Here us a video I did on a snowy Saturday night before Christmas week for those who missed it on the Christ Church website 12.20.09.

The last post included a summary of the biblical and historical explanation for the Fully-Human Jesus. Here we look at the Fully-God nature of Jesus.  The Divine Son of God has made it possible for us to become like himself – as Peter said, to become “partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4)

Our Lord saves us by becoming what we are, by sharing totally in our humanity, thereby enabling us to share in what he is.  Thus through a reciprocal exchange of gifts he takes our humanity and communicates to us his divine life, reestablishing that communion between Creator and creation which sin has destroyed.  (K. Ware,  pp. 52-53)

Again, I’ll include a detailed excerpt from the ESV Study Bible article on Christ’s Divinity.

The Deity of Christ

Many passages of Scripture demonstrate that Jesus is fully and completely God:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1, 14).

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known (John 1:18).

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen (Rom. 9:5).

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:5–7).

. . . waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power (Heb. 1:3).

But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” . . . And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands” (Heb. 1:8, 10).

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:1).

Jesus’ Understanding of His Own Deity

Even though the passages cited above clearly teach the deity of Christ, this truth is often challenged. Some say that Jesus never claimed to be God and that these verses were written by his disciples who deified him because of the impact he had on their lives. Jesus, it is claimed, only saw himself as a great moral teacher on a par with other religious leaders. However, Jesus’ understanding of his own deity in the Gospels does not support this perspective. He clearly saw himself as God. This can be seen primarily in six ways.

1. Jesus taught with divine authority. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, “the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 7:28–29). The teachers of the law in Jesus’ day had no authority of their own. Their authority came from their use of earlier authorities. Even Moses and the other OT prophets and authors did not speak in their own authority, but would say, “This is what the Lord says.” Jesus, on the other hand, interprets the law by saying, “You have heard that it was said. . . . But I say to you” (see Matt. 5:22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44). This divine authority is shown with staggering clarity when he speaks of himself as the Lord who will judge the whole earth and will say to the wicked, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23). No wonder the crowd was amazed at the authority with which Jesus spoke. Jesus recognized that his words carried divine weight. He acknowledged the permanent authority of the law (Matt. 5:18) and put his words on an equal plane with it: “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt. 5:18); “Heaven and earth will pass away, butmy words will not pass away” (Matt. 24:35).

2. Jesus had a unique relationship with God the Father. When he was a young boy, Jesus sat with the religious leaders in the temple, amazing people with the answers he gave. When his distraught parents finally found their “lost” adolescent, he replied by saying, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). Jesus’ reference to God as “my Father” is a radical statement of a unique, intimate relationship with God, of which he was already fully conscious. Such a reference by an individual was unprecedented in Jewish literature. Jesus took this unique personal address to another level by referring to God the Father using the affectionate Aramaic expression ’Abba’.

3. Jesus’ favorite self-designation was the title Son of Man. The phrase “a son of man” could mean merely “a human being.” But Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man (implying the unique, well-known Son of Man), which indicates that he sees himself as the Messianic Son of Man in Daniel 7 who is to rule over the whole world for all eternity:

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13–14).

Jesus establishes his divine authority as the glorious Messianic Son of Man by declaring that he has the power to forgive sin and is Lord of the Sabbath: “‘But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic—‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home’” (Mark 2:10–11); “And he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath’” (Mark 2:27–28).

4. Jesus’ teaching emphasized his own identity. Jesus came teaching the kingdom of God, and in it he was the King. His teaching dealt with many topics but was centrally about himself. His question to his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15), is the ultimate question of his ministry.

5. Jesus received worship. Perhaps the most radical demonstration of Jesus’ belief that he was God is the fact that when he was worshiped, as he sometimes was, he accepted that worship (Matt. 14:33; 28:9, 17; John 9:38; 20:28). If Jesus did not believe he was God, he should have vehemently rejected being worshiped, as Paul and Barnabas did in Lystra (Acts 14:14–15). That a monotheistic Jew like Jesus accepted worship from other monotheistic Jews shows that Jesus realized that he possessed a divine identity.

6. Jesus equated himself with the Father, and as a result the Jewish leaders accused him of blasphemy:

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God (John 5:17–18).

