Living Grace and Heaven

Last week in Ken's message he brought up the question of eternity and if our lives would look any different were heaven or hell removed as motivating factors for our response to God.  Would we still choose to love and honor God by living graciously if the threat of hell were removed and, maybe more importantly, would we live out the implications of grace if heaven were no longer a reward?  

Though this question gets at the heart of our motivation, the second part of this question reveals a misconception we have about what heaven is all about.  When we see God as the means to an end and not the end Himself,  we run the risk of putting the proverbial cart before the horse.  If this happens we miss out on what it truly means to be a Christian.  Christianity is more than just knowing that I get to go to heaven when I die.  It means that I get to be with God and see all that he intends heaven to be.  In that respect, living graciously allows us to live out eternity, and extend the real everlasting life, both now and when its fullest realization occurs at Christ's return.

This doesn't mean that we strip away heaven from the equation and seek a heaven on earth through social justice alone, but rather it means we live a new life in God's kingdom, now, that should make a difference in the world, all the while pointing to the ultimate reality that is yet to come.  When this is done, both salvation and world changing ethics exist together to make a lasting difference that not only reveals who God is and how He wants to save humankind but how he calls his church to do something that combats the evil in the world--Grace accepted and then reflected.

My challenge to you is to think about how you view BEING a Christian and what real difference that should be making in the world.  How does your view of this world, heaven, and God shape the way you live out your faith?  Is God a means to an end, or are you delighted that as the end Himself, he is able to extend all the other aspects of "heaven" to us that we might delight and continually serve him-- regardless of whether this means in this present reality or the real reality to come?

Posted by Todd Jefferson

Reaching

You’ve probably heard it said before, but the significance of this matter can’t be overstated: most religions are an attempt to reach God, Christianity is the story of God’s attempt to reach humanity. Now let me elaborate on this point to back up its premise.

Buddhism is about the adherent escaping the realm of Samsara (suffering), and specifically the cycle of rebirth. It has as a goal Nirvana (which might best be described as nothingness or cessation of being). Here sin isn’t given treatment except to call it suffering - inexorably linked with desires, and the pursuit of God or an ultimate and enduring good is not even a possibility, the best one can hope for is thoughts and actions that lead to ones cosmic extermination.

Hinduism has such varied and obscure metamechanics that to try to nail down their salvation muthos is rather impossible in a short paragraph. In this system gods number 330,000,000 (that’s not a typo). There are more gods than any human could possibly appease in a single lifetime and guidelines according to the gods one serves and religious philosophy one takes up that stand in stark contrast to one another. At the end of it all, one is left throwing up his or her hands and simply stating (as has become a popular statement within Hinduism): we’re not trying to reach God, so much as wake up our sleeping atman (soul) to discover that we are in fact gods ourselves.

Judaism, as our spiritual forbearers recognized God sin and the need to be restored to Him, but their mode of attaining worthiness was in keeping the Law. One thing is certain though… no one keeps the Law perfectly, the New Testament comments on this in saying that purpose of the law is in essence to let us know that we are sinners. Man can attempt to reach God by observing discipline in keeping His commands, but we ultimately fail in this endeavor.

Islam likewise recognized both God and sin, and tries to observe a disciplined and highly regimented lifestyle to diminish sin and win God’s favor. Praying set prayers a number of times per day, reciting a statement of faith, observing holy fasting days and attempting live in submission to Allah (God), are all a means of appeasing God. The concept of judgment within Islaam is that our good deeds are weighed against our bad deeds at the end of time, and whichever way the scale tips determines where our eternity will be spent.

Christianity is the only religion wherein God ultimately engages in the work of restoring the relationship between humanity and Himself. We’ll dig into this more next week, but I’m interested to hear your perspectives on this matter… can you think of another religion that violates this paradigm or even plug in a worldview and give it treatment on what it claims to save us from or save us by.


