Which best describes you?
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1)
The world is full of people who want to decieve and destroy. They need to be confronted with the truth. You want to expose the lies of those in positions of cultural power. You want to remove the godless authorities from their places of power and show people the truth of God's word. You hope to see godly men and women occupy those positions of control and authority and you are willing to combat the forces working against that hope with whatever social and political means are at your disposal. Your ideal society is one where God has been placed at the top, He is publicly honored by politicians and leaders, professors and business owners. All of society is ordered by the ways of God, from schools and courtrooms, to public places and private homes; the ways of God are taught as the only right way to live.
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2)
The world is a place that has nothing of value to you. You desire to stear clear of those who would corrupt you or your family with their godless ways and evil deeds. Your ideal society is a group of people who are devoted to living for God, who have removed themselves from the evil ways of the world. You would love to live somewhere in the country (living a simple, rural lifestyle) with these godly people, teaching your children the good life, and drawing closer to God.
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3)
The world is a dirty place that needs cleaning up, you find yourself wanting to teach people the right way to live. If the world would only take note of what God has been saying and begin to obey, the world would be a better place. You have little patience with people who chose a life of ignorance and degradation. Your ideal society is one where everyone has comitted to living a pure and righteous life. If people would only follow your example, and listen to what you tell them, they would discover that they too can be blessed by God.
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4)
The world has much to offer. If you could only attach yourself to the right people and the right insititutions, you would be able to use the power and energy and knowledge for good. You want to enlist the aid of those in power to accomplish the goals of God. Your ideal society is one where the spiritual community is on good terms with the secular authorities and those in positions of cultural influence. You don't want to 'rock the boat' unneccisarily, and are willing to find healthy and appropriate compromises to make things work and get things done.
If you read this, I would love to hear which of these viewpoints you would align yourself with. I would probably fit in the number 3 category, although I would have said number 2 a few years ago...
Hi Steve... Excellent question. Very thought provoking. I'm surprised that you would vote for 3 or that in the past for you it would be 2.
ReplyDeleteYeah, there's probably truth in all of them. If I HAD to pick just one, believe it or not, I'd pick 4. I agree w/Martin Luther that even the best the world offers is tainted by sin... the dark cloud of sin hovers over every silver lining. Yet, there's always hope in the grace and power of God to redeem irredeemable situations.
Great question. Thanks.
Bill
I have a follow up post coming to make sense of this one, give me a day or two...
ReplyDeletePS, Hey Bill, this is what I wanted to pass on to you, it is the message I am preparing to give to our community next Sunday. It is still a work in progress, but I think it will give you more of a perspective on where I am coming from, and I would love to hear your thoughts on that!!
ReplyDeleteFeel free to email me if you have time to respond...
Outline:
1) God and His Creation
A) God is Beauty, Power, Creativity, Life, Goodness, Joy, Love
B) God creates a world that reflects His character, "It is good."
C) God creates humankind, He breathes (spirit/wind) into Man, Humanity
is the caretaker, image-bearer, God-reflector
2) The Breaking of the World
A) Humanity rejects God and His image, steps out of fellowship with
God and His place in creation
B) Humanity loses the Beauty, Power, Creativity, Life, Goodness, Joy, Love
C) The Creation loses the reflection of God into it, instead humanity
reflects brokenness and pain
3) God's Promised Restoration
A) From the beginning God pronounces His plan to put things right
B) He promises to bless Abraham and use his family to put the world right
4) The Call of a People
A) God choses the descendant's of Abraham, the twelve grandsons, to be
His people
B) He places in their midst His Law, His Prophets, His Temple, His
very Presence (Image/Spirit/Wind)
C) They are to be a light to the world, Blessed to be a blessing, the
promise fulfilled through them, image-bearers, God-reflectors
D) Instead they chose their own agenda, they see God's blessing and
chosing them as a reason for arrogance and pride, to keep the blessing
to themselves, to hide the light they have been given
5) The Son of God; the Second Adam
A) Jesus comes, he is the Second Adam, taking upon himself the
restoration and role of the first, God's Spirit (breath/wind) decends
upon Him, He is God's image, Son, reflection into the world
B) He takes upon Himself the mission of God, to put things right,
reconstituting the nation of Israel (the people of God) around
Himself, to possess the indwelling of God (Jesus IS the Law, Prophets
and Temple), the light and blessing of the world
C) He confronts the counterfeit people of God, people must chose
between the People of God and the Mission of God as Jesus presents
them, as opposed to the ethnocentric, political, nationalistic vision
of the Pharisees, Zealots, Sadducees.
