| Andrew's profileAndrew spacePhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
10/31/2006 Sola Christus ... and the Chinese churchSo far, we've looked at sola Scriptura - how authority is found in the Bible alone, not the Bible plus church traditions. Then we turned our attention to sola Gratia - how our standing before God is given us by the grace of God alone, not grace plus human performance. But today we turn our attention to sola Christus - yet another slogan of the Reformation.
Sola Christus is Latin for "Christ alone", and summarised the Bible's teaching that Jesus Christ is the only true mediator of Christians - not Christ and the Pope!
The church started to wander away from the sufficiency of Christ's mediator role as early as Ignatius, who declared that "where the bishop is, there is the church". Over the years, the bishop of Rome grew in power over those of other cities. And from a simple position of oversight and care, it grew to become a powerful position that included control over a 'treasury of merit'. The idea being that the church was like a giant bank where the extra merit earnt by the saints was kept. And if you were sinful and in need of grace to cover over your sinfulness, well the church could dispense some of this 'grace' to you! This is in part the theology behind the sale of indulgences.
Theologically astute readers will pick up that 'grace' has being treated as a substance, rather than an attitude that God has towards us. But aside from that, you can see that the increasingly important role of the Pope (and his bishops and priests) in mediating between sinful humans and God!
However the Reformation uncovered the truth that Jesus Christ is the only mediator we need. And hence there was no need for Popes and priests to exercise that mediatorial role for us! Of course there still is a role for humans to encourage each other with the Bible and pray for each other. But this is something that all Chrisitians can do - not just priests! As a result the Reformation also taught the preisthood of all believers.
Well, what about Chinese culture? What might sola Christus have to say to Chinese churches today?
Perhaps you've noticed the high respect that Chinese churches have for the position of an ordained minister. Of course, it's normal to honour people for their faithful gospel ministry. And it's appropriate to remember the sacrifices that people make for the sake of the gospel (see for instance 1 Timothy 5:17, Philippians 2:29 and Hebrews 13:17). But I am sure that the respect accorded by people in Chinese churches for ordained ministers goes beyond that!
There's an almost magical view of an ordained minister. And of course it's not a formal thing, but something that's tacitly understood and lived out in the way people relate to a minister. When someone is sick, it's good to get other Christians to pray for you - but it's much better to get the ordained minister to pray over you. It's good to have other Christians praying for you about a decision you need to make - but it's much more effective to get the minister to pray for you!
This is not really to do with their skill in praying. Or to do with their biblical understanding. No, subconsciously there's a belief that there is something about the person of an ordained minister that is closer to God, and therefore more likely to be heard.
Perhaps this comes from the superstitious nature of Chinese culture. But wherever it comes from, this way of thinking edges close towards Roman Catholicism, even though there is no Pope. Because ordained ministers are seen to be mediators in a special kind of way! And so in Chinese churches we have to work extra-hard in highlighting the pre-eminent mediatorial role of Christ - and de-magicking the role of ordained ministers.
[ PS: don't nail something to our church door - you'll break the glass! ] 10/29/2006 Sola Gratia ... and the Chinese churchLast time we looked at the Reformation slogan of sola Scriptura. But that really only laid the groundwork for another important slogan: sola Gratia! This is Latin for "grace alone", and summarised the re-discovery that we receive right standing with God by his grace alone - not by a combination of his grace plus human performance.
The medieval church constructed a superstructure of confession, absolution and pennance - a structure that laid the onus on the human for making the first move in salvation. Luther's rediscovery of justification by faith alone highlighted the predominant place of God in the working of salvation. Salvation is wholly the work of God - and human performance simply does not enter into it!
Well how does sola Gratia impact Chinese culture? How does it contribute to the way things are done in Chinese churches?
Since the cultural revolution, Chinese culture has become a highly performance-based culture. The deprivations of the cultural revolution led to refugees working very hard to earn a living, and they taught their children to work hard to get ahead of the crowd. Because of this, doctors, lawyers and successful business people are held up in high esteem - despite what they may be like in their actual character. Parents boast about their sons and daughters who excel in their studies. And conversely, those who don't perform well are written off as being "good for nothing". The Chinese culture tends to honour human performance - and it's our own performance that predominantly feeds the self-image of Chinese Christians.
Add to that the strong tendency in Chinese churches to fix pastoral problems in church with rules and regulations. It's almost instictive: "Problem? Well! We'd better make a rule about that!" And so a 'good' sermon in a Chinese church tends to be something which lays heavy obligations on people, with a clear list of things to do - rather than one that points people to the finished work of Christ!
Because of these things, when it comes to our confidence before God, Chinese Christians tend to look inward to assess our own personal righteousness. We assess how we have gone in keeping rules and regulations - but this only ever leads to a false confidence, or a lack of confidence in our standing before God!
In contrast, the Reformation reminded us to look outward to the alien righteousness of Christ! Luther's rediscovery of sola Gratia is a real comfort to Chinese Christians. It frees us from thinking our standing before God is based on our own performance in godliness, our depth of feeling, or the regularity of our quiet times.
[ PS: the third and last post will be on Reformation Day - Tuesday 31st of October! ] 10/27/2006 Sola Scriptura ... and the Chinese churchWhat - you mean you didn't even know there is this thing called Reformation Day? Why, it commemorates that day in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg. An event which sparked off the continental Reformation!
It's a sad thing that Chinese churches don't know a lot about the reformation - because we can actually learn a lot from its lessons. And especially so since some of the key re-discoveries of the Reformation actually challenge our Chinese culture at very uncomfortable points...
One of the slogans of the Reformation was sola Scriptura. This was Latin for "Scripture alone", and summarised the realisation that Scripture alone was the final source of authority for church - not Scripture plus the church's traditions.
You see during the middle ages people had wandered away from biblical Christianity, and churches had accumulated many traditions and ways of doing things. While at some point someone had to come up with these traditions, after many years these traditions had taken on a life of its own, and had become as important as the Bible - sometimes even more important!
But it wasn't just that these traditions were old and therefore valuable! No, it was because the church had come up with these traditions. Surely God had spoken through the church, just as God had spoken through the apostles and prophets in the Scriptures. And therefore, surely the traditions of the church were on par with Scripture. And maybe even superior - because those church traditions were given by God at a later date!
Roman Catholicism doesn't deny the Bible is right - it just has all these other traditions that they think are just as valid, and just as authoritative - if not moreso!
Well, what about Chinese culture? What does sola Scriptura have to do with the Chinese churches?
Chinese culture has a great love for the past. In contrast to the Western worldview which looks forward and values new things, Chinese culture looks back and values old things. And so tradition is greatly prized in Chinese culture. While the Chinese have travelled to many lands and set up restaurants everywhere, adapting themselves superficially to many foreign places, their culture and traditions do not change very much.
Well, Chinese churches also develop their own traditions. As do other churches, by the way - tradition is just another way of saying "the way things have always been done", or "the way we've always understood things". Traditions are not bad in itself, and can in fact be very useful as a guiding light! Take for instance the creeds. But Chinese churches are prone to the danger of elevating their traditions to the authoritiative level of Scripture.
And so in Chinese churches it becomes bad form to question "the way things have always been done" - because that would be to judge negatively those who have made those decisions. It's not possible to question "the way we've always understood things" - because that's already been decided by those in the past. And so unfortunately, "the way things have always been done around here" quite often becomes a good-enough argument against the plain teaching of the Bible!
And sometimes the equation is turned around in completely the wrong direction. Sometimes Scripture is blatantly re-interpreted in order to fit "the way things have always been done"...
Unintentionally then, Chinese churches slip into a Roman Catholic form of thinking. It fits so smoothly with the past-revering aspect of Chinese culture that it's an automatic thing for us! But it is in fact bad theology.
Yes, God spoke through the prophets and apostles as they wrote the Bible. And yes, God has worked powerfully in our church in past years as well. But to equate God's word through the prophets and apostles with the decisions of Christians before us, is wrong. God's speaking to the prophets and apostles is called inspiration - and his work in Christians as they now read the Bible is called illumination. But to confuse the two and equate inspiration with illumination is bad theology! The thrust of Hebrews 1 is that God's ultimate revelation is found in Jesus Christ - not in the founding members!
The decisions and ideas (and traditions) of Christians are always contingent. And because of our tendency to elevate our traditions, those of us in Chinese churches have to work extra-hard to let these things be tested by Scripture - our final authority.
