A Nativity Prayer

 

A Nativity Prayer

 

Christ is born, glorify him.

Christ comes from heaven, go out to meet him.

Christ descends to earth; be raised up!

Sing to the Lord all the whole earth;

and that I may join both in one word,

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,

for him who is of heaven and then of earth.

Christ is in the flesh,

rejoice with trembling and with joy;

with trembling because of your sins,

with joy because of your hope.

 

The people that sat in the darkness of ignorance,

let them see the great light of full knowledge.

The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.

The letter gives way, the Spirit comes to the front.

He who is not carnal is Incarnate;

the Son of God becomes the Son of Man,

Jesus Christ the Same yesterday, and today, and for ever.

 

Source: Gregory of Nazianzus

Sent and Sanctified; Sanctified and Sent (3)

 

“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

 

What would the Church look like if we lived in 1 John 3:16? What would we look like if we lived as one Family, as one People? As Jesus says, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). This love is the love of Jesus, “That you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34).

 

The standard and quality and nature and expression of our love for one another is the very love of Jesus Christ.

 

This must begin in me, and it must begin in you. It must begin in our marriages, our families, and our individual congregations and fellowships, it must begin in our friendships. And here is the thing, even if you never see it elsewhere, you must live it; I must live it. We must not wait to see it elsewhere, we must follow Jesus now, and in following Jesus we must live the love of Jesus, laying down our lives for the brethren, giving our lives for the people of the world.

 

You may come to the end of your life and not have much company, perhaps you will have no company, perhaps you will walk alone in faithfulness to Jesus Christ; but how could we possibly ever be truly alone knowing that Jesus assures us that He will never leave us or forsake us?

 

When Jesus says, “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth,” (John 17:18), He calls us to that same commitment, that same life, for as the Father sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus sends us into the world (John 17:18).

 

This then means that neither you nor I can do what we want, it means that we must not take the easy way, the broad way, the popular way, the cotton-candy American Christian way. It means that we embrace the Cross and follow Jesus for the sake for others (Mark 8:34 – 38).

 

It means that neither you nor I can take the economic way (the way of money and possessions), the political way, the way of nationalism, the way of pleasure, the way of comfort, the way of entertainment, the popular “Christian” way which caters to the “self” and avoids the Cross. It means that we clearly confess that our kingdom, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, is not of this world, that we are citizens of heaven, and that we are seeking the City whose Builder and Maker is God (John 18:33 – 38; Phil. 3:20; Hebrews 11:8 – 16). It means that we glory in Jesus Christ and are crucified to the world (1 Cor. 1:30 – 31; Gal. 2:20; 6:14).

 

We sanctify ourselves, by the grace of God, out of our love for Jesus and also because we love our brothers and sisters. If we truly love others, we will practice lives of dedication to Christ, of separation to Christ; we will live as sacrificial lambs, willing to be offered on the altar for others. When Christ our Good Shepherd chooses us from the flock as sacrifices, we will joyfully yield ourselves to His tender loving care, even in the midst of crucifixion, even as the fire of God descends upon us to consume us for His glory on the altar of the Cross.

 

This means, among other things, that we cannot look at many things others look at, we cannot listen to many things that others listen to, we cannot invest ourselves in many things that others are heavily invested in. It means, in the “Christian” realm, that we cannot join the crowds when they get excited about the latest and greatest teachings, lyrics, and practices, for it means that we must always be asking, “Where is the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ?” If we do not see Christ, if we do not see the Cross, then we must not join the crowds, we must not acquiesce in the nonsense.

 

This can be extremely lonely, let’s not gloss over this. The peer pressure to conform in the world and in the professing church is terrible. Yet, in another sense there is plenty of company, it is the “communion of the saints,” (Hebrews 12:1 – 3, 18 – 24). A welcoming crowd awaits us when we pass through the portal from this age into the age to come, from time into eternity. And dear friends, since eternity is indeed forever, is it not much better to pay a small price now to gain an endless future of joy unspeakable and full of glory? Jesus asks, “What does it profit a person, to gain the whole world yet lose his own soul?”

 

Do you know what it is to be with a group of professing Christians who are talking about popular television shows and not know what they are talking about? Do you know what it is to be with Christians who take their conversational cues from the media – of any persuasion – and find yourself listening to a strange language? Do you know the heartache of wanting Christians to speak of Jesus, of their relationship with Him, of what they are seeing in Hm, hearing from Him, of how they are sharing Jesus with others…and yet they seldom speak of Him?

 

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1 – 2).

 

If we truly love others, if we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, if we love the people of the world, then we cannot, we must not, be conformed to the world – this includes the economic world and the political world, it includes the world of possessions and popular entertainment, it most certainly includes the values and priorities of the world. Our minds must not live in the realm in which the minds of the world live, in which the minds of much of the professing church live.

 

We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

 

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1 -3).

 

For the sake of others we must sanctify ourselves, setting ourselves apart unto Christ, seeking to be completely devoted to Him so that we may be His Presence in the lives of others. If we are not living in the peace of Jesus, we cannot help a church and a world in chaos. If we are not living in the joy of Jesus, we cannot share His joy with others. If we are not living in the assurance of His love, in the fulness of His redemption and salvation, we cannot offer the Gospel to others in word and deed.

 

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

 

The nation to which we belong is not of this world. The race to which we belong is not of this world. The world…in any of its forms…does not own us. We are to proclaim the glory of the excellencies of Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit – not the American Dream, nor any other dream or system of this present age, but rather the Age that is Coming in Christ.

 

We, with Jesus and as possessions of Jesus, confess that we are aliens, strangers, pilgrims; that we are “seeking a country of our own,” a “heavenly country,” a “better country,” a City “whose Architect and Builder is God,” (Hebrews 11:8 – 16).  We do this not simply for our own sake, but for the sake of others, that they might see Jesus.

 

If this seems strange, it is an indictment of the professing church, for it ought to be our way of life in Jesus Christ.

 

As we ponder John 17:17 – 19, I hope we will see that this is our calling, the Way we ought to be living, as individuals, as marriages, as families, as congregations, as the People of God. We are to live this way toward God, we are to live this way toward our brothers and sisters, and we are to live this way toward the people of the world. This is who we ought to be in Jesus Christ.

