Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (22)

 

 

Beginning on page 222, Bonhoeffer turns our attention to Romans 13 and the church-community’s relation to worldly authority. I will highlight some passages, hoping that you will read Bonhoeffer’s full treatment. As we’ve seen by now, Bonhoeffer’s density can only be fully appreciated by direct interaction with him. As with the Bible, my job is to point us to the text, to seek Jesus in the text, and to seek the text in Jesus.

 

“Christians must not be drawn upward, toward those who hold power and authority. Instead, their calling is to remain below” (page 222).

 

Forgive me, but I must ask the obvious question, What do we see today in the professing church in the United States? Do we see elements of the church, leaders of the church, gravitating upward to the centers of power? Political, economic, social, marketing, power? Religious power? (What some have termed the Christian – Industrial Complex, but I think there must be a better term than “industrial”.)

 

Do we see “Christian” leaders and their followers aligning themselves with worldly powers to the point where they are virtually indistinguishable from those powers and movements and agendas?

 

Have we forgotten that those who ride the Beast will be devoured by the Beast (Revelation 17:3, 16)?

 

Have we forgotten that Jesus said to Pilate, who was an extension of Rome’s authority, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 19:36)?

 

Have our hearts and minds lost sight of the great Biblical principle that the Kingdom of God and its servants are on a different trajectory than the kingdoms of this world and that the servant-leaders of God’s Kingdom are called to serve the church-community, to be ambassadors of Christ, and to be juxtaposed to the leaders of the world, rather than identified with them? (See Psalm 2, Daniel 2, Hebrews 11 – 12, Revelation).

 

Let me share a little secret, the world has been able to do with us what it could not do with Jesus. In John 2:23 – 25 many were superficially believing in Jesus and wanted Him to trust them, but He would not do it for He knew what was in the heart of mankind (appearances can be deceiving!). Then in John 6:15, after a miracle of loaves and fishes, the people wanted to make Jesus king; His response was to withdraw Himself from them.

 

Later, when Jesus is before Pilate, Pilate says to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?”  In other words, Pilate was attempting to use his authority over life and death to force Jesus to do what he, the power of Rome, wanted Him to do – in this instance answer Rome’s questions.

 

In light of the above, consider that Christians in the United States seek the approval of the world, and think it great success when we are embraced and applauded by the world. The more popular we are, especially among those in power, the more we rejoice in our “witness,” foolishly trusting ourselves to a system which is determined to destroy us. Do we forget that Balaam taught Moab that the way to destroy Israel was seduction, both sexual and religious? Promiscuity has many forms, including economic and political.

 

We foolishly think that the Pilates of this world have something good to give us, having been seduced by promises, photo ops, the intoxication of proximity to power – we no longer have the fortitude or love for Jesus and His Cross to say, “My kingdom is not of this world. I belong to the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ.”

 

As I think about this, it seems to me that we have been setup for this by our cultivation of celebrity Christianity. We have exchanged knowing the Bible and cultivating a deep relationship with Jesus Christ for celebrity worship. The celebrities can be Christian sports and entertainment figures (including within the “Christian” music industry…and it certainly is an industry), they can be in business, and they can especially be in the church world; pastors, authors (Christian publishing creates, hypes, and anoints its own celebrities $$$); radio, television, and social media “stars,” and make no mistake, they are stars. Our center of gravity has shifted from Jesus and the Bible to a many-headed beast such as we see in Revelation.

 

I am reminded of a “church plant” in a town we used to live. The “pastor,” if he can be termed that, advertised his church (I cannot call it Christ’s church) with two-page centerfold ads in the newspaper. These ads had four prominent features. The first feature was this person touted the fact that he had belonged to the same church, prior to arriving in our town, as a nationally known Christian leader who had a long-running radio program and who was also a best-selling author.

 

He didn’t say that he knew this leader. He didn’t say that he and this leader served together. All that this pastor advertised was that he and this leader attended the same church. What the advertising was supposed to accomplish was to associate the pastor and his church plant with the name of the nationally – know leader. This association was advertised again and again and again, the fact that it really didn’t mean anything substantive didn’t matter, its sole purpose was to associate the church plant with the national leader.

 

Well, I should retract the statement that it didn’t mean anything substantive, of course it did. It meant that the reader of the advertising ought to beware of attending this church for it was being built on deception.

 

The second prominent element of this pastor’s advertising was a steady stream of regional sports celebrities who would give their testimony during Sunday services. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for people giving their testimonies for the glory of Christ. I am all for well – known folks giving their testimony in outreach. However, the context of these testimonies and advertising was that of a self-promoting “pastor” who was building a “church” with himself as the celebrity head.

 

I am hesitant to mention elements three and four of the advertising because it is not my intention to identify this pastor or his church – and to be clear, this advertising was ongoing, week after week, month after month. While it is unlikely anyone reading this will know to whom I am referring, some readers may figure it out, especially with elements three and four, though I have seen photos of other churches with these items – they must be great marketing images.

 

Three mammoth crosses were erected on the church grounds which could be seen for miles, yes miles. These crosses were referred to in the advertising. The crosses were the largest and highest crosses I suppose I’ve ever seen.

 

Adjacent to the crosses were American flags, while they were not as tall as the crosses, they were also oversized and prominent.

 

Now consider the composite message. Come to this church with this pastor who once attended the same church as a nationally known leader with a leading radio program and who is the author of dozens of books, come and see a Christian sports celebrity give his testimony, come to the church in the region that has the huge crosses and flags and participate as a Christian patriot. As we all know, the bigger the crosses the better the church, the bigger the national flags the better the church. Better yet, when a church has both big crosses and big flags you’ve hit the religious jackpot – you have arrived at the City of God!

 

This was an advertising campaign whose message was, “You’ve been to the rest, now come to the best.” There was nothing about Jesus Christ in the relentless message, nothing about the humble Man from Galilee. The advertising worked, and I suppose it kept on working. We do not really want to associate with the humble…yes?

 

“Christians must not be drawn upward, toward those who hold power and authority. Instead, their calling is to remain below” (page 222).

 

What was true of the above example, is true of us today on a national scale, we are drawn upward, toward the center of celebrity gravity, not downward, as servants of Christ who wash the feet of others, who love our neighbors, who bless our enemies, who touch the untouchable and love the unlovable, who go “outside the camp bearing His reproach.”

 

Bonhoeffer lived in a vortex of nationalism which was engulfing the professing church. To stand against it was to invite, to guarantee, marginalization, persecution, and possible execution. There is nothing quite as intoxicating as being in proximity to power; religious, political, economic, entertainment, sports; you can fill in the blank. However there is one thing that will dwarf this intoxication, one thing that will protect us, one thing that will keep us in our senses, and that is the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ, so that we may say with Paul:

 

“I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

 

“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, though which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).

What the world could not do with Jesus, what the political and religious world could not do to Jesus, it is doing to us. 

 

The Lord willing, we’ll return to Bonhoeffer and Romans 13 in our next reflection.  