[ PS: what church issues have you come across that may fall into this category of traditions? ] 10/25/2006 ''Once you get older, you'll see.''Perhaps you're a Bible study leader, with razor sharp Bible handling skills. Maybe you've even invested in training conferences and correspondence courses to make sure you are as sharp as you can be. But when it comes to older people in authority ... when it comes to elders, and pastors - maybe even parents - they may think very differently about you and your ministry!
Perhaps older people at church may have dismissed your ideas with a smile, telling you some of these things:
I wonder if you've been in that situation? If you have, you probably know about the anger and frustration that builds up inside of you - maybe even hatred! Or, if you're of a different personality type, you might quietly disengage from ministry - giving up on your church, becuase it's just too hard to get things done. Or yet again, you might even start doubting your own ability, thinking: "maybe I am useless. Maybe I am doing all the wrong things, and should just give up."
This is the situation that Timothy found himself in when Paul left him to look after the church of Ephesus. You see Timothy was also young, and people also looked down down on him for his youth. And so in 1 Timothy Paul writes to encourage Timothy.
First of all Paul reminds him about the job he's been given, the charge he's been entrusted with. But then Paul goes on to tell him what to do when older people look down on him. Is he to fight back and demand the respect due to him? That's probably the natural thing to do, but In 1 Timothy 4:12 Paul says,
Paul says: don't fight back. Instead, what you're meant to do in that situation is to just keep on living a godly life. You keep setting an example in your speech, in your life, in your love and faith and purity. Work hard at living a godly life - and you will grow in respect from the older people. You will win them over - just like in 1 Peter 3 the wives of unbelieving husbands are to win their husbands over without words, when they see the purity and reverence of their lives. Well so too, the older people who look down on you will grow to respect you as they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
But that's not all. Paul also tells Timothy to also keep on teaching the Bible well. Verse 13,
Regardless about what they say, you make sure that you keep on teaching the Bible well yourself! You devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Don't do a bodgy job at it - instead, be diligent in these things (v.15). And again, as you work hard at your teaching, the quality of your ministry will be obvious to everyone. Verse 15, 'give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.' Just as you gain the respect of others by living a godly life, so too will you gain the respect of others as you teach the Bible faithfully.
But what about that urge to fight back when you are attacked? To argue with one of these older people? Well Paul continues on and says,
Don't harshly rebuke those older men and older women - even though they're the ones looking down on you! Instead, treat them gently. Speak to them as you would your father or mother. Yes, you may be full of frustration and anger for not being taken seriously - but don't let that lead to you dealing harshly with them!
And it's interesting that Paul actually uses the word 'father' and 'mother' here. He uses words that refer to people who are (theoretically) very close to us. People for whom we have a deep affection and close bond. And so even though older people at church may not respect you, we are not to disengage them emotionally. No, we are to love them still - even though they refuse to listen to you. Even then, you make sure you love them!
So. When people look down on you because of your age ... don't be carried away by your anger. Instead, impress them with your godliness. Impress them with your Bible teaching. And keep relating to them in a gentle, loving way.
[ PS: also be aware that older people at church may in fact have valid things to say about your ministry! ] 10/23/2006 Talking to parents about full time ministry - IVWhen I was at IBM I booked myself in to a negotiation skills training course. And what follows is general information about negotiation that you will pick up from a negotiation skills training course - yet the principles apply quite well to the situation of talking to your parents about FTM.
The first important thing about negotiation is to know what you want out of the negotiation - and also to have a backup. In negotiation language, this backup is called your BATNA - your Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. This helps you to know what you're aiming at, and what you're still happy with after having traded your concessions.
So what do you want in talking to your parents about full time ministry? Well ideally, you'd want their support, their encouragement and prayers, their backing you 100% in your ministry decision. That's your goal. But your BATNA is actually quite low - you don't really need their support and encouragement to go into ministry. All you really need from them is for them still to be talking to you so that you can work at your relationship - they are your parents after all!
This is important for you to know, not so you can settle for your BATNA and not work harder for something better, but so that you're not shattered if you don't get their 100% support and backing and encouragement! Even if your parents are disappointed with you, you can still be happy because you still have your relationship with them.
