“It's time to get going”
I have known for a while that I want to spend my life in God's word and getting other people into it. I have rough ideas of what that could look like. I haven't really started moving towards that. However, at the EU Science weekend away last semester, and again at AnCon, a thought lodged itself firmly in my mind: “Alright, it's time to get going.”
On one level, I have no idea where to start. It's not a natural progression from either of the things I'm doing now, so it'll take a significant change of direction. I've talked to a few people, and I'm going to talk to more, about the various options out there. And there are options out there... plenty, and well-attested-to by the people I've known who've gone through them. So, on another level, I know exactly where to start... I just have to get on with it.
The required steps to becoming a minister of the word around here seem to be as follows:
1.Be a Christian
2.Go to Year 13 or equivalent (optional)
3.Go to uni
4.Be EU President (or any other position of leadership in the EU)
5.Work for 3 years (stint in the mission field an option, for bonus points)
6.Be an EU staffworker or MTS dude/dudette
7.If you didn't get married during steps 3 to 6, do so now
8.Go to Moore College (or go to SMBC then Moore)
So far, I've got 1,3 & 4 down, leaving me on the brink of 5 and with half my time for 7 used up... Of course I'm not being entirely serious here. Really, only step 1 is compulsory. Everything else is a bonus that God will use in your ministry. In fact, I challenge you to do something you consider completely random and watch out for whether or not you end up using it for God's glory one day. I bet you will.
Even though these aren't compulsory, they do have a certain weight to them in people's eyes. They're part of what people look for in you when you mention you want to go into vocational ministry. Most of these I'm comfortable with, to varying extents, due to their aforementioned usage by God. However, I've started questioning how highly valued point 5 is. A stint of pre-ministry work was part of my original plan. I thought seriously about teaching maths, and then for a while thought seriously about driving buses for a few years. Whatever thoughts I have, they don't seem to thrill me or engage me, because I know they'd only really be a means to an end. But what, really, is the “end” I'd be trying to achieve?
If the “end” of working for a few years after uni is to know what life is like in “the real world”, then I suppose it does have some merit. I think it's even better if that time is spent getting to know and develop yourself, because the pressure of responsibility and the testing of your relationships with God and other people can be a really formative and informative experience. I'm ambivalent about the financial “end” - on the one hand, providing for yourself eases your burden on the Christian community; on the other hand, God will provide whatever you need (not want, mind you). The “end” I am beginning to disagree with strongly is that of gaining credibility with workers. Frankly, working for three years so you can tell a congregation of lifetime workers that you know what they're going through is cheap, artificial and probably more than a little self-deceptive. Yes, you may know what it's like to work, but no, you don't know what it's like for that work to be your life's work. In fact, you've tried that work thing and then found something better to do with your life. Is that kind of condescension really going to help anyone? I gather that older workers are good at seeing through façades. In general, they strongly appreciate a young person who pulls their weight in a real job, and scorn those in academia, the clergy and other so-called useless jobs. I firmly believe it'd be better to tell an older worker that you're doing Christian ministry because you love it than to tell them that you worked for a while but couldn't ignore the call to something higher. When you know the scorn's going to be there, I think it's better to accept it front-on and be open about your reasons. That way, if they still think you're wasting your life, they'll at least appreciate that you're doing it with honesty.
That said, if you do work for a few years with a good, solid reason, God will use those years and experiences somehow. I know my reason for planning to work for a few years was for credibility, but I know that's not the case for everyone. This has just been on my mind a lot lately, having changed my mind on it and all.
What do you think about working pre-ministry? I'd be keen to hear your thoughts. Basically, I'm wondering whether I really have to spend another 3 or so years doing something (anything) before getting into what I really want to do. I need wisdom... give me wisdom... Also, if you have any suggestions on how to find out if you're a good preacher, or on how to kick off a writing ministry, please send them my way.
