A little over twenty years ago I re-opened the door to Christ’s Kingdom and with great zeal ran in. Since I belong to the personality type we call “thinkers”, I proceeded to devour any and all books I could find written about Christian Theology, systematics, and the fundamentals. One of the many volumes I read during this time was The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. Only in the last couple of years I rediscovered the small paperback buried behind my collection of commentaries, books on Christian history, text books from seminary study, etc. Upon rereading Tozer’s gem I realized that I had my first time through only highlighted his comments on Theological terms- head stuff; I totally missed what was a treasury poured out from Tozer’s heart. What profound insights he shares about the institutional maladies of Evangelicalism in the mid 20th century, and the hope for the Church today. Following are excerpts from his preface written June 16, 1948:
“In this hour of all but universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct "interpretations" of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.
This is the only real harbinger of revival which I have been able to detect anywhere on the religious horizon. It may be the cloud the size of a man's hand for which a few saints here and there have been looking. It can result in a resurrection of life for many souls and a recapture of that radiant wonder which should accompany faith in Christ, that wonder which has all but fled the Church of God in our day.
But this hunger must be recognized by our religious leaders. Current evangelicalism has (to change the figure) laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel. But God be thanked that there are a few who care. They are those who, while they love the altar and delight in the sacrifice, are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued absence of fire. They desire God above all. They are athirst to taste for themselves the "piercing sweetness" of the love of Christ about Whom all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing.
There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year, strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They minister constantly to believers who feel within their breasts a longing which their teaching simply does not satisfy.
I trust I speak in charity, but the lack in our pulpits is real. Milton's terrible sentence applies to our day as accurately as it did to his: “The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed.” It is a solemn thing, and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God's children starving while actually seated at the Father's table. The truth of Wesley's words is established before our eyes: "Orthodoxy, or right opinion, is, at best, a very slender part of religion… There may be a right opinion of God without either love or one right temper toward Him. Satan is a proof of this."
Thanks to our splendid Bible societies and to other effective agencies for the dissemination of the Word, there are today many millions of people who hold "right opinions," probably more than ever before in the history of the Church. Yet I wonder if there was ever a time when true spiritual worship was at a lower ebb. To great sections of the Church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the "program." This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which now passes for worship among us.
Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts…”
This is the "Gospel of the Gut".
Blessings,
Gary Parkinson
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Response to Ryan re: the Kingdom of God
Ryan-
Yes, in my opinion all these are true regarding the Kingdom. Yes, we are in a spiritual war. However, try to understand the bigger picture of the Kingdom of God by first attempting to take off your neo-pentacostal glasses that see only the polarities of spiritual warfare- light and dark, good and bad, life and death. These are neat categories of Baconian thinking that help us process with our 60-120 IQ the creation as we perceive it and the Kingdom as we can understand it- both created and managed by a King with a 1,000,000 ++ IQ.
In my opinion the closest we can come to understanding the Kingdom is to look at the teachings and actions of Jesus in his ministry. The Kingdom flies in the face of more than what we perceive as "darkness", it contradicts most of the ideals and ideology that I call "conventional wisdom". Much of creation is not dark in itself- its the way we use it, treat it, distort it for our personal, or communal, or national pride, power, prestige. Furthermore, much of what we perceive as the work of Satan is also the upside down way God has of drawing us to Him- our failures, pain, sorrow, suffering- as CS Lewis said: "God's megaphone". Even the personal characteristics- physical, emotional, and intellectual we perceive as defective or insufficient in ourselves were given to us as blessing that make us wonderfully unique. Thus our categories of light and dark that are so easy to systematically separate turn to shades of gray when outside of the Temple.
Second, take off your Reformation glasses that see mankind as totally depraved, wracked and driven by our "flesh" that manages every thought, emotion, and action of our lives. There is also good in man. Every man was born with a longing- a holy longing, a longing for something only God can satisfy. The Fathers write of this longing, the men and women of the Scriptures were driven by this longing, Buddhists, Hindus, New Agers, JW's, and atheists, (unless they are psychopaths), have the same longing. This longing is for the relationship of a perfect lover, one who is perfect love. We seek it from our parents , from our families, from our spouses, from Alah, the eight fold path, mother earth, from our boss, from our customer, from our pastor, our therapist. We attempt to find it in personal acclaim, accolades for success, and in recognition for performance. We strive for it, scratch for it, drive ourselves to anxiety, depression, addiction because of our longing for it- even to suicide when the search seems futile to find it.
