“This understanding of the equal and inalienable value of people has steadily made its way into people’s thinking wherever Christianity has spread, so much so that every ethical theory by Western philosophers, however much they differ from each other, assumes and is based upon the absolute value of every human being. Since this teaching of Jesus took hold in Western civilization, our legal systems, our understanding of human rights, the slow and gradual rise of democracy, and the emancipation of women and slaves–all rest on and are inspired by such simple parables as that of a Lost Sheep, a Lost Coin, a Lost Son, because they teach us that every person must be taken with ultimate seriousness. These stories encapsulate the core of the gospel: each and every person so matters to God that God the Son became a human being to seek us. Nothing can give us the value and worth that underlies our civilization’s conviction concerning human rights, which is spreading to the rest of the world today–nothing except the love of God. To reject God, to ignore God, or to neglect God is at the same time to reject, to ignore, or to neglect our irreplaceable value.” Diogenes Allen, Theology for a Troubled Believer, xxii
gospel
Who is crying now?
Can you imagine what it would be like to grow up without having ever watched the evening news on TV or ever played a video game full of death? The first time would be shocking. The absolute abandonment of respect for others would be shocking; Unless of course that is your life and is the reality of the house you live in. Without calluses toward the shock of violence, rape, murder, anger, theft, lying, we would daily be utterly crushed by the evening news. Or having viewed it with no tears, we walk away with our self-righteousness intact, glad we are not like those people.
I’m reading Ezekiel with one of my Life Transformation Groups and I have been challenged with the question “Who’s crying now?” God gave Ezekiel a scroll to eat and on both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. And God said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.”
So I’m wondering whose lament, whose mourning, and whose woe filled those pages? God’s? Was it God’s lament for a nation that was incapable of knowing, and loving Him. Or was it the mourning of victims; Were those pages filled with the cries of those who had received no justice; who had only suffered at the hands people or a system out to steal even their hope? Or did that scroll give voice to the regret of those who realized the folly of their ways? Those who wish they could go back and do life over because of the pain their callousness had inflicted upon others?
The scroll was sweet to eat. However, Ezekiel is totally overwhelmed by his encounter with the glory of God and the assignment from God to go to a people who would not listen. He writes, “The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in anger in my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me. I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Abib near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days–overwhelmed.” Ezekiel 3:14-15
The Gospel has a sweet taste but also creates a disturbance. To respond to the reality of a world that is not as it should be and to our own complicity with rebellion against God is disturbing. But I do believe the Holy Spirit fortifies us for honesty and promises, “joy in the morning.” And Jesus promises, “The Truth will set you free.”
James encourages the followers of Jesus to humble themselves before God. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the LORD, and he will life you up.” James 4:7-10
What does such humility look like? Perhaps it looks like Ezekiel utterly overwhelmed sitting quietly by the river Kebar for seven days among the very people he was called to serve.
seeking the cultural compass pointing to Jesus
Don Richardson is a Canadian pastor and missiologist perhaps best known for the work the Peace Child and his book Eternity in their Hearts. In this talk last October in Hawaii in talks about cross-cultural communication of the Gospel of Jesus and Richardson highlights the importance of listening to discover the cultural compass pointing to Jesus providentially woven into the fabric of a culture.
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The Gospel in all its forms, by Timothy Keller
Last night I ran across this article again by Timothy Keller on The Gospel in All its Forms. I appreciate the article because Keller pulls back together confidence in a clear, straightforward and “simple” presentation of the Gospel and respect for the breadth of the Gospel. Read
preaching the third way
Andrew Warnock has posted Tim Keller’s messages at the Newfrontiers conference. I deeply appreciate this message on preaching the Gospel as a third way. Keller says that our choices are irreligion, religion, or the gospel. Or framed another way, morality, immorality, or the gospel. Which one are you communicating?
urbanfoot 