Despising and judging

The penny dropped for me this week...

The weak Christian tends to judge the strong Christian. The strong Christian tends to despise the weak Christian. Ask yourself, "who do I despise?" "Who do I judge?"

I suspect most of us are a mixture of strong and weak, depending on the issue. Perhaps you despise the six-day creationists and judge those who don't regularly attend your small group... perhaps its something else.

I've been really helped to see that what Paul is so concerned about is eradicating from the church both despising and judging.

Paul reminds us we should "welcome" our brother and sister (v.1) because "God has welcomed him" (v.3). We are meant to imitate God in his grace... but not in his judgement. "We will all stand before the judgement seat of God" (v. 10), but that is precisely why Paul thinks we shouldn't judge our fellow believer. Having said that, Paul still sees judging having a role in church discipline, in particular if it is necessary (as a church leader) to excommunicate those "guilty of sexual immorality or greed...an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler" (1 Cor 5:11).

I once heard Tim Keller challenge those in his congregation that were self-righteous and those that were self-righteous about not being self-righteous. I need to hear both and give up both despising or judging and instead welcome all my brothers and sisters.

The task of the church

The church today is trying to do so many tasks because it has forgotten the task for which it exists: delivering the good news...

The task of the church is not, paternalistically and patronizingly, to do the world's work for the world, as if the world were incompetent to do it, or as if God had abandoned the world.

(p.184-186, Mark C. Mattes, The Role of Justification in Contemporary Theology)

NB that as a Lutheran Mattes is not suggesting that Christians don't do the world's work in their roles as parents, children, employees, citizens, etc (cf. Mark 7:10-13), just that the gathering that is the 'church' doesn't.

Unity and plurality

Colin Gunton notes that:

"Much recent thought has turned into a contest between exponents of the essential unity of things and those advocating a fundamental, even chaotic, plurality." (. 13, The Christian Faith)

In contrast to this war between the camps that emphasise unity (particularly Modernists) and those that emphasise plurality (particularly Postmodernists), Christianity sees no conflict. Gunton argues that the Bible has a doctrine of creation that emphasises both the "free and sovereign action", but also a pattern of mediation which gives "space" to creation to be itself.

Interestingly he then ties unity particularly to the work of the Son, and plurality to the work of the Spirit, both of whom the Father uses to create both old and new creations:

"while reference to Christ shows how we may hold the world together in unity, the Spiirit is the principle of reality's variety and multiplicity" (p. 14, ibid)

This makes sense to me particularly as I think of Paul and his teaching on the church. He appeals to the unity we as a body in Christ (cf. Col 1:17 which sees union in Christ in creation), but often sees the Spirit gives a diversity of gifts. Christ's saving work is seen supremely in his one action of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension; but the Spirit works in countless individuals in a variety of times and places and ways. Of course each indwell the other, to the glory of the Father in Jesus Christ, so that there is harmony in the Trinity's work.

Means and ends

Recently I posted on how the church is both a gathered and a scattered people. Another way of saying that is that the church is both a means and an end, as Lesslie Newbigin does brilliantly:

The Church is both a means and an end, because it is a foretaste. It is the community of the Holy Spirit who is the earnest of our inheritance. The Church can only witness to that inheritance because her life is a real foretaste of it, a real participation in the life of God Himself. Thus worship and fellowship, offering up praise and adoration to God, receiving His grace, rejoicing in Him, sharing one with another the fruits of the Spirit, and building up one another in love all essential to the life of the Church. Precisely because the Church is here and now a real foretaste of heaven, she can be the witness and instrument of the kingdom of heaven. It is precisely because she is not merely instrumental that she can be instrumental. This is not a merely theoretical matter, but one of real practical importance. There is a kind of missionary zeal which is forever seeking to win more proselytes but which does not spring from and lead back into a quality of life which seems intrinsically worth having in itself. If we answer the question, ‘Why should I become a Christian? simply by saying ‘In order ‘to make others Christians,’ we are involved in an infinite regress.

(The Household of God)

This chimes with what PT Forsyth says about prayer:

"Prayer is often represented as the great means of the Christian life. But it is no mere means, it is the great end of that life."

"A chief object of all prayer is to bring us to God. But we may attain His presence and come closer to Him by the way we ask Him for other things, concrete things or things of the Kingdom, than by direct prayer for union with Him."

(p. 16, The Soul of Prayer)

Responding to flaws in your church

• Don't complain - because there is so much you have to be thankful for, and flaws should come as no surprise.
• Consider whether you may be wrong - don't tell me you've never been wrong about something before.
• If you think it really is a flaw then confess - because the church is not 'it' or 'them', but 'us', and because you probably only noticed the flaw because you're so proud of how you've everything right anyway.
• Only then, constructively criticise - because it matters that the Gospel is heard, that we live holy lives, that we respond to great need and that God is glorified.
• But finally, chill out - because it's Christ's church and he will build it, it is God's mission and he will achieve it and the Father will certainly glorify his Son.

[PS bizarrely this post actually came from reflecting on how great my church is, so don't read anything into it :-)]

Gathered and scattered

The church is a gathered people.

It gathers in order to receive from God by faith.

From the whole world it comes to hear the Word preached and administered in the sacraments and so to receive Christ.

The church is a scattered people.

It scatters in order to give to the world by works.

It sends its people in every direction to preach the Word and administer the sacraments and so to offer Christ, all in the context of practical care.

Psalm 132 retold

This passage has been a great encouragement to me as I've been praying for some things for my church recently. God so loved my church he died for her and he lives for her:

Psalm 132	An attempt to pray its fulfilment
Remember, O Lord, in David's favour, all the hardships he endured,	Remember, Father God, in Christ's favour his suffering in his life and death,
how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,	remember that he swore to you, he made a solemn vow to you
"I will not enter my house or get into my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”	He promised, "I will not rest until I build somewhere for you to live"
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.	Listen close everyone, we have heard amazing news in Bethlehem, news that God was in Jesus Christ
"Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool!"	Let us go to Jesus Christ where God is, and there worship
Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.	Father come and find your rest in your church, you and your Son with you.
Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy.	Our Father, make your people righteous, make them shout in joy
For the sake of your servant David, do not turn away the face of your anointed one.	You should do this for Jesus' sake, please do not forget him.
The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: "One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne."	We know that the Father swore to the Son, and he will never renege on such a commitment, The Father said "I will make one of David's sons the king of my church, and because he will keep my covenant perfectly he will reign forever.
"This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.	Our Father said "as my Son will reign forever in the church so I will abide in my Son and be with him I will settle permanently to rest in the church. Why? Because I love the church.
I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread. Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy.	I will give in overflowing generosity, I will feed the church I will provide all she needs and her members will shout for joy!
There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine."	In the church Jesus will be honoured. but those who oppose Jesus will be shamed

Where is our authority?

Listening to: Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Klemperer)

The Father's authority: God the Father is the supreme authority, Creator of heaven and earth.

The Son's gifted authority: He has given all authority to his Son (John 17:2). The Father is in him so he carries the Father's authority, but (importantly) he is also in the Father (John 10:38) so while that authority is delegated it is of the very being of the Father that he acts to give authority to the Son whom he loves. It couldn't be any other way.

The Church's gifted authority: By his Spirit the Son abides in his church and we abide in him (John 15:4). It is a mutual indwelling that mirrors the mutual indwelling that the Father and the Son have together (John 17:11). The Son is gifted authority by the Father, the church is gifted authority by the Son. However, Christ is the head of the body because we do not dwell in the Father, and we are one step removed from the Father who is the source of all authority.

The gifted authority of reason and the civil authorities: The authority of the reason and the civil authorities is also derived from the Son. In the New Creation it will merge with the authority of the church as the personel will totally overlap! Even now it cannot be utterly separated because there is some overlap (Christian judges, Christian bosses etc). What distinguishes the two in the present is the word they have been given to speak. The civil authorities are given the word of order (the word of creation - or better 'continuing creation') and church is given the word of the cross (the word of redemption - or 're-creation').

