"C.S. Lewis, in his second letter to me at Oxford, asked how it was that I, as a product of a materialistic universe, was not at home there. 'Do fish complain of the sea for being wet? Or if they did, would that fact itself not strongly suggest that they had not always been, or wd. not always be, purely aquatic creatures?' Then, if we complain of time and take such joy in the seemingly timeless moment, what does that suggest? It suggests that we have not always been or will not always be purely temporal creatures. It suggests that we were created for eternity."
Sheldon Vanauken (from A Severe Mercy)
Something to think about. As Vanauken also write, this is proof or at least a powerful suggestion that eternity exists and is our home.
We were created for another world.
Think about this daily as you live in a world that is not your own. What are you called to do? Who are you called to be? How are you called to live? What is our duty in this, a foreign land?
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Monday, February 21, 2005
She Must And Shall Go Free
This is a short article by Derek Webb. It is wonderful!
"German theologian Martin Luther was once asked by a member of his congregation why he preached the Gospel to them week after week, thinking that surely they were ready to move on to some deeper, more spiritual teaching. Luther’s reply was, “Because beloved, week after week you forget it.”
Luther’s church back then was just like our church today, and his response is still so appropriate. Throughout our history, God’s people have exchanged one idol for another.
In preaching and practice, the church today works hard to be ‘relevant.’ At first glance, it’s a noble cause. But with some reflection, we find that the compromises that appear to make us ‘relevant’ can also strip us of our distinctive and transcendent characteristics. Our hope of being truly relevant to our ever-changing culture here in America, is to be who we are as the Body and Bride of Christ. Franky Schaeffer in his book Addicted to Mediocrity said, “The church’s effectiveness in the world is stifled proportionate to the extensiveness of its blind spots.” Maturity is learning the language of repentance and reformation as we uncover our spiritual blind spots.
Contrary to appearances and “best selling book” racks in Christian bookstores, the church’s greatest need is not spiritual stimulation. In fact, I’d say that we are thoroughly over stimulated. We’re just dying to hear and experience new things, to have our spiritual lives revolutionized, and to be in the ‘inner circle’ of the latest spiritual trends and ideologies. It seems that every few weeks there’s a new book outlining the newest spiritual formula by which we can get all that God has to offer us, be it ‘victorious’ Christian living or spiritual blessings of all kinds. And we can’t wait to get on the bandwagon hoping that maybe this will be the missing piece that we’ve been looking for.
But for the same reason the newest mouthwash or soft drink can’t make us more confident and assertive as their marketing promises, these spiritual ‘products’ can’t satisfy us. The good news is that new soft drinks, best selling books, and failed church formulas expose the fact that we never get over our need for Jesus. Nothing else can satisfy us.
So maybe our blind spot is that we’d rather be a “sub-culture’ than a ‘counter-culture’. When we make an idol of ‘relevance’ we become a Christian ghetto enslaved to the rules of pop culture. But Jesus makes his Kingdom to be a ‘counter-culture’, where every order of this world is turned on its head. The poor are rich and the broken ones are exalted. The church community is not like a membership to a health club of your choosing. It’s not like a shopping mall where you bring your visa card. The gospel shows us that we can’t heal our sickness, we have no money, and we have no heart. But the gospel invites us to a great feast, teaches us how to love, and trades consumerism for service.
The 21st century church still needs to hear the same gospel that Luther spoke of week after week. Will we confess the sufficiency of Christ or will we continue to worship a false sense of relevance? Will we continue to put warm coats on spiritually dead people or will we preach to them the Gospel in all its offense and beauty? Come to Jesus and find maturity in repentance, vision through scripture, and mercy in our great Savior. By His grace alone, His church will be victorious, and she will be set free." Derek Webb (2004)
"German theologian Martin Luther was once asked by a member of his congregation why he preached the Gospel to them week after week, thinking that surely they were ready to move on to some deeper, more spiritual teaching. Luther’s reply was, “Because beloved, week after week you forget it.”
Luther’s church back then was just like our church today, and his response is still so appropriate. Throughout our history, God’s people have exchanged one idol for another.
In preaching and practice, the church today works hard to be ‘relevant.’ At first glance, it’s a noble cause. But with some reflection, we find that the compromises that appear to make us ‘relevant’ can also strip us of our distinctive and transcendent characteristics. Our hope of being truly relevant to our ever-changing culture here in America, is to be who we are as the Body and Bride of Christ. Franky Schaeffer in his book Addicted to Mediocrity said, “The church’s effectiveness in the world is stifled proportionate to the extensiveness of its blind spots.” Maturity is learning the language of repentance and reformation as we uncover our spiritual blind spots.
Contrary to appearances and “best selling book” racks in Christian bookstores, the church’s greatest need is not spiritual stimulation. In fact, I’d say that we are thoroughly over stimulated. We’re just dying to hear and experience new things, to have our spiritual lives revolutionized, and to be in the ‘inner circle’ of the latest spiritual trends and ideologies. It seems that every few weeks there’s a new book outlining the newest spiritual formula by which we can get all that God has to offer us, be it ‘victorious’ Christian living or spiritual blessings of all kinds. And we can’t wait to get on the bandwagon hoping that maybe this will be the missing piece that we’ve been looking for.
But for the same reason the newest mouthwash or soft drink can’t make us more confident and assertive as their marketing promises, these spiritual ‘products’ can’t satisfy us. The good news is that new soft drinks, best selling books, and failed church formulas expose the fact that we never get over our need for Jesus. Nothing else can satisfy us.
