The Beauty of Salvation (2)
Therefore He says:
“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”
(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) Ephesians 4.8-10
It can be easy, when offering someone the gift of salvation, to make the gift of more significance than the Giver. A lot of contemporary evangelism—and, I’m convinced, of what is passing for “revival” today among many young people—is focused on those who are to be saved and their need for something “out of this world” to make their lives make sense. The salvation they are offered is about them and their needs and the healing or soothing of those needs in the gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
This is good, don’t get me wrong. But if it’s not put in the context of the greatness and beauty and mission of Jesus, we can lead people to be content with the gift and only perfunctorily with the Giver, if at all.
And we do this, I suspect, because we’re not clear about the Giver ourselves. We have found His gift to be enormously wonderful, giving us assurance, contentment, and happiness. But do we see Jesus? Do we set our minds on the one Whose mission is to fill the world with Himself? Do we understand His role for us in that mission? Is He the commanding vision and goal of our lives?
David Bentley Hart reminds us that, “in Christian thought, the ‘transcendent’ vantage that takes in all things is that provided by a particular first-century Jew. It is in the life of Jesus, lived to the end and vindicated in the resurrection, that the measure of the world is given. And while the form of Christ is at once the perfect repetition and fulfillment of the form of creation, Christ comes into a world that has constructed its own totality, its own orders of thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, and must cast them down—and do so by means of that very historical shape that constitutes his identity as Jesus of Nazareth.”
The salvation of Jesus “takes in all things”; He is “the measure of the world” and the “repetition and fulfillment of the form of creation”; and He is at work through the Gospel, casting down the “thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers” of the fallen world so that He might fill the world with His beautiful and glorious Self.
And this is the Good News we proclaim to the world.
Being disciples and making disciples
Are we living in the Presence of God? Do we recognize the Presence of Immanuel with us always, to the end of the age? Mike McQueen helps us consider these questions as an aspect of our calling to be and make disciples. Listen in to my conversation with Mike by clicking the link or the audio bar at the top of this issue of Pastor to Pastor.
Other columns of interest: This week: In our ReVision series on “The Kingdom Economy” we are looking at the place of God’s Law in the life of the Church. Our Read Moore podcast continues working through The Gospel of the Kingdom, looking for the true Gospel of the Lord. The Crosfigell teaching letter is pursuing a devotional life of Brigit, a contemporary of Brendan. And in our Scriptorium column we are unpacking the teaching of Paul in Ephesians 5. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
New in our bookstore is Let God Be True, sharing the Gospel in an age in flight from God. It takes patience and love, but we can do it. Free as a PDF by clicking here. You can also order my new book of poems, Never Too Late, issued by Wipf and Stock’s Resources imprint. Click here.
Coming in November: We will be offering a resource for measuring your church, in a wide variety of facets, with the church in the New Testament and first couple of centuries. This is part of our ReThinking Church Project. Watch this space for more news about this effort.
From the Celtic Revival
Brigit of Kildare (451-525)
In our Crosfigell teaching letter, we have begun following Cogitosus’ Lift of St. Brigit the Virgin:
One day holy Brigit needed to attend a gathering of the people for a compelling practical reason, and she sat in her chariot which was drawn by two horses. As she sat in the vehicle, she practiced on earth the life of heaven, as was her custom, by contemplative meditation, and prayed to her Lord.
– Cogitosus, The Life of St. Brigit the Virgin
This is a glimpse at Brigit’s whole life. If the two brief biographies we have about her are to be believed—at least in the true history that we can sift from these miracles-laden accounts—Brigit was a woman of deep spirituality, which characterized her in all her daily activities, including driving her chariot. We are all called “to practice on earth the life of heaven,” which is why we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”—through us, that is. But that will be difficult to do if have little or no sense of what the Kingdom of heaven is.
Follow the rest of Cogitosus’ story of Brigit each Tuesday and Thursday in our Crosfigell teaching letter. Add our Crosfigellteaching letter to your subscriptions. You can learn more about the Kingdom of God in our book, The Kingdom Turn. Order your copy here in book form or here as a free PDF.
Devotional Histories
Brigit’s story is the fifth in our series of devotional histories of great saints from the period of the Celtic Revival (ca. 430-800). Here are three others, which are available as free PDF downloads in our bookstore:
Patrick: A Devotional History
Colum Cille: A Devotional History
Columbanus: A Devotional History
Our devotional history of Brendan is still in the process of being readied for publication.
You might also enjoy our selections from the lives of other saints of this period. Download a free copy of our book, Lives of Irish Saints.
T. M. Moore
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
