The Scandal of the Incarnation (Part One)

Image via Wikipedia

Mick Turner

At the very heart of the Christian faith stands the scandal of the incarnation. I use the word scandal in the sense that, at its root, the word implies a stumbling block, something a person, no matter how well meaning and mindful, just might trip over. The incarnation of Jesus was certainly that and it has caused more than a few Christians, no matter how learned, wise, and erudite, to fall flat on their face.

For the Evangelicals and the Fundamentalists, the incarnation is rightly at the core of their interpretation of the faith. Where these folks run into difficulty is their overly rigid view of the reason Christ incarnated in the first place. To hear the Evangelicals and the Fundamentalists tell it, Jesus left his heavenly abode for one reason and one reason only: to offer himself up as a sacrifice for humankind’s sins and as ransom to dissuade God from unleashing his wrath on the fallen world.

The problem with this view of the incarnation is that it paints the Father into a very unflattering corner. If this aspect of the “good news” is true, then God is, on the one hand, guilty of killing his own son, and viewed from a slightly different angle, guilty of suicide. In essence, he killed his son and he killed himself. Granted, he raised himself three days later, but is beside the point. This doctrine, so closely held by so many, is totally unreasonable, difficult to swallow and no amount of “God’s ways are higher than our ways” is going to make it any more palatable.

For those of a more Liberal orientation, the Incarnation is a major stumbling block as well. The notion that the Godhead somehow manifested himself in Jesus in a unique manner – that Jesus Christ was in fact God– hurls liberal scholars into fits of apoplexy, so much so that from miles away one can hear their spittle-choked harrumphs echoing down the halls of academia. According to the majority of liberal theologians, the divinity of Jesus was a teaching added on by the early church and nothing more.

Personally, I don’t fit well into either camp. While I firmly believe in the Incarnation, that Jesus was and is a divine being, I don’t hold tightly to the substitutionary atonement as espoused by the Evangelicals and the Fundamentalists. I do firmly believe that Christ wrought something miraculous and restorative through the Incarnation, his death, resurrection, ascension, and infusion into all reality (see Ephesians 4:10). However, I think our limited understanding is incapable of fully comprehending what he accomplished, much less how he did it.

Admittedly, I am a person who likes to speculate on theological and metaphysical matters and, yes, I have spent much time pondering over the ins and outs of the Incarnation. However, that was in my younger days when time seemed to be less valuable. Nowadays, I, have learned to rein in my overly speculative tendencies and along with the psalmist I can truthfully say:

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother. (Psalm 131:1-2 NRSV)

The gospel in general and the Incarnation in particular are complex, multi-faceted phenomena that are far beyond the pale of my cognitive capabilities and any insights I have arrived at are thoroughly gifts of grace. Like light shining through a prism, the gospel and the Incarnation reveal multiple perspectives, each equally valid. If we view the prism from one angle we see one color and from another angle we see yet another hue. It is the same with the Incarnation. From different angles we see different things, all equally significant.

To be continued…….

(c) L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

Related articles

• Remedies for What Ails the Church: Christ’s Proactive Love (Part Three) (lifebrook.wordpress.com)
• “The Cost of Grace”, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (brokenbelievers.com)
• The Heretical Roots of Fundamentalism (insightscoop.typepad.com)
• What defines an “evangelical”? (geneveith.com)

Wise Words for Today

It seems to me that Christ continually calls us through the daily events of our lives…In moments like these God stirs the waters of our lives and beckons us beyond where we are to a new dimension of closeness with Him…God desires to transform certain experiences of ours into awakening events. These may be our most common moments, but if we let them they can become doorways to a deeper encounter with Him. Who knows at what moment we may begin to wake up to the astonishing fact that Emmanuel (God with us) is still God’s name, that every moment the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is coming to us.

Sue Monk Kidd

(from God’s Joyful Surprise)

Recommended Blog

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that from time to time I happen upon a blog that I feel is exceptional. I firmly believe that blogging is a relatively new and effective method of not only evangelism, but equipping Christians to have a deeper walk of faith. Recently, I discovered a blog entitled “ilifejourney” and I highly recommend it. The blog can be found at:

http://ilifejourney.wordpress.com

Blessings,

Image via Wikipedia

Mick

Wise Words for Today

Image via Wikipedia

You continue to pursue him, to search for some kind of real and personal connection with your Creator, yet feeling all the while as if you’re running in place. And the faster you run, the more exhausted you become. Eventually your heart grows weary, and you do the only thing you feel you can do: you succumb to spiritual numbness….Don’t you wish you could stop and let God chase you for awhile?…What if I told you that is exactly what God does – that he not only chases you but never takes his eyes off you? What if I could prove that God has never gone a minute without thinking of you, wooing you, whispering in your ear, “I’m right here?” What if I could show you that God not only pursues you day by day, minute by minute, but he actually screams for you attention?…You don’t have to chase God. All you have to do is awaken to his voice.  

