Introducing Jesus Christ – Again (Part One)

English: the first of the Epistles to the Colossians (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mick Turner

The contemporary church is in the midst of radical change and it is hard to predict just what the Body of Christ will look like even five years from now. Yet in recent weeks the Spirit has increasingly led me to see that no matter what shape emerges out of the current chaos in the church, one thing remains radically clear. We must return to a Christ-centered faith with the principle task and mission being to educate Christians and those outside of the faith about the true and spectacular nature of Christ.

Many sincere believers frequently say that it is time for us to “go beyond” Christ or to “go deeper” into the mysteries of the faith. While there is some truth in the point that we all need to deepen our walk of faith, we must not lose sight of the central figure of our faith. It is precisely because we have lost sight of Christ that the church finds itself in such a predicament as is seen today. Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet speak to this theme:

 The person who believes that a Christian or a church can graduate beyond Christ has never fully seen the Jesus that Paul of Tarsus preached and declared. Instead, such an individual has very small Christ, one who’s far less than the one who fills the pages of the New Testament.

Sweet and Viola go on to illustrate their point by mentioning Paul’s words to the Philippians, written in his waning years:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. (Phil. 3:7-8)

Religious scholars and church historians are uncertain as to the exact nature of the erroneous teaching that was infiltrating the church at Galatia. Yet whatever the content of the teaching, Paul handled it in a very skillful way. Sweet and Viola point out:

What a unique way to combat error – drown God’s people in a revelation of the image of the invisible God, who delivered us from darkness, redeemed us, and made us part of His eternal kingdom.

This alone should cause us to pause in reflection. In times of crisis, the church doesn’t need rules established, laws passed, or wolves shot. She needs a seismic revelation of her Lord – the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form.

The Christ the Colossians knew was simply too small. That was why they became susceptible to chasing other things – including religious ones – in the first place…..

This statement by the authors really speaks to the situation the church finds itself in today. Over the past few decades people, many of them sincere, spiritually-sensitive people, have stampeded out of the church in droves. There are many reasons for this phenomenon and no one answer covers all the bases as to why people are leaving and not coming back. One factor is the reality that the spiritual marketplace is much more competitive than it was even fifty years ago. America is a veritable spiritual smorgasbord with all the world’s major religions are present in significant numbers and lesser known faith systems are thriving as well. As for cults, there are far too many to list.

My point here is this: there is a lot more competition these days and people are more spiritually astute. They are looking for deeper, more life-changing answers and the fact is the church is woefully inadequate on this front. Rather than giving people real bread and “living water,” most churches serve up rubber chicken at Wednesday’s potluck and 2-liter bottles of Pepsi with the fizz long departed. Rather than feeding the flock this tasteless pabulum, it is high time the church returned to offering the real thing, and I don’t mean Coca-Cola. Jesus said that he gave living water and people would not be thirsty ever again. Paul understood that the church at Colasse needed the real Jesus and Sweet and Viola describe his thinking in a very cogent manner:

Paul’s goal was to strip away every distraction that was being held before their eyes and leave them with nothing but Christ. He dared to displace all rules, regulations, laws, and everything else that religion offers, with a person – the Lord Jesus Himself. As far as Paul was concerned, God hadn’t sent a Ruler of rules, a Regulator of regulations, a Pontiff of pontifications, or a Principal of principals. He had sent the very embodiment of divine fullness. So, he reasoned, if the Colossians could just get a glimpse of the glories of Christ, He would be enough. The Spirit would electrify their hearts and restore them to a living relationship with the head of the body. So Paul threw down his trump card – the Lord Jesus Christ. He presented a panoramic vision of Jesus that exhausts the minds of mortal men.

As Viola and Sweet so cogently point out, Paul felt that if the Colossians could gain a true and accurate perspective on the nature and purpose of Jesus many of their issues would be resolved. This dire need that Paul discerned in the Colossian church is also relevant to today’s church. If those within the church rediscover the true magnificence of this being they claim to worship and follow, I am convinced the mass exodus would slow to a mere trickle. Further, if those outside the church come to understand just who and what Jesus was and is, as well as witness the true heart of Christian service flowing from a revitalized, kingdom oriented church, they will likely become less negative and critical toward the faith and more than a few might be drawn to join in the good work that is taking place.

To be continued…..

(c) L.D. Turner 2013 / All Rights Reserved

Kingdom Agenda Revisited

Heart of Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mick Turner

Jesus came first and foremost preaching the kingdom. Even the most superficial skimming of the New Testament will readily reveal this fact. Inaugurating the Kingdom of Heaven (or Kingdom of God) and laying the groundwork for its ongoing establishment on earth was his central mission and, although other things were important, everything took a back seat to this. Dr. Myles Munroe explains most cogently:

Everywhere He went, Jesus preached the Kingdom. That was His assignment. Jesus primary message was not the born-again message that dominates gospel preaching. In His entire recorded ministry, Jesus spoke only once about being born again, and that was in the middle of the night to a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus privately. Being born again is the way into the Kingdom – it is the necessary first step. But the gospel of the Kingdom involves much more……….Not only did Jesus rarely speak about being born again, neither did He make these other themes the focus of His preaching: prosperity, healing, baptism in the Holy Spirit, or many of the other things we preach so much about today. Jesus taught about those things, and He demonstrated them in His day-by-day ministry, but He didn’t preach them. There is a big difference. Jesus had only one message: the Kingdom of God. That was His assignment, and He passed it on to us. His assignment is our assignment.

