The Law of Christ
Despite Paul’s insistence in Galatians that we are not set right with God or spiritually formed by the law, he makes these statements:
“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
A couple helpful insights: the first from Ben Witherington and the second from N. T. Wright.
“The phrase ‘the law of Christ’ first and foremost refers to the cruciform and resurrection pattern of the life of Jesus, which is to be replicated in the lives of Christ’s followers by the work of the Spirit and by imitation.”
“It is not a bare faith, simply giving credence to a set of beliefs. It is a faith that works — but not with ‘the works of the law’. . . . It is faith that works through love. Love is open to all, no matter of what ethnic origin; but, even more, love is precisely the motivating force through which God himself welcomes all believers into his family. That same motivating force is what ought to make all family members welcome one another as well.”
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Want to know what people under 30 think about Christianity? Check this update from Barna.
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Still time to join us for the “Overflow” Zoe Conference next week.
All I can say is AMEN!!
What a great message-that it is NOT about getting it all right, but is all about loving each other in spite of our differences!!
Thank you for the reminder~
“Get the people right…” I think I heard Landon say that a few times last week at ACU… Yep, he said it…
“That same motivating force (love) is what ought to make all family members welcome one another as well.” THAT is how we all should read Galatians…
From the Barna link, this should scare the crap out of us…
“When young people were asked to identify their impressions of Christianity, one of the common themes was “Christianity is changed from what it used to be” and “Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus.” These comments were the most frequent unprompted images that young people called to mind, mentioned by one-quarter of both young non-Christians (23%) and born again Christians (22%).”
Follow this link to some “Emergent-See Po-Motivators” posters. They are funny if you appreciate satire.
http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/posters.htm
Funny how this phrase is proof-texted to support the making of another law out of the gospel when this phrase is found among, perhaps, Paul’s strongest case against turning the gospel into the law.
The Law of Christ is to love. It is written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Rom 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
Kathrine through Alan,
I agree, but here is the depressing truth. Soon someone will post a comment along the following lines:
“Yes, we must love people! And truly loving people means teaching them the Truth, the whole gospel. Thus, to love, let’s say, women, we must teach them to be silent in our churches and submit to male leaders.”
It’s crazy logic, I know. But it’s coming. Watch the comments that follow.
I totally agree with Barna’s Poll.
I was a youth minister for over 8 year and then took a sabatical from full time ministry. I had always believed that my real calling was preaching but if you look at ACU or any other COC Job web site they want someone with at least 5 years preaching expereince, can walk on water, etc.
So, being burnout from youth ministry. I took a sabatical and took a look at the Churches of Christ from an outward perspective. I totally agree with George Barna. As a person in my 30′s I want something that is applicable. I want a massage that I can leave saying “Okay, that is what they Bible mean’s. Wow. The Bible really is does apply to my daily life.” As a person in my 30′s I wanted a church that could help me grow as a father, and husband. As a person in my 30′s I wanted to go deeper. I wanted to be feed. I wanted to experience God.
As I started seeking I found numberous churches talking about topics that did not apply to daily life (We need to be cautious about what is going on across town, see the changes they are makin’, or other usesless non-sense stuff) where when I left saying so, what? I went to a few churches where nothing they taught was the greek work of this is that and this and that and so on and bla. Again. I left with the feeling of so what? So, I definately understand the poll. Thanks Mike for posting the site.
Mike I am also thankful that you are professor in the Bible department at ACU because I believe many professors teach and totally forget what really ministry is like. So, thanks brother. God bless.
I totally agree with Barna’s Poll.
I was a youth minister for over 8 year and then took a sabatical from full time ministry. I had always believed that my real calling was preaching but if you look at ACU or any other COC Job web site they want someone with at least 5 years preaching expereince, can walk on water, etc.
So, being burnout from youth ministry. I took a sabatical and took a look at the Churches of Christ from an outward perspective. I totally agree with George Barna. As a person in my 30′s I want something that is applicable. I want a massage that I can leave saying “Okay, that is what they Bible mean’s. Wow. The Bible really is does apply to my daily life.” As a person in my 30′s I wanted a church that could help me grow as a father, and husband. As a person in my 30′s I wanted to go deeper. I wanted to be feed. I wanted to experience God.