D) Jesus is executed as a Rebel, a false claimant to the throne, but
in so doing He fulfills the promise, the Crucifixion is God taking the
brokenness of the world upon Himself, putting things right through His
own pain, reflecting the image of a
loving-forgiving-redeeming-suffering God
E) Resurrection! Jesus is vindicated! He IS God's true light, Israel's
true King, He is God's Son doing God's work, redeeming the broken
world, putting EVERYTHING back together
6) The Call of a People
A) Jesus chose 12 symbolic students (a renewed Israel, a renewed
people of God), God gathered thousands to Jesus after His resurection.
B) A choice must be made, my vision of the world, or God's, will I
allow God to remake me in His image, will I accept my own brokenness
and allow Jesus crucifixion and resurrection to become my defining
reality? Dying with Him in repentance and resurrecting with Him by His
Spirit?
C) These are the people of God on the Mission of God, they are going
to be used by God to fulfill His promise for the world, God's 'Rushing
Wind' (spirit/breath) falls on the Church, they are God-reflectors,
the Body of Christ, the light of the world, and the source of Blessing
7) The Mission of God
A) The Church has a Mission, "NO!" The Mission has a Church! It is not
that God's people have a purpose attached to them, it is that God's
purposes have a people attached to them! The Church is the only
communty that exists primarily for the sake of it's non-members!
B) God is setting the world right. Restoring broken individuals,
restoring broken relationships, restoring broken societies, restoring
a broken environment.
C) As Jesus suffered to redeem the world, so too the Church must enter
into the brokenness and suffering of the world to redeem it. We must
pray with one hand in heaven and one hand on the brokenness and pain
that is around us.
8) The Buffalo Vineyard Church
A) We have a choice! Will we repent and allow God to define us, to
heal us, to set us right? Allowing ourselves to be connected to God by
His redeeming death and resurrecting Spirit, will we submit to His
Spirit (Breath/Wind)?
B) Becoming the people of God, connected to each other through
community, truly and deeply knowing and loving each other.
C) Joining the mission of God, connecting to the broken places and
people around us in our own lives, in the larger city, and in the
larger world.
D) A small group of people who meet in a home weekly to worship and
learn and pray, to eat and listen and encourage and challenge, to
serve the needs of the poor and the broken, to warmly invite others to
participate, to include anyone who desires, to see that reproduced
around the city.
E) To have an expanding network of small communities of people who are
commited to the Mission of God, reflecting His image, allowing the
Christ-life to dwell in their midst, to invite others to participate
and to see that same thing reproduced a thousand times throughout our
city and our world
9) You and I
A) Repentance, dying so that Christ can live in us, a recreation in
the image of the Second Adam
B) Devotion - prayer, worship, study, meditation
C) Community - Knowing and being known, opening your home to a group, cooking
D) Blessing - serving (Retirement Home, etc.) sharing and inviting,
E) Leading, learning to lead, spending time with others who want to
grow, taking responsibility for the mission and the people
F) Here is a list of practical steps to take to participate in what
God is doing here at the Buffalo Vineyard:
Handout to be created
10) Conclusion
A) Story - You are invited to find yourself in God's Story!
B) Mission - You are invited to put the world right!
C) Repentance - It begins with the choice to allow God to put your own
soul right, to take your brokenness upon Him and to create you anew,
and Breathe (Spirit/Wind) in you again