The Throne of God in the Depths of Humanity

(excerpted from God is in the Manger, a collection of writings by Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

"We cannot approach the manger of the Christ child in the same way we approach the cradle of another child. Rather, when we go to his manger, something happens, and we cannot leave it again unless we have been judged or redeemed. Here we must either collapse or know the mercy of God directed toward us.

"What does that mean? Isn't all of this just a way of speaking? Isn't it just pastoral exaggeration of a pretty and pious legend? What does it mean that such things are said about the Christ child? Those who want to take it as a way of speaking will do so and continue to celebrate Advent and Christmas as before, with pagan indifference. For us it is not just a way of speaking. For that's just it: it is God himself, the Lord and Creator of all things, who is so small here, who is hidden here in the corner, who enters into the plainness of the world, who meets us in the helplessness and defenselessness of a child, and wants to be with us. And he does this not out of playfulness or sport, because we find that so touching, but in order to show us where he is and who he is and in order from this place judge and devalue and dethrone all human ambition.

"The throne of God in the world is not on human thrones, but in human depths, in the manger. Standing around his throne there are no flattering vassals but dark, unknown, questionable figures who cannot get their fill of this miracle and want to live entirely by the mercy of God.

"'Joy to the world!' Anyone for whom this sound in foreign, or who hears in it nothing but weak enthusiasm, has not yet really heard the gospel. For the sake of humankind, Jesus Christ became a man in a stable in Bethlehem: Rejoice, O Christendom! For sinners, Jesus Christ became a companion of tax collectors and prostitutes: Rejoice, O Christendom! For the condemned, Jesus Christ was condemned to the cross on Golgotha: Rejoice, O Christendom! For all of us Jesus Christ was resurrected to life: Rejoice, O Christendom! ... All over the world today people are asking: Where is the path to joy? The church of Christ answers loudly: Jesus is our joy! (1 Pet 1:7-9) Joy to the world!"

To God alone be the Glory.

The Great Turning Point of All Things

(or as Gandalf would say, "I come to you now, at the turn of the tide")

I've been posting here and on Facebook, excerpts from God is in the Manger, a collection of writings from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They are focused primarily on Christmas and Advent, but with other themes thrown in. The book was very helpful for me this year to reorient my heart and mind to the meaning and purpose of Christmas. Much has been lost and distorted even in the Christian celebration of this glorious event. I think we lose the majesty and the power and the awesomeness of Christmas when it becomes about gifts or family or church (good things, but not ultimate things). Christmas should always and forever be about God becoming man (no, a baby), being born  (no, born in a stinky, dirty, noisy stable), living  (no living a commoner's life), and dying (no dying a traitor's death). He did this for the twin goals of fulfilling his Father's will and executing a rescue mission that no Seal team would dare attempt. Jesus was born, lived and died for God and for you. Christmas is about Christ, not us. Glory to God indeed!

"What kings and leaders of nations, philosophers and artists, founders of religions and teachers of morals have tried in vain to do--that now happens through a new born child. Putting to shame the most powerful human efforts and accomplishments, a child is placed here at the midpoint of world history--a child born of human beings, a son given by God (Isa 9:6). That is the mystery of the redemption of the world; everything past and everything future is encompassed here. The infinite mercy of the almighty God comes to us, descends to us in the form of a child, his Son. That this child is born for us, this son is given to us, that this human child and Son belongs to me, that I know him, have him, love him, that I am his and he is mine--on this alone my life now depends. A child has our life in his hands... 

"How should we deal with such a child? Have our hands, soiled with daily toil, become too hard and too proud to fold in prayer at the sight of this child? Has our head become too full of serious thoughts...that we cannot bow our head in humility at the wonder of this child? Can we not forget all our stress and struggles, our sense of importance and for once worship the child as did the shepherds and the wise men from the East, bowing before the divine child in the manger like children"  - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Government upon the Shoulders, Christmas 1940

To God Alone be the Glory

The Wonder of All Wonders

From Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

God travels in wonderful ways with human beings, but does not comply with the views or opinions of people. God does not go the way that people want to prescribe for him; rather his way is beyond all comprehension, free and self determined beyond all proof. 

