The Kingdom Perspective

 

 Ich habe meine Grunde vergessen [1:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (29)

The atheistic German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche, said it well: “Ich habe meine Gründe vergessen.” (I have forgotten my reason for being.) It is characteristic of our fallenness that we struggle with knowing our meaning for existence. Nonetheless, it seems that the average person is content to go on with life, just living and dying, with very little thought toward the ultimate meaning of things. The anesthetic of the rat race, drugs and alcohol, and even good things, like family and friends, can mask the terrifying question lingering in the background: “What’s the point of it all?” Certainly, such investigation of the ultimate meaning of life can become quite morbid and even neurotic. Think of Woody Allen in many of his self-revealing films. However, such investigation is absolutely necessary for real happiness in this life and certainly in the next.

How about you? Hast du deine Gründe vergessen? Have you forgotten your reason for being? There is only one sure place you can find it and that is in Jesus, the only one who has bridged the gap between eternity and time.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective.”

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

~John 14:1-5, 14

 

 Bumper Sticker Religion [1:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (28)

I love reading bumper stickers and often find their cleverness intriguing.  One of my favorites reads: “God is too big to fit into any one religion.”  Maybe you’ve seen it too.  So, how are we to understand this witty statement of relativism in the light of Jesus?  Well, we need to see what’s true about it and what’s false about it. 

First, this bumper sticker correctly understands that if all religions claim to be mere opinions about God, then, of course, the quip is quite true.  There exists no one that has figured God out, for God by definition is beyond our figuring out—even the Bible teaches this.  Thus, no such religion could ever contain God. 

However, where this bumper sticker fails is that there in at least one “religion” that doesn’t fit into the category of mere opinion.  Why?  Well, the central premise of Jesus’ teaching is not merely that he had a more accurate idea of God.  No, he claimed something categorically different.  He claimed to be God, and this changes everything.  Certainly, His claim may be true or it may be false, but it cannot be, as the bumper sticker suggests, “not big enough for God”.  For, if Jesus’ claim is true, then He IS God.  Thus, the question becomes: How would one know whether His claim is true or false?

And that’s something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

~Colossians 2:8-10

 

 Standard Podcast [1:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (24)

The New Testament assumes that a disciple is someone of the thinking type—one that is engaged in the very difficult work of thinking through the reasons and implications of one’s faith. Peter admonishes his readers to be ready always to give a “defense of the hope that is within” them. It is not enough for the Christian to experience the hope, but he must also be able to understand and explain it. Such an explanation of one’s faith has been called “apologetics”, coming from the Greek word for “reasoned defense”. Another way to say this is to say, that a Christian ought to be concerned with issues of theology. He must be reasonably versed in explaining the biblical revelation of God and his experience of the grace of God.

This is likewise seen in the numerous times in the book of Acts that the Apostle Paul is reasoning with those that he is evangelizing. He could only do this because he had done his homework. He knew the Scriptures; he had thought through the implications of the person and teaching of Christ; he had thought through the assumptions of the Jewish and pagan cultures into which he was speaking.

So, how about you? Have you done your homework? Have you thought through the implications of Christ and his teachings for your life and the life of your family, friends and neighbors? Are you ready to give a defense of the hope within you?

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective.”

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

~1 Peter 3:13-16

 

 Standard Podcast [1:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (30)

Is the diligent use of the mind contrary to being a disciple of Jesus? Isn’t it a truism that the more educated a person is the less likely they are to be a follower of Jesus? Isn’t it the strategy of the devil to get us thinking too much? Shouldn’t we therefore be suspicious of learning and relying too much on our minds? After all a simple faith in Jesus is all that really matters, right? God wants us to have a heart-knowledge of Him not a head-knowledge, doesn’t He? As a matter of fact, the phrase “head knowledge” even just sounds bad.

Well, if you want to be a follower of Jesus, you don’t have the option between head, heart and hands. You must love him and serve him with all that you are. We are commanded by Jesus to love him with all our heart, mind and strength! The same God that made your emotions made your mind as well. Just as His Spirit should fill our hearts, so should His Spirit fill our heads. The net result of such a filling is not less thinking but more and better.

