Bono on grace and karma

From the book Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas (p203)

Interviewer: As I told you, I think I am beginning to understand religion because I have started acting and thinking like a father. What do you make of that?

Yes, I think that’s normal. It’s a mind blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, bit the thing that jeeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.

I haven’t heard you talk about that.

I really believe we’re moved out of the realm of Karma into one of Grace

Well, that doesn’t make it clearer for me.

You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: and eye for and eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics – in physical laws -  every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the Universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “As you reap, so will you sow” stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.

I’d be interested to hear that.

That’s between me and God. But I’d be in big trouble is Karma was going to finally be my judge. I’d be in deep shit. It doesn’t’ excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.

Amazing Grace

A beautiful video demonstrating the reality of God’s transforming power.

Preaching Jesus

Notes from the Dwell UK session by Mark Driscoll, 12th July 2008, at St Paul’s Church, Robert Adam St. London.

Session 5: Preaching Jesus

Everything is about Jesus. If we talk about Jesus then our congregation will. During 1 to 1 talks, groups, preaching -> everything is about Jesus. So how do we preach about Jesus well?

Driscoll uses some framing questions to guide him in his preparation.

1. What does the original text say (do Hebrew and Greek work if you can)
2. What did it mean in that culture, then, when it was written [this will start to guide us as to what it means now]
3. How can it be memorable -  The sermon needs a hook to hang itself on. This could be a doctrine, a theological issue, an emotion, an image, a character study etc.
4. Answer possible objections to the point as these will be going on in the minds of our hearers. Why do we resist what the passage is saying? Engage in apologetics over the point.
5. Why does it matter?  – What is the missional approach? This is not just about a personal application, but why does it matter to our community now. Church is a witness of real community to the city – are we preaching a false gospel by how we live?
6. How is Jesus the hero? How does this sermon witness to Jesus through the passage. This will quietly train people to be evangelistic.

Teach and preach in such a way that everything is about Jesus.

But how do we find Jesus in more obscure parts of the Old Testament?

• forshadowing – OT prophecies directly about Jesus
• Christophenes – Jesus showing up as the Angel of the LORD in the OT
• Types of Jesus – e.g. Adam, priesthood, David and the kings, Prophets, sacrifices, Temple, shepherd, Judges, Bread, Vine, Light
• A Service that an OT character performs that Jesus does perfectly – e.g. Isaac laying the wood for his own sacrifice.
• OT Events – passover, exodus, exile
• Titles For God – e.g Son of God, King of Kings, etc.

Careful not to turn OT stories into moralising or simply stories of superheroes. The big idea is to tell people about Jesus. It it’s about Jesus it is good, even if other things about it are not good!

One other thing Driscoll said that I liked:

Until you’ve preached, like, 200 times, don’t worry that you’re not any good at it.

Planting Communities of Grace

Notes from the Dwell UK session by Steve Timmis, 12th July 2008.

Session 4: Planting Communities of Grace

Tuckman identifes 4 stages of development that groups go through as the form

1. Forming – people are being polite as the new thing starts. They are trying to get to know each other and being deliberately well behaved.
2. Storming – things start to get rocky. People get real and sometimes fall out as they feel they can be themselves. For some, their securtity is threatened. Others ask for structures to be put in place to hold the thing together
3. Norming – The group starts to develop its ow culture and begin to see a coherent vision. It feels more real, as friendships have survived the storming phase. Some become resistant to change in this phase so things don’t get difficult again.
4. Performing – A real sense of mutual dependence. There is shared ownership of the vision. Flexibility, loyalty and affection. The group does what it was formed for.

Question: Is it possible to avoid errors at the storming and norming phase? Timmis suggest we build in grace from the beginning.
1. The need of stand-out godliness (1 Tim 3:1-13)

People who model practical holiness in mudance bits of life – v2-4 contain a very ordinary list of virtues

• appoint people like that as they model grace.
• need for hospitality (that is, a love of strangers, of people not necessarily like us)
• godliness – have nothing to do with bribing, impressing or cajoling God. Godliness is an ordinary life lived with gospel intentions.

