Chapter 7 The
Visible Community
Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt
have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for
nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is
set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it
under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in
the house.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they
may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Continuing from
yesterday…
Bonhoeffer- 'The
call of Christ makes those who respond to it the salt of the earth in their
total existence.'
'The call of Jesus
Christ means either that we are the salt of the earth, or else we are
annihilated; either we follow the call or we are crushed beneath it. There is
no question of a second chance.'
My thoughts.
Today it's really
been sticking with me, thinking about yesterday's blog. Not only is Satan the
walking, living dead, but everyone who rejects the offer of Salvation in Jesus
Christ truly desiring to be His disciple NOT under cheap grace, but costly grace,
are the living dead as well.
I was talking to my
son about it today a bit, and he mentioned the show 'The Walking Dead.' It's a
popular zombie television show. We discussed how amused Satan must be by the
depiction of what man considers zombies- the dead still living in a very altered
state which makes them prey on other non-living dead humans. I've never watched the show but I've seen my
share of zombie movies going way back. I believe it amuses Satan to no end
because the truth is that he has a whole slew of zombies of his own. They are
the living dead, just as He is and they prey upon others who are NOT living
dead, seeking to turn them into the living dead as well-- all in a very real,
very spiritual sense.
When we read
Bonhoeffer saying-'The call of Christ makes those who respond to it the salt of
the earth in their total existence.' We are reading truth, because Christ is
the salt, Christ is what keeps us alive, and Christ must be in our TOTAL
EXISTENCE not merely on the occasion that we happen to think of Him. He is the CENTER of our lives, the LIFE FORCE
of our Spiritual, Physical existence. Without Christ we are absolutely NOTHING,
we are dead- just like salt that has lost it's savor is dead. It still exists,
but it's useless, it flavors nothing. It might look like it is good, but it's
not. We too can look like we are very healthy spiritual creatures living for
our Savior, but the truth can be far different. He who knows whether or not we
still retain our spiritual savor can tell the difference. We might fool
everyone around us into believing we are something we are not. It might sound
good on Bible study night, but come the next day we are back to living a life
putting self first, and Christ somewhere else.
This is the truth-
Bonhoeffer- ''The call of Jesus Christ means either that we are the salt of the
earth, or else we are annihilated; either we follow the call or we are crushed
beneath it. There is no question of a second chance.'
No question of a
second chance, no question of living somewhere in between. If our salt loses
it's savor every now and again, it's a HUGE deal. We can't be partially savory salt and
partially savorless salt. We are, or we aren't. We are Christ's or we aren't.
*
Continuing…
Bonhoeffer-
'"Ye are the light." Once
again it is not "You are to be the light," they are ALREADY the light
because Christ has called them, they are a light which is seen of men, they
cannot be otherwise, and if they were it would be a sign that they had not been
called.'
'The same Jesus who,
speaking of himself, said, "I am the light," says to his followers:
"You are the light in your whole existence, provided you remain faithful
to your calling. And since you are that light, you can no longer remain hidden,
even if you want to. It is the property of the light to shine.'
'Now they must be
what they really are--otherwise they are not followers of Jesus. The followers
are a visible community; their discipleship visible in action which lifts them
out of the world-- otherwise it would not be discipleship. And of course the following
is as visible to the world as a light in the darkness or a mountain rising from
a plain.'
My thoughts--
The same principle
as the salt. Being the light as Christ is the light means our total existence
is to be HIS. If we truly are HIS, we will be HIS without being anything
else. You won't have to worry about
being savory or shining, because you will be automatically. As a true disciple-
this is truth! As a false disciple there are a lot of things you will be- even
mingled with a false light and false savor so that you may THINK you are truly
Christ's, but you are not.
*
Continuing…
Bonhoeffer- Is it in
this light that the good works of the disciples are meant to be seen. Men are
not to see the disciples but their good works, says Jesus. And these works are
none other than those which the Lord Jesus himself has created in them by calling
them to be the light of the world under the shadow of his cross. The good works
are poverty, preregrination (traveling),
meekness, peaceableness, and finally persecution and rejection. All these good works are a bearing of the
cross of Jesus Christ. The cross is the
strange light which alone illuminates these good works of the disciples. Jesus
does not say that men will see God; they
will see the good works and GLORIFY God for them. The cross and the works of the cross, the
poverty and renunciation of the blessed in the beatitudes, these are the things
which will become visible. Neither the cross, nor their membership in such a
community betoken any merit of their own-- the praise is due to GOD ALONE. If the good works were a galaxy of human
virtues, we should then have to glorify the disciples, not God. But there is
nothing for us to glorify in the disciple who bears the cross, or in the
community whose light so shines because it stands visibly on the hill-- only
the Father which is in heave can be praised for the "good works." It
is by seeing the cross and the community beneath it that men come to believe in
God. But that is the light of the Resurrection.'
My thoughts-
The good works are
NOT the things the world considers good works, not really. I can't count the number of times that people
have told me I need to be more assertive, more aggressive. And I'm not saying
this presuming to have any great meekness (only by the grace of God will I ever
have that through the grace and righteousness, the meekness of our
Savior.) But I'm saying this to
emphasize the point that being meek is NOT considered a good work. Being persecuted and facing rejection, is NOT
something people truly believe is a good work.
Living a life for Christ is seldom, if ever, glorified by the world. Those who do glorify God when they see these
works manifested in those disciples of His on earth, comprehend that it is
CHRIST in those men and women, living in them. They know it's NOT any goodness
on that person's part at all, but it is the glory of God manifest in the works.
All our works
whatever they are, are a result of GOD, not of anything we've manifested of
ourselves. To GOD be the GLORY always!
If anyone ever
glorifies God because they've seen His works manifested in us, all PRAISE TO
OUR SAVIOR for such a honor, to be HIS disciple, to be USED by HIM, to LIVE by
HIM and have Him live through us! We
NEED NO GLORY, NONE! All GLORY TO GOD!
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