 

We are not our own, we have been bought with a price, with the blood of the Lamb; we are to no longer to live for ourselves, but for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us…and in living for Him, we also live for others.

“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:14 – 15).

 

 

Why Read the Psalms Daily? (5)

 

This is the final installment on reading Psalms daily. I hope there has been something here for you, and I truly hope that Psalms will become your companion in 2026.

Much love,

Bob

Start at the Beginning

               While there are other reasons to read Psalms daily, I want to bring this to a close. Perhaps I’ll circle back later and share some thoughts on how to read Psalms, and include another reason or two to read them, but I want to wrap this up so I can share it as we move toward the beginning of a new year.

               For now I’ll encourage you to read Psalms in expectation that you will see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that God will speak to you. Look at Psalms as a place to meet God personally, to get to know Him more intimately, and a place where, in the Presence of Christ, you get to know yourself better. When you see things in yourself that you don’t care for, trust God to cleanse you and to form you into the image of Jesus Christ – trust your Father to bring you along in His love and grace…He always wants the best for you.

               The important thing is to begin and to be consistent. If you begin with Psalm 1 and read one psalm a day, you will have gone through Psalms about two times during the year. You may find that some psalms are a bit long for one reading, in that case break them up. However, when you do this make sure to go back and review the structure and theme(s) of the entire psalm, it will help you see things you may otherwise miss. The important focus is to meet God, to touch God and to be touched by God as He comes to you through His Word and His Holy Spirit.

               You will find that certain sections of Psalms have particular themes, that while all psalms stand alone, that they are also related to each other, that they connect – this is for you to discover and enjoy.

               The Book of Common Prayer takes us through the entire book of Psalms every month. I used to read five psalms a day on a schedule that began 1,31, 61, 91, 121. This kept me in five different sections of Psalms throughout the month; this is also the way I read the Bible, reading in different sections as the same time – it helps me maintain a sense of connectivity and an overview of Scripture. I have done this as long as I can remember.

               Presently I read two psalms a day for two months, and then one psalm a day in the third month of the quarter; this takes me through Psalms four times during the year. On January 1 I’ll start with Psalm 1 and Psalm 31, then on February 1 it will be Psalm 61 and Psalm 91, and then on March 1 it will be Psalm 121. On April 1 I’ll start the journey again.

               As you work with Psalms every day you will discover your own rhythms and patterns; I’ve changed mine more than once and may change them again, however, I do have base principles woven into my heart and mind and soul…always looking for Jesus, always wanting to touch Him and be touched by Him.

               Why should we read Psalms every day?

               So that we may know Jesus Christ…and make Him known; so that His Presence may be in our lives, and through us that His Presence will touch others.

               On January 1…Psalm 1 is waiting with your name on it.

Why Read the Psalms Daily? (4)

 

The Psalms Help Us See the Entire Bible

Reading Psalms daily gives us a framework in which to see the entire Bible. The Psalms guide us from Creation, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the Exodus, to the Promised Land, to King David, to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Captivity, to the Restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah, to the incarnation of Christ, to the Body of Christ, the Church, and into eternity future.

The Psalms bathe our minds and hearts in the Big Picture, as well as in the texture of individual brush strokes. Psalms reveals the Father and Son from ages past into ages future, and in our own lives today. Reading the Psalms daily brings us into the fellowship of saints who have lived before us and who live now in the Presence – Psalms is an expression of Hebrews Chapter 11, when we enter into Psalms we experience the “communion of saints.”

In a world which bombards us with narrative after narrative, with multiple spins on the same story and set of facts, Psalms guards our hearts and minds, it raises us above the chaos of the world system, it provides us with pure air to breathe, it renews an eternal perspective in our souls.

 

            As We Live in Psalms, We Live in the New Testament

               During Holy Week, when Jesus spoke of His impending crucifixion and resurrection, He pointed to Psalm 118 (Matthew 21:42).

               That same week, in confounding the religious leaders, Jesus questioned them out of Psalm 110 (Matthew 22:43).

               During the Crucifixion, both Jesus and the religious leaders gave testimony to Psalm 22; Jesus does this knowingly, the religious leaders unknowingly (Matthew 27:43, 46).

               On the Day of Pentecost, Peter’s sermon is based on two key Old Testament texts, Joel Chapter 2 and Psalm 16.  Peter could assume that his audience knew these passages well, can today’s pastor assume the same?

               In Romans Chapter 3, in his great teaching on justification, Paul quotes six different passages in Psalms.  

               In Romans Chapter 4, Paul continues his teaching on justification with two key Old Testament texts, one from Genesis, speaking of Abraham, the other is Psalm 32, speaking of David. Paul could assume that his readers knew these passages, can today’s pastor assume the same?

               Consider the role of Psalms in the book of Hebrews, with its focus on our glorious High Priest and the New Covenant. In the very first chapter there are 5 quotations from Psalms. In Chapter 2, one of the great chapters on the Incarnation, two psalms (8 and 22) play pivotal roles.

               Psalm 95 is the cornerstone of Hebrews chapters 3 and 4.

               Psalm 110 is critical to Hebrews chapters 5 and 7.

               Psalm 45 is central to Hebrews Chapter 10.

               Psalm 118 is quoted in Hebrews Chapter 13.

               The author of Hebrews could assume that his readers knew Psalms, knew the context and content of the passages he referenced. Again I ask, can today’s pastor assume the same? If we don’t know Psalms how can we know the New Testament?

               When the New Testament writers and speakers, including our Lord Jesus Christ, quote Psalms (indeed when they quote what we term the Old Testament), they are doing more than quoting a verse – they are invoking the entire passage, the entire psalm.

               This is the same as when we hear someone say, “Four score and seven years ago,” or “When in the course of human events,” or “Ask not what your country can do for you,” or “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy”; we hopefully know the substance of what follows and we know the context of what follows (well…at least we used to).

