The Holy Church in a Dirty World

In reflection on this.

The Church’s holiness is a certain kind of derivative holiness in that because its reality it completely outside of itself, the manner of holiness is expressed in humble gratitude. This humble gratitude is a stark contrast to demeaning separatism. The Church’s calling to be separate is a gift given by God in His grace, not an achieved title in demonstration of human virtue. If this is not understood then the glory of the gospel is severely diminished and Church’s witness in the world is handicapped.

This naturally leads to implications for the Church’s relation to the world. God’s holiness is a communicated holiness. His being is expressed in His works. Holiness is perceived and confessed. In a similar way, the holiness of the Church is expressed not in its separation or mere moral transcendence over the world, but it its activity in the world. Light does not shine if it is tucked away in parochial seclusion. Light shines by being present. Light’s activity is the reality of its essence (Matt. 5:14-16).


2010
03/11
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What Being A Man Has To Do With Phineas And His Spear

Numbers 25:1-13. The narrative is short but it is one of my favorites… it starts following the LORD’s determination to bless Israel (despite Balak). The people of Israel apostatize. The men whore with the daughters of Moab. The men who were supposed to be leading their families in the worship of the true God have instead  been seduced to go to bed with Baal. The picture in verse 6 seems odd. What that guy did in bringing the Midianite woman along was evil. The text implies that he was flaunting his idolatry.

Then comes Phineas. He rises up to play the man. He chased the couple down and slays them both with a spear. It is a gruesome scene. But Phineas doesn’t waste time. He goes straight for the problem. It is a sober rage. It is a logical fury with the glory of God at stake, and the good of the people (vv. 10-11). The idolatry was putting the previous oracles in jeopardy. They were up to thwarting God’s promise. And where there were no men, Phineas was a man. I want to be like Phineas.

I don’t want a spear and I hate ultimate fighting (it is nonredeemable), but I want to be a man like Phineas. That means, I want to lead my family well in the worship of the triune God. And that means that sometimes you have to slay the inhibitions, you have to put to death those things that contradict the reality of the gospel.

Our situation is not like Numbers 25. But what is it in your camp that is impeding your worship of GOD? What is it in your tribe that is derailing your family from living in light of the gospel? Is it your TV addiction? Is it your disproportionate affection for sports? Is it your preoccupation with Twitter and Facebook? Maybe your lazy? Whatever it is, we all have something in our lives, in the life of our family, that needs to be impelled (metaphorically, of course). We are surrounded by things that aim to knock us off track. Be a man and get rid of those things, for the glory of God and your family’s good.

2010
03/10
CATEGORY
Parenting
Pentateuch
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When Criticizing Coolness is Cool: An Inescapable Problem and a Plea for Gospel Transcendence

There is a severe irony at work in all our blog posts about uncool people needing Jesus and paragraphs that aim to describe what hip Christians like and dislike. The problem that we can’t get away from is that all this talk of coolness, with all its sarcasm, is itself, well, cool.

Anyone can sound cool and make something else look stupid if they are creative enough with their words. Who is cool becomes the one who can make fun of everything else. It is the battle of sarcasm. And I am afraid that we are all infected. We can make fun of door-to-door evangelism. No. Wait. Let’s make fun of people who make fun of door-to-door evangelism. And then let me write a post about people who make fun of people who make fun of door-to-door evangelism.

It is important to evaluate, to become aware, to step outside a get a good look at things. It is good to write about it. To show how silly that thing is, how silly we can be. But, we shouldn’t get lost in this. We have to keep our eyes on the cross. Watch out that we don’t buy into the sport of criticizing the critical, of getting the upper hand in situating everything in its respective realm, influenced by this or that cultural trend, and on and on. Let us get lost in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us have tunnel-vision in that. Let that transcend and overpower everything else. Everything else.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

2010
03/09
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Day 13: The Church At Every Moment…

The holy people of God is a form of common life which owes it origin to a decision and act beyond itself, utterly gratuitous, excluding from consideration ‘everything which men have of themselves.’ Neither in its origin nor in its continuation is the sanctified community an autonomous gathering; it is–at every moment of its existence–a creature of grace.

John Webster, Holiness, 40.

