Last night I read a line in the book "After Christendom" by Stanley Hauerwas. On page 127 the author writes "We do not love because we are married but because we are Christian." The statement went into my heart like an arrow aimed and let go with deadly accuracy. In context the author is addressing the issues of sex, love, marriage and family, but I could not help but see a deeper and wider application of the reason why we love, specifically in the area of worship. The more I thought about it the more I wondered if John 4:23 could be understood to read slightly different that the traditional view.
Traditional - "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him." KJV
My variation - But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true lovers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Is not true worship adoration, and is not adoration true love? Said another way, authentic worship has love at its core, so I can not worship in spirit and in truth if I am not loving, and why do I love? I love because I have been redeemed, and am being redeemed by the Living God, Who is love, and I am calling, "Lord, Lord..." the One who commands me to love, following His example. I see then that authentic "spirit and truth" worship and authentic "spirit and truth" love are more than inseparable, they are indistinguishable. "...for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
GOD, JESUS and Humility
This morning I have been thinking about the issue of humility. I am not a humble person, so I was particularly taken aback this time when I read in Philippians 2, "Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who..."
This verse and those that follow would not be a real problem for me except for this, I believe that Jesus Christ is GOD in human form. That Jesus Christ is GOD is a foundational and critical doctrine of Christianity. Admittedly it is hard to view GOD as a humble being, but it is impossible not to see Jesus Christ as a humble man, unless you just view Him as an absolute lunatic. If indeed Jesus is GOD in human form then we are confronted with a reality about GOD, and His nature, we may struggle to embrace. If Jesus is not GOD then we are worshipping a mere man who in three short years of public ministry changed the world as no other person ever has. If Jesus is GOD in human form, if when seeing Jesus in scripture we are confronted by GOD Himself, well that changes everything. "Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who..." Go on, get your Bible and read the rest for yourself.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Burning Bibles and Qurans and the Role of The Church
"There's really a staggering level of hypocrisy and double standard here for the military to burn the Holy Bible and then complain when a pastor's going to do the same thing to the Quran," Fischer contends. "You know, if the military was going to be fair here and even-handed, they would count up the number of Holy Bibles that they incinerated in Afghanistan, and then they would allow Reverend Jones to burn the same number of Qurans." A quote by a Mr. Fischer
I read this quote online today by a Mr. Fisher, and it prompted me to ask a fundamental question. "I wonder what the average Christian in America believes the role of the church is?"
If the role of the church is seen to be that of a cop standing, arms fully extended between right and wrong, or good and evil, straining to keep a safe distance between the two (shall we say one faith position and another), then the role of the church is completely misunderstood by the Christian. If its role is viewed as the sole defender of the Bible against all who do not believe what is printed on its pages, then the role of the church is woefully misunderstood. There is one reason and only one why Rev Jones’s threat to burn a Quran is truly wrong from a Christian worldview, but it can only be understood as wrong when the proper role of the church is consider from within a right Biblical context, free from cultural and traditional paradigms that may innocently have our understanding off target.
Simply put the role of The Christian Church, whether in the global or local sense, whether large or small, is to be faithful to GOD by following the teaching of His Son, Jesus Christ, and passing that torch to the next generation. Nowhere in scripture is the church or the individual Christian called to anything else. We preach because Jesus did, we train because Jesus trained, we love because Jesus loved, we give because Jesus gave, and we turn the other cheek because that is what Jesus did and taught us to do. We baptize because Jesus told us to. We partake of the sacraments because Jesus did and commanded us to. When the role of the church is interpreted to be “the force” that goes out into the world to make it a better and happier place the church has missed its original calling. And, when in anything the fundamental get cloudy, the loss of identity is not far behind.
Why does it surprise anyone when a Bible is burned? Isn’t that to be expected in a world that is hostile to the person and the teachings or Christ? But, if the world, which the church is called to be in the midst of, sees the church acting and reacting like the world it is called to be separate from, how will the world see the true difference that Christ and His teachings make in the lives of those who hold to Him by holding to them? The Church is, after all, no more than the sum of individual Christians who meet together. And, in church-life like in physics, the sum of the parts is never better than the whole. What makes the church the church, what makes it stick out like a single tall sunflower in a field of waist-high thorns is when individual Christians are doing their dead-level best to be faithful to the scriptures and to each other, following the One who first blazed the trail and put on display for everyone the true nature and heart of God. You may not like Jesus, but no one can ever look at Jesus’ historically documented life honestly and not reach the conclusion that He showed us God as no one ever had. Thorns, prickly and ridged by nature, are radically different than the sunflower plant that grows much taller, bending and twisting by design to keep its pedals and seeds fully exposed to the sun that crosses the sky. Why Mr. Fischer is staggered by the level of hypocrisy he sees is beyond me. That the military has a double standard should come as no surprise. Isn’t it logical to expect even a well intentioned government agency, like our military, to make mistakes while trying to find unity in diversity? Who ever expected the military to be fair and even-handed?