Where reason is indignant, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps us away: that is precisely where God loves to be. There he confounds the reason of the reasonable; there he aggravates our nature, our piety--that is where he wants to be, and no one can keep him from it. Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly... God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and the broken.

To God Alone be the Glory

Oh, to see Jesus!

I think we have the Christmas gift thing mixed up. Its not that I'm against giving (or receiving) gifts, but when we actually stop and ask, what is Christmas is all about, we seem to go in one of two directions.

First, we might ask "what could I give Jesus for Christmas?" Presumptuous, I know, but the heart is one of devotion, seeking to honor Christ with our lives, our gifts and our heart.

Or, we might ask "what would I receive from Jesus this Christmas?" Perhaps this just a more focused, seasonally heightened prayer request, but if its anything like mine, its focus, aim and goal usually falls way short.

Well, what if we crumpled all of the above like so much old Christmas wrapping paper? What if we found our guidance in the Holy Spirit and in the ebb and flow of God's Word?

For instance, consider Luke 18. While there is a lot in this chapter, I think Luke uses a great, subtle teaching technique by repeating overlapping truths in various parables and narrative accounts so that if one section doesn't hit us, the next one might. So, in one chapter we have God giving justice, a tax collector calling for mercy, the disciples learning that all things are possible with God, that Jesus journey to Jerusalem will result not in glorious, messianic victory, but painful, ignominious defeat, and that seeking the mercy of Jesus is worth more than any social custom or anyone's opinion of us.

Beyond this, Luke 18, like other sections of this book, is a study in contrasts. God vs the judge. Tax collector vs Pharisee.  Child-like faith vs "grown-up" faith. A love for Christ himself vs a love for all that Christ can (and does) give us. A vision to do God's will God's way vs a desire to do God's will my way. A willingness to defy all conventions to see (really see) Jesus vs obeying all conventions and missing (really missing) Jesus although he is right in front of us.

So, whether I zero in on the tax collector, who really grasped his position before God and his desperate need for God's mercy and grace or the blind man who defied all social and religious customs because he too desperately knew he was both helpless and hopeless without Jesus, my prayer and my plea this Christmas is that I want to see Jesus. This prayer is not just to see him in passages like Luke 18, but to see him as Paul says in Eph 1, with the eyes of my heart. To see him in his fullness, in his deity, in his humanity, as prophet, priest and king, as redeemer, as intercessor, as brother and as friend. Along with this, I need God's gracious reminder that on my own I am desperate, helpless and hopeless. The only reason to tenacious cling to Christ by faith is a firm knowledge that letting go results in ruin.

After nearly fifty years I think it is starting to sink in that while Christmas may be a great time to discipline our selfish hearts and actually be generous (not just pretend or talk about it), the reality is that we are never truly the giver. Christmas is about a gift given. A life lived. A death died. A price paid. A relationship restored. A victory won. 

May Jesus invade your Christmas this year in a great, glorious and perhaps unexpected way so that the focus is not so much on us but on Him. And not just Him in the manger, but on the cross and at the right hand of the Father and on the cusp of His return.

I pray that we each may take some time this year to consider not what we can give to Jesus, but what we so desperately need from Him and then have the humility and child-like faith to plead for it.

To God Alone be the Glory

Pummeled by Prayer

Please notice that the title of this post is not "Pummeled in Prayer". That reality is actually part of the pummeling. The sad fact of the matter is that I would much rather read about and contemplate prayer than simply bowing my head and praying. Yet my growing conviction is even now asking "Why are you writing? Why aren't you praying?"

