Tag: justice

Re-envisioning our inhabited environment

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 18 – Entering the Dance

Re-envisioning our inhabited environment

[Bible references: Exodus 25:1-9; 31:1-11; 35:30-36:7; Isaiah 65:17-25; Revelation 21:24-26]

Within our given environment, we create communities, culture, and institutions to support all that. Our homes, neighborhoods, towns, and cities reflect our potential to create either beauty or corruption. The power we have as bearers of God’s image which provides our God-given ability to transcend our environment, is the source of great good or great sin.

“And decades of persuasive experiments have shown that built environments can be a factor in shaping us in ways that have significant long-term implications, in educational or workplace performance, or our physical and mental health and wellness. The point is that architecture, an integral part of essentially all cultures, is one of many interacting cultural factors—like entertainment and marketing, politics, belief systems, or charismatic individuals, for example—that together, in large and small ways, are involved in shaping behavior and who we are over a lifetime.” [1]

“On the night of May 10, 1941, with one of the last bombs of the last serious raid, our House of Commons was destroyed by the violence of the enemy, and we have now to consider whether we should build it up again, and how, and when. We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.”[2]

We possess the abilities to create works of art, some of which are designed simply to be enjoyed or give us cause to think and some of which have practical uses such as buildings we live, work, or play in, the outdoor areas between those buildings that can serve to connect us together, the vehicles which transport us. These practical works of art also require feats of all sorts of engineering, technical and organizational skills.

It is also clear that those same abilities are regularly misused, and our constructions look less like works of art and more like works of neglect and corruption. Instead of works which build us up and add to the flourishing of all, our works sometimes are simply not as helpful as they can be and sometimes even outrightly abuse our environment as well as our fellow humans.[3] Poor building design sped up Covid spread.[4]

 A Christian architect, Dave Greusel, suggests that we should construct our buildings with the attitude that they serve as “gifts to the community,” purposely constructed to advance God’s Kingdom, expressing grace, beauty, justice, creativity.[5] There are many different ways in which we enhance the quality of life not only within the buildings we create, but also the environment around those buildings, designing our spaces with consideration for how we live not only in, but around our buildings.

In the U.S., planning our cityscape around automobiles has seemed natural because of the way that our automotive technology has allowed us to flexibly expand in the large space afforded by our country. Sadly, that type of planning has caused us to sometimes neglect the way that life is normally lived with the communities of the city. Sometimes, it has been after the fact that cities have paid attention to how to better design the city spaces for people to navigate on foot or bicycle and to live in community.

Enacted space is “activated by the people using it.” that is, it is not enough to design particular spaces, but to make them attractive so that people use them. [6]

Additional features that can be considered for our spaces are how we situate housing for people and where they work, how we create enclosed spaces that give a sense of protection and safety, monuments that provide particular spaces with meaning and the thresholds (doorways or openings) between the building interiors and the spaces outside.[7]

“Connectivity is measured by the number of intersections per square mile. One hundred fifty connections per square-mile is considered to be the minimum for a vibrant community.” [8]

[1] Hart, Robert Lamb. “How Buildings Shape Us” Common Edge commonedge.org/how-buildings-shape-us

[2]Churchill, Winston. Made in a speech in the House of Commons on October 28,1943 about replacing the bombed-out House of Commons chamber. Quote given Automated Buildings automatedbuildings.com/news/aug20/articles/lynxspring/200721102909lynxspring.html

[3] Rethinking the Future. “Some Examples of Bad Architecture Ideas” Rethinking the Future www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/article/some-examples-of-bad-architecture-ideas; Staczek, David. “Is Bad Architecture Harmful to Our Health” Architizer architizer.com/blog/inspiration/stories/bad-architecture-harmful-to-health; Husock, Howard. “How Public Housing Harms Cities” City Journal Winter 2003 www.city-journal.org/html/how-public-housing-harms-cities-12410.html

[4] Ing, Will. Architects’ Journal 3 Oct 2021; www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/poor-building-design-sped-up-covid-spread-says-academic 2021

[5] Greusel, Dave. “Architecture for Human Flourishing” Denver Institute for Faith and Work 15 Apr 2015 denverinstitute.org/david-greusel-architecture-for-human-flourishing-videos

[6] Jacobsen, Eric O. The Space Between  A Christian Engagement with the Built Environment” Baker Academic, 2012 (p. 17).

[7] Jacobsen, Eric O. The Space Between  A Christian Engagement with the Built Environment” Baker Academic, 2012 (Chapter 2)

[8] Jacobsen, Eric O. The Space Between  A Christian Engagement with the Built Environment” Baker Academic, 2012 (p. 43)

Reflect

As you consider the town or city you live in, what might be done better to make the places we live and work to be a gift to the entire community?

Observe

Read Isaiah 65:17-25. How can we build things that point to our future hope?

Re-envisioning our culture

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 18 – Entering the Dance

Re-envisioning our culture

[Bible references: Isaiah 61:1-11; Ezekiel 16:1-19; 1 Peter 3:1-22]

In Culture Care,[1] Fujimura tries to get us to think holistically, in terms of restoring beauty as a means of invigorating culture so that people can thrive. This “Generative Thinking” looks beyond the resources right in front of us and recognizes the transcendence of God in our midst, which then allows us to think and behave generously and then also allows us to think beyond the immediate future and instead think in terms of generations to come. This contrasts with the attitude that resources are scarce and therefore must be handled in utilitarian and economic ways.

As creatures made in the image of our transcendent God, we have been given the capability to detect that transcendence in the form of beauty. As creatures made in the image of our creator God, we have been given the ability to create beautiful artifacts. Beauty is a characteristic that points beyond creation itself, for beauty has no utilitarian value. The beauty we see around us reflects the generous and gratuitous nature of God who intends that we do more than just survive, but rather to flourish in the abundance of His provision. Even more than that, Beauty is a characteristic that encompasses more than what we can look at or hear, but it is enfolded in the spiritual values of justice and morality.

Although, we all have the capacity to create beauty, there are those people who are called to focus on making works of art. Fujimuraviews those artists as the catalysts, leaders that challenge us to think less colloquially but more imaginatively, to look beyond ourselves and our local groups and rather to look to the whole of society. Artists are positioned to do this, because their dispositions usually place them at the fringes of society where they can serve as “border-walkers”[2] allowing them to at once look at their own social group from the fringes and also to connect to other social groups. Fujimura then challenges the rest of society to create an environment for these artists, these “border-walkers,” to be trained in their roles and to thrive. Part of the challenge is to recognize that, for society to flourish, we need the art economy, which by definition is a non-utilitarian economy. Towards this end, artists should be trained to be effective stewards of their gifts and society needs to learn how to be stewards of the artists, by creating environments for art, and Beauty, to flourish. Fujimura proposes that art can even help us create a healing environment in our current culture wars. Participants in culture wars employ language that reduces the enemy to a caricature. Instead, culture should not be handled as a territory to be won or lost but a resource we are called to steward and cultivate. Artists can become known as “citizen artists” who lead in society with their imagination and their work – creating opportunities for genesis moments in culture – moments in which dialogue can happen, caricatures can be discarded, and deeper concerns can be addressed. But for this to happen, we need vision, courage, and perseverance and a focused effort to pay attention to the care and cultivation of the soul.

[1] Fujimura, Makoto. Culture Care: Reconnecting with beauty for our common life.  Intervarsity Press 2014

[2] Also called “mearcstapas” in Beowulf, seventh century

Reflect

We may not all be artists, but we all have some creative capabilities as co-creators with God. We all have the capacity to create beauty: acts of generosity, bringing the life of the Spirit into a spiritually dark place, letting God’s love flow through you to another. How can you bring beauty into the world?

Observe

Read Ezekiel 16:1-19. It is probably not hard to envision the community outside the church as the “adulterous wife.” How can we “clothe” our community?

vocational stewardship

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 18 – Entering the Dance

Vocational stewardship

[Bible references: Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:1-17]

In-between those basic strategies, the question we all need to discover is, within the context we find ourselves in, what are the practical ways for us to use the gifts and talents God has equipped us with. For some of us, we can find ways to use our gifts and talents directly within the church. But all work, whether done in the church or outside can be done as unto the Lord. For others, Amy Sherman has identified four different strategies outside the church itself for us to consider.[1]

  • Promote the kingdom in and through your daily work
  • Volunteer your skills to an agency outside your employer.
  • Launch your own social enterprise
  • Participate in your church’s targeted initiative.

Whatever strategy we use, the goal is to bring hope to the world around us by bringing in Kingdom values of justice, righteousness, and peace.[2]

We do have to consider the reality that many of us have jobs that consign workers to demeaning labor: either doing tasks that treat workers as if they were biological robots on an assembly line doing repetitive tasks, or just doing unskilled tasks that require no creativity and that fail to regard the humanity of those workers.[3] Then sometimes, we simply find ourselves in a job which could easily be more meaningful if we were appreciated. What should we do then? Dorothy Sayers’ position is that we should have the same attitude as given to us in Genesis 2, we should serve the work. We can hope that the work was designed to serve the community, so that in serving the work we serve the community.

“The only true way of serving the community is to be truly in sympathy with the community, to be oneself part of the community and then to serve the work without giving the community another thought. Then the work will endure, because it will be true to itself. It is the work that serves the community; the business of the worker is to serve the work.”[4]

[1] Sherman, Amy. Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good. Intervarsity Press, 2011 eBook Chapters 9-13

[2] Sherman, Amy. Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good. Intervarsity Press, 2011 eBook Chapter 1

[3] Smith, James K.A. “The Beauty of Work, the Injustice of Toil” Comment comment.org/the-beauty-of-work-the-injustice-of-toil/

[4] Sayers, Dorothy. “Why Work” in Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine Villanova University www1.villanova.edu/content/dam/villanova/mission/faith/Why%20Work%20by%20Dorothy%20Sayers.pdf

Reflect

How might you use your vocational stewardship?

Observe

Read Ephesians 6:5-9. How do we serve “as unto the Lord” at whatever our vocation is?

Occupy Till I Come

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 18 – Entering the Dance

Occupy Till I Come

[Bible references: Jeremiah 29; Luke 19:11-27]

On His way to Jerusalem the last time before His triumphal entry, Jesus knew the kind of expectations the people had about how the Kingdom of God would appear. To prepare them for the long wait between His resurrection and His return to fully restore the Kingdom of God, He told them a parable about a nobleman who would, before going into a far country, give his servants some money with instructions to engage in business while he was gone. The parable ended with rewards given to those who made profits and penalties for those who did not.

This then is our instruction, to make use of what God has given each of us to ‘engage in business,’ (KJV “Occupy Till I Come”) that is, we are called to help advance the kingdom until He returns.

When Jesus came two thousand years ago, he announced the beginning of a new age, “The Kingdom is here … The Kingdom of heaven is near … The Kingdom of God has come.” As disciples of Jesus we can say, “The Kingdom of God is within us.” Then, with our hearts changed by Jesus, we are charged to go and make disciples, to do justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.

As we then join Jesus in bringing His kingdom into the world, we need to remember our humble estate …We cannot even change our own hearts, never mind the hearts of others. Certainly, we cannot change our culture. It is up to our Savior to change our hearts, and even more so to change the culture around us.

Jesus and his disciples lived more as servants or slaves within the Roman Empire. They had no political influence. But as the disciples lived transformed lives, living as well as preaching the Gospel, and showed the power of sacrificial love, their Spirit empowered lives opened the way for the Spirit of God to change the hearts of many throughout the Roman Empire, eventually moving the heart of a Roman Emperor, Constantine.

History has shown the mixed results of combining the power of state and church, but the teachings of Jesus have penetrated even our secular postmodern culture in ways that are not widely recognized as such. Despite the church’s own history of abusing and misusing power, Jesus’ concepts of using power to serve others, even one’s enemies still managed to occasionally penetrate the halls of power – in imperfect form to be sure, just as the ideas expressed in the Enlightenment imperfectly expressed ideas from Christianity.

“Reparations let’s say for slavery or in New Zealand reparations to the Māori or in Australia reparations to the Aboriginal even for native indigenous American Indians. And this language is actually not a historic language. This is a language since Jesus. See, because Genghis Khan never worried about reparations. He never felt he had any moral responsibility to somehow make it right for all the women he raped and all the men he killed and all the families destroyed and all the villages he burned down. We have Caesar or Alexander, they never really had remorse for anything they conquered or anything they destroyed or any people whose lives they overthrew. This concept of justice of using power well is a concept that only emerges because Jesus lived 2,000 years ago. He revolutionized the entire understanding of power. The idea that a government should actually care about its citizens is really, it’s not a historic human concept. This concept is infused by the ethics that Jesus brought to the understanding of power that it says when Jesus had all power and all authority, he ties a towel around his waist and he washes his disciples’ feet. This is a reinvention of power. … if you go back to World War II … when you look at the American response to conquering Germany and conquering Japan, and how within a decade or two, both of them became two of the greatest economies in the world … You get to see what happens when you’re conquered from a Christian mindset world with West Germany. You realize that Japan becomes one of our greatest allies. That doesn’t happen historically. You do not conquer a nation and then rebuild it to feel a moral obligation to re-establish that country better than it was before. Even what we’ve done historically has been informed by a Christian worldview. I’m not saying that England or United States or any Western nation is a Christian nation. What I’m saying is the conversations we’re having are informed by Jesus’s revolutionary, brilliant genius thoughts about power.” [1]

There are debates on the ideas expressed above, often fraught with ideas of self-interest[2] and ideology, about how to provide for populations that have experienced oppression or how to manage the after-effects of war. But these ideas and other expressions of compassion and justice – like hospitals, orphanages, the concept of “war crimes,” or the many ways to carry out “social justice” (that is, God’s expression of compassion and justice) – are ideas not found in history until God introduced them first to his chosen people, Israel, and then through the person of Jesus to His Body. As God’s image-bearers

Unfortunately. the church often abused its privilege, often succumbing to the worldly temptations of power and ignoring its mandate to steward God’s world with compassion and justice. But even though the church has stumbled, it has still managed to live out, admittedly imperfectly, its mandate of compassion and justice. And the world has noticed. Bu interestingly, many have adopted those same values even though they choose to ignore the source of our mandate.

[1] Mcmanus, Erwin. Interview with Carey Nieuwhof, CNLP 452: Erwin McManus on the Future of the Church, How to do Evangelism More Effectively, Authenticity and Reflections on Being Labeled a Heretic Carey Nieuwhof careynieuwhof.com/episode452

[2] Niebuhr, Reinhold.  “Editorial Notes” republished as Christianity and Crisis Magazine providencemag.com/2022/06/christian-realism-enlightened-self-interest-marshall-plan-emerges-reinhold-niebuhr/ 17 Jun 2022

Reflect

In what ways have you lived out a sacrificial love?

Observe

Read Jeremiah 29; Luke 19:11-27. What do we need to do to live transformed lives, living and preaching the Gospel, and show the power of sacrificial love with Spirit empowered lives?

The Kingdom is Come and Not Yet

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 16 – Fixing our eyes

The Kingdom is Come and Not Yet

[Bible references: Matthew 6:9-13; 28:36-49; Romans 12:2; James 1:27; Revelation 21-22]

When Jesus came the first time, his healings and teachings began the ushering in of the Kingdom of God, a task He will complete when He returns to fully restore His Kingdom. When Jesus came the first time, He was resurrected, but when He comes a second time, there will be a new heaven and earth, and everyone will be resurrected. But what about now?

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he told the disciples to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It was then, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that the disciples of Jesus began the process of continuing the task of bringing Heaven to earth. In this in-between time, God is at work through the Holy Spirit, continuing to bring people to Himself, continuing to build His kingdom. The task that lies before us is to join Him in His work. The prayer He gave for us to say says, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This prayer asks that His kingdom be brought to earth, the Kingdom of justice and mercy.

Empowered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it is our opportunity to do our part, with whatever ability He has given us, to work with Him in bringing His justice and mercy on earth: to look after the widows, orphans, the helpless, and the marginalized; to have compassion; to not lie about others; hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts; bringing the good news of Jesus to all. This is simply doing the task assigned to us from the beginning: to fill the earth and subdue it as his co-regents, to take care of the earth as farmer-priests representing Him on earth.

Our final destiny is not to a disembodied existence, but to a new, transformed body, transformed in the way that Jesus was when he was resurrected. Earth itself will also be transformed, with its corruption being removed, not back into a Garden of Eden, but into the earth as it was meant to become, filled, and civilized, with a new Jerusalem being brought from heaven to earth. We are not being sent to heaven; heaven will be coming to us.

Knowing that this end is coming upon us, in the present age we can be motivated to express our hope by living out our hope as in mentioned in The Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This encourages us to do what we can to help usher in God’s kingdom now, if only in part. The full entry of the kingdom will not happen until the Lord returns and establishes a new heaven and earth, but we do not need to wait hopelessly as if there is nothing we can do. God has given everyone in his church gifts with which we can build each other up and take charge as His stewards of the earth.

But the task of transforming the earth needs to begin within us. We need to be transformed. In our sin, it is our tendency to always point to other things for the cause of the problems we see. But the cause of the corruption we see elsewhere begins with the corruption within ourselves.

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart…even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains…an uprooted small corner of evil. [1]

[1] Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. “The Gulag Archipelago” Vintage Publishing 1974

Reflect

Reflect

In this time that we live in, the Kingdom of God has come but not yet completely. Our hearts reflect this time with our mixed desires – at once delighting in God’s law and at the same time waging war against that same law. The corruption in our hearts is reflected in the corruption we see in the world. How does that impact how we approach our task to join God in bringing His Kingdom into the world?

Observe

Read Revelation 21:22-24. Try to imagine what it means that “the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into the city.” What would that look like?

