ntw on sacraments

shadows

life is full of light and shadow

o the joy and o the sorrow

o the sorrow

and yet will he bring

dark to light

and yet will he bring

day from night

when the shadows fall on us

we will not fear

we will remember

when darkness falls on us

we will not fear

we will remember

when all seems lost

when we're thrown and we're tossed

we remember the cost

we're resting in

the shadow of the cross

written by David Crowder ©2009 worshiptogether.com Songs / sixteps Music

(2)COR leadership2

2. Those who minister should limit their work to areas which are not allocated to others.

(2 Corinthians 10:12-18)

This second assertion which Paul makes in 2 Corinthians is about placing limits and boundaries on our ministries. When reading this, one should see a direct challenge to the 'more, more; greater, greater' culture which has permeated modern evangelicalism, especially when many larger churches act as though all Christians should process church in the manner that they do. (After all, they are the 'successful' ones.)

The apostle here is asserting the purity of his motives, that he is not interested in competition within the Body (as are the false, or 'super' apostles to which he refers). Rather than boasting over who can make ministerial achievements, Paul is more concerned with kingdom achievements - the expanding influence of the gospel.

Craig Blomberg notes, "Today, a disproportionately large amount of Christian ministry occurs in already well-evangelized parts of the world, while unreached people and people groups receive comparatively scant attention" (225).

All of this raises an important issue: Are we being responsible stewards of the resources we have been given? Or have we made Christianity just another way of heaping blessings upon ourselves? To re-evangelize and overtly saturate given areas with ministry will eventually leave our Christianity dull and our evangelicalism lifeless. Yes, our minds must be centered on things above, but we still must remember that we are living among things below and are called to change the lower with the influence of the higher.

Perhaps this is another indicator that far too many of the Body are evaluating and approaching ministry from an earthly perspective. Do we measure success by who can reach the top of our evangelical hills or are we trying hard to discover the most urgent needs. Rather than achieving the megachurch dream by catering to an already-existent Christian subculture, are we willing to go find those without such a great hope that lies within them?

dogs and theology

"If I loved my Master like my dog loves his, I would be more saintly than John the Divine . . . more radical than John the Baptizer . . . more deeply devoted than St. John of the Cross."

(Rich Mullins)

"Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in."

(Mark Twain)

"...man interferes with the dog and makes it more loveable than it was in mere nature. In its state of nature it has a smell, and habits, which frustrate man’s love: he washes it, house-trains it, teaches it not to steal, and is so enabled to love it completely. To the puppy the whole proceeding would seem, if it were a theologian, to cast grave doubts on the “goodness” of man: but the full-grown and full-trained dog, larger, healthier, and longer-lived than the wild dog, and admitted, as it were by Grace, to a whole world of affections, loyalties, interests and comforts entirely beyond its animal destiny, would have no such doubts. It will be noted that the man takes all these pains with the dog, and gives all these pains to the dog, only because it is an animal high in the scale - because it is so nearly loveable that it is worth his while to make it fully loveable. He does not house-train the earwig or give baths to centipedes. We may wish, indeed, that we were of so little account to God that He left us alone to follow our natural impulses - that He would give over trying to train us into something so unlike our natural selves: but once again, we are asking not for more Love, but for less."

(C. S. Lewis)

spiritual palate

"Taste and see that the Lord is good;

blessed are those who take refuge in him."

David (Psalm 34:8)

"How sweet are your words to my taste,

sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

Human Expression (Psalm 119:103)

". . . I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

Jesus (Revelation 3:16)

Taken together, a very simple metaphor which seems to run through Scripture is that of taste. And since Paul is fond of speaking about faith and fruit, it might just be that this is appropriate for gauging the content of our holiness. When called to taste and see God, it is classified as good. Yet when he has 'tasted' our works, he seeks to spew it out of his mouth. There are other ways in which we can see that the sum of our lives are detestable to the divine holiness, but his goodness is able to change our badness. Almost as if a good banana was placed in a bowl of rotten fruit and caused the entire bowl to become good.

Brief and simple. But an interesting take.

end of the world again

(2)COR leadership1

2 Corinthians is a fascinating piece, not least because it is where Paul asserts six main attributes for evaluating ministry which are relevant to all who endeavor to work as part of the church. A few years ago I worked through these on another project, and now I find it appropriate to do so again. These principles were spoken into the context of a Hellenized first-century culture set on the edge of the Mediterranean, but they are every bit as meaningful and challenging for modern Western evangelicals.

