Quiz Thurs:

1)What does your assigned reading in "Leadership on the Line" have to say about seduction?

2)From the Van Der Laan video we showed today (summarized below if you missed it) say about WWJP (Why Would Jesus Puke)?

3)From the work you did around the tables today (or do alone if you missed) on Philemon:

a)wrestle with Paul's leadership style in Philemon (Doesn't he seem Trumpish or passive-aggressive? How do you explain that, knowing he was a great Christian leader?

b) say something about seduction in Philemon (Find the theme anywhere you can; how you define the term is up to you.

Note: for this quiz, do your best to draw in other course material (From today..see below, or any other day)
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We had the last two timelines today. We told the powerful story behind this one:

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SEDUCTION

Video: we should all seduce in life and leadership...?? Watch this:

summary and outline of her talk

---story behind the TED Talk here
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Article:

Trump, Master Seducer

Philemon: Group work... see questions at top of page on quiz

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,^[a]
To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, ²to Apphia our sister,^[b] to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.⁴When I remember you^[c] in my prayers, I always thank my God ⁵because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. ⁶I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we^[d] may do for Christ. ⁷I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.
⁸For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, ⁹yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus.^[e] ¹⁰I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. ¹¹Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful^[f] both to you and to me. ¹²I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. ¹³I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; ¹⁴but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. ¹⁵Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, ¹⁶no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. ¹⁷So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. ¹⁸If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. ¹⁹I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. ²⁰Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. ²¹Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
²²One thing more—prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.

²³Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you,^[g] ²⁴and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
²⁵The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.^[h]
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THESES ON PHILEMON: REDUCTION OF SEDUCTION

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Why WOULD Jesus puke, anyway?

So many are baffled by why Jesus would seemingly rather have us be 'cold' than lukewarm..
makes for some bizarre and forced sermons.

This one on Revelation 3:
¹⁴ “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

¹⁹ Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

²¹ To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Which SETS fit this Scripture?

We just assume "cold water" obviously = bad, and "hot water" obviously = good." You can google a thousand sermons with that point. It's just too tempting to preach!

But they are likely well-meaning adventures in missing

the meaning and point.

As usual, much of the answer is catching the historical context.

Maybe all along Jesus wanted us to be hot AND cold.

Read Craig Keener (who is behind the invaluable Bible Background Commentary on the NT ):

The one sphere of life in which Laodiceans could not pretend to be self-sufficient was their water supply! Laodicea had to pipe in its water from elsewhere, and by the time it arrived it was full of sediment; Laodicea actually acquired a bad reputation for its water supply. Jesus comments on the temperature of the water: they were lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. This does not mean, as some have suggested, that hot water was good but cold water was bad; Jesus would not want the Laodiceans “good or bad,” but only good.

Cold water was preferred for drinking, and hot water for bathing (also sometimes drunk at banquets), but the natural lukewarmness of local water (in contrast with the hot water available at nearby Hierapolis or cold water of nearby mountains) was undoubtedly a standard complaint of local residents, most of whom had an otherwise comfortable lifestyle. Jesus is saying: “Were you hot (i.e., for bathing) or cold (i.e., for drinking), you would be useful; but as it is, you are simply disgusting. I feel toward you the way you feel toward your water supply–you make me sick.”

- Link: Craig Keener

The Ray Van DerLaan video we showed is not online:
unless you want to pay for it (BELOW). But related audio is here, or read below..

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Hot or Cold by Ray Vanderlaan

John's warning

Laodicea is a beautiful location in Asia Minor. Nearby are the great ruins of the cities of Colosse and Hierapolis, known for their springs, hot at Hierapolis and cold at Colosse. To the church at Laodicea, in between the two, John wrote these words: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm;neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16). What was it about the believers in Laodicea that led John to address them with those words "to portray their unfaithfulness in terms of hot and cold water" Could it be that there's more to the meaning of hot water and cold water than what meets the eye when we first read that verse? An understanding of the geography, and particularly the water sources, of these neighboring cities gives us a new understanding of what this message may have meant to the church of Laodicea and what it means for Christians today.