               This means that there is so much more to Jesus crying, “My God, My God!” on the Cross than those words being a fulfillment of Psalm 22. The entire psalm is being fulfilled in Jesus Christ and in us; it is a psalm of rejection, crucifixion, resurrection, and of the Body of Christ (which is why it is invoked in Hebrews 2:13). We have the same principle in Psalm 118, another psalm of trial, suffering, rejection, crucifixion, and resurrection – which is why Jesus invokes it in Matthew 21:42. If we only see the verse that Jesus quotes, and not the passage He invokes, we miss the import of His message.

               We limit ourselves and the Holy Spirit when we reduce verses to evidence of prophetic fulfillment, we belittle the evidence, we reduce it to a verse when it ought to be the entire glorious passage, a passage which reveals Christ and which invites us into koinonia with Him and with one another.

               Most of us enjoy some form of music, popular or classical. All we need to do is to hear a bar or two of music we like to be transported into the entire piece. We can all play the game, “Name that Tune,” to one degree or another. A few seconds of music can bring back a song we haven’t heard or thought of for decades…we hear a few beats and all of a sudden the music and lyrics are back in our heads and we are dancing or tapping our toes or being transported into classical heavens.

               O my friends, this is the way Psalms ought to be to us, it is the way the Bible ought to be to us. This is one reason why it is so important to read Psalms daily, to reclaim our birthright, to obtain our inheritance, to “see” Christ and the New Testament as never before.

 

Why Read the Psalms Daily? (3)

 

A Perspective on World Affairs

               It is hard not to be unduly influenced by the news, social media, and the relentless bombardment of propaganda and spin and lies. It is poisonous. When we do encounter the truth, it can be overwhelming. Who can absorb the suffering and chaos of our world?

               The Psalms keeps us grounded and focused on reality, it tunes our ears to hear the Holy Spirit, it keeps our vision clear, and it encourages us amid messages of false hopes, vitriol, and hatred.

               The first psalm reminds us that there are two ways to live, one grounded in Christ and His Word, the other living in the counsel of the wicked, the path of sinners, the seat of scoffers.

               The second psalm warns us that the nations and peoples of the world are in rebellion against God and Christ. “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” (Ps. 2:3). It also assures us that Christ will prevail, there is no contest, whatever appearances may indicate.

               Psalms One and Two are the foundation stones of the book of Psalms, just as Psalm 150 is its capstone. Everything that follows the first two psalms speaks to us of the way we are living and of which kingdom we belong to. Our calling is to live in the Way of Christ, to live in the Kingdom of Christ, to know Christ and to make Him known.

               All the kingdoms of the world are opposed to Christ, and in this sense they are aligned with one another. I recall a friend lecturing me on his political perspective. When he finished, or perhaps paused to catch his breath, I said, “Everything you just said could be true, which it isn’t, but it could be true, and it still isn’t Jesus Christ.”

               Our minds will deteriorate, our perspectives will become distorted, if we are not in communion with Christ and His Word as our Way of life.

               The penultimate psalm (149), presents the ironic picture of the very people shouting in Psalm 2:3, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!”, being “bound with fetters of iron, and having executed on them the judgment written” by those who have been faithful to Christ.

               Those in Christ will one day proclaim, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). Between now and then, Psalms reminds us who we are and to whom we belong.

 

            A Perspective on Money and the World’s Values

               In the West we pretty much measure everything by money and possessions and the experiences which money can purchase. We sell ourselves and much of the professing church for money, we sell our national civic life for money; we rejoice in the monetary success of our children and grandchildren, rather than in their moral character and whether they know Jesus Christ and serve him.

               Psalms reminds us that the world’s value system is a lie and warns us against its poison. For many of us, two “go-to” psalms are 37 and 73.

               “Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness” (37:1-3).

               “Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him, do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evildoing” (37:8).

               “I have seen a wicked, violent man spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in his native soil. Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more; I sought for him, but he could not be found” (37:35 - 36).

               Why are we so enthralled with money and possessions and wealth and power? Why do professing Christians align themselves with economic and political and social movements that crush the poor and disenfranchised? Why do we measure our own lives by the almighty dollar? Why do we get so angry? Where does all of this come from? Why do we gravitate toward pleasure and ease and self-gratification rather than run from it to the Cross of Jesus Christ?

               The author of Psalm 73 became discouraged when he saw the wicked prospering, when he considered how unjust life was, when it appeared as if there were no consequences for leading a life without regard to God and His Law.

               “These are the wicked; and always at ease, they have increased in wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence” (73:12 – 13).

               Then our author came to his senses, then he “perceived their end” (73:17). Then he realized that he, himself, had been “senseless and ignorant, like a beast before God” (73:22).

               Then he was able to write:

               “I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (73:23 – 26).

               O dear friends, if Jesus Christ isn’t everything then He isn’t anything. In one sense there are only two types of “Christians” on the earth, there are those who confess, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth,” and those who don’t.

               Psalms reminds us that the world’s values are an illusion. The glitz and glitter and wealth and power and pleasure, our obsession with consumption, it is all a lie, it is a drug, and if we buy into it we will be, as the psalmist writes, like “beasts before God.”

               Psalms proclaims to us that we are not beasts, but the sons and daughters of our Father in heaven and that our future is secure in our Lord Jesus Christ – a destiny beyond words and comprehension.

 

Sent and Sanctified; Sanctified and Sent (2)

 

 

As we recall that the word “sanctified” has a double meaning (to be set apart, to be purified), we can learn to hold both meanings together in our hearts and minds, seeing them as a whole, as complementary to one another, as necessary to one another.

 

We cannot know purity in Christ without also knowing dedication to Him, without also living as those who have been purchased by His blood and who no longer belong to themselves. Nor can we know dedication to Christ without living in His holiness, without a continuing cleansing and formation into His holy image.

 

When Jesus says, “For their sake I sanctify Myself,” we understand that there is a distinction between Him and us as it relates to purification, for Jesus Christ has always and forever been pure and spotless and sinless. He “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). Our High Priest has ever been “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (Heb. 7:26).

 

We also find hope and comfort in that “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Because Jesus has been “tempted in all things as we are” and yet is “without sin” we can “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16; see also Hebrews 2:10 – 18).

 

Jesus is with us in every moment of our sanctification, in every facet of our lives. We can live in this confidence, receiving His mercy and grace to help us face temptation, to enable our putting off the “old man” and our putting on the “new” (Eph. 4:20 – 24; Col. 3:9 – 11).

