I have been reading Tim Keller's book 'The Prodigal God,' with my bible study group; it's a book I would recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the Parable of the lost Son in Luke 15. I'd like to blog about the whole book eventually, but at the moment I'll start at the end. In the last chapter he brings up the ''feast'' that we will experience in heaven, and four ways to experience how our lives can be shaped by the Gospel that parallel a feast:
1. Experiential
- Ever hear the verse "taste and see that the Lord is good?" Here's a good place to use it. God's love can become more real to you than the love of anyone else. Honestly, I didn't believe that for most of my first few years as a Christian. I understood that His love was supposed to be the best thing in my life, but I never thought that it truly would be. This happens in my life when experiencing His presence is more enjoyable than anything else. Jonathon Edwards said "the difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual sense of its sweetness."
Keller makes a distinction here that some are too eager to experience this and think every intuition/feeling is a strong word from the Lord. Others are more even-tempered and rational and are not eager enough for this experience. Whichever you are, it's possible for you to truly experience it.
2. Material
- Jesus wants people to come to him, but he also wants this world to be renewed. He doesn't want to see people suffer. ...I think there was a lot more I was going to write here but I can't remember (I can't lie...Gilmore Girls is on in the background right now and I zoned out for a bit).
3. Individual
- This was the biggest section in this chapter- maybe because it's the one we need most help on. In this section Keller talks about one of Martin Luther's key insights on this Christian life: "religion is the default mode of the human heart. Your computer operates automatically in a default mode unless you deliberately tell it to do something else. So Luther says that even after you're converted by the gospel, your heart will go back to operating on other principles unless you deliberately, repeatedly set it to gospel-mode. We habitually and instinctively look to other things besides God and his grace as our justification, hope, significance and security. We believe the gospel at one level, but at deeper levels we do not." If we're serious about this change, it begins to change everything about us- our uses of money, our marriage, our motives, to name a few. "All change comes from my understanding of salvation in Christ and living out of the changes that understanding creates in your heart...Behavioral compliance to rules without heart-change will be superficial and fleeting." Um, I need to hear that every day. And the whole reason I wanted to write