“These things – the beauty, the memory of our own past – are good images of what we really desire; but… they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited… Heaven is, by definition, outside our experience, but all intelligible descriptions must be of things within our experience. The scriptural picture of heaven is therefore just as symbolical as the picture which our desire, unaided, invents for itself . . . "
— C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (1965)
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
TIM KELLER'S 2¢
“Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts… It is no longer sufficient to hold beliefs just because you inherited them.”
“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.”
“Our need for worth is so powerful that whatever we base our identity and value on we essentially ‘deify.’ We will look to it with all the passion and intensity of worship and devotion, even if we think ourselves as highly irreligious.”
“The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions and character of your sin. This also creates a new dynamic for discipline and obedience. First, the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed because we know we won’t be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness. Second, it makes the law of God a thing of beauty instead of burden. We can use it to delight and imitate the one who has saved us rather than to get his attention or procure his favor. We now run the race ‘for the joy that is set before us’ rather than ‘for fear that comes behind us.’ “
“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life AGAINST YOUR WILL and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”
“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.”
“Our need for worth is so powerful that whatever we base our identity and value on we essentially ‘deify.’ We will look to it with all the passion and intensity of worship and devotion, even if we think ourselves as highly irreligious.”
“The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions and character of your sin. This also creates a new dynamic for discipline and obedience. First, the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed because we know we won’t be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness. Second, it makes the law of God a thing of beauty instead of burden. We can use it to delight and imitate the one who has saved us rather than to get his attention or procure his favor. We now run the race ‘for the joy that is set before us’ rather than ‘for fear that comes behind us.’ “
“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life AGAINST YOUR WILL and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
MOVING MOUNTAINS
Right then and there, I heard him tear up. Maybe he heard the feeble attempt at honesty in my voice. Or maybe, most likely, he was reminiscing on his own experiences of grace. Whichever the case, he was losing it, and it was the first time in all 22 years of my life I’ve heard my dad cry. This was the man who didn’t even cry at his own dad’s funeral. I remember now, I was 8 or so, bawling and watching him through my tears as he stood there over the grave, speechless, emotionless, holding it together for the sake of his family. He loved his dad more than life itself and even that couldn’t shake him. Here was that man, struggling to say next, ‘Ha I don’t know what’s gotten into me these days, I can’t control my tears even when at church… I mean, who am I? I’m a nobody… but do you know how thankful I am for what Christ has done for me… he’s given me heaven and earth in exchange for my worthless soul…‘
As I sat there listening to him share about God’s work in his life, I completely lost it. It was the first time my dad and I really talked about the gospel together. In tears for that matter. All these years, I’ve seen my dad’s flaws and failures. His anger, his frustrations, his short-comings. And words don’t need to describe how many times I’ve failed him as a daughter. But I’ve also seen his unwavering love, his diligence, his integrity, and now his humility. I can honestly say that God is faithful and that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil1:6) It’s true what Jesus says about faith: it can move mountains.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
WE ARE HALF-HEARTED FOOLS
“If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you had asked almost any of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative idea of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
— C.S. Lewis, Weight of Glory (p. 25-26)
— C.S. Lewis, Weight of Glory (p. 25-26)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
"CHEAP GRACE..."
"…is the enemy of the church. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth… an intellectual assent to that idea is held to be itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance… grace without discipleship, grace without a cross… Costly grace is the gospel [of the church]… It is costly because it costs a man his life, and grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his son… it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God… When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. That is why the rich young man was so loath to follow Jesus, for the cost of his following was the death of his will. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Historical context (summarized from CCM): Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young minister of the German church, was persecuted, arrested, and executed by the Nazis for speaking out against Hitler’s evil and preaching the gospel. Quote above was taken from “The Cost of Discipleship” (1937), written by Bonhoeffer for his ‘underground seminary’ students who were training ministers refusing to take oaths of allegiance to Hitler and support his racial beliefs. Bonhoeffer was writing about how the Biblical gospel had become twisted into what he called 'cheap grace'…
Thoughts by City Campus… “Cheap grace, the idea that we are saved by grace, not works, had led to the widespread inference that costly obedience was only optional. The reasoning went like this: 'We are saved by grace, not by our obedience… We don’t have to [give, be involved, or witness] to be saved. We just have to believe and ask for forgiveness.' The German church had been founded by Martin Luther himself. But over the years the concept of salvation by grace had degenerated into this ‘religion of cheap grace’ that had created a deep spiritual coldness and malaise in the German church. People believed they were Christians because they were born and raised in the church and they simply embraced the concept of salvation-by-grace. They gave lip-service to the idea of free justification/salvation but it was not changing their lives…
“What is the solution? Notice that Bonhoeffer does not say: ‘Stop thinking God accepts you freely by grace! He only accepts those who are completely committed and obedient!' The antidote for cheap grace–costly grace–is still grace. His argument is simple… He argues that those who have had their hearts gripped by how much our salvation cost God will be willing to do God’s will even if it means the loss of life. He denies that saving faith is merely “intellectual assent” to the idea of free forgiveness. Rather, saving faith (the faith that truly saves you) is joyful repentance for our self-centered lives in the light of the costly salvation of the cross. All who truly see that Christ gave up his life for them will be willing to give up their wills for him. It is a natural response.
“So how do we explain the people who say, ‘Oh, I believe in the gospel that we are saved by grace and not works,' and who then lead unchanged lives, refusing the joyful, costly obedience of discipleship? Bonhoeffer’s theory is that they look only at the free-ness of grace to us, not at the costliness of grace to God. If you don’t truly understand the first principle (the free-ness) you fall into Phariseeism and legalism. But if you don’t truly understand the second principle (the costliness) you fall into apathy, joylessness, and your life does not change.”
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
Reading this excerpt from City Campus gave me chills all down my back… It’s that feeling of being completely homeless for however long of a time, and someone comes and drops a million bucks on your lap. Like as if I was hungry and all I would’ve been satisfied with is a bowl of cereal, and someone comes and treats me to a gourmet meal. For so long, I’ve been desperately wanting to know why I do fall into a cycle of apathy, joylessness, and an unchanged life, and it’s been right there, at the cross, all along… I said this in the last post but I’ll say it again: What grace, so undeserved, at such a price.
Historical context (summarized from CCM): Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young minister of the German church, was persecuted, arrested, and executed by the Nazis for speaking out against Hitler’s evil and preaching the gospel. Quote above was taken from “The Cost of Discipleship” (1937), written by Bonhoeffer for his ‘underground seminary’ students who were training ministers refusing to take oaths of allegiance to Hitler and support his racial beliefs. Bonhoeffer was writing about how the Biblical gospel had become twisted into what he called 'cheap grace'…
Thoughts by City Campus… “Cheap grace, the idea that we are saved by grace, not works, had led to the widespread inference that costly obedience was only optional. The reasoning went like this: 'We are saved by grace, not by our obedience… We don’t have to [give, be involved, or witness] to be saved. We just have to believe and ask for forgiveness.' The German church had been founded by Martin Luther himself. But over the years the concept of salvation by grace had degenerated into this ‘religion of cheap grace’ that had created a deep spiritual coldness and malaise in the German church. People believed they were Christians because they were born and raised in the church and they simply embraced the concept of salvation-by-grace. They gave lip-service to the idea of free justification/salvation but it was not changing their lives…
“What is the solution? Notice that Bonhoeffer does not say: ‘Stop thinking God accepts you freely by grace! He only accepts those who are completely committed and obedient!' The antidote for cheap grace–costly grace–is still grace. His argument is simple… He argues that those who have had their hearts gripped by how much our salvation cost God will be willing to do God’s will even if it means the loss of life. He denies that saving faith is merely “intellectual assent” to the idea of free forgiveness. Rather, saving faith (the faith that truly saves you) is joyful repentance for our self-centered lives in the light of the costly salvation of the cross. All who truly see that Christ gave up his life for them will be willing to give up their wills for him. It is a natural response.
“So how do we explain the people who say, ‘Oh, I believe in the gospel that we are saved by grace and not works,' and who then lead unchanged lives, refusing the joyful, costly obedience of discipleship? Bonhoeffer’s theory is that they look only at the free-ness of grace to us, not at the costliness of grace to God. If you don’t truly understand the first principle (the free-ness) you fall into Phariseeism and legalism. But if you don’t truly understand the second principle (the costliness) you fall into apathy, joylessness, and your life does not change.”
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
Reading this excerpt from City Campus gave me chills all down my back… It’s that feeling of being completely homeless for however long of a time, and someone comes and drops a million bucks on your lap. Like as if I was hungry and all I would’ve been satisfied with is a bowl of cereal, and someone comes and treats me to a gourmet meal. For so long, I’ve been desperately wanting to know why I do fall into a cycle of apathy, joylessness, and an unchanged life, and it’s been right there, at the cross, all along… I said this in the last post but I’ll say it again: What grace, so undeserved, at such a price.
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