Indeed, healing, prosperity, evangelism, service to others, salvation, born again themes – all of these are foundational aspects of the gospel message, but they all pale in comparison to what I like to call “God’s Great Story.” This story is the underlying theme of the entire Bible and it is ultimately the story of how God is going about setting up his kingdom here on earth. Jesus had a unique role to play in this great cosmic drama and, because of who and what he was and is, it was a role only he could play. And just as Dr. Munroe so passionately explained, Christ’s assignment was to bring the message of the kingdom to this planet and just before he went back to his celestial home after ascending higher than the highest heaven (Ephesians 4:10), he had one more surprise: he charged us with continuing his assignment here on earth.

What this means is that just as Jesus had a unique role to play in the establishment of the kingdom, so does each of us.  The problem is many of us are confused about what that role entails in both general and individually specific aspects. To make matters even more perplexing is the fact that the church, either by choice or by ignorance, seems to have abandoned its kingdom mission.

In order to rectify this situation we have to engage is serious study so as to discern exactly what Jesus meant when he talked about the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. As we undertake such a project we also need to realize that the whole kingdom agenda is a multi-faceted phenomenon and does not necessarily lend itself to simplistic analysis.

I am convinced that although such a study can be carried out within the parameters of a group setting, ultimately, each of us must arrive at our own understanding of what the basic themes of the “kingdom message” of Jesus were. Perhaps the benefit of a study group would especially come in when participants came together to discuss what they had each discovered.

As to methodology for an undertaking like this, again, I think that whatever best suits the individual will be the most effective, provided of course, that it covers the territory in sufficient detail. For example, whenever I undertake this sort of study project I typically fall back on my Methodist background and John Wesley’s four-part system of scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. I have never failed to find this methodology sufficient for any research task of the nature we are discussing.

The Kingdom Agenda is at the foundation of all acts of Christian service. As followers of Christ, called to give flesh to grace and make disciples in all the world, we must constantly be about our kingdom calling in ways great and small. I like the way N.T. Wright puts this into proper perspective:

……….what we can and must do in the present, if we are obedient to the gospel, if we are following Jesus, and if we are indwelt, energized, and directed by the Spirit, is to build for the kingdom. This brings us back to 1 Corinthians 15:58 once more: what you do in the Lord is not in vain. You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that’s about to roll over a cliff. You are not restoring a great painting that’s shortly going to be thrown on the fire. You are not planting roses in a garden that’s about to be dug up for a building site. You are – strange though it may seem, almost as hard to believe as the resurrection itself – accomplishing something that will become in due course part of God’s new world. Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s fellow nonhuman creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world – all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make. That is the logic of the mission of God.

As Wright so eloquently reminds us, the Kingdom agenda is permeated through and through with proactive compassion. It is not enough to sit back and identify and discuss social problems from a comfortable distance. Jesus was not afraid to get his hands dirty and he certainly does not call us to detached, sterile service. Kingdom work is often unpleasant and frequently places us in circumstances that are far out of our comfort zones.

As followers of Christ in this challenging age of change it is imperative that we reorient our efforts, making certain that we are in alignment with the mission the Master has given us. The specifics of each mission will be different for each of us, but each will share a common denominator. Our particular calling, whether great or small, is grounded in love, kindness, and compassion. Each personal mission will seek to establish a just and equitable way of being in the world, solidly based on kingdom principles and deep concern for the well-being of others.

© L.D. Turner 2012/ All Rights Reserved

Related articles

• The Kingdom Within You and Without You (faithumc.me)
• Developing a Kingdom Mindset (yourjesusmind.com)

Wise Words for Today

English: Peresopnytsia Gospels. 1556-1561. Miniature of Saint Matthew. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream…(Amos 5:24)

“The justice Amos pleaded for was not a reform of the police and the courts that meted out retribution to criminals…….it was what we would call distributive justice – compassion for and care given to the weakest and most helpless in the land. The righteousness he longed to see was not faithfulness to a list of moral demands but the covenantal uprightness one lives before God; it is honoring God by living into his purpose for you as his image-bearer. ……………..At James 1:27, the half-brother of Jesus wrote, ‘Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.’”

“Whether spoken of by Amos or James, or described in the Old or New Testament, the essential elements of pure and undefiled religion remain the same: holiness and compassion. One must live with God-first focus that reveals itself in grace and compassion towards others. Isaiah agreed with Amos (see Isaiah 1:10 ff); Jesus affirmed them both (see Matt. 22:37-40); and John repeated it for good measure (see 1 John 4:20-21). And while Isaiah predicted it, Jesus established it, and John was part of it, their message was not ‘church.’ It was love for God that plays out as love for people. That is what people saw about Jesus that they miss seeing in so much of the church’s activity.”