As I started seeking I found numberous churches talking about topics that did not apply to daily life (We need to be cautious about what is going on across town, see the changes they are makin’, or other usesless non-sense stuff) where when I left saying so, what? I went to a few churches where nothing they taught was the greek work of this is that and this and that and so on and bla. Again. I left with the feeling of so what? So, I definately understand the poll. Thanks Mike for posting the site.
Mike I am also thankful that you are professor in the Bible department at ACU because, I believe many professors teach and totally forget what really ministry is like. So, thanks brother. God bless.
Praise God because He first loved us. And we should be motivated to live a life of love because of the love we have received from both the Father aand the Son.
Children may be expressing homes where Christ is not a family member. Where they have been left to themselves for a long, long time. I have spoke to so many adults that tell of a home life growing up with many things money can buy, but no time at all with either parent, going off to school and wondering where was I really in all of this. Love takes time and sometimes a loving hug. Someone to talk too and take your example from, not the hired help.
We are told “God is love”. We sometimes have a dissconnect with that thought.
i like it
Barna’s point about Christians not looking like Jesus is clearly evident when you look at the comments on this blog over the past week. The amazing amounts of fighting you see because of who’s speaking for who, secondary “theological” disagreements, and the ugly, maggot-infested name calling.
Christians can downright ugly towards one another… it’s no wonder society/younger people are disillusioned with us.
Yesterday’s cartoon strip, “Wizard of Id” had a conversation between two guys. One was asked, “Is your king to the left or the right on issues?” The other said, “My king is the issue!” Good theology, don’t you think?
The Depressing Truth (Lie)- The Apostle Paul beat us to it. Thirty-four verses from the greatest chapter on love ever inspired by God, Paul makes that exact statement. It seems to me that you should take it up with him.
Hey, so far everyone staying on the unmitigated love theme. Which is awesome. My depression is lifting. But I’m still waiting for the first comment along these lines:
We must love* everyone.
*baptized via immersion, women stay silent, non-instrumental music, see Appendix for details.
Might it be possible that most of the young peoples issues with christianity exspecially evangelical christianity have more to do with the increasing hostility towards christianity in the press and in schools. If this is not a major factor than why in the days of the Jewell Miller filmstrips and Gospel meetings that so many here seem to blast (which were, at there time, at least as culturally relevant and marketed in a modern way as what we talk abvout doing today)was christianity perceived in a more positive way
We must love* everyone
*non-sarcastic, non-critical
Troy!
You beat me to the punch. Bless* you. I love* you Troy!
Not sure we really needed Barna to tell us that children are decreasingly likely to buy into Christianity the way we’re setting it out there for them to see.
Just talk to the children of families who have been on the unfortunate end of specious discipline from “church” “pastors” who have a hyper-growth agenda to fulfill and will brook not the slightest disagreement with their “vision,” either from the unwashed rank-and-file or from renegade elders who are “just being difficult.”
These children are paying close attention, and what they notice in their “pastors” is not The Great Shepherd, but something else entirely. Wolves, perhaps.
qb
Ah Eddy,
But if we are to change the tide per the Barna poll we must identify those views that are both turning our children away and betraying the life of Jesus! And satire is helpful with this.
And I’m sorry about hurt feelings. Those are just growing pains.
And I love* you too!
TDT – I’m not really sure what to say. All I know is that your perception is betraying you. I, along with most people here, love everybody. We love our neighbors as ourselves. We disagree at times, but we love nevertheless.
I enjoyed N.T.’s thoughts, I recently read his book called “Simply Christian” a great book.
http://www.matthewsblog.waynesborochurchofchrist.org
I know Troy, we do disagree. You loved* me calling me a liar! It was a sweet* moment for us!
Re: Barna article
If only we could see how WE contribute to the problem as clearly as we see how OTHERS are contributing to the problem, I might have hope that this trend will reverse.
I’m totally confused by the string of comments here. But, the title “Simply Christian” sure is appealing.
See ya at Zoe!
TDT – I’ve heard about the Chinese couple naming their baby @, but I’ve never heard of anyone named The Depressing Truth. I did not call you a liar. I was suggesting that your perception of conditional love is a lie. May I add, that it is a lie that is used, by you and others like you, in an attempt to seperate those who believe as I do, from the parts of the Bible that even the world agrees with. The parts that address the need for love and compassion. You believe that since popular opinion is on your side that you are right. It is people like you, the media, and Hollywood that are responsible for turning young people against Christianity. Your bitterness and deviseness are repulsive. Just remember, it was the popular opinion of the Jews that demanded that Jesus be crucified, and that His blood be on them and their children. They had no idea about the ramifications of what they were saying, and neither do you.
Troy,
I’m so sorry about misunderstanding about you calling me a liar. My bad!
So, I’m not a liar, but, in your words, I’m “turning young people against Christianity,” and I’m “repulsive”! And more! The blood of Jesus in on my head! Ah, such tenderness. Such sweetness:-)
But we forget that Jesus was killed by the legalists who wished to put an asterisk on his love. But Jesus wouldn’t back down. And neither will I!
Troy, keep the love* letters coming!
* (formerly known as The Depressing Truth) – I could type from here to next week, and you wouldn’t hear a word I said. So be it.
So be it.
Do not allow reports like the one from Barna to be very authoritative. There is no way anyone can know about all the under 30 in the country. I know of a great many who love the church , are active in the church , continue to bring their friends and teach them and have no desire for the church to make sweeping changes. They love the Lord ,people , the word and the church. If we are to be true to what Paul said about faith and love , then let each one of us teach and live by what we teach. Be Christ – like in all you do everyday. Some will reject the truth , some will accept it. Stay with the word or else all of us will get depressed .
Hi Ray!
Stay with the Word? Yes, we all do! But say what you mean Ray! You mean “Believe as Ray B believes”! Correct? Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that in good Christian freedom people can disagree with you on baptism or women’s roles?
See, here’s the great thing. I don’t need to check in with God about my beliefs. Instead, I can come here and talk to Ray, the Spokesman of God! And don’t be humble Ray, don’t back away from such an honor. Wear it with pride.
Oh, wait, let me guess what your response will be! This shouldn’t be too hard. I bet it will be something like this:
I don’t preach my own beliefs. I believe in what the bible teaches. You are not disagreeing with me but the clear teachings of Scripture.
Do I got that right? Let’s see…
I’m depressed by the non-truth that God just needs to check blogs to find folks are able to judge motives and thoughts–all the while claiming freedom from judgmental attitudes.
Welcome back Eddy!
It is ironic that to judge the judgmental you will be called judgmental. Deliciously ironic, don’t you think? Quite the puzzle. (But I must admit that your lot have had it coming for some time on this blog. Your performance on this blog has been abysmal. I give you a D+ for open-mindedness. Which I think is a passing grade. So, see you in heaven!)
Watch it TDT… your disillusionment is showing! Let me guess… you grew up ultra-fundi cofc and now even the smell of a songbook or a potluck casserole makes you break out in hives…
This if fun… rhetorically speaking.
For which of my three comments am I (along with my lot) being graded D+? 1. My king is the issue 2. God loves non-sarcastic people. 3. Bloggers cannot judge hearts of fellow bloggers.
Ah, psychobiography. Well played Encouraging Lie!
I am disillusioned. Have you seen the recent Barna results?
I thought the Barna study was right on. I spent some time as a campus minister and quite a bit of time teaching college students, and that’s about what I hear across the board.
So what will we do with it? Denial is pointless, rebuttal is irrelavant, anger is just selfishness…
Who better to critique us than those who have nothing to gain by it? Young people shaped by us from infancy are finely tuned to detect our (my) baloney… I thank God for the “Questioning Faithful”.
If you teach the whole will of God and then apply it , lives will be touched. There will always be those who will be critical of the church. some have been opposed to the church since the beginning. That will never chnage. My point is that the church does not have to change the historical truth , the doctrinal truth and the moral truth found in scipture to be evangelistic and to make an impact on the world. It is happening everyday.
Just a couple of off the wall musings after reading through this long, long discussion.
1-JESUS established HIS Church. We are not to establish ours.
2-WE are to GO to those that don’t know Him – take Him and His offer of eternity with Him to the lost.
3-The CHURCH belongs to Him, is HIS bride, not ours.
4-We’re to be about caring for the needy and marginalized.
5-Evangelism, imho is to show the way to Christ, not to the front door of MY church.
6-WHY do we preach The Church and not THE MESSIAH??
As I said, just some random thoughts as I read through this argument. Is this what Paul meant when he said it might well be good that there are differences of opinions? I wonder.
“I preach nothing but Christ, and Him crucified…”
Sounds like a good model to follow, again imho.
I was wondering around the Zoe sites and discovered it cost nearly $2,000 to “Grow into deeper spirituality in Christ.”
WOW! It does sound so cultish to me.
Children are growing up not believing in the gospel anymore because their Christian parents don’t believe the gospel.
Our culture of Christianity still believes our government is in control of time and history.
Our culture of Christianity still believes the use of power (violence) will change the course of time and history to be in our favor.
Our culture of Christianity still believes that its wealth is the key to life.
Our culture of Christianity still believes that the gospel is simply about salvation from sins and has nothing to do with the Lordship and Victory of Jesus Christ.
Therefore this ‘law of Christ’ which manifest itself in a call to love our world (friends and foes) in a self-sacrificially serving manner is the lost. The way of Jesus is reduced to sitting in a pew two hours on Sunday and squabling over things that mean nothing to God or the rest of the world. And we wonder why more and more of our children don’t grow up to believe — and if they do, they run off to one of those other culturally relevant Chrisitan communities that have figured out how to allow new wine to be poured into new wineskins.
Ray –
Barna can actually make fairly accurate assessments of the under 30 crowd. It’s called a statistical sample. It’s not 100% accurate, but it’s quite close. And speaking as someone under 30, the results don’t surprise me. I’ve seen a lot of people become disenchanted with Christianity and drop it. It definitely doesn’t feel like Christians have the overwhelming majority that we used to anymore.
I find it very interesting that despite our attempts to make Christianity more inclusive and more attractive to (like) the world more people than ever view the church this way.
We talk about how we’re so much better off without gospel meetings, convicting preaching, intense biblical studies-and how the enlightenment discovered in recent years has shown us that our previous convictions were wrong. Yet in those days (according to this study which most seem to agree with) the church was viewed in a better light. Perhaps our identity in those days was more distinct.
Is it possible that our lack of conviction for the sake of inclusion in so many areas is in itself repulsive to people?
Keith,
In “those days” of the earliest Restoration period, we were part of a revival taking place on the American Frontier. We were not the only Christian group to experience growth.
In “those days” of the 20th century, we were very secterian in our approach. Secterians groups generally have a much bigger evangelistic push because they believe everyone except for their own is lost.
Now that more and more Churches of Christ are becoming more denominational (I believe we are a denomination, but that is arguable) and less secterian, we do not know how to evangelize. Back in the secterian days, evangelism consisted of just showing people who already followed Jesus (Chrisitans) that they were wrong on a few points which led to those who agreed joining our churches. The other problem facing evangelism today is the shift in culture. This shift is effecting the evangelism efforts of most Churches of Christ, secterian or non-secterian. I believe the problem is that we first have yet to fully accept North America as a “mission” field rather than a “pastoral” field. Second, now that culture has shifte and is no longer that southern culture of yesterday’s Bible Belt (“those days”), we have yet to learn how to incarnationally carry the gospel of Jesus in a way that is both culturally relevant and faithful to the gospel. In North America, you generally find churches (not just CoC) who do one or the other to such extreme that they, arguably, violate the other side.
Being both culturally relevant (incarnational) and faithful to the gospel is hard business. I try to be both at the same time. This I can assure you of, I do have convictions. But my convictions are not to appealing to people who want to insist on placing Dalai Lama or Buddha as equal to or greater than Jesus Christ. That is the North American culture I serve in as a missionary with a local church and in such a culture, the prolem of evangelism is a little more complex.
I could suggest a few thoughts from the Barna study but really I just don’t know. In the Bible there were many who were legalists and many who were disobedient. There were those who were judgemental and those who allowed the wolves in to preach a false gospel. I am comforted by Paul telling Timothy to stick to the gospel even when people reject it. So some are rejecting it. It doesn’t mean we should give up on them. Paul told Timothy to stay with them and bring them back. But at the same time I think some of the self-condemnation is unhealthy. It suggests that we are worse than we used to be. The church will never be perfect. I’m sorry that people are rejecting the gospel and I’d like to think I’d do anything to change their mind….except alter the gospel. But ultimately the gospel isn’t cool, it isn’t hip and isn’t easy. Our society wants some things that the gospel won’t provide. That’s not my fault. I can do alot of things to ensure the gospel is accessible. But alas, many will deny it no matter what.
Sorry for the rambling.
Ok, after reading Mike’s blog off and on since the beginning of the year, I think it is time for me to comment. Although I have come close, most recently with all of the bashing after “ACU’s anti-war” post. Sine I am 23, maybe having somebody who fits the 16-29 grouping on the subject might help clear some things up. From talking to people my age in and out of the church, yes, we are sick and untrusting of a lot of things. And yes, I believe a lot of it comes from the institutional church (ie: church budgets, bureaucracy, a seemingly lack of concern for anybody outside of the walls, etc…). I believe that if my age group started to see those in the body of Christ truly love their neighbor, views might change. Instead of becoming a vehicle for God to work, we seem to have become a club that we become a part of by acting a certain way and pretending like we have everything together.
Last March or so the congregation I was meeting with announced from the pulpit that the collection would no longer be going for benevolence until the collection increased so that the building payment could be paid. For those in the church in my age group and even those on the outside looking in, we could care less about some building. If the ministers truly want to make a statement about budget, lead by example and forego a salary, or heaven forbid, don’t make a building payment so that everybody in the community can eat, but don’t cut benevolence or even threaten for the sake of leverage.
I am currently teaching a church history class at a private high school where the large majority of the kids are Christian. I recently (Wednesday) posed this question to the class. “Most people see Christians as people who go to church on Sundays and who are hypocrites. So, what would it take for the church to be noticed in today’s society?” Some of the answers were depressing as more than one person stated that they believe the church has dug itself into a hole so deep that it cannot come out. And this was from 16 and 17 year olds!
People are obviously hurting within the church, but it is rarely addressed. We put on our happy faces and pretend like everything is perfect. I know that I have briefly touched on quite a few topics and I don’t know how much this enlightens, if any at all. But for a lot of the younger generation in the church, the frusterations are mounting. Shane Claiborne stated that we need to “stop complaining about the church that we’ve experienced and try to become the church that we dream of” but in all honesty it’s hard when we feel like we have no support and when we see people arguing over petty things and not being real with each other.
I guess everything can be summed up with “Love the Lord your God…Love your neighbor as yourself.”
-Sorry for the diatribe
What’s tragic about the Barna findings is that churches are not addressing the problem. Most are going on about busines (doctrine, assemblies, budgets and buildings) as is this were the 1950s. God could use churches and church leaders in powerful ways to reach the 16-29-year-olds if we would only let him have his way with us.
Steve Sr., may I suggest one way to reach the 16-29 year olds would be to listen to the Dustins in our midst.
Dustin your pain and struggle are so patently obvious in your response and reflects what I hear from your age group constantly. I truly believe we need to change the pie chart of our local congregation’s budgets; making benevolence and missions the largest chunk of monies spent from the body’s income. We might also consider inviting more of our 16-29 year olds to active ministry in these two areas.
One aside regarding the “Church is not perfect” – is it our business to be perfecting the Church? Or is it not already perfect because it IS the Bride of Christ? We, the members may not be perfect, and need a lot of work to change our reputation in the world, but to me, God’s Church is perfect – just not the local congregations always are. AND the only way we can “be perfect even as the Father is perfect” is knowing His will and following it, as found in His Word to us, which starts with loving Him and all others. JMHO
The power is in the gospel. Preach / teach the gospel . Allow the cross to shape how you live. Then the people around you will be touched in a positive way. All ages included.