 

Not only does Jesus’ righteousness become our righteousness, but His holiness becomes our holiness, the “righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21) is both imputed and infused, after all, we are becoming one with the Trinity (John 17:21 – 26).

 

Jesus says, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). When we recall that the word “clean” speaks to us of pruning in this context, we see the work of Christ in our sanctification, for pruning speaks of sanctification and sanctification entails pruning. Let’s note the connection of pruning and the “word” which Jesus has spoken. The Word cleanses us (15:3), the Word sanctifies us (17:17), and even though we are already “clean” our feet still need to be washed as our way of life (13:10).

 

Let us recognize the association of Christ sanctifying His Church with His Word in Ephesians:

 

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having not spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless” (Eph, 5:25 – 27).

 

O friends, no self-help teaching can sanctify. No self-centered “Christian” message can form us into the image of Jesus Christ. We are not called to be “better Christians" (whatever that means), we are called to be as Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29). Only the Word of God can do the work of God; if we will not preach and teach and live His Word we will not see and experience His work in us or in others.

 

Only the Word can convict with godly sorrow and transform us into Christ. Only the Word can reveal Jesus Christ. Only the Word can unveil the glories of heaven. Only the Word can sustain us through sorrow and grief and trial. We can only truly base our lives on His Word, we can only truly trust His Word, only His Word is a matter of life and death. Let us not give our lives to the word of man, but rather to the Word of God which is Jesus Christ (John 1:1 – 18).

 

When Jesus prays, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth,” let us remember that moments before this prayer, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6). Jesus and His Word are one, as John proclaimed in the first chapter of his Gospel.

 

Just as the term “sanctify” holistically holds together two thoughts, just as the Incarnational mystery speaks of two natures yet one Person, so “the Word” is holistic and Incarnational. The Word is Christ and Christ is the Word, the Word becomes flesh in Jesus Christ, and the Word continues becoming flesh within us. The “us” in which the Word becomes flesh is as individuals and as the Bride, the Church, the Temple, the Body of Christ.

 

Among other things, all of this reminds us that our lives must be a work of the Holy Spirit, this is beyond our capacity to understand and to generate, we must not only be born of the Spirit, we must continue in the Holy Spirit, our lives are to be supernatural (John 3:1 – 8; 2 Cor. 3:17 – 18; Gal. 3:1 – 5; 5:1 – 24; Heb. 12:18 – 24; Rom. 8:12 – 39).

 

When we speak of being sanctified in the truth, we must mean more than a mere intellectual knowledge of the truth, more than ascribing to a set of doctrinal statements, even more than knowing the content of Scripture. To be sanctified in the truth is to encounter Jesus Christ, knowing Him as our Way of Life, knowing Him as our sanctification. Do we say, “Jesus is my sanctification”?

 

“By His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). The Person of Jesus is our righteousness. The Person of Jesus Christ is our sanctification. The Person of Jesus is our redemption. No wonder Paul writes, “That I may know Him” (Phil. 3:10).

 

When we consider the intimacy of the Upper Room with its theme of us being drawn into the koinonia of the Trinity, it should be no surprise that Jesus is saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but though Me” (14:6). We come to the Father through intimacy with Jesus, through knowing Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We come to the Father through knowing Jesus as our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

 

If John 14:6 is simply a doctrinal statement, a statement of belief, without it also being a statement of existential experience, we are on dangerous ground, we are on the ground of the scribes and Pharisees. As Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63). We may think that by knowing the data of the Bible, the information of the Bible, the teaching of the Bible, that we know God. But if we are not seeing and knowing Jesus Christ, we are on dangerous ground. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39).

 

The Word must be made flesh in us.

 

In order for the work of sanctification to occur within us, we must submit to the truth. This means that we confess and repent as we are convicted by the Holy Spirit and the Word, and it also means that, by the grace of God, we obey the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ. (See Hebrews 4:12 - 13; James 1:19 - 25; 1 Peter 1:22 – 25; Matthew 7:24 – 27).

 

The propensity of the professing church in American is to stand in judgment of the Word of God rather than to submit to God’s Word. I am writing of people who profess to have a high view of Scripture, not of those who are honest enough to make no pretense ot believing the Bible. One of the challenges of Sunday school classes and small groups I’ve observed and participated in, is that many men and women stand in judgment of the Bible rather than seek to obey it. If a passage doesn’t agree with them, if they don’t understand it, if it isn’t “practical,” they dismiss it, rather than saying, “Lord, I don’t understand this. Help me to see what You are saying. Help me to obey You.”

 

There is no sanctification without obedience to God’s Word. There is no sanctification without surrender to Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

This then requires our sacrifice (Romans 12:1 – 2). We sacrifice ourselves as Jesus sacrificed Himself. The Lord willing, we’ll continue to reflect on this in the next post in this series.

 

 

Why Read the Psalms Daily? (2)

 

Forgiveness for Ourselves and Others

               When I was a boy, I learned to keep score at the ballgame. The numbers 1 – 9 represented baseball positions to me, as they do to multitudes of baseball fans. Number 6 is shortstop, number 8 centerfielder, number 2 catcher. A 6-4-3 DP means that the shortstop fielded the ball, threw it to the second baseman, who then threw it to the first baseman. Of course there was more happening during the play, but this represents the basics.

               In Psalms numbers come to represent themes, areas of emphasis, textures. Some groups of psalms tend to give us a perspective on God’s working in history. Another group is associated with praise and worship. While another group leads us on a journey from exile to restoration, from living as aliens to recovering our inheritance in Christ.

               Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51,102, 130, and 143 form a group termed “the penitential psalms,” they express sorrow for sin and a yearning and searching for forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

               Many of us have cried with David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast [or upright] spirit within me” (Psa. 51:10). Many have cried to God, “Retore to me the joy of Your salvation” (51:12).

               Can we identity with the plea, “Return, O LORD, rescue my soul, save me because of Your lovingkindness” (6:4)?

               How about, “There is no health in my bones, because of my sin. For my iniquities are gone over my hear; as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me” (38:4)?