Discipline of Prayer

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Prayer

[Bible references: Matthew 6:6-7; Luke 11:11-13; Romans 8:26; Colossians 1:9-14; Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17]

To have God speak to the heart is a majestic experience, an experience that people may miss if they monopolize the conversation and never pause to hear God’s responses.[1]

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all. Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don’t want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of ‘good time’ is seldom in sync with ours.”[2]

“I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.”[3]  

 “Authentic worship will impel us to join in the Lamb’s war against demonic powers everywhere—on the personal level, on the social level, on the institutional level. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is our Commander-in-Chief. We receive his orders for service and go …”[4]

Fortunately, we have a heavenly Father who cares for us – a Father, not just a distant God, but a Father who created us so that we could share His love, a Father who desires a friendship with us, a Father who desires a partner to rule Creation with Him. The grief, sometimes overwhelming, is that we allowed sin to break our relationship with Him and break our relationship with each other and with Creation itself. The result is that we don’t talk like we should, we let shame and embarrassment get in the way of what could be a wonderful and intimate relationship.

The goal of prayer is to rebuild that relationship, to share concerns, to listen, to express our appreciation of each other, to share our feelings. We have the benefit of having a Father who already knows us better than we know ourselves, who knows our thoughts and our needs – but He still wants us to talk, to give us a chance to be honest with him (and ourselves), to confess what we need to confess, to deal with any confusions that we have. He wants us to participate with Him in bringing His kingdom into our lives and into the world, to share His love for the world and to seek justice for the oppressed, to even to bring His shalom into the world.

We have needs and the world has so many needs, that it seems that our list of petitions is overwhelming to the point where it makes us give up. But our prayer is more than a list of petitions because the God of love rules over all creation and that love brings us to express adoration and thanksgiving. And when our brokenness gets in the way of our relationship, we can bring our confessions of sin so that we may receive His overwhelming forgiveness.

Having a prayer life with a loving God should just happen, but it doesn’t and that brings us to the discipline of prayer – to help our prayer life, our talks with God, to happen despite our brokenness.

There are times when we are desperate, when we feel that we have no options … so, we pray. These are the times that St. John of the Cross said are the “dark nights of the soul.” As people of faith, we know that those “dark nights” don’t last forever. Just as surely as we experience the darkness, there is the resurrection light. These dark nights of the soul – these times of spiritual crisis – lead us closer to God. As we pray, are persistent in prayer, and are willing to be moved by the Holy Spirit through prayer? We will see that prayer changes us and help us grow to become more able to see others as God sees them.

[1] Stanley, Charles.

[2] Chambers, Oswald.

[3] Zacharias, Ravi. “Has Christianity Failed You?” Zondervan 2017

[4] Foster, Richard J. “Celebration of Discipline” Harper & Row Publishers ©1978 p. 173.

Observe

Read Colossians 1:9-14. For whom could you be praying this prayer?

Rejoicing in the hope of God

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 14 – Remembering our creation

Rejoicing in the hope of God

[Bible references: Psalm 42; Isaiah 40; Romans 5:1-11; 2 Corinthians 5:11-21]

The relationship between lament and hope is crucial. Reconciliation without lament cheapens hope. To be deeply bothered about the way things are is itself a sign of hope.[1] It is because of our great hope that we can face the brokenness around us and within us, knowing that God still rules over all things and above all things, knowing that He has not and will not cease working to bring his mercy and justice, and knowing that God will eventually restore all of creation to what He has intended from the beginning.

That is the hope we can remember each time we share communion. In the broken bread we remember: Christ broken for us; our sharing in His brokenness; the Body of Christ, that the church now broken will be made whole when our joy will be consummated at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. In the wine we remember: Christ’s blood shed for us; our sharing in His suffering; the Blood of Christ which cleanses and redeems us so that with pure hearts and with one heart, we may enjoy the glorious presence of our Lord. And so it is, after facing the reality of our brokenness, acknowledging it with our lament, looking forward to the reality of the hope we have in God and seeking His desire to restore all things to Himself, that we can face the reality of what we need to do, so that we can join Christ in his redemptive work. If we have truly faced the reality of our brokenness then we will not be deceived by the illusion of progress in our culture, which ultimately is unable to overcome evil.[2] Our hope is fixed solely in Christ who has defeated evil.

[1] Katongole, Emmanuel. Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace, and Healing  Intervarsity Press, 2009; Wright N.T. “Five Things to know about lament” NT Wright Online www.ntwrightonline.org/five-things-to-know-about-lament

[2] Wright, N.T. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking, Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church  Harper Collins 2008. Kindle Edition (p.84-86)

Reflect

How can communion provide us hope within the brokenness that we live in?

Observe

Read 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. What do we need to experience before we can act a ambassadors of Christ?

Our limits

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 14 – Remembering our creation

Our Limits

[Bible References: Genesis 1-2; Deuteronomy 15:11; Psalm 40:17; 1 Corinthians 12]

As we seek to fulfill our cultural mandate, there are various constraints which control how we exercise our call.[1] First and foremost, as God’s image-bearers, we are to act in accordance with God’s character: holding to the balance and tension of acting with sovereignty and servitude, mercy and justice, playfulness, and orderliness, along with his attributes of overflowing goodness, generosity and peace, trustworthiness, faithfulness, self-sacrifice and forgiveness. Although we are not transcendent in the same way God is, as his image-bearers his character of transcendence can be reflected in the ways we manifest His other qualities: Our ability to creatively imagine the ways in which we establish dominion, live into our relationships, display fruitfulness, and fulfill our responsibilities as God’s image-bearers.

We also need to remember that there are limits with which we should exercise our responsibilities. God has given us finite resources of materials or time to work with along with the reminder of Sabbath to help us refocus, to remember that although we are designed to work that we are not designed solely for work. It is not work that gives us value, rather it is God who gives us value and our work only has value if it gives God the glory.

Part of our limits are tied to our embodiment. Our earthiness is a reminder of our dependance on the earth, each other, and God. Our earthiness should help us lean into the humility worthy of image-bearers of God. Our need to sleep is a constant reminder that we are not God who never sleeps.

The multi-faceted call God has given us, requires us as God’s stewards to weave together the call to glorify God, to bring to maturity God’s rule over the earth, to reflect God’s triunity within the community of his image-bearers. This call is not for us to fulfill individually, but rather together as the Body of Christ with whatever God provides.

[1] Theology of Work Commentary, “Genesis 1-11 and Work” Hendrickson Publishers Marketing 2015, 2016

Reflect

We have built-in limits to what we, in our bodies, can do. How do these limits remind us of our dependency on the earth where we live, on each other, and on God?

Observe

Read Deuteronomy 15:11; Ps 40:17; 1 Corinthians 12. Why do we need each other?

Mystery of sin, salvation, and sanctification

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 13 – Distinctives within the body of Christ

Mystery of Sin, Salvation, and Sanctification

[Bible references: Ps 38:39; Is 12:2; 25:9; Zephaniah 3:17; Matthew 26:28; Luke 24:47; John 3:16; 10:9; Acts 2:38; 4:12; Romans 5; 6:23; 1 Corinthians 1:21; 15:2; Ephesians 2:8; 2 Tim 3:15]

How do we inherit sin?

There are two main views of how we inherit sin:

  • According to ancestral sin, Adam and Eve alone bear the full responsibility and guilt for the sin in the Garden, but we inherit mortality, the tendency to sin, and alienation from God and other people. Expulsion from the Garden was to prevent the humans from being eternally separated from God.
  • According to original sin, as Adam’s ancestors we inherit not only Adams’ sinful nature but his guilt as well. Expulsion from the garden was a punishment.

What did Jesus do to allow our relationship with him to be restored?[1]

By taking on human flesh the way that Jesus did and becoming fully human, he experienced all the temptations to sin that we face, but without succumbing to them. When he died on the cross as a perfect God-Man, he was able to overcome death and offer to restore our relationship with him. Different congregations have different ideas on how this transaction was able to actually work.

  • God paid a ransom to free us. Once the ransom was paid, justice was satisfied, and God was able to free us. There is a dispute about whether the ransom was paid to God or to the Devil.[2]
  • Christ is seen as the second Adam who is victorious where Adam failed and undoes what Adam did. The atonement of Christ has reversed the course of mankind from disobedience to obedience. Christ’s life recapitulated all the stages of human life and in doing so reversed the course of disobedience initiated by Adam.[3]
  • Just as Adam’s sins were imputed to us (original sin), when Jesus died on the cross, his righteousness was imputed to us.[4]
  • Christ suffered for everyone so that the Father could forgive the ones who repent and believe. Pardon and forgiveness cannot be brought to pass unless God’s righteous obligations as Moral Governor can be satisfied. Nor can it happen unless man is willing to repent and embrace the conditions of mercy. Man must identify himself in a committal of faith to the sufferings of Christ for his sins, as the only hope of his forgiveness and spiritual restoration from a state of ruin.[5]

What is the effect of sin on our bodies and on our world?

Despite the effects of sin, that we are image-bearers of God. This view creates a positive view of our bodies and is supportive of taking healthy care of our bodies and also the environment. However, there is a viewpoint originally developed by Greek philosophy that has continued to affect the church in many ways from the beginning is the idea that only spiritual things are good and physical things are bad.[6]

In regard to the body, this dualism leads to the view that sex is sinful and a general discomfort in talking about the body, preventing the church from counteracting the influence of the culture both within and outside the congregation. This dualism has led to many other errors as well, such as focusing on heaven as our final destination instead of a new creation, the need to deny oneself physical pleasure[7] in order to pursue the spiritual, and the neglect of our roles as stewards of our physical environment.

How are we saved from the consequences of our sins?