Rubel Shelly

(from I Knew Jesus Before He Was a Christian and I Liked Him Better)

Wise Words for Today

Book of Genesis, Ningpo Bible. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In reading the Bible, something that has helped me is to approach the Bible every time as if it were the first time. Although you may have read the words before, you have never read those words at this precise point in your life before. Daily your life changes: your circumstances change, your needs change, your knowledge, understanding, and emotions change. Perhaps a passage of scripture that was nothing more than words on a page for twenty years did not connect to you because you were not ready, but at this moment in time, as you are reading this passage you have read countless times in the past, all of a sudden God will speak to you through it. If you come to the text with a humble heart, you might be amazed at how it speaks to you.

Tyler Edwards

(from Zombie Church)

Practical Spirituality: The Law of Encouragement

Barnabas curing the poor by Paolo Veronese, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mick Turner

Although rarely covered in articles on spiritual laws and principles, one of the most beneficial and useful principles is “The Law of Encouragement.” Briefly stated, the Law of Encouragement implies that those behaviors that a person performs that receive positive encouragement from important people are likely to increase in frequency. This is just basic common sense if you think about it.

The problem often arises, however, when a person does the right thing but rarely gets positive feedback for his or her actions. No, this doesn’t mean we need to be praised each time we do something good. However, it does imply that we at least like to have our efforts recognized from time to time. The point is that encouragement is a vital component of spiritual development. Without positive encouragement our dedication to the process of becoming the best that we can be is likely to wane.

The fact that we need encouragement highlights the importance of surrounding ourselves with positive people that are also on the path of spiritual formation. It is from such a cadre of spiritual friends that we can find the encouragement that we need.

In the early days of the Christian movement Barnabas was recognized as such a person. From scripture we know that Barnabas was often a companion to Paul and others and, although there was a rift of some sort between Paul and Barnabas later on, the Apostle still recognized Barnabas’ talents. Everyone needs a Barnabas in their Christian life, including you. Jim Graff, in his excellent book A Significant Life discusses the importance of encouragement in relation to the realization of potential:

First, potential watered by encouragement grows and blooms into purposeful passion. The passion to work is then natural and not forced. Second, as our “passion fruit” becomes focused on God’s goals, we develop the priorities necessary to accomplish those objectives. This process then continues as we grow stronger and more confident in God’s character as well as in who he’s created us to be….The goal is to see that living significant lives requires the development of our potential. And in order to blossom, that potential needs praise, the kind of positive reinforcement that God usually provides through others. As our potential – recognized and reinforced by others – matures, we develop passion for who we are and what God calls us to accomplish.

It is imperative to keep in mind our overriding goal in this process. What we are trying to do here is appropriate our true identity in Christ and bring the blessings associated with that identity down from the spiritual world and into manifestation in our daily lives. Thus, when Jim Graff talks about developing “a passion for who we are and what God calls us to accomplish,” he is addressing our primary goal. We develop a passion for who we are, a passion for our reborn identity in Christ. In Christ, we are, indeed, new creations and we have a lot more power than we think we do.

I know that in my own life, once I came to a deeper understanding of the true nature of this being we call Jesus Christ and from that understanding realized the extent of what he accomplished by leaving his celestial home and incarnating in this broken world, everything changed. This knowledge and new understanding was more than just dry intellectual information. Instead, this revelatory insight was more akin to a transformational wisdom that penetrated every cell of my being, altering how I viewed and experienced the world.

It was, in short, life changing.

My purpose in sharing this experience is to illustrate the importance of encouragement in the spiritual journey. You see, had I not had a small cadre of deep spiritual friends, I doubt I would have had the fortitude, discipline, and guidance to have persevered in my quest for wisdom and understanding. From this group of spiritual brothers and sisters I received much encouragement and it was this very encouragement that carried me forward, especially when times were difficult and other duties and responsibilities competed for my time and energy.

As stated earlier, my perspective on life was reshaped as I became more experientially aware of who and what Christ was, as well as what he accomplished in his mission to this world, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. Flowing out of these revelations I also came to appreciate another seemingly insignificant passage of scripture and more importantly, the truth that it revealed:

…….And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than the highest heaven so that he might fill the entire universe with himself. (Eph. 4:10 NLT)

The implications of this passage are mindboggling – truly staggering when one reflects on the practical reality of Paul’s words. Space does not permit a detailed description of this passage in this essay, but suffice to say that by filling the entire universe with himself, Christ altered the very fabric of the everyday reality in which we live, move, and have our being. My point in mentioning this to further illustrate the magnificence and the incredible blessings brought by Christ as he completed that phase of his work.

This life-enhancing revelations gave birth to an unquenchable desire to respond to Christ’s benevolence and sacrifice in the deepest way possible. I came to understand that the most appropriate response would be to do all that I could to fulfill the following personal life goal:

To become the optimal version of myself for the glory of God and the benefit of others.