Tim King and Frank Martin

(from Furious Pursuit)

Related articles

• Furious Pursuit (ilifejourney.wordpress.com)
• The awesome power of a spoken blessing (ilifejourney.wordpress.com)

Christian Identity and Holistic Optimism (Expanded)

Image via Wikipedia

Mick Turner

Here at LifeBrook International we have as part of our ongoing mission statement to provide publications, materials, and programs to assist individuals and organizations to:

 

Become the optimal version of themselves for the glory of God and the benefit of others.

 

After many years working with people that are sincere about living a life of excellence we have discovered many interesting things about what works with people and what doesn’t. Further, by the grace of God, we have been given enough wisdom to weed out those elements that are non-productive and, in contrast, strengthen those elements that seem to be beneficial.

 

In this entry I want to talk about two principles that we have found that are absolutely essential if you want to make positive changes in your life and grow toward becoming the person God designed you to be, wants you to be, and equipped you to be. It goes without saying that there are more than two principles involved in our spiritual growth, but in the context of this brief article, let’s limit our discussion to a pair of principles that are foundational. These are: Positive Thinking and Open-Mindedness.

 

Let’s briefly explore the first principle, which can be stated this way: thought is the ancestor of action. What we do begins in our thoughts and eventually is translated into our actions. In light of this fact, if we truly wish to develop our capacities, grow more consistently with fluency and grace, and live more effective and productive lives the place we must begin is with our thinking. The formula is really quite simple. Positive thoughts translate themselves into positive actions. Negative thoughts translate into negative actions. Positive actions, in turn, promote growth and development. Negative actions result in wasted effort, stagnation, and lack of fulfillment.

 

The good news in all of this is that we are masters of our own destiny in regards to improving the level at which we live. Of course, all of us have natural limitations to our talent. However, the fact remains that we can stretch that talent much farther just by believing in ourselves and trusting that we have as a divine partner, a dynamic Spirit that will come to our aid.

 

Let me repeat the statement, “thought is the ancestor of action“. In applying biblical principles of spiritual growth we must keep this principle before us at all times. You learn to live the way you want to live when you learn to think what you want to think. It all starts in the mind. Granted, there are many things in the world that you cannot change through your thinking. But the one thing you can certainly change is yourself! So start with yourself. If you want to improve yourself remember:

 

Create your own positive thought and you become what you desire to become because the truth of the matter is that your thought creates your experience.

 

Let me repeat, it is your thoughts that determine your attitudes and it is your attitudes that determine your actions. The great American President Thomas Jefferson said it far better than I can:

 

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal. Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

 

More than anything else, becoming the optimal version of yourself requires a positive mental attitude at the outset. Without it, failure is guaranteed.

 

Attitude is everything. The fact is that we often defeat ourselves before we begin a project or pursue a goal. The cause of this self-defeat is negative thinking. In order to grow and develop we have to embrace a more positive outlook on life. We must incorporate into our being the firm belief that I can if I think I can. It really is as simple as that. Base your life on this belief and you will see miracles happen every day!

 

I think it is tragic that many people fail to utilize simple, spiritual principles because of just that: they seem too simple. I remember reading in the autobiography of Robert Schuller an episode regarding this issue. Shortly before he was due to graduate from seminary, young Robert had the opportunity to go to a lecture being delivered by Norman Vincent Peale. Being the brilliant young theologian that he was, Schuller relates that he felt this would largely be a waste of his time because Dr. Peale was “too simplistic.” Schuller had just completed his major graduation paper, had studied deeply in arcane theological texts, and figured he pretty much knew all there was to know. Certainly, someone who wrote things as superficial and trendy could have nothing to say that would be meaningful to someone as deep as he was.

 

After the lecture by Dr. Peale, Schuller and his classmates joked about how shallow the message was and, like all good young students of religion, believed they were just far too sophisticated to be bothering with such petty lectures. My, how interestingly God works sometimes.

 

Schuller ended up receiving mail outs from Peale’s ministry and, to make a long story short, something Peale said hit Schuller right between the eyes. Eventually, Robert Schuller in a sense became Peale’s successor. And more amazing, Schuller began writing the same kind of simplistic books that Peale did. I recall that back in the early ‘70’s, when I first read Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking I believed it was far too simplistic, sophomoric, and a complete waste of my time. After all, I had two Bachelors Degrees, a Masters Degree, and was working on a second Masters Degree. The pop psychology offered up by Schuller was far beneath my great intellect. Now I know better, thanks to the Lord. I’ll get back to Dr. Schuller in the second part of this article. For whatever reasons, Robert Schuller is a controversial figure among Christians. I find this an unfortunate reality, but a reality nonetheless. Like I said, more on this later.

