Introduction
Jesus said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
In our sixth post on Christian discipleship we come to the subject of evangelism, which could be thought of as the task of current disciples making new disciples. As throughout we are using David Watson's book Discipleship as our starting off point and guide for our thoughts on this subject. Watson's insights on evangelism form chapter 9 of the book and his insights are particularly valid as he was a skilled evangelist in his ministry.
Evangelism
Watson begins his chapter with a characteristic thought-provoking opening line: "Christ's call to discipleship is not primarily for the benefit of the disciple." I know what Watson is driving at here. His thought is similar in spirit to Archbishop William Temple's famous quip that the church is the only organisation that exists for the benefit of its non-members. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that Christ's call is equally about benefiting the disciple and working through the disciple to make more disciple and benefit others. Yet the point is well-taken that the disciple's focus is to be outward looking, aiming at bringing others into the Kingdom and fulfilling the Great Commission of Christ. As Watson also puts it, Christ's disciples "are called and sent out." In between they were trained by Christ so they could be sent. The same pattern is vital for anyone seeking to do the work of evangelism.
Ghetto Mentality
The first thing Watson addresses is the church's need to break free from a ghetto mentality. If this was true of Britain in 1980 how much more true it is of the church 30 years later in the present day! His point is that so much of the time we spend our time as Christians with other Christians. We attend worship with each other, we pray and do Bible studies together, we socialise with each other, go to events organised for Christians together, and so on. For many of us, apart from the workplace and perhaps one or two other social activities like sports and hobbies, we don't meet non-Christians very much.
Now, I don't personally think that's wrong. The New Testament pattern is that believers spent a lot of time together (Acts 2). The danger is though if we end up spending any real time with non-Christians. In that case, how can we hope to share our lives with people, far less earn the right to share the gospel with them?
We need to find ways to break out of our Christian ghettos back into the world to have much hope of reaching many non-Christians. The solution Watson suggests is for Christians to be better trained to make the most of opportunities in our everyday lives at home, at work and socially. The sad fact is that whereas in 1980 it might have been acceptable to discuss the gospel in the workplace, now there are many workplaces where to mention your Christian faith would be a disciplinary matter. Even with this caveat however, Watson's point is valid.
Witnesses
In the next part of the chapter Watson draws the distinction between being an evangelist and being a Christian witness. The difference being that the evangelist is a particular, specialist role within the church, and not every Christian has been given the gifts or received the calling to be an evangelist. On the other hand, every Christian is called and gifted to be a witness to Christ as their Saviour and Lord.
He goes on to discuss a number of different marks of a witness. First, a witness has to have first-hand experience of Christ. A person who has never met or known Jesus Christ for themselves cannot speak to others of what he has done for them. Second, a witness must be able to express their testimony in words. Although we can communicate much through our lives, in the end we need to be able to speak about it at least at some basic level. Third, a witness will have confidence in the power of God, realising that the potential for his or her witness to bring another person into the kingdom comes not from themselves but from God. Fourth, a witness must have genuine compassion for those to whom they are speaking. If a person gets even a whiff that you don't care about them, why should they listen to what you are saying?
The marks of an evangelist go beyond what is required for a good witness, but they are never any less. They include first, the ability to speak with clarity in explaining the gospel to others; second, the ability to appeal not just to a person's mind, but to a person's will and even a person's heart, to lay down their arms of rebellion against God and accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour; and third, having a strong faith that God will work through his or her work to bring people to salvation.
Motivation, Message and Method (The Three Ms)
Watson identifies lack of motivation as a serious problem that hinders evangelistic efforts. He cites Philip the Evangelist as an example of a godly man who was strongly motivated in his work because he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he had seen God at work, and he was spurred on by the suffering of believers.
He quotes this definition of evangelism with approval: "Evangelism is the presentation of the claims of Christ in the power of the Spirit to a world in need by a church in love."
The focus needs to be on the claims of Christ as rightful Lord and Saviour of the world. The gospel is about more, much more, than making people feel better. It is in many respects a difficult message to take, but it is a life saving one. Much like a doctor having to deliver the news that a person is very ill and needs radical surgery to save their lives.
If our motivations and message are right, this still leaves the method we use. It is possible to have a heart in the right place, and have the doctrines all sorted and still be hopeless at reaching people if we cannot speak in a way that actually communicates with people. Watson summarises this as speaking to the right person, at the right time, using the right words. We need to look out for people who may be open to hearing the gospel, but even when someone is the right person it also needs to be a suitable time when we speak to them, and finally we need to use the right words for them. The New Testament contains many rich themes to explain the work of Christ and salvation. Some people may respond to the idea of being set free, others to being reconciled to God, others to being saved from hell, etc.
Ultimately though, it is not through our eloquence or cleverness that people come to faith, but by encountering the living Christ through what we say, not so much in what we say.
Watson concludes the chapter with a good, simple way to lead a person to faith in Christ if they are open to the gospel and want to respond. It's known as the ABCD method and considers four things the person needs to do. First, there is something to Admit: that they are a sinner in need of Christ. Second, something to Believe: that Christ will save them when they come to him. Third, something to Consider: the Bible is plain that becoming a Christian has certain costs in terms of our need to live as Christ wants and in terms of the opposition we will face from the world if we do. Fourth, something to Do: making the choice to surrender to Christ, accept him as our Lord and Saviour and commit our lives to him in faith and obedience. We might conclude with a prayer that the person might say with us taking them through the ABCDs.
Next time we will look at the very practical matter of living a simple lifestyle day-to-day as a Christian disciple.
Sunday, 27 May 2012
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Discipleship - Part 5
Introduction
Jesus said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
This is the fifth in a series of posts on Christian discipleship, using David Watson's book Discipleship as our starting point and guide. Today we look at chapter 8 of the book on the important subject of spiritual warfare.
Spiritual Warfare
At the beginning of the chapter, Watson puts it plainly: "Discipleship is a struggle." Or as we might also put it - the Christian life is a war, a spiritual war. The struggle is evident every day. Watson gives a number of examples that resonated with me, but it boils down to this: we find it hard to do what we should, and we find it easy to do what we shouldn't. And that's true of individuals, families, churches, and indeed whole societies and nations. That is the Bible's sobering view of human nature and the reasons for it are twofold. First, because we are sinners. We are captives or slaves to sin. Our nature is to rebel against God and do what we want. But second, we are involved in a spiritual battle. The world is a war zone with an enemy, Satan, who is out to harass, frustrate and destroy us.
You cannot understand spiritual warfare until you accept that the devil is real and you cannot engage in spiritual warfare until you know how to fight against him. That the devil is real is the teaching of the Bible from beginning to end. He first appears as a serpent in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 and leads humanity into disobedience and rebellion against God. He last appears in Revelation 20 when he is destroyed by God in the lake of fire. A significant part of Jesus teaching concerns Satan and the Bible records Jesus being tempted by Satan right at the start of his public ministry (Matthew 4). The apostolic writers also make reference to this mysterious and evil being. This includes Paul (2 Corinthians 2:11, 1 Timothy 3:7, 2 Timothy 2:26, Ephesians 6:11 and Colossians 2:5), Peter (1 Peter 5:8), James (James 4:7) and John (1 John 3:8).
