The Word of God

Richard Rohr again...sorry...Just save yourselves the effort and buy the books.

"I believe that the religion of the middle class was always tempted to use Scripture primarily to dispense consolation. But the Word of God, like a mirror, must first confront us with ourselves. Second, it has to challenge us to live in a new way, to lead a life of authentic brotherliness and sisterliness...Only after the Word of God has confronted and challenged us do we have the right to take consolation from the Word of God as well. But we've drawn consolation from the Bible before we've changed our lives! The Christian nations are among the greediest and the most intent on security of any in the world, while they maintain that Jesus is their Lord and their security."

Taken from Simplicity again.

On holiday

I am on holiday until August 7th in ITALIA. I will hopefully be able to blog in the meantime, albeit less frequently.

Strength and honour.

Maximus.

Critique of the Charismatic # 1

The charismatic gifts are important and we should pursue them. However, they are certainly never to be described as the most important elements of the Christian faith. They are gifts for sure, but they are not the main gift.

At the centre of the gospel is the cross and resurrection. This is the main story. All the other stuff is a sub-plot, an important one at that, but still a sub-plot. There is more correction given to people who over-do the use of these gifts (tongues, prophecy, healing etc.) in the New Testament (see 1 Corinthians) than to those that under-do them. That is in part because it is assumed there that Christ followers will naturally be well versed in the practice of such gifts. It should be the same today, but I repeat they are not the centre of the gospel as I read it.

The cross of Jesus shows us what God has done for us and what He would do to us. We must come to the cross and die just as Jesus did. In return for our death, we receive His life. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me and is the meaning of Jesus' resurrection. This life exchange happens here and now, not in some future event, although that is promised too. This god-life within us is described as eternal life in the New Testament.

And this is where the charismatic gifts come in. They are evidence to us and for us that God has given us His life and that his Kingdom has come in our lives. They naturally spill over in the life of those who have received the life of God in exchange for their own death. But they are not to become the focus of our walk with God. The focus is the cross and the empty tomb.

"Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matt 6.33).

False Religion

"False religion is present when people say, 'Thy Kingdom come,' but don't immediately add, 'My Kingdom go.' And we Christians have believed that we could both say, 'Jesus is Lord!' and go on being the lords of our own lives."

Richard Rohr - Simplicity.

What a profound quote! Costly grace is where we choose to let go of our Kingdom and let God's reign and rule fill the void. Cheap grace is what Rohr describes here as false religion. I think we have done such great harm to Jesus' message not because we have failed to say 'Jesus is Lord!', but because we have failed to live as if he truly is Lord of our lives. As Paul says in his letter to the Romans;

'You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." (Romans 2.23-24)

As a good friend of mine often says, 'either He is Lord of all or He is not Lord at all!'. How different our churches would look if we had lived in this way. But we can! This is why He has given us His Spirit. Not so we can shake and fall down, but so we would stand up to the call placed on our lives and live as Kingdom people.

We need to learn to live a different way. We need to go back to living simply and following Jesus' commands. We need to learn a total obedience to his message. We need to fall in love once more with who He is and what he has said. A group of people who loved God and each other radically. Now that sounds more like the Church, more like the body of Jesus. Bring it on and let His Kingdom come.

Can we imagine such a reality as this?

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

- Romans 12:8-10

Nothing to report

As my good friend Iain pointed out, I have not written anything on here for a week or so. This is simply due to the fact that I can think of nothing worth saying. There will be more to come in due course I would think. Jonny

My Hero

This is one of my heroes, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I encourage you to find out about his life as it will inspire you no end. I have already quoted him a number of times on this page, but wanted to add an excerpt from one of his poems ('Stages on the Way to Freedom') as it arrested my attention this morning.

'ACTION

Choose and do what is right, not what fancy takes,
not weighing the possibilities, but bravely grasping the real,
not in the flight of ideas, but only in action is there freedom.
Come away from your anxious hesitations into the storm of events,
carried by God's Command and your faith alone.
The freedom will embrace your spirit with rejoicing.'

Belonging

This is a photo of me and my entourage before my wedding (my dad is partially obscured on the right). We look good don't we? I was looking through some of these pictures the other day and I realised that this picture describes something of what every person needs; good people to stand behind them and support them in what they're doing and who they are.

It is because of friends like these guys that I was able to do what I did that day. I wouldn't have been able to do it without them as I wouldn't have been the kind of person who could.

This is really what the church is designed to be. A group of people who stand up for the one who falls, picking them up when they fall and shouting them on in encouragement when they need it. When the church does this well it is bound to be a place where there is life and growth. Thank God for His vision of the church and for every place that it is being lived out.