Eph 2:4-10
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Grace Roots Blog
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Too many rules! Vinnie Barbarino is so confused!
I've been on a serious streak lately and I needed a little comic relief! I don't mind being serious. I can be a really serious guy. I'm serious about that.
But of course I love to have my fun too! I've been reading the latest comments on this blog and I'm really enjoying what I'm reading, and I'll be back to tomorrow to join in the conversation, but for now here's a clip of John Travolta starring as Vinnie Barbarino in one of my all-time favorite shows, Welcome Back Kotter. I can relate to Vinnie's "confusion." :) Can anyone else?
Hey, doesn't the nurse in this clip kind of remind you of the heavy-handed dad in the Twisted Sister video, We're Not Gonna Take It?!
Speaking of the TS video, you know I have to post it at least once a month for Aida! LOL... Just kidding! But yet I have been waiting for the opportune time to share something I recently found. It's the full-length video for the song, including one extra minute at the beginning! I guess you could say it adds an extra minute of the context of the harsh, legalistic nature of the household in which the video takes place...
(BTW, if you're new here, search my blog for "Twisted Sister" to see why I'd even begin to think about posting this video. There's definitely a purpose for it, really!) :)
But of course I love to have my fun too! I've been reading the latest comments on this blog and I'm really enjoying what I'm reading, and I'll be back to tomorrow to join in the conversation, but for now here's a clip of John Travolta starring as Vinnie Barbarino in one of my all-time favorite shows, Welcome Back Kotter. I can relate to Vinnie's "confusion." :) Can anyone else?
Hey, doesn't the nurse in this clip kind of remind you of the heavy-handed dad in the Twisted Sister video, We're Not Gonna Take It?!
Speaking of the TS video, you know I have to post it at least once a month for Aida! LOL... Just kidding! But yet I have been waiting for the opportune time to share something I recently found. It's the full-length video for the song, including one extra minute at the beginning! I guess you could say it adds an extra minute of the context of the harsh, legalistic nature of the household in which the video takes place...
(BTW, if you're new here, search my blog for "Twisted Sister" to see why I'd even begin to think about posting this video. There's definitely a purpose for it, really!) :)
Ministry of reconciliation / Have we lost the plot?
Three things:
1) Dogs bark.
2) Ducks quack.
3) Sinners sin.
When dogs bark, we don't say, "that's just not right, dogs just shouldn't do that," because we know it's in the nature of dogs to bark. When ducks quack, we don't think that anything is out of the ordinary, because that's what ducks do. So why do we become so incredulous when sinners, whose nature it is to sin, sin?
In our own culture, we think things are getting worse and worse. And you know what, perhaps it's true that more people are pushing more buttons and are blatantly committing more and more sins. And sometimes I think some of it is a result of Christians laying down the law, trying to get sinners to stop their doggone sinning! See, it really has the opposite effect of what's intended! Law doesn't stop sin. The Apostle Paul called the law "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" (see 2 Cor 3:4-11) for good reasons!
When groups of Christians go around raising a fuss about the various sins of the world, it doesn't seem to have a such a redeeming effect upon sinners! Does it? I guess one of my questions that I keep asking is... is there not yet enough evidence out there that shows that our holier than thou stance against the virus of sin only serves to strengthen the virus, rather than kill it? Whether it comes in the form of politics, or from the pulpit, or in one-on-one relationships with unredeemed people, do our rules, laws and policies really help out when it comes to redeeming the culture?
And I don't mean conforming the people of our culture into moral behavior. I mean redeeming the people of our culture. I mean bringing people into a true, living relationship with God through Jesus. I mean, if we stick up our noses at the bad things people do, does that really help out in the matter of people coming to know God?
Have we (the church) lost the plot? When Jesus redeemed us individually, was it His plan for us to then get on out there and make a big fuss about all the sin that's in the world? Is it His purpose for us to be worried about the state of our culture, and to therefore go out and protest all the barking dogs and quacking ducks? (the sinning sinners). Is JESUS running around worried about all the sin that's going on in the world?
Or is our mission and ministry towards sinners of a different nature?
As I already noted (and have noted lots of times in the past and will continue to note in the future), the ministry of death and condemnation (the law) has never done one thing to redeem a human being. Never! It can't! "For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law" (Gal 3:21). The law condemns. The 'Letter' kills.
But the Spirit gives life, and it's solely because we're "in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption..." that we can even begin to walk in the fullness of the life and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that we've been given!
And it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). Jesus, "being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Phil 2:6-8).
Do we understand all that God did in order to redeem us? I've only touched on the tip of the iceberg here! And yet somehow we think our laws and protests and avoidance of sinners is going to be what saves our culture?
I think Rom 5:8 must have been rewritten in some people's Bibles to say, "while we were still sinners, Christ avoided us and wrote protest letters to us about our behavior and made a big stink of our sins."
Instead, Jesus came to meet us where we were at. His big stink was with the holier-than-thou's, as far as I can see it. But to the sinners, to those dogs who barked and to those ducks who quacked, he didn't place a muzzle on them to try to get them to conform. Rather, He touched them and came to live in them and gave them a brand new nature! He did all of this as a gift of grace.
What I really want to get at here is that His ministry toward us carries on through us towards others. Not that we're going to go through a physical death, burial and resurrection as Jesus did in order to meet others where they're at, but spiritually speaking, with His life and grace in us, we can look at sinners in the same way He does. We can bring to them this message of God's peace and goodwill toward mankind.
Instead of rehashing the ministry of death and condemnation, we have a different ministry. The ministry of reconciliation.
1) Dogs bark.
2) Ducks quack.
3) Sinners sin.
When dogs bark, we don't say, "that's just not right, dogs just shouldn't do that," because we know it's in the nature of dogs to bark. When ducks quack, we don't think that anything is out of the ordinary, because that's what ducks do. So why do we become so incredulous when sinners, whose nature it is to sin, sin?
In our own culture, we think things are getting worse and worse. And you know what, perhaps it's true that more people are pushing more buttons and are blatantly committing more and more sins. And sometimes I think some of it is a result of Christians laying down the law, trying to get sinners to stop their doggone sinning! See, it really has the opposite effect of what's intended! Law doesn't stop sin. The Apostle Paul called the law "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" (see 2 Cor 3:4-11) for good reasons!
Rom 7:8-11
But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.
When groups of Christians go around raising a fuss about the various sins of the world, it doesn't seem to have a such a redeeming effect upon sinners! Does it? I guess one of my questions that I keep asking is... is there not yet enough evidence out there that shows that our holier than thou stance against the virus of sin only serves to strengthen the virus, rather than kill it? Whether it comes in the form of politics, or from the pulpit, or in one-on-one relationships with unredeemed people, do our rules, laws and policies really help out when it comes to redeeming the culture?
And I don't mean conforming the people of our culture into moral behavior. I mean redeeming the people of our culture. I mean bringing people into a true, living relationship with God through Jesus. I mean, if we stick up our noses at the bad things people do, does that really help out in the matter of people coming to know God?
Have we (the church) lost the plot? When Jesus redeemed us individually, was it His plan for us to then get on out there and make a big fuss about all the sin that's in the world? Is it His purpose for us to be worried about the state of our culture, and to therefore go out and protest all the barking dogs and quacking ducks? (the sinning sinners). Is JESUS running around worried about all the sin that's going on in the world?
Or is our mission and ministry towards sinners of a different nature?
As I already noted (and have noted lots of times in the past and will continue to note in the future), the ministry of death and condemnation (the law) has never done one thing to redeem a human being. Never! It can't! "For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law" (Gal 3:21). The law condemns. The 'Letter' kills.
But the Spirit gives life, and it's solely because we're "in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption..." that we can even begin to walk in the fullness of the life and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that we've been given!
And it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). Jesus, "being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Phil 2:6-8).
Do we understand all that God did in order to redeem us? I've only touched on the tip of the iceberg here! And yet somehow we think our laws and protests and avoidance of sinners is going to be what saves our culture?
I think Rom 5:8 must have been rewritten in some people's Bibles to say, "while we were still sinners, Christ avoided us and wrote protest letters to us about our behavior and made a big stink of our sins."
Instead, Jesus came to meet us where we were at. His big stink was with the holier-than-thou's, as far as I can see it. But to the sinners, to those dogs who barked and to those ducks who quacked, he didn't place a muzzle on them to try to get them to conform. Rather, He touched them and came to live in them and gave them a brand new nature! He did all of this as a gift of grace.
What I really want to get at here is that His ministry toward us carries on through us towards others. Not that we're going to go through a physical death, burial and resurrection as Jesus did in order to meet others where they're at, but spiritually speaking, with His life and grace in us, we can look at sinners in the same way He does. We can bring to them this message of God's peace and goodwill toward mankind.
Instead of rehashing the ministry of death and condemnation, we have a different ministry. The ministry of reconciliation.
2 Cor 5:18-21What do you think? Has the church lost the plot? If God's good and holy law has this effect on people: "sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire" and "when the commandment came, sin revived and I died," then do we really expect man-made laws and 'moral standards' to have any more desirous of an effect on unredeemed people?
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Moral police
Are Christians the moral police of the world?
Ok, I'll admit I was going to simply post that sentence and let anyone answer in whatever way they wanted. I still want anyone to answer it, if anyone wants to, but I'm going to go ahead and add my own thoughts here.
My question comes from a place of frustration. Well, perhaps not frustration. I guess I've seen so much of the Christian moral police brigade in my lifetime that it doesn't surprise me or frustrate me anymore.
If a Christian thinks his or her duty is to reward those who do good and to boycott all those who do evil in this world, then I think they've missed the point, just a little, perhaps?
In the past I've already shared my thoughts about how the last half of Romans chapter 1 is not meant as a "list of sins Christians should avoid." Indeed, they're all sins and we don't want to participate in any of them, but that's not the reason Paul listed them! He listed them in the midst of making an overall point that the whole world, apart from Christ, is guilty of sin. If a self-righteous person were to think they were righteous before God because of their own works, they could take a look at the list and hopefully be humbled to the point of realizing they were guilty just like everyone else. Paul builds up to a very telling "therefore" at the beginning of chapter 2:
Do we really take care of the problems of the world by boycotting or avoiding people who sin?
Ok, I'll admit I was going to simply post that sentence and let anyone answer in whatever way they wanted. I still want anyone to answer it, if anyone wants to, but I'm going to go ahead and add my own thoughts here.
My question comes from a place of frustration. Well, perhaps not frustration. I guess I've seen so much of the Christian moral police brigade in my lifetime that it doesn't surprise me or frustrate me anymore.
If a Christian thinks his or her duty is to reward those who do good and to boycott all those who do evil in this world, then I think they've missed the point, just a little, perhaps?
In the past I've already shared my thoughts about how the last half of Romans chapter 1 is not meant as a "list of sins Christians should avoid." Indeed, they're all sins and we don't want to participate in any of them, but that's not the reason Paul listed them! He listed them in the midst of making an overall point that the whole world, apart from Christ, is guilty of sin. If a self-righteous person were to think they were righteous before God because of their own works, they could take a look at the list and hopefully be humbled to the point of realizing they were guilty just like everyone else. Paul builds up to a very telling "therefore" at the beginning of chapter 2:
"Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself..."Anyway, even though Romans 1 isn't meant (according to how I understand it) as a list of sins for Christians to look at and be convicted of sin, if a Christian does indeed go around with a mindset that they need to police the world, or judge the sin of others, or boycott and avoid people and companies because of their sinful practices or because of the sinful things they support, then according to their own mindset I'd like them to take a look at Romans 1 and see where THEY stand, if they're really going to begin pointing fingers at the actions of others!
Do we really take care of the problems of the world by boycotting or avoiding people who sin?
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Alive
Look over there. The tomb is empty. The body is not there. It has risen. It is alive again!
I'm not talking about Jesus 2000 years ago. I'm talking about YOU right now!
YOU are alive! Why do you keep living as if you were still dead!
Are you still trying to eek out an existence through the letter of the law? Why not fully trust in and embrace the life given FREELY by the Spirit through the new covenant?
2 Cor 3:4-6
And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Rom 8:32
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Col 2:13-15
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Eph 2:1-10
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Col 3:3-4
For you died, and your life [your new life] is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
I'm not talking about Jesus 2000 years ago. I'm talking about YOU right now!