Watson goes on to point out that many Christians down through history have also recognised that we are involved in spiritual warfare against Satan and his minions, including Martin Luther, the puritan William Gurnall (whose massive book The Christian in Complete Armour is a classic on spiritual warfare), John Bunyan (the author of Pilgrim's Progress also wrote the classic The Holy War), John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards.
After laying out this groundwork, Watson then turns to an analysis of firstly the types of attack we need to look out for in spiritual warfare and then the principles of victory for how we might counter the attacks and engage the enemy.
Types of Attack
Watson lists six different types of Satanic attack.
(1) Direct Attack
The first kind of attack is simply the direct attack of persecution designed to cow us into silence and submission to the world, or frighten us into disobeying God. This is what we might call "open warfare". The gloves are off in persecution and it is simply a matter of coming after Christians through the agency of human hatred. For millions of our Christian brothers and sisters in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, this is the reality of their Christian lives every day and we need to remember that and pray for them regularly. We need to familiarise ourselves with the work of charities like Barnabas Fund and Christian Solidarity Worldwide to know about what is going on and take action to help our Christian brothers and sisters in their extreme need.
(2) Accusation
The name Satan means the Accuser. Accusation is more subtle than direct attack, but mere accusation can be an effective weapon in Satan's arsenal. He often tries to stop God's work being carried out by accusing Christians, by name calling, probably hoping this will lead to persecution. But he also comes with his "fiery darts" directly into Christians' minds and consciences to remind us of our failures, to highlight our sins and give us a stifling and crippling sense of guilt and worthlessness that can make us inactive in our Christian service. Sometimes a guilty conscience comes from God - when we have sinned, we should feel guilty. But once we have repented and asked for God's forgiveness, then our sins have been taken away and so should our guilt go with it. If God has forgiven you, don't listen to the devil's lies. Your status as a Christian does not rely on you, but on Christ's work and God's faithfulness.
(3) Exploitation
Satan can take something good and exploit it to become something not good. Watson mentions several examples. He can take the love of truth and pervert it into something harsh, cold and bigoted. He can take emotions and twist them into lust or adultery. He can even take love of peace and tolerance and turn it into appeasement of evil, peace at all costs, so that false teaching is not dealt with appropriately in the church.
(4) Counterfeits
Satan can "appear as an angel of light" as Paul wrote. He uses counterfeit versions of the truth to lead people astray through false teaching.
(5) Temptation
One of Satan's main strategies - the one he even used with Jesus - is to try to lure us into sin. Satan cannot make anyone sin, but he can tempt us to sin. And he is masterful at it. Temptations can be the obvious ones like sex, money and power, or they can be incredibly subtle, like fitting in, being liked, being respected, etc.
(6) Possession
This last one is controversial and reflects Watson's charismatic views. However, the Bible does speak of people being demon-possessed and I do not believe all of the examples can be explained as antiquated ways of looking at mental or physical illness. This is perhaps the least subtle way that Satan can work and it would appear to be extremely rare. We might consider that Satan has been so successful using the other five strategies that he hardly needs to "show his hand" in possession nowadays.
Principles of Victory
Watson then turns to the principles we might keep in mind as we find ourselves as "God's freedom fighters" (Watson's phrase) engaging in spiritual warfare.
(1) Know the Enemy
It goes without saying that in any military conflict it is vital to know and if possible understand the aims and motives of the enemy. As Christians, if we know the devil's tactics and what he's trying to achieve, we will be in a better position to see through the various kinds of camouflage he uses and effectively resist him when we encounter his activity in our lives.
(2) Keep in the Love of God
There are countless stories of soldiers in battle drawing strength from the knowledge that they have "someone special" back home who loves them. As Christians we have our Father God who loves us more than any human being can love. And when we are "going through it" we need to keep God's love for us constantly in mind and draw comfort from the peace this gives us.
(3) Be strong in Christ
Soldiers in battle often draw courage from their commanding officer as he leads, inspires and motivates them to carry on and "get stuck in". A good officer also looks after his men. Jesus is our commanding officer as Christians. But he is no general safe in a chateau far behind the front lines. He is more like a sergeant major, right alongside us in trenches. We need to draw strength for the fight directly from Christ and our knowledge of his life, teachings and saving work on our behalf. He has already stormed the enemy position and inflicted a crushing defeat on Satan. The decisive battle was won singlehanded by Christ on Calvary. We are merely engaged in a "mopping up" operation until the enemy's final unconditional surrender. That doesn't mean the battle isn't still fierce. Some of the fiercest battles in World War 2 took place between the decisive victory in Normandy and the final German surrender the following year.
(4) Be filled with the Spirit
We lack the strength and power to engage in spiritual warfare without the Holy Spirit. We need him to fill us with his fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, meekness, faithfulness and self-control. These are the kinds of attitudes Christ's army need for the war they are engaged in. We need the Holy Spirit to energise us for the fight.
(5) Be active in witness and service
If we as Christians were never to bear witness to Christ or seek to live out our faith in practical service to Christ and to others, we would be like well-trained soldiers who stay behind in the barracks and never actually engage the enemy in the front line. It is when we go out to be witnesses to Christ and to serve Christ in the world that the devil will really try to stop us. However, we cannot be loyal to our commanding officer and fail to be witnesses and servants to him. Christ's lordship demands it.
(6) Be quick to put things right
This seemingly small thing is actually huge. It is vital in any military unit that the soldiers get along with each other and trust each other, and when there are problems, these need to be sorted out for the good of everyone. So with us as Christians in fellowship with each other. We need to be quick to apologise when we've done something wrong and look always to put things right if we possibly can. We also need to be ready to accept the apologies of others when we've been wronged and be quick to forgive, as God has forgiven us.
(7) Put on the armour of God
One of Paul's great passages in Ephesians 6 tells us all about the different parts of the armour God gives us as Christians. We need to use all the weapons God gives us if we are to have any success in our spiritual battles. We need to study this passage time and again until it is second nature to put the armour on daily and carry it through the day. Here is Ephesians 6:10-18 in full in the NIV:
This point is made in Ephesians 6:18 as we've just seen. As we have already looked at prayer in a previous post, there's not much to add here, except to say it is crucial to pray regularly, just as lines of communication between an army's headquarters and the front line are vital to the success of any military operation.
(9) Praise and Worship God
You know the scene in many a film? The hero rides out in front of the troops to inspire and encourage them and they respond with a roars of approval and cheers that puts fire in their belly for the fight. That's partly what we are doing when we praise and worship God. We are acknowledging him as our hero and leader, and in a way as we worship, we also draw strength and renewal for ourselves. Worship helps us put everything in perspective and reminds us of just who God is and how our victories through him are certain because God reigns!
Next time we will look at the subject of evangelism for Christ's disciples.
Jesus said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
This is the fifth in a series of posts on Christian discipleship, using David Watson's book Discipleship as our starting point and guide. Today we look at chapter 8 of the book on the important subject of spiritual warfare.
Spiritual Warfare
At the beginning of the chapter, Watson puts it plainly: "Discipleship is a struggle." Or as we might also put it - the Christian life is a war, a spiritual war. The struggle is evident every day. Watson gives a number of examples that resonated with me, but it boils down to this: we find it hard to do what we should, and we find it easy to do what we shouldn't. And that's true of individuals, families, churches, and indeed whole societies and nations. That is the Bible's sobering view of human nature and the reasons for it are twofold. First, because we are sinners. We are captives or slaves to sin. Our nature is to rebel against God and do what we want. But second, we are involved in a spiritual battle. The world is a war zone with an enemy, Satan, who is out to harass, frustrate and destroy us.
You cannot understand spiritual warfare until you accept that the devil is real and you cannot engage in spiritual warfare until you know how to fight against him. That the devil is real is the teaching of the Bible from beginning to end. He first appears as a serpent in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 and leads humanity into disobedience and rebellion against God. He last appears in Revelation 20 when he is destroyed by God in the lake of fire. A significant part of Jesus teaching concerns Satan and the Bible records Jesus being tempted by Satan right at the start of his public ministry (Matthew 4). The apostolic writers also make reference to this mysterious and evil being. This includes Paul (2 Corinthians 2:11, 1 Timothy 3:7, 2 Timothy 2:26, Ephesians 6:11 and Colossians 2:5), Peter (1 Peter 5:8), James (James 4:7) and John (1 John 3:8).
Watson goes on to point out that many Christians down through history have also recognised that we are involved in spiritual warfare against Satan and his minions, including Martin Luther, the puritan William Gurnall (whose massive book The Christian in Complete Armour is a classic on spiritual warfare), John Bunyan (the author of Pilgrim's Progress also wrote the classic The Holy War), John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards.
After laying out this groundwork, Watson then turns to an analysis of firstly the types of attack we need to look out for in spiritual warfare and then the principles of victory for how we might counter the attacks and engage the enemy.
Types of Attack
Watson lists six different types of Satanic attack.
(1) Direct Attack
The first kind of attack is simply the direct attack of persecution designed to cow us into silence and submission to the world, or frighten us into disobeying God. This is what we might call "open warfare". The gloves are off in persecution and it is simply a matter of coming after Christians through the agency of human hatred. For millions of our Christian brothers and sisters in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, this is the reality of their Christian lives every day and we need to remember that and pray for them regularly. We need to familiarise ourselves with the work of charities like Barnabas Fund and Christian Solidarity Worldwide to know about what is going on and take action to help our Christian brothers and sisters in their extreme need.
(2) Accusation
The name Satan means the Accuser. Accusation is more subtle than direct attack, but mere accusation can be an effective weapon in Satan's arsenal. He often tries to stop God's work being carried out by accusing Christians, by name calling, probably hoping this will lead to persecution. But he also comes with his "fiery darts" directly into Christians' minds and consciences to remind us of our failures, to highlight our sins and give us a stifling and crippling sense of guilt and worthlessness that can make us inactive in our Christian service. Sometimes a guilty conscience comes from God - when we have sinned, we should feel guilty. But once we have repented and asked for God's forgiveness, then our sins have been taken away and so should our guilt go with it. If God has forgiven you, don't listen to the devil's lies. Your status as a Christian does not rely on you, but on Christ's work and God's faithfulness.
(3) Exploitation
Satan can take something good and exploit it to become something not good. Watson mentions several examples. He can take the love of truth and pervert it into something harsh, cold and bigoted. He can take emotions and twist them into lust or adultery. He can even take love of peace and tolerance and turn it into appeasement of evil, peace at all costs, so that false teaching is not dealt with appropriately in the church.
(4) Counterfeits
Satan can "appear as an angel of light" as Paul wrote. He uses counterfeit versions of the truth to lead people astray through false teaching.
(5) Temptation
One of Satan's main strategies - the one he even used with Jesus - is to try to lure us into sin. Satan cannot make anyone sin, but he can tempt us to sin. And he is masterful at it. Temptations can be the obvious ones like sex, money and power, or they can be incredibly subtle, like fitting in, being liked, being respected, etc.
(6) Possession
This last one is controversial and reflects Watson's charismatic views. However, the Bible does speak of people being demon-possessed and I do not believe all of the examples can be explained as antiquated ways of looking at mental or physical illness. This is perhaps the least subtle way that Satan can work and it would appear to be extremely rare. We might consider that Satan has been so successful using the other five strategies that he hardly needs to "show his hand" in possession nowadays.
Principles of Victory
Watson then turns to the principles we might keep in mind as we find ourselves as "God's freedom fighters" (Watson's phrase) engaging in spiritual warfare.
(1) Know the Enemy
It goes without saying that in any military conflict it is vital to know and if possible understand the aims and motives of the enemy. As Christians, if we know the devil's tactics and what he's trying to achieve, we will be in a better position to see through the various kinds of camouflage he uses and effectively resist him when we encounter his activity in our lives.
(2) Keep in the Love of God
There are countless stories of soldiers in battle drawing strength from the knowledge that they have "someone special" back home who loves them. As Christians we have our Father God who loves us more than any human being can love. And when we are "going through it" we need to keep God's love for us constantly in mind and draw comfort from the peace this gives us.
(3) Be strong in Christ
Soldiers in battle often draw courage from their commanding officer as he leads, inspires and motivates them to carry on and "get stuck in". A good officer also looks after his men. Jesus is our commanding officer as Christians. But he is no general safe in a chateau far behind the front lines. He is more like a sergeant major, right alongside us in trenches. We need to draw strength for the fight directly from Christ and our knowledge of his life, teachings and saving work on our behalf. He has already stormed the enemy position and inflicted a crushing defeat on Satan. The decisive battle was won singlehanded by Christ on Calvary. We are merely engaged in a "mopping up" operation until the enemy's final unconditional surrender. That doesn't mean the battle isn't still fierce. Some of the fiercest battles in World War 2 took place between the decisive victory in Normandy and the final German surrender the following year.
(4) Be filled with the Spirit
We lack the strength and power to engage in spiritual warfare without the Holy Spirit. We need him to fill us with his fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, meekness, faithfulness and self-control. These are the kinds of attitudes Christ's army need for the war they are engaged in. We need the Holy Spirit to energise us for the fight.
(5) Be active in witness and service
If we as Christians were never to bear witness to Christ or seek to live out our faith in practical service to Christ and to others, we would be like well-trained soldiers who stay behind in the barracks and never actually engage the enemy in the front line. It is when we go out to be witnesses to Christ and to serve Christ in the world that the devil will really try to stop us. However, we cannot be loyal to our commanding officer and fail to be witnesses and servants to him. Christ's lordship demands it.
(6) Be quick to put things right
This seemingly small thing is actually huge. It is vital in any military unit that the soldiers get along with each other and trust each other, and when there are problems, these need to be sorted out for the good of everyone. So with us as Christians in fellowship with each other. We need to be quick to apologise when we've done something wrong and look always to put things right if we possibly can. We also need to be ready to accept the apologies of others when we've been wronged and be quick to forgive, as God has forgiven us.
(7) Put on the armour of God
One of Paul's great passages in Ephesians 6 tells us all about the different parts of the armour God gives us as Christians. We need to use all the weapons God gives us if we are to have any success in our spiritual battles. We need to study this passage time and again until it is second nature to put the armour on daily and carry it through the day. Here is Ephesians 6:10-18 in full in the NIV:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.(8) Be constant in prayer
This point is made in Ephesians 6:18 as we've just seen. As we have already looked at prayer in a previous post, there's not much to add here, except to say it is crucial to pray regularly, just as lines of communication between an army's headquarters and the front line are vital to the success of any military operation.
(9) Praise and Worship God
You know the scene in many a film? The hero rides out in front of the troops to inspire and encourage them and they respond with a roars of approval and cheers that puts fire in their belly for the fight. That's partly what we are doing when we praise and worship God. We are acknowledging him as our hero and leader, and in a way as we worship, we also draw strength and renewal for ourselves. Worship helps us put everything in perspective and reminds us of just who God is and how our victories through him are certain because God reigns!
Next time we will look at the subject of evangelism for Christ's disciples.
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Planetwise
Planetwise
David Bookless
IVP, Nottingham 2008
I think David Bookless's Planetwise is an important book because it makes the case that green issues are something that Christians - and evangelical Christians in particular maybe, people who put the full-orbed biblical gospel at the centre of their lives - should be concerned about.
In the first five chapters of the book, Bookless makes the biblical and theological case that that an interest in environmental causes is not something on the periphery of the Christian faith, but actually is a central implication of the Christian gospel.
The argument runs as follows. As people who understand that the world has been created by God and is still owned by God (Psalm 24:1-2), as people who believe that God has given humanity the world to look after and steward on his behalf (Genesis 1:27-28), as people who believe that the saving purposes of God are not about rescuing us from the cosmos, but of redeeming and renewing the cosmos itself and as part of it (Genesis 9:10, John 3:16, Colossians 1:20, Revelation 21:1-3) - we need to see looking after the planet God gave us as an integral part of living as kingdom people who trust in and serve Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord. Too often, evangelicals have given the impression that we are about saving souls for heaven, and treating the world in any way we want since it's all going to be destroyed anyway. Such views, whether stated or merely lazily assumed are dishonouring to Christ, by whom and for whom the world was made (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16), and contrary to the truth of the gospel.
In the final four chapters of the book, Bookless draws out a number of practical implications for how we should then live out our lives as Christian disciples, stewarding the creation as God wants us to. These chapters really made me think about how I live and I have to say that since reading them, some of my behaviour has changed, even if only in little ways to begin with - like not leaving the TV on standby and only filling the kettle with what I need. Much more information and many more suggestions are available through the website of the Christian ecological charity A Rocha and its Living Lightly initiative, both of which David Bookless is heavily involved with.
Any Christian interested in green politics would benefit from the biblical and theological case put forward in Planetwise; any Christian who thinks concern for the environment is part of a liberal or even "new age" agenda needs to read this book now.
David Bookless
IVP, Nottingham 2008
I think David Bookless's Planetwise is an important book because it makes the case that green issues are something that Christians - and evangelical Christians in particular maybe, people who put the full-orbed biblical gospel at the centre of their lives - should be concerned about.
In the first five chapters of the book, Bookless makes the biblical and theological case that that an interest in environmental causes is not something on the periphery of the Christian faith, but actually is a central implication of the Christian gospel.
The argument runs as follows. As people who understand that the world has been created by God and is still owned by God (Psalm 24:1-2), as people who believe that God has given humanity the world to look after and steward on his behalf (Genesis 1:27-28), as people who believe that the saving purposes of God are not about rescuing us from the cosmos, but of redeeming and renewing the cosmos itself and as part of it (Genesis 9:10, John 3:16, Colossians 1:20, Revelation 21:1-3) - we need to see looking after the planet God gave us as an integral part of living as kingdom people who trust in and serve Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord. Too often, evangelicals have given the impression that we are about saving souls for heaven, and treating the world in any way we want since it's all going to be destroyed anyway. Such views, whether stated or merely lazily assumed are dishonouring to Christ, by whom and for whom the world was made (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16), and contrary to the truth of the gospel.
In the final four chapters of the book, Bookless draws out a number of practical implications for how we should then live out our lives as Christian disciples, stewarding the creation as God wants us to. These chapters really made me think about how I live and I have to say that since reading them, some of my behaviour has changed, even if only in little ways to begin with - like not leaving the TV on standby and only filling the kettle with what I need. Much more information and many more suggestions are available through the website of the Christian ecological charity A Rocha and its Living Lightly initiative, both of which David Bookless is heavily involved with.
Any Christian interested in green politics would benefit from the biblical and theological case put forward in Planetwise; any Christian who thinks concern for the environment is part of a liberal or even "new age" agenda needs to read this book now.
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Discipleship - Part 4
Introduction
Jesus said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
This is the fourth in a series of posts on Christian discipleship, using David Watson's book Discipleship as our starting point and guide. After the more theoretical chapters at the beginning of the book, from this point on Watson turns to more practical aspects of discipleship. Today we look at chapters 6 and 7 of the book on the crucial Christian disciplines of prayer and reading the Bible.
Prayer
Watson begins his chapter on prayer by reminding us of how central prayer was in the everyday lives of Christ and his apostles. He also mentions some Christian "giants" like Whitefield, Wesley, Luther and Wilberforce and how they would normally spend 2-3 hours daily in prayer. Watson then goes on to say that it is not hard for us to feel real failures in prayer by comparison. I have to confess that I am not the best "pray-er" in the world. Stories of Christians spending hours each day in prayer make my paltry 5-10 minutes most days look terrible. Prayer is definitely something I know I could do better in.
Does prayer work? Watson - along with the biblical writers to be fair - doesn't spend a lot of time answering this. It is just assumed that prayer does work and is something we should do. There is a good quote from William Temple on this: "When I pray, coincidences happen; when I don't, they don't." Many Christians would testify to this truth: prayer is effective. But more than that, we have a clear assurance from God's word that this is the case: "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16).
Yet the real reason to pray is not because it works as such but because of what it is: it is meeting with and speaking with almighty God. Watson says that prayer is a sign of living in complete and constant dependence upon God. It is spending time with our Father, not just "talking to God".
