Well, Easter was incredible. We had over 50 people up at the house & many of them don't know how much God loves them. However, we hope the Tri-Tip helped them to experience a little love! So, after church, I'm really tired (Easter week was a little crazy) & when we come home I lay down for a nap. Well...I get up & the property is filling up, fast. I was totally thrown off! Thanks be to God for a little brown bean. Anyways, 5 BBQs!!, 8 Tri-Tips, 20lbs of Chicken, 10 lbs of Korean Beef, & we're all happy campers. Hopefully I'll post some pics later. Ironically, I didn't have a good time. Why? Because a couple of people I hoped would celebrate with us at church didn't show up. Wow, what a bummer. I'm crying because things aren't where I'd hoped they would be, all the while MISSING what God has done & was doing through our little church! This is something God is working on in my life right now & it's fun in an interesting kind of way.
Anyways, here’s something I’ve been thinking about. I took a grad class in which my prof passionately defended a very classic & common INTERPRETATION upon Luther's "by faith alone" salvific theology. We studied "Savior only" & "Lordship" salvation. He is "Savior Only," I disagree. I have been on a quest (of some sorts) to really find out what it means to "Be Saved" as this is somewhat of an important question. I was reading through Romans today, Paul's little Reformed book, & came across a verse which stood out to me: Chapter 2:7-11 "He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. 8But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. 9There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 10But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 11For God does not show favoritism." I guess my question is: What is the nature of saving faith? I believe salvation comes through Christ alone; however, what does Paul mean when he says, "He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers." What is the nature of saving faith & what’s your life got to do with it?
I recently watched "Luther," which is a great movie. Something really stood out to me as I watched this movie again. Luther DEMONSTRATED a great deal of faith. He stepped outside of the bounds of the only system of salvation available at that time. He was very scared, but he stepped out in faith. I’m no expert on the Reformation, but it seems as if faith to Luther meant more than our modern INTERPRETATION of "what the Reformers said" faith means.
Romans 2:16 "And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life." Evidently, THIS is the message Paul proclaims; I have been taught & almost every tract or end to a good sermon ended with this verse: "And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Ironcilly my prof would say, "Jesus is Lord" means "Jesus is God." Funny...Lord can mean God, but it can't mean Lord? Who knew?) What’s my "Life" got to do with my "Faith?"
Too, I just got done reading a wonderful book: "Father Abraham: The Jewish roots of our Christian Faith." What an eye-opening book. As I understand Judaism more I start to read the NT with greater clarity. Judaism is the lense by which God created the NT, not the reformation.
We roasted some Sumatra last night; we drank some dark Sumatra this morning!
What say ye?
2 comments:
This is good. I've been wrestling with some of the same things at school. I'm back at Simpson and I'm living and working and attending classes on campus, all the while finding how easy it is to fall into an apathetic lifestyle. Yes, Jesus is God, but he's so much more! I'm finding that I can say that Jesus is Lord without living my life under his Lordship... and nobody thinks anything of it because it's considered normal... I know better though... So it's been a struggle, in my classes and with my peers, to weigh what is, as you put it, "truth to be understood" and "life to be lived". Sometimes the first determines the second, but I'm finding that so many people hang out in the first arena that they only get their toes wet in the second, and so much weight is placed on understanding that life never has a chance to be lived! And it's hard not to get stuck in trying to understand because it sounds good!! So, if I'm not careful, I become someone who is more like and encyclopedia or a dictionary than an owners manual or a map. Encyclopedias aren't bad, they just don't usually get you anywhere...
I don't really know, but I imagine that this tension is one that won't soon go away... At least we're not in it alone!
Love you guys a bunch!! Next time I come down I'll try to bring some green Brazilian and Costa Rican from the Yaks stash... That is, if you haven't started ordering it in bulk. (although I wouldn't put it past you)
Jessica that wonderful. It is a tension that will not go away soon, which is in may ways our blessing. Jews love the process of working through theology & see it as a form of worship. They see working through ideas as wrestling with God, which is similar to Jacob wrestling with God & being renamed Israel. Israel means: To wrestle with God. Yes, "truth to be understood" vs. "life to be lived." Sad that there is a difference between the two, but in our "know the right creed" christian culture it's an issue. You're in a great place & God is going to use you.
We'll get some beans from Yaks.
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