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” [a clear allusion to the sacred divine name of Yahweh; cf. Ex. 3:14]. So they picked up stones to throw at him (John 8:58–59).

“I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. . . . The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man,make yourself God” (John 10:30–33).

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” [a reference to Daniel 7; see point 3 above]. And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death (Mark 14:61–64).

Implications of Christ’s Deity

Because Jesus is God, the following things are true:

1. God can be known definitively and personally in Christ: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18); “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

2. Redemption is possible and has been accomplished in Christ: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

3. In Christ risen, ascended and enthroned we have a sympathetic high priest who has omnipotent power to meet our needs: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:15).

4. Worship of and obedience to Christ is appropriate and necessary.

Historical Misunderstandings of Christ’s Deity

The earliest and most radical denial of the deity of Christ is called Ebionism or Adoptionism, which was taught by a small Jewish-Christian sect in the first century. They believed that the power of God came on a man named Jesus to enable him to fulfill the Messianic role, but that Christ was not God. A later and more influential Christological heresy was Arianism (early 4th century), which denied the eternal, fully divine nature of Christ. Arius (c. 256–336) believed Jesus was the “first and greatest of created beings.” Arius’s denial of Jesus’ full deity was rejected at the Council of Nicea in 325. At this council, Athanasius showed that according to Scripture Jesus is fully God, being of the same essence as the Father.

ecce homo - "Behold the man!"

Our series on Fully Human Fully Alive is taking two weeks in Advent to examine the implications of Jesus being both Fully Human and Fully God.  Here is a summary of the biblical and theological truth of Jesus’ full humanity as summarized in an article from the ESV Study Bible.

The Humanity of Christ

From the moment of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus, his divine nature became permanently united to his human nature in one and the same person, the now incarnate Son of God. The biblical evidence for Jesus’ humanity is strong, showing that he had a human body, and a human mind, and experienced human temptation.

Jesus had a human birth and a human genealogy: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4–5).

Jesus had a human body that experienced growth (Luke 2:40, 52) as well as physical susceptibilities like hunger (Matt. 4:2), thirst (John 19:28), tiredness (John 4:6), and death (Luke 23:46).

As an old man, the apostle John was still in awe of the fact that he had been able to experience God the Son in the flesh. Like an excited child, he keeps repeating himself as he describes the incarnation:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen andheard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:1–3).

John has known about the incarnation for over 50 years when he writes this letter, yet he still writes with wide-eyed wonder as he reflects on walking the shores of Galilee, fishing, eating, and laughing with, and having his feet washed by, a carpenter who was God in flesh!

Jesus continues to have a physical body in his resurrected state, and he went to great lengths to make sure his disciples realized this: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39; cf. Luke 24:42–43; John 20:17, 25–27). After his resurrection, Jesus returned to the Father by ascending in his divinely reanimated body before his disciples’ wondering eyes, thus affirming his ongoing full physical humanity (Luke 24:50–51; Acts 1:9–11). The ascension has been included in every important creed of the church because it teaches the enduring complete humanity of Jesus as the only mediator between God and man.

Jesus had a human mind that, according to the will of the Father, had limitations in knowledge: “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32). His human mind grew and increased in wisdom (Luke 2:52), and he even “learned obedience” (Heb. 5:8–9). To say Jesus “learned obedience” does not mean he moved from disobedience to obedience, but that he grew in his capacity to obey as he endured suffering.

Jesus experienced human temptation: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15; cf. Luke 4:1–2). While Jesus experienced every kind of human temptation, he never succumbed to sin (John 8:29, 46; 15:10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 3:5).

Jesus practiced spiritual disciplines. He regularly prayed with passion (Mark 14:36; Luke 10:21; Heb. 5:7), worshiped at services in the synagogue (Luke 4:16), read and memorized Scripture (Matt. 4:4–10), practiced the discipline of solitude (Mark 1:35; 6:46), observed the Sabbath (Luke 4:16), obeyed OT ceremonial laws (John 8:29, 46; 15:10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15), and received the fullness of the Spirit (Luke 3:22; 4:1). These religious activities were done earnestly (Heb. 5:7) and habitually (Luke 4:16) as the means of a truly human spiritual growth process.