               Well, you get the idea. There are times when our thoughts and actions and words just make us sick; sick with guilt, with remorse, sick with disgust at ourselves, sick at the realization of what we've done toward God and others. Sin is not eating too much chocolate, it is transgressing the holiness of God, violating our relationship with God, polluting relationships with others. Sin is disobeying the Word of God.

               But there is hope and there is promise in these psalms.

               “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared" (130:3 - 4).

               There is a desire to obey: “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble” (143:10 – 11).

               As you read and ponder these seven psalms, you’ll realize that they represent the complexity, contradictions, and aspirations of human beings. They do not portray a simplistic approach to God and sin and repentance and forgiveness and reconciliation. They do illustrate struggle; struggle within, struggle without, struggle through doubt and fear, struggle through sin, struggle to find restored relationship with God.

               If we learn to work through these seven penitential psalms, not only will we have seven havens to return to when we are once again in need of reconciliation, but we will have seven beacons of hope and truth to guide others to and through. We will have more than the cheap grace (to borrow a term from Bonhoeffer) so prevalent in American Christianity to offer others, we will have the raw reality of life with God…and without God…of life in His will and outside His will. It is far better to live in Him, than without Him.

 

            Spiritual Formation into the Image of Christ

Francis Schaffer said that one reason he read the Bible everyday was to cleanse his mind. The thought life of the world, its images and messages, its philosophies and values, have a polluting effect on our hearts and minds and souls; we need continuing renewal in Christ and His Word. Paul exhorts his readers, “Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1).

Peter writes, “Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I AM holy” (1 Peter 1:15 – 16).

The book of Psalms confronts us with who we are, with the inner workings of ourselves. It does not ask us to engage in self-analysis but rather calls us to allow the light of Scripture to shine within us and to respond to the encouragement and conviction of the Holy Spirit.  

“Who can discern his errors?” (Ps. 19:12).

Knowing that the answer is, “No one,” we pray:

“Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me; then I will be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer” (Ps. 19:12 – 14).

The Psalms are clear, we can’t do this on our own. To be formed into the image of Christ is beyond our ability, but if we will submit to the working of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit we can say with confidence, “The LORD will accomplish [perfect, complete] that which concerns me” (Ps. 138:8).

This assurance leads us to trust our Father as He works deep within us to cleanse us and form us into His holy image, that of Jesus Christ.  

“Seach me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (139:23–24).

The story goes that when Michaelangelo chose the block of marble from which he would create his magnificent David, he chose a block which had been rejected by others due to its obvious flaws. Beyond the flaws the sculptor saw David, and he saw that by chipping away at the flaws, at everything that was not the image of David, that David would come forth.

The context of Psalm 139:23-24, just quoted above, is God’s intimate knowledge of us; and knowing that God knows us deeply, that He knows our every thought, that He has always known us, that He sees our flaws, that even if we make our bed in Sheol that He is there; gives us the assurance to ask God to search us, to know us, to free us from hurtful ways, and to lead us in the Everlasting Way, which, of course, is Jesus Christ.

to be continued....

Why Read the Psalms Daily? (1)

 This is the time of year when I typically write something about reading the Bible in the coming year. This year I wrote a piece for a friend who is learning to read the Bible that focuses on Psalms. Below is the first part of my letter, with more to follow.

I hope there is something here for you.

Love,

Bob

Why Read the Psalms Daily?

 

Robert L. Withers

December 2025

 

Dear Apelles,

For years now I’ve been asking God’s People to read the psalms daily, knowing that if they do that their lives with change for the better as they draw closer to Christ. Explaining why we should read the psalms is like trying to explain why someone should visit the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone, everyone’s experience is different while being the same. The vastness and diversity of Yellowstone, of the Grand Canyon, and of Psalms envelop us – and while we may each be drawn to different facets, we all experience wonder and awe…unless of course we are simply tourists. Yes, many tourists visit the Bible and never “see” or experience the Bible, just as crowds of tourists visit our National Parks and never really “see” or experience them, they might as well have gone to an amusement park.

I am going to try to share just how incorporating the psalms into our lives can be transformative, and how our living in Psalms can be a blessing to those around us.

 

            Our Common Experience

               The Psalms represent the common experience of humanity. From euphoric praise to deep despair and resignation. From certain faith to doubt, from courage to fear, from friendship to betrayal; from feeling closer than ever to God to thinking you are rejected by Him. In Psalms we see deep repentance and contrition, and wonderful assurance of forgiveness and salvation. We read of bullies and crooks seeming to have the upper hand, of unjust rulers, and of God working His purposes in the face of overwhelming opposition. In Psalms, things are not always as they appear.

               In Psalms we learn that we are not accidents looking for a place to happen but that we have a Divine purpose. We learn that we are not alone, there are others on pilgrimage with us, and we are under the care of our Good Shepherd.

               It is unlikely that we, or anyone we know, will ever experience anything that is not represented in Psalms.

               The Psalms are raw and honest, and there are some not for the faint of heart, such as Psalm 88. A friend once called me about Psalm 88, telling me that there was no hope in this passage. I suggested that he keep moving through the psalms, and I pointed him particularly to Psalm 118, a psalm which embraces the Crucifixion and Resurrection. You see, Psalms is not just about the moments we experience, Psalms is about the life we live. We will all have terrible moments, we will all have doubts and fears, we may all know betrayal; Psalms teaches us how to live through these experiences, and it does so with raw and unvarnished language and imagery. Life is a contact sport, Psalms coaches us how to live through the contact, how to get up off the ground; and perhaps more importantly, it shows us how to help others.

               The person for whom Psalms has become the fabric of life, is a person who will always have a place to go for prayer, counsel, and comfort. This is also a person who has something to offer others, for we will never meet a person in need for whom there is not a psalm for the person’s circumstance and experience.

               Now you may think, “There are 150 psalms, how will I ever learn them all?”              

               Well, I am certain that you probably know at least 150 tunes and lyrics, if not all the lyrics to a song, some of the lyrics; if you know some of the lyrics you can always look up all of the lyrics.

               Since Psalms is written in verse, if we use a translation that honors and respects the original Hebrew poetic structure we may be surprised at how our memories absorb these expressions of faith and life. This is also why daily reading is critical, this allows Psalms to enter our hearts and minds and souls, to be engrafted within us, to become an element of our nature. Beyond Psalms becoming part of our nature, they also bring us into the Nature of Christ.

 

            Helping Others

               When I was a lad doctors still made house calls, carrying black medical bags with them. I vividly recall our doctor and his black bag in the living room of our suburban home outside Washington, D.C. As a young boy, there was something reassuring about our physician and his bag of healing in our home – there was a presence about them, they were joined together, I could not have imagined one without the other.

               Suppose our doctor had arrived without his black bag? Suppose he came into our home without his stethoscope, thermometer, tongue depressors, blood pressure monitor, and the many other medical helps common to his practice?  Suppose when asked, “Doctor, it’s great to see you, but where is your black bag?” he replied, “I don’t carry it anymore. I’ve decided I don’t need it”?

               The book of Psalms is our black bag. It consists of not only 150 portals to God, it represents not only 150 doors through which we can enter the Presence of God, but since its sum is greater than its parts, it represents endless possibilities of Divine communion and healing and friendship. It also contains pathways to deep relationships with our brothers and sisters. We might say that the inside of the black bag is greater than the outside of the bag.

               A difference between Psalms and the physician’s black bag is that while the doctor must master his medical devices, we cannot master Psalms, Psalms must master us. While the tools of medicine must be mastered by the doctor, disciples of Christ must be mastered by His Word. (I want to be quick to point out that good medicine is more than science, it is more than technology – I am only focusing on a narrow aspect of it right now.) While the black bag may serve the physician, we must serve Psalms.

               We listen to others, we observe others, we pray for others, we hear what the Holy Spirit says, and we discover where Psalms takes us in service to others. What doors to our Good Shepherd might we open for others through Psalms?

               Because Psalms covers the depth and breadth of human experience, even if we have not personally experienced something…such as betrayal or depression or a sense of hopelessness…in Psalms we have encountered people who have, and can therefore say, “I know someone who has had that experience, let me take you to him.”

               Consider Psalm 22 which begins, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Yet it concludes with praise (verse 25) and a statement that God will perform and complete His purpose (verse 31). Also consider that the psalm of the Good Shepherd follows Psalm 22, a psalm in which a Table is prepared for us in the presence of our enemies. Psalm 22 moves from gut wrenching agony to glorious praise and assurance.

               I have taken Psalm 23 from my black bag more than any other psalm. I have shared it in hospitals, in homes, while shopping, in small groups, in venue after venue. I have prayed Psalm 23 for myself in the storms of life, amid worries and anxieties and uncertainties.

Psalm 23 allows me to say to anyone I meet, with absolute confidence, “I won’t pretend to say that I understand what you are going through, or why you are experiencing what you are experiencing, but I can say with certainty that your heavenly Father, your Good Shepherd, wants to reveal Himself to you through this, He wants to walk with you through this, He desires for you to know and sense His love and care for you through this."

We can wear Psalm 23 the way a physician wears a stethoscope, always using it to listen to hearts and lungs, to spirits and souls…and responding with love, care, and mercy.

to be continued....

 

 

 

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (27)

 

 

Let’s take another look at these two excerpts, quoted in the previous reflection:

 

“The limits are reached wherever there is a clash between the space the body of Christ claims and occupies in this world for worship, offices, and the civic life of its members, and the world’s own claim for space” (page 228).

 

“That this state of affairs has been reached becomes at the same time evident in two ways. First, it becomes necessary for members of the church-community to make a visible and public confession of faith in Christ. Second, it becomes necessary for the world either wisely to withdraw or to resort to violence” (page 228).

 

I would like to ask Bonhoeffer what he means by it becoming “necessary for members of the church-community to make a visible and public confession of faith in Christ.” I’d like to ask him about this because I think what he has written can be misunderstood.

 

Does he mean that we wait until there is a conflict to make a public confession? While perhaps it can be taken this way, this doesn’t seem to align with Bonhoeffer’s own life nor with the body of his teaching. I will not presume to know just what Bonhoeffer means, other than there will be times when our public confession must be unambiguous…with emphasis on the word “public.”

 

My own sense is that our confession in the workplace begins on the first day of employment, the sooner the better. The way relationships begin typically sets their trajectory. When a professing Christian thinks, “I’ll wait until I have been here a while and then let people know that I am a Christian,” that Christian often never gets around to sharing Jesus, to sharing his or her life in Christ, never becomes a blessing to others, a source of encouragement to others in Christ.

 

One reason this happens is that to hide our relationship with Jesus we must lie about who we are. This is like a married person who takes his or her wedding ring off before going into the workplace, never mentions their spouse, and gives everyone the impression that he or she isn’t married. It is impossible for people not to know we are Christians unless we deceive them and deny knowing Jesus.

 

People in the workplace always talk about weekends, they want to know what you are going to do and what you did. Active Christians typically gather on weekends, worship and fellowship form a core element of our lives, if we act as if our gatherings do not exist, as if we don’t participate in them, then we are deceiving those around us.

 

People in the workplace often talk about entertainment, about television, about movies. Most of this world is poison, it is unwholesome and without moral virtue. Do we ask thoughtful questions when these subjects are discussed, or do we try to blend in? We ought not to be ashamed that we do not know what people are talking about when it comes to some things, anymore than we should be ashamed that we don’t sprinkle rat poison on our pasta but rather parmesan cheese.

 

Gossip is often a disease in the workplace, and being silent in an atmosphere of gossip is a sign of approval. Furthermore, as Christians, let us remind ourselves that the devil slanders others, while Jesus Christ came to cover our sins.

 

Sadly, there are work environments where prejudice and lying and deceit and cheating and inequity are practiced. There are work situations where employees are not treated equally. There are businesses that do not treat their customers with respect and honesty. There are employees who do not give their employers an honest day’s work. There are employees who steal.

 

My point is that the world is in darkness, and if we are going to live in the Light of Christ that we cannot but help to confess Him as our Way of Life; we have opportunity after opportunity.

 

Another facet to our confession is that people are hurting. Life is hard, life can be painful, Are we going to pay attention to those around us, listening to them, caring about them, praying for them, or are we going to ignore our coworkers? As we show people we care, we will have many opportunities to pray for them, to encourage them, and to share Christ with them. Listening to others and remembering what they share with us is often the beginning of meaningful witness and relationship.

