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<Gleanings-for-the-day>

 

18 April 2005

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Being Church

Stuart McAllister

 

We live in the age of what Kenneth Gergen describes as the “saturated self". It can give one the feeling that a dam has burst! And it has.

The idea of the saturated self is evidenced by the massive overload we all feel as we are bombarded by choices, by options, by voices, by demands, which seem to compress us and restrict us. We struggle to make choices as the sheer scope of variety and options leaves us fearful lest we make the wrong choice. It is in this sense that saturation leads to the overwhelming (or inundation) of our moral faculties and instincts.

Reason is abandoned for feeling. The will is overwhelmed by the range of choice. The emotions are on overload as a result of hyperstimulation and image fatigue. In the midst of saturation, my concern for the church and virtue is not so much at the level of ideas and ideologies as that of social forces and pressures. The Christian cannot adopt a view from nowhere or secure a pollution-free zone in the daily interaction with culture. Our lives are porous and the volume of influences so vast that much of the corruption, compromise, and carnality we are seeing can overwhelm us, unless we take serious and urgent steps. The postmodern world is a boundary-less and boundary-destroying world. It is precisely here where we have to do some creative and restorative work. What do I mean by restoring boundaries?

First, I believe we need to recover the full scope of biblical cosmology and root the people of God in his story. Many Christians see the gospel as a private experience, an internalized authority and as an individual concern. However, the Scriptures remind us of God’s sovereign purpose and role in history, in the creation of all that is, in the life and role of Israel, in the coming of Christ and in the redemptive work achieved on the Cross which transforms all of history. It is only as we recover our story and live in its fullness and with all its implications that we can make an impact on our culture. We need to understand our distinctiveness as a church, our calling, our lifestyle and our destiny.

Second, we need to define and develop shape and substance to discipleship and set effective and life enhancing boundaries. By this I mean that we learn to outline the pattern of living called forth by Scripture, that we seek to embody biblical holiness in our use of time, our talents and our resources, that being "set apart" from the world and "set apart" unto God is evidenced in our individual and shared life as the Church. We must explore spiritual formation and identity building as God's people. The pressure and energy against the godly life is intense; therefore, urgency, clarity, and skill are called for.

Thirdly, we need to work hard to "be" Church and to offer a credible and serious alternative to the spirit of our age. Lesslie Newbigin has highlighted the need for the church to be a "plausibility structure" for the gospel. Newbigin is citing the work of the sociologist Peter Berger who explains that any belief claim or system requires a supporting community or group to sustain it. It is the community that often validates or authenticates the claim or truth demand made by an individual. He suggests that if the model presented constantly falls short of the reality, we have a credibility gap. If our individual and corporate lives do not model the message we proclaim, we rob the world of a powerful and rooted apologetic.

The church in Europe and North America has wrestled with the desire for acceptance, for relevance and for approval from the culture at large. But I believe many attempts have only further eroded Christian distinctives and left us just as ignored and maligned as when we began. In my travels I constantly encounter churches desiring to grow, to attract numbers, and to make connections—a legitimate concern. However, the method and approach is often to adopt forms of entertainment or style that may be modern or well-done but say more about our insecurity than any serious effect on the audience. A group of youth at a recent event communicated to me their frustration that the leaders seemed to assume they "needed" lots of loud music, flashy performances and clever programs, while in reality they wanted content, authenticity and answers to life’s questions. The issue is whether we will be content driven or culture driven in our desire to reach the modern person.

The Church must be the Church, God-centered, rooted in the Word and obedient, worshipping, witnessing and offering an alternative to the fragmented and wounded society that is all around her. Faithfulness, courage and commitment will go much farther than relevance, adaptation, and laid-back religion. The penetration of cultural norms and values is all too apparent in our lack of passion, obedience and faithfulness. Many of us approach our faith as consumers and fail to grasp our destiny and calling as sons and daughters of the Most High. If we want to be good in the postmodern age, then we had better do it God's way—anything less is sure to fail.

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[Copyright(c) 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. A Slice of Infinity is a ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.]

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Kings of the East (3/4) 

Rajan Thomas, Bahrain*

 

Is it my cup of tea to have the above analysis done? Answer may be no. But as a student of Biblical prophecies, without weaving up assumptions, I do believe that such developments have relevance to the yet to be fulfilled predictions of the Word of God.

 

It was foretold in the of the Bible that Asia (Kings of the East) shall rise up towards the end times and be involved in the final world wars. 

 

Read Daniel Chapter 11: 44 " But news from the east ……… shall trouble him". Four stages of final wars or War of Armageddon as called in the Book of Revelation is being predicted right from verse 40 wherein the indication of its time is given as "at the time of the end". "At the time of the end" is synonymous to " Day of the Lord" or " Time of Jacob's Trouble" or the period of "Great tribulation" as mentioned in various other portions of the Word of God.

 

The predictions in the above verses are that while the "King of the North" (The Russian Confederation) shall unleash a massive attack to Egypt and Holy Land, they would receive war intelligence news that the King of East is marching towards the Holy Land.

 

Take a map, from the position of Egypt just draw a line towards east. You will, of course, reach at Asia (India, China, Japan, etc. through Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.) So the " news of the east" as mentioned in verse 44 is the news from Asia. And such news shall create real "trouble" to such army mobilizations led by Russia. Thus the prophecy revealed some 2500 years ago sheds light towards the rise an Eastern or Asian superpower by the time of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

 

This information is further revealed in the Bible in the Book of Revelation 9: 13 to 16 about 2000 years before. " Then the sixth angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them"

 

Of course, Revelation 6 to 19 deals with the same Great tribulation period or " the time of end" as viewed by Daniel. Here John the seer was shown as to how 200 million horsemen (Army) arrived at the banks of River Euphrates of Iraq. [To be concluded]

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[Reproduced by permission of Dr. Johnson C. Philip - www.brethrenassembly.com]

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