The power and reality of the gift in the word and Spirit: This connection between the Church and Christ is effected by the Spirit which invariably accompanies the words of Christ (John 3:34). The words of Christ, are found for us in the Bible, and secondarily in the Church's word.

The sacramental word of Christ (the Bible): The Son abides in the Bible so that every word is said by him and about him. He fills every corner of the Bible, but he is not the Bible. The Son is the Word of God the Father, but the Bible is the Word of God the Son. It is through the Son's words dwelling in us that he dwells in us (John 15:7).

The sacramental word of the church (the word and sacrament): The Church hears from the Father in the Son. They hear from the Son in the Bible. They also hear from the Son in the word and sacrament, which re-present Christ of the Bible to us in countless fresh ways as he re-engages an ever changing world and individuals in ever changing situations.

The non-sacramental word of the civil authorities: This word creates order in creation but does not bring the Spirit with it. It cannot create from nothing (as the word of the Gospel can) but can only order creation as it is already there.

The difference that the presence of sin makes: We do not find sin present in either the Father's word to us, or in the Son's word to us. However, the church is caught between the ages. It is both Adam and Christ to the world, although constantly in the process of clothing itself with it's new identity in Christ. It dwells in the midst of the world (in the Johannine sense of fallen humanity), but the world also dwells within it, until the new Creation when it will be purged. Therefore the word of the church is fallible. At times it speaks the truth which comes from Christ, and at other times lies which come from the devil. The words of the church need therefore to be tested to see which spirit inspired them (this is true whether the words are prophetic or preached, and also true of sacraments which can be falsely administered). In one sense the Bible is the word of the church, not directly the words of Christ, but because it is untainted by lies of the Devil it has a priority over the church which remains a mixture of truth and lies until the second coming. It is the priority of being a norm by which to judge the words of the church. A prioritising of the church over the Bible is not wholly incorrect because the Bible was written by the church, but reflects a over-realised eschatology.

[I'm less sure about this bit] The difference that the absence of sin will make: The word and sacraments of the church are words of redemption to the fallen, whether in the world without or in world that still dwells in each of our hearts. Therefore when the New Creation is consummated then the church will stop declaring love to a sinful world that finds it difficult to believe because it will be seen and experienced (1 Corinthians 13:9-10). Instead it will experience love (we will no longer be the bride, but the wife) and we will act it out towards the rest of creation. The church will need to continue to speak to the created world as it rules creation as the civil authority, but it will be the word of continual creation not re-creation.

[This is pretty closely argued, and a massively important subject. I'm laying out a whole swathe of my systematic theology here so if you think I'm in error you should say so. This is why I'm not a Catholic, but also why criticism of bibliolatry can be warranted, but doesn't require you to believe in a fallible Bible. I'm sorry that I gave up on the Bible references for lack of time, but think I could give them for most of the sentences if you ask. I'm sorry as well that I didn't have the patience to edit it.]

Luther on the marks of the church

Luther argues that the church is best understood by the words "holy Christian people" (p.335-336). They are people who "truly believe in Christ" and "have the Holy Spirit against sin" (p.336). The Holy Spirit "sanctifies them daily, not only through the forgiveness of sin acquired by Christ (as the Antinomians foolishly believe), but also through the abolition, and purging, and the mortification of sins, on the basis of which they are called a holy people" (p.335-336 [surprised to read that by Luther?]).

The church is a people "in whom Christ lives, works and rules" and in whom the Holy Spirit "gives people faith in Christ and thus sanctifies them" (p. 336-337). This sanctification is the renewal of the whole person, soul and body, by the inscription of both tables of "the commandments of God not on table of stone, but in hearts of flesh" (p.337).

Luther criticises the Antinomians for making much of the first table and their knowledge of God by preaching "much about the grace of Christ", but displaying that they don't really understand Christ or the Holy Spirit by not not "practic[ing] the works of the Holy Spirit in the second table" (p.339). The Catholics he criticises for doing many holy works "of an external, bodily, transitory nature" but living "without faith, fear of God, hope, love and whatever the Holy Spirit, according to the first table, effects" (although actually he doesn't even think they teach the second table correctly, p.339).

