Is this the greatest Easter painting of all time?

Les Disciples

Wishing you a very happy and meaningful Easter. In step with these wishes, I came across a 2017 post by Mike Frost that’s fitting and worth a read.  (link is here)

It's a tradition in some circles to greet one another on Easter Sunday with the phrase Christ is risen! The reply: He is risen indeed! Knowing the practice spans the centuries for more than 2000 years, I actually look forward to hearing it again today and knowing the rootedness of the tradition is millennia old sets the practice in the context of history and narrative that undergirds its meaning today. 

Yet, springing from a real place, real persons, and real time in history it's a helpful reminder to remember there was a day when the words were uttered for the first time. How incredible it must have been to hear in that day "He is risen!" - and to see again the Risen One - having "put death in its grave" - this side of the his cross and tomb!

Quoting the prophet Isaiah from more than 800 years before the birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ:

“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”

 So, to that end, may I say: Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

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Half Built Towers

“Jesus never concealed the fact that his religion included a demand as well as an offer. Indeed, the demand was as total as the offer was free. If he offered men his salvation, he also demanded their submission. He gave no encouragement whatever to thoughtless applicants for discipleship. He brought no pressure to bear on any inquirer. He sent irresponsible enthusiasts away empty. Luke tells of three men who either volunteered, or were invited, to follow Jesus; but no one passed the Lord’s test. The rich young ruler, too, moral, earnest and attractive, who wanted eternal life on his own terms, went away sorrowful, with his riches intact but with neither life nor Christ as his possession…The Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half built towers—the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people still ignore Christ’s warning and undertake to follow him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. The result is the great scandal of Christendom today, so called “nominal Christianity.” In countries to which Christian civilization has spread, large numbers of people have covered themselves with a decent, but thin, veneer of Christianity. They have allowed themselves to become somewhat involved, enough to be respectable but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great, soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life, while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience. No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism…The message of Jesus was very different. He never lowered his standards or modified his conditions to make his call more readily acceptable. He asked his first disciples, and he has asked every disciple since, to give him their thoughtful and total commitment. Nothing less than this will do”
― John R.W. Stott, Basic Christianity

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Far Too Easily Pleased ...Indeed.

The following C.S. Lewis quote from the "Weight of Glory" is striking- at least too me. And, based on how often I've seen it shared over the years, it is to others, too.

This week it resonates true even moreso as I sift through puzzled thoughts triggered by seeing  - seemingly aimless and easily entertained - tourists wandering the "The Strip" in Vegas taking photos of sham Roman statues and sitting in the shadow of a faux Tour Eiffel whilst paying too much for a small Starbucks coffee to drink in the surprising state of being whisked away as imaginary actors in the Bellagio water show scene from "Oceans 11". I mean really?  ...this is enjoyable?


Admittedly,  I'm jaded by too many working visits to "grown up Disneyland", yet Vegas - at least the fake, plastic, neon bit- doesn't suit me well.  I find it akin to a Potemkin Village seeking to hide a collective pool of creaturely emptiness from a people intended for deep and abiding joy. Intended for joy, yet now broken and losing their way in the course of being led by the nose further into the innards of an ages old deceit.   


So, let me get out of the 105 Degree F  heat and back to work.  And, as I do, let me leave you with the fitting - and aforementioned- quote:

“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desire, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” ---from The Weight of Glory, by C.S. Lewis

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A Needed Glimpse @ Nehemiah

For the Love of God , a daily devotional designed to walk a person through the Bible in a year, remains a helpful compliment to the M'Cheynne Reading plan. Sunday's commentary was particularly striking. Partly because of the pastoral context and needs in our community. Partly because of the tendency to drift that remains a resident lure in my own heart.

Reflect: A Swim Upstream Awaits

ONE OF THE MOST STRIKING EVIDENCES of sinful human nature lies in the universal propensity for downward drift. In other words, it takes thought, resolve, energy, and effort to bring about reform. In the grace of God, sometimes human beings display such virtues. But where such virtues are absent, the drift is invariably toward compromise, comfort, indiscipline, sliding disobedience, and decay that advances, sometimes at a crawl and sometimes at a gallop, across generations.

People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.

