In my head!
There are two major topics floating around in my head for the moment: covenant and kingdom.
Rumor has that Mike Breen has said, to understand the bible you must understant the concept of covenant and kingdom. I am on my way to agree with him, not yet there, but still.
Covenant is the deepest form of fellowship, meaning all mine is yours. I totaly and 100% identify with you. That is covenant. Still don´t get it. Look at marriage. That is a covenant. That is the level of fellowship God is calling us to and us to him.
Kingdom. And here is why we are in a mess: Jesus proclaimed the kingdom, and what came out was the church. Maybe we are stuck in church and not living in the kingdom? I sense that we miss this vital dimention in our lifes. The kingdom blows away our concept of church, blows away our concept of fellowship, who is inside and who is on the outside. It challenge us what it means to live as a christian every day.
I feel that Western christianity is often extremely egosentric. What do I get out of churh, what do I feel during worship. We have turned church into gazstations, we go there to our spiritual gaztank filled up.
Maybe the problem is that we never seek His kingdom first, only trying to build our owne.
posted by submorten @ 11:55 PM
8 Comments:
but does a child understand the concept of kingdom and covenant? doesn't the Bible talk about us receiving God as a child? hm? sure we've not seen Jesus as he is, and have not been able to grasp what kind of life he has for us, if we had, the world and our lives wouldn't look the way they do. but I'm afraid we have over-intellectualized faith and theology.... let us recieve Him once again, and let his life and death transform us yet again...
Amen, Morten! Gleder meg til dere kommer hit.
submorten > do read that book by shane claiborne i recommended. it gave me a some beautiful glimpses of how god's kingdom on earth could look like. really insperational.
unn > it's a good question to ask oneself. i am glad you asked it. i agree that faith could be over-intellectualized, and that it often is in the western church. but i also think that alot of christians are not using their god-given brain. they have christian feelings but they don't make an effort to "think christian".
in the context where jesus talks about how children should be our examples it is ironically the recieving of the kingdom of god he is referring to.
mark 10:13-16
>>People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.<<
what it is in a child's way of recieving the kingdom is not mentioned. the story right before this passage deals with people being overly focused on rules and the one afterwards is about the rich young ruler and his love for money. the story itself portrays how the disciples rebukes the mothers and their children. they had little social status and the disciples therefor did not want them to waste jesus' time.
again i agree that faith is often over-intellectualized. but maybe story of jesus and the children is not so much about how and how mch you think, but more a critique about how the jewish spirituallity was overly concerned with rules, status and money. and how the new kingdom is about eliminating division based on those criteras.
i have written too long but wish to finish with this short prayer: "god, let me recieve your kingdom and let me be freed from the faulty concepts of our culture in approaching you. and god, let me trust you like a child, not relying on my tiny brain but on you being in control and on your grace."
"Jesus proclaimed the kingdom, and what came out was the church. Maybe we are stuck in church and not living in the kingdom?"
Those sentences pretty much summons up my whole view of Christianity. Keep thinking these thoughts, Morten!!!!!
I have heard there is a great book out there called "Pagan Christianity" by a certain Frank Viola, which also deals with these issues. I have not read it, but understand that he claims our moderne day religion has little or nothing to do with the original Jesus. I would like to read it someday... It is always good to provoke our own thought patterns. Oh yeah. Hvorfor skriver jeg engelsk, egentlig? Balle...
"moderne day"....
"and morra di too"...
(er jo et petimeter og må derfor kommentere min egen skriveleif)
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we're also called to love God with our mind. yep, we have over-intellecualized a lot, and also probably poorly used our minds to love God.
I think the church should start chasing the kingdom? having childlike curiosity and excitement about were God could be at work transforming people and the world and see how we can partner with God in that.
inspiring and exciting thoughts! hooray, the kingdom in coming forth. renewal of our minds, its welcomed thank you!
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