 

One of the greatest lessons that I have learned in my life, and learned with great difficulty I might add, is expect the best and the best will come to you. Get out of all your old negative habits of thinking and be open to new, positive patterns of affirmation. Develop a joyous and optimistic outlook on each day. Fall in love with life and live it fully. Above all, develop the habit of positive thinking. Believe in yourself! Believe in your abilities! Be confident! Be Proactive! Take the following affirmative words, by Robert Schuller actually, and plant them deep within your mind:

 

I am!

I can!

I will!

I believe!

 

This may seem very simple and, in fact, it is. Yet it is this very simplicity that makes positive thinking so powerful and profound. If you don’t believe, try it out for six months and see what happens.  In fact, why don’t you, the reader, do that. Do a bit of research on simple practices like positive thinking. Work with affirmative prayer, praying the scriptures according to the positive themes contained in the Bible, and pray for the Holy Spirit’s assistance in helping you to think more constructively and optimistically.  Give it six months and see what happens. The results will astound you!

To be continued…….

(C) L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

Wise Words for Today

Image via Wikipedia

Ever heard that voice? It calls you like a temptress to abandon the monotony of life and to begin an adventure. It threatens to leave you in the mundane if you refuse to risk all you have for all that could be. If ignored, the voice dims to silence. Yet every now and again, like a siren, she sings and begins to woo you back. She awakens within you dreams and longings you put to bed long ago. It is rarely a conscious action to choose to exist rather than to live. For most of us we are simply lulled to sleep. But there is no rest in this condition. To sleep through your dreams is to choose a life of restless nights and unfulfilled days. To avoid the pain of fear, doubt, and disappointment we have numbed ourselves from the exhilaration of a life fully lived.

Erwin Raphael McManus

(from Chasing Daylight)

Related articles

• One in Four Believers Are ‘Christians in Name Only,’ According to Survey By Allison Summers (trinityspeaks.wordpress.com)

Wise Words for Today

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Rise up and take what is yours. Do not sit back and allow life to pass by. Get up and take hold of the promises of God. Get up and pursue the vision that God has placed in your heart…………You may have forgotten the dream you used to have, but god hasn’t. You may not believe in the dream anymore, but He does. He believes in the dream, and He believes in you. He has been working on you and your dream the whole time. Many years may have passed since you first began to dream the dream. You may have lost many precious things. You may have lost hope. The dream may have faded from delay after delay. But mark this down: it’s not over yet!

Frank Damazio

(from Attitude of Faith)

Wise Words for Today

Image via Wikipedia

It’s time to commit. What are you going to do about it? In the end God works in our world one person at a time. The hungry are fed, the thirsty are refreshed, the naked are clothed, the sick are treated, the illiterate are educated, and the grieving are comforted, just one person at a time. You have the opportunity to be that one person to someone who needs what you have to offer. And what you have to offer is never small and insignificant. Again, the great picture of what God is doing in our world is incomplete without your unique puzzle piece – the one that only you possess. But you must choose to place your piece in the puzzle.

Richard Stearns

(from The Hole in Our Gospel)

Living as a New Creation (Part Two)

Cover via Amazon

Mick Turner

When we encounter our consistent difficulties in living out the Christian life as Christ intended, one of the reasons is our lack of understanding of who and what we are “in Christ.” It often saddens me to the core to hear genuinely sincere followers of the Christ speak of themselves as “miserable sinners” or “totally depraved humans.” We speak of humanity as if we were some sort of low-grade pond scum without merit or moral fiber. What’s worse is the reality that this stilted, sinful (yes, I said sinful) view of our station as human beings has been foisted upon the church not by its enemies or other faith systems, but instead, by many of its own leaders and teachers. I find this especially shameful.

As redeemed and spiritually reborn persons, our humanity is our crowning glory. Born from above, we have been restored to the pristine glory that God originally intended for us. God has done this for us through the being, the mission, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of Christ. Further, he has provided everything we need in order to lead a godly life (see 2 Peter 1:3) and for us to not claim this renewed life and all that it implies is sacrilege in its most rebellious form. In essence, through Christ God has restored us to righteousness and this gift of right standing with the Father is eternal. What we have to grasp is the fact that we are right now, at this very moment, as pure and as righteous as we are ever going to be. We have to be because the Father’s unfathomable holiness could not tolerate our presence at his right hand, where scripture tells us we now reside with Christ. Andrew Farley, in his great little book entitled The Naked Gospel tells us:

We find it difficult to grasp the idea that God calls us righteous because we actually are righteous. It feels more humble to believe we’re filthy worms awaiting a future change into beautiful butterflies…………..Jesus stated it best. He said that our righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees in order to enter the kingdom (Matthew 5:20). So if we Christians don’t claim to possess perfect righteousness, we are lowering God’s standard. We are watering down the gospel. We insinuate that Jesus can unite himself with sin. And we insult the perfection of God.