2010
03/08
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20 Days
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Jesus is Building His Church in Cities, Neighborhoods, Towns, Communities, Subdivisions, Townships; i.e. in Urban, Suburban, Rural

In light of Bill Streger’s post yesterday, “Uncool People Need Jesus Too“, it seemed good to repost some thoughts from the summer. I’ve heard concerns similar to Bill’s in the round-table discussions of the Bethlehem cohort that I’m in.


We should beware–in the  name of ‘not wasting our lives,’ we could become  self-righteous and sadly uncharitable. We should beware of the wartime-lifestyle-go-to-the-hard-places-snobbery that thinks ministering in places vacant of gang graffitti and homeless people is somehow second rate. I believe in ministry of a radical flavor–holding our lives cheap, seeking that city which is to come, going to the places nobody else wants to go, heralding the surpassing worth of Jesus above all things. Amen. We should do this. And at the same time, we should understand that it takes more than a zip code to actualize this kind of ministry. And if we aren’t  careful, we’ll create this false picture of how it looks and we’ll form these nonspoken leagues–one Major and another Minor–there are superstars and rookie wannabees… ‘those guys go there and these guys come here.’ And this is wrong.

We should remember that the gospel is needed everywhere. This doesn’t mean that we just go anywhere. Be strategic. Seek the Lord. But never forget that the folks down at the hardware store where ‘everybody knows your name’ and the prostitute in New Orleans who sells her body for crack have one thing in common–they both need the gospel. The wrath-bearing death of Jesus Christ on the cross is their only hope, period. And God would say that same thing of Mayberry that he would say of Los Angelos– “I have many in this city who are my people.”  He sends servants to both to go and stay, and we should be thankful for that.

So let us not be weak and pass judgment on our brothers by the neighborhoods in which they serve. Each of us will give an account of himself to God. Instead, let us be grateful and pray for our brothers. Pray for radical ministry for these whom God has sent and is sending everywhere… and let us go to the hard places (that means urban and rural) with all that in mind.

2010
03/05
CATEGORY
Personal
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True: He Will Make All Things New

We can rejoice that we are saved not through the immanent mechanisms of history and nature, but by grace; that God will not unite all of history’s many strands in one great synthesis, but will judge much of history false and damnable; that He will not simply reveal the sublime logic of fallen nature, but will strike off the fetters in which creation languishes; and that, rather than showing us how the tears of a small girl suffering in the dark were necessary for the building of the Kingdom, He will instead raise her up and wipe away all tears from her eyes — and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain, for the former things will have passed away, and He that sits upon the throne will say, “Behold, I make all things new.”

David Bentley Hart, Tsunami and Theodicy

2010
03/05
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Day 12 (I think): Majesty and Relation are Not Opposed

Talk of God’s holiness denotes the majesty and singular purity which the triune God is in himself and with which he acts towards and in the lives of his creatures…. Majesty and relation are not opposed moments in God’s holiness; they are simply different articulations of the selfsame reality.

John Webster, Holiness, 41.

2010
03/04
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Grace, Grace, Grace

2010
03/03
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Melissa Marilyn Parnell
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Marriage: Three Years Later Today

I, Jonathan, take you Melissa to be my wife, before God who brought us together; to love and cherish you even as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her, to lead you and share all of life’s experiences with you by following God, that through His grace, Melissa, we might grow together into the likeness of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Melissa,

I said these words to you three years ago today.

I mean them all over again right now.

Happy Anniversary!

I love you,

Jonathan

2010
03/03
CATEGORY
Ephesians
Melissa Marilyn Parnell
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Sunshine and Glory: What Spring in Minnesota Helps Me Get

March is here. Yes. The Lord’s kindness is easy to see amidst the slush of muddy snow and lake-like puddles stretching from one end of the street to the other. The sun is shining. Winter is on its way out.

S.A.D. may tarry for five long months, but springtime comes at some point in March.

Without making too big a deal about the weather, it is good that we soak in as much parable as possible. That is the attempt here. There is something reviving about sunshine. Our senses that have been numbed  by snow and gray skies are awakened to feel again. The sunlight smells good. We want it. And it is interesting that our desire for the sunshine is not some selfish craving that hogs it all. We don’t want to hoard the sunshine in some box to tuck away for our own pleasure.

In fact, our desire is not so much for the sunshine as it is to just be in the sunshine. We want to be dissolved in its splendor. We don’t want to possess it, but to be possessed by it. We don’t want to just observe it, but to move in it and feel its warmth.

2010
03/02
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