People in the seats are dying to know how the Gospel works in a practical way in their modern lives. They might hear the world’s best theological explanation of the cross, but if no one will tell them what to do to make that explanation real in their own lives, the message becomes like seed sown on hardened, baked soil.A bit later on in the post he adds this:
I’m not sure we’re preaching what to do next in Gospel-centered churches. I think we sometimes spend too much time filling people with knowledge they can’t figure out how to use. But if the difference between the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 is what they did and didn’t do, then the people in the seats have to know what the godly next step is for what they have learned. They must have a clearly directed outlet for praxis.I'll just share some of my first thoughts about this. I don't want to be glib and certainly I don't want to be impractical, but I think you have to start with the Spirit. I think the practical flows from the spiritual. That means that when we receive the truth of the Gospel, and when we respond in genuine praise and thanksgiving, we are soon interceding for people in prayer, and in turn we are also interceding in a hands-on way as the Spirit begins to transform our minds and hearts.
I do not want to imply that suggestions for practical application are not helpful, but they may not be helpful when they do not come within the normal flow of transformed/transformative living, which is "from above." In fact, there seems to be more than enough "practical" advice type preaching that is essentially disengaged from the Gospel, and when that happens it always takes on the familiar colorations of legalism.
It so happens that something I was reading last night addresses this very matter. In N. T. Wright's Following Jesus, we find these relevant thoughts:
How can we celebrate and put into practice this victory [of Christ over the world's powers] today? How can we follow this Jesus into genuine victory? It is surprisingly simple. Every time you kneel down to pray, especially when you pray the prayer of the kingdom (which we call the Lord's Prayer), you are saying that Jesus is Lord and that the 'powers' aren't. Every time you say grace at a meal you are saying that Jesus is Lord, and that the world and all it offers is his, and has no independent authority. And every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we celebrate the victory of Jesus in a way which, by the power of its symbolic action, resonates out, into the city, into the country, into the world, into our homes, into our marriages, into our bank accounts -- resonates out with the powerful message that God is God, that Jesus is his visible image, and that this God has defeated the powers of evil that still enslave and crush human beings today. 'Eucharist' means 'thanksgiving'; thanksgiving for the work of Christ is the most powerful thing we can ever do. The task of the church is to get on with the implementing of the cross; and if we grasped this vision and lived by it, we would be able at last to address some of the problems in the Church and in the world that look so large and seem so intractable. p.21-22(emphasis added)
7 comments:
Bob -- Well, yes, it does start with the Spirit, and no, I don't think that's glib (not that you asked me!). But does it end with the Spirit?
Does the gospel start and end with the Spirit? We know that grace is a gift. Do we stay out of it, leaving all -- speaking, hearing, repenting, accepting, and believing -- to the Spirit? I imagine we would agree that God has designated us some role of agency in this.
You do state that you don't "want to imply that suggestions for practical application are not helpful, but they may not be helpful when they do not come within the normal flow of transformed/transformative living, which is "from above." In fact, there seems to be more than enough "practical" advice type preaching that is essentially disengaged from the Gospel." I agree. Suggestions for application ought to begin with and take root in transformed -- I might say saved -- living. Until and unless practical applications are made in the context of a life that's found safe harbor in Christ, those applications are the un-sacred good works that may be useful to God but are not acceptable sacrifices to God.
But from that context of a saved life, suggestions are hugely valuable. Jesus said, "Go into the world and make disciples." Good suggestion (OK, not just a suggestion.). Jesus said, feed the hungry, clothe the naked. Good suggestion.
When NT says it all starts with thanksgiving, I won't argue. But he assumes thanksgiving will spill over into my bank account. And perhaps the Spirit will nudge me to let that happen. But whereas the bible is full of exhortations to make my faith spill into -- or perhaps out of -- my life, I must believe making practical suggestions is an important function and one that is very much neglected today.
Or so it seems to me.
That's a good word, George. I guess the balance here is always difficult. And I'm certainly not arguing that "agency" or intentionality are not a part of this process of "saved living" as you call it (nice phrase), or the working out of our salvation.
Practicality is important. Maybe there's a soup kitchen in your neighborhood. Suggestion: go down there and serve people food. It's practical, it models charity, etc. Good suggestion, and nothing wrong with suggesting it.
And for all of us there's a little inward turmoil over these things. The flesh resisting the spirit, or the old man resisting the new, perhaps. But I don't believe these always just happen, behavior that flows inevitably and naturally from a transformed heart. That's why Paul said "work out" and not "let it flow."
Anyway, those are my thoughts for the moment. Thanks for a very good word!
I want to clarify something I aid above. I wanted to say that "good works" such as serving in a soup kitchen don't "just happen" because now we're Christians and we love better than non-Christians, etc. I wanted to suggest that there is often turmoil and resistance from within ourselves when we begin to try to "work out our salvation." Most of the time it seems it doesn't just flow out of a thankful heart (oh how we wish it would be that natural and easy).
That's all about the entrenched sin that so easily entangles our thoughts and intentions. Which is why, yes, good works that suggest themselves as we draw near to the cross need to be verbally encouraged (suggested). But as teachers we need to be sure that our encouragement to do is linked to and flows from our understanding of who and what we are in Christ (I guess you could say that our doing flows from our being). Flows, but not without struggle and resistance, within and without.
Well put, Bob. And a helpful (to me) observation that Paul said work out rather than let it flow.
That obstructive entrenched sin you mention is my fault. Jesus freed me from it; I was no longer enslaved by it. But I really did enjoy at least some of it, or maybe I was just more comfortable with it. So I kept it, or brought it back. What makes it entrenched is my habit.
Trusting grace, I am not damned by my self-indulgence. But clearly what should flow from me is dammed!
Bob,
Thanks for the link and for expanding on my post.
As a fellow charismatic, you know I'm not going to leave the Holy Spirit out! I believe that the Spirit's role in all this is to pull the pieces together and breathe life into them. When God gives Ezekiel the vision of the dry bones, that's what happens with us when the Spirit brings together all the pieces.
Those pieces include the technical/intellectual, the practical/action, the physical, the spiritual, and even the emotional. Our teaching and preaching have to lay those out, then the Holy Spirit makes something out of them. To make a clay vessel, one needs to know where to find clay, to physically dig it out, to have the smarts of knowing what kind of clay will work best, to have an aesthetic that connects with beauty for designing the vessel, then the forming of water and clay on the wheel, the feel of the vessel in one's hands, and the joy that wells up in the making. All those are components and the Holy Spirit brings them together and makes them work in unity to bring about the desired result. The Spirit empowers the components to combine to create the desired effect. The Spirit makes the raw material more than the sum of its parts.
That's how it is with good teaching/preaching. That's the best illustration I can give.
And an excellent one as well. In fact, I'm just amazed at the way God has used this entire conversation, which spans several blogs and many voices, much the way he does in your illustration of the potter making his vessel of clay. A bringing together of many things to guide us, or as you say, "All those are components and the Holy Spirit brings them together and makes them work in unity to bring about the desired result. The Spirit empowers the components to combine to create the desired effect. The Spirit makes the raw material more than the sum of its parts."
I sense that is happening. This conversation has been a happy instance of dialog that strikes sparks, lights fires, sheds light and warmth, and guides us in our path. I really appreciate everyone's input, and it's easy for me to see that the Spirit has been in work among us as a group every bit as much as in each one of us individually. Thanks for responding to the Spirit as you have . . . by sharing what he has given you with the rest of us!
Thanks for digging deeper into this topic. Peace.
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