 

 

A Divine Mystery

 

 

“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them” (John 17:9 – 10).

 

“All things that the Father has are Mine” (16:15).

 

As we saw when contemplating John 16:12 – 15, all that the Father has, Jesus has, and all that Jesus has, we have. There is a unity of possession in the Trinity, a unity of Nature, a unity of Person. God is indivisible. This, of course, is a mystery. In the Incarnation, we see a unity of God and Man in the Person of Jesus Christ, yet another Divine mystery. In the Body of Christ there is a further unity, it is the unity of the Head and the Body, of the Bridegroom and His Bride, once again, a mystery into which we can only see so far; we can experience more than we can see and understand, but this is nearly always the case (if not always) in our life in Christ and with one another in Him.

 

There is a sense in which, while the Father gave us to Jesus, that we already belonged to Jesus, because all that the Father has, Jesus has; and all that Jesus has, the Father has. Perhaps this is akin to a husband and wife who have a beautiful flower garden. The flowers belong to both wife and husband; they both have full possession of the land and the flowers. Can you see the husband in the flower garden, carefully choosing and picking flowers for his wife? Can you then see the husband giving the bouquet of carefully picked and arranged flowers to his beloved? Can we hear the wife say, “Thank you dear husband for giving me these beautiful flowers. Thank you for your love and thoughtfulness”?

 

The flowers always belonged to both husband and wife. Yet, in a true sense the husband also gave the flowers to his beloved spouse and she accepted them.

 

When we acknowledge that all that the Father has, the Son also has; and that all that the Son has, the Father also has (and that this unity is also true of the Holy Spirit), it can strengthen our vision of the Holy One and enable us to more clearly “see” the invisible, having deepening faith in Him. It will also hopefully give us an assurance of our salvation in our Rock, Jesus Christ. After all, if we have belonged to the Father, and if the Father has given us to the Son, there is nothing, there is no one, there is no thing, that can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 8:31 – 39).

 

Yesterday in Paris, thieves broke into the Louvre in the daytime and stole some of France’s precious crown jewels. The theft took about four minutes. Do we really suppose that the Father would allow an enemy to steal His treasures? To break into His heavenly domain, His Temple, into His Family Home, and steal those who are precious to Him, those who have been purchased by the life blood of His Son?

 

Do we think that the Son does not protect those whom the Father has given to Him in holy trust (John 17:11 – 12)? Do we dare to think that the Bridegroom allows His Bride to be violated? O dear friends, while we may not understand all that goes on around us, while we may not have much understanding and vision amid the present chaos, let us never doubt our God, let us never cease to behold and receive His love for us in Christ, let us never give place to the enemy for a moment – for frankly all of life, all of our lives, comes down to this – the Nature and Character of God. Can we, do we, trust Him?

 

When Jesus says, “I have been glorified in them,” we are taken back to a previous meditation in which we asked, “How can this be?” This can be because we belong to God. This can be because of the love and work of Jesus Christ. This can be because what Jesus begins His completes. This can be because we belong to Jesus Christ, we are no longer our own, we have been bought with a price.

 

O the blessed assurance to know that the Father has given us to Jesus, to know that we belong to Jesus and that we are no longer our own – we have been bought by the blood of the Lamb and sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise.

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (21)

 

 

“All who belong to the body of Christ have been freed from and called out of the world. They must become visible to the world not only through the communal bond evident in the church-community’s order and worship, but also through the new communal life among brothers and sisters in Christ” (page 219).

 

Bonhoeffer then writes that when members of the Body are despised, that we will serve them; if they are the objects of violence, we will help them; if they are subjected to insult that we will sacrifice our honor for them. We will renounce gain for the sake of others, we will protect from exploitation, we will show compassion, we will speak the truth and not lie, we will raise our voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.

 

“For the sake of brothers and sisters…Christians will renounce all community with the world, for they serve the community of the body of Jesus Christ…They have been called out of the world and follow Christ” (page 219).

 

What do we make of Bonhoeffer’s approach, which is grounded in Scripture?

 

How do we, as individuals, families, churches, and institutions measure up?

 

Do we forget that the very term “church,” means those who are “called out”? Do we ignore the statements of Jesus concerning us that, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:13 – 16; see also John 15:18 – 16:4)?

 

Are we living as those who have been called out of the world to live in community with one another in Jesus Christ? Do our bonds in Christ define us, rather than our economic, political, national, racial, ethnic, and social identities? Do we see one another in Christ, and only in Christ?

 

Since I live in the United States, I will address those of us who live in my earthly country, but its application is worldwide. We, the professing church, have a shameful history of failing to renounce the world and failing to live in Christian community; to ignore that history is to likely ignore our present shame. In fact, we have often gone beyond shame and employed the disgusting practice of using the Bible to justify our ungodly actions.

 

Right now, I am thinking of the Bible school I briefly attended in the 1960s that used the Bible to justify segregation – thank God the school expelled me. I am also thinking of theologians and pastors who employ their gifts to justify economic hedonism, foreign policies that result in the wholesale destruction of life, the terrible treatment of strangers seeking refuge which clearly is a violation of Biblical commands and standards, and the continued marginalization of those who cannot speak for themselves.

 

Yes, for sure there is a minority of faithful brothers and sisters that live counter to our American Christian self-centered culture, but we marginalize them and dare not give them a voice, lest our entire way of life change and we exchange the “good life” for the Cross of Jesus Christ. In essence, we live with blinders on, sealing ourselves off from those who need us, stopping our ears, covering our eyes, hardening our hearts.

 

Consider the monolithic character of most of our churches. Congregations tend to be the same economically, racially, politically, socially, and culturally. There is little, if anything, supernatural about the nature of our local congregations. While this may be understandable in rural areas due to the lack of local diversity, it is inexcusable in areas with a varied population. Yes, again there are exceptions, but they are few. Jesus Christ does not attract us to one another, our worldly sameness attracts us, it provides us with the apparent safety of the world’s status quo, it seals us off from one another, and it allows us to practice our self-centered, non-sacrificial, American brand of syncretistic religion.

 

Let’s remind ourselves that Bonhoeffer writes from a position of privilege. He was raised in an environment of economic security, academic and professional accomplishment, and high culture. The Bonhoeffer family moved in the upper echelons of German society. Yet, Bonhoeffer saw that something was wrong, and as German Nationalism consumed the hearts and souls of German society and the professing church in Germany, Bonhoeffer stood virtually alone and spoke the truth in Christ. The drama of the truth is greater than any fiction, few stood with Bonhoeffer, very few. Bonhoeffer saw that there must be a Biblical break with the world in order to live in church-community in Christ.  

 

It is disgusting that some American Christians distort Bonhoeffer’s life and teaching to justify American nationalism, the ill treatment of others, and violence against others – native born and the stranger.

 

Yes, yes, this is a hard subject to think about, and it comes with a price, for the Cross is an offense, obedience to Jesus Christ offends people, including religious people. We want nothing to impinge on our “right” to get what we can and keep what we can and to ignore the suffering and needs of those around us.

