A Man in Christ

Greetings All!

     Each Christian has certain authors, preachers, or teachers that they click with.  People who speak to them in a way others do not.  I have many of them just as I am sure you do.  Some of the people who have profoundly affected me range (the list is not exhaustive) from Charles Spurgeon, to J. I. Packer, to A. W. Tozer, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, John Owen, John Frame, Tim Keller, Richard Sibbes, Jonathan Edwards, Jerry Bridges, Wayne Grudem, R. C. Sproul, Ravi Zacharias, Gordon Fee, John Piper and the person you will hear from today -- James S. Stewart.  Some of you may be scratching your heads wondering who some of them are, when they lived, and why I'm enamored with their take on things, just as I likewise have wondered the same thing after reading some authors people gushed about and said, "you just have to read_____________"!

     Anyway, if you do have the time today, maybe you could zip off a quick response telling me your top three authors.  I'd be very interested in knowing which one's "speak your language" and have fed your soul (along with the book titles that helped you most).  If enough respond, maybe I'll share the results.

     Yet, today, you will hear from James S. Stewart, from his book "A Man in Christ."  For me it has been a "go to" book whenever I want something of substance to challenge or feed my soul. These excerpts simply give you the essence of what he fleshes out in greater detail throughout the rest of the book.  Enjoy.

A Man in Christ

     “The evangel of an ethical example (salvation by trying to be good) is a devastating thing. It makes religion the most grievous of burdens. Perhaps this is the real reason why, even among professing Christians, there are so many strained faces and weary hearts and captive, unreleased spirits. They have listened to Jesus' teaching, they have meditated on Jesus' character; and then they have risen up and tried to drive their own lives along Jesus' royal way. Disappointment heaped on bitter disappointment has been the result. The great example has been a dead-weight beating them down, bearing them to the ground, bowing their hopeless souls in the dust.

     One of the vital distinctions between true religion and false, is that, whereas the latter is a dead burden for the soul to carry, the former is a living power to carry the soul… "Christ in me" means something quite different from the weight of an impossible ideal, something far more glorious than the oppression of a pattern for ever beyond all imitation. "Christ in me" means Christ bearing me along from within, Christ as the motive-power that carries me on, Christ giving my whole life a wonderful poise and lift and turning every burden into wings. This is what the apostle means when he speaks of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27)... This, and this alone, is the true Christian religion.

     To be "in Christ," to have Christ within, to realize your creed not as something you have to bear, but as something by which you are born. This is Christianity. It is more: it is release and liberty, life with an endless song at its heart. It means feeling within you, as long as life lasts here, the carrying power of Love Almighty; and underneath you, when you come to die, the touch of everlasting arms…

     The heart of Paul's religion is union with Christ. This, more than any other conception – ­ more than justification, more than sanctification, more even than reconciliation, is the key which unlocks the secrets of Paul’s soul. Within the Holy of Holies which stood revealed when the veil was rent in two from the top to the bottom that day on the road to Damascus, Paul beheld Christ summoning and welcoming him in infinite love into vital unity with Himself.

     If one seeks for the most characteristic sentences the apostle ever wrote, they will be found, not where he is refuting the legalists, or vindicating his apostleship, or meditating on eschatological hopes, or giving practical ethical guidance to the Church, but where his intense intimacy with Christ comes to expression. Everything that religion meant for Paul is focused for us in such great words as these: "I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1). "He that is joined unto the Lord is one with him in spirit" (I Cor. 6:17)…  Paul declares his conviction that in Christianity the final stress must ever fall on one thing – and on one thing only – union with Christ.  Life in fellowship with Christ.”

     If what is written here resonates with you, or intrigues you, and you would like to go into it further, I would encourage you to pick up the book. I don't think you would be disappointed. God has given the Church gifted teachers and preachers, it is wise to avail yourselves of the things he has laid upon their hearts to share with us.

In His Service, Pastor Jeff

Simply Sacred

Greetings All!

This week's "thought" comes to you from Gary Thomas, and is taken from his book, "Simply Sacred."