One author put it this way: “In our quest for the fullness of the Spirit, we have sometimes forgotten that a Spirit-filled intelligence is one of the most powerful weapons for pulling down Satanic strongholds.” (Richard Lovelace)

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

~2 Corinthians 10:3-5

 

 Standard Podcast [1:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (30)

If I understand the Bible correctly, we must do all that we can to think accurately about God—to do the hard work of thinking deeply about who He is, how he relates to all of life and how we are to relate to him. This requires disciplined thinking. It’s labor intensive and cannot be approached in a casual fashion.

Now, I can hear some of you object—or at least question: Does this mean I have to be a theologian? Well, not in the sense that you make your living on studying, thinking and teaching about God. Such professional theologians are good and valuable, and we need to learn humbly all we can from them. However, there is another way of looking at it.

The origin of the word “theologian” simply implies “one that has thoughts about God”. This means that we are all theologians in the sense that we all have thoughts about God. They may be good thoughts, or they may be bad thoughts. They may be high thoughts, or they may be low thoughts. They may be accurate thoughts, or they make be inaccurate thoughts. Either way you have thoughts about Him, and this fact makes you a theologian. The question is not whether you are a theologian, but whether you are a good one or a bad one. So what is it for you?

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

~2 Peter 3:17-18

 

 Standard Podcast [1:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (19)

Jesus is the organizing principle of all knowledge and the ground of all good thinking. He is both the beginning of wisdom and the end goal of all knowledge. Historically, when Christians have understood this best and practiced this the most, they have been the pacesetters in their society.

Take for instance the founding documents of Harvard. “In a pamphlet of 1643, the founders of Harvard…wrote their mission statement for the [then] new school…..” “The founders said this: ‘Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed, to consider well [that] the maine end of life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, Jn. 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as well as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning.’” (Plantiga, Engaging God’s World, p. ix, sic)

Such an approach is not only powerful in the transformation of culture, and laudable in its aspirations, but also absolutely necessary in its piety. If Jesus is Lord of all, then we must work at seeing the connectedness of all things in Him. To do anything less is to say with our lives that He is not truly Lord. And that is unthinkable.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

~Colossians 1:15-20

 

 Standard Podcast [1:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (25)

Historically, Christians, in keeping with the teaching of the Bible, have seen Jesus not only as the Savior of the soul but also of the mind. In other words, He is the organizing principle of all knowledge and the ground of all reason. This, at least in part, is what Paul meant when he said that Jesus is “before all things”, and that in Him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”. Likewise, in his letter to the believers in Ephesus, he says that God has purposed the summing up of all things in Jesus.

In philosophical terms, we might say that Jesus is a worldview—indeed THE worldview—that is, THE way of looking at all of life. Remember, Jesus didn’t claim to be a teacher of the truth, but to be the embodiment of the truth. Listen to His own words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Once again, the words of the Apostle Paul: “all the fullness of deity dwells in him in bodily form.” Jesus is the ideal made real, the universal concept made concrete, the truth made tangible, the myth made man, the story made history.

What is your organizing principle for knowledge? Is it Jesus? Such a mindset doesn’t just happen; it must be nurtured. This is why God commands us to be about the business of renewing our minds (Romans 12:2)

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

~Colossians 2:1-5

 

 Standard Podcast [1:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (24)

Richard Lovelace reminds us that: “The leaders and shapers of the Reformation, the Puritan and Pietist movements, and the first two great awakenings included trained theologians who combined spiritual urgency with profound learning; men who mastered the culture of their time and were in command of the instruments needed to destroy its idols and subdue its innovations…” This was true of Luther and Calvin, Owen and Edwards, Wesley and Dwight.

However, today we tend to have an unhealthy and unbiblical divide between the practitioners of the faith and the thinkers of the faith. Nothing could be more damaging than the notion that a pastor doesn’t need to be a theologian since he is just doing “practical ministry”. Practical ministry without deep thinking makes for a shallow church. We become masters of our methods but mere novices with our message. And, of course, the opposite is likewise just as dangerous.

It is every Christian’s duty not only to practice the faith but to do so out of a deep understanding of its doctrine. As one thinker pungently put it, “If our gospel does not inspire thought, and if our theology does not inspire preaching, there is no Christianity in either.” (James Denney 1856-1917, Scottish theologian and pastor)

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

“I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing or your minds, so that you may know what the will of the Lord is, his good, acceptable and perfect will.”

~Romans 12:1-2