A Story of Long Debate

500 years ago this week, a monk named Martin Luther, moved by his own theological struggle and what he saw as the corruption in the church, walked to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nailed up a series of 95 "theses" for debate: Historical marker for the "Reformation." We are heirs of Luther and those events, theologically and in many other ways. One of the most important was the authority of scripture over against church tradition and the freedom and responsibility of believers to read and understand - to wrestle with - the scriptures for themselves.

Jesus came into a time of great debate about scripture. He brought an unexpected understanding of "Messiah" and Kingdom of God. Paul struggled to see a new way of reading scripture that led to a crucified Messiah. Paul talked about diverse points of view (Rm 14). Acts highlights diversity.

But the community also had a focus on unity (Jn 17). What united the communities? What was open to diverse points of view? In the 2nd cent. churches under intense pressure began to focus on unity under a structure of authority - bishops. For 300 years the Good News spread in spite of strong opposition. In the 4th cent. emperor Constantine became a patron of the church, which took on the hierarchy and authority of the empire. It became Christendom, the religious governing culture of Europe. Important was limiting and controlling the interpretation of scripture - magisterium.

Luther Wrestling with the Word

Luther was a trained and authorized interpreter of scripture, a monk who debated fine points within that magisterium. In 1517, Luther’s 95 Theses attacked the sale of indulgences authorized the Medici pope Leo X to raise funds for St. Peter’s Basilica. ("As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs!"). This was the spark that set off a revolution. But behind it was a deep theological struggle about the fundamentals of the Gospel. Luther was deeply serious in his commitment to his religious life, and struggled as an interpreter of scripture with Paul’s letters.

In 1519 in the midst of study of Rom 1:17 he came to a life-changing insight from scripture. The traditional interpretation turned the scripture into bad news. But he came to see that the tradition was distorted and false. It was for him like a new birth that illuminated all scripture. ["Tower Experience"]

The indulgence controversy led to Luther being excommunicated in 1520, but supported by his local German prince. In 1521 at the Diet of Worms he stood firm: "Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since ... they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience." Hidden in Wartburg Castle, he translated the NT into German using the new printed edition of the Greek NT prepared by Erasmus of Rotterdam - "to the sources."

Freedom, Authority, and Unity

"Sola Scriptura" — "Scripture alone" as authority for Christian life was the revolutionary core of all that Luther did: the idea that anyone with tools of language could read the scriptures and understand it. William Tyndale, influenced by Luther, translated the Bible into English in the 1520s and was assassinated. Ironically, his translation became the basis of the "King James Version" in 1611.

The freedom implied set off changes in society that began transforming culture - undermining hierarchical authority. Diversity, division exploded. Zwingli, Calvin, Radical reformers, et al., struggled with unity and authority: Must the state have only one unifying faith, set by the rulers? Is such unity what Jesus prayed for? Radical reformers (Anabaptists) first refused this idea.

North America was the first extensive experiment in an entirely voluntary expression of faith. That pattern is now spreading through the world. Our own "restoration" movement struggled with the ideas of scripture authority and unity. Can we really go back to the scriptures and "restore" the diversity of the early communities, the debate, the centered unity focused on Jesus’ cross?

Welcoming When It Matters

Paul is helping the Romans see a basic vision for the new communities that include Jew, Gentile, Roman, foreigner, slave, free, prosperous, poor. At the same time they transform the life and actions of all by the renewing of mind. The center is what happened in Jesus - living in a world created and sustained by the one God seen in Jesus’ self-giving love. This creates a living body with a great diversity of body parts: gifts, cultures, weaknesses.

Welcome/accept/take to yourself is the basic theme, tested when serious differences arise. We sense distance: "weak in faith"- eating vegetables? Faith to eat everything? To us "weak in faith" means doubt. We might reverse the terms. For Paul "stronger faith" is seeing the meaning of Jesus’ story to define a relationship to God by real transformation by Grace, Faith, and Love, rather than various religious practices. But Paul knows those practices carry great weight and are a powerful language for both Jews and Gentiles.

Paul speaks of food and observing days, not of Jews and Gentiles, since both could have scruples. Conflicts over externals tend to be flashpoints and undermine a deeper unity. Why doesn’t Paul just declare the "weak" to be wrong? Something larger is at stake.

