the mud vs. the masterpiece

in his chapter "The Emerging Church and Incarnational Theology," from the book Listening to the Beliefes of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives, edited by Robert Webber, John Burke asks: "Do you see the mud or the masterpiece?" the question is framed around, what i'm calling, the parable of the mud on the masterpiece. Burke writes that if we owned a Rembrandt covered in mud, we wouldn't focus on the mud or treat it like mud. we would seek out an art restoration expert and try to bring the masterpiece out from under the mud. when our lives, or the lives of others, are covered in the mud and muck of sin, we should not focus on the mud or treat ourselves or others like mud. we should seek out God the Father, His Son, and Spirit about the restoration of life. we shouldn't try to restore the painting ourselves, we might destroy it. we shouldn't try to restore life ourselves. we might destroy it.

going further: Matthew 13:24-30 & Ephesians 2:8-10

Organic Church

Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens is an awesome read. it is well worth picking it up if you see it, it is well worth seeking out or ordering it, and it is well worth asking a loved one for a copy. Neil Cole tells of his experiences as a church planter and pastor: the things he's learned, the mistakes he's made, and insights he has to share. he writes about movies, shares stories, comments on scripture, and gives his insights on what all this can say and do in the Kingdom of God. one story Cole shares near the end of the book is of his 15 year old daughter and her friends starting a church. in California, where they live, there are plenty of choices for a church, especially a varitey of mega-churches. the teens there said they could not start a mega-church, but felt they could start a church like this one in a home. Neil tells them: "I assure you, Satan is terrified by this." i assure you, Satan does not want you to read this book. the Spirit will work with Cole while you're reading this book and will enrich, enlighten, and inform you on your spiritual journey and what you/we can do for the Kingdom.

The Cross of Christ

John Stott wrote The Cross of Christ when Flock of Seagulls were rockin' and Sonny Crocket and Rico Tubbs were livin' large in prime time. however, it still speaks prophetically about the importance and centrality of the cross to our salvation, faith, and lives. i just read this and thought i would post it since we just mourned and celebrated the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and humanity. If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to his, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let alone for a radical atonement to secure it. When, on the other hand, we have glimpsed the blinding glory of the holiness of God and have been so convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit that we tremble before God and acknowledge what we are, namely 'hell-deserving sinners,' then and only then does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it before.

The essential background to the cross, therefore, is a balanced understanding of the gravity of sin and the magesty of God. If we diminish either, we thereby diminish the cross. If we reinterpret sin as a lapse instead of a rebellion, and God as indulgent instead of indignant, then naturally the cross appears superfluous. But to dethrone God and enthrone ourselves not only dispenses with the cross; it also degrades both God and humans. A biblical view of God and ourselves, however - that is, of our sin and of God's wrath - honors both. It honors human beings by affirming them as responsible for their own actions. It honors God by affirming him as having moral character."

(John Stott, The Cross of Christ, 111)

Man of Sorrows!

Man of sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim;
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned he stood,
Sealed my pardon with his blood;
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Guilty, vile and helpless we,
Spotless Lamb of God was he;
Full atonement - can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Lifted up was he to die;
It is finished! was his cry;
Now in Heaven, exalted high;
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

When he comes, our glorius King,
All his ransomed home to bring,
Then anew this song we'll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Phillip Paul Bliss