iMonk Classic: The Light of a Most Obvious Question

Classic iMonk Post
by Michael Spencer
From December, 2005

A few weeks ago, I listened to an extraordinary sermon, but not extraordinary in the way you might think. The absence of Jesus in the sermon shook me.

Jesus was never mentioned. Not once. Not anywhere. Not ever. Not in any way. Not in the introduction. Not in the illustrations. Not in the conclusion. Not in some trailing reference to “accepting Christ” stuck on to the last paragraph a la Joel Osteen.

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Change the word “Bible” to “Koran” and the sermon could have been a hit in any mosque in the world.

Frankly, this kind of thing has caused me to start rethinking a lot of things. How can we be approaching Christianity as if it is the Oxford English Dictionary, where Jesus is an entry, but you can read thousands of entries without any reference to Jesus? That’s not right.

In the hopes of deterring some from the road that ends in giving talks about reformers and doctrine and the Bible and why we’re so right, but never even speaking about Jesus, here’s a (hopefully) provocative post.

I am going to give you a flawed and errant post. I’ll say that right off the top. What I’m going to recommend in this post as a method for doing theology is almost certainly flawed enough to inspire pages and pages of response in the blogosphere. So, if anything that admits its imperfections immediately offends you, move on to the cat pictures.

In fact, I can be pretty fairly specific about the error I am going to promote: I’m going to suggest an imonkish version of “What Would Jesus Do?” I’m read up on all the problems with that particular approach to Christian ethics, and I while I think it has its merits, I don’t recommend it to unlicensed drivers.

I’ll go on and say I’m not going to recommend my version to just anyone, either. What I’m going to suggest might be useful, however, to those of you who have enough experience with the Gospels to have some idea of what Jesus was like in the day to day.

I have no trouble admitting, by the way, that the Gospels weren’t written to give us a transcript of the day-to-day with Jesus, or to answer the kinds of questions about “A Day With Jesus” that our curiousity might suggest. The Gospels were front-loaded with the message that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah, while also being the resurrected Son of Israel’s God; “God with us”, in other words. Still, I believe we can use the Gospels’ presentation of Jesus as a guide to evaluation of much that we do and believe, and even with a “verse”, we can have a sense- an accurate sense- of how Jesus impacts certain questions.

My theological suggestion has now been substantially disarmed of any potential arrogance, so I’m going to get it out of the garage and take it for a spin:

“If you were to spend three years hanging around with Jesus as he is presented in the Gospels, do you believe you would come to the conclusion that [fill in this part with the theological issue being tested]?”

Continue reading “iMonk Classic: The Light of a Most Obvious Question”

Advent III: The Winter Sun Is Warm

Third Sunday of Advent
December 11, 2012

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Psalm 126 or Luke 1:46b-55
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

Prayer of the Day
Stir up the wills of your faithful people, Lord God, and open our ears to the words of your prophets, that, anointed by your Spirit, we may testify to your light; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Note: the third Sunday is Advent is known as “Gaudete” (Rejoicing) Sunday.

He came as a witness to testify to the light… (John 1:8)

• • •

sonnet for advent III

the winter sun is warm through window pane
if paler than its counterpart in june
and though the world it lights is stark and bare
inside, i find its wholesome rays a boon
the cat lies curled upon the carpet snug
steam rises from the cup beside my chair
a beam divulges drifting, dancing dust —
a fay fantasia — angels unaware!
in recent darkened days i’ve felt so down
so slow to move into each morning drear
and do my work beneath a shivery shroud
where rarely does the low bright sun appear
today the spell is broken — gone the gray!
my heart sings out a happy “gaudete”!

Saturday Ramblings 12.10.11

You may have noticed this week’s Ramblings was a bit delayed. It’s not my fault. One of my good friends tempted me with free tickets to a hockey game Friday night when I would normally be writing. How could I refuse? And while Tulsa won—in a shootout, no less—there were no fights. None. I mean, what is the point of going to a hockey game if all they are going to do is play hockey? Oh, there was some dancing, but no fisticuffs. I suppose I should be happy. After all, there was plenty of fighting after the essay I wrote earlier this week on love. This is a feisty bunch here at the iMonastery lately. But I am here now and am ready to skate—fight-free—through the leftovers we call Saturday Ramblings.

Albert Pujols took $254 million to become an Angel. Does this mean he is also now a devil? How does a Christian athlete rationalize receiving such a huge amount of money? Or should one even have to rationalize it? (Hey, I’m just glad he is out of the same division—and league—as my Cincinnati Reds.)

What if Southern Baptists were no longer Southern Baptists? The denomination is once again thinking of changing its name. They say the word “Baptist” would remain. What adjective can you think to go with Baptist? Keep it clean, iMonks. Keep it clean. Remember, Michael Spencer grew up Southern Baptist.

Continue reading “Saturday Ramblings 12.10.11”

Mark D. Roberts: All Pastoring Is Personal

All Pastoring Is Personal
From The Pastor’s Workshop
Used with permission of the author

Earlier this week, we reviewed Mark Roberts’ book introducing Advent. How happy I was when I went over to his blog and saw that he too has been writing on the subject of pastoral ministry. In fact, he has an excellent seven-part series on the subject, and today’s post is the final installment of that series.

