Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Enough
Believing Jesus died for your sins is not enough. Does this statement make you go into cardiac arrest? Is it fair for me to say that if a Christian goes into shock over this statement, it's because their vision is too small? Let's ask the question - enough for what? If the answer is: to go to heaven to be with God after we die - then perhaps believing in Jesus is enough. But God's vision for the church is so much bigger.
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This is the kind of thing that puts me in an endless loop. We are taught that faith in Jesus and His sacrifice is enough. And we told that our faith requires action and a response to be true. I often get turned around which it is and how it can be both.
ReplyDeleteStoked about your new blog by the way.
Wow, twisted Dan.. jacco here and I think this question is too loaded with different angles and therefore there is not one. However, I absolutely believe it is all you need to be His. Period. However, if you want to build a churrch (physically) you need to get a hammer and get to work too.
ReplyDeleteSo depends on how you look at it, but I thank God that Jesus is all you need!
This is one of those "trick" statements if you ask me. I think that when you truly believe Jesus, it naturally follows that you know you need to do more...the nature of the belief is one that pushes you to action (read: love). They aren't mutually exclusive. You can't have one (authentically) without the other. That being said - it is, of course, possible to have action/love without belief as well...but that's a whole separate discussion ;)
ReplyDeleteAn analogy might be the ol' "I'll just do this now and then ask forgiveness later" thing. If we are truly committed to love/our belief, we're probably more likely to try and avoid the "sinful" deed in the first place.
all you need...for what???? I think whenever we say something like "Jesus is all you need", we ought to complete the thought - because it is an incomplete thought. Like saying, "A lawnmower is all you need". I can't agree with that statement unless you complete it.
ReplyDeleteSo if the complete thought is "Jesus is all you need... to be His"- as you mention Jacco - I wholeheartedly agree with that. But I am wishing to draw our attention to the fact that God's vision includes more than "being His" or "going to heaven when we die". God's vision for the church is participate in the mission of the risen Christ on earth right now. God wants to make an appeal to the world through us (2 Corinthians 5:20); this is why he made the light to shine in our hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6).
I realize that this question is loaded with different angles, but it is a question that Scripture itself invites us to chew on: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him?" (James 2:14)
I miss ya Jacs - too bad we can't be doing this over a beer like the old days!
Hey Tanya,
ReplyDeletebut is it not still a real issue? I agree, 'you can't have one authentically without the other' - I think you put that really well. This is exactly what the letter of James is about - and we can't dismiss this letter. It's what Christians have struggled with - apparently - since James. It's the struggle that Dan V. articulates. We can say we can't have one without the other, but do we question our salvation when we don't see any fruit in our lives? I would answer "no!" Our eternal salvation is not what I'm talking about. I'm just talking participation in his mission...because to be church is to be called to his mission.
Okay, I'll admit - It is kind of a trick question. But I was thinking more along these lines (not along the faith/actions lines): it reveals what our focus is - are we focussed on individual eternal salvation, or on the mission that Christ calls us to?
Hey Dan,
ReplyDeletethanks for being the first commenter on my first post! I'm glad there are more, though, because with your name being the same, it would look like I was just having a conversation with myself - wouldn't be the first time!
The way you articulate the struggle is almost like putting some of what apostle Paul says, next to what some of what apostle James says: Paul - 'saved by grace alone, and not works'; James - 'what good is faith without works?'
I think its helpful to understand faith as a gift that God gives us. Paul, often keen to Gentiles, brought the news that this gift comes to us completely apart from anything we do. James, speaking to seasoned believers, reminds them that this free gift of faith was given in order to participate with God. It's like being given masses of muscles without ever working out - just pure gift of grace. But if we don't exercise our muscles, we will begin to lose the muscle. Same to with faith, if we don't exercise the faith we've been given, we begin to lose it - life experience tells us this, doesn't it?
Ah Dan.. so in short and to speak in buildings-and-lawns-language then: all one needs is a lawnmower to mowe the lawn, all one needs is the believe in Jesus to change the world into a better one. Hmmm.. indeed long conversation topic. Foor for conversation of long nights at Bob's or breakfast place around the corner in Aldergrove.. miss ya too mr. preacher man!
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