Life in the Blood

Bread and Wine Reading: "Life in the Blood", Toyohiko Kagawa and Sadhu Sundar Singh

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1: 3-10
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Toyohiko Kagawa reminds us that “there are those who say that because God is love, [God] could not allow punishment.” “But,” he continues, “that is too easy. It is like saying that because God is love, when you put water into a bag with a hold in it, the hold in the bag won’t matter! You must close up the hole!” As this relates to our own spiritual life, God’s glory and God’s forgiveness is available to all. But we must be ready to receive it. In other words, our “hole” in our life must be closed.

But God doesn’t leave us to our own devices to plug up the hole. We do not have to wander aimlessly through life with a hopeless, gaping hole in us. Kagawa says that “the love of God can perfectly heal the holes of the past, and all of its sins. It does not merely repair the damages of sin, but even transforms that which has been broken into perfect health, perfect working capacity.” Forgiveness is not all we need. We need to be made whole.

But being made whole requires change. Kagawa says that “love creates the same pattern anew.” Christ does not call us to submit our selves just so we can be showered in forgiveness. This is not something that Christ does TO us; rather, redemption in Christ is done for us and with us. We do not stay what we were before, though forgiven. After all, what good would that do? We are transformed into a new creation. But we have to be willing to leave the old one behind.

As the Scripture says, God has gathered us unto God through Christ, forgiven us, and is in the process of making us new. We don’t use it much anymore, but people used to talk of being “delivered” through Christ. Maybe that’s not such a bad word. If we walk toward the cross, if we enter the cross, Christ will deliver us to resurrection. The writer of the letter to the Church at Ephesus described it as adoption. Think about that word—it means chosen, it means claimed, it means loved so much that one takes another into his or her self. God loves us so much as to choose us, claim us, take us unto Godself, and, being made brand new, we are delivered to Resurrection. We just have to allow ourselves to be carried by God. We just have to allow ourselves to be made completely new.

Discussion Questions:
1.) What are those “holes” in your own life?
2.) What things in your life are difficult for you to leave behind so that God can make you anew?
3.) What images does being “claimed by God” create for you?

So go forth toward the Cross, and let God make you anew!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

Naked Pride

Bread and Wine Reading: "Naked Pride", John Stott

Scripture Reading: Romans 8: 35-39
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We Americans don’t really do well with nakedness—either literally or figuratively. Perhaps it is our Puritan influence that sees the flesh as at least something less than good and at the most downright naughty. But I think, more than that, it is that we are taught to “put on a good face”, to “not air our dirty laundry” and to “act like that that we want to be”. And then we are shocked and even a little taken aback when someone is “real” and genuine. Why can’t we be real?

John Stott begins his essay by claiming that “the essence of sin is [humanity] substituting [the human self] for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting [Godself] for [humanity].” This is a powerful statement. Why can’t we be real? Why do we think that we have to be someone we’re not? Why do we aspire to be God? We will never be God; God is God.

We 21st century Protestants do not do well with confessions. Excuses are really much more our norm—“I’m only human”, “I was just trying to…”, “The devil made me do it.”---PLEASE! Why can’t we just admit that we messed up? But instead we try our best to cover it up with finery and frills, thinking that we can hide it from others, from God, and even from ourselves. But, as Stott says, “As we stand before the cross, we begin to gain a clear view both of God and of ourselves, especially in relation to each other…But we cannot escape the embarrassment of standing stark naked before God...We have to acknowledge our nakedness, see the divine substitute wearing our filthy rags instead of us, and allow [God] to clothe us with [God’s] own righteousness.”

We know those things that separate us from Christ—hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. We bask in the knowledge that God will save us from these in God’s time. But God doesn’t really use magic potions or save us because we are good. We are saved by grace. We are saved by our turning to God, by our surrendering our lives so that God can pick us up, set us on our feet, and coax us forward toward that perfect oneness with God. But surrendering is about acknowledging our need for God. It is about admitting hardship and distress, persecution and peril; it is about hungering for God even in the face of famine; it is about putting down the sword; it is about revealing our nakedness, showing our deepest needs, and working to bare everything that we pretend to be. It is about finally being real and letting God clothe us in righteousness. Think about it. A doctor will not dress a wound by merely covering an old bandage; our wounds must be exposed and redressed by the covering of God’s grace.

Discussion Questions:
1.) What aspects of your own life to you cover or shield from others?
2.) What are those things that you need to expose to God and to yourself?
3.) What is something that you pretend is OK that you need to surrender before God?

So go forth toward the Cross, and bare yourself before God!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli