The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation. Not to make people with better morals but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friend, is what it really means to be a Christian.
~Brennan Manning, The Furious Longing of God
Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ impels us, because we have concluded this: that One has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him Who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in 2 Corinthians 5
Oh beloved, it is true.
There is within many of us, who have come to love the good news, a beginning of a comfortableness in the confidence we have in the Word. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being comforted in what the Comforter teaches us – the problem comes when we think we are comfortable because we understand the scope of the Good News.
Each time. Each and every time this fool gets to a place like this, i find that i am truly a fool. We come up on something we think (even deeply experience in knowing) we know. And just as we think we have heard a passage – the next time we do – it is like it is the first time we have listened to the verses.
Today, i got to walk up on the presentation of The Apostle Paul, speaking in 2 Corinthians 2. This is the the kind of passage one might hear spoken in some sort of evangelical (read protestant) meeting. The whole thing about us being a new creation in Christ gives forth the fragrance of free grace. It is as though the protestant world has co-opted the grace thing. Unless we listen…
21 June is the reading from 2 Corinthians 5 in the Roman Catholic church. In years past, i was an indoctrinated Augustinian reformed protestant. And i knew all of the reasons why RCs were all messed up. And in the same way, my beloved Spirit-filled wife (who grew up RC) knew that us protestants did not have a clue.
Actually, neither of us did… Until HE made us both new creations in Himself.
Anyway, back to the reminder… The lectern was reading the passage as we walked up on the packed cathedral here on our little island in the Philippines. Thousands of people had rolled into the central market area of Bacolod City on Sunday morning to celebrate the reality of our Lord Jesus Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, redemption of and authority over all of creation.
Including me (and you).
The cathedral is manned by an old warrior of the Cross. He can barely stand. His voice falters over the microphone… Until he begins to speak about his Best Friend(s). This warrior lives and breathes the air of The Spirit. And the work this little Filipino pastor has allowed G_d to do in him and through him, has brought Light and Life to this archdiocese.
And then i heard it… The Gospel is SO simple. It such astoundingly good news that we just up and miss it so often. Maybe it was looking out on the ocean of simple people standing in the beautiful building – many looking nearly in pain from the happiness of being in the moment. The younger priest made the point so simply.
Love impels us.
G_d is Love.
Love is what moves Himself.
And suddenly, my spirit was washed away in a torrent of Comfort and Peace and Strong Joy in His Presence. The incredible profundity of the Gospel simply blows our mind any time we truly listen to it. The whole thing.
Eternity
Redemption
New Life
Salvation
The Great Commission
Works of Charity
Service
Spiritual Battle
All of it…. Is driven by G_d Himself, who is Love Himself.
The evil one always wants us to think that love is a behavior. This is the heart of religion. Doing – from my own wretched core. And the flesh of the protestant cannot comprehend that the heart of their believing Roman Catholic brother or sister is simply impelled by the joyous pain of the of the Love the sense pouring into their soul.
In the same way, the fleshly Roman Catholic cannot grasp why a believing protestant sees no need (at all) to show forth their salvation in works. The flesh cannot see that works are not needed. They are only a response to True Love.
Can we see it?
Perhaps this is a bit of a wandering entry, but the point is hopefully clear beloved: The Gospel is Love. And it is nothing else.
So, are you forgetting that you are a new creation dear reader? Don’t. And don’t think you can do anything to get yourself into the right spot to understand it. Just listen.
Love impels us.
G_d is Love.
Love is what moves Himself.
Tonight is your night beloved. Time to let Love move you too!
For Paul, a new creation meant a total renovation of the inner self, a change of mind and heart. It meant far more than the passive union achieved in water baptism. To be “in Christ,” he told the Philippians, means to have in you the mind of Christ Jesus, to think as Christ thought, to have the ideals Christ had, to throb with the desires that filled Christ’s heart, to replace all your natural actions to persons, events and circumstances with the response of Jesus Christ. In a word, a christocentric life means to live in the heart of Jesus, to share His tastes and aversions, to have the same interests, affections and attitudes, to be motivated in everything by His loving compassion. It means making the habitual thought patterns of Jesus Christ so completely your own that truly “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
~Brennan Manning, The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus
