A Sea of Irrelevance

“Driven by our own fearful voices we run ahead of grace, frantically seeking a plan, a strategy, a formula for securing a Christian life.  A culture that no longer listens to God becomes increasingly noisy.  Every idea must be exploited, every insight publicized, every sermon downloaded, every passing thought blogged and posted.  We live in a time when everyone is talking at once – a time when the truth isn’t hidden, but drowned in a sea of irrelevance.”

-Mark Yaconelli, Growing Souls pg. 18-

Read Full Post »

The Ministry of Submission, Pt. 2

Our propensity to be offended is a painful expression of our disbelief in the cross of Christ.  Conservative Christianity has been well known for its stance against people groups, individuals, and media that do not promote morally conservative values.  The world that does not know Christ expresses itself as such and our hearts do not break.  Our hearts do not propel us into action to help heal the lost, but instead force us into a defense.  We attack the symptoms of the sick and fear its influence on our children.  We use committees, radio programs, and politicians that will force those who do not know Christ into our version morality.

And Paul, a freeman in Christ, pleads against this fear and legalism.  ”Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”  And again, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”  As our cross becomes more real in our lives our ability to be offended wains.  It becomes irrelevant for the sake of submission to those who have not known our Lord.  

Our task, then, becomes one of engagement.  As our Lord rested in the presence of sinners it became His love for them that caused their hearts and eventually their lives to change.  His love was soft and his burden was non-existent.  He did not force them into His perfect morality before He invited them into his life.  He loved them first for being His children and forgave freely as His love softened their hearts to seek forgiveness.  Likewise, we must first allow the in-living Christ to give us a posture of submission, even submission of our values, in order to enter into the lives of those worshiping at the alter of self indulgence.  We must allow them to be loved before we expect them to love in return.  ”We love because He first loved us.”  In turn, we first love so that those who have not met Jesus, might come to share in that love.  It is our submission, first to Christ and then to others, that allows us to pick up that beautiful cross and carry it until Christ completes His restorative work.

Read Full Post »

The Ministry of Submission, Pt. 1

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself.”

-Paul, the Apostle-

 

When they sought the guidance of Paul, the Philippians were encouraged by his insistence that they take a position of condescension and humility in their relationship to others.  He praised them for their obedience in his absence but knew that in Christ they had a higher calling.  Each of them should look, “to the interests of others,” the way that Christ exemplified among us lowly humans.  

It was Christ who called us to emulate his incarnation.  ”If anyone would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.”  To the Philippians Paul explained that Jesus’ work on the cross was a direct result of his intentional posture – taking the form of a human and purposefully denying himself, for a time, the full power of the Triune God.  Jesus’ work on the cross is our only perfect guide to denying ourselves by submitting to others.  It is our beacon of hope.

Today, the temptation to pick and choose to whom we submit is all to serious.  We’ve invented silly little constructs like rights and privileges, afforded us simply by our nature as humans.  Our nature as humans has never really been the best framework from which to make our decisions though.  Humans, by nature, have done horrible atrocities and by the same nature condemned such acts.  Our nature is, to say the least, a bit fickle.  It is far easier to submit to those with whom we already agree than to do the difficult, self reflective work of denying ourselves for the sake of an enemy.  But our call to submission wildly transcends our desire to promote ourselves or our brand of thinking and living.  Our submission must be more diverse than that if it is to be genuine.  A Christian must seek those with whom he disagrees and place himself under their mercy in an act of solidarity and mutual forgiveness.   

It might seem strange that our cross is in one breath so burdensome and in another so freeing.  Our freedom, true freedom, is freedom from ourselves and our nature.  With this freedom, however, comes our call to share the burden of our fellow human; a burden that involves their nature and God’s desire to reconcile them to Himself.  We affirm a paradoxical faith: a faith where the Christ is both God and human, a faith where we are called to both mercy and justice, and a faith where our freedom from the weight of our own brokenness opens the door for us to carry the burdens of others.  

The manifestation of taking up our cross to follow Christ is played out in every aspect of the Christian life.  It has to do with how we treat our neighbors, children, spouses and friends.  More importnatly, it impacts our relationship to those with whom we do not see eye to eye.  It plays out in our theological conversations, our studies, our work.  It takes root in those moments when a person in whom Christ is not living would simply succumb to the wordly temptation to fight for his rights.  The Christian has given up her rights in this world, though, for citizenship in a greater Kingdom where burdens are laid down at an eternal throne.  Where our hearts are ultimately submitted to a King who demonstrated in a moment of great humility what it means to deny one’s self and take up a cross.  

Read Full Post »

As We Forgive

“I do not think that in the mouth of Jesus Christ repentance has the force of a condition but rather of a route. Jesus seems to me to be a penetrating and realistic observer of men, who describes things as they take place. Certainly, in the parable of the prodigal son what happened was that the son repented and as a sequel to his repentance he returned home; he then found that his father had already forgiven him in advance, and without any conditions. . . . Forgiveness leapt spontaneously from the father’s heart, for indeed it had never been absent from it.”

Paul Tournier, Guilt & Grace, page 190.

Read Full Post »

All Things New

The mover is.  He is and was and will be. 

The mover is.  One God made of three.

Their love combined is God in essence.

Their love combined gave birth to presence.

 

The word, He spoke, and out came light.

The word, He spoke, and made the sky.

His love unending uttered and

The deep blue sea gave birth to land.

And it was good.

 

With tune on lips he sang the trees

Into existence life He breathes.

From His lungs He brought forth fruit

And in the earth more life took root.

And it was good.

 

His poem cried the stars and moon.

His laugh caused, like flowers, the sun to bloom.

He belted out and filled the seas

The air he hummed the birds and bees.

And it was good.

 

From dirt he crafted fowl and beast

With loving words they did increase.

And with the clay and dust of land

And full of love he whispered man.

And it was good.

 

And on this seventh day I rest

Knowing God wants more.

Like broken glass is what He made

My heart is yearning for

 

A day when all things are new again

A day when heaven’s song extends

To every creature, star, and heart

And he wants me to be a part

Of making all things new again.

Read Full Post »