When the church is emptied of hypocrites, (which means I have to leave), and filled with fairness (which may mean you have to leave), when even-handed is the descriptive word for all its dealings, then, then, the church is in a good position - rather, it is in its right position. Few things are more confusing to a church, and than a church that has allowed it self to be awkwardly positioned, cleverly put in a place God never assigned it. Rev Jones makes no headway in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, in living the Gospel of Christ, when he is out in the world swapping emotions and political rhetoric, while vying for attention and equal editorial space. If Rev. Jones wants to show the world what God is like, what Jesus is like, what the Bible teaches, he should be healing the ears cut off the heads of guards by those who thought they were doing God’s work, pulling out a concealed dagger in a moment of great tension – which by the way is what we have here.
The role, the purpose, the calling of the Christian Church (Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Catholic, etc) has nothing to do with armies, politics, and rights in the ways most would think. When the church allows itself to be lured into an approach of dealing with issues that is other than a Biblically authorized approach, it enters a different form of battle than it has been equipped for. Let them burn the Bible if they want to, the flames can’t touch the message anyway. The Bible might get more readers if its current readers really obeyed with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, what they read. Rev Jones, sir, it is wrong to burn a Quran. Gary Little, September 9, 2010
I read this quote online today by a Mr. Fisher, and it prompted me to ask a fundamental question. "I wonder what the average Christian in America believes the role of the church is?"
If the role of the church is seen to be that of a cop standing, arms fully extended between right and wrong, or good and evil, straining to keep a safe distance between the two (shall we say one faith position and another), then the role of the church is completely misunderstood by the Christian. If its role is viewed as the sole defender of the Bible against all who do not believe what is printed on its pages, then the role of the church is woefully misunderstood. There is one reason and only one why Rev Jones’s threat to burn a Quran is truly wrong from a Christian worldview, but it can only be understood as wrong when the proper role of the church is consider from within a right Biblical context, free from cultural and traditional paradigms that may innocently have our understanding off target.
Simply put the role of The Christian Church, whether in the global or local sense, whether large or small, is to be faithful to GOD by following the teaching of His Son, Jesus Christ, and passing that torch to the next generation. Nowhere in scripture is the church or the individual Christian called to anything else. We preach because Jesus did, we train because Jesus trained, we love because Jesus loved, we give because Jesus gave, and we turn the other cheek because that is what Jesus did and taught us to do. We baptize because Jesus told us to. We partake of the sacraments because Jesus did and commanded us to. When the role of the church is interpreted to be “the force” that goes out into the world to make it a better and happier place the church has missed its original calling. And, when in anything the fundamental get cloudy, the loss of identity is not far behind.
Why does it surprise anyone when a Bible is burned? Isn’t that to be expected in a world that is hostile to the person and the teachings or Christ? But, if the world, which the church is called to be in the midst of, sees the church acting and reacting like the world it is called to be separate from, how will the world see the true difference that Christ and His teachings make in the lives of those who hold to Him by holding to them? The Church is, after all, no more than the sum of individual Christians who meet together. And, in church-life like in physics, the sum of the parts is never better than the whole. What makes the church the church, what makes it stick out like a single tall sunflower in a field of waist-high thorns is when individual Christians are doing their dead-level best to be faithful to the scriptures and to each other, following the One who first blazed the trail and put on display for everyone the true nature and heart of God. You may not like Jesus, but no one can ever look at Jesus’ historically documented life honestly and not reach the conclusion that He showed us God as no one ever had. Thorns, prickly and ridged by nature, are radically different than the sunflower plant that grows much taller, bending and twisting by design to keep its pedals and seeds fully exposed to the sun that crosses the sky. Why Mr. Fischer is staggered by the level of hypocrisy he sees is beyond me. That the military has a double standard should come as no surprise. Isn’t it logical to expect even a well intentioned government agency, like our military, to make mistakes while trying to find unity in diversity? Who ever expected the military to be fair and even-handed?
When the church is emptied of hypocrites, (which means I have to leave), and filled with fairness (which may mean you have to leave), when even-handed is the descriptive word for all its dealings, then, then, the church is in a good position - rather, it is in its right position. Few things are more confusing to a church, and than a church that has allowed it self to be awkwardly positioned, cleverly put in a place God never assigned it. Rev Jones makes no headway in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, in living the Gospel of Christ, when he is out in the world swapping emotions and political rhetoric, while vying for attention and equal editorial space. If Rev. Jones wants to show the world what God is like, what Jesus is like, what the Bible teaches, he should be healing the ears cut off the heads of guards by those who thought they were doing God’s work, pulling out a concealed dagger in a moment of great tension – which by the way is what we have here.
The role, the purpose, the calling of the Christian Church (Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Catholic, etc) has nothing to do with armies, politics, and rights in the ways most would think. When the church allows itself to be lured into an approach of dealing with issues that is other than a Biblically authorized approach, it enters a different form of battle than it has been equipped for. Let them burn the Bible if they want to, the flames can’t touch the message anyway. The Bible might get more readers if its current readers really obeyed with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, what they read. Rev Jones, sir, it is wrong to burn a Quran. Gary Little, September 9, 2010
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