 

Our work ethic, the quality of our work, our enthusiasm, our willingness to do whatever is needed, our desire to contribute to the success of others, all this ought to be characteristic of the members of the visible church-community in the workplace. As Paul writes, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men…It is the Lord Christ whom you serve” (Colossians 3:23 – 24).

 

The nature of the world and the Nature of Jesus Christ are so opposite, that it is impossible to be faithful to Christ in the workplace, in the civic arena, in academics, in recreation, and not be a witness to Him – both in word and in deed.

 

If we are accustomed to sharing Jesus Christ with fellow believers, if praying with other Christians is woven into the fabric of our lives, then sharing Christ in the workplace is much less of a leap than otherwise because it is already the way we live. If, however, we do not pray with other Christians one to one or in small groups, and if we don’t share the life of Christ, share out of our relationship with Jesus with other disciples, if we aren’t sharing from the Scriptures as our way of life, then we are less likely to share with people in the workplace…or anyplace.

 

I’m not sure why we expect folks to share Jesus outside our churches if we don’t give them the opportunity to share Jesus with one another within our congregations. I don’t see how we can pray with folks in the workplace if we don’t pray with those with whom we gather on Sundays, if we don’t have relationships with them throughout the week.

 

When my wife and I moved to a new area some years ago, she had a challenging time finding a job. Vickie was getting interviews and offers, for she was well-qualified in her field. However, every offer came from an organization that promoted policies that were contrary to Biblical standards. Since I was a fulltime student, we really needed the income. The area we moved to was much more expensive than where we had moved from, and we were feeling the financial pressure. Yet, we both knew that we couldn’t trade our obedience to Christ, and our trust in Him, for an ungodly job. There was never any doubt in our minds about her violating her conscience by taking a job that would be displeasing to Jesus.

 

After seeking on the one hand, and waiting for God on the other, our Father provided Vickie with a wonderful job; one that was fulfilling, was financially rewarding, and was with encouraging people. Vickie and I have both had times in which we’ve had to say “No” to the world, to organizations, to jobs in order to remain faithful to Jesus. Some of these times have been more painful than others, but I can tell you that I am thankful, by God’s grace, that we did not sell ourselves to the highest bidder…for after all…Jesus had already purchased us and we belonged to Him.

 

I will also hasten to say that throughout our pilgrimage as husband and wife, we have had dear friends who have stood with us and been part of our lives. Our relationships with them have meant that we have not been alone…even when physically separated by distance, we’ve never been alone.

 

The support of the visible church-community is critical to each of us, the question is whether we have it, whether it is accessible to us, whether it is nurtured.

 

The Lord willing, we’ll continue working with the above quotations from Bonhoeffer in our next reflection in this series.

 

 

 

Sent and Sanctified; Sanctified and Sent

  

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth” (John 17:17 – 19).

 

Here we touch the essence of the Incarnational mission, the essence of our sacrificial priesthood, and the essence of our koinonia with one another in the Trinity. Here we have our mission and the means of our mission.  This core passage speaks of our relationship with the Trinity, our relationship with one another in Christ, and our relationship with the world.

 

Beyond this passage we enter the Holy of Holies, the ineffable Presence. In the Presence there is abiding “mission” (17:21, 23), for is not our God always giving, always seeking, and gloriously always finding? We enter the Presence engaged in mission, we move outward from the Presence engaged in mission. This mission has two directions with one goal. We are on mission to declare our Father’s Name to our brethren and to present them complete in Christ (Heb. 2:12; Col. 1:28), and we are on mission to the people of the world to bring them into a relationship with the Trinity (John 3:16). The one goal is that we may all live as members of the Body of Christ, the Family of God, forever and ever in that Great City which is composed of Christ, Christ, the fulness of Christ, so that God may be “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).

 

If Jesus sanctified Himself for us, and if He sends us as the Father sent Him, then we are to sanctify ourselves for Him and for others, for not only does Jesus send us as the Father sent Him, but “as He is, so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

 

This passage means that we do not belong to ourselves but to Him who sends us. Our lives are not our own, our agendas must not be our own. We do not live as others do, for their own pleasure and ease; we do not seek distractions and entertainment, we seek the truth and beauty and goodness, the welfare of others and the glory of God.

 

A life centered in John 17:17 – 19 is a life that is able to say, in Christ, ““I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).

 

All service and leadership in the Church has its ground in John 17:17 – 19 (which is integrated with John 13:1 – 17 and Matthew 20:20 – 28). Those who serve Jesus Christ are called to be both priest and sacrifice. Let us not teach the priesthood of the believer if we are not also teaching the sacrificial life of the believer, the two ought not to be separated. When we gather as God’s flock we gather as sacrificial lambs, as those who “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev. 14:4).

 

The passage begins, “Sanctify them in the truth,” and it concludes, “that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”

 

We are made holy and set apart to God in and through and by the truth. Our lives are a continual setting apart to God, a continual going out from the world, the flesh, and the devil; a continual departure from Babylon; and a continual entering into the Holy City in Christ. We leave the fragmentation of the world and its chaos and enter into the Holy of Holies of oneness in the Trinity (John 17:21 – 26). Living in this unity of Life in God enables us to be deeply and eternally grounded as we live on mission to the brethren and the world, for just as Jesus is not of the world, so are we not of the world.

 

What does this passage look like in your life?

 

In the life of your family?

 

In the life of your congregation?

 

We’ll continue to ponder this passage in our next post in this series, the Lord willing.

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (26)

 

“It is, therefore, also evident that in living out their secular vocations, Christians come to experience very definite limits, and that in certain cases the call into a secular vocation must of necessity be followed by the call to leave that worldly vocation…What defines these limits is our very belonging to the visible community of Christ” (page 228).

 

“The limits are reached wherever there is a clash between the space the body of Christ claims and occupies in this world for worship, offices, and the civic life of its members, and the world’s own claim for space” (page 228).

 

“That this state of affairs has been reached becomes at the same time evident in two ways. First, it becomes necessary for members of the church-community to make a visible and public confession of faith in Christ. Second, it becomes necessary for the world either wisely to withdraw or to resort to violence” (page 228).