2. The Means of Godliness (1 Tim 3:16)

Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:  He appeared in a body,  was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. (1 Tim 3:16)

The secret is no longer a mystery (Paul writing against proto-gnosticism)

In the Old Testament, no one really knew how to live a godly life. People couldn’t really get there. The law exposed sin and condemned the sinner. The way was paved for Jesus.

Godliness is a heart issue before it is a behaviour issue. Godly people demonstrate Jesus in their life – they are a lover of God and others (most important commandments). The Mystery of Godliness is not about me, it is all about Jesus.

3. Where the need and means come together (1 Tim 3:15)

if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Tim 3:15)

The Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth – God’s household. This truth is to be proclaimed over and over.

• the pillar holds the roof. In the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the marble roof called out to people from afar.
• the church doesn’t need an ediface like that – the truth is the gospel of grace. This calls out to people.

If we plant communities of grace, we will produce churches and people who emanate grace and draw people to glorify God. It is a family likeness. God should be evident in the godliness of the church.

Tuckman added a 5th stage 10 years later.
Adjourning stage - the group has done what it set out to do. It’s goals are met.
- Each congregation is to adjourn as it plants new congregations with the DNA of grace in the updated context. This starts the cycle again.

Church Planter as a Minister of Grace

Notes from the Dwell UK session by Steve Timmis, 12th July 2008.

Session 2: The Church planter as a minister of Grace

In 1 Timothy, Paul was an experienced church planted and knew about Grace. Timothy was his young protege trying to get a new church back on the ‘gospel’ track

1. Grace is Primary Identity as Church Planters

In 1 Tim 1:15, Paul says that Christ came to save sinners, and that he is the worst of all.  This is in the present tense. How cam Paul still have an identity as a sinner after all these years?

v13 – Paul says he was bad, but he was shown mercy. But he seems to see his sin more now (writing 1 Tim) than he did then
- As we look back we reflect and are reminded of it, despite the joy of forgiveness – often it is with a shudder – how could we have done the stuff we did?

v14-15 – Paul sees God’s grace as more than abundant. We are great sinners with a great saviour
-> Grace is to be our primary identity. Despite our sin, our names are written in heave by grace.

Therefore the primary identity of anyone who wants to plant churches is that of grace – a saved sinner. This combats pride in how many churches we may have planted.

2. Ministry as Church Planters

Paul’s emphasis is on grace in order to draw them away from legalism – there was an over-reliance on Old Testament law. Paul combats this false teaching in the church by refreshing Timothy’s heart and mind with the gospel – he teaches Timothy about grace. He wants Timothy to command and instruct them away from the false doctrines, done out of love (1 Tim 1:3,5). Timothy has to stand up in front of the church and be clear – he must keep a sincere faith and a good conscience.

3. What is the relationship between primary identity and ministry.

If our identity is that of a recipient of grace, the identity will define the ministry. Conversely, if we find we are expecting legalism through requirements made on others, it might be because we are legalists at heart.

Our identity as recipient of grace

• will enable us to practice grace with others and the leadership
• will enable us to love the unlovely and unloveable (because at heart we know we are)
• will enable us to realise that our grasp of the gospel is not down to our ability
• will help undermine power plays

We will be able to handle failure and criticism, because it is not our pride and identity at stake, but God’s gospel. We are all children of God through grace and saved sinners through grace.

Gospel of Grace vs Religion of Works

Notes from the Dwell UK session by Mark Driscoll, 12th July 2008, at St Paul’s Church, Robert Adam St. London.

Session 1: Gospel of Grace vs Religion of Works.

The Gospel is something we continually learn – we don’t just learn it and then move on from it, we need to keep reminding ourselves of it and keep learning what it means.

1 Cor 15:1-4 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

From this, the gospel is:

1. proclaimational – it must be spoken. Community, relationships and stories are great, but they are not sufficient.
2. personal – it is something that each needs to personally receive. We can ask of people ‘What do you believe?’
3. essential – no-one can be saved apart from the gospel of Christ.
4. central – it is of primary importance and it mustn’t be changed
5. Biblical – contained in the scriptures.

The gospel is about Jesus. If church leaders talk about Jesus naturally in their conversations and in their services, the people will get used to talking about Jesus

• they will not be ashamed of him
• negative reactions to Jesus are often against incorrect stereotypes of him
• give people the truth about Jesus, and people will at least hear it and maybe accept it.

