If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be ... Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, "Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land."
Deuteronomy 15:7-11
Sharing trumps giving because when we share we don't get to stay in control of our stuff. When we open up our lives to sharing with our community we allow others to invade our space and take what they need. We don't get to choose when and what we give, we give as there is need.
We get the same benefits in return too. There is a mutuality to sharing that is not present in the same way through giving.
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Sunday 18 October 2009
The freedom of obscurity
"For you have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3.3
The gospel is first about death, Jesus's death and then our death. We enter into the story of the gospel through the cross of Jesus, which demands that we die. When we begin this journey of following Jesus we say 'no' to those things that used to drive us forward and instead choose to follow Him.
Our life is no longer our own, it is now hidden in His life. We no longer have a life apart from Him but our life is derived from His life. This is what it means to be hidden in Him. It's no longer about us. We're not the central figure in the play - Jesus is.
The advantages of this are obvious. Jesus is now with God. He enjoys all the benefits that being in the presence of God allow. He has intimacy with the Father and He knows the will of the Father. Through Jesus we now have access to all of these benefits which were once beyond our reach. We participate in the very life of God. This is the life after the death.
Peter puts it like this;
"His (Jesus') divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he (Jesus) has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." 2 Peter 1.3-4
All this means that we must become hidden, obscure and discounted. It's not about us. We are freed from the need to be at the center of the story. It can't be about us any longer. It has to be about Him if it's going to work as it should. This truth has obvious implications for how we function as followers of Jesus. A sure sign of the authenticity of our faith will be our humility. We will live as if we are nothing and He is everything. We will get out of the way.
How often can we say this is our reality? How often are we actually more concerned with being noticed and approved of? I can say for myself that this is a big problem. I think the culture of Christian celebrities is one of the biggest signs that we have missed the gospel and one of the reasons we see so little of the power of God in our midst. We have made it about us and none of us has anything to offer.
Our job is to point to Him. To become hidden that He might be revealed. Are we ready for this? Are we ready to die again? There's nothing I want more but nothing I feel less able to do.
This is why John the Baptist is so amazing. What a humble man it takes to say
"He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3.30
The gospel is first about death, Jesus's death and then our death. We enter into the story of the gospel through the cross of Jesus, which demands that we die. When we begin this journey of following Jesus we say 'no' to those things that used to drive us forward and instead choose to follow Him.
Our life is no longer our own, it is now hidden in His life. We no longer have a life apart from Him but our life is derived from His life. This is what it means to be hidden in Him. It's no longer about us. We're not the central figure in the play - Jesus is.
The advantages of this are obvious. Jesus is now with God. He enjoys all the benefits that being in the presence of God allow. He has intimacy with the Father and He knows the will of the Father. Through Jesus we now have access to all of these benefits which were once beyond our reach. We participate in the very life of God. This is the life after the death.
Peter puts it like this;
"His (Jesus') divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he (Jesus) has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." 2 Peter 1.3-4
All this means that we must become hidden, obscure and discounted. It's not about us. We are freed from the need to be at the center of the story. It can't be about us any longer. It has to be about Him if it's going to work as it should. This truth has obvious implications for how we function as followers of Jesus. A sure sign of the authenticity of our faith will be our humility. We will live as if we are nothing and He is everything. We will get out of the way.
How often can we say this is our reality? How often are we actually more concerned with being noticed and approved of? I can say for myself that this is a big problem. I think the culture of Christian celebrities is one of the biggest signs that we have missed the gospel and one of the reasons we see so little of the power of God in our midst. We have made it about us and none of us has anything to offer.
Our job is to point to Him. To become hidden that He might be revealed. Are we ready for this? Are we ready to die again? There's nothing I want more but nothing I feel less able to do.
This is why John the Baptist is so amazing. What a humble man it takes to say
"He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3.30
Saturday 10 October 2009
A meditation on a Psalm
"The Lord is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his
anointed.
O save your people, and bless your
heritage;
be their shepherd, and carry them
forever."
Psalm 28.8-9 (NRSV)
Jesus is the strength of the church, which is his people. There is no other strength in the church than that which comes through and from Jesus. Everything else is weakness. Only he can provide the salvation of God that the church is called to receive and then offer to the world. No well-thought-through strategy can offer this; no perfectly designed sunday service; no conference, no gifted teacher and no celebrity pastor. No-thing.
Only one person. Jesus Christ.
He is not only the salvation but also the refuge of his people. "The name of the Lord (Jesus) is a strong tower. The righteous run into it (him) and they are safe (Prov 18.10)." Salvation and refuge are closely linked in Jesus. He is our salvation because he is our refuge and he is our refuge because he is our salvation.