1. Our authority is spiritual; it does not come from the flesh.

(2 Corinthians 10:1-11)

Paul has just been accused of being weak while he was face-to-face with the Corinthians but is able to now be 'bold' when he is away. This is a challenge to his character (that he lacks a backbone), charging him with not saying that which is necessary at the appropriate moment. Paul will not allow such criticism to stand, making clear in v. 2 that he will take whatever steps are needed - bold steps, indeed! - when he does arrive back in Corinth.

The Corinthians are judging Paul based upon a worldly criteria, that true strength is only found in those who are outwardly strong. But spiritual strength is not always found in external appearance, but rather through the strength of spirit which comes to a person now surrendered and broken before the cross. The Corinthians, along with many moderns, believe that they understand strength and weakness even though they are actually missing it all together. And here is the heart of an emboldened and passionate minister of the gospel, for he will do whatever is necessary . . . even in the midst of Corinth.

Perhaps the primary difference between Paul and his opponents at Corinth is that they are relying on human concepts of authority, power and achievement. Paul operates from a spiritual mandate. Their weapons are worldly, his are divine.

Far from being the type of preacher who eagerly seeks to build or maintain an audience for the sake of having listeners, Paul operates from the perspective of the kingdom. For us, the questions are not so different (nor are they easier). How long will we continue to watch Christians build their churches from the captivity of worldly standards of power, success, prominence and strength? Many of our leaders do not realize this, and they prove themselves to be cut from the same cloth as the ancient Corinthians. Sadly, this is why too many churches are not doing all that is necessary for a world which desperately needs them to do so. In other words, too many pastors and leaders walk loudly but carry a tiny stick.

What would happen to us if we were to abandon our earthbound desires and sought first the kingdom of God and its righteousness?

braille on a computer screen

The ongoing quest for the modern church to find its own relevance continues to interest me. Evangelicals have long been consumed with the drive for intrinsic value and purpose to validate their own spiritual journeys. In other words, we want what we do to matter . . . we think that what we do should matter. Yet, in the end we are plagued with the sense that it doesn't matter. And thus we think that our faith lacks fulfillment and that there is something wrong with how our churches operate.

My observations have led me to believe that such thinking comes from the enthronement of the individual above any other within our modern concepts of spirituality. In reality, though, this sounds more like eastern religious thought than it sounds like Christianity (when both are properly understood). Often people who are quick to proclaim that their association with the church has brought them to the *true meaning* of their lives are the first to say that they are still *seeking* for their place and significance in this body of believers. This is not a valid paradoxical experience such as being satisfied and still hungry for more of God's Spirit. No, this is the quest for personal validation rather than the embracing of Spirit and truth.

Still, there just might be a valid question embedded in all of this: What good is it to a broken world that the sum of our spirituality, our truth, our experiences, our worship amounts to nothing more then our own expressions of a wandering existence? If the truth leads us to freedom and we are called to know the truth then why are so many believers captive to their own unfulfilling spiritual experiences?

This situation might be quickly addressed in thought, but issues a strong challenge to postmodern evangelicalism: that our own spirituality has once again become a pile of filthy rags bundled up by our own needs for self-fulfillment.

The gospel of Jesus, along with the kingdom he launched into this world is not about achievement or significance or prestige. In fact, it is about letting go of such things and becoming champions of surrender and loss . . . the surrender of wild spirits . . . and the loss of a life to be found later. There is no place for aggrandizement in the kingdom, no need for promoting our own spiritual ecstasy. Such believers and communities accomplish little more than braille on a computer screed - there might be some truth in the stories, and it might technically count as spreading the gospel message. But, in reality it doesn't help those it was designed to reach. In the same way, we miss out on reaching those bound up in the search for personal fulfillment . . . and wanting something more.

If the church has been uninspiring to the world, it is because we have existed among ourselves and too often required outsiders to become like us before they can participate. Almost like Jesus requiring the blind to see before they could participate in the year of the Lord's favor. But we know that isn't what happened - the inbreaking of the year of the Lord's favor is what brought sight to the blind in the first place. To follow Jesus and bring his kingdom through the spirit and truth which flows through our lives will change everything . . . and everyone.

Therein lies true significance and value.

honk

A parable.

I was at a stop light, behind a car with a bumper sticker that said HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS.

So I honked.

The driver leaned out his window, gave me a very impolite gesture and yelled, "Can't you see the light is still red, you Moron?!?"

pews with the news

me and my fickle faith

A week full.

A week full of surprises and excitement.

And fear.