Luther believes that Christians should be marked by the Holy Spirit sanctifying them (note the continuous tense) in both tables of the law, coram Deo and coram mundo, soul and body. Schaeffer was right that the position of the Reformation was that "God made the whole man and he is interested in the whole man" (p. 38, Escape from Reason).

We can recognize the church then by their possession of certain "external signs" through which the work of sanctification is performed by the Holy Spirit. There should be external signs of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit according to both tables of the law. However as we cannot see the hearts of people and many non-Christians practice works from the second table "and indeed at times appears holier than Christians", so it is not as "reliable" to look for the external signs of the Spirit's work according to the second table (p.359). Therefore the principal signs relate to the first table, although the signs relating to the second table have a secondary role.

Luther identifies "seven principal parts of the great holy possession whereby the Holy Spirit effects in us a daily sanctification and vivification in Christ, according to the first table of Moses" (pp. 357-358):

1. the "possession of the holy word of God" (p.340);
2. "the holy sacrament of baptism, wherever it is taught, believed, and administered correctly according to Christ's ordinance" (p.343);
3. "the holy sacrament of the altar, wherever it is rightly administered, believed, and received according to Christ's institution" (p.344);
4. "the office of the keys exercised publicly... where you see sins forgiven or reproved in some persons" (p.345);
5. men consecrated, called or having offices to "administer, and use the aforementioned four things or holy possessions in behalf of and in the name of the church, or rather by reason of their institution by Christ" (p. 346);
6. "prayer, public praise, and thanksgiving to God" (p. 356);
7. "the holy possession of the sacred cross [of enduring] misfortune and persecution, all kinds of trials and evil from the devil, the world, and the flesh [...] in order to become like their head, Christ" (p.356).

None of these things are in the first instance things we have done, or possess intrinsically, but all are gifts by which we are sanctified not the fruit of our sanctification (although sanctification always leads to the desire to be further sanctified and so more searching for the means by which that comes).

[Quotations from "On the Councils and the Church, 1539" in ed. Theodore G. Tappert, Selected Writings of Martin Luther, Vol.4]

A review of The Gospel Centred Church

This is a short review/summary of The Gospel Centred Church by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester for students in my church.

Steve Timmis and Tim Chester are leaders in a network of house churches in Sheffield. They wrote this short 'workbook', which is published by the Good Book company, to help individuals and groups think through their church life. It is notable for not arguing for certain church structures or activities for pragmatic reasons but because of what the Gospel implies. The Gospel-Centred Church that the book wants to see is a church 'in which the whole of its life and activities are shaped by the content and imperatives of the gospel'. To help us evaluate whether we are being faithful in this calling it identifies 3 key priorities of the church:

1. The priority of mission
2. The priority of people
3. The priority of community

They assert that mission is the central purpose of the church in the world. Given that. they argue that every church member should be involved in mission and should do so confidently and daringly. We shouldn't stay hunkered down in our 'cosy, safe ghettos' but go out to the ends of the earth. You may question this and ask whether there are more central purposes of the church such as worship. After all as Andrew pointed out to me last night we will not be doing mission after the second coming of Christ. However, worship we all know is a whole of life thing and so mission and worship are not two opposing purposes we have to hold in balance but 'in the world' they are welded together. Mission should not be one of many activities we do but should be all that we do. We therefore worship as we go on mission.

So everything that we do as a church and as individuals should be measured by our faithfulness to this priority. Does the priority of mission shape the decisions you make about where you live and work? Does it shape your prayers and your meetings together as Christians? Does it effect the standard of living you expect?

But if mission is the central purpose of the church, what is the church? As we have been considering quite a lot recently the church is the people of God. As Timmis and Chester put it 'The church exists wherever believers are covenanted together under the authority of the word of God.'

This means that mission is not a question primarily of programmes or events. It does not require a building or paid staff. It is done by everyone because everyone is part of the church and it is often low-key and through long-term relationships.

