2010: Living the Glory of Christmas
“There were shepherds . . . the glory of the Lord shone around them . . . But the angel said to them . . . ‘To you– is born this day . . . a Savior’. . . So they hurried off and found . . . the baby lying in the manger.” Luke 2:8-14
We can find within the traditional Christian calendar used in the more historic churches as well as in the worship of the ancient churches, a profound understanding that the spirit of Christmas ought to help us begin every new year with a renewed vision of God’s glory—which is the true glory of Christmas.
First off, for the believer, Christmas is not just a celebration of Jesus’ birth on earth but a celebration of His birth in our hearts. And that having been born in us even also as a seed, He lives in us for this reason: that we may be restored to His likeness. It is this very work of Christ in us that partly defines the glory of Christmas. Christ is born in our hearts for far much more than to bring us into heaven. He is born in us to unite us to Himself, that we also manifest His likeness and hence the glory of God.
It is for this reason that right after Christmas comes the season of Epiphany: the beginning of every new year, is a season of Epiphany! Epiphany means, “appearance;” epiphany means the manifestation of Christ. Until Christ again, bodily returns to earth when we shall see Him in His resurrected body, he is now primarily manifest when His likeness is manifest through humans who offer their lives to him for this very purpose: to be an “epiphany” of Christ.
When we can see in the weakness of human flesh, the glory of God, it is then we see an epiphany of Jesus. It is then we encounter a living manifestation of the life of Jesus, changing a person from the likeness of Adam and into the likeness of Christ.
So the question we must ask ourselves is this: would we like to begin the new year with an “epiphany” of Christ in us? Do we want to see in the new year, a new manifestation of His life in us? Would we like to let others see this manifestation of Jesus? Because when they do, then we are sharing the hope of the world through our very life.
So let again revisit the story of Christmas, and again reflect on the glory of Christmas. All over the world, it is common for homes to put up brightly lit, tinsel-covered, glorious Christmas trees, and brightly coloured lights and candles and decorations. Perhaps in some way, all this is part of what we call the “glory of Christmas.”
But let us also be mindful that the true glory of the first Christmas, is not in these things. It’s not in the “Christmas tinsel.” The true glory of Christmas is rather found in things very plain, simple, and humble. Now Christmas is about how God came down, and lived among us. But how far did He come down? It’s an important question, because in Jesus, we see God for who He is.
How far down did He come?
- I. HE CAME ALL THE WAY DOWN.
In a small village, He was born in poverty and scandal. The son of a teenage peasant girl named Mary. She was pregnant, but not married! Her protruding belly branded her— an adulteress. For her husband to be— was not His natural father! Yet the day came, Jesus was born! In an animal stable. They laid Him in a manger, a feeding trough for donkeys! So the air smelled with urine and donkey dung.
First to greet Jesus’ birth were the shepherds. These were not white haired clean-cut looking Kiwi sheep herders. They were rough, smelly, and dirty. Most were not, morally upright people. I sought to identify a “functional equivalent” for these shepherds— to help us reflect, on who they might be, in our setting. But not wanting to offend anyone, I’ll suggest: you imagine who might fill that role. But I would say: the kind of places they would frequent may be similar to what we have here in the Geylang area! Living in dormitories or one-room rented flats.
Most of these shepherds were not out looking for God. They were neither pious, nor devoutly religious people. Yet to them the angels came, and proclaimed: “To you! Is born this day . . . a Savior, who is the Messiah.”
Then Jesus grew up. In a “kampong,” called Nazareth. It was so bad, they used to say, “Could anything good, come out of Nazareth?” Nazareth was in Galilee. 95% of Galileans were poor. Jesus was one of them, and became a carpenter. Then at age 30 He one day went into the Synagogue, and proclaimed: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me, to bring good news to the poor. . . to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
Then for the final three years of His life, He ministered to His fellow Galileans. He never wrote a book. He never held a political office. He never owned a home. He lived on handouts. Except for Jerusalem, He never visited the big cities. He had no credentials but Himself. But He attracted all kinds of people. The poor, the rich. Prostitutes. Political revolutionaries. Religious people. Political leaders. But above all, the oppressed and downtrodden. Everyone invited him for dinner. He enjoyed a good meal, with just about anyone!
But public opinion turned against Him. Threatened by His revolution, the leaders sought to kill Him. His followers left Him. They nailed Him to a cross, between two thieves. He died disgraced, in total shame.
20 centuries have come and gone. Yet today He is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected humanity on this earth, as much as that one solitary life.
He is the true King of Heaven and Earth. In Him, the Kingdom of God has come. One day the kingdoms of this world shall cease, but His kingdom shall never end. When He first came, there was no room in the inn. But when He comes again, the whole world will not be able to contain His glory.
The greatest event in human history was the birth of Jesus Christ. This event divided history, into two parts: before and after Christ! The creator of all things, shrank Himself down. so small, as to become a single fertilised egg. And we “beheld His glory!” This– is the glory of Christmas.
“He made Himself nothing.” He “emptied Himself” of all His glory. Why? To show us, what He is like! That God– is humble! He is approachable! He is touched by our suffering! He is giving! “He is the image of the invisible God!”
Yet there’s more! For in Him, we now see– our true humanity! He became like us, that we might become like Him! He is not only the image of God— He is the image of the perfect man, and woman. If you’re a Christian, He is the image of what God re-making you and I to become. He is changing us into His likeness. Therefore, He says to you and I:
- II. GO AND DO LIKEWISE!
All through the Gospels, that’s the word Jesus keeps speaking to us: “Go, and do likewise! He says, “This is how I’ve lived my life. Put your feet in my footsteps, and follow me!” People were asking Jesus, “Who is my neighbour? Who do I show kindness to?” And He said, “All people. Rich or poor. Every skin colour. Locals. Foreigners. Whatever you think their sin is, it’s not the issue: be a neighbour. And make sure you be a neighbour to people you tend to despise. These especially, are your neighbours.” “Come down! Go, and do likewise!”
The other day, I was boarding the LRT in Sengkang. I was behind the yellow line, waiting for passengers to exit. But there were these “China” foreign workers blocking the entrance, positioning themselves to be “first” inside the coach. Since I was doing the “right thing,” I gave a “look,” to let them know, they were doing the wrong thing! But the Lord spoke to me. And I realised that, these are foreigners; they don’t know all the “rules,” but God loves them. What they need is kindness, and forbearance; not correction. Anyone can judge! But are you willing to die for them? Jesus was, and He did. “Go and do likewise!”
Last week we met a Taiwanese woman at a coffee shop. We talked for over an hour. She’s been here for about two years, and suffering from culture shock. She said we were the nicest people she’s met since coming here. But I know she’s suffering culture shock. Are we sensitive to these “strangers” in our midst?
Now let’s reflect on the situation here in the Geylang area. Let’s evaluate our perspectives. Because, if we compare Geylang to Shenton Way, there’s the probability that there is a whole lot more “sin” going on in Shenton Way than in Geylang. Why? Because throughout those tall buildings is marital adultery, fornication, lying, stealing, cheating, backstabbing, politicking, slander and malice! Those things are just not as visible.
Geylang is more like an open wound, caused by the sickness of our whole world. But by sheer geography, this community comprises, “our neighbours.” And because we’re bound to “bump” into people who are different, Jesus says, “Go, and do likewise.”
We are also surrounded by people of other religious persuasions. But they are not spiritual “competitors,” or “enemies.” They are also, our “neighbours.” How we understand people, determines how we treat them. Do we see them as so depraved they deserve our contempt, or as people whom God loves?
How are we postured to people who are “not like us?” Who are “different from us? Not as “prim and proper” as us? But we’re all, “diamonds in the rough.” For inside the heart of every person, lies a “spark” of God’s glory! That’s why we’re “redeemable. That’s why we matter to God. So we’re called not to judge but to see people through Christ’s eyes.
Over these past days, I felt the Lord impress me with this thought: Revival in this church is linked to how deeply in our heart, we’re willing to embrace this community.
Because, for however long it may be— this church, like other churches here, is for this moment, God’s hope for this area. God sometimes keeps a person or people in a certain place until lessons are learned that He wants to teach in that place. So therefore, “for such a time as this,” this part of the land, of the “good earth,” is part of the “pasture,” for this church.
It is part of the “pasture” where the “shepherd,” meaning this church, has to “be a neighbour,” to the lost sheep. I’m not talking about going out and “witnessing.” I am rather referring to our posture towards “our neighbors.” The posture of our heart towards people who are different from us, especially people we tend to brand as depraved, “immoral,” or of a different religious persuasion, or simply find different from us. The problem, is not what’s “out there, around us. It’s here, in our heart. It’s our posture to human beings— created in the image of God.
So that when opportunity arises, we are kind, and what is manifest is not “judgment,” or irritation, but the warmth of Christ. That’s what it means to be a “Christian:” a little “christ,” a disciple of Jesus Christ. That to all men, and all women, the warmth and love of Christ is manifest. I would challenge us that for 2010, let’s strive not to be all the more known for Christianity. But rather to be known as “Christ-like.”
- III. AND HE SHALL LIFT YOU UP.
Humble yourselves and He shall lift you up! Become a magnetic house of healing! Jesus said, “When you give a banquet, do not invite your friends . . . or rich neighbors,” or anyone who can repay you. But rather, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed!” (Luke 14:12-14).
