"How to Engage Tomorrow's World"
I have been reading through N.T. Wright's book, Surprised by Scripture. It looks easy to read, much more clearly written than John Piper, certainly (who uses 5 times as many commas as I do!). But there is so much in it, I need to outline or summarize it somehow.
Wright puts together his thinking on issues that today's church needs to move toward, rather than backing away from, including science and religion, women in ministry, ecology and terrorism. Here is an attempt at trying to understand the chapter on Christ and culture.
As we wrestle with how the Church exists in relation to the cultures of the world, I Peter tells us that at the core we are to be blameless in all things. Wright goes through Colossians and a little of John, ending up with a charge to follow Jesus in His call.
Wright says repeatedly in this book that the church has mindlessly come to agree with culture that it should step back from public life and do its own thing in private. We have been content to pull back, to drift with political wind, standing only on one or two chosen issues, and in fact to resemble the rest of our culture in its individualism, belief that God's kingdom and the world exist in two separate spheres, and "neoliberal vision of the good life...." Colossians informs us, though, that "the church is not simply a religious body looking for a safe place to do its own thing within a wider political or social world. (It is) people who bear witness by...their holiness and their unity that Jesus is the world's true lord."
We live in the world, studying, teaching, living truth, expressing the supreme lordship of Jesus the Messiah by learning how to live His hugely attractive life, and by letting go of sexual immorality in all forms as well as malicious and angry speech. "Communities like this are the way God changes the world....the crucified and risen Jesus is already lord of the world. This is a call to renewed prayer, to renewed holiness, to renewed and cheerful confidence in the power of Jesus to make a fresh way forward."
Wright also reminds us that we have let the world take over a couple of functions the church was intended to have. Governments and secular organizations run what used to be our ministries (hospitals, schools, etc.), and now they claims the right to dictate how these are to be done. We must hold our ground, not giving up those roles or being told how to do them. Also we have let opposition parties and media take over "speaking truth to power," which he addresses out of the Gospel of John.
John 16:8-11 says we, the church, are to be the ones speaking truth to power, through the Spirit, in three ways:
1. showing the world its own sin by modeling God's genuine humanity, truth and life,
2. proving the world wrong about their forms of "justice," which usually favor the rich, and standing for the needs and rights of the truly poor,
3. proving the world wrong in their "judgment" of good and evil, which are most often self-serving, which means calling to account or questioning all violence, especially when it is used by those in power.
He finishes with the call of Jesus to do what He asks only of us, not what He wants of someone else, not watching to see that they are doing what we have been asked.
*************
and a great quote from the chapter on evil (man-made and natural), which is only and always answered by love: "Dare we take the chaos of the dark forces within ourselves and allow Jesus to rebuke them as he rebuked the wind and the waves on the Sea of Galilee?"
Wright puts together his thinking on issues that today's church needs to move toward, rather than backing away from, including science and religion, women in ministry, ecology and terrorism. Here is an attempt at trying to understand the chapter on Christ and culture.
As we wrestle with how the Church exists in relation to the cultures of the world, I Peter tells us that at the core we are to be blameless in all things. Wright goes through Colossians and a little of John, ending up with a charge to follow Jesus in His call.
Wright says repeatedly in this book that the church has mindlessly come to agree with culture that it should step back from public life and do its own thing in private. We have been content to pull back, to drift with political wind, standing only on one or two chosen issues, and in fact to resemble the rest of our culture in its individualism, belief that God's kingdom and the world exist in two separate spheres, and "neoliberal vision of the good life...." Colossians informs us, though, that "the church is not simply a religious body looking for a safe place to do its own thing within a wider political or social world. (It is) people who bear witness by...their holiness and their unity that Jesus is the world's true lord."
We live in the world, studying, teaching, living truth, expressing the supreme lordship of Jesus the Messiah by learning how to live His hugely attractive life, and by letting go of sexual immorality in all forms as well as malicious and angry speech. "Communities like this are the way God changes the world....the crucified and risen Jesus is already lord of the world. This is a call to renewed prayer, to renewed holiness, to renewed and cheerful confidence in the power of Jesus to make a fresh way forward."
Wright also reminds us that we have let the world take over a couple of functions the church was intended to have. Governments and secular organizations run what used to be our ministries (hospitals, schools, etc.), and now they claims the right to dictate how these are to be done. We must hold our ground, not giving up those roles or being told how to do them. Also we have let opposition parties and media take over "speaking truth to power," which he addresses out of the Gospel of John.
John 16:8-11 says we, the church, are to be the ones speaking truth to power, through the Spirit, in three ways:
1. showing the world its own sin by modeling God's genuine humanity, truth and life,
2. proving the world wrong about their forms of "justice," which usually favor the rich, and standing for the needs and rights of the truly poor,
3. proving the world wrong in their "judgment" of good and evil, which are most often self-serving, which means calling to account or questioning all violence, especially when it is used by those in power.
He finishes with the call of Jesus to do what He asks only of us, not what He wants of someone else, not watching to see that they are doing what we have been asked.
*************
and a great quote from the chapter on evil (man-made and natural), which is only and always answered by love: "Dare we take the chaos of the dark forces within ourselves and allow Jesus to rebuke them as he rebuked the wind and the waves on the Sea of Galilee?"
Nicely thought out, Pattie-o
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