Christian community part 2: community by works?
March 9, 2010 | Comments Off
Last week we saw that Christian community is an entity of which we are all a part; it is not an option but rather a reality for us. If we are in Christ, we are a part of his body. No room for debate.
A key to understanding and practicing the reality of Christian community is to understand how this community comes about. How did we become a part of the body of Christ?
The answer to that question is the same as the answer to how we became Christians. In fact, the two questions are basically one, since to be a Christian is to be a part of Christ’s body. So remember how we were saved: “For by grace have you been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Just as we were saved by grace, through faith, so we are part of Christ’s body by grace, through faith.
Don’t believe me? Read the rest of Ephesians 2; Paul moves directly from his great declaration of sola fide, sola gratia to a discussion of—wait for it—Christian community! Paul directly connects the work of Christ in reconciling men to God with the work of Christ in reconciling men to each other. Christ makes “one new man” at the cross, reconciling us “to God in one body through the cross.” (verses 15 & 16) The glorious work of reconciliation happens both upward—between God and man—and outward—between man and man. And thus we are made one.
Paul makes the point here to demonstrate the new unity between Jews and Gentiles; Christ has become the way of salvation for both groups, making both groups into one group. So there is a definite point of theology to grasp with regard to Israel and the universal church. But there is also a much, much larger point to grasp with regard to what it means to be in Christ, for as Gentiles become one with Jews in Christ, so every Christian becomes one with all other Christians in Christ, and “the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” (verse 21)
And here comes the kicker: not a bit of this work is ours. Just as not a bit of the work of salvation is ours, so not a bit of the work of becoming part of the body of Christ is ours. Look back over 2:11-22; do you see one single thing done by us? Do you not rather see that everything stated here is done by God in Christ?
So why am I making such a point of this?
Well, for starters, it emphasizes and strengthens the point I made last week, which was that being a Christian automatically means being part of Christ’s body; the work of Christ accomplished both things.
But more than this, it means that we relate to one another on the same basis on which we relate to God, namely, the finished work of Christ on our behalf.
In other words, just as we approach God by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ, so we approach each other by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ. Just as we can experience grace and love and full acceptance from God to us because of Jesus, so we can experience grace and love and full acceptance from one to the other of those who are in Jesus.
Do we approach God by works? Well, then we don’t approach each other by works either. Do we need to earn God’s favor? Well, then we don’t need to earn each other’s favor. Does God accept us fully, seeing us through the perfect blood and righteousness of Christ? Well, we should accept each other fully, seeing others through the perfect blood and righteousness of Christ. Does our standing with God change based on our performance? Well, then our standing with each other should not change based on anyone’s performance.
Here is how Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it in Life Together: “What persons are in themselves as Christians, in their inwardness and piety [read: their performance as a Christian], cannot constitute the basis of our community, which is determined by what those persons are in terms of Christ. Our community consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us.” (emphasis mine)
So, just as being a part of Christian community is not an option, since being a Christian is the same thing as being a member of Christ’s body, so also extending the hand of fellowship to other Christians is not an option, any more than God can refuse the presence of the Holy Spirit to anyone who is in Christ.
Next week I hope to flesh this out more. In addition, stay tuned to the Sunday School series that started this past Sunday, which will go a long way toward helping us to live out the Gospel in the specific relational context of conflict. (You can listen to the first session here.)
For the men
March 9, 2010 | Comments Off
The men’s retreat is coming up (April 30-May 1; sign up in the hallway and/or see Matt Greco if you’re interested), and it has us thinking about ministry to the men in the body.
This video is a very helpful conversation between two very godly men discussing what it means to be a man of God. They cover training up young men into godliness, growing in leadership and service in the home, and developing deeper fellowship with other men, including how to invite and receive criticism.
Watch with a view to how you can change and grow in your role as a man, no matter what that role may be.
Q&A on Biblical Masculinity from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.
HT: Justin Taylor
Are you sowing sparingly?
March 4, 2010 | Comments Off
“I fear there are some Christians among you to whom Christ cannot say ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.’ Your haughty dwelling arises in the midst of thousands who have scarce a fire to warm themselves at and have but little clothing to keep out the biting frost, and yet you never darkened their door. You heave a sigh perhaps at a distance, but you do not visit them. Ah my dear friends, I am concerned for the poor, but more for you. I know not what Christ will say to you on the great day. You seem to be Christians, and yet you care not for his poor. Oh, what a change will pass upon you as you enter the gates of heaven! You will be saved, but that will be all. There will be no abundant entrance for you. ‘He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly.’
And I fear that there may be many hearing me who may know well that they are not Christians, because they do not love to give. To give largely and liberally, not grudging at all, requires a new heart. An old heart would rather part with its life-blood than its money. Oh my friends, enjoy your money. Make the most of it. Give none of it away. Enjoy it quickly, for I can tell you, you will be beggars throughout eternity.”
Robert Murray McCheyne, Works (New York, 1847), II:482.
