Galatians: The last word

A helpful thought and some encouragement for anyone preaching through Galatians this year:

“The last sentence of this polemic Epistle is a benediction and the last word is a word of affection, ‘brethren’ [=brothers and sisters]... It takes the sting out of the severity. Thus concludes this Epistle so full of polemical fire and zeal, yet more full of grace – free sovereign grace, justifying sanctifying grace, and full of forgiving love even to ungrateful pupils; an Epistle for the time and an Epistle for all times.”

Philip Schaff, quoted in Philip Schaff, ed., St Chrysostom: Homilies on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers 13 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 48.

Screwtape’s sermon on mission Sunday

My dear devils, it is a privilege to be able to reflect with you for a few minutes on the Great Commission we have received from Our Father Below.

Before we come to our text this morning, though, we must face facts. The Enemy’s followers are stubbornly obedient to his supposedly ‘great commission’ and reports from many parts of the world are enough to put fear into the heart of the stoutest tempter.

There are some encouragements of course. We have great success in encouraging the thought that repetition counts for more than definition. Incessant talk about mission need not trouble the heart of the meekest tempter if it is never defined. Indeed there is great sport to be had seeing what harmless activities can be smuggled under that label. 

Nevertheless, in some quarters The Enemy’s Word holds fast and they not only concern themselves with the true mission but (most regrettably) they have also been taught by that Word to pray for workers for that harvest field. This is most serious. As we know, The Enemy takes strange delight in this and indulges his infantile children in a most unseemly way.

What then is to be done? You might think the answer lies in distracting them from this task but I say let them pray. Indeed, our text today teaches us not hinder the little children. Turn with me to Mark 9:38.

You recall the context: The Enemy’s Son has sent them out to spread the Bad News but when they return they give the most wonderful report:

 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”

Delicious isn’t it? Do you see? We have nothing to fear from His disciples praying Matthew 9:38 prayers if we can teach them to think Mark 9:38 thoughts. Workers can go into the harvest and have very great success, but it is no matter. Because their labours can produce a very great harvest for us. All we need to do is sow that thought: “not one of us.”

In every patient and congregation there will be ample material to work on:

As The Enemy gathers subjects from different cultures and classes (where does this perverse love of diversity come from?!) it is a simple matter to awaken old loyalties and rivalries. 

As his subjects gather themselves to work in some area of the harvest field let them think that only their methods are proper, or that their small corner of some field is really the whole. Let them acknowledge only their efforts as ‘strategic’ (may Our Hellish Father bless the demon that first brought that thought to their minds!) and let them pray, but only for their labours. That way, with only a little effort, they can pray for His glory but all the while seek their own. If we only remember these things, we can be of good cheer, for the harvest will be plentiful.  

Amen.

A Better Story, by Glynn Harrison

 

Glynn Harrison’s new book really does brim with good things.

I’ve not written a full review, but here are a few general comments and then some choice quotes to whet your appetite and encourage you to buy the thing and get people in your church discussing it.

1.     The whole book is driven by an evident desire to serve and equip the church.  Hard not to like that.

2.     Throughout, there’s a really winsome acknowledgement of our shortcomings as evangelicals, coupled with a willingness to celebrate the good to be found in the sexual revolution (e.g. greater equality for women, a shift away from bigoted oppression of minorities, some heroic examples of sacrificial service).

3.     Glynn recognises the need for some deep and careful theological reflection. At one point he writes “I find myself looking for some serious theological engagement with these weighty issues, especially gender ideology and questions of human identity.” (22). In some ways A Better Story meets that need. Although it is written in a very accessible style, the book summarises a remarkable amount of research and insightfully analyses cultural trends by drawing on multiple disciplines. At the same time, it is a clarion call for some more hard thinking. 

4.    There is an urgent call to make sure that Christians know what they believe and why. This is crucial as the church becomes more of a minority and is seen as an immoral minority on the basis of our views about sexuality and gender. In that way, A Better Story is quite church focussed. On the other hand, it is not simply advocating a withdrawal from the world. Rather, the better story of the title is to be told and embodied both in the church and in the world.

