Mindset of the Spirit Blog

Against Compassion?

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 11:27:25 +1100

Could it be possible for someone with the Mindset of the Spirit to be against compassion? I think so and here’s why.
I have noticed that comfortable Westerners like the idea of being compassionate because it is empowering. The compassionate person sees another in need, feels sorry for them and does something to help them out. But here’s the thing 1) I am suspicious of the power relationships involved - yes I as a rich westerner will help those people in the developing world because that is a good thing to do and I am in the position to do it - but, more often than not, I am giving out of what is an excess and invariably when it suits me. This feels a lot like charity that makes me feel good about myself and the reality of the situation of those being “helped” is far enough removed to be an abstract notion. 2) Compassion is actually a passive response. I don’t help anyone unless I come across them and I deem them to be in need of my help. If there were no-one to help then I am free to go on with my business.
Now before I am drawn into a long discussion of “I’m not saying...but I am saying,” let me contrast this notion of compassion with what I take to be the gospel virtue of generosity. Unlike compassion, generosity is costly because it not only gives in accord with the need of the other, it actually takes the initiative to search out the other and look for their needs. It is not simply a reaction to a situation, it is an active stance towards the other. So while we can and should point to the abundant evidence of God’s compassion towards the world that he made we must keep in mind that when Paul writes:

For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us! (Rom.5:6-8 HCSB)

Messiah Jesus didn’t just happen upon us in our godless and godforsaken state - he went looking for us. He determinedly went to the far country in search of all the prodigals to bring them home. Thus grace and generosity is so much more than mere compassion!

Pray, now & not-yet

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:26:17 +1100

I mentioned in my last post that I thought the key to understanding the future could be found in our prayers. Even if that sounded clever at the time, I want to say something more concrete to clarify what I’m getting at.

Paul gives us good direction in Rom.8:15 Paul writes: “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to return again into fear. Instead, you received a Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’”

Notice what is going on here: We cry out to God as our Father thanks to the work of the Spirit of adoption or sonship. By His Spirit the Father enables us to call on him as Father instead of succumbing to the slavery of sin and death. We pray because God enables us to. Yet we pray for what we don’t have - since no one hopes for what he has and therefore we don’t ask for what we already have. More importantly we can pray because of what God has achieved for us through Jesus and is perfecting in us by the Spirit. This - I suggest - is the quintessential “now/not-yet” experience of eschatology, the last things.

Paul often describes our life in anticipation of the return of Jesus as a now/not-yet experience. We are saved from sin and yet live still with its consequences and so on. The essence of this experience is lived out in our prayers by the Spirit and through God’s Son as we call on Him as Father.

Rapture or Rupture?

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:24:36 +1100

When I’m in a WTO protestor mood I like to drop in to Adbusters. It’s a weird and wonderful collection of stuff. Anyway, today I noticed the headline above and it occurred to me that I should send out some posts on my project for this year. During the second half of the year I plan to write a book on Eschatology so things like the end of the world are on my mind.

Over at Adbusters they are in a more apocalyptic or “the sky-is-falling” mood and the picture from “the Road” and “Avatar” is not actually related to the article. I saw both of these movies and enjoyed them in the own kind of way. In the grey corner, The Road is an amazingly bleak account of a man trying to keep his son alive in a post-apocalyptic world. They journey through the wreckage of what used to be North America matching their will to live against the efforts of marauding cannibals and earthquakes - if the future is like this, let me just say, have a good meal and take a bath tonight.

In the blue corner [sic.] is the latest Cameron blockbuster. The military/industrial complex that is humankind has gone off-world to open Pandora’s box in search of “Unobtanium” - presumably some wonder mineral that will enable humanity to survive now that it has destroyed its own world. In this scenario all that is caricaturistically bad in white-military-male culture crashes head-long into “I-we-Gaia” that ends right where the Copenhagen summits wished they had.

Well, after all that cynicism let me say in response that I think our prayers are the best indication of what we think about the future. At least, that is the line I shall be pursuing in my book. Our prayers are the most basic element of the “now/not-yet” tension that characterises life between the ascension of the Lord Jesus and his return. What we pray about and the manner with which we pray reveals everything about what we think of the present, the past and, especially, the future. For now what I’m suggesting is that your prayers are a far better indication of the future of life on the earth than anything else - especially a Hollywood blockbuster.

Help, help, the Atheists are coming!!!

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:31:52 +1100

Yesterday I had a great telephone conversation with Jacqueline Maley the new religion reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald. Jacqueline was interested in talking to me as a representative of the Sydney Anglican Diocese’s Theological College about the re-invigoration of atheism in Australia. This seemed to be signalled by the imminent arrival of the likes of Professor Dawkins for the Rise of Atheism conference in Melbourne next month. Apparently a number of leading lights in the “New Atheism” movement are all converging on this great southern city for a weekend of furious agreement. Their aim is to send a signal “to Australia's religious and political institutions that atheism and secularism are forces to be reckoned with.”

One of the most intriguing questions that Jacqueline asked me was whether I was concerned about atheism as a movement having such influence in Australian society. To begin with I was a little unsure as to how I might answer. After all, people have been refusing to trust the promises of God since Adam & Eve. So from that point of view there couldn’t possibly be anything new about atheism. I am inclined to think that Prof. Dawkins and Mr Hitchens are a flame that has burned rather brightly for a little while but the heat or intensity is quickly diminishing. Jacqueline herself commented that she had been present at the Dangerous Ideas conference when Christopher Hitchens spoke and according to Jacqueline he had little new to say. As for Prof. Dawkins, he seems to be so tragically like those that he despises, in terms of fundamentalist attitudes towards tribal slogans, that he embarrasses as many atheists as he emboldens. Terry Eagleton’s recent book “Reason, Faith and Revolution” is a point in case.

Ultimately though, two things stop me from being worried about atheists and their conventions. Firstly, the gospel is a message that God our Father can bring the dead to life by the power of His Spirit - seen most majestically in the resurrection of His eternal and royal Son, Messiah Jesus. No one and nothing in creation has ever, at anytime, been able to top that. There is no power, no creed or slogan, no movement, and especially no rebellion that takes place outside the sovereignty of the Lord Messiah Jesus. What is more, and secondly, God our Father’s love is not quenched by such rebellion. As Paul reminds the Ephesians we “were all dead in our trespasses and sins…but God made us alive with Christ.” Every Christian used to be an atheist (one way or another) yet by the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we have been called into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

So when I heard of this great gathering I was saddened that so many people might band together in envious hostility towards, and alienation from, God’s royal and eternal Son. However, I also prayed that God out of the riches of his mercy might choose to call all those gathered atheists out of darkness and into the kingdom of the light of His Son - as he did for me.

A Faithful God

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 10:26:52 +1100

I confess that there are times when I am tempted to doubt God’s goodness. When I see the terrible pictures of misery and suffering in Haiti, I confess that I do not understand what David means when he says:

Psa. 145:9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made

I know that there are some of you that live under a shadow of pain and loss – whether because of things done to you or things that you have done. It is as if a cloud blocks out the sun of joy or a wall somehow separates you from others who can sing along with David in this psalm. Yet I still think that this psalm is for those of us who are confused about God’s goodness:

Psa.145:14 The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down…18 The LORD is near to all who call on him… 19 He fulfils the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

If you stumble or are bowed down by your confusions, then cry out, cry out to God and he will save you from them. If your desire is to believe then God will help your unbelief. I know that this is true because that is what God did for the Lord Jesus when he faced temptation even to the point of death:

Heb.2:14 Since the children have flesh and blood, Jesus too shared in their humanity …18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Heb. 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. Heb. 5:7 During His earthly life, Jesus offered prayers and appeals, with loud cries and tears, to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.8 Though a Son, Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered. 9 After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

There never was one more brought down than the one who left heaven to be laid out on a cross. There never was one more bowed down than the one who bore the sins of the world on his shoulders. The Lord Jesus who, though he never sinned, was murdered by the people he came to save and God heard his cry on the cross and saved Him from the tomb. God fulfilled the desire of Jesus who only ever sort to do good and honour God and because of God’s righteousness, because of God’s faithfulness in all that He does, the Lord Jesus lives for you and me.

When I doubt, the Lord Jesus trusts for me, when we are confused the Lord Jesus understands for us and all this is the proof of God’s love for us – His power and his goodness are found in his faithfulness.

Dinner over Babylon

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:43:29 +1100

Last night our family enjoyed an ‘end-of-the-holidays’ treat in the restaurant in Sydney Tower. It was a truly spectacular and fascinating way to eat dinner. The magnificent view obscures the fact that you are paying quite a lot for a refectory buffet. However, it was a great experience to gain a heavenly 360 degree view of the city in which ‘we live an move and have our being.’ I was surprised on a number of occasions to see just how well the city of Sydney (or at least the central part of it) fits so well together. It is a beautiful city with a harbour that is well worthy of comparison to the great cities of the world.

As we gently revolved above this vast metropolis so recently celebrated on our national day I began to wonder about comparisons with the image of Babylon or Babel in the Bible. From Gen.11 through the Israelite drama and finally into the Apocalypse Babylon is rightly portrayed as the centre of human aspiration, the heart of human rebellion towards and envy of the true Son & King who rules from above the sun. The story of Babylon comes to a terrible end in Rev.18 where the inhabitants - especially the merchants and monarchs - lament the fall of this great city. At this time the brothers and sisters of the Lamb are exhorted to separate themselves to avoid the fate of the capital:

Then I heard another voice from heaven: Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins, or receive any of her plagues. Rev. 18:4

As I sat with my family enjoying all the pleasures of Sydney - both edible and visual - it struck me that these words of the Apostle are a desperate plea not just a timely reminder. With mortgages, managers and marriages all ensuring that we are bound to this big beautiful city it is so hard to hear the warning. As Sydney houses get larger and more expensive, as Anglican schools gain greater prestige and as local churches plan bigger and better lifestyle sensitive “plants” or “campuses,” it is not difficult to imagine Christians joining in with the kings of the world and the merchants as they “weep and mourn over her [Babylon] when they see the smoke of her burning.” (Rev.18:9)

Evil in the Shack?

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:03:55 +1100

Thanks to my sister-in-law I have finally read the Shack by William P. Young as part of preparing for a Doctrine course that I will be teaching this week. The Shack is a vividly allegorical attempt to explain, or offer an answer for, the problem of evil in the world created by a good God. For those who still haven’t read it, a man named Mack revisits the shack where his youngest daughter was murdered by a serial killer. There he meets God and, in a contemporary version of the Job story, comes to terms with his grief and anger towards God on account of his suffering. As far as finding some kind of resolution to the problem of evil in the world I thought the story did a pretty good job.

Mack’s suffering was not a punishment for his sin but rather a consequence of human sin in general that has distorted the world that God made for His Son, the Lord Jesus. At the same time God is not the cause of evil, evil is not a natural part of creation nor does evil become somehow necessary to help God look good. Instead, God’s unconditional grace towards a determinately rebellious humanity - a grace that focuses on the love that God has and shows for Lord Jesus with the power of the Spirit and the eternal Son’s desire in the same Spirit to bring glory to His Father - triumphs in a way that is strange and wonderful. At great cost to Himself, God’s mercy prevails above His justice, but not such that God becomes unjust or impotent. God is jealous for His Name’s sake but His Name is Lord Messiah Jesus who came in the power of God’s Spirit to save sinners.

Now because this story is an allegory there is ample evidence of a metaphor stretched too far. As a theologian who has spent considerable time struggling to understand something more of the strange and wonderful God and Father of our Lord Messiah Jesus, I found the book at times stupidly annoying and at others, actually heretical. My reaction was much the same to Lewis’ description of Jesus as a talking Lino who tricks the witch (devil) into killing him or Augustine’s bizarre explanation of the good Samaritan parable:

The man who was going down is Adam. Jerusalem is paradise, and Jericho is the world. The robbers are hostile powers. The priest is the Law, the Levite is the prophets, and the Samaritan is Christ. The wounds are disobedience, the beast is the Lord’s body, the inn is the Church. And further, the two denarii mean the Father and the Son. The manger of the stable is the head of the Church, to whom its care had been entrusted. And the fact that the Samaritan promises he will return represents the Saviour’s second coming.

That said, the Shack is an imaginative attempt to capture the relational heart of the Christian God - the relational heart that shows He is personal and the relational heart that is obvious in the Gospel accounts as God the Father works in and for the Lord Messiah Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Young’s allegory, as a piece of art, is an attempt to depict that which is unique to the Christian God and must distinguish Him from the monotheism of Judaism or Islam. The God of the Shack is frequently as disappointing as it is encouraging but I suspect that in general, much of the discomfort we might experience is due to the fact that, as Karl Rahner observed, “Christians are, in their practical life, almost mere ‘monotheists’…[S]hould the doctrine of the Trinity have to be dropped as false, the major part of religious literature could well remain virtually unchanged.” (The Trinity, 10-11) In rather stark contrast Young’s depiction of God’s Triune nature is a ‘colours of Benetton’ affair with God the Father (initially) portrayed as an African American woman (Papa), the incarnate Son as a nature loving Jeff Goldblum and the Holy Spirit as a translucent Lucy Liu.

Some, like Pastor Driscoll, have complained rather loudly about the depiction accusing Young of idolatry, goddess-ism, Modalism and anti-hierarchy-ism, to name just a few charges. For the Father to be given a form in the story is a dramatic device and not without Biblical precedent. After all, both Daniel and John have Jesus standing before the throne of the Ancient of Days in pictures of glory. What is of actual theological concern is that God the Father is absolutely transcendent above and beyond creation and has graciously and deliberately chosen to relate to us through His Son and by His Spirit exclusively. If there is a problem with Young’s metaphor it is the presumption that we might have immediate access to the Father without His chosen mediators.

Many conservative Christians stumble at the thought of God being portrayed as an African American woman. Although it felt to me to be the theological equivalent of Stuff White People Like, it is worth noting that this specific element of the story is carefully explained as a divine accommodation to Mack’s dysfunctional relationship with his father. Once that obstacle has been overcome in the story, God the Father appears as an old man - though more like Grizzly Adams than Gandalf the Wizard. The book’s message is that God does not need human symbols of power and authority in order to convey His sovereignty. The apostle Paul made the same point when he wrote to the Corinthians about preaching Christ crucified (1 Cor.1&2) and when he reminded the Philippians about Jesus’ Lordship being manifest when he died like a slave on the cross.

On the question of Modalism - an ancient heresy that treats the persons of the Godhead as simply forms in which the one God appears - Pastor Driscoll draws attention to the fact that Papa bears the same scars that Jesus does from the cross. When it comes to ancient heresies this is not Modalism as claimed, but what is referred to as Patripassianism - that the Father suffered at the cross. We must affirm that only Messiah Jesus, the royal and eternal Son died on the cross. Yet we must do this in a way that ensures that God the Father is neither indifferent to this suffering death nor the vengeful aggressor against an innocent man. So. we must hold on to two things: Firstly, “that in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them,” (2 Cor.5:19). God the Father was present in Jesus, the Son by the Spirit on the cross, as in every other part of his life and ministry. In this way the one God is reconciled to sinners. Furthermore, when in the eternal Spirit (Heb.9:14), Jesus cries out to God in the words of Ps.22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as the rest of the psalm shows, God had enabled His Son by the Spirit to cling to the words of promise that: “…He has not despised or deserted the torment of the afflicted. He did not hide His face from him, but listened when he cried to Him for help.” (Ps.22:24) The Father suffers the death of His beloved Son for the sake of the creation that He loves.

Finally, and with all due respect to Pastor Driscoll, while we confess with the apostle Paul that the persons in the Godhead relate to one another in a particular way in heaven and on the earth, great care must be taken in analogically applying those relational patterns to examples in everyday life. In Phil.2 Paul uses a hymn to describe the way that Messiah Jesus did “nothing out of rivalry or conceit,” towards the Father “but in humility” consider the Father “as more important than” himself AND the Father did not “look out [only] for his own interests, but also for the interests of [His Son].” So Jesus became a slave and died on the cross in obedience to the Father and the Father vindicated this righteousness by revealing His name of LORD for His eternal Son. There is an order to these divine relationships that is reflected in the way that husbands and wives express their relations together but there is absolutely no sense in which such an order should imply that church members should submit to their meg-church pastor. Young makes that last point deftly and correctly.

As an allegory for helping Christians understand something more of God’s gracious care for them in the face of suffering, the Shack is an admirable attempt. As a supplement for wrestling with the wonder and majesty of the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit it is no less accurate than a list of single sentence statements and no more trustworthy than any illustration your favourite preacher might use. As always there is no substitute for humble and prayerful readings of the Bible.

The Pastor’s heart

Fri, 1 Jan 2010 21:43:33 +1100

What difference does the Mindset of the Spirit make to a ministry leader? Paul’s letters t the Thessalonians provide a great example. Amidst his own sufferings in Athens, Paul’s chief concern is that the Thessalonians do not become discouraged – this seems to be Paul’s greatest fear and in some ways the measure of his work:

1Th. 3:1 So, when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 5 … I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless.

Paul is so worried about having left the Thessalonians after such a short time that he disrupts the work in Athens and decides that it would be better to be left by himself in Athens to face persecution there than to have the Thessalonians be discouraged so early in their relationship with Jesus. In fact Paul seems far more concerned about the Thessalonians than himself.

If you have any kind of leadership responsibility in our church you can’t help but be challenged by this. How easy is it to forget about people’s faith even when we are concerned about them. You can hear it in the way we pray for them: “Dear Lord, please help so and so to feel better, help them to get their work done smoothly without any hassles, please help them get good marks in this course, to find a boyfriend or whatever...”
It is not wrong to pray for these things by any means but how much better would it be for relationships amongst a church family if we regularly and faithfully prayed for each other’s relationships with Jesus like Paul does?

The other thing to bear in mind is that Paul is thinking about the faith of the Thessalonians while his own faith is being tested:

1Th. 3:2 We sent Timothy,…to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know.

How easy is it for us to slip into the temptation of feeling sorry for ourselves and forgetting those to whom we minister. How easy is it to think, “I’m so tired, or pressured I wish I didn’t have to lead Bible study; Preach at church tonight Call this person up and see how they are going ; Talk to this new person; Play these same songs again.” It can be so easy to forget about the people we are supposed to be serving while we become consumed by our own concerns.

While Paul’s constant focus in ministry is the proclamation of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul never loses sight of the people whom Jesus came to save and therefore it is the people who are always the centre of his efforts”

1Th. 2:19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

Here is a great reminder from Paul that this is what it means for ministry to be all about people. In a large church with lots of programmes , organised events, jobs to do it is easy to lose sight of who it is that we are serving, Paul has not lost sight of the fact that with all his strategic planning and his desire to preach Christ throughout the world the Gospel message is about Jesus the Christ dying for people, Ministry and the joys and triumphs of it are measured in terms of the growth of the people whom we serve.

In fact if you feel like your faith is flat or not going anywhere, you may feel like it used to be so much stronger – you used to be so much more passionate about being a Christian
The reason that you feel this way may well be because you have stopped serving others and so you are missing out on the joy that comes through serving others. Jesus told his disciples as they met for their last meal:

John 15:10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

The promise of Jesus is that when we love others the way that he has does our joy will be complete. Paul’s heart for the Thessalonians is a model for us of how the Spiritul Mindset lives for and with others

The Proof is in the Suffering

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:54:05 +1100

As this may well be the last post for the year and while everyone is reflecting on the year that is past, here are some thoughts about what the Spiritual mindset sees as success. The first time Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica he gave thanks for the signs of God being at work amongst them. The proof that God’s word is at work among them was that they suffered as the Jerusalem churches had done and as Paul himself had also done:

1Th. 2:14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out.

Contrary to popular expectation, the sign of authenticity for the Thessalonians faith or even the success of Paul’s mission is that the church is persecuted! Of all the things that you would expect to indicate that God’s word was at work amongst the church, Paul points to the persecution that the Thessalonians have suffered. What is more Paul saw this as a matter of church tradition. The Thessalonians suffered as the church in Jerusalem had and responded the same way:

Acts 5:41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

The mindset of the Spirit understands this as a model response to the message of the Gospel. It may seem totally bizarre to get excited about persecution – surely the signs that God is at work will be the church growing bigger and stronger with great music, big ministries, loads of happy people gathering together – that’s what we would assume. From a cultural point of view things are successful if they work, if you are on the winning side, if what you are doing is popular. So it is worth asking the question, “How can Paul think that appearing like a loser is a sign of success?” Paul makes sense of this in v.14, the church is suffering just like Jesus did:

1 Thess.2: 14…You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, 15 who killed the Lord Jesus

When the Thessalonians suffered they were put into the same company as the Lord Jesus himself – this puts everything into a completely different perspective buts its not the kind Nike thinking that makes all losers feel happy since second place is the first loser. The Thessalonians can take heart because being persecuted means that in relation to the Jews who claimed to be the true people of God, the Thessalonians have more in common with the Lord whom the Jews worship than those who claim to worship him!

Put simply, Paul wa saying that being persecuted by the Jews shows that you are on the same side as Jesus! Consider what we read elsewhere in the Revelation:

Rev. 5:6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders….11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!” 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!”

As a result of being persecuted for faithfulness to God’s word Jesus, the Son of God is made the ruler of the universe. Don’t be discouraged about being persecuted, it just goes to show that you are on the side of the winners. The Spiritual Mindset is able to see that persecution for the sake of being godly is a sign that you are doing the right thing.

At present conservative Christians who do not approve of homosexual behaviour are taking a hiding in the popular press – you will be aware of the conflict going on in the Anglican Communion. Closer to home, the more we engage in the mission of Jesus to bring the gospel to those who have not heard it or even when we choose to be godly in a paid work place or classroom we need not be discouraged if we face opposition but rather encouraged that we are shown to be on Jesus’ side.

A Complementary Season?

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:48:54 +1100

The second sign of a community characterised by the Mindset of the Spirit is its ability to allow for a sense of complementarity as different people manifest Christ to each other in particular ways. If we look to the church in Colossi as an example, it is worth noting that this was probably the household of Philemon. So when Paul lists various pairs of relationships here, he is using the “household” code of the day but with the twist that the Spiritual Mindset brings to these relationships.

The first pair of relationships considered are those between husbands and wives. If Men are from Mars and women are from Venus, what difference does the Spiritual; Mindset make?

Col. 3:18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

The thought that women should ever submit to men has become a modern anathema but it is worth noting that what Paul is calling for here is something distinct from notions of patriarchy – the key phrase is “as is fitting in the Lord.” As Paul describes in a very similar passage in Eph.5, what the wife is submitting to is the husbands efforts to love her as Christ loved the church, sacrificing his life for her godliness. It has nothing to do with competency and everything to do with being Christ-like as Paul wrote earlier:

Col. 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

So out of kindness and compassion, husbands are instructed to take initiative in their households for promoting the Mindset of the Spirit. Please note that has nothing to do with who does the most paid work or even who earns the most when they do. It has nothing to do with setting budgets, choosing fabrics or who holds the remote control for the telly, UNLESS any of these become an issue of godliness. In those circumstances a husband is expected to take the initiative in promoting the Spiritual Mindset and a wife, in humility and patience, is to submit to that initiative.

The next relational pairing that Paul addresses is between parents (fathers) and children. Here the Mindset of the Spirit sees that families need much more than “the world’s strictest parents or super-nannys” and if children are left free to express themselves they are mostly likely merely to perfect their selfishness.

Col. 3:20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

Children must obey their parents because home is the first Sunday school. Likewise parents must guard their godliness to ensure that they don’t discourage their children with hypocrisy.

The last aspect of the household code is perhaps the trickiest insofar as to our modern ears it is difficult to think of slavery as anything other than the atrocities committed against Africans in the 18th and 19th centuries. Now that was by no means the most common experience of the first century slave, especially in a place like Colossi but even if it was, what Paul has to say is all the more radical:

Col. 3:22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favour, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Those who do wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favouritism. 4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

To the slaves Paul gives both the exhortation to act with integrity as well as hope for those who may suffer injustice. Work as though it was for the Lord because you know that he will vindicate you ultimately. The master with the Spiritual Mindset will always recall that they have a greater overseer in heaven- the Lord Messiah Jesus. Loosely speaking this could apply to any workplace accord. Christian employees must work with integrity especially considering that they are not indentured slaves. It may even be worth considering whether our indebtedness to other institutions needs reconsidering to ensure that there is less stress on any relationship we might have with an employer. If we are living so far beyond the means that regular employment can meet - perhaps its time to reconsider. For employers to live with the Mindset of the Spirit, there should be no need for collective bargaining because you are always considering what the Lord Jesus deserves in terms of the way you treat those who work for you.

A Community of the Rich and Powerful

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:13:02 +1100

Well the last aspect of the Spiritual Mindset that I will explore is the kind of community that such a way of living will generate. Christians are by no means the only ones who have a desire for a sense of community. It is hard to find anyone who doesn’t want to belong to or at least with others – and if you do it is difficult not to feel that there may be something seriously wrong with them. Human beings are by nature social creatures – that’s why one of the most severe forms of punishment our generally liberal society will mete out is solitary confinement. Whether it is through sporting clubs, schools or even churches, people look for groups with whom they can belong. So it is worth asking then, what is it that will make Christian community distinct? Or more importantly, what kind of community grows out of a relational spirituality grounded in character of Christ Jesus?

Suppose then we put on the new “Jesus-self-image” that is being transformed by the Spirit, how should we express our newfound selves?

Col. 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The first sign of a growing community is a shared desire to be Christ-like for the sake of others. True unity, true community comes only through a shared desire to act for God reflecting the image of the Lord Jesus to others – we put on the new self for others and look for Christ in others:

Col. 3:11 Hence there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

A growing Christian community will produce much more than multi-culturalism where everyone is left alone to pursue some ethnic peculiarity in a foreign land. Instead the common culture, the things that transcends all other cultures is the character of Christ in each person – it is the ultimate sign of belonging. We must be constantly mindful of the pressure to homogenize our churches along the lines of life-style or even ethnicity for this is the exact opposite of what we ought to expect of those with the Mindset of the Spirit .