God’s Good - Scarcely Imagined

“Like those who live with life-long disease, humans easily adjust their lives to account for their maladies. The human family can scarcely imagine what the freedom to chose God’s ‘good’ would be, so much has humanity adapted itself to estrangement and alienation.” Joel B. Green, Body, Soul, and Human Life

Justification

I recently read N.T. Wright’s book, Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision. His driving force for this book is a response to a book published in 2007 by Dr. John Piper called, The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright, which probes the foundations of Wright’s understanding of Paul and if this is a helpful or harmful understanding.

I personally find Wright’s view of The New Perspective on Paul very exciting.  I love how he puts the Scriptures, Paul, and Jesus in their historical context. He takes that same approach with this book and makes the doctrine of justification very clear and historical. I’m personally not helped by the esoteric explanations of justification that others have given.  What I loved most about this book, though, is the overarching, big picture paradigm which is opposite of an anthropocentric vision that is often espoused.

Here are some great quotes of this idea of us not being the center of the universe:

“Salvation is hugely important…. Knowing God for oneself, as opposed to merely knowing or thinking about him, is at the heart of Christian living…. But we are not the center of the universe. God is not circling around us. We are circling around him. It may look, from our point of view, as though ‘me and my salvation’ are the be-all and end-all of Christianity. Sadly, many people–many devout Christians!–have preached that way and lived that way. This problem is not peculiar to the churches of the Reformation. It goes back to the high Middle Ages in the Western church, and infects and affects Catholic and Protestant, liberal and conservative, high and low church alike. But a full reading of Scripture itself tells a different story (23).”

“God made humans for a purpose: not simply for themselves, not simply so that they could be in relationship with him, but so that through them, as his image-bearers, he could bring his wise, glad, fruitful order to the world. And the closing verses of Scripture, in the book of Revelation, are not about human beings going off to heaven to be in a close and intimate relationship with God, but about heaven coming to earth (24).”

“Paul’s view of God’s purpose is that God, the creator, called Abraham so that through his family he, God, could rescue the world from its plight…. Paul’s understanding of God’s accomplishment in the Messiah is that this single purpose, this plan-through-Israel-for-the-world, this reason-God-called-Abraham … finally came to fruition with Jesus Christ (94).”

N.T. Wright in many of his books, and certainly in this one, has continually opened my eyes to the big picture of God’s purpose and saving activity in the world.

Reflections on being a new dad

I just became a dad 9 months ago. I started fatherhood a bit later in life. I am 37 years old and have been married for over 8 years. My wife and I recently completed the adoption of our son and have embarked upon a new chapter in life. As I look back on what my expectations, fears, and trepidations about fatherhood were I am amazed at the stark contrast to the reality of being a dad.

For one thing, I am not a little baby kind of guy. I did not grow up thinking having a family was the direction I was going to go. I didn’t give it much thought but when I did I was fairly sure that raising a child would be a bit of a headache best left alone.

As my wife and I contemplated having a child I became very clear what my expectations were. Work, work, work, and more work. Yes, having a child would be noble, inspiring, and a way to give back and to love another person in a way that friendships aren’t able. I could see from a rather heady perspective the ‘rightness’ of fatherhood.

The reality of fatherhood isn’t too far from what I expected. I haven’t gone fishing once since my son was born. I haven’t gone kayaking. We haven’t had a dinner party. I get far less sleep, have far less money. I have never been so concerned for someone else’s health. I was right; being a dad is a lot of work and expensive.

On the other hand the work is not a drudgery, nor is there any sense of loss for those things that I had time to do before. My son is an absolute joy to see every morning. I look forward to seeing his face when I come home from work. I anticipate the weekends when I can be more involved in his entire day. I am grateful to get to know him to be a part of his new life. Being a part means changing poopy diapers, playing with little plastic drooled on toys, making bottles, folding countless little cloths, making stupid faces to get him to laugh, and taking him for walks.

I have my son’s picture taped to my visor on my work truck; I never taped a picture of my kayak or my fishing rod. Every little thing he learns is fantastic. I am convinced he is a genius. The mold was broken with the advent of my son. He is an inspiration. I don’t mind working for someone I love. A little work never hurt anyone anyways!

Embrace judgment

As Christians we are not delivered from God’s judgment. Because of the kindness and mercy of our God our judgment is transformed to discipline. Sin is unthinkably destructive. Because it causes suffering it can’t be ignored or flippantly passed over. It will not do to just receive a clean bill of health when the cancer still lives, eating away life moment by moment. The cancer has to go.

This is what Colin Gunton tells us in The Christian Faith:

“…on the cross Jesus bears God’s judgment on sin in order not that sinners should not be judged (condemned), but that they should endure judgment in a different form, as discipline. The point is indicated in Barth’s observation that Jesus’ bearing of God’s judgment for us does not mean that we are not judged ourselves…Christ, we might say, bears anticipatorily the eschatological judgment of death – he goes to hell – in order that those who trust in God through him should be able to bear the judgment that cleanses rather than annihilates.”

God works on us and disciplines us to form us into people who reflect His love. He forgives and heals us. This is, at times, a painful but happy process whereby we change to become people who can be good friends to others and faithful followers of our loving Master.

Audio - More Human

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This is a recent message I gave on Christ becoming fully human so we could become more human.

