Bonhoeffer on Church

In his book, Ethics, Bonhoeffer talks a bit about church. I haven't read it, but found this on another blog and thought it was a super.

‘The space of the church is not there in order to fight with the world for a piece of its territory, but precisely to testify to the world that it is still the world, namely, the world that is loved and reconciled by God.’

‘Where that witness [to the world] has become silent it is a sign of inner decay in the church-community, just as failure to bear fruit is a sign that a tree is dying.’

‘The church-community is separated from the world only by this: it believes in the reality of being accepted by God—a reality that belongs to the whole world—and in affirming this as valid for itself it witnesses that it is valid for the entire world. The body of Jesus Christ, especially as it is presented to us on the cross, makes visible to faith both the world in its sin and in its being loved by God, and the church-community as the company of those who recognize their sin and gratefully submit to the love of God.’

Titus

Titus is super encouraging and so simple. Sound doctrine, holy living. It was really interesting to think about what we can learn from it about the context. We asked a few simple questions and got this awesome Wordle like creation.

What did the congregation look like?

What can we learn about their history?

What was the character of Cretans?

How did they come to Christ?

What threats were they facing?

I don't know much about Mark Driscoll, but he was who I pictured as a modern day Titus. A big, rough looking character who speaks some harsh but necessary truths to a people who "claim to live for God but deny him by their actions." Just a random thought, not to be taken too seriously :)

Depth of mercy! Can there be
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God His wrath forbear,
Me, the chief of sinners, spare?

I have long withstood His grace,
Long provoked Him to His face,
Would not hearken to His calls,
Grieved Him by a thousand falls.

I have spilt His precious blood,
Trampled on the Son of God,
Filled with pangs unspeakable,
I, who yet am not in hell!

I my Master have denied,
I afresh have crucified,
And profaned His hallowed Name,
Put Him to an open shame.

Whence to me this waste of love?
Ask my Advocate above!
See the cause in Jesus’ face,
Now before the throne of grace.

Jesus, answer from above,
Is not all Thy nature love?
Wilt Thou not the wrong forget,
Permit me to kiss Thy feet?

If I rightly read Thy heart,
If Thou all compassion art,
Bow Thine ear, in mercy bow,
Pardon and accept me now.

Jesus speaks, and pleads His blood!
He disarms the wrath of God;
Now my Father’s mercies move,
Justice lingers into love.

Kindled His relentings are,
Me He now delights to spare,
Cries, “How shall I give thee up?”
Lets the lifted thunder drop.

Lo! I still walk on the ground:
Lo! an Advocate is found:
“Hasten not to cut Him down,
Let this barren soul alone.”

There for me the Savior stands,
Shows His wounds and spreads His hands.
God is love! I know, I feel;
Jesus weeps and loves me still.

Pity from Thine eye let fall,
By a look my soul recall;
Now the stone to flesh convert,
Cast a look, and break my heart.

Now incline me to repent,
Let me now my sins lament,
Now my foul revolt deplore,
Weep, believe, and sin no more.

"An ac­tress in a town in Eng­land, while pass­ing along the street, heard sing­ing in a house. Out of cur­i­o­si­ty she looked in through the open door and saw a num­ber of peo­ple sit­ting to­ge­ther sing­ing this hymn. She list­ened to the song, and af­ter­wards to a sim­ple but ear­nest pray­er. When she went away the hymn had so im­pressed her that she pro­cured a co­py of a book con­tain­ing it. Read­ing and re-read­ing the hymn led her to give her heart to God and to re­solve to leave the stage. The man­a­ger of the the­a­ter plead­ed with her to con­tin­ue to take the lead­ing part in a play which she had made fa­mous in other ci­ties, and fi­nal­ly he per­suad­ed her to ap­pear at the the­a­ter. As the cur­tain rose the or­ches­tra be­gan to play the ac­com­pa­ni­ment to the song which she was ex­pect­ed to sing. She stood like one lost in thought, and the band, sup­pos­ing her em­bar­rassed, played the prel­ude over a se­cond and a third time. Then with clasped hands she stepped for­ward and sang with deep emo­tion:

“Depth of mercy, can there be
Mercy still reserved for me?”

This put a sud­den stop to the per­for­mance; not a few were im­pressed, though many scoffed. The change in her life was as per­ma­nent as it was sin­gu­lar. Soon af­ter she be­came the wife of a min­is­ter of the Gos­pel."

Sovereignty and Sin

I thought I'd maybe be more proactive about Blogging while I can.

Here's two videos of John Piper that I think are helpful together:





Perhaps there's better explainations of Sovereignty and Sin, but I don't believe there is any better or more helpful application a Christian can offer than in the second video :)

Be interested in your thoughts if anybody reads/watches this.

