He who has ears
This week has gone well so far. Sorry about the lack of content for a week. I had an excuse: I was seeing friends around the country and also attending a stag do for a couple who are getting married next week (It's very exciting).
But I got back on sunday and haven't bothered to post anything new, which for all three of my readers is obviously devastating.
This week I have been having a great time at a local conference about the arts and worship. People far more creative than I have been exploring together how music, drama, art and dance can express the story of God. Yesterday was my favourite: Art.
I've posted a drawing I did some time ago here.
This new piece emerges from my reflections on Jesus' parable of the seeds. There is a great deal of insight contained in that story, but the phrase which caught my eye comes as some sort of a punchline:
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Mark 4:9)
Mysterious words. Riddles. What could that mean? Enjoy the picture, post a comment I'd love to hear from all three of you. Oh, and apologies for the poor quality image. I had to use my phone camera.
So, what does Jesus mean? 'Let he who has ears to hear, let him hear'
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- Meals with Jesus
- Costly grace and the treasure of joy
- Sovereign over suffering
- Treasuring Jesus over sin
- I am finally human
Fruit for everyone
I saw this post on the God's Politics blog and was intriguingly comforted by it.
Lisa writes:
Kindness, gentleness, love, peace, joy. Would you be more likely to describe these character traits as “masculine” or “feminine”? If you answered “feminine,” you would not be alone — but you would be wrong. These are human traits — neither exclusively feminine nor masculine. Yet, our society and the church seem overly comfortable associating these attributes as feminine.
The Apostle Paul paints a picture of what the Christian ought to look like. One who is walking with God and is filled with the Holy Spirit will, according to Paul, be kind and gracious and peaceful and all the rest. I must agree with Lisa, though. Somewhere along the way, these have become values for women to aim for - not men.
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- Blessed are the peacemakers
- Costly Grace
- The Prosperity Gospel: Lausanne 2010
- The Exiled Church
- What’s going on here? – Art
Meals with Jesus
"Oh no."
"Oh no," I whisper to myself.
I'm standing in a vast room with a ceiling high above me. There are pillars to support it. I'm sitting in a stepped pew with places mared out with arm-rests. It's made of some dark wood, and seems very old. There is a lectern in front of me, facing towards the rear of the room. I was not facing the lectern but was perpendicular to it. It was comfortingly cool in this big, stone room. It was an attractive space. the paint looked fresh and colours were bright but tasteful.
"Oh no", I whisper.
I pick up the booklet with the words 'the daily eucharist written on the front.
It's more than a page long. It's more than two pages long. It may have been eight pages long!
Oh no. I thought this was going to be simple.
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Costly grace and the treasure of joy
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.(Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)
There are probably studies which show that the 2008 Olympic Games saw a significant rise in the reading of Hebrews 12:1-2 in churches the world over. I'm pretty sure I heard at least four sermons on the passage over that summer. Why not? I saw. It's a great passage! Not bad for a book who's author we don't even know the name of.
Jesus is the goal for which we race, the prize for which we compete. He ran his race for the 'joy set before him' and we ought to do likewise. Of course the difficulty is in not finding that joy to be worth pursuing. Why have joy when I can have status? Money? Power? Authority? I could make it big. I could be somebody. I could take what I want. Yet we are told of some greater joy. It's a joy the world can't know, for it does not seek God and doesn't know the joy of union with him.
And it is that greater joy to which I am called. For which I run.
Now, after six years of walking with Jesus and all the various activities, programs and church stuff I have been involved with I have realised this: Resisting sin is still the hardest part of being a Christian. It can be dressed up, disguised and even ignored but one of the most significant parts of the life of a Christian is the constant battle against sin.
It doesn't end.
It's one of the things which levels the field for all believers: We're all running with endurance the race marked out. We're all throwing off the trappings of sin. We're all seeking the great joy for Which Jesus gave up his life.
It's a small comfort indeed that there is no one believer who is better than another.
The key I see in the scriptures over and over again for the overcoming of sin is that the Christian should find that there is something better than sin. That something is God and his great joy and wonder. Yet, unhelpfully, the church has so often cheapened grace that we don't see any point in pursuing God. There is nothing to stop us, for example: Preaching, leading worship, serving in mission and participating in most any part of the life of the Church.
As much as I am aware that God's grace accepts all who will come, regardless of their brokenness - indeed, that is my testimony as much as anyones - it doesn't help me believe there is a greater joy to pursue if those who are living sinful lifestyles are placed in positions of authority in the Church.