When the first people rebelled against God, they brought the penalty of death and eternal separation from God upon themselves. As descendants of those people, we inherited the corrupt nature that causes us to sin and therefore also brings the penalty of death and separation from God upon ourselves. Our salvation is only possible because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The gift of salvation can be received when we confess our sins, acknowledge Jesus’ death on our behalf and accept God’s forgiveness for our own sins.

That said, there are two explanations about how we are saved that depend on how we think we inherited sin.

  • According to the doctrine of ancestral sin, salvation is a process of avoiding sin and becoming more like God,[8] a process which, for those who are baptized into Christ, will continue after our death and resurrection. God did not expel Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and away from the Tree of Life as a punishment, but out of compassion, so that we would not be like the fallen angels and become immortal in sin.
  • According to the doctrine of original sin, Jesus’ death is considered to have paid the penalty for our sins. By receiving his forgiveness, we are legally justified before God, and he gives us his spirit so that we can begin the process of becoming more like him.

What is the role of grace in salvation?

In Reformed theology, God gives irresistible grace to those he chose before time began and gave them the will to respond to his call to repent so that they can be forgiven, and once forgiven, God will ensure that they will persevere in the faith.

In provisional theology all men are given a grace[9] that allows them free will to respond to God’s call to repent and be saved and also have God’s assurance that he will not let us go.[10]

In Arminian and Orthodox theology, it is by our free will that we accept God’s forgiveness and then also have the free will to abandon that faith later.

What does it mean to be saved by grace and yet have expectations to live righteously?

Some Christians think that once they are converted, that is they have received Christ’s gift of salvation, then they have done all they need to do. After that, some will either forget or neglect the entire process of being a disciple of Christ leaving the question of whether they were actually converted.

Some congregations believe that more than faith is required in order to receive salvation[11] and insist that salvation has not happened unless some specific things are done. The Orthodox tradition states that salvation is a process that begins with conversion but then continues with the process of becoming more like God. The Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions state that once we have been justified, then God can set us apart to be the type of people that he has intended us to be from the beginning.[12] In this condition, we can begin the process of growing in Christ, that is, becoming more like God.

We are living in the time between the first coming of Christ, where he conquered death and sin, and His second coming, when he will transform creation with a new heaven and earth, and we will have new resurrection bodies. In this in-between time, we still are living in corrupt bodies and in an earth corrupted by sin although we may have begun the process of being transformed more into the image of Christ. This does create some confusion.

Until the final resurrection we still sin and need to regularly be in an attitude of repentance, confessing our sin and turning back to God and acknowledging our need for God’s grace so that we can also be ready to give grace to others.

The Roman Catholics emphasize our need to not only confess our sins, but to do something tangible to express our repentance[13] and need to be purified more completely before we can appear before God. This requires a temporary stay in purgatory before we are allowed into heaven.

Viewing things in a more positive light, some congregations emphasize that while we may not actually free from sinning, that our hearts have been cleansed from sin by the grace of God.[14]

Since we are under grace, do the commandments still apply to us?

We are told that those who are born “of the Spirit” are not “under the law” because Jesus fulfilled the law. However, that does not mean that the law can be ignored. In fact, not only does the law provide guidance for us, but the expectations for our behavior are even more comprehensive. The New Testament explicitly tells us that:

  • hating our brother is equivalent to murdering our brother. 
  • we should not hate our enemy but love them.
  • looking at someone with lust is like committing adultery.
  • if we are forced to go one mile, then we should go two miles.

Our motivation should not come from trying to obey the external law “written in stone” but rather from the internal desires “written in our hearts” to love – love God and to love one another. To give a few examples: we should be.

  • Not driven to obey the Commandment to keep the Sabbath, but rather encouraged to live every day to God.
  • Not driven to obey the command to tithe, but rather encouraged to be generous.
  • Not driven to obey the command to not covet, but rather encouraged to promote the welfare of others.
  • Not driven to obey commandments, but rather encouraged to express the fruits of the Spirit.
  • Not driven to obey externally given commands, but rather encouraged to grow in our internal desire to love,
  • Not driven to avoid doing wrong, but rather encouraged to delight in finding the best way to do what is right

However, the relationship of the church to the law has been a point of contention in many congregations causing many congregations to adopt a legalistic framework. There is a tendency to consider the laws we call the Ten Commandments to be unlike the other laws in the Old Testament – to be “moral laws” that still apply. The New Testament, however, has not separated out the “moral law” from the rest of the laws (sometimes called civil and ceremonial laws) in the Old Testament. Some consider the Law to be good as it guides us away from idolatry, but others view the law to be bad as we should rather be relying on grace instead of the law which is considered to be oppressive.

The Ten Commandments, as we call them, are not numbered in the original texts (Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5) but in the Biblical text are referred to as the Decalogue, which means “ten words.”[15] This has resulted in a couple of different numbering schemes for the “ten words.” One of the variations is influenced by iconoclasm, which makes “You shall not make any graven images …” the second commandment.

[1] Soteriology is the study of how we are saved

[2] Theopedia “Ransom”  Theopedia theopedia.com/ransom

[3] Theopedia “Recapitulation theory of atonement”  Theopedia theopedia.com/recapitulation-theory-of-atonement

[4] Theopedia “Penal substitutionary atonement”  Theopedia theopedia.com/penal-substitutionary-atonement

[5] Theopedia “Governmental theory of atonement” Theopedia theopedia.com/governmental-theory-of-atonement

[6] In Persia during the third century, Mani tried to synthesize all the known religions, including Gnosticism and Christianity into a religion known as Manichaeism. Gnostics think that there is a good spiritual world, and a bad physical world (aka Dualism).

[7] New Advent “Asceticism” New Advent newadvent.org/cathen/01767c.htm

[8] Theopedia “Theosis” Theopedia www.theopedia.com/theosis

[9] Prevenient grace means the grace of God that surrounds all, and is at work in all, even before we know or care about it.

[10] Spurgeon, C.H. “The Security of Believers – or, sheep who shall never perish”  Spurgeon Gems spurgeongems.org given 5 Sept 1889 www.spurgeongems.org/sermon/chs2120.pdf

[11] Theopedia “Legalism” Theopedia theopedia.com/legalism

[12] Sanctification is the process of being set apart for God’s use.

[13] Catholic Encyclopedia “Penance” Catholic Encyclopedia catholic.com/encyclopedia/Penance

[14] Theopedia. “Wesleyan perfectionism”  Theopedia www.theopedia.com/wesleyan-perfectionism. Wesleyan perfectionism, sometimes called entire sanctification, is a view held by John Wesley that taught that Christians could to some degree attain perfection in this life.

[15] Hale, Philip. “Numbering the Decalogue, Images, and Iconoclasm: A Historical and Theological Survey”  Nebraska Lutherans for Confessional Study, July 25, 2013

Observe

Read John 3:16; 10:9; Acts 2:38. How can we be reconciled to God?

Mystery of our role in the world

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 13 – Distinctives within the body of Christ

Mystery of our role in the world

[Bible references: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15; Deuteronomy 18:14-22; Proverbs 31:4-9; Isaiah 1:17-20; Jeremiah 7:16-17; 21:11-14; 22:1-5; Amos 7; Micah 6:8; 1 Corinthians 14; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17; 2 Peter 3:10-12]

What is the prophetic role of the church?

In the Old Testament, two words are used to describe the prophet. The earlier of the two is the word ro’eh, which roughly means ‘the one who sees.’ Later, the more common word used for a prophet is nabi, which can be loosely translated as ‘the one who speaks,’ particularly on behalf of another… a prophet is one who sees a different world, and says a different word … A Prophetic church … sees Jesus as King and His Kingdom arriving here and now … Speaks the truth to power …points towards the day when the Kingdom comes in fulness … [1]

As the Body of Christ, the church serves to encourage the weak, bring hope to those without hope, to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted”[2], to warn the powerful, and to call all to repentance, justice, mercy, and humility.

The actual practice of the church through the years has been inconsistent. There have been times where believers were willing to speak for Christ despite the threat of death, were willing to sacrifice time and resources to provide for the poor, were willing to speak out and take action to defend the helpless. But there also have been times when believers closed their community off from outsiders, defended and encouraged the oppressors, showed hatred towards, and persecuted those who were different.

In what ways should Christians be involved in “guarding the sacred
space” [3] entrusted to us?

“Culture care is to provide for our culture’s “soul,” … a well-nurtured culture becomes an environment in which people and creativity thrive.” [4]

Our sacred space includes the “natural world” of God’s direct creation and the cultural world of the society we have created. However, those Christians who either have a Gnostic[5] of the world or who focus on the apparent destruction of the world in 2 Peter 3:10-12, there is no value in trying to redeem either the physical realm around us, or the culture around us.[6]

How should Christians respond to the community around them, particularly the unbelievers?

The caution in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 cautioning Christians against yoking with unbelievers has led to a variety of responses. One set of responses leads to some form of separation of the church community from the surrounding culture.

  • Creating communities that are isolated in whole or part from the culture around them, such as with the Amish and Mennonites.
  • Other variants of this are the creation of monasteries or convents, where the “spiritual community” where the participants can focus on “spiritual” activities.[7]

Monastic communities were developed as a criticism of the church’s decision to become a large scale, inclusive organization.

