Luke’s rendition of the Sermon (on the plain rather than mountain) is stunningly simple. The life of the Kingdom is simple and powerful. Yet… we do not live them out. It begs the question: WHY DO WE NOT TAKE THESE WORDS SERIOUSLY? Go to Luke 6:27-20.
Tag Archives: Kingdom of God
Holy isn’t comfort
We come to the place of Christmas. We sing with gentleness, “O Holy Night.” Holy is not comfortable. It is not even predictable. We want a sweet song to sweep away our problems and lavish us in comfort. But what is holy does not avoid pain or difficulty. Holy makes way for the good, butContinue reading “Holy isn’t comfort”
Our misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God
I truly wish I could articulate better what I truly believe in the deepest part of my soul about the Kingdom of God. N.T. Wright helps me. He articulates the vision of the Kingdom in a way I understand… but then I try to repeat it… and… ugh. There is so much to “undo” inContinue reading “Our misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God”
Our misunderstanding of salvation
I have been rekindled in my thoughts concerning “salvation” the past few years. We have such a truncated version of “gospel” that we try to keep it reduced to something like, “Jesus came to save you so when you repent you can know you go to heaven when you die.”
Living in the power of the beautiful kingdom of God
One of the great lessons I’ve carried from NT Wright is to see heaven and earth in a far different relationship than what I believed growing up. Heaven is not “up there” and earth is not “down here.” They are two different dimensions of God’s good creation.
Our grand invitation
Matthew 7:13–14 (NIV)13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. I recently finished up another journey through the Sermon onContinue reading “Our grand invitation”
The prophetic stance of the Kingdom
The church as recovery group
D.L. Mayfield’s new book, The Myth of the American Dream, is timely. There is a lot of gold in this book and I will do a review later on. But this quote is incredible: My husband likes to say that we need the church to be our recovery group; we need it to be aContinue reading “The church as recovery group”
Clueless to Greatness
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. (Mark 9:33-34) We can be so clueless. Jesus talks about sacrifice, and we’re consumed with who gets theContinue reading “Clueless to Greatness”
Can we say “Rise up and walk”
Quite probably an apocryphal story, but one I still find relevant in our time: According to Cornelius a Lapide, Thomas Aquinas once called on Pope Innocent II when the latter was counting out a large sum of money. “You see, Thomas,” said the Pope, “the church can no longer say, ‘Silver and gold have IContinue reading “Can we say “Rise up and walk””
Apprentice 2 Jesus 