You set your self to become a “different kind” of church. A magnetic house of healing. A church without walls. Let your fruit “hang over the walls,” for the poor in the land. Don’t worry about not attracting the right kind of people you’d like to bring here, to these premises. But become a “magnetic house of healing,” and God will fill the church. He fill it, if we’re open to all kinds of people who healing. And along the way, God will send a few rich people along the way also, because there are some who’d believe and be attracted to what your doing.
If you embrace the whole community with all you heart, be a neighbour to this whole community, “You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. . . . you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” (Isaiah 58:11-12)
- He came all the way down.
- Go and do likewise.
- And He shall lift you up.
Monte Lee Rice (December 2009)
The Christmas miracle
“’You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you . . . And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son . . . for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’” (Luke chapter 2)
God favours those who are barren, yet open to His Word.
Hear the angel’s word: “Mary . . . you have found favour with God. . . . you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” The virgin Mary conceived. The life of Jesus came incarnate within the darkness of her womb; into the “darkness of human impossibility!”
Scripture is full of stories, where God opens closed wombs. Only God brings life to closed wombs. And a woman’s womb reminds us that in the darkness of human desolation, God gives life (Ps 139:13). It is the miracle of Genesis, of creation, of new beginnings in Jesus Christ. And so for us, a pattern was established. Mary became a model disciple of the Lord. And she anticipated this; spilling forth the Magnificant, “My soul magnifies the Lord . . . for . . . surely from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has ‘magnified’ me!”
- 1. Rest in the knowledge you are highly favoured by God.
If you are in Christ, you also are “highly favoured.” You are “beloved of the Lord!” People may forget you, but God remembers you. He knows where you are. He knows how you are. God knows your name, and He knows your number. And God has His timing.
- 2. Rest in God’s “timing.”
There are times in the human predicament that a “womb” is closed.
Are you trapped by circumstances with no exit sign? In prison, Joseph had no network. But Joseph knew God. In the Judean hills David had no network. But he knew God. Moses had a network; then he lost it. But in the desert he found God. Job had a network; but it was taken from him. Yet Job found God. “Come,” he says, “and I will teach you about the hand of God.” Paul too lost his network. But in the desert, he too found God. In the desert, Mary knew God. No doubt all these people wondered about God. No doubt they wondered if they knew God.
But in the silence of the “womb” of human impossibility, they learned God. And all these people were “highly favoured” by the Lord.
Where are you in God’s timing?
Mary was in a village, in the outback of the Judean desert. They used to say, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Mary had no network. There were surely days that she and Joseph could not even afford a net, a fishing net. They were flat broke!
But God sent His angel to the village . . . and the angel said, “Greetings favoured one! The Lord is with you!” Mary did have a network after all, a friend in high places- the highest place! Mary knew God.
- 3. Be ready for God’s timing.
Are you open to the timing of God? Are you open to the fullness of God? At first Mary tried to reason it all out. She asked the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Mary knew she had no relations yet with Joseph. Mary is just like the rest of us, walking around the altar with this little “scientist” in us, trying to figure out God with our little mental “microscopes.”
Now Mary was also just a little teenage kampong girl. She probably didn’t even know how to read or write. She learned the Scriptures by hearing and singing! But the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you . . . For nothing is impossible with God.” Somehow, perhaps because Mary was in the desert was learning God, she received the word of the Lord. And she opened herself up to the Spirit of God, and the word of the Lord. “I am the servant of the Lord,” she cried out, “let it be to me according to your word.”
Down through the epochs of Scripture, God sometimes “opens wombs.” There are times when God shows up. . . a serendipity surprises us! And life is born in the “darkness of human impossibility!” But will you be ready for God’s visitation? Are you ready for His timing?
Rest in God’s “timing,” and be ready for His timing.
- 4. Open your self to God’s fullness.
“In the fullness of time,” God opened Mary’s womb. That kairos moment was in the sixth month after God also opened Elisabeth’s womb, previously barren in her old age. God has His time.
Finally, Mary was open to fullness of God. She was open to His fullness because she was open to the possibilities of God who out of darkness, brings forth new life.
But if we are open to God’s fullness, we have to open His way. His way may require our willingness to look foolish in the eyes of the world. Mary looked foolish because for several months she was pregnant though her marriage to Joseph wa not yet formalized and consummated. Some thought she was an adulteress.
But Mary restined in the knowledge that she was highly favoured by God. She rested in God’s timing. She rested in God’s ways. She readied herself for God’s timing. And she was open for God’s fullness. In spite of all the possible and probable shame and misunderstanding that were to come upon her, she said to the Lord, “Be it unto me, according to your Word.”
Someone asked a historian if he could briefly summarise the lessons of history. He said he could, in four sentences. Here is his last sentence: “When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” Time now for a worn cliché: “Let go and let God.”
There you are. A barren womb. The despair of human impossibility. You have been there and done that. Yet God can speak a word to you, a word that brings seed and life to your “womb of human impossibility.” But can you make this one hard confession? “I let go. God, I let you . . . Be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Good news! God favours underdogs. He came to one, as one Himself. So Mary sang, “He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.”
Some of you know about Evensong. Let me close on the Morning Song: “Be it unto me . . . according to your Word; and there shall be a performance . . . of that which was spoken; for nothing is impossible with God.”
Martin Luther’s doctrine of love, suffering, faith and true ministers of God’s Word
“Now it it not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty, unless he recognizes him in the humility and shame of the cross.”
(Martin Luther, Luther’s Works XXXI, 52; Heidelberg Disputation, par 20)
“That person does not deserve to be called a theologian who looks upon the invisible things of God as if it were clearly perceptible in those things which have actually happened. . . . He deserves to be called a theologian however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.“
(Luther’s Works, XXXI, 52; Heidelberg Disputation pars 19, 20)
THEOLOGIES OF GLORY VERSUS THE TRUE THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS
In April 1518 Martin Luther traveled to Heidelberg in order to attack what he identified as a wrong kind of thinking about God and a wrong kind of thinking about the Christian’s relation and faith in God. This wrong kind of thinking Luther called a “theology of glory.”
This event when Luther attacked this wrong kind of thinking about Christian life and faith, is called the Heidelberg Disputation. Luther delivered this lecture about six months after he nailed his Ninety-five Thesis on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, thus igniting the Protestant Reformation. During this lecture, Luther contrasted “theologies of glory” with the true “theology of the cross,” which underlies his entire outlook on the Christian life, and how he understood God’s involvement in the Christian’s life.
THE WRONGNESS OF ALL THEOLOGIES OF GLORY
According to Luther, “theologies of glory” encourage Christians to seek “God in heaven,” but not in and through the “sufferings” of this present world.
Christians who embrace nothing but a “theology of glory” are according to Luther, like Moses who said to God, “Show me your glory” (Ex 33:18-23). These kinds of theologies only seek to know God in his majesty, as He is in heaven.
Christians who are entrapped by this false “theology of glory” imagine that the best of God’s works, or even more so, God’s works altogether are thus always beautiful, fine, attractive. But Luther taught that the in fact, God’s works are directly the opposite. For God in fact will make us “nothing” and even “stupid” if that is what it take to reveal His true love to us (LW, XXXI, 33, HDT, par 4).
But these Christians who can only embrace a “theology of glory” are those who have forgotten God’s reply to Moses, telling him he is to rather see His “backside.” That reply according to Luther, is what he calls, the “theology of the cross.” Christians are to therefore rather focus in this present life, on finding God in the things that are lowly, despised, weak, foolish, and rejected.
Hence, Luther wrote, “Now it not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty, unless he recognizes him in the humility and shame of the cross.” (Martin Luther, Luther’s Works XXXI, 52; Heidelberg Disputation, par 20)
THE ROOT OF THEOLOGIES OF GLORY IS NOT GOD’S LOVE BUT HUMAN LOVE
Luther taught that the root of this false “theology of glory” is not God’s kind of live but “human love.” In contrast to God’s love, human love is essentially selfish and seeks only one’s own best interests but not the interest of others.
According to Luther, this perverted kind of love makes people incapable of receiving God’s grace (LW, XXXI, 57, HDT, par 28). Moreover, Luther believed that this “human love” causes people to love only that which they can immediately enjoy.
Much of Luther’s lecture at Heidelberg consisted of this contrast between God’s love and human love. Luther’s main point was that, “The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it. The love of man comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.” (LW, XXXI, 57).
Luther thus pointed out that the flaw of human love is that it is basically passive rather than active. It constantly seeks to receive rather than give out.
Human love therefore results in covetousness. People who are thus preoccupied with receiving, are basically receivers and not givers. Yet God is a giver, and his entire aim towards us in Christ is to transform us into givers.
Amongst Christians, all works that are prompted by this “human love” are “deadly sins” (LW, XXXI, 43, 45 HDT, par 28). And amongst Christians, a main symptom of these sins is perverted love, which is caused by not having a fear in God (LW, XXXI, 47, HDT, par 8.)
THE TRUE THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS
In contrast to this wrong “theology of glory,” Luther called Christians to embrace the true theology, which is the “theology of the cross.” Comprehending the “theology of the cross,” begins by asking God to remove from us that root of “human love,” and replace it with God’s kind of love; namely, “God’s love.”
“God’s love,” said Luther, seeks not one’s own interest but the interests of others. It is love “born of the cross.” It is therefore a “love of the cross.” It “turns in the direction where it does not find good which it may enjoy but where it may confer good upon the bad and the needy person.” (LW, XXXI, 57, HDT, par 28.)