Hierapolis

The Domitian Gate: Hierapolis, known for its healing hot springs, was about six miles from Laodicea. What is left of the entrance to the city;a gate complex of two gigantic towers and three arches that opened onto a paved street about a mile and a half long, stands as a testimony to the city's former majesty. What is most important is not the gate's size or architecture, however, but what it represented.
Like most city gates of the ancient world, the gates of the Hierapolis expressed the people's devotion to their deities or rulers. For Hierapolis, that god was the Roman emperor Domitian, one of the first emperors to declare himself to be divine. Thus anyone who entered the Domitian Gate was in a sense acknowledging that Domitian was god-their provider and protector whom they would honor and obey above all others.
Obviously, the early believers who lived in the Hierapolis had to choose to serve and worship Caesar (in this case, Domitian) or to serve and worship the God of Israel. According to ancient church tradition, an early missionary named Philip, who most likely was Philip the disciple of Jesus, refused to recognize the authority of Domitian. Philip and his children stood fast in their declaration that Jesus alone is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and they paid the ultimate price. High on a hill overlooking Hierapolis are the remains of a small building known as the Martyrium of Philip.

The Apollo Temple and Plutonium: Hierapolis was also the site of the Apollo Temple and Plutonium, where the god of music, prophecy, and light was worshiped. Inside the temple, a grand fountain called Nymphia was a constant reminder to the people that Apollo was supposed to be their source of life. Next to the temple was a mysterious hole in the ground known as the Plutonium, the Devil's Hole, or the Gates of Hades. It was believed to be an entrance to the underworld where Pluto (Latin) or Hades (Greek) lived. Poisonous gases emanated from the hole and instantly killed any animals that wandered in. But the priests of Apollo, who apparently held their breath or had some other means of breathing fresh air, amazed the people by going into the hole and coming out again unharmed, seeming to have power over death.
The Theater: Another prominent feature of Hierapolis was its theater, which communicated through its architecture as well as its activities the people's devotion to their gods and goddesses. One can still see the images of gods and goddesses depicted in the ornately carved stones.
The Baths: By far the most impressive feature of Hierapolis was its hot springs. The baths of the Hierapolis were among the largest in all of Asia Minor, allowing hundreds of people to bathe at the same time. People from distant regions came to soak in warm baths and seek healing for arthritis, skin diseases, and even abdominal problems.

Colosse

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In contrast to the Hierapolis, the ancient city of Colosse was known for its cold water. Located about eleven miles from Laodicea, Colosse was built at the foot of Mt. Cadmus, which towered more than nine thousand feet high. Colosse was known for a purple dye called colissinus and for its many, ice-cold snow-and-rain-fed streams that rushed down from the snow-covered peak of Mt. Cadmus. People in the fertile Lycus River Valley commonly talked about this wonderful, invigorating water.
Founded several hundreds of years before the Hierapolis, Colosse's inhabitants worshiped many gods, including Artemis, Athena, and Demeter. The city was in serious decline by the time of Paul and John because of the growth of Laodicea and Hierapolis. It is known by Christians today because Paul wrote a letter to the Colossians, which was the home of his friend Philemon, and his slave Onesimus.

Laodicea

During the first century, the city of Laodicea was the richest and most powerful of the three cities. Located in the Lycus River Valley on the main trade route between the Mediterranean region and Persia, Laodicea was known for its soft black wool that was appreciated throughout the Roman world; its healing eye salve; and its banking. In fact, an ancient writer recorded that the city of approximately 120,000 people refused an emperor's offer to rebuild following an earthquake. The Laodiceans apparently told the emperor that they were rich and didn't need his money.
Despite its prosperity, however, Laodicea had a serious problem. Its water, unlike the healing hot springs of Hierapolis or the fresh, cold mountain water of Colosse, was lukewarm and full of minerals. It tasted so bad that it made people sick.

Changing the World by Being Hot and Cold

In light of the water for which the cities of Hierapolis, Colosse and Laodicea were known, the apostle John might have been saying, "If you were hot, like the springs of Hierapolis, you'd bring healing, restoration, and comfort to people who suffer. If you were cold, like the water in Colosse, you'd refresh and encourage people who are hurting. Instead, you are lukewarm. You don't do anyone any good and you make me sick, just like your own water." So he challenged Christians today to be hot and cold in our daily lives, to bring people the healing, caring, encouraging touch of Jesus.
We must also be aware of how God prepares people to receive his message and to make the most of the opportunities he has provided. He uses as his example two earthquakes, one in AD 17 and one in AD 60, that destroyed Laodicea before the gospel arrived. Because of these disasters, the people's faith in their pagan gods wavered. Zeus, Apollo, Domitian, and Demeter didn't save us, they thought, so who will? They were searching for someone who could fill the gap. So the message of Jesus the Messiah took root in fertile ground. And it appears the believers of Laodicea took John's warning to heart: the church of Laodicea remained a dynamic community after most of the churches in Asia Minor had disappeared.

-Link: Ray Van DerLaan