Missional Holiness

On the back of reading and using Derek Tidball's devotional reflection on Scriptures in The Message Of Holiness, I am enthralled with P T Forsyth's work, The Holy Father. A Scottish theologian and pastor, 100 years ago Forsyth had insight to see that the Gospel cannot be presented in ways that reduce our message to sound like a commodity (getting rid of your sin so that you can reach your potential) or simply a comfort (divine dad loves you heaps so enjoy it).

I am persuaded that Forsyth's message has to be heard afresh: the message of Holy Love. Yes, you are forgiven and your sins are atoned for ..... but it is so that you can now be enabled by God's power to walk in the paths of holiness. Yes, Father God loves you with an unrivalled intensity of love, but it is Holy love that cannot nor will not embrace the stain of sin. A grasp of this holiness brings us fresh relationship to God; a seeking of the authentic presence and power of the Holy Spirit; a desire and focus upon living an alternative life and lifestyle:

"The soul of divine fatherhood is forgiveness by holiness. It is evangelical. It is a matter of grace meeting sin by sacrifice to holiness, more even than of love meeting need by service to man. To correct and revive that truth, to restore it to its place in the proportion of faith, would be to restore passion to our preaching, solemnity to our tenderness, real power to our energy, and moral virility to our piety" (The Holy Father, http://www.newcreation.org.au/books/pdf/181_GodHolyFather.pdf , p 5).

But there's something more, too. Holiness and the costliness of grace is not simply a pious insight or a personal pilgrimage. There are implications for our understanding of mission. For mission, when truly embraced in holiness, is both about a message and a means of conveying that message. Without holiness sought and working in the messenger, the message is quite likely to be corrupted. The immensity of the cost of grace and the intent of such a self-giving God will more easily be lost sight of. Unless the messenger themselves trembles at the awesome realisation of God's Holy Love outworked at the Cross, there is something lost and potency of transforming grace compromised.

Let's seek afresh the Holy God, the fullness of atoning mercy met with in the mystery revealed in and through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Decisionism & Thin Community

Psychological and sociological insights can be helpful in understanding the practices and convictions of Christians. It’s not just about theology. Take ‘decisionism’, for example. By ‘decisionism’ I mean the practice of taking a person’s decision to believe – regardless of any call to repent or necessary fruitfulness of faith – as sufficient grounds for accepting and believing that a person has owned Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.

‘Decisionism’ is enduringly popular among so many Christians in today’s society because most of us live in such ‘thin’ community. Community that hardly exists at all. Where lives are not transparent and where social interaction is superficial and artificial. This is why so many like ‘decisionism’: it negates or at least supersedes the needful evidence of repentance of sin and fruitfulness. Decision time becomes party time for Christians.

Can’t see it in the Bible. Nor does it count for much when people look for sustainability and depth. Big time devotional writers such as Dallas Willard in the United States trace this and are calling for more depth to faith. Why? Because in the end of the day, ‘decisionism’ counts for nothing.

Part of what we stand for as Baptists is the pursuit of ‘thick community’ – community that has social and interpersonal depth to it. This is the community that fosters are develops Biblical faith. Faith that is about Christlikeness. Transformation.

Words and the longings of our hearts

I'm thinking a lot about words we use. It's interesting. The words that people use. Especially when talking about Christian things. I've just listened to a recording of Paul's Letter to the Ephesians - these books were written to be listened to, not just read. But words give hints as to how people see things.

There's huge pressure, in today's pluralistic culture, to embrace words such as 'inclusive'. Just like it's fashionable to speak of reaching out to the 'marginalised'. I'm really interested that there is not, as far as I can see, a direct Biblical equivalent to either of these word in current usage: the nearest to being 'inclusive' that I can think of is the call to 'do justice and show mercy'; and the nearest to 'marginalised' are the Biblical 'poor', who are the victims of injustice, dispossessed from the good purposes of God for their lives.

Christian mission should not begin with a focus on seeking to be 'inclusive', or reaching to the 'marginalised'. It should begin with a stress on pursuing true righteousness and justice within the household of God and allowing the Spirit's power to carry us out in acts of loving service and a sharing of the Good News of what Jesus is bringing to the whole of Creation. And the world's talk of care for the 'marginalised' should be replaced by real concern and focus in our mission to those who are victims of greed, exploitation and injustice. A missional focus in pursuing righteousness through serving and bringing good news to the poor should never be lost. We must avoid, at one extreme, a bare message of evangelistic triumphalism. We must also avoid jumping on to a bandwagon of fashionability. Words express our values. And values betray the longings of our hearts.

full spectrum

It was great to visit three different congregations yesterday. What struck me was the contrast in style. The morning was a gathering of largely mature people but with a cross section of ages and quite a traditional format. The afternoon was a huge number of families and really young children! The evening was a student gathering with some others along. Each quite different. Each complimentary of the others.

the essence of wider church has to be networking - dealing with one another in different circumstances all to the glory of God. Learning the skills that are transferable, simply admiring and rejoicing in those that are not. Jealousy is not a good thing. Praising God for what He has given us and looking for the potential in what we might be and do for the Kingdom of God - this is what matters.