Saturday, December 29, 2007

freedom and community

Jesus came to set us free from the kingdom of darkness and bring us into the Kingdom of Light. We have been liberated from the those things by which we were inexorably gripped. Good News!

For one who has died has been set free from sin. - Ro 6.7

Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. - Ro 6.22

If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. - Ro 8.10-11

You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. - Ep 2.1-7

With this freedom we are more than transferred out of a broken relationship with God and a defective solidarity with others into a new community with God and others - we are now to live with others in the kind of life that extends and deepens that new community.

To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. - 1 Co 9.21

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. - Gal 6.2

Though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. - 1 Co 9.19

Being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. - 1 The 2.8

Technorati Tags: ,

2 comments:

Rick Frueh said...

There is a balance here that must be realized. It is true that sometimes Christians have a heaven mentality at the xpense of being the light of the world, while it is also true that some emergents have a social mentality at the expense of heaven. Colossians tells us that we are dead and our life is in Christ with God, so we should "seek those things which are above", the "eternal rather than the temporal".

We should live supernatural lives whose residual effects are temporal ministry. Jesus could have fed the masses wherever He went but He chose to be measured in His humanitarian efforts. He even chided some for following Him because of bread and fishes.

We must never expect any semblence of spiritual community as a whole, each local church has problems much less the body of Christ as a whole. I do not believe God's will on earth will be realized until Jesus reigns personally and visibly here.

So the community model seems interesting, but that is not our goal. Jesus said He was sent to "seek and to save that which was lost" and He then said "As the Father has sent Me, so send I you". In essence, the gospel is the greatest humanitarian effort that could ever be shown to the world!

ricki said...

Rick - yes somehow all of that works together. The thing I would challenge mostly in your comments would be the word "emergents". I think your point is true of people from many if not all historical Christian movements. I don't see that emergents have cornered the market on this error nor am I sure that it is fair to say the knowingly embrace it as a whole.

That minor point aside, thanks for the addition.

reftagger