12 posts tagged “gospel”
"I ought to talk to myself in the third person more often," I said out loud to myself.
Self-talk is can be taken as a sign of mental imbalance. Like the man I saw last week walking down a city street, disheveled, talking loudly to himself. You've seen people like that before, right?
But let's face it: in all of us, there is a constant conversation going on inside our heads. That's one of the proofs philosophers point to as evidence for the immaterial world, for the soul. No one can hang onto the notion that the things we "hear" inside our heads are merely neurons firing off in semi-ordered, semi-random ways. No: men have souls.
When Christians talk about being "made in the image of God," this is part of what they mean. God, as a Tri-Personal Being (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit), has perfect communication--communion, even--within Himself.
I read recently about Herschel Walker's 'dissociative identity disorder' which is the name now given to persons having a multiple personality diagnosis. I'd like to read his book.
A film I like a lot--Fight Club (Brad Pitt, Edward Norton), based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk (see my review here)-- explores the dimensions of sane, and insane, self talk. And soap. (How could I forget the soap?)
The Kingdom of God is among you," Jesus said. This means that Heaven has invaded earth, and is now controlling the media, so to speak. Our self talk is intended to be guided by God's grace as we rehearse God's promises to ourselves.
As we do, we are to remind ourselves of the character of a loving Father who, in perfect tria-logue with himself, agreed with the Son and the Spirit to give Himself to Death that we might have Life.
As I've continued to grow in my spiritual understanding, I've discovered--or rediscovered--the importance of, and the power of--prayer. Here are some things that I've learned.
The Christian tradition teaches that prayer is a means by which God has determined to accomplish His will. But, there is great mystery here: an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-determining God has not only commanded human beings to pray, but has promised to act in response to prayer.
Rather than foray into this philosophical territory, however, most folks simply pray. This is probably as it ought to be. Not many of us are called to be philosophers.
St. Paul, no mean philosopher himself, was content in most cases to stand on this simple ground: "pray and wait for God to act." In many of his letters (which make up the bulk of the New Testament sacred texts) he asks for prayer.
In one famous example, which concludes his letter to the believers in ancient Greek city of Ephesus, he writes:
Paul says, "Pray for me." And what does he ask for? Interestingly, never known for his timidity, Paul asks for boldness. For courage. What does this teach us?
First, this teaches me that Gospel boldness is a gift from God. But that's not all. Notice that Paul asks that "words may be given to me." This echoes Jesus' promise in Matthew where he encourages His disciples that they will have the necessary thing to say, and that they shouldn't worry when they are hauled into court for their faith.
Words are gifts. So are ears and eyes. I also read earlier this week in Proverbs that the "hearing ear and the seeing eye, the LORD has made them both" (Prov. 20:12).
Here then is the mystery, in short: God knows and commands all things. He has determined to act in response to our prayers. And thus when He provides for our needs, in this case, both speaking and hearing, He is shown to be the "giver of every good and perfect gift."
What an amazing God!
As you pray, pray
for my hearers (those who listen) and see-ers (those who read and see
my materials) will be given eyes to see God's good work!
A church in Tacoma that I appreciate, Soma, sends a weekly update newsletter to its people. I'm on the list; here's what a pastor there, Justin, wrote this week:
It's been helpful for me think of the gospel as God meeting our deepest need, which is reconciliation with himself. Here's how a few others have expressed the same idea:
"What's the greatest benefit of being a christian? Relationship with God." --Abe Meysenburg
"The best and final gift of the gospel is that we gain Christ." --John Piper"I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." --Paul
Be encouraged that as undeserving as we are, we get God. That's some good news.
Most Christians don't understand the significance of Luther's understanding of God's grace:
In the righteousness of faith, we work nothing, we render nothing to God, but we only receive and allow another to work in us.
If Christians understood this basic Gospel fact, I mean really understood it, people would notice. Trust me, they would.
More from Newbigin, on the occasion of Easter:
The truths which Buddhism teaches would (as Buddhists understand them) be true whether or not Gautama had discovered and promulgated them. But the whole of Christian teaching would fall to the ground if it were the case that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus were not real events in history but stories told to illustrate truths which are valid apart from these happenings. (the Gospel in a Pluralist Society)
The Christian message--what is radical about the Message of the Gospel--is that it is not, as with other faiths, other religions, about "truth for life." It is about Truth in History.
The Gospel is not a myth in the sense that it communicates principles or generic notions of truth. Newbigin shows that it is true in the sense that it relates to Events Which Took Place in History.
So, this connects to what a friend said to me yesterday: "I believe all people in all cultures are good." I agreed, and added: some people in some cultures are decidedly better than many professing Christians. Still, something else must be said: it isn't about whether or not I am good or not...or you are good or not.
It is about whether He was dead and rose again. That makes all the difference.
David Kuo has a great post last month highlighting excerpts from a troubling article by Stacy Weiner from The Washington Post. Ms. Weiner's article is called, "Goodbye to Girlhood." In his blog, David laments the "nauseating trend of younger and younger girls being
taught to be 'sexy' with their bodies, their clothes, and their
attitudes."
The article itself reads long, and pits one side vs. the other. But, there are some startling statistics that emerge; brace yourself--here are a couple of the more disturbing claims:
Ten-year-old girls can slide their low-cut jeans over "eye-candy" panties. French maid costumes, garter belt included, are available in preteen sizes. Barbie now comes in a "bling-bling" style, replete with halter top and go-go boots. And it's not unusual for girls under 12 to sing, "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?"
and:
...in 2003, tweens -- that highly coveted marketing segment ranging from 7 to 12 -- spent $1.6 million on thong underwear, Time magazine reported.
David Kuo finds himself angry and dumbfounded after reading the piece. (Here is the link to the APA's original report.) As the daddy of four precious girls, I can't help but resonate with his initial reaction.
But then, as is always the case, there is a bright lining to this cloud. Statistics aren't people. And girls who are doing this respond to love and acceptance. The statistics sit there unmoved, but these girls blossom when they are welcomed into families where real beauty and strength are prized, not in a formula, or a home-brewed recipe, but in the grace-lived life of the Gospel.
He is risen! Resurrection power still has the last word.
Bryant L. Myers has an excellent book which I read last year. The book takes a wide look at how we serve and help transform poor communities for God's Kingdom. One key theme addressed is the similarity of the poor and the non-poor in possessing what he calls a "marred identity."
Myers argues that part of the marred identity of the poor relates to their spiritual viewpoint of (1) how they got poor and (2) what they're able to do to get out of it. But, he also shows that the non-poor have that same problems in relating to their wealth. Surprised?
What is Myers's solution? Pointing us, both poor and non-poor, to repent of "god complexes" and submit ourselves to the story of Scripture:
Another way to help the poor discover their identity is by encouraging them to "find themselves in [the Biblical] story." But we must also witness to the non-poor concerning their identity. We need to help the non-poor "explore and identify their own poverty, to get in touch with what happens when one confuses being with having, or serving with power and control. The non-poor also need to read their story against the story of the Bible. The Bible has good news for them, too, even though they tend to find this hard to believe. The problem for the non-poor is that the cost of being who they really are and doing what they were meant to do is too high. Surrendering god-complexes and using human skill, the power of position, and financial resources LIKE A SERVANT is very hard indeed. This is why the rich young man walked away (Mat. 19:16-22)." (emphasis mine)
Apparently we're hard-wired in original sin to value our own righteous stories above God's. Apparently God's story isn't good enough for us--or is the problem that it is too good?
Reading the New Yorker recently, I came across a fantastic quote:
Doing a quick search online, I found that it is quoted nowhere else except here, by an actor and instructor of acting, on his blog. (Interesting blog, too.) I'd love to know the author of this quote, someone who is, apparently by the author of the article, a "philosopher."Without a killing, there is no feast.
But its significance to me goes beyond the field of acting or even philosophy.
Think for a moment: the Christian faith is compared to a feast. Themes of satisfaction, fullness of joy, and being filled (with the Holy Spirit, with grace, with love, etc.) abound.
What is remarkable is that this bounteous feast of grace has been prepared for us through the death (and resurrection) of Jesus. Even more remarkably, the one who prepared it, the Host, is the one whose death was required.
Reading elsewhere online, I came across this quote from Old Spurgeon, the famous 19th century Baptist pastor:
Gospel joys are elevating, they make men like angels. As in the gospel God comes down to men, so by the gospel men go up to God. I might also have shown you how absolutely peerless are the provisions of grace. There is no feast like that of the gospel, no meat like the flesh of Jesus, no drink like his blood, no joys like that which crowns the gospel feast. (Spurgeon on Isaiah 25:6)
One business commentator I like, Dale Dauten, aka the Corporate Curmudgeon, wrote in his column this past week of the art and science of conversations.
Lately he has been listening to some great conversations with executives (not always the easiest people to have conversations with) hosted by public radio personality Kai Ryssdal of the PRI radio program "Marketplace," available as podcasts here.
What is Ryssdal's advice on how to have a great conversation? Stay away from "yes" or "no" questions and be persistent in keeping the conversation going.
Dauten at this point recalls a line from a 1974 movie, The Conversation, in which Gene Hackman plays a surveillance expert whose job it is to listen in on conversations. I've not seen the film, but I like this quote.
"At one point," Dauten writes, "Harrison Ford's character tells him: 'I'm not following you, I'm looking for you. There's a big difference.'"
By analogy, I think, in evangelism, God calls us to not simply follow someone in a conversation. We need to know "Who is this person, how has God made them? What makes them tick?"
I believe this is the secret for relationship building and for finding opportunities to enter into people's spiritual lives to point them to Jesus. You must LOOK for the other person. When you find him or her, you're in a good position to show and tell them the good news.
Bryant L. Myers has an excellent book, not perfect, but very helpful, which I've just finished. One key theme in the book (which addresses how we serve and help transform poor communities for God's Kingdom) is the similarity of the poor and the non-poor in possessing what he calls a "marred identity."
Part of the marred identity of the poor relates to their spiritual viewpoint of how they got poor and what they're able to do to get out of it. The non-poor have that same problem about their wealth. An inappropriate and idolatrous confidence in "resources" and "money" is part of the marred identity of the non-poor.
Leaving a fuller treatment of the book for another time, I'll simply quote this passage about God's Story from the text, which I found to be compelling:
Another way to help the poor discover their identity is by encouraging them to "find themselves in [the Biblical] story." But we must also witness to the non-poor concerning their identity. We need to help the non-poor "explore and identify their own poverty, to get in touch with what happens when one confuses being with having, or serving with power and control. The non-poor also need to read their story against the story of the Bible. The Bible has good news for them, too, even though they tend to find this hard to believe. The problem for the non-poor is that the cost of being who they really are and doing what they were meant to do is too high. Surrendering god-complexes and using human skill, the power of position, and financial resources LIKE A SERVANT is very hard indeed. This is why the rich young man walked away (Mat. 19:16-22)." (emphasis mine)
Apparently we're hard-wired in original sin to esteem our own righteous stories above God's, whether we are poor or non-poor. What God calls us to do (finding ourselves in His story) is not what we want naturally; we rather fit God into our story.
