Tag Archive for 'discipleship'

Christian freedom

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bcg
on 15 May 2008
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I read this verse this morning:

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

1 Peter 2.16 (ESV)

The kind of freedom won for us in Christ is not that we can do anything.  The word translated by the ESV as 'servants' is actually douloi, which perhaps should be translated 'slaves'.

Too often we exercise our 'freedom' for our own selfish gains, citing 'freedom of speech' or 'it's a free country' as our reasons for doing so.  Instead, Peter tells us we should use our freedom for good, to serve God (and other people).  We have been freed for obedience, freed to serve the one we were made to serve.

In Gone (by U2) Bono sings these lines, some of my all-time favourites:

You hurt yourself,
you hurt your lover,
but then you discover
what you thought was freedom
just was greed.

We have been freed so we don't have to be greedy any more, we can live unselfish lives.  If only more people used their freedom in the way it was intended, rather than to cover up evil.

Faith and works

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bcg
on 10 May 2008
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I read James 2 this morning, the almost infamous passage which apparently contradicts Paul's theology that we are saved only by faith, that there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation.  I don't think it does say that, however.  Here is the passage in full, from the ESV:

2.14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But
someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith
apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and
the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it
was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And
in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works
when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (ESV)

The particularly difficult verse is 24: 'You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.'  This seems to contradict Paul's assertion in Romans (which intriguingly quotes the exact same verse about Abraham from Genesis):

4.1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. (ESV)

Even more starkly, in Romans 3.28 Paul says, 'For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.'  What is this apparent contradiction?  Are Paul and James saying the exact opposite?

Well no, actually!  One of Paul's main points throughout Romans is that salvation depends entirely on God's grace.  No-one can keep the law, no-one can be holy as God is holy, everyone messes up, except Jesus.  In and through Jesus God offers us the free gift of life, of redemption, salvation and justification, all those long words that basically mean we are given the gift of new life.  We don't earn it, we are simply given it.

Now James is making a different point.  He is saying that faith on its own means nothing - even the demons believe in God!  If you have no works - if your faith does not affect how you live your life - then your faith is not really faith.  Works demonstrate whether or not you really have faith, and so in that sense 'complete' it.  The works in v.24 are therefore the 'works of faith', rather than 'works without faith'.

In other words, James is not saying that 'works without faith' justify, but he is saying that 'faith without works' is not really faith.  He is arguing that we need 'faith that produces works'.

Looking at the context of both passages from James and Romans demonstrates that they are not contradictory after all.  In fact, much later in Romans (12.1 and onwards) Paul writes one of his great 'therefore's.  Having expounded grace and the need for it over the previous eleven chapters, he begins his section on ethics.  We have been given a great gift, therefore we must live our lives accordingly.  In other words, faith on its own is not faith: real faith produces works, produces love for our neighbours, generosity, etc.

We need to get away from the absolute contrast between faith and works.  We can sometimes make it sound like we have no responsibility to do anything except 'preach the good news'.  We must of course do that, but we must also demonstrate and 'complete' our faith by the 'good works' that God has 'prepared in advance' for us to do (Ephesians 2.10).

Assurance

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bcg
on 18 April 2008
in Bible, Church and Theology
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I had a long conversation last night with a good friend about various theological topics.  Some of them will find their way on here, in time.  The first of them is the doctrine of assurance.  How can we be confident that we are saved?  Is such confidence possible?

For Methodists, 'assurance' historically refers to a feeling of peace and joy that our sins are forgiven.  An example might be John Wesley's famous line, 'I felt my heart strangely warmed.'  He goes on to say:

I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation. And an
assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and
saved me from the law of sin and death.

Assurance of God's love

On this understanding, assurance is the feeling that accompanies faith in God's promises.

The difficulty is of course that feelings can mislead us.  It is entirely possible for someone to feel 'assured' of their salvation, without having the accompanying faith.

It is therefore perhaps more helpful to talk about assurance in terms of faith.  God has promised that those who believe in him will have eternal life, that if we believe in the salvation won for us by Jesus on the cross, we will be saved:

It is not possible for someone to be genuinely broken by sin, genuinely
to believe that Christ is the only way to salvation and genuinely to
have asked God for salvation, and yet still to be unsaved.

Assurance and Election

This is the most we can say: God has promised certain things in Scripture.  Therefore if God is true to his Word, then what God has promised will happen.  At the end of the day we can never be 100% certain that God exists, or we would not have faith, we would simply know.