In this post, Roberts looks at my favorite passage that describes how we should practice ministry, 1Thessalonians 2. Paul’s approach as elucidated here puts the lie to any approach that separates the minister from ground-level people work.

Thanks to Mark for allowing us to share these wise words on Internet Monk!

• • •

Editor’s Note: This is the seventh installment of Dr. Roberts’ “Master Class for Pastors.” The first parts are the Introduction, “Who Are Your Partners?” “The Impact of Thanksgiving,” “How Do You Talk About Your Church?” “Understanding Your Cultural Context,” and “Nine Stereotypes for Pastors.”

In my last article in this “Master Class for Pastors,” I noted, once again, how Paul and his pastoral colleagues understood their work in the cultural context of their day. In light of this observation, I considered “Nine Stereotypes of Pastors” that people might be inclined to apply to pastors in today’s world: ideal pastor, doctor, psychologist, teacher, friend, handyman, magician, CEO, and parent. We who serve as Christian clergy, it seems to me, ought to discern how we are both like and unlike these nine stereotypes.

Once again, we find a model for this kind of discernment in 1 Thessalonians. As you may recall, in the second chapter of this letter, Paul and his colleagues use the language of the popular philosophers to explain and defend their pastoral work. So, for example, when they write, “we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others” (2:5b-6), Paul & Co. sound very much like their secular counterparts. The philosopher Dio Chrysostom, for example, speaks about how rare it is to find a person who philosophizes “neither for the sake of praise nor for financial gain” because the world is full of “flatterers, magicians, and sophists” (Orationes, 32:11). Paul and his team could have said that very thing.

Continue reading “Mark D. Roberts: All Pastoring Is Personal”

We Have All the “Tools” We Need (3)

This is the third and final installment of a little “back to basics” article for Christian ministers.

Peter, the one Jesus charged to “feed [his] sheep,” wrote in his second epistle, “So I intend to go on and on reminding you about all this — even though you know it, and have been firmly established in the truth which has come to you. But it seems right to me, as long as I am living in this present tent, to stir you up with a reminder.” (2Pet 1:12-13, KNT). Like Peter, I don’t intend to say anything new or “cutting edge” with these posts. I’d just like us to focus back on some truly essential elements of ministry.

So far, we’ve identified five of those elements:

  1. Newness of life in Christ.
  2. The Holy Spirit.
  3. The Gospel.
  4. Word and Sacrament.
  5. Love.

Those who want to minister Christ to the world must be people who die daily to the old way of life and rise again to walk in newness of life. Each day, we reenact our baptism and live in Christ, going to him for forgiveness, renewal, and leading.

For this, God has bestowed on us the promised Holy Spirit, who gives us inner power, energizing us to point to Jesus and keep pointing to Jesus, come what may.

He has entrusted the Gospel to us, the message that God, through Jesus, has begun to reign on earth as he rules in heaven. We are ambassadors of Jesus the King, who is making all things new.

To fulfill his commission of making disciples of all nations, God has given us his Word and Sacraments. He communicates Christ to us, working his grace and mercy into our lives through the simple stuff of creation — words spoken and written on paper and ink, combined with water splashed over humble sinners, and combined with bread and wine served to those who stretch out empty hands of faith. Thus God creates and sustains his people.

Of all the qualities required for ministry, there is one that stands supreme. We must be people of love. God has poured out his love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and continues to communicate his love to us through Word and Sacrament. What matters in life and ministry is faith working through love.

Two final essentials fill out our list…

Continue reading “We Have All the “Tools” We Need (3)”

We Have All the “Tools” We Need (2)

This is part two of a piece in which I contend that, in essence, no new tools have been invented since the days of Jesus and the apostles (save one) that are absolutely essential for us to fulfill the Great Commission or encourage spiritual formation in the church.

My focus is on pastoral ministry, because we have been engaged in a discussion involving Mark Galli and Tod Bolsinger that Scot McKnight and many others have noted. This conversation has been about the nature of the pastoral ministry, in particular, do we need more “Chaplains” or “Leaders” in ministry in the church?

In the previous post to this one, I stated my intention to set aside those concerns for awhile and focus on a few foundational “tools” that all ministers must make use of in order to fulfill their ministry. My contention is that, in the final analysis, basic tools such as these are really all that are needed to do the job.

Other things may be helpful. Only things like these are essential.

We noted three in the first article:

  1. Newness of life in Jesus.
  2. The Holy Spirit.
  3. The Gospel.

Those who want to give Christ to the world must be people who die daily to the old way of life and rise again to walk in newness of life. Each day, we reenact our baptism and live in Christ as we experience his forgiveness, renewal, and leading. For this, God has bestowed on us the promised Holy Spirit, who gives us power. From the depths of our inner being, he energizes us to point to Jesus and keep pointing to Jesus, come what may. The great message entrusted to us is the Gospel, the message that God, through Jesus, has begun to reign on earth as he rules in heaven. We represent Jesus the King, who is making all things new.

Here are two more essentials. We’ll talk about the last two on Friday.

