The Christ Hymn - pt. 8

…. So that at the name of Jesus every knee - whether heavenly, human or hidden – might bow (Philippians 2.10)

It is hard for those of us who are Gentile, non-Jewish, worshippers of the God of Israel to appreciate the immensity and intensity of these words. Here is the declaration that Jesus Christ is not only the Word of God, He is also God’s last Word, His ultimate declaration to and over the whole Cosmos. Here and in Him is the full majesty and holiness of the Creator made manifest. Here is the one before whom all will bow in tribute awaiting His judgment. It is Jesus who stands at the end of all time in this Creation, holding the key to the destiny of all in the sight of God.

A tame Jesus, a nice Jesus, a docile Jesus, a teddy bear Jesus, would be so much easier to live with. But not to worship.

To be continued …..

As it is written

Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me,`In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.' All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult (Isaiah 45.22-25).

The Christ Hymn - pt. 7

…. and has given Him the name that is over and above every name (Philippians 2.9)

Those who look to Jesus will be exalted because of Jesus. And they will also discover the power of His name.

The vindication and preferment that is here given to Jesus is given to the son of Mary. Jesus is not an uncommon name today, especially in Spanish speaking environments. It is the name given to a child born of flesh and blood. And it the one called Jesus who is found in flesh and blood, now both resurrected and exalted, that is given pre-eminence over all things by the God of Israel.

We may not fully grasp, but let us at least glimpse the dignity and honour that is bestowed on us by God, through Jesus Christ. This dignity is for those whose humanity is caught up in his humanity, into the very presence of the God of Israel. Here is the wonder. That the One who came down to serve, the Son of God pouring Himself out, took to Himself our humanity and now holds it, conjoined to himself, for all eternity. Through Jesus and only Jesus we find ourselves participating in the presence, in the glory and the goodness, of the Creator of the Cosmos.

Here is why we willingly participate in the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, moulded by His manifesto, galvanised by His goals. As we find ourselves participating in His ministry we find too that we are arrested and infused with the power and presence of the resurrected and exalted Messiah, whose name is above all names, and whose humbled humanity we share.

To be continued …..

The Christ Hymn - pt. 6

…. God highly exalted Him (Philippians 2.9)

The language here is unmistakably that of vindication, of reward. In v 6-8, we are given insight into the attitude of Jesus Christ, how he approached and engaged with life as a human being. Now we see it from the perspective of God in heaven. Here, in v 9-11 is the response of the God of Israel to what Jesus had undertaken.

Jesus is not simply resurrected, or made alive again. The language here is of exaltation, celebration of accomplishment and its reward. The life of obedience and the sacrifice made is now vindicated and honoured.

There is something fundamentally wrong in our perception of the Christian life, if we have not grasped this key attitude: that we are called to a life where we are ‘co-crucified’ with Christ. Being a Christian is not a free pass to get what you like from heaven’s 'supermarket'.

We are to focus on the Kingdom of God; and to get on with promoting its advance here and now. This is what Jesus did, and received His reward from God. If we adopt His attitude, this will involve seeking to be gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, merciful, faithful, loving and forgiving. Emptying ourselves in humility, pursuing servanthood and obedience to God. Pursuing justice and behave righteously. And growing our lives into deeper participation in the life of ministry of Jesus Christ.

Get focused. Remember, those who live for Jesus will be exalted because of Jesus. Everyone will get their reward.

To be continued …..

the resurrected crucified Christ

'Once again, we must stress that it is the resurrected crucified Christ with whom believers are initially and continually crucified….co-crucifixion is not merely a meta­phor but an apt description of an encounter with a living person whose presence transforms and animates believers: "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I live, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me by giving himself for me." ….. The kenosis of the preexistent Son of God, known in the fidelity and love of the historical Jesus, continues to define the reality of the resurrected Christ and thus of those whom he enlivens ….. As Kasemann famously said, "The cross is the signature of the one who is risen." ' (Gorman, Cruciformity, p.71)

The Christ Hymn - pt. 5

Therefore …. (Philippians 2.9)

Faith is not about believing certain things. The devil and demons believe all the right things about Jesus Christ, when they fear and flee from Him! Faith is about attitude.

