Acquiring values

Today in my equipping leaders material we again returned to what’s most important to us. In the exercise, we’re first asked to identify some of our favorite biblical texts that we have learned from. I can’t help but think of how texts like John 3:17 (save and not condemn) and 2 Peter 3:9 (patient, wanting none to perish) have shifted my understanding from God as a vengeful God who is the ultimate referee seeking to penalize people to God as a benevolent God who truly loves people, all people, and desires for all to have a relationship with him. I am reminded of something we often overlook in a passage like Romans 5, where we hold onto the idea that sin entered the world through one man, Adam, but then seem to become exclusive or protective of the idea that salvation also entered the world through one man, Jesus. Why is that at times we can argue guilt for the world based on Adam and yet have a hard time arguing grace for the world based on Christ? 2 Corinthians 5 is another of those passages that bumps up against a grace and a gospel that appears to be more inclusive than some of the models I was more familiar with.



And then it’s also interesting how shifts like these drive personal practice and our church’s ministry. We understand redemption not only as a one time saving event but as a continuing event that happens in real time. While listening to Christian radio the other day, a financial consultant, who is also a follower of Jesus, was asked for his advice and wisdom on what Christians should do during these tough and uncertain economic times. His advice was on the surface solid and timeless: continue to trust God for your needs as he is the ultimate provider of our needs. It harkens back to the sermon on the mount where Jesus chastises those who worry about food and clothing. It is good advice and a good reminder . . . for those of us (me included) who know very little about what it means to not have our needs met. But the question I found myself asking is what about those whose needs go unmet? How does the message of just trust God play out there? Again, I may be oversimplifying this radio comment and then deriving a whole theological perspective from it, but it seems to be that a ‘salvation is a moment’ theological perspective is much more at home with a just trust God motto, because the big question, my eternal destiny, has already been answered. But for those who struggle, for those kids who don’t have adequate food for the weekend (the Sioux Falls Food Bank now sends 1600 backpacks home with student so they have enough to eat over the weekend), for those families who fall between the gaps of making too much for assistance and not making enough to make it, for those who go without things I take for granted- furniture, clothing, shelter, meals- the bigger question is more on temporal needs then on eternal ones. And for me, the perspective shifts from how can I get you into the kingdom when you die to how can we together belong to the kingdom right now? A good exercise that really reveals what we value.



For a good sermon on this perspective, check out The Narrow Door by Greg Boyd. When you get to the site, scroll down to the 9/7/08 sermon: The Narrow Door.