How we live together is worship

Colin Gunton, in The Christian Faith has a chapter on “Christian Community and Human Society” which I have found helpful in understanding the vision and purpose of the church.  He says:

“The church is the society whose distinctive way of being in the world – distinctive polity, we might say – is oriented to God primarily in terms of thanksgiving and worship. As we have seen, this is not to be understood narrowly but as an offering of all life, so that the question of the nature of the church is best approached by means of a discussion of the kind of social order that it represents. And it is as follows. The church’s way of being in the world is one that corresponds to Israel’s way of being while allowing for the changes that are consequent upon the movement from particular nation to a community incorporating all peoples.”

In other words, the church carries on Israel’s calling to worship God by the way they interact with each other and order their social life together. That social life was lived and proclaimed by Jesus (and summarized in the Sermon on the Mount) as He came announcing the Kingdom of God. As Gunton says:

“…the words and actions which maintain the church in relation to [Jesus] are those which seek to embody in its structures the form or pattern of his career. In that light, the church is a way of being socially whose life is ordered to God by means of words and actions which are evoked by the Spirit’s action.”

How we live together as a church is worship. How we care for, commit to, and interact with each other is our calling out from the world for the sake of the world. We bring glory to God and witness to the lost by our concrete ways of loving each other and orienting our lives around each other as brothers and sisters in God’s kingdom.

Christ is more truly human

Colin Gunton says, “…Jesus is the eternal Word of God in person, yet without being in any way less human than we are; in fact, being more truly human.”

Looking around me and seeing how broken mankind is, it gives me hope to see that this brokenness is not reflective of true humanity, but a push away from humanity. Jesus, in His love and servanthood, represents true humanity and He calls me to become more human by being like Him.

Freedom

Reading John D. Zizioulas’ Being As Communion and reflecting on community and the truths we’ve learned over these years about relationships and the nature of the Church, I had this thought about freedom:

Freedom is not the ability to choose between different possibilities, but to be capable of communion.

Spirituality Is Entered Into

Audio of post (read by Jared Barton):

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With summer comes vacation, a time to change our routines and relax.  But on a recent trip I took I discovered that spirituality is closely connected to routines.  In our community I enjoy spiritually rich routines.  I have personal devotion time in the morning where I meditate, study and pray.  We gather in the morning as a community for worship, scripture reading, prayer and liturgical response.  We practice Daily Office prayers and liturgy at lunch and dinner.  If we have an evening meeting, we end the time with a Compline.  And finally, before bed I’ll often read and meditate on the Daily Light passage for that day.  But being away on this trip my routines were disrupted.  I was in long meetings all day and had to find a place to eat each evening.  On top of that I was suffering from jet lag and didn’t sleep that well, especially since the trash collectors had no shame making a loud racket at 3:00 a.m..

I noticed on this trip, that I’ve thought of spirituality as something that builds up in you.  Since my schedule was so discombobulated, I relied on “built up” spirituality to sustain me during my trip.  While I had a nice time, I didn’t enjoy the peace and communion with God I usually experience.  I noticed my thoughts turned negative and a cloud hung over my head at times.  It wasn’t a disaster, but I would have liked to have been more confident in God and more aware of the needs of others.

I was thinking that spirituality was like character.  Good character is developed by consistently behaving in a loving way.  As you regularly keep promises to yourself and others your integrity is established and you become a reliable person, someone with good character. But spirituality, defined as spiritual awareness or spiritual orientation and thoughts, isn’t something that comes out of you, but something that you enter into.  Character comes out of you.  Spirituality you enter into.

This is where spiritual and liturgical routines come into play.  These routines enable us to enter into spirituality.  They help us have a God-oriented mentality, or what the Bible calls “being spiritually-minded.”  These routines do shape us so that we reflect in our behavior and attitudes godliness, but since spirituality is something that is entered into, we can’t rely on this shaping to carry us along.  Spirituality has to be constantly practiced and entered into.  This is why the spiritual disciplines (meditation, prayer, fasting, study, worship, etc.) are vital to maintaining and cultivating our spirituality.

Spirituality is something we participate in.  It’s an action.  It’s not something you can store up.  By definition it’s something you engage in.  So if you want to be spiritually edified, spiritually minded and aware of God and His ways, you must practice spiritual routines.  I know of no other book for learning the spiritual disciplines as thorough and accessible as Richard Foster’s The Celebration of Discipline.  My experience from this recent trip makes me more hungry to master that material.

No Being Without Communion

Alert: Brainy ruminations ahead…

I’ve been studying Orthodox theology lately, and one of the main concepts talked about is that there is no being without communion. I see some profound implications from that. If being is rooted in will or individuality, then the actualization (expression) of our will (e.g. pursuing our dreams, discovering our gifts, and achieving personal goals) becomes supremely important. If, however, being is rooted in communion, then the development of relationships, journeying together through the ups and downs of life, and relational holiness become supremely important. More simply put, if we matter only by being all we can be (as the Army says), then our own growth and enjoyment must come first. On the other hand, if our identity and significance (our personhood) come from community, then our relationships are infinitely important.

Relationships are difficult because you are dealing with unique perspectives, desires, and will. The blending of these requires mutual voluntary choice and regard. Everyone has to willingly cherish each other and not assert their desires and will over and against the other. Each person has to be valued and loved for themselves and not for what they can give. This requires a release of control and a forfeiture of power.

If my destiny lies in the exercise of my will and personal fulfillment, then I will have a low tolerance for relational difficulties. When I bump up against the contours of others, if that causes me a lot of discomfort, I will have little patience to stay in the game and nurture that relationship. But if my destiny and ultimate happiness lies in sharing and fellowship in relationships, then I have no other option than to work through difficulties and seek personal change that enables me to be capable of communion.

Orthodox theology teaches us that we receive our personhood from one another in relationships. We really do need each other.