Blessings

Ben

Image

This week our discussion is centering on the subject of who we are. When the origin of humanity is left open to speculation this question is at least vast, but more probably unfathomable. On the other hand, if we begin looking into this issue of human identity by starting with the premise that we’ve been created by an infinite God, then we know with certainty that such an entity would have a certain understanding of our purposes here (if any).  So then, if this God has specifically stated something about our nature then ignoring such information would be extraordinarily foolish.

Now I want us to look very carefully at a particular passage of scripture which speaks directly to who we are, or were made to be, and consider its implications:
Gen 1:25-27
25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.(NAU)

What could this mean? “In His image?” Some, like the Mormons have taken this to mean that we literally resemble God in physical appearance… that is, that God has nostrils and armpits and the like, and so made us with a similar appearance. This would be a profound misunderstanding of both the nature of God and the text itself. Check this out, God actually moves from physical construction of beasts and animals to a consultation with Himself (v.26), wherein He decides to make mankind in a whole different manner… in a posture of dominion… but more than just ruling… in His likeness. How are we like God? I’d like to open this up to discussion, but I’ll get the ball rolling with a few of the more profound resemblances that I’ve found between humanity and God:
1. Moral Significance – The Coyote does not stop to speculate whether it is engaging in a morally significant act as it devours baby rabbits, nor does the river wonder about ethics as it drowns creatures in its flood stage. Creation is amoral prior to the creation of humanity… then God does something incredible. He creates the possibility for humans to do something truly virtuous and good (of their own accord). In order to make such a thing possible God engender within humanity the capacity to choose against His desire. So open is this capacity for selfless good or self-interested evil that we see a rapid and tragic degeneration from an initial violation; tasting the fruit of a forbidden tree, to murder within a single generation. It is a gift and responsibility so central to the creation of humanity, that the consequences of said choices are eternal and quite dire. Since the time of our moral progenitors, humans have latched onto untold opportunities to probe the depths of sin and depravity and in the midst of it all to also come clamoring back to our creator seeking restoration. God has given us the opportunity to perceive good and evil (as He does) and in so doing, to act on it. The choices that we make are more than mere hormones, more than our parentage, instinct, or what we had for breakfast. Our choices are significant now but more importantly, they matter eternally.
2. Greater than Nature and Time – I don’t know whether you’ve ever considered it or not; but you are more durable than mountains, you exceed the oceans, and will even survive the demise of the heavens and this little orb called earth. You and I are more than space and time… God made us spiritual creatures. While you feel dwarfed by the veil of this matter and energy cosmos, God has made us more; made us into something that endures, that lasts beyond the destruction of this present frame. We, like our God will not perish with this cosmos… I find this prospect to be both empowering and frightening.
3. Possessing a Mind Life – J.P. Moreland expressed this well in the statement “Animals have the capacity to think, but we have the capacity to think about thinking.” God, even at the creation, seems to engage in the realm of ideas and has made us in this likeness. More than merely being like Him in this regard, He’s actually established the vast plains of idea and thought as a playground on which to meet and mingle with us, if we choose to engage with Him there.
4. Possessing A Will – We have the distinct capacity to violate every compulsion and volition of the flesh, to go against all that is our nature by sheer force of choice. Animals act as instinct dictates, humans can act contrary to all instinct. God demonstrated will in choosing to create, and more specifically in choosing to create something that could grieve Him (us). We likewise can willfully choose to suffer in order to achieve greater good.

God Defined

Now the title of this blog may seem a little presumptuous and maybe a little intimidating, but my hope is to find out what your thoughts are on God and to observe the typical definitions of those around us.  In your mind, how does the typical person view God or understand who He is?  If you had to define God in only a few words, how would you do it?  How does creation speak to us of who God is?  What does the bible say about the nature of God?

I know that these questions could seem overwhelming and worthy of more time than a few words will allow, but let's begin somewhere and post a few thoughts on the matter.  Take a few moments and quietly think about God.  Focus in on what your thoughts of Him are and where they have come from.  Compare those to the rest of the world and see if there is any connection.  Then, read the following passages and post a sentence or two reply to the above questions.

Psalm 8

Psalm 18

Psalm 19

John 3:16-21

1 John 4:7-14

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Todd Jefferson