  • Some congregations have even separated themselves from other believers whom they consider heretical, or even from other believers whom associate with any heretical congregations,[8] although some congregations desire to be cooperative in some extent with other congregations they are not in total agreement with.[9]
  • Some Christian communities are in outright opposition to the culture around them, creating a “culture war” or “Christ against culture” mentality.[10] Some Christian communities such as the Brethren, Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, Wesleyan Methodists, and Seventh Day Adventists are opposed to particular issues such as the appropriateness of Christians to be involved in the military or with violence in general[11] with others think war, or violence, is justified in certain circumstances.[12]

Moving in the other direction, congregations find themselves adopting the values of the surrounding culture,[13] sometimes to the point of adopting the power narratives of the government.

The intertwining of church and state began with Emperor Constantine, who not only allowed Christianity to be tolerated, but inserted his secular power into the church[14]. There are those who insist that secular law should conform to biblical values,[15] which can result in the conflation of nationalism with patriotism to the point of imposing some variation of Christian values on a pluralistic society.[16] This conflation happened regularly throughout history, particularly in the first millennium of the church because the religion of a nation was seen as a community value (i.e. no one had their own individual religion, the individual simply assumed the religion of the entire community). In practice, it was the local king who determined the religion of his kingdom. The linkage of nation and religion was prevalent until the end of the Holy Roman Empire and continued beyond. One variant of this viewpoint interprets the phrase, “compel them to come in,” (Luke 14:23) to authorize the use of physical force to “compel” people to become Christians.

In between those views of the separation from the state and intertwining with the state is the view that since all humans are image bearers tasked with stewardship of the world, and that we can work co-operatively with non-believers in those tasks in which we have a common interest.

[1] Packiam, Gary. “What does it mean to be a prophetic church?” ChurchLeaders churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/339974-what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-prophetic-church.html

[2] Deis, Robert. Thisdayinquotes July 30, 2020 www.thisdayinquotes.com/2020/07/comfort-afflicted-and-afflict.html  This often used phrase was originally penned by Finley Peter Dunne on Oct 5, 1902.   The full quote as Dunne wrote it is: “Th’ newspaper does ivrything f’r us. It runs th’ polis foorce an’ th’ banks, commands th’ milishy, conthrols th’ ligislachure, baptizes th’ young, marries th’ foolish, comforts th’ afflicted, afflicts th’ comfortable, buries th’ dead an’ roasts thim aftherward.” Originally published in the column, “Mr. Dooley on Newspaper publicity”

[3] Walton, John H. “The Lost Word of Adam and Eve” InterVarsity Press. 2015 Kindle Edition (pp.104-105)

[4] Fujimura, Makoto. Culture Care, “Chapter 2 Culture Care Defined” Intervarsity Press 2014

[5] Theopedia “Gnosticism” Theopedia www.theopedia.com/gnosticism

[6] The overall concept of being stewards of what God has provided for us is sometimes called “Creation Care.”

[7] McCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity The First Three Thousand Years.  Viking Press. 2009 (p. 200)

[8] Van Gelderen, John. “Separation: Primary Vs. Secondary” Revival Focus 30 May 2018 Revival Focus www.revivalfocus.org/separation-primary-vs-secondary

[9] Theopedia “Ecumenism” Theopedia theopedia.com/ecumenism

[10] Stanley, Chris. “The 5 views of Christ and Culture” Culture Redeemed cultureredeemed.com/the-5-views-of-christ-and-culture

[11] This viewpoint is known as pacifism.

[12] Mosley, Alexander. “Just War Theory” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu/justwar/

[13] Theopedia “Syncretism” Theopedia theopedia.com/syncretism

[14] : McCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity the First Three Thousand Year “Chapter 6. The Imperial Church” Viking Press. 2009 Shortly after Constantine issued the Edict of Toleration, the Church found itself embroiled in an internal dispute which caused Constantine to call a council of bishops to resolve the issue. This precedent combined with those in the Church who sought the favor of the emperor began an intertwining of church and state.

[15] Theopedia “Theonomy” Theopedia theopedia.com/theonomy

[16] Encyclopedia Britannica “Christendom”  Encyclopedia Britannia Britannica.com/place/Christendom

Reflect

How should the church be involved in taking care of our “sacred space?” Should congregations join with non-Christians in that effort?

Observe

Read Deuteronomy 18:14-22; Proverbs 31:4-9; Isaiah 1:17-20; Jeremiah 7:16-17; 21:11-14; 22:1-5; Amos 7; Micah 6:8; 1 Corinthians 14. What is the prophetic role of the church?

Passion unto death

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 11 – The Kingdom Enters

Passion unto death

[Bible references: Genesis 3:12; Matthew 16:21-23; 21:4-5; 26-27; Mark 9:30-37; Luke 22:54-62; John 1:14; 12:12-19; Romans 1:18-32; 5:20; 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-10]

There is a sense in which each moment of history is equally important to the next. Each moment is a moment which God pursues us as he guides us to our ultimate flourishing. There is no reason to suppose that our continuing flourishing will cease once heaven and earth are reunited, but we should expect that our flourishing will continue as a manifestation of his glory.

However, in our current state of affairs in which earth is broken from heaven, there are moments, epiphanies, in which heaven more noticeably breaks through. There are moments in which angels are more visible or in which Yahweh reveals himself through his prophets. Even more remarkable is the moment in which Yahweh submitted himself to taking on human form, even to the point of being conceived as an embryo inside the body of a human woman and then enduring the normal process of physically growing to become a human adult. Yet even that was not sufficient. Yahweh may have taken the form of a human, but it wasn’t a glorified human,[1] not yet the human as he intends for us to be.

To do that would require him to suffer the shame and justice that we ourselves have earned. The sin that brought us death would have to overcome by a sacrifice that would bring us life. In becoming human, Jesus identified himself with us, but in order for us to become like him he would have to make us ready to receive his spirit. We were helpless to make ourselves acceptable to God, to make ourselves free from sin and its consequences. Bonhoeffer once related his prison experience to Advent. He could not free himself – he needed someone to come from the outside to rescue him.[2] And that is our dilemma, we need someone to come from the outside to rescue us. The covenant revealed to Moses was given to increase our sin, to make it more evident than before about our inability to rescue ourselves. We were condemned by our sin to remain separated from God.

We saw in the previous chapter, that the world was very much like it is now, full of factions and frictions, the powerful and the poor, and everyone waiting and wanting the world to be a better place. The world into which Jesus was born was as broken as it is now. Jesus came into this world with a message of love and hope and with acts of healing and casting out of demons, but that would not be enough. Sin and death had a power over the world that needed to be broken. To rescue the world, to restore it to what it was intended to be, sin and death would need to be defeated. And there was no one who could carry out the rescue except God.

It was as true then as it is now, ever since Adam and Eve, people look at the problems around them and think that the problem lies somewhere else besides inside them. In particular, the more factions and frictions there are, the easier it is to find someone else to point to. So, when Jesus came, teaching, healing, and identifying with the common people more than the elite, it seemed that the more Jesus revealed himself the more the people seemed to think that Jesus would be the one – to rescue them from the Roman government.

Even Jesus’ chosen twelve disciples, the ones who would spend three years with him day and night … even they couldn’t understand the type of rescue they would need. Jesus would explain many times about what he needed to do, but the disciples couldn’t understand. The truth is, though, that even as we look back and see what Jesus had to do, we also have a hard time fully understanding just how desperately that we need rescuing. We don’t understand the depths of our own depravity.

When Jesus approached Jerusalem with his disciples for the last time, some of the disciples argued about which of them was the greatest, or who would sit next to Jesus on his throne. When Jesus showed his power with his resurrection of Lazarus, the crowds got more excited about the possibility of Jesus throwing out the Roman government and then they gave him a grand entry into Jerusalem. However, Jesus refused to act as they wanted, and the crowds eventually turned against Jesus. Even one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, gave up on Jesus and agreed to betray him to the Sanhedrin. Then, when Jesus was arrested, the rest of the disciples went into hiding. Even Peter, who tried to follow the lynching party at a distance, refused to be identified with Jesus.

[1] Got Questions “How does the Bible describe glorified bodies we will possess in heaven?” Got Questions www.gotquestions.org/glorified-bodies.html

[2] Kincaid, Elisabeth Rain, “Bonhoeffer: Advent is Like a Prison Cell” Christianity Today www.christianitytoday.com/women/2018/december/bonhoeffer-advent-is-like-prison-cell.html

Observe

Read John 12:12-19. In this scene, the crowd is expecting a rescue from the Romans,  the Pharisees are worried about their competition becoming too popular, and the disciples are not comprehending what is happening. How did the disciples eventually understand what was happening?

