Movements

I’m reading Steve Addison’s Movements that Change the World. There’s lots of good stuff in here and I’m being reminded of some of the teaching I received as I was ministering on campus in my university days. I remember talking about a movement that would capture the hearts of students to follow Jesus and disciple others. I didn’t fully get it in those days and I’m not sure I fully get it now. It’s just that there are moments in the history of humanity that change everything that follows and creates a way of thinking that seemed impossible before that moment happened. Those moments are when movements are started. The following is a brief quote from his chapter on “Why Movements Matter.”

“Mission has a threefold reality. First there is a message: mission assumes a distinct view of truth concerning the nature of God and the nature of salvation. Second mission involves the communication of both truth and a new way of life. Third the purpose of mission is conversion. People accept the message, are integrated into the community of faith and begin to practice a new way of life – a new life committed to following Jesus and sharing the truth about him with others.

“As a missionary movement our message centers on Jesus Christ the son of God who was crucified for our sins and is the only source of salvation for a lost world. Second as a missionary movement we have an agenda for change. Jesus calls all who would follow him to a new life of obedience to his will. Third mission involves the conversion of individuals and their inclusion into the body of Christ, which is the church, the people of God. There is no mission without the church and there is no discipleship without the community of faith.

“If this is what it means to be the missionary people of God what do "missionaries" do? Eckhard Schnabel explains: “Missionaries establish contact with non-Christians, they proclaim good news of Jesus the Messiah and Savior (proclamation, preaching teaching, instruction), they lead people to faith in Jesus Christ (conversion, baptism), and integrate the new believers into the local community of the followers of Jesus (Lord's supper, transformation of social and moral behavior, charity).” We have the message of the cross. We have new life in Christ. We have a mandate to make disciples and multiply churches everywhere. We are a missionary people.”

Theology 101

I looking through some old posts on my hillschurch blog and came across this one and decided to repost it because it's actually pretty good. There are some good core Christian theological foundations to mull over here.

We have in the Old Testament revelation from God about ... His nature (who He is), man’s nature (who we are), how He wants us to live as a community (the nation Israel) and where we came from (creation). In the New Testament we have the revelation of Jesus Christ (the Word and I Am), salvation (our new nature), how to live individually (personal holiness) and the future (Revelation and the new heaven and earth).

Key principles from Genesis
1. God is
2. God created the material world by His Word
3. Man is made in God’s image
4. Sin is a reality (everything is fallen)

Values arising from those principles
1. Life is sacred (we are His image bearers)
2. The material world is good (He made it as our dwelling place - our holy of holies so to speak)
3. Words have value (because God created by speaking)
4. Anything that moves us away from God destroys us (idolatry is destructive)
5. Everything is redeemable (God is making all things new)

Each of these points can be elaborated on and I may actually do so sometime over the next while. But just to set up where I'm going with this I put down the following points.

The Purpose
We want to see Jesus lifted high. We want to see God’s Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We want to see our communities transformed. We want to see our nations be righteous, pass righteous laws and act with justice, compassion and righteousness.

The Problem
We see people get saved but they still act like the devil – or at least still acting like the culture we live in. The Church still acts like the world and still has the attitudes and characteristics of the world. That is mostly because we allow our media to disciple us. We have adopted the prevalent values of the culture instead of the counter-cultural values of the Kingdom. Although we preach salvation, we often still act selfishly, we still consume our resources on ourselves, our divorce rate is still as high as the world’s and we still live with bitterness and unforgiveness resulting in church fights and church splits. Brothers (and sisters) this ought not to be.

The Result
The world see the church with all its mistakes and problems and think they know what Jesus (and Christianity) is all about. They have not been taught about the transforming power of the Gospel throughout history. They have actually been misled because Christianity is being blamed for all the problems of the world (wars, environmental crisis, racism, hatred, intolerance, etc.). So the Church is being judged as irrelevant before it even has a chance to speak. Some people are even saying, “Christianity has had its chance but has failed. It is time to reject it and try something else.”

