“I’m an outcast, but don’t count me out.” June 30-July 12 Ch. 4 Reading:

“What Jesus Really Had in Mind With His Beatitudes” through the end of the chapter.

The first several pages of this section are basically an expansion on our reading from a couple of weeks ago. Here Willard goes into greater detail and anecdote on the true message of the Beatitudes: that God’s grace and blessing is available for ALL. “Thus by proclaiming blessed those who in the human order are thought hopeless, and by pronouncing woes over those human beings regarded as well off, Jesus opens the kingdom of the heavens to everyone.”`

So… what? How do I respond to the Beatitudes? One obvious response is to “jump for joy” because His grace has been extended to me! “Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven” (Matt. 5:12a). The other response, the external response, is described to us in the last few pages of this chapter: since God’s grace has been extended to everyone, I should do the same.

Who are the outcast, downtrodden, misfits in my circles? “Who would you regard as the most unfortunate people around you?” Willard lists several possible examples; one in particular caught my attention.

Confession time: I can be a very judgmental person. If I’m not walking in the mind of Christ at any given moment, I can find myself thinking all sorts of degrading things about those around me (especially when driving…). If I could pick one “vice” that I tend to react the most to in a judgmental way, it would probably be obesity. I’ve never been an athlete, but I’ve been blessed with a metabolism that has never really allowed me to get too far behind the ability to stay in decent shape. And I know those days are coming to a close, so I’ve strengthened my resolve to stay fit as I get older. So, without checking myself against the mind of Christ, I have little mercy (at least in thought) for those who have not been as blessed as I have with general physical fitness. What right do I have to look down on anyone else for this or anything else? Absolutely none. And it makes no sense logically either - I have close friends who are at least a bit overweight and not in the best shape, yet I don't think twice about it with them!

Father, help me to see and love everyone around me as you see them and love them, just as they are. Remind me of your grace extended to me that I may extend it to everyone around me, no matter how “unfortunate” they may be. “I am just a man with a heart and sinful hands… Lord, show me the way. I ask of you Father, let my words be Your words. Let my thoughts be Your thoughts. To You, I give my praise.” (–“Redemption,” ABR)

Who are the “outcasts” in your circles?

How can I/we foster a Christ-like attitude and response to them?

Any other insights out there?

Finally, gents, in the interest of the 4th of July holiday, this post and reading will take us through the 12th of July. The reading is only a little bit longer than previous ones, so it fits well and lets us conclude this chapter.

Brace for Impact June 22-28 Ch. 4 Reading: “Dealing With the Soul in Depth” up to “What Jesus Really Had in Mind With His Beatitudes”

I think the last sentence of this section pretty much sums it up: “By showing to others the presence of the kingdom in the concrete details of our shared existence, we impact the lives and hearts of our hearers, not just their heads. And they won’t have to write it down to hold on to it.”

This seems to have more implications for those of us who teach or preach than the others, but it can surely be applied to all of us in how we live our lives as a living lesson of God’s character to those around us. Goes back to Richard’s comment from last week: have you seen the Kingdom lately? Now we take it a step further: Where? How? What did it look like? How can I get me some of that?

As an example, one of the lessons I’ve learned in my life that I think comes close to being impacted the way Jesus intended to do with his teachings has to do with trials. I have never really been through any serious suffering in my life – I’ll be the first to admit it. But for some reason, through a few different times of emotional stress in high school and college (and beyond), I feel that God has given me a good deal of insight into how tough times are good, even great for me, how I’m tested and strengthened by them, and how much better I am for them on the other side. These thoughts and ideas on trials are now an integral part of my way of thinking, where before I had no idea. My “life flow” has been impacted, “leaving a lasting impression without benefit of notes, recorders, or even memorization.”

Though the parables described here are used as examples of how Jesus teaches, they all have a common theme: What does my heart look like? Or, how would it respond to these scenarios? What hit me particularly in that I’d never realized this before, is that the priest and the Levite in the Good Samaritan parable would be risking ritual uncleanness to help the man. We always scoff at those two, but with that variable thrown in, if I were in their shoes and completely honest with myself, I’d probably keep on walking by the beaten man as well. Where is my heart?

May we be truly impacted by Jesus’ teachings and his life as he intended to impact us.

So…

Where is your heart?

What lessons have you learned in life (or from someone’s teaching) that have truly impacted you?

How does your life and/or teaching impact those around you?

