The idea of being spiritual without a social aspect bothers me. The more I study, the more I see the command to love God and to love one’s neighbor as almost identical. This week’s lectionary text, Matthew 25:31-46 (The Sheep and the Goats), brings that more to the fore. Jesus is appearing in the form of people who need my help, and my love for Him is manifested in what I do for them.

Does your faith allow you to do works for other people who need your help, or is it all about you?

• Creeds and Freedom or The Jazz Rhythm Section and the Soloist
• When We Play Wrong Notes

What?! Judged on works? Isn’t accepting Christ by faith enough for admittance into heaven and the joys of paradise? I’m going to suggest that the first part, admittance into “heaven”, or the New Heavens/Earth if you will, is based on faith, but that the joys and reward we find there are based on something different, namely our works done “in Christ”.

Our starting point is 1 Peter 1.17-19:

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

When we read about the Father’s judgment, we tend to jump to Revelation 20.11-15:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. [...] All whose names were not found written in the book of life were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the separation of the sheep and goats, the eternal division of those who accepted the message and authority of Jesus Christ from those who did not. Once the sheep have been set aside, I’m suggesting that there is an additional “judgment”, based on these passages from Paul:

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:18-19)

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive what is due them for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Cor 5.10)

Each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved-even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Cor 3.10b-15)

That is, once we have been admitted to heaven as sheep in the Father’s judgment, we then face Christ’s judgment for our eternal reward, e.g. the treasure stored up for us based on our conduct and actions “in the body”. This is what I believe John is referring to in Revelation 20:10, where he notes that “the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”

If admittance to heaven is based solely on our proclamation of faith, then nothing else we have done matters in the first judgment of the sheep and goats. Instead, works are only after we have been saved and admitted to heaven.

In a sense, there *is* a properity gospel, but it’s not the one preached by Osteen et al. It is, instead, one of eternal prosperity: work out the fact of your salvation with good deeds, in fear and trembling, and you not only improve the lot of those around you, but you build up the reward for yourself in the life to come. Those who enjoy riches now to their own pleasure may pass through the fire, but they will lose everything and will be the poorest people in Heaven, while those who forsake pleasure in the body for the work of the Kingdom will be rewarded and elevated to the highest status.

Here are some excerpts:

Thirty years of trying to use government to stop abortion, preserve opposite-sex marriage, improve television and movie content and transform culture into the conservative Evangelical image has failed. The question now becomes: should conservative Christians redouble their efforts, contributing more millions to radio and TV preachers and activists, or would they be wise to try something else? [...]

What is the answer, then, for conservative Evangelicals who are rightly concerned about the corrosion of culture, the indifference to the value of human life and the living arrangements of same- and opposite-sex couples? The answer depends on the response to another question: do conservative Evangelicals want to feel good, or do they want to adopt a strategy that actually produces results? [...]

If results are what conservative Evangelicals want, they already have a model. It is contained in the life and commands of Jesus of Nazareth. Suppose millions of conservative Evangelicals engaged in an old and proven type of radical behavior. Suppose they followed the admonition of Jesus to “love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison and care for widows and orphans,” not as ends, as so many liberals do by using government, but as a means of demonstrating G-d’s love for the whole person in order that people might seek Him?

Thomas concludes:

Evangelicals are at a junction. They can take the path that will lead them to more futility and ineffective attempts to reform culture through government, or they can embrace the far more powerful methods outlined by the One they claim to follow. By following His example, they will decrease, but He will increase. They will get no credit, but they will see results. If conservative Evangelicals choose obscurity and seek to glorify G-d, they will get much of what they hope for, but can never achieve, in and through politics.”

Amen!

* * * * *

Update: thanks to Steve, it appears that the main argument of this article is the same premise as Thomas’ and Ed Dobson’s book, Blinded by Might.

One suspects that for the OT writers, it was not so much that Satan was thrown out of Heaven by God, but that Satan was an agent of God, the one willing to do the dirty work of tempting and enticing humans. The Zechariah passage depicts Satan as standing at the right hand of Joshua the high priest, waiting to accuse him before the angel of the Lord (Jesus?) Clearly Satan seems to have had God-granted authority to affect human action and then accuse them in the courtrooms of Heaven.

We then come to Luke 10.18-20, which records Jesus’ reply to his disciples’ reports of success as witnesses to the Kingdom of Heaven:

I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

Which parallels Revelation 12.7-9:

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down-that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

But what’s of interest to me is what’s is recorded in the next verse in the Revelation passage:

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.

