I'm preaching through the book of Luke and have gotten to the passage in Luke where Jesus tells a story of a Samaritan who reaches out to be a "neighbor" - literally, "one near to you" - while the others who happen to be Jewish religious leaders ignore the robbed and beaten man's plight. It had got me thinking about the way in which we view persons and the choices we make in relation to them.
Here's the issue: We know that our position before God is not a matter of "working for our salvation". Christ Jesus has come to pay the penalty for our sin(s) - I say "Sin" overall...that we are infected by the disease called "Sin"; and "sins", because in fact the outworking of our Sin nature is the individual acts of sin that we do in life.
So, what do we do with that? We know that the grace of God brings the mercy of God to bear on our sins even before our need is realized. But, let's not be deceived by the assurance of mercy as if we have no responsibility to act on it.
The Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians said it this way:
2 Corinthians 4:1-11 (NIV)
1 Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.
Starting from the beginning...God's mercy is what gives us hope...
What we do is cooperate with it in getting rid of "ways" that are unhealthy - he calls them secret, shameful, deceiving, distorting...
Instead, we embrace the truth of God's word over all other objections in life. This truth leads to a life with a clear conscience in living before God. We don't live in the guilt-laden world of self-deception, nor do we succumb to blinding lies of the enemy who's main role is to destroy our truth needs.
Still...in Jesus Christ we have truth that leads to freedom, and a freedom that leads to godliness apart from trying to "look" religious or good. We have God's treasure of mercy and grace in "jars of clay"...pots. We're not that great looking...we're ordinary in our position as humans without great virture.
In fact, Paul goes on to say, our "pottedness" is not too wonderful at all...we're hard pressed...we're often perplexed...we can even end up suffering for trying to live by faith in Christ...but none of these things can destroy us. We don't end up crushed, or despairing, or being abandoned, or destroyed.
We recognize that the life we live here is the not the end of life. We carry about a sense of our own mortality so that we might display the life of Jesus and not our own efforts.
That's a short exposition of Paul's statements to the Corinthians, and it bears in on the theme of "Person and Choices".
What if we saw in our life together as "church", not a bunch of religious activity trying to make us all appear to be better persons, but rather a group who saw their primary occupation in life to put the "neighbor", the one nearest to them at any point in time, in touch with God?
As you can tell from Paul's letter above, this goal, activity, vocation of being a person of the church is not a means of escaping our neighbors, but rather of knowing that we are together to engage in truth about ourselves, while also recognizing that we are commissioned by God for this very purpose of revealing (together) the glory of God in normal humanity.
Think about this...or rather allow me to think outloud and then you think about it...
We live in a society that is at once deeply "individualistic" and "consumeristic" at the same time.
In reading the Desert Fathers I realize that they were neither. The community of Church that they lived in and through created in them a discipline of seeing community as a place of togetherness, so that as they lived out their faith and life apart from community they lived it to serve and not consume.
Much of my experience with Church...and I've been leading in church life for almost 40 years now...is that Church does little to transform the life of the believer from their individualism and consumerism...and in fact, we thrive on it.
Think some more...individualism and conformity. Most of our modern world is caught up in engaging the individualism and the consumer interests that go with that. Google has a new tablet coming out that will track all of your choices, including your calendar appointments, and constantly give recommendations to you on what might be of interest to you, based on all of these individual things you do. Sounds nifty huh?
But wait a minute.
Consumerism by nature is self-centered. It's what I want...what's in it for me...what I prefer is what rules.
I see that in church a lot...even again, in Pastors too.
So church by extension becomes another consumer choice. The church and the Mall are not dissimilar. They both end up being a place where the individual enters and says: "I have chosen you, so that I might have the life that I desire".
Let's not be naive about choices. The world we live in is heavily managed and our choices are manipulated to us at all times. People want to be individuals, but advertisers, managers of businesses like car manufacturers, or computers, or tv, or coffee and wine, all try to convince us that our choices will allow us to stand out as different...all the while selling this to millions of people in hopes that they will conform their choices to what is in front of them.
"Don't be like the crowd" says the advertiser...all the while persuading you and I to do the same thing all the rest of the millions watching or reading what they have written are suppose to do.
How can we live then in a world that is constantly manipulated and managed to live this way?
First, recognize that all of us are "Persons"...not individuals. Persons are unique, not reduced to a formula or an advertisement, and theologically, Persons are image-bearers of God. We are created for relationships and not for independence and taking. We are as Paul said: 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NIV)
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. Let us not allow our life, our church, our faith, to be reduced to a consumer commodity.
Secondly, recognize that choices is not what constitutes us a persons. We might like to think that the coffee we drink, or the tv programs we watch, the car we drive, or the any number of consumer things we engage in are what makes us unique. It is not those things that make our uniqueness.
Jesus was unique in so many ways...and his choices involved almost nothing consumer driven.
Persons make decisions, and when we choose on the basis of an identity that is truly centered around who we are in God, first, then our choices...no matter how small they might be, or how large they might be...are never done in a vacuum of our individuality, but rather in the context of our real relationship and identity as a child of God...an image bearer who lives to discover God in everything.
Is it possible? Is it hard? Yes, Yes...but the issue isn't rolling up the sleeves to religiously try harder...the issue is "we have this treasure in pots of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."