Continue reading “We Have All the “Tools” We Need (2)”

Love Without Boundaries

I am going to upset many today, but what’s new about that? I am going to field angry comments from counselors, pastors, and those who have been hurt. Yet what I have to say needs to be said. Prepare your firebrands and pitchforks.

Ready?

I don’t believe in boundaries in love.

None.

This goes against what most every levelheaded, certificated, authorized family counselor will tell you. “You have to set boundaries to have a truly intimate love relationship. You have to be able to say No when you want to.”  Your pastor would most likely concur with this while handing you a copy of Boundaries In Marriage by Cloud and Townsend. I could probably make as many good arguments as they why limits and fences are a good idea in relationships.

But now I think limits and fences are wrong. I’ll go so far as to say you can not truly love someone if you put up boundaries. At least you cannot love another with the love that Love Himself showed. God has no fences or walls that say, “As long as you follow these guidelines and stay within these painted lines I will love you and allow you to come near to me. Break one of the guidelines, however, and I will withdraw my love from you.” Now, of course, I have armchair theologians on the warpath by my saying this.

“No,” they’ll say. “God put up all kinds of boundaries in the Old Testament. Look at who was allowed in the Holy of Holies. Only the righteous priests could go in to the presence of God and live.” To which I will say, “Remember the Temple curtain that was torn in two from top to bottom when Jesus died on the cross.” But let’s not start the fists flying just yet. Your turn will come soon enough.

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We Have All the “Tools” We Need (1)

These next two posts are going to sound hopelessly idealistic and naive. Sorry, but I don’t care.

I am an educated person who is in his mid-fifties. I’ve been around the block a few times, and I understand fully that the world is not simple. I know we need competent people to do research of all kinds and write reports and make recommendations. We need the counsel of the wise and the insights of scholars and experts.

We need theorists and strategists, architects and engineers, technicians and practitioners. We need people who can spot problems and fix what’s broken. We need smart people, capable people, thinking people, people to engage in discussions and debates that can help us think through complex issues so that we gain clarity and direction.

We are called to childlike faith, but not to childish immaturity.

I also know that the subject of the church and the ministry is rich, profound, complex, and mysterious. We need people to study ecclesiology and missiology, sociologists and cultural anthropologists who can help us understand our culture and the specific issues of our generation. We need teachers of pastoral theology, master evangelists and church planters too, to help us hone our skills with wisdom and insight. How the church should participate in the Missio Dei is a complex subject and we need all the help we can get to fulfill our calling.

For example, take the topic we have been discussing: What is a pastor?

How should he or she function within the life of a local congregation and community? What should be the pastor’s priorities? What should be the pastor’s primary focus? Visionary leader? Chaplain? Preacher? Teacher? Transformational leader? Equipper? CEO? Discipler? Organizer? Worship Leader? Father Confessor? Program Director? Missional exemplar? Builder of community? Assuming that the task entails more than one simple job, how should the various elements be balanced in a job description?

Depending on how you answer that question, there are many folks out there ready to sell you a book, set out a program, and provide you the “tools” you need to do the job.

I suppose there’s a place for all that, but today I want to suggest something different, something profoundly simple. Despite the vast industry of ministry theories, strategies, programs, and tools that has grown up in the wake of the church growth movement, NONE of them are really necessary to do what Jesus called us to do.

In fact, I would assert that, in essence, no new tools have been invented since the days of Jesus and the apostles (save one) that are absolutely essential for us to fulfill the Great Commission or encourage spiritual formation in the church.

Continue reading “We Have All the “Tools” We Need (1)”

Pete Enns: Honor Your Head. Don’t Live In It.

Honor Your Head. Don’t Live in It.
From Peter Enns…rethinking biblical christianity
Reprinted with the author’s permission

One of my favorite Biblical scholars writing today is Peter Enns. At his blog, Biologos, and in his books, he works through complex issues of biblical interpretation and the relationship of the Bible and Christian thinking to the broader culture. And he does so in a civil, and in my opinion, reasonable manner.

I also like that he occasionally gives us a glimpse into his own spiritual journey. Thanks to Pete, he allowed me to reprint this post, which I know will resonate with our iMonk community. Enjoy.

• • •

I think I am a Protestant.

I’ve spent my entire Christian life, since childhood, as a Protestant, but I got tired of it. I tried being nothing for a while, but that didn’t work. I tried being anything else, too, but that didn’t work either.

So, I think I am a Protestant.

It seems to me that the root reason is that I have a personality defect. I like to live in my head.

Protestants tend to focus on having better arguments than the next person—after all, claiming to be more right about God is how it all got started, a legacy that is downloaded from the Reformation onto all Protestant offspring.

Protestantism allows me to stay in the Comfortable Place—my head; a refuge, a rock, an ever-present help in time of trouble.

In fact, Protestantism positively encourages me to stay put in the fantasy world of my brain.

From there I control my life, my surroundings, the universe—God himself. Which is ironic, since Jesus has a few things to say about letting go of control, dying in fact, so that you can gain true life.

Continue reading “Pete Enns: Honor Your Head. Don’t Live In It.”