Given Jesus’ divine nature, the normality of most of his earthly life is staggering. It seems that Jesus spent the first 30 years of his life in relative obscurity, doing manual labor, taking care of his family, and being faithful to whatever his Father called him to do. In his public ministry Jesus performed miraculous signs and delivered authoritative teaching that could only come from God, and this was shockingly offensive for the people of his hometown, who saw Jesus’ simplicity and humility as incompatible with messianic wisdom and power:

Coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household” (Matt. 13:54–57).

Jesus did not cease to be fully human after the resurrection. He will be a man forever as he represents redeemed humanity for all of eternity (Acts 1:11; 9:5; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 7:25; Rev. 1:13).

Implications of the Humanity of Christ

Humans have obviously been sinful ever since the fall. Therefore, it is easy to assume that being sinful is an essential, necessary part of being a “human being.” But this is not true. Jesus was human and yet did not sin. The fact that he became man reveals the nature of true humanity. His humanity gives a glimpse of what our humanity would be, were it not tainted with sin. He shows that the problem with humanity is not that we are humans, but rather that we are fallen. Jesus’ human nature shows the potential of humanity as God intended. This display of sinless humanity reaffirms God’s declaration that creation in all its original dimensions (material and spiritual), including humanity, is by divine definition very good (Gen. 1:31).

Jesus’ humanity enables his representative obedience for us. “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:18–19). Because Jesus is truly human, his perfect life of obedience and overcoming all temptations—culminating in his perfect substitutionary death—can take the place of human rebellion and failure.

Because of Jesus’ humanity, he can truly be a substitutionary sacrifice for mankind. “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17). A man died on the cross when Jesus died, and his death truly atones for the sin of human beings, whose nature he shared.

Jesus’ humanity makes him the only effective mediator between God and man: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). Jesus’ divine and human natures enable him to stand in the gap between fallen humans and a holy God.

Jesus’ humanity enabled him to become a sympathetic high priest who experientially understands the difficult plight of humanity in a fallen world: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:15–16; cf. Heb. 2:18).

Jesus’ humanity means he is a true example and pattern for human character and conduct. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21; cf. 1 John 2:6).

In our series, Fully Human – Fully Alive we stopped to explore the question of how to understand Genesis 1.  I referenced an important new work called  The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John Walton, 2009 (IVP Academic).

“This book presents a profoundly important new analysis of the meaning of Genesis. Digging deeply into the original Hebrew language and the culture of the people of Israel in Old Testament times, respected scholar John Walton argues convincingly that Genesis was intended to describe the creation of the functions of the cosmos, not its material nature. In the process, he elevates Scripture to a new level of respectful understanding, and eliminates any conflict between scientific and scriptural descriptions of origins.” —-Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project and author of The Language of God

The book along with the topic of  evangelicals and evolution was summarized and discussed recently on Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed blog.  You can read the posts and comments here.  It is part of a Science and Faith category.

A website recommended with an enormous amount of resources on all kinds of science and faith issues is from the Biologos Foundation at biologos.org

Go to the Christ Church website to hear the sermon.  Here I am listing a summary of the key principles from the teaching.

Three big questions that are vital to be able to answer in today’s world – as people of biblical faith:

What does it mean to be a human being from the point of view of biblical faith?

How does biblical faith help to make sense of human suffering?

How does modern science relate to biblical faith?

Nicene Creed:

We believe in one God the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth,

and of all things visible and invisible…

Genesis 1:1  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:1-3  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … All things were made through him…

Biblical Faith and Scientific Inquire are not enemies but friends!

Athenasius – “On the Incarnation” (3^rd- 4^th cent.)

“The first fact that you must grasp is this.  The renewal of creation (its salvation) has been wrought by the self-same Word Who made it in the beginning.”  (Creation’s renewal comes by Creation’s Maker!)

Gen. 1  is in the language of ancient cosmology not modern science.

The Bible isn’t written TO us even thought it is written FOR us.

So we have to ENTER the culture.

One key way is to understand the literature of the Ancient world- specifically the cosmology stories

Creation myths.  (sometimes discussed to show how all religions are the same – but really in the Bible’s case it shows just the opposite.  Very valuable!)

Gen.1 is describing the way the parts of creation function, bringing order out of Chaos.

