"Tension is a better word than balance."
I was talking to a friend the other day and we agreed that the word balance is often used by American Christians to justify comfort. The better word is tension. Following Jesus requires an absolute surrender of everything. Stearns writes:
Consistent with His encounter with the rich young ruler, Jesus was requiring an absolute surrender. To be a disciple means forsaking everything to follow Jesus, unconditionally, putting our lives completely in His hands. When we say we want to be His disciple, yet attach a list of conditions, Jesus refuses to accept our terms. His terms involve unconditional surrender. (p. 39)
It is important to say here that when we first come to Jesus, we have not surrendered everything. When I became a Christian, I continued to hold onto many idols. However, following Jesus involves a lifetime of rejecting these idols. Jesus does not back down from this stance in our lives.
There are two kingdoms; the kingdom of this world and Jesus' kingdom. In Jesus kingdom, "things" are used as tools to bless others. In the kingdom of this world, "things" are used to oppress others (directly or indirectly).
Jesus does not want us to "balance" how we use the tools of this world (sometimes for ourselves and sometimes for others). We are always to put others first (Phil. 2:3-7).
Part of the tension in putting others first is that we will sometimes use tools for ourselves so that we may put others first. For example, part of the purpose of resting and relaxing is so that we can serve others well. Jesus goes to the mountainside to pray on many occasions so that he can serve others better (Mt. 8:1; 14:23; 15:29; 17:1--note that often the crowds follow him to the mountain!). I think that Paul used the travel time between cities (not short airplane flights but longer walking and boat journeys) to be refreshed and to spend time with his team (Timothy, Barnabas and others). In resting, there is a repentance of "I can do it all." In resting, we say "I am weak and in need of God's grace."
When we struggle with issues of how to use our resources (time, money, gifts), we should have a healthy tension that is suspended in an absolute surrender to Jesus (this is another way of saying we believe and follow Jesus).
Unhealthy tension is suspended in a belief that "I" can produce God's favor (I do therefore I am loved). "How much do I need to give until you will get off my back?" "I will give more money to cover for what I did wrong last week." "I will do my devotions so that I have a good day today."
Where do you feel tension in your life? Where do you see healthy tension in your life? Where do you have unhealthy tension? If you don't feel tension in your life, that should be a warning:
Jesus says: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. and anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26-27)
All this talk of tension might seem oppressive and anxiety building. My experience is that tension produces strength and endurance just like the tension that is sustained in physical exercise (Paul uses the same analogy in I Cor. 9:27; 2 Tim. 4:7-8). Tension also highlights what is most important and shows the weakness in what is unimportant (just as "fire tests the quality of each man's work" I Cor. 3:13). Therefore, healthy tension in our life focuses our being on who is most important: Jesus.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Chapter 2 Questions
Questions for thought from Chapter 2...
Looking back, I believe now that He wanted me to see that I had come to depend more on myself than on Him, confusing my success with His approval. (p. 28)
Where do you depend more on yourself than on Jesus?
Have you put yourself in positions that require you to depend on Jesus?
Where have you confused your success with God's approval?
Looking back, I believe now that He wanted me to see that I had come to depend more on myself than on Him, confusing my success with His approval. (p. 28)
Where do you depend more on yourself than on Jesus?
Have you put yourself in positions that require you to depend on Jesus?
Where have you confused your success with God's approval?
Bingo Card Evangelism; Chapter 1
Stearns refers to "Bingo Card" evangelism (p. 16-20).
Can God require anything of us? It's a question that seems like it has an obvious answer... Yes! But within American evangelicalism often the answer is, "Just believe!"
For many American evangelicals, "just believe," means an intellectual assent to a set of facts to get us into a nice afterlife. Stearns calls this "Bingo Card" evangelism (p. 17-18).