Further, I increasingly became aware that a significant part of my life’s calling involved encouraging others to do the same. Whatever our station in life, we can make things better by striving to be all that we can be. When we live up to our God-given potential, amazing things begin to happen. When we begin to manifest the optimal version of ourselves, the whole world benefits in ways both great and small. Science has firmly established that we live in an interdependent, interconnected universe and, as a result, everything we do has an impact whether we are aware of it or not.

I am convinced that as the church moves forward in these challenging yet exciting times one of its most vital needs is for a plethora of called and committed encouragers.  Throughout history, especially at times of revival and spiritual awakening, the faith saw a wide array of encouragers and exhorters rise up and provide much needed motivational enthusiasm when the Body of Christ needed it most. Glenn McDonald, in his excellent book entitled The Disciple Making Church speaks wisely to this issue:

God sends special teachers into our lives – men and women who by one means or another are called to demonstrate, proclaim, interpret, and model the various essentials of the disciple life. To climb a few feet higher on the spiritual slope we need to receive encouragement and the extended hands of those who are at least a feet ahead of us.

The pages of scripture, both Old and New Testaments, are filled with examples of timely encouragers and mentors who provided guidance and encouragement to biblical heroes in their time of testing. McDonald continues:

“Solo flight” is not a value celebrated in the Bible. Spirituality is imparted and received through relationships. Joshua’s leadership lessons arrived via his association with Moses. Ruth looked to her mother-in-law Naomi. Elisha became the protégé of Elijah. Mary found “problem pregnancy” encouragement from her older relative Elizabeth. Many of the second generation Christian missionaries, including Titus, Epaphras, and Tychicus, looked to Paul. Apollos received mentoring from Priscilla and Aquila.

Although it is a value cherished by American culture, rugged individualism is foreign to the Christian walk of faith. Christianity was born in community, grew in community, and thrives in community. In the current age, when the faith is facing monumental challenges that threaten its very survival, this need for community is even more critical. And within the Christian community, encouragement is sorely needed. As a collective force, the Christian church needs to stop its petty infighting, especially over trivial matters and spend more of its energy in a positive direction.

Raising up a vital, committed force of encouragers is central to this goal.

© L.D. Turner 2012/All Rights Reserved

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Wise Words for Today

The Pharisees and the Saduccees Come to Tempt Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We are looking for Jesus in all the wrong places. Doctrine is very important, but doctrine is not God. The Bible is very important but, again, it is not God. Sometimes in the church we look for life in these places, but that is not where life is found. Even within the church, with our best intentions, we sometimes make ourselves into Pharisees by putting the words about Jesus before Jesus Himself. Many churches focus so much on what is said in scripture that they do not seem to know Jesus at all. It is not difficult for us to turn the Bible into an idol, especially if we read it for the knowledge it gives us rather than the relationship it builds. Life is not about what you know, it is about who you know. It comes from Jesus, plain and simple. Yet sometimes we choose to stop only at an intellectual understanding because, well, quite frankly it is easier to learn information than it is to build genuine relationship.

Tyler Edwards

(from Zombie Church)

God as Spirit and Transformative Presence

Cover via Amazon

Mick Turner

In his various writings, Marcus Borg has consistently espoused the notion that the church’s tendency to view God through the lens of “Supernatural Theism” has caused many problems and is also one of the chief culprits behind the mass exodus from the church today. As an alternative, Borg puts forth the notions of “panentheism” and also of “viewing God as Spirit.” Panentheism, which views all things as being “within God” is a logical and valuable model. Here, however, I want to reflect a bit on several implications inherent in the Spirit model. Borg covers this theme in considerable detail in his book, The God We Never Knew.

Borg begins by stating that the Spirit model leads to an image of the Christian life that stresses three vital things: relationship, intimacy and belonging.

In addition, Borg states:

As a root metaphor for the sacred, Spirit images God as a nonmaterial reality pervading the universe as well as being more than the universe. As used in the Bible…..its meaning is broader than the specific Christian doctrine of the Holy Spirit,” which sees it as one aspect of God. But in the Bible, Spirit is used comprehensively to refer to God’s presence in creation, in the history of Israel, and in the life of Jesus and the early church. ……Some of its resonances of meaning are suggested by the Hebrew word for Spirit. “Ruach” also minds wind and breath. The associations of both are suggestive. Both are invisible yet manifestly real. We cannot see the wind, though its presence and effects are felt; it moves without being seen. When it blows, it is all around us. Breath is like wind inside the body. For the ancient Hebrews (as for us), it was associated with life. Metaphorically, God as Spirit is both wind and breath, a non material reality outside of us and within us. Our breath is God breathing us, and God is as near to us as our own breath. Speaking o f God as Spirit, as both wind and breath, evokes both transcendence and nearness.

Borg goes on to point out how the Spirit model of God allows for the inclusion of feminine images of God, specifically images of God as:

Wisdom

Lover

Journey Companion

It is as a Journey Companion – or Good Shepherd – that I think Christ has the most direct impact and relevance for Christians today. Jesus described himself as the Good Shepherd. Borg elaborates on this role of Jesus:

 Rather than a single image, this is a category of images pointing to God as a companion who travels with us. It includes the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day that led the Israelites through the wilderness, as well as the presence of God that tented among them in a mobile home (the tabernacle). God as shepherd is another such image, but with the added dimension of nourishment and protection. The shepherd not only travels with the sheep but leads them to water and food, finds shelter, protects them, and seeks them when they go astray. In the New Testament, journey companion imagery is associated especially with Jesus. A disciple is one who journeys with Jesus (who also provides bread for the journey, indeed, “companion” literally means somebody with whom one breaks bread). In the Emmaus Road story, the risen Christ journeys with his disciples, even though they do not recognize him. And in John’s gospel, the image of God as shepherd is applied to Jesus: the Johannine Jesus is “the good shepherd.

I especially feel a vital connection with Jesus as “journey companion” when I reflect on the realties inherent in Paul’s brief statement in Ephesians 4:10. This is where Paul describes Jesus as the “one who ascended higher than the highest heaven so that he might fill all things with himself.” The implications of this one small comment are literally staggering. With the Ascension of Jesus, all things underwent a tremendous change – all things became a home for the Risen Lord.

Once we understand and accept this reality – the infusion of Christ into all things – our priority should be to deepen our conscious contact with the Indwelling Light. In my mind, I believe the best way to facilitate this deepening is through the practice of the classic spiritual disciplines. Borg speaks of these practices, what he calls “sacred practices,” which are means by which the sacred is mediated with daily living. With the infusion of Christ into all things, almost all activities have the potential to be considered “sacred acts” if performed with the proper reverence and mindfulness.

Returning to the theme of what I call “divine infusion,” as described in Ephesians 4:10, the implications of this act are staggering. In my own spiritual journey, when I first discovered this sublime biblical truth it was as if a flood gate of spiritual understanding had been opened. I could fill pages with the new insights brought about by this one small, often overlooked verse. Space does not allow for that, but let me explore just one minor implication of this profound biblical reality.

We know from Old Testament accounts that God accompanied the Israelites on their journey in the Wilderness as both the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. As mentioned in the above quotation from Borg, we also are reminded that the Great I Am then took up temporary residence in the Tabernacle. Eventually requiring a more permanent home in the Promised Land, the Lord had Solomon construct the first Temple in Jerusalem and, deep within the Temple in what was called the Holy of Holies, God made his earthly home. And it was in this innermost sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem that the Father resided when John the Baptist and Jesus appeared on the scene.

With the Resurrection and subsequent Ascension of Christ, along with the advent of the Holy Spirit, a most remarkable thing occurred. The Great I Am took up residence within every person. And if that was not miracle enough, with the “infusion” the Lord “filled all things with himself” (Eph. 4:10).

We can see in this pattern a sort of “progressive intimacy” orchestrated by God, culminating in the essence of Christ permeating all things, great and small. It is this all-encompassing Christ filling and animating all things that fits so well the “God as Spirit” model as described by Marcus Borg. This image of God as Spirit is, at the same time, highly personal and transpersonal. As an all-pervading Spirit resident in all of creation and especially in the hearts of his followers, Christ engages in a depth of intimacy that was not possible prior to his ascension and infusion. This divine indwelling fosters a deeply intimate and personal relationship between the individual and the animating Spirit in which he or she “lives, moves, and has their being.” At the same time, the all-pervasive Spirit is transpersonal, going beyond the individual and, by the very nature of His being, unites all creation in a interdependent and interrelated whole.

In Borg’s view, this expansive view of God as Spirit, as opposed to “Divine Monarch,” gives rise to a number of useful metaphors which makes the personal/transpersonal Spirit more accessible and pragmatic in daily life. Borg discusses several of these positive metaphors including God as: fire, light, breath, wisdom, mother and father, lover, and journey companion. I find all of these metaphors useful in terms of making the incomprehensible power, creativity, and intelligence of God more accessible.

All of these metaphors are carried over from the Old Testament into the New Testament. On a personal note, I have found the analogy of Christ as “journey companion” to be highly pertinent and impactful. We especially see this in the imagery of “Christ as Shepherd” in the 23^rd Psalm and in the gospels as well, especially the writings of John.  Personal experience has also shown me how each of these biblical metaphors can be beneficial in ways both practical and meaningful. Borg goes on to describe a trio of more obvious ways the metaphor of God as Spirit impacts our experience of God:

The biblical metaphors for the Spirit model affect our root image of God in three quite obvious ways. First, these metaphors emphasize the nearness of God rather than the distance implied by the monarchical model. They evoke closeness, relationship, and connection. God as Spirit is near, at hand; indeed, we live within Spirit. Nearness also involves concern: God as Spirit is compassionate. God is the womblike one who gave birth to us, who nurtures us, cares for us, yearns for us. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Second, both male and female metaphors (as well as some that are neither) are used, rather than exclusively male images of the monarchical model. God is like a woman giving birth, like a mother raising her children, like Sophia the wisdom woman; God is like an intimate father. Moreover, some images go equally well with either gender: God as lover, as companion or friend, even as shepherd. . . . . . . . . . .Third, rather than the essentially anthropomorphic image of God as king, lord and patriarchal father, the metaphors for God as Spirit include both non-anthropomorphic and anthropomorphic images. . . . . . . . . . .The presence of both is suggestive. . . . . . . .That is, they suggest that there is a personal dimension to the relationship to God. Yet non-anthropomorphic images suggest that God is not simply a person. Combining the two suggests that the relationship to God is personal, even as God is more than a person. The sacred is not simply a non-animate mystery but a presence.