John goes on to record that when Satan saw that “he had been thrown down to the earth” (Rev. 12.13), he “went off to make war against [...] those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” (Rev. 12.17)

Satan, the accuser, has had his access to Heaven’s courtroom revoked! He was cast out of Heaven and lost his authority over humankind when Jesus became a mortal man and established the beachheads of the Kingdom of Heaven. Where before he was free to roam through the earth and go back and forth to Heaven, presenting himself to God whenever he had evidence to accuse humans with, now he is permanently stuck on earth as “the prince of this world”, an impotent potentate without access to Heaven.

Satan has lost his place in the grand courtroom of the Sovereign God. This means that we do not have an Accuser, a Lawyer, a Prosecutor who is constantly seeking to convict us for every misdeed and unrighteous act. We have a temptor who seeks to deceive us and lead us astray from the Kingdom of Heaven, but we are not living in a present state of being accused and convicted of those temptations.

In an earlier post on a modern representation of Satan as the spirit of negation rather than of creation, I included a quote by Ligon Duncan, who sees “a simultaneously increasing opposition to the kingdom [of Heaven] growing alongside an ever advancing and expanding kingdom [of Heaven].” That is, as the Kingdom of Heaven grows and expands from its initial beachhead in the humanity of Jesus Christ, Satan’s kingdom here on earth must also advance and expand. The kingdom of earth feeds on the fruit of the Kingdom of Heaven, poisoning wherever it can gain a hold, but always dependent on a renewing Creation for the substance of its negation. The kingdom of earth is truly impotent.

There will come a time when we are judged as to which kingdom we belong to, but we have the assurance that our sentencing will be by the Just Judge, not a Double-dyed Deceiver, and that we have the Great Defender available, Jesus Christ himself.

* * * * *

HT: Brent Kercheville

1. Because Jesus has come as the promised son (Isa. 9.6), there is no longer any need for religious or legal privilege to be given to fathers and sons. “Daughters are equally endowed with the Spirit and receive the same baptism,” as well as “the right to inherit the future of God’s kingdom”.
2. There is no longer a need for a child to be born who will usher in God’s kingdom, so procreation is no longer a justification for a relationship or marriage. “There is no religious duty to have a child.”
3. As a result of the previous consequence, “there is in principle no longer any need for men and women to marry [...]. Voluntary celibacy and voluntary virginity [are not] deficient ways of living.”
4. However, every new child is born for the future of God’s creation and represents a renewal of hope in the kingdom of heaven “among fallen men and women”.

Presumably, Moltmann believes that the Genesis 1 mandate to fill the earth and have dominion over it was fulfilled by Christ, the perfect human, establishing his reign over creation.

I wonder if some of these thoughts are reflected in Jesus’ comment that in the age to come, men and women “do not marry, for they are no longer subject to death. They are like angels; they are children of God, because they share in the resurrection.” (Lk. 20.35-36) Christ fulfilled the prophecy of the promised son, so procreation is no longer needed in this age or the age to come.

See also: “Grokked, not yoked?“

_Works of Love_ by Kierkegaard is the most uplifting, encouraging, and hope-restoring book I have ever read. Kierkegaard’s statement that “the greatest act of love anyone can ever achieve is to mourn for someone who is dead” is a statement I have used to guide myself through innumerable existential crises and has given me hope in my darkest hours. The wisdom contained in this book is an essential tool in dealing with the premature and untimely death of a loved one, and restoring your hope and faith in God even in the face of tragedy. Kierkegaard’s sense of empathy and morality is unsurpassed by any other philosopher living or dead, and I will also go so far as to call him a saint.

Here it is. How to apply the love of God, as taught to us by Jesus, in the reality of daily life. No fancy formulas here, no clever platitudes, just the truth. A tremendous reconcilitation of the supposed contradiction between works and faith as the basis of salvation, Kierkegaard shows that in fact the letter to the Galatians explains that the essence of Christianity’s message is faith, working through love. Hence, “Works of Love”. This is Kierkegaards’ magnum opus. Not for the faint of heart nor anyone looking for an easy answer, yet amazingly simple and honest. Completely vindicates Soren Kierkegaard from the charge by narrow traditionalists ( most of whom have never read anything he wrote ) that he was not a genuine Christian, perhaps not even a Christian at all. If you wish to follow Christ, follow Kierkegaard. He is a trustworthy guide.

Kierkegaard recognizes that love is a work, and not merely a state of heart or a chattering point. This notion of work is anathema to “Pop Protestantism,” which was Kierkegaard’s mortal enemy. He commented that the obsession with “grace” had turned Christianity upside-down, and had caused men to try and cheat God out of his religion. This is another way of saying that faith without works is dead.

