Comments on: Suffering – Part 2 http://rlemmel.com/blog/2008/07/24/suffering-part-2/ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." Isaiah 52:7 Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:01:29 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: rhett http://rlemmel.com/blog/2008/07/24/suffering-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-26 rhett Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:51:25 +0000 http://rlemmel.com/blog/?p=36#comment-26 This is my take on the quoted passage and on Christian suffering. Corrupted by the Fall, we tend to create God in our own image, and we design theologies that suit our goals. History confirms this. For example, 17th and 18th century preachers and politicians distorted Christian theology to support slavery, westward expansion, and war. World history is replete with examples of corrupt politicians and cowardly popes using twisted theology as a rubberstamp for all sorts of vile goals. {Christianity, of course, isn’t the only religion or worldview that has been manipulated by power-hungry politicians. I point to these Christian flaws as part of Keller’s invitation to critically examine our own faith.} Though for things less evil, we continue to distort Christian theology today. We build theologies that domesticate our sins and approve of our selfish goals. At the center of much modern theology is God as a cosmic concierge. If I want to reserve a nice parking spot at the beach or land a promotion at work, all I have to do is dial up The Big Guy. And so our tithes become more like tips—we give our 10% as a thank you for the good work he did the week past, but we also slip in a little extra with a wink; and we hope that he’ll hook us up with something really nice in the coming week. But this is not so for the Christian whose revived spirit knows the God of the cross. Once a Christian has been seized by Christ’s ineffable suffering—the humiliation, the blood sweat, the nails, the dried tongue clinging to the cheek, the bitter taste of gall, the pierced side, and terrifying cry of dereliction—he knows that suffering is central to Christian life. The light-beer theologies of materialism and self-esteem are put aside for the 200-proof reality that our lives were bought with blood. And Christ’s blood is a bitter drink for a sinful man. It destroys our pride, mocks our vanity, and disrupts our plans. But we know that it’s the only drink that’s good for our soul because it frees us to do the one thing that is truly satisfying. That is, it allows us to follow Christ up Golgotha and unite with his crucifixion, so that we might also unite with his resurrection, freeing us to love God with all our mind, heart, and soul. Thus, no true theology can exist apart from Christ crucified. And anyone who has made the spiritual trip to the foot of the cross and looked up at our suffering Lord will necessarily reject all of these saccharine-filled half-truths about the Christian faith as a path to prosperity. This is my take on the quoted passage and on Christian suffering.

Corrupted by the Fall, we tend to create God in our own image, and we design theologies that suit our goals. History confirms this. For example, 17th and 18th century preachers and politicians distorted Christian theology to support slavery, westward expansion, and war. World history is replete with examples of corrupt politicians and cowardly popes using twisted theology as a rubberstamp for all sorts of vile goals. {Christianity, of course, isn’t the only religion or worldview that has been manipulated by power-hungry politicians. I point to these Christian flaws as part of Keller’s invitation to critically examine our own faith.}

Though for things less evil, we continue to distort Christian theology today. We build theologies that domesticate our sins and approve of our selfish goals. At the center of much modern theology is God as a cosmic concierge. If I want to reserve a nice parking spot at the beach or land a promotion at work, all I have to do is dial up The Big Guy. And so our tithes become more like tips—we give our 10% as a thank you for the good work he did the week past, but we also slip in a little extra with a wink; and we hope that he’ll hook us up with something really nice in the coming week.

But this is not so for the Christian whose revived spirit knows the God of the cross. Once a Christian has been seized by Christ’s ineffable suffering—the humiliation, the blood sweat, the nails, the dried tongue clinging to the cheek, the bitter taste of gall, the pierced side, and terrifying cry of dereliction—he knows that suffering is central to Christian life. The light-beer theologies of materialism and self-esteem are put aside for the 200-proof reality that our lives were bought with blood. And Christ’s blood is a bitter drink for a sinful man. It destroys our pride, mocks our vanity, and disrupts our plans. But we know that it’s the only drink that’s good for our soul because it frees us to do the one thing that is truly satisfying. That is, it allows us to follow Christ up Golgotha and unite with his crucifixion, so that we might also unite with his resurrection, freeing us to love God with all our mind, heart, and soul. Thus, no true theology can exist apart from Christ crucified. And anyone who has made the spiritual trip to the foot of the cross and looked up at our suffering Lord will necessarily reject all of these saccharine-filled half-truths about the Christian faith as a path to prosperity.

]]> By: jerry http://rlemmel.com/blog/2008/07/24/suffering-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-25 jerry Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:50:34 +0000 http://rlemmel.com/blog/?p=36#comment-25 On Wednesday night I preached the feast of St. James service. Ironically, a lot of what I preached about is similar to what you are talking about in the theology of the cross subject. St. James, like all of our Lord's faithful servants, had his own personal sins to deal with. While he and his brother St. John had a great zeal for serving their Lord, you'll recall that their zeal also drifted into the area of personal ambition and self promotion. Right after Jesus told them that He must go and die a horrible death on the cross, the privately asked him for positions of honour on His right hand and on His left. They wanted a position of personal power and authority. All of God's servants must guard against this. It would be an ever so easy sin to fall into. Look at some of the great preachers and teachers that have had their ministries ruined by falling into and ego driven, personal ambition laden trap and have lost their ability to serve. This is what happens when it becomes all about us and we take our eyes off the glory of the cross. I ended my sermon with the verse "Let he who is chiefest amongst you be the servant of all". That's what this is all about. Serving one another with the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not some watered down version either. But the PURE WORD OF GOD. On Wednesday night I preached the feast of St. James service. Ironically, a lot of what I preached about is similar to what you are talking about in the theology of the cross subject. St. James, like all of our Lord’s faithful servants, had his own personal sins to deal with. While he and his brother St. John had a great zeal for serving their Lord, you’ll recall that their zeal also drifted into the area of personal ambition and self promotion. Right after Jesus told them that He must go and die a horrible death on the cross, the privately asked him for positions of honour on His right hand and on His left. They wanted a position of personal power and authority.

All of God’s servants must guard against this. It would be an ever so easy sin to fall into. Look at some of the great preachers and teachers that have had their ministries ruined by falling into and ego driven, personal ambition laden trap and have lost their ability to serve. This is what happens when it becomes all about us and we take our eyes off the glory of the cross.

I ended my sermon with the verse “Let he who is chiefest amongst you be the servant of all”. That’s what this is all about. Serving one another with the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not some watered down version either. But the PURE WORD OF GOD.

]]>