The Collapsed Hierarchy

The Romans lived in a hierarchical, enchanted world. Defined classes and strata. Holy places and powers (gods spirits demons) everywhere. Rites and rituals mark identity, ethnicity, stage of life. The later church took over hierarchical structure, with saints, angels, relics.

"Modern" western society tried to rid itself of that hierarchy and enchantment/superstition. People are equal, interchangeable members of a bureaucratic/democratic society. The universe is material, without purpose. No holy times, places, foods, people, etc. except as private preferences. Technological mastery drives progress, controlling wealth, power.

Paul sees neither of these in the Gospel. Hierarchy remains, but it is collapsed into one basic relationship between the human and God. The whole world is holy in the sense that it is pervaded by God, creator, sustainer, lover, redeemer. No humans are interchangeable in a bureaucratic sense, rather radically diverse like body parts. They come together in their common relationship to God, in sharing a common story (Abraham to Jesus and beyond), and as a practice of faith and love. Trusting God as living God is fundamental to reality.

Each person stands "in relation to" the Lord. "Who are you to judge...?" Remarkable! Even an Apostle is not over the believer, rather a fellow-believer with a distinct commission. The Lord’s care and love for each person sets the attitude the community tries to embody.

One Lord - Many Minds to Cultivate

Paul ties this one-step hierarchy to the heart of human existence and the Gospel. We are creatures of God. The creator/redeemer’s love shown in Jesus means that all of us have a permanent personal relationship to the Lord. He understands all our weaknesses and helps us precisely there. We grow by bringing every action "in relation to" the Lord, his love, service, grace. That is Faith growing stronger, encompassing every aspect of life.

All of life and death is touched when the creator becomes incarnate and shares it. His death and life means that our death (so alone?) is surrounded by life, the life of our Lord.

A Small Text to Radically Reorient Our Worlds

This text falls in an awkward place in the middle of one of the most famous narratives from the Gospel of John. We have before us a side conversation, and a cryptic one at that, as John is often want to do. Here Jesus offers John’s version of a most elemental metaphor for Christian faith and witness: the harvest. But as is often the case in the fourth Gospel, Jesus is here not just to communicate but to disrupt our assumptions, to jar our categories, and to enable us to reconsider God’s work in the world and our place in it. In other words, Jesus is concerned with nothing more than the revelation of the very nature of God in himself and his encounters with people, particularly those who are seeking some answers, some hope, something that doesn’t perish, spoil, or fade.

Jesus in this engagement with his disciples is concerned that they have a change of vision, a change of priorities, a transformation on the way in which they engage with and perceive the needs of the people around them.

But when you and I approach this text we do not come to it blindly, as if we are hearing for the first time. Neither do we come to it in a vacuum, as if what is really going on here has no bearing on this response that Jesus has to those closest to him. And what I want to explore are a number of ways that we have been misshaped to read this text, and the larger story that it is a part of, and more importantly how we have thought about our place in the world as the redemptive presence of God in a deeply wounded world.

Kyle Swann preaches on the the raising of Lazarus by Jesus.

Julie Short leads the congregation during our 2017 Church Retreat on a guided meditation centered around the theme, "Called to the Way: Living the Wisdom of Jesus."

Unfolding the Renewed Life

This is the final section of Paul’s foundational call to a life transformed by renewing the mind, before he begins applying it to problems in the community in Rome. He began by calling them to give themselves - "bodies as a living sacrifice" - not formed by this age but thinking soberly and with faith. Each person is different - parts of one body in Christ. Each has distinct gifts of grace to be used diligently: prophecy, encouraging, mercy...

He unfolds the character of a community shaped by Jesus’ teaching: a peaceable kingdom. Genuine love, honoring others, celebrating in hope, persevering in suffering, serving. Blessing even persecutors. Focusing on the event of Jesus, his humility, self-giving love. Never taking revenge. Living with beauty, excellence, peace. Conquering evil with good.

They live under overarching authorities, seeing them as servants responsible to God. Expect them to do their job. Act for the good of others. Deal honestly with imposed obligations.

The Aim of the Ancient Story Comes to its Goal

The one essential, all-encompassing obligation in this renewed life is that which flows from Jesus himself and marks every aspect of the life - agape, self-giving love, the heart of God. It stands in contrast to "the flesh"-self-aggrandizing, self-serving, self-deluding, taking ‘love.’