Enter the Holy Spirit. Sure, the Holy Spirit’s action is not explicitly mentioned here. But in the mindset of the Apostle Paul, a first century Jew, the Holy Spirit’s presence, purpose and power is implicitly present and entirely assumed. The Holy Spirit is always the active agent of the Creator God, the God of Israel. God breathes the Holy Spirit out. The Holy Spirit is executor of the will and enabler of the way of God, working with creative and recreative power.

God sent Jesus not to die, but to bring life to the world. That Jesus had to die in bringing this about is not in doubt. But the goal was never death. Death was simply the enemy to be defeated, alongwith the devil, disease and despair. The focus of God is always the generation of light and life that is healthy and good.

To be continued …..

The Christ Hymn - pt. 4

Who in His identity, being God as He really is, decided not to make use of His divine prerogative for His own personal advantage but emptied Himself, taking the identity of a bond-slave, becoming like mankind just as we are, coming among us as a real human being: He humbled Himself, committed to obedience to the point of death – even death on a Cross.   (Philippians 2.6-8)

The story so far …..

So, by self-emptying in order to have the mindset of a slave; humbling ourselves, to be framed by obedience. Is this what Christian life is about? Remember, all this is about our being called to have the same attitude as Jesus Christ.

It means we are to be vulnerable people, not religious mannequins. And we are to be dependent and attentive, not just as voluntary workers, but as those under the authority of a master.

It is this attitude, the disposition of our heart and longing, that God looks for and is pleased by more than anything else. This is what He responds to. In the most wonderful, beautiful and powerful way.

To be continued …..

The Christ Hymn - pt. 3

He humbled Himself, committed to obedience to the point of death – even death on a Cross. (Philippians 2.8)

The self-emptying of the God who comes to us in Jesus Christ is not simply a divine ‘guest-appearance’ on the human stage. It is a total disinvestment of divine prerogative and power by the eternal Word of God, the Son of God come among us. It involves a genuine pursuit of servant intentionality on His part, whereby He undertakes to abase Himself, deliberately embracing humble circumstances, that He might express obedience to the God of Israel’s will, deliberately and intentionally bending His own will to embrace the plan.

All of us are capable of fantasising, imagining what we might do if we were to inherit wealth or power. The way of thinking exhibited by Jesus Christ is seen to be, once more, so counter-intuitive to our sinful nature. It’s not a natural thing to think this way. Humility today, as in Greek and Roman pagan society, is perceived as rather a pathetic characteristic. Achieve. Succeed. Become who you aspire to be. Realise your ambitions. These are the values of a corrupted society, far from God.

Those who would enter eternal life in Christ are here called to a radically different mindset. To be marked as people under authority, walking in obedience to the publicly recognised (not simply privately discerned) instructions of the God of Israel. And this demands humility. A swallowing of personal pride. Yes, even a ‘putting ourselves down’. Utter submission to the will and the way of the God of Israel.

It is not the way of the world we live in. It is not the way of the powers and principalities that would hold us in bondage. It is, rather, the way for those who would choose to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

A choice to participate in His purposes and pursue His plans. And, as we will see, to know His power.

To be continued …..

The Christ Hymn - pt. 2

But He emptied Himself, taking the identity of a bond-slave, becoming like mankind just as we are, coming among us as a real human being (Philippians 2.7)

The self-emptying of God in Himself is manifestly expressed in Emmanuel, God with us. In the very act of coming among us, Jesus Christ expresses and manifests the reality of God. Here is God, not hidden on some distant throne, but coming fully in the presence of the Messiah, the Anointed One, to reveal His divine identity to us.

The descendent of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had always known that God shows Himself through His promises fulfilled and in His actions of intervention in the history of Israel. But those in power and who exercised control could simply not conceive that God would so act: divesting Himself so completely of private contentment, self-containment, or any hint of detachment from the real affairs of His Creation.

Here is a God truly to be feared and wondered at. One who gets involved in the affairs of mankind to bring about the justice and righteousness He demands; and who is prepared to go to such terrible lengths of self-divestment to achieve His determined objectives for the whole Cosmos.

To be continued .....

The Christ Hymn - pt. 1

Who in His identity, being God as He really is, decided not to make use of His divine prerogative for His own personal advantage  (Philippians 2.6)

There’s something totally ‘counter-intuitive’ about the Philippian Hymn (Philippians 2.6-11). Especially the first part, in v’s 6-8. It turns upside down the way people think about God. Even Christians!