Although it is hard to contain in the limited nature of words, it is this sense of God as Spirit in general and God as presence in particular that I have found most transformational. Christ, a unique, pre-existent being who, at the very same time, is an all-pervasive, deeply penetrating, and fully indwelling force, becomes a life-enhancing, life-changing force – an ever-present presence that is indeed an indispensable and welcomed companion for my journey.

© L.D. Turner 2012/ All Rights Reserved

Making Straight the Way: The Bittersweet Mission of John the Baptist

Image via Wikipedia

 

Mick Turner

John the Baptist is one of those biblical figures that is easy to pass over in our rush to get to Jesus and the inauguration of his mission. This is unfortunate because John was a central figure in so many ways. We are all quite familiar with John’s role as the one who was to come before, making straight the way for the appearance of the Messiah. He was the trail blazer, setting the stage for the arrival of the Deliverer – the one whose sandals he said he was unworthy to unlatch. He baptized the Master and introduced him and his mission to the world.

Yet John fulfilled another role, a truly prophetic one, which many times gets little notice, even from astute theologians and Bible teachers. John was the last in the line of pre-New Testament prophets. He, in fact, was the voice that broke a long period of prophetic silence in Jewish history. After Malachi, the last prophet in the Old Testament, there was a period of 400 years when no prophetic voice was heard in Israel. Many scholars and Bible teachers overlook the fact that John the Baptist was a prophet of Israel – the one who broke the 400 year silence and the final prophet before the arrival of the Messiah. Dr. Myles Munroe explains this succinctly when he says:

 This prophetic silence came to an end when John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a message of repentance and proclaiming that the Messiah was coming soon. Although John appears in the four Gospels of the New Testament, he was in fact the last of the Old Testament prophets. His death at the command of Herod Antipas and the initiation of Jesus’ public ministry marked the end of one era and the beginning of another. More specifically, the baptism of Jesus by John was the point of transference. From this point forward, a new order, the Kingdom of God, would be established.

Like many Christians, I spent more than a few years of my faith walk failing to understand the true significance of what transpired that day when Christ met up with John on the banks of the Jordan. I think the church as a whole has been negligent in teaching the import and the impact of the baptism of the Master.

In short, with that event we see the seal of the Old Testament age and the old covenant and the beginning of the New Testament age, the age of Christ and the Holy Spirit. It was in essence the inauguration not only of Jesus’ ministry, but also of the Kingdom of God arriving on earth. Now please, don’t miss the significance of this: with Christ we move into the age where God is with us – the age of Immanuel. And with the descent of the dove, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in Christ. Later on, as the Master breathes on the assembled disciples, he imparts this same Spirit to them. And then, in the drama of the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit descends in full manifestation on the disciples and we move from the age where God is with us to the age where God is in us.

I believe that many sincere followers of Christ rarely pause and reflect upon what a monumental event the baptism of Jesus was and the pivotal role played by John in the unfolding of God’s plan of restoration on earth. I think it is vital that we deepen our comprehension of these themes because it is only when we understand who and what John the Baptist was can we truly grasp who and what we are. Jesus’ words, recorded in Matthew 11:11 tells us exactly what we need to know:

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he (New American Standard).

Before the arrival of Jesus, humankind had hints and intimations of what the kingdom was all about, but their insight was very limited. Although scholars and prophets talked about it and even prophesied about it, but at best they were looking through a glass darkly. Even John did not fully grasp what he was preaching as Dr. Munroe explains:

John the Baptist preached about the Kingdom, but even John never accurately perceived the full implications of his own message. He witnessed its coming in Jesus, but never fully entered into it himself. . . . . . . . . .John was an Old Testament prophet with a New Testament revelation. He introduced the King who was to reintroduce the Kingdom, but he never experienced it for himself. The Kingdom was of a new era, and John was passing away with the old. John never received the Holy Spirit. He witnessed the Spirit coming down on Jesus at His baptism, but the indwelling Spirit was also a part of the new era that John would not experience to its fullest capacity. This is why Jesus said that, as great as John was, even those who were the least in the Kingdom of heaven were greater than he was. . . . . . . . . .John was a man who stood in the middle, suspended between two dimensions of time. His voice was a voice of preparation, preparing people to enter into this new order. Once Jesus’ public work began, John’s ministry came to an end.