So maybe our blind spot is that we’d rather be a “sub-culture’ than a ‘counter-culture’. When we make an idol of ‘relevance’ we become a Christian ghetto enslaved to the rules of pop culture. But Jesus makes his Kingdom to be a ‘counter-culture’, where every order of this world is turned on its head. The poor are rich and the broken ones are exalted. The church community is not like a membership to a health club of your choosing. It’s not like a shopping mall where you bring your visa card. The gospel shows us that we can’t heal our sickness, we have no money, and we have no heart. But the gospel invites us to a great feast, teaches us how to love, and trades consumerism for service.
The 21st century church still needs to hear the same gospel that Luther spoke of week after week. Will we confess the sufficiency of Christ or will we continue to worship a false sense of relevance? Will we continue to put warm coats on spiritually dead people or will we preach to them the Gospel in all its offense and beauty? Come to Jesus and find maturity in repentance, vision through scripture, and mercy in our great Savior. By His grace alone, His church will be victorious, and she will be set free." Derek Webb (2004)
Friday, February 18, 2005
Beautiful, Painful Love
"Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves)
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
I Love It
ALIAS is on this week and i am soooo excited. I hope it's a good one....hmmm. It's a sisters one. YAY FOR SISTERS!!! Kristen and I are excited...well, I am. :) They even played THE song on the previews. woohoo!
That is all I wanted to say.
Have a fantastic day...everyone!
Andrea
That is all I wanted to say.
Have a fantastic day...everyone!
Andrea
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Sigh...
I just watched all the "good" parts of Anne of Green Gables (the second ones). Ok, so I watched all the romantic parts...So good!
I have noticed that I seem to be growing increasingly discontented with my position in life (mostly in the area of finding a boy). How pathetic of me. There is so much I have yet to learn.
It is hard at times to remind myself that my job is to seek Christ and find satisfaction in Him and Him alone. It seems to get harder, too, when so many around me are stressing relationship. It seems to be especially prevalent as I face the transition from high school to college. In my opinion, this is one of the worst possible times for me to be committed to someone. So I'm glad I'm not. It's difficult, though, when I know i'm not ready but want to be ready.....I do desperately want my Gilbert....alas. I must remain asleep in the will of God--though it be a difficult thing to do.
I have noticed that I seem to be growing increasingly discontented with my position in life (mostly in the area of finding a boy). How pathetic of me. There is so much I have yet to learn.
It is hard at times to remind myself that my job is to seek Christ and find satisfaction in Him and Him alone. It seems to get harder, too, when so many around me are stressing relationship. It seems to be especially prevalent as I face the transition from high school to college. In my opinion, this is one of the worst possible times for me to be committed to someone. So I'm glad I'm not. It's difficult, though, when I know i'm not ready but want to be ready.....I do desperately want my Gilbert....alas. I must remain asleep in the will of God--though it be a difficult thing to do.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
The Church's Lost Vision
I've been contemplating missions and the Church's lack of passion for the work of God in the nations. I don't understand it. Why isn't the church excited? Why doesn't the Church care? Why is the Church living so passionles for God's vision in the world? Hmmm...I have thought of three reasons (not that there aren't more...):
1. We don't believe "missions" is applicable to all believers.
2. We are blind to God's love and glory.
3. We have been sucked into the American mindset of comfort and ease.
I have three things to say in answer to these questions:
1. Missions is applicable to everyone (we are called to send or be sent).
2. We are blind to God's glory and therefore must fight to unveil it, love it, and savor it, in order that we might proclaim it to all peoples.
3. We must not buy into the American dream. It is a lie and it holds no eternal joy.
I am shocked and dismayed to see very little passion for missions in the Christian community. I don't think we understand that this is God's plan--to make much of His name by having it proclaimed to all tribes, tongues, and nations. This is huge! Yet there is so little excitement and enthusiasm...
"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!" Psalm 96:3
"The purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church. This assumes something about "disciples" and something about "nations." These terms are used in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." My assumption about "disciples" is that they are people who have seen "the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6), and who cherish "God in Christ" as the supreme value of their lives (Philippians 3:8). My assumption about "nations" is that they are not geographic, political countries but "tribes, languages, peoples and ethnic groups" (Revelation 5:9; 7:9). Based on these two assumptions, then, the purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church." --John Piper
The result is eternal, ethnic worship...
"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" Revelation 7:9, 10
The price is great, but not so great that the result is not even greater. Oh, what joy stands before us!
1. We don't believe "missions" is applicable to all believers.
2. We are blind to God's love and glory.
3. We have been sucked into the American mindset of comfort and ease.
I have three things to say in answer to these questions:
1. Missions is applicable to everyone (we are called to send or be sent).
2. We are blind to God's glory and therefore must fight to unveil it, love it, and savor it, in order that we might proclaim it to all peoples.
3. We must not buy into the American dream. It is a lie and it holds no eternal joy.
I am shocked and dismayed to see very little passion for missions in the Christian community. I don't think we understand that this is God's plan--to make much of His name by having it proclaimed to all tribes, tongues, and nations. This is huge! Yet there is so little excitement and enthusiasm...
"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!" Psalm 96:3
"The purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church. This assumes something about "disciples" and something about "nations." These terms are used in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." My assumption about "disciples" is that they are people who have seen "the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6), and who cherish "God in Christ" as the supreme value of their lives (Philippians 3:8). My assumption about "nations" is that they are not geographic, political countries but "tribes, languages, peoples and ethnic groups" (Revelation 5:9; 7:9). Based on these two assumptions, then, the purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church." --John Piper
The result is eternal, ethnic worship...
"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" Revelation 7:9, 10
The price is great, but not so great that the result is not even greater. Oh, what joy stands before us!
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