More and more, our view of the gospel has been narrowed to a simple transaction, marked by checking a box on a bingo card at some prayer breakfast, registering a decision for Christ, or coming forward during an altar call. (p. 17)
This is not a biblical definition of belief. A biblical definition of belief involves a willful decision resulting in action (Matthew 21:28-32; James 2:14-26). Paul unpacks this saying that both the decision and the action are a result of God's grace but he makes sure we know both the decision and action are inseparable--the result of God's covenant promise to us (Romans 6:15-23; Galatians 2). Stearns writes:
The kingdom of God which Christ said is "within you" (Luke 17:21 NKJV), was intended to change and challenge everything in our fallen world in the here and now. It was not meant to be a way to leave the world but rather the means to actually redeem it. Yes, it first requires that we repent of our own sinfulness and totally surrender our individual lives to follow Christ, but then we are also commanded to go into the world--to bear fruit by lifting up the poor and marginalized, challenging injustice wherever we find it, rejecting the worldly values found within every culture, and loving neighbors as ourselves. While our "joining" in the kingdom of God may begin with a decision... it requires so much more than that. (p. 17-18)
What does belief mean to you? What evidence is there of your belief in Jesus? What evidence does Jesus say is evidence of belief in him (Matthew 25:31-46)?
Can God require anything of us? It's a question that seems like it has an obvious answer... Yes! But within American evangelicalism often the answer is, "Just believe!"
For many American evangelicals, "just believe," means an intellectual assent to a set of facts to get us into a nice afterlife. Stearns calls this "Bingo Card" evangelism (p. 17-18).
More and more, our view of the gospel has been narrowed to a simple transaction, marked by checking a box on a bingo card at some prayer breakfast, registering a decision for Christ, or coming forward during an altar call. (p. 17)
This is not a biblical definition of belief. A biblical definition of belief involves a willful decision resulting in action (Matthew 21:28-32; James 2:14-26). Paul unpacks this saying that both the decision and the action are a result of God's grace but he makes sure we know both the decision and action are inseparable--the result of God's covenant promise to us (Romans 6:15-23; Galatians 2). Stearns writes:
The kingdom of God which Christ said is "within you" (Luke 17:21 NKJV), was intended to change and challenge everything in our fallen world in the here and now. It was not meant to be a way to leave the world but rather the means to actually redeem it. Yes, it first requires that we repent of our own sinfulness and totally surrender our individual lives to follow Christ, but then we are also commanded to go into the world--to bear fruit by lifting up the poor and marginalized, challenging injustice wherever we find it, rejecting the worldly values found within every culture, and loving neighbors as ourselves. While our "joining" in the kingdom of God may begin with a decision... it requires so much more than that. (p. 17-18)
What does belief mean to you? What evidence is there of your belief in Jesus? What evidence does Jesus say is evidence of belief in him (Matthew 25:31-46)?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
We're starting our blog this year via Blogger and Facebook Notes. If you don't have a copy of The Hole in Our Gospel you can purchase it on Amazon here.Look forward to learning from each other!
Grace,
Andrew
Saturday, March 6, 2010
The Hole in Our Gospel: Introduction
"What does God expect of us? That's what this book is about."
Richard Stearns answers his opening question in the introduction a few sentences later with the statement: "God asks us for everything."
This is a frightening statement for many people (including me!). Many churches and church leaders desire to qualify this statement. Jesus doesn't:
Anyone who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Mt. 10:37-39)
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Mt. 6:24)
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. (Mt. 13:44-46)
Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Mt. 22:37-40)
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. (Mk.8:34-38)
What do you think about this statement: "God asks us for everything"?
Is it "enough" to say you are willing to give God everything but not really give him everything? What does it mean to give God everything? Reflect on the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21:28-32.
Richard Stearns answers his opening question in the introduction a few sentences later with the statement: "God asks us for everything."
This is a frightening statement for many people (including me!). Many churches and church leaders desire to qualify this statement. Jesus doesn't:
Anyone who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Mt. 10:37-39)
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Mt. 6:24)
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. (Mt. 13:44-46)
Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Mt. 22:37-40)
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. (Mk.8:34-38)
What do you think about this statement: "God asks us for everything"?
Is it "enough" to say you are willing to give God everything but not really give him everything? What does it mean to give God everything? Reflect on the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21:28-32.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Chapter 4 "Which Jesus Takes Us to Deep Justice?
By Paul Patterson
There were things I loved about this chapter and things I didn’t. I didn’t love the bit about different “Jesuses.” Of course, the author is right that we tend to personalize and individualize Jesus by focusing on this or that aspect of his person—‘tender’ Jesus, ‘radical’ Jesus, ‘teacher’ Jesus, ‘quiet time’ Jesus, etc. What’s wrong with all of these—what they all have in common—is that they tend to see Jesus as an example to be followed. And the author seems to fall into the same trap by saying that what we really need is to put all of these aspects of his person together and to follow that. Now, Christ certainly provides an excellent example for us to follow; but that isn’t primarily why he came, because in our sin we couldn’t follow him if we wanted to! He came as a savior—to transform us into the kind of people who can follow him. What we really need is to submit ourselves each day to Christ the Savior, and everything else will follow.
