Jazz is full of the term improvisation. What does that mean? Well some people say it is playing something else around the basis of a piece of music. Others say it is composing off the top of your head. For others it is being creative with a musical theme. You that are musical probably have a concept of it.
Improvisation is a biblical concept. In the Old Testament, Amos uses it in a negative concept.
AM 6:5 You strum away on your harps like David
and improvise on musical instruments.
Here it is referring to two forms of music. Strumming on a kinnor or Hebrew harp is a simplistic form. A basis of starting. It is saying – you who are idle are spending time playing the harp when you could be working. (This is not a bad thing – but taken in context it is a criticism.)
The improvise part is different. While it is still a criticism within the context of the passage, to improvise on a kinnor takes enormous skill. It is the sign of someone who has spent many hours learning the instrument and the concepts of music so they can play whatever comes to mind. Again, not a bad thing but the context is about people not doing what they should. What is inferred here is that the people had become so affluent that, they could afford to have professional harpers entertaining them, in fact their society had become so affluent and comfortable that there was a place for professional harpers outside of the religious system. (In those days harpers were part of the prophet school)
In the New Testament we don’t see improvisation as a musical concept, but as a theological concept. In fact as a evangelistic concept.
Jesus improvised His message. Used whatever was around to get His message across. Paul takes this format in his explanations of the gospel. Look at his sermons from Acts. Chris looked at these last week and how Paul adjusted his format and words around the central message of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Acts 13 sees Paul share with a bunch of Jews
Acts 14sees Paul share with a bunch of gentiles, pagans, non-Jews – whatever you want to call them.
Acts 17 sees Paul talk to a bunch of philosophers and lecturer type people.
Ok we have heard about these speeches or sermonettes. What have they got to do with us?
We if you don’t believe you should be involved in sharing Jesus – nothing, but if you do believe that sharing Jesus is a priority in your life – even a responsibility, maybe even a desire – then some principles can come out here.
I want to look a bit further at Paul’s concepts, this time looking at his homilies and letters.
The root message is the same as in his sermons in Acts but his way of articulating that message changes depending on his audience. He improvises around his theme.
That is the first point.
- The message is the same – the message of Jesus stays the same, even when the
illustrations and format change.
As I said last month I referred to these verses.
1CO 9:19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.The format can change as much as you like as long as it doesn’t change the meaning of the message.Paul was all about drawing people closer to God.Paul talks about the truth of the Gospel in Galatians 2: 14 GAL 2:14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?What is this truth of the gospel? The freedom to know and relate to God.
It is a about drawing closer to God through Jesus.
One thing I am interested in is that at no point do I think Paul gives a full or complete version of his understanding of the gospel. He always seems to leave room for growth, always seems to leave room for variation and assume that it is personal to all concerned and is articulated differently to each person and for each person.
For eg. Romans 1: 2-4 defines the gospel from Christological perspective.
2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Cor 15:3-5 is a creedal format.
1CO 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
We could use other examples but the big thing is the focus he leaves us with and that focus is to be “In Christ.”
In Romans that exact term is used 16 times (That I found)
In Other places He uses the term “Jesus Christ as Lord”( 2 Cor 9:13, Gal 1:17, Phil 1:27)
Another term is that he preaches Christ ( 1 Cor 1:24, 15:12, Phil 1:15-18)
(If you want these references check my website)
You get the point, The message is always about Jesus. Jesus crucified, Jesus resurrected, Jesus as part of our lives.
It is about drawing closer to God – same message in different terms.
2. We see Paul adapting his message to his readers or listeners by the varied vocabulary and imagery he uses. He uses every rhetorical tool he knows, metaphors, similies, symbols, to back up his message and make it stick.
He identifies customs and uses them as illustrations, he identifies language nuances and uses them, He identifies religious practices and uses them and identifies philosophical ideas and uses them.
Look at what he does in Acts.
Look at Acts 17:30-31.
AC 17:22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of
i. An altar, a physical monument. In other words he had a look around first. Investigated the culture a bit.
Then next look at v28.28 `For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, `We are his offspring.
ii. Here Paul quotes one of the Greeks philosophers. Epimenides Using this type of quote, Paul uses the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers thought processes.
iii. In fact the outline of the speech is a near perfect example of Greek Rhetorical structure. Any speech made in
Remember this is a Jewish guy schooled in Hebrew law by the Pharisees yet he adjusts his way of communicating to fit the audience.
When he has different people in front of him – he uses different ways of communicating how to draw closer to God.
- Notice one thing here. Paul says it. Let me reiterate that, Paul says it. We have to come to a point of actually communicating verbally what Jesus is about. It is fine leading a good Christian life as an example and witness but it has to be qualified at some point. And this is true not only of his sermon speeches, but also in his writings. He showed the way to salvation.
- Look at 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, we read this earlier Paul passed it on, he verbalized it to them.
Romans 4:23-25, 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness–for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
When he couldn’t say it, he wrote it. Yeh, he found ways to get the message across. Writing in those days was kind of like the equivalent to the internet a few years ago. A newish thing, only a few could use, but the people who had access could be communicated to. We have oodles of communication options – when a face to face communication isn’t viable – write a letter (Paul did) send an email (Paul would have if he had access to it) make a phone call or send an sms (Can you imagine what Paul would say in an SMS?
On the website are a couple of other references 2 Corinthians 4:14, 1 Thess 4:14
4. Notice in most circumstances Paul doesn’t get to fully explain things in his speeches. And you probably won’t be able to do it all in one hit either. He looks for and gets further opportunities. And Paul will repeat stuff in most writings, sometimes numerous times.
Here is one thing that has come back to me time and time again. Sharing Jesus is a life time and lifestyle process. We need to make it part of us. We need to be witness as well as doing witnessing. What I mean by that is that we need to make sharing Jesus part of who we are not an add on when we feel the need to minister. More about that in a few weeks.
At some point we have got to say what we think and believe.
- This is where the improvisation comes in.
Paul uses a bunch of images to speak of similar things.
Everyday life things like inheritance and putting on clothes, putting on armour,
Images of the body, images of sacrifices, images of agriculture.
He used things in context with the people he communicated to.
So what we can do is improvise our message. No improvise the form of the message – remember the message stays the same. But it gets back to being all things to all men from 1 Cor 9.
Just one more passage to look at here. Acts 15
AC 15:19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
This is amazing. The church completely changed the thought process and format of behaviour to allow people to draw closer to God. People who came to know Jesus no longer had to follow Jewish laws. If they were greek they could be greek and a Christian, they didn’t need to become something else. If they were Ephesians they could be Ephesians and not change to look Jewish. One of the biggest sadnesses in the history of mission is that people in Africa,
Improvising the message is about not making it difficult for people to turn to God, making the message clear and understandable. Making the expectations on them positive not negative and being real in our communication.
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