The Heights

One of the easiest ways to quickly grasp the theme of a story is to go back and re-read the first chapter and the last. The Bible, for example, begins in the garden of Eden and ends in the new Jerusalem, two unique and vivid pictures of God’s kingdom.

Many people today read the phrase “kingdom of God” as a synonym for “heaven” or “our eternal reward.” That’s one of the dangers of reading ancient literature. We can easily invest ancient words and phrases with modern meanings the author never intended. If we want to understand what Jesus meant when he proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand, we need to begin by asking what his original listeners would have thought he meant. We soon discover that the concept of the kingdom of God has deep roots in the Old Covenant. We can’t jump into the middle of the story and expect to understand what Jesus meant by the phrase. We need to start at the beginning.

Eden may be the best image the Bible offers of what it means to participate in God’s kingdom. All creation was God’s kingdom, living in peace and harmony under his reign and rule. The first man and woman experienced intimate, loving relationships with God and each other, until they chose to deny his right to rule in their loves. In doing so, they plunged God’s good creation into the darkness and chaos of sin and evil and, as a result, were cast of out of God’s kingdom.

But God immediately set in motion a plan to renew and restore his creation, to make right everything that had gone wrong. He did so by forming a new kingdom, Israel, from Abraham’s family. He called them, gave them his law, and set them apart as his means to bring renewal and redemption to the world. The only problem was that the chosen people were themselves flawed. They failed God and broke his covenant. The kingdom was eventually ripped from their hands, and they were led into captivity in Assyria and Babylon.

But that was not the end of God’s plan. He sent prophets to announce that one day God would forgive Israel’s sins. One day, he would re-establish his kingdom. This time God’s law would not be written on tablets of stone, but on our hearts.

So when Jesus began traveling around Galilee announcing “the kingdom of God is at hand,” he was simply writing the next chapter in an ongoing story. His audience was in a better place to quickly grasp his message than we are. They immediately connected his preaching with the promises of Isaiah and Jeremiah and the other prophets that God would restore the kingdom to Israel. God was ready to renew his kingdom, to establish his rule and reign in a way that no one could have anticipated.

Here’s the key point: the primary theme of the Old Testament was the kingdom of God. Everything God did to renew and restore the world took place in the context of his kingdom.

http://www.missionshapedlife.com

Christians are sometimes surprised to discover how much effort it takes to live a mission shaped life. Maybe we thought the initial decision to follow Jesus would be the hardest part, and from there on out, everything would come naturally. But most of us have picked up so many ingrained habits and attitudes from our surrounding culture that it takes hard work to learn to follow Jesus, even if some changes come quickly and easily.

According to Hebrews, even Jesus himself had to learn obedience. It seems strange to think the Son of God would have to learn to obey, but he had never before lived in a human body or in a fallen world. He had to learn obedience the same way we do—by making decisions and following through on them. With each decision to embrace the kingdom and his calling, he reinforced the habit of obedience. Jesus can identify with the pressures and temptations we face, because he faced them to, and in every case, he chose to proclaim the kingdom rather than deny it.

Living a mission shaped life is about becoming the kind of person who is a good fit for the kingdom of God. We do this by learning obedience—by making a thousand and one little decisions to follow Jesus rather than deny him, so that obedience eventually becomes a part of who we are, rather than only something we strive to become. There is no getting around it—this is hard work, but by God’s grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can become people who fit best in God’s new creation.

http://www.missionshapedlife.com

It was another Sunday of Sin and Forgiveness at The Heights.  Kenny focused on the sin of David and Bathsheba and then took us to Psalm 51 to remind us of God’s grace.

Kenny did a great job of giving us some clear reminders about how to deal with sin and temptation in our own lives.  Give it a listen.  You’ll be glad you did.

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Hosanna
Cannons
Indescribable
Not What My Hands
Speak O Lord
Here I am to Worship.

We missed our piano player today!  We are just starting to get the hang of Not What My Hands.   What a tremendous song.

In case you haven’t heard Phil Wickham’s Cannons before, here’s the version I like the best…

Readings:
Genesis 44:18–34
Hebrews 2:9–18
Psalm 35

Ours is a success culture, and in many ways—probably much more than we can comprehend—the church has been shaped by our culture’s definition of success. We make celebrities of the pastors who are gifted orators and attract large groups of followers, seldom pausing to ask how much of the attraction and apparent success is due to their faithfulness to the gospel versus their personal charisma or stagecraft.

It is interesting to compare our typical “success stories” in the church to the way of Jesus in the gospels. The writer of Hebrews says Jesus was “crowned with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:9 ESV) but not because of his magnetic personality or his practical, engaging sermons. Nor was it his visionary leadership or his genius at social networking. Jesus’ pathway to glory did not include book tours or the speaking circuit; it went by way of the suffering of the cross. He humbled himself to live among the people he came to save, and then he sacrificed his own life on our behalf.

