Decisions that Define Us - Graham Cooke

All credit to ministry leader and prophet, Graham Cooke, for this inspiring challenge:

We have decided, that teaching the Gospel without demonstrating the Gospel is not enough,
good preaching, good doctrine, being good people — it’s not enough
We’ve decided that having a good church club is not enough good fellowship — it’s not enough
just being a member of that club is not enough

We’ve decided that having good bible studies is good, but not good enough.
That just making it to heaven is not our goal
and that knowing about God without truly knowing Him and experiencing God is meaningless

We’ve decided that having good programs is not enough,
That change without transformation is intolerable
And that staying the same is not an option

We’ve decided that gifting without character is futile
We’ve decided that singing songs without worshipping is hollow
Having meetings without God showing up is pointless
We’ve decided that faith without works is not enough
And having works without love is not acceptable
That our function comes out of our relationship first, with our father and second, with each other

We have that decided that reading about the book of Acts without living the book of acts is unthinkable

We’ve decided that confident faith is good, bold faith is better
We’ve decided that hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is silly
That believing in His presence without seeing it manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy
That believing in healing without seeing people healed is absurd
and that believing in deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous

We’ve decided to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit led, and Holy Spirit empowered
Anything less doesn’t work for us

We have decided to be the ones telling the stories of God’s power, not the ones hearing about God
We have decided that living saved, but not supernatural, is living below our privilege and short of what Christ died for.

We have decided that we’re a battleship, not a cruise ship
an army, not an audience
special forces, not spectators
missionaries, not club members

We have decided to value both pioneers and settlers
pioneers to expand our territory and settlers to build on those territories
but we are not squatters — people who take up space others have fought for without improving it

We have decided to be infectious instead of innocuous
contagious instead of quarantined
deadly instead of benign

We have decided to be radical lovers and outrageous givers
We have decided that we’re a mission station, not a museum
Therefore, we honor the past, but we don’t live in it.
We live in the present with our eyes on the future

We see past events, success and failures as stepping stones, not stop signs
We pursue learning in order to be transformed, not learning in order to know

We are people of engagement, not observation
We focus on what could be, not what is or has been
We are not limited to the 4 walls of this building
Our influence is not restricted by location
Not even the nations are ‘out of bounds’
We are more concerned about how many we send out into the world,
Than how many we convince to come into the building

This building is meant to be filled, and it will be
but it will not be the measure of who we are, or the measure of our effectiveness

We raise up world-changers, not tour-guides
We train commandos, not committers

We are people of our destiny, not our history
We have decided that it’s better to fail while reaching for the impossible that God has planned for us than succeed in settling for less
We have decided that nothing short of His kingdom come, and His will be done in our world as it is in heaven will satisfy
We have decided we will not be satisfied until our world freaks out, and cries out “those who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (acts 17:6)

These are some of the decisions that define who we are as a community and how we live our lives
These decisions are not destinations but rather journeys
Journeys along an ancient path, we’ve not found some new way
but rather we’ve discovered the path as old as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
The same path followed by Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Paul, John, and Peter
A path followed by the first century church
A church that revolutionized the culture of the 1st century and beyond

It’s a path that will impact the world we live in today
It’s a path of bold faith
believing that what God says is really true and acting on it

It’s a path of outrageous generosity
Giving our life away in order to demonstrate his kingdom
It’s a path of radical love
Loving God with everything in us
and our neighbors as ourselves

It’s a path of liberty freedom and healing
On this path, you will find significance purpose and destiny
It’s a path less traveled, however
It’s not a path only available to a select few
but to whosoever will may come
It’s for people of every nation tribe and tongue
for those in any occupation or vocation

No matter where you are on this life journey, there’s room on this path for you.

- Graham Cooke

_________________________This piece was written by Graham Cooke, as much as I would like to take credit for it!
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Luke 4:14-30 Commentary - The Beginnings of Jesus' Ministry in Luke's Gospel

Luke 4:14-30 14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
     because he has anointed me
     to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
     and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
     19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"
24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian."
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Biblical Exegesis and Study of Luke 4:14-30 - Pete's Bible Commentary

This story of Jesus unrolling the scroll of Isaiah in the local synagogue was following his baptism (Luke 3:21-23), and subsequent time in the wilderness being tempted by Satan (Luke 4:1-13). What an amazing moment in time, as Jesus unrolled the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, found the section we now know of as Isaiah chapter 61, and he read his mission manifesto. He outlined to his listeners, his specific role within the mission of God (missio dei). Let me unpack a little of what Jesus says:

• The Spirit of the Lord is upon him (Luke 4:18)
• The Spirit has anointed him (Luke 4:18)
• To preach good news to the poor (Luke 4:18)
• To proclaim freedom for prisoners (Luke 4:18)
• To bring recovery of sight to the blind (Luke 4:18)
• To released the oppressed (Luke 4:18)
• To proclaim the year of the Lord's favour (Luke 4:19)

Jacques Matthey says ("Luke 4:16-30: The Spirit's Mission Manifesto," International Review of Mission, 89, No. 352, Jan 2000):

'There is a clear holistic liberation emphasis in the Spirit's mission program: the aim is to radically change the spiritual, personal, social and economic conditions of all the victims, of all those who have been put aside by religious, social, political or economic developments in society.'