I did, however, appreciate the author’s emphasis on Jesus as the personal embodiment of the kingdom of God. This has serious implications for how we Christians look at the world: it means that the kingdom is already present, while at the same time it’s not yet. The kingdom is already present because Jesus (the kingdom personified) is present. He inaugurated the kingdom by reconciling people to God and to one another (which must include the poor, the broken and the marginalized—see Luke 4), and he is still engaged in this business of reconciliation. At the same time, the kingdom is not yet present because Jesus has not yet appeared in glory. Injustice persists, people are still marginalized, systems are still broken. To quote one of my favorite bands (Radiohead), “everything is wrong.” And only God Incarnate can make it right again—which he will do, at his appearing.
Why is Jesus able to make everything right again? Precisely because he is God Incarnate. In assuming flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity transformed (at least in principle) all matter. One day he’s going to fashion for us new bodies and a new earth, and he’s going to use the stuff of these bodies and of this earth to do it (at least that’s my reading of 1 Corinthians 15). William Pannell (in the interview) is therefore right to emphasize Jesus’ humanity. I think he’s also right that many Evangelicals haven’t made much room for it in their theology. But our present and future hope lies precisely in the fact that God became human!
Some Discussion Questions:
1) Are you (or your youth group) ever guilty of focusing primarily on the ‘example’ aspect of Jesus?
2) What version of Jesus do you usually find yourself striving to follow? How is that working for you?
3) Does your youth group lean more in the direction of Christ’s divinity or humanity? Why do you think that is?
4) Does your youth group lean more heavily in the direction of the “already” or the “not yet” of God’s kingdom? Again, why do you think that is?
5) What misconceptions do you think your youth may have concerning the second coming, the resurrection, and the afterlife?
There were things I loved about this chapter and things I didn’t. I didn’t love the bit about different “Jesuses.” Of course, the author is right that we tend to personalize and individualize Jesus by focusing on this or that aspect of his person—‘tender’ Jesus, ‘radical’ Jesus, ‘teacher’ Jesus, ‘quiet time’ Jesus, etc. What’s wrong with all of these—what they all have in common—is that they tend to see Jesus as an example to be followed. And the author seems to fall into the same trap by saying that what we really need is to put all of these aspects of his person together and to follow that. Now, Christ certainly provides an excellent example for us to follow; but that isn’t primarily why he came, because in our sin we couldn’t follow him if we wanted to! He came as a savior—to transform us into the kind of people who can follow him. What we really need is to submit ourselves each day to Christ the Savior, and everything else will follow.
I did, however, appreciate the author’s emphasis on Jesus as the personal embodiment of the kingdom of God. This has serious implications for how we Christians look at the world: it means that the kingdom is already present, while at the same time it’s not yet. The kingdom is already present because Jesus (the kingdom personified) is present. He inaugurated the kingdom by reconciling people to God and to one another (which must include the poor, the broken and the marginalized—see Luke 4), and he is still engaged in this business of reconciliation. At the same time, the kingdom is not yet present because Jesus has not yet appeared in glory. Injustice persists, people are still marginalized, systems are still broken. To quote one of my favorite bands (Radiohead), “everything is wrong.” And only God Incarnate can make it right again—which he will do, at his appearing.
Why is Jesus able to make everything right again? Precisely because he is God Incarnate. In assuming flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity transformed (at least in principle) all matter. One day he’s going to fashion for us new bodies and a new earth, and he’s going to use the stuff of these bodies and of this earth to do it (at least that’s my reading of 1 Corinthians 15). William Pannell (in the interview) is therefore right to emphasize Jesus’ humanity. I think he’s also right that many Evangelicals haven’t made much room for it in their theology. But our present and future hope lies precisely in the fact that God became human!
Some Discussion Questions:
1) Are you (or your youth group) ever guilty of focusing primarily on the ‘example’ aspect of Jesus?
2) What version of Jesus do you usually find yourself striving to follow? How is that working for you?
3) Does your youth group lean more in the direction of Christ’s divinity or humanity? Why do you think that is?
4) Does your youth group lean more heavily in the direction of the “already” or the “not yet” of God’s kingdom? Again, why do you think that is?