However we can be almost 100% certain that he does, and therefore almost 100% certain that we will be saved if we trust in his promises.

Humility and the popes

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bcg
on 1 April 2008
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Susie and I recently returned from a few days in Rome, courtesy of her great aunt.  I have wanted to visit the Eternal City for years, mostly to see the Roman ruins, which are, well, ruins, but still spectacular!  The best preserved is probably the Pantheon, which is incredible, but the Colosseum and Baths are not far behind.

We also visited the Vatican museums and St Peter's.  The Sistine chapel really is quite special, as are many other things in the museums.  However, St Peter's basilica provides much food for thought.  In huge letters the front reads:

IN HONOREM PRINCIPIS APOST PAVLVS V BVRGHESIVS ROMANVS PONT MAX AN MDCXII PONT VII

That is, translated, 'In honor of the prince of apostles by Paul V Borghese, a Roman, Supreme Pontiff, in the year 1612 and the seventh year of his pontificate.'

All very well and good, but what you actually see when you look at it is 'PAVLVS V BVRGHESIVS ROMANVS', because it's in the middle, on the central pediment!  This is the story throughout Rome: the most prominent place is always given to the name of the Pope.  Even on the side of the Colosseum pope Pius IX gets pride of place!

While there I read this verse:

The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honour.

Proverbs 15.33 (ESV)

And also this verse:

For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2.21 (ESV)

I couldn't help but think of all the popes who have sought their own interests, their own honour, before God's.  All it would take is 'SOLA DEO GLORIA' ('only for God's glory') as an inscription.

The challenge to us is how easy it was for the popes to behave like this - and we are no different.  I'm sure if I was the pope and built an enormous church I'd be tempted to stick my name on it somewhere for the generations to see.

The Jesus Storybook Bible

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Published
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bcg
on 21 March 2008
in Bible, Church and Reviews
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This week I have been on a mission in Bath (I am currently on my day off!).  One of my primary roles has been to go into the Junior School for assemblies and class visits.

For the assemblies we made up some dramas, and read out some stories from the Jesus Storybook Bible, by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago.  The Amazon page has a couple of critical reviews, but we found the stories really very good, and the illustrations too.

One of the main criticisms of the book on the Amazon page is that it downplays sin and judgement.  I disagree.  The section on the crucifixion (called 'The sun stops shining') tells the real story:

Even though it was midday, a dreadful darkness covered the face of the world.  The sun could not shine.  The earth trembled and quaked.  The great mountains shook.  Rocks split in two.  Until it seemed that the whole world would break.  That creation itself would tear apart.

The full force of the storm of God's fierce anger at sin was coming down.  On his own Son.  Instead of his people.  It was the only way God could destroy sin, and not destroy his children whose hearts were filled with sin.

Now, of course it isn't perfect.  No translation is perfect, and this isn't a translation, or even a paraphrase.  It's a way of telling some of the main stories in the Bible.  It will only 'do much harm' (again, from the Amazon reviewer) if it is used as the only way of telling Bible stories to children.

We used it in our assemblies as the frame for telling the stories.  Some of the phrases are brilliant, like this one:

And Peter told them the wonderful Story of God's Love - God's Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.

What the book does best of all is show how Jesus is at the centre of the whole Bible, how 'every story whispers its name' (the tagline from the book cover).

I would recommend this book, especially if you do children's work and can use it in assemblies.

Materialism

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bcg
on 26 February 2008
in Bible and Culture
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On the BBC website today I read this article:
Children 'damaged' by materialism.  It is particularly aimed at advertisers who specifically target children.

The Children's Society said adults had to "take responsibility for the current level of marketing to children".

Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the society, said: "A crucial question raised by the inquiry is whether childhood should be a space where developing minds are free from concentrated sales techniques.

"To accuse children of being materialistic in such a culture is a cop-out," he said.

Reitemeier said: "Unless we question our own behaviour as a society we risk creating a generation who are left unfulfilled through chasing unattainable lifestyles."

And Rowan Williams said:

Children should be encouraged to value themselves for who they are as people rather than what they own.

The selling of lifestyles to children creates a culture
of material competitiveness and promotes acquisitive individualism at
the expense of the principles of community and co-operation.

There is even a suggestion that 'commercial pressures' may cause psychological problems in later life.

