Wednesday, October 10, 2007
From Whence Ministry
Common Grounds Online carries the words of a preacher regarding his own sinful nature:
The key question facing the church today is how to live in that tension and remain "attractive." The answer, I think, lies is redefining what is attractive. Much of what we think is attractive in the world today is a very poor substitute for what is actually attractive. Fame substitutes for significance. Wealth substitutes for satisfaction. Emotional stimulation substitutes for spiritual peace.
The seductiveness of the substitutes seems overwhelming, so we think we have to include elements of them in our work. But what makes the substitutes so apparently attractive is not their actual value, but their immediacy - they skip the tension and the time it takes to resolve that tension.
But part of our living in the tension is the tension created by the patience required to let people grow to understand that such things do not ultimately satisfy. Yes, we have to learn to be patient too.
Something in my hypocritical sermon reminded me that it matters what you do. Sometimes what you do matters more than what you say. Sometimes it matters just as much as what you believe—because if you believe, you will do. If you love me, says Jesus, you will keep my commandments. You won’t have to for salvation, you won’t have to to gain God’s love, but you will keep them nonetheless. You will act as a lover of Jesus. Not just think, not just speak, not just believe, but act....Being a Christian in the world today is all about tension - a tension between what we are and what we should be. In ministry, whether it be as preacher, or teacher, or bottle-washer, we tend to want to present the "what we should be" instead of the tension. And yet, the "what we should be" in unattainable in this life, and unattainable in any life absent the direct action of the Holy Spirit. Is it any wonder that so many people end up disillusioned with the church? We "sell" them one thing and deliver another.
...The embarrassing ironies of preaching reminded me that what you do can be as important as what you say. And Tennent reminded me that, well, we’re all unconverted preachers.
Being a witness to the glorious Kingdom of God means more than just being authentic, it means proclaiming the unseen truth, the faith in things not visible. There is hypocrisy in us all, and by God’s grace there is the eternal possibility of full redemption for us all. Keep pressing toward the vision of Christ’s kingdom. Keep preaching as one redeemed, but not perfect. And keep listening to your preachers. They might not be the embodiment of truth, but if you look behind them you might see the only One who is; the One a good preacher wants you to hear from anyway; the One who said I am the Truth; the One who still speaks directly to us today. [emphasis added]
The key question facing the church today is how to live in that tension and remain "attractive." The answer, I think, lies is redefining what is attractive. Much of what we think is attractive in the world today is a very poor substitute for what is actually attractive. Fame substitutes for significance. Wealth substitutes for satisfaction. Emotional stimulation substitutes for spiritual peace.
The seductiveness of the substitutes seems overwhelming, so we think we have to include elements of them in our work. But what makes the substitutes so apparently attractive is not their actual value, but their immediacy - they skip the tension and the time it takes to resolve that tension.
But part of our living in the tension is the tension created by the patience required to let people grow to understand that such things do not ultimately satisfy. Yes, we have to learn to be patient too.
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