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The cross without the resurrection: punishment that never becomes atonement

Michael Jensen's column over at SydneyAnglicans is always worth a read. This week he strikes a real chord on the resurrection:

A theology of the cross with no resurrection is a gospel of condemnation without forgiveness, of punishment that never becomes atonement, of a human Jesus but not a divine saviour, of a world condemned and abandoned but never redeemed and transformed.

And it didn’t stop there: the resurrection of Jesus in the body supplies the ground from which the NT writers can claim that God has not abandoned, but rather reclaimed the created order from the effects of sin and death, and from the monstrous regimes that assert their power in the world in the present time.

All the ho-humming and tut-tutting by liberal theologians about the resurrection as an internal, personal experience of faith makes the gospel into nothing more than a warm inner glow. But that is not the New Testament gospel. The gospel of the apostles is the declaration of the present rule of the Son of God with power and in the flesh.

Take the Resurrection Test

Here are a couple of quick tests to see if the resurrection has the right place in your thinking:

1. If you've ever used the gospel outline '2 Ways to Live', what do you say when you get to box 5? Do you have a message, or do you just pass over this box as being no more than 'the next bit of the story'?

The resurrection is not just a matter of chronology ('and then he rose again'). It is a matter of theology ('and then he rose again and this is what it means').

2. Does your understanding of what Jesus accomplished on the cross require him to have been raised?

Does your version of the cross require a resurrection? If Jesus could have accomplished all you believe he did without rising again, you are not preaching the apostolic message of the cross. The cross of the apostles was an empty cross, and no resurrection means no salvation:

• 'He was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification.' Rom. 4:25

• 'If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.' 1 Cor. 15:17

On maximizing an All-You-Can-Eat buffet

So the other matter that has been absorbing me during the week in Dundee has been how you make the most of an all-you-can-eat buffet. Probably the biggest-attended event of the mission week was an evening at Jimmy Chung's - a full Chinese buffet with a talk from me based on 1 Timothy 1:15. (If you're wondering how to make a connection from such a context to that verse - well, you really have to WANT to see it!) As well as many stimulating conversations and questions that arose out of the talk, I was left pondering this: how do you get your money's-worth out of these sorts of places? I offer the following suggestions:

1. Don't eat too much, and don't eat too little in the run-up. You obviously don't want to go into the pray already weighed down from a large meal, but you also need to avoid the temptation of eat hardly anything as well. Going in having skipped lunch means your shrunk stomach will fill that much quicker.

2. Do some reconnaissance. Before wading in and loading up willy-nilly, take an exploratory tour of all that's on offer and start to plan a little. Worth having checked what all the mains (and desserts) are before starting to assault the crispy duck.

3. Less is more. Avoid the temptation to slap as much of everything as you can on the plate. There is lots of time so pace yourself. It's a marathon not a sprint. I find it best to limit myself to three foodstuffs per plate. Too many flavors on one plate leads to the culinary equivalent of white noise. Three at a time (plus rice) is plenty.

4. Ditch dessert. Chinese food has never been about dessert. Skip it. Max on the mains. Have a biscuit when you get home if you need something sweet. Have as much of the proper stuff as you can.

Any other wisdom?

Lessons from Mission week

Well I'm just on my way home from a week of missions events with Dundee University CU. Was great to get to know the guys in the CU, as well as the good folk from the UCCF Scotland team who were helping out as well. Dundee justifiably holds claim to being the sunniest city in the UK. What with that and a 24-hour bakery, there are worse places to live.

Two particular lessons have stood out for me this week:

1. Sharing the gospel is a terrific way to preach it to yourself again. I lost count of the number of times it happened. Talking about how we can be confident in God's love; how it is the death of Jesus brings about full forgiveness; why it is Christians go to church - it was such a reminder to me of what a great privilege it is to be a Christian. There's something about explaining it to someone else that really serves to underline it in our own affections. Hence, of course, the illustration of the Christian life needing to be like the Sea of Galilee and not the Dead Sea: having an outlet is what keeps everything fresh and living.

2. I've also been struck abut how important it is to speak about the Trinity in evangelism. It is surely no exaggeration to say that one of the greatest tragedies in the contemporary church is how little the Trinity is considered, let alone celebrated. Yet according to Matthew 28:19-20 it is the name into which we are baptized as Christians - that which now characterizes and defines our new life and identity. As such, is it vital in explaining just who this God is we now claim to know and follow. More than anything else it demonstrates the uniqueness of the Christian faith, explains how someone else can pay for our sins and makes sense of reality. Three consecutive conversations one evening, with a Muslim, Hindu and then Buddhist highlighted just how much I needed to talk about the Trinity if they were to have any chance of understanding God.