But if the first important thing in negotiation is to know what you want, the second important thing is to know what the other party wants. Sometimes you can't know, but you can take a pretty good guess. In negotiation, this is helpful because you can know which concessions to give up, and when. And as their son or daughter, you've had more opportunity than most to observe their life and what is important to them.
What sorts of things do you want to think through in preparing for your 'negotiation'? Well they would include questions like the following:
Don't settle for simple answers here. Sure, at the surface level what's important to them is that you keep working as an accountant! But underneath that, what's important to them might be your financial security. Or the prestige of your job. Or their ability to live comfortably off your support in their retirement. Or that they are 'losing' their child to the influence of other people.
You see, it could be a lot of things - perhaps several of them! And as you work through these questions carefully, you'll find yourself in a much better position to understand what kinds of things you can say to comfort them. What sorts of things you can do to reassure them. How you can be praying for them! The idea here is not for you to try and cover everything - some of them may be illegitimate desires, and you may not want to reinforce those things. But the idea is to have a better awareness of where they're at, so you can better approach them.
Now while this is a lot like negotiation, there is one important difference with negotiation. In a negotiation, you'd only give up concessions if you really had to. You give them away slowly and painfully - like pulling teeth. However, this is about your relationship with your parents - and you would do these things for them because you love them!
[ PS: if you're in the workplace, make the most of the opportunities you have to go on training courses - particularly the ones which may come in handy later on! ] 10/21/2006 Talking to parents about full time ministry - IIIThe problem is that we tend to think fairly individualistically. What can I do to fix this? What things should I say? And that's nice, but the Bible sees church as much more than a collection of individuals. In 1 Timothy for instance the metaphor of a family keeps coming up again and again throughout that book. And it's when church functions well as a family that Christian parents can be helped to respond better to FTM.
You see, when you raise the question of FTM, your parents will become worried (or even angry). But it's not just an issue within your family - it's also a pastoral issue! They are all of a sudden confronted with issues that touch on financial security, image, honour. And behind these yet again lie issues that are fed by the doctrine of church, of eschatology, even of creation and providence. Some of these may have been untested areas that are suddenly put to the test when you raise the possibility of FTM.
However as their son or daughter, you're not really in a position to 'pastor' them through these issues, even though you're no longer a child. They need to hear that "FTM is a great thing to aspire to", or "don't be so worried about money". But you're not actually the one who's in the best placed to say these things to them. They may need to hear these things - but they won't necessarily hear these things very well from their own son or daughter!
But this is where your church family comes in. You see, you need for people who are their peers to talk to them and pastor them through the issues they are suddenly confronting. They need other middle-aged adults to tell them that "FTM is a great thing to aspire to", and "don't be so worried about money". Your Christian parents may need to be rebuked for having ungodly priorities - but it's not appropriate for you to be doing that. Someone their own age can rebuke them in the way they need.
And you can see this principle at work in 1 Timothy. In 1 Timothy 5:1 Paul tells Timothy, "do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father." This passage is not saying that 'old people' must never be rebuked - but that Timothy should relate in a appropriate way to people who are older than him - a way that's different from when he's relating to those younger than him. There is an appropriateness of relating that western individualism is a little blind to.
So ideally, other people in your church will be taking up the opportunity to 'pastor' your parents. What can you do to get the process moving? Here are some suggestions:
Your interest in FTM is not just a conflict within your family. If you've got Christian parents, it's probably also pastoral issue. And what you want to do is not handle it all yourself - but instead to get the wider 'church family' involved!
[ PS: the recent Challenge Conference in October saw the first ever parallel Cantonese language track! ] 10/19/2006 Talking to parents about full time ministry - IIBut consider: what is it that you're really trying to do in telling your parents you are considering FTM? You really want to do two things, and they are these:
Now your parents aren't the decision makers here - you are. It's your responsibility to make a wise decision about yourself. And so you must not let other people make that decision for you - that would be irresponsible!
Now this means that if people are telling you to do FTM, that's something to take notice of - but ultimately you are the one responsible to make a wise decision. You can't let them make your decision for you! But conversely, if people are telling you not to do FTM (such as your parents), that's also important for you to consider. But again, you are still the one responsible to make a wise decision.
This means two things. Firstly, it means that you can be free from guilt if you are thoroughly convinced that gospel ministry really is the wisest thing to do. Your parents may be one of those who "hit the roof", but you don't let them make your decisions for you. You are the one who's responsible to do that.
But secondly, it also means that you're responsible to get all the information you can in making a wise decision. And this also involves listening closely to what other people have to say - including your parents. Even if they're against you doing FTM. You see, in making a decision like this, you want to hear the good as well as the bad. And so you need to find out the reasons behind them being against you doing FTM. Sometimes they may simply be selfish reasons. But sometimes they may have actually observed things about you that you need to pay attention to.
And so when it comes to telling your parents that you're thinking about FTM, here are three important things you can do.
There is a fourth thing that you can do to help your parents along - although you will not be able to do it directly. However, it can make a big difference, particularly for Christian parents! But more on that next time...
[ PS: check out a related post from 1st January about the relationship between parents and children! ] 10/17/2006 Talking to parents about full time ministry - IBut you just know your Asian parents are going to be dead against it! You have this inkling feeling that what they really want for you is for you to be a wealthy and successful doctor, or business person... and your news will be like a knife to their heart!
Well, you're not alone. At the recent Asian Challenge Conference held at Meroo, those who were in full time ministry, studying at Bible college, or in ministry apprenticeships were invited to come up onto the stage and indicate how their parents responded to them deciding to pursue full time ministry.
Here a graph of how many sets of parents fell into each category at the conference:
These are parents of ABCs and ARCs. As you can see, the parents responded in very different ways - from an excited "Praise the Lord!", to resignation, to obvious disappointment, and even to literally hitting the roof! And unfortunately, it wasn't just non-Christian parents who hit the roof...
There is, of course, a good way and a bad way to break the news to your parents, and there'll be more on that next time.
But for now, if you're thinking about full time ministry and you're troubled by the strong reaction of your parents - don't think you're alone. You are not alone. Be assured that others before you have gone on into full time ministry, even though their own parents have "hit the roof"!
[ PS: SCCCA English, in conjunction with Club 5, holds two Challenge nights each year for ABCs and ARCs who're thinking about full time ministry. These are great opportunities to talk about the particular issues that Chinese Christians face - such as parents! ] 10/15/2006 Reverse GarbageThere's this strange little warehouse in the Inner West of Sydney where you can get all kinds of weird stuff that's really useful for ministry. It's called Reverse Garbage (website here) - and they are an outfit from which you can get all sorts of industrial bits and pieces very cheaply.
I primarily use it as my source for rolls of butchers' paper (see picture). I went there the other day to buy a roll for myself, and another roll for church. I use the paper to make charts and to write on for workshops and camps. And at church, those rolls are primarily used by the children's ministry.
The rolls are probably leftover from the printers. The price varies by how much paper is left on the roll - the two rolls I bought on Friday cost me $10.50 and $12.50.
But Reverse Garbage sells a great deal more than just butchers' paper! One section of the warehouse contains a whole bunch of industrial offcasts that you can buy by the bagload. Things like metal offcuts, bits of cardboard, cardboard tubes, plastic cones, spools of thread, scraps of fabric, film canisters, chunks of foam, leather offcuts, plastic tubes, stuffing, machine parts, unwanted shop displays ... a warehouse full of random stuff!
These things can be used for craft for Sunday School, or for a team-building exercise. A large hessian bag filled with everything you can stuff into it will cost you $17.50.
The philosophy behind Reverse Garbage is to decrease the amount of stuff going to landfill by industry, by allowing it to be reused by community groups - a good idea, really. And there are similar outfits in other capital cities.
Sydney's Reverse Garbage is located in a sort of community centre at 8/142 Addison Road, Marrickville NSW 2204. Their phone number is 02 9569 3132. It's pretty easy to get to, and you'll find a carpark in the complex. But if you don't want to make the trip out to Marrickville, you can also shop online at their online store here. They'll send you out bags of stuff (or even rolls of paper) if you're willing to pay for postage.
So now you know about Reverse Garbage - a great ministry resource!