It should be clear by now th John the Baptist played a unique and indispensable role in the great plan of redemption and restoration that was unfolding on earth. When I first encountered these words of Dr. Myles Munroe I became critically aware that I had given very little time to reflecting on the significance of John the Baptist. For the most part, I saw him as the forerunner of the Master, a wild-eyed, bug-eating, finger-waving blowhard that managed to get on the bad side of Herod Antipas and his dark-hearted wife. This indiscretion ended up costing him his head.

 John the Baptist, in addition to preparing the way for the appearance of the Messiah, was also preparing humankind for the advent of a whole new way of being. It is important to understand that with the arrival of Jesus there was an entirely different set of divine laws and principles set in motion. I doubt our limited human understanding can ever fully grasp the intricate, intangible aspects of these divine changes, but we can at least get a faint  understanding by studying scripture in general and the life of Jesus and his disciples in particular.

In doing so, however, it is imperative that we not forget the sacrificial contributions of the John the Baptist. As he cleared the way for the arriving Messiah and the ushering in of the kingdom and this new way of being in the world, there is a bittersweet element in the life, mission, and death of John the Baptist. Even though he played such a major role in the progression of God’s divine plan on earth, John never had the opportunity to partake of this new way of being. He never had the experience of the full indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

As I reflect on this tragic aspect of the mission of the Baptist, I am reminded of Moses, who was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. As I recall, however, this was the result of some transgression of Moses. As far as we know, John never had such an issue. Instead, his life was cut short by the resentment of Herod’s wife.

One can take heart and have hope for John the Baptist, however. You see, Moses eventually did visit the Promised Land. Along with a pair of divine cohorts, he showed up on the Mount of Transfiguration to work some wonder of light and cosmic physics on Jesus in preparation for what was to come. We can only hope, and perhaps even assume, that based on God’s infinite mercy, the Baptist tasted the indwelling Holy Spirit in the afterlife. For all we know, in fact, he may have experienced something far greater. The Father has a way of turning tragedy into victory on a regular basis.

© L.D. Turner 2012/All Rights Reserved

 

Discovering Watchman Nee: God’s Mysterious Ways

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Mick Turner

A worn out, trite, and, at least in some circles, humorous phrase is as follows:

“God works in mysterious ways.”

This old saying outlived its usefulness several centuries ago, but it doesn’t stop Christians from pulling it out of the dust bin and springing it on unsuspecting listeners, especially when confronted with some event that can’t be explained seems at odds with the faith.

I mention all this at the beginning of this article because it bears at least a marginal relation to the topic at hand. Perhaps I best explain myself.

Since my elementary school days, I have been a voracious reader. As an adult, I have spent a small fortune on books over the years and, as anyone who has purchased books in recent years, the prices keep rising at a rate almost equal to the cost of healthcare. I am far from a wealthy man, so the money I have spent on books over the years might seem even more staggering. Most of the books I buy are new and of course that makes them even more expensive.

I tell you about this because there is a certain irony in my relationship with my books in general and my books on spirituality in particular. I find it most fascinating that in spite of the mother lode I have spent on books over the years, one of the most impactful books I ever purchased I bought some twenty years ago at a garage sale in South Miami, Florida for the outrageous sum of seven cents. The lady wanted a dime but I talked her down three cents, just on principle.

I can say without reservation that this little ragged paperback was not on my high priority reading list and I am not sure why I was moved to buy it in the first place. On the way home from the garage sale I stopped to get a coffee and, while drinking it, I chanced to pick up the book and read a few pages.

I couldn’t put it down. I ended up reading the entire book that very afternoon and evening. This little tome spoke to me in a way few books ever had. I can say that it was, in a number of significant ways, life-changing. Why I even picked that book up and bought it I’ll never know. All I can say is:

God works in mysterious ways.

The name of the book was The Normal Christian Life by Chinese author Watchman Nee. I have since learned that this book has been impactful on many Christian lives over the years and was highly popular with the old Jesus People movement, of which I had some contact in the late 60s.

With that little story out of the way, I want to share just a few things Nee talks about in the book and hopefully, if you haven’t read it, you will find yourself a copy and do so at your earliest opportunity.

In terms of the completeness of the gospel, the following lengthy passage from The Normal Christian Life spells out with clarity the scope of Christ’s accomplishments in regards to the forgiveness of sin and the empowerment for living. Specifically, Nee describes what the New Testament refers to as “the last Adam” and “the second man. Nee relates:

In 1 Corinthians 15:45-47, two remarkable names or titles are used of the Lord Jesus. He is spoken of there as “the last Adam” and he is spoken of too as “the second man.” Scripture does not refer to him as the second Adam, but as the “last Adam”; nor does it refer to him as the last Man, but as “the second man.” The distinction is to be noted, for it enshrines a truth of great value.

As the last Adam, Christ is the sum total of humanity; as the second Man, he is the Head of a new race. So we have here two unions, the one relating to his death and the other to his resurrection. In the first place his union with the race as “the last Adam” began historically at Bethlehem and ended at the cross and the tomb. In it he gathered up into himself all that was in Adam and took it to judgment and death. In the second place our union with him as “the second man” began in resurrection and ends in eternity – which is to say, it never ends – for, having in his death done away with the first man in whom God’s purpose was frustrated, he rose again as Head of a new race of men, in whom that purpose shall be fully realized.