 

Bonhoeffer then writes that those who suffer for Christ, “Join their Lord in a visible community of suffering. They now need even more the full fellowship and support of brothers and sisters in the church-community” (page 228, italics mine).

 

While I hope you are reading Discipleship (or as it is also known, The Cost of Discipleship) along with us, I’ve quoted extensively above in order to capture the flow of Bonhoeffer’s tightly woven thought.

 

Let’s keep in mind that the title of this chapter is The Visible Church-Community. Bonhoeffer is asking us, “What should we look like in the world? What space should we occupy? How should we be identified? What are the marks of the church-community?”

 

When we are asked what space we ought to occupy, and how we, as the People of God, ought to be identified, our answers may well gravitate toward church buildings on Sunday mornings – our thinking tends to be building centric, organizational centric. Who we are and what we do as Christians tends have their center of gravity in organizations and buildings. The space we occupy tends to be restricted to the address of our local church building.

 

(I am reminded of a tee-shirt a friend of mine wore which said, “I love my church.” Well now, I suppose that is nice, but how much better to proclaim, “I love the Church.” If, as a pastor, I have not taught my people to love the Church, then we still have a long way to go.)

 

When we “see” the church, do we tend to see our local congregation, our building, our organizational structure? Do we place the church in a ghetto? Have we erected walls in our minds around the church, confining it to a building, a place, an organization; limiting its expression to certain times and places?

 

When we meet Christians of other congregations, do we see the church? When we encounter Christians in the workplace, in the marketplace, do we see the church?

 

Bonhoeffer tells us that there are “very definite limits” to our vocations (as previously mentioned, the word “secular” is unfortunate). He also tells us that there are times when we must leave our vocations, and that these limits and decisions are defined by our belonging “to the visible community of Christ.” He follows this thinking up by giving examples of vocations which the Early Church deemed incompatible with discipleship, as well as vocations which society closed to Christians.

 

He also, in the above quotes, points out that conflict with the world can result in the Christian withdrawing from a vocation – this would be true of a vocation in general and a job in particular. In other words, a vocation may have, in and of itself, elements which make it incompatible with faithfulness to Jesus Christ and His People. It may also happen that a particular position in a particular organization may be incompatible with our life in Christ and in the Church; this could be due to the nature and practices of an organization.

 

Do you see challenges to Bonhoeffer’s thinking? What are the barriers to us, at least in the West, accepting what Bonhoeffer writes?

 

Here are my observations, can you expand on them?

 

The first challenge is that money has become our arbiter. That is, our decisions are guided by money, by economics. We have become so absorbed with money, the love of which is indeed the root of all evil, that the “bottom line” has come to justify our decisions without much question. Not only has money become our guide, but we dare not challenge another brother or sister’s decision in a matter if it is based on sound economic thinking.

 

The second challenge is that we live in an individualistic mindset as opposed to living as members of the Body of Christ, as members of the visible church-community. Our lives are our own, we don’t really think of them as belonging to Christ Jesus, or as belonging to His Body. We will make our own decisions about vocation, about what we do and how we do it. No one will tell us, or even suggest, that what we do or how we do it may be incompatible with the Scriptures and the Person of Jesus Christ. No one has the “right” to suggest that our jobs are harmful to humanity.

 

We fail to see that as members of Christ, what we do is what the Body of Christ does, our actions are extensions of Jesus Christ, they are expressions of the visible church-community. Shall we soil the garments of Christ? Shall we inflict harm on humanity? Shall we bring shame on the Gospel?

 

A third challenge is whether the visible church-community will support a sister or brother who must leave their vocation, or their particular job, due to obedience to Jesus Christ. If vocation XYZ is deemed incompatible with Christian discipleship and a brother or sister must leave employment in that field, will the visible church-community support that member through transition to another vocation?

 

This third challenge is present whether we speak in terms of the nature of a vocation, or in terms of faithfulness to Christ when the disciple is confronted with ungodly practices. That is, a vocation in and of itself may be wonderful, providing income to the worker and an avenue of service to society, but a situation may arise in which a disciple must choose between obedience to Jesus Christ and obedience to the ungodliness of the world. In such instances, will the visible church-community stand with the obedient disciple, encouraging and economically supporting the disciple through that season of life?

 

The limits to our vocations are defined by our belonging to the visible church-community, we represent Christ and His Body in all that we do. Our church-community establishes boundaries on both vocations (some are out of bounds) and practices within a vocation.

 

What might we consider vocations that are unacceptable to followers of Jesus Christ? What vocations are clear to us as being incompatible with our life in Christ and as members of the Body of Christ? What vocations are problematic? What vocations do our understanding wrestle with in terms of right and wrong, good and evil, acceptable and unacceptable, edifying and harmful?

 

Is it possible that we have become such prisoners of money that we cannot consider these questions?

 

Being in koinonia with the visible church-community defines and limits our vocational practice in a way that has been vital to me – the presence of my brothers and sisters is with me in my thinking and decision-making and my actions. My friendships in Christ are an element of my vocational practice, knowing that in our koinonia we have koinonia with the Trinity (1 John 1:3). The deeper the friendships, the higher the shared joy in Jesus, the greater the presence in my life of my brothers and sisters – to betray Jesus is to betray my friends in Christ, to betray my friends in Christ is to betray Jesus. To sin in my vocation, to disobey Christ Jesus in my vocation, is to also sin against my brothers and sisters in Christ who are part of my life, who are woven into my heart and soul.

 

To disobey Christ in my vocation is to pollute my koinonia with the visible church-community, and most especially with those in Christ who trust me in friendship. It is better, far better, to suffer for obedience to Jesus Christ and incur the rejection of the world, than to betray Jesus and my friends.

 

Of course, if we have never experienced intimacy in the Body of Christ, if the visible church-community is not at the core of our soul, if we do not live for the welfare of the Body and the salvation of others, then we may not relate to what I’m sharing. This is much like the truth that if we don’t really know Jesus, then we can’t truly share Him with others; we can only give away that which is ours to give.

 

The Lord willing, we’ll continue with these quotations from Bonhoeffer in our next reflection in this series.