Monthly Archives: January 2014

Hope in Improvement or Resurrection?

Quotes

 

From Robert Farrar Capon, in a discussion on the scandal of the Gospel:

One of the most iniquitous ways of expounding the Gospel is to say that while we will no doubt have to put up with physical or financial failure for Jesus’ sake, we are nonetheless entitled to expect moral and spiritual success. But that is itself a snare and a skandalon. Is says that we are only half fallen — that even though the ratty old cocoon of our physical being may fail us, there is hidden within a spiritual butterfly of a soul that is capable of beauty, competence, and success.

It is not that we aren’t promised incredible spiritual potential in Christ. The interesting thing to think on in this quote is that the Gospel also holds before us realization of our physical potential — we are, after all, going to be bodily resurrected! So if we are promised a perfect, sinless body in resurrection, and yet experience decay on this earth, so that our faith and hope remain in Christ’s promise… why do we not also maintain that faith and hope about spiritual things?

Capon’s focus on death-then-life is a refreshing reminder that all we have, everything, is grounded in and through the reality of our union with Jesus Christ, and our trust in what he has done and will do.

Can’t wait!

Theology and Christmas

Quotes, Uncategorized

As we enjoy lights and presents and hot beverages… and even as we talk of mangers and stars and babies… I’m struck again that Jesus Christ isn’t an important part of our theology… he is our theology. What we know of God is from our Savior, the one we celebrate this season.

Or so says Paul Zahl, in A Short Systematic Theology:

“For Christians, the prism through which all light concerning God is reflected is Jesus Christ. This means that Christology is the beginning and the end, better, the starting point and summary, of all Christian thought… Christology is the subject of theology. More precisely put, Jesus Christ is the subject of theology.”

Merry Christmas! May we continue to be floored by the wondrous news of our Savior!

Death-then-Life

Uncategorized

Death tried to swallow Jesus, and it got swallowed in the process. The sting of death is that we die as sinnners and go to meet the one who cannot tolerate sin. but now the death of Jesus has taken away our sin. And so we still feel death, but like the bite of a scorpion without venom, there is no sting. All that is left is the victory of Jesus. His resurrection, and the resurrection of the dead, brings online a new lifestyle with a new pattern. Life-then-death is replaced with death-then-life.

That’s Rory Shiner, in One Forever, on our union with Christ.

The amazing thing is that our transfer into this new kingdom is by associating with the death of Christ. In practice, we need to connect more steadfastly the resurrection of Jesus with our own resurrection. Because we all die… and our trust is that the power which resurrected Jesus will also resurrect us, as children and heirs with our Savior.

Wow!

If It’s True…

Uncategorized

From Tim Keller, in a sermon from 2003:

“If it is true you’re saved sheerly by grace, then the person you’re talking to about the gospel could easily be a better person than you, more moral, have more fiber, have better character. Why? Because your salvation has nothing to do with how good a person you are at all. There can never be a shred of superiority in your dealing with people.”

Refreshing… even beyond the exhortation to not think you’re superior… it is freeing to realize that my morality and goodness isn’t the issue, but the grace of the gospel of Jesus. We have such good news to freely share!

Kingdoms and Mysteries

Grace

Ruts are funny things. They’re like the gutters in the bowling ally, grabbing hold of the ball and guiding it down the same (wrong) path.

We often get in ruts when we read Scripture. We’ve heard things taught a certain way, and just always assume that certain passages refer to certain things… because that’s how we’ve heard them.

This problem touches one of the goals of our church body — that we would be directly and honestly exposed to the Word of God as it is. That we would, to the best of our ability, avoid tracking down a line of thought just because that’s how we’ve heard it from our favorite human teacher. Because gutterballs really are a problem.

So… I was struck this past week in really thinking about what Jesus is saying in Luke 8. It is a well-known teaching, in all of the Synoptic Gospels, the first of Jesus parables, the one he spends the most time explaining… the parable of the Sower. Maybe you’ve heard it. Sower, tossing out seed, four kinds of soil. Generally speaking, we agonize over what kind of soil we are, what kind of soil our relatives and loved ones are, and how we can respond rightly to the Word, which Jesus himself identifies as the seed scattered out.

But the point of the parable doesn’t really seem to be soil evaluation. Or even mission work, directly. At least, Jesus very definitely speaks of telling the ‘secrets’ of the Kingdom of God to the disciples. And the secrets of the Kingdom aren’t the soils. The mysterious thing is the seed.

The seed. To this day, a mystery. How does a seed hold life? How does life work? A plant from that little, inanimate thing? Wondrous, mysterious.

And then… says Jesus… God takes his wondrous, valuable seed… which is the Word, Jesus Christ himself… and scatters the seed to all the world. That’s absolutely mind-boggling.

Jesus knows. He knows he’s being scattered for the world… and that great swaths of the world will reject him… and still… for the joy of making some plants mature to what they should be… he will be scattered out, wasted at times…. sacrificed. Wow.

This idea of the mystery is in accord with Paul. He relelntlessly points to the mystery as life inside believers, in union with Christ — in an amazingly inclusive way. The Gentiles — pagan idolaters — are included in this kingdom! All it takes is trust in the seed… which is evidence of good soil.

With this emphasis on the seed, the parable of the sower pops out of the gutter… and pushes us to worship. We worship the mystery that is Christ in us, the hope of glory. We stand amazed that he would willingly be poured out, knowing that rejection was ahead… and even using that rejection toward the salvation of those who, knowing their lifelessness, would put their trust in him alone.

Solus Christus. The Word made flesh, who dwelt among us.

Wow.

 

Relevant Non-Sequitur

In Christ, Righteousness

I have enjoyed poking around a bit with a non-sequitur recently. That’s a latin term that literally means ‘does not follow.’

So you could be talking about elephants and ask how big their wings are. Or when speaking of how fast a car can go, ask which color makes for a faster car.

Uhh… that just doesn’t follow.

So here’s mine. Consider Jesus’ teaching on the Sermon on the Mount:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

Great imagery. Housebuilding. Rain and storms and blowing and beating and houses that stand and fall.

But the question is, who works harder? Who do you think works harder in building their house?

If you’re not on the lookout for my non-sequitur, you might slip and say… the one who builds on the rock. I mean, he’s building on the foundation, he’s the Christian, he is building something that will last. That other guy, he’s building a shoddy piece of work that won’t even last a single storm.

And if you say that… you missed the point of Jesus’ teaching.

Because the point has nothing to do with effort. Nothing at all. There is no comparison between the two builders in that regard at all. There’s no reference to sweat, labor, effort. One might work much harder… or they both might work the same. That has absolutely nothing to do, in this teaching, with the point.

The point — and the only thing that matters — is… who you are building on. You can put forth extreme effort and not be on Jesus, and the house falls, or put forth little effort, and have the same result. There just isn’t a distinction made.

Your effort in your salvation is like speed and car color, or elephants and wings. It is a non-sequitur. Salvation is Jesus’ effort, and Jesus as the foundation. Faith’s object, not your strength.

May we guard our hearts such that we trust in Christ alone… even as we build.

Go Ahead, Jump In

Grace

“Go Ahead, Jump In.”

I think those are some of the scariest words in the human language. At least it appeared that way to me as a parent, watching one of my girls on the diving board being ‘encouraged’ to leap into the deep end of the pool for the first time.

I could see the fear written on her face… and even a few tears.

That didn’t deter the teacher. They’re prepared for fear, and for tears. Another helper comes up behind the diving board, ready to ‘help’ my daughter take the plunge.

So in she went.

And again. And again. And now… a swimming class isn’t complete without a jump off the diving board. She’s a fish… wanting to try the new leap, the dive, the cannonball… and swim to the side on her own. She can’t be stopped in the freedom that the deep end brings. Her huge smile belies the idea that she was ever afraid.

The deep end of Christianity is the incredible grace of the gospel. We fear that living in acceptance of God’s incredible favor will bring license or failure or harm; instead it brings freedom and joy and peace.

Overcome your fear. Jump in today!

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

Pastoral Authority

In Christ, Quotes

As a pastor, therefore, my real authority — my true authenticity, whether in the pulpit, or the office, or in the confessional, or at the end of a piano at a cocktail party — lies in my fidelity to the Gospel, not in my assorted competences (real or imagined) in other fields.

(From Robert Farrar Capon, in The Mystery of Christ)

I really like this quote… even though I’ve never been at the end of a piano at a cocktail party… as it points to the continuing center of our only hope and our only wisdom.