KYCK 10 - Life Under the Sun

I live by faith, but I am a cynic. I am emotional, but I am logical. I am purchased by the blood of a God who is far bigger than I, yet my view of him is so small. I am a bit complex and I don't make any sense. For all these reasons my thoughts on KYCK 10 probably won't make my sense. But hopefully they will have some helpfulness to them.

I'll just deal with what I like and the talks, if you want other thoughts you can ask me. I'm thankful for a loving rebuke about introducing others to my cynicism. One of the sad things about being a youth leader is seeing sins passed on to those you lead when they clearly should have died in you.

The thing I like most about KYCK is realising how big God is. God can get 6000+ young people from all over to come to three weekends to hear the gospel. It's encouraging to see people getting out of their comfort zone and talking to people NOT FROM THEIR GROUP! Seeing people love and get encouraged by things that I don't like and that confuse me (read: God shows me things can be helpful even if I don't like them, so I should appreciate them). Sweet moments when the band is silent and 2000+ voices behind me fill a hot stuffy room singing "All that really matters is You" (still encouraging despite the super-ambiguous intro and skipping of "Jesus, it's You" every time). Seeing people putting their faith in Jesus who "died on the cross, in their place, for their sins"!

Talk 1, Ecclesiastes 1:

Everything is "meaningless"/Hebel/fleeting/breath. Creation has no gain/profit/impact. Likewise people have no gain/profit/impact. You will never know everything, and you will not be remembered. This is not a negative message ("You will never make a difference so don't even try."), but positive ("You are so small! Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought.").

People who talk lots never have time to listen to their Creator (Romans 1:21) so let your words be few (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2). Are we talkers or trusters?

Talk 2, Ecclesiastes 2:

What does a man gain? You can enjoy being rich and famous, but in the end wealth and fame are hebel. You can enjoy wisdom and knowledge, but in the end the same fate awaits both the wise and the fool - death. The person who chases gain/profit/impact is a sinner because those who chase it neglect God. Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth. Do not worry!

Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you. Receive gifts FROM GOD and BE THANKFUL! Joy should be the practical outworking of a godly life. We should be thankful people! Pursue joy and don't waste the time or the gifts you have been given. Are we open handed or are we snatchers?

Talk 3, Ecclesiastes 3:

Life seems like "Lost". You're born and you die and all these random events occur in between. God has made everything beautiful in it's time, so we should enjoy the moment (even hard moments), but it IS a burden. God has set eternity in our hearts, and has made us safe and secure with Jesus for eternity. We can't fathom it, but God has it in his hand. We can plan, but we're not in control. God is! Does it worry you that you are not in control? What does that say about your trust in God?

Wise living is to be happy and DO GOOD. Everything God does endures forever (I thought of Ephesians 2:10), so that men will revere him.

Talk 4, Ecclesiastes 4-8:

Everything sucks. We should respond by crying, but also by crying out because God has answers. Do not be surprised by injustice. We see it every day (poverty, wrongly exocuted etc.) Why doesn't somebody do something? Why don't I do something? Because I'm too small and I'm fleeting, I need God to... but am I prepared for him to come in justice?

We are part of the problem because we all sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Each one of us is pursuing gain and not God. We live our life our own way without him. So we need to cry out for justice, but also for mercy. How?

Jesus on the cross. God HAS done something. He sent the innocent in place of the guilty. Jesus died in our place for our sin (the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God - 1 Peter 3:18)!

Why still injustice? Because his patience means salvation. God is allowing you time to come to him because there will be a day when he deals with the injustice of sin once and for all. Your ONLY hope is to come to Jesus. Nothing in this fleeting life is better than living for him :)

Talk 5, Ecclesiastes 11:

Creation tells you that God is at work, and that we are not in control. The more we know about stuff, the more we realise how little we know. The foolish life, the gain chasing life, is characterised by arrogance and laziness. The wise life is to trust God and do good things. Live generously, trusting Jesus with tomorrow. Just as you cannot put off growing old, you should not waste the time you have with the ability to do good.

Where are the risk takers? People willing to succeed or fail in the safety of Jesus' hands? In everything try and live for Jesus - this is the path to joy. Remember that God will judge EVERYTHING (even the things you DON'T do). He is not looking to punish, but to make sure you have life to the full (John 10:10). Choose life, not laziness or selfishness.

Talk 6, Ecclesiastes 12:

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. These are formative years, so form your habits with your Creator in mind. When tempted, remember the God who made you. Remember that we will all grow old and die. Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel (2 Timothy 2:8).


All in all it was an encouraging weekend. I loved Sounds of Light playing on Sunday, and the large moshpit that formed and still kept singing even though the tech crew cut the power :P

Thankful for time spent with our crew and seeing them grow and wrestle with the word. Pray for them as they try to do Ecclesiastes at school this term. Pray that they learn to make it simple and that they won't try to do too much with their "hebel" time.