Our Response
The Church has become intimidated into silence and ineffectiveness by the strong media bias and the culture of humanism and political correctness. However we cannot simply respond to the immorality around us and to the accusations against us by merely getting politicians saved, by passing Christian laws or by saying “the Bible says it’s wrong.” We must be discipling individuals and discipling nations. We must be speaking truth in ways that communicate to our culture. We do that by understanding and communicating principles like the ones mentioned above. We also do that by living according to what the Spirit of God says, by the power of the Spirit and by being Jesus’ hands extended.

For example, we cannot simply say “sex before marriage is wrong.” We need to be showing that it is wrong because of how God set up the world. How would we do that? Explain that life is sacred. That means that we want to protect and sustain life. The sexual revolution has caused millions of unwanted pregnancies, abortions, rape, incest, sexually transmitted diseases (AIDS), divorce, single parents and the death or marginalization of millions of children. A recent study reported in the National Post reveals that children raised without fathers creates a remarkably higher percentage of sociopathic children than families with a father present. If we continue on this path we reveal that we do not honour life or consider it sacred. However, merely by keeping the seventh commandment (do not commit adultery) all those problems would be eliminated.

Not Living by the Law of Sin and Death

I was reading Romans 5-8 this past week and began to see some things a bit differently. Paul says that we have died to sin. The sin nature is what what all of us have. We are born with it. We were all formerly living as slaves to sin. It is the “natural” or unredeemed way of living. This way of living is called the Law of sin and death. Because we have this sin nature (this way of living) we are always trying to obey the Law or obey the rules. We are measuring ourselves against the set of rules we consider important to obey (which seem to change over time). Their foundations are in the Law – the Torah and more specifically the Ten Commandments. But this set of rules that we try to obey has a broader outward expression which is based on what is currently important in our society. It used to be in Christian circles a number of years ago that you weren’t allowed to drink or smoke or dance or go to movies. All of these things now seem to be ok – even in many Christian circles. Today’s taboos seem to focus more on tolerance and the environment.

But whatever they are, even if these rules are based on Scripture, they are still rules. They are still based on following a list and checking it twice. It leads to comparisons (i.e. I did more right than wrong, I’m trying to live a good life, I’m better than the guy down the street). This Law does not lead to life – the commandments bring condemnation. This way of comparison and counting leads to death. Those caught up in this way of living, instead of changing themselves, they try to change the law – calling evil good, and good evil. They try to escape condemnation by denying that the Law is good (which Paul also condemns). Living together used to be called “living in sin” but now the legal name is “common law.” The result is that lawlessness abounds in our society and no one is allowed to call wrongdoing a sin.

But that is the world’s way – denying the authority of the Law to get away from having to obey the Law. Yet the Law still shows us that we are sinful. Unfortunately Christians also try to get around the Law of sin and death by being good and obeying the Law – just as the Pharisees did. If we’re good at it we become self-righteous or holier than thou. If we’re bad at it we begin to think we are failures and rejects. It makes us think that God can’t forgive me again for that. It makes us think we can’t be saved if we do that. And so if we can’t be saved we become like the world denying that there is sin and dive into the deep end (like the Prodigal).

This whole way of living is the accounting method, the comparing method. It counts how well we did or how poorly we have failed. This way of living is called the Law of sin and death.

We however live by the Spirit. The Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death – He made us righteous. The Spirit sets us free from the accounting method. He sets us free from comparisons. He sets us free from the fairness trap (i.e. that’s not fair!). He sets us free from having to judge others.

The Law is actually the world’s system given to draw boundaries, and define the nature of sin so that people know that wrong is actually wrong. It measures everything by fairness and blame. It must find a scapegoat when one has already been provided. It becomes the judge determining guilt and innocence. It rarely finds guilt in oneself (except when alone at night) because to find guilt in oneself means we are guilty and worth of death and punishment and condemnation.