 

But I think that if we could only see the glory of Jesus Christ in His Body, His People, our neighbors in Christ, that we would gladly surrender what we have and who we are to Jesus and open our hearts to others. O friends, this life will soon be over and what fools we are to live as if it won’t, what fools not to realize that we have a calling and opportunity to live for Jesus and others, to live in the Kingdom and not in the world-system.

 

If we would only attempt to know others the scales would fall from our eyes and, I think, we would behold Jesus as never before; behold Him in our brothers and sisters.

 

Well, we can’t control what others do, but we can each decide to follow Jesus and lay down our lives for Him and others. If our families go with us – wonderful! If our congregations go with us – let us be encouraged! If we have one or two friends who we can walk with – let us rejoice! And if…if it must be that we walk alone, let us be comforted, for in Jesus Christ we are never alone, for He will never leave us or forsake us – and we know that He awaits us, at the right hand of the Father, to say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord!”

 

“To the extent that you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40).

 

“No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Asking on Our Behalf

 

“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours” (John 17:9).

 

Jesus desires that we receive His words as they are given to us, that we allow them to be implanted within our souls (James 1:21) and that through them we partake of the Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4). When we receive the Word of Jesus, when we receive Jesus Christ the Word, we partake of the Lord’s Table in sacred communion, we eat His flesh and drink His blood (John 6:53). We can live in the assurance that the Eucharist is indeed sacramental – of course it is – we need not fear to partake of Christ in all the ways He comes to us – O we need not fear!

 

There is a distinction between those whom the Father has given to Jesus and the world in the Upper Room. We saw this in John 15:18 – 16:4, and we see it again in the Holy of Holies of Chapter 17. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (17:16). See the echo of 15:18-16:4 in 17:14, "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

 

However, we must not misread this distinction, to do so is to imperil our calling in Christ and our mission to the world. If we would learn to receive the Word as the Word is spoken and written, the possibility of misunderstanding would be lessened, but we have a proclivity to speculate rather than submit to the Word of Jesus in obedience. In other words, we would rather speculate than obey. Seldom does understanding dawn without obedience. Faith is less about understanding so that we may obey; it is not even obeying so that we may understand; it is obeying that we may please our Lord Jesus. If, in our obeying, we are given a measure of understanding, let us be thankful.

 

Jesus is praying for us in the Upper Room and we ought to be attentive and obedient to what He is praying – there are treasures beyond measure in John 17, this is a portal into eternity, it is where the ages meet, it is beyond time and space, and yet it invades time and space. The Son of Man ascends and descends in the Holy of Holies of John 17.

 

So that we do not misunderstand Jesus asking on our behalf, and not on behalf of the world, let us consider the following:

 

The very next day, in the midst of the agony of His sacrificial death offering, Jesus will pray for the world, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

 

The central verse of the Gospel is found in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

 

Paul writes, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19).

 

Why then does Jesus pray for us in John 17 and not for the world?

 

There is more than one reason, it seems to me, but the particular reason that I call our attention to now is this, Jesus prays for those whom the Father has given Him so that those whom the Father has given Him may give themselves to the world, for God so loves the world.

 

On the one hand Jesus distinguishes Himself and us from the world (17:13 – 16), but on the other hand Jesus sends us into the world just as the Father sent Him into the world. “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (17:18).

 

While we will, the Lord willing, reflect more deeply on our mission to the world and church in forthcoming meditations on 17:13 – 23, for now let us be clear that Jesus prays for us so that we may pray for others; that Jesus gives Himself for us so that we may give ourselves for others; that Jesus desires us to know our Father so that we may bring others to know our Father; that Jesus sanctifies Himself for us and desires our sanctification, so that we may invite others into the sanctification of the Trinity.

 

Jesus prays for us and not for the world, so that we may be His offerings to the world, not that we might view ourselves as a privileged people better than others. Yes, we are indeed privileged, but the privilege is that of a lamb selected from a flock to be an offering. We must always, always, always, remember and affirm that Jesus sends us as the Father sent Him. This is our birthright, our inheritance, our calling, and the only privilege that matters in eternity. How glorious are the words of Joseph:

 

“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them” (Genesis 50:20 – 21).

 

John 17 encompasses a holy charge given to those whom the Father has given to Jesus, Jesus prays for those given this charge. The Father gives us to Jesus, and Jesus gives us to the world and to one another.

 

The glory of John 17 may be euphoric, but it is also weighty, it is the glory of the Cross, the Lamb…found in the vortex of eternity pressing into time and space. There is Divine thunder in the words, “I ask on their behalf.”

Only One City

 This is the third of three pieces written in October 2016.

 

How foolish for those who profess to follow Jesus Christ to think that there is more than one city we should be seeking – what fools we make of ourselves.

 

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their god, for He has prepared a city for them,” Hebrews 11:13 – 16.

 

That heavenly country invaded this world some 2,000 years ago, first in the person of Jesus Christ, then in the person of His body, His church. Yet we ignore the commandment that we shall have no other gods before the true and living God; we go so far as to claim that an earthly nation can be a “city set on a hill” – the church functionally says that it can have more than one husband. Paul wrote to the church in the Roman city of Philippi that “our citizenship is in heaven.”

 

It is not the infidelities of our political “leaders” that we ought to focus on – it is the infidelity of the church, it is our own infidelity. Do we think that when John wrote that we are not to “love the world or the things in the world” that he was giving throwaway esoteric advice? We are the woman at the well engaged in serial relationships, we are the woman caught in adultery, we are ancient Israel and Judah thinking that we can form alliances with surrounding kingdoms and that we can adopt their gods with impunity.

 

O that we would learn to be faithful to Jesus; knowing that He alone loves us, He alone died for us, He alone cleanses us, and that He alone has made a home for us. O that we would come home to Jesus – that His church would be faithful to Him.

Which Kingdom? What Voice?

 This is the second of three pieces written in October 2016. 

“Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm,’ ” (John 18:36).

 

What would have happened had the followers of Jesus Christ stirred up the populace and attacked the Jewish and Roman leaders? Could they have freed Jesus? Could they have freed Jerusalem and Judea from Roman domination? Would the church have been born on the Day of Pentecost? Would there have been a Gospel? Would we be yet in our sins? Would Jesus, the Prince of Peace, today be associated not with a cross but rather with a bloody sword due to the actions of His followers?

 

One of His followers did indeed use a sword in Gethsemane and was rebuked by Jesus. Prior to arriving in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday this same follower sought to convince Jesus that Jesus should save Himself from rejection and death and was not only rebuked by Jesus but told that he was playing the role of Satan and not setting his mind on the things of God but the things of man (Matthew 16:21 – 23). Jesus followed this rebuke by stating that to follow Him meant taking up the cross, denying self, and losing one’s life for His sake and the Gospel’s. This remains the call of Jesus Christ, it remains the requirement of Jesus Christ – as Bonhoeffer wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

 

Do we desire the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of man? Are we seeking to preserve the Gospel by loving Christ and others and peacefully articulating, in word and deed, the message of Jesus Christ? Or, are our hearts and minds engaged in self-preservation – desiring the kingdoms of this world, the American “dream”, and agendas which draw our souls away from the Kingdom of God?

 

At a time in our nation when our nation needs (as it always does) the church to be the church, the voice of Jesus Christ, articulating the hope of the Gospel and the coming Kingdom of God; our shallow theology and thinking, our tenuous confession of Christ, and lack of identity as the People of God, has shown us to be a confused and manipulated people – without unity, without the confession of Jesus Christ, and without moral courage – for it takes courage to say in word and deed, “I will stand with Christ and with Him alone. His kingdom is not of this world and I am in His kingdom.”

 

We can only have one God and we can only serve one master and we can only desire one kingdom…and we can only look to one savior. Our nation or political or economic agenda must not be the god of the Christian nor can these things be our savior. To be sure we must pray for our leaders and be good citizens, but no earthly citizenship should take precedence over our heavenly citizenship, and no interest should take precedence over the interest of Jesus Christ and His kingdom and His Gospel.

 

Where is the clear articulation of the church in America that we are the people of God and that we will live within a nation in chaos loving people, serving people, and clearly sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the peril of our own well-being? Where is our willingness to suffer and be marginalized for the sake of Jesus Christ? Where is our voice for the defenseless, for the stranger, for the politically and economically and socially disenfranchised?

 

Are we able to say that we will love and minister to people of all political agendas? Or are we so embedded in the political and economic life of this nation that we can no longer live as citizens of God’s kingdom? Have our actions and words renounced our heavenly citizenship?

 

Two of my historical mentors are François Fenelon and Andrew Murray; the former a French Roman Catholic archbishop and the latter a Dutch Reformed pastor in Africa. During wars between the English and French, Fenelon ministered to soldiers on both sides – yes, he was a subject of Louis XIV but he was first and foremost a subject of Jesus Christ.

 

During the Boer War Murray also ministered to combatants on both sides. In Fenelon’s case both sides respected him for his ministry; in Murray’s case many on both sides disdained him for they thought he should choose sides. Sometimes people will understand us and accept us, other times they will not – that should not be our consideration. Both of these men were citizens of the Kingdom of God first and foremost – there could be little confusion about their testimony.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is often quoted by religious people with political agendas, using him as an argument to vote one way or another. What these people miss is that Bonhoeffer came to the place early on, during Hitler’s rise to absolute power, when he realized that the church must stand as the church and speak from the Kingdom of God into the world as a distinct voice, the voice of Jesus Christ. Bonhoeffer realized that the politicization of the church would be the death of its testimony to Jesus Christ.

 

Bonhoeffer became increasingly isolated, he was considered too radical, he was not taking political and economic realities into consideration, those who had once stood with him separated themselves. Yes, there were others like Bonhoeffer, but they were few. Pragmatism and self-preservation caused many pastors, theologians, and the church to capitulate to evil – foolishly thinking that things would get better, stupidly arguing that they could moderate evil. They used the “lesser of two evils” as an argument and found that the lesser of two evils is still not only evil…it is absolute evil – for evil is evil and when we baptize an agenda as the lesser of two evils we anoint it as the authority in our lives – we subject our hearts and minds to it – we pollute ourselves and those around us. The lesser of two evils becomes the evil in our hearts and minds.

 

The choice of the church is not a choice to vote one way or the other – the choice before the church is whether we will live in the Kingdom of God and speak from that kingdom and live as citizens of that kingdom – serving all around us in love and charity and grace and seeking to bring them to Jesus Christ. If we must vote, then let us vote with our lives and not with our ballots – the world does not need our ballots, it needs our lives – it needs to hear and see the clear articulation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

We have lost our voice for Christ for we have not used our voice for Christ; let us recapture an awareness of who we are in Jesus Christ – let us return to our first love – perhaps the light of our candlestick will be rekindled.

 

God and Country?

 

I wrote the following three pieces in October 2016, nine years ago. They are as true today as they were then. The question is, are we true to Jesus?

 

 

God and Country?

 

“God and Country” is a term many of us grew up hearing. It was part of the ethos of my upbringing – a significant part. It was, if you will, “the American Way”. The ideal behind “God and Country” is an ideal that can inspire to the point of worship – and therein is the danger, for if our actions are our worship, if our words reveal our worship, then there is a dilemma for the Christian – for we are to have no other gods before (in the presence of) God, and no Lord that is coequal with Jesus Christ.

 

The teaching of Jesus Christ and His apostles is clear that we are to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”, but we are also to “render to God the things that are God’s”. Worship belongs solely to God, and that was the problem for the Roman state when it came to Christians – they would not worship Caesar, they would not worship the personification of the state. The Early Church had a sense of its heavenly citizenship and they lived in accordance with that sense, that identity, as a people distinct from the world around them.

 

Roman citizenship was something to be valued and prized, one could be a subject of Rome, in the service of Rome, but not be a citizen. Roman citizenship had special protections and benefits. And yet Paul, a Roman citizen, writes to the Roman citizens of Philippi (a Roman colony) that they are citizens of heaven – he writes this in Philippians Chapter Three, a chapter in which he emphasizes that he counts all things as rubbish for the sake of knowing Jesus – including his own impeccable Jewish and religious pedigree.

 

The Early Church knew the difference between Roman citizenship, as valuable as it was, and heavenly citizenship.

 

 There is a warning and a lesson here for the church in America.

 

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (20)

 

 

“Wherever one member happens to be, whatever one member happens to do, it always takes place ‘within the body,’ within the church-community, ‘in Christ’” (page 216).

 

Bonhoeffer follows the above with brief comments on the following Scriptures: Phil. 4:13; 2 Cor. 13:4; Rom. 16:9, 12; 1 Cor. 15:58; Phil. 4:4; 2 Cor. 2:17; Phil. 2:1; Rom. 16:2; 1 Cor. 7:39; Phil. 1:13, 23; 1 Cor. 7:22. (I hope we see how Scripture is embedded in Bonhoeffer and how Bonhoeffer is embedded in Scripture.)

 

Then he writes, “The whole breath of human relationships among Christians is encompassed by Christ, by the church-community” (page 216).

 

(The more I ponder Part 2 of Discipleship, the more convinced I am of the benefit of reading Bonhoeffer’s Life Together alongside it, for in Life Together Bonhoeffer succinctly lays out the foundational principles and actions for sharing daily life in Christ.)

 

On page 216 Bonhoeffer tells us that all members of the Body of Christ ought to participate in all facets of life together, not just in communal worship. He writes that if we limit the participation of others, the sharing of others in our communal life, that we sin against the body of Christ, we sin against our Lord Jesus. We are to share our daily lives with one another, and sharing our daily lives means sharing our resources.

 

“To deny them [those in need] the provisions necessary for this earthly life, or to leave them knowingly in affliction and distress, is to make a mockery of the gift of salvation and to behave like a liar. When the Holy Spirit has spoken, but we still continue to listen to the voice of our race, our nature, or our sympathies and antipathies, we are profaning the sacrament” (pages 216-217, italics mine).

 

How does Bonhoeffer challenge us? How should he challenge us? How should Scripture challenge us?

 

Let me suggest that sharing our resources entails more than simply material goods and money. While money and material goods are an integral part of our resources, there are other critical resources as well, resources which can only be shared through relationships. These are the resources of life experience and knowledge.

 

Some of us have been exposed to areas of life which are foreign to others, I’ll take banking and financial management as an example. Most of you reading this think nothing of walking into a bank to open an account, yet we have many brothers and sisters in our own land who have never been inside a bank, or are intimated by the thought of going to a bank to open an account or deal with a problem. When they need to pay a bill with other than cash, they often go to a convenience store to purchase a money order.

 

We also have brothers and sisters who fall victim to predatory lending practices because they don’t know any better.

 

When I was in property management, I sadly saw instances of predatory landlords who intimated their tenants, employing unlawful and unenforceable policies which the tenants accepted because they didn’t know any better. Had the tenants been acquainted with the world that many of us live in, they would have known that the policies and practices were likely illegal.

 

We ought to all learn from one another, everyone has something to teach the rest of us; walls of separation stifle the glory of the Body of Christ.

 

Biblical church-community is more than a weekly, or twice weekly, gathering. Also, while it ought to certainly be in the context of a local congregation, it must go beyond the local congregation into the town or city, region, country, and world – we ought to be a “church without borders,” a church without national borders, denominational borders, economic and sociological borders, racial and ethnic borders; in Jesus Christ we are One People, One Church, One Temple; Christ has One Body and only One Body. We ought not to accept anything less…and yet we not only accept it, when pressed we justify it.

 

Living in church-community must be more than what we think of as worship gatherings, it must be a shared way of life in Christ. One toxic result of our failure to live in the community which Christ offers us is that we find our identity elsewhere: in political movements, national movements, economic and social movements, and in so much more. The current situation in the United States bears testimony to this, the church has no distinct testimony, no “space” as Bonhoeffer terms it, we cannot be identified with Jesus Christ as a heavenly people, we are not living in communion with one another. Our brothers and sisters come to us for refuge, and we either politically participate in their violent rejection and expulsion, or we quietly acquiesce. Those of us who do attempt to help the “stranger” according to Biblical commands, are overwhelmed with opposition within and without the professing church.

 

Bonhoeffer writes within the milieu of Christian nationalism, let us not forget that. Are we profaning the sacrament?

 

On pages 217 and 218 Bonhoeffer explores in detail Paul’s letter to Philemon. I am not going to work through Bonhoeffer’s thoughtful analysis of Philemon, I hope you will do that on your own. Here is a quote from that section, “We see each other exclusively as members of the body of Christ, that is, as all being one in him,” (page 218).

 

“The church-community can never consent to any restrictions of its service of love and compassion toward other human beings. For wherever there is a brother or sister, there Christ’s own body is present; and wherever Christ’s body is present, his church-community is always present, which means I must also be present there” (pp. 218 – 219).

 

O dear friends, we must be the Body of Christ before we are anything else. We are, after all, citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20).

 

The Name

 

 

Consider the place the Divine Name holds in the Holy of Holies:

 

“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me” (John 17:6).

 

“Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me” (17:11).

 

“I was keeping them in You name which You have given Me” (17:12).

 

“I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (17:26).

 

Why does Jesus manifest the Name of the Father to us? So that the love of the Father will be within us, so that Jesus Christ Himself will live within us. One of the reasons it is important that we keep this in mind is that it guards against esoteric and gnostic ideas of the Divine Name. Too often professing Christians get caught up in signs and wonders and so-called special knowledge, these distract us from Jesus, His Cross, and deep relationship within the Trinity.

 

A friend once asked me what I thought about two “blood moons” happening within a short time of each other. It seems that a prophetic snake oil teacher was hyping blood moons. I told him that I wasn’t aware of the impending phenomenon. Actually, the only reasons I might care about blood moons are to admire God’s creation, to note how easily distracted from Jesus we can get, and to marvel how quickly so-called teachers can make a buck in the prophetic teaching industry. The same principle is true when it comes to people seeking hidden meanings in a divine name, our Father is interested in relationship, that is the whole point in Jesus declaring the Father’s Name to us – our dear heavenly Father is not going to give us some secret divine code by which we unlock deep secrets which are hidden from others. Our Father desires relationship, not people who think they are elite, not egotists; as we “see” Jesus we come to know the Divine Name, His Essence, His Name.

 

Now, for sure there are hidden treasures and wisdom, but we find them in Jesus. “In a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2 – 3; see also 1 Corinthians Chapter 2). Life is really a matter of who we know (Jesus Christ), not what we know. If the “what we know” flows from knowing Jesus, it has life; if the “what we know” is learned apart from a relationship with Jesus, it is death. There is much lifeless Christianity, but thankfully, there is also much life in Christ.

 

I will also note that throughout the Bible God uses names to reveal Himself, His Essence, His Character. He uses names to reveal His Name. These names are not magical, they are not given to us so that we can use them in religious incantations; they are meant to draw us into relationship with Him, ever deeper into Him. As we meditate on His names, by His grace, we can see His beauty and glories and love Him ever deeper and fuller, beholding the wonder of His Nature and His incredible love for us.

 

All the names which God uses in the Bible reveal Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ reveals the Name within the names.

 

“For both He who sanctifies [Jesus] and those who are sanctified [us] are all from one Father, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, ‘I will proclaim You name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise” (Hebrews 2:11- 12).

 

From the very beginning of His ministry, in word and deed, Jesus proclaimed the Name of the Father to His brothers and sisters.  Jesus’ teaching revealed the Father’s Name, Jesus’ care and compassion and mercy revealed the Father’s Name, Jesus’ healing and deliverance from demons revealed the Father’s Name, Jesus’ feeding the multitudes revealed the Father’s Name, Jesus’ touching the untouchable revealed the Father’s Name, Gethsemane and Golgotha revealed the Father’s Name, the Resurrection and Ascension revealed the Father’s Name.

 

Jesus continues to reveal the Father’s Name to us (John 17:26); let us not be distracted by lesser things that pose as the Gospel, as Biblical Christianity. Let us not be distracted by the things of this world.

 

Jesus came to proclaim the Father’s Name to us, His brothers and sisters. We didn’t know who we were, we didn’t know who our Father was, we didn’t know His Name, His Nature, nor the glory of our calling to Him in Jesus Christ, the Father’s only begotten Son and our elder brother (Hebrews 2:9 – 18; Romans 8:12 – 39).

 

But now we know and are coming to know. As Jesus reveals the Father’s Name to us, we in turn are to reveal the Father’s Name to others, as we abide in the Vine.

 

I’m going to close this with some thoughts I sent to a friend this morning on Hebrews 2:12:

 

As I have been pondering Heb 2:12...I have a picture of Jesus and the disciples beneath a canopy of stars...and Jesus singing. Also Zeph. 3:17...and elsewhere.

 

O yes...singing elsewhere...at the Temple, in synagogue...but one who sings, who really sings...sings as a way of life...yes?

 

I think so.

 

Did Jesus teach them new songs?

 

Did He teach them to sing Bible passages they never thought of singing?

 

Did those songs resonate with them until their last breath?

 

O to sing a song, just one song, with Jesus.

 

Shall we do so today?

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (19)

 

 

On page 214 Bonhoeffer asks whether visible physical space for proclamation, worship, and order is enough for the church-community, and the answer is that space is also required for the daily lives of its members – we must have space to live together, what he terms elsewhere, life together. (Bonhoeffer’s little book, Life Together, is highly recommended for individuals, churches, and small groups. Its patterns and principles apply to all times and places for they are rooted in Christ and Scripture.)

 

Jesus’s koinonia with His disciples reaches into “all areas of life” (page 214), and our entire lives are to be lived “within the community of disciples.” Bonhoeffer reminds us that “We belong to Him.” We also belong to one another.

 

In directing our attention to Acts 2:42ff and 4:32ff, Bonhoeffer points to the depth of the visible community.

 

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to koinonia, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). Bonhoeffer notes that community (koinonia) finds its place between teaching/proclamation and sacrament (the breaking of bread, the Lord’s Supper). “The community springs ever anew from the word of proclamation, and continues to find its goal and fulfillment in the Lord’s Supper” (page 214). Community “begins and ends in worship” (page 215).

 

“And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them…For there was not a needy person among them” (Acts 4:32, 34).

 

Bonhoffer writes, “Even the material things and goods of this life are assigned their proper priority. Here a perfect community is established freely, joyfully, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, a community in which ‘there was not a needy person’” (page 215).

 

This is a hard truth for those of us in the West to absorb, most especially for those in North America. We immediately become defensive and seek to dismantle Bonhoeffer’s call to obedience to koinonia in Christ. We argue that the early chapters of Acts portray a special circumstance in Jerusalem in the early days of the Church and that it is limited to that time and place.

 

Such argument is counter to the Nature of Jesus Christ, the One who lives in His Body; He emptied Himself for us all, and for “our sakes He became poor.” Beyond that, as Paul demonstrates in 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9, with his incorporation of the Old Testament, financial and material care for one another is to be found not only in our immediate setting, but is to extend across national, ethnic, and social boundaries.

 

It is a shame that we have Christians struggling for food, health care, housing, and basic necessities in our own land, when minutes away are other Christians who have more than enough, but who live in isolation from their brethren in need. It is a shame that within congregations our so-called Christian family ties are only to be found for an hour or two on Sunday or perhaps an hour or two during the week, beyond that we are strangers…and we certainly want our bank accounts to be strangers.

 

Perhaps the greatest shame is that we are not honest enough to admit our rejection of Scripture, not honest enough to acknowledge our selfishness, and not truthful enough to say, “Yes, the Bible does teach that none of us should be in need, but we choose not to obey that teaching and live in such community in Christ.”

 

I am ashamed of my own life as I read Bonhoeffer, the Bible, and write these words. I am a man under conviction.    

 

Let me point out, with respect to Acts and 2 Corinthians, that while the local expressions of koinonia were different, that the underlying principle was the same. In Acts there was a large community fund from which the needs of those in want were met. Since this fund included proceeds from the sale of land, we might think of it as a “superfund.” In Corinth Paul extends the vision of the local church across the sea to Judea, encouraging the Corinthians to join with the Thessalonians (who were in poverty) in providing for the Christians in Judea. In doing so, Paul invokes Israel’s experience with manna in the Wilderness, all of God’s People are to be provided for – both near and afar. This is what we should expect from the Body of Christ, this is the Nature of Jesus Christ.

 

While our local expressions and methods may be different, the principle and result should be the same, we are to care for, and serve, one another. We are stewards of what God has given us, we are not owners.

 

In the United Sates, we think we are free, but we are actually prisoners of consumption, of “mine, mine, mine,” and of isolation from one another, as individuals and as people groups. When we try to find community we cannot do so, for we have built our own prisons.

 

What to do?

 

It seems to me that we must begin with an admission of individual and collective guilt. Beyond that, what can we do but cry out to Jesus Christ to help us and to show us His Way? Perhaps we could simply ask, “Lord Jesus, teach us Your Way of koinonia, of loving and caring for one another, of truly living as Your Body on this earth for the short time we are here. May we love others more today than we did yesterday, may we give more today – of ourselves and of the resources that You have given us – than we did yesterday. Teach us, dear Lord Jesus, to be faithful to You and to others.”

 

Of course this takes courage. Courage to cry out to Jesus. Courage to respond to Him. Courage to give of ourselves and our resources. Courage to be vulnerable. Courage to reach out to both those we already know, and to those we don’t know. Courage to cross economic, social, ethnic, racial, and geopolitical divides.

 

Well, for sure, in Christ, we can be “strong and very courageous,” trusting in Jesus, always trusting in Jesus (Joshua 1:6 – 9).

Everything from the Father

 

 

“Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You.”

 

In John 17:6 – 8 we see that the disciples realized that what Jesus was giving to them, the Father was giving to Jesus. The disciples received Jesus’ words, they understood that Jesus came from the Father, they believed that the Father sent the Son.

 

Notice the emphasis on their understanding and believing that Jesus came from the Father. As imperfect as their faith was, the disciples had a bedrock recognition of where Jesus came from, and from whom Jesus came from. Even Peter who would shortly deny Jesus, even Thomas who would refuse to believe the Resurrection, had this bedrock recognition which would ensure that the house would stand against the flood about to assail them (Matthew 7:24 – 27).

 

For some 3 ½ years the disciples had been “receiving” the words the Father had given to Jesus. Jesus Himself, His words and His deeds, along with the Holy Spirit, validated these words, the Word, Every day the words of Jesus were validated, every day the words of Jesus grew within the disciples (all but one), with their eyes, their ears, their souls, their hearts and their minds, they received the words of Jesus.

 

No doubt the disciples, even more so than the crowds, “Were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Mt. 7:29).  

 

As Peter expressed, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68 – 69).

 

We might recall the Parable of the Sower, which might better be termed the Parable of the Soil, for the soil determines the growth of the seed. Seed planted in shallow soil may initially appear good and healthy, but it will soon wither and die. Seed planted on rocky soil will soon be snatched away by birds. Seed planted among thorns sprout but are choked and unfruitful.

 

We see in the good soil of the eleven disciples that the growth process has its challenges; this includes moments of unbelief, even moments of apparently taking the side of the enemy (Mt. 16:23), and moments of desertion and outright denial. We note, for example in the life of Peter, that this process continues after the Resurrection (Acts 10, Galatians 2), as indeed we can expect in all of our lives.

 

Consider Paul’s words to the Thessalonians, “We also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe” (1 Thess. 2:13).

 

And then Peter, “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).

 

Then James, “Receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).

