Life Together

Greetings to All,

     Our “thought” for this week comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was martyred by the Nazi's one month before the end of World War II.  Though his most famous book was, "The Cost of Discipleship" (where he warned people against adopting the unbiblical substitute for real grace which he called "cheap grace") this thought comes from ideas expressed in his superb book on Christian community entitled, "Life Together."   If you have never read it, it is well worth your time (and the price of the book)!   It's all about those things that are necessary for true Christian community to take place.  Enjoy.

     “Acknowledgement of sin in the presence of another brother is a safeguard against self-deception.  It is a curious fact that many people find it easier to confess their sins privately to a holy and sinless God than to openly confess them to an unholy and sinful brother.  If this is so, we must ask ourselves if we are really confessing our sins to God?  We must ask ourselves whether we have not been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God – whether we have not, rather, been confessing our sins to ourselves, and also granting ourselves absolution.  Is this not perhaps the reason for our countless relapses and the feebleness of our Christian obedience?  Is it not to be found precisely in the fact that we are living on self-forgiveness and not a real forgiveness?

     When sin has been brought into the light and confessed it can be forgiven.  Its power can be broken.  It can no longer hold the believer in bondage or tear the fellowship apart.  The sinner can honestly be a sinner and still enjoy the grace of God and the love of the brethren.  This is the moment where fellowship in Christ becomes a profound reality. [When sin is openly confessed – even the worst of sins – and the love of our brethren continues to be extended to us in spite of it, we approach the profound and transforming reality of community.]

     Open confession of sin to another so crucifies one's pride that rarely ever occurs unless a person earnestly yearns to be rid of his sin.  By openly confessing his sin he breaks the habit of secretly cherishing, nurturing or refusing to let it go.  He becomes accountable.  He gains the support of his praying brothers in his fight to overcome its life-polluting influences.  In essence, he begins to live the life of discipleship." 

     Elsewhere Bonhoeffer equated sin with mold that grows in a damp, dark, cool basement.  How does one rid a basement of that growing mold? They open the windows, let the exposure to the air dry it out, and let the bright light of the sun shine upon it until it dries out and is easily brushed off. 

     Confession of sin is like that.  When we expose sin to the light through confession, in the presence of a brother (for me) or sister (for women), it begins to lose it's life or power, dry up and die.  But if we keep it hidden -- locked away in the dark and damp cellar of secret and repressed memories or emotions -- it will only fester and grow. There is healing, as James reminds us, in confession of sin accompanied by prayer for healing (James 5:13-16). 

     "Confession is good for the soul," as the old adage goes. (Yet one must be careful in their selection of a brother (for men) or sister (for women) to confess to. Trust, confidentiality and godliness would be essential traits.)  Hard as it is to expose some things to the light, it is much more harmful to our spirit to hold it in and keep it hidden and shut up in the dark basement of our emotions.

     In the Service of the Gospel and Church, Pastor Jeff

Three "thoughts" from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Greetings All!

     This week's "thoughts" (there are three of them) come once again from one of my favorite Christian authors - - Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Writing prior to and during WWII, and martyred by the Nazi's just one month before the war ended, he looked around him at the church-going Germans who claimed the Christian faith, and somewhat of a watered-down allegiance to Christ, but at the very same time endorsed (or turned a blind eye) to the policies and activities of Hitler and the Nazis.

     It was in this context that he wrote the quotes below. They are not the musings of an unaffected observer, but the writings of a man who knew that by placing his commitment to Christ above all else, and being critical of Hitler and Nazi policies (even taking steps to oppose them for Jesus' sake) it might cost him his life -- as it eventually did.  In this sense he stands as an example of a man who sought to live consistently and fully for Jesus.  Enjoy

     “If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.” 

     “Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work. 'The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared' (Luther).”  (Life Together)

     “Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheap wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits... Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate…

     Costly grace (on the other hand) is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price which the merchant will sell all his goods to attain. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him…  Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.

     It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'Ye were bought at a price', and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”  (The Cost of Discipleship) 

     Cheap grace, we could say, is grace used to keep us from having to live as Jesus calls us to (it's grace used to excuse us from living the Christian life), whereas true grace (or as Bonhoeffer calls it, "costly grace") is grace we need, and must constantly rely upon, in order to even approach living as Jesus calls us to in this world.  Cheap grace is grace used to help us escape or excuse our Christian responsibility to seek to live out our faith in this fallen world that often opposes it, true grace is what we are forced to rely upon daily if we are ever to even approach living it out in this age.

     And lest we misunderstand, Bonhoeffer is not speaking of perfection in any sense of the word.  He is speaking of true faith, honesty and integrity.  A faith that truly seeks (by the grace God supplies) to live as Christ calls us to live in the Gospels -- which occasionally (no, often) puts us at odds with the values and priorities of this world.

     Which "grace" are you most familiar with?  The grace that empowers you to live out the difficult and impossible commands (humanly speaking) that Christ has laid before us, or the "grace" that let's you off the hook so you don't have to even try doing those things that are hard and stretch us far beyond our own human resources?  I ask because all of us (myself included) need to do an occasional self-evaluation, lest our cherishing of grace be for all the wrong reasons, and we learn to love it simply because we think it frees us from the need to listen to and obey Jesus (Matt. 7:21 / Luke 6:46). 

In the Service of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

(If you are interested, the four session DVD documentary "Bonhoeffer" by Eric Metaxas is a powerful and inspirational summary of Bonhoeffer's life and death.)

20 Quotes on Prayer

Greetings All, 

     This weeks "thought" consists of 20 different quotes regarding prayer.  I set them before you because next to reading your Bible, there is surely nothing that could do you more spiritual good than prayer. They are not set before you to see which you consider better, but to encourage you to pray!  Those who first discipled me encouraged me to set aside a focused time to pray at the start of the day and again at the close of the day, with continual spontaneous prayer being offered throughout the day.  And in many ways I found that easy, being converted in the days before smart phones and computers were the rage, and social media filled all of our "empty time" with constant updates, likes, pictures, posts and sometimes needless time-wasting distractions.

     Some of that is good and helpful, but much is very trivial and infringes on time that could be spent in much more meaningful, transforming and beneficial activities. In fact, for many, the vital experience with God in prayer (be it morning, evening or in between) has taken a back seat to social media sites. Many of us now wake in the morning, or end the day, by running to our devices -- be it the smart phone or the computer. Thus, if I could do anything (even in the life of one person) to change that, and encourage you to spend that time in invaluable fellowship with God in prayer, it would be worth all the time of gathering these quotes from well-known pray-ers.

     If there is any habit of the heart that believers need to rekindle, it's prayer. Try it for a day.  Choose fellowship in prayer with your greatest Friend, over scrolling through endless the posts of other friends.  For as F. B. Meyers once rightly stated: “The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.”   May some of these insights help sway you to offer more time with God in prayer. Enjoy.

20 Thoughts on Prayer

"Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays."   Soren Kierkegaard

"Prayer makes a man godly, and puts within him the mind of Christ, the mind of humility, of self-surrender, of service, of compassion, and of prayer.  If we really pray, we will become more like God, or else we will quit praying."    E.M. Bounds

"Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?"  Corrie ten Boom

"To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing."   Martin Luther

“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work.”  Oswald Chambers

"Rather than set aside daily time for prayer, I pray constantly and spontaneously about everything I encounter on a daily basis. When someone shares something with me, I'll often simply say, 'Let's pray about this right now.'"  Thomas Kinkade

"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day."  Abraham Lincoln

"To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees."  Billy Graham

“Time spent in prayer is never wasted.”   Francis Fenelon

“Fervent prayers produce phenomenal results.”   Woodrow Kroll

“Prayer delights God’s ear; it melts His heart; and opens His hand. God cannot deny a praying soul.”  Thomas Watson

 “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”   Jesus the Christ 

“Prayer is the nearest approach to God and the highest enjoyment of Him that we are capable of in this life.”   William Law

“The right way to pray is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father.”   Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“The best and sweetest flowers of paradise God gives to His people when they are upon their knees. Prayer is the gate of heaven.”   Thomas Brooks