The report is rather terrifying, but not perhaps surprising.  The relentless drive to have more and own more pervades our entire culture.  Our economic system of capitalism relies on human desire as its driving force.  More and more companies are becoming skilled in manipulating that desire through slick advertising, so that we desire things we don't need. 

Somehow, as Rowan Williams said, we have come to value ourselves more in terms of our prosperity, our possessions, than in our value as people.

This story hit a nerve with me this morning because I have just read Luke 12, in which Jesus says this:

Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of one's possessions.
Luke 12.15 (ESV)

Jesus then goes on to tell the parable of the man who stored up crops for himself saying, 'relax, eat, drink, be merry.'  But God took it all away from him that night, and he had nothing.  Rather, Jesus says, seek the kingdom of God, and store up treasure in heaven, where it cannot be stolen or destroyed.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luke 12.34 (ESV)

Paul’s gnosticism

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Published
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bcg
on 18 January 2008
in Bible, Church and Theology
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I am currently reading through Romans with a friend at college, and we are up to Romans 7.  One of the things we mentioned was how easy it is to mis-read Paul and interpret what he says as gnostic.

For example:

7.5 For while we were
living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at
work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But
now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us
captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the
old way of the written code.

Not only does Paul set up a radical distinction between 'the new way of the Spirit' and 'the old way of the written code', he also locates sin at work in 'the flesh', 'our members'.  Equally, in the previous chapter Paul writes:

6.12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

His emphasis is so strongly on our sinful bodies, on sin which works in our 'mortal body', that it is not a big step to gnostic theology, where the spirit is holy, the flesh evil.

It is also not a big step to the neo-dualism of contemporary evangelicalism.  Now there's a sentence and a half!  When I worked for A Rocha in London, one of the things I did was go around churches giving talks about the biblical basis for creation care.  A regular comment that many of us encountered (and no doubt they still do) was that God is more interested in saving souls than restoring creation.

There is undoubtedly some truth in that statement.  God has a special love for humans, made in his image to worship, glorify and love him.  However it is no different to the gnosticism that was denounced as heresy, and completely fails to understand the Old Testament, and much of the new.

When Paul locates sin at work in mortal flesh, he is not saying that God will do away with physical bodies.  He is not saying that all material things are evil and that what is important is our soul.  What he is saying, is that God needs to transform our mortal bodies if we are to obey him.  The very next verse in Romans 6 is this:

6.13 Do not present your
members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life,
and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

God wants us to use our bodies, our minds, our strength, our souls - all of ourselves - to serve him.  He is not interested in disembodied children, but children in his image as he made them, bodies and all.  The 'newness of life' that Paul talks about earlier in Romans 6 is the basis on which we are able to 'present' our 'members to God as instruments for righteousness'.

6.4 We were buried
therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk
in newness of life.

Just as our baptism is a physical event, and just as Jesus' resurrection was a physical event, so also our newness of life is a physical event.  So, coming back to Romans 7, serving God in the 'new way of the Spirit' is correctly interpreted and capitalised by the ESV as the 'new way of the Holy Spirit': i.e. the new bodied life in the power of the Holy Spirit, not a new life somehow disconnected from our bodies, and purely 'spirit'.  The true meaning of the word 'spiritual' is not 'the life of a spirit', 'but life in the power of the Spirit', mind, body, soul and strength.

I am sure that no self-respecting and thoughtful evangelical would disagree with what I have just argued.  Why is it then that the focus of 'gospel ministry' is so often proclamation on its own, without the accompanying care for people's 'fleshy' side?  I myself have been guilty of this mistake, but hopefully no longer.

Wearing my A Rocha hat (A Rocha is a Christian environmental charity, seeking to transform communities and ecosystems in Jesus' name and power) I would go further still, and say that God's concern is for the whole of creation, not just humans.  After all, Revelation teaches us that heaven comes down to earth, not the other way around.  The whole world will be transformed by God, not just those people who call on Jesus' name.  (For more on this, please look in the Sermons section, or search for 'creation care' or 'hope for the planet'.)

When we pray 'your kingdom come', what we are praying for is the full and complete kingdom, which includes the transformation of the world, as well as the transformation of the people within the world.  The latter concern for people's physical well-being is being rediscovered by the church, but we are still lacking the former concern for the world.

The challenge is this: have we sold out to a gnostic dualism between spirit and flesh?  Have we in practice (if not in theology) ignored the fleshy side of life in favour of the spirit side of life?  If we have, we need to do both to be doing full and proper 'gospel ministry'.