in the New Testament.  Both individuals (Rom 1:8) and the church (Rom 7:25; Col 3:17) give thanks to God the Father through Jesus. They give thanks to him in the name of Jesus (Eph 5:20).  Jesus is also the leader of the church in its performance of doxology.  As people who serve with Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary we give glory to God through Jesus (Rom 16:27; 1 Pet 4:11; Jude 25) and in Christ Jesus (Eph 3:21).  So, since we have Jesus as our great high priest who is physically related to us and able to stand in for us physically with his heavenly Father, we are to offer a sacrifice of praise to God through Jesus (Heb 13:15).

The church then follows Jesus in singing its songs and in performing its praises.  It does not, however, sing its own song; it sings the song that it receives from him.  Nor does it sing that song by itself with its own instruments.  The vision of St John in Revelation 15:2-4 shows how the saints hold ‘the harps of God’ in their hands as they sing ‘the song of the Lamb’.  The song of the Lamb is the song of Jesus, the song that he sings as he adores his divine Father.  Jesus does not copyright that song, but he makes it freely available to us.  We can sing it with him because he sings it for us, like a mother teaching her child to sing.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

Our Vocation As Praise-Singers

St Paul explores the implications of [a new song of praise sung by a new human/angelic choir] in Ephesians 1:3-14.  As he writes this extravagant sentence, he contrasts the new choir created by Christ with the old choir at the temple.  The temple choir had been appointed to praise God for the blessings that the Israelites had received from him here on earth.  Each of the musicians had been given their allotted place at the temple before the Lord.  Their vocation from God was to praise him whenever they were rostered for duty there at the temple.  But now Christ has created a new cosmic choir.  The church is that choir.  By his incarnation he has united earthlings with angels, just as he has united Jews and Gentiles by his death on the cross.  Both human beings and angels are now subject to his headship.  He has redeemed people and made them holy by their union with him.  They now have the same status as Jesus.  They share in his sonship and have every blessing that belongs to him as God’s Son.  They join the angels in a single choir that spans heaven and earth.  That choir consists of both Jews and Gentiles.  Through the incarnation of Jesus, human beings have access to the heavenly realm as they continue to live on earth.  Both angels and people have the same vocation as praise singers.  Those who have been redeemed by Christ have been appointed as praise-singers for God the Father here on planet earth.  They are called to live for the praise of God’s glory (Eph 1:6,12,14).

They cannot do this in his absence.  In and through Jesus they praise God the Father as those who stand ‘holy and blameless before him’ (Eph 1:4), for Christ has united them bodily with himself and has taken them bodily with himself into the Godhead.  As recipients of God’s grace they sing the song of God’s amazing grace to the world.  In fact, God is so utterly good and gracious, so much more generous, philanthropic, and loving than the best human being, that they can only communicate something of that grace by wholehearted, full-bodied praise.  The praises of the church then are full of wonder and amazement at the great mystery of the incarnation, by which the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily in Jesus, so that we humans can come to fullness of life in and through him.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

God's Presence Inspires Praise

The song of praise performed a very significant theological function in the temple service.  It was not spoken to God as a gesture of flattery, or even as an act of adoration, but was addressed to the congregation.  As is shown in 1 Chronicles 16:7-36, David proclaimed the goodness and steadfast love of the Lord to the congregation through the choir.  He called on the people of Israel and all the nations to join him in seeking God’s gracious presence and praising him to the whole world.  The song of praise therefore proclaimed the Lord’s name and his saving deeds to all people.  It acknowledged his presence and announced his availability to his people.  The presence of God in grace inspired the song of praise, even as the song of praise made his gracious presence known to its hearers.

This connection between access to God’s presence and the performance of praise is shown most vividly by the account of the dedication of the temple by Solomon in 2 Chronicles 5:11-14.  This story tells us that after the priests had placed the ark in the inner sanctuary of the temple and had come out of the temple, the full choir began to sing a song of praise to the accompaniment of lyres and harps.  As soon as they began to sing the Lord’s song, the glorious presence of the Lord filled the temple.  But the glory of the Lord was not seen, because it was hidden in a cloud.  It was revealed to the people audibly to the human ear in the song of praise, rather than visibly to the human eye.  The performance of praise in music and song disclosed the hidden presence of the Lord and announced his acceptance of the people.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

Christ's Incarnation: Our Basis for Praise

In his great vision of heavenly worship in Revelation 5:6-10, St John sees twenty-four elders singing a new song.  The elders, twelve for the patriarchs of Israel and twelve for the apostles of Christ, represent the people of God in both testaments.  As John watches, they rise from their thrones and fall down before Jesus the Lamb, because he has just received the sealed scroll from God.  That scroll is his script for the last act in the drama of world history.  Each of the elders holds two things in their hands, a lyre for accompanying their songs of praise, and a bowl full of incense for presenting the prayers of the saints to God.  As they fall prostrate before Jesus, they sing a new song of praise to him.  In this song they acknowledge that by his sacrificial death, Jesus has created a new international priesthood for God.  Their task is to reign with him on earth.  And they reign in a strange way indeed.  As those who stand before God and have access to him, they reign by their performance of prayer and praise.