Click here for the complete post. (D.A. Carson:For the Love of God: The Gospel Coalition)

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A Seamless Robe & Theology's Common Grounding

“When you encounter a present-day view of Holy Scripture, you encounter more than a view of Scripture. What you meet is a total view of God and the world, that is, a total theology, which is both an ontology, declaring what there is, and an epistemology, stating how we know what there is. This is necessarily so, for a theology is a seamless robe, a circle within which everything links up with everything else through its common grounding in God. Every view of Scripture, in particular, proves on analysis to be bound up with an overall view of God and man.”

J. I. Packer, in The Foundation of Biblical Authority (Grand Rapids, 1978), page 61.

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The Gospel - know it well, teach it to others, & beat it into their heads continually

“The law is divine and holy. Let the law have his glory, but yet no law, be it never so divine and holy, ought to teach me that I am justified, and shall live through it. I grant it may teach me that I ought to love God and my neighbour; also to live in chastity, soberness, patience, etc., but it ought not to show me, how I should be delivered from sin, the devil, death, and hell.

Here I must take counsel of the gospel. I must hearken to the gospel, which teacheth me, not what I ought to do, (for that is the proper office of the law,) but what Jesus Christ the Son of God hath done for me : to wit, that He suffered and died to deliver me from sin and death. The gospel willeth me to receive this, and to believe it. And this is the truth of the gospel. It is also the principal article of all Christian doctrine, wherein the knowledge of all godliness consisteth.

Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.” –Martin Luther, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (Philadelphia: Smith, English & Co., 1860), 206.

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...with Feeble Fingers Cling

The following clip is worth the look.

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The Intrusion of Discipleship

There are advantages to working across multiple time zones. Catching up on work and ministry back home whilst wrapping up a late dinner in the Ukraine is one of them. And, that's a good thing. It's nice to wrap up a fruitful day of work here and still have time to tend to things in ATL . Anyway, enough of that.

If you're reading this, you can likely tell I don't post much these days. In fact, I've not done so for quite a while. Yet, tonight I want to post an excerpt from a blog I read a bit earlier. Just because I don't post to the blog often doesn't mean the wrestling has quelled. In fact, it has increased as I long to see Christ formed in my church, gospel community, family, and me. To that end, the following excerpt resonates. Hence, the post. actually, a re-post of Bill Hull : exploring a faith that embraces discipleship.

Who could say no to the statement that we ought “to teach people to obey everything Christ commanded?” ... but many believe that we can’t really do that, we are not setup to do it. What it involves is apprenticeship and submission. Our church systems are built on profession of belief, but often we do not believe what we profess. The church systems we have set up protect those who profess from the intrusion of discipleship. We say it is ok to be a part of our churches without a requirement to follow Jesus. Again because our gospel requires nothing of its recipients. What can be done about three generations of Christians who have been trained to evaluate their spiritual lives by how much they enjoyed the worship service? When we lose discipleship we lose the permission to teach deeply, to teach them to obey what Christ commanded. And when that is lost, as it is in our churches, we get the American church. So what to do? I commend to you the simple plan of Philosopher Dallas Willard.

“ I recommend that we not announce that we are going to change things. Just start doing things differently including, of course, teaching people to do what Jesus said. Begin to teach what discipleship is and lay down a theology of discipleship on a scriptural basis. Begin to assume discipleship in church activities. Begin to teach in depth the things central to the NewTestament teachings: God [existence and nature] his kingdom, Jesus in that context, discipleship as a way of life, and how one becomes the kind of person who will, out of inner transformation of mind, will, body, soul and social relationships, do what he said. This is the tried a true method of “Church growth” through the ages: Bigger Christians. And it is precisely what Jesus told us to do.” Willard,Dallas - taken from notes of speech, March 24,2009

Grace & Peace

-T

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Praying the Lord's Prayer

The Model Prayer can be taken as intended or become a rote recited ritual that lacks vitality; yet, when taken to heart, and grappled with under the ministry God the Holy Spirit, great awe, humility, growth and encouragement issue from the instructive example of Christ as He instructs his disciples.

What follows is and excerpt from "Praying the Lord's Prayer" by J.I. Packer. It's small in size but very much worth the read. and, if read with contemplation and the time reflecting in the Scriptures, not a quick read at all. In a recent interview, it became clear that Dr Packer defines , at least in part, his role as a catechist to the Church. And for this, we can be grateful.