Inheriting the kingdom

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 11 – The Kingdom Enters

Inheriting the Kingdom

[Bible references: Matthew 5:1-12; 18:1-9; 19:13-14; 25:34; Luke 18:15-17; John 3:1-8; James 1:4]

The Beatitudes are not parables but rather descriptions of the type of people who are in the kingdom of heaven (first and last beatitudes) and the blessings that they shall obtain.[1] The poor in spirit are those who see themselves powerless, helpless in themselves and unworthy regarding Yahweh;[2] they know that they may be loved by God, but they are broken and not worthy of that love. Those who mourn are those who mourn for their sin, for loss, injustice, etc.[3] The meek are those who trust in Yahweh are will wait for Yahweh even in the face of opposition.[4] Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are those who want justice as much as they do food and are willing to take action for it.[5] The merciful are those who respond to the mercy shown them by Yahweh by showing mercy to those who need it.[6] The pure in heart are those who stay away from deceit and want the glory of Yahweh.[7] The peacemakers are those who pray for and pursue peace even for those who persecute them.[8] Those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake are those who are persecuted because of their pursuit of righteousness but not because they were not merciful or not poor in spirit.[9] The beatitudes show the rewards and blessings and shalom  (peace, wholeness, and well-being) for all those types of people.

No one enters the kingdom of Yahweh by their own merit, it is strictly only by family ties. Children only. Only those who are born-again, that is born into the family of Yahweh, are eligible to inherit the kingdom of God. The beatitudes describe the kind of children that one should find in the kingdom. Jesus reinforces this again when answering the question about who is greatest in the kingdom of God. Furthermore, Jesus cautions the adults in this world that not only should they become like children but that they should not cause problems for the children in this world.

[1] Piper, John. “The Beatitudes and the Gospel of the Kingdom” Desiring God 26 Jan 1986 www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-beatitudes-and-the-gospel-of-the-kingdom ; Kauffman, Richard A. “Blessed are those who mourn” Christianity Today www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/july/22.50.html

[2] Piper, John. “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit who Mourn” Desiring God 2 February 1986 www.desiringgod.org/messages/blessed-are-the-poor-in-spirit-who-mourn

[3] Biblehub “Matthew 5:3” Biblehub biblehub.com/matthew/5-3.htm

[4] Piper, John “Blessed are the meek” Desiring God 9 Feb 1989 www.desiringgod.org/messages/blessed-are-the-meek

[5] Piper, John “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness” Desiring God 16 Feb 1986 www.desiringgod.org/messages/blessed-are-those-who-hunger-and-thirst-for-righteousness

[6] Piper, John, “Blessed are the Merciful” Desiring God 23 Feb 1986 www.desiringgod.org/messages/blessed-are-the-merciful

[7] Piper, John, “Blessed are the Pure in Heart” Desiring God 2 Mar 1986 www.desiringgod.org/messages/blessed-are-the-pure-in-heart

[8] Piper, John, “Blessed are the Peacemakers” Desiring God 9 Mar 1986 www.desiringgod.org/messages/blessed-are-the-peacemakers

[9] Piper, John, “Blessed are the Persecuted” Desiring God 16 Mar 1986 www.desiringgod.org/messages/blessed-are-the-persecuted

Observe

Read Luke 18:15-17; James 1:4. James encourages us to become mature in the faith. Luke encourages us to receive the kingdom of God like a little child. How do we reconcile these two thoughts?

General Issues with Violence

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 11 – The Kingdom Enters

General Issues with Violence

[Bible references: Isaiah 10:5-12; 40:1-2; 48:8-11; 55:8; Jeremiah 25:12-14; 30:24; Zechariah 1:14-15]

In many ways, our modern-day sanitized culture puts a distance between us and some of the everyday realities of violence. Some examples: Buying packaged meat from the butcher, without seeing the slaughter of the animals, People dying in the hospital and sent to the morgue instead of allowing us the honor hosting the dead at home.

For those of us who have more privileged lives where we don’t directly experience violence done to us or loved ones, many have problems with a judgmental God. But those who are oppressed and do directly experience violence done to them or their loved one’s desire God’s judgment and His righteousness.

God’s acts of violence are not part of his nature but are a reaction to acts of human violence. The purpose of God’s violence is to restore justice in his creation.

When God’s assigned His image-bearers the responsibility of stewardship over His creation, that assignment did not end with our rebellion. To that end, Yahweh’s preferred method of working in the world is through His image-bearers. Even when Yahweh wishes to use violence to restore justice, He often uses human agents. Those agents however often exceed the charge given them, creating much of the abusive violence we see in the Old Testament. However, when that happens, God disciplines those same agents.

Even with all these explanations we should expect that, in the end, God’s violence is a mystery we cannot fathom. We cannot grasp why God allows violence to persist on earth.

Reflect

Is it possible for God’s justice to not use violence against those who unrepentantly use violence against God’s other image-bearers?

Observe

Read Isaiah 55:8; Jeremiah 25:12-14; 30:24. Is there a warning for all of us here?

Generous and overflowing shalom

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 3 – The image-bearers

Generous and overflowing shalom

[Bible references: Deuteronomy 30:9; Psalm 37; 65; 72; 92; Isaiah 9:6; John 10:10; 14:25-31; 20:19-23; Philippians 4:4-9]

The church has a stake in human flourishing. The challenge for the church is to define and promote human flourishing (which we might otherwise describe as human well-being, human happiness) in accordance with biblical teaching, to present and commend its alternative approach to human flourishing in the face of competing cultural visions, and to embody human flourishing in the presence of God amid a culture of death and destruction. Christian theology has a role to play in assisting the church to meet this challenge.[1]

“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself because it is not there.”[2]

Goodness, generosity and shalom all fit together. We begin with the premise that we are representatives of the Prince of Peace. Scripture is full of encouragement for us to live in peace because it is through shalom that much else flows, including goodness and generosity. Goodness flows out of the shalom which is concerned with the overall well-being of others and is necessarily linked to justice, mercy, and humility – and we are not to be content with helping God to usher in only the minimal amounts of justice, mercy into the world but the fullness of justice and mercy that stems from the overflowing goodness of God.

Our Creator and Temple-maker intended for us to enjoy his overflowing love and goodness. He provided us with a place of abundance where all our needs could be met, where He had a purpose for us as His stewards and His co-creators and where we could enjoy him and enjoy each other. This overflowing can actually be overwhelming when we consider the breadth, the beauty, the abundance, and the complexity of this temple he has provided. And we can marvel at the breadth, the beauty, the abundance and the complexity of the skills and abilities He has provided for us as his stewards and co-creators. Just look at what He has done and what we have done with what He has given us!

[1] Swain, Scott. “Psalm 19 and human flourishing” Reformation21 www.reformation21.org/blogs/psalm-19-and-human-flourishing.php

[2] Lewis, C.S. “Mere Christianity” Samizdat 2014 (p. 31)

Reflect

In what ways can the shalom of God flow over from our lives to the lives of others?

Observe

Read Psalm 37. How do we experience shalom when we see injustice?

Merciful and just

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 3 – The image-bearers

Merciful and just

[Bible references: Psalm 33:5; Proverbs 2:9; Isaiah 1:17; 56:1; Jeremiah 22:3; Micah 6:8; Matthew 18:21-35]

There is much in this world that is not just or righteous. As God’s servants, we are called to seek both. But just like the servant in the parable of the unmerciful servant we can forget the mercies shown to us when we are dealing with each other. There is much that makes us yearn for justice in a world filled with cruelty, but we need to remember that as God acted on his own demands of justice, he yet found a way to bestow great mercy on us.

The prophets of Israel, and even Jesus, condemned those people who acted in self-righteousness and did not seek justice and mercy for those around them. In our own search for justice, we should remember the entreaty in Micah 6:8, “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”[1]

[1] Owens, Nellie. “Four things everyone should know about humility” Activechristianity.com   activechristianity.org/4-things-everyone-should-know-about-humility: Britton, Doug. “The Bible shows the power in humility” Doug Britton books www.dougbrittonbooks.com/onlinebiblestudies-selfworthandrespect/meaningofhumilityinthebible-humbleinbible/

Observe

Read Isaiah 1:17; Micah 6:8. Think about how humility relates to both mercy and justice. What implications does that have for how we treat others?

Gracious, merciful and just

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 2 – The God who created

Gracious, merciful and just

[Bible references: Deuteronomy 7:8; 2 Chronicles 2:11; Jeremiah 31:3;2 Samuel 24:14; Psalm 5; 85; 88; Matthew 18:21-35; Romans 9:22-24]

There is a common misunderstanding of how God is seen in the Old Testament vs. how God is seen in the New Testament. This perceived contrast has caused reactions such as thinking that there must be two different gods or the desire to ignore the Old Testament while focusing exclusively on the New Testament. It is easy to see how these misperceptions happen while looking cursorily at the Bible, but this misperception can be resolved by looking more carefully into the text. We can see that God’s love, mercy and grace is found not just in the New but also the Old Testament. We can also see that God’s wrath and justice is found not just in the Old but also in the New Testament.

God’s love, mercy and grace can be seen in the Old Testament right near the beginning.[1] There is grace in the placing the image of God on creatures that did nothing to earn it. There is mercy in the judgements meted onto Adam and Eve after their sin and grace in the provision of covering for their nakedness. While we could look at more other instances of mercy and grace in the Old Testament[2], let’s just consider the meanings of the Hebrew words that have been translated as “mercy.”[3]  One Hebrew word, “racham,” can also be translated as compassion and another word, “chesed,” can be translated as steadfast loyalty and is seen as God’s steadfast compassion and loyalty to Israel even after repeated rejections from his image-bearers.