Luther went on to say that without the true eye of faith, it is impossible for Christians to perceive and discern the true works of God. Without the eye of faith, Christians perceive God’s works as “unattractive” and “evil.” (LW, XXX, HDT, par 3)
Luther went on to teach alongside this “theology of the cross,” the “theology of paradoxes.” By the “theology of paradoxes,” Luther meant that sometimes God works in us by forgiving us and encouraging us, but sometimes He works in us by putting us down, by taking away our hope, and by leading us into desperation (LW, XIV, 95).
For this reason, Luther wrote, “You [God] exalt us when you humble us. You make us righteous when you make us sinners. . . . You grant us victory when you cause us to be defended. You give us life when you permit us to be killed” (LW, XIV, 95). Luther went so far as to say that sometimes God allows His works to create bad results (LW, XXXI, 45, HDT, pars 5, 6).
Luther therefore encouraged Christians to look for God’s work in and through whatever suffering might fall upon them. Luther therefore wrote, “He, however, who has emptied himself through suffering no longer does work but knows that God works and does all things in him. For this reason, whether God does works or not, it is all the same to him. He neither boast if he does good works, nor is he disturbed if God does not do good works through him. He knows that is sufficient of he suffers and is brought low by the cross in order to be annihilated all the more.” (LW, XXXI, 55).
Faith in God thus involves faith in God when the natural circumstances contradict God’s love towards us. So Luther wrote concerning the promises of God, “Faith is holding fast to the deep and hidden ‘yes’ under and above the ‘no’ by firmly trusting God’s Word.” (LW, XVII, 203; German/Latin translation).
Luther continues to teach that to see God at work through our sufferings requires a revelation birthed by the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit can grant us “faith” in God’s hidden work through suffering. So Luther wrote, “No one can correctly understand God or His Word, unless he has received such understanding from the Holy Spirit. But no one can receive it from the Holy Sprit without experiencing, proving, and feeling it” (LW, XXI, 299).
A TRUE THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS REVEALS GOD’S LOVE
Because Luther preached that God only works in us through this theology of the cross, Luther characterized the church as a hospital for the incurably sick. As Chrstians, our life in the hospital is that as “ministers” to one another. We therefore cannot live for ourselves but rather, in Christ, “Every man is created and born for others” (LW, XVI, 346; German/Latin translation).
Therefore Luther said that if we do not use everything we have to serve our neighbour, we rob him of what we owe him according to God’s will (LW, XXXII, 224). But, “Since Christ lives in us through faith . . . He arouses us to do good works which He does as the fulfillment of the commands of God given us through faith” (LW, XXXI, 56, HDT, par 27).
GOD’S LOVE IS EVIDENCED NOT BY RECEIVING BUT BY GIVING
According to Luther, to know that Christ lives in us, ought to lead us to primarily lead us to only one practical implication: that He is in us that we might be a “Christ” to others.
This is precisely Luther’s comment and reading of Galatians 2:19-20, where Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”
If our focus is correctly on allowing God to replace our “human love” with His love, then we are simply not preoccupied with receiving things from God to use for our own pleasure.
Rather, recognizing we are “ministers” in God’s “hospital, our concern is on becoming a “Christ” to others. This is Luther’s understanding of what it means to live in union with Christ; to be indwelt by the Spirit of Christ.
For this reason, Luther wrote, “Surely we are named after Christ not because he is absent from us, but because he dwells in us; that is, because we believe in him are ‘Christs’ to one another and do to our neighbors as Christ does to us.” (LW, XXXI, 368).
I gathered these extracts from Luther’s writings from an Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen’s article, “Theology of the Cross: A Stumbling Block to Pentecostal/Charismatic Spirituality?”
Kärkkäinen offers some closing reflections:
1. God’s love seek out the weak things to make them new.
“For Luther, God’s love means . . . loving something . . . that exists in weakness and shame, in order to make it something new. That is what it means to be God: to create something out of nothing.
Evangelical theology in general and Pentecostal/charismatic in particular has not paid much attention to the category of love, but rather has focused on the grace of God. Luther’s theology of love, combined with the biblical . . . view of God’s passionate love, could help evangelical to say something [more] worthwhile about agape.
2. Faith is proved when our hands are empty but our hearts are full.
Luther’s theology of the cross takes suffering and death seriously, so seriously that it also takes hope seriously: it is constitutive of God to make new life out of death, out of nihil.
The concept of ‘faith’ also has to be critically scrutinized by Pentecostals/charismatics. . . . there is reservation in talking about faith as an ‘empty hand’ (George Muller) that reaches to God and his mercy. Faith is not so much needed when one sees God’s miracles; faith is needed when we are facing the dark side of life . . .
3. The church is not a showplace for the successful but a hospital for the suffering and needy.
And finally . . . another lesson to learn from Luther: the church is not a showplace for the successful but a hospital for the suffering and needy!”
Extracted from:
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, “Theology of the Cross: A Stumbling Block to Pentecostal/Charismatic Spirituality?” The Spirit and Spirituality: Essays in Honour of Russell P. Spittler, eds. Wonsuk Ma and Robert P. Menzies (New York, NY; London, UK: T & T International, 2004).
“Freely you received, freely give.”
These are some thoughts on celebrating Christmas. But even more, these are thoughts reflecting how the true spirit of Christmas ought to posture our journey in and through the new year.
Jesus said, “Freely you received, freely give.” God gives that we may give as He gives. God freely gives but always with the purpose of changing us. God freely gives, but He does not give just to bless; He gives to invest in the growth of whatever He blesses with His gifts.
Jesus did not die on the cross for our sins, so that we can go to heaven when we die. The Bible does not teach that; at least not in quite that perspective. Rather, our eternal livelihood in God’s presence is a by-product of a greater purpose God has designed towards us. For what the Bible teaches is that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so that He may restore us into His likeness.
This Christmas, let us be mindful that God is greater than Santa Clause and nothing like Santa Claus. Contrary to the ill-fated beliefs of far too many Christians today, God does not freely give to us, without seeking a change in us. He does not freely give to us just to make us happy and affirm us as His children. God does not freely give in order to solve all our problems, fulfill all our desires, and make feel good and happy. This kind of thinking is pure delusion and a very poor and very wrong image of God and His blessings. This whole mindset misses the greater nature, power and purpose of God the giving God; of God who freely gives because He is the Most Moved Giver.
A helpful contemporary metaphor to describe God in His giving to us, is the idea of an “angel investor,” but in the best sense of the word. God graces us with His gifts because He finds all of us to be a worthy investment of His grace. This is partly what the Bible means by “redemption.”
God finds us humans redeemable for one reason: He created us in His likeness. So He has staked His very existence in fact, to secure our redemption. He has redeemed us, for one reason: to restore all things back to their original purpose. It does not matter how far we have strayed from the divine purpose. In all our sins, we are redeemable.
“He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.” (James 1:18). A Santa Claus god gives so that we can have and enjoy things. But the true God freely gives so that we can become joyful givers, passing down all that he passes down to us.
God give so that hopefully, we become something like God: a gracious person endowed with the supernatural capacity to freely and joyfully give to whomever lacks the “gift” we receive from God.
Every gift that God bestows upon us has a prophetic purpose. Every gift God freely gives us is divinely purposed to produce a change in our wicked heart. And the evidence of that change is how well we also become endowed with the grace of giving.
As He restores us into His likeness, we become ambassadors of heaven. As ambassadors of heaven, we give as God has given to us, and still gives to us. Everything passes down from the Father to us, so that we become channels of His blessing.
Whatever God gives us, if we give it away, especially as an investment in others, our act of giving will last forever. But whatever God gives us, if we keep it only to our self, it will soon pass away; it will not last into eternity. The time will come when whatever gifts we have received but failed to somehow pass on to others, those gifts will rot; they will burn, they will pass away.
There are acts we do however, which can last forever. What lasts for eternity is the motive and purity behind every gift and blessing we pass on to others.
As “calculating” humans who are still growing in the ways of Jesus, we may question the effectiveness of what we give. We may regret what we have given because we perceive our “gifts” have been ill planned, squandered, or have not resulted in the desired fruit or long-term outcome.
So we must remind ourselves that what will last forever, is the purity of our act; the purity of our giving. If we freely give in pure gratitude for what God has freely given us, our action—our act of giving, will last forever.
What can we give?
We can give our time; we can give our material possessions; we can give expertise. We can give our gifts; we can pass down and on, what has been passed down to us. We can give grace. We can give forbearance. We can give forgiveness. We can give others the benefit of the doubt.
We can give our selves to creating goods, services and technologies that may not make us rich but will make the world a better place, especially for those who have less than us. We can give our excess away.
Who should we give?
We should give to everyone, but especially to those who cannot pay us back. So we should foremost give to the poor, to children, to the elderly, to the widows, to the broken, to the destitute. We should give to those who have broken the law and suffered for their transgressions. We should give everyone who needs a second chance, and to everyone who need a new lease in life. This is what the Bible means by preaching the “Year of the Lord,” the acceptable year of the Lord;” the year of Jubilee.
And may I say to my Pentecostal brothers and sisters, and also to my Charismatic brethren who value manifestations of God’s Spirit through the miraculous, to give freely give largely sums up the meaning of Pentecost, because Pentecost is the beginning of the year of Jubilee; the Age of the Spirit; the Age of God’s prophetic people. If we presume we are full of the Spirit and speak in tongues but find it hard to free give or freely forgive, we had better reflect if we are living out the year of Jubilee. What we might really be living out is just remnants of a once great move of God’s Spirit in our life.