My wife’s family, and thus mine as well, is facing the impending death of a loved one who is far too young. As cancer consumes and devours her body, I am faced with the echoes of my mother’s death 13 years ago and reminded that our greatest works of love are rooted in the living out of our faith in Christ. I am not an empathetic person by nature and find this part of “working out my salvation” insanely difficult. I don’t know whether I will find consolation or inspiration or something else in Kierkegaard, but hope that his words are not a barren wilderness, but rich soil that bears fruit.

• El Shaddai Ministries

At least that’s more on target than the “ElShaddai Limousine Service” in West Warick, Rhode Island or “ElShaddai Florist” in Bermuda…

Happily, I read on Biltz’s site that he is not caught up in “rapture fever”:

It’s not even on my radar! I’m not focused on it, I am focused on the mission at hand. I will work till Messiah comes. Believe me He will take whoever He wants to take, whenever He wants to take them and no one will lose points for being wrong. If your house is on fire and you escape are you satisfied that you are out or will you do all you can to get your children out as well? With any fire there are people rushing out and firemen rushing in. I guess it depends on what you feel you’re calling is. I don’t remember who, but someone said (and now in a popular song):

“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell;
but I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell!”

That is my motto. If the Lord wants to keep me here during the tribulation on a mission run, I’m happy to stay. If He wants me out, then I’m happy to go! It’s not my will or rapture theology that will take me or leave me but His will.

For more on Biltz’s comments on the reception of his eclipse commentary, click here.

As such, I’ve been increasingly drawn towards the moral wisdom messages found in the letters of James and Peter. We’ve been covering 2 Peter 1 in church this summer, so there’s undoubtedly some influence there, but this goes beyond that, I think. This past Sunday, after the boys had woken up and gone down to the basement to carry on with their general chaos-making, I had a few quiet moments to read in the kitchen before my wife got up and preparations for church began. Without a deliberate reading plan in mind, I opened to James. Should it have been any surprise to me then that the heart of the message at church was James 2:26?

“As the body is dead when there is no breath left in it, so faith divorced from action is dead.” (REB)

Or more familiarly, “faith without works is dead.”

Our senior pastor was away, so the message was delivered by our friend, Micah, who is the leader of SOULstice, a post-modern outreach of the church. His sermon was based on Philippians 2:1-18 and he gave an impassioned challenge to the church: get off your duffs and put your faith into action in the local community, not just the global missions programs that are well supported. It’s one thing to open our pocketbooks and support various programs; however, as Philippian imitators of Christ, our life as the collective body of Christ is to deny ourselves and give ourselves away in service to others where we are, not just where others are going in far-off lands.

If I might recast his words into a baseball analogy: the church is not home base, with the goal being to bring the unsaved into the church and score runs - rather, the church is the dugout from where the players are sent onto the field. The church is the means, not the end.

That seems like all well and good basic Christianity, but sometimes you need it thrown in your face in a different format to renew the spirit. Micah’s good at that and it was reviving to be challenged corporately in the same vein where the Spirit has been leading me individually.

My prayer is that the faith that I share even with demons would be put into action that reveals a Holy Spirit-filled life.

Update: for some additional thoughts on the impact of a working Church, see Chris Fann’s latest post on Koinonia.

The New York Press has a compelling story about a communal Christian house in Bedford-Stuyvesant (Brooklyn) run by blogger Jason Storbakken:

[They] are taking part in a form of cohabitation that few young New Yorkers could fathom: communal living with a religious twist. [...] It is a multiracial bunch, mostly made up of non-native New Yorkers in their twenties and thirties. The residents call their experiment in faithful cohabitation “Radical Living.”

They are born-again Christians turned off by the trappings—physical, philosophical and political—of the suburban mega-church and conservative mainstream evangelism who have found each other amidst the pressures of New York City living. Dedicated to getting back to basics, to ministering the gospel quietly from the ground up, members of the group are fond of reminding each other that “radical” is a word that has biological origins, meaning “arising from the root.” While seemingly isolated and underground, this community represents an inkling of a broader shift in the evangelical movement—renegade branches of which are increasingly embracing climate change, poverty reduction and compassionate politics as their touchstone issues.

[ Read full article here ]

Jason’s story resonates with me as I hear echoes of my parents’ decision to leave the “physical, philosophical and political” pressures of living in Chicago in the late 1960s and move to the remoteness of Alaska to “get back to the basics” and quietly minister “from the ground up”. Theology without action, faith without works, is ματαιολογίαν, mataiologia, a wilderness of words, and it is always inspiring to read about those who have taken risks of comfort and security for their faith.

If you’ve not had a chance to browse Jason’s blog and testimony, please do.