Excerpt from " Praying the Lord's Prayer"

"As analysis of light requires reference to the seven colors of the spectrum that make it up, so analysis of the Lord’s Prayer requires reference to a spectrum of seven distinct activities: approaching God in adoration and trust; acknowledging his work and his worth, in praise and worship; admitting sin, and seeking pardon; asking that needs be met, for ourselves and others; arguing with God for blessing, as wrestling Jacob did in Genesis 32 (God loves to be argued with); accepting from God one’s own situation as he has shaped it; and adhering to God in faithfulness through thick and thin. These seven activities together constitute biblical prayer, and the Lord’s Prayer embodies them all."

Grace and Peace,
-T

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Divine Afterthought or New Community?

Pure Church: What God Has Joined Together, Let Not Man Separate

Taking time over coffee today to read a bit, I really must pass on the above post with pure and simple gratitude to Thabiti Anyabwile, at Pure Church, and the heart expressed in the above post. Follow the link. It merits note.

Grace and Peace
-T

Here's an excerpt:

"First, I am assuming that we are all committed to the church. We are not only Christian people; we are also church people. We are not only committed to Christ, we are also committed to the body of Christ. At least I hope so. I trust that none of my readers is that grotesque anomaly, an unchurched Christian. The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very centre of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary, the church is God's new community. For his purpose, conceived in a past eternity, being worked out in history, and to be perfected in a future eternity, is not just to save isolated individuals and so perpetuate our loneliness, but rather to build his church, that is, to call out of the world a people for his own glory. ... So then, the reason we are committed to the church is that God is so committed." - Rev. Dr. John Stott

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Truth or Tunes? A Needed Note

Bob Kauflin's observations on Truth and Music merit note. Whilst the video has been "in the cloud" quite some time, I just came across it this morning and really think the comments on truth and tunes needs a hearing.

Grace and Peace,

-T

P.S. For more worship related content and resources, Bob Kauflin's blog, Worship Matters, can be found here.

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An Unpopular Message : A Needed Word

The Word of the Lord.

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:

Greetings.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:1-4; ESV)

Thanks be to God
Amen



Note: Sir Norman Anderson is mentioned by Dr Piper. Without the aid of context from the broader message, maybe the following link, offered for your information,is useful?: FYI here.

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When Dying Men Preach

Today, I came across an interview- recorded some years back- with Dr John RW Stott. It merits a look see.

Found it at Between Two Worlds by way of link from Pure Church. I especially note two excerpts.

1 - The priority of preaching the Scriptures.

When asked, “What legacy would you like to leave with the leaders, with whom you have been involved?” Dr. Stott replied,

“ I would urge upon them the priority of preaching. It is the Word of God which matures the people of God. As Jesus said, quoting Deuteronomy, human beings do not live by bread alone, but by every word which comes from the mouth of God. Moreover, what is true of individuals is equally true of churches. Churches live, grow, and flourish by the Word of God; they languish and perish without it. Of course the Word of God can reach people both in private Bible study (if they are literate and have a Bible) and in Bible study groups. But the major way in which the Word of God comes to the people of God worldwide is through preaching. I am an unrepentant believer in the power of the pulpit. I long to see a recovery of faithful biblical preaching from the pulpits of the world; the result would be a dramatic growth in mature discipleship.”

2 - The radical call flowing from the cross of Christ beyond the Atonement.

Again, Dr. Stott says,

“I have been concerned to write a book which is not just about the Atonement but about all aspects of the death of Christ as unfolded in the New Testament. For instance, Christ calls us to take up our cross and follow him. ‘When Christ calls a man,’ wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ‘he bids him come and die.’ We are always in danger of trivializing the meaning of conversion as if it involved only the adoption of a veneer of piety in an otherwise secular life. Then scratch the surface and there is the same old pagan underneath. But no, conversion is much more radical than this."

The article originally appeared in the Summer 2001 issue of the C. S. Lewis Institute Report. You will find it here. And the original post at Between Two Worlds can be seen here.

Grace and Peace,

-T

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Was Jesus a Fatty?

"The only conclusion I can make from my experience is that Jesus must have been a fatty too."