Over the past week or so, I've run across several blog posts, devotionals etc., that have highlighted the significance and the primacy of prayer in the life of a believer. And, while I've included excerpts from a few different sources below, there is really very little that is new, especially if you've tracked with my posts on prayer in the past. However, what is different for me, at least at this point in the game, is the Spirit-wrought conviction that I spend too little time actually praying. For me the concern has shifted from quality to quantity.

Yet, even as I write this and prayerfully consider my next words, a self-debate is raging. The quality of our prayers is important, isn't it? Isn't that why the Bible gives us multiple models, including Jesus himself? Aren't the motives and the directions of our hearts important as we approach the throne of God? I would answer yes to both of these and a dozen other considerations on getting the focus of our prayers right. Yet, if that focus some how debilitates our praying, we've lost the forest for the trees.

Another objection that is raising its head even now, is the fact that Jesus seems to discourage frequent, extended prayer (Mt 6:7). His model prayer is very short and compact. Maybe this is because he was in such deep communion with his father that a long diary of praises and requests was not needed. If Jesus (and us too) prayed regularly and frequently, then he (and we too) wouldn't need a "data dump". We would simply lift each prayer and praise to God as they came along.

It should be noted that of all the bible characters, the one who would appear to need prayer the least, it would have been Jesus. And yet, he is the one we see doing it the most, followed closely by the post resurrection disciples. For me, this highlights some of the most mind bending aspects of prayer. It is both simple and complex. It comprises both a moment and a season. It reflects both child-like faith and deep communion. I displays a complete dependence and a desire to petition the sovereign God of the universe. It is both humiliating and incredibly arrogant.

As I stated earlier, I wanted to share some of what I've read over the past few days that have conspired to shake me out of my prayer lethargy.

But, alas; how seldom can he do [prayer] as he would! How often does he find this privilege a mere task, which he would be glad of a just excuse to omit! and the chief pleasure he derives from the performance, is to think that his task is finished: he has been drawing near to God with his lips, while his heart was far from him. Surely this is not doing as he would when (to borrow the expression of an old woman here,) he is dragged before God like a slave, and comes away like a thief. - John Newton

Praying in the Holy Ghost is praying in fervency. Cold prayers ask the Lord not to hear them. Those who do not plead with fervency, plead not at all. As well speak of lukewarm fire as of lukewarm prayer-it is essential that it be red hot. It is praying perseveringly. The true suppliant gathers force as he proceeds, and grows more fervent when God delays to answer. The longer the gate is closed, the more vehemently does he use the knocker, and the longer the angel lingers the more resolved is he that he will never let him go without the blessing. Beautiful in God's sight is tearful, agonizing, unconquerable importunity. It means praying humbly, for the Holy Spirit never puffs us up with pride. It is his office to convince of sin, and so to bow us down in contrition and brokenness of spirit. We shall never sing Gloria in excelsis except we pray to God De profundis: out of the depths must we cry, or we shall never behold glory in the highest. It is loving prayer. Prayer should be perfumed with love, saturated with love-love to our fellow saints, and love to Christ. Moreover, it must be a prayer full of faith. A man prevails only as he believes. The Holy Spirit is the author of faith, and strengthens it, so that we pray believing God's promise. O that this blessed combination of excellent graces, priceless and sweet as the spices of the merchant, might be fragrant within us because the Holy Ghost is in our hearts! Most blessed Comforter, exert thy mighty power within us, helping our infirmities in prayer. - CH Spurgeon

But the hard truth is that most Christians don’t pray very much. They pray at meals—unless they’re still stuck in the adolescent stage of calling good habits legalism. They whisper prayers before tough meetings. They say something brief as they crawl into bed. But very few set aside set times to pray alone—and fewer still think it is worth it to meet with others to pray. And we wonder why our faith is weak. And our hope is feeble. And our passion for Christ is small. 

Is it true that intentional, regular, disciplined, earnest, Christ-dependent, God-glorifying, joyful prayer is a duty? Is it a discipline? You can call it that. It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater. It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers. It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns. It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food. It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water. It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid. It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin. It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey. It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold.

