Here’s a short post on a really helpful section at the very end of:
Chapter Eight: Life Between the Cross and the Coming.
Graham Cole highlights three ‘commissions’ that Christians are to obey, as we live for Jesus in the world:
Creation Commission (Gen 1:28). Our exercise of dominion is one of both care and control (eg. Gen 2:15). I would put it this way: care for the environment is one aspect of being a follower of Jesus and a citizen of God’s Kingdom.
Discipling Commission (Matt 28:18-20). God calls His people to make disciples – of all nations.
Moral Commission (Matt 22:37-39). The Creation and Discipling Commissions are “to be shaped by love of God and love of neighbour.” Indeed, as Graham rightly concludes: “Without love, creation care and discipling others become vacuous. We gain nothing (1 Cor 13:1-3).”
If you have appropriated the peace dividend, how then are we to live? That’s the very practical question addressed in the next chapter of God the Peacemaker by Graham Cole:
Chapter Eight: Life Between the Cross and the Coming
How should followers of the Lord Jesus live? By faith. And our author gives an excellent exposition of what walking by faith, and not by sight, looks like. Living by faith means:
always trusting God, including in the age to come
living a life of love (Gal 5:6)
the opposite to living by fear and by sight (Matt 8:26; 2 Cor 5:7)
giving our total allegiance to the One who won our redemption (1 Cor 6:19f)
responding to Christ’s love in a “self-donating lifestyle” (eg. Phil 1:13-26). Simply put, Christ is worth it!
living as a true servant (“worthy of the Gospel”), exemplified in the Lord Jesus’ “great stooping both in incarnation and atonement” (Phil 2:5-11)
being prepared to suffer for Christ (2 Cor 11:23-28; 1 Pt 4:12-16). This is the reality for so many of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world
attracting spiritual opposition from the demonic. The devil has not disappeared; he is behind human hostility to the gospel and is to be resisted (1 Pt 5:8f). The armour against his attacks are defensive (shield of faith, breastplate of righteousness, helmut of salvation) and offensive (the Word of God). Prayer is crucial. It needs to be specific and gospel focussed (Eph 6:14-20)
living now, in the reality of what we will be – “Spirit-impelled resurrection life.” In the most practical of ways, this means worshipping the Lord through the offering of our whole person as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1-2). The individual believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19-20) as is the corporate Body (1 Cor 3:16-17) and that’s what needs to be displayed – not a physical Temple.
Living by faith (I think of it as being ‘up close and personal with Jesus, as we walk around the Sea of Galilee together’) means living as Kingdom people. Graham zeroes in on two of the beatitudes in Matt 5-7: ‘blessed are the merciful’ and ‘blessed are the peacemakers.’ When we are ‘shalom-bringers’ we are acting like God in character. And active peacemaking will be in sync with justice – reconciliation requires that wrongs are confronted and acknowledged.
As those who have appropriated the peace dividend (ie. those who are caught up in God’s reclamation project), we have a story to tell the world. And it is undertaken by:
evangelists, gifted by the risen Christ and equipped by His Spirit (Eph 4:11-13) to tell the story. Our author gives a succinct account of the gospel content and proclamation approaches in the Acts of the Apostles.
witnesses. Every believer is not gifted to be an evangelist but every believer has a story to tell – of God’s ways and deeds.
apologists. Again, every believer has the task of answering questions raised by the gospel (1 Pt 3:13-16). And we are to do so with gentleness and respect – if there is offence its source must be the gospel itself and not our manner!
Life between the Cross and the Coming is a life lived in the Spirit - the great applier of our salvation. Graham provides a helpful overview on “filling” as seen in Luke/Acts. And then in considering the Spirit’s role (in relation to the Trinity), he comments:
“…the Holy Spirit…uses our evangelism, witness, apology, shalom-making and mercy-showing…to bring to fruition the divine plan.”
This is a great chapter, linking biblical theology with helpful historical theology examples, with a focus on the way we live out our daily lives now, in this age. There will be wonderful benefit in chewing on the contents of this chapter with our Bibles open, and hearts submissive to the Spirit’s transforming work.