So how do we go about prayer? Watson gives some useful guidelines here. First, he begins by pointing out the need for the Holy Spirit to help us if we are to pray as we ought. Even if we can only pray with groans and sighs, the Holy Spirit can take that and interpret it, taking our innermost thoughts and feelings and turning them into prayers before the throne of God in heaven. Second, he stresses the need for times of silence and reflection in prayer. Our prayer life needs to be a two-way conversation, not a monologue from us. In silence we need to listen to God. Third, he briefly discusses posture and correctly points out that we can pray in any position, but suggests sitting comfortably and relaxed in a chair may be the best "normal" position. Fourth, he mentions the need for prayer to begin and end with worship and thanksgiving towards God, and not just be a "shopping list" of things we want God to do. Fifth, Watson discusses when we should pray and makes a number of suggestions on this including: morning and evening, before making big decisions, when busy in life, when concerned for others, when tempted, when in pain and when facing death.
Interestingly, Watson does not just look at all these "how to" aspects of prayer. He also focuses attention on the right character of those who come in prayer to God. Here he mentions nine character traits: humility, surrender, realism, honesty, sympathy, expectancy, persistence, forgiveness and unity (when praying with others). There was a lovely quotation from Michel Quoist regarding our need to surrender to God and come to him like little children: "You must surrender yourself to me. You must realise that you are neither big enough nor strong enough...But you must be very, very little, for the Father carries only little children."
The importance of prayer is summed up Watson's words near the end of the chapter:
The Word of God
In the next chapter, Watson turns to the absolutely central place of the Word of God in the life of the Christian disciple. He quotes Jesus' words (himself quoting the Old Testament): "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4, NKJV).
The Word of God is the most important thing in the world, Watson says. But what is the Word of God? Many evangelicals simply believe that the Word of God is the Bible. But Watson defines God's Word in a wider way as "God's total revelation of himself, God speaking to man[kind] in words - ways that make sense." (p.140).
Watson therefore regards the Word of God as something including but wider than the text of the Bible. In fact as he makes clear later in the chapter.
To begin with, Watson looks at what he calls hindrances to God's Word, or to the effectiveness of God's Word in the believer's life. Among those hindrances mentioned are: materialism (putting trust in material things), activism (being so busy doing that we cannot hear God) and humanism (thinking that human beings are the centre of the universe).
Then he mentions something that he calls "textualism" which is a fault that evangelical Christians who value the Bible are particularly susceptible to. It is being so concerned with the Bible that we actually lose sight of God! It is what A. W. Tozer called "orthodoxy without the Holy Ghost." According to Watson, the Bible in a sense becomes the Word of God when read in the power of the Holy Spirit. So in a sense we don't have God's Word "until the Holy Spirit illumines our dull minds and warms our cold hearts." (p.143). It is only when the Holy Spirit activates the biblical text that we receive God's revealed truth. As I wrote in a hymn:
Another hindrance Watson examines is literalism (the view that the biblical text needs to be taken absolutely literally), and then he talks about "intellectualism" (where we become over concerned with approaching Scripture as an intellectual discipline rather than a spiritual one). Watson comments:
After the section on hindrances to God's Word, Watson talks about actually hearing the Word of God. Here he comes back to the notion of God's Word as being a wider category than merely the Bible. He talks about the Word of God in three senses:
Watson's charismatic views are evident here, for he views New Testament prophecy as a continuing gift to the Church, but he also marks out a number of scriptural tests and boundaries for it. But the spoken Word specifically explained and applied to a particular group of the Lord's people in preaching or in another medium, is a valid way of considering God's Word, though it is always derivative from the first two senses.
The final section in the chapter on the Word of God looks at understanding God's Word. Watson stresses the importance of correctly interpreting the Bible. It is a vital link between the Word outside us and the Word of God actually living in our hearts. Two key questions need to be asked whenever we come to the Bible to understand it. First, what did it mean to the first audience? Second, what does it mean for us today? To answer these two questions correctly we need to look at a number of aspects within and surrounding the text itself including the meaning of the words used (and here a good, accurate translation, or more than one, is indispensable to most of us), the context, the literary form of the passage, and the culture in which it was first written.
It is hard to overemphasise the importance of the Word of God to living as a Christian disciple. Our whole lives are to be steeped in the Word of God and we need to orientate our lives around the Word, and not the other way round. We need to constantly and faithfully apply ourselves in three key actions towards the Word of God: listening to God's Word, studying God's word and obeying God's word. When we do that, week-in-week-out, we will surely grow not only in knowledge but in faith and love as we are transformed by God's holy Word.
Next time we will look at the important subject of spiritual warfare, which is discussed in chapter 8 of Watson's book.
Jesus said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
This is the fourth in a series of posts on Christian discipleship, using David Watson's book Discipleship as our starting point and guide. After the more theoretical chapters at the beginning of the book, from this point on Watson turns to more practical aspects of discipleship. Today we look at chapters 6 and 7 of the book on the crucial Christian disciplines of prayer and reading the Bible.
Prayer
Watson begins his chapter on prayer by reminding us of how central prayer was in the everyday lives of Christ and his apostles. He also mentions some Christian "giants" like Whitefield, Wesley, Luther and Wilberforce and how they would normally spend 2-3 hours daily in prayer. Watson then goes on to say that it is not hard for us to feel real failures in prayer by comparison. I have to confess that I am not the best "pray-er" in the world. Stories of Christians spending hours each day in prayer make my paltry 5-10 minutes most days look terrible. Prayer is definitely something I know I could do better in.
Does prayer work? Watson - along with the biblical writers to be fair - doesn't spend a lot of time answering this. It is just assumed that prayer does work and is something we should do. There is a good quote from William Temple on this: "When I pray, coincidences happen; when I don't, they don't." Many Christians would testify to this truth: prayer is effective. But more than that, we have a clear assurance from God's word that this is the case: "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16).
Yet the real reason to pray is not because it works as such but because of what it is: it is meeting with and speaking with almighty God. Watson says that prayer is a sign of living in complete and constant dependence upon God. It is spending time with our Father, not just "talking to God".
So how do we go about prayer? Watson gives some useful guidelines here. First, he begins by pointing out the need for the Holy Spirit to help us if we are to pray as we ought. Even if we can only pray with groans and sighs, the Holy Spirit can take that and interpret it, taking our innermost thoughts and feelings and turning them into prayers before the throne of God in heaven. Second, he stresses the need for times of silence and reflection in prayer. Our prayer life needs to be a two-way conversation, not a monologue from us. In silence we need to listen to God. Third, he briefly discusses posture and correctly points out that we can pray in any position, but suggests sitting comfortably and relaxed in a chair may be the best "normal" position. Fourth, he mentions the need for prayer to begin and end with worship and thanksgiving towards God, and not just be a "shopping list" of things we want God to do. Fifth, Watson discusses when we should pray and makes a number of suggestions on this including: morning and evening, before making big decisions, when busy in life, when concerned for others, when tempted, when in pain and when facing death.
Interestingly, Watson does not just look at all these "how to" aspects of prayer. He also focuses attention on the right character of those who come in prayer to God. Here he mentions nine character traits: humility, surrender, realism, honesty, sympathy, expectancy, persistence, forgiveness and unity (when praying with others). There was a lovely quotation from Michel Quoist regarding our need to surrender to God and come to him like little children: "You must surrender yourself to me. You must realise that you are neither big enough nor strong enough...But you must be very, very little, for the Father carries only little children."