(The way things are to function – not the material make-up or exact way they came into being.)

Illustration: When we go to a theatre – we’re more interested in the story that was created that uses the set design than we are about the material properties of the stage or curtains.  Genesis one is about the creation of the Drama and what it means  not the how or when of the material décor.

“Create” (Ba-ra) speaks of God fashioning something of value and delight out of material that is initially shapeless and barren. It’s “filling in;” making it functional.

In Gen. 1 the world is being given its functions as God’s temple, where he has taken up his residence and from where he runs the cosmos for his people. This world is God’s headquarters!

This is called the “cosmic temple” view of Gen. 1

And in the Ancient world – it provided the people of Israel with a direct confrontation to the origin stories that were the assumed way of thinking about the world in that time.

“Gen. 1 can be seen as a 7 day inauguration of the cosmic temple, setting up its functions for the benefit of humanity, with God dwelling in relationship with his creatures.”  (Walton, p. 163)

Other scholars see the seven days in poetic or liturgical terms: A “Majestic Festive overture (musical intro or liturgy)  It’s a Salvation history – not a scientific explanation!

Gen.1 is not explaining or critiquing modern science; to try to make it so is to change the meaning; be less literal; less accurate.

To insist as many well meaning Christians have sought to do.  That the only true interpretation of Gen. 1 is  to explain the science of how the material creation happened [e.g. a Young Earth – 24 hr day view ] is not only not necessary for the proper reading of Gen 1 – it is a less literal and less accurate understanding of the text. It is seeking to squeeze the language of ancient cosmology and Hebrew language into terminology of modern science. It does not do justice to rules of biblical interp. It has done much to lead into the stereotype that the New Atheism would like to apply to all people of biblical faith!

Walton: “Science cannot offer an un-biblical view of material origins because there IS NO Biblical view of material origins!  All we can say is that WHATEVER HAPPENED – WHENEVER IT HAPPENED – HOWEVER IT HAPPENED – GOD DID IT!”

What science has to offer concerning the HOW [the descriptive mechanisms] of material origins can be explored without offense to the biblical affirmations of Gen. 1

It’s about God as the One who is in charge and focused on loving his creation and fulfilling  his purposes for humankind.

Many implications:

Empirical science should remain neutral on questions of purpose or the way God may have put the functions of the world together which is the faith question of Genesis. This is outside of the realm of true science.

This also means that discussions of Genesis don’t fit in a science classroom since it is not neutral on questions of goal and purpose. (Walton has great discussions for classroom teachers and parents.)

The origins discussion of non-material nature should happen in other subjects.

Those who hold to evolutionary science must not be allowed to impose their non-material conclusions onto the science classroom either. (Dawkins – anyone who believes in a God is = to someone who denies the Holocaust! Philosophical naturalism (the bare world of the senses is all there is) can’t be permitted to be pushed or evolutionary theories overstated in the name of objective science.

Christians who hold to a  7 – 24 hr. day Young earth creationism as objective science and the only Christian view should not make it a goal impose this view into a science classroom. To hold to this view is often what pushes evolutionists to be even more dogmatic.

This view is not the most literal reading of Gen. 1 if indeed Walton and most other evangelical biblical scholars are right in saying we need to read Gen. 1 in the cultural context of the ancient world.

For those who hold to the integrity of Scripture – the descriptive mechanisms of evolutionary science can be evaluated on their own merits and need not be any more problematic for our theology that the mechanisms of meteorology or other natural science!!

When a scientist speaks against something that is a part of biblical ethics – he or she must honestly acknowledge that they are combining two disciplines – biology and ethics (2 kinds of knowing – 2 kinds of understanding) – it’s not just about science.  It is a philosophical or theological issue. Science is not the only decision-maker for society.

There is no contradiction for a scientist being a person of biblical faith;

it is a false dilemma requiring a false choice!

For Christian students – we need to re-energize them to not fear scientific inquire and to diffuse the origins debates by a more accurate interpretation of Genesis.  To infer that we have to choose between biblical faith and scientific inquire is a false choice!!