How should we give?
We give without expecting anything in return. We freely give because we have freely received. But we can hope and pray that whomever we give to will in turn become prompted to also give. We cab hope and pray that to whomever we give, will pass on the grace of giving.
We can hope and pray that whomever we forgive, will likewise forgive someone else.
We can hope and pray that as God’s grace flows through us, so also it will continue to flow through whomever we have freely given.
God is building a new world; He is building a new world out of this present one, which is passing away. Every good thing we do; every pure act that results from encountering God’s grace in our life, will last forever. Every act of kindness will last forever. Every act of charity will endure for all eternity. What we do in life, will indeed last for eternity. That is why the Scripture says, “Let us know become weary in well doing, for in due season we will reap a harvest.
God loves you just as you are. But He loves you too much to leave you as you are. Everything He gives to you, is with the aim of transforming you into His likeness.
So if God has freely given to you, you also must free give, as often as possible, as much as possible, and to as many as possible. For in so doing, you are contributing to the building of a new world, a world built not on wood and straw but a world built on gold and silver; a world built on the foundation of Christ. A new world built upon the very image of God Himself. Freely you have received, freely give.
Postlude:
Some of these thoughts I’ve gleaned from a book I am presently reading by Pentecostal theologian Miroslav Volf, titled, Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005).
In 2006, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, selected this book as the Lenten study book for 2006. Dr Rowan Williams wrote in his “Foreword,” “This is a book about worshiping the true God and letting the true God act in us. . . our knowledge of this true God is utterly bound up with our willingness to receive from the hand of God the liberty to give and forgive. . . I cannot remember having read a better account of what it means to say that Jesus suffered for us, ‘in our place.’”
Here is one Volf’s final reflections, which I find quite stimulating: “Why do we refuse the God-given bridge that would transport us from selfishness to self-giving, from vengeance to forgiveness? That’s a mystery that should make us tremble— tremble before the God who gives to the ungrateful and the God who forgives the ungodly.”
The Supreme Imperative
“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love.”
Human life begins and ends with one imperative: “Deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me.”
The present lack of true revolutionary and spiritual power of far too many churches today stems from our resistance to the radical and total call of Jesus: “Deny yourself and follow me.” Make no mistake about it: The Gospel first begins with the imperative call of Jesus to drop what you are doing and follow Him.
For this reason, you must first build your Christian life on the Gospels and then the rest of the New Testament. This same pattern must remain all the way through until your journey ends into the likeness of God.
First is the Gospel of Jesus, and His call to follow Him. True spiritual life in Christ is a lifelong journey into a new direction. Even more, true spiritual life in Christ, is a constant turning around. Repentance is not one moment in time, but a process of journeying into the likeness of Christ, who is the true image of true humanity.
You can only receive the transformative and indicative nature of true Christian life, by turning to Christ. Yet there are always “new days” when Jesus will come to you in a new way. When this new day dawns and the morning star shines on you, that is a day when Jesus will call out to you, so that again you might turn to Him. But when we turn our hearts to Him on such a day, He then graces us with power to live out new “imperatives” which He reveals to us— new imperatives that characterise His likeness in us.
The imperative of His calling comes then not once but all through life. It comes again and again, on new days that the Lord creates and schedules throughout and into the history of our life. What He says is this, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. “
Such a new day is a day when we see the bush that Moses saw in the desert, which burned but fire does not consumed the bush. It is a new day whereby the Lord says, “Seek me and you will find me.” It is a day that we are to approach Him and present our self to Him.
When that morning comes and He awakens us to this new day, the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.” That is a day when God again calls out to you and asks you to turn around and face Him.
This is why Paul reminds the church in Ephesus, “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” He calls us to approach Him. He calls us to approach Him so that, “he may strengthen” us again with “power through His Spirit.”
The Scripture is not speaking here of realities that were once revealed to us and are forever true; therefore you need only by faith believe in and accept these realities, and now live your Christian life. No, the “indicative’ of the Scripture is rather that God is constantly re-creating the reality of a new day in Christ.
He is always creating a divine moment whereby we will again approach Him. When God orchestrates a new day and the Holy Spirit says, “Today,” then in that moment, Jesus is again calling us to Himself.
On that day when the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear His voice,” He will come again to you so that He “out of his glorious riches, may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” That is a day when Jesus passes by and the power of the Lord is present to heal.
On that day when we approach Him, we again find our self “being rooted and established in love.” It is a revelation by the Spirit of the Living Christ. That is why the apostle prays that we may approach Him, so that we “may have power . . . to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
What the Scripture is illustrating here is an ongoing dialogue between the Lord and us. This dialogue never ends within the present life. It is an “active dialogue.” This is not a one-time dialogue, such as when we first turned to the Lord. It is a dialogue that is renewed in every new turning to the Lord.
It is a dialogue that is renewed whenever we again hear the Spirit say, “Today, if you hear His voice . . . “ If you Hear Him, you will have to drop whatever is in your hands and come to Him. You will have to turn around. You will have to let go. You will have to deny yourself. You will need to turn around and look for the fire in the bush that is not consumed by the fire. You will have to go to an altar, and this the altar that is called the altar of sacrifice. That is the place where God says, “Present yourself to me, a living sacrifice.”
It is then during that moment of turning to the Lord, that the Scripture says, “I urge you then, to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
If Christ is in us, the life we live is lived by faith in Christ; that is why the Scripture says, “it is no longer I but Christ who lives in me.” Yet this truth is not the topic of this verse, “live a life worth of the calling you have received.” Rather this verse says that if the Lord has met you and spoke to you on the day when he says “today, if you hear his voice,” then on that day also, the Scripture says, “I urge you then, to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
On that day, the Lord will again reveal to you the footsteps of Jesus. You again look for those footsteps, and take the first step. You take the first step and you will find the life of Jesus transforming you.
For on the day the Lord comes to you and says present yourself to me, He will then ask you on that day to “put off” something. All through life, there is a stripping down. The act of “putting off” never ends. For all the so-called imperatives in Ephesians chapters 4 to 6 are really not so much “commands” or “imperatives” but are truly examples of many other possible behaviours the Lord will ask us to “put off,” as well as behaviours that on that day, He will ask us to “put on.”
The Christian who lives in the hand of God is truly as an onion that needs to be peeled. The peeling is not without tears. That is why in the midst of so many examples of things that must be “put off,” the Scriptures gives us this most important imperative: “Be filled with the Spirit.” To be filled with the Spirit is not a state of being. It is not an indicative experience. Such erroneous teachings are unfortunately encouraging people that they have no need to stop what they are doing and go to the well to drink from Jesus the baptizer in the Holy Spirit.
Being filled with the Spirit does not mean resting in the Lord, or enjoying the Lord or living right before the Lord. To be filled with the Spirit involves a definitive act of turning to the Lord. What it means is that we are to go to the Lord and ask Him to fill us with the Spirit of God all over again.
Jesus died and rose again that we may drink from the Spirit. He is exalted at the right hand of God for this purpose: to pour forth the Spirit of God upon whomever would call upon Him. He is the Baptiser in the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus comes to us as the Baptiser in the Holy Spirit, we are again filled with the love of God, and it burns like fire. Why is this so? It is so, because God is above all else— love. No other attribute defines the whole essence of God. Love is who God is. When Jesus baptises us afresh in the Holy Spirit, we are baptized afresh in the love of God.
Now when the Lord says to you, “live a life worthy of the calling you received, He also says, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love.” Imitate God and live a life of love.
On that day, the Lord will reveal to you the footsteps of Jesus. You look for those footsteps, and take the first step. You take the first step into the footprint of Jesus. Then you will know it is Jesus who is working in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.
What it means to be “human” / Reflections on the film, 2012
The film 2012 offers some insightful dialogue and illustration on what it means to be a human being. Moreover, my wife and I saw the film a few days ago and found it most entertaining, though the action sequences were often farfetched to the point of hysterics. But again, there are some very insightful themes running through the film which I find that as a Christian, are especially relevant for my Christian brothers and sisters.
Note that while the film does not necessarily convey a Christian perspective towards history, I believe as I have inferred at the onset, that the film convey insights on how we ought to carry ourselves in moments of crises, let alone in the normal events of life for that matter. I thus hope that many Christians, as well as non-Christians, will watch this film in order to reflect on two themes I saw emerging through its plot, both of which I find highly relevant to the age we live in.
An apocalyptic parable on true humanity
Before I introduce these two themes, I should offer a few comments concerning the film’s apocalyptic genre and story line. We can most benefit from the film by interpreting it as simply a parable— though a parable unfolding through a rather unimaginable and horrifying event concerning a cataclysmic reconfiguration of the earth’s crust, which results in the near extinction of human life.
To call the story a parable is to stress how the film depicts an imaginary event yet uses that event to convey, even if quite unintentionally, some very relevant lessons for real life. When we do that, (and again, I am speaking here to my fellow Christians), then there is really no need to focus so much on dismissing the film’s value because of its apocalyptic premise derived from the Mayan Calendar, which presumably concludes that the world may end in the year 2012.
As a further qualification, it is also important to note that in the film, the world does not actually end. The world does undergo a horrific cataclysm created by earth’s crust becoming for a moment in history, unstable. This in turn results in a shifting of the continents and of the north and south poles, and further results in several cataclysmic and global-reaching tsunamis that reach all the way up to Mount Everest. These tsunamis thus destroy most of the earth’s inhabitants, but in the end, a remnant of the human race survives. Moreover, the floodwaters apparently recede, thus marking a new beginning in human history. Hence, the story line roughly echoes the biblical story of Noah and the flood.