[ PS: why not bring a group along to check out the place? ] 10/13/2006 How to torpedo your ministryYou might be a top-notch Bible teacher, a highly organised ministry leader, and all the rest of it. But if you drop the ball here, that's it for your ministry! And I know of cases where people have torpedoed their own ministry on account of sex - both pre-marital and extra-marital sex! When it happens, it's a terrible thing for that person's ministry, and it's also very damaging for the church that feels betrayed. So don't let it happen to you.
I'm sure it's one of the Evil One's strategies, to take out of play people who might otherwise be very productive in gospel ministry. Some pastors have even shared with me that there are women in their congregation that inexplicably seem intent on having an affair with pastors!
Wise Christian leaders are therefore very aware of the temptation, and put things in place to make sure they don't fall into temptation. When Billy Graham is away from home for ministry, he is said to always request a twin room at his hotels - and he stays with another guy for the sake of mutual accountability. In contrast, other evangelists who haven't disciplined themselves have fallen into sexual temptation - and ruined their own ministries. And it's not just televangelists - a couple of weeks ago I even met someone whose job it was to travel around to Aussie churches where pastors had been involved in sexual misconduct, and fix up the mess!
So if you're going out with someone, and involved in ministry - take care that your passions do not overtake you. Have explicit rules between the both of you about what is, and is not appropriate. Have someone the both of you can talk to and be accountable to about your relationship. Meet up in public places, avoid being together in private.
[ PS: any other tips you can share on being careful while going out? ] 10/11/2006 Going out with non-ChristiansI know that having a boyfriend or a girlfriend is a very exciting thing, and you really want to be part of that special club. You long to have someone that you can call on the phone any time of the day or night and talk about nothing. You long to have someone you can go to the movies with. You long to have someone to share your life with!
1. Going out with non Christians - and your spiritual life
But that longing can become dangerous... Don't let your desire for a boyfriend or girlfriend become so great that you would do anything to get one -- you would even go out with a non-Christian! This is dangerous, because once you become romantically involved with someone, it's very hard to pull back. You will not listen to reason from even your closest friends. You will not listen to reason even if someone shows you it from the Bible.
As a Christian, you are now owned by God. He has bought you with the precious blood of his Son Jesus Christ. And he now wants you to serve him with your thoughts, desires and actions. But you threaten this when you start going out with a non Christian. The danger is that in your relationship the values that are common between you are no longer Christian values.
Maybe they're a nice boy or a nice girl, well behaved and all that. But they are not out to glorify God in all they think, and say and do. And over time, you will find yourself giving up in this area and the next area and the next area to pleasing your boyfriend or girlfriend.
2. Going out with non Christians - and God's plan for marriage Someone will say, "show me in the Bible where it says you shouldn't be going out with a non Christian." Well, there is no such verse. This is because 'going out' is a modern-day practice, and you won't find it in the Bible. You see, in Bible times marriages were arranged by families, they didn't go out with each other beforehand! That's why there's little treatment about the practice of 'going out'.
However the Bible does talk a lot about marriage. And here, the Bible's very clear: if you are going to get married, don't get married to an unbeliever...
Now as far as 'going out' is a prelude to marriage, it's therefore a foolish idea. You shouldn't marry a non Christian, and if 'going out' is a prelude to that, well, you shouldn't be doing that either.
You see, Christian husbands and Christian wives are meant to build each other up in the Lord. They support each other as they grow as Christians. But if you marry a non-Christian, you can't expect that they'll be doing that! And from the experience of people who are married to non-Christians, it's not a very easy life. There will be constant differences in values in what you do with money (give to gospel ministry, or go on a skiing holiday), how you raise your kids (teaching them the Bible, or sending them off to piano), evangelising your friends (tell them the gospel, or shut up about it)... there will be buckletloads of conflict in all sorts of areas. As Paul says, what does light have to do with darkness? So don't do it. 3. Going out with non Christians - and evangelism You might think that you can lead your boyfriend/girlfriend to Christ by going out with them. But let me tell you that the numbers are against you! Most people I know who start going out with non Christians - over time, they slowly slip away themselves. You are only fooling youselves, and putting your spiritual life in danger while trying to satisfy your desires.