     As I was reading through the book, this particular entry caught my attention.  Why?  Because I can sometimes be disappointed at the way things are going in this world.  All it takes is glancing at the days headlines -- "Man kills another over parking spot dispute...,"  "Suicide bomber kills 13 and injures 24 at Baghdad ice cream shop..."  "Brother who drugs and rapes sister gets probation..."     The values, the priorities, the political rants, the greed, the language, the unreasonableness, the selfishness, the lack of respect, love and common sense... it can tend to bring one down.

     That's why I chose this entry.  It helps us look at all that from a different perspective.  A redemptive perspective. A perspective that reminds us that Jesus' call is for us as His followers to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16).  And what we sometimes forget is this: Salt is the most desired where the food is the most bland, and light is the most cherished when our surroundings are the darkest and our path littered with dangerous obstacles.

     Gary's entry for today reinforces this biblical idea, and in doing so helps turn our disillusionment with this world into a motivation to carry out Christ's mission for us. That of being salt and light. Enjoy.

Defiant Beauty

     "Years ago on a trip through southwestern Washington [state], I traveled through miles and miles of tree farms...  Interspersed among these tree farms were occasional stretches of clear-cut logging projects. The land looked devastated, broken, and abused. Even knowing that the land would come back after planting new trees, it's still a bit sad to see such brutal scarring of a forest.

     Yet, as I passed another clear-cut stretch, my eye caught something that almost made me pull off the road.  There, in a devastated patch of land, stood a startlingly beautiful maple tree, in full autumn colors. Somehow, the loggers had missed it.

     The contrast could not have been more stark -- or more beautiful. Beauty surrounded by beauty begins, after a time, to seem mediocre. But beauty in the midst of chaos or ugliness stuns us. It seizes our attention. In a barren and broken stretch of land, this tree captured my imagination and told another story. Had it stood in the midst of New Hampshire's White Mountains during autumn, it likely would have been missed -- one stunning tree in a forest of thousands of other stunning trees.  Here, however, in a broken, hurting land, this glorious tree proclaimed a transcendent truth.

     In the deepest part of us, we truly yearn for such "defiant beauty." In a world where people choose self-centered lives, where ugly things happen, where sin seems to spread unchecked, where daily assaults take their toll, we can point to the defiant beauty of a selfless life, seeking first the kingdom of God, putting others first, and even sacrificing (if need be) -- all to proclaim a transcendent truth much greater than ourselves.

     I invite you to develop this defiant beauty..., the kind that has shone through all generations of the church. At your office, in your house, at school, during walks through the malls, or visits to friends houses, let's carry the defiant beauty of our Savior's love and hope to a sin-stained world."

     The apostle Paul put forth this same truth in Romans 12:9-21; I Corinthians 13:1-13; II Corinthians 5:11-6:13; Galatians 5:16-26, and elsewhere.  There will always be things in the world that will tend to bring us down. Yet, it is in the face of all such things that we have the opportunity to add the most flavor, or shine most brightly.  Love in the face of hate, caring in the face or indifference, sacrifice in place of selfishness, generosity in the face of greed -- can not help but be noticed.

     Like that one, solitary, beautiful maple tree decked out in its autumn splendor, in the midst of a clear cut swath of destruction, we can make a difference. We can hide our light under a basket of self-protection, or lose our flavor by associating only with those who live and believe just like we do.  Or, we can do what Jesus called us to do and go out into the world, without being a part of the world, and seek to be His ambassadors of love and reconciliation.  Negative situations can discourage us, or they can be what Jesus and Paul both suggested they could be -- our renewed motivation for mission!  Determine that it may always be the latter, for Jesus sake.

Make it your goal today to be the light that shines into some dark situation, Pastor Jeff

Grace

Greetings All!

While visiting a conference in Pittsburgh, PA, two weekends ago, I picked up a new book entitled: "Grace" by Randy Alcorn.  It consists of 203 short thoughts (some just a couple of sentences long) describing the grace of God. It would make a great daily devotional, or could act as a supplement to another devotional.
     Alcorn offers many of his own insights on grace, while supporting most of them with great quotes from other contemporary and antiquated authors. I offer you seven selections (a week's worth, one for each of the next seven days) to give you a taste for what the book has to offer!  Enjoy.