Now again, while this scenario may not wholly fall within the images of biblical apocalypticism, I do not find its portrayal of a cataclysmic upheaval capable of seriously threatening life on earth, as wholly impossible. For I believe there is sufficient warrant to surmise that are a number of very possible scenarios also involving the most unmanageable, horrific and cataclysmic destruction which can very well erupt upon the earth and at any moment in human history. We should also keep in mind that for most of history, the human race consisted of less than 200 million people around the globe. Then during the Middle Ages, the Bubonic Plague had in fact wiped out millions of people in Europe and I believe in Northern and Central Asia.
With this mind, the film actually thus becomes deeply relevant to our postmodern age. This is because today we in fact do live in the face of very real and looming apocalyptic threats to our entire earthy existence. This reality thus largely defines the setting that we commonly call the postmodern setting. Postmodernity means to some extent that we have come to realise that there are definitive limitations to what extent modern science and human knowledge can insure our continued survival as a species upon the earth. Modernity preached self-reliance and human ingenuity; it preached the message of self-interest at all costs. However, if now live in an age marked by a deep sense of pessimism towards the future, our pessimism largely stems from realising that in ourselves, we can no longer be certain of anything concerning our future.
We should however also note that there is a more positive element to the postmodern situation. This element is that we have come to recognise that the way forward may come, not from the things we have traditionally trusted in, but rather from the most unlikely places and people. Hence, we should therefore be open to marginalised voices; voices that the majority or the most powerful, or most affluent, have too often marginalised for purposes beneficial to their own security. So with reference to the film 2012, by the time the film ends, the future of humanity becomes located— in the continent of Africa.
As a Christian, I believe the Lord is coming to unite heaven and earth, which will bring about a full renewal of this world, resulting in its complete transformation into a new creation under His complete reign. Yet I am aware that things can potentially become far worse for humanity before they get any better. I have come to realise that if things do get far worse— and I believe they may well in fact eventually get far worse, even to the point of a global-reaching, cataclysmic and utterly complete ecological and financial breakdown, what we may find ourselves suffering under, are the consequences of our own human follies.
Yet in the event of such a possible scenario within human history, and within the possible history that all of us can very well enter into, I want to stress that we as Christians will be called upon to live a life that is counter to the ways of the world. That will be a counter-culture way of life that is wholly expressed through an ethic fully manifesting the charity of Christ, hope is His soon coming, and certainty in the coming establishment of His kingdom upon the earth, which will culminate in the complete union of heaven and earth through the full coming of His kingdom; the kingdom of God.
The true nature of true humanity
Now I will introduce the two themes that I found so vividly illustrated in the film 2012, which together I believe reveal the true nature of true humanity. This true nature of true humanity is therefore our true destiny and calling as human beings upon the face of the earth, both in this age and in the age to come.
The first theme we can discern in the film 2012 is this: The film provides us an epic yet also horrifyingly apocalyptic parable on, what it means to be a human being. This theme first emerges early in the film when upon discovering the potentially impending doom facing humanity, two individuals reflect on how we might carry ourselves in a moment of life-threatening crisis.
More specifically, the film calls to imagine a moment of life-threatening crisis, where the crisis gives us a choice to act and can only act upon only one of two possible choices: the choice to save either our life— or the life of another human being. Even more specifically, this is the moment of life-threatening crisis, when the crisis confronts a person with the choice to either save only one’s self or rather, to selflessly act without regard for ones own safety, if in doing so, one can possibly save a number of other human lives from certain doom.
In the moment of truth, how will we live?
As the movie 2012 moves towards its end, one of the two individuals, who at the beginning of the film engaged in the moral discussion that I just presented, comes face to face with a moment of truth. It is a moment we all may at some point in the course of life encounter, where that moment asks us, “In this moment of truth, how will you live?”
What happens in the film is that a scenario develops which reminds me of that old humanistic “life boat” case study involving seven people lost at sea but with a lifeboat made for only five people. The case study thus calls us to decide which five out of the seven people, should we allow into the lifeboat that is presumably capable of holding no more than five people. The case study thus forces us to ask ourselves, which two people should we throw over board? Since the boat has space for only five people, which two people should we together elect to leave behind? Who should live and who should die?
The “lifeboat” case study is one image that implicitly shapes the film’s story line, but so also does the biblical story of Noah’s arc and the flooding of the earth. Therefore, as the movie reaches its climax, several mammoth “life-boats” are revealed, which had been built in preparation for the global flooding, each capable of saving perhaps hundreds of thousands of people from the floodwaters. After the selected populations board the boats, there are however still thousands of others desperately seeking to board the ships.
But in midst of the ensuing tension, and hours before the tsunamis impact the ships, one of the chief architects of these mammoth lifeboats, fears that the ships cannot contain those remaining thousands waiting to board. Therefore, in the moment of truth, this individual, fearful that the ships may not sustain everyone, seeks to close the gates from the masses still hoping to board the boats.
This individual reasons that only by closing the gates to the many still outside the boats, can the human race be preserved from compete destruction. Note then that this individual has a grand vision, which he passionately believes in, and it is a vision for the preservation of the human race. He then reasons that if preserving the human race involves making tough decisions as to who we should save and who we should not save, then let us made that decision, and let us limit the number of passengers into the lifeboats.
Yet then there is another man who also faces this moment of truth. He is that man who earlier pondered, how shall we act in the true moment of truth? How then shall we live? How will we act in that moment where we might be called upon to selflessly act without regard for our own safety, if in doing so, we might possibly save the lives of countless other individuals besides our self?
That man speaks up and says, “What is the point of saving our self, if we think that in doing so we are preserving the human race, yet also in doing so, we are in fact acting less than human?”
That man then further argues, “What does it mean to be human?” He continues by pleading what he believe is the nature of a true human society and culture. He thus asks, “How can we even start a new society, a new culture, if our foundation consists of behaviours that are less than human? How can we rebuild a truly human culture, if our founding actions involve no sense of costly yet selfless altruism, even to the extent of our laying down our lives for one another?”
That individual then concludes and challenges those already on the boat that we must take the risk of jeopardising all our lives, if in doing so— we might successfully save every other life from destruction. Ultimately, we must do so for this reason: it is only in doing so, that we can live a life that is truly human. If we cannot do so, we are in reality, living less than a human life.
True and false civility
Some years ago, the famous psychiatrist, Dr Scot Peck, wrote a book titled, A World Waiting to Be Born: The Search for Civility. Peck begins his first chapter titled, “Something is Seriously Wrong,” by noting too many people, think of “civility” as simply being polite and observing proper etiquette. Peck calls this assumption not only superficial but also horribly wrong. For this reason Peck goes on to say that too often in our varied life settings, especially in the larger and formal organisation structures in which we work, we carry ourselves towards one another according to the secular techniques of manipulation and personal self interest. As a result, Peck says, we fail to manifest “the glory of what it means to be human.”
Elsewhere in Peck’s book, he demonstrates how a common organisational culture that is trapped in this secular idea of polite civility, is illustrated when an organisation’s presumed identity is one of, “We’re the best in the business,” and its motto is thus “Quality at all costs.”
In contrast to this idea of civility as nothing more than politeness and following proper decorum, Peck therefore stresses that true “civility” refers to seeking the best interest of all people, regardless of the cost to one’s self. Within this same discussion, Peck then draws attention to the biblical story of Jesus’ encounter with the rich young man, who was unwilling to part with his wealth. Peck suggests that the story functions as a parable for all of us, and every time when we read the story or reflect on the story.
The point of the story about the rich young man who is unwilling to part with his wealth, is not that following Jesus means that Jesus wants you to necessarily let go of everything you possess and live in voluntary poverty in order that you may follow him. Although, I would say for many of us, that may not be a bad idea! But no. The moral of the story is that Jesus oftentimes will come to us and ask us the question, “What are you really trusting in? Where is your security, right now, in this moment?”
Jesus will ask us these questions because if our security is indeed in the things we possess, then how are we going to carry our self as a human being, when the moment of truth calls upon us to express our humanity?
Within this discussion, the mental psychiatrist Peck throws throw at us this observation: “Security can become an addiction, and there are many for whom enough is never enough.” Peck goes on to say that his work in psychiatric care has convinced him that having wealth never fully satisfies the aching feeling of insecurity. All their lives, the rich often find themselves caught up therefore, in an insatiable quest to heal this ache through the continued accumulation of wealth.
Peck notes that past statistics demonstrate that within the American setting, the wealthiest segments of the American population give away to charity a much smaller proportion of their income that do middle or working class people. Hence, their proportional giving reveals “a telling commentary on the spiritual impoverishment of most who are financially rich.” For similar reasons, another notable psychiatrist, Erich Fromm, realised from sheer experience in the profession of mental care, that, “The essential difference between the unhappy, neurotic type person and him of great joy is the difference between get and give.”
A truly human life therefore, is a life lived in utter selflessness towards other human beings. A true human life is always lived in the presence of one another, and for the presence and existence of one another. A true human life can only be lived in selfless action to one another. This is the mark of true humanity. Anything less, is less than human. Anything less is to live not as a human being but to live like an animal. This discussion thus clarifies what we should mean by the term secular humanism.