But even beyond mercy and grace, God’s compares his love with his chosen people with the love of a husband to a wife. This Hebrew word that God often used for love, “ahavah,” refers to a giving type of love, which indeed was the way God showed his love to his chosen ones; even though time after time his people rejected him, God patiently worked through it all giving us a chance to see ourselves as we really are and the chance to put our trust in his unfailing love.

Wrath and justice in the New Testament can be seen in God’s strong desire expressed as zeal or jealousy concerning the welfare of his image bearers. In both the Old and New Testaments, God is clear about his desire for justice and righteousness. God expresses his anger very clearly when we try to cover-up our lack of justice with religious exercises or pretentiousness.

God’s response to injustice is his wrath. Although God’s wrath has been long covered by his patience and his desire that all people would come to him, his wrath will eventually be revealed when he comes back to earth to fully restore his kingdom on earth. While he cautions us to allow him to carry out vengeance, that does not mean we should not be concerned by the injustice that we see. The Greek term “dikaiosuné” which is usually translated as “righteousness” can also be translated as “justice.”[4]  Jesus exemplified justice throughout his ministry, and he encourages us to practice justice as well.

That concern for justice and desire to eliminate sin is explicitly expressed in Jesus’ statements in Matthew 10:34 (“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”) and Luke 12:49 (“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”). Then later in Revelation 19:11-21, however real or metaphoric this passage may seem to be, the passage clearly expresses in very warlike terms, Jesus’ concern to eliminate evil.

So, on the one hand, God’s often responds to the injustice in the world with patience and mercy – and we all need the kindness of God so that we can respond with repentance and receive forgiveness. On the other hand, God will eventually respond to unrepented injustice with righteousness, justice, and wrath.

[1] Arsenault, Bill. “Grace vs. Mercy – What’s the Difference?” Faith Island 10 Sept 2017 faithisland.org/grace/grace-vs-mercy-whats-the-difference/

[2] Forest, Joe. “A Better Way to Read the Old Testament” 29 June 2018 Instrument of Mercy instrumentofmercy.com/2018/06/29/a-better-way-to-read-the-old-testament/ ; Deem, Richard. “The Mercy of God as found in the Old Testament” God and Science www.godandscience.org/apologetics/mercy_of_god.html; Beale, Stephen. “God’s Tender Mercy in the Old Testament” Catholic Exchange 10 Feb 2021 catholicexchange.com/gods-tender-mercy-in-the-old-testament

[3] Schmalz, Matthew. “What is the true meaning of mercy?” The Conversation, College of the Holy Cross, 8 Feb 2017, theconversation.com/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-mercy-72461

[4] Foster, Robert L. “Understandings of Justice in the New Testament” Society of Biblical Literature www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/TBv2i5_Fosterjustice.pdf; Grimsrud, Ted. “Justice in the New Testament” Peace Theology esuitesneakpeek.com/justice-in-new-testament

Observe

Read Deuteronomy 7:8; 2 Chronicles 2:11; Jeremiah 31:3. The Hebrew word for “love” in these passages is the same as used in the Song of Solomon describing marital love. How does that affect the way you perceive God’s mercy, grace, righteousness and wrath?

Messengers of a Greater Power

Dancing in the Kingdom – Table of contents

Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom, Chapter 9 – The Prophets and Writings

[Bible references: 1 Samuel 9-10; 13:8-14; 2 Samuel 12; Jeremiah 2:28]

During the entire time when Israel had kings, it also had prophets. Some prophets like and Elijah and Elisha did not leave any writings, although sixteen prophets did.[1] The prophets focused more on “forth-telling” (telling about changes that the kings and/or the people needed to make immediately) than “fore-telling” (telling about some future events) and were a constant reminder that God was acting in ways that transcended the earthly kingdom. Sometimes the prophets were there to encourage and sometimes to challenge the kings: The prophet Samuel was used to anoint Saul as king, then later had to let Saul know that God had rejected him. Samuel was also used to anoint David as king. Later, the prophet Nathan was used to let David know that God was aware of David’s sin with Bathsheba.

When we look at Jesus’ life and ministry, we see that he is uncompromisingly prophetic in a whole host of ways:

  • He is the revelation of the Father: he perfectly shows us what God is like.
  • He is the Word of God in flesh.
  • He is the mediator of the New Covenant between God and people.
  • He confronts evil and breaks the power of sin.
  • He calls people to return to God and live righteously.
  • He speaks truth to power (both religious and secular).
  • He only does what he sees the Father doing.
  • He is led by the Spirit and ministers in the power of the Spirit.
  • He prioritizes prayer and worship.
  • He speaks prophetically of the future.
  • He discerns the hearts and minds of people.
  • He challenges injustice and unrighteousness.

Jesus is the perfect expression of the prophet and so gives us the blueprint for a mature, holistic, multi-faceted way of being the prophetic church. We need to be prophetic in the way that Jesus was prophetic. Not just as individuals but as a Body with a collective prophetic consciousness.[2]

The Prophets of the Old Testament were precursors of the prophetic ministry of Jesus. And now the Church, as the Body of Christ, has the privilege of carrying on that ministry.

Challenging Unfaithfulness

[Bible references: Deuteronomy 16:18-20; 2 Chronicles 29:6; Isaiah 1; 56:1; Jeremiah 5:31; 28; Hosea 1:2; Amos 9:1-15; Zechariah 7]

Sometimes the prophet’s warnings would be not just for the kings but for everyone in the kingdom. The messages from the prophets often mixed the foretelling of the consequences for rejecting God with the hope that God will someday make things right. The most common offense cited by the prophets was the people’s lack of justice and the uselessness of their ritual sacrifices if justice was ignored. There were also diatribes against false prophets and against making idols. The most common metaphor used to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness to God and his commands was prostitution, even to the point where one prophet, Hosea, was told to marry an adulterous woman to be a visible reminder for Israel.

Lament and Anger

[Bible references: Lamentations; Genesis 15:12-15; Isaiah 10:5-11; 13:1-22; 15-1622:19; Micah 5:14]

God’s response through the prophets was to lament. There is even one entire book lamenting what happened to Israel. The lamenting would include calls for Israel to repent and turn back to God. The pleas for repentance would then be followed by God’s anger and God’s promise to root out, pull down and destroy Israel or any other nation around Israel that was involved in sin.[3] Sometimes God used other nations to discipline Israel but that was usually followed with threats to those same nations for their own behavior.

Future Hope

[Bible references: Jeremiah 29:11; Jonah]

But in the end was God’s promise to restore his kingdom and bless all those who repent. One prophet was even sent to a Gentile nation to call them to repent or be destroyed. When they did repent, God held back his punishment – although history tells us that they would go back to their old ways, and they would eventually be destroyed.

[1] Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

[2] Accessible Prophecy, “Understanding the Prophetic Function” /

[3] Ex: Prophecy against Assyria (Isaiah 10:5-11), Babylon (Isaiah 13,), Moab (Isaiah 15-16) and others

Messengers of a greater power

Reflect

Based on what we know about the role of prophets, how should today’s churches carry out the prophetic function within our church or within our surrounding culture?

Observe

Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; 2 Corinthians 4:1-12. The Church is the visible representation of the Body of Christ, as such one of the Church’s prophetic functions is to reveal God to the world. How can we do that?

Challenging unfaithfulness

Reflect

Israel’s unfaithfulness to God was often referred to as prostitution. Does this help put your own unfaithfulness to God in perspective?

Observe

Read Zechariah 7. What words of warning are given to the people who were not faithful to God?

Lament and anger

Reflect

How does knowing God’s attitude towards sin affect our attitudes?

Observe

Read Isaiah 10:5-11. Here, God is chastising a “godless” nation, Assyria, which He used to discipline His own chosen nation, Israel, which had also behaving godlessly. Both nations will suffer the anger of God. Both nations are used to carry out His will. What is the warning and hope in that for us?

Future hope

Reflect

Despite Israel’s constant failure, God’s plan was to discipline, not destroy, them. Their discipline would eventually be followed by God’s plan to provide the Messiah, the Savior of the world. What might that mean about God’s plan for you?

Observe

Read Jonah 1-4. Assyria was a fierce nation that was severely violent in its conquering of other nations. Yet, God saw fit to use Jonah to call the city of Nineveh to repentance and then held back his threatened destruction when they responded in repentance.  How do you respond to this act of mercy?

Chapter 3 – The Impossible Creatures – Part2

The Impossible Dance – Table of Contents

Reflecting God’s goodness

Generous and overflowing shalom

Goodness, generosity and shalom all fit together. We begin with the premise that we are representatives of the Prince of Peace. Scripture is full of encouragement for us to live in peace because it is through shalom that much else flows, including goodness and generosity. Goodness flows out of the shalom which is concerned with the overall well-being of others. It is goodness which governs justice, mercy, and humility – and does not allow us to be content with helping God to usher in only the minimal amounts of justice, mercy into the world but the fullness that stems from the overflowing goodness of God.

Our Creator and Temple-maker intended for us to enjoy his overflowing love and goodness. He provided us a place of abundance where he can meet all our needs, where He had a purpose for us as His stewards and His co-creators and where we could enjoy him and enjoy each other. This overflowing can be overwhelming when we consider the breadth, the beauty, the abundance, and the complexity of this temple he has provided. And we can marvel at the breadth, the beauty, the abundance and the complexity of the skills and abilities He has provided for us as his stewards and co-creators. Just look at what He has done and what we have done with what He has given us!