That aside, I'm keen to get on with life in God's service, whatever that looks like. I have a lot of thought and prayer ahead of me for the decision about what to do next year and the year after in particular. But, I have decided to follow Jesus, and there will be no turning back. Though Satan send me hell and high water along the way - and he will, and he does - I belong to Jesus, and Jesus has already defeated him. So, for me, to live is Christ, and life or death will be for His glory.
Bring it.
“If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.
Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
- 1 Timothy 4:6-16, NIV, taken from BibleGateway.com
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
two a: God is trinity
“God is trinity - Father, Son, Spirit”
On a cold June evening I sat and thought, looking over a dam and the darkening trees. It was a good place to think, because it seemed as though everyone else was too afraid of the cold to come near. Trees, silence, sheep, the slowly-appearing stars and God.
When thinking about how the Father, Son and Spirit work together in all things, I came to understand better that the Spirit is a person, and my belief in God became more thoroughly Trinitarian. Then I thought about how I know the Father as “my Father”, and Jesus as “my Lord” (or, well, Jesus), in my thinking and prayer and stuff; but i didn't have such a name for the Spirit, even though He too is my God.
On the basis of John 14:16,17 I settled on “my Counsellor”.
Just thought I'd share that. Not really sure why.
On a cold June evening I sat and thought, looking over a dam and the darkening trees. It was a good place to think, because it seemed as though everyone else was too afraid of the cold to come near. Trees, silence, sheep, the slowly-appearing stars and God.
When thinking about how the Father, Son and Spirit work together in all things, I came to understand better that the Spirit is a person, and my belief in God became more thoroughly Trinitarian. Then I thought about how I know the Father as “my Father”, and Jesus as “my Lord” (or, well, Jesus), in my thinking and prayer and stuff; but i didn't have such a name for the Spirit, even though He too is my God.
On the basis of John 14:16,17 I settled on “my Counsellor”.
Just thought I'd share that. Not really sure why.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
two b: God is trinity
“God is trinity - distinct in person; one in being, purpose & action”
(No, you didn't miss part a. I just think it makes sense to talk about this first.)
Rowan's second talk at AnCon focussed on the nature of God, and in particular the relationships the Holy Spirit has with the Father and the Son. Usually the Trinity is a mind-blowing thing to think about, and so it was a little surprising to be diving into this on the first day. Having to lead a review group on it on day two freaked me out more than a bit!
Despite this, I can now see that talking about the Trinity on day one was a crucial move for Rowan to make. When you're talking about one member of the Trinity, it's absolutely important to understand what you're talking about when you say “one member of the Trinity”. Better yet: it's crucially important to understand Who you're talking about. I'm thankful Rowan went there so soon, because without him doing so I think I would have misunderstood a lot of crucial points throughout the week. I think this is where everything started to make sense for me, because at this point I began to better understand who my God is.
“Trinity”... “tri-unity”... three/one... three in one... the word itself is not powerful or particularly special, but it describes how God has revealed Himself to us, and that is powerful. That is one of the most astounding truths of the gospel, and is Christianity's glorious difference. God reveals Himself to humankind just as He is, so that we can know Him - not with a shallow intellectual knowledge, but a deeply personal and intimate knowledge. We can relate to Him as He is, without guesswork and with an open invitation. We can relate to Him as trinity, knowing how He works internally, and how He interacts with us and His world.
The Trinity is distinct in person. More than just personality, mind you; the Father, the Son and the Spirit are really different from each other, and are not just different states of God's mind. And yet, the Trinity is united. They are united in being - the one God, not three Gods. They are united in purpose, working towards the same goal. And, they are united in action, working together in whatever they do. It is this last point which grabbed me, shook me and reshaped my thoughts of God before sitting me down before His feet for the rest of the week. Unity in purpose I figured I understood, or at least vaguely comprehended, but action is something entirely different.
Rowan summarised the relationships in the Trinity in this way:
- The Father sends the Son through the Spirit
- The Father sends the Spirit through the Son
- The Father is glorified by the Son and the Spirit
So, for example, the Father set up Jesus' incarnation by the Spirit making Mary pregnant. Then, after His earthly ministry, Jesus asks the Father to send the Spirit to His disciples. The Spirit then works through the message and miracles of the disciples to glorify Jesus, whom they proclaim; and Jesus' glory is the glory of the Father (John 17:1). This illustrates both the unity in purpose and the unity in action that the Trinity has.