“O, let the place of secret prayer become to me the most beloved spot on earth.”   Andrew Murray

“When the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, he trembles as much as he ever did, for he knows that his day in that church or community is at an end.”   R. A. Torrey

“When I pray, “coincidences” happen, and when I don’t, they don’t.”   William Temple

“There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him.”  William Law

“The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.”   F. B. Meyer

     The blessing of prayer in one's life is hard to calculate.  Yet I believe that some day God will reveal the blessings we forfeited, and the life-transforming benefits we turned away, by the times we ignored it; and  in the opposite sense, show us the wonderful things we would never have experienced had it not been for the prayers that we, or others, prayed on our behalf.

In the Bonds of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff

Life Together - Christian community

Greetings to All,

My thought for this week comes mainly from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was martyred by the Nazi's one month before the end of World War II.  Though his most famous book was "The Cost of Discipleship" (where he warned people against adopting the unbiblical substitute for real grace which he called "cheap grace") this thought comes from ideas expressed in his book, "Life Together."  If you have never read it, it is well worth your time (and the price of the book)!   It's all about what is necessary for true Christian community to take place.  Enjoy.

     "Acknowledgement of sin in the presence of another brother is a safeguard against self-deception.  It is a curious fact that many people find it easier to confess their sins privately to a holy and sinless God than to openly confess them to an unholy and sinful brother.  If this is so, it should give us reason to pause and ask ourselves if we are really confessing our sins to God.  We must ask ourselves whether we have not been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God -- whether we have not, rather, been confessing our sins to ourselves and also granting ourselves absolution.

     Is this not perhaps the reason for our countless relapses and the feebleness of our Christian obedience?  Is it not to be found precisely in the fact that we are living on self-forgiveness and not a real forgiveness? When sin has been brought into the light, and confessed it can be forgiven.  Its power can be broken.  It can no longer hold the believer in bondage or tear the fellowship apart.  The sinner can honestly be a sinner and still enjoy the grace of God and the love of the brethren.  This is the moment where fellowship in Christ becomes a profound reality (when sin is openly confessed -- even the worst of sins -- and the love of our brethren continues to be extended to us in spite of it).

     Open confession of sin to another so crucifies one's pride that rarely ever occurs unless a person earnestly yearns to be rid of his sin.  By openly confessing his sin he breaks the habit of secretly cherishing, nurturing, or refusing to let it go.  He becomes accountable.  He gains the support of his praying brothers in his fight to overcome its life-polluting influences.  In essence, he begins to live the life of discipleship."

     Bonhoeffer makes a good point.  Why is it that believers are so unwilling to confess their sins to a fellow believer or believers (as the Bible encourages)? (James 5:16).  Not secretly, from behind a curtain, so we can continue to remain anonymous in our sin, but eye to eye in the presence of another who knows us and can keep us accountable.

     It's a question each believer honestly needs to ask him or herself: Why do I hesitate to confess my sins to another when Scripture encourages it?  Although some might justifiably suggest lack of confidentiality (which is a very real problem), many (most I've spoken with) struggle with the inner sense of embarrassment, shame, or exposure that often accompanies it.  And surely, as Bonhoeffer points out, it may even be that confessing to a close friend means we may have a pair of eyes keeping us accountable that were not even looking our way before.  In any case, our hesitancy to "confess our sins to one another" calls forth an earnest examination as to why we don't, or won't.

     Maybe Bonhoeffer is right. Maybe it is that we've been confessing them to ourselves and granting ourselves absolution.  Maybe it's because we want forgiveness but don't really want to give up our sin. Maybe it's confession without true repentance. For as Luther once rightly pointed out: "The truest repentance is to do so no more." If we really want to be done with sin, and not just receive forgiveness for sins we aren't sure we fully intend to give up (or worse yet, have no intention of giving up), then being silent and simply confessing it to God is the best way to go.

Just some food for thought.

In the service of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff

Causes of Persecution Against the Church and Our Response To It

Greetings All!