A mission shaped life is one that is shaped by the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus. It is the willingness to walk and serve among people who are hurting, whose lives are broken, and to embrace their pain and to walk with them through it. It is to sacrifice our own comfort and convenience—to participate in the fellowship of Jesus’ suffering—so that others have the opportunity to experience new life in the kingdom.

http://www.missionshapedlife.com

As strange as it sounds, many Christians today are rejecting the kingdom of God.

Now, I don’t mean they are actually rejecting the kingdom of God in the sense that they are denying the faith. But they are failing to embrace the kingdom in a positive way. As I mentioned yesterday, some Christians, especially on the more conservative end of the spectrum where I dwell, are reading the word kingdom as a code word for a kind of “Christianity” that is devoid of the gospel of individual salvation, focusing instead on trying to rid the world of evils like poverty, oppression, and injustice. Some conservative Christians seem content to leave the “kingdom” to others so they can focus on what they consider the “true gospel.”

This is unfortunate, because the kingdom of God is a biblical concept. That is the first thing every Christian needs to know about the gospel. The phrase “kingdom of God” was not invented in the nineteenth century, when the “social gospel” was gaining popularity. The proponents of the social gospel found the phrase in the New Testament and invested it with their own meaning. There is no reason to fear or avoid using the term “kingdom of God.” It is a thoroughly biblical concept.

The first recorded words of Jesus in the gospels are in fact, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2 ESV). The “kingdom of heaven” is synonymous with the “kingdom of God.” Matthew, writing to a Jewish audience, followed the normal Hebrew practice of avoiding using the term for God. Throughout the New Testament, if you pay attention, you hear echoes of those words of Jesus. Then, when you go back to the Old Testament, you begin to see how the entire Old Testament foreshadows the coming rule and reign of God over his people. So, rest assured, we are on firm biblical ground to discuss the concept of the kingdom.

Tomorrow, I will begin to show how the kingdom of God is the central theme of the story told in the Bible.

http://www.missionshapedlife.com

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of N.T. Wright’s new book, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters, which is due out today. My pre-ordered copy was shipped from Amazon on Sunday.

This is the third book in a series, which began with
Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense and Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.

Here is an interview by Trevin Wax in which N.T. Wright discusses the new book and provides a glimpse at his theology of spiritual formation. Can’t wait!

http://www.missionshapedlife.com

It is easy to become impatient waiting for the return of Eden. I am ready to live in a world where there is no taint of sin—where there are no broken hearts, no damaged relationships, no pressures or stresses to burden our hearts. I’m ready to live in a world where there is no illness, death, persecution, or oppression, where every man, woman, and child is free to be the person God created them to be. In other words, I’m ready for God’s kingdom to come in all its glory.

The author of Hebrews wrote this sermon to encourage a group of Christ followers who were preparing to face severe persecution. He reminds them that they are even now participants in God’s new world, that everything in heaven and earth has been placed in subjection to Jesus the king. At the same time, he acknowledges that God’s kingdom has not yet fully come. There is still chaos and evil. This is the great paradox of the kingdom of God—that in some sense it is already here, active and at work in the lives of his followers, and yet there is still more to come. We look forward to the complete eradication of evil from the world and to the defeat of the final enemy—death.

The kingdom of God is present wherever the reign and rule of Jesus is acknowledged. We can even now, by the power of the Spirit, create little “pockets of kingdom” that foreshadow the coming of the kingdom in all of its glory. We do this as we allow God’s Spirit to work in us to transform our lives, our relationships, and our communities.

http://www.missionshapedlife.com

Readings:
Genesis 43:16–34
Hebrews 1
Psalms 26 and 32

Some people look at the various religions in the world and wish there were a way to take the best of all of them and combine them into one faith, so we could put an end to all of the disagreements between people of different faiths. From a certain point of view, there are a lot of similarities between the world religions. But what makes Christianity unique among them all is Jesus.

The book of Hebrews is a sermon written to a small house church, probably meeting in or near Rome during the reign of Nero. This group of Christ followers was facing the very real threat of persecution by the Roman authorities. The Romans had always put up with the Jewish faith, but, under Nero, they were actively opposing and suppressing those who chose to follow Jesus.

Some in this small house church were apparently thinking it would be better to stick with their Jewish heritage and blend in: “We’ll just drop all the Jesus talk, and play it safe.” This sermon reminded them why Jesus was not an optional addendum to their faith. His life was God’s final word, the perfect expression of everything God wanted to say to humanity about his plan to redeem and restore the world. Jesus is the one who made it possible through his sacrifice for sin. Everything in heaven and earth will be placed under his authority.

When we talk about living a mission shaped life, we are talking about living a Jesus shaped life. Jesus is not an option. He is the Lord and King, and our lives are to be a reflection of his glory.

http://www.missionshapedlife.com

We tried a new song today called Not What My Hands Have Done.  It’s an old Hymn re-done by Aaron Keyes.  The words are amazing.  Be sure to check it out.

Hallelujah, Your Love is Amazing
God of Wonders
Not What My Hands
Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)
Lord Have Mercy