Real Christianity infers a true and biblical humanism. Christian humanism is a humanism that encourages and celebrates the true nature of true humanity. It is founded upon a moral centre, because it is furthermore, founded upon a Person— who is the True Human. Secular humanism however, is a humanism without the true moral centre, and thus no real moral centre. It has no moral centre because it encourages and celebrates living only for one’s self without regard for others. It encourages and celebrates living for one’s self especially when the well-being of your life is any way dependant upon the loss, deprivation or disregard for the best interest of another human being.
For the most part, the world we live in, in spite of its increasing nuance towards spirituality, operates by values reflecting not a true humanism but a secular humanism that really does enthrones “self” at the centre of all things. That is why even Christian bookstores are filled with books with titles such as “How to Become a Better You,” or “How to Be all You are Meant to Be,” or, “How to Receive all You’re Supposed to Have!” At the root of all these pseudo-Christian books is not the paradigm of true humanity but the subhuman paradigm of self-interest. So deep is this false humanistic in the cultures that we live, that much of the current talk within Christian circles of becoming relevant to the day we live in, or of transforming the culture around us, is really quite ludicrous.
The forces that have constructed the macro economic systems of our world, the security systems and social systems we now live within through the processes of globalisation, have constructed these systems upon premises that seek the best interests of the few without concern for the many. The proverbial lifeboat of the film 2012 is therefore indeed a proverbial analogy of our present world order.
Many of us are right now enjoying the privileges of life on a “boat,” to which untold millions are currently barred entry into, and thus face the prospect of becoming the first causalities of whatever repercussions may erupt upon the earth because of our follies. Moreover, added to these follies is the folly resulting from keeping our eyes closed to the many. We close our eyes to their existence, though one day we may painfully discover that all people are indeed interdependent. When that day comes, we may then truly learn that “No man is an island,” for the same forces that have united much of the world together in economic affluence, has united that much of the world to frustrations of the greater numbers of people who lack access to our prosperity.
Self-denial, charity, sacrifice, and healing the world
This discussion illustrates how nothing less than a complete, radical and revolutionary subversion and undermining of the entire world order, can bring healing to the world. If a Christian truly believes that he or she lives as salt and light in the world, then he or she must also see their role as a prophetic presence in the world. This is a prophetic presence that consistently demonstrates values that are visibly counter to the values of the world, and at the same time positively point to a world that is waiting to be born. The good news is that to fulfill this prophetic role in the world, one need only mature and thus behave as a human being— a true human being.
To fulfill this prophetic function of living a truly human life we must however confront a common though false presumption concerning the purpose of Christian life, and about the purpose of Jesus’ life, sufferings on the cross and resurrection from the dead. This is the misunderstanding that the ultimate purpose of Jesus’ atonement, was to insure our eternal salvation and hence, that we get to go to heaven when we die. Now to be sure, the securing of our eternal destiny is central to why Jesus came to live and die upon the earth. It is central because it is we and not angels whom God has created as His image-bearers— It we whom He loves as His children, and it is we who are made to reflect His likeness.
But in itself, this assumption is only a half-truth, and in itself, it makes for a very “self-centred” gospel. It is the message of a gospel that men have not centred in the glory of God but rather in the glory of man apart from God. Rick Warren therefore had it right when he titled the first chapter of his book titled, The Purpose Driven Life; with the title, “It all Starts with God.” In that chapter, he moreover and rightly began the first sentence by saying, “It is not about you.” Warren’s proposition illustrates how the primary purpose of Jesus’ atonement was far bigger than the redemption of humankind. For even greater than to secure the redemption of humanity, is the greater purpose for which Jesus died for. That greater purpose was to secure the glory of God.
Within the greater purpose of securing the glory of God, is that Jesus dies to reconcile all things— all things both heaven and earth, to Himself. Jesus suffered and rose again that He might restore all things back together under His rightful reign. So the Scripture says, “For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” To this end, the entire purpose of God is to restore our humanity, that we might live as true human beings. Moreover, the healing of the world involves our becoming more human; thus our becoming more humane. To this end, God is at work to restore our humanity.
If we want to therefore carry our self in the world as a true human being— if we want to carry our self in a manner that is truly civil, we will never do so by calling attention to what we possess. We can only show our true humanity through denying our self; and hence, by how easy it is for us to give it all away. It is for this reason that in his Institutes of Religion, John Calvin devotes Book III to the Christian Life, and in chapter four, he summarises all of Christian life by this one phrase: “self denial.”
By using that one phrase, “self denial,” as the most succulent description of a truly Christian lifestyle, Calvin chose to stick within a long tradition and a principle within that tradition, which every other leader of the Protestant Reformation also affirmed. That is a tradition that thus remained connected to the best of Roman Catholic spirituality as illustrated in earlier works such as The Imitation of Christ and The Rule of St Benedict.
The tradition of self denial, which is in fact the true call of Jesus and the only call He gives any of us, when He calls us to Himself, is a tradition that stresses a central image of true humanity, which goes all the way back to the why the Gospels are in the Bible. It is a tradition that rightly recognises that the Gospels are not provided for our intellectual assent to Jesus’ historical life, but rather foremost to grant us the one true guide on how we should live as human beings.
The Gospels are written to show us how to live— to actually imitate the life of Jesus. That is why Jesus says, “Deny your self, and follow me.” Moreover, God has made to some extent, the healing of the world dependent on weather or not we choose to follow Jesus. For only in following Him can we begin truly living like human beings.
Within this context, we should thus realise that self denial is not something based on ideas of having to live with a “poverty mindset” or deny the very real and material nature of God’s blessings. But rather, self denial is simply based on a true knowledge and comprehension of what it means to truly live like a human being. When that knowledge is received, self denial becomes an act of calling and joyful vocation. We begin joyfully denying our self because we have come to know that only here are living according to our high calling as real people upon the earth. But to do that, requires our reception of a special kind of joy, and it is a joy that is freely received from the One who is humanity par excellence.
Jesus is humanity par excellence
I submit to you that there was a man who was truly human and remains the True Human, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who laid down his life for His friends. He is the one who put Himself in harm’s way and suffered harm’s way for the preservation of the entire human race. He did so because in doing so, he truly behaved and acted as a true human. He acted as true as a human life can ever be.
Christians rightly confess and know Jesus as the image of God. Even more so, we have come to know He is God in the flesh. In Him, we see God, and by his behaviour, we see and know the true personality of God. Yet I will here also remind us that in Jesus we see true humanity. In Him we see what human life is designed to be.
This confession that Jesus is not only truly God but truly human, is true because after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus did not stop being human. After he rose from the dead, He remained human. This is why He rose from the dead with an indestructible though fully physical and material body. Even now at this moment, Jesus reigns in heaven through His very real and physically material body. Moreover, there will come a day when He will appear and like Thomas, we will see the nail scars in His hands.
The entire weight of these reflections rest upon a cardinal doctrine, which if we in any way undermine, we therein commit heresy concerning the person of Jesus. This doctrine we must confess in order to lift up the name of Jesus over all things, is that He is truly God and He is truly human. As the ancient creeds effectively established the concluding synthesis of the biblical story of Jesus’ coming, death and resurrection, Jesus is and will always be truly God and truly human. In Him we see two distinct natures, the divine and human, clearly distinguishable, yet wholly different; undivided, yet inseparable. He is and will always be, truly God and truly Human.
If we are to therefore truly worship Him as God, and if we are to preach Him fully lifted up in all His saving glory, we must also confess Him and preach Him in all His true Humanity. For in Him we therefore also see who were born to be, if we are ever to become truly human. He dies to restore our humanity. When He lives in us, He works in us to restore our humanity, by setting us on a path of human restoration.
In Jesus Christ we see not only the potential of true human life, but even more so, a vision for a true human society and human culture. We therefore also see a vision for a new humanity upon the face of the earth. That is why the Scripture says that Jesus is the beginning of a new humanity. He is the First Man of a new humanity. He is therefore the true paradigm for a true human life and human existence.
When we look at Jesus, we therefore see what were born to be. We were born to be like Jesus. This is God’s true purpose for all human life; to become like Jesus. This is why the ancients said, “God became man, so that man might become something like God.” This again is why if we want to know what God is like, we should look at Jesus, for He is not only the true man, but in Him, we see who God is. For God is love, and love acts without regard for one’s self but wholly for the sake of those outside our self. For this reason, God created humankind in His image that we might reflect the likeness of God in how we live. This is our true human calling.
The process of becoming human is the process of becoming like Jesus. So complete is the process that He works upon us both from the inside and from the outside. There is no antithesis between the two processes. On one hand, he works within us, transforming us from the inside out. On the other hand, He works outside us, presenting Himself to us as our Teacher and ourselves to Him as disciples called to follow Him. Through both ways, the goal is the same: that we might live as human beings. When that happens, we realise that self-denial is indeed not a method towards Christ-likeness, but rather simply the fruit of becoming human, and thus, of becoming like Christ.
Servant-leadership and the vocation of true humanity
In bringing these reflections to a closure, I will now draw attention to the second theme I find so poignantly illustrated in the film 2012; this is theme of true leadership. Moreover, this theme of true leadership is what Jesus argued as, servant-leadership.
In the movie 2012, one of the chief architects of those mammoth lifeboats was something of what we might call, a visionary leader. He had a grand vision and it was a vision for the preservation of the human race. To some extent, we may argue that this man possessed a noble vision. He believed his vision was for the greater good of humanity.