Church leadership should then enable people to serve and not shape activity around 'things'. But the priority of people also means that the whole church has to be involved and active. The leadership are not the church but we all are. That means we cannot be passengers but must have our lives shaped by the priority of mission too.

But the priority of people could lead to lots of isolated individuals going off doing their own personal missions. This is not what God intended. He wanted the church to be doing mission and the church is a community of people. Hence the third priority is the priority of community.

This is a great comfort as we are not alone in our mission. It is not us up against the world. We can do mission in partnership, and in fact this is the best way to do it. Jesus prays in John 17:

'The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.'

Timmis and Chester put it like this: 'a Christian community is a persuasive apologetic for the gospel'. People who are not yet Christians are attracted to the community of self-giving love that the church should be. They may be initially attracted to that community itself but Jesus recognises that by seeing that community in action they come to know God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who are united in a community of love which is imaged in the new humanity of the church. But like the Trinity our community should not be closed and exclusive but outward-looking, welcoming and inclusive. This means we should asking questions of ourselves such as whether when we meet together we can be understood by non-Christians present. Nobody should feel on the fringes.

So lets think about how we can reach friends, and those we have never even met yet through exposing them to the church which is shaped by the Gospel. Lets ask ourselves how how we we can build relationships as a community of people with those outside the church.

So that is my take on the book. It is well worth a read, but it is not a book you can passively read in a comfy armchair. It is a workbook. It is quite provocative and you may not agree with all of it. It is always (literally) asking questions of you, but also providing plenty of stimulating answers.

When to church plant

Not that what I think about this is ever likely to have that much impact but I have long thought that 150 is about as big as a church should get before planting. The Economist has just told me that this isn't just a random number I plucked out of my head but is built into my DNA.

150, you see, is actually Dunbar's number.

Total Church Conference Audio

Audio from the North American Total Church Conference including Tim Chester and Steve Timmis is now available here (HT Tim Chester).

Viewing the church with the eyes of faith

Martin Luther writes:

This article, "I believe in the holy Christian Church," is as much an article of faith as the rest. This is why natural reason cannot recognize it, even if it puts on all its glasses. The devil can cover it over with offences and divisions, so that you have to take offence at it. God too can conceal it behind faults and shortcomings of all kinds so that you necessarily become a fool and pass false judgment on it. Christendom will not be known by sight, but by faith. And faith has to do with things not seen

("Preface to the Revelation of St. John [II]" (1546), in Luther's Works, Vol. 35, p. 410)

This connects with the Magisterial Reformers understanding of the marks of the church. Calvin writes:

Wherever we see the word of God sincerely preached and heard, wherever we see the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, there we cannot have any doubt that the Church of God has some existence, since his promise cannot fail, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Mt. 18:20)

[...]

We have said that the symbols by which the Church is discerned are the preaching of the word and the observance of the sacraments, for these cannot anywhere exist without producing fruit and prospering by the blessing of God.

(Institutes 4.1.9-10)

The reason that the preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments were identified as marks of the church was because of faith that these would not be without effect. God had promised that his word would not go forth without achieving his aim, so that must be the case. We may see evidence to contradict this but we have faith in God and his promises.

I need to do some thinking on how this relates to the renewed interest in the church as community. We are rediscovering that we are not independent souls that do not need each other but were saved as a body. However, this seems to be happening while we at the same time we judge that the Church is something we can define, see and touch. Today we rarely hear about the Reformers' marks of the Church, although we often hear about the mark being love.

I see both viewpoints as true to the Bible and experience, but I am concerned that I don't know how to relate them to each other. I suspect it has to do with eschatology.

Stop me if you have heard this before

Indidividualism is the problem, community is the solution.

Jonathan Leeman (in Modern Reformation, HT Dave Bish) has heard it before. Like most writers today he is no fan of individualism and loves community, however he sees a deeper problem, which requires a solution that reaches right down to the root. For him...

the problem is we hate authority, and the solution is repentance.

A very good article. Well worth reading.