5.     There’s lots of C. S. Lewis. Hard not to like that too.

Ok, now some quotes:

“TV, pop stars and the movies didn’t simply furnish young people with trendy new role models. They were the co-opted handmaidens of burgeoning post-war consumerism.” 7

(quoting Steve Gillon) “Almost from the time they were conceived, Boomers were dissected, analysed, and pitched to by modern marketeers who reinforced [their] sense of generational distinctiveness.” 8

With the arrival of pop psychology in the 1970’s “self-expression was transformed from a mindless act of defiance into a moral quest. It was no longer change for change’s sake, or freedom for freedom’s sake; it was freedom for the sake of authenticity and becoming your true self.” 15

“You can’t out-fact a story. You need to tell a different story. A better story.” 46

74 “Many [young people] still stumble into an awareness of their sexuality through the prism of what the church is against rather than what it is for. I am frequently invited to give a talk on the question of pornography. Almost always I decline unless it forms part of a positive body of teaching on the biblical vision for sex. I am no longer prepared to help perpetuate a culture than knows what it is against, but has little idea what it is for.” 74

“We shouldn’t begin our critique of [the sexual revolution] with what we believe, but, crucially, in terms of what it promised. 76

Quoting W. Bradford Wilcox: the decline in marriage means “large numbers of young men will live apart from the civilising power of married life.” 103

“Marriage creates a culture that binds men to their responsibilities for the children they bring into the world.” 109

“Perhaps it’s about getting in touch with one’s inner hero. But what if your inner hero turns out to be elusive? What if the self you discover within turns out to be a weak, vulnerable and rather dependent thing? And what if your suspicion grows that the notion of your inner hero itself has simply been marketed to you?” 116

“As a couple make their wedding vows, they bear bodily witness to the covenantal character of God’s love. Or rather, as they keep their wedding vows they demonstrate its special character.” 152

“Both single and married people who abstain from sex outside the marriage bond point to the same thing. They both ‘deploy’ their sexuality in ways that serve as a sign of the kingdom and the faithful character of God’s passion. In refusing to have sex outside marriage, the single person witnesses to the unbreakable link between passion and faithfulness. And in refusing to commit adultery, the married person bears witness to the same truth.” 153-4

“How about viewing marriage preparation as one of the first and most important pastoral skills acquired during ministerial training?” 188

signing off for the year

Let those who think I have said too little, or those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough join me in giving thanks to God.  Amen. 

(Augustine City of God 12.30).

On the importance of ditching the stiff upper lip in ministry

High up on a list of things we don’t talk enough about are the themes of weakness and vulnerability in Christian life and ministry, so I was glad recently to discover two studies of the theme. 

The first is David Alan Black’s Paul, Apostle of Weakness. In this short book, he teases out the way in which weakness is a general way of describing the human condition, and something which has a particular significance for Christians:

“There are two counterbalancing emphases in Paul’s teaching: a solidarity with Adam by which all humanity under the influence of the natural sphere inherit the generic characteristics of weakness; and a solidarity with Christ by which human weakness under the influence of the Holy Spirit is transformed into a showplace of the divine on earth and a badge of honour.” (p155)

“Paul’s view of weakness, regardless of how highly developed it may be, is not to be understood only as an abstract doctrine, for it was developed in view of actual conditions. In the first place, weakness impresses upon us the reality of our finiteness and dependence on God. Human attempts are completely useless to please God; with all our effort, we can do nothing. It is just this attitude that Paul declares when he says that he is weak. He can claim no credit for any of his successes for he knows he has been sustained by God. If he has achieved anything, it is only by God’s power working through a weak, yet yielded, vessel. Thus human initiative, human boasting, and human merit have no place in the thought of the apostle Paul.