Paul looks back over the great story of God’s promises to Israel in covenant law. The Law itself points to its own realization (fullness) in love. In renewed life, that love from God, embodied in Jesus, focused in God’s Grace, flows out horizontally in active love for our neighbor. Israel’s covenant story points to a widening covenant, accomplished in Jesus, that includes all families of the earth and brings God’s promises to fullness in a renewed lives.

Living Now - Illuminated by the Future

The final element of this vision is the future. The Hebrew scriptures ended with open-ended expectation, a story awaiting an ending. Jesus came announcing the in-breaking kingdom, which came to realization in his death and resurrection. Jesus brought not only fulfillment of Israel’s Torah and Messianic hopes, his resurrection reached all the way to God’s ultimate intentions for his creation and brought resurrection life into our historical life.

The human story is not just muddling in twilight toward ultimate nothingness. In Jesus, God’s light has broken into the human situation. Paul is not at all saying that he knows when this ultimate realization is coming. But since it is an endpoint, the nature of our life is that we’re always moving closer. It could be the next moment or any time-scale God chooses. It is also nearer in the sense of already coming to realization as we build for that kingdom.

Paul sees rich metaphors for this life: We are raised from sleep (newness of life). The dawn is breaking, the darkness receding for the believer. We get dressed for the tasks of the day - the armor of the light, clothed in Jesus Messiah. We avoid all that destroys our life and abuses others - the flesh. We live the renewed life of Jesus’ self-giving love and grace.

Looking At Authority from Below and Above

Rom 13:1-7 are verses that have been used and misused in many different ways across the centuries. After Constantine the church was attracted to the power of the state to enforce conformity (unity). Luther, Zwingli, Calvin all wanted civil authorities to enforce doctrine. King James I of England (KJV) believed in the divine right of kings and made sure the KJV translation supported his view: ‘He is the minister of God’/‘It is a servant responsible to God.’

Paul writes from Corinth to Rome in the time of Nero. Jews had been expelled from Rome. Paul has suffered Roman imprisonment and beatings (Act 16). The emperor cult was flourishing. Paul looks at Roman authority as a citizen/Jew/Christian and as a victim of Roman hostility. Rome’s overarching authority is real and dangerous but Paul knows that it is not ultimate.

Paul is reflecting on the worlds the believers live in. The challenge not to let this age mold the believer but to experience the renewal of the mind to live embodying God’s rule in Christ.

Peaceable Kingdom and Avenging Authority

In Rom 12 Paul described the way of life and thought defined by Jesus: genuine love, showing honor, helping, welcoming, blessing, never avenging, conquering the evil with the good. Being true to the power of God manifested in God’s love on the cross and in resurrection.

But in Rome or Corinth they live engulfed in that other world. Paul reflects here in abstract terms, speaking of "authority" rather than emperor or governor, and echoes OT usage. Jews long reflected on the power of empires. Note the prophets, and esp. Daniel: Empires are idols or evil beasts, their authority is high among nations but always under God’s judgment. Daniel serves the king but disobeys him and warns of Israel’s God’s authority to remove him. The king could be good but is corrupted and made foolish by power and becomes demonic.

Paul knows that God does not intend the world to be anarchic, lawless. God wants authorities. Authority is a servant responsible to God to promote good for people. Paul urges believers to act in ways that fit God’s intention. But the authority, seen in the empire, is not the peaceable kingdom. It deals with all people, including evil-doers and is an avenging servant inflicting the sword. It uses the self-serving and violent thinking of this age and thus often is distorted: Paul had felt its abuse and would die under the sword. In Rome, and often since, authority made itself responsible to no one, but it’s always responsible to God, not given power by God (to persecute the church or enforce racism, for example), but under judgment.

Belonging to One Kingdom, Living within Another

How do we negotiate the two worlds when today we’re part of both? In a democracy, citizens are the overarching authority choosing officials. Expect authority to do its job as servant. Influence it for the common good to the fullest extent of our power, but know its real limitations. We deal honestly with the obligations that it requires, taxes, fear, honor.

We implement to the fullest extent a community of God’s kingdom, embodying genuine love for neighbor, service, rejection of evil, a life of excellence and beauty. We share life together.

