I think one of the signs you're growing as a Christian is that your duties become your joys. You have to read the Bible, but, hey we get to read the Bible! We have to go to church, but guess what, it's Sunday, we get to go to church today! We have to get baptised, but yes! I get to be baptized, and identify with Christ and His people.
Duties slowly become joys. I'll be honest, i'm never excited when my alarm goes off at 515 four or five days a week. But marrying a teacher means early mornings and long days, and if i don't start in the Word, i'll never get there. So i get up, stumble to the coffee machine, locate my Bible, and the Valley of Vision, and off i go. I have to get up before dawn and read the Bible, but i get to wake up before dawn and read the Bible. A Christian duty becomes a delightful joy. The back yard is dark, the house is quiet, and God is speaking.
And when God speaks; life!
God speaks in Genesis 1, and there's life. God speaks and there are trees, and fruit, and seas teeming with fish, and Adam and Eve. And it's good. try it for yourself, try speaking out and creating life. I just did, it didn't work. But God speaks, and it does! Isaiah tells us that God's Word is like rain falling to the ground. It waters the crops and they grow. Life!
In Luke 7:11-17 Jesus is walking to Nain, and He passes a funeral procession. The boy is dead, the mother is wailing, the Nain City Nuggets Major League Mourning team are turning in an all-pro performance. But God is about to speak. 'Young man, i say to you, arise.' And he does. Because God spoke, and there was life. The mother rejoiced, the Nuggets trudged off the field, last minute winner- probably offside.
(As an aside, this is another one in the eye for people who tell us that 'Jesus never claimed to be God.' Jesus hardly did any else but claim He was God.)
And onto 2 Corinthians 4:4-6. What happened when we got saved? God turned the light on and we saw Christ. We saw Him, not as a 'good teacher,' not as an irrelevance, but as God Himself. The lights came on, and we worshiped. Just like 'in the beginning.' We see the glory of God in Christ. As we read the Gospel, the letters, the prophets, the history, we see God's glory in Christ.
We have to, and we get to. It's a duty and a joy. We have to because in the cultural wasteland of post Christian America, it's the only we to survive. We get to, because we meet a loving God, who would feed us with the finest of wheat, and honey from the rock.
Showing posts with label 2 Corinthians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2 Corinthians. Show all posts
Friday, 11 April 2014
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
Hungry Beggars
Let me start with a statement: religious activities are only valuable insofar as they open our eyes to Jesus.
By Religious activities i mean things like church attendance, Bible reading, baptism and communion and sharing our faith. They only have as much value as they give us of Jesus. By themselves, sitting in a cathedral/movie theatre/somewhere in between, has no value. By itself, memorizing an old book has little value outside pure aesthetics. Eating and drinking inside that building may fill our stomachs (a tiny bit) but has no value beyond that. Unless...unless we remember, and know, and revive these things as full of meaning, full of blessings, and full of glory. Unless, in other words, these things open our eyes to Jesus.
You should go to church. The more i think about it, and the more i see it, the more i think that your attitude to church is a direct reflection of your attitude towards Jesus. The Bible doesn't tell Christians to go to church any more than it tells us to keep breathing oxygen.
We should read our Bibles. If you ignore your spouse except when you're in trouble no one thinks you have a good marriage. If you only talk to your friends when you need a favour, then they won't be your friends for very long.
You should take part in the ordinances of the church. If you aren't baptised, and skip communion, you probably don't understand the death and resurrection of Jesus. And you need to understand these things.
You should share your faith. How can we say 'look at my new clothes,' or 'did you see that goal,' but never 'do you know Jesus?' We talk about the things we love, we can't help ourselves.
But, none of these things, by themselves, mean a rip if they don't help us to see Jesus. Life is about seeing Jesus. Life is knowing Jesus, as He prays in John 17:3. Growth is about seeing Jesus, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17. There's a scene in the first Matrix movie where Neo complains that his eyes hurt. Morpheus tells him that it's because he's using them for the first time. To see Jesus with our ears, eyes and heart is to use them for their purpose. It might hurt for a while. It's supposed to.
So read the Bible. But read it like a hungry beggar who has happened upon a feast, not a detached literary critic, or a 10th grader learning algebra. 'Open my eyes so that i might see wonderful things...'
Commit to seven day a week church life. But not to collect a token, not because you may live in the only corner of the world remaining where people will talk about you if you're not in church. Commit to church because Jesus is committed to church, commit to church because that's where you belong. 'Open my eyes so that i might see wonderful things...'
Be baptised, celebrate communion. But not because 'that's what happens at church,' but because these ceremonies are filled with life and meaning by the risen Lord. Because we have been lifted out of the water, and we must feast on His flesh to live. 'Open my eyes so that i might see wonderful things...'
Share your faith. Tell your friends, and co-workers and neighbors to come with you because you'll do them good. Overflow with Jesus when people ask you about your weekend. So live and so speak that the aroma of Christ floats around you. 'Open their eyes, so they might see wonderful things...'
Christianity is seeing Jesus. Make sure your glasses are on straight.
By Religious activities i mean things like church attendance, Bible reading, baptism and communion and sharing our faith. They only have as much value as they give us of Jesus. By themselves, sitting in a cathedral/movie theatre/somewhere in between, has no value. By itself, memorizing an old book has little value outside pure aesthetics. Eating and drinking inside that building may fill our stomachs (a tiny bit) but has no value beyond that. Unless...unless we remember, and know, and revive these things as full of meaning, full of blessings, and full of glory. Unless, in other words, these things open our eyes to Jesus.
You should go to church. The more i think about it, and the more i see it, the more i think that your attitude to church is a direct reflection of your attitude towards Jesus. The Bible doesn't tell Christians to go to church any more than it tells us to keep breathing oxygen.
We should read our Bibles. If you ignore your spouse except when you're in trouble no one thinks you have a good marriage. If you only talk to your friends when you need a favour, then they won't be your friends for very long.
You should take part in the ordinances of the church. If you aren't baptised, and skip communion, you probably don't understand the death and resurrection of Jesus. And you need to understand these things.
You should share your faith. How can we say 'look at my new clothes,' or 'did you see that goal,' but never 'do you know Jesus?' We talk about the things we love, we can't help ourselves.
But, none of these things, by themselves, mean a rip if they don't help us to see Jesus. Life is about seeing Jesus. Life is knowing Jesus, as He prays in John 17:3. Growth is about seeing Jesus, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17. There's a scene in the first Matrix movie where Neo complains that his eyes hurt. Morpheus tells him that it's because he's using them for the first time. To see Jesus with our ears, eyes and heart is to use them for their purpose. It might hurt for a while. It's supposed to.
So read the Bible. But read it like a hungry beggar who has happened upon a feast, not a detached literary critic, or a 10th grader learning algebra. 'Open my eyes so that i might see wonderful things...'
Commit to seven day a week church life. But not to collect a token, not because you may live in the only corner of the world remaining where people will talk about you if you're not in church. Commit to church because Jesus is committed to church, commit to church because that's where you belong. 'Open my eyes so that i might see wonderful things...'
Be baptised, celebrate communion. But not because 'that's what happens at church,' but because these ceremonies are filled with life and meaning by the risen Lord. Because we have been lifted out of the water, and we must feast on His flesh to live. 'Open my eyes so that i might see wonderful things...'
Share your faith. Tell your friends, and co-workers and neighbors to come with you because you'll do them good. Overflow with Jesus when people ask you about your weekend. So live and so speak that the aroma of Christ floats around you. 'Open their eyes, so they might see wonderful things...'
Christianity is seeing Jesus. Make sure your glasses are on straight.
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
Beholding Is Becoming
I joked the other week that the best thing a young preacher can do is get married, because married life opens up a plethora of new sermon illustrations. I was joking, of course, in some ways. You really should get married, to a woman who loves Jesus more than you, and doesn't complain when you construct the world's busiest calendar for the first half of 2013 but off all the wonders of married life, sermon illustrations come well down the list, but on they are on the list.
Last week, after a girls 'soccer' game (I coach our high school team) I came home, and the very first thing I did was put on a load of laundry. It was a tough game against a team we should have beaten easily, but only scraped by with a goal about thirty seconds from time, occasioning a 20 yard sprint and fist pump display from yours truly. I needed a shower, I wanted some time to process the win and what it meant for our season - we've since lost in the play offs - but instead I was doing laundry.
Why?
Because beholding is becoming. As I've lived with Rachel for the last nearly four years, my priorities have changed. I can see the benefit in hovering, laundering and washing up. I load the dishwasher when it's time, I make sure Rachel's clothes are clean, folded and out away. Now, none of this may last beyond the first week of the summer holidays, when Rachel is freed from third grade, but the point remains, it happening now. As I have beheld, as I have loved, I have become.
And we behold Jesus in the Bible, as we love Him in His perfections, in His condescension and in His life, death and resurrection, we become. God's voice changes our categories, it changes our priorities, it changes our desires. We want to go the church, we want to give our money, we want to live the good life of obedience. The light of the Gospel has shone in our hearts, and chased away, destroyed, the darkness.
This is part of the mystery of discipleship. This is part of the exposure of discipleship. Even though discipleship must never be reduced to meeting and mechanics, discipleship does happen in meetings, whether 250-1 or 1-1. As we're exposed to our wives, we become like them, as we're exposed to our saviour we become like Him.
Sadly, it's not just good things that in beholding we become. It's also idols. Psalm 115 tells us that idols have eyes but do not hear, hands but do not feel, feet but do not walk. They are deaf, dumb and insensitive to the beauties of Christ. And those who worship them will become like them. Isn't that what happened to Israel in exile? A kind of living death, cut off from the land and the promises? Isn't that life today without Jesus? Cut off from anything worthy of the name of love, life and hope?
One way or another, for better or worse, we behold, and we become.
Last week, after a girls 'soccer' game (I coach our high school team) I came home, and the very first thing I did was put on a load of laundry. It was a tough game against a team we should have beaten easily, but only scraped by with a goal about thirty seconds from time, occasioning a 20 yard sprint and fist pump display from yours truly. I needed a shower, I wanted some time to process the win and what it meant for our season - we've since lost in the play offs - but instead I was doing laundry.
Why?
Because beholding is becoming. As I've lived with Rachel for the last nearly four years, my priorities have changed. I can see the benefit in hovering, laundering and washing up. I load the dishwasher when it's time, I make sure Rachel's clothes are clean, folded and out away. Now, none of this may last beyond the first week of the summer holidays, when Rachel is freed from third grade, but the point remains, it happening now. As I have beheld, as I have loved, I have become.
And we behold Jesus in the Bible, as we love Him in His perfections, in His condescension and in His life, death and resurrection, we become. God's voice changes our categories, it changes our priorities, it changes our desires. We want to go the church, we want to give our money, we want to live the good life of obedience. The light of the Gospel has shone in our hearts, and chased away, destroyed, the darkness.
This is part of the mystery of discipleship. This is part of the exposure of discipleship. Even though discipleship must never be reduced to meeting and mechanics, discipleship does happen in meetings, whether 250-1 or 1-1. As we're exposed to our wives, we become like them, as we're exposed to our saviour we become like Him.
Sadly, it's not just good things that in beholding we become. It's also idols. Psalm 115 tells us that idols have eyes but do not hear, hands but do not feel, feet but do not walk. They are deaf, dumb and insensitive to the beauties of Christ. And those who worship them will become like them. Isn't that what happened to Israel in exile? A kind of living death, cut off from the land and the promises? Isn't that life today without Jesus? Cut off from anything worthy of the name of love, life and hope?
One way or another, for better or worse, we behold, and we become.
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
On Discipleship
All Christians are disciples.
All people are disciples because everyone follows someone.
Discipleship is following Christ, because disciples follow their Lord. So how best to think about Christian discipleship? I think there are two words that capture it, mystery, and exposure.
Discipleship is all about exposure, Christian growth is all about exposure. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 teaches us this. We all with unveiled face are being change as we look on the glory of God in the face of Christ. That verses teaches us the goal of discipleship, change, and the route to that goal, beholding the glory of God in the face of Christ. Christians become what they behold, we really are what we eat. If the goal of discipleship is change, incremental, lifelong, change, then the mechanics of discipleship must involve getting people to look at Jesus.
This must happen individually. We can wander round aimlessly hoping that God will speak through a song, or a sunset, or a waterfall, or we can open the Bible and actually listen to Him! And see His glory in the face of His Son, and be changed. If Christianity really is a relationship, then this is where the relationship happens. We speak to God in prayer, He speaks to us, and changes us through His Word.
This must also happen corporately. When the church is gathered the Word must be preached, or whatever just happened wasn't church. The word must be preached and sung, and eaten and drunk. Meetings doesn't equal discipleship, but discipleship happens in meetings.
If you really want to be disciple, you must be looking at Jesus, and looking at Him so hard and so long that eventually you see the whole world through Him. And if we want people to be disciple, we must be setting up these encounters.
And discipleship is a mystery. We can't just 'do it.' It doesn't just happen, mostly. Jesus tells Nicodemus that the wind blows wherever it wishes, and we hear it's sound, but we do not know where it comes from, or where it goes. So it is with everyone who has been born of the Spirit. We don't see the Holy Spirit, but we see His effects. John 3:8 is a death knell to anyone who believes that discipleship can be programmed, it can't be. As we're exposed we expect to see growth, but it doesn't always follow.
The mystery is sometimes this growth is incremental. It's slow, and you see it over a number of years. And if we accept that discipleship is for life, we're ok with this. Incremental growth won't please those who are looking for the thunder and lightening, for the microwave effect, but this is how it happens most of the time. You look over a course of two years, and see you've changed, but there was no lightbulb moment, it just happened.
Sometimes it happens in a flash, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all, because the Holy Spirit blows where He wishes.
We need to be exposed. We need to be looking at the light. And as we're exposed, we need to trust in that gradual, lifelong growth. We need to trust that results will come as the Spirit has His way. This is counter cultural, because it's slow. But it's Biblical, and it should be happening in our churches.
All people are disciples because everyone follows someone.
Discipleship is following Christ, because disciples follow their Lord. So how best to think about Christian discipleship? I think there are two words that capture it, mystery, and exposure.
Discipleship is all about exposure, Christian growth is all about exposure. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 teaches us this. We all with unveiled face are being change as we look on the glory of God in the face of Christ. That verses teaches us the goal of discipleship, change, and the route to that goal, beholding the glory of God in the face of Christ. Christians become what they behold, we really are what we eat. If the goal of discipleship is change, incremental, lifelong, change, then the mechanics of discipleship must involve getting people to look at Jesus.
This must happen individually. We can wander round aimlessly hoping that God will speak through a song, or a sunset, or a waterfall, or we can open the Bible and actually listen to Him! And see His glory in the face of His Son, and be changed. If Christianity really is a relationship, then this is where the relationship happens. We speak to God in prayer, He speaks to us, and changes us through His Word.
This must also happen corporately. When the church is gathered the Word must be preached, or whatever just happened wasn't church. The word must be preached and sung, and eaten and drunk. Meetings doesn't equal discipleship, but discipleship happens in meetings.
If you really want to be disciple, you must be looking at Jesus, and looking at Him so hard and so long that eventually you see the whole world through Him. And if we want people to be disciple, we must be setting up these encounters.
And discipleship is a mystery. We can't just 'do it.' It doesn't just happen, mostly. Jesus tells Nicodemus that the wind blows wherever it wishes, and we hear it's sound, but we do not know where it comes from, or where it goes. So it is with everyone who has been born of the Spirit. We don't see the Holy Spirit, but we see His effects. John 3:8 is a death knell to anyone who believes that discipleship can be programmed, it can't be. As we're exposed we expect to see growth, but it doesn't always follow.
The mystery is sometimes this growth is incremental. It's slow, and you see it over a number of years. And if we accept that discipleship is for life, we're ok with this. Incremental growth won't please those who are looking for the thunder and lightening, for the microwave effect, but this is how it happens most of the time. You look over a course of two years, and see you've changed, but there was no lightbulb moment, it just happened.
Sometimes it happens in a flash, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all, because the Holy Spirit blows where He wishes.
We need to be exposed. We need to be looking at the light. And as we're exposed, we need to trust in that gradual, lifelong growth. We need to trust that results will come as the Spirit has His way. This is counter cultural, because it's slow. But it's Biblical, and it should be happening in our churches.
Friday, 13 July 2012
God is Already Pleased With You
The more i think about 2 Corinthians 5:21, the more i see it as a sword that we must plunge into the heart of weak theology. There a weak theology of pleasing God isn't there? A theology that robs us of joy because we think if i don't do ____ then God won't be pleased. But, if there's something that we can do, or not do, that leaves God displeased, we're all in the mess, because it would mean that we'd never be able to do anything to please God.
What is the end result of this verse? God is pleased with us, because of what Jesus has done. God is pleased, this moment, with you and me, because of Jesus. If we are in Him, all our sins have put on Christ's shoulders. You and I don't walk away not guilty, we walk away innocent. With the righteousness of God in our account! If we owe God a million dollars, Jesus doesn't show up with a million dollars to pay into our account, He shows up with one hundred million dollars! And there's more every day.
If we forget this, our obedience will fearful and joyless. If we forget this, our obedience won't please God. This is the irony. If we aim to please God because of what Christ has done, we won't please Him. We'll steal His glory, we'll grow in pride not grace, people won't ask us for the hope that is in us, because they'll see that we are our own hope. But if we live lives that please God because Jesus has pleased God, then God will be pleased. If we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and grow in the grace and knowledge of God, as a faithful reaction to what Jesus has done on the cross, then we grow, and God is glorified.
God is more pleased with you right now than you can possibly imagine. Not because of you, but because of Jesus. And Jesus' work will never change. So relax, and prove your faith by your works today, don't try to do it backwards...
What is the end result of this verse? God is pleased with us, because of what Jesus has done. God is pleased, this moment, with you and me, because of Jesus. If we are in Him, all our sins have put on Christ's shoulders. You and I don't walk away not guilty, we walk away innocent. With the righteousness of God in our account! If we owe God a million dollars, Jesus doesn't show up with a million dollars to pay into our account, He shows up with one hundred million dollars! And there's more every day.
If we forget this, our obedience will fearful and joyless. If we forget this, our obedience won't please God. This is the irony. If we aim to please God because of what Christ has done, we won't please Him. We'll steal His glory, we'll grow in pride not grace, people won't ask us for the hope that is in us, because they'll see that we are our own hope. But if we live lives that please God because Jesus has pleased God, then God will be pleased. If we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and grow in the grace and knowledge of God, as a faithful reaction to what Jesus has done on the cross, then we grow, and God is glorified.
God is more pleased with you right now than you can possibly imagine. Not because of you, but because of Jesus. And Jesus' work will never change. So relax, and prove your faith by your works today, don't try to do it backwards...
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
What Provo is Teaching Me (I)
This will probably come in two parts, one more 'theological' and one more personal. Or, this post will mutate into the sort of thing you give up on half way through...
We arrived back from Provo yesterday evening. Five days had flown by, and we came home with mixed feelings. I always want those sort of trips to be longer, i always leave feeling more burdened by what we didn't do that pleased with what we did. But we a lot for three days.
I shared with you before we left that Provo is overwhelmingly Mormon. In fact, soon Provo will be the only city in the world with two Mormon Temples. The Provo/Orem metropolitan area is literally bursting at the seems with Mormons. It's like the Bible belt on culty steroids. What is Mormonism, basically? From my far less than expert point of view, it seems that Mormonism can be summed up as a system whereby man aims to gain reward by pleasing God. This has some positive side effects. There's a great volunteer spirit in Provo, it's clean and public places are well looked after. We spent a morning picking up litter and weeding a popular running and biking trail, and didn't pick up a single fast food wrapper or beer can. But the (eternal) negatives obviously far outweigh the (temporal) positives.
I defined Mormonism as a system for man to please God. That doesn't sound like a bad thing does it? Evangelicals want to please God, no? I want, very much to please God today in my marriage and ministry. So what's the big deal? Well the big deal, Christianity is about what Jesus has done to please God, not what we must do to please God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 spells this out in slow motion. For our sake, that means, God did something for your benefit and mine that we couldn't do by ourselves. What did He do? He made Jesus to be sin. He counted to Jesus' account all the sins that we've committed today, and yesterday, and forever. And this was a big deal, because Jesus had never sinned. He is the spotless lamb, He is the true Israelite who has the law written on His heart. He is the High Priest in Melchizedek's order, He is the eternal Son of God. And His Father out all our sins on Him.