HT: David McLemore via Ray Ortlund
Things mean stuff
March 3, 2010 | Comments Off
This is an interview with Ken Myers, who is a great thinker and cultural critic. His book, All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and Popular Culture, has influenced a generation of Christians in our dealings with popular culture. He podcasts at Mars Hill Audio.
This interview covers such wide-ranging topics as movies, hymnals versus projection screens, and the meaning of technology, and I hope it will give you a taste of the kind of thinking that behooves us as followers of Christ. The central point of the interview, and I think the central point of all of Myers’ thinking, is that there is meaning in all cultural products. In other words, everything means something. This is a very counter-cultural idea, and I hope you can begin to see how Myers fleshes it out. (You might want to watch it in small portions, or else carve out an hour to see the whole thing, because it deserves your full attention. I’m about to watch it again.)
Interview with Ken Myers from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.
(via Justin Taylor)
Christian community, part 1: stay out of my space?
March 2, 2010 | Comments Off
Who owns your life? To whom should your life be submitted?
I think we would all readily answer that God owns us (1 Corinthians 6:20), and our lives should be submitted in loving obedience to Him (James 4:7). But is there more to it than this?
What do you make of the passages that say we are members of one another? There are a few:
Romans 12:4-5
1 Corinthians 12:12, 27 (read in between too)
Ephesians 4:25 (but really, read the whole chapter)
Do you catch my drift? The Christian life is not just about me and Jesus doin’ our thing. I not only belong to Him; I belong to His body.
Note that none of these passages say we should be members of the body; they say we are members of the body. Being members of one another in Christ is not something to strive toward; it is something that is. Belonging to the Christian community is not an option, because it is the reality for all who are in Christ.
Let me say that again.
Belonging to the Christian community is not an option, because it is the reality for all who are in Christ.
If we are in Christ, we are in His body, which means we are members of one another. Period. This is the reality of Christian community: no one is exempt from the community except those who are outside Christ altogether.
This flips upside down our American sense of independence and individualism. Upside down, inside out, blown to bits—the reality of the body of Christ, the Christian community, totally subverts the American idol of personal space and time.
My space is not my own, my time is not my own, my life is not my own; it belongs not only to Christ but to His body, my fellow believers.
I hope this rocks your world today. And tomorrow. And next week. And next year.
I will continue writing about this idea, and how it is fleshed out, over the next several weeks.
Orders of worship
February 12, 2010 | Comments Off
As a part of the work we’re doing to update the website (and by we, I mean mostly Helen Lewis and Deanna Hanson), I have added a new section under the Music Ministry page where you can access orders of worship for our Sunday services. They will be posted on Friday for the following Sunday, and they include the Scriptures, songs (with lyrics), and sermon text and title for the service. If you have trouble accessing them, please feel free to let me know, either by email (andrewsheff@faithcommunity.com) or in person.
The reason for putting the order of worship up for access is for your benefit in preparing for the service each week. Use the selected Scriptures and songs for family worship on Saturday, or for personal devotions, or to help you as you pray for the service each week. This way, we can come to corporate worship already ruminating on the themes and truths of each week’s service, which will help us to engage with God more spiritually and truly.
Click here to go to the Orders of Worship page. May God bless our weekly gatherings more and more!
All I Have Is Christ
February 7, 2010 | Comments Off
We began learning a new song–All I Have Is Christ–on Wednesday. It is a song of testimony, declaring to each other and to God that our only possible salvation is in Christ and His work on our behalf.
This video is a live version of that song, put together by Sovereign Grace Ministries, whose music publishing arm published and recorded the song.
You can download the song or the entire album here.
John Piper on Small Groups
January 29, 2010 | Comments Off
I ran across this brief exhortation from Piper on the importance of small groups in the life of the church. I hope it will encourage you to deepen your commitment to living in community with other believers, because as he says, church is more than preaching.
Songs to help the Word dwell richly in you
January 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Since I taught last Wednesday on why it matters what we sing, I have received several requests for resources for finding recordings, lyrics, and sheet music for the songs we sing. So I am compiling here a list of links that will help you find not only the specific songs we use here but also more songs like them. You can access lyrics, guitar charts, and lead sheets for free on basically all of these sites; the prices are very reasonable for downloading or ordering albums and tracks. I hope you find much here to help you as we strive to let the Word of Christ dwell richly in us.
Sovereign Grace Music: Songs we have used from here include The Lord Is, Out of the Depths, Glorious and Mighty, Let Your Kingdom Come (we learned this for the missions conference this past fall), O Great God, Completely Done (which we recently learned), Oh the Deep, Deep Love, Receive the Glory, and several others. On their website you can find song and album downloads; free lyric, guitar, and lead sheets; and super cheap piano sheet music.
Indelible Grace Music: Songs like The Love of Christ Is Rich and Free, Sovereign Grace O’er Sin Abounding, His Love Can Never Fail. This group specializes in setting old texts to new music, and for the most part they do a great job. We will be introducing more of these songs in the coming year, so buy a couple of their albums and be ahead of the game!
Matthew Smith: He is a principal member of Indelible Grace, and has recorded a few albums as a solo artist. My Lord I Did Not Choose You is an old text he set to music; his album All I Owe is excellent.
Red Mountain Music: Similar to Indelible Grace in that they take old texts and set them to new music. We have not done any songs by them (that I can recall, at least), but you could expect some to come.
Getty Music: Keith & Kristen Getty, along with Stuart Townend, write some of the best hymn-like songs being produced today. In Christ Alone, The Power of the Cross, O Church Arise, and Beneath the Cross are just a few of their songs. They don’t have as many free materials, but you can find their albums on the website, and they are certainly worth the money to own. The newest album, Awaken the Dawn, is really, really good. We’ll be introducing a song or two from that album soon, hopefully.
Sandra McCracken: Her album The Builder and the Architect is all hymns, and is very beautiful. She has written and recorded with Indelible Grace; she wrote the music for both “The Love of Christ Is Rich and Free” and “Sovereign Grace O’er Sin Abounding.”
I hope these links are a help to you. A point that I didn’t make so strongly or clearly Wednesday is that because music is so powerful for teaching, not only should we be careful what we sing when we’re together as a congregation, but we should also be careful what we listen to. Christian radio certainly has its place, but beware songs that make you “feel good” without containing much truth. I believe these sources for music are a great place to start in finding music to listen to that is both enjoyable and edifying. And I hope songs like these will help to shape us more and more into people who love the truth of the Gospel, and the God of the Gospel, above all else.
The Way of Forgiveness and Snares of My Own Arrogance
December 29, 2009 | Comments Off
FCC Family:
If you did not hear Pastor Tim’s sermon Sunday 12/27/09 entitled, “The Way of Forgiveness,” it’s a must! Here is an article I wrote regarding arrogance as a follow to that sermon.
- Jack Colwell
“Snares of My Own Arrogance”
I automatically and continually think in one of two ways that are snares of my own arrogance.
I convince myself that I am able to save myself by working hard and being good. This usually means pushing me above others, obsessing about others’ deficiencies and demanding total conformity to my personal standards from them. It can also mean falsely reconciling God’s standard to my life. “I am obviously OK, so God must be like me, and His standards must be like mine.”
Ironically, I can also catch myself in a snare of arrogance by feeling utterly overwhelmed by defeat and discouragement over my sinfulness; for example, when my behavior falls below my expectations for myself. As a result, I battle hopelessness and despair.
My first tactic is distraction, the second is despair – these tactics are the foundation of life in a fallen world. That is to say they arise instinctively and unthinkingly from within me (Jer. 17:9, Rom. 1:18-21) and are classic satanic discourse (Gen. 3:4, John 8:44, Rev. 12:10).
Stating the above number one and two another way -
1. I arrogantly create my own restorative process by:
Blaming / accusing others or ‘choking’ them – (Matt. 18:28, John 8:7, Rom. 2: 1-4)
·Self- justifying comparative judgment, making my standards as good, or even better than God’s standards – (Gen. 3: 6-7, 4: 1-8, Luke 15: 28-30, 18:11-17) to include self-blinding comparative judgment – (Matt. 7:1-6)
·Blinding immersion in worldly distractions to include work, possessions and family (Luke 12:16-20, 14: 16-23)
Which results in death, but I feel good about myself on the way because I elevated self as the ultimate lawmaker, judge and executioner of all others, including God – (Gen. 3:5, 4:1-9, James 4:11-12).
As Pastor John Piper puts it, “Concealed sin keeps us from seeing the light of Christ. Sin is like spiritual leprosy. It deadens your spiritual senses so that you rip your [and others] soul to shreds and don’t even feel it.”[1]
2. I arrogantly snub the Lord’s restoration process by:
Being remorseful over my own sin, rather than repenting – (Ps. 32, 2 Cor. 7:10) Implying that I know a superior or more effectual sacrifice than Christ - (Heb. 10:11-31)
This also results in death, but I feel miserable about myself on the way – (Matt. 27:3-5). Despairing of my own sin is as opposite to faith as suffocating is to breathing.
The fact is, awareness of my own wretchedness is my only access to Christ and should compel me to come to Him (John 6:29). His work is to forgive MY sin; my work is faith in Him expressed primarily by thankfully loving God and forgivingly loving others (Matt. 22: 37-40). I cannot love those I harbor bitterness toward (Matt. 18: 21-35). Bitterness toward others means I do not love God (1 John 4: 19-21).
Yes but…(insert whatever excuse I generate this moment) and then consider C.S. Lewis: “Anyone who makes excuses is not really seeking forgiveness”
Those times when I most need forgiveness of my sin, are the very times I can least comprehend my need, or His forgiveness. Only Christ can rescue me from this body of death (Rom. 7:21-25), I access Him through repentance and faith. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3: 19-21, NASU).
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[1] Piper, John. Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. Multnomah (Chapter 3, Emphasis added)