Renewing the Mind in a World of Conquering Evil

Paul writes to a highly diverse church (Jew, Roman, Greek, Slave, Free, etc.) in the imperial capital. People from different worlds of thought. All challenged by Jesus. In eight years many would die under Nero’s persecution. Should they arm themselves? Form a militia? Split up.

Renewing the mind: How to be a community really shaped by Jesus. Learning to think in a new way, with a shared focus (16). Not conquered by evil calling us into its way (21) The danger is not suffering/persecution, but being shaped by the lure or threat of the world’s ways .

Paul starts looking at the diversity of people, of gifts of grace, of ministry (4-8). That sets the challenge of a community that can embody and experience God’s kingdom coming "on earth as in heaven." He calls them to that reality (9-16), always aware of how things can go wrong. He helps them to think about a hostile world around them (17-20) to resist the strong urge to respond with defensive exclusion and hostility even when it seems justified.

A Real Community with Real Love

Paul starts with work on love, not as a slogan, but a transforming pattern of life (9). Always seeking the real good of the other. Love opposes every evil, abuse, malice. But it doesn’t just happen. Rather selfishness and exclusion just happen. Love is the foundation of a conscious identity and way of life shaped by Jesus. We naturally compete to get ahead of others (even in spiritual gifts). Only compete to show honor, respect, valuing each other as people (10).

This is a community of engagement, diligence, fired by God’s Spirit, serving Jesus everywhere (11). It moves toward God’s goal, a hope now and future, and celebrates that future. It is human and knows all the tribulations of humans, facing them with perseverance. It always lives in a constant, growing relationship to God in prayer, study, and meditation (12).

The community’s diversity means diverse needs that the community shares in meeting. But it doesn’t turn inward, always being diligent to welcome strangers with hospitality (13).

It is a place of blessing! It’s not for cursing or harsh judgment, not even of obviously wrong persecutors (14). Genuine experiences of joy and sorrow are valued and shared together (15).

It is where we learn a shared focus toward each other defined by the reality of Jesus and all that he has done. The core of the renewed mind (Phi 2:1-11). God’s reality of humility, self-giving love (16). Our instincts are for advancement, but true advancement is toward the self-giving, serving love of God that has given us our identity and outlasts all the triumphs of our world.

A Peaceable Kingdom in an Environment of Conflict

Like Jesus, Paul calls believers to reject all reactions of vengeance, hurt, evil for evil, etc. We always know our own responses are justified, only fair. But "evil for evil" is evil’s conquest of us. The challenge is to respond with active excellence, genuine love, prayer, blessing. Not because the evil-doer deserves it, but because that is who we are, shaped by Jesus.

"Blessed are the Peacemakers." "God so loved the world..." God’s kingdom is a peaceable kingdom that creates the opening of reconciliation between people and with God (19). We have such instincts for conflict, self-justification, revenge, this is a perennial challenge.

Living this peace means taking God’s future/our hope seriously. Only God is capable of dealing with the brokenness and wrong of our lives without being corrupted by it (19). We want to heap coals on enemies, then feed them, love them; be true to yourself. Don’t let their hurtful way triumph. Good doesn’t conquer evil by becoming evil, but by loving doing good.

A Living Sacrifice in a World of Sacrifices

Think of Paul implementing Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in the Greco-Roman world. The world around is very religious - sacrifices continually in temples - trying to manage or fend off the evil of the world. Jesus insists on not managing evil but going deep into God’s heart and purpose, really living in God’s reality - simplicity, solid rock, joy, love.

The cities smelled with burning sacrifices. Paul points to a new vision of living sacrifice, the whole person, not just "spiritual" but body, a whole life offering to God, a vision of worship that is logikos, fitting the message (logos), the Word of Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection.

God’s Reality and My Mind and Body

Like Jesus ("Change your way of thinking"), Paul urges not to let "this age" with its patterns of thought, ways of valuing human purpose, problems, relationships, be the mold for our life. In Jesus, God’s kingdom has broken into our little world, a new creation, new birth, new age.

Life is molded from the inside out (not by externals). Reality is that we are always being shaped by the thinking of our age. The Renewing of Mind is a transformation - like Jesus’ teaching.