"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness 

could be gained through the Law, Christ died for nothing." 

                     Galatians 2:21

     "Grace never ignores the reality of sin. In fact, it emphasizes it. Paul said if men were good enough, then "Christ died for nothing." Benjamin Warfield said: "Grace is free sovereign favor for the ill-deserving."  If we don't see the reality of how ill-deserving we are, God's grace won't seem amazing. If we minimize our unworthiness, we minimize God's grace." "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me..." (John Newton).

"Yet he gave a command to the skies above, 

and opened the doors of the heavens; he rained 

down manna for people to eat; he gave them the 

grain of heaven."         Psalm 78:23-24

     "Louis Cassels wrote, "If God wants you to do something, he'll make it possible for you to do it, but the grace he provides comes only with the task and cannot be stockpiled beforehand. We are dependent on him from hour to hour.  As God didn't allow the Israelites to store up manna, he doesn't let us store up grace. He always gives us enough, but we can't deposit it for the future. We have to get it fresh every day. "He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase; To added affliction he addeth His mercy, To multiplied trials His multiplied grace" (Annie Johnson Flint)."

"In him we have redemption through his blood, 

the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the 

riches of God's grace that he lavished on us." 

                Ephesians 1:7

     "Benjamin Jowett said, "Grace is the energy of the divine affection rolling in plenteousness toward the shores of human need."  No matter what you've done, there is no sin beyond the reach of God's grace once you have accepted Christ's offer of forgiveness. Max Lucado says, "God answers the mess of life with one word: GRACE!"  God knows everything, so no sin surprises him. He knows all our worst secrets (Psalm 69:5). No skeletons will ever fall out of our closets. Jesus will never say, "Had I known you'd done that, I'd never have let you into heaven." He's seen us at our worst and still loves us. "Are you too bad to receive grace? How could you be too bad to receive what is for the bad?"" 

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, 

and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all 

shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins 

sweep us away."     Isaiah 64:6

     "For some, "human depravity" (total inability to earn our way to God) may be an insulting doctrine, but grasping it is liberating. When I realize the best I can do without God is like "filthy rags" in his sight, it finally sinks in that I have nothing to offer. Salvation, therefore, hinges on his work, not mine. What a relief!   "We could not take one step in the pursuit of holiness if God in his grace had not first delivered us from the dominion of sin and brought us into union with his risen Son. Salvation is by grace and sanctification is by grace" (Jerry Bridges)."

"Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, 

he gave it to them saying, "This is the blood of the covenant,

which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." 

                     Matthew 26:27-28

     "No one deserves forgiveness. That's the whole point of grace. On the cross, Jesus experienced the Hell we deserve, so for all eternity we can experience the Heaven we don't deserve. The grace that is free for us was costly to God. But he offers it to us with a heart of infinite love. "I have come to know a God who has a soft spot for rebels, who recruits people like the adulterer David, the whiner Jeremiah, the traitor Peter, and the human-rights abuser Saul of Tarsus. I have come to know a God whose Son made prodigals... the trophies of his ministry" (Philip Yancey)." 

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions 

and sins, in which you used to live when you followed 

the ways of this world."   Ephesians 2:1

     "You and I weren't merely sick in our sins; we were dead in our sins. That means I'm not just unworthy of salvation; I'm utterly incapable of earning it.  Corpses can't raise themselves from the grave!  What a relief to realize that my salvation is completely the result of God's grace. It cannot be earned by good works -- and therefore it can't be lost by bad ones.  Thomas Watson wrote, "[Divine] Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out his people's sins, but not their names."  "If you and sin are friends, you and God are not yet reconciled" (J. C. Ryle)."

"Do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; 

do not worry about it... But seek his kingdom, and 

these things will be given to you as well."  Luke 12:29, 31

     "When we come to Christ, God graciously puts all his resources at our disposal. That's a dramatically uneven exchange since God has so much more than we do, and all we have comes from him in the first place.  "I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low for You... I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal." (John Wesley)."

     I would encourage you to take one of these entries each day for a week and give it much consideration.  Grace (of the biblical kind) may not line up with the persuasions of the world, but it is the essence of nearly all God says in His Word.  Therefore, as Spurgeon once said, "If the people do not like the doctrine of grace, give them all the more of it."

     Many blessings upon your week's contemplation of grace!

In the Service of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff

Living a Life that Makes Sense

Greetings All!








This week's "thought" comes to you from Francis Chan, and is taken from the book, "Passion" (a collection of different articles focusing on living the Christian life in earnest).  This excerpt comes from the chapter by Chan entitled, "Living a Life that Makes Sense."  It speaks of how Chan, a well-known pastor here in the U.S., learned to be bold in speaking the truth, and consistent in living out his faith, from members of poor and persecuted churches in India, China and Thailand.  His words are very challenging yet inspiring. Enjoy.

     "I've heard stories -- you've probably heard them as well -- about Christians overseas. I've heard stories about the underground church in China, for example. Or stories of people in India who give their lives to Jesus and literally sacrifice everything... I've been hearing these stories all my life, and I finally reached a point where I decided that I had to see for myself.  I had to meet some of these Christians around the world. I had to know if they were for real.  So I spent a few months overseas with my family. I didn't do this because I was godly; I did it because I knew I wasn't, but I desperately wanted to be.  I looked at my life and saw that I was lacking boldness. I didn't have the guts to say everything God wanted me to say.  So I wanted to learn from Christians who were bold enough to follow Jesus no matter what it cost. 
     We traveled first to India and I had an opportunity to to speak to a huge group of people there. You have to understand -- these people were the persecuted church. Many had watched family members be beaten to death for their faith. And there I was, standing on stage in front of all these people.  I didn't know what to say to them.  I told them that what I really wanted to do was hear their stories -- and that's what I ended up doing.  I listened to a woman tell me about how she came to know the Lord. As soon as her village learned that she was a Christian, the whole village came to her hut. They brought decapitated lizards and told her that she and her husband needed to drink the blood and convert back to Hinduism. They gave her an ultimatum. She had to deny Jesus.  At this point in the story the woman looked at me and said: "I couldn't do it. I couldn't deny Jesus." So she grabbed her Bible and she and her husband just ran. The whole village had rejected them -- they would be killed -- so they ran into the jungle to hide. She was pregnant with their first child at the time. So as they hid in the jungle, her husband helped her deliver their first child. They were desperate for food for themselves and this newborn baby. But God provided. He got them through it. This woman told me, "We weren't going to deny our Lord. I just held on to my Bible. I would not let any of them take my Bible from me. That was the only thing we grabbed, and we ran."  I talk to a woman like that and I think, 'That's a life that's worthy of the Gospel. She understands that Jesus is all that matters. Her manner of life is worthy.' 

     I talked to another guy who showed me the scars on his head and his back. He told me that within a few months of becoming a believer, a huge group of people surrounded him and started beating him. He was thinking, "Okay God, this is it. This is the way it's going to end. That's ok. I'm not going to deny you."  He told me he was able to crawl away, but looked back and watched the crowd beat his friend to death. He endured all this, and he had only been a follower of Jesus for a few months!   I talked to so many people who went through these kinds of things, that I finally asked one of the leaders, "Don't you have any people in your churches who just call themselves Christians but don't really live it out?" He just looked at me and said, "That wouldn't make sense. [Over here] If you call yourself a Christian, you automatically lose everything. Why would someone volunteer for that if they weren't serious?" He told me his story -- that when he was eleven years old, he gave his life to Jesus.  He told me, "I still remember coming home and telling my dad. It was pouring down rain outside. I told my dad that I was a Christian, and he took everything I had and threw it outside into the mud. Then he looked at me and said, "Don't you ever call me Dad again."

     Think about it. This is an eleven year old kid!  What would you have done? He said, "I went over and picked my Bible out of the mud, along with a few other items, and I just wandered around looking for somewhere to go."  He eventually became a pastor, a husband, and a father. Twenty years later he even reconciled with his dad, who became a believer himself.  That is powerful stuff!  I hear these stories and I can't help but think that his manner of life is worthy of the Gospel...

