Posted by kathym on August 28, 2010
But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
commend: present as suitable for approval or acceptance; recommend.
So God is not just demonstrating love, He is presenting it to us and giving His approval, His acceptance.
Then why is it we demand from others what we have been forgiven of?
Why isn’t that same love given to others?
Why is it we disapprove what God approves?
Why is it we find people unacceptable?
Because you are still in charge of your life.
How we skirt around this with our work to advance the Kingdom of God, when what will really bring the advancement is the seed going into the ground and dying. That is the condition for much fruit.
Are we like the church in Revelation? Toiling for God? Only to have missed the point?
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Revelation 2
Sounds like this church in Ephesus knew how to work for God. Often we equate our work for God as loving Him; that’s why we do it, right? Yet, we see something here that says otherwise. We can serve in our churches, proclaim righteousness in our nation, resist all things ungodly, endure tumultuous situations and remain strong for His glory… and not love Him? What? All this that we have done for the Lord and if I don’t repent and return to Him he will remove the lampstand? How can this be?
There are many worthy causes out there for us to be involved with. Our intention is to proclaim God’s righteousness in every arena. If we are not careful, that “work” can be our main focus. It can even become an idol. And we can be so busy with it that we don’t hear the still small voice. Whatever your work is, could you step away from it? Can you be interrupted? Are you building for God and ignoring your neighbor? Do you lavishly spend on yourself because God is blessing you, knowing the needs around you of people going without?
Seems like the Priest and the Levite were very busy getting to their appointments and ignored the wounded man on the side of the road. And Jesus uses this example as what displays the second greatest commandment: love your neighbor as yourself.
Interesting. God knows what’s in us. And He knows that we love ourselves and take very good care of ourselves. That is why he said love others … take care of others … the way you take care of yourself.
When we practice this God rewards us with joy. And the more you give to others, the more joy you have. We do things backwards. From the beginning of time man has done things his own way, being wise in his own eyes. If we would only, personally and corporately, see the 2 greatest commandments for what they are, and give up our needs, desires, opinions… ourselves… for the sake of others, we will be truly advancing the Kingdom.
When you love someone who is “yet a sinner”, you are commending God’s love to them because you are commending your love for them. This is what will bring them to Christ. That undeserving love. Christ in you, the hope of glory. And what is that hope? While you were yet sinners, Christ died for you. You are showing them what God is like.
I think we have some repenting to do.
Posted by Anthony on August 27, 2010
Two of my recent posts have tackled the issue of terminology in the Church and my position that it is not without consequence. The first go around, I challenged how much our understanding of the terms ‘worship,’ ‘church,’ and ‘love’ were grounded in the Scriptures. The second time, I took aim at the divide between ‘contemporary’ and ‘traditional’ ‘worship,’ challenging whether in either case the word ‘worship’ was the appropriate word to describe the purpose and nature of Christian gatherings.
From all this, one might gather that I would have resonated with the ‘anti-Church’ / ‘anti-organized religion’ spiel that Anne Rice unleashed recently. To a degree, and in a way, yes. However, if you read my reply to her you will see that there is a serious point of departure between our positions. Namely, Ms. Rice is unable to distinguish between the ‘organizational Church’ and the ‘Organic Church.’
Put simply, there is no good deed done by any Christian anywhere or at any time that is not done by the Church, for the straight forward reason that the Church is composed of people who are, quite literally and in reality, the Body of Christ. This is an organic relationship. The Christian Scriptures are abundantly clear that in a very real sense, Jesus is still incarnate on the earth through the people, who are his members. When a Christian helps a poor person- it is Christ doing it, hence, it is the Church doing it. If a Christian comforts a grieving person, it is Christ doing it- therefore it is the Church doing it. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Anthony on August 24, 2010
My last post ran over 2,000 words and it still did not say all that I wanted to say. If you do read the last post, you’ll see that the title of this post already engages in the error described in it, assuming that ‘worship’ is the appropriate word to describe that gathering time among Christians once a week on Sundays. (You really should read that last one before reacting violently to this one).
I phrased it this way, though, to help clarify my position.