First, all starts from really seeing God at the center of everything. Knowing that we are God’s creation - physically, spiritually. In Jesus God has shown himself in his self-giving love and life-creating power, for all creation, promised since Abraham. The heart of it is God’s Grace.

We’re challenged to think (not be deluded), to think with sanity and faith, seeing ever more clearly what God has done in Jesus. Embodying the level of faith God has led us to so far. This is a process of ongoing renewal of mind, worship, vision, discerning God’s good purpose.

Gifts of God’s Grace - Christ’s Body in the World

Second, we are in community. From experience Paul knows the diversity of people God calls and how God brings them into the "one body in Christ." Part of the new mind is seeing this larger reality for our individual lives, sharing with other people in the one bodily life of Christ by God’s gifts of grace. We’re as diverse as body parts, but still one physical/spiritual body. We belong to each other and learn from and with each other sharing different journeys of faith, gender, ethnic identity, social standing, intellect, age, physical ability, interests, etc.

God brings diverse individuals into one living body. God gives grace for the individuals all to contribute to the shared life and serving love of the whole body. Prophecy is a gift that grows with faith and serves in community. Each gift requires focus on using it effectively and for the shared life / purpose of the body defined by Jesus. In the process God is working in each individual and in the whole to bring God’s reality/kingdom on earth as in heaven.

There is no division between miraculous and natural - that is the thinking of this age. Rather every form of ministry is an opening for manifesting God’s Spirit, for God to work both in us to shape our own growth and through us to serve God’s world. Serving, teaching, exhorting, encouraging, giving, leading, showing mercy - the God who feeds birds works everywhere.

Living in the Grace of God

Paul begins to unfold the shared life of this kind of community. Learning judgment to recognize God’s intentions for good and reject the evil. Love without hypocrisy, learning real devotion to people very different from myself. Competing only in showing honor to each other.

Learning to live boldly, with the Spirit’s fire. Hope that creates joy even in suffering. Always seeking to help each other and to welcome the outsider and stranger. A Mind Renewed!

What is Life with Jesus all about?

When we’re called to Jesus’ Way, what is life like? Asceticism? Health and wealth? Hard work and simplicity? Jesus stresses action, hearing and doing - a house built on rock. How? Start: Seek God’s rule. End: You shall be perfect. In between: A quest for life, surrounded by God’s care, learning God’s love that challenges law and ordinary wisdom.

Paul experienced the impact of Jesus. Conventional evaluations of life overturned. Learning Jesus. Releasing the past. Pressing toward the goal of God’s call to res. life.

Knocking, Seeking, Asking

Jesus challenged: Ask, Seek, Knock. Often interpreted as prayer. Yes, and also the whole of life: Seek, Knock. Taking off blinders. We don’t know how much life can be: How the dimension of God (God’s Kingdom) changes every possibility, view, goal. We’ve so much to learn. Jesus calls us to receive gifts, make discoveries, open closed doors.

Ask - be given; receive. Daily bread. Everything is a gift of God. By asking for the very things I work to earn, I learn to see that even my abilities are a gift of God. I learn to see the reality of a created world, a gift of God’s love. A world expansive and holy. Ask for water - Living water. Ask boldly. Learn to be the instrument of God’s giving.

Seek - find. Jesus loved this. Implied: We’ve lost something; we’re lost. Seeking pearls, finding one. Finding treasure. Losing life and finding life, rest. Celebration of finding. Jesus’ signs are about giving back life (not things). Jesus always has more to find.

Knock - open. Closed doors. No fear, knock! This is God’s world. Jesus praises faith that boldly breaks convention. Bleeding woman, Canaanite, Centurion. Knock at midnight.

Shaped for Action by the Generosity of God

The process of shaping life is simple once our eyes are opened to God. Start from the best that you know. Most everyone knows to give good gifts to your children. We also see what it’s like as a child to be totally dependent on our parents’ gifts of love.

Think about that in relation to God: How much more! That’s the world you live in. Trust God and learn to experience the life of discovery, boldness, receiving, opening.

Then actively do that love for others. Learn the joy of God’s life. Love enemies, forgive. Refuse anxiety and judgment. Give secretly, generously. It’s a big, wonderful, agenda: Everything you ask, seek, do that with joy for others. You’ll be like your Father.