     Then we went to China. We visited part of the underground church where they train leaders... They asked me why it was so strange to hear their stories. I had to explain that things are different where I come from. I told them that most Americans talk about the church, but they're referring to a building.  I explained we have a ton of these buildings, and you can choose which one you want to attend. Then I told them that people might attend one for a while, but when when they find another with better music, they'll switch. That's when these students started laughing hysterically.  I swear I wasn't trying to be funny. Some times you're saying something serious and everyone thinks you're joking.

     I kept going. I told them that if one church has better child care than another, then a lot of parents are likely to switch. The students started laughing harder.  I explained that sometimes people will switch if the service times are more convenient, or if they like one speaker better than another. The students were dying with laughter.  I felt like I was doing a comedy routine. But all I was trying to do was explain the American church to the underground church in China.  As they were laughing I realized they're right.  It doesn't make a lot of sense.  I look at their lives and everything makes perfect sense. I look at our lives and I wonder...  When we hear stories of Christians overseas, we think they're weird. But we're the strange ones. This is how Christianity works around the world, and we're over here in America getting caught up in our consumer-driven approach to church...  Where is the manner of life that lines up with the Gospel?"

     In my trips to India I have seen the same.  I've spoken with people who have really suffered for Jesus and the Gospel. I prayed with one woman who had all her possessions thrown into the street and trashed, and was then threatened to be burned alive -- along with her children -- if she told another person about Jesus. But she wasn't going to stop.  "It would be an honor to die for Jesus," she told me.  I felt like a midget among giants.  I also saw poor pastors who traveled hours to attend a conference, and others who bore in their bodies the scars they had received for being faithful to Jesus.  It all made sense.  It all made so much sense.

In the Bonds of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff

A Song of Ascents - A Spiritual Autobiography

Greetings All,

This week's thought is really more of a personal testimony -- a fascinating testimony of one man's conversion -- that of E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973) the well-known missionary evangelist to India who concentrated on reaching the educated classes of India, before branching out (through books and conferences) into a world-wide ministry. The following account can be found in his autobiography: "A Song of Ascents - A Spiritual Autobiography."
          His conversion took place just before the turn of the 20th century (in 1899) and getting a theological education at Asbury Seminary he left for India to pursue his dream of taking Christ to the nations in 1907. His books, The Christ of the Indian Road,  Victorious Living,  Abundant Living,  The Unshakable Kingdom, and The Divine Yes (written one year before he died, and one year after a stroke at 88 years old) were all popular books.

     He was a pacifist, and an advocate for Indian Independence for English rule, as well as a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi.  He wrote a biography of Gandhi after his assassination, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it was the book which inspired him to non-violence in the civil rights movement. This is the story of his conversion.  It is amazingly insightful, and greatly inspiring, so I thought I would pass it on to you. Enjoy.

     "I am an ordinary man doing extraordinary things because I'm linked with the extraordinary.  But apart from this I am very ordinary... and worse. A woman put it this way: "Apart from the Holy Spirit, Brother Stanley would be a mess."  She was right.  But with the Holy Spirit I am not a mess, but a message. This is not boasting. This is witnessing to Another.  To say anything else would be a false humility which is concealed pride.

     How did it all begin?  My first remembered contact with religion was when, as a little boy, I went to the Sunday school at Frederick Avenue Methodist Church, South, in Baltimore, dressed in a brand new suit. To call attention to my new suit, and me, I took a collection plate and began to pass it around before the grown-ups standing chatting. I didn't hope to get any money.  I hoped to collect compliments for my new suit and incidentally, for myself.  Hardly an auspicious beginning with religion.  And yet, I had unwittingly run into the central problem in religion -- the problem of the self-assertive self.

       My second crisis contact with religion was when, about ten years later, at the age of fifteen, I was in the gallery of the Memorial Church, with a group of boys, mostly my chums. The speaker was an Englishman from John Bunyan's church in England. He was a man of God, and at the close of his address, he pointed his finger to where we were seated and said: "Young men, Jesus said, "He that is not with me is against me."  It went straight to my heart. I knew I wasn't with him, but I didn't want to be against him.  It shook me.  I turned to my chum and said: "I'm going to give myself to Christ. Will you?"  He replied: "No, I'm going to see life first." Then I saw I would have to go alone, and I did.