I find among Christians two basic mindsets regarding the Sunday morning ‘service.’ One mindset sees tremendous value to liturgical forms in our gatherings and the other sees value in ‘contemporary’ ones. Typically, one mindset frowns down upon the other. It is rare, though it does happen, to find someone who finds value in both. You probably have never met someone like me, though, who finds value in neither.
Thus, no one reading this post, or the previous post, should think that I have a secret agenda pushing one side or the other in the ‘worship wars.’ My argument is that that particular war is being fought on entirely the wrong front. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Anthony on August 19, 2010
The title of this post does not do the matter justice. The word ‘abuse’ is too mild, and it might be even more accurate to say that in actual fact the sweeping trend within Christendom is that there is outright plain ignorance on what these terms mean. The charge only matters at all to those Christians who believe that the Scriptures are the final and ultimate authority. A huge swath of people who call themselves Christians obviously don’t, so this post is not really for them, even though they share in the guilt. Of course, the term ‘Christian’ itself is commonly abused, but I am not saying that these are the only three words that get abused. These are just three really big ones and the ones I intend to treat in this post.
Having laid down a stinging charge, I must now defend it. Unfortunately, it would take a book to do so adequately. I have only 1,500 words- if I’m lucky. So, instead my goal will be to try to raise doubt in your mind that maybe, just maybe, I’m right.
The nature of the abuse of these three words have two basic things in common. First of all, even though these are terms closely associated with the Christian faith, they generally escape close scrutiny and very little grounding in what the Scriptures might actually have to say about them. They escape this scrutiny because we think we already know what they mean. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Anthony on August 9, 2010
The article below is one I posted at the Cypress Times:
Probably the most entertaining thing about reading the article about the 7 year old girl who found her lemonade stand shut down by the Portland health department was reading the comments that followed. Those comments quickly devolved into a contest between ‘conservatives’ and ‘liberals.’ That discussion was probably warranted, and while I would sympathize with the conservative comments I tend to think a valuable facet was generally overlooked: the overarching belief in our society that it really is possible to eradicate all unpleasant experiences and even if it is not possible, it is moral and proper to make the attempt.
By ‘unpleasant experiences’ I mean literally any unpleasant experience, from being murdered to being offended to being made sick by a little girl’s lemonade not properly handled. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by kathym on August 6, 2010
People want to be valued. People need to be valued.
Apparently, God greatly values people. Even people who do not believe in Him. Because while we were yet sinners, He died for us. That love is what draws us.
How do we rate?
Many churches have become so large that we have lost the social connections. We try to suffice through replacing breaking bread from house to house with cell groups tailor-made for specific needs. We have programs to teach people to be hospitable. We read books that help us to be better Christians. It’s an attempt, howbeit earnest and sincere, but something is lost in the translation.
It always gets back to this; the haunting, penetrating words that are so precise that the sound of its quickness can be heard as its sharpness separates joint and marrow, discerning the heart: love thy neighbor as thyself. Ahh. There it is. As Thyself. That means that God knows full well how much we love ourselves. Even if you have a poor self-image, you do take care of yourself, therefore, you love yourself. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Anthony on August 1, 2010
Several years ago I had the privilege of having Anne Rice discover my review of her book “Out of Egypt.” She left a comment. This was an honor, and also a frightening reminder that sometimes the subjects of my blog posts actually read them. In respect to her, when I reviewed “The Road to Cana” I forwarded it along to her. In private correspondence, she told me I did a great job. Well, I thought she had done a good job. When it came time to review her spiritual autobiography, I worried that the good feelings might ebb. As a courtesy, I sent it along to her… and never heard what she thought of that! (I will also be forwarding this to her.)
Anyone who was surprised by her announcement that she was ‘quitting’ Christianity clearly had not read her spiritual autobiography. In my review of it, I went on to say something that seems a bit prescient now:
I do not want one of conservative Christians to read what I just wrote and say “Well, I can write Anne Rice off, now!” What Anne says in this final chapter contains much of value. The fact is that people do have trouble disassociating God from the Church and the Church should take this into account when it acts, knowing that in driving people away from the Church, they can drive them away from God.
I also said in that review: “I cannot cover all of the ground that a good long conversation could more appropriately handle regarding such matters.” WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