If you want to see your non Christian friend come to Christ, it's far better to introduce them to someone their own sex who is a Christian, and then not become emotionally involved with them at all. When they are trying to make up their minds whether or not to follow Jesus Christ, the last thing they need is someone that distracts them by talking about a possible relationship! [ PS: here's quite an emotional topic! your views on it? ] 10/9/2006 Why God makes you spiritually dryThe thing about our bodies is that if you want to strengthen your muscles, you actually have to make them do work. And if you want your body to be very strong, you have to put it through lots of pressure. And of course the converse is true as well - if your body does minimal work, then your muscles will atrophy and die, and you will become a weakling.
The modern approach to life is to escape pain, hardships and difficulty at all costs. Labour saving devices (apparently) cut down on our work. Technology (apparently) makes it easier to get things done. Money can be used to get others to do unpleasant things for us. Now this is not to say that we should all be masochists! But compared to other societies and other times, there is something odd about our modern preoccupation of pain avoidance.
However, if you take that approach into the Christian life, you will find that you won't grow very much as a Christian! Because our own comfort takes second place (maybe even third or fourth place) to our growth in godliness and ministry to others.
You see, it is through difficulties that God strengthens us and trains us in godliness. Here is the writer of Hebrews, and listen to how he thinks about the place of hardships.
You can see how this works, can't you? If you are only exercising love in an 'easy' situation where, for example people are pleasant, thankful and reciprocal, you're not going to be all that prepared when real hardships come later on. However if you are having to exercise love in increasingly 'difficult' situations where, for example people are ungrateful, critical and demanding, you will find yourself much better prepared for further hardships. And you will have grown much more as a Christian.
What does all this have to do with spiritual dryness? Spiritual dryness fall under this category of hardship. It certainly isn't pleasant! But when we are serving others and being obedient to God even when we don't feel like it, that's when we are exercising our muscles and growing stronger as Christians.
Earlier this year I wrote about C.S Lewis' book, The Screwtape Letters (see earlier post). In one of Screwtape's 'letters' to Wormwood, he makes an interesting point about spiritual dryness. He writes that God may in fact have a purpose in putting his servants through periods of dryness. The reason? So that we grow to be full of faith and hope and love - even when it's not easy to be all of those things.
When you're spiritually dry, God is not actually far away! He is right there with you, and he is the one making you spiritually dry. He is putting you through his exercise programe, so that you become strong. You do want to be strong, don't you? or is it all about avoiding pain?
[ PS: of course, when you're spiritually dry it might be hard to remember that you are going through God's special training programme. That's why you need the encouragement from other Christians to remind you! ] 10/7/2006 Mission Minded planningIn all of this planning, don't forget the wisdom of Peter Bolt's excellent tool, Mission Minded (pictured below). While churches can sometimes get lopsided in their ministry, Mission Minded reminds us that the church should be pursuing both evangelism and edification.
Peter Bolt breaks down evangelism into four sub-categories:
And edification is similarly broken down into three sub-categories:
Mission Minded encourages people to list down all the activities of a church or ministry (or even just your Bible study group), and then to put down which category it falls into. And very quickly, you can see whether your ministry is edification-heavy and evangelism-light. And not only that, it highlights the choke points - those aspects of evangelism (say) that your church is inordinately light on. For instance, your ministry might do a lot of evangelistic events, but have nothing that provides a point of initial contact with newcomers. And once you've done that analysis for your ministry, it helps you see what kinds of things you need to add, and which activities we can cut back on. It also forces us to consciously think: how will this new activity fit in to our overall purpose as God's church?
The tool can also be used to highlight the areas we're weak on in reaching and edifying different sub-groups. And so you could plot all the things that cater to young families, or the middle aged people in our congregation - and discover the gaps in your planning.
Sometimes churches can get caught up in maintaining our ministries (or even maintaining our building) - and so lose sight of our real mission. Mission Minded was first published way back in 1992, but it's still a very useful resource for planning your ministry!
[ PS: there is also a separate category for 'support ministries' - those things that enable the evangelism and edification of the church to go ahead - important, as it puts those things in their proper perspective! ] 10/5/2006 More than thankfulnessThis motivation for godliness comes from outside of us - it's a transactional kind of motivation. And this is not wrong: the Bible does in fact have thankfulness as a motivation for godliness. In Hebrews 11:28 for instance, the writer of Hebrews says that "since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe". There you can see that thankfulness leads naturally to a proper worship of God.