But there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Living by the Spirit means that we don’t count, and compare, and judge anymore. The only measurement is: “Are we in Christ Jesus?” So when sin happens we don’t deny the sin, or justify the sin, or shift blame for the sin, or even bemoan the sin. We turn to Jesus – not to ask forgiveness (because Jesus has already died for that sin and granted forgiveness for it) but to make sure that the relationship is right – to make things right – to be in right relationship with Him.

Not living this way (by the law of sin and death, by constantly accounting for our sin) is dangerous. Because who then will be the law keepers? Who will be the judges to say this is wrong and that is right? Who will be the moral arbitrators? God will.

And how about us? How do we then live?
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!”
We live as sons and daughters – we live as heirs “because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” We get all the benefits of being children of the most high. We also live by the family reputation. What Jesus suffered, we suffer – Jesus died and we died to (were released from) sin/Law. Jesus rose – we are risen with him.

The reputation Jesus has, we also have.
But it is glorious.

Having Tea

Sometimes very difficult things are done in a long series of simple steps. Alex Dyer said it this way:

“One important lesson I continue to learn in mission is that I am not in charge. It is God who extends the invitation and God who is in charge of the mission. Being open to God's mission means discerning where God is leading us, without our own expectations getting in the way. With this re-orientation, our mission is not a to-do list to remedy all the world's problems but rather begins with discernment on what God is calling us to do. We realize we are part of something beyond ourselves and we leave behind the delusion that this is dependent upon our performance. Our call to mission does not come from a sense of duty, rather from a sense of wondrous anticipation about what God has in store for us.

"We realize we are NOT called to solve all the world's problems. We are called to participate in God's mission. DAILY! After a few months in Cairo, I told my supervisor that I did not feel much like a missionary. I spent a lot of time talking to Sudanese refugees and drinking tea with them. My supervisor told me that is where mission work happens. It is the engaging with one another, in being present and sharing each other's stories. A large part of mission work is having tea.”

Lent

Lent began yesterday with Ash Wednesday. Growing up as a Bapticostal I never really heard about Lent and never did anything about it until more recently - now being more Ecumenically connected through our local ministerial association. From Ash Wednesday to Easter, many solemnly mark their foreheads with ash, “fasting” (or abstaining from certain foods or physical pleasures) for 40 days. This is done to supposedly imitate Jesus Christ’s 40-day fast in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-2). Some give up smoking. Others give up chewing gum. Still others give up over-eating or cursing. People vow to give up anything, as a preparation for Easter.

I sometimes use this season as an opportunity for personal change - to challenge a habit I want to break - sometimes just to recognize that I occasionally stoop to medicating myself with overindulgence in food or TV or games or even the news. This time becomes a good excuse to improve my life.

However, like most Church developed Christian holidays (Christmas, Easter, Halloween/All Saints Day, etc.) Lent has its roots in paganism. This is not to say that the resurrection or the birth of Christ should not be remembered and celebrated - just that the dates and many of the practices associated with these holidays have pagan roots (like Easter eggs and Christmas trees).

Lent’s Ancient Roots
Coming from the Anglo-Saxon Lencten, meaning “spring,” Lent originated in the ancient Babylonian mystery religion. “The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess…Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz” (The Two Babylons). Tammuz was the messiah of the Babylonians. The Feast of Tammuz was usually celebrated in June (also called the “month of Tammuz”). The Babylonian Lent was held 40 days before the feast, “celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing.” This is why Lent means “spring”; it took place from spring to early summer. The Bible records ancient Judah worshipping this false Messiah: “Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz” (Ezek. 8:14-15).

But why did the church at Rome institute such a pagan holiday and other such pagan celebrations?
“To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity in this as in so many other things, to shake hands”. The Roman church replaced Passover with Easter, moving the pagan Feast of Tammuz to early spring, “Christianizing” it. Lent moved with it.

