Coram Deo Blog
Archive for March 2007
25 March 2007 at 4:40 pm by Will Walker · lent
This is the fifth Sunday of Lent. We have been focusing each week on a theme related to the suffering and death of Jesus as we anticipate and prepare for his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Our theme this week is sacrifice.
Jesus’ life was marked by sacrifice from the outset. He was with God before the creation of the world … with God in all of His glory. He was the center of unbroken praise among all of the angelic hosts of heaven. Coming to earth was itself an unthinkable sacrifice. Paul said that Jesus emptied himself and took on the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7).
Not only was his coming a sacrifice, but Jesus’ entire life was marked by giving up his rights and spending himself for the sake of others. His feet were always walking toward the ultimate sacrifice of death on a cross.
The question that comes to mind is this: Why is sacrifice so central to God’s plan of redemption?
If you think about what it means to reconcile even a human relationship, you can see how sacrifice is always part of the process. Let’s say I offend you in some way. If we are to reconcile our relationship, you will have to sacrifice your right to be angry and move toward me with forgiveness. And I will have to sacrifice my pride and move toward you with confession and repentance. Without sacrifice there is no reconciliation. There is only hardness of heart and death of relationship.
In the same way, we must sacrifice to move toward God with confession and repentance. But we are not the ones who move first. It is not our sacrifice that saves us. God’s plan of redemption is about his sacrifice.
Redemption is a term of value, so there must be a cost involved. To redeem means to buy back. Because we are created in God’s image, He considered us worth the cost of redemption. However, the full cost of redemption fell on Jesus. All the curses of the Fall, including our sin, were placed on Christ.
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:5-14
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24 March 2007 at 3:59 pm by Bob Thune · family
Nobody “just knows” how to be a good husband or wife or parent. We learn by example. And the fact is, most of us are working from behind the 8-ball. We don’t have good examples to follow. We haven’t seen these things modeled well. Our families of origin are a mess. If there’s anywhere we deeply need to experience redemption and renewal, it’s in the areas of marriage and parenting.
It is this need that moves Coram Deo to offer the Redeeming Family seminar April 13-14. Many of you have heard about the seminar already. live outside of Omaha to take advantage of this opportunity – and also, to help us get the word out. We would like to see 50-100 people show up to get some good training in marriage and parenting. But I wanted to put it on the blog in order to invite those of you who
The goal of this seminar will be to talk about how the Fall has broken us in the areas of marriage and parenting, and to give some practical our marriages? How should it color our relationships with our kids? On Friday night, we’ll focus on parenting. I’ll spend some time setting a biblical framework for good parenting. Then we’ll bring in some of our favorite friends and mentors to offer breakout sessions on everything from disciplining your kids, to setting the spiritual tone in your family, to dealing with extended family who do not share biblical convictions about parenting. On Saturday morning, we’ll shift our focus to marriage. Again, we’ll start by laying a biblical framework for marriage; then we’ll break up the men and women and deal candidly pictures of what Redemption looks like. How should the gospel affect with some issues related to each.
If you’re not a parent, you can come to only the Saturday morning session, but the cost is the same. For more info, look here. Please register as soon as possible to help us with advance planning. You can also help us out by passing the word to anyone who might be interested. Everyone is welcome!
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20 March 2007 at 3:28 pm by Bob Thune · announcement
“The Deo,” as my brother fondly calls it, will move to a new venue on April 1. In case you have missed all the announcements before this one, please allow this to serve as due notification. Our new facility is located on the campus of Grace University just east of 10th and Pine Streets.
Here are some photos of what will soon be Coram Deo’s Sunday gathering space:
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20 March 2007 at 3:07 pm by Bob Thune · coffee, humor
J Zoe Hooley,
Generous friend of Coram Deo,
We extol thee for thy gracious gift of Peet’s Coffee.
From Chicago to Omaha
Thou didst bring the delicious bean
Knowing our fond affection for its delicate goodness.
As the scent rises to our nostrils
As our throats savor the robust brew
We delight in thy selfless act of kindness.
May the favor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ rest upon thee,
And may he ensure thy future welcome into the fellowship of coffee lovers above.
