Humanism - Pauline Style

I believe (have not researched recently) it was John Eldredge who I first heard call God "the ultimate humanist." The idea is that no person even begins to desire for the fullness of what it means to be human like God desires mankind to know the fullness of what it means to be human.

Whenever I preach I try to illustrate this "fullness" through the message of the text I am working on. People who hear me preach frequently know that Fear, Separation, and death are broken consequences of God's design for Peace, Community, and Life.

This morning in our Bible Study at work (yes I was preaching rather than teaching today, I do that sometimes) we were looking at Romans 5

Romans 5:1-11 1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Now to understand the reconciliation Paul is talking about here, I think we have to look back to the promises made at the beginning of the chapter. Once justified by faith we receive three promises; Peace with God, Hope in the Glory of God, and Love by the Holy Spirit. Reconciliation is not a promise postmortem, instead it is a statement of truth to the reality that has already occurred. The follower of Christ HAS BEEN RESTORED to the fullness of what it means to be human. When I have the peace that comes through faith and the hope of honoring God's glory, and the love that indwells me personally; that means that the peace, community, and life I was created for are restored.

So why then do still worry about my daughter's problems in the classroom? Why do I still have stress over my portfolio? Why do I still fight with my wife? Why after 3 years are my relationships at my church mostly shallow? All of this are signs of my broken humanity.

These issues still exist because I enter into these areas with my carnal mind. I do not bring the fullness of my reconciled humanity into these situations. Kingdom thinking, or living out my faith by setting my hope in God's glory and loving on the radical dangerous level of Jesus, must be integrated into my very fabric. I think Mark 10:45 best summarizes this idea. This is where the rubber meets the roads of following the red letters. Jesus' teachings were about our fears, our relationships, and our portfolios, because his teachings were about how we relate to God and how we relate to others.

When I bring that spirit to my relationships, to my discontent, and to my finances I will find that peace, community are already there and waiting.

My Frustration Knows NO limitations

Matthew 25:40 - "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

I am overwhelmed with excitement as our church prepares to begin working alongside our Hispanic brothers in reaching out this community in our area. As one of our elders sent an email announcing the beginning of Spanish classes at our building this is the response back to the entire email list from one member:

It seems to me we should better teach an English class to all those who want to learn.  Seems like it would prove to be more useful since they have come to the United States to live.
Love you all,
X

I am MOST certainly thankful that Christ did not require me to learn Aramaic, or worse to make myself righteous before he was willing to offer me salvation. I can only imagine how this might have worked out on Spiritual Scale:

Step 1: Live Sinless
Step 2: Since you failed step 1 you're already screwed, report to the lake of fire upon death.

CHRIST HUMBLED HIMSELF! CHRIST TOOK ON FLESH! CHRIST BECAME LIKE US! Why? So that we might be SAVED!!! This idea that we will only provide outreach to those willing to conform themselves to our Social, Civil, Political ideals is an affront to God and detestable to His gospel! THE KING and CREATOR did not demand his disciples take up the towel to wash his feet. HE carried the basin to THEIR feet and cleaned them by his efforts. Finally he instructed them to GO AND DO LIKEWISE!!!!

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL!!!! It is not an invitation to CONFORM to Conservative 1950 WASP ideals of Americana!!! It is not a path to better US residency policy. It is not a call to outsiders to sacrifice their identity for our convenience. THE GOSPEL is a call to SELF SACRIFICE. The gospel's goal is that we will KILL OUR ENTIRE SENSE OF SELF for the sake and name of God's Kingdom!

I sit here with tears flowing from my eyes as I type this! We must confess this arrogance and rid it from our churches by true repentance, the kind that is TREASONOUS to our former selves. WE too are only pilgrims and guest of the nation, WE ARE CITIZENS OF GOD'S KINGDOM!!! We should plant our faces to the ground, and cry out for God's mercy in the face of our arrogance!

Why is Blog Not A Spell Check Word Yet?

I sent an email using the word blog several time. My spell check wanted to correct it to log and Blogger to logger. Why is this. I am ready to stand on a soap box and let the spell check writers of the world it is time to accept blog as a legitimate English word.