One way I've found quite helpful to think about the Trinity in the past is as God, Word and Breath, picking up on the name John uses for Jesus at the start of his gospel, and on another literal meaning of the Hebrew word translated as “spirit” in our bibles. I doubt this is the most helpful way to think about God, as it's easy to downplay the personhood of the Word and the Breath, but I think the concrete imagery it gives have been helpful to me. Thinking about it this way, you could rewrite Rowan's summary like this:
- God sends his Word through his Breath (speaking requires breathing)
- God sends out his Breath because of his Word (words need a conduit to be communicative)
- God is glorified by what his Word and Breath accomplish
Now as I said, I don't think this is the most helpful way to think about God, particularly since Jesus is fully human, as well as fully God. You do also have to keep in mind that God is spirit, not flesh, and that applying human features to God is, at best, analogous. However, John does call Jesus the Word at the start of his gospel, as I already mentioned, and I think John 1 is the passage that has helped me the most when it comes to understanding that Jesus is fully God. Thinking about God in this way makes sense of a lot of the Old Testament, and helps you to see the Trinity at work together before Jesus' incarnation. With this framework, the work of creation is instantly recognisable as the work of the Trinity. The Breath hovered over the surface of the unformed earth as God was there, imagining His creation-to-be; then He spoke, filling his Breath with the Word of his command, and through that Word “all things were made” (John 1:3). Also, think of God's prophets. The phrase “The word of the LORD came to [so-and-so]” is frequently found at the beginning of a prophecy in the OT, and as Rowan pointed out in Zechariah 7:12, these were “the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit” - his Breath. God's Breath, his Spirit with them, enabled the prophets to proclaim the Word. The Word of God never goes out into the world without his Breath to carry it. I think this can be helpful for thinking about how the members of the Trinity work together; however, it could be dangerous to your understanding that they are each a distinct and real person. If any of this is heretical I demand that you correct me.
I don't think I'll ever look at God's work the same way again. Everything God has ever done, and ever will do, is the work of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. I think it's reassuring to know that God is unified in His actions as well as His overall purpose. It means that Jesus' crucifixion wasn't an unjust punishment, but an act of love and victory on Jesus' part as well. Even my own sanctification is a Trinitarian work: the Father loves me and adopted me; Jesus died and rose again for me; the Spirit teaches me from the Word as He conforms me to His likeness, and gives me gifts with which to glorify Jesus - my King, my redeemer and my example. The love of the Father, the word of the Son and the power of the Spirit are at work in every believer, and consequently in every believing church. Among other things, I find it reassuring to know that the Spirit hasn't abandoned the Anglican church. He is still with us yet (well, many of us), and as long as we follow Christ He will remain, for He works alongside the Father and the Son for our good and the Father's glory. I might touch on that more in other posts.
I'm certain I haven't done this justice... but that was never going to happen. This is something that I'll be trying to understand for the rest of my life. However, I think I know my God a little better now, and for that I'm glad.
"Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
'The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'"
- Luke 4:14-21, NIV, taken from BibleGateway.com
(Note: Do not watch The Matrix or any of its sequels while trying to write anything on the Trinity.)
(No, you didn't miss part a. I just think it makes sense to talk about this first.)
Rowan's second talk at AnCon focussed on the nature of God, and in particular the relationships the Holy Spirit has with the Father and the Son. Usually the Trinity is a mind-blowing thing to think about, and so it was a little surprising to be diving into this on the first day. Having to lead a review group on it on day two freaked me out more than a bit!
Despite this, I can now see that talking about the Trinity on day one was a crucial move for Rowan to make. When you're talking about one member of the Trinity, it's absolutely important to understand what you're talking about when you say “one member of the Trinity”. Better yet: it's crucially important to understand Who you're talking about. I'm thankful Rowan went there so soon, because without him doing so I think I would have misunderstood a lot of crucial points throughout the week. I think this is where everything started to make sense for me, because at this point I began to better understand who my God is.
