I’ve recently read a book by Philip Yancey entitled What God is God.  The subtitle is, in search of a faith that matters. Yancey takes his readers through a variety of vignettes that suggest he has found Christianity to be such a faith. I’m impressed with the book for the simple fact that it asserts a tangible and meaningful expression of Christianity which should be the existential twin to the rich history and theology we espouse.  While identical twins share the same basic DNA, tests have demonstrated there are differences,  why the differences will fuel debate for decades. However, in the same way theology and praxis are twins. There is a vital connection between the two and while differences can be detected under careful scrutiny an unbreakable link remains. It is this link that I think must be understood and defended.

There are several groups that have used theology to legitimize their practices, some very sophisticated and others, not so much. It’s not my intent to catalogue them here, yikes. Instead I would assert that theology, Biblical Theology, is the proverbial horse that pulls the cart and when either theology or practice get off track it can often be traced to getting the cart before the horse. One example: the group of rebels trying to cast off an oppressive enemy and their appeal to things scriptural to justify all manner of warfare in their efforts. One has to ask, is it experience forming the theology or theology controlling the practice.  Which comes first? Theology or practice? In fact what holds the trump card when it comes to truth, our experience or biblical truth. Yeah I know, it’s not as simplistic as I’m making it sound, but let me know what you think.

Oh, by the way… read Yancey’s book, it worth the time.

Jeff.

The song was written by John Denver and made popular several times by various artists, most recently by Chantal Kreviazuk who performed it for the movie Armageddon. In the movie a somewhat motley crew is chosen to save the world from impending doom as a huge meteor hurls toward the earth. I’m not a movie critic but I enjoyed the film and have watched it several times.  I think movies like that have some staying power because we can identify with at least one of the hero’s and regardless of how messed up they might be they are capable of doing something truly noble.  …read more

Perhaps you’ve never thought of the gospel as condemnation, nor did I really until recently.  Often, when you use the word gospel, the words “good news” comes to mind, appropriate since that’s what it means, or at least something fairly positive.  However, you only appreciate the biblical message of good news when you put it in contrast with the bad news, or as I’m suggesting, of condemnation.  It seems to me that the first three chapters of Romans argue this point. Humanity is condemned because it suppresses the truth as expressed in creation, our own consciences, and that of biblical truth.  In the end there is not distinction, gentile or Jew, both stand condemned or as Romans puts it, “there is none righteous.” So before a single word of good news is spoken Paul demonstrates our need for it. Do you ever stop to just remind yourself where you were before Jesus, before you knew there was good news?  Even if you have grown up in a churched environment, you’re in the same boat.  Certainly if you have grown up in church you have advantages, much like the Jew who has the scriptures. At the end of the day however, regardless of the background, there is none righteous.  Once we understand just how much trouble we are in, then the good news satisfies the human heart. 

Romans 3:21-24.  But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in^[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

I said last time that Luke seems to favour a dual hermeneutic when approaching the scriptures, Christology (who and what Christ is) and Missiology (the advancement of the gospel globally).  Luke maintains this dual emphasis in both his telling of the gospel and in the book of Acts.  You will find Paul arguing for the identity of Christ from the Scriptures just as you will find Appolos doing.  See also Acts 13:43; 26:21-23. There you will find Paul’s defence of a gentile ministry soley on the fact that the Law and Prophets declared it would occur. I think we have good warrant for reading the bible through the lens of both Christology and Missiology. I also believe we can do this with a level of authority given the scriptures call us to do so.

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How’s that for title.  We’ve talked about missional, but hermeneutics. Is that some spin on a Herman cartoon? Nope, it’s a word.  Actually, when you read the bible you are at the same time, interpreting it. Hermeneutics is the set of rules we use to govern or control that interpretive event.

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Now that I have gone on about Missional, I’d like to put it into a context.  I have stated that the term missional is descriptive of the activity of God and that the scriptures are a witness to His missional activity; past, present, and future.  In this sense the bible is one story though it is made up of a multitude of smaller contextual stories.  However, each of these stories finds their place in the Mission of God. 

            Someone is bound to say, “Are you not finding these things in the bible because you go their looking for them.” In other words, am I not reading into the bible what I want to find and twisting things to make them fit my preconceived ideas. Certainly this has been true with many approaches to the bible.  For example, feminism. Certainly the bible has something to say about women’s rights, their dignity in creation, their divine responsibility to be fruitful and to subdue the earth. However you cannot say the bible is all about feminism, or marriage for that matter, liberation, agrarianism, or worship. You can however say that the bible is all about mission: God’s. So what is the difference when we come to mission?  Simply put, the bible says so.  Let’s look at Luke 24:44–47 (NAS).

  44   Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

  45   Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

  46   and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,

  47   and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Note verses 46 and 47, what are the two things it says the scriptures speak of? Christ, his death and resurrection, and the preaching of the gospel to all the nations; mission. 

            I will spend some more time on this but I want to speak to a challenge that will be raise right off the bat.  Someone will say you’re taking one passage of scripture and using it as a principle to interpret the bible: is that appropriate?  My question in return would be, how many times does the bible need to tell us something before it becomes authoritative? 

Have a missional day!

If missional is a term used to categorize those practices that flow out of God’s mission to redeem and restore his creation for his glory then we can begin to see that what we call missional should be tied to that same mission.

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So, if you read the last post you know that as far as I’m concerned when we speak of missional we are speaking of those things which have the characteristics, values, and practices of God’s mission.  In other words, missional is the stuff that is uniquely and qualitatively related to what God is trying to accomplish in this world. Therefore, if we desire to understand what we mean by missional we need to understand what God’s mission is.  I’ve also stated that I believe the bible tells the story of God’s mission and he literally pins signposts all over the scripture that point to that grand story. However, before we say too much about that Grand Narrative, let’s return to mission of God in general.  I should add that some at this point would like to shift from the term “the mission of God” to “missio dei” thinking that because we put it in latin somehow that makes it more significant… not sure it works that way.  Let’s talk then about the mission of God. (Warning…. this is a little longer but I could not split it)

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This question is not as easy as some would like to believe.  Today, hundreds of people publish huge amounts of data in just about every media form available regarding this topic.  I’ve come to dislike the word. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an awesome word but it is one that is highly overused in an attempt to sound current with little understanding of what it is.  I’m going to take the next few blogs and cover this topic and add my own voice to mix.

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Okay, so why the domain name … mycross.ca. Good questions. As I thought about a presence on the web I got to thinking about Jesus’ words, take up your cross and follow me (Matt 16:24). Now I can’t think of anyone who would think of the web as a burden to carry, nor do I, but I do …read more