I thought I knew… but I had no idea… June 15-21 Ch. 4 Reading: “The Puzzle of the Beatitudes” up to “Dealing With the Soul in Depth”

Willard’s book here is continuing to do what I hoped it would: change my way of thinking. I’m sure I have a ton of erratic ways of thinking about God, myself, others, and just about everything. The trouble is that I’ve thought and lived these ways for so long that I don’t even know they’re wrong. Psalm 139:23-4, anyone? “Search me, O God…”

In these few pages, I’ve learned that I, probably like most Christians, have been thinking about the Beatitudes all wrong (if not you, then more power to ya!). According to what Willard writes, at least, which seems pretty solid to me – it certainly resonates. It makes me wonder: how many other crucial passages of Scripture (especially Jesus’ words) are out there that I’ve grossly misinterpreted?

It’s also a relief to be reminded again of what I should always be aware of: I bring NOTHING to the table in my relationship with God. He provides EVERYTHING. I cannot try to live the Beatitudes and thus achieve God’s blessing. As I’ve learned in these pages, that wasn’t even what Jesus meant with these words! How peaceful it is to be reminded of my freedom from the false gospel of salvation by works.

How thrilling to remember that if God’s grace and blessing extend to even the downtrodden described in the first parts of the Beatitudes, it certainly covers over me! Hallelujah… Reminds me of Brennan Manning’s The Ragamuffin Gospel, another book that changed my perspectives big-time (was that all the way back in High School when I first read that?). “’Jesus totally has this thing for ragamuffins…’”

A quote that resonated with me: “Those poor in spirit are called ‘blessed’ by Jesus, not because they are in a meritorious condition, but because, precisely in spite of and in the midst of their ever so deplorable condition, the rule of the heavens has moved redemptively upon and through them by the grace of Christ.”

So, now, what do the Beatitudes, or at least this one discussed, really mean?

Are there any other passages of Scripture you know of that may have been so skewed by our modern interpretations? Can you share your insight with us?

Aloha, BG

Conspiracy… the Resurrection!

Soo… some of us may have figured that once Fatty became a father, this blog would fall by the wayside. And who could blame him? We all understand, especially those of us who are parents as well (I think that’s almost all of us…?). Life is never the same again… mostly in good ways.

Well, I’ve enjoyed reading this book and everyone’s thoughts enough that I asked “his incredible HURT quadruple-marathoning swiftness” for permission to carry the torch for a bit, until some sense of normalcy returns to the Stevens household. Oh, wait – that’ll never happen (just kidding, Matt – don’t worry, you will survive!). So I’ll take a crack at putting up a post each week with a section of the book to read and some corresponding questions. Matt and I plan on passing the baton (yet another shameless running allusion) back and forth every month or so for the time being.

Before I take on this honour, however, I must inform everyone that I have a different version of the book than what I assume most have – mine is paperback, and from the UK. My page numbers probably don’t correspond with yours, and I have to deal with funny spellings of words like “colour”, “honour”, and “cheque”. But don’t worry, the chapters and headings (and the words, most importantly) are the same. So I’ll just call out the readings by headings, for example, from “Life in the Dark” up to (but not including) “Word from a Different Reality” in chapter 1. Just to keep us all on the same general thought as we read and post comments. If you want to keep reading, of course, no one’s stopping you (overachievers)!

I’ve just finished chapter 3: “What Jesus Knew: Our God-Bathed World”. So this week I’ll be starting on Chapter 4: “Who Is Really Well Off? – The Beatitudes”. Next week I’ll post the “assigned” reading and a few questions or quotes that got me thinking and/or praising. Forgive me if I don’t get a posting up on a like-clockwork regular basis – my reading time is pretty limited with two rugrats of my own, but I will do my best.

So, now that I’ve laid all that out, I’ll share some of my thoughts from the remainder of Chapter 3. The overwhelming thought that kept going through my mind as I read through this chapter is that I have not even scratched the surface of understanding how deeply involved and present God is in our world. I particularly have been challenged by the truth that the kingdom of the heavens is not some far-off cosmic place, but it is actually here as the “kingdom of the heavens.” This has started to change the way I pray, especially in, “Our Father, who art in Heaven…” and thus right here with me!

Space has always intrigued me since I was a kid, and as I've matured I've found it to be one of the most vivid manifestations of God's presence in our universe. Thus Willard's demonstration of God's truth really resonated with me - space is anything but empty! The picture above is not computer generated at all; it is a picture taken by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope of the Orion Nebula. God is the ultimate artist.

What are your thoughts? Here’s some questions to hopefully get us going again:

How do my common ways of thinking prevent me from fully realizing God’s presence in this world?

How can I combat these worldviews and experience God more fully?

Let's talk again! Aloha, BG

Are we doing this blog thing still? YES! April 5-11 Reading: pgs. 61-66

After weeks of being tempted away from The Divine Conspiracy community by the NCAA Tournament and ridiculous amounts of much cherished free time with Spring Break, I'm sufficinetly convicted to post the next reading!

Todd and Brandon and I have decided, however, to skip chapter 3 and move onto the more practical chapter 4 that starts laying the ground work on the Sermon on the Mount and what Jesus actually meant when he calls us to be his disciples. Perhpas we'll come back to chapter 3 later. Basically, its a look at the 20th century split in western Christianity between conservative evangelicals focus on believing right theology and liberal social gospelers focus on right action in the realm of the world's problems. Willard's main thesis is that neither of these camps come remotely close to addressing the truly great need of the individual soul to be reformed and re-made by intimate interaction with Jesus while we live out our days on earth.

The first part of chapter 4 focuses on the basic question of who God is and how we often fail to think accurately about His existence.

My favorite quote from this section is on pg. 64 where Willard writes "It is deeply illuminating of kingdom living to understand that his (Jesus) steady happiness was not ruled out by his experience of sorrow and even grief." I was struck with the thought "if this is true, Jesus is the one that I want to learn how to live from." With all the suffering, pain and injustice in the world (think of the worst situation you have ever seen; mine would likely be the Kibera slums in Nairobi, Kenya) Jesus lived a life meaningful life that was able to engage the world's neediest, and yet live a life permeated by joy. This is what I want, too, so I need to learn from Him. What or who else can truly offer this life option with integrity?

Questions:
How has your view of God matched up with the reality of God that Willard describes? How has it fallen short? Does it matter in terms of how we live day to day?

Final Thoughts
Its my intention, even after dropping the ball for a few weeks, to try to do my part to keep this little community together. I think it is worth fighting for and I'm excited to keep moving through this book with you guys. Maybe its just selfish because I benefit so much from reading your guys words. In an effort to make reading and commenting easier, I put your emails on the settings of this page so that you'll receive an email everytime someone posts or comments. I'm hoping this will take away the step of having to check the blog to see if anyone is writing. If this is annoying, feel free to take your name off or ask me to do it (it's in the "settings" part of the blog under "email")

alohas, fatty

Weekly Reading and a Good John Piper Sermon on the Recession

Week's Reading: pg. 21-27 (start "Made to Rule", end at "The Kingdom is Now 'At Hand'")

In these pages, Willard distinguishes between our kingdoms and what we have say over and His Kingdom and what He ultimately has say over. Willard's main point here, as I see it, is to grasp that the divine conspiracy Jesus offers is for us to willingly submit our kingdoms into His larger Kingdom purposes. When I first read this book, the entire concept of "kingdoms" seemed a clunky, awkward and sometimes confusing way to think of these matters, but I've come to appreciate the word "kingdom" more and more.

This week is a great opportunity for us to reflect on well we are deliberately submitting the things we truly have say over into His Kingdom purposes. I think it would be very productive for each of us to reflect on how conscious we are of our own kingdoms, and specifically how these relate to His Kingdom. Major areas for consideration: body, mind, emotions, marriage, finances, talents, job, friendships, etc. I think this is a great opportunity for us to share a little bit more of where we sense God calling us to be transformed the most in; certainly it will look different for each of us. I know I am super encouraged as I read your guys honest reflections and it spurs me.

Lastly, I missed the church this morning and ended up listening to a John Piper sermon about what purposes God may have for our current economic downturn. I was particularly challenged by his thoughts of personal sin that can be revealed during hard economic times (such as anxiety, fear, and self-reliance), as well as how these economic conditions can challenge our view of the challenges developing nations are constantly facing. Speaking more generally, I have found www.desiringgod.org to be a great resource; I often save teachings to my mp3 player and listen to them while working out. Peace out.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/3566/Audio/

The importance of community

great to hear your thoughts guys! here's my first post (i'm sorry for taking a while--my computer crashed recently, so it took me a while to get back online). i like how you've encouraged us from the outset to consider the church and the crucial role of community, rob...koinonia, baby! i think you've been key in our fellowship (e.g., faithcrew) and understanding of what it means to follow Jesus as a community in this regard. and i think this blog is a great way to practice community with each other, matty, no matter how far away we are from each other geographically. i'll keep this short, but i just came across an interesting link (sponsored by google) that i thought was a cool example, albeit nonreligious, of community at work (i know there are a ton of great community resources on the web, perhaps there are some that others also think worth noting--i particularly like the concept of the Tip Jar:)

http://moderator.appspot.com/#16/e=3cfc