 

Can we “see” that the Word is alive and working within those who receive it in good soil? Can we see that the Word is not data, it is not “information,” it is not human knowledge, it is not even moral and ethical wisdom (though it does have ethical and moral wisdom of the highest nature), the Word is mysteriously Divine (John 1:1-5, 14 – 16) and we can no more explain or define the Word than we can the Incarnation, Baptsim, the Eucharist, or the Body of Christ.

 

And here is the difference, the great divide, between the good soil and all other soils, the good soil, as the Thessalonians, receive the Word “not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”

 

The Word performs its work in those who believe, in those who allow its roots to grow deep (which often occurs in times of drought), in those who allow the Word to live within them and become their Way of Life (see Psalm 1).

 

The Word must be received not as the word of men, but as the very Word of God. Also, as Peter writes, “Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God” (1 Peter 4:11).

 

Sadly, we live in a time in which many false “Christian” teachers speak with authority, and in which many who actually teach the truth speak as the scribes, apologetically, passively, without authority.

 

Too many good men and women do their people a disservice when they fail to decisively proclaim the Word of God. False teachers have no problem speaking with authority, and people follow them, masses of professing Christians are following them as I write this. Yet, good women and good men do not speak or act as if the Word of God is indeed the Word of God…perhaps the reasons are many, perhaps they think things will get better, that people will come to their senses.

 

I doubt the masses of professing Christians will come to their senses. However, if they do, it will not be because of those preachers and teachers and professors who held back and did not proclaim the Word of God. If they don’t, then those who have failed to proclaim the Gospel will be accountable and will have missed the glorious opportunity to follow the Lamb wherever He goes, they will have missed the koinonia of the sufferings of Christ (2 Tim. 4:1 – 5; 2 Cor. 5:9 – 15). As has been pointed out many times over the generations, God has not called us to success, but to faithfulness.

 

But of course this is about all of us, not just about the disciples in the Upper Room, not just about preachers and pastors and teachers and professors, it is about all of us who claim Jesus Christ as Lord, who profess to belong to Him. Are we receiving the words of Jesus as they truly are, the Word of God? If so, are we speaking that Word to those around us, as it truly is, the Word of God?

 

We can hardly blame others if they do not believe us if we speak as the scribes, without authority. We can hardly blame others if we are apologetic about what Jesus says. We can hardly blame others if they see through our religion and see that we do not really believe what we say, if they see that we are not sold out for Jesus.

 

But others can certainly blame us for not sharing with them the life-giving news, the Gospel, of Jesus Christ. For as the Father sent Jesus, Jesus has sent us, He has sent you and me – and our choice is between obedience and disobedience, there is no middle ground, there has never been a middle ground and there will never be a middle ground (Mark 8:34 – 38; John 17:18; 20:21).

 

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we only have warrant to speak His Word, we are not to add to His Word nor detract from it. The Gospel is not Jesus plus this or that, no matter how important we may think “this or that” to be. When we add “this or that” we adulterate the Gospel and we soil our hearts. Jesus only spoke what He heard from the Father, and we are called to only speak that which Jesus Christ has spoken. We are citizens of heaven, dear friends, citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:30).

 

Do we know that everything that Jesus speaks is from the Father? Are we living like we believe this? Is there evidence to convict us of our belief? Does this evidence include our speaking the Word of God to others, with authority and not as the scribes?

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (18)

 

 

On the bottom of page 213 Bonhoeffer briefly deals with heresy. He writes that while heresy may not be always easy to identify, that once it is distinguished that it and its teachers must be confronted, and that means that the teachers, if they do not repent, must be “cast out.” Bonhoeffer cites Gal. 1:8; 1Cor. 16:22; Titus 3:10; and 2 John 10ff.

 

“The word of authentic proclamation must therefore create both unity and separation in a visible way” (page 214).

 

This is a tough issue for most of us to negotiate, as it should be. It should be tough because we ought to care about people, and this means that we care about them knowing Jesus and living in Him, we care about them being in Christian community, we care about them treating each other in love and truth, and we care about the results of our actions and the actions of our community. We want people to understand Biblical teaching and why heresy cannot be tolerated, why discipline is Biblical and necessary. Confronting heresy is not an option, it is obedience to Scripture.

 

It is also tough to negotiate because we all face dangers when confronting heresy, not the least of which is a prideful attitude, our actions and attitudes must always be in submission to Jesus Christ and His Cross, we must be ever conscious that we serve Him and not ourselves.

 

My own sense is that if we are always looking for Jesus, desiring to hear Jesus, to exalt Jesus; if Jesus is truly the center of our teaching and preaching and koinonia; if we glory in the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ; if the entire and holistic Bible is our biosphere in Him; if we are indeed living in community (as Bonhoffer will continue to explore); that our ability in Christ to discern heresy, and thoughts and actions that may lead to heresy, becomes finely–tuned as individuals, families, and church – communities.  

 

The best examples of confronting heresy are found in the New Testament. Many of the epistles (including Revelation) deal with heresy and false teachers, they teach us what to look for and how to respond. It is like foraging for mushrooms with an expert, we learn to identify what is poisonous and avoid them, warning others of them.

 

We are not called to be heresy hunters; we are called to follow Jesus. Our eyes are to be on Jesus, not on evil. We focus on the legitimate, not the illegitimate. If our focus is perpetually on evil, on the counterfeit, we will exhaust ourselves and others, play whack-a-mole, and eventually lose our discernment. We can only discern as we behold Jesus and live by His life in koinonia with others.

 

I have known, and known of, heresy hunters who seem to have lost all sense of grace and mercy and kindness. As James writes, my brothers and sisters, this ought not to be.

 

We should recognize that there is a difference between heresy and imperfect understanding. We all, I think, have areas of imperfect understanding, areas in which our knowledge and understanding and participation in Christ and His Word is growing. In fact, I can’t think of any area of my own life which is not imperfect in understanding, in which I am not (at least I hope I am) growing in Jesus.

 

This is one reason why we need one another, both in local community and in broader Christian community. It is a shame that denominations and movements and traditions don’t crosspollinate; a shame with respect to John Chapter 17, and a shame in that we could learn so much from one another. To those traditions who teach that they have perfect understanding, and that they are the one legitimate voice of God and the Church, all I can ask is, “Really?” Of course, a group need not make such a proclamation to nevertheless act as if they think so.

 

A discussion of heresy seems out of place in America in that there is little appetite for the Bible with professing Christians. Sure, we pay lip service to Scripture, but we don’t really know and breathe the Bible. Many churches have outright rejected obedience to the Bible, other churches are more interested in Sunday morning group therapy sessions, or what amounts to entertainment events, or political and social and worldview movements, or in tantalizing “prophecy” speculations and games.

 

Is community, as Bonhoeffer and Scripture speak of it, vital to the average professing Christian, pastor, seminary professor, and denominational leader?

 

We can forget that heresy often looks very good, it feels good, it promises results…all the time seducing us away from a monogamous relationship with Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 11:1 – 3). As a pastor, my challenges with heresy typically were not with fringe teachers and authors, but with popular (often best-selling) authors and teachers who people were attracted to without seeing the foundational errors in thinking and practice, errors what would eventually lead others far away from the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ.