When therefore the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, he was crucified as the last Adam. All that was in the first Adam was gathered up and done away in him. We were included there. As the last Adam he wiped out the old race; as the second Man he brings in the new race. It is in his resurrection that he stands forth as the second Man, and there too we are included. “For if we have become united with him by the likeness of his death, we shall be also by the likeness of his resurrection.” (Romans 6:5). We died in him as the last Adam; we live in him as the second Man. The cross is thus the mighty act of God which translates us from Adam to Christ.

I have long been convinced that a principle reason for the church’s seeming impotence flows out of the fact that far too much attention has been given to the last Adam, and far too little to the second Man.

Christ clearly told us that his kingdom was not of this world. And in uttering those words, the Master touched on a reality that his disciples, both then and now, must come to understand. God originally intended for this world to be his world, but Satan managed to sabotage his efforts. As a result, Satan eventually became “the prince  of this world. “

Nee explains:

Thus, in Satan’s hand, the first creation has become the old creation, and God’s primary concern is now no longer with that, but with a second and new creation. He is bringing in a new creation, a new kingdom and a new world, and nothing of the old creation, the old kingdom or the old world can be transferred to the new. It is a question now of these two rival realms, and of which realm we belong.

Nee then goes on to describe what he calls “The Divide of the Cross.”

The Cross was the means God used to bring to an end “the old things” by setting aside altogether our “old man,” and the resurrection was the means he employed to impart to us all that was necessary for our life in that new world.

We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4).

The greatest negative in the universe is the Cross, for with it God wiped out everything that was not of himself: the greatest positive in the universe is the resurrection, for through it God brought into being all the he will have in the new sphere. So the resurrection stands at the threshold of the new creation. It is a blessed thing to see that the Cross ends all that belongs to the first regime, and that the resurrection introduces all the pertains to the second.

In essence, Nee is saying that the resurrection is significant not only in the sense that Christ defeated death, which was a result of humanity’s disobedience and Satan’s manipulations in the Garden. He rightly sees that with the resurrection God is instituting a brand new creation. In a sense, it is both symbolic and ironic that we restarted the calendar “after the Lord (A.D.).” It was in every sense, a new beginning. I have long believed that Easter is perhaps far more important on the Church Calendar than Christmas and this is but one of the reasons why. Returning to Nee’s discussion of these themes, he states:

We have two worlds before us, the old and the new. In the old, Satan has absolute dominion. You may be a good man in the old creation, but as long as you belong to the old, you are under sentence of death, because nothing of the old can be carried over into the new.

In light of the perspective being described by Nee, I am reminded of the passages of scripture where Paul talks about Christ as the “last Adam” and the “second man.” All that went before, our old nature, our “pre-in-Christ” status, must necessarily be crucified with Christ. It cannot be carried forward into the new life of the kingdom. Nee continues:

The cross is God’s declaration that all that is off the old creation must die. Nothing of the first Adam can pass beyond the Cross; it all ends there. The sooner we see that, the better, for it is by the Cross that God has made a way of escape for us from that old creation.

This theme of old and new, juxtaposed at the Cross, forms the foundation of Nee’s perspective of the unfolding of God’s great story. I can also say that I am in agreement with much of what Nee says regarding these matters. His perspective is cogent and reasonable and, when viewed in its totality, is transformational. In fact, for those who have really studied it in depth, The Normal Christian Life, has been one of the most life-changing books of the 20^th Century.

Indeed, one can safely say that God does work in mysterious ways. After spending a king’s ransom on my spiritual library, a seven cent, dog-eared paperback brought me insights I would have never imagined. I have long since purchased a nice hardback copy of the book, but I still have that old paperback, which I have taped together on several occasions. I have also read Nee’s Spiritual Man, which is much longer and a bit more tedious. Still, I garnered much from that book as well.

© L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

Wise Words for Today

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…….given such blatantly communal and social language in the Bible as exodus, kingdom, church, family, and household, it can be difficult to comprehend how we have managed to so thoroughly privatize New Testament faith. Pastoral ministry has now been reduced to marketing and psychotherapy – disciplines that both concentrate exclusively on the individual. The message of the gospel is treated the same way. The American gospel concerns itself solely with the inner, private world of people as they exist only in relation to God. There is usually no talk of community, tradition, or public accountability………….But this is not New Testament faith. It is not of Jesus or His apostles, nor is it the understanding of the earliest Christians. Reception of the kingdom, far from being a matter solely between the individual and God, amounts to being grafted into a new people. People believe the gospel and through it become God’s covenant people. The early church never saw itself as a collection of individuals gathering to pursue their own individual spiritual programs for growth. To view the church in these terms is to deny the very purpose for which it was called into existence: to testify to the reality of the kingdom-inaugurating agenda of Jesus Christ. By His Spirit and through His people, He is working to put everything back the way He wants it.

Mike Erre

(from Death By Church)

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