As part of the preparation for my Adult Sunday School class on, "Causes of Persecution Against the Church and Our Response To It,"  we have been examining (and are now watching a video series on) the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian pastor and theologian martyred (hanged) by the Nazi's in the closing month of WWII for being outspoken opponent of the gross evil and injustices of Hitler's regime.  In doing so I came across this excerpt from his wise and extremely insightful book, entitled, "Life Together."
     It's book dealing with the nature of Christian community and the interdependent fellowship we are to have with one another (not independent, but interdependent).  You will surely notice he is a deep thinker, having received his doctorate at only 21 years of age.  Yet he's a thinker who was deeply devoted to Christ and His Church.  With that being said, I will merely let his own words speak for him (with an explanation at the end for those who might struggle with a few of his comments)!  Enjoy.

     "Many people seek fellowship because they are afraid to be alone.  Because they cannot stand loneliness, they are driven to seek the company of other people.  There are Christians, too, who cannot endure being alone, who have had some bad experiences with themselves, who hope to gain some help by being in association with others. They are generally disappointed.  Then they blame the fellowship for what is really their own fault.  The Christian community is not a spiritual sanatorium.  The person who comes into the fellowship because he is running away from himself is misusing it for the sake of diversion, no matter how spiritual this diversion may appear. He is really not seeking community at all, but only a distraction which will allow him to forget his loneliness for a brief time... 

     Let him who cannot be alone beware of community.  He will only do harm to himself and to the community. Alone you stood before God when he called you; alone you had to answer that call; alone you had to struggle and pray; and alone you will die and give an account to God. You cannot escape yourself; for God has singled you out. If you refuse to be alone you are rejecting Christ's call to you, and you can have no part in the community of those who are called. "The challenge of death comes to us all, and no one can die for another. Everyone must fight his own battle with death by himself, alone... I will not be with you then, nor you with me" (Martin Luther).

     But the reverse is true: Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into the community you were called; the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear your cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone, even in death, and on the Last Day you will be only one member of a great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you. "If I die, then I am alone in death; if I suffer they (the fellowship) suffer with me" (Martin Luther).

     We recognize, then, that only as we are within the fellowship can we be alone, and only he that is alone can live within the fellowship. Only in the fellowship do we learn to be rightly alone and only in aloneness do we learn to live rightly in the fellowship...  One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.

Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.  Along with the day of Christian family fellowship together, there goes the lonely day of the individual. This is as it should be. 

The day together will be unfruitful without the day alone, both for the fellowship and for the individual. The mark of solitude is silence, just as speech is the mark of community.

     Silence and speech have the same inner correspondence and difference as do solitude and community.  One does not exist without the other.  Right speech comes out of silence, and right silence comes out of speech...  The speech, the word which establishes and binds together the fellowship, is accompanied by silence. "There is a time to keep silent, and a time to speak" (Ecclesiastes 3:7). As there are definite hours in the Christian's day to speak, particularly the time of common worship and prayer, so the day also needs definite times of silence, silence under the Word and silence that comes out of the Word. These will be especially the times before and after hearing the Word...

     Silence is the simple stillness of the individual under the Word of God. We are silent before hearing the Word, as a child is quiet when he enters his father's room. We are silent after hearing the Word, because the Word is still speaking and dwelling within us. We are silent at the beginning of the day because God should have the first word, and we are silent before going to sleep because the last word belongs to God. We keep silence solely for the sake of the Word... not to show disregard for the Word, but rather to honor and receive it."

     For those who have not tried to oversee a group of believers, or seek their growth in the ways of Jesus, some of his words may seem confusing.  But for those who have, I'm sure his words resonated deeply in your soul as he spoke about the life-giving and spiritual-growth-enhancing need for God's people to engage in silence before God, and engage with His people.  The need to spend time alone before Him, and spend time together. The need to still ourselves before God and His Word in purposeful respite from our hectic busyness, on the one hand, and then join with the community of the faithful to speak words of life regarding what God has spoken to us, on the other hand.

