I just listened to an old tape of Tim Keller and he said something that struck me and has stuck in my mind all morning:
“The ministry of the church is not reformation but resurrection.”
I think that is profound and true on a number of different levels. While both are important reformation tends to be more of what we do in response to God’s work whereas resurrection is only something God can do.
In light of that…
Personally I want my life to be more about the power of God changing me than my own vain efforts at reforming myself. I want others to be able to see that.
As a husband I want my marriage to be marked by the resurrection power that enables two sinners to forgive one another and grow in our love and delight in one another.
As a father I long for my children to know that with man it is impossible but with God all things are possible. That God is able to take spiritually dead, rebellious sinners and make them alive in Christ to joyfully treasure Him for all eternity.
Corporately I long for my church to be a community that is being transformed by the Gospel and where the lost are saved because they witness the power and the glory of God and they come face to face with His life-transforming grace. A place where the incredible grace of a relationship with God through Christ is proclaimed more than helpful rules and principles to live by.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Comments 2
I heartily agree. In fact, not too long ago I wrote on this in a forthcoming article. I will include an excerpt for your interaction (I apologize for teh length, feel free to delete it):
We are to tell of Jesus’ death, but we are also to tell of his resurrection.
Consider the context of Luke’s commission. The eleven disciples were discussing the reliability of Jesus sightings, when suddenly Christ appeared in the room. Thinking he was a ghost, they were filled with fright. Jesus responded: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have†(24:39). To make his point, Jesus proved he had a body by eating some fish and chips. In flesh and bone, Jesus charges his follower to be witnesses of his resurrection.
The problem with many of our stories is that they contain all spirit and very little flesh. We communicate our mystical encounters with God, our mountain top experiences with Jesus, and our superhuman victories over sin. Many people see right through our spiritual stories, precisely because our witness is too good to be true. We fail to mention our bad, unless it is in the past, failing further to witness of resurrection, in the present. People want to touch redemption, which means they need to see resurrection power in our personal struggles.
Jesus’ body was resurrected as an expression of God’s commitment to creation (1 Cor. 15). God does not jettison the body for the soul; his gospel of redemption is for the whole world, beginning with enfleshed people. His resurrection is a bright reminder of new creation in the midst of bleak darkness, of tangible transformation in gross dilapidation. The stories we tell should boast of Jesus’ death and resurrection, of his forgiveness of sin and of his restoration of sinners—reconciled families and marriages, restored and housed homeless, renewed life among AIDS orphans, and so on.
According to the Gospel of Luke, we are to be witnesses of death and resurrection, to live and recount the stories of a resurrected, fleshly Jesus who lives in the midst of broken humanity offering healing and hope
Posted 29 Oct 2007 at 5:38 pm ¶Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. It is difficult to reform a dead person. The only hope is resurrection to walkin newness of life. I consider myself dead to sin, but alive to God.
Posted 30 Oct 2007 at 2:54 pm ¶Post a Comment