On Thursday, ChurchReport listed the 50 most influential Christians in America. Most of them are the usual suspects, with a few surprises here and there. Joel Osteen takes the win, with Bills Graham and Hybels claiming place and show.
But we’ve got an unlikely trio finishing up the top ten!
Never thought I’d see the three of them next to each other!
You can check out the full list here.
(ht: Tim Challies)
Repentance, redemption, and renewal have been on my mind a lot this summer in a very holistic and communal sense. Today, Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed wrote about who’s groaning in Paul’s letter to the church at Rome.
He settles upon Creation, the Church, and the Spirit. Creation yearns for the redemption of the “Eikons” (we call it the “Imago Dei” / “Image of God” in these parts), while the Church and the Spirit long for liberation.
From McKnight in Embracing Grace:
“The gospel is the work of the triune, interpersonal God to restore cracked Eikons to union with God and communion with others.â€?
Check out his post, and follow this series. Look for more from me on the image of God shortly.
- csa
I recently listened to an interview with Benedictine nun Sister Joan Chittister on religion and politics in the Bush Administration. She’s a social psychologist with a Ph.D. and 11 honorary degrees and a prolific writer. Here is a brief excerpt:
I do [feel called by God], but I don’t feel called by God to impose my life on yours. I believe that I’m called by God to keep God a constant question in the human heart. I believe that anything that uses God as an instrument of oppression on other people is not of God.
To have a religious voice in the public arena is very faithful to the founding fathers. Therefore, no single church or tradition that weighs and measures everybody else’s attitudes, standards, or moral decisions…But when you take a religious voice and turn it into a religion in the center of the system, there’s something wrong with that.
When you begin to use that kind of religious criteria and translate it into law, into God’s call for Armageddon — why are we in Iraq now? God apparently wants us there? Not my Jesus. If those are the criteria, we’re going to be in a lot of other countries for “religious reasons” in another 12 months.
Bill Moyers: Depending on the sources, there’ve been 37,000 civilians killed in Iraq — many say perhaps 100,000. Why is abortion a higher moral issue with many American Christians than the invasion of Iraq and the loss of life there?
Sister Joan: I’d like to ask you that question. I’m absolutely certain that some women we’re killing over there are pregnant women. Now what do you do?
Just because you’re opposed to abortion does not mean you’re pro-life. Just because you want a child born does not mean you want a child fed, a child educated, a child housed…That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth.
We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of “Pro-Life” is.
Listen to the interview here if you like. Let’s start this conversation.
This is the formal conclusion to a four-part series; I may or may not extend it.
Read parts one, two, and three.
I concluded the previous installment by highlighting a portion of Jesus’ statement which I believe has profound implications for us today. Now, we’ll explore what he meant by this.
Jesus tells us that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
Other translations of this text include “is/draws near and draws nigh.” The Greek word used here is “eggizo“. It means to join one thing to another or to approach. There are two implications for this interpretation. First, we see that the Kingdom of Heaven is immediately available to us — we need only respond to this call to repentance (that is, allow our minds to be completely transformed — from which action will flow).
Second, we see that the Kingdom of Heaven is approaching the kingdoms of the world. As God has no intention of retreating, his Kingdom will crash into earth as he reclaims, restores, and renews what is His.
When a king comes to visit — or better yet, take up residence, it’s a pretty good idea to put things in order. We see this in the Parable of the Ten Minas in Luke 19 (a mina was about three month’s wages for a laborer). In this parable, a king entrusts three servants with a significant amount of resources in order that they might invest and grow them. But we’re told that “his citizens hated him…saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’” In this story, those who submit themselves to the authority of the king are trusted and loved. Conversely, those who refuse the king’s authority and failed to obey him were put to death.
As such, we’ve good reason to submit ourselves to the Kingdom of God. We’re called to trust in Him, to freely give as we have received, to minister to widows and orphans, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked — in other words, to be Just. The King calls us to push against the pain and brokenness of sin. Though we’ve long participated in its destruction, we must do what we can to make good on it. Not for salvation’s sake (at least as we tend to think of it). But because we know that the will of the King is obedience, justice, restoration, and renewal. Waiting around for him to simply return would be much like the third servant in the story of the minas. He was viciously scolded and had what was entrusted to him taken away.
Today, Christ calls us to enter into the Kingdom, much like he called his first-century disciples. What might living life in the Kingdom of Heaven look like today?
Greek references from Blue Letter Bible.
This is the third part of a series. Read the first and second parts.
Previously, I’d asked why it is important that we repent in the manner Christ called us to repent — such that our minds are utterly and completely transformed.
Jesus tells us that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Many interpret this to mean that the world will soon end — thus, people should repent now so they don’t wind up in hell later. Well, sure. But this is quite a reductionistic interpretation. Let’s take a closer look at this phrase.
First, “kingdom” used in the context of a first-century Jew did not refer to a physical place as we understand it. Instead, it indicated the right or authority to rule over a people. The word has much more to do with sovereignty and obedience than it does a spot on a cosmic map.
Our culture tells us that “heaven” is a place in the clouds where angels play harps and you get to do whatever you want — say, throw rocks at me for rambling. This was not what Jesus’ meant by heaven — nor did he mean a far-off place where we’ll one day go to worship God. The word for heaven, “ouranos” referred to the “order of things eternal and…perfect where God dwells.”
The “Kingdom of Heaven” refers to God’s authority to rule over the created universe.
Therefore, Jesus speaks to those who do not recognize God’s authority. His primary message is a call to obey the Lord as the good, wise, and just ruler of an eternal kingdom whose bounds are limitless.
What’s more — this Kingdom is “at hand.”
Check back on Friday for the (formal) conclusion of this series. Until then, leave a comment! What’s on your mind?
Greek references from Blue Letter Bible.
This is part two in a series. Read the first post.
In the first part of this series, I explored Jesus’ exhortation to “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” by considering the word “repent” as it’s often used.
Today, we’ll begin to unpack Christ’s call to repentance.
Matthew locates this statement at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Furthermore, he indicates that these words were perhaps Jesus’ central message. The phrase “From that time” (the NIV translates this “from that time on”) indicates that Jesus continued to use these words. The Greek phrase “apo tote” implies something beginning at a specific point, then continuing in a certain direction indefinitely — much like a ray in mathematics. This word is also used in the New Testament to mean that someone is the first to do something. The Son of God walked the earth, teaching people(s) to repent and enter the Kingdom of God.
But what does it mean to repent? I remember thinking that “repent” meant to say that you’re sorry. In this sense, Jesus’ command as we often think of it makes a lot of sense — “say you’re sorry so that you don’t go to hell!” But the word “repent” meant much more to Him than simply apologizing.
The Greek word for “repent” used here is “metanoeo.” This word primarily means “to change one’s mind.” In this context, it implies that this is a change for the better, resulting from an abhorrence of one’s sins and a desire to make amends.
So when Jesus commands us to repent, he’s not calling us to bow down at the front of a church or say the “sinner’s prayer” — though there’s nothing wrong with these. It’s just important that we keep separate in our minds what Christ has ordained and what His Church has instituted. But Jesus is calling us to change our minds completely by seeking, hearing, and obeying his teaching.
Paul echoes this in Romans 12, calling the church to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” A simple apology will not suffice. The transformation to which Christ calls us is a complete shift in thought and practice.
But why must we repent in this manner?
Check back here on Wednesday. Until then, leave a comment!
- csa
Greek references from Blue Letter Bible.
As a kid, I remember walking by an auto parts shop in the town where I grew up. It was almost always closed, which made me wonder how they made money. A simple sign often covered the door — it said, “Closed. Please call again.” Apart from never opening the door, I thought they were pretty stupid for hanging that sign up. “Call,” I thought? I hadn’t called them — I just walked by the door!
My dad later explained to me that before the telephone was invented, “calling” someone meant that you went to visit them. I pulled my foot out of my mouth and said that they were still stupid for using words two centuries out of date.
Looking back on this experience, I learned that words are not “timeless, unchanging containers of meaning.” Different cultures use them in different ways, and over time, the connotations of a single word within a single culture can shift entirely.
It’s easy to get caught up in a single interpretation of a word when reading the Bible — and entirely understandable! But we must remember that the twenty-first century is far-removed from the first century.
The Book of Matthew begins by establishing Jesus’ genealogy, the circumstances surrounding his birth, then tells us of his baptism and temptation. Following this, we find a rather curious passage:
“From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying
‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’”
- Matthew 4:17, ESV
Google is a great cultural thermometer.
An image search for “repent” turned up these three matches:
When we consider the word “repent,” we often think of altar calls, fire-and-brimstone rhetoric, and people with bullhorns shouting in the streets.
But is that was Jesus meant when he said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand?”
Check back on Monday for part two. In the meantime, leave a comment — I’d like to hear your thoughts.
Here are some questions that I would like to explore:
I do not know where this journey will take me. But I pray that the Lord might guide me there by His Word and Spirit.