     In it's simplest form this is nothing more than to follow the example left to us by Jesus.  If ever there was anyone who did not need others, it was Jesus.  Yet He gathered people around Himself and spoke truth into their lives constantly.  Not because He "(could) not stand loneliness," and was "driven to seek the company of other people," but  but because in His times of solitude, purposely going away to be alone with His Father in prayer, He had received from Him truth He needed to share with them.  Jesus life is the prime example of a life of radical balance -- fellowship, service, instruction and ministry empowered by times alone, in solitude, away from the crowds, off in the wilderness or on the mountaintop.  It was there in the alone times that He renewed His strength through a life of prayer that mingled silence with speaking.  We could all learn an important lesson from His example!  This is what Bonhoeffer advocates -- Along with the day of Christian family fellowship together, there goes the lonely day of the individual. This is as it should be."

And in relation to Bonhoeffer's last few remarks, I also have to encourage what he advocates -- silence before and after hearing the Word of God.  

Too many times I have seen life-changing truth that wasn't taken in because the soul was not stilled or prepared before the presence of God to be able to hear it. And the same is true in regard to after hearing the Word.  Often, people do not give it time to percolate deep down into the soul, because they rise from hearing the Word proclaimed only to engage in trivial chatter which immediately makes it drift from the memory.

     As a pastor I know my words are obviously not God's words -- unless all I do is say what His Word says.  Then they are His words.  And to hear a message from God, and then rise to disregard it with speech that has no relation to it, is to reveal a desire to shelter the soul from His truth.  We must prepare our soul to hear it, and we should then give it time (in silence) to seep down deep into our soul that we might be transformed by it.  Bonhoeffer is right:  "We are silent before hearing the Word..." and "We keep silent after hearing the Word... not to show disregard for the Word, but rather to honor and receive it."

Just some wise food for thought!  Pastor Jeff

11 Bonhoeffer Quotes to Remember a Man Who Resisted Evil Unto Death

Greetings All,

     This week's "thought" is in honor of a man who was martyred for the faith 71 years ago this past Saturday (April 9th, 1945), in the closing weeks of WWII  -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  It is taken from an online post written by Ryan Stewart, entitled, "11 Bonhoeffer Quotes to Remember a Man Who Resisted Evil Unto Death."

     Bonhoeffer is best known for his books, "The Cost of Discipleship" and "Life Together." The content of each is made more powerful by the fact that he lived out the advise he gave.  I personally consider Life Together the best book on Christian community ever written. There is not a believer alive who could not benefit greatly by reading those two Bonhoeffer classics.
     Other biographical information is provided by the author, so I will simply end by encouraging to you consider the things Bonhoeffer wrote below. If your interest is perked, and you would like to find our more about this extraordinary man, the book,
"Bonhoeffer -- Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy" by Eric Metaxas (in the full 542 page version, or the abridged 214 page version) is superb. Enjoy.

Remembering a Pastor Who Resisted Evil Unto Death

     "If there was ever a Christian who practiced what he preached, it was Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  A theologian adored by evangelicals and liberals alike, Bonhoeffer is often invoked in support of action. Decrying the "cheap grace" of the German church, Bonhoeffer heralded "costly grace" — a grace that might cost a Christian his or her life.

After Hitler rose to power Bonhoeffer (who had come to America for his theological training and stayed on to teach) left his post at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and his new fiancee, to return to Nazi Germany.  He would soon be accused of joining the plot to assassinate the Führer, and spend two years in prison.  He was executed by the Nazi regime at Flossenbürg concentration camp just two weeks before the United States liberated the camp.  Before he died (he was hanged by a cord of piano wire) he famously remarked to another prisoner, "This is the end — but for me, the beginning."

Here are 10 quotes to remember his radical legacy:

On returning to Nazi Germany:

I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult period in our national history with the people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.

On silence in the face of evil:

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.

(Correction: While often attributed to Bonhoeffer this quote does not actually exist in any of his written works.  Its origin in unknown, though it could very well have been something he simply shared in a conversation without ever putting it down in print.)

On living with your enemies:

Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes.

On systemic injustice:

We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.

On loving Christian community:

Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself, become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial.

On doing God's will:

Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.

(Correction: This quote is actually not from Bonhoeffer but from Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer's biographer, summarizing Bonhoeffer's views. His summation has often been wrongly attributed to Bonhoeffer.)

On revolutionary Christianity:

Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear... Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now.

On reconciliation through Christ:

The world is overcome not through destruction, but through reconciliation. Not ideals, nor programs, nor conscience, nor duty, nor responsibility, nor virtue, but only God's perfect love can encounter reality and overcome it. Nor is it some universal idea of love, but rather the love of God in Jesus Christ, a love genuinely lived, that does this.

On silent theology:

We must finally stop appealing to theology to justify our reserved silence about what the state [Nazi Germany] is doing — for that is nothing but fear. ‘Open your mouth for the one who is voiceless’ — for who in the church today still remembers that that is the least of the Bible’s demands in times such as these?

(As in the United States, or most any other country, Nazi Germany did not mind what people claimed to believe regarding Jesus as long as they privately kept it to themselves, did not speak out against national and political injustice, or take any action to oppose party policies.  Private faith that stays private and never ventures to put it into action bothers very few.  Christians who don't live out their faith in the public arena really concern no one.)

On Christ's ultimate command to follow Him:

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Many around the world know what Bonhoeffer meant by that last quote.  And surely -- if current trends continue -- we may also come to know what it means here in the U.S. in the not-so-far-off future. Then we will be forced to count the cost. For the call to come to Christ in faith is a call to lose ourselves in His service, and in doing so, truly find ourselves -- and what it is that life is truly all about. 

     In the Bonds of Christian Service, Pastor Jeff

The Cost of Discipleship

Greetings All,

     This week's "thought" comes to you from what has become a Christian Classic for many people.  It was written by the World War II pastor, theologian and martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer -- a German citizen who was killed for his outspoken opposition to Hitler and the Nazi regime.  It's called "The Cost of Discipleship."

Though the entire book is good, I chose this particular selection because it helps clarify a portion of Scripture that has tended to confuse many people.
     There are probably few issues more difficult to explain completely than the New Testament believers relationship to the Old Testament law.  One example (which is incorrect) was actually stated like this in an online post: "And if you ignore the laws of the Old Testament, which is what we are supposed to do since Jesus died..."   Another common way of saying it is: "In Jesus the OT law was done away with completely and has no place in the believers life."   Such statements abound in our day, making it clear how important it is to correctly understand Jesus words here.
     In this selection Bonhoeffer seeks to explain Jesus' statement from Matthew 5:17-20:  "Do not think I came to abolish the law or the prophets, I did not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter or stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks the least of these commandments or teachers others to do so, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

     Bonhoeffer does an admirable job explaining it.  I have had to shorten it drastically, and thus leave out some important sections of his argument.  Therefore, reading chapter 8 of his book is advised.  After all, it wouldn't hurt to have a copy of  such a classic on your bookshelf for easy reference!   Enjoy.

     Speaking of the above cited passage from Matthew 5, Bonhoeffer states:  "How is this to be understood?  We know that Jesus is speaking to his own followers, to men who owe an exclusive allegiance to himself...  Discipleship means adherence to Jesus Christ alone, and immediately.  But now comes the surprise -- the disciples are also bound to the Old Testament law. This has a double significance.  First, it means that adherence to the law is something quite different from the following of Christ, and secondly, it means that any adherence to his person that disregards the law is equally removed from the following of him.  Jesus himself points to the law those whom he has granted his whole promise and his whole fellowship.  And because it is their Lord who does this, they are bound to acknowledge the law.... To abandon the law would be to separate ourselves from him...  Every letter of it, every jot and tittle, must remain in force and be observed until the end of the world.

     But there is a "better righteousness" which is expected of Christians.  Without it none can enter into the kingdom of heaven, for it is the indisputable condition of discipleship.  None can have this better righteousness but those to whom Christ is speaking here, those whom he has called.  The call of Christ, in fact Christ himself, is the sine qua non of this better righteousness [He is the necessary condition without which it is impossible].   This is why up until now Jesus has said nothing about himself in the Sermon on the Mount.  Between the disciples and the better righteousness demanded of them stands the Person of Christ, who came to fulfill the law of the old covenant. This is the fundamental proposition of the whole Sermon on the Mount. Jesus manifests his perfect union with the will of God as revealed in the Old Testament law and prophets. He has, in fact, nothing to add to the commandments of God, except this, that he keeps them.  He fulfills the law... down to the last iota.... He alone understands the true nature of the law as God's law.   The law is not itself  God, nor is God the law.  It was the error of Israel put the law in God's place, making the law their God, and their God a law.  The disciples were confronted with the opposite danger -- of divorcing God from his law.  Both [are] errors....