We cannot ever be safe without him. Individually we must foster our relationship with him so that he becomes the place we run to for safety and salvation instinctively. Corporately we must do the same. Those of us in leadership within his people must learn that we cannot do anything without first submitting it to his will. We can only expect the cover and safety he promises us if we are walking in his will - walking in his path - as the sheep follows the shepherd.
We must ask him to pick us up and carry us forward. This will mean we have to stop trying to walk on our own and in our own strength. How might this happen?
Prayer. Prayer has to be the bedrock of everything we do. When we pray we await his direction and submit to it. We do not do what we want and then pray that it will work out - 'Lord bless this mess' - we ask him what he wants and then we do it. This must be our rule of life if we are to be effective in carrying out his work.
he is the saving refuge of his
anointed.
O save your people, and bless your
heritage;
be their shepherd, and carry them
forever."
Psalm 28.8-9 (NRSV)
Jesus is the strength of the church, which is his people. There is no other strength in the church than that which comes through and from Jesus. Everything else is weakness. Only he can provide the salvation of God that the church is called to receive and then offer to the world. No well-thought-through strategy can offer this; no perfectly designed sunday service; no conference, no gifted teacher and no celebrity pastor. No-thing.
Only one person. Jesus Christ.
He is not only the salvation but also the refuge of his people. "The name of the Lord (Jesus) is a strong tower. The righteous run into it (him) and they are safe (Prov 18.10)." Salvation and refuge are closely linked in Jesus. He is our salvation because he is our refuge and he is our refuge because he is our salvation.
We cannot ever be safe without him. Individually we must foster our relationship with him so that he becomes the place we run to for safety and salvation instinctively. Corporately we must do the same. Those of us in leadership within his people must learn that we cannot do anything without first submitting it to his will. We can only expect the cover and safety he promises us if we are walking in his will - walking in his path - as the sheep follows the shepherd.
We must ask him to pick us up and carry us forward. This will mean we have to stop trying to walk on our own and in our own strength. How might this happen?
Prayer. Prayer has to be the bedrock of everything we do. When we pray we await his direction and submit to it. We do not do what we want and then pray that it will work out - 'Lord bless this mess' - we ask him what he wants and then we do it. This must be our rule of life if we are to be effective in carrying out his work.
Thursday 8 October 2009
Resurrection
I am reading a book on the resurrection by Peterson (below). He writes that resurrection always happens at the fringes of things. Jesus was raised from the dead in the quiet of a garden with nobodies (Mary Magdalene etc.) there to witness the aftermath and no-one there to see the event itself.
This is a deep truth.
As Christians who want to make a difference in and to the world we must position ourselves on the fringes of things - this is where the life is. I think this is where God would have us be. It is in some ways a dangerous place to be. A cliff edge has drawbacks and great dangers attached to it, but I feel that God would rather us live there with the associated risks than in the certainty and boredom we often choose. He hates lukewarm, remember?
Why are our churches so boring? Perhaps because we are boring and safe. Is God bored? I think He might be.
"When the son of man returns will He find faith on the earth?"
This is a deep truth.
As Christians who want to make a difference in and to the world we must position ourselves on the fringes of things - this is where the life is. I think this is where God would have us be. It is in some ways a dangerous place to be. A cliff edge has drawbacks and great dangers attached to it, but I feel that God would rather us live there with the associated risks than in the certainty and boredom we often choose. He hates lukewarm, remember?
Why are our churches so boring? Perhaps because we are boring and safe. Is God bored? I think He might be.
"When the son of man returns will He find faith on the earth?"
Eugene Peterson
People have been telling me to read some Eugene Peterson so I have started a book called 'Living the Resurrection'. Here is one pearl from the first couple of pages...
"My conviction is that the church is the community that God has set at the centre of the world to keep the world centered."
(Eugene Peterson - Living the Resurrection, page 12)
"My conviction is that the church is the community that God has set at the centre of the world to keep the world centered."
(Eugene Peterson - Living the Resurrection, page 12)
Wednesday 7 October 2009
A matter of life and death
The foundational events of the Christian faith are the life, death and resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ. These events happened 2000 years ago, more or less. However, they are not intended to be merely historical events for those of us who follow Jesus. Instead we are to engage with these truths and these events today. In fact if we are not engaging with the reality - not merely historical but current - of these events in the here and now we will fail to live the kind of life that Jesus has promised us.
How might we do this? One suggestion would be that we would be a people who embrace all of life, including those elements of suffering. Bonhoeffer said that we should 'drink the dregs' of this life. Much of our time in this cozy world is spent seeking to avoid suffering and decay. Nowhere is this more true than in my current location, Orange County, California. Yet the cross and resurrection call us into a new reality. The entrance way into this reality is suffering and death; the cross. Yet the fruit of this reality is new life and peace; the resurrection.
As followers of Jesus we are thus called to embrace the full story of life. The good, the bad and the ugly. We are not to hide in the corner when suffering comes our way. We are to face it head on with God at our side. Note that we cannot enter this new reality without dying with Jesus. Our suffering must be done by his side if we are to be sure that it will lead to new life - remember the thieves on the cross. Suffering can be meaningless. It always is when Jesus is not in it with us. But we need not fear or live to avoid it. As Christians we do not believe that Jesus died so we would not have to but so that we would know how to.
How might we do this? One suggestion would be that we would be a people who embrace all of life, including those elements of suffering. Bonhoeffer said that we should 'drink the dregs' of this life. Much of our time in this cozy world is spent seeking to avoid suffering and decay. Nowhere is this more true than in my current location, Orange County, California. Yet the cross and resurrection call us into a new reality. The entrance way into this reality is suffering and death; the cross. Yet the fruit of this reality is new life and peace; the resurrection.
As followers of Jesus we are thus called to embrace the full story of life. The good, the bad and the ugly. We are not to hide in the corner when suffering comes our way. We are to face it head on with God at our side. Note that we cannot enter this new reality without dying with Jesus. Our suffering must be done by his side if we are to be sure that it will lead to new life - remember the thieves on the cross. Suffering can be meaningless. It always is when Jesus is not in it with us. But we need not fear or live to avoid it. As Christians we do not believe that Jesus died so we would not have to but so that we would know how to.
Thursday 1 October 2009
In the world, not of the world
The above phrase is often trotted out as the ideal for the relationship between the Christian and the world. But where does this come from?
In John's gospel Jesus provides the basis for this way of looking at the world. See John 17.14-19 (NIV).
14. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
We are not of the world. We are the misfits and outcasts. The Kingdom of God is to be made up of no-ones and and nothings. If we were not such misfits when we came in we soon should be after we enter in.
Paul puts it like this;
"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him." (1 Cor 1.26-29)
Unlike the rest of society, becoming increasingly uniform over time, we are to be the opposite. The more our love and knowledge of Jesus grows the less we should follow along with the world's tune. We demonstrate that we belong to the Kingdom of God when we do not fit in with the world.
15. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
We do not follow Christ so that we might be removed from the mess of the world. Far from it. When we choose to join in with Jesus' mission we join in with his cause, which is to rout Satan's armies. To advance the Kingdom of God at any cost.
Jesus prays that we will be protected precisely because He assumes we will need it! We are in a battle and when we are really living in the power of the Spirit we will regularly be confronted with evil. We can be confident that in the midst of this that we are protected because our saviour has prayed this for us. "He that is in us is greater than he who is in the world" (1 Jn 4.4).
18. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
We are sent into the world by Jesus. He expects a radical engagement with the world from His own disciples. One of the signs of our authenticity is our willingness and ability to do this work.
18b-19. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
We do all this through the work that He has done for us and in the power of the Holy Spirit that He secured for us through His life, death and resurrection. Without Him we are nothing, just another group of people doing stuff in their own strength. The only hope we have of completing His mission is that we have been sanctified, washed, prepared by Him. The hope we have for the success of our work has nothing whatsoever to do with us but everything to do with Him.
In John's gospel Jesus provides the basis for this way of looking at the world. See John 17.14-19 (NIV).
14. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
We are not of the world. We are the misfits and outcasts. The Kingdom of God is to be made up of no-ones and and nothings. If we were not such misfits when we came in we soon should be after we enter in.
Paul puts it like this;
"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him." (1 Cor 1.26-29)
Unlike the rest of society, becoming increasingly uniform over time, we are to be the opposite. The more our love and knowledge of Jesus grows the less we should follow along with the world's tune. We demonstrate that we belong to the Kingdom of God when we do not fit in with the world.
15. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
We do not follow Christ so that we might be removed from the mess of the world. Far from it. When we choose to join in with Jesus' mission we join in with his cause, which is to rout Satan's armies. To advance the Kingdom of God at any cost.
Jesus prays that we will be protected precisely because He assumes we will need it! We are in a battle and when we are really living in the power of the Spirit we will regularly be confronted with evil. We can be confident that in the midst of this that we are protected because our saviour has prayed this for us. "He that is in us is greater than he who is in the world" (1 Jn 4.4).
18. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
We are sent into the world by Jesus. He expects a radical engagement with the world from His own disciples. One of the signs of our authenticity is our willingness and ability to do this work.
18b-19. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
We do all this through the work that He has done for us and in the power of the Holy Spirit that He secured for us through His life, death and resurrection. Without Him we are nothing, just another group of people doing stuff in their own strength. The only hope we have of completing His mission is that we have been sanctified, washed, prepared by Him. The hope we have for the success of our work has nothing whatsoever to do with us but everything to do with Him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