5) What misconceptions do you think your youth may have concerning the second coming, the resurrection, and the afterlife?
Monday, April 6, 2009
Discussion and Questions from Chapter 3
Sorry for the delay in getting our blog updated…we were blessed with about 500 volunteers in March! It was a wonderful blessing! Right now we’re playing a little catch up. So… Some thoughts and questions from Chapter 3…
This chapter starts out with a helpful comparison of Kara Powell’s own story of how she has taught about injustice.
First, she tried to guilt youth into addressing injustice. This worked…for a short time. Guilt-based ministry leads to short-term commitment to God’s agenda and long-term bitterness towards God and the church..
Second, she emphasized God’s grace to the neglect of God’s commands. This cheap grace ministry seemed to make folks comfortable but neglected any outreach to the community.
Where do you fall in this pendulum?
Kara Powell argues that youth leaders need to stop telling stories in the Bible and start telling the story of the Bible. Kara goes on to make a summary of her understanding of the story of the Bible.
In a paragraph, what would you say is the story of the Bible? Does your story speak to the issues of individual’s hearts? How does the story challenge individuals? Does your story speak to the social injustices of our society? How does your story challenge individuals to enter the mess of society?
Kara argues that “students’ motivation to right wrongs is directly related to their view of themselves as participants in God’s story” (p.48). What do you think of Kara’s argument? How have you seen this in your students?
Two “Justice Traps”
Kara argues that there are two traps that keep youth leaders from leading their students into deep justice.
First, youth leaders can perpetuate an “us” “them” mentality where the poor are viewed with pity and without dignity. Physically poor people are objects of our compassion rather than our brothers and sisters.
Second, youth leaders can ignore the issue of deep justice because it’s too big to tackle. What impact can I/we have anyway?
How do we escape these “justice traps”? Kara argues that we need to get students to participate (p.54)…and specifically to ask and facilitate the role of and leadership of poor students. As poor students participate and traps of us/them and the immensity of the problem are tackled head on. Poor students who lead will stand up to the us/them polarization in our groups and they will show that issues of poverty can be addressed…by the poor!
Who are some poor students in your youth group? How do you and your youth team facilitate their participation and leadership? For the middle-class and wealthy students in your youth group how are you inviting them to participate in the story of God's Kingdom?
Sorry for the delay in getting our blog updated…we were blessed with about 500 volunteers in March! It was a wonderful blessing! Right now we’re playing a little catch up. So… Some thoughts and questions from Chapter 3…
This chapter starts out with a helpful comparison of Kara Powell’s own story of how she has taught about injustice.
First, she tried to guilt youth into addressing injustice. This worked…for a short time. Guilt-based ministry leads to short-term commitment to God’s agenda and long-term bitterness towards God and the church..
Second, she emphasized God’s grace to the neglect of God’s commands. This cheap grace ministry seemed to make folks comfortable but neglected any outreach to the community.
Where do you fall in this pendulum?
Kara Powell argues that youth leaders need to stop telling stories in the Bible and start telling the story of the Bible. Kara goes on to make a summary of her understanding of the story of the Bible.
In a paragraph, what would you say is the story of the Bible? Does your story speak to the issues of individual’s hearts? How does the story challenge individuals? Does your story speak to the social injustices of our society? How does your story challenge individuals to enter the mess of society?
Kara argues that “students’ motivation to right wrongs is directly related to their view of themselves as participants in God’s story” (p.48). What do you think of Kara’s argument? How have you seen this in your students?
Two “Justice Traps”
Kara argues that there are two traps that keep youth leaders from leading their students into deep justice.
First, youth leaders can perpetuate an “us” “them” mentality where the poor are viewed with pity and without dignity. Physically poor people are objects of our compassion rather than our brothers and sisters.
Second, youth leaders can ignore the issue of deep justice because it’s too big to tackle. What impact can I/we have anyway?
How do we escape these “justice traps”? Kara argues that we need to get students to participate (p.54)…and specifically to ask and facilitate the role of and leadership of poor students. As poor students participate and traps of us/them and the immensity of the problem are tackled head on. Poor students who lead will stand up to the us/them polarization in our groups and they will show that issues of poverty can be addressed…by the poor!
Who are some poor students in your youth group? How do you and your youth team facilitate their participation and leadership? For the middle-class and wealthy students in your youth group how are you inviting them to participate in the story of God's Kingdom?
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