In a way, the Church can model the heavenly realities, demonstrating what the Gospel looks like. Paul gives a clear picture of those who ought to be in authority in the Church. I know I would find it more believable that there was a greater joy available if the Church's leadership looked like that.
"If they get away with with it, why should I bother?"
I expect you're reading this as legalism - as a set of rules for being a Christian which of course the things of faith are not. Yet those who are publicly associated with 'Church' ought to be those who live lives of integrity and honesty and humility. I think out of that heart of submission to God, there will come a righteous life, a holy life.
As one who is often in positions of Church leadership, I do endeavour to find joy in the task, as I find joy in Christ. Joy enough to resist sin and to walk in the way of the Lord.
God is good.
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Blessed are the peacemakers
I just don't get how anyone who is filled with the Holy Spirit and has put their trust in Christ, seeking to obey him as a disciple can ever think it's ok to shoot someone.
Help me out here?
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After the pouring rain
Businessmen at lunch wince at the chill,
Hurrying their pace,
They didn't dress for this.
The earth smiles.
A mother's frustrated child with a grumpy face,
She hastily zips the miniature jacket
Just in time.
The ground is as peace.
He sighs with hands on hips,
The darkening sky spoiling his run,
Homeward he turns.
The rocks are waiting.
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Sovereign over suffering
Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job 2:10)
Job is a really awkward story. If you've never read it, frankly I don't blame you. It's really long and somewhat tedious. Trust me on this: It's really awkward. When one reads the first part of the Old Testament, the Torah, one learns that when the people put their trust in God and walk in his ways, he will bless them. When the people turn from God he shall punish them. It's a pretty simple notion.
When we look through the pages of Job that theology is challenged. The premise of the story is this: Satan challenged God that Job only believes in him and worship him for all the blessings God has showered upon him. Indeed, Job is a very blessed man. He owns a lot of land, has a big family and is well respected. More importantly, he walks according to God's law. That means he gives to the poor, lends without demanding interest and is altogether loving to his neighbour.
So, Job is living a life pleasing to God and enjoys all the blessings associated with it. If you know Proverbs at all, you'll notice that Job is always quoting them, showing this man to be wise.
Anyway, in a rush of confusing and contradictory ideas, Satan is in the presence of God and God allows Satan to take everything away from Job. This raises several questions about God, namely: Isn't it a bit underhanded of God to use Satan to do his 'dirty work'. Additionally, one could ask is not God breaking his covenant with Job by cursing him when he should be receiving blessing? These and many other questions I shall ignore. I don't think that's where the text goes.
So, we are left with this awkward tension. Naturally, being me, I really enjoy Job.
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In Many Tongues
He who has suffered much speaks many tongues.
He can be understood, he understands
The language of countless ones who reach
For sympathy with weak imploring hands;
To each in his own tongue he has the words
That bring the quick relief of tears; he speaks
And suddenly old heavy burdens lift,
And there is hope again for him who seeks.
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Costly Grace
Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of my all time favourite books.
Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor in the first half of the twentieth century and was one of many German theologians who stood against the Nazi state, and particularly the way the Church was an instrumental part of that terrible system. He was executed in 1945 for being involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler.
His hard hitting opening remarks are like a prophetic voice for the contemporary Church:
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without Church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. (The Cost of Discipleship p. 6)
In the Church of his day, the practice was to declare people right with God, to justify their sins without seeing the sinner changed in any way whatsoever. So the state waged it's wars with the Church's blessing and the politicians played their games with people lives, knowing they were right with God and the man on the street is content to know that he shouldn't be any different from the world because grace has covered him!
Today's Church is quite different, you see.
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- Blessed are the peacemakers
- The Prosperity Gospel: Lausanne 2010
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- What’s going on here? – Art
The Prosperity Gospel: Lausanne 2010
The Prosperity Gospel from The Global Conversation on Vimeo.
The Prosperity Gospel is the understanding that God wants his people to be rich, happy and healthy and true Christian faith results in these things. Faith is demonstrated by how much a believer is willing to give. Thus the greedy have typically loved to swarm into churches who preach this, a doctrine to comfort their idolatrous hearts.
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- Fruit for everyone
- Blessed are the peacemakers
- Costly Grace
- The Exiled Church
- What’s going on here? – Art
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