“Trinity”... “tri-unity”... three/one... three in one... the word itself is not powerful or particularly special, but it describes how God has revealed Himself to us, and that is powerful. That is one of the most astounding truths of the gospel, and is Christianity's glorious difference. God reveals Himself to humankind just as He is, so that we can know Him - not with a shallow intellectual knowledge, but a deeply personal and intimate knowledge. We can relate to Him as He is, without guesswork and with an open invitation. We can relate to Him as trinity, knowing how He works internally, and how He interacts with us and His world.
The Trinity is distinct in person. More than just personality, mind you; the Father, the Son and the Spirit are really different from each other, and are not just different states of God's mind. And yet, the Trinity is united. They are united in being - the one God, not three Gods. They are united in purpose, working towards the same goal. And, they are united in action, working together in whatever they do. It is this last point which grabbed me, shook me and reshaped my thoughts of God before sitting me down before His feet for the rest of the week. Unity in purpose I figured I understood, or at least vaguely comprehended, but action is something entirely different.
Rowan summarised the relationships in the Trinity in this way:
- The Father sends the Son through the Spirit
- The Father sends the Spirit through the Son
- The Father is glorified by the Son and the Spirit
So, for example, the Father set up Jesus' incarnation by the Spirit making Mary pregnant. Then, after His earthly ministry, Jesus asks the Father to send the Spirit to His disciples. The Spirit then works through the message and miracles of the disciples to glorify Jesus, whom they proclaim; and Jesus' glory is the glory of the Father (John 17:1). This illustrates both the unity in purpose and the unity in action that the Trinity has.
One way I've found quite helpful to think about the Trinity in the past is as God, Word and Breath, picking up on the name John uses for Jesus at the start of his gospel, and on another literal meaning of the Hebrew word translated as “spirit” in our bibles. I doubt this is the most helpful way to think about God, as it's easy to downplay the personhood of the Word and the Breath, but I think the concrete imagery it gives have been helpful to me. Thinking about it this way, you could rewrite Rowan's summary like this:
- God sends his Word through his Breath (speaking requires breathing)
- God sends out his Breath because of his Word (words need a conduit to be communicative)
- God is glorified by what his Word and Breath accomplish
Now as I said, I don't think this is the most helpful way to think about God, particularly since Jesus is fully human, as well as fully God. You do also have to keep in mind that God is spirit, not flesh, and that applying human features to God is, at best, analogous. However, John does call Jesus the Word at the start of his gospel, as I already mentioned, and I think John 1 is the passage that has helped me the most when it comes to understanding that Jesus is fully God. Thinking about God in this way makes sense of a lot of the Old Testament, and helps you to see the Trinity at work together before Jesus' incarnation. With this framework, the work of creation is instantly recognisable as the work of the Trinity. The Breath hovered over the surface of the unformed earth as God was there, imagining His creation-to-be; then He spoke, filling his Breath with the Word of his command, and through that Word “all things were made” (John 1:3). Also, think of God's prophets. The phrase “The word of the LORD came to [so-and-so]” is frequently found at the beginning of a prophecy in the OT, and as Rowan pointed out in Zechariah 7:12, these were “the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit” - his Breath. God's Breath, his Spirit with them, enabled the prophets to proclaim the Word. The Word of God never goes out into the world without his Breath to carry it. I think this can be helpful for thinking about how the members of the Trinity work together; however, it could be dangerous to your understanding that they are each a distinct and real person. If any of this is heretical I demand that you correct me.