Whether we realise it or not, we all tend to start with a crazy picture of God. Because we’re up to our necks in sin, in a sinful world. So our pictures of God are really off balance. Take for instance, the ‘omni’s’: omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent – all ideas with pagan, not Biblical roots. Gosh, so where do we get a valid idea of God from?!! In this Christ Hymn, a celebration of Jesus Christ.

The first thing the Hymn tells us is that the only picture of God that is real is the one we are faced with in and through Jesus Christ. He’s the bearer of the divine identity. Noone else. So it says, ‘he, appearing as (being in the form of) God’. In other words, He comes to us as God - God as He really is.

And then it tells us something very real about God. ‘He didn’t try to use his divine identity to His own advantage’. Wow. We use power to get the results that fit with us. God uses His power in a quite different way. To save. To heal. To bring His creatures into real life.

God isn’t just the ‘big man' up there. We only really meet with God when we see Him as He has chosen to appear to us, down here. In Jesus. Don't look up. Look around.

To be continued …….

A wee caveat!

My friend and colleague in Prague, Rollin Walls, has just been reviewing an essay for me. He makes a very important point, which I quote in full from Walls' own work, Rival Versions of Theological Enquiry. The point is that Brueggemann can be accused of reducing the Gospel to merely social action. I agree with this warning - hence the 'three dimensional Gospel' blog entry below. We cannot afform to simply 'sermonise', 'spiritualise' or 'socialise'! We need a grasp of righteousness that points to God as well as to our fellow man. But there is still validity in Brueggemann's point that there is indeed a social, interpersonal aspect to righteousness. Oh, if only any one of us could get it perfectly right all the time! Yeah. Right. .....

Walls, both as New Testament specialist and missiologist, forcibly and persuasively states,

'Granted that such a postmodern paradigm is upon us, we must, once again, recognise that this shift may bend towards a deconstructive or tradition approach to contextual missions. An example of the former might be given with Walter Brueggemann once again. He affirms a deconstruction of 'old missional assumptions and practices.' These include the scope of God's mission being extended outside the Church--a point made often enough by others. But for Brueggemann, this does not mean that the Spirit goes ahead of the Church, preparing the hearts of those seeking God to hear the salvific message of Christ. This would, apparently, be to conceive or practice the Church's mission in 'absolutist or triumphalist terms.' Instead, it means 'religious pluralism'. 'Mission' under such restrictions no longer has a Christological or ecclesiastical focus. It is rather an action theology to redress the inequities in the world. Disestablishment of the Church (apparently this is as much Christian theology as any institutional Church) means being able to recognise ‘the companionable presence of many others … journeying in the same direction.' ‘Christian faith can never be satisfied with a theology of hope that is purely attitudinal, abstract, or ‘doctrinal’’—it must be hope in action. Mission, then (for Brueggemann), entails addressing the injustices resulting from global technology. It also entails ecumenical (inter-religious) dialogue: ‘We may also find, in such dialogue, points of commonality in both theology and ethics, and so expand our conception of the missio Dei.' This anthropological mission of hope, deemphasising Christ, conversion and Church, becomes a movement open enough to include others 'journeying in the same direction'. Mission in action (is reduced to and) involves enacting hope by participating in the harsh realities of AIDS, subjugation (by Western powers outside the West), and ethno-religious conflicts. (from Rollin Walls, Rival Versions of Theological Enquiry).  Italicised parenthesis mine.

Rollin has understandable reservations regarding such a missiology! Rollin Walls' analysis and reservation expressed regarding his reading of Brueggemann therefore needs to be heeded. Because if we lose the centre in Jesus Christ to our Gospel, what sort of Gospel is left? In the end of the day, we own only the knowing of 'Jesus Christ and Him crucified'.

Keeping it real

Fed up with Christmas adverts already? One of the scariest, for me is the type of game that allows you to interact as if you were there, in a real space with others, but are not. Keep fit playing games: jumping around on a screen with others but there in the room by yourself! Yet the attraction of three dimensional games, that mimic real space and time, is growing. And engaging.

The Gospel is designed to be engaging. So why, for so many, is it not? We can short-sell the Gospel. There are meant to be three dimensions to it that can really take hold of the imagination of friends who don't know Jesus. Sometimes folk just get one or two dimensions offered to them.