This man was also a practical leader. He was a pragmatic leader as well, because He well knew that to be most effective and efficient, he had to make practical choices that may involve refraining from higher moral ideals. Hence, he chose not to jeopardise the lives of the few by opening the boat to the many.
This man therefore chose to insure the security of the boat and the few in the boat, by choosing not to risk the security of the boat by opening the boat to so many others hoping to step into the security of the boat. So in all these presumptions, we have a picture of practical, pragmatic and sometimes of visionary leadership. But in view of the true humanity of Jesus, this is a way of leadership that is nonetheless, subhuman.
Yet the other man, who I want to say was the true leader, argued that preservation of the human race is still not possible unless we seek to preserve the human race through and upon the high moral foundation of self-denial. As earlier mentioned, this man who was the true leader, argued that a new world that is truly human cannot be rightly established unless such a world is founded upon actions involving genuine risks through the giving of our lives for one another.
This man who was the true leader, therefore sought to persuade those in the boat to risk their own secure future by taking the wild risk of opening the boat to all those outside the boat. He called upon everyone in the boat to do so, even if in doing so, the boat might sink in the process of getting everyone into the boat. He argued that failure to do that is to behave not as humans but as animals. He therefore understood that true leadership is not about putting one’s personal interest before others, but about putting the interest of others before one’s own interest. He understood that true leadership is always the laying down of our life for the common good. He understood that true leadership is servant-leadership.
Jesus is not only the True Man but he is the true leader of the human race. Jesus said that the rulers of this age love to be lord over others, but that is not true leadership. True leadership is serving others. Serving always has its penultimate and highest expression in the laying down of our life for one another. That is what Jesus taught and it is what he modeled— not only to secure our redemption into restored humanity, but to grant us an example of true humanity. He did this in the expectation that we would actually emulate as an act of our will, having had our will empowered by the Spirit of Christ who lives within us.
Jesus did not just give His life for us, but He modeled to us what it means to be a true human and how to live like a true human being. It is not enough to even say, “I’ll let Jesus live through me.” It is important to know that Jesus lives in you and that is where it all begins. Then when He begins to live in you, you will always face choices every day, where circumstance call upon you to behave like Jesus. That comes through an act of your will and obedience to His Word. You can choose to disobey the Lord, even as a Christian. For this reason, many Christians know the Lord, but actually disobey Him. Such Christians the Bible calls, fleshy Christians; Christian who remain like spiritual babies. However, there are times when we all disobey the Lord. So you must choose to follow Jesus, observe how He lives, and starting acting like Him. If you do, He will guide your steps and place your feet into His footsteps.
I have digressed here, but I am talking about servant leadership. True leadership begins with laying down our life for others. Any aspiration that begins with the preservation of one’s self is not true leadership. That is a kind of leadership founded something less than a truly human life.
Some months ago, I was engaged in a discussion with a group about the nature of leadership. In that discussion, someone suggested that there are many kinds of leadership, one of which is the idea of servant leadership, and another is what we might call visionary leadership, and that they are not the same.
Let me point out that for a Christian, there is only one valid kind of leadership, and that is servant leadership. Any other kind of leadership model or style that fails to recognize Jesus’ model of servant leadership as the foundation, is a subhuman form of leadership. In a truly biblical worldview, Jesus’ pattern of servant leadership and the concept of visionary leadership are not antithetical styles, but they are the same. Having a vision for a world founded upon true justice where God’s righteousness and peace prevails requires nothing less than a great people who have discovered their true vocation as servant leaders.
Sometimes in life, there is a moment of truth, which will call on us to choose either the way of self-preservation or the way of self denial. In the moment of truth, how will we live? How will we live in the moment of truth, when Jesus comes to us and says let it all go? How will we live in the moment of truth, when Jesus says let it all go and follow me? How will live in the moment of truth, when in that moment we are called upon to either act without regard for our own security or even safety , if in doing so, we might secure the life and posterity of other individuals besides our self?
But the truth is that in an infinite number of small and unknown ways, the moment virtually always comes to us every day of our life. Abraham was able to offer up Issac on Mount Moriah because his whole life revealed a pattern of hearing and responding to God’s call every day of his life. Every day God calls us and every day we are given a choice to either obey or disobey the Word of God. Make no mistake about it: the New Testament does not shrink from describing Christian life according to the language of obedience and disobedience. “Today, if you Hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” And a moment of truth will come when you are also called up to the top of Mount Moriah. And there maybe even several times or more when He will call you up to the top of Mount Moriah, and offer your life a living sacrifice.
The healing of both our selves and those, whom we might need to lay down our life for, will come through the way of self-denial. So part of the good news is that our own healing— the healing of our soul, is found through simply living like a true human being. The healing of our soul and the healing of the world, is only found through losing our selves in the saving of those not on the boat, but who also long for a new world waiting to be born.
Have the courage to challenge the prevailing norm
“I believe that courage is the most important virtue, the foundation that underlies and gives reality to all other virtues and personal values. Without courage we become conformists. Conformity is not the fibre good and courageous leaders are made of . . . Do not be frightened by the alones that may come with you holding unpopular positions. It is in aloneness that wisdom will visit you and smile upon you.” – Mamphela Ramphele, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, 1991.
Quoted by Matthew Clark, a South African Pentecostal, in his article titled, “Questioning Every Consensus: A Pleas for a Return to the Radical Roots of Pentecostalism,” Asia Journal of Pentecostal Studies 5:1, (2002): 73-86.
True Pentecostal discipleship is a call to prophetic critique of the prevailing norm and the envisioning of a better world order. Our relevancy in the world we live in lies not in trying to fall over backwards to be on the “cutting edge” of cultural relevancy. Our relevancy to the age we live in is only achieved if we are willing, as Clark says, “if we operate critically of he very consensus rather than be co-opted in the [prevailing] consensus itself.” This ability to critique and speak forth a better dream is the true mark of following Jesus. If we cannot embrace the our call to critique the world around us and project a better world, then we are not embracing our role as ambassadors of God’s kingdom; we are not embracing our role as “witnesses” to the kingdom. And if we are Pentecostal, we are certainly failing to enrich other Christians with the gift which God has entrusted us for the edifying of the entire Church of God.
The revolutionary power of God’s grace
When the Gospel is preached in all its fullness, it possess the power and revolutionary purpose towards the entire social, economic and racial settings of our lives. The Gospel in its fullness will challenge the entire social order we live within, and it will confront us in all we have taken for granted in our previous stations within the existing social order. For when in our wealth, God calls us to Himself, our entire life within the material plane of existence, becomes suspect, questioned, and critiqued by the values of kingdom.
Wealth indeed has within it both a light side and a dark side. But the disciple of Jesus gladly embraces his deliverance from the dark side of wealth and he or she will cheerfully celebrate this deliverance. He or she will do so because as a disciple of Jesus, we acknowledge it as the god whom Jesus called mammon. And so we now embrace Jesus’ life and step into his footprints.
This is all a work of God’s grace upon our life. In His grace, God thus comes to us and tells us He is on our side, and that we are victors regardless of how well we have played the world’s game of material gain and social status. For the truth is that our entire striving towards success, has been premised upon our aching need for have or “self” validated. We have this aching need to have our “self” validated through the acquisition of all our things— our material wealth, our positions, our achievements, our titles, and all our success.
Therefore, what now happens to the grace-touched believer, is not— as the success-themed gospel message so often tells us— that we are now free to pursue without guilt all our innate dreams and present pursuits to continue “climbing” this world’s ladder to success. Rather, what now happened to the grace-touched believer is that knowing God accepts us just as we are in all our failure, we are now free to no longer pursue the “success” dreams that the world has laid upon use. God’s grace thus confronts us with the wrongness of our entire present existence in this world’s order.
We are now free to let it all go— to take a “leap of faith,” and fall into thin air. Encountering God’s grace thus then calls us to make a “leap of faith,” a leap from trust in our self, to trusting God alone for our present and future existence. But actually, it is even more, a fall into the loving arms of Jesus. So we are now willing to fall freely along with the downward current of God’s grace. For the river of God’s grace flows naturally not upward but downward. That is why God gives grace to the humble and not the proud. The grace-touched disciple thus worries less about what to wear or what to drink, because he or she has come down to the level of the birds in the air, and the lilies in the field (Matt 6:25-34). Because such a disciple no longer worships mammon (Matt 6:24), he receives all things in life, no matter how big or small as God’s gifts, and thus as expressions of God’s grace. Thus, the disciple is free to serve the kingdom of God, and so go downwards with the flow of grace (Matt 6:33).
The freed-up disciple that has been touched by grace, is thus willing to embrace the script laid out for him by the Lord Jesus— the redemption that comes through entering into Jesus’ life story; His “riches to rags” story. Yet thank God that this “riches to rags to riches” story paradoxically leads us back to true riches, which involves the process of being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. Consequently, there will always come a point in time when the graced-touched disciple, will be confronted with a genuine “call” to in some manner or way, express a solidarity with the poor of this world. This is inevitable because just like water, grace goes downward. And its power will pull us towards its rushing, downward destination towards the sea, where it brings fresh life to all things.
Entering into Jesus’ life, the process of allowing Christ to script our lives according to his pattern is the only true and authentic response to God’s grace. Two things naturally happen when God touches us through His grace, which is the river of His grace. First is that this same grace flows through us. Second is that we flow with His grace, which is flowing downward. Grace will always lead us into service, servant-hood, and servant-leadership. God’s grace is the water that flows from the high places to the lowest places.
