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DwellBlog Archives: February 2010
Race for the Crown
I love the Olympics. I love gymnastics in the Summer and figure skating in the Winter. Kind of cliché for a girl to say, I know, but it is true! This year was no exception, as my husband and I would sit down for dinner, we would watch them slide around the ice in glitter and sometimes to bad music. But this year, my attitude was a bit cynical. I never really noticed how many times these talented people would fall. We noticed that after the first fall, they would have trouble nailing the consecutive jumps. And I found myself being disappointed and uncomfortable. Are we demanding too much perfection? Do we demand reality be perfect, and when it fails to be so, can't move on? But the beauty was that those athletes did move on. Failed jump after failed jump they continued. One girl broke my heart as I watched her fall three times, but continue with a smile and determined energy. She finished with a smile but after the music ended her head fell into her hands and she mourned.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians that we as Christians are to run a race. His analogy was perfect, because in his time, that culture had the exact same Olympic games were it ended with an endurance race. The one champion would walk away wearing a crown of pine. The Christian walks away from life with an imperishable crown. Paul says "I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air." How many gold medalist do we watch beat the air when they finish? We are asked by Paul to live our lives with the same focus and determination as these athletes we watch, only our goal is not selfish, but selfless. It is training and it is a daily. But we are not alone, if we look to our right and to our left, we should be surrounding ourselves with others who are running the same race. Support and encouragement come from our Christian community. We can all relate to the doubts that fill our head, fatigue from work and victories in the name of our Lord. We are all to be looking to the same finish line. When we fall down or feel like a failure, God still loves us. It is inevitable that we will fall, but it is the getting back up that counts.
1 Corinthians 10:12-13 "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."
Another favorite moment of the Olympics is the winners ceremony, where the gold medalist sings their national anthem and their flag is raised highest. What song will be playing when we meet our Lord face to face? My guess is Amazing Grace.
When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.
"More-than" Justification
I had an excellent conversation with friends this morning over bacon.
I mean, the conversation wasn't about bacon, it was over bacon, like a conversation over coffee.
It was about justification.
Anyway.
We read Romans 3, talked, and then flipped over to Romans 4. And this was striking:
But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
The striking thing was that while Romans 3 - along with the vast majority of evangelical thought - associated justification with the cross, here Paul connects it directly to the resurrection.
Which is mysterious.
Of course, it's really only mysterious if you have a limiting view of justification. You may have heard, but in recent years there has been quite a hubub in evangelical theology regarding the nature and scope of justification. Just what is it, and to what does it pertain?
Better, how far does it go?
I am no pro, but it strikes me as odd that this is such a problem. Now, I know that there are issues regarding the way that some of the newer theology treats the doctrine of imputation - whether the righteousness of Christ, that is, his obedience in life to the law of God, his moral perfection, is credited to our account at the moment of faith, rendering us righteous before the Judge's bench. NT Wright, for one, has presented a different view on this finer point (with which I don't entirely agree).
But if we take a traditional view of imputation (and I think we have to, in light of 1 Corinthians 5:21) and also try to apply the discoveries coming at us in the newer scholarship, what do we get?
I think we get a more-than justification.
It's not that it's more than justification, ya know, as if justification is not enough. It's that justification is more than we thought it was, and not less. That's the kind of justification that this justification is - the more-than kind.
Let's be honest. More often than not, when Paul talks theology in Romans, he also talks about the relationship between Jewish folks, Gentile folks, and the new folks called the church. If we talk justification and don't talk about that, we are not talking about justification the way Paul did.
Why are justification and the bringing together of Jewish community and Gentile community into a new community so directly connected? It's because justification is as relational as it is judicial.
Which brings us back to the mystery.
When Paul adds, with brilliant nonchalance, that Jesus was "raised for our justification," he means that justification would not be effective without the resurrection. He means that justification is not merely about the vicarious satisfaction of judgment through the blood of atonement; it is about the vindication of the Son.
Because in the resurrection, the Son is vindicated as the Son, and raised to his proper relational position before the Father.
(See, God's a Father, not just a Judge.)
At Dwell, we've been studying the Story of the Lost Son. After spending his trust fund on the equivalent of a Vegas binge, the son realizes that he is no longer good enough to be called the father's son. Yet upon his return, something amazing happens:
But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.
I think this is the more-than picture we need to really get the doctrine of justification by faith. Justification is not merely right-standing before the Judge and a pardon from punishment; it is rather a resurrection and reinstatement unto full sonship in the family of God. This is what happened to Jesus, the firstfruits, when he was raised from the dead - sin could not separate him from the Father, the relationship had to be restored. His righteousness cleared him, and the Father vindicated him by raising him up to his right hand.
Likewise, by faith in Jesus and not by works, we are raised to full sonship in the Father's house, even though we don't deserve it - we are never good enough, but Jesus was, and we are in him.
Incredible!
And the more amazing thing is this: Justification means right relationship with the Father as sons and a restored place at the family table - that is, in the new community, the church. Justification means that through Jesus we are all raised to life in the kingdom of God, Jewish folks and Gentile folks alike, male and female, slave and free, because there is no distinction.
Justification means that the walls of religion, gender, ethnicity, and social status have been destroyed! All can be brought back to perfect relationship with the Father and unmatched community with one another!
And as we are reconciled to the Father and into his community, we are also sent to be about the business of reconciling others...and the world. Justification is the fact that we have been made right through Jesus, in a community of those who have been made right through Jesus, who are about the Father's work of right-making in the world through Jesus.
And that's more-than.
[Zach is the Leader for Teaching at Dwell. You can check out Zach's personal blogging at http://thenuance.tumblr.com.]
Dwell/ing BTV
We are not meant to be self-sufficient - life in community is a better life than one of isolation. - @PastorChrisSeay
As Zach has said in the past, Dwell's origins were found in homes - homes filled with people who genuinely loved Jesus and loved each other. We have continually seen that God does not want us to "go it alone"; just as He is a community (the 3-in-1), so are we to simply 'be' community - engaging each other relationally, preferring each other over ourselves and our own needs, carrying each other's burdens, and simply doing life together as He directs our steps.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. - Acts 2:42-47
As the Dwell community has grown, our desire for this close-knit feeling of community has only intensified. We currently have 3 intentional hangouts each week called Dwell/ings; this particular Dwelling happens every Tuesday night at 7:30pm in Burlington. We talk together, eat together, laugh together, encourage each other, pray with and for each other, and open up our Bible's together in hopes that God will meet us where we are and lead us forward as one, unified community - and that is exactly what He does.
I no longer want to see people choosing to go it alone, choosing a worldly, cavalier “freedom” that masquerades as liberty but actually isolates them from the full provision of God’s grace. - @jimhoagvt
I feel so blessed to have been 'grafted in' to this amazing gospel community and cannot wait to see how God shapes us and uses us for His Kingdom in the future. If you ever want to become a part of what God is doing at Dwell here in Burlington please contact us and we will make sure it happens.