So how can we speak of the Gospel in three dimensions?

The 1st dimension is instruction. the message itself, the Word, the declaration of who God is, what He does and how He loves - all revealed expressed in the life of Jesus Christ. It's what people have to hear about in order to know about Jesus and His love. This is the message that is in preaching, teaching and evangelism. It's the message of Jesus and His love. It's what we do when we talk to and tell people about Jesus and the God revealed in the Bible.

The 2nd dimension is impartation. We are given ability by God to impart to others, in the power of Holy Spirit's enabling. The expressions of Christ's ministry that come through us. Helping. Serving. Healing. Imparting peace to others. This is what God does to us and through us, as we give expression through our lives to the love of God for others. It has the smell of heaven about it, as people can sense something of God present as we share with them. It happens through close and caring relationships, as well as in acts of service.

The 3rd dimension is intentional intervention. Stepping out in God's agenda for deliberately strategising His concern for the marginalised and disadvantage in society in order to actively bless and encourage them. Pursuing justice and expressing righteousness. This happens through taking initiatives out into society to actively care for those in need.

We need to work on expressing all of these together. A single or two-dimensional Gospel may be 'right', but it is inadequate. To actively touch people with the real life of God, we need to have all three dimensions present in and through the life of church. Keeping it real.

What book for Christmas?

Want a suggestion for a good book for Christmas? If you're not afraid of being stretched a bit, I can't think of anything better than Michael Gorman's new book, Inhabiting the Cruciform God. It's terrific. Fully up to date in terms of scholarship, yet truly pastoral and missional in application. Don't be put off by the title - you don't need to be a specialist to understand it. There's a lot of 'junk food' books around, this is not one of them. It will bless you and possibly change your life. Is that a commendation that pleases you?

Served & Serving

At Bristo we are presently seeing a change in the constitution of our meetings together, as we move into a more blended support of two complementary forms of meeting:

a. ‘teaching, support and prayer’ meetings, primarily for Christians

b. ‘missional’ meetings, which intentionally invite, involve and serve non-Christians.

For many years, the focus at Bristo was on gathering Christians into fellowship, in addition to the times of Sunday worship, so that there would be some further teaching, support and prayer’ during the week. Indeed, out of these gatherings was born missional activity such as involvement in the Care Van, Night Shelter, the IT club and Alpha. In addition, we now have both the International Club and Home from Home serving immigrants and foreigns students. And there are and will be more opportunities to reach out to the unreached.

As we look towards the future, I see the need to recognise the place of encouraging Christians into a blended involvement in both ‘teaching, support and prayer’ meetings and also ‘missional’ meetings. Changes in culture had forced us to recognise that Sunday alone can no longer be the only occasion for ‘teaching, support and prayer’ meeting. Cell groups can and do function quite appropriately to supplement Sunday support. At the same time, there is a place for intentional, missional gatherings of Christians for varied forms of missional activity and service.

So here is the challenge. For the development of disciples, rather than the sating of consumers, we need to have Christians exposed to gathering and also working together, both for ‘teaching, support and prayer’ meetings, and also ‘missional’ purposes which intentionally invite, involve and serve non-Christians.

But with one qualification: let’s not look for gimmicks as platforms for these missional meetings. Let’s remember the Old Testament theologian Brueggemann’s definition of Biblical righteousness. And pursue it, as those who participate in the life of Christ Jesus:

‘Righteousness concerns active intervention in social affairs, taking an initiative to intervene effectively in order to rehabilitate society, to respond to social grievance, and to correct every humanity-diminishing activity’.

Justice & Righteousness

Brueggemann's definitions are helpful and workable:

Justice (mishpat) in the Old Testament concerns distribution in order to make sure that all members of the community have access to resources and goods for the sake of a viable life of dignity. In covenantal tradition the particular subject of YHWH’s justice is the triad, ‘widow, orphan, immigrant,’ those without leverage or muscle to sustain their own legitimate place in society.

Righteousness (sedaqah) concerns active intervention in social affairs, taking an initiative to intervene effectively in order to rehabilitate society, to respond to social grievance, and to correct every humanity-diminishing activity.