The point Farley is driving at is what Paul tells us time and again in Romans: we have to come to a point where we live the reality, not just believe it, that our old self has been crucified with Christ. It is dead and gone. From a spiritual perspective, this is the only possible reality. As Christians, we are now united with God through Christ and further, the Holy Spirit has taken up residence within us. On top of all this, we are also filled with Christ (see Ephesians 4:10). As hard as it may be for us to fathom, we are now the “Temple of God.” In the old temple in Jerusalem, God dwelled in the inner most room of the temple, called the Holy of Holies. Nothing impure or imperfect could enter there and even the High Priest only ventured in once each year.

Friends, we are now the Holy of Holies. We may not feel like it. We may not understand it. We may look at other followers of Christ and, knowing their shortcomings, find it hard to believe that they are the Temple of God, the very Holy of Holies. I guess that is one reason we are told that trusting our feelings is a tenuous, risky business. Scripture affirms that we are now the dwelling place of God and if God lives in us, our true being cannot be imperfect. That is why the old self had to die with Christ. Andrew Farley continues:

The risen Christ doesn’t join himself to filthy worms. The Holy Spirit doesn’t dwell in dirty sinners. Christ only unites himself with those who are like him in spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn’t reside in someone who remains even 1 percent flawed by sin. . . . . . . .But we have been perfectly cleansed. We have been made perfectly righteous at our core through spiritual surgery. This is the way we can enjoy even a moment of relationship with Jesus Christ.

As we look at all this, again, some of us may find it hard to believe, especially those of us who struggle with chronic, long-standing strongholds and negative emotions. We need, however, to not only believe it but live it. By that I mean we must base our thoughts, decisions, and actions upon this reality. We must come to view ourselves in precisely the same way God sees us: pure, holy, whole, and righteous.

(c) L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

Related articles

• Am I Lukewarm? (lifebrook.wordpress.com)
• Living as a New Creation (Part One) (lifebrook.wordpress.com)
• ‘Lord! Lord! Why have you forsaken me!’ (onwardswearychristian.wordpress.com)

Am I Lukewarm?

Cover via Amazon

L.D. Turner

Francis Chan, in his great little book entitled Crazy Love shares the following take on the state of discipleship among contemporary followers of Jesus, the ones who have the chosen to call themselves “Christian”:

Following Christ isn’t something that can be done halfheartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are.

If life is a river, then pursuing Christ requires swimming upstream. When we stop swimming, or actively following Him, we automatically begin to be swept downstream.

Or, to use another metaphor more familiar to city people, we are on a never-ending downward escalator. In order to grow, we have to turn around and sprint up the escalator, putting up with perturbed looks from everyone else who is gradually moving downward.

I believe that much of the American churchgoing population, while not specifically swimming downstream, is floating away from Christ. It isn’t a conscious choice, but it is nonetheless happening because little in their lives propels them toward Christ.

Perhaps it sounds as though I believe you have to work your to Jesus. I don’t. I fully believe that we are saved by grace, through faith, by the gift of God, and that true faith manifest itself through our actions. As James writes, “Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead” (2:17). The lives of many people who call themselves “Christians” in America lack manifestations of a vital and active faith.

And this, to be perfectly honest, frightens me. It keeps me up a night. It causes me to pray desperately and fervently for my congregation, for the groups of people I speak to, and for the church as a whole.

I still vividly recall my reaction when I first read these words by Francis Chan. Here I was, relaxing in my office with my feet propped up and enjoying this book thoroughly. Then I ran across this passage and the words slapped me in the side of the head like a 2 x 4. Yes, I thought, many Christians are indeed living the kind of lives Chan was describing. But the Holy Spirit had no intention of allowing me the luxury of “tsk tsk-ing” down this road of thought. Instead, I was brought to the immediate conviction that this was the kind of life I was living.

Why not spend some quiet time prayerfully reflecting on Pastor Chan’s words. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you insight, discernment, and if appropriate, conviction in regards to these themes. Are you on fire for Christ? Or, are you, like so many of us, lukewarm?

Think about it.

 © L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

Related articles

• Crazy Love by Francis Chan (james127littleones.wordpress.com)
• Line in the Sand (lightandsalvation.wordpress.com)
• something worth pursuing (called2teach.wordpress.com)
• Make Disciples (paul-reese.com)
• Are You Fulfilling your Purpose? (helps4teens.wordpress.com)