This vision shows us how singing of praise is connected with the incarnate Christ.  He himself has created this priestly choir by his self-sacrifice as the Lamb.  This choir now performs its song of praise in his presence here on earth.  In music and song it acknowledges and praises him.  It sings its song together with all the angels and the whole of creation (Rev 5:11-14; cf. Ps 148:1-14).  By that song it proclaims the hidden kingship of Christ to the world and announces what he is doing as the cosmic world ruler.  He does not reign as the Lion of Judah, but as the Lamb of God.  In its song of praise the church proclaims the presence of the incarnate Son of God and tells of his work as the redeemer of the world.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

Christians Are Called To Praise God

We Christians are called to praise the triune God.  That, in fact, is the main purpose of our life here on earth (1 Pet 2:9).  It is part of our vocation as members of God’s royal priesthood.  We have been redeemed from a life of suspicion and mistrust to be praise singers.  This is no occasional task, something we do once a week, or every now and then when we feel moved to do so.  Nor is it something that we do by ourselves.  Since we belong to the church, we have joined God’s heavenly choir here on earth.  This means that our whole life is, in some way, caught up in praising God.  We are well-placed to do so, because we, like the holy angels, have access to God and grace.  Since we stand in the light of his presence, we can reflect that light in our rejoicing.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

Holiness

On the Sept. 21st broadcast of Issues Etc., Dr. John Kleinig of Australian Lutheran College was interviewed on the subject of holiness.  Here is a partial transcript of the first minutes.

Todd Wilken, Issues, Etc: In the Old Testament you could find this. God told you where it was. He told you in the Old Testament where he was. Moses sees a burning bush on a mountain side. He goes up to see what it's all about, and the God who speaks to him from this burning bush tells him to take off his shoes for he is standing on holy ground. In the Old testament it was a place. It was things. There were people who were holy. God's own people were called holy because of God's holiness. Is the same true of holiness now in the New Testament?

[Program and guest introduction]

Wilken: Why is it best that we begin in the Old Testament to talk about holiness?

Kleinig: Because without the understanding that the Old Testament gives us of holiness, it's very easy to misinterpret and misunderstand what the New Testament has to say about it. And what's most important in the Old Testament is the understanding that only God is holy and that anything or anybody's holiness borrows holiness from God himself. And that's in a very tangible way. God communicates his holiness to his people via the most holy things in the most holy place.

Wilken: I want to come back to the Old Testament roots for this idea. Let's dispel some of the misconceptions about holiness. I think the primary one—among, kind of in the Protestant context—is that holiness is primarily a moral quality or a moral character that I possess or that you possess. How would you correct that?

Kleinig: Yes, there's no doubt that if you talk about holiness, particularly here in North America, people immediately think in moral terms. So if somebody is holy, they're a moral person, and an immoral person is unholy. Now, there is some connection between, with morality and holiness, but holiness is not morality. And sanctification is not moral self-improvement or even spiritual self-improvement. So for example, the body and blood of Christ is holy, or the temple is holy. Things are holy. A name is holy: God's name is holy. It doesn't make sense if you think of holiness in terms of morality or even of sinlessness. But it's very hard on the other hand to say what's meant by God's holiness, because all the other attributes of God have to do with the way God resembles human beings. We say God is loving. But he's not just loving like human beings, but he's supremely loving. Or he's almighty. We have some power, some might. He's almighty. But when we come to God's holiness, we're dealing with the way God is unlike any human being, and so there's no analogies possible anymore.

Wilken: I hadn't thought of that before. I mean we do take these other attributes of God, and it is essentially the superlative of things that we, even in our fallenness, possess or God possesses incompletely. Is that a good place to begin outlining the concept of holiness—God's otherness than us, his being holy other than we are?

Kleinig: That's partly it, but it's also very misleading, because as soon as I think in terms of otherness or even transcendence, I think in terms of God's remoteness, rather than his presence. So God is holy in the midst of us; God is holy with us. And God's holiness has to do with God's presence with us. So it's not so much remoteness or even his otherness in the sense that he's different—but yet not alien to us, because he made us and we are made in God's image. So God's holiness is a power; it's a state of being in which we share something of the power or being of God.

The remainder is equally good.  I recommend the interview to you.