The importance of prayer is summed up Watson's words near the end of the chapter:
Ideally, of course, our whole life should become a life of prayer. When we wake, eat, walk, work, rest, chat or retire for the night, we should cultivate enjoying the Father's presence: rejoicing in him, praising him, thanking him, talking to him, listening to him, saying sorry, keeping silent.Seeing prayer almost as an attitude we carry through the day rather than a special activity we do has certainly challenged and encouraged me to pray.
The Word of God
In the next chapter, Watson turns to the absolutely central place of the Word of God in the life of the Christian disciple. He quotes Jesus' words (himself quoting the Old Testament): "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4, NKJV).
The Word of God is the most important thing in the world, Watson says. But what is the Word of God? Many evangelicals simply believe that the Word of God is the Bible. But Watson defines God's Word in a wider way as "God's total revelation of himself, God speaking to man[kind] in words - ways that make sense." (p.140).
Watson therefore regards the Word of God as something including but wider than the text of the Bible. In fact as he makes clear later in the chapter.
To begin with, Watson looks at what he calls hindrances to God's Word, or to the effectiveness of God's Word in the believer's life. Among those hindrances mentioned are: materialism (putting trust in material things), activism (being so busy doing that we cannot hear God) and humanism (thinking that human beings are the centre of the universe).
Then he mentions something that he calls "textualism" which is a fault that evangelical Christians who value the Bible are particularly susceptible to. It is being so concerned with the Bible that we actually lose sight of God! It is what A. W. Tozer called "orthodoxy without the Holy Ghost." According to Watson, the Bible in a sense becomes the Word of God when read in the power of the Holy Spirit. So in a sense we don't have God's Word "until the Holy Spirit illumines our dull minds and warms our cold hearts." (p.143). It is only when the Holy Spirit activates the biblical text that we receive God's revealed truth. As I wrote in a hymn:
With the Holy Spirit's help,The text, great though it is, is not enough. We need more than the text, the God the text points towards.
The ancient words are dead,
But spring to life when he is there:
The Word and Spirit wed.
Another hindrance Watson examines is literalism (the view that the biblical text needs to be taken absolutely literally), and then he talks about "intellectualism" (where we become over concerned with approaching Scripture as an intellectual discipline rather than a spiritual one). Watson comments:
In the West we have often embraced the Greek concepts of truth and knowledge to the exclusion of the Hebrew concepts. The Greeks saw truth in terms of propositions, statements and words; whereas in Hebrew thought, truth was seen in terms of deep personal relationships.Equally, "anti-intellectualism" is also a potential problem, where scholarship is denigrated and wild and fanciful interpretations of Scripture are taught merely on the basis of mystical "promptings of the Holy Spirit."
After the section on hindrances to God's Word, Watson talks about actually hearing the Word of God. Here he comes back to the notion of God's Word as being a wider category than merely the Bible. He talks about the Word of God in three senses:
- The Personal Word - Jesus
- The Written Word - The Bible
- The Spoken Word - Preaching, teaching, witnessing and prophecy
Watson's charismatic views are evident here, for he views New Testament prophecy as a continuing gift to the Church, but he also marks out a number of scriptural tests and boundaries for it. But the spoken Word specifically explained and applied to a particular group of the Lord's people in preaching or in another medium, is a valid way of considering God's Word, though it is always derivative from the first two senses.
The final section in the chapter on the Word of God looks at understanding God's Word. Watson stresses the importance of correctly interpreting the Bible. It is a vital link between the Word outside us and the Word of God actually living in our hearts. Two key questions need to be asked whenever we come to the Bible to understand it. First, what did it mean to the first audience? Second, what does it mean for us today? To answer these two questions correctly we need to look at a number of aspects within and surrounding the text itself including the meaning of the words used (and here a good, accurate translation, or more than one, is indispensable to most of us), the context, the literary form of the passage, and the culture in which it was first written.
It is hard to overemphasise the importance of the Word of God to living as a Christian disciple. Our whole lives are to be steeped in the Word of God and we need to orientate our lives around the Word, and not the other way round. We need to constantly and faithfully apply ourselves in three key actions towards the Word of God: listening to God's Word, studying God's word and obeying God's word. When we do that, week-in-week-out, we will surely grow not only in knowledge but in faith and love as we are transformed by God's holy Word.
Next time we will look at the important subject of spiritual warfare, which is discussed in chapter 8 of Watson's book.
Monday, 14 May 2012
Putting yourself in someone else's thumb
I cut my thumb yesterday while cutting up some chicken for dinner. Not too bad a cut, but it needed bandaged and left me unable to use my left thumb for very much for the rest of the day (and today).
The amount of things I've had difficulty doing since has been remarkable. It includes:
I wouldn't be so crass as to claim I understand how many disabled people really cope day-in-day-out (and I say that as the husband of a wife who is a wheelchair user). But to experience even a tiny bit of difficulty makes my heart go out to everyone who struggles with physical limitations whether the disabled or the elderly. And I can't help thinking of the many service personnel who have lost limbs in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are all incredible people and I think it behooves all of us to think about each others needs and look after each other much more than we do.
The amount of things I've had difficulty doing since has been remarkable. It includes:
- Unable to open packets wrapped in cellophane
- Difficulty opening jars and bottles
- Difficulty changing gear in the car
- A challenge to hold a book and turn the pages
- Great difficulty doing the buttons up on my shirt (especially cuffs)
- A challenge to tie shoe laces
I wouldn't be so crass as to claim I understand how many disabled people really cope day-in-day-out (and I say that as the husband of a wife who is a wheelchair user). But to experience even a tiny bit of difficulty makes my heart go out to everyone who struggles with physical limitations whether the disabled or the elderly. And I can't help thinking of the many service personnel who have lost limbs in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are all incredible people and I think it behooves all of us to think about each others needs and look after each other much more than we do.
Monday, 7 May 2012
Discipleship - Part 3
Introduction
Jesus said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
This is the third in a series of posts on Christian discipleship, using David Watson's great book Discipleship as our guide. Today we look at chapters 4 and 5 of the book on "Making Disciples" and "Life in the Spirit".
Making Disciples
Watson says near the beginning of this chapter: "A disciple is a follower of Jesus. He has committed himself to Christ, to walking Christ's way, to living Christ's life and to sharing Christ's love and truth with others." To make a disciple or rather to disciple as a verb means to encourage another follower of Jesus in this commitment, walk, life and sharing.
Of course this is what the church is commanded to do by Christ in the Great Commission: "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'" (Matthew 28:18-20)
Unfortunately, as Watson then points out, the church has often failed in this task. So many churches are lax about the kind of behaviour tolerated in its ranks and there is little thought for personal holiness. Other churches share and propogate heresy instead of truth without anyone turning a hair. Others pursue members but don't seem too concerned with whether they have a living faith, while yet others pursue converts without much concern for nurturing them into mature disciples. The blame for these faults, Watson directs towards church leaders.