Likewise, Paul teaches that God’s way of exhibiting power is altogether different from our way. We try to overcome our weakness; God is satisfied to use weakness for his own special purposes. Too many Christians become disheartened over their infirmities, thinking that only if they were stronger in themselves they could accomplish more for God. But this point of view, despite its popularity, is altogether a fallacy. God’s means of working, rightly understood, is not by making us stronger, but by making us weaker and weaker until the divine power alone is clearly manifested in our lives.” (p.161-62)

There is then something creaturely about our weakness that we need to embrace. We are dependent and weak. But there is also something deeply counter-cultural here: the world wants to shake off this creaturely dependence and assert its strength and self-sufficiency. That is why we are so prone to kick against our weakness. And that is why God works our salvation in a way that confronts us with our own weakness and calls us to embrace it in the footsteps of Jesus. He gives grace to the humble but opposes the proud. 

The danger, as Black says, is that we become disheartened and buy into a different vision of life. This is where the second piece comes in: John Barclay’s superb article Security and Self-Sufficiency: A Comparison of Paul and Epictetus (in Ex Auditu, vol 24, 2008). In this article, Barclay compares two visions of human life. One involves a stability and security that is able to rise above external circumstances and maintain a steady imperviousness to grief and upset. Of course we must show outward grief to sympathise with others in their distress, but we must not let that upset our equilibrium or make our happiness dependent on another. 

In many ways that sounds wise, and very contemporary, advice, but this is not Barclay’s exposition of Paul. It is his account of self-sufficiency in the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, an outlook summarised by Socrates:

“If a person can hurt me, what I am engaged in amounts to nothing; if I wait for someone else to help me, I am nothing.”

Barclay: Epictetus thinks that it is possible to live a life free from the sorts of passions that so often shipwreck lives and ruin society: free from grief or distress that cause emotional collapse… free from fear and anxiety regarding the future; free from the anger, envy, lust, ambition that cause us to harm others; in short, free from every passion that represents the frustration that what we want to happen has not happened or may not happen.

When we turn to Paul there is some overlap of course. He believes that by the Spirit we can bear the fruit of the Spirit and put to death evil desires (Gal 5). He speaks of learning to be content regardless of material circumstances (Phil 4), and there is a confidence regarding the future (Rom 5, 8), but what Barclay develops are the ways Paul departs from Epictetus. In particular, the way in which Paul’s emotions are hitched to the welfare of his churches. “We live if you stand firm in the Lord” (1 Thess 3:8), Epaphroditus’ death would have caused Paul “sorrow upon sorrow,” (Phil 2:27), and he frequently writes with tears and in fear that his labours might have been in vain (Gal 4:11, 1 Thess 3:5). 

So, how to explain this willingness to be so emotionally vulnerable? Barclay mentions two things. First, “Paul’s vision of mutual dependence.” Epictetus’ relationships are one-way – willing to serve others but not to be affected by them – but Paul constantly makes himself dependent on others, seeking their prayers, and opening his heart to them (2 Cor 6:11). In all this, the body metaphor is central. Every part of the body needs every other part. That's what life in the church is all about.

Barclay again: “Mutual encouragement, mutual struggle, and mutual dependency are for Paul core constituents of life in Christ. It is only by this means that his joy can be complete. The God on whose encouragement he relies supplies his needs through others, and he is desperately at a loss when they fail to play their part.”

Of course, with this alone, Paul would still have a hard time convincing Epictetus that his is a more excellent way, but there is an additional factor: eschatology.

“The frustration which Epictetus works so hard to eradicate is for Paul an inevitable feature of the ‘the present evil age’ (Gal 1:4). For as long as Christ is putting all his enemies under his feet, and for as long as death, the last enemy, is undefeated (1 Cor 15:20-28), there is no security in this world. In other words, it is only on the eschatological horizon that Paul sees the well-ordered universe that Epictetus takes for granted as the present condition of life. Whereas Epictetus therefore expects and finds the possibility of human fulfilment, so long as correct judgments are made in accordance with the reason we have been given, Paul is prepared to defer that fulfilment to a future that is only partially and inadequately adumbrated in the present.”

This is the secret. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul sees that God is at work through weakness and calling out a people who are to be bound to one another in mutual dependence. In the present that will mean bearing with all the griefs and sadness that inevitably come from serving a far-from-sinless church. Epictetus would teach us to close our hearts. Paul tells us to open our eyes to the world to come and to press on, open-hearted.