     Jesus, the Son of God, who alone lives in perfect communion with [God],  vindicates the law of the old covenant by coming to fulfill it.  He was the only Man who ever fulfilled the law, and therefore he alone can teach the law and its fulfillment aright...  By pointing his disciples to the law which he alone fulfills, he forges a further bond between himself and them.  He rejects the notion that men can cleave to him and be free from the law, for that spells enthusiasm, and far from leading to adherence to Jesus, means libertarianism... (ie: the idea that the Christian can live any way he or she wants, or that Jesus fulfilled the law for us so that we could justify our sin, go on living immoral lives, and then get heaven thrown in on top of it all).

     Now we must ask, how exactly does the righteousness of the Pharisees differ from that of the disciples?... The Pharisees idea of righteousness was a direct, literal and practical fulfillment of the commandment.  Their ideal was to model their behavior exactly on the demands of the law.  Of course they knew they could never realize that ideal, there was bound to be an excess which needed forgiveness of sins to cover it.  Their obedience was never more than imperfect.... But the disciples [whose own righteous efforts could only take the form of obedience to the law as well] had an advantage over the Pharisee in that his doing of the law is in fact perfect.

     How is such a thing possible?  Because between the disciples and the law stands one who has perfectly fulfilled it,, one with whom they live in communion. They are not faced with a law which has never yet been fulfilled, but with one whose demands have already been satisfied. The righteousness it demands is already there -- the righteousness of Jesus...  This righteousness is therefore not a duty owed, but a perfect and truly personal communion with God, and Jesus not only possesses this righteousness, but is himself the personal embodiment of it.  He is the righteousness of the disciples. By calling them he has admitted them to partnership with himself, and made them partakers of his righteousness in its fullness.   That is what Jesus means when he prefaces his teaching on the "better righteousness" with reference to his own fulfillment of the law.

     Of course the righteousness of the disciples can never be a personal achievement.  It is always a gift, which they received when they were called to follow him.  In fact, their righteousness consists precisely in following him, and in the beatitudes the reward of the kingdom of heaven has been promised to it.   It is a righteousness under the cross.  It belongs only to the poor, the tempted, the hungry, the meek, the peacemakers, the persecuted -- who endure their lot for the sake of Jesus.  It is the visible righteousness of those who for the sake of Jesus are the light of the world and the city set on the hill.   This is where the righteousness of the disciple exceeds that of the Pharisees -- it is grounded solely upon the call to fellowship with him who alone fulfills the law.... In a word (the better righteousness) means following Christ.   It is the real and active faith in the righteousness of Christ.  It is the new law, the law of Christ." 

     In the modern day Church there are some who still do as the Pharisees did and essentially make the law a god, and their god the law.  They set it before people's eyes and suggest that obedience to it can save or put one right with God (what we call legalism).  It's an error the faithful need always oppose.  Yet far more commonly the contemporary Church has -- as Bonhoeffer says of the early disciples -- divorced or separated God from his law, often using Christ's fulfillment of it as the justification for doing exactly what it forbids.  This understanding is an equally distressing error, and in light of this passage, something Jesus would never advocate.

     God is not the law and the law is not God.  Obedience to it cannot save us, nor earn us God's favor.  Neither does it have the power to condemn those who are in Christ Jesus. But what we often fail to realize is that in growing in sanctification, or maturing in godliness, or Christ-likeness, we are coming to fulfill the law -- for what is the life of Jesus but a life lived in perfect obedience to it?  And the whole time that the fruit of spiritual growth is maturing in us, our shortcomings are covered by the righteousness of the One who perfectly fulfilled it in our place.

Yours in the Joy of Following Jesus, Pastor Jeff