Friday, 24 July 2009

Just Do Something... - Ch 6

5

The opening paragraph of this chapter made a striking statement:



"The most important decision we face is the daily decision to live for Christ and die to self."



I think the seriousness of this is still ringing in my ears as i read it aloud to myself a few times. It stands above all other decisions in our daily routine.
What to eat, what to wear, which TV program to watch, what entertainment to seek, what exercise to do (if any), or what hair style to have, all pale into insignificance compared to the decision to live for Christ & die to self.

Do we make it? Do we even think about it in our seemingly chaotic & busy lives?


In the rest of this chapter Kevin deals with how God can & indeed does speak to His people in various ways. But sets forth a strong argument that supernatural, extra-Biblical ways are not the normal way, and indeed should not be expected nor sought after. Instead God generally speaks by His Spirit through the Scriptures, giving wisdom & revealing Christ.

Kevin reminds us that "When we read the Bible, we know we are hearing from God. We are not only reading what God has inspired by the Spirit, but what He continues to say by the same Spirit." I guess that the main point in this chapter is that, Yes God can & does use supernatural means to guide & give wisdom to Christians. But we are not called to seek after these as the normal way that God speaks, rather, the surest foundation for us to look for is the Bible. We are not to expect the unexpected!

I'm going to leave my thoughts on the rest of the chapter (you can discuss them on your blog, in the comments or with friends). For now i want to go to the words of Jesus in Mark 8:

"If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it."

Is the decision to live for Christ and die to self a decision that continually, often & daily comes to our mind? Do we wrestle more with this decision than any other?


Your Turn
What struck you in this chapter? What do you think of God speaking in supernatural ways?

*John Fitzsimmons Post
*Supersimbo's Post

Next Week
Next week we'll turn to chapter 7 "Tools of the Trade".
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About Boaly
Gary has been involved in printing the Scriptures for 20 years, enjoys photography and rambling online

5 comments:

jimflem said...

Great words from mark Boaly but I like Luke's slant on it even more.......Luke 9:23-25 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

The fact the word daily is in Luke's version really impacts that this 'death' to ourselves we must do every day.

This really is the first call to discipleship, as Paul puts it in Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The challenge for all Christians is to put this into pratice, to put Jesus first and ourselves last. To serve those who are hurting and in need, Matt 25 stuff. If we started to live like this what an impact we could have on the world around us!

9:08 am
Boaly said...

Jim, totally agree!

Oh to do this daily! Problem is that i get so easily distracted

9:15 am
John Fitzsimmons. said...

Great chapter, again.

"Live for Christ, die to self" what a challenge!

I agree with the general conclusions of the chapter and i agree God primarly speaks by His Spirit through the Scriptures, giving wisdom & revealing Christ., but I wouldn't go as far as saying we shouldn't expect extra-Biblical means as long as they are submissive to scripture...

I'm thinking of when Paul told the crazy Corinthians to "Pursue love, and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophecy."

I'm not saying we should expect visions and angelic visitaions and audible voices every other day, but just that Paul seemed to encourage the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be part of the experience of the community of faith.

11:27 pm
Boaly said...

Yeh, I see what you're saying John. When i was reading this chapter a couple i know came to mind who barely get up in the morning without some supernatural event helping them on their way (yet the same couple aren't in their Bible).

The general expectation for them is a prophetic word or tongue as God's means to speak & bless them

I am certianly by no means a cessationist (prob spelt that wrong) but i do think the primary & general way God speaks is the Word.

However; is it wrong to expect God's supernatural dealings with us in gifts etc? Probably not, if we are equally expecting His voice through His Word.

I think the problem comes when we get unbalanced (as can be said of most things).

Thanks for challenging this aspect and causing me to think a bit more about it.

7:44 am
John Fitzsimmons. said...

I know people like that as well...

In theory Pentecostals and Charismatics agree in the supremacy of scripture, but sometimes in practice they can get more excited about word's of wisdom etc etc. That's always a danger.

I'm was thinking last night, extra-biblical is okay as long as it's biblical extra-biblical. And the only way someone can know if it is or not, is by knowing Christ through the Spirit in scripture.

Also I don't think anyone should build their lives on anything extra-biblical, but on the Rock of the Word.

However I take your point. We shouldn't live on words of prophecy etc, we should live on scripture which is better by far!

8:12 am

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