What did Jesus command his followers to do? The only commands he gave were the commands of a King- the commands of one with a 1,000,000++ IQ. These commands are the core, the heart and soul of the Kingdom, the already but not yet of the Kingdom. Those commands were to Love God, and love all the people around us- with their warts, egos, miserable dispositions, and weird ideologies. The disciples were commanded to love and serve others as they were first loved by the Father and modeled by the human- yes totally human- Jesus of Nazareth who touched, and laughed, and cried, and hurt more emotionally and physically in his short life here on earth than you or I will probably ever experience. No,mankind is not totally depraved- men and women are capable of loving and being loved. All men as busted up and broken as they are, physically, emotionally, and spiritually long for love and are capable of doing love. We also have a Helper - one to help us know the truth of the Kingdom- to help us know the truth of the Father's love and change our hearts to become lovers. The good news is about the Kingdom. The Kingdom is about the heart. The Kingdom is about the power, the rule and reign of a King who loves perfectly, and his men and women who are becoming servants and will some day be perfect lovers. How this works out is totally "unconventional"- often messy, untidy, to our minds disorderly, and often paradoxically joyful and gut wrenching at the same time. This is earthy spirituality- this is the "gospel of the gut".
This is the best I can do with my 65+ IQ to communicate what I today understand to be the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. Check in tomorrow for updates...............
Blessings
Gary P
Yes, in my opinion all these are true regarding the Kingdom. Yes, we are in a spiritual war. However, try to understand the bigger picture of the Kingdom of God by first attempting to take off your neo-pentacostal glasses that see only the polarities of spiritual warfare- light and dark, good and bad, life and death. These are neat categories of Baconian thinking that help us process with our 60-120 IQ the creation as we perceive it and the Kingdom as we can understand it- both created and managed by a King with a 1,000,000 ++ IQ.
In my opinion the closest we can come to understanding the Kingdom is to look at the teachings and actions of Jesus in his ministry. The Kingdom flies in the face of more than what we perceive as "darkness", it contradicts most of the ideals and ideology that I call "conventional wisdom". Much of creation is not dark in itself- its the way we use it, treat it, distort it for our personal, or communal, or national pride, power, prestige. Furthermore, much of what we perceive as the work of Satan is also the upside down way God has of drawing us to Him- our failures, pain, sorrow, suffering- as CS Lewis said: "God's megaphone". Even the personal characteristics- physical, emotional, and intellectual we perceive as defective or insufficient in ourselves were given to us as blessing that make us wonderfully unique. Thus our categories of light and dark that are so easy to systematically separate turn to shades of gray when outside of the Temple.
Second, take off your Reformation glasses that see mankind as totally depraved, wracked and driven by our "flesh" that manages every thought, emotion, and action of our lives. There is also good in man. Every man was born with a longing- a holy longing, a longing for something only God can satisfy. The Fathers write of this longing, the men and women of the Scriptures were driven by this longing, Buddhists, Hindus, New Agers, JW's, and atheists, (unless they are psychopaths), have the same longing. This longing is for the relationship of a perfect lover, one who is perfect love. We seek it from our parents , from our families, from our spouses, from Alah, the eight fold path, mother earth, from our boss, from our customer, from our pastor, our therapist. We attempt to find it in personal acclaim, accolades for success, and in recognition for performance. We strive for it, scratch for it, drive ourselves to anxiety, depression, addiction because of our longing for it- even to suicide when the search seems futile to find it.
What did Jesus command his followers to do? The only commands he gave were the commands of a King- the commands of one with a 1,000,000++ IQ. These commands are the core, the heart and soul of the Kingdom, the already but not yet of the Kingdom. Those commands were to Love God, and love all the people around us- with their warts, egos, miserable dispositions, and weird ideologies. The disciples were commanded to love and serve others as they were first loved by the Father and modeled by the human- yes totally human- Jesus of Nazareth who touched, and laughed, and cried, and hurt more emotionally and physically in his short life here on earth than you or I will probably ever experience. No,mankind is not totally depraved- men and women are capable of loving and being loved. All men as busted up and broken as they are, physically, emotionally, and spiritually long for love and are capable of doing love. We also have a Helper - one to help us know the truth of the Kingdom- to help us know the truth of the Father's love and change our hearts to become lovers. The good news is about the Kingdom. The Kingdom is about the heart. The Kingdom is about the power, the rule and reign of a King who loves perfectly, and his men and women who are becoming servants and will some day be perfect lovers. How this works out is totally "unconventional"- often messy, untidy, to our minds disorderly, and often paradoxically joyful and gut wrenching at the same time. This is earthy spirituality- this is the "gospel of the gut".
This is the best I can do with my 65+ IQ to communicate what I today understand to be the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. Check in tomorrow for updates...............
Blessings
Gary P
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