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19 March 2007 at 12:53 pm by Will Walker · lent
I am going to be tied up and will not be able to write anything for a week or so. But don’t let the blog die in my absence. If you have anything to share related to Lent … insight, experiences, observations, etc. then e-mail them to me (will@cdomaha.com). I would like to post writings from our readership on the blog this week.
n conjuction with our theme, I will persecute you if you do not send me anything.
-Will
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18 March 2007 at 8:46 pm by Will Walker · lent
We have been focusing each week on a specific theme related to the Lenten season. The first two weeks we talked about repentance and humility, which represent the kind of spiritual formation we are hoping to experience during Lent as we turn from our sin and give up the things that feed our consumer lifestyles.
We focused last week on Christ’s suffering in the wilderness, and now we turn our attention to the persecution that he endured at the cross.
There are many prophecies in the Old Testament about Messiah. Some of them describe the suffering that Jesus would endure. In Psalm 22, David’s prayer depicts the persecution that Jesus would face on his way to death. Notice how accurately this foretells the words and experience of Jesus.
Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: “He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him” … I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me … I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
Jesus is described as a worm and not a man. This is an interesting metaphor in the context of persecution. I don’t know about you, but when I am insulted or accused or mocked, my inclination is to defend myself. The human tendency is to be annoyed, envious, resentful, anxious, and proud. We are not like worms. We are more like a snake that rears up and strikes back.
But Jesus is a worm and not a man. He was willing to let men tread on him. He did not strike back or defend himself. He went humbly and willingly to the cross.
Why did he do this? Because he had his mind set on something else.
Persecution has a way of intensifying your immediate surroundings and circumstances to the point that you get wrapped up in things like personal rights and your need to be right. It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture.
The bigger picture in this case is something like loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you, rejoicing as one who is counted worthy to share in Christ’s suffering. Not the stuff of mere men.
Only by meditation on the life of Jesus can our lives become this way, which is why the writer to the Hebrews says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2-3).
SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 22
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14 March 2007 at 11:51 am by Will Walker · lent
Every time I try to articulate my perspective on suffering I get stuck.On one hand, I know that my hardships and afflictions are relatively insignificant compared to what I see around me; much less what I am aware of around the world. On the other hand, I cannot deny that I get sick, stretched, slandered, and snubbed. Privileged as they are, I feel burdened by my circumstances and frustrated with my struggle against sin. It’s dishonest to say I don’t suffer, isn’t it?
I get stuck because something doesn’t feel right about this dilemma. It assumes that suffering is a bad thing. I don’t want to say it’s a bad thing because my salvation was accomplished through Jesus’ suffering, and if there ever was a “bad” suffering it would have been that the pure and innocent Son of God was beaten and hung on a cross. I’m not glad he suffered, but I am thankful. I can’t say I wish it hadn’t happened.
Some preach that Jesus suffered so we wouldn’t have to, but everyone suffers in a fallen world. It’s more than physical hardship. It’s also emotional pain, relational woes, soul unrest, and spiritual attack. This is why the poorest man can also be the happiest. The point is that Jesus suffered, not to preclude us from suffering, but to give meaning to it.
Whether we are talking about the common hardships of life – the seemingly random and inexplicable things – or the more acute hardships in life – terminal illness, disaster, severe spiritual attack, etc. – we can embrace and even rejoice in suffering because we know that it produces perseverance, character and hope (Romans 5:3).
It might be fair to say that we are justified by Christ’s suffering and sanctified by ours. In this way we are reminded that suffering is not merely a setback to our agendas, but rather a reorientation to the agenda of God to form the character of Christ in us.
In other words, the same hardship could be good or bad depending on your goal. Those who have their minds set on earthly things are, in Paul’s words, “enemies of the cross of Christ … But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:18-21).
Earlier in this passage Paul says he wants “to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” That’s why the phrase “enemies of the cross of Christ” is so poignant. It indicates that those who spurn suffering and make their primary aim comfort, success, and pleasure are at odds with the cross of Christ, the very symbol of his suffering. To shun our suffering is to shun his. To embrace his suffering is to embrace our own.
I realize I have left a lot unsaid here. So poke the holes and fill in the gaps with your comments.
SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Peter 4 (and Philippians 3 for more context to the verses quoted in this post)
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13 March 2007 at 9:30 am by Will Walker · lent
A bit unrelated to the topic of suffering, but Jenny Hooley (see insightful comments) sent me this Lenten prayer and I want to post it.
A LENTENT PRAYER
You, you giver!
You have given light and life to the world;
You have given freedom from Pharaoh to your people Israel;
You have given your only Son for the sake of the world;
You have given yourself to us;
You have given and forgiven,
and you remember our sin no more.
And we, in response, are takers:
We take eagerly what you give us;
we take from our neighbors near at hand as it is acceptable;
we take from our unseen neighbors greedily and acquisitively;
we take from our weak neighbors thoughtlessly;
we take all that we can lay our hands on.
It dawns on us that our taking does not match your giving.
In this Lenten season revise our taking,
that it may be grateful and disciplined,
even as you give in ways gracious and overwhelming.
Amen.
(Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted to Earth – The Prayers of Walter Brueggemann [Minneapolis:Fortress: 2003]
SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 11:25-30 (For further meditation, compare Jesus’ life described in Isaiah 53 with Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:25-30 … a new definition of “easy” and “light” I guess)
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12 March 2007 at 6:46 am by Will Walker · lent
This week’s theme for reflection and blogersation is suffering. And as we have been doing, I’ll begin by asking you, “What is suffering?” This one seems more difficult to answer, so let me elaborate the question a bit:
What does it mean to suffer? // Is suffering the mark of New Testament Christianity? // Are we supposed to want or avoid suffering? // Is all suffering godly? If not, how do you know the difference? // How do you reconcile what feels like suffering to us with the plight of so many in our world whose suffering is more constant and severe? Do you minimize your own context, or do you suppose that suffering is relative to context? // Did Jesus have to suffer … was there any other way? Why?
Okay, that should be enough fodder for thought. Pending your comments, I’ll plan on contemplating and writing about each of these this week.
A LENTEN PRAYER: (taken from ELCA.org)
Jesus, who knew temptation and hunger for our sake: Free us from all covetousness, and wake us from indifference to evil. For the life of the world, we pray; Amen.Eternal God, whose image we bear: You have created us to live by more than bread alone. Nourish us through your Word and release us from the selfishness born of fear. In Jesus’ name we pray; Amen.
Christ, who wept over Jerusalem: Look with compassion upon the cities of our time; that our children might live to adulthood and enjoy a future filled with hope. In Jesus’ name we pray; Amen.
God, who searches for the lost: our season brings the lengthening of days and longer light reveals what had been hidden. Cleanse our hearts as we spring-clean our dwellings, that we give away what we no longer need and justice and kindness have ample room. In the name of Jesus we pray; Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 4
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11 March 2007 at 2:47 pm by Bob Thune · church history
As I prepare to preach on St. Patrick next weekend, I have been listening to some biographical sermons by other preachers. Today I listened to John Piper preach about John Calvin, and I learned something about Calvin I never knew.
I wrote last Sunday that “one of my ulterior motives is to exonerate Calvin from some of the injustices that have been done to him by obnoxious, prideful theological neat-niks who claim Calvin’s name without emulating his missionary heart.” Little did I know then the impetus behind his major work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion, written when he was 26 years old, and still one of the most important works of theology in the history of the Christian church.
Calvin wrote the Institutes while living in Basel, Switzerland, having been driven from his home country (France) due to religious persecution. Here is what he says about his motivation in writing:
…While I lay hidden at Basel, and known only to few people, many faithful and holy persons were burnt alive in France. . . . It appeared to me, that unless I opposed [the perpetrators] to the utmost of my ability, my silence could not be vindicated from the charge of cowardice and treachery. This was the consideration which induced me to publish my Institutes of the Christian Religion. . . . It was published with no other design than that men might know what was the faith held by those whom I saw basely and wickedly defamed.
The “consideration” which moved Calvin to write was the burning flesh of hundreds of young French pastors who died preaching the gospel. This fact gives an entirely different flavor to the strength and precision of his writing. Calvin is not a man who knew theology for the sake of knowing theology, but a man who was moved to expound the truth of Scripture after seeing his friends suffer and die for it. Surmises Piper: “I think we would, perhaps, do our theology better today if more were at stake in what we said.”
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