Why? What benefit does that give us? So that...we might become the righteousness of God. In the glorious economy of God the Father, He looks at you and me, and sees Jesus perfect righteousness. He doesn't see my sin, or your sin, His face doesn't flicker with anger as we approach Him, His mind doesn't weigh up whether or not our prayers deserve a hearing. We become the righteousness of God. We approached our Father clothed in our blessed brother's robe, that we might receive a blessing from Him.
I missed out a part though. We don't become this righteousness by works. This righteousness comes in Him. In Him might be two of the most important words in the Bible. In Him, you and I are righteous. Not because we have pleased the Father, but because Jesus has. In Him, we have hope, not because we are worthy of merit, but because Jesus is. In Him, in Him, in Him!
Baptism doesn't save, vicarious baptism doesn't move relatives from Hell to Heaven. It's all in Him. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because we are in Him. We've been given precious treasure in pots of clay, not so that we can paint the outside of our pots but to show the surpassing power belongs to God! Not us! Not to us, only to Him.
Are you in Him? Are you connected by faith alone to Christ alone? Don't please your Father to earn His smile today, He smiles on you because of Christ, and this frees us to labour joyfully for His glory.
For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
We arrived back from Provo yesterday evening. Five days had flown by, and we came home with mixed feelings. I always want those sort of trips to be longer, i always leave feeling more burdened by what we didn't do that pleased with what we did. But we a lot for three days.
I shared with you before we left that Provo is overwhelmingly Mormon. In fact, soon Provo will be the only city in the world with two Mormon Temples. The Provo/Orem metropolitan area is literally bursting at the seems with Mormons. It's like the Bible belt on culty steroids. What is Mormonism, basically? From my far less than expert point of view, it seems that Mormonism can be summed up as a system whereby man aims to gain reward by pleasing God. This has some positive side effects. There's a great volunteer spirit in Provo, it's clean and public places are well looked after. We spent a morning picking up litter and weeding a popular running and biking trail, and didn't pick up a single fast food wrapper or beer can. But the (eternal) negatives obviously far outweigh the (temporal) positives.
I defined Mormonism as a system for man to please God. That doesn't sound like a bad thing does it? Evangelicals want to please God, no? I want, very much to please God today in my marriage and ministry. So what's the big deal? Well the big deal, Christianity is about what Jesus has done to please God, not what we must do to please God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 spells this out in slow motion. For our sake, that means, God did something for your benefit and mine that we couldn't do by ourselves. What did He do? He made Jesus to be sin. He counted to Jesus' account all the sins that we've committed today, and yesterday, and forever. And this was a big deal, because Jesus had never sinned. He is the spotless lamb, He is the true Israelite who has the law written on His heart. He is the High Priest in Melchizedek's order, He is the eternal Son of God. And His Father out all our sins on Him.
Why? What benefit does that give us? So that...we might become the righteousness of God. In the glorious economy of God the Father, He looks at you and me, and sees Jesus perfect righteousness. He doesn't see my sin, or your sin, His face doesn't flicker with anger as we approach Him, His mind doesn't weigh up whether or not our prayers deserve a hearing. We become the righteousness of God. We approached our Father clothed in our blessed brother's robe, that we might receive a blessing from Him.
I missed out a part though. We don't become this righteousness by works. This righteousness comes in Him. In Him might be two of the most important words in the Bible. In Him, you and I are righteous. Not because we have pleased the Father, but because Jesus has. In Him, we have hope, not because we are worthy of merit, but because Jesus is. In Him, in Him, in Him!
Baptism doesn't save, vicarious baptism doesn't move relatives from Hell to Heaven. It's all in Him. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because we are in Him. We've been given precious treasure in pots of clay, not so that we can paint the outside of our pots but to show the surpassing power belongs to God! Not us! Not to us, only to Him.
Are you in Him? Are you connected by faith alone to Christ alone? Don't please your Father to earn His smile today, He smiles on you because of Christ, and this frees us to labour joyfully for His glory.
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