If just once we have received God’s grace, we are like the growing disciple named Much Afraid, in Hannah Hurnard’s spiritual allegory, Hind’s Feet in High Places. While climbing the high places towards the Shepherd’s Land, she heard the rushing water’s song as it flowed down the mountain: “Come, Let us go away— Lower, lower every day . . . from the heights we leap and flow, to the valleys down below. From the height we leap and go, to the valleys down below. Always answering to the call, to the lowest place of all.” And once Much Afraid surrenders to that call, she receives her new name, Grace and Glory. God’s grace comes to those who in sheer abandonment surrender to the downward flow of grace. The grace-touched disciple prays, “Abba, I abandon myself into your hands. Do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you. Into your hands, I commend my spirit. I give myself; I surrender myself into your hands without reserve, with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.”
The counter-cultural quality of great awakenings and spiritual revolutions
“Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich . . . we are fools . . . but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute . . . Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world. . . . But I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” – Paul the apostle
God has not called us to cultural relevancy. He has called us to counter-culture revolution. He has called us as a creative and prophetic minority to question the prevailing consensus and speak forth a better reality. For the kingdom of God is counter to all kingdoms of this world and is overturning their thrones. For this reason, Mary the mother of Jesus is still celebrating the revolutionary power of God’s reign: “He is bringing down the powerful from their thrones, and lifting up lowly; He is filling the hungry with good things, and sending the rich away empty.” For now is the Year of the Lord, and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of God.
There are Christians who are “misfits;” “misfits who believe that the way things are is not how things are supposed to be. . . [but] History has taught us that it is when ‘misfits’ call for an end of the status quo, that the rumblings of revival begin.” – Jim Wallis, The Great Awakening: Seven Ways to Change the World
“I call upon you to be maladjusted . . . The world is in desperate need of such maladjustment. Through such maladjustment we will be able to emerge from the bleak and desolate midnight of man’s inhumanity to man into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice. . . . This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. The saving of our world from pending doom will come not from the actions of a conforming majority but from the creative maladjustment of a transformed minority.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. . . Christians should take a stronger stand in favour of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong.” – Dietrich Bonhoffer, sermon on 2 Corinthians 12:9; executed by the Nazis who sought to make Christian churches “culturally relevant.”
The Key to Global Prosperity
At this very moment the rich nations of the world, the affluent peoples of the world, and particularly those in the world who believe the boundless wealth they possess is given to them by the mercy of God; all these individuals, communities, peoples and nations, have together in their hands the key to an era of global prosperity not known since the dawn of human civilization.
The key is simple and is four-fold. First, all these peoples, or at least vast representations of their communities need only repent of their many extravagant indulgences which are destroying the world’s ecosystem and that even more so at the expense of the developing and non-developed nations of the world and world’s poor. Second, they must squarely resolve to adapt and find satisfied enjoyment in a far simpler lifestyle that is profoundly shaped by an awareness into how the crisis at hand further threatens the world’s poor.
They must do so because it is they— the poor of the word in the two-third’s world, who face the greatest suffering by the coming ecological and humanitarian crises, which is rooted in the past and present mindless carbon footprints— not of the two-thirds world, but by the first-world people of the world. The crises of global poverty and impending ecological disaster are one and the same. And both crises threaten the present and enjoyed security of the world’s affluent.
We all live on borrowed time. The poor of this world, the world’s oppressed, the hungry and the starving, they suffer not foremost because of those demonically-enslaved forces of terror now unleashed upon both poor and rich alike, but because of our own consumerist-driven extravagances. For it is our extravagance largely made available to us through wrong paradigms towards our entire created order, which has led and is now leading to a possible world-encompassing and cataclysmic ecological meltdown and financial ruin of many nations. At the top of this list is the United States, followed by the European Union, then China, and then India. This list is certainly even more astonishing as China and India are set to substantially lead the global economy over the next century.
Furthermore, we must squarely acknowledge that if we take the high road, we must therefore know that in the short run, the rich nations of the world will need to make far greater, biting and painful changes in how we spend our wealth. It is they who are most responsible for the coming crisis, and it is they who must also make the needed sacrifices and monetary outlay to tackle the crisis. We must do so if we are to avert the coming ecological meltdown and security-threatening crisis of global poverty.
To squarely acknowledge and embrace this cost however, is indeed a high road which can lead us into a new and profound era of global prosperity, not just for the affluent peoples of the world, but also for so many who are now living in abject poverty. We must find resolve towards this high road, for in one way or another, global poverty as it presently exists, directly threatens the economic security of every first-world community.
This threat to our present security and seeming stability exists because everything we own is in some way tied, linked and connected to the destiny of every hungry child, man and woman throughout world. We are fools if we think our lives are lived in complete isolation from the “have-nots” of this world. The very forces of globalisation which have brought us all the wealth we now enjoy, are the same forces which threaten to destroy us if we cannot find a way to let go and invest the bulk of our wealth, towards redeeming the world’s impoverished. They are the ones who will first suffer from the follies of our material extravagances when the tides of natural calamity are finally unleashed upon the earth. But is also they who will rise up in judgment against us, against our folly and against our selfish squandering of God’s creation.
Third, if this high road is taken by the rich, the affluent, the wealthy and the materially secure of the world, then let them give their wealth— let them invest without reserve to the creation of radically new technologies which will now free us from all carbon-based fuel and energy sources. For if we do so, then also we may well usher in an era of technological innovation and scientific advancement not seen since the Renaissance.
And through the spirit of profound charity towards the world’s poor and economically oppressed, this 21st century Renaissance can be simultaneously parallel to the greatest spiritual awakening ever to cover the earth. What spiritual awakenings we have known in these past three centuries can well up into an even greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh. New gifts of the Spirit will be given. The earth shall be full of the glory of the Lord. Floods of emotions will well up from within the hearts of many when the Spirit is again poured out. What man had tried to achieve through all his managerial capacities, God will achieve in one day. Swords shall be laid down.
Fourth, is perhaps the most crucial part of the key to global prosperity. This fourth aspect specifically concerns the largest religious grouping of our world— the professing Christians of the world, of whom I also represent. Even more importantly, it is the spiritually regenerate Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, who should by the very Spirit of Christ, want to lead the way out of the coming destruction. It is most damaging and irresponsible for you who are professing Christians, to forsake this earth in your belief that it is hopelessly doomed and must be doomed to destruction. For until the day He calls you to Himself, and until the day He returns in coming glory, the land where you stand is the garden He has called you care for and to till and to nurture. He has not called you to exploit and destroy for your own gratification, but to care for and he has called you to care and look after all the animals of the forest, the birds of the air and the creatures in the sea. Over all these, He has made you steward and ambassador in His behalf.
Therefore, we can argue that on the global scale, the ecological meltdown that threatens our entire human existence is also to some dire extent, caused by wrong past ideologies, mindsets and doctrines held, propagated and practised by vast communities of Christians throughout the world, especially by first-world Christians. These doctrines are doctrines touching on matters towards wealth, consumerism, material possessions, creation, the material universe, and our human role on earth as God’s steward. Therefore, the fourth key implies that repentance must be begin with the household of God. As a matter of conscience, we must turn from our preferred eagerness to identify ourselves primarily with the rich of the world, rather than with the poor of the world. Or have you forgotten the word of our brother James, who was the Lord’s brother: “Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. . . . Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”
But Nineveh believed God, and God repented of the judgment about the calamity He said He would bring upon them. And He refrained from doing so. Judgment does not yet have to come.
The Church can repent on behalf of the dying believers and confess their partaking in the sins of those outside the Church. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” But if you do not hide, then your light shall break forth like the dawn. Then you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations, and in their riches you shall glory. For the Lord loves justice, hates robbery and wrongdoing. Then you shall be called the repairer of the breach, and the restorer of streets to live in. Justice will roll down like waters. Righteousness like an ever flowing stream. You will drink from the brook beside the way, and you will lift up your head.
“Why do you hide among the nameless and forgotten?
Why do you walk along these long forsaken roads?
Calling to me, in the hungry and the homeless,
Calling me, to water your thirst . . . “
Who is it that hides among the nameless and forgotten? Who is it that walks along these long forsaken paths? He is the one who says, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me”
For two years now, Corrine May’s haunting lyrics remain on my mp3. Those words are hard to remove because somehow they continue to provide connection with divine realities beyond the here and now. They touch my soul with what I know is God’s pathos and dream for a better world.
Then comes that lyrical response,
“So I’ll give you my heart and my song,
In a world where so much is right but so much is wrong.
Your love is my beginning and I know it wont be too long, Till I see you, till I hear you, till I love you again.”
“A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses.” — Jesus of Nazareth
But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God shall he live, and neither shall he thirst for the Lord will delight in him and shall fill him. A table shall he spread before him in the presence of his enemies and with the finest of wheat he will eat and shall not want.
Monte’s library
Books I've read / reading
Jee Fong’s Corner- Perichorus
- 2010: Living the Glory of Christmas
- The Christmas miracle
- Martin Luther’s doctrine of love, suffering, faith and true ministers of God’s Word
- “Freely you received, freely give.”
- What it means to be “human” / Reflections on the film, 2012
- The revolutionary power of God’s grace
- The counter-cultural quality of great awakenings and spiritual revolutions
- The Key to Global Prosperity
- Why do you hide among the nameless and forgotten?
- “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses.”
Blogroll