       I climbed over the altar, and took my place among the seekers.  I felt undone and wept -- wept because I was guilty and estranged.  I fumbled for a latchstring to the kingdom of God, and missed it, for they didn't tell me the steps to find it. I stood up at the close when they asked us if it was all right with us.  I wanted the Kingdom of God, wanted reconciliation with my heavenly Father, but took church membership as a substitute.

       My mother came into my room the next morning and silently kissed me before I got out of bed. Her son was a Christian. But I soon found out I wasn't.  I felt religious for a few weeks, and then it all faded out and I was back again to where I was before, the springs of my character and my habit formation unchanged. I had been horizontally converted, but not vertically.  I was outwardly in, but not inwardly in.  It was a sorry impasse.  I could have lived out my life on that level the balance of my days, a cancelled-out person, neither here nor there.

       But as I look back, I am not sorry I went through that half-conversion which was a whole failure.  For the fact that I got out of that failure was used to encourage those who have settled down into a compromised stalemate, dull, listless, and with no note of victory. They too can get into the real thing. So my failure could be used to help others to victory.

       The real thing came two years later. An evangelist, Robert J. Bateman, came to Memorial Church. Through his rough exterior I saw there was reality within.  He was a converted alcoholic, on fire with God's love.  I said to myself, "I want what he has."  This time I was dead serious.  I was not put off by catch phrases and slogans.  I wanted the real thing or nothing. No halfway house for me; I wanted my home.  For three days I sought. During those three days I went to the altar twice.

       One of those times my beloved teacher, Miss Nellie Logan, knelt alongside me and repeated John 3:16 this way: "God so loved Stanley Jones, that he gave his only begotten Son, that if Stanley Jones will believe on him, he shall not perish but have everlasting life."  I repeated after her but no spark of assurance kindled in my heart.

       The third night came. Before going to the meeting I knelt beside my bed and prayed the most earnest prayer I had prayed so far in my life. My whole life was behind that simple prayer: "O Jesus, save me tonight." And he did!  A ray of light pierced my darkness. Hope sprang up in my heart. I found myself saying, "He's going to do it."   I now believe he had done it, but I had been taught that you found him at the altar of prayer. So I felt I must go to church to an altar of prayer.

         I found myself running the mile to the church. The eagerness of my soul got into my body. I was like Christian (in Pilgrim's Progress) running from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City!  I went into the church and took the front seat, a thing I had never done before.  I was all eagerness for the evangelist to stop speaking so I could get to that altar of prayer.  When he did stop, I was the first one there!  I had scarcely bent my knees when Heaven broke into my spirit. I was enveloped by assurance, by acceptance, by reconciliation. I grabbed the man next to me by the shoulder and said: "I've got it."

       "Got it?"  What did I mean?  I see now it was not an "it," it was a him. I had him -- Jesus -- and he had me.  We had each other.  I belonged. My estrangement, my sense of being an orphan, were gone. I was reconciled. As I rose from my knees I felt I wanted to put my arms around the world and share this with everybody. Little did I dream at that moment that I would spend the rest of my life literally trying to put my arms around the world to share this with everybody. But I have. 

       This was a seed moment. The whole of my future was packed into it. Crude? No, creative. Emotional? It took an emotional upheaval to carry me across from a self-preoccupied life to a Christ-preoccupied life. The center of my being was changed from self to Savior.  I didn't try by an act of my will to give up my sins -- they were gone. I looked into his face and was forever spoiled for anything that was unlike Him. The whole of me was converted. There was nothing the same except the name. It was the birthday of my soul. Life began there... He put a song in my heart, for I now had something to sing about. Many undertones and overtones have enriched that Song, but there I caught the standard note -- "Jesus" -- a Savior from what I didn't want to be to what I wanted to be... From the day I was given that "note" to this day, sixty-six years later, I have been sounding that "note" through all the world. And I hope my last gasp will be, "I commend my Savior to you.""

       What else needs to be said? Nothing!

With Prayers for Christ's Richest Blessings on your Life,  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.

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     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