4 Marks of a Missionary Church, # 3: Be Proactive

So far the spread of the gospel in Acts has been rather ad hoc: in response to circumstances, such as the outbreak of persecution against the church in Jerusalem which forced Christians to move out to Judea and Samaria; and through God arranging for people to bump into each other, such as Philip and the Ethiopian, Peter and Cornelius.

But in Acts 13 we see the church becoming more proactive:

So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13:3)

The church sends out its first missionaries. Not because human circumstance has meant they have to leave: no one is chasing them out; it's not as if their lease has expired and they have to move. It is all to do with the burden of God's mission. The church is becoming proactive, taking godly prayerful initiative.

This is a challenge for us, corporately and individually.

As a church we need to think proactively about the mission opportunities we have. Opportunities for cross-cultural mission in other places - whom might God be raising up among us to give to this gospel cause? Opportunities for cross-cultural mission closer to home - what are the openings God has given this church in this context? For the sake of which unreached local people groups do we need to start taking prayerful initiative?

We need to think proactively as individuals, too. Thinking about:

1. The people we have access to: seeing ourselves as missionaries in our places of work, study, our homes and neighbourhoods.

2. The resources we've been given: money, time, our home. What is the most we could be doing with it?

4 Marks of a Missionary Church, # 2: Be Devoted

We're told that the Antioch leaders were 'worshipping and fasting' when they received instruction from the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:2). 'Worshipping' here is literally 'serving'; many think the context was a prayer meeting of some kind. In any event, it was in this context of devotion and consecration that the message came.

Luke doesn't tell us how the Spirit spoke. Was is an audible voice? Or a conviction that arose among them? Or a message to just one, then relayed to the rest? However it came. the message was clear: Paul and Barnabus need to fulfilling their calling. Paul's calling we already know (Acts 9:15); it seems Barnabus was called to work alongside Paul - his wingman for the westward mission. Their calling, established in the past, is now to be actioned. Their part in global mission is to begin in earnest.

There's a lesson for us. Their role became apparent in the context of their devotion to and service of God. It's not to say that every time we hold a church prayer meeting the Spirit will announce who's to go where, like the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter. It is to say that we need to consciously give ourselves to God's service in order to understand the role he has for us, being open to what this might involve and where it might lead. A danger for us in the West is that we are so used to planning our lives we are not as ready as we should be to pray for God's guidance and leading. It is easy to assume we know what God wants for us to do. We need to so devote ourselves to God we would do anything and go anywhere in his service, even if it derailed what we had hoped and planned for ourselves.

Clarity in guidance comes not as we sit back and wait for God, but get up and wait on God: serving his purposes is the key to discovering our place in them.

Mark Meynell reviews 'Lifted'

Mark Meynell, whose blog is one of the few must-read blogs out there (not least for the regular 'Q Marks the Spot' posts), and is author of the excellent 'Cross-Examined' has posted a review of Lifted on his blog and on Amazon.

The book has now been released from the publisher and should be in bookstores, actual and online, any day now.

4 Marks of a Missionary Church, 1: Be Diverse

Luke's brief portrait of the fledgling church at Antioch has much to teach us. This was not just the first fully-fledged Gentile church. It was a key launch-pad for mission. Acts 13:1-3 shows us the four marks of a missionary church.

First up is its diversity. Luke wants us to take a look at the church leadership:

In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. (Acts 13:1)

There are five prophets and teachers. We're not told which was which or whether they were all both, or even what it would have involved. It's not what they do but who they are Luke wants us to see. Barnabus, we already know from Acts, is a Cypriot; Simeon most likely a black African ('Niger' means 'black'); Lucius is from North Africa; Manaen is from aristocratic stock (a childhood buddy of Herod); Saul a hotshot Jewish scholar from Tarsus, now apostle of Christ.

Luke wants us to see that at the heart of this church is a diverse team working side by side for the gospel. This church has already learnt that Christ transcends our cultural, economic and racial diversity, and so its no surprise that this church is about to become the first ever sending church.

The challenge for us is to make the most of the cultural diversity God has given us in our own churches. We waste such opportunities if our close friends and ministry only really involves people who are the same as us.

A church that embraces cross-cultural fellowship will become effective in cross-cultural mission.