However in the New Testament our motivation for godliness is not merely due to thankfulness. In fact, it is very seldom due to thankfulness! When the New Testament talks about why we should live a godly life, it almost always has to do with the kind of people that we now are, because of Jesus Christ. Instead of a transactional motivation, this is an ontological motivation - one based on our new being. And this is a much more powerful motivation for godliness.
At our Bible study this week we looked at the second half of Romans 13. And there Paul gives us a reason for godly Christian living (in this case, it's about loving others). And surprise surprise, it's not to do with thankfulness! Instead, it has to do with the kind of people we've now been made to be - our ontology!
In Romans 13, Paul is telling us that Jesus will return on the 'day' to bring salvation. And the reason we live a godly Christian life is because we are 'daytime' people. We belong to the 'daytime', and not the 'darkness'. That is our new being, our new identity. And so it's only appropriate that we start living like 'daytime' people, and stop living like 'darkness' people. In terms of clothing, it's about taking off the 'night time' clothes, and putting on the clothes appropriate for the 'day' that is about to dawn!
To illustrate this for our Bible study, I found a picture of a guy in pyjamas, and another picture of people around a table dressed in business clothing - and I 'photoshopped' them together. For your viewing pleasure, here is the fruit of my labour:
The pyjama-wearing man is very out of place at the table - he is not prepared for the day that has dawned. The others, though, have put off the things that belong to the 'darkness', and they have prepared themselves for the 'day'. Ontology: they know that they are daytime people ... and so they behave like it. It's the appropriate thing to do.
The problem with thankfulness is that we have to drive it with our emotions. And while you might certainly feel a strong and passionate sense of thankfulness at one point in time, you may not always have that same strength of emotion. What then of your godly living? And godliness then becomes driven by feelings of guilt instead - because we know we should be feeling thankful, but we just don't feel all that thankful right now!
Thankfulness is a biblical motivation for godliness - but in the New Testament we are encouraged to press on in godliness more on the basis of who we now are, in the Lord Jesus Christ.
10/3/2006 Church and politicsThe SMH reports that Mr Rudd has written a 5000 word essay on the topic in October's issue of The Monthly magazine, calling on churches to "fearlessly speak truth to the state." Mr Rudd is quoted as saying that "It's not OK to go to church on Sunday and be unconcerned about social justice on Monday."
This is not something new for Mr Rudd - late last year he delivered an address on this very topic at the 2005 New College Lecture Series on Church and State (you can read his talk here). In that address he said that "if the churches are not allowed to participate in the great debates about the values that ultimately underpin our society and our polity, then we have reached a very strange place indeed."
Now cynics will see it as an attempt to score points with churches, and get the Christian vote in the lead up to the next federal election. And maybe that's part of the motivation.
However, Mr Rudd is right in arguing that Christians do have something valuable and unique to say to the wider community. After all in the Bible God has revealed the true nature and purpose of creation. And from the solid foundation of revelation, Christians are able to build a robust account of what is ultimately 'good' for society.
Secular humanists, greenies and other groups will also be arguing for their own conception of what is 'good' for society - but by and large these are grounded on much shakier foundations. They'll based merely on populism ('what our constituents want'), or rationalism ('what seems decent') - and maybe this seems fair enough. But remember that the Bible also tells us that human sin even affects the mind - and so we cannot ultimately trust the goodness of human reason.
The American principle of separation of church and state was intended to allow people freedom to pursue the truth without external coercion. However it has become misunderstood and misapplied, as if we must remove all religious belief from our discussion on what is the 'good' for society. What rubbish!
This is why Mr Rudd is right: Christians do have a special role to "fearlessly speak truth to the state." They may not listen, and may in fact hate us for speaking truth - but so what?
I think though, that most Chinese Christians aren't very interested in politics at all. When we do vote, we primarily vote on selfish terms - which party will give us a lower interest rate, which party will ensure more in our paycheck at the end of the month. This is a shameful situation! Instead, Christians should be intelligent participants in society. We should engage our theology when we vote and when lobby our MPs!
[ PS: if you remember, this whole issue came up earlier this year regarding the abortion drug RU-486, with senators seeking to exclude Health Minister Tony Abbott from the debate because of his religious belief. ] |
|
|