“The only question worth asking is whether or not the universe is God’s.  If the answer is YES! Then why get so excited about how? The important thing is that we are God’s – created in love…

God’s method of creation…is not where my faith is centered. Madeleine L’Engle

Worship with reverence and awe the Lord of all Creation (and study!)  knowing that, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God!” (Gerald Manley Hopkins)

I had the privilege of attending a C.S. Lewis conference in Oxford a few years ago on my sabbatical.  The closing event was a service at St. Mary’s church.  A British actor read Lewis’ sermon preached during WW II.  He called it The Weight of Glory (from a phrase in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Here is the link to the entire sermon. It is a masterpiece that adds greatly to our vision of eternity and to understanding the Imago Dei – humankind made in the image of God.
Christopher Mitchell in a wonderful article on Lewis’ evangelistic zeal demonstrates how Lewis “longed above all else for the unseen things of which this life offers only shadows, for that weight of glory which the Lord Christ won for the human race. And knowing the extraordinary nature of every human person, Lewis longed for and labored for their glory as well.”

An expanded quote we used in today’s sermon at Christ Church will whet your appetite:

It may be possible
for each to think too much of his own
potential glory hereafter; it is hardly
possible for him to think too often or too
deeply about that of his neighbour.
The load, or weight, or burden of my
neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on
my back, a load so heavy that only
humility can carry it, and the backs of the
proud will be broken. It is a serious thing
to live in a society of possible gods and
goddesses, to remember that the dullest
and most uninteresting person you talk to
may one day be a creature which, if you
saw it now, you would be strongly tempted
to worship, or else a horror and a
corruption such as you now meet, if at all,
only in a nightmare. All day long we are,
in some degree, helping each other to one
or other of these destinations. It is in the
light of these overwhelming possibilities, it
is with the awe and the circumspection
proper to them, that we should conduct all
our dealings with one another, all
friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.
There are no ordinary people. You have
never talked to a mere mortal. Nations,
cultures, arts, civilization—these are
mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of
a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke
with, work with, marry, snub, and
exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting
splendours. This does not mean that we
are to be perpetually solemn. We must
play. But our merriment must be of that
kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind)
which exists between people who have,
from the outset, taken each other
seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no
presumption. And our charity must be a
real and costly love, with deep feeling for
the sins in spite of which we love the
sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence
which parodies love as flippancy parodies
merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament
itself, your neighbour is the holiest object
presented to your senses. If he is your
Christian neighbour he is holy in almost
the same way, for in him also Christ vere
latitat—the glorifier and the glorified,
Glory Himself, is truly hidden.

“Little children – keep yourselves from idols.”  So the apostle John ends his first letter to the early church. (1 John 5:21)  I don’t think he was warning against Caesar dolls!  Interior idols and the cult of ‘Things’ is the ever-present danger.  Whenever we look to something other than God for our meaning or security – we become idolaters.

Imagine a community of people unattached to their stuff?  Living creatively, responsibly, generously in the world so that everyone can see the living God?
Jesus would call it ‘Church!’

I’d like to re-post something from a few years ago on the dangers of modern idolatry.

Consumerism has been called “The Cult of the Next Thing.”  The essay by Mark Buchanon and is available here. In Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus calls us to check our hearts and our eyes as it relates to possessions and Kingdom priorities . If Money is one of the idols – or gods of this world, then Jesus wants us (in the words of Dale Bruner in his commentary on Matthew) to become the real atheists to the secular gods of consumerism, successism, pride in possessions, self-serving, overspending, and indifference to needs…” 

The antidote to terminal consumerism is generosity: both the tithe principle of regular, planned giving and offerings of what we have that come from a heart of compassion in the face of urgent needs.

Randy Alcorn has a voluminous website with a section on Money that is well worth checking out.  As with any author, we may not agree with every emphasis, but Alcorn covers the questions thoroughly and with a heart of Christ-centeredness. Alcorns books, The Treasure Principle, and especially Money, Possessions, and Eternity are excellent.  Much of their content is on the website in the form of articles or downloads.

This is your invitation to join an important conversation.  Tell us your stories of how you have seen God use your everyday work in His mission to the world!  Or in light of the teaching from the I Am The Church series, how God’s Spirit  is moving in you to “re-imagine” your work -  reflecting the beauty of God’s love and truth in new ways.  Scroll down and leave your story in the Comment section.

