Committing oneself to the historical life of Jesus incorporates not only following the teachings of Jesus but also emulating his faith in God in the circumstances in which he found himself. Jesus committed himself to God within the historical framework of his earthly existence because he trusted that God was active within that framework. The devil's temptation to Jesus was to escape the historical process through miraculous intervention, which Jesus declined to do. God was in the process, not out of it or above it. Jesus trusted in a God active in redemptive purpose within the historical sphere. Only with this kind of faith could Jesus submit himself to God at Gethsemane, wherein and upon the cross he suffered the historical consequences of his faithful life. Resurrection vindicated his faithful submission to God.
Likewise, the church's mission is to commit itself to history in faith that God is active in the historical sphere. In Paul's words, we are "co-laborers" with God. The escapist mentality that too often characterizes evangelical preaching is foreign to the faith of Jesus. And large churches with every conceivable facility and comfort providing a safe haven for Christians contradicts the teaching and faith of Jesus. We are go into the world, not escape from it. We have sent the wrong kind of message to a suffering world: rather than entering into the suffering with faith in the redemptive purpose of God we have fled from it.
We are called to look for and perceive by faith the redemptive hand of God in every human experience. This does not mean that every experience is the will and purpose of God but rather that God is redemptively active even in the worst of evil. "For this reason we do not lose hope." It is in cooperating with God redemptively amidst the slime of human history that we find the joy of our calling--"who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame."
posted by bill rosser @ 3:47 PM
2 Comments:
Commenting on your comments of Dec. 7 and Dec. 11. I agree with most of your observations but I'm I'm not real sure of your use of the word, religion. You seem to be using it synonomously with rite and formalism, but even forms and rites seem to be within the realm of what God requires of us. God delivered the Hebrews from Egypt that they might worship Him, and He gave them prescribed rites by which they were to approach Him. Of course these rites were means not intended to become ends in themselves, but we can never come to the end unless we keep to the means. My greatest problem with contemporary religion is that we don't seem to be searching God's Word to see how He wants to be worshipped, and when we worship Him as we choose we make ourselves gods. Commandments 1-4 pertain to our worship, and indicators of the shallowness of our religion are that we employ all sorts of idolatry in our concepts of worship, use His name vainly and flippantly and don't even think about keeping one whole day in seven holy to Him. In short, our very worship practices indicate that we really aren't worshipping God at all. But even if every religion in the world is false we are not given permission from God to cease practicing true religion, or to cease pursuing it where it doesn't exist.
Neither am I content with my usage of the term "religion." I suppose it will always be a struggle for the church to worship without the act of worship supplanting in our heart's value the one being worshipped. But I do believe there is a sense in which Jesus ended religion (as known) by performing the one true religious act. I'm speaking, I think, of religion as a meritorious act. We no longer can do that; we can only celebrate that which was done for us. In that sense, I think I disagree with your reliance on the OT.
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