Christmas Meditation

As you can tell, I have neglected this blog for a long time. This Fall was extremely busy and all my activities rolled seamlessly into the Thanksgiving/Christmas Season. I plan to finish the "What the Monks Can Teach Us" blog series after the first of the year. In the meantime, I thought I would offer this Christmas meditation.

A Christmas meditation first must focus on the coming of the Christ child. We start with the fact that Jesus came into the world: "The true light that give light to everyone was coming into the world" (John 1:9). Second, it must be a meditation. It must reflect upon the meaning and impact of the coming of the Christ child.

The Angel said to Mary, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end" (Luke 1:32-33).

The Angel said to Joseph, "... you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).

The Angel of the Lord spoke to the Shepherds: "I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11).

The Magi wanted to find the "one who has been born king of the Jews," so that they might "worship him." (Matthew 2:2).

Simeon said of the Christ Child: "... my eyes have seen [God's] salvation ... a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel" (Luke 2:30-32). And he warned, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed." (vv. 34b-35).

John's gospel puts the nativity story in stark theological terms:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. (John 1:14-18)

 Meditate on these things. Jesus is my Savior, my Lord, my King. Jesus brought Light and glory to me (and to the whole world). As Messiah (deliverer) Jesus rescued me from my sins (indeed, making atonement for the sins of the whole world). He revealed the Father to me by coming down from heaven and living among us. All this he did for me. He brought joy to me and to the world. And, he did all this by becoming a human baby. As the Hebrew letter puts it, "He partook of flesh and blood." A baby is completely dependent on others for everything. A baby literally cannot survive without the nurture of parents. It is easy to see the stark humility that Jesus suffered on the cross and in his death. But, to be born a man was the first and essential humiliation that made the cross possible. Every part of his early life was a humiliation. The King of kings and the Lord of lords became a slobbering infant so that we might know the power of God's love! Amen.

What The Monks Can Teach Us (Part 2)

The monastic period of church history was somewhere between A.D. 500 - 950. It was a dark time in the world. The Roman Empire was in steady decline, and the culture was wicked and godless. The early monks were so opposed to the decadence and wickedness of the world that they physically rejected it. They went into the desert and lived hermitical lives, seeking God in the wilderness after the fashion of John the Baptist.

Soon, however, some monks began living in community. Most notably, Benedict of Nursia established monastic communities as "a school for the Lord's service" (Prologue, Rule of St. Benedict, hereafter RB). Benedict wrote a short rule for the order and instruction of monks in monastic communities. In the first chapter, he describes the four kinds of monks.

• Coenobites
• Anchorites
• Sarabaites
• Gyrovagues

Two are described favorably and two are not. The coenobites and anchorites are cast favorably. Coenobites are those monks who live in communities and serve under a rule and an abbot. Achorites are those hermits, who are well-trained by communal life to go off and fight the good fight alone.

Benedict takes issue with the sarabaites and the gyrovagues. The Sarabaites are "the most detestable kind of monks" (RB, ch. 1). They do not live under a rule or endure the experience of testing. They have no abbot, but choose to live in small groups or alone, and do as they please. "... they take their own desires and pleasures as their laws, calling their every whim holy and claiming that whatever they do not want to do is unlawful" (RB, ch. 1). The gyrovagues "spend their whole lives wandering ... always moving from one place to another and never remaining in the same place, indulging their own desires and caught in the snares of greed" (RB, ch. 1). If we break down the latin for gyrovagues we get one word for circle and another for wander, essentially saying that these kinds of people are ever wandering around in circles.

Probably, the first thing that the monks can teach us is that living in community is essential to growing spiritually and developing the character of holiness necessary for the Lord's service. We must be grounded and disciplined, "tested like gold in the furnace," as Benedict put it. Of course, the apostles set the church up to be this kind of community. Hebrews 10:24-25 says,

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another...

The New Testament sees a role for leadership like that of the Abbot, who shepherds and oversees the community (See 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 5:1-4, etc.).

Today, many evangelical Christians see little or no need for a real connection to a local faith community. The whole doctrine of the church is missing from the theology of much American Christian thought. Far too many of us are wandering from one community to the next (church-shopping and hopping). Many of us are too sure of ourselves, thinking we can go it alone or surround ourselves with only those few others who agree with us and are like us so that we are never challenged or forced to accommodate in any way. The monks can teach us the value of stability in a faith community, and the need for submission to leadership and guidance from others. These lessons will counter the individualism and pride that is woven into the fabric of modern American culture.

What The Monks Can Teach Us (Part 1)

J. K. Jones published his book "What the Monks Can Teach Us: An Ancient Practice for a Postmodern Time" in 2008. When I got my hands on a copy of the book, I found it to be an affirmation of a significant part of my spiritual journey. Since 2004, I had experienced a developing affinity for the ancient church, the writings of the church fathers and the monastic way, especially as expressed in Benedictine monasticism. And, I wasn't alone.

Rob Moll wrote an article for Christianity Today in September of 2005 describing "a fresh crop of Christian communities ... across America" under the title "The New Monasticism." Shane Claiborne published his book "Irresistible Revolution: Living as and Ordinary Radical" in 2006, a clear call to ancient ways of spirituality. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove published his call to a return to monastic spirituality in his book called "New Monasticism: What it has to say to today's church" in 2008. The currents were surging in an Ancient-Future direction, as predicted in many ways by the late Robert Webber (See Ancient-Future Legacy article Click here). For me, it was Jones' book that was most satisfying to see published, since he was writing from within my own religious heritage.

On the one hand, the idea of moving forward by going backward seemed counter-intuitive. But, on the other hand, it seemed so right. The main problem I had with learning what the monks could teach me was that I was as Protestant as I could be. Anything that smacked of sacerdotalism and Roman Catholicism was suspect, according to my religious training. Actually, I was brought up and trained in a very American Protestant movement of independent churches started in the early 1800s by Presbyterians and Baptists that wanted to restore New Testament Christianity by means of a strict primitivism. As Richard Hughes explains:

What is Protestant primitivism? Most often it has meant the quest to revivify the church by reestablishing its primitive foundations, by returning to or recovering the "original" teaching, discipline, and polity of apostolic Christianity. Movements of restoration have differed over what constituted the essential core of primitive Christianity; sometimes it has been a particular set of doctrines; at other times, a precise pattern of worship; at yet others, the prophetic inspiration associated with Pentecost. In all cases, primitivism built on the assumption that the original or first time of faith encountered the holy with a reality and power that has been lost in subsequent Christian centuries. (See Hughes, Richard T., and Allen C. Leonard. Illusions of Innocence: Protestant Primitivism in America, 1630-1875. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988).

Nothing could be more at odds with my religious heritage and training than to listen to what monks had to say about living the Christian life. And yet, there was an inherent principle within my 'primitivist' background that agrees with the move toward an Ancient-Future faith. As Hughes and Allen put it: "The church cannot advance, so the primitivists proclaimed, until it first returns to what is ancient and true." And so, the first thing the monastic tradition had to teach me was that "ancient and true" might include the historic faith as it has been developed and practiced beyond the first century. For a more thorough examination of this idea see "Retrieving the Tradition: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants," by D. H. Williams.

I'd like to spend some time on this blog sharing what I've learned from the monks. Keep checking for more on this. Here is a short list of the lessons we may learn from the monks:

• Listening to God involves learning the language of God and tuning our ears to God's frequency
• Gaining the blessings of a simple life and the joy of sharing our goods
• Acting in obedience to God's providence (what God is doing in our lives)
• Developing Humility and becoming authentic
• The value of stability, staying put to get somewhere
• Finding balance: Experiencing God in everything
• Changing the World with a Revolution of Love and Holiness (See "How the Monks Saved Civilization").

All that I've learned from the monks has not caused me to become Roman Catholic or to leave my Protestant faith and church tradition. What it has done is lead me to a fuller and deeper understanding of one of the most important principles of the Protestant Reformation: Having a personal relationship with Jesus. The intimacy of such a personal relationship is truly mediated through the 'habits' of the spiritual life so well worked out in the monastic tradition.

It only makes sense. The God who sends out his people in the power of His Spirit and in the name of His Son has always done this by first calling his people back into the cloister of his divine embrace. When we talk about being radical we need to remember that by definition it means "going to the root or origin." As a good friend of mine likes to say, "The battle is not 'out there,' it's 'in here.'"

Responding Well to Common Objections to Faith

Timothy Keller, Ph.D., is one of the most articulate apologists for the Christian faith. He is very respectful of those who question the reasons for believing. Keller even shows an ability to empathize with non-believers and the reasons for atheism. In the end, Keller shows that the question of God forces everyone (believers and nonbelievers alike) to exercise faith.

Isn't Religion Divisive?

Can't Evolution Explain a Desire for Justice?

Can an Atheist be Moral?

Why Should I Believe in God?

Getting the Gospel Right from the Start! (I)

The amazing story of Ernest Shacketon’s 1914 expedition across the continent of Antarctica reaches its climax after he and his crew were shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. Shackleton made a critical decision to rescue his crew by sailing a small boat 850 miles over rough, icy waters. There was just one little problem. Shackleton could not be sure of their current location. He had some idea where they were, but he couldn't be 100% sure. He had to do something. So, he plotted his sailing coordinates based on his best guess. Of course, I can tell you the story of Shackleton because he guessed right. Had his coordinates been off by even one half of one degree, he would have missed his destination by hundreds of miles and died at sea.

Anyone who decides to follow Jesus without getting the gospel right from the start will miss their destination. They won’t really be following Jesus at all. They’ll be hundreds of miles off course, and they may not realize it until it’s too late. The gospel is foundational. It is literally the starting point of true discipleship. In fact, we would know nothing of Jesus without those books called Gospels!

So, what is the gospel?

The Apostle Paul summarized the gospel in his letter to the Corinthians:

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures … (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

Referencing Romans 1:1-4, Martin Luther said …

At its briefest, the gospel is a discourse about Christ, that he is the Son of God and became man for us, that he died and was raised, and that he has been established as Lord over all things (Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings).

Luther also said of the gospel,

It is God's action of declaring righteous the unrighteous sinner who has faith in Jesus Christ.

And, famously Luther said,

God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.

Malcolm Muggeridge defined the gospel this way …

Jesus’ good news, then, was that the Kingdom of God had come, and that he, Jesus, was its herald and expounder to men. More than that, in some special, mysterious way, he was the Kingdom (Jesus: The Man Who Lives).

Dallas Willard explains the gospel preaching of Jesus, that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7). He says,

This is a call for us to reconsider how we have been approaching our life, in light of the fact that we now, in the presence of Jesus, have the option of living within the surrounding movements of God’s eternal purposes, of taking our life into his life. (The Divine Conspiracy).

Many modern believers misunderstand the gospel as what Willard describes as the gospel of “sin-management.” On the right, born-again Christians are concerned about their personal sin and escaping eternal judgment for sin. So, this version of the gospel of sin-management emphasizes having personal sin forgiven. On the left, liberal Christians are more concerned about social evils and ridding the world of them—or should I say liberating the world from sin as a social ill. So, one bumper sticker says, “Christians aren’t perfect, they’re just forgiven.” And, on another bumper sticker it reads, “Christians aren’t perfect, they’re just liberated.” Truth is that forgiveness of sins and bringing about social justice in the world are important parts of the gospel. But, neither are the full message, and both disregard any sense of life transformation.

As Max Lucado put it,

God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus. (Just Like Jesus)

Lucado nails it. This is the gospel. Forgiveness is needed. Social ethics ought to result. But, the gospel is aimed at transformation into the likeness of Jesus. This process of transformation is not possible by self-help efforts, or perfect law-keeping, or legalistic checklists that only give the external appearance of righteousness, or suggest a loop-hole salvation clause to seduce believers into an easy (cheap) grace. No. the good news—the Gospel—is that God will bring your life into His, through Jesus living inside you by faith (Eph. 3:17).

We might think we can be saved by trying really hard to be a better person. But that’s not the gospel—and it won’t work. We might think we can be saved by doing lots of good works and helping others. But that’s not the gospel—and it fails to deal with sin and our guilt. We might think we can be saved by nominal church attendance. But that’s not the gospel—and it’s a false hope. We might think we can be saved by believing the right doctrines. But that’s not the gospel—and it only makes us prideful.

The gospel is the free gift of God in Christ Jesus. It cannot be earned and it cannot be purchased. It must be accepted by faith. But as Luther put it, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.” Saving faith receives the gospel by trusting Jesus completely, not only as Savior but as Lord and Teacher. This is why Paul could speak of “obeying the gospel.” If you really believe the good news that Jesus preached, then you will trust it and live by it. And so, the bumper sticker should read: “Christians aren't perfect, but Jesus is, and following Jesus will make you more and more like Him.”

The Cross of Christ is the point at which the sin problem was destroyed. And, the good news is that we can finally be free from sin and abound in the grace of life! As Jesus rose from the dead to life, we who die to sin and are baptized into Christ rise to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).

Spiritual Growth: Do The Math!

Math Challenged
In High School, Math was my worst subject. When I got to college I continued to struggle with math. It wasn’t that I couldn’t figure out the formulas and equations. I could do it. I just hated it. It made my brain hurt. In those first years of college, I had to learn that getting on in life meant doing some things I didn’t enjoy--even math. But, whether I liked it or not, one course of college algebra was required for my degree. The only problem was that I had done so poorly in High School that I had to take a refresher course as a prerequisite for the college level algebra class. Then, my advisor recommended that I take the class over two semesters—the course was broken down into algebra A and algebra B for math challenged students like me. With a lot of help from my wife, a math genius when compared to me, I finally got through college algebra. So, I managed to graduate with a bachelor’s degree and go on to earn a master’s degree without taking any other math courses than college algebra. At the present, I’m completing a doctoral degree. Yet again, I’m faced with math. And not just any math, but the worst possible kind of math: Statistics!

God & Math
As much as I generally loathe math, I am in awe and wonder at the mathematical precision of God’s creation. The universe is an amazing set of mathematical equations that demonstrate the majesty and power of our God (See Romans 1:20).

Spiritual Growth & Math
Beyond the mathematical grandeur of God’s creation, I believe another aspect of mathematics well illustrates the nature of spiritual growth. The pedagogy of mathematics is comprehensive. In other words, we learn mathematical principles and their application through a building-block process. We must first learn to count before we may learn to add or subtract. We must learn to add and subtract before we may learn to multiply or divide—and so on.

Growing in the Spiritual life is like mathematical pedagogy in this way—it is comprehensive. There are building blocks that build one upon another as we grow spiritually in our walk with the Lord. But unlike learning math, a process that need only engage the mind, spiritual growth (perhaps, better conceptualized as spiritual formation) engages the whole person: mind, body and spirit.

Suggested Scriptures for prayer and study: Hebrews 5:12-14; 2 Peter 1:5-11, 3:18

A Question
The next several blog posts will explore the significant building blocks that are part of the spiritual growth process. For now, I want to pose a question: How is it that followers of Jesus who struggle with the spiritual equivalent of adding and subtracting tend to attempt the spiritual equivalent of calculus or trigonometry only to fail time and time again? What are your thoughts?

Why Join A Local Church?

As a follow-up to my previous post, the following are some audio/video links that I would recommend.

The topic is the role of the church, and the reason for being a member of a church.

Church Membership - 9Marks of a Healthy Church (Mark Dever et al.)
(Video 2:22)

"Taking Church Membership Seriously" - Article by Ken Sande, Leadership Journal
(online article)

"Why join a church?" - Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York, NY
(Audio, 2:10 min)

"How Important is Church Membership? - John Piper, Bethlehem Baptist Church (Desiring God)
(Video, 46:15 min) Note: Piper is a bit of a gadfly, and it's a long video! But, he gets to the heart of it.

"Why commit to a church? What does it mean to commit to a church?" - Joshua Harris
(Video, 2:00 min)

AND ... Just for fun ... A Pixar version of Church Membership Click here