 

O that we would truly know the Nicene Creed.

 

The fundamental question is always, “Where is Jesus Christ?”

How Can This Be?

 

 

“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me” (John 17:6 – 8).

 

Is this true?

 

What evidence is there that this is true?

 

Shortly the men Jesus is speaking of will abandon Him. Before the night is over one of these men will deny Jesus three times. These men will soon lock the door of the Upper Room, the very room where Jesus has been revealing the Father to them; they will lock the door in fear and they will cower in fear. In three days these men will disbelieve the testimony of Mary Magdelene, that Jesus has risen from the dead.

 

If we were observers, and knew no more than what transpired between the Upper Room and Easter morning, what would we think of Jesus’ description of the men whom the Father gave Him?

 

Let us note that Jesus is not praying in the future tense but is stating the condition of the men in that moment. “They have kept Your word.” They have received the words of Jesus, which are the words of the Father. These men have believed that Jesus came from the Father. These men have received the manifestation of the Father’s name which Jesus has given to them.

 

Considering the forthcoming actions of these men in abandoning and denying Jesus, how can Jesus say these affirming things about them? How can this be?

 

I’m reminded of Luke 22:31 – 32:

 

“Simon, Simon, behold Satan has obtained permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

 

Then we have John 16:32:

 

“Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”

 

Jesus sees the forthcoming actions of the men, but Jesus has also prayed for Peter, and no doubt for the rest, just as Jesus prays for us (Heb. 7:25).

 

Jesus does not see as we see, but we ought to learn to see as Jesus sees. We ought to be learning to not look at the visible but at the invisible, we ought to be learning to not see people according to the outward, but rather the inward (2 Cor. 4:18; 5:16).

 

Jesus sees us in our completeness and perfection in Him (2 Cor. 5:21; Col. 2:10; Heb. 10:10, 14).

 

A friend of mine recently wrote about “a narrative of failure” as opposed to a narrative of redemption, reconciliation, and fellowship. We are called, as priests of the Most High God, to proclaim the Narrative of Reconciliation and Redemption in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). We can only do this if we see as Jesus sees, if we see the End from the Beginning in Him – always in Him.

 

This means that our reconciliation and fellowship with the Trinity is an assured reality, even though we may act otherwise, just as the apostles acted.

 

This is the same dynamic that we see with Paul and the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1:1 – 9, in which Paul addresses the people as sanctified, thanking God for the grace given to them, thanking God that in everything they are enriched in Him, that they are not lacking in any gift. Then Paul writes that Jesus Christ, “Will confirm you to the end, blameless.”

 

Just as John 17:6 – 8 makes no sense if we read it “in the moment,” so 1 Corinthians 1:1 – 9 makes no sense if read in “in the moment.” That is, if we continue reading 1 Corinthians, we see how messed up the people were. They were tolerating and practicing immorality, they were riven with division, there was confusion in their gatherings – these people were the opposite of Paul’s description of them in his introduction.

 

Furthermore, if we continue into 2 Corinthians, we see that they were also being seduced by false teachers who were leading them away from the pure simplicity and devotion which they had in Jesus Christ.

 

How could Paul be so affirming? Would not such affirmation give the Corinthians a false sense of security?

 

Paul saw them in Christ, he saw Christ’s prefect and complete work in them, he saw Jesus Christ as the Alpha and Omega of their salvation. Paul was assured that what Jesus had begun, that Jesus would complete (Phil. 1:6).

 

To be sure there are stark warnings in Corinthians, discipline is to be received and implemented – but they are given, and are to be received, within the Person of Jesus Christ and His perfect work, His complete work, His assured work of salvation.

 

This is one on of many reasons why it is imperative that we use Biblical language and images when speaking to one another, when preaching and teaching. The Bible is clear that those in Christ are saints and not sinners any longer, why do we not believe and teach this? Why do we allow what we see on the outside to determine our language, when God the Father sees us in His Son?

It is ironic to me that I have friends who criticize Pentecostals and charismatics for relying too much on experience, when they themselves rely on experience by insisting that we are still sinners because of our actions, rather than teaching what the Bible teaches, that we are saints in Jesus Christ, perfect and complete in Him, always in Him. We only grow into Christ as we behold Christ, not as we look at our own navels.

 

We would have no hope if Jesus Christ did not see us, speak to us, and have koinonia with us, based on His perfect love, grace, mercy, and work of salvation. This is how we ought to be with one another, it is how we need to be when we look into the mirror – we need to learn to see ourselves and others in Jesus Christ.

 

Let me please share a story from my life to illustrate this. I am anything but proud of this story, but because it may help someone, I’ll share it. Occasionally I have shared this, but not often, it is just too painful, and I am ashamed of it. Yet, as I hope you will see, I am deeply thankful.

 

I once went to work for a firm as COO in which was a woman, I’ll call her “Susan,” who had known me for many years and who was excited to be working for me. The firm was not doing well financially or organizationally, and the pressure was immense. As I look back, I did some things well, and some things not very well at all. This is my nature, I can always see things I could have done better, see things I did that were just stupid, and then, sadly, see things I did that were plain wrong.

 

After I had been with the firm between two and three years I terminated Susan’s employment. This was wrong, I should not have done this.

 

I could share some things that led to this decision, I could share about pressures, I could write about our business relationship, but I don’t want to mitigate the fact that I was wrong. I was morally and ethically wrong. If I did not see this at the time, I most certainly should have seen it.

 

A few years later I needed a job and I needed it badly. Vickie and I had been abandoned by the church we served and had it not been for friends we may well have been homeless. It was a terrible time for us. After many months of trying to find employment, virtually any kind of employment, I found a job in community association management, the kind of work I had done decades earlier. While I was deeply thankful for the job, it wasn’t a good fit.

 

After about a year a position opened at an apartment management company that I thought was a possibility. My age was against me, I was sixty years old. Two people within the company became advocates for me, one was Gloria who had known me for years, the other was Susan. Yes, you read that right, Susan.

 

I was hired and spent the last few years of my business career in a wonderful environment, with a great boss, terrific colleagues, and a group of team members who worked for me that I dearly loved and still very much love.

 

I once asked Susan why she went to the president of the company and advocated for me after I had terminated her with our previous company.

 

She replied, “I knew that the Bob Withers who fired me was not the real Bob Withers.”

 

 Susan saw beyond the moment when I fired her, as shocking as that was for her. Somehow, by God’s grace, she looked beyond my actions and into my soul and saw something worth forgiving and extending grace and mercy to. Susan saw me when I couldn’t see myself.

 

Jesus can say the things He says in John 17:6 – 8 because He sees us beyond the moment, beyond our actions, beyond our fears and uncertainties, even beyond our denial and abandonment of Him. Jesus, our Alpha and Omega, our Beginning and End, sees us in Him as perfect and complete.

 

O that we would learn to live in this assurance, and that we would learn to extend this assurance to others.