The Beauty of Salvation (8)
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. John 1.18
The Oxford Dictionary of English defines “persuade” as “induce to do something through reasoning or argument”. That’s not bad, but it’s not enough for proclaiming the Gospel of Christ and His Kingdom. Jesus did not appoint us merely to reason and argue with people, so that some of them might “see the light” and be saved. Rather, He called us first to be witnesses, to be a kind of people who show by our lives that something unusual and attractive is occurring in us: we’re becoming like Jesus!
Jesus was His own best persuasion. He “declared” God by His life as well as His words. David Bentley Hart explains: “If Christ, the eternal Word, is the Father’s ‘supreme rhetoric,’ then the truth of the evangel is of a very particular kind.” He continues concerning the view of truth that obtains in our day: “[W]hat is called truth is usually a consensus wrested from diversity amid a war of persuasions, the victor’s crown of laurels laid upon the brow of whichever dialectical antagonist has better (for the time being) succeeded in rendering his argument’s own ambiguities and contradictions hidden…[A]nd into the tumult of history Christ comes as a persuasion among persuasions, a Word made entirely flesh, entirely form, whose appeal lies wholly at the surface.”
That is, all one has to do is look at the life of Jesus and listen to His words, and you realize there has never been another like this. Then, as you hear and analyze His words, you realize that they are utterly irrefutable and therefore wholly reliable and true.
And this is what we must strive for as witnesses to Jesus. We must labor to be like Him, by living according to His Word, and we must offer what He offered the world of His day: the Kingdom of God and His glory. When we are witnesses to Jesus, what we say about Him will be more persuasive.
Being disciples and making disciples
We cannot make disciples if we don’t know what we’re trying to achieve. How shall we think about disciples and discipleship, except as God presents these in His Word? This is Dr. Mike McQueen’s starting-point for disciple-making. Listen in to my conversations with Mike by clicking the tool bar or the link 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 move from examining the values that such an economy requires to considering how we can grow it. Our Read Moore podcast continues readings on our calling as joy-bringers to our world from our book, Joy to Your World!. In our Crosfigell teaching letter, we are examining the life and work of Coemgen of Glendalough. And in our Scriptorium column we focus on Matthew 1.18-25. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
The Ailbe Bookstore: This fall, in our Read Moore podcast, we have been reading through three seminal books related to being witnesses to the Lord. The Gospel of the Kingdom explains what we have to proclaim. Joy to You World! show us what Christ-filled witnesses look like. And If Men Will Pray reminds us of the role of prayer in every aspect of the life of faith. You can order these three bundled together by clicking here.
Resources for Shepherds: There is much of beauty and therefore of Jesus to be discovered in the work even of realist painters such as Peter Huntoon. His painting, “Spring Confluence”, invites us to consider the uniqueness of Jesus as fully God and fully Man. Ailbe Brother Stuart Kellogg reviews an important book about ten books that have been too important over the past two centuries.
From the Celtic Revival
Coemgen (498-618)
A fortnight and a month without food,
Or somewhat longer, was he, through the effort;
Suddenly a blackbird hopped from a branch,
And made a nest in the hand of the saint.
Coemgen remained in the pen
Alone, though great was the pain,
And the nest of the blackbird on his palm,
Till her birds were hatched.
– The Monk Solomon, Life of Coemgen
Irish hagiographers had a way of saying things which, while not always exactly true, nonetheless gave a sound impression of those about whom they wrote. So the monk Solomon, perhaps was asked, “How long did Coemgen pray in that little pen during Lent?”, and then told the story above with a twinkle in his eye to say, “Well, let’s just say that he prayed a long time.” Do we?
Resources from the Celtic Revival (ca. 430-800 AD)
What was the Celtic Revival? One of the greatest and most enduring revivals in the history of the Christian movement. Also, one of the least remembered. Would you like to learn more about this four-centuries-long period? Our free PDF book, The Celtic Revival: A Brief Introduction, provides a concise overview, from Patrick to the Synod of Whitby and beyond.
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.