Before giving up personal sins and vices during Lent, the pagans held a wild, “anything goes” celebration to make sure that they got in their share of debaucheries and perversities—what the world celebrates as Carnival (in Rio) Mardi Gras (in New Orleans) today. The origin of the name "carnival" is disputed. Variants in Italian dialects suggest that the name comes from the Italian carne levare or similar, meaning "to remove meat", since meat is prohibited during Lent. Another possible explanation comes from the term "Carrus Navalis" (ship cart), the name of the roman festival of Isis, where her image was carried to the sea-shore to bless the start of the sailing season. The festival consisted in a parade of masks following an adorned wooden boat, that would reflect the floats of modern carnivals.

Originally, people did not observe Lent for more than a week. Some kept it for one or two days. Others kept it for 40 consecutive hours, falsely believing that only 40 hours had elapsed between Christ’s death and resurrection.
Eventually, it became a 40-day period of fasting or abstaining from certain foods. “The emphasis was not so much on the fasting as on the spiritual renewal that the preparation for Easter demanded. It was simply a period marked by fasting, but not necessarily one in which the faithful fasted every day. However, as time went on, more and more emphasis was laid upon fasting…During the early centuries (from the fifth century on especially) the observance of the fast was very strict. Only one meal a day, toward evening was allowed: flesh meat and fish, and in most places even eggs and dairy products, were absolutely forbidden. Meat was not even allowed on Sundays” (Catholic Encyclopedia).

From the ninth century onward, Lent’s strict rules were relaxed. Greater emphasis was given to performing “penitential works” than to fasting and abstinence. According to the apostolic constitution Poenitemini of Pope Paul IV (Feb. 17, 1966), “abstinence is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of the year that do not fall on holy days of obligation, and fasting as well as abstinence is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday” (Catholic Encyclopedia).

Today, Lent is used for “fasting from sin and from vice…forsaking sin and sinful ways.” It is a season “for penance, which means sorrow for sin and conversion to God.” This tradition teaches that fasting and employing self-discipline during Lent will give a worshipper the “control over himself that he needs to purify his heart and renew his life.”

Although fasting is a helpful spiritual discipline, I'm not sure that God designed fasting as a tool for penance, “beating yourself up” or developing will power: Isaiah gives us a better focus for fasting. “Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?” (Isa. 58:5-7).

God’s people should humble themselves through fasting in order to draw closer to Him—so that they can learn to think and act like Him—so that they can live His way of life in all things. Notice what the prophet Jeremiah wrote: “Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says the Lord” (9:23-24). So during this season let your fasting (and prayer) help you draw closer to God.

First Post

Welcome to the new blog!

I have drifted along without blogging for most of 2009 and all of 2010. Hopefully this blog will help me be a bit more consistent in writing down my other thoughts. There are lots of reasons for not having blogged - starting with the distraction of finishing the writing of my thesis in the Spring of 2009 and finishing off with a very distracted Fall and Winter 2009-2010.

But maybe a better place to start is why I actually am blogging. Blogging is a lot like journalling - only more public. The public nature of blogging helps keep me accountable - accountable to myself mostly - to keep recording my thoughts and insights. Journalling is important to help most people, and especially someone with my personality, to keep track of their journeys, to record the things they are learning about themselves, about life and about God. For me it helps keep my focus on moving forward instead of drifting along. It helps keep track of what I'm reading and the interesting things I find online.

Being held accountable doesn't get enough credit. Knowing that even one other person might be reading this help keep me motivated and helps me focus on expressing myself as clearly as possible.

I do have another blog called Hillschurch where I have been blogging since 2006. However I am finding it a bit unwieldy and I feel like a fresh start. I will probably be including some of my older posts from my Hillschurch blog if I have nothing else to say on a particular day. You can also go there to check out other posts I've done.

Happy New Year!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Family Day (in Canada at least)

Happy Chinese New Year!