We come to verses 4 to 6 of Paul’s important passage, 1 Cor 11:2-16:
4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. 6If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.
Many commentators understand Paul to be referring to a form of head garment (veil etc). But even a ‘surface reading’ of vv15-16 indicates that this approach is problematical. Philip Payne devotes two chapters to unpacking the meaning of vv4-6, and in so doing examines the historical context, critical to understanding the situation that Paul was addressing within the Corinthian church.
Dionysiac cult:
influential in Corinth (prominent temple for worship of Dionysus)
significant correspondence between Dionysiac practices and 1 Cor (eg. 5:9f; 6:9; 8:10; 10:8, 21; 11:21f)
men desiring “homosexual liasons advertised their sexual availability through display of effeminate hair, particularly in the Dionysiac cult” (143)
customary for women to “let down their hair to “prophesy” and engage in all sorts of sexual debauchery” (162). Dionysus was considered by some women in the 1st C as the liberator
disorder and too high an estimation of ecstatic experiences typified both the Dionysiac cult and issues in the Corinthian church.
Regarding men:
v4: Literally, “hanging down from the head” of men leading in worship was disgraceful. What was hanging down? Answer in v15: long hair
Long effeminate hair, worn by a man, was considered disgraceful in Greek, Roman and Jewish literature of the 1st C. It was seen as presenting oneself as a woman
Christ is then shamed because not accepting how He created the male.
Regarding women:
context of this passage (also 10:16ff; 11:17ff) indicates a public church meeting in view
Paul assumes that “every woman” [like "every man"] can pray and prophesy in public. Payne comments, “Paul’s approval of women prophesying should not be interpreted as excluding related ministries of revelation, knowledge, and instruction” (150)
“uncovered” in v5 refers to hair let down loosely around the shoulders
in Jewish, Greek and Roman settings, respectable women had their hair done up (159). The opposite was seen as “undisciplined sexuality”
women wearing their hair done up as a modest covering makes sense of v15
an accused adulteress had her hair let down, and shaving was the penalty for a convicted adulteress (cf. v5)
why would women in the Corinthian church let their hair down? Influence of Dionysiac cult and taking excessive liberties in the church (as seen throughout 1 Corinthians).
Our author interacts extensively with other commentators on this passage and Greek/Roman and Jewish sources. The issue that the apostle is addressing is hairstyles that repudiate marriage.
In the following Chapter Ten, our author looks at vv7-10 where the apostle gives theological reasons for the head-covering rules.
New York Magazine has just published a profile on Tim Keller and Redeemer. It’s a good read and a wonderful demonstration of Keller’s connection with a big city urban context, commitment to Christ and His gospel, and godly wisdom in communication approaches.
Barney Zwartz, the Religion Editor of The Age, writes an informative post on the changing denominational and religious landscape in Australia since WWII. Entitled We shall all be changed Barney writes:
“Sixty years ago, 39 in every 100 Australians were Anglican, 22 were Presbyterian or Methodist, 21 were Catholic, six were some other sort of Christian. There were more Jews than avowed atheists, though that was only about 32,000. (11 per cent didn’t state any religion). Muslims, Buddhists and the rest? About 3000
Six decades later, Anglicans have more than halved (19 per cent today), Catholics have increased to just over a quarter, Presbyterians etc have shrunk to 9 per cent. In the 2006 Census, Christians totalled 64 per cent (down 24), other religions 6 per cent. Atheists had risen from 4 in 1000 to 190, while 11 per cent still declined to answer the question.
Australia is inescapably less religious today or perhaps it is just more honest about it, now the stigma of irreligion has gone. But in 1947 nearly half the population went to church at least once a month, and today the figure is 18 per cent (still vastly more than attend the secular temples of the football codes). That 1947 Census came close to the high point for the church in Australia, in terms of number and influence, which is regarded as the 1950s.”
Barney then outlines changes in each decade since the 1960s. He notes the significant decline in denominational loyalty, as “people look for a church that fits their circumstances – good for the children, or they like the music, or it’s convenient – rather than because they are committed to a particular tradition or set of doctrines.”
Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC, has a passion for taking the life transforming Gospel to cities. See here for Adrian Warnock’s summary of a Keller presentation on the importance of cities at a Newfrontiers Conference (including video link). Redeemer’s primary method of evangelism has been through the planting of gospel-centered churches. See here for some useful links and books.
Tim is an inspiration as a preacher and gospel-focussed pastor. When I read the following summary of his preaching by another pastor, I thought, “Yeh. That’s Tim Keller!” Here is part of it:
“To be a great preacher, one needs to be tri-perspectival in their exegesis. That is, they need to be committed to the exegesis of the Bible, the exegesis of our culture, and the exegesis of the human heart. Some preachers claim that if you exegete the Bible properly, you don’t need to bother yourself with the exegesis of our culture or the human heart. The problem with this view, however, is that the Bible itself exhorts us to apply Biblical norms to both our lives and to our world.
As a preacher myself, I benefit greatly from listening to a wide variety of preachers. In some cases I learn what to do, and in other cases I learn what not to do. But in every case, I learn something. Some preachers teach me how to be a better exegete of the Bible. Others teach me how to be a better exegete of our culture. And still others teach me how to be a better exegete of the human heart. But no preacher has consistently taught me how to do all three in the context of every sermon more so than Tim Keller. His balanced attention to all three forms of exegesis makes him very unique, in my opinion.
Tim knows how to unveil and unpack the truth of the Gospel from every Biblical text he preaches in such a way that it results in the exposure of both the idols of our culture and the idols of our hearts. His faithful exposition of our true Savior from every passage in the Bible painfully reveals all of the pseudo-saviors that we trust in culturally and personally. Every sermon discloses the subtle ways in which we as individuals and we as a culture depend on lesser things than Jesus to provide the security, acceptance, protection, affection, meaning, and satisfaction that only Christ can supply. In this way, he is constantly showing just how relevant and necessary Jesus is; he’s constantly proving that we are great sinners but Christ is a great Savior.”
Redeemer has generously provided 150 sermons and lectures by Tim Keller. Here’s the link to a great resource.
In the following interview, Tim explores both the calling by God, and the cultural necessity, to promote the Gospel through acts of compassion and mercy.
Leadership magazine ran an article back in 2007, ’5 Kinds of Christians’ posted here. On Wikipedia, this article is referenced under “Christian” and is viewed 10,000 times per month!
In September 2006, more than 1,000 self-identified American ‘Christians’ 18 years of age and older were surveyed on their religious beliefs and practices. The survey revealed the following distribution of beliefs and practice:
Active Christians 19%
Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
Committed churchgoers
Bible readers
Accept leadership positions
Invest in personal faith development through the church
Feel obligated to share faith; 79% do so.
Professing Christians 20%
Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
Focus on personal relationship with God and Jesus
Similar beliefs to Active Christians, different actions
Less involved in church, both attending and serving
Less commitment to Bible reading or sharing faith
Liturgical Christians 16%
Predominantly Catholic and Lutheran
Regular churchgoers
High level of spiritual activity, mostly expressed by serving in church and/or community
Recognize authority of the church
Private Christians 24%
Largest and youngest segment
Believe in God and doing good things
Own a Bible, but don’t read it
Spiritual interest, but not within church context
Only about a third attend church at all
Almost none are church leaders
Cultural Christians 21%
Little outward religious behavior or attitudes
God aware, but little personal involvement with God
Do not view Jesus as essential to salvation
Affirm many ways to God
Favor universality theology
Now this is America where Christendom, although declining, is still significant. I suspect the results for self-identified Aussie ‘Christians’ would look quite different. Whatever the differences, the statistics emphasise a great missional challenge, even amongst those in Western society who call themselves Christians.
A ‘lone ranger’ follower of Jesus is an oxymoron. When we turn to Christ in repentant faith we are saved into the Church; we are gifted by the Holy Spirit for the building up of the Church and its mission, and instructed by the Lord to come together regularly in corporate worship.
The American category of ‘Cultural Christian’ appears to be constituted by the remnants of Christendom and pluralism. At the human level, a very difficult mission field. Praise God that salvation is of the Lord with Whom nothing is possible.
Here’s a short post on a really helpful section at the very end of:
