Viola on "the embodiment of all spiritual things"

I'm looking forward to reading Frank Viola's From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God. Viola posted the books afterward at Shapevine. There's he details the successive Christian bandwagons he'd jumped onto in the early years of his faith (in his case, in very rapid succession, it seems). I can relate to a lot of this, but in any case Christian-bandwagon-ism is a sorry thing, especially when it comes with a self-justifying theological/Biblical gloss, and Viola's description of his own passage through various Christian trends is wonderful. His conclusion:

All of the churches and movements I was involved in had effectively preached to me an it. Evangelism is an it. The power of God is an it. Eschatology is an it. Christian theology is an it. Christian doctrine is an it. Faith is an it. Apologetics is an it.

I made the striking discovery that I don’t need an it. I have never needed an it. And I will never need an it. Christian its, no matter how good or true, eventually wear out, run dry, and become tiresome.

I don’t need an it, I need a Him.

And so do you.

We do not need things. We need Jesus Christ.

Viola proceeds to flesh out the implications of this realization. Pretty brilliantly, too.

Upon reflection, it seems that many Christians regard salvation, evangelism, peace, power, holiness, joy, service, church practice, ministry, and doctrine as simply Divine “things”, all detached from the living Person of Christ and made something in and of themselves.

But God never gives us spiritual things. He never gives us virtues, gifts, graces, and truths to acquire. Instead, He only gives us His Son. He gives us Christ to be all things for us.

Consequently, Jesus Christ is the embodiment of all spiritual things. He is the substance of all Divine realities. He is the incarnation of all spiritual virtues, graces, gifts, and truths. In short, God has vested all of His fullness into His Son.

But Viola's ultimate concern here is with ecclesiology -- the church. The last portion of this afterward is titled, Toward the Reality of the Church.

To put it candidly, you will never have an authentic experience of the body of Christ unless your foundation is blindly and singularly Jesus Christ. Authentic church life is born when a group of people are intoxicated with a glorious unveiling of their Lord.

The chief task of a Christian leader, therefore, is to present a Christ to God’s people that they have never known, dreamed, or imagined. A breathtaking Christ whom they can know intimately and love passionately. The calling of every Christian servant is to build the ekklesia upon an overmastering revelation of the Son of God. A revelation that burns in the fiber of their being and leaves God’s people breathless, overwhelmed, and awash in the glories of Jesus.

All in all, this one of the best things I've read in the Christian blogosphere, ever. You really should read it. As I say, I can't wait to get the book.