Here is a wonderful summary of the theology behind the teaching from a site called The High Calling of Our Daily Work, by a ministry led by Howard Butt.  This is a quote from an article on creating a beautiful work place.

…Beauty must be seen then as an aspect of God and God’s creation. Beauty is the light of God shining from within the created world. The fact that one person sees beauty where another doesn’t has to do with people’s different capacities, not the nature of beauty itself.

Why does all this matter? Because if we want to be followers of Christ, we need to join Christ in his work. Through his incarnation, public ministry, passion, resurrection, and ascension, Christ initiated a cosmic renewal. His victory over death began the restoration of God’s entire creation to a state even better than its original “goodness.”

In fact, we are invited to be co-creators with Christ in this work, as part of his living body within the world. That means performing (good, i.e.) beautiful deeds . . . from anointing the Savior’s feet with expensive perfume to building exquisite church sanctuaries….to helping widows, orphans, and prisoners; from constructing excellent architecture to putting together vital organizations; from decorating our homes attractively to creating a harmonious workplace.

The Lausanne Movement arose out of the first international Congress on World Evangelization convened by Billy Graham and attended by leaders from 150 countries.  Out of it came the Lausanne Covenant – a wonderful document used ever since as a balanced statement of the Church’s mission.  It was here that John Stott first crafted the phrase, “the Whole Church taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World.”  We spoke of this briefly in our series on I am the Church, on The Call To Mission -Connecting to a Hurting World.

Let me encourage you to read further on this vital understanding of Mission. Lausanne has an amazing website with documents and papers from all of its conferences and global study groups.  I’ll link here to the section that further explains the “Whole” emphases. The article by Christopher Wright is especially helpful.

Here’s a paragraph from The Jesus Prayer, reviewed in the previous post and referenced in the October 11, ‘09 teaching at Christ Church.  It captures the intimate link between communion with Christ and mission to the world.

“The purpose of this earthly life is to be saturated with the life of Christ.  Everything flows from that, every work of art and act of courageous witness, every  theological insight and every effort to help the poor.  The idea is that God will fill people with His Son’s life, and then they will accomplish his work in the world.”

“(Christ’s) indwelling presence heals, restores, and completes us, preparing each of us to take up the role in his kingdom that we alone can fill.”

Frederica Mathewes-Green, The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer That Tunes The Heart To God, p.12

Many are familiar with what over the centuries has been called The Jesus Prayer, which in the subtitle of a new book by Frederica Mathewes-Green is described as “the ancient desert prayer that tunes the heart to God.” It comes from the Gospels and we’ve used it in worship services, retreats, and prayer gatherings and many have incorporated it into their personal prayer disciplines.  There are various forms, but I usually use the longer form: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

I had the joy of sitting in three of Frederica’s workshops in Oxford during my sabbatical a few years ago.  We had coffee one afternoon.  At that time I told her I felt she was one of those great “bridge authors” like Henri Nouwen who helps different faith streams glean from one another.  I’ve been waiting for this book and I’m not disappointed.  I wrote an Amazon review which I’ll put at the end of this post as well.

Paraclete Press, the publisher, has posted a long excerpt you can read here.  It has the intro and first chapter that will help you get the idea of the history and helpfulness of prayers like the Jesus Prayer.  Here is the link to the book excerpt. My review follows here:

Frederica is a bridge author between historic Orthodoxy and other faith streams like Evangelicalism the way Henri Nouwen was appreciated by both Roman Catholics and Evangelicals.  I sat under her workshops at Oxford CS Lewis Institute and have read all her books and dozens of others on the Jesus Prayer. Eastern Orthodox spirituality, theology, and music have deeply impacted my own journey as a pastor. This book is direct, clear, and accessible for any Christian and even those seeking more understanding.

Matthewew-Green has chosen to have half the book be in a Question and Answer format which works well because of the many nuances and viewpoints even among the Orthodox on the practice of the prayer and the related principles of spiritual discipline.

I believe this will be the modern standard to introduce millions of Christians to prayer that moves beyond (both) shallow self-expressed prayers and formal written prayers to a place of constant presence with God so needed in our self-addicted world of miss-placed passions. I encourage you to read the book and more importantly, make the Jesus Prayer and similar scripture prayers the core of your prayer-practice.