I don't think I'll ever look at God's work the same way again. Everything God has ever done, and ever will do, is the work of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. I think it's reassuring to know that God is unified in His actions as well as His overall purpose. It means that Jesus' crucifixion wasn't an unjust punishment, but an act of love and victory on Jesus' part as well. Even my own sanctification is a Trinitarian work: the Father loves me and adopted me; Jesus died and rose again for me; the Spirit teaches me from the Word as He conforms me to His likeness, and gives me gifts with which to glorify Jesus - my King, my redeemer and my example. The love of the Father, the word of the Son and the power of the Spirit are at work in every believer, and consequently in every believing church. Among other things, I find it reassuring to know that the Spirit hasn't abandoned the Anglican church. He is still with us yet (well, many of us), and as long as we follow Christ He will remain, for He works alongside the Father and the Son for our good and the Father's glory. I might touch on that more in other posts.
I'm certain I haven't done this justice... but that was never going to happen. This is something that I'll be trying to understand for the rest of my life. However, I think I know my God a little better now, and for that I'm glad.
"Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
'The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'"
- Luke 4:14-21, NIV, taken from BibleGateway.com
(Note: Do not watch The Matrix or any of its sequels while trying to write anything on the Trinity.)
Thursday, July 09, 2009
one: spiritual maturity vs. marriage
“Spiritual maturity is more important than marriage.”
This really isn't where I wanted to start this review. I feel like I'm always talking about relationships, and it does wear thin... but this is different. This is not something that came from Rowan's or Steve's talks, and nor did it come from reading the Bible or praying while at AnCon. Well, not directly anyway. It's a conclusion I drew after watching the way I was thinking. It's a conclusion that is so markedly different from my normal way of thinking that it stuck with me as solidly as any of the great truths that were expounded to us. It's the first thing I wrote down on my whiteboard, so I'm going to write about it first here.
The thoughts in question went something like this:
“Hmmm... that [name removed]... she's a nice girl... Oh come on man! Stop it. There are more important things to think about.”
I guess, on reflection, this is more of an indication of how highly I valued what God was teaching me about Himself and myself at the time. Everything I learnt at AnCon both fit with what I already knew about God and made sense of the same, such that I found myself almost completely unconfused by the end. Now, I know what AnCon's like. This was my sixth. It should have been like wading through intellectual mud by Thursday at the latest, but it wasn't. As if that wasn't the work of the Spirit... I'm an Anglican for goodness sake! The Spirit should make no sense to me! Praise God that He cares more about teaching His children than about nurturing stereotypes. I love that the Teacher taught me last week, and I know that I wasn't the only one - for at least three days afterwards facebook was full of “I'm sick, but God changed my life”. God be praised!
Anyhow, from these thoughts I did come to the conclusion that to work on spiritual maturity is more valuable than to find a wife (or husband, if you're a girl, which I'm not). Jesus died for me and His Spirit is sanctifying me while leading me towards His rest. If the search for a wife (or husband) is inspired by the desire for love, then surely His love eclipses any you could ever find. The older you get and the more you watch yourself live life, the more you realise you're completely unworthy for that kind of love. You might expect affection from an equal, or even chase it in someone you think is slightly above your par, but God... no. His love is unwarranted, un-looked-for, unbounded and oh so rich.
It's the thought of sanctification that really gets me: that God would take of His righteousness and wisdom and give it to me as we walk together, rather than just dragging me along behind him through the dust. I think I remember someone once saying that God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way. That's a seriously sweet deal for us. I was taught piano by a master pianist, and it was good. To be taught life and holiness by the Master of everything... priceless. As if you wouldn't want that more than anything. I certainly want to make better use of His teaching than I do of my piano lessons.
I do feel like I need to put a good word in for marriage (well, you know, insofar as any single guy can). My pastor preached from Ephesians 5 on Sunday, emphasising how the marriage relationship mirrors the relationship between Jesus and the church. Using Genesis 2, he described to us how it's not a begrudged union, but that Jesus takes extatic delight in His bride, much like Adam did with Eve. The ability to mirror that, and to be (as it were) a small scale edification and delight factory, is a definite plus for marriage. My daily routine of listening to a radio devotional at 4am while trying to wake up for work also led me to hear some good things this week: Firstly, that a man's spiritual maturity is crucially important for the good of his family - this was challenging to hear, even as a single guy. Secondly, that parents are better parents when they live first as husband and wife, and second as father and mother, since (i hypothesise here... what do you think?) they are drawing on the example of Christ's relationship with the church, rather than that of their own fallen parents. Also, I have heard someone say that having children is the easiest way to make new Christians... and i have to admit that sounds kinda fun. Anyway, I feel as though God was trying to reign in my thoughts on marriage a little, and remind me that it is actually a good thing (1 Timothy 4:3) and that I shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It's a good thing, and yet it's not the best thing. The best one to seek after when you're single is still Jesus, not Wifey Dear. Marriage can supplement what Jesus gives, but Jesus gives all you need.
So, with the greatest love ever and the promise of sanctification, surely spiritual maturity is the more valuable goal for a young Christian guy to set his heart on. True, a life lived in Christ may include marriage, but only as a temporary perk of the job (if at all). The real goal is, as the Westminster Chatechism puts it, “to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever”. Next time you talk to a single Christian guy/girl, please try to follow this principle: Instead of asking them how they're coping with their gift of singleness, or asking whether they're meeting lots of other lovely young people, or subtlely dropping hints about Betty/Fred, that new girl/guy at church who you think is also single... instead of this, ask them how they're going at living for Christ, at glorifying God in their life and at keeping in step with the Spirit. Seek their eternal good, and let God satisfy their other desires as He chooses.
“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
- Philippians 3:7-11, NIV, taken from BibleGateway.com
This really isn't where I wanted to start this review. I feel like I'm always talking about relationships, and it does wear thin... but this is different. This is not something that came from Rowan's or Steve's talks, and nor did it come from reading the Bible or praying while at AnCon. Well, not directly anyway. It's a conclusion I drew after watching the way I was thinking. It's a conclusion that is so markedly different from my normal way of thinking that it stuck with me as solidly as any of the great truths that were expounded to us. It's the first thing I wrote down on my whiteboard, so I'm going to write about it first here.
The thoughts in question went something like this:
“Hmmm... that [name removed]... she's a nice girl... Oh come on man! Stop it. There are more important things to think about.”
I guess, on reflection, this is more of an indication of how highly I valued what God was teaching me about Himself and myself at the time. Everything I learnt at AnCon both fit with what I already knew about God and made sense of the same, such that I found myself almost completely unconfused by the end. Now, I know what AnCon's like. This was my sixth. It should have been like wading through intellectual mud by Thursday at the latest, but it wasn't. As if that wasn't the work of the Spirit... I'm an Anglican for goodness sake! The Spirit should make no sense to me! Praise God that He cares more about teaching His children than about nurturing stereotypes. I love that the Teacher taught me last week, and I know that I wasn't the only one - for at least three days afterwards facebook was full of “I'm sick, but God changed my life”. God be praised!
Anyhow, from these thoughts I did come to the conclusion that to work on spiritual maturity is more valuable than to find a wife (or husband, if you're a girl, which I'm not). Jesus died for me and His Spirit is sanctifying me while leading me towards His rest. If the search for a wife (or husband) is inspired by the desire for love, then surely His love eclipses any you could ever find. The older you get and the more you watch yourself live life, the more you realise you're completely unworthy for that kind of love. You might expect affection from an equal, or even chase it in someone you think is slightly above your par, but God... no. His love is unwarranted, un-looked-for, unbounded and oh so rich.
It's the thought of sanctification that really gets me: that God would take of His righteousness and wisdom and give it to me as we walk together, rather than just dragging me along behind him through the dust. I think I remember someone once saying that God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way. That's a seriously sweet deal for us. I was taught piano by a master pianist, and it was good. To be taught life and holiness by the Master of everything... priceless. As if you wouldn't want that more than anything. I certainly want to make better use of His teaching than I do of my piano lessons.
I do feel like I need to put a good word in for marriage (well, you know, insofar as any single guy can). My pastor preached from Ephesians 5 on Sunday, emphasising how the marriage relationship mirrors the relationship between Jesus and the church. Using Genesis 2, he described to us how it's not a begrudged union, but that Jesus takes extatic delight in His bride, much like Adam did with Eve. The ability to mirror that, and to be (as it were) a small scale edification and delight factory, is a definite plus for marriage. My daily routine of listening to a radio devotional at 4am while trying to wake up for work also led me to hear some good things this week: Firstly, that a man's spiritual maturity is crucially important for the good of his family - this was challenging to hear, even as a single guy. Secondly, that parents are better parents when they live first as husband and wife, and second as father and mother, since (i hypothesise here... what do you think?) they are drawing on the example of Christ's relationship with the church, rather than that of their own fallen parents. Also, I have heard someone say that having children is the easiest way to make new Christians... and i have to admit that sounds kinda fun. Anyway, I feel as though God was trying to reign in my thoughts on marriage a little, and remind me that it is actually a good thing (1 Timothy 4:3) and that I shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It's a good thing, and yet it's not the best thing. The best one to seek after when you're single is still Jesus, not Wifey Dear. Marriage can supplement what Jesus gives, but Jesus gives all you need.
So, with the greatest love ever and the promise of sanctification, surely spiritual maturity is the more valuable goal for a young Christian guy to set his heart on. True, a life lived in Christ may include marriage, but only as a temporary perk of the job (if at all). The real goal is, as the Westminster Chatechism puts it, “to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever”. Next time you talk to a single Christian guy/girl, please try to follow this principle: Instead of asking them how they're coping with their gift of singleness, or asking whether they're meeting lots of other lovely young people, or subtlely dropping hints about Betty/Fred, that new girl/guy at church who you think is also single... instead of this, ask them how they're going at living for Christ, at glorifying God in their life and at keeping in step with the Spirit. Seek their eternal good, and let God satisfy their other desires as He chooses.
“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
- Philippians 3:7-11, NIV, taken from BibleGateway.com
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
post-ancon thoughts
This is a picture of the start of my EU Annual Conference material review - a landmark event appropriate for a life-changing week. As I told my review group (8 was great!), I've never actually gone over any AnCon material at home, even though I think I've intended to each of the 5 years previous. Though this whiteboard full of thoughts is not exactly the AnCon material, it represents fairly accurately what I brought away from AnCon (I say "fairly" because I know there's one I've forgotten already!). My intention is to explore each of these thoughts, one by one, post by post - not only to describe some of what we learnt at AnCon, or to help you think some of it through yourself, but to make myself publicly accountable for thinking through each of these thoughts more thoroughly. Maybe God will even jog my memory about the one(s) I've forgotten as I go!
Here are the thoughts, in order of pondering:
1. Spiritual maturity is more important than marriage
2.a. God is Trinity - Father, Son, Spirit - reflection on personal names
2.b. God is Trinity - distinct in person, one in being, purpose and action
3. It's time to get going
4.a. Do not be afraid of Satan - the One in me is greater than him
4.b. Do not be afraid of Satan - evil is already pwned!
5. The One whose presence filled the temple such that nobody could enter has taken up residence in me
6. Where the Spirit of Christ is, there is freedom
7. The Spirit gives gifts to build Christ's body; eagerly desire them out of love for your brothers
8. Reading the Bible gives the Spirit material to work with when reminding you of Christ's words
9. Sin deserves only extreme Spirit-ual prejudice (and prejudice is definitionally a matter of foresight, not hindsight)
10. Revival starts at home
11. (just thought of this) The best worship songs start at God.
12. (EDIT - added later) The Spirit's work is fairly ordinary-looking
That's just the order I wrote them down in. I may not write posts on them in that order, but I do promise to write posts on them all, along with any further thoughts I've forgotten (or which come to mind and seem important and relevant enough). It's a substantial goal, but I'm not too phased by that - I have two and a half weeks left with nothing do to but drive flu-incubating flesh wagons.
Please feel free to question, clarify, correct, rebuke, encourage, explain or direct. I am not perfect, and you'll be helping me out if you do so.
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