Enemies of the Gospel: Idolatory and Religion

Both idolators and the religious need to repent and come to faith in Jesus

1. Idolatry
Luther said – all sins are the fruit of idolatry

• something that takes the place of God
• the root of coveting, lust etc. is the worship of something that is not God (cf. Rom 1)
• idolators end up worshipping something created.

Idols make promises that are lies.

• They usually promise good things, such as identity or value, but they can’t take the place of God
• what we love generally enslaves us. (aside: was the plague of the first born sons in Exodus a judgement of God agains the idol of family?)

Idols work my pulling us from a bad definition of hell to an unbiblical definition of heaven. For example:

• being single = hell, married = heaven. The saviour then becomes the partner
• of – begin childless = hell, the saviour is then the child.
• just about all advertising and movies promote a false heaven

The question “What are you most afraid of?” or “What do you most long for?” can help point us towards our idols.

People who use Jesus to get to what they want  – such as health, a spouse, a job etc, are just making Jesus the means to get to an idol. We have to ask ourselves whose approval we are seeking.

All people struggle with idolatry. All are spiritual for the wrong thing. All need to repent and turn to God

2. Religion
Idolators assume they are righteous enough or good enough. The religious person assumes they need to o something (through guilt or shame) so they strain to get to God.

Religion

• If I obey God, he will love me
• keeps people in fear and guilt and in condemnation to control people
• sees the world as good and bad people. If they are good – they’re on our side. This is used over Bible interpretation, eschatology, politics and more. It creates a scorecard for righteousness
• is about what you do. Why do you read the Bible, for how long, have you spoken in tongues
• sanctification (holiness) leads to justification (being seen as right before God)

Gospel

• God loves me, so I am able to obey.
• there are no good and bad – we are all sinners  – just some have repented and some have not
• Jesus said “It is finished”. He has done everything for us
• justification is offered for free and this leads to sanctification

Ultimately – religion is about me and the gospel is about Jesus. Religion leads to either pride of despair – you either make it or you don’t.

Rom 1:16-17  I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.“

Everyone needs the gospel – both idolators and the religious.

Living out Leviticus

Christianity Today has an article about one American church’s experiment to live out Leviticus today. Leviticus is a book that most of us love to ignore, as it contains lots of detailed descriptions of rituals and, in our modern ears, lots or arcane rules that have been superseded by Jesus. This group of Christians was not going to live out Leviticus literally, they were allowed to interpret it with regard to the New Testament and to modern practices, but they had to take it seriously. The task of interpretation had to be done, asking the hard questions of how to apply it today, rather than simply ignore this often-ignored book.

One participant said this:

Among the many lessons from the month, rising to the top was the realization of how much we take God’s grace for granted. Because holiness can be difficult, we default to simply admitting we’re miserable sinners, get our grace, and then get on with living our lives the way we were going to live them anyway. As one participant put it, “I never before realized just how good I am at detaching God from my day-to-day life.“

The result was that the church got genuinely excited about Leviticus, not just those who were doing the challenge, but those who were watching. They started to understand grace properly – not just in the sense that they realised how difficult it was to keep to the laws of Leviticus, but they genuinely experienced grace. After the day of atonement ritual (in which they confessed their sins) there was a real sense of grace and freedom and forgiveness from the participants.

I am currently reading through Leviticus as part of my daily Bible reading, and I confess, I was struggling with it – finding it dry. Perhaps now I will spend more time over interpreting it afresh for our culture and working out how to put its principles into practice.

Read the whole article here.

Grace

I like this little video on grace, it clearly demonstrates the legal transaction of the punishment for sin that went on at the cross. Jesus dealt with our sin and the sin of the world, that is, the consequences of individual and worldwide corruption, but, through grace, has taken that punishment and offers a clean start with God for all who want to accept it. It misses out all the other things that Jesus achieved, such as reconciliation with God, overcoming death, redeeming us from slavery to sin and ultimately paving the way for all of creation to be restored to God. But on grace, it’s good.

I’m not sure that this is the place to start for everyone however. It only adequately illustrates grace if there is an awareness of sin first.

Video on grace

I found a great video on grace – sums up the outrageousness of it well…