I hate the devil, and the way he is killing some of you by persuading you it is legalistic to be as regular in your prayers as you are in your eating and sleeping and Internet use. Do you not see what a sucker he his making out of you? He is laughing up his sleeve at how easy it is to deceive Christians about the importance of prayer. - John Piper

I do not deny that a man may pray without heart and without sincerity. I do not for a moment pretend to say that the mere fact of a person praying proves everything about his soul. As in every other part of religion, so also in this: there is plenty of deception and hypocrisy. But this I do say—that not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. He cannot really feel his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself a debtor to Christ. He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again. He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured, it is all vain talk if he does not pray. - JC Ryle

I will stop here, in part, to pray. At this moment, that prayer is that the Spirit may use my words, the words of men much wiser and more prayerful than me and most of all the very words of God to bring us all into a deeper, more prayer dependent communion with Father through the grace and mercy of His Son, our Savior Jesus.

To God Alone be the Glory

Vote 2012

In 2010, I wrote the post below.  I stand by those thoughts today even more than I did then. And to them I would add one other.

There is a responsibility that comes with our rights. Whether those rights are God given or the result of the government system we are under, our rights lead to our responsibilities. So, not only do we have the right to vote on Nov 6, 2012, we have the responsibility to do so.

But rights and responsibilities go beyond voting. They include helping others when they are down and we are doing good. They include sharing our bountiful excess when others have nothing. And, they include defending the helpless and the hopeless, when we have both safety and security.

No one is more at risk than a baby in his or her mother's womb. And no deserves more protection from society and yes, the government. If I can be compelled to recycle to protect a defenseless environment or wear a seat belt to protect my defenseless self, how much more do the weakest and most precious members of humanity deserve our protection?

Please vote and pray for life.

To God Alone be the Glory

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On Nov 2, 2010, all Americans 18 years old and older will have the privilege to vote.  I typically avoid discussing political issues because I think such discussions can quickly slide from a pure Biblical perspective to a very humanistic one.  However, I feel compelled to share the thoughts of two of my heroes in the faith: John Piper and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I will let their words speak for themselves, but my prayer is that for true Christians, we would approach our privilege to vote prayerfully, seriously, humbly and very, very gratefully.  SDG

Piper:

No endorsment of a single issue qualifies a person to hold public office. Being pro-life does not make a person a good governor, mayor or president, but there are numerous single issues that disqualify a person from oublic office. For example, any candidate who endorsed bribery as a form of government efficiency would be disqualified, regardless of his party or platform. Or a person who endorsed corperate fraud would be disqualified no matter what else he endorsed. Or a person who said no black person could hold office--on that single issue alone he would be unfit for office. Or a person who said rape is only a misdemeanor--that single issue would end his political career. These examples could go on and on. Everybody knows a single issue that for them would disqualify a candidate for office.

You have to decide what those issues are for you. What do you think disqualifies a person from public office? I believe that the endorsement of the right to kill unborn children disqualifies a person from any position of public office. It's simply the same as saying the endorsement of racism, fraud or bribery would disqualify him--except that killing a child is much worse. -- The Godward Life, vol 1

Bonhoeffer:

"Destruction of the embryo in the mother's womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed upon this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And this is nothing but murder." -- Ethics pg 206

Taste Bud Transformation

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. - 2Co 5:14-17

I have a new quote to add to my list of favorites. I just read it in a post by Dane Ortland (read the whole thing here) on irresistible grace.

Irresistible grace is grace that softens us way down deep at the core of who we are. Taste bud transformation. In a miracle that can never be humanly manufactured, we find ourselves, strangely, delighting to love God.

This is a big God, with big grace

Here's the thing about the grace of God, the love of Christ and the power of the Spirit. We are not simply whitewashed tombs or dressed up corpses. In Christ we have been remade and reborn. We are not yet what we ultimately will be, but we are no longer what we were. We really are a new creation and we really do have a calling to walk in.

To God Alone be the Glory