Yet, in typically balanced fashion, Watson then points out the dangers of lurching in another direction, where the church leaders "shepherd" their flock so closely, so intensely, that Christian liberty is stifled, and church leaders become church police officers prying into everyone's life and introducing a code of behaviour that is more moralistic than truly about holiness.
So if there is a danger when there is no leadership and a danger when the voice of the leadership becomes blurred with hearing the voice of God himself, where does the correct balance lie? Well surely it lies in the submission of all to the Holy Spirit speaking through the Bible to God's people. But for Watson there is something else that is more-or-less essential to fostering discipleship within a fellowship and that is small groups.
Small groups ministry is something I also feel very strongly about. In a church of anything over 40-50 members it is very difficult to be really close with everyone. A small group of 6-12 people is a good size for getting to know one another well, where there can be effective teaching, sharing, fellowship, prayer and growth in discipleship.
Watson finishes his chapter focusing on the importance of recognising potential leaders, encouraging leaders and training leaders. Rather than "one man from the front" Watson thinks churches do best with a team of leaders all able to share the burden of leadership - not least the pastoral needs of the flock.
Life in the Spirit
David Watson was moderately charismatic in his views and this is reflected in his chapter on "Life in the Spirit". But whether or not we share his perspective there are still many good things in this chapter.
He begins by pointing out that we need the Holy Spirit to live as Christian disciples. This is perhaps obvious, but we easily forget this, don't we? How many of us try by our own efforts, our own moral code, our own will power, to live as Christians, and forget to look to the Holy Spirit to strengthen and guide us.
He then goes through a number of different aspects of our Christian life and reminds us how important the Holy Spirit is to all of them.
First, we need the Holy Spirit to grow spiritually. We need the Holy Spirit to work inside us to enable us to become more Christlike in our lives.
Second, according to Watson, we need the Holy Spirit so the church can fulfil its healing ministry. Obviously this reflects Watson's charismatic views, but I think it is fair to say that in many of our more cessationist churches, there is a shocking underestimate of God's ability to heal us. We will pray for people to get well, but so often this is framed in terms of God guiding doctors and nurses as if we don't expect healing ever to come by supernatural means.
Third, we need to the Holy Spirit for there to be genuine fellowship between people. We need him to open up our hearts to each other and enable us to share our lives with other believers.
Fourth, we need the Holy Spirit to energise our worship.
Fifth, we need to look to the Holy Spirit for spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ. Again this reflects Watson's charismatic views in part, but the truth is that all Christians believe in spiritual gifts. We just don't all seem to think about them very much! That's a fault of cessationist churches I think.
Sixth, we need the Holy Spirit to give us the power to live as Christians and to be witnesses to others. In order to go and make disciples, we need the Holy Spirit to be our helper and guide, which brings us back full circle. In this respect our call to make disciples and our need of the Holy Spirit are so closely related that they are fused together.
Next time we turn from these more theortical chapters to some practical chapters on prayer and reading the Bible.
Jesus said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
This is the third in a series of posts on Christian discipleship, using David Watson's great book Discipleship as our guide. Today we look at chapters 4 and 5 of the book on "Making Disciples" and "Life in the Spirit".
Making Disciples
Watson says near the beginning of this chapter: "A disciple is a follower of Jesus. He has committed himself to Christ, to walking Christ's way, to living Christ's life and to sharing Christ's love and truth with others." To make a disciple or rather to disciple as a verb means to encourage another follower of Jesus in this commitment, walk, life and sharing.
Of course this is what the church is commanded to do by Christ in the Great Commission: "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'" (Matthew 28:18-20)
Unfortunately, as Watson then points out, the church has often failed in this task. So many churches are lax about the kind of behaviour tolerated in its ranks and there is little thought for personal holiness. Other churches share and propogate heresy instead of truth without anyone turning a hair. Others pursue members but don't seem too concerned with whether they have a living faith, while yet others pursue converts without much concern for nurturing them into mature disciples. The blame for these faults, Watson directs towards church leaders.
Yet, in typically balanced fashion, Watson then points out the dangers of lurching in another direction, where the church leaders "shepherd" their flock so closely, so intensely, that Christian liberty is stifled, and church leaders become church police officers prying into everyone's life and introducing a code of behaviour that is more moralistic than truly about holiness.
So if there is a danger when there is no leadership and a danger when the voice of the leadership becomes blurred with hearing the voice of God himself, where does the correct balance lie? Well surely it lies in the submission of all to the Holy Spirit speaking through the Bible to God's people. But for Watson there is something else that is more-or-less essential to fostering discipleship within a fellowship and that is small groups.
Small groups ministry is something I also feel very strongly about. In a church of anything over 40-50 members it is very difficult to be really close with everyone. A small group of 6-12 people is a good size for getting to know one another well, where there can be effective teaching, sharing, fellowship, prayer and growth in discipleship.
Watson finishes his chapter focusing on the importance of recognising potential leaders, encouraging leaders and training leaders. Rather than "one man from the front" Watson thinks churches do best with a team of leaders all able to share the burden of leadership - not least the pastoral needs of the flock.
Life in the Spirit
David Watson was moderately charismatic in his views and this is reflected in his chapter on "Life in the Spirit". But whether or not we share his perspective there are still many good things in this chapter.
He begins by pointing out that we need the Holy Spirit to live as Christian disciples. This is perhaps obvious, but we easily forget this, don't we? How many of us try by our own efforts, our own moral code, our own will power, to live as Christians, and forget to look to the Holy Spirit to strengthen and guide us.
He then goes through a number of different aspects of our Christian life and reminds us how important the Holy Spirit is to all of them.
First, we need the Holy Spirit to grow spiritually. We need the Holy Spirit to work inside us to enable us to become more Christlike in our lives.
Second, according to Watson, we need the Holy Spirit so the church can fulfil its healing ministry. Obviously this reflects Watson's charismatic views, but I think it is fair to say that in many of our more cessationist churches, there is a shocking underestimate of God's ability to heal us. We will pray for people to get well, but so often this is framed in terms of God guiding doctors and nurses as if we don't expect healing ever to come by supernatural means.
Third, we need to the Holy Spirit for there to be genuine fellowship between people. We need him to open up our hearts to each other and enable us to share our lives with other believers.
Fourth, we need the Holy Spirit to energise our worship.
Fifth, we need to look to the Holy Spirit for spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ. Again this reflects Watson's charismatic views in part, but the truth is that all Christians believe in spiritual gifts. We just don't all seem to think about them very much! That's a fault of cessationist churches I think.
Sixth, we need the Holy Spirit to give us the power to live as Christians and to be witnesses to others. In order to go and make disciples, we need the Holy Spirit to be our helper and guide, which brings us back full circle. In this respect our call to make disciples and our need of the Holy Spirit are so closely related that they are fused together.
Next time we turn from these more theortical chapters to some practical chapters on prayer and reading the Bible.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Discipleship - Part 2
Introduction
Jesus said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
This is the second in a series of articles on Christian discipleship. As my guide I'm using the book Discipleship by David Watson and today we look at chapters 2 and 3 of the book entitled "Called into God's Family" and "Creating Community".
God's Family - The Jesus Community
David Watson points out at the beginning of his chapters on the Church as God's family and as a living community of people that God is concerned for every individual person. Any form of Christianity that ignores the individual has something lacking I believe. Yet Watson also points out a parallel truth that God does not want us "to stay in isolation, but to join the new community of God's people." In other words, though treated as individuals, we are never left as individuals by God. We are God's people in the plural.
Watson makes big claims for the church, but no less big than the claims of the apostles! He says that a church which learns how to be a caring, sharing community in this world of so much alienation, selfishness and greed can indeed turn the world upside down.
In this respect, it needs pointed out that even the church, great though it is, is not an end in itself, but rather a means to an even greater, more glorious end in God's plan and purpose. As Watson says, the church is the way in which God will achieve "the fulfilment of the much wider plan that God has for the whole of creation."
Though written in the early 1980s, I could not help but feel a resonance here in Watson's vision with that of N. T. Wright.
God's plan is much bigger than "saving souls from hell for heaven" which is what some evangelicals have a tendency to reduce the gospel message down to. No, God's plan is monumentally greater even than that. It is to redeem, restore and renew the entire creation, including humanity but not limited to humanity. Watson offers a brilliant quote to sum this up from the Swiss Catholic theologian, Hans Küng: "God's kingdom is creation healed."
In order to be the catalyst for that healing in creation, the church also needs to experience reconciliation and healing within itself. In this respect, Watson believes that unity in the church is vital. He is adamant: "The existence of over 9000 Christian denominations throughout the world is an insult to Christ, a denial of the gospel, and the greatest hindrance to the spreading of the Kingdom of God."
Again I thought I could hear distance echoes of Tom Wright here, but it is hard to justify the many fractures, schisms, splits and plain old-fashioned falling outs that rend the body of Christ into thousands of little "churchettes".
Yet unity cannot be at the expense of truth or honesty and certainly not at the expense of love. The New Testament is clear that there are doctrinal and practical lines in the sand that separate true disciples of Jesus from false teachers. One only has to read letters like 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude and John's epistles to see that. But even so, there is a world of difference between dividing over fundamental issues of the gospel and dividing over all sorts of secondary matters.
Above all though, for there to be unity, we need to look not at grand visions of organisational union or federation, but being committed to the people around us on a Sunday morning. We need to be committed to each other in love. That's the only way we can become a community where all barriers of class, race, age and sex are broken down and destroyed once and for all (Ephesians 2:11-20).
But as well as unity within, there needs to reaching out to the world through evangelism. Again, though, Watson is clear that evangelism's final goal is not saving a soul, but building a community of redeemed people.
And that Christian community will stand out because it has very different values from the world around it. It is a community of sinners, not perfect stained-glass saints. It is real, living, difficult at times. But a community where love and tolerance of each others faults can revolutionise our work and witness to the world. It is above all, a community of the cross, trying to live out Christ's sacrificial love in our locations and in our time to those around us who are in terrible danger of perishing.
We cannot do it on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to live as the church. We need to preach the gospel to ourselves as the church every day. But it is a vision where love will win out in the end. For as Watson defines it: "Christian love, agape, is unconquerable benevolence, invincible good will." When we live it out neither we, nor our churches, nor the world, will ever be the same again.
Next time we will look at what it means to "make disciples" and how we need to live by the Holy Spirit as Christian disciples (chapters 4 and 5 of Watson's book).
Jesus said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
This is the second in a series of articles on Christian discipleship. As my guide I'm using the book Discipleship by David Watson and today we look at chapters 2 and 3 of the book entitled "Called into God's Family" and "Creating Community".
God's Family - The Jesus Community
David Watson points out at the beginning of his chapters on the Church as God's family and as a living community of people that God is concerned for every individual person. Any form of Christianity that ignores the individual has something lacking I believe. Yet Watson also points out a parallel truth that God does not want us "to stay in isolation, but to join the new community of God's people." In other words, though treated as individuals, we are never left as individuals by God. We are God's people in the plural.
Watson makes big claims for the church, but no less big than the claims of the apostles! He says that a church which learns how to be a caring, sharing community in this world of so much alienation, selfishness and greed can indeed turn the world upside down.
In this respect, it needs pointed out that even the church, great though it is, is not an end in itself, but rather a means to an even greater, more glorious end in God's plan and purpose. As Watson says, the church is the way in which God will achieve "the fulfilment of the much wider plan that God has for the whole of creation."
Though written in the early 1980s, I could not help but feel a resonance here in Watson's vision with that of N. T. Wright.
God's plan is much bigger than "saving souls from hell for heaven" which is what some evangelicals have a tendency to reduce the gospel message down to. No, God's plan is monumentally greater even than that. It is to redeem, restore and renew the entire creation, including humanity but not limited to humanity. Watson offers a brilliant quote to sum this up from the Swiss Catholic theologian, Hans Küng: "God's kingdom is creation healed."
In order to be the catalyst for that healing in creation, the church also needs to experience reconciliation and healing within itself. In this respect, Watson believes that unity in the church is vital. He is adamant: "The existence of over 9000 Christian denominations throughout the world is an insult to Christ, a denial of the gospel, and the greatest hindrance to the spreading of the Kingdom of God."
Again I thought I could hear distance echoes of Tom Wright here, but it is hard to justify the many fractures, schisms, splits and plain old-fashioned falling outs that rend the body of Christ into thousands of little "churchettes".
Yet unity cannot be at the expense of truth or honesty and certainly not at the expense of love. The New Testament is clear that there are doctrinal and practical lines in the sand that separate true disciples of Jesus from false teachers. One only has to read letters like 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude and John's epistles to see that. But even so, there is a world of difference between dividing over fundamental issues of the gospel and dividing over all sorts of secondary matters.
Above all though, for there to be unity, we need to look not at grand visions of organisational union or federation, but being committed to the people around us on a Sunday morning. We need to be committed to each other in love. That's the only way we can become a community where all barriers of class, race, age and sex are broken down and destroyed once and for all (Ephesians 2:11-20).
But as well as unity within, there needs to reaching out to the world through evangelism. Again, though, Watson is clear that evangelism's final goal is not saving a soul, but building a community of redeemed people.
And that Christian community will stand out because it has very different values from the world around it. It is a community of sinners, not perfect stained-glass saints. It is real, living, difficult at times. But a community where love and tolerance of each others faults can revolutionise our work and witness to the world. It is above all, a community of the cross, trying to live out Christ's sacrificial love in our locations and in our time to those around us who are in terrible danger of perishing.
We cannot do it on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to live as the church. We need to preach the gospel to ourselves as the church every day. But it is a vision where love will win out in the end. For as Watson defines it: "Christian love, agape, is unconquerable benevolence, invincible good will." When we live it out neither we, nor our churches, nor the world, will ever be the same again.
Next time we will look at what it means to "make disciples" and how we need to live by the Holy Spirit as Christian disciples (chapters 4 and 5 of Watson's book).
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