We have to grasp both this purpose and passion of God: Jeremiah 9.23-26

Wrath and mercy

This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh - Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart." (Jeremiah .23-26)

Understanding the nature of God’s sovereignty in terms of process, or journey, is not simply contemporary and fashionable. This is integral to the revelation of the Old Testament. The World depicted there is one of cosmic chaos, where there are many influences and spiritual forces, including evil ones. But the Creator remains supreme, and the Creator deals with His creation in a forming, moulding manner. Out of intense, overcoming love. Even when that which He has created does not choose to conform to Him but rebel and decline from His plan and purpose, God elects to remould and reform that which he has made to conform to His character and will.

And when we open our lives to the Lordship of Christ, God will be relentlessly loving in bringing this about in us. Whether we like it or not.

Walter Brueggemann's new book is great at applying this profound and reassuring truth to present political realities. Old Testament scholarship well applied.

Like leadership?

Back at Bristo, and reflection again on the challenges of leadership. The nature of leadership is something I’ve thought on a lot as I am preparing to write as essay on the Philippian Hymn (Philippians 2.5-11). It's possible to confuse leadership with status or qualifications. It requires neither. Leadership, I believe, involves:

Recognition of revelation

A sense and conviction of what is right and of what is required – for Christians, a sense of revelation as to what conforms with the Word of God revealed in Scripture and fulfilled in Christ. This is where it starts. But it doesn’t stop there. Good or right ideas are not enough. It also is marked by ….

Responsibility & Resolution

Leaders have a resolute determination to pursue the path they see before them. And a commitment that takes personal responsibility for action and delivery in doing so. Leaders don’t just have ideas for others to deliver on. But ….

Recruiting

A person is only a leader if others are choosing to join in with where they're going and what they're doing.

Jesus was a leader when among us. He calls some to be leaders now. Has God called you? Have a look at yourself and then you can answer the question, in the light of the above.

And let me know if you are, if you like!

Sabbatical ends

Today, as Jennifer and I pass through what has become my theological 'home' at IBTS in Prague, on our drive home to Edinburgh from Bulgaria, I cannot reflect on the wonders of contrast in life. The contrast where there is no contrast - how people have shown genuine love and friendship, and are as delightful in North West USA as they are in South East Europe; and the inherent contrast and contradiction of humanity - so innately lovely and yet so inherently sinful - Christians and pagans all!

And it causes me to see again that only God is good; only He is unchanging; only He is pure love; and the only place where He, as He fully is revealed can be found, is in the person and works of Jesus Christ of Narareth. He is the complete focus and example for human life. Participation in His life is life itself. And such cause for peace and pleasure and hope and faith and love ....

This, truly, is what I see with such vivid clarity refreshed and thankfulness renewed. Praise God!

Delightfully disagreeable

One of the sheer joys of Sabbatical study is having the time to read and seek to understand writings that one would never normally have time for nor choose to look at. Infuriating, frustrating …. and always instructive! It’s not just about enforcing self-abasement, although that has to be part of it. It’s good to be faced with a well argued conviction that one finds hard to own. There’s something good about the way our convictions are shaped by not only our response to the Word of God, but also by our character and circumstances. And its also good to read something that one, initially, wands to disagree with! and then perhaps to rethink and reevaluate. To rejoice in the diversity that is born out of the reality of Christ impacting upon people in so many different circumstances and situations.

Following in faith

And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant (Exodus 14.34).

This morning, I have been reflecting on this verse. Increasingly, I see how our ability to read and understand the Bible is both enhanced and curtailed by the parameters of the culture and context we find ourselves embedded in. Now, given that God’s Word has the power to speak into each and every situation, this should not unduly alarm us. At the same time, however, we need to be aware how our own presuppositions can limit our appreciation of the revelation that comes in and through the Word of God.

I am increasingly discomforted by popular, contemporary interpretation of faith in God in our western context. Too individualistic, too voluntaristic. Here, the reality of God evokes a response that is here rendered ‘and put their trust in him’. This interpretation is based on the LXX rendering, but the Hebrew reminds us of another, deeper sense: one which carries the connotation of a relationship characterised by an acknowledgement of God’s sovereign power and the need for our submission to and seeking of Him.

I think a deeper understanding of this submission is what is needed in our culture. It would transform, for one thing, the nature of prayer. Submission brings a culture of faith that looks for the fulfilment of God’s covenant desires, not our covetous ones.