(Originally written for pulbication in The Tidings)
To be honest, I think this question gets at the heart of the struggle for the modern western church. Too often I think American Christianity answers this question with an overly simple no, and consequently our faith and our journey with Christ stops at intellectual ascent and belief. The problem is our good works do count for something!! So, the issue is not whether or not our good works count for something, but what they count for.
Scripture makes it clear that it is by grace that we have been saved through faith. This comes from the often quoted passage of Ephesians 2:8-9. So, our salvation and acceptance by God is not contingent on the good or bad that we do, but on the goodness and graciousness of God! The truth is that outside of Gods grace we would not be able to do good works whether we are a Christian or not. So good works are the result of grace, rather than grace being the result of good works.
On the other hand, the good works that we do certainly count for something! Too often the church has ignored this point. The truth is, Jesus spent a large part of his earthly ministry addressing the fact that the religious leaders of his time were not doing good in their communities. Jesus often encouraged his followers to love the unloved, to feed the hungry, to care for the widows and the outcasts. So, the letter of James teaches that faith without works is dead. And the verse that states “It is by grace we have been save through faith” is immediately followed by this, “For [because] we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So we are not just saved to passively live the rest of our lives here on earth and then in heaven. Rather, we are saved to do good works that God has prepared for us to do. And rather than waiting for heaven after we die, we have a part to play in fulfilling the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
The sooner we as the church and as members of humanity can grasp the fact that we cannot do anything good apart from the grace of God, and that we cannot earn our salvation, the sooner we are able to honor Jesus as Lord of our lives, trusting him for every good and perfect thing rather than trusting ourselves. And, in so doing, we will begin, through the grace of God, to live lives that will make a difference in our world not just for today, but for all eternity.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
How Can I Know the Will of God?
(Originally written for publication in The Tidings)
This question reminds me of a story that Brennan Manning tells in his book Ruthless Trust. The story is of an ethicist named John Kavanaugh who went to live with Mother Teresa in Calcutta. On his first morning Mother Teresa asked Kavanaugh, “What can I do for you?”
Kavanaugh replied, “Please pray that I get clarity for the future.”
Mother Teresa responded, “No! I will not do that . . .Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.”
“But you always seem to have clarity” was Kavanaugh’s reply.
Mother Teresa responded by saying, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray you trust God.”
This story is a harsh reminder of how difficult it is for us to give up control; how difficult it is to allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives; how stubborn we are to trust.
Often times when this question is asked the real meaning behind the question is “How can I know God’s purpose for my life?” I have learned over the last five years that when we ask this question we define purpose as a dangling carrot. Purpose, as most of us understand it, is that carrot that hangs right in front of us that we will never be able to grasp. Here is what I mean. Purpose so often for us is about tomorrow. “What am I going to be or what should I be when I grow up?” For instance, my purpose in high school was to get to college. And my purpose in college was to get to seminary. And my purpose in seminary was to get into ministry. One thing always leads to another. Now I am in ministry. So, what is my purpose? Over the last five years I have learned that I will never reach my purpose as long as it is defined as tomorrow.
Pete Grieg in his book The Vision and The Vow writes this, “When Jesus calls us to follow Him, we want clarity: to assess our options, set expectations, and know our boundaries. But God’s route from A to C is rarely via B. His voice is rarely unmistakable. His word often raises more questions than answers. We ask for guidance expecting a roadmap, or at least a sign, and He gives us His hand and the dimmest of torches.”
However, God is clear on how he calls us to live in His word. God’s purpose and the will of God is found in every decision we make, every day.
The will of God for you and I is that we would trust Him. Everyday.
That we would worship Him. Everyday.
That we would love those who are unloveable. Everyday.
That we would feed the hungry, and care for the poor. Everyday.
It is to forgive those we love and those who have hurt us. Everyday.
To share the story of Jesus with those who have never heard, and those who think
they don’t need to hear. Everyday.
To seek justice. Everyday.
To love mercy. Everyday.
To walk humbly. Everyday.
To glorify God. Everyday.
And to make disciples. Everyday.
To love God with all our heart, mind and soul. Everyday.
And to love our neighbor as ourself. Everyday.
Pete Grieg says it well, “The problem for most of us is not that we don’t know what God wants of us. It’s that we know exactly what He wants of us, and it’s not what we want to do!”
This question reminds me of a story that Brennan Manning tells in his book Ruthless Trust. The story is of an ethicist named John Kavanaugh who went to live with Mother Teresa in Calcutta. On his first morning Mother Teresa asked Kavanaugh, “What can I do for you?”
Kavanaugh replied, “Please pray that I get clarity for the future.”
Mother Teresa responded, “No! I will not do that . . .Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.”
“But you always seem to have clarity” was Kavanaugh’s reply.
Mother Teresa responded by saying, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray you trust God.”
This story is a harsh reminder of how difficult it is for us to give up control; how difficult it is to allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives; how stubborn we are to trust.
Often times when this question is asked the real meaning behind the question is “How can I know God’s purpose for my life?” I have learned over the last five years that when we ask this question we define purpose as a dangling carrot. Purpose, as most of us understand it, is that carrot that hangs right in front of us that we will never be able to grasp. Here is what I mean. Purpose so often for us is about tomorrow. “What am I going to be or what should I be when I grow up?” For instance, my purpose in high school was to get to college. And my purpose in college was to get to seminary. And my purpose in seminary was to get into ministry. One thing always leads to another. Now I am in ministry. So, what is my purpose? Over the last five years I have learned that I will never reach my purpose as long as it is defined as tomorrow.
Pete Grieg in his book The Vision and The Vow writes this, “When Jesus calls us to follow Him, we want clarity: to assess our options, set expectations, and know our boundaries. But God’s route from A to C is rarely via B. His voice is rarely unmistakable. His word often raises more questions than answers. We ask for guidance expecting a roadmap, or at least a sign, and He gives us His hand and the dimmest of torches.”
However, God is clear on how he calls us to live in His word. God’s purpose and the will of God is found in every decision we make, every day.
The will of God for you and I is that we would trust Him. Everyday.
That we would worship Him. Everyday.
That we would love those who are unloveable. Everyday.
That we would feed the hungry, and care for the poor. Everyday.
It is to forgive those we love and those who have hurt us. Everyday.
To share the story of Jesus with those who have never heard, and those who think
they don’t need to hear. Everyday.
To seek justice. Everyday.
To love mercy. Everyday.
To walk humbly. Everyday.
To glorify God. Everyday.
And to make disciples. Everyday.
To love God with all our heart, mind and soul. Everyday.
And to love our neighbor as ourself. Everyday.
Pete Grieg says it well, “The problem for most of us is not that we don’t know what God wants of us. It’s that we know exactly what He wants of us, and it’s not what we want to do!”
Hebrews and Kierkegaard
We have been studying Hebrews together as a church and this past week looked at chapter 12. One of the passages in the chapter states, “let us throw off everything that entangles us”. I was thinking this morning about how comprehensive that statement is! The passage does not say, “let us throw off everything that entangles us badly”, but states everything with no qualitative statement. In other words everything. What if I took that seriously? What would I have to get rid of? When will I be ready to buy into those comprehensive words in my life?
This reminds me of a quote I read recently from Soren Kierkegaard who was a nineteenth-century Danish philosopher. He said, “The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”
The hard part for me is reading a quote like this, and knowing that I will continue to refuse to live according to the face value of Scripture. My prayer is that God will continue to give me the strength to let go of my ability to justify the parts of my life that fall short of the example of Jesus and the commands of Scripture.
This reminds me of a quote I read recently from Soren Kierkegaard who was a nineteenth-century Danish philosopher. He said, “The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”
The hard part for me is reading a quote like this, and knowing that I will continue to refuse to live according to the face value of Scripture. My prayer is that God will continue to give me the strength to let go of my ability to justify the parts of my life that fall short of the example of Jesus and the commands of Scripture.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Where in the world? and What'sthe deal with . . .
OK, not ever sure if anyone is reading this. But I know you are not reading if I am not writing. I am one of those guys that reads other's blogs and gets irritated when they haven't update! Talk about needing to remove the plank from my eye!
I am hoping to update soon!
By the way. What is the deal with Peace, Love and Gap. Seriously! I like Gap and everything (I can shop there with fashion confidene), but putting a clothing store on the same level as peace and love? At least the song is catchy!
I am hoping to update soon!
By the way. What is the deal with Peace, Love and Gap. Seriously! I like Gap and everything (I can shop there with fashion confidene), but putting a clothing store on the same level as peace and love? At least the song is catchy!