What we cannot do, God is perfectly able to do in us, as long as we are willing to allow our person and choices to go through Him.
Peace
Here's the issue: We know that our position before God is not a matter of "working for our salvation". Christ Jesus has come to pay the penalty for our sin(s) - I say "Sin" overall...that we are infected by the disease called "Sin"; and "sins", because in fact the outworking of our Sin nature is the individual acts of sin that we do in life.
So, what do we do with that? We know that the grace of God brings the mercy of God to bear on our sins even before our need is realized. But, let's not be deceived by the assurance of mercy as if we have no responsibility to act on it.
The Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians said it this way:
2 Corinthians 4:1-11 (NIV)
1 Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.
Starting from the beginning...God's mercy is what gives us hope...
What we do is cooperate with it in getting rid of "ways" that are unhealthy - he calls them secret, shameful, deceiving, distorting...
Instead, we embrace the truth of God's word over all other objections in life. This truth leads to a life with a clear conscience in living before God. We don't live in the guilt-laden world of self-deception, nor do we succumb to blinding lies of the enemy who's main role is to destroy our truth needs.
Still...in Jesus Christ we have truth that leads to freedom, and a freedom that leads to godliness apart from trying to "look" religious or good. We have God's treasure of mercy and grace in "jars of clay"...pots. We're not that great looking...we're ordinary in our position as humans without great virture.
In fact, Paul goes on to say, our "pottedness" is not too wonderful at all...we're hard pressed...we're often perplexed...we can even end up suffering for trying to live by faith in Christ...but none of these things can destroy us. We don't end up crushed, or despairing, or being abandoned, or destroyed.
We recognize that the life we live here is the not the end of life. We carry about a sense of our own mortality so that we might display the life of Jesus and not our own efforts.
That's a short exposition of Paul's statements to the Corinthians, and it bears in on the theme of "Person and Choices".
What if we saw in our life together as "church", not a bunch of religious activity trying to make us all appear to be better persons, but rather a group who saw their primary occupation in life to put the "neighbor", the one nearest to them at any point in time, in touch with God?
As you can tell from Paul's letter above, this goal, activity, vocation of being a person of the church is not a means of escaping our neighbors, but rather of knowing that we are together to engage in truth about ourselves, while also recognizing that we are commissioned by God for this very purpose of revealing (together) the glory of God in normal humanity.
Think about this...or rather allow me to think outloud and then you think about it...
We live in a society that is at once deeply "individualistic" and "consumeristic" at the same time.
In reading the Desert Fathers I realize that they were neither. The community of Church that they lived in and through created in them a discipline of seeing community as a place of togetherness, so that as they lived out their faith and life apart from community they lived it to serve and not consume.
Much of my experience with Church...and I've been leading in church life for almost 40 years now...is that Church does little to transform the life of the believer from their individualism and consumerism...and in fact, we thrive on it.
Think some more...individualism and conformity. Most of our modern world is caught up in engaging the individualism and the consumer interests that go with that. Google has a new tablet coming out that will track all of your choices, including your calendar appointments, and constantly give recommendations to you on what might be of interest to you, based on all of these individual things you do. Sounds nifty huh?
But wait a minute.
Consumerism by nature is self-centered. It's what I want...what's in it for me...what I prefer is what rules.
I see that in church a lot...even again, in Pastors too.
So church by extension becomes another consumer choice. The church and the Mall are not dissimilar. They both end up being a place where the individual enters and says: "I have chosen you, so that I might have the life that I desire".
Let's not be naive about choices. The world we live in is heavily managed and our choices are manipulated to us at all times. People want to be individuals, but advertisers, managers of businesses like car manufacturers, or computers, or tv, or coffee and wine, all try to convince us that our choices will allow us to stand out as different...all the while selling this to millions of people in hopes that they will conform their choices to what is in front of them.
"Don't be like the crowd" says the advertiser...all the while persuading you and I to do the same thing all the rest of the millions watching or reading what they have written are suppose to do.
How can we live then in a world that is constantly manipulated and managed to live this way?
First, recognize that all of us are "Persons"...not individuals. Persons are unique, not reduced to a formula or an advertisement, and theologically, Persons are image-bearers of God. We are created for relationships and not for independence and taking. We are as Paul said: 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NIV)
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. Let us not allow our life, our church, our faith, to be reduced to a consumer commodity.
Secondly, recognize that choices is not what constitutes us a persons. We might like to think that the coffee we drink, or the tv programs we watch, the car we drive, or the any number of consumer things we engage in are what makes us unique. It is not those things that make our uniqueness.
Jesus was unique in so many ways...and his choices involved almost nothing consumer driven.
Persons make decisions, and when we choose on the basis of an identity that is truly centered around who we are in God, first, then our choices...no matter how small they might be, or how large they might be...are never done in a vacuum of our individuality, but rather in the context of our real relationship and identity as a child of God...an image bearer who lives to discover God in everything.
Is it possible? Is it hard? Yes, Yes...but the issue isn't rolling up the sleeves to religiously try harder...the issue is "we have this treasure in pots of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."
What we cannot do, God is perfectly able to do in us, as long as we are willing to allow our person and choices to go through Him.
Peace
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