Interestingly when quoting Isaiah 61:1 and the first part of 61:2, he does not go on to mention the second part of Isaiah 61:2, which says, 'and the day of vengeance for our God'. Maybe this was because Jesus was talking about the current moment, and not so much the eschatological idea of judment. However so, it is refreshing to ponder the positive nature of the priorities given to the ministry of Jesus.

We must unpack briefly the idea of Jubilee that Jesus is referring to in Luke 4:19. What is Jubilee? Jubilee relates to Old Testament days (see Leviticus 25:8-55) when the Israelite people were asked to 'consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land' (Lev. 28:10). During this time people who had debts were free from those burdens, and the aim was for, 'economic and religious unity of the people of God' (Matthey). It is improbable that the Israelites ever enacted the year of Jubilee, but Jesus brings it to the forefront of his listeners saying that he is anointed by the Spirit to 'proclaim the year of the Lord's favor' (Luke 4:19). The time of Jubilee thus has come to the Christians who would follow in the years to come - including us. The time of joy in the Holy Spirit, and the forgiveness and liberation for those who are held captive (spiritually, physically, mentally, etc). The time of Jubilee is here.

Jesus becomes controversial when he mentions that Elijah went to a 'widow in Zarephath', who is a Gentile woman. He then refers to Elisha cleansing a leper, who is also a Gentile (Naaman the Syrian). For Jewish listeners this is on the verge of blasphemy. Firstly, Jesus claims to be the fulfilment of the words from Isaiah 61:1-2, and now is inferring that the mission that he intends to fulfil is also relevant to the Gentile people. The Jewish listeners wanted to throw his off the cliff, and so were obviously not ready to embrace the universality of his mission.

The Luke 4:14-30 passage when taken by itself becomes a great encouragement for today's church, with a mission that is really about liberation from pain and hurt and the restoration of the people of God. It encapsulates much of what the social mandate for followers of Jesus entails today. When put alongside passages such as the great commission in Matthew 28:16-20, or fullness of life in John 10:10, the great commandement in Matthew 22:34-40, and passages like Colossians 1:15-20, we have a broad view of what God's mission is about.
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This Lukan passage 4:14-30 is part of Pete's Bible Commentary
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Can God suffer? BIG Ideas on Faith No. 6

Furthering our journey of BIG ideas on Faith, we arrive at a discussion about the nature of God. Let me ask you a few questions:

• Is God Male?
• Is God a personal God or a distant God?
• Can God suffer?

Is God Male?

The simple answer is that God is neither male nor female. We well know the language used of the partriarchs of long ago (e.g. Moses, David, etc) was very masculine, and they (including Jesus), referred to God as 'Father'. Some would say we need to continue to refer to God as 'Father' because those are the words used by Christ himself.

As Alister McGrath says (Christian Theology), it is very different to say that, 'a father in ancient Israelite society is a suitable model for God' and saying, 'God is a male human being'. We may well use the word 'Father' as a title for God, and not be implying that God is male. There is always been difficulty in the English language with the pronouns him/her, as there is no alternative other than say the word, 'it', which is less than desirable for a word that is used for God. Most writers continue to use the word 'him', though acknowledging that God is neither male nor female.

I spoke to a lady once on the streets of Melbourne, Australia, about God. She had issues with the overly masculine language used in the church today. I tried to assure her that God is neither male, nor female. God values all people, no matter their gender. She replied with some happy retort, to which I said, 'Amen!' Then she got all indignant and said, 'There you go again. A-Men. Why does it have to always be about men?! That seems to be all you people are on about, I just wish...' She continued to whinge and whinge, until my friend and I kindly said, 'Look, thanks for the chat, but we really must be going...'

Is God a Personal God or a Distant God?
The question is related to theological themes called immanence and transcendence. Immanence is the idea that God is close to humanity (God is immanent), and that through Jesus Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, we can be in close relationship with him. Transcendence focuses on the sovereignty of God. God is all-powerful, and while not distant per se, he is worthy of respect and honour, as he is Creator of the Cosmos. Most Christians hold those two concepts in tension, that God is soveriegn (transcendent), he is also very close to us (immanent).

Can God Suffer?
Can we speak of God as a 'Suffering God'? Right back to the time of Plato the notion of perfection characterised people's understanding of God. 'To be perfect is to be unchanging and self-sufficient. It is therefore impossible for such a perfect being to be affected or changed by anything outside itself' (McGrath, 210). This is the classic view called 'the impassibility of God'. Though, if we hold to the view that God is perfect in this sense and that God never changes, then how do we grapple with the crucifixion of Jesus?

Read another important post here on why God may allow suffering to occur for you and me.

Martin Luther ruffled some feathers in 1518-1519 when he spoke of 'a crucified God', mentioning that God shares in the sufferings of the crucified Christ. Jurgen Moltmann's 1972 'The Crucified God' expands on  this idea. Moltmann says, God willed to undergo suffering, that is, to see his son crucified on the cross for the sins of the world. Also, to believe God suffers and is in pain, for instance at the death of his son, God is able to give meaning and dignity to human suffering on the whole (McGrath, p. 213).

This leads us to BIG Idea No. 6: God experienced suffering when his own Son went to the cross for our sins. Therefore God understands our own suffering and pain.
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<-- The Word of God is Sharp - BIG Idea No. 5
--> BIG Idea No. 7______________________