YOU are alive! Why do you keep living as if you were still dead!
Are you still trying to eek out an existence through the letter of the law? Why not fully trust in and embrace the life given FREELY by the Spirit through the new covenant?
2 Cor 3:4-6
And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Rom 8:32
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Col 2:13-15
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Eph 2:1-10
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Col 3:3-4
For you died, and your life [your new life] is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Stages/The conversation goes on...
Nicole posted a great blog called Life Is a Story and it got me thinking about how in many ways life is also an ongoing conversation. What I mean is, the "conversation" of life is part of the process but the conversation is never really "over." We're all growing, we're all doing, we're all waiting, we're all... at different stages in our own personal journeys, and part of the various processes that we're all going through includes discussions and conversations with each other.
Well, my thoughts here aren't exactly turning out like they had been in my head a few moments ago. :) But I think that one thing I'm trying to say is that I've learned that what I have to say or what someone else has to say about any given subject is never the "final word" on the matter. Of course, sometimes the conversation of life does indeed lead to decisive and final action, but I just mean that the conversation of life continues even so.
Arghh. It's still not coming out right. :) But that's one thing I like about blogging... and comments! Sometimes I can just "put it out there" and see what happens. Just like in "real life" conversations you have several people speaking together, working things out together, contributing various thoughts, I think the whole idea of blogging and interacting through comments is wonderful. I may have something on my mind, or you may have something on your mind, and we may blog about it and then others join in the conversation. When I posted my What would you say... blog yesterday, for example, I had a specific point I was trying to make (pointing out the difference between how Jesus interacted with a certain woman and how I've seen many in the church today interact with women in similar shoes). But then in reading the comments from others I realized that there was a much wider array of angles from which to view the whole scenario, and I really enjoyed reading the comments.
I can think of a thousand more examples, but I guess that what I'm trying to really get at is that we have much to share with each other and much to learn from each other.
Speaking of "Stages"... hehehe... This is really just an excuse for me to play one of my favorite videos from the 80's! It's from ZZ Top. There's nothing like two synchronized sunglass-wearing, feet-tapping, guitar-playing, long-bearded men and a non-bearded drummer with the last name "Beard" in a futuristic setting, with the band's Space Shuttle-ized Hot Rod making a brief cameo!
ZZ Top - Stages
Well, my thoughts here aren't exactly turning out like they had been in my head a few moments ago. :) But I think that one thing I'm trying to say is that I've learned that what I have to say or what someone else has to say about any given subject is never the "final word" on the matter. Of course, sometimes the conversation of life does indeed lead to decisive and final action, but I just mean that the conversation of life continues even so.
Arghh. It's still not coming out right. :) But that's one thing I like about blogging... and comments! Sometimes I can just "put it out there" and see what happens. Just like in "real life" conversations you have several people speaking together, working things out together, contributing various thoughts, I think the whole idea of blogging and interacting through comments is wonderful. I may have something on my mind, or you may have something on your mind, and we may blog about it and then others join in the conversation. When I posted my What would you say... blog yesterday, for example, I had a specific point I was trying to make (pointing out the difference between how Jesus interacted with a certain woman and how I've seen many in the church today interact with women in similar shoes). But then in reading the comments from others I realized that there was a much wider array of angles from which to view the whole scenario, and I really enjoyed reading the comments.
I can think of a thousand more examples, but I guess that what I'm trying to really get at is that we have much to share with each other and much to learn from each other.
Speaking of "Stages"... hehehe... This is really just an excuse for me to play one of my favorite videos from the 80's! It's from ZZ Top. There's nothing like two synchronized sunglass-wearing, feet-tapping, guitar-playing, long-bearded men and a non-bearded drummer with the last name "Beard" in a futuristic setting, with the band's Space Shuttle-ized Hot Rod making a brief cameo!
ZZ Top - Stages
Interesting "Shack" discussion
It's funny how our first impressions of people or circumstances can throw us off. :) Yesterday on my way home from work, I was running late and I was hot and I wasn't feeling good. I caught the tail end of a radio program that I don't think I've ever heard. The host of the program was, in my opinion at that moment, talking a bunch of gobbledegook, boring, theological jargon. Since I wasn't feeling well and was hot and tired, I had no time or patience to even try to figure out what the man was trying to say! I quickly changed it to another station that has a different program that I sometimes listen to on my way home from work.
Commercials were running on that station, so I flipped through my presets and eventually landed back again on the Christian station that I had started on. Out of the speakers I heard the man say "The Shack," so I became more attentive. Again, because of my tiredness, my predisposition had been defaulted to a matter of finding out what this man was saying to bash The Shack. I had already listened to Chuck Colson earlier in the day, and I've heard that he's not so hot on The Shack, so I guess in my irritable state I was more predisposed towards prejudice, and I wasn't looking for anything different from this man who had sounded so straight and uptight just a minute earlier.
To my pleasant surprise, however, he didn't seem to be bashing the book at all but was rather talking about wanting to hear what others think of it. In fact, my first impression must have really thrown me off, because the man sounded so much more jovial and relaxed than he had during the few seconds I had previously listened to. Again, this was all at the very tail end of the show, so I have no clue how long he spent on this or what was all said. But he did give a website, which I looked at and found this blog/discussion about The Shack. As is to be expected, the usual complaints/objections about the book are brought up, as well as some really good comments in defense of the book. It appears you can also listen to the full program from yesterday (June 20), which appears to be focused on the topic of the trinity. I haven't listened to it, but perhaps I will if I have more time later.
By the way, for those of you who know me, you may know that up till now I haven't actually read the book. I've read and listened to a LOT of commentary on the book and I've read and listened to several interviews with Paul Young and Wayne Jacobsen regarding the book. I really like what I hear coming from these men. And now... I've actually got the book in hand and I'm actually reading it! I am simply not much for reading fiction of any kind, and that's why I've really enjoyed the theological discussions about the book (even though the book is not designed as a theological book!) and have taken my time at getting the book for myself, but now that I'm reading it I'm really enjoying it.
Commercials were running on that station, so I flipped through my presets and eventually landed back again on the Christian station that I had started on. Out of the speakers I heard the man say "The Shack," so I became more attentive. Again, because of my tiredness, my predisposition had been defaulted to a matter of finding out what this man was saying to bash The Shack. I had already listened to Chuck Colson earlier in the day, and I've heard that he's not so hot on The Shack, so I guess in my irritable state I was more predisposed towards prejudice, and I wasn't looking for anything different from this man who had sounded so straight and uptight just a minute earlier.
To my pleasant surprise, however, he didn't seem to be bashing the book at all but was rather talking about wanting to hear what others think of it. In fact, my first impression must have really thrown me off, because the man sounded so much more jovial and relaxed than he had during the few seconds I had previously listened to. Again, this was all at the very tail end of the show, so I have no clue how long he spent on this or what was all said. But he did give a website, which I looked at and found this blog/discussion about The Shack. As is to be expected, the usual complaints/objections about the book are brought up, as well as some really good comments in defense of the book. It appears you can also listen to the full program from yesterday (June 20), which appears to be focused on the topic of the trinity. I haven't listened to it, but perhaps I will if I have more time later.
By the way, for those of you who know me, you may know that up till now I haven't actually read the book. I've read and listened to a LOT of commentary on the book and I've read and listened to several interviews with Paul Young and Wayne Jacobsen regarding the book. I really like what I hear coming from these men. And now... I've actually got the book in hand and I'm actually reading it! I am simply not much for reading fiction of any kind, and that's why I've really enjoyed the theological discussions about the book (even though the book is not designed as a theological book!) and have taken my time at getting the book for myself, but now that I'm reading it I'm really enjoying it.
Yahoo Chat
In case anyone's not checked out Nicole's blog lately, a small group of us have come up with a plan to get together via Yahoo Messenger tomorrow (Sunday, June 22) at the following time: 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central, 6pm Mountain, 5pm Pacific. I'm not sure how many can chat at one time using YM - I think we can create our own chat room - but if you'd like to be a part of this you can email me (my email address is on one of the side columns of my blog or you can use your own Yahoo identity to add me (jsbreeze111) as a contact. (Make sure you identify who you are or I won't add you!) This will be the first 'get together' of our little blogging community, so who knows if we'll have some bugs to work out when trying to do this, but we'll give it a mighty go!
Looking forward to chatting with some of you tomorrow night! By the way... if this particular time doesn't work out for you, we'll try to do this more in the future so please don't feel left out!
Looking forward to chatting with some of you tomorrow night! By the way... if this particular time doesn't work out for you, we'll try to do this more in the future so please don't feel left out!
Friday, June 20, 2008
What would you say...
...to a divorced woman who was living with her boyfriend?
Let's just say you work with this woman, or she's the cash register worker at the grocery store, or you stopped to help her change a flat tire... or in some other way you came across this woman and talked with her.
Think of what would go through your mind, or even think of ways in which you've encountered situations such as this, or of ways in which you've seen other Christians handle situations such as this.
I'm going to generalize here, but in my history in Christianity, what I've generally seen is that people (including myself in the past) zero in on the woman's sin. The thought processes and the ways of interacting with the woman all focus around ways in which to tell the woman that she is living in sin and that she needs to get out of her situation. People might invite her to church, hoping that she'll hear the "salvation message" and that she'll then feel convicted and she'll move out or kick her boyfriend out. In some cases people might even tell her to get out of her situation and then come to church. I can think of other scenarios and I'm sure you can too.
I was listening to the story of the woman at the well (John 4:1-42) recently. The normal applications that I hear from this story revolve around "worship in Spirit and in truth," and what that means, or "Jesus is the living water." Those are great applications of this story, and there are other great applications too, but I'm not so sure I've ever heard anyone teach or preach about this: Although Jesus knew that this woman had had five husbands, and that the man she was now with was not her husband, He gave her absolutely no directives in regards to getting out of her sinful lifestyle.
Am I saying Jesus condoned her sin? Of course not! Am I saying He was happy to have her go on as normal? Not at all. But in dealing with this woman (and by the way, she didn't tell Him her situation; He told her), Jesus' focus seemed far off from what I generally see in the church today.
The focus in the church today seems to be "stop sinning!" We go around like the moral police of the world, trying to get everyone "cleaned up." But tell me if you see something different here, but as we look at what happened with this woman, it's not as if the message she got from Jesus when He told her her own life story was "clean yourself up and stop sinning." The message she seemed to get from Him was "He told me everything I ever did! How amazing!" And from this, many people came to believe. And the people asked Jesus to stay (He had only been passing through), and Jesus stayed with them for another two days, "and many more believed because of His own word." And get this - Jesus didn't stick around and start a church or some hierarchical system to make sure all these new believers were discipled and stayed out of sin.
Much more is coming to my mind about what Jesus didn't say or do. I'm sure you see other things as well. The main thing that has struck me from this story since having come to see it from a perspective of grace is that Jesus didn't seem to approach sinners from a viewpoint of "How can I get them to stop sinning and start doing what's right?" but rather from a viewpoint of "I am the way, the truth and the life."
"Come to Me."
"I will fill your hunger and thirst."
"You're weary and heavy burdened? I'll give you rest."
Any thoughts?
Let's just say you work with this woman, or she's the cash register worker at the grocery store, or you stopped to help her change a flat tire... or in some other way you came across this woman and talked with her.
Think of what would go through your mind, or even think of ways in which you've encountered situations such as this, or of ways in which you've seen other Christians handle situations such as this.
I'm going to generalize here, but in my history in Christianity, what I've generally seen is that people (including myself in the past) zero in on the woman's sin. The thought processes and the ways of interacting with the woman all focus around ways in which to tell the woman that she is living in sin and that she needs to get out of her situation. People might invite her to church, hoping that she'll hear the "salvation message" and that she'll then feel convicted and she'll move out or kick her boyfriend out. In some cases people might even tell her to get out of her situation and then come to church. I can think of other scenarios and I'm sure you can too.
I was listening to the story of the woman at the well (John 4:1-42) recently. The normal applications that I hear from this story revolve around "worship in Spirit and in truth," and what that means, or "Jesus is the living water." Those are great applications of this story, and there are other great applications too, but I'm not so sure I've ever heard anyone teach or preach about this: Although Jesus knew that this woman had had five husbands, and that the man she was now with was not her husband, He gave her absolutely no directives in regards to getting out of her sinful lifestyle.
Am I saying Jesus condoned her sin? Of course not! Am I saying He was happy to have her go on as normal? Not at all. But in dealing with this woman (and by the way, she didn't tell Him her situation; He told her), Jesus' focus seemed far off from what I generally see in the church today.
The focus in the church today seems to be "stop sinning!" We go around like the moral police of the world, trying to get everyone "cleaned up." But tell me if you see something different here, but as we look at what happened with this woman, it's not as if the message she got from Jesus when He told her her own life story was "clean yourself up and stop sinning." The message she seemed to get from Him was "He told me everything I ever did! How amazing!" And from this, many people came to believe. And the people asked Jesus to stay (He had only been passing through), and Jesus stayed with them for another two days, "and many more believed because of His own word." And get this - Jesus didn't stick around and start a church or some hierarchical system to make sure all these new believers were discipled and stayed out of sin.
Much more is coming to my mind about what Jesus didn't say or do. I'm sure you see other things as well. The main thing that has struck me from this story since having come to see it from a perspective of grace is that Jesus didn't seem to approach sinners from a viewpoint of "How can I get them to stop sinning and start doing what's right?" but rather from a viewpoint of "I am the way, the truth and the life."
"Come to Me."
"I will fill your hunger and thirst."
"You're weary and heavy burdened? I'll give you rest."
Any thoughts?
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Grace nullified
"You nullify the word of God by your tradition..." (Mark 7:13)
Although Jesus didn't say the above words in the exact context in which I'm going to use them, I do think the words themselves are very fitting in several contexts. I've seen many Christians - and I admit that I've been there myself - neglecting New Covenant truth and continuing on instead with some of the principles of the Old Covenant, only using them in a 'New Covenant kind of way' - which in reality only nullifies the truth of the New Covenant.
The New Covenant is a brand new thing! It's not Old Covenant Part 2. It's not a continuation of the Old Covenant, nor is it used in combination with the Old. It's not based upon the Old Covenant in any way. The Old Covenant is obsolete and is growing old and is ready to vanish away (Heb 8:13). Now, Jesus Himself was an Old Covenant teacher, and I think the whole idea of Jesus teaching the Old Covenant and yet being the "Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises" is something that is hard for modern day Christians to grasp. We see Jesus' Old Covenant teachings throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So then if He came to bring the New Covenant, why did He teach the Old Covenant? It's because the Old Covenant did have a purpose, and His teachings put a magnifying glass on that purpose. I won't get into all of it here because I've written about it time and time again. One example would be this post. For now, though, I'll just say that the reason for Jesus teaching the Old Covenant was not as a means of teaching Christians how to live.
Now that I've come to understand the differences between the two Covenants and the reasons for each, I've found myself in the midst of some hairy situations with my brothers and sisters in Christ when it comes to talking about life in Christ, because many of them are still walking - at least to an extent - in the ways of the Old, trying to fit them in with the New. But of course you cannot put new wine into old wineskins (see Mark 2:21-22). I guess you could say I've seen the nasty effects - the wineskins bursting and the wine spilling all over the place - and it's a sad situation. I'm sure many of you can relate.
One example: Last year in a small group setting (a group that I had been meeting together with for 4 years), there was a man who had been hurt sorely by church people in his past. I'll just be vague and say that there were a lot of "rules" in place and he questioned a lot of them, and faced rejection from church people. Anyway, there came a time in our small group when he began speaking about how his hurt and bitterness towards these people was affecting his life in big ways, including his family and his work. There's much more to the story, but it seemed to me and to others that he was being open about this and really wanted to heal and get past this.
And so the "answer" came from one member of our group and was further propagated by a few more: "If you don't forgive people of their sins, God won't forgive you." These words, taken from Matthew 6, are of course the words Jesus spoke immediately following "The Lord's Prayer." And so I at least understand why my friends try to apply them to their Christian lives, since they are indeed the words of Jesus. But if you followed the link above to my previous post, you'll see why I don't believe all of Jesus words are Christianity-based words, but rather are pre-cross words, based upon the Old Covenant. In other words, I believe all the words of Jesus are important, but I don't believe all the words of Jesus represent life under the New Covenant. A few times I've referred to Bino's post, Dismantle the confession booths, for a scripture-only view of how in Christ (after the cross, after the resurrection) we have already been forgiven (and how we've already been justified, saved and made righteous and how we are complete in Him).
Well, the man in our group spoke up and said that he has a hard enough time forgiving himself for many of the things he has done, never mind forgiving others. I really felt for him. I had been praying for him for a long time, as had others. I knew he was dealing with a lot of junk.
"But," continued the others, "the Bible says that you have to forgive others. We're COMMANDED to forgive. If you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you."
Of course I couldn't help but speak up, not only in defense of this man but of the very gospel. In short, I tried to help to bring the truth to light by showing how in Christ we're already forgiven by God and how we're unconditionally loved by Him. I said that this man doesn't need to work on following any commands to love and forgive people; he needs to first know the unconditional love of God and he needs to understand how he himself is fully forgiven, before he can even begin to extend this to other people.
Our nice little discussion quickly became more of a heated argument. I saw emotions in my friends that I had never seen before. Afterwards, when I came up to the woman who had originally brought up the whole forgiveness thing to apologize for any discomfort caused by our discussion, she said she didn't want to talk to me. I waited a few days and then sent her an email to sort of extend an "olive branch" to her. She accepted the olive branch but then proceeded to warn me to not go against the Word of God. The word "WORD" was capitalized seven times in this email, emphasizing how my "OPINIONS" need to be backed by the WORD and how we need to "strive to do what the WORD says."
Again, I fully understand where people are coming from. I don't agree with them, but I understand. And that's why I said yesterday that "grace is hard." Pure grace is hard to accept and it's hard to understand when we're not rightly dividing the two covenants. I've been there. "Jesus said it. That settles it." I've been in the place of not understanding that all of Jesus' words are important but not all of Jesus' words have to do with the New Covenant.
Overall I think I've built up good relationships with various people who I see often, but often disagree with. I've been tactful but firm in my beliefs. I do see that there is a difference between the dark, legalistic, religious Pharisees who wanted to kill Jesus and do away with His grace, and the modern day legalistic, religious Christians who simply haven't yet understood the grace of God in its fullness - as revealed by scripture. I want to continue building relationships with these people, and have great loving-kindness and patience towards them. And yet at times I think I also have a personality that is sort of like Paul's that stands up and yells, "You foolish people! Who has bewitched you, that you don't see we are beneficiaries of a NEW and BETTER covenant!"
Although Jesus didn't say the above words in the exact context in which I'm going to use them, I do think the words themselves are very fitting in several contexts. I've seen many Christians - and I admit that I've been there myself - neglecting New Covenant truth and continuing on instead with some of the principles of the Old Covenant, only using them in a 'New Covenant kind of way' - which in reality only nullifies the truth of the New Covenant.
The New Covenant is a brand new thing! It's not Old Covenant Part 2. It's not a continuation of the Old Covenant, nor is it used in combination with the Old. It's not based upon the Old Covenant in any way. The Old Covenant is obsolete and is growing old and is ready to vanish away (Heb 8:13). Now, Jesus Himself was an Old Covenant teacher, and I think the whole idea of Jesus teaching the Old Covenant and yet being the "Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises" is something that is hard for modern day Christians to grasp. We see Jesus' Old Covenant teachings throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So then if He came to bring the New Covenant, why did He teach the Old Covenant? It's because the Old Covenant did have a purpose, and His teachings put a magnifying glass on that purpose. I won't get into all of it here because I've written about it time and time again. One example would be this post. For now, though, I'll just say that the reason for Jesus teaching the Old Covenant was not as a means of teaching Christians how to live.
Now that I've come to understand the differences between the two Covenants and the reasons for each, I've found myself in the midst of some hairy situations with my brothers and sisters in Christ when it comes to talking about life in Christ, because many of them are still walking - at least to an extent - in the ways of the Old, trying to fit them in with the New. But of course you cannot put new wine into old wineskins (see Mark 2:21-22). I guess you could say I've seen the nasty effects - the wineskins bursting and the wine spilling all over the place - and it's a sad situation. I'm sure many of you can relate.
One example: Last year in a small group setting (a group that I had been meeting together with for 4 years), there was a man who had been hurt sorely by church people in his past. I'll just be vague and say that there were a lot of "rules" in place and he questioned a lot of them, and faced rejection from church people. Anyway, there came a time in our small group when he began speaking about how his hurt and bitterness towards these people was affecting his life in big ways, including his family and his work. There's much more to the story, but it seemed to me and to others that he was being open about this and really wanted to heal and get past this.
And so the "answer" came from one member of our group and was further propagated by a few more: "If you don't forgive people of their sins, God won't forgive you." These words, taken from Matthew 6, are of course the words Jesus spoke immediately following "The Lord's Prayer." And so I at least understand why my friends try to apply them to their Christian lives, since they are indeed the words of Jesus. But if you followed the link above to my previous post, you'll see why I don't believe all of Jesus words are Christianity-based words, but rather are pre-cross words, based upon the Old Covenant. In other words, I believe all the words of Jesus are important, but I don't believe all the words of Jesus represent life under the New Covenant. A few times I've referred to Bino's post, Dismantle the confession booths, for a scripture-only view of how in Christ (after the cross, after the resurrection) we have already been forgiven (and how we've already been justified, saved and made righteous and how we are complete in Him).
Well, the man in our group spoke up and said that he has a hard enough time forgiving himself for many of the things he has done, never mind forgiving others. I really felt for him. I had been praying for him for a long time, as had others. I knew he was dealing with a lot of junk.
"But," continued the others, "the Bible says that you have to forgive others. We're COMMANDED to forgive. If you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you."
Of course I couldn't help but speak up, not only in defense of this man but of the very gospel. In short, I tried to help to bring the truth to light by showing how in Christ we're already forgiven by God and how we're unconditionally loved by Him. I said that this man doesn't need to work on following any commands to love and forgive people; he needs to first know the unconditional love of God and he needs to understand how he himself is fully forgiven, before he can even begin to extend this to other people.
Our nice little discussion quickly became more of a heated argument. I saw emotions in my friends that I had never seen before. Afterwards, when I came up to the woman who had originally brought up the whole forgiveness thing to apologize for any discomfort caused by our discussion, she said she didn't want to talk to me. I waited a few days and then sent her an email to sort of extend an "olive branch" to her. She accepted the olive branch but then proceeded to warn me to not go against the Word of God. The word "WORD" was capitalized seven times in this email, emphasizing how my "OPINIONS" need to be backed by the WORD and how we need to "strive to do what the WORD says."
Again, I fully understand where people are coming from. I don't agree with them, but I understand. And that's why I said yesterday that "grace is hard." Pure grace is hard to accept and it's hard to understand when we're not rightly dividing the two covenants. I've been there. "Jesus said it. That settles it." I've been in the place of not understanding that all of Jesus' words are important but not all of Jesus' words have to do with the New Covenant.
Overall I think I've built up good relationships with various people who I see often, but often disagree with. I've been tactful but firm in my beliefs. I do see that there is a difference between the dark, legalistic, religious Pharisees who wanted to kill Jesus and do away with His grace, and the modern day legalistic, religious Christians who simply haven't yet understood the grace of God in its fullness - as revealed by scripture. I want to continue building relationships with these people, and have great loving-kindness and patience towards them. And yet at times I think I also have a personality that is sort of like Paul's that stands up and yells, "You foolish people! Who has bewitched you, that you don't see we are beneficiaries of a NEW and BETTER covenant!"
Monday, June 16, 2008
Grace is hard :)
A friend recently sent an email in which she was talking about her dad, and she compared me to him. She said, "You are sort of like him in his way of thinking. You know what I mean. You are simple in a lot of ways too." I have to agree that a lot of how I live my life is pretty darn simple! And I like that! But then in the next sentence my friend called me on something not-so-good that can be also very true of me. She said, "Unless we're talking technology!"