How do days like these find me? Why am I taken off guard by them? My theology is bigger than my faith allows me to hold. For, I could give you long speeches about the greatness of God and I could give you a bold declaration of the goodness of God. Yet when he comes I cannot seem to figure out what to do with him.

My confession is thus: Often I find myself wanting and desire something more than what he has given me, even when I am content with what I have. I always play mind games with what could be and what should be, asserting my own wisdom over that of the divine. For I know that when he comes, I will be ready to move; when he calls me I will be the first to go.

And then he comes, and I am not ready to move. He calls and I am hesitant.

I suppose it is easier to be certain of the things we cannot see than it is to encounter that which is more real than we can imagine. It's as if God is content to show just enough of himself to shake our foundations before retreating back from us that we might not be undone by his glory. This is why Moses had to hide behind a rock, and this is why he must use the shadows of my own caves to stand back just a bit.

It is my own inability to surrender to him that keeps me from his holiness. He knows this, and is patient enough for me to come to him as I am. But until I am ready to let go of myself can I experience him without being destroyed? Only by his grace. But for now it will be the struggle between the depth of divine love and the shallow waters of my commitment. And he will still call me to his presence . . . shaking me forward and shaking me free.

definitions

Acts 5:1-11 has a rather 'interesting' scene from the early church - the death of noted members Ananias and Sapphira. I say noted because they are said to have made a name for themselves out of the offering they lay at the feet of the apostles. I say death because that is where they end up. Not that their death has anything to do with the fact that they gave an offering to this upstart movement. Rather, the issue is one of ethics before God - in other words, it is about holiness. Yet, even then most Christians want to avoid this passage because of the seemingly drastic nature of judgment being played out. And you don't typically start introducing the church to non-believers with this passage, that's a bit disconcerting and embarrassing . . . to say the least.

Something that I never caught my eye before a few weeks ago is that the end of this story is the first place that Luke uses the word church to describe this gathering of Jesus-people. One would think that Acts 2, 3, 4 would all be good candidates to introduce this lingo, but Luke waits until the very public death of two figures from within the community to say, 'Yes, this is the church. This is what will fulfill the kingdom of God in a post-Easter world.'

As The Professor (I. H. Marshall) told us, Luke is indeed an historian and theologian. Here we see his theology coming in full force: he knows when to introduce the church and how to introduce the church. Perhaps it is with the same holy fear that gripped the disciples throughout the Easter narrative, when they realized that the world is drastically different, that the new community is caught up in the events of Acts 5. True encounters with the divine are never as ethereal as our dreams would have us to believe; drawing close to God shakes our souls and leave us more than a bit unsettled.

But Luke is clear: this is the church. And now there is a boundary to distinguish between those who want a tingly spiritual experience and those who are committed to the ongoing sacrificial work of the gospel. It would be all-too-easy for this church to be defined around those who were excited and energized in the wake of Pentecost. But time has moved on since that event, and even Acts 5 shows how real life is setting in beyond the mountaintop religious event. Now there are real needs and real challenges, and opportunities for real people to do real kingdom work.

That there is Ananias and Sapphira show that not everyone is going to be in this for the long haul. There have always been (and always will be) people who use this community for their own power and prominence. This road is wide, but it leads to destruction . . . perhaps not in the immediacy seen in Acts 5, but in time which retrospectively looks just as short. Here, just like C. S. Lewis taught us about so many miracles, we have the natural process sped up to an instantaneous event that we might recognize, learn and grow from the truth found in the narrative.

The church is defined in this passage, assuming that you have already been noticing the events of Acts 1-4 (and that you'll keep noticing how the rest of the story plays out). This is not for those looking to make a place for themselves, but for those who sacrifice for the kingdom . . . with great integrity and commitment.

rich on church

"When I go to church . . . I involve myself in something that identifies me with Augustine, that identifies me with Christ, that identifies me with nearly 2000 years of people who have come together once a week and said, 'Let's go to the Lord's table and enjoy the feast that he has prepared for us.' In that week I may have been subjected to a million billboards that try to make me identify with the thinking of contemporary society. But once a week I go back to church, and acknowledge that though the shape of the world is really different now than it used to be, this remains the same: I still come to the Lord's table and say, 'Oh God, if it weren't for your grace, if it weren't for the sacrifice of Christ, my life would have no meaning, no life would have real substance.' And I do that voluntarily."

"When I come into church I am no longer Rich Mullins, a music education student. I am no longer Rich Mullins, a guy who grew up in Indiana. I am no longer Rich Mullins, a guy who has a record contract. All of the sudden I am a member of the kingdom of God."

:rich