Trustworthy and Faithful

We can’t seem to avoid breaking promises; whether it’s the one’s others make to us or the ones that we make to others. We usually expect broken promises from some people because we know they lack sincerity. Then sometimes we experience broken promises because things happen beyond our control, circumstances change, priorities change, or other things happen. Yet, during all that, God calls us to be His ambassadors and to reflect his faithfulness to us. God calls us to faithfulness in all things, whether it’s in truth-telling, in love, in doing good, in prayer, in doing the work of the Lord, in confirming our calling, to mention a few. As we attempt to be faithful and trustworthy in all things and when we fall short – as we surely will – we can still point to the trustworthiness and faithfulness of the Lord. The point must always be to not point to ourselves but to the Lord – God calls us to trust Him, be dependent on Him, and to put our confidence in His faithfulness and His sacrifice on our behalf.

Self-Sacrificing and Forgiving

Our life in God does not begin with anything we have done but with the sacrifice made by Christ Jesus, the perfect sacrifice that He made on our behalf to reconcile us to God. When by baptism we join him in his death, He also unites us with him in his resurrection. It is that resurrection power that enables us to present ourselves as living sacrifices, to worship him by continually dying to our sinsand offering ourselves to the service of God and to others. And just as the mercies of God flow into our lives, so those mercies should flow over into the mercy we extend to others on God’s behalf.

Temple stewards

Although God’s first image-bearers had close, unhindered, intimate contact with their Creator, there was enough space given them to think freely, as if they were not being watched all the time. It was in this space that God gave us several mandates: procreation (be fruitful and multiply), stewardship (subdue the earth and have dominion over its creatures), and a cultural mandate (work it and take care of it). He gave us the assignment to be fruitful, to fill all the earth, discover its possibilities and care for the world in the same way that God would care for the world. Just as God continues to create more living things and sustain all that he has created, we as his co-regents, can join him in sustaining and creating those things entrusted to our care.

He also gave us the responsibility to subdue the earth and have dominion over its creatures. When there is resistance, we still have the responsibility to bring the rule of God to the world. Then He gave us the responsibility to work and take care of the earth, this will expand from taking care of the garden to taking care of all of God’s creations. Implied in all these things is that we should do everything in context of God’s love, to care for each other and to care for the earth and its creatures with the mind of the God who created us for love.

The work that He designed us to do was more than just tending the garden. In Genesis 2:15, God gave us a mandate to “work” and “take care of” the garden that He had created. These tasks within Ancient Near East culture, were more of a priestly nature, taking care of this temple where we reside with God.

We were to take care of this place which He designed to be a “very good” place for us to flourish in, creating whatever structures we needed to “increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.” This task, this mandate, meant that we would eventually go beyond the capacity of gardening and create not just a bigger garden but cities, a flourishing civilization as pictured in Revelation 21 and 22.

When examined closely, we can see the breadth of what was committed to Adam and Eve. Subduing the earth would entail many physical, social, and intellectual activities. In the gardening we can see cultivation and farming; in taking care of the animals, we can see shepherding and domestication; in the naming of the animals, we can see a cultural and scientific activity which required understanding the nature and attributes of the animals and establishing authority over them. We can see that God had created things to be beautiful and, as his image-bearers, He expects us to also create beautiful things.

There is a sense in which we, as members of the Kingdom of God, now seem to be living in a foreign land. This puts us in a similar position as when the Babylonians took the Israelites into exile in Babylon. During their stay in Babylonia, God’s instructions were to settle down, build houses, get married, have children and to seek the prosperity of the city God sent them to, for “if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

But above all these things we can do, we should not lose focus on who we are. We are creatures designed by God to be like God to be in relationship with Him, the God who is a community in Himself: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We should do everything in context of who we are. Remembering that God designed us to be human “beings,” not human “doings.” This viewpoint become clear when we compare the Biblical view of creation to the view of other Ancient Near East cultures. For the surrounding cultures, the gods created human beings to feed and serve them, whereas the Biblical viewpoint sees God being the provider for the people.

Originally, we see Creation designed as a temple, a place for us to “be” with God. Later, Jesus refers to himself as the temple, a human in whom God resides, then after that Paul declares that our own bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. So here again, we see the mystery of perichoresis, where we are distinct from the Holy Spirit, yet the Holy Spirit becomes a part of who we are. In this we see the mystery of perichoresis unifying the persons within God, unifying the body, soul and spirit within humans, and unifying God and humans.

Questions:

  1. What tasks did God provide for the humans?
  2. What kind of tensions did our rebellion create between humans and between the humans and God?
  3. Unlike other creatures whom God simply created as male and female, Genesis 2 gives a story of a man specifically made from the dust and a woman created from the side of the man. What do think was God’s purpose for describing the origin of his image-bearers?
  4. How can we, within the finiteness of our lives and our intelligence, see how beauty points to eternity?
  5. . While meditating on the limitations of life on earth, verse eleven slides in a reference to beauty and eternity. How does that verse impact the rest of the chapter?
  6. Think about how love relates both to sovereignty and service. What implications does that have for how we treat others?
  7. Think about how humility relates to both mercy and justice. What implications does that have for how we treat others?
  • Read Deuteronomy 12; 1 Corinthians 14. These chapters contain explicit instructions about how and how not to worship. Since we do not yet experience the fullness of the new Kingdom, how can our imagination help us more actively engage in worship?
  • Read Exodus 18:21; Luke 16:10-12. In what ways can we challenge ourselves to be more faithful?
  • Read Romans 12:1-21. Christ’s sacrifice for us included his death on the cross. What kind of sacrifice are we expected to make?

Generous and overflowing Shalom

Dancing in the Kingdom – Table of Contents

Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom, Chapter 3 – The Image-bearers

[Bible references: Deuteronomy 30:9; Psalm 37; 65; 72; 92; Isaiah 9:6; John 10:10; 14:25-31; 20:19-23; Philippians 4:4-9]

The church has a stake in human flourishing. The challenge for the church is to define and promote human flourishing (which we might otherwise describe as human well-being, human happiness) in accordance with biblical teaching, to present and commend its alternative approach to human flourishing in the face of competing cultural visions, and to embody human flourishing in the presence of God amid a culture of death and destruction. Christian theology has a role to play in assisting the church to meet this challenge.[1]

“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself because it is not there.”[2]

Goodness, generosity and shalom all fit together. We begin with the premise that we are representatives of the Prince of Peace. Scripture is full of encouragement for us to live in peace because it is through shalom that much else flows, including goodness and generosity. Goodness flows out of the shalom which is concerned with the overall well-being of others and is necessarily linked to justice, mercy, and humility – and we are not to be content with helping God to usher in only the minimal amounts of justice, mercy into the world but the fullness that stems from the overflowing goodness of God.

Our Creator and Temple-maker intended for us to enjoy his overflowing love and goodness. He provided us a place of abundance where all our needs could be met, where He had a purpose for us as His stewards and His co-creators and where we could enjoy him and enjoy each other. This overflowing can actually be overwhelming when we consider the breadth, the beauty, the abundance, and the complexity of this temple he has provided. And we can marvel at the breadth, the beauty, the abundance and the complexity of the skills and abilities He has provided for us as his stewards and co-creators. Just look at what He has done and what we have done with what He has given us!

[1] Swain, Scott. “Psalm 19 and human flourishing” Reformation21 http://www.reformation21.org/blogs/psalm-19-and-human-flourishing.php

[2] Lewis, C.S. “Mere Christianity” Samizdat 2014 p. 31

Reflect

In what ways can the shalom of God flow over from our lives to the lives of others?

Observe

Read John 14:25-31; 20:19-23. What are the conditions of the disciples when Jesus offers them His peace?

Merciful and Just

Dancing in the Kingdom – Table of Contents

[Bible references: Psalm 33:5; Proverbs 2:9; Isaiah 1:17; 56:1; Jeremiah 22:3; Micah 6:8; Matthew 18:21-35]

There is much in this world that is not just or righteous. As God’s servants, we are called to seek both. But just like the servant in the parable of the unmerciful servant we can forget the mercies shown to us when we are dealing with each other. There is much that makes us yearn for justice in a world filled with cruelty, but we need to remember that as God acted on his own demands of justice, he yet found a way to bestow great mercy on us.

The prophets of Israel, and even Jesus, condemned those people who acted in self-righteousness and did not seek justice and mercy for those around them. In our own search for justice, we should remember the entreaty in Micah 6:8, “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”[1]

[1] Owens, Nellie. “Four things everyone should know about humility” Activechristianity.com   activechristianity.org/4-things-everyone-should-know-about-humility; Britton, Doug. “The Bible shows the power in humility” http://www.dougbrittonbooks.com/onlinebiblestudies-selfworthandrespect/meaningofhumilityinthebible-humbleinbible/

Reflect

In what ways have you received mercy in your life?

Observe

Isaiah 1:17; Micah 6:8. Think about how humility relates to both mercy and justice. What implications does that have for how we treat others?