OK. Calm down. Just take time to read. You may be surprised. Here’s an excerpt:

… as compared to the nice Christian ladies at Bible study, at Weight Watchers I found complete acceptance and unconditional love. Nobody chastized me for my Starbucks cup. Nobody cared what I wore. In fact, wearing the least amount of clothes possible and no makeup or hair products or nail polish was preferable. Anything that adds ounces to your weight was not encouraged.

At Weight Watchers, I found love and acceptance. No matter how badly you had screwed up, people were glad to see you, welcome you back and completely forgive you for anything you might have done wrong. Even if you were too afraid to join, weren’t ready to follow the program, and didn’t want to step on the scales of justice, you were still welcome. No matter how often you stumbled, people were there to pick you up (even if there was a lot of you to pick up).

Martin, Carrie S. "Jesus Was a Fatty." Geez, holy mischief in an age of fast faith Iwinter 2006 Issue 4 (9 Jan 2007). (http://www.geezmagazine.org/issue4/jesuswasafatty.html)
View the complete article here.

See, not so bad. Moreover, the problem of “hard-to-get-along-with Christians” is not new. In recent generations, C.S. Lewis once said,

“We are all fallen creatures and all very hard to live with”.

But looking back to the scriptures, the Apostle Paul seemed to have his share of troubles with not-so-Christ-like Christians, as well.

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. -Philippians 2:19-22, NIV

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. (Why? -because they were at odds! If you doubt it, read the context.) -Philippians 4:2, NIV

Please, if we are going to identify with Christ, let us seek to walk in a manner in keeping with His way. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the read.

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On Loving and Lying

“We believe in a God who restores the years the locusts have eaten, who counts every individual as of extreme worth, who loves us so deeply that He transforms our very inner being and definitely brings healing which we all need, who in sending Jesus identifies totally with us in every suffering possible yet can carry us through, who never gives up on us, and who is passionate about relationship. We all came away from the evening with a renewed commitment to our community's priority of reaching out beyond our own familiar and comfortable worlds." -JOANNA GILLUM of the Community of St Jude (London)

Reading the Community of St. Jude’s website is refreshing. As Christ is formed in His people, it is refreshing to see the fruit of that formation evidenced in the character, values, and behavior of those who comprise a community of believers and claim captivity by Christ and His ways. Believers can be worlds apart – even centuries apart- and yet see a common evidence of God’s handiwork in His people across the globe and the span of time. For me, this is an encouraging reality; yet, based on some encounters with folks professing Christ, I must ask if we, the Body of Christ, really believe in a God who restores, values, transforms, heals, identifies in our suffering, never gives up, and is passionate about relationship?

I pray we do believe and that, as His people, we will increasingly choose to live and love accordingly? Sadly, muddying the waters of our relationships in ways that cloud the reality of His relationship with others and us seems to be the preferred course of many. This should not be. Rather, may we be known as a people who, whilst peculiar yet contextual, are about the business of blessing others and living Christ-like lives and pursuing Christ-like pursuits? Our impact on the community and world should be notable – even if we present a stumbling block to some. At least, those who disagree should be aware that we are here, transformed by Christ, and following Him whilst growing in grace and engaging our world.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt 28:18-20; NIV) Clear enough but are we growing towards “obeying all He has commanded? If we are, our presence as His church will be markedly known, felt, and seen – to the glory of Jesus.

Before closing, two passages and quote from John Stott come to mind. One is a passage from Luke, actually a reference by Christ to Isaiah 61, and the other a passage in 1 John 4. The book quote I will mention later.

Passage 1:

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:16-21; NIV)

Passage 2:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:7-21; NIV)

Maybe “walking in a manner worthy of our calling” a tall order? Yet, is it not our aim? Moreover, do we not have a calling to follow, grow, and belong rather than an invitation to seek selfish aims and comfort?

Consider this,

“It is a great mistake to suppose that it (salvation) is merely a synonym for forgiveness. God is as much concerned with our present and future as with our past. His plan is first to reconcile us to himself, and then progressively liberate us from our self-centeredness and bring us into harmony with our fellow men. We owe our forgiveness and reconciliation chiefly to the death of Christ, but it is by his Spirit we can be set free from ourselves and in his church that we can be united in a fellowship of love.” (Stott, John RW, Basic Christianity, Grand Rapids, MI, Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Co., p. 98)

So, in closing, may we opt for growth and may we do so together- to His glory and for the good of creation.

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