I remember a few years ago she was looking for a new computer and asked me what she should look for. I sent her an email that probably could have taken almost two full pages to print out, going into great detail about how much RAM she needed, hard drive size, processor, DVD-RW, sound card, etc, etc.
Her response to me said it all: "Arrrrggghhhh! I'm soooo confused! Never talk to a computer geek about what computer to buy! ha ha. I have too much info now. I just wanted to be told, 'Go get brand X.' Now I have to think and compare!"
In some ways I'm not so simple, I guess!
What's funny is that when I first read the email that I mentioned above, I thought my friend had written, "Unless we're talking theology!" I have to admit that I agreed even more with that than with the idea that I'm not too simple when it comes to technology. I know I've spent hours and hours writing emails, trying to explain my thoughts on various issues of theology, and the response has been largely the same!
But there's a reason for all my lack of simplicity.
Let me explain by first saying that once upon a time, I went to church and I listened to what was taught and I didn't really question a whole lot of what I was taught. A foundation and a building was being built in my life based upon my own efforts to live the Christian life and to get out there and be a great man of God. Then came a time when I began discovering other things in the Bible - aspects of grace and New Covenant life that simply did not line up with what I had previously been taught. Long story short, the foundation and building that had previously been built went through a process of being "deconstructed," and of course the process of reconstruction has been going on for several years now, built upon a foundation of grace.
Some of the new things I was learning were quite difficult to grasp at first - even scary - since they went against the grain of how I had previously understood the Christian life. But after some time, and after this grace foundation had been laid and I had become more and more established on it, I began to really learn so much more and I began to really, truly grow in Christ, and I naturally wanted to share it with everyone.
However, I ran into a lot of frustration as I began to share the wonderful grace of God with my friends and fellow church members. They were still building upon the other performance based foundation that I had been on, and it was so very hard to get them to see where I was coming from, even when I shared straight from the scriptures!
And so the way in which I went about sharing the simple gospel of grace with other people evolved into a matter of first trying to "deconstruct" the old building and foundation - the notion of the performance-based Christian life - and then to try to lay the foundation of grace and try to help then "reconstruct" their lives based upon this new foundation.
That's not so simple. :)
An example of my frustration would be when I was in a small group setting, and the group would be discussing a passage of scripture or a certain aspect of the Christian life. When I would speak up and simply give my view on the matter, I would get a lot of blank faces or even some opposition, and I would find myself in the position of trying to explain myself by working backwards from where they were coming from (since I knew exactly where they were coming from, having been there myself), and essentially trying to "deconstruct" the thought processes and getting to a foundation of grace and then trying to "reconstruct" my arguments based upon that foundation. Does that make sense? (By the way, I don't mean to sound haughty by making it seem as if I have all the right answers and nobody else does! I'm just saying that having come into a different, life-altering, life-freeing view that I believe is biblically based, and then going out and trying to share it, has been frustrating at times).
And quite honestly, this is still where I find myself today. I try to share the gospel of peace with my brothers and sisters in Christ who have perhaps built their Christian lives upon a form of Galatianism (beginning with grace, but then moving over into the "works" department to try to maintain their salvation or please God), and it's like trying to communicate with a brick wall. I sometimes don't know if I should attempt to chip away at the brick wall or just to share the good news and accept the fact that I'm a heretic. :)
Perhaps each case is different. If I'm with people who I see often, I can take more time to deconstruct and reconstruct. I realize fully that my own process was (and still is) just that - a process. And I realize that the whole concept of grace and unconditional love is not an easy concept for the fleshly mind to accept! To borrow from a story I heard from Bill Gillham (Lifetime Guarantee) a while ago (using my own words, because I can't remember the exact words he used), one time somebody essentially 'accused' him of teaching "that easy grace stuff." Gillham's reply was that grace is by no means easy. It goes against the religious preeminence of the flesh.
Grace is hard! Or should I say, "grace is hard to teach." Or perhaps better said, "grace is hard for the religious mind to understand and accept, so it takes a lot of work, time and patience for both the teacher and the one who is learning."
Any thoughts?
I remember a few years ago she was looking for a new computer and asked me what she should look for. I sent her an email that probably could have taken almost two full pages to print out, going into great detail about how much RAM she needed, hard drive size, processor, DVD-RW, sound card, etc, etc.
Her response to me said it all: "Arrrrggghhhh! I'm soooo confused! Never talk to a computer geek about what computer to buy! ha ha. I have too much info now. I just wanted to be told, 'Go get brand X.' Now I have to think and compare!"
In some ways I'm not so simple, I guess!
What's funny is that when I first read the email that I mentioned above, I thought my friend had written, "Unless we're talking theology!" I have to admit that I agreed even more with that than with the idea that I'm not too simple when it comes to technology. I know I've spent hours and hours writing emails, trying to explain my thoughts on various issues of theology, and the response has been largely the same!
But there's a reason for all my lack of simplicity.
Let me explain by first saying that once upon a time, I went to church and I listened to what was taught and I didn't really question a whole lot of what I was taught. A foundation and a building was being built in my life based upon my own efforts to live the Christian life and to get out there and be a great man of God. Then came a time when I began discovering other things in the Bible - aspects of grace and New Covenant life that simply did not line up with what I had previously been taught. Long story short, the foundation and building that had previously been built went through a process of being "deconstructed," and of course the process of reconstruction has been going on for several years now, built upon a foundation of grace.
Some of the new things I was learning were quite difficult to grasp at first - even scary - since they went against the grain of how I had previously understood the Christian life. But after some time, and after this grace foundation had been laid and I had become more and more established on it, I began to really learn so much more and I began to really, truly grow in Christ, and I naturally wanted to share it with everyone.
However, I ran into a lot of frustration as I began to share the wonderful grace of God with my friends and fellow church members. They were still building upon the other performance based foundation that I had been on, and it was so very hard to get them to see where I was coming from, even when I shared straight from the scriptures!
And so the way in which I went about sharing the simple gospel of grace with other people evolved into a matter of first trying to "deconstruct" the old building and foundation - the notion of the performance-based Christian life - and then to try to lay the foundation of grace and try to help then "reconstruct" their lives based upon this new foundation.
That's not so simple. :)
An example of my frustration would be when I was in a small group setting, and the group would be discussing a passage of scripture or a certain aspect of the Christian life. When I would speak up and simply give my view on the matter, I would get a lot of blank faces or even some opposition, and I would find myself in the position of trying to explain myself by working backwards from where they were coming from (since I knew exactly where they were coming from, having been there myself), and essentially trying to "deconstruct" the thought processes and getting to a foundation of grace and then trying to "reconstruct" my arguments based upon that foundation. Does that make sense? (By the way, I don't mean to sound haughty by making it seem as if I have all the right answers and nobody else does! I'm just saying that having come into a different, life-altering, life-freeing view that I believe is biblically based, and then going out and trying to share it, has been frustrating at times).
And quite honestly, this is still where I find myself today. I try to share the gospel of peace with my brothers and sisters in Christ who have perhaps built their Christian lives upon a form of Galatianism (beginning with grace, but then moving over into the "works" department to try to maintain their salvation or please God), and it's like trying to communicate with a brick wall. I sometimes don't know if I should attempt to chip away at the brick wall or just to share the good news and accept the fact that I'm a heretic. :)
Perhaps each case is different. If I'm with people who I see often, I can take more time to deconstruct and reconstruct. I realize fully that my own process was (and still is) just that - a process. And I realize that the whole concept of grace and unconditional love is not an easy concept for the fleshly mind to accept! To borrow from a story I heard from Bill Gillham (Lifetime Guarantee) a while ago (using my own words, because I can't remember the exact words he used), one time somebody essentially 'accused' him of teaching "that easy grace stuff." Gillham's reply was that grace is by no means easy. It goes against the religious preeminence of the flesh.
Grace is hard! Or should I say, "grace is hard to teach." Or perhaps better said, "grace is hard for the religious mind to understand and accept, so it takes a lot of work, time and patience for both the teacher and the one who is learning."
Any thoughts?
Pagan Christianity interview (written)
If you've been reading here, even for a shorter amount of time, you've seen me write a little bit about the book Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna. I know at least a few of my blogging friends are interested in the book. In case you don't keep up with the comments that are currently logged on the right side of this blog, J.R. Miller left a comment today on a post of mine from last month called "New Pagan Christianity interview." In the comment, J.R. (Joe) included a link to the first part of an email interview that he had with Viola and Barna. The interview includes some really good questions from Joe and some really good answers from Viola and Barna. The interview begins here with Part 1. If interested, scroll through the blog and read the rest of it as well.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Righteousness apart from law
Rom 3:19-26
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Flood update
It's been quite a whirlwind around here, and that's the main reason I haven't updated my blog about the flood situation. There is so much to say, so much that has happened. As of right now, Waterloo is doing much better. The downtown area (near the river) has been closed for a few days and all the downtown bridges were closed. Also, the two main highways that head north out of town have been inaccessible. All of this has obviously caused a lot of headaches for a lot of people! I've been having to go east or west in order to find highways that are open so I can then go north, in order to come back east or west to reconnect with the highways that are open further north. It's been very surreal driving down county highways that normally have very little traffic, and seeing miles and miles of slow moving traffic at various times of the day.
Wednesday night was probably the most scary night for us. The evening began with storm watches and tornado watches (conditions favorable for thunderstorms and tornados), as well as many flood watches and warnings. Eventually the thunderstorm and tornado watches turned into warnings, which means that there were actual storms and tornadoes. We had packed a suitcase full of necessities just in case the floods came our way, and the kids had packed backpacks full of stuff they wanted to save, but now we were torn whether or not to keep the stuff by the door (in case of floods) or in the basement (in case of a tornado)! Around 1am there was a severe thunderstorm warning, with reported winds in excess of 70mph, and possible tornado conditions, so we woke the kids up and brought them downstairs. Eventually we brought them back to their beds but I stayed up till about 3:30 just to keep an eye on the flood/storm situation.
Current conditions: I just heard that a couple of the downtown bridges have reopened, and one of the highways is now freely accessible, so that should clear up a lot of the problem.
However... all of this said, the headaches from trying to get around are nothing compared to those who have their houses and businesses under water. In Waterloo/Cedar Falls, the water is going down in many places, and if that continues it will now be a matter of people going back to their homes and businesses to assess the damage.
To the south and southwest of us, in cities such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Des Moines, as well as many, many smaller towns, the water situation seems to be much worse. I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it all so I won't go into detail. As you can imagine, the flooding of even a small part of a major city can wreak havoc. I know all of this has been on the national news, so you can imagine how "big" all of this is.
To the north, there have also been many problems. In my old hometown of Waverly, the house I used to live in is right across from the river. The water came at least seven blocks from the normal river bank so obviously that house was majorly affected.
On a lighter note... Due to the flood situation, our dog Puppa has been enjoying (hopefully) his extended stay with Chico. Chico is my wife's parents' dog. We left Puppa with them last Wednesday (9 days ago) before our trip out of town. They live about an hour north of us. Tracey planned to get him on Monday when we came back, but due to heavy rain on Sunday night and uncertain road conditions, she decided to wait. Then came the beginning of the major flooding, beginning on Monday evening, and we just haven't been able to get there since that time!
Puppa is older than Chico. Chico is still basically a pup, and Puppa is nine years old. So let's just say that Chico likes to play a lot more than Puppa does! That's why I say Puppa is "hopefully" enjoying his extended stay. The dogs get a long well for the most part, but yet Puppa will head underneath the kitchen table quite often to go into hiding. :)
Thanks to all of you for your prayers. My family is doing fine, so please pray for all of those around us. I just read that 83 of Iowa's 99 counties have been declared disaster areas. That's a lot of people who have been affected by all this.
Wednesday night was probably the most scary night for us. The evening began with storm watches and tornado watches (conditions favorable for thunderstorms and tornados), as well as many flood watches and warnings. Eventually the thunderstorm and tornado watches turned into warnings, which means that there were actual storms and tornadoes. We had packed a suitcase full of necessities just in case the floods came our way, and the kids had packed backpacks full of stuff they wanted to save, but now we were torn whether or not to keep the stuff by the door (in case of floods) or in the basement (in case of a tornado)! Around 1am there was a severe thunderstorm warning, with reported winds in excess of 70mph, and possible tornado conditions, so we woke the kids up and brought them downstairs. Eventually we brought them back to their beds but I stayed up till about 3:30 just to keep an eye on the flood/storm situation.
Current conditions: I just heard that a couple of the downtown bridges have reopened, and one of the highways is now freely accessible, so that should clear up a lot of the problem.
However... all of this said, the headaches from trying to get around are nothing compared to those who have their houses and businesses under water. In Waterloo/Cedar Falls, the water is going down in many places, and if that continues it will now be a matter of people going back to their homes and businesses to assess the damage.
To the south and southwest of us, in cities such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Des Moines, as well as many, many smaller towns, the water situation seems to be much worse. I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it all so I won't go into detail. As you can imagine, the flooding of even a small part of a major city can wreak havoc. I know all of this has been on the national news, so you can imagine how "big" all of this is.
To the north, there have also been many problems. In my old hometown of Waverly, the house I used to live in is right across from the river. The water came at least seven blocks from the normal river bank so obviously that house was majorly affected.
On a lighter note... Due to the flood situation, our dog Puppa has been enjoying (hopefully) his extended stay with Chico. Chico is my wife's parents' dog. We left Puppa with them last Wednesday (9 days ago) before our trip out of town. They live about an hour north of us. Tracey planned to get him on Monday when we came back, but due to heavy rain on Sunday night and uncertain road conditions, she decided to wait. Then came the beginning of the major flooding, beginning on Monday evening, and we just haven't been able to get there since that time!
Puppa is older than Chico. Chico is still basically a pup, and Puppa is nine years old. So let's just say that Chico likes to play a lot more than Puppa does! That's why I say Puppa is "hopefully" enjoying his extended stay. The dogs get a long well for the most part, but yet Puppa will head underneath the kitchen table quite often to go into hiding. :)
Thanks to all of you for your prayers. My family is doing fine, so please pray for all of those around us. I just read that 83 of Iowa's 99 counties have been declared disaster areas. That's a lot of people who have been affected by all this.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Water, water, everywhere
This has certainly been "our year." By "our" I mean those of us in northeast Iowa, in Iowa in general and in the midwest in general. We've had the kind of weather that we usually only see on TV. Everything from major snow and ice throughout the winter and early spring, severe thunderstorms, killer tornadoes... and now major flooding.
For those of us in Waterloo, Iowa (where I live) and our neighbors in Cedar Falls, we're up to here in water, literally. I really am too tired to take the time to tell all about it. I'll just say that not only have people been talking about this being a "100-year flood," but some have been using the term "500-year flood." It's that bad. As I was listening to the radio two or three hours ago, they said the Cedar River's record was about 21 feet, and now it was at 24 feet and rising. It's expected to crest tonight or tomorrow morning at 26 feet.
The levy in Cedar Falls broke earlier today, and they have been evacuating part of the population. 15 miles to the north of Cedar Falls, in Waverly (where I lived during my teen years and early 20's), they've also been evacuating people. The house that I used to live in, next door to my dad's old church, is right across the street from the river. I was in Waverly today as part of my job, and it appeared to me that the flooding had reached at least 7 blocks from the river.
One of my coworkers has pretty much lost her house in the flood. Actually she's one of many of my coworkers affected by the flood, but she's one of my closer coworkers who I see daily. When they show helicopter flyovers on the news and you see miles of houses under water - hers is one of those. Another one of my coworkers, the hospital mechanic, had to be rescued by a boat. He moonlights at home, working on cars in his garage. Guess who has a car at his house waiting to be worked on? I'll have to find out in the next day or two if my car is ok.
Right now our county (and many surrounding counties) is in a flood warning. We live about a mile or two from the Cedar River, and less than that from the levy. If the water level should rise too high, we'll be on the move. We've got some things packed and ready to go just in case. Hopefully that won't happen. Too many houses have already been flooded. As I said, I'm pretty tired. I've really only hit the tip of the iceberg in describing all that's going on here.
It took me over an hour today just to get out of town for my job to head north to Waverly, as I kept running into road blocks and water over the roads. After all that, I then had to get back into town in order to go to a couple of towns to the south. It was quite a day, to say the least. All my words here don't even begin to describe what's really happening here in northeast Iowa.
Just about an hour or two ago, my wife's parents were in a tornado warning. They live about an hour north of us. The tornado was barely to the northeast of their house and they are ok. My nephew and his wife were driving home during this time and they spotted the tornado and took pics. I'll see if I can have them send them to me. Here's one link to the story.
Here are some links to a few pics from today in Waterloo:
Downtown Waterloo 1
Downtown Waterloo 2 - 4th Street bridge
Downtown Waterloo 3 - We go under this overpass on the way to daycare. We obviously couldn't do that today and I ended up bringing my kids to my wife's work.
Flood gate in Waterloo - Just over 1 mile from our house.
Unrelated:
Tomato warning
Jars of Clay - Flood
For those of us in Waterloo, Iowa (where I live) and our neighbors in Cedar Falls, we're up to here in water, literally. I really am too tired to take the time to tell all about it. I'll just say that not only have people been talking about this being a "100-year flood," but some have been using the term "500-year flood." It's that bad. As I was listening to the radio two or three hours ago, they said the Cedar River's record was about 21 feet, and now it was at 24 feet and rising. It's expected to crest tonight or tomorrow morning at 26 feet.
The levy in Cedar Falls broke earlier today, and they have been evacuating part of the population. 15 miles to the north of Cedar Falls, in Waverly (where I lived during my teen years and early 20's), they've also been evacuating people. The house that I used to live in, next door to my dad's old church, is right across the street from the river. I was in Waverly today as part of my job, and it appeared to me that the flooding had reached at least 7 blocks from the river.
One of my coworkers has pretty much lost her house in the flood. Actually she's one of many of my coworkers affected by the flood, but she's one of my closer coworkers who I see daily. When they show helicopter flyovers on the news and you see miles of houses under water - hers is one of those. Another one of my coworkers, the hospital mechanic, had to be rescued by a boat. He moonlights at home, working on cars in his garage. Guess who has a car at his house waiting to be worked on? I'll have to find out in the next day or two if my car is ok.
Right now our county (and many surrounding counties) is in a flood warning. We live about a mile or two from the Cedar River, and less than that from the levy. If the water level should rise too high, we'll be on the move. We've got some things packed and ready to go just in case. Hopefully that won't happen. Too many houses have already been flooded. As I said, I'm pretty tired. I've really only hit the tip of the iceberg in describing all that's going on here.
It took me over an hour today just to get out of town for my job to head north to Waverly, as I kept running into road blocks and water over the roads. After all that, I then had to get back into town in order to go to a couple of towns to the south. It was quite a day, to say the least. All my words here don't even begin to describe what's really happening here in northeast Iowa.
Just about an hour or two ago, my wife's parents were in a tornado warning. They live about an hour north of us. The tornado was barely to the northeast of their house and they are ok. My nephew and his wife were driving home during this time and they spotted the tornado and took pics. I'll see if I can have them send them to me. Here's one link to the story.
Here are some links to a few pics from today in Waterloo:
Downtown Waterloo 1
Downtown Waterloo 2 - 4th Street bridge
Downtown Waterloo 3 - We go under this overpass on the way to daycare. We obviously couldn't do that today and I ended up bringing my kids to my wife's work.
Flood gate in Waterloo - Just over 1 mile from our house.
Unrelated:
Tomato warning
Jars of Clay - Flood
Jesus' love is...
...All Over Me.
Nicole mentioned The Benjamin Gate in her blog about music. I've loved this band from the start (1998) to finish (2003). The lead singer (Adrienne Liesching) eventually became Christian singer Jeremy Camp's wife (she's now known as Adie Camp).
Lyrics
The Benjamin Gate - All Over Me
Nicole mentioned The Benjamin Gate in her blog about music. I've loved this band from the start (1998) to finish (2003). The lead singer (Adrienne Liesching) eventually became Christian singer Jeremy Camp's wife (she's now known as Adie Camp).
Lyrics
The Benjamin Gate - All Over Me
Monday, June 09, 2008
My dad's first 50 years of ministry
Today we're back home after four days in Missouri, visiting my parents. My family is spread out across the U.S. so we simply aren't able to see each other, at least not all together, very often. In this case my brother and his wife from San Diego were there, as well as my sister and her husband and daughter from South Carolina.
The main reason for our trip: Yesterday my dad, the Rev. Richard S. Brueseke, celebrated his 50th anniversary as an ordained pastor. The celebration took place at Ebenezer "Stone" Church (U.C.C.), out in the country near Gerald, MO, exactly 50 years to the day of his ordination, June 8, 1958 (in Indiana). As many of you know, I personally, in my heart, have been journeying away from the whole idea of being involved in the way(s) that "church" is traditionally done. But one of many things that keeps me from all-out rejecting the notion that God can't, won't or doesn't work in traditional churches, and through the people in them, is the lifetime ministry of my dad, along with my mom, who also became an ordained pastor over a decade ago.
I've seen that my dad's life as a pastor has not been at all limited to the four walls of each individual church he has served. In every place he has pastored during those 50 years, from Troy, Moscow Mills and St. Louis, Missouri, to Stockport England, to Waverly, Iowa, and back to Bem and Owensville, Missouri, my dad has become actively involved in the lives of those in his congregations and he has reached out to serve the greater communities as well. Not only has he wholeheartedly participated in various activities that other people have created, organized and led in those communities, but he himself has also led the way in organizing and leading many other events, organizations and activities that have served to help others and to show them God's love in all kinds of ways.
A constant theme that has been inseparably woven into my dad's lifetime of ministry - a constant refrain of his - is "love God best by loving your fellow human beings." He has not only talked the talk in this, but he has walked the walk. And he continues to do so. As he himself said yesterday, "God's not done with me yet," referring to his ongoing call to serve people.
During the anniversary service yesterday afternoon, many people stood up to give "testimonies" of my dad's ministry in their lives. Friends, colleagues, church members and family members spoke of dad's commitment to helping and serving others. Even a woman who is a travel agent, who doesn't know dad in the ways that many people know him, attended the service and stood up to testify of how he not only comes into the agency to make travel plans, but how he sits and chats with her about all kinds of other things as well. Another person seemed to speak for many when she said that my dad and mom, in many big ways, have taught people to think outside the box. They have not only taught it, they have led the way.
I had a couple of emotional moments during the service. I felt like a blubbering idiot, because everyone else who took the mic was so very well contained - but yet it's just who I am! See, my dad had asked me to read Isaiah 6:1-8 (see below), and my brother, Barry, to read 1 Cor 15:1-11 ("I am the least of the apostles... but by the grace of God I am what I am"). The officiating pastor read Luke 5:1-11 ("And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men'"). These passages lined up together with the theme of the service - the message of God calling people to follow Him, and their responses to Him.
Well, as the service had begun, two or three letters/emails had been read from various people who weren't able to make it to the service, but who had very kind words to say about their relationships with my dad, and his impact on their lives. It was very touching. Also, I had previously been thinking about how much the passage from Isaiah means to me personally, and how it fits the call my dad has followed all these years. When it came time for me to read my passage, I was doing just fine but then I began to choke up slightly at verse 7, where the angel says to Isaiah, "behold this [the live coal] has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away; and your sin purged." As you may have realized from my blogs, the message of our sins having been taken away is a huge message that is deep in my heart and that I always long to share with whoever will listen. And here I was, really for the first time, declaring this message live and in person to a crowd of people. It meant a lot to me.
But even more than that, during the past few days I had been picturing my dad 50+ years ago as a man in his early to mid 20's responding to God's call on his life. My dad tells me he originally rebelled against the idea of going into the ministry. He even says he rebelled passionately. Part of the rebellion had to do with the pressure placed on him as he himself was the son of a preacher. There were other contributing factors to his rebellion as well, but yet God used various people and events, including the wisdom of a college professor who saw things in him that he hadn't seen, and a trip to a refugee camp in Austria, to begin to speak to his heart and lead him into this lifelong ministry.
So there I stood after having tried to not choke up too much over verse 7, now looking down at the words of verse 8, and I found that I simply could not go on! I tried to speak, but all I could do was weep. After 20 seconds or so I tried to speak again, but it was the same. I must've stood there for at least 60 to 90 seconds, which seemed like eternity, wishing I could just get the words out! Fortunately I looked out and saw many understanding faces, with tissues and handkerchiefs drying many eyes, and finally I was able to compose myself just enough to quickly read verse 8:
Anway, it was a great day. The service really is one to be remembered, and the reception was great as well. One surprise that happened early on in the service is that one of the members of my mom's former church who happens to be a representative in the Missouri House, presented my dad with a framed inscription of a Resolution passed in the Missouri House of Representatives (see pic here) that recognizes his contributions to the welfare of the state. This is quite an honor for my dad.
As you can tell, I'm proud of my dad. There perhaps are some differences here and there in theology and doctrine, but that really means nothing because when it comes to living the life of love, I have absolutely nothing but respect and thankfulness toward my dad for showing me the way in deed.
The main reason for our trip: Yesterday my dad, the Rev. Richard S. Brueseke, celebrated his 50th anniversary as an ordained pastor. The celebration took place at Ebenezer "Stone" Church (U.C.C.), out in the country near Gerald, MO, exactly 50 years to the day of his ordination, June 8, 1958 (in Indiana). As many of you know, I personally, in my heart, have been journeying away from the whole idea of being involved in the way(s) that "church" is traditionally done. But one of many things that keeps me from all-out rejecting the notion that God can't, won't or doesn't work in traditional churches, and through the people in them, is the lifetime ministry of my dad, along with my mom, who also became an ordained pastor over a decade ago.
I've seen that my dad's life as a pastor has not been at all limited to the four walls of each individual church he has served. In every place he has pastored during those 50 years, from Troy, Moscow Mills and St. Louis, Missouri, to Stockport England, to Waverly, Iowa, and back to Bem and Owensville, Missouri, my dad has become actively involved in the lives of those in his congregations and he has reached out to serve the greater communities as well. Not only has he wholeheartedly participated in various activities that other people have created, organized and led in those communities, but he himself has also led the way in organizing and leading many other events, organizations and activities that have served to help others and to show them God's love in all kinds of ways.
A constant theme that has been inseparably woven into my dad's lifetime of ministry - a constant refrain of his - is "love God best by loving your fellow human beings." He has not only talked the talk in this, but he has walked the walk. And he continues to do so. As he himself said yesterday, "God's not done with me yet," referring to his ongoing call to serve people.
During the anniversary service yesterday afternoon, many people stood up to give "testimonies" of my dad's ministry in their lives. Friends, colleagues, church members and family members spoke of dad's commitment to helping and serving others. Even a woman who is a travel agent, who doesn't know dad in the ways that many people know him, attended the service and stood up to testify of how he not only comes into the agency to make travel plans, but how he sits and chats with her about all kinds of other things as well. Another person seemed to speak for many when she said that my dad and mom, in many big ways, have taught people to think outside the box. They have not only taught it, they have led the way.
I had a couple of emotional moments during the service. I felt like a blubbering idiot, because everyone else who took the mic was so very well contained - but yet it's just who I am! See, my dad had asked me to read Isaiah 6:1-8 (see below), and my brother, Barry, to read 1 Cor 15:1-11 ("I am the least of the apostles... but by the grace of God I am what I am"). The officiating pastor read Luke 5:1-11 ("And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men'"). These passages lined up together with the theme of the service - the message of God calling people to follow Him, and their responses to Him.
Well, as the service had begun, two or three letters/emails had been read from various people who weren't able to make it to the service, but who had very kind words to say about their relationships with my dad, and his impact on their lives. It was very touching. Also, I had previously been thinking about how much the passage from Isaiah means to me personally, and how it fits the call my dad has followed all these years. When it came time for me to read my passage, I was doing just fine but then I began to choke up slightly at verse 7, where the angel says to Isaiah, "behold this [the live coal] has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away; and your sin purged." As you may have realized from my blogs, the message of our sins having been taken away is a huge message that is deep in my heart and that I always long to share with whoever will listen. And here I was, really for the first time, declaring this message live and in person to a crowd of people. It meant a lot to me.
But even more than that, during the past few days I had been picturing my dad 50+ years ago as a man in his early to mid 20's responding to God's call on his life. My dad tells me he originally rebelled against the idea of going into the ministry. He even says he rebelled passionately. Part of the rebellion had to do with the pressure placed on him as he himself was the son of a preacher. There were other contributing factors to his rebellion as well, but yet God used various people and events, including the wisdom of a college professor who saw things in him that he hadn't seen, and a trip to a refugee camp in Austria, to begin to speak to his heart and lead him into this lifelong ministry.
So there I stood after having tried to not choke up too much over verse 7, now looking down at the words of verse 8, and I found that I simply could not go on! I tried to speak, but all I could do was weep. After 20 seconds or so I tried to speak again, but it was the same. I must've stood there for at least 60 to 90 seconds, which seemed like eternity, wishing I could just get the words out! Fortunately I looked out and saw many understanding faces, with tissues and handkerchiefs drying many eyes, and finally I was able to compose myself just enough to quickly read verse 8:
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:I believe those words also describe my dad's response when he finally realized the Lord was calling him to preach the gospel. I quickly came down, and gave my dad a hug as I walked by, and my mom as well, and I sat down and it was on with the rest of the service. :) Later during the testimony time I also choked up as I spoke of the love of my parents, but it wasn't nearly as bad as earlier. Afterwards, several people came up to me and of course patted me on the back and said I "done good." It was partially embarrassing, but mostly I was simply happy to have been able to be myself in such an emotional way in front of so many "liturgical" people (there were many "robes" present) in a traditional church setting that doesn't necessarily see such emotion often or at all. One woman joked with me that it's hard to get such emotion in a church. :) And then she said, "And you know what's even harder? To get people laughing hysterically in church!" She cracked me up. Then my sister Amie came up to me and pointed her finger at me and said, "YOU'RE NAUGHTY!" Her husband had been nudging her to stand up and speak but after I made her cry she knew she couldn't do it. ;)
Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?"
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me."
Anway, it was a great day. The service really is one to be remembered, and the reception was great as well. One surprise that happened early on in the service is that one of the members of my mom's former church who happens to be a representative in the Missouri House, presented my dad with a framed inscription of a Resolution passed in the Missouri House of Representatives (see pic here) that recognizes his contributions to the welfare of the state. This is quite an honor for my dad.
As you can tell, I'm proud of my dad. There perhaps are some differences here and there in theology and doctrine, but that really means nothing because when it comes to living the life of love, I have absolutely nothing but respect and thankfulness toward my dad for showing me the way in deed.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Joyful living and joyful giving - Part 2 of 2
In Part 1, I left off by saying that there was more to the stories about joyless giving that I had briefly mentioned. Check out that post to see the stories.
In story number one, the host of the program made things worse for the woman, in my opinion. It was obvious to me that he was a supporter of Christian tithing, and so instead of addressing the fact that tithing is a non-Christian principle (again, stay tuned and I'll eventually lay out a series of posts, showing how tithing is not a New Covenant principle by any means), and freeing the woman up to simply give freely from her heart as she determined to do on her own, which would by nature involve nothing less than cheerful giving, he gave her a list of rules and principles she could try to follow in order to have more joy in her life.
This is the type of thing in which I tend to have more verbal communication with my radio than I otherwise would have. ;)
And worse yet, in story number two the woman and her husband were commended by the host for what they did. I will mention that the woman said that she and her husband were very happy with what they had done and that they were thankful that they were in a position to be giving to something that they really wanted to give to. If they were truly changing their lifestyle because in their hearts they had decided that this was a way to give, and they did it cheerfully, then I can't argue with that.
But yet the whole story seems to me to be based more on legalism and religion - and not just a small wiff of it. This couple did feel obliged to "pay a tithe" to their local church. It didn't seem like they thought they had a choice in the matter. The root of their actions, it seems to me, was obligation, not giving freely.
When it comes to both joyful living (an overall life of joy) and joyful giving, the root can never be obligation. It can never be religion. It can never be rules. It can never be law. Christ came to set us FREE from all of that! I think that many Christians are living joyless lives, or at least seem to have very little joy, because they are mixing either a little or a lot of law and Old Covenant principles into their Christian lives. It only takes a little leaven of the law and religion to leaven the whole lump (see Gal 5:1-9).
Someone (well, ok, a LOT of people) might want to take some New Testament words and make "rules and principles" out of them. I'm thinking of words such as Peter's words, "What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives..." (2 Peter 3:9). I recently heard an entire sermon on the radio based upon this passage. It basically turned out to be a list of do's and don'ts for the Christian life.
But the more I find out about my freedom in Christ, I find that the "oughts" of the Christian life are rooted in something much deeper. We can't simply yank passages out of the Bible and make rules out of them. Peter, in the above passage, continues with words that are often overlooked. "...as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." This "ought" was rooted in joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord. It wasn't rooted in any kind of obligation to "be a better Christian" by following the rules. Joy wasn't going to come as a result of trying to live by "oughts."
Rather, the types of lives we live are rooted in the fact that in Christ we have freedom and we have joy. We have a wonderful Savior and Friend, and as we get to know Him intimately and freely, not through rules and oughts, but through His grace and love, then we won't be obliged to change our lifestyles in order to try to do better for Him. Instead, our growing process will be much more natural, over a period of time, as we rest in Him. It deeply saddens me that for many, the Christian life is not much more than futile attempts at rules and oughts.
As you read through other New Testament epistles, note how Paul and the others lay a foundation of life, love, grace, etc. And much more than a foundation, life, love and grace are also the makeup of the entire Christian life. And the actions of the Christian life, such as giving, kindness, love, holiness, etc, are not the root of the Christian life. They are the legitimate fruit of being grounded firmly and deeply in God's love and grace!
In story number one, the host of the program made things worse for the woman, in my opinion. It was obvious to me that he was a supporter of Christian tithing, and so instead of addressing the fact that tithing is a non-Christian principle (again, stay tuned and I'll eventually lay out a series of posts, showing how tithing is not a New Covenant principle by any means), and freeing the woman up to simply give freely from her heart as she determined to do on her own, which would by nature involve nothing less than cheerful giving, he gave her a list of rules and principles she could try to follow in order to have more joy in her life.
This is the type of thing in which I tend to have more verbal communication with my radio than I otherwise would have. ;)
And worse yet, in story number two the woman and her husband were commended by the host for what they did. I will mention that the woman said that she and her husband were very happy with what they had done and that they were thankful that they were in a position to be giving to something that they really wanted to give to. If they were truly changing their lifestyle because in their hearts they had decided that this was a way to give, and they did it cheerfully, then I can't argue with that.
But yet the whole story seems to me to be based more on legalism and religion - and not just a small wiff of it. This couple did feel obliged to "pay a tithe" to their local church. It didn't seem like they thought they had a choice in the matter. The root of their actions, it seems to me, was obligation, not giving freely.
When it comes to both joyful living (an overall life of joy) and joyful giving, the root can never be obligation. It can never be religion. It can never be rules. It can never be law. Christ came to set us FREE from all of that! I think that many Christians are living joyless lives, or at least seem to have very little joy, because they are mixing either a little or a lot of law and Old Covenant principles into their Christian lives. It only takes a little leaven of the law and religion to leaven the whole lump (see Gal 5:1-9).
Someone (well, ok, a LOT of people) might want to take some New Testament words and make "rules and principles" out of them. I'm thinking of words such as Peter's words, "What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives..." (2 Peter 3:9). I recently heard an entire sermon on the radio based upon this passage. It basically turned out to be a list of do's and don'ts for the Christian life.
But the more I find out about my freedom in Christ, I find that the "oughts" of the Christian life are rooted in something much deeper. We can't simply yank passages out of the Bible and make rules out of them. Peter, in the above passage, continues with words that are often overlooked. "...as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." This "ought" was rooted in joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord. It wasn't rooted in any kind of obligation to "be a better Christian" by following the rules. Joy wasn't going to come as a result of trying to live by "oughts."
Rather, the types of lives we live are rooted in the fact that in Christ we have freedom and we have joy. We have a wonderful Savior and Friend, and as we get to know Him intimately and freely, not through rules and oughts, but through His grace and love, then we won't be obliged to change our lifestyles in order to try to do better for Him. Instead, our growing process will be much more natural, over a period of time, as we rest in Him. It deeply saddens me that for many, the Christian life is not much more than futile attempts at rules and oughts.
As you read through other New Testament epistles, note how Paul and the others lay a foundation of life, love, grace, etc. And much more than a foundation, life, love and grace are also the makeup of the entire Christian life. And the actions of the Christian life, such as giving, kindness, love, holiness, etc, are not the root of the Christian life. They are the legitimate fruit of being grounded firmly and deeply in God's love and grace!
Joyful living and joyful giving - Part 1 of 2
I don't quite understand it (ha ha), but for some reason churches seem to make a priority of teaching on the topic of giving. And many of the teachings I've heard on this topic just make me sad. This is stuff I've heard all throughout my church life but I can't say that I ever get any happier when I hear it.
Here are two sad stories I've heard lately that I believe are direct results of how giving is taught in churches today.
1. On a Christian radio talk show, a woman called in with a problem. The gist of her problem is that she gives money to the church but she just can't seem to do it joyfully. She said something like, "We do pay our tithe to our church, but it just isn't a joyful thing for us."
2. Another woman called into a Christian talk show (I can't remember if it was the same program) and said that there was a time when she and her husband couldn't afford to pay their tithe to their church, because they wouldn't have enough money left over for other necessary things, but they felt guilty about it. So what did they end up doing? They SOLD their house, and in her own words, they took a huge loss on it. But, she says, now they are in a smaller house that costs less and they can now afford to "pay their tithe" to their church.
OH
MY.
Why do things like this surprise me? It probably happens far more than we can imagine.
But the point is... what has the Christian religion done to us??? We take Old Covenant laws and practices that served specific purposes for Old Covenant times, we stretch them and manipulate them to fit into the ways we've devised to do things in the church, and we call it "Christianity." I've written full commentaries on "the tithe" in the past and I've shared bits and pieces of my thoughts in various newgroups, and even more recently on other blogs, and I have in mind to do a full series here on "the tithe."
But for now I'll just say that I'll bet there are many similar stories to the ones I shared above, with people dealing with joyless giving, changing their lifestyles so they can "pay a tithe" to a church, and other problems rooted in legalism, and this is one of the areas of modern day legalistic Christianity that really gets under my skin.
The stories above didn't end where I left off. I'll pick up where I left off in Part 2.
Here are two sad stories I've heard lately that I believe are direct results of how giving is taught in churches today.
1. On a Christian radio talk show, a woman called in with a problem. The gist of her problem is that she gives money to the church but she just can't seem to do it joyfully. She said something like, "We do pay our tithe to our church, but it just isn't a joyful thing for us."
2. Another woman called into a Christian talk show (I can't remember if it was the same program) and said that there was a time when she and her husband couldn't afford to pay their tithe to their church, because they wouldn't have enough money left over for other necessary things, but they felt guilty about it. So what did they end up doing? They SOLD their house, and in her own words, they took a huge loss on it. But, she says, now they are in a smaller house that costs less and they can now afford to "pay their tithe" to their church.
OH
MY.
Why do things like this surprise me? It probably happens far more than we can imagine.
But the point is... what has the Christian religion done to us??? We take Old Covenant laws and practices that served specific purposes for Old Covenant times, we stretch them and manipulate them to fit into the ways we've devised to do things in the church, and we call it "Christianity." I've written full commentaries on "the tithe" in the past and I've shared bits and pieces of my thoughts in various newgroups, and even more recently on other blogs, and I have in mind to do a full series here on "the tithe."
But for now I'll just say that I'll bet there are many similar stories to the ones I shared above, with people dealing with joyless giving, changing their lifestyles so they can "pay a tithe" to a church, and other problems rooted in legalism, and this is one of the areas of modern day legalistic Christianity that really gets under my skin.
The stories above didn't end where I left off. I'll pick up where I left off in Part 2.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Dancing in the Street
Here's an oldie but a goodie.
Actually it's an oldie, but it was a remake of another oldie that was also done by other bands which would also be oldie's. Yeah... we have a radio station in town that plays tunes from the 70's and 80's. They tell me I'm not an oldie... I'm a classic. I don't know what to think of that yet... :)
Jagger and Bowie - Dancing in the Street
Actually it's an oldie, but it was a remake of another oldie that was also done by other bands which would also be oldie's. Yeah... we have a radio station in town that plays tunes from the 70's and 80's. They tell me I'm not an oldie... I'm a classic. I don't know what to think of that yet... :)
Jagger and Bowie - Dancing in the Street
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Paul Young on the 700 Club
You won't regret watching this interview. William Paul Young (author of The Shack) on the 700 Club. He talks about the reality of Christians living with much pain and sadness and how he wants to help others get past the perception or preconception that there is some sort of separation between us and God. He is asked about the characters in the book, and he talks about how our life in Christ is not "What Would Jesus Do" but rather "What Will Jesus Do," as we don't try to "be like Him" but rather "allow Him to be Himself in the uniqueness of our own personhood." We're not looking to Jesus as a model of what to do, but rather "He has actually come to live inside of us."
One heart at a time
This is a follow up of sorts to my "Moves of God" post. And by the way, it's also my first post using Windows Live Writer. I just began trying it out, so we'll see how well it works for producing blog posts!
The title of this post actually may be somewhat misleading. The "at a time" part, that is. To explain what I mean, let me start by quoting another line from Barb's "What If" post:
What if there was no big "Move of God" but just God pursuing people – sometimes seemingly in the same location at the same time?
I think God "moves" in people individually - one heart at a time. However, at times it may just happen that He is doing a larger "movement" of the same or similar work in the lives of many individuals at the same time or in the same physical location. And at the same time that He's doing this work in larger groups of people, there may be individuals in the same place in which He is not doing the same or similar work. And that's ok!
The body of Christ is one body, and at the same time we are a bunch of individual parts who make up that one body. We may be doing different things, or sometimes doing the same things, but we still make up one body.
As one example, my wife and I are one. But yet this legitimate "movement of grace" that God has been doing in my life since the mid 90's is not the same as what He has been doing in her life during the same time. And that's ok. We're still a unit. We still communicate with each other and love one another. We are not divided.
Don't get me wrong - my wife loves the grace of God! But the way in which I've been led in sharing it and teaching it and learning more about it and living it out is different than the way she's been led. It would be so easy for each of us to think less of the other because we don't see our "missions" in life as the same as each others'. But we've realized that it's absolutely all right to let God do what He is doing in each of us individually and to celebrate it! As an example, I've grown very discontent with what I and many call the institutionalized church. I've not "been to church" (other than visiting my dad's church) for over a year. At the same time, my wife is actively involved in our mega church.
As long as she loves what she's doing, I don't have a hard time with that at all. And in the same way, she knows I love doing what I do. For some time now I've really enjoyed connecting with people online from all over the country and world. She has absolutely NO interest in it! But she knows it's my heart's desire right now and she hasn't been trying to get me to "go to church" with her. We're still one. We're still a unit.
I say all of that to say that it's the individual hearts of people that matter. If God is doing a "big" thing in a church, a city, a nation or even worldwide, that's a GREAT thing! I most certainly hope that I haven't come across as saying that I'm against "big" moves of God! But what is He doing in your heart? Is He doing something that is on a larger scale that involves lots of other people? If so, great! If not, then just be content with what He's doing in you and don't worry about what other people think of you when you're not jumping on the bandwagon!
Also, what is He doing in the individual hearts of those around you, whether it's one or two, or ten or a thousand or more? Sometimes the saying is true that we miss the forest for the trees, but maybe even more often in a great big thriving forest we miss the individual trees.
Either way, I think it's good to remember to not judge one another or look down on one another for the legitimate things that God is doing in our lives. He's got the forest as a whole and the individual trees in His hands!
Rest Easy
Late last year I posted about a song from the early 90's that I really love called "Rest Easy" from Audio Adrenaline. At the time I posted the lyrics and a link to a short snippet of the song because I couldn't find a video for the song.
But yesterday Matthew posted a video for the song (no visuals, just audio) that was added to YouTube this past March, and it's well worth the listen! Check it out here on Matthew's blog or here on my post from 12/13/07, which I updated today with the video. Thanks MD!
While I'm at it... Let me link to this really great post of his called Believing the Invisible. It's about not putting faith in ourselves, or even putting faith in our own faith, but about putting our faith in its true object, Jesus.
But yesterday Matthew posted a video for the song (no visuals, just audio) that was added to YouTube this past March, and it's well worth the listen! Check it out here on Matthew's blog or here on my post from 12/13/07, which I updated today with the video. Thanks MD!
While I'm at it... Let me link to this really great post of his called Believing the Invisible. It's about not putting faith in ourselves, or even putting faith in our own faith, but about putting our faith in its true object, Jesus.
Monday, June 02, 2008
"Moves of God"
The third post I wanted to mention from yesterday was a great post at A Former Leader's Journey called "What If?" Barb asks a bunch of "What if" questions about grace and "moves of God" that I take as rhetorical and reality, and not just possibilities.
She starts out with:
And that's just the beginning! Barb really nails a lot of things right on the head. Check out the entire post, as well as the wonderful comments left by others. One of Barb's very own comments speaks to me as well: "The big movement of God is all the little movements added up together."
Although I've been growing in grace for well over a decade now, I only began really connecting with other similar-minded believers through the internet about three or four years ago (people who were tired of religion and who were learning about grace and freedom in Christ, and walking in it), and my connection and interaction with others really seems to have grown exponentially during the past year or so. I've kind of thought that perhaps through the internet there would be kind of a huge tsunami wave or big explosion of God's grace - a "big move of God," so to speak. But I think (and I could very well be wrong, but this is simply my perception right now) that while there does seem to be some very wonderful things happening around the U.S. and around the world, it's not so much one huge "movement of God" but rather a lot of little ones.
Mega churches and mega ministries are easy to see and are perhaps easier to collect data on. But what's not so visible to the naked eye are all the small gatherings of the saints and the LIFE that is passed on from one saint to another in places such as homes, cafés, on the internet, on the streets, over the phone, in places of employment, in the parks, in private conversations, in the bars, in the gutters, in the alleys, in solitary, in gatherings of two, three or ten, etc, etc, etc, where God is doing big things in individuals and small groups of people.
Don't get me wrong - I think there are some really wonderful things that God is doing in the lives of people through "big" ministries and through "big" churches. I pray for that to always continue! The point is, "What if" God was doing what He wanted to do wherever and however He wanted to do it, whether it was visible to the masses or not.
I'm saying all of this because over the years other people have said and done things to me that have essentially left me feeling inadequate and "out of the loop" because I haven't jumped on the bandwagon of various so-called "moves of God." The reason I haven't jumped on the bandwagon isn't because I'm cold or stuck up, but rather because I'm sitting here listening to and watching what God is saying to me and doing in and through my life and in the community He's put me in and I'm sticking with that. IF He "moves" in me to do something "big" or to join something "big" (as was the case of remaining involved in the mega-church that I was a part of for seven years), then I want to ride the wind of the Spirit and be as involved as He wants me to be. But for now as I seek, pray, watch, etc, I'm very content to be a part of the "small" movement of God that's going on in my own little world and with the people I've come to know and love.
Right now what I see, with my limited view, is a lot of butterflies spread out all over the world that are emerging from their cocoons and are wanting to spread their wings and fly and be free (see my first post from earlier today). If God forms these butterflies into large groups or mega-groups that sweep across the nation or world, then what a great thing that will be! If He keeps them in smaller groups that help, serve, heal, save, impart life, etc, to one life at a time, wherever they're at, what a great thing that will be too!
Do you have any thoughts on "moves of God?" Are your thoughts similar to mine? Different? I'd love to hear from you.
She starts out with:
What If God were much bigger than I had ever imagined?
What If Grace was more encompasing that I could believe?
What if God wanted to find his people, go after his sheep, anywhere they had wandered?
What if there was no big "Move of God" but just God pursuing people – sometimes seemingly in the same location at the same time?
What if He was desiring a relationship equally with us who have left the institutional church AND those who are still in there?
What if today, His “Big Move” was to search out hungry hearts anywhere they will be found?
And that's just the beginning! Barb really nails a lot of things right on the head. Check out the entire post, as well as the wonderful comments left by others. One of Barb's very own comments speaks to me as well: "The big movement of God is all the little movements added up together."
Although I've been growing in grace for well over a decade now, I only began really connecting with other similar-minded believers through the internet about three or four years ago (people who were tired of religion and who were learning about grace and freedom in Christ, and walking in it), and my connection and interaction with others really seems to have grown exponentially during the past year or so. I've kind of thought that perhaps through the internet there would be kind of a huge tsunami wave or big explosion of God's grace - a "big move of God," so to speak. But I think (and I could very well be wrong, but this is simply my perception right now) that while there does seem to be some very wonderful things happening around the U.S. and around the world, it's not so much one huge "movement of God" but rather a lot of little ones.
Mega churches and mega ministries are easy to see and are perhaps easier to collect data on. But what's not so visible to the naked eye are all the small gatherings of the saints and the LIFE that is passed on from one saint to another in places such as homes, cafés, on the internet, on the streets, over the phone, in places of employment, in the parks, in private conversations, in the bars, in the gutters, in the alleys, in solitary, in gatherings of two, three or ten, etc, etc, etc, where God is doing big things in individuals and small groups of people.
Don't get me wrong - I think there are some really wonderful things that God is doing in the lives of people through "big" ministries and through "big" churches. I pray for that to always continue! The point is, "What if" God was doing what He wanted to do wherever and however He wanted to do it, whether it was visible to the masses or not.
I'm saying all of this because over the years other people have said and done things to me that have essentially left me feeling inadequate and "out of the loop" because I haven't jumped on the bandwagon of various so-called "moves of God." The reason I haven't jumped on the bandwagon isn't because I'm cold or stuck up, but rather because I'm sitting here listening to and watching what God is saying to me and doing in and through my life and in the community He's put me in and I'm sticking with that. IF He "moves" in me to do something "big" or to join something "big" (as was the case of remaining involved in the mega-church that I was a part of for seven years), then I want to ride the wind of the Spirit and be as involved as He wants me to be. But for now as I seek, pray, watch, etc, I'm very content to be a part of the "small" movement of God that's going on in my own little world and with the people I've come to know and love.
Right now what I see, with my limited view, is a lot of butterflies spread out all over the world that are emerging from their cocoons and are wanting to spread their wings and fly and be free (see my first post from earlier today). If God forms these butterflies into large groups or mega-groups that sweep across the nation or world, then what a great thing that will be! If He keeps them in smaller groups that help, serve, heal, save, impart life, etc, to one life at a time, wherever they're at, what a great thing that will be too!
Do you have any thoughts on "moves of God?" Are your thoughts similar to mine? Different? I'd love to hear from you.
Tithing
The second post from yesterday that really spoke to me was a post from Forgetting the Former Things called "Learning to Give Out in the Wild." Aida talks about the big difference between Old Covenant tithing and New Covenant cheerful giving.
She writes:
I know some toes are being stepped on in a major way right now with all this, but the church has been bound up in religion for too long to not talk about it! It never ceases to amaze me how the New Testament church continues to manipulate and twist Old Covenant scriptures in order to come up with New Covenant versions of Old Covenant laws. It's absolutely ridiculous at best, and on the worst end of the scale it puts Christians in undue bondage. In the most commonly used Old Testament passage that the church wrongly uses to get Christians to "pay a tithe" to a local church, God, through the prophet Malachi, was in actuality rebuking the Jewish people for not keeping the tithing laws (note: plural) that He had given them. These laws were given for certain times and for certain purposes that have absolutely nothing to do with the Christian church!
As I said in the comments of Aida's post, I'm planning on confronting this issue head-on here on my blog, hopefully soon! In the meantime, check out her excellent post.
She writes:
In these New Testament days, we have the life of God in us. That was not true before the coming of Christ. The law, which includes instructions about tithing, was put into effect to bring us to Christ. Now that we're in him, our relationship to the law is ended. That includes the law of the tithe. We're no longer required to tithe and we're not robbing God if we don't.
I know some toes are being stepped on in a major way right now with all this, but the church has been bound up in religion for too long to not talk about it! It never ceases to amaze me how the New Testament church continues to manipulate and twist Old Covenant scriptures in order to come up with New Covenant versions of Old Covenant laws. It's absolutely ridiculous at best, and on the worst end of the scale it puts Christians in undue bondage. In the most commonly used Old Testament passage that the church wrongly uses to get Christians to "pay a tithe" to a local church, God, through the prophet Malachi, was in actuality rebuking the Jewish people for not keeping the tithing laws (note: plural) that He had given them. These laws were given for certain times and for certain purposes that have absolutely nothing to do with the Christian church!
As I said in the comments of Aida's post, I'm planning on confronting this issue head-on here on my blog, hopefully soon! In the meantime, check out her excellent post.
Butterfly Church
Wow... I came across three great blog posts yesterday that really resonated with my heart. I'll post them individually.
The first one, over at With Unveiled Face, is called "The Butterfly Church." In it, 'Free Spirit' writes about how she has recently discovered "an entire subculture I knew nothing of" in which people are breaking out of the bondage of religion and finding the freedom for which they were created.
She writes:
And she continues with a profound statement that knocked me off of my feet:
Oh my! How true. Check out the entire post (link above).
The first one, over at With Unveiled Face, is called "The Butterfly Church." In it, 'Free Spirit' writes about how she has recently discovered "an entire subculture I knew nothing of" in which people are breaking out of the bondage of religion and finding the freedom for which they were created.
She writes:
This new culture I've found, seems to reveal a groaning of sorts. Yeah, like a groaning of the soul, too deep for words. It's both birthed in, and driven by, this groaning. Like baby chicks needing freedom from the encasement of their shells... pecking, pecking, pecking, and then pecking some more. Compelled to discover what's on the other side of their confinement. It's the caterpillar, turned butterfly, breaking out of its chrysalis and making its way to freedom. It's stunningly beautiful! They, too, have an inward knowing in their knower that there's more for them than what they previously knew. It's as natural as a bird flying.
And she continues with a profound statement that knocked me off of my feet:
The main difference between their species and ours is that they don't have their own to contend with.
Oh my! How true. Check out the entire post (link above).
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Waiting - Part 3
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, PATIENCE, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. - Galatians 5:22-23
"Lord, I pray for patience. And please give it to me NOW!" - Christian prayer
:)
I believe that as Christians, our spirits have been born again (1 Peter 1:23) - made into brand new creations (2 Cor 5:17). We've become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). We've been joined together with God (1 Cor 6:17). Christ is in us (Col 1:27) and we are in Him (1 John 4:13). We are complete in Him (Col 2:10). He has perfected us forever (Heb 10:14). This is good news! It's the reality of who we are in Him, and it's all due to His loving kindness and grace. Again, I believe this is the truth about our spirits. "God... made us alive together with Christ... and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:5-6).
I believe it's a different story with our souls. What I mean is, although our spirits have been made new creations and are complete and perfected, and have become partakers of the divine nature, there is still a daily sanctifying work of grace going on in our souls (our mind, our will, our emotions, etc). I can tell you for certain that my will does not always line up with that of the Spirit. My emotions do not always reflect the truth of who I have become spiritually in Christ. My thoughts vary from moment to moment. Put simply, one moment I can be thinking pure, holy thoughts and the next moment I can be lost in impure, ungodly thoughts. Happy one moment, sad the next. Trustful one moment, doubting the next. And so on.
But yet in this soul-life, through the daily, ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, I'm growing. And to get specifically to the topic of this post, this growing process isn't instantaneous! A lot of waiting is involved. Since we are joined with God spiritually and have become a partaker of His divine nature, our natural desire when we realize that in our souls (minds, wills, emotions) we're not patient with our spouse, our children, our parents, our friends, our coworkers, ourselves (or on a bigger scale the overall development of our own personal life stories), is to become more patient. And since we're impatient in learning patience, we wish God would simply snap His fingers and make us patient!
Of course it doesn't work that way. Patience, along with all the other fruit that comes out of an ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit, takes time. It's not instantaneous. There's a process going on, and I think that most of the time we don't even understand all that God is doing in and through us to bear His fruit. I do believe there are times when we're given revelations and insight about what He's doing, and those are wonderful times, but we generally don't see the bigger picture. However, in all of this we've been given a gift that I believe can and should help to melt away all the doubt and uncertainty when we don't see. That gift is faith.
I wholeheartedly believe that faith truly is a gift, and not something that we can earn or muster up by ourselves, and yet there is yet a growing process involved in learning to walk in faith. To walk in faith is to know that there is a bigger picture, even though we can't see it. It's to know that God is at work in us, to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Phil 2:13), even when we don't sense what He is doing. There is a growing process involved in which you "let your roots grow down into him (Jesus) and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught" (Col 2:7 NLT).
Growth by its very nature is not quick or instantaneous, so it naturally involves patience ("long-suffering"). Patience involves waiting. Waiting expectantly requires faith. Faith requires believing what you don't see, but again it's a gift and it simply means that you are believing and trusting in the One through Whom all things were created - the One who is before all things and in Whom all things consist! (see Col 1:16-18). It's a well-placed trust, no?
"Lord, I pray for patience. And please give it to me NOW!" - Christian prayer
:)
I believe that as Christians, our spirits have been born again (1 Peter 1:23) - made into brand new creations (2 Cor 5:17). We've become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). We've been joined together with God (1 Cor 6:17). Christ is in us (Col 1:27) and we are in Him (1 John 4:13). We are complete in Him (Col 2:10). He has perfected us forever (Heb 10:14). This is good news! It's the reality of who we are in Him, and it's all due to His loving kindness and grace. Again, I believe this is the truth about our spirits. "God... made us alive together with Christ... and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:5-6).
I believe it's a different story with our souls. What I mean is, although our spirits have been made new creations and are complete and perfected, and have become partakers of the divine nature, there is still a daily sanctifying work of grace going on in our souls (our mind, our will, our emotions, etc). I can tell you for certain that my will does not always line up with that of the Spirit. My emotions do not always reflect the truth of who I have become spiritually in Christ. My thoughts vary from moment to moment. Put simply, one moment I can be thinking pure, holy thoughts and the next moment I can be lost in impure, ungodly thoughts. Happy one moment, sad the next. Trustful one moment, doubting the next. And so on.
But yet in this soul-life, through the daily, ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, I'm growing. And to get specifically to the topic of this post, this growing process isn't instantaneous! A lot of waiting is involved. Since we are joined with God spiritually and have become a partaker of His divine nature, our natural desire when we realize that in our souls (minds, wills, emotions) we're not patient with our spouse, our children, our parents, our friends, our coworkers, ourselves (or on a bigger scale the overall development of our own personal life stories), is to become more patient. And since we're impatient in learning patience, we wish God would simply snap His fingers and make us patient!
Of course it doesn't work that way. Patience, along with all the other fruit that comes out of an ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit, takes time. It's not instantaneous. There's a process going on, and I think that most of the time we don't even understand all that God is doing in and through us to bear His fruit. I do believe there are times when we're given revelations and insight about what He's doing, and those are wonderful times, but we generally don't see the bigger picture. However, in all of this we've been given a gift that I believe can and should help to melt away all the doubt and uncertainty when we don't see. That gift is faith.
I wholeheartedly believe that faith truly is a gift, and not something that we can earn or muster up by ourselves, and yet there is yet a growing process involved in learning to walk in faith. To walk in faith is to know that there is a bigger picture, even though we can't see it. It's to know that God is at work in us, to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Phil 2:13), even when we don't sense what He is doing. There is a growing process involved in which you "let your roots grow down into him (Jesus) and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught" (Col 2:7 NLT).
Growth by its very nature is not quick or instantaneous, so it naturally involves patience ("long-suffering"). Patience involves waiting. Waiting expectantly requires faith. Faith requires believing what you don't see, but again it's a gift and it simply means that you are believing and trusting in the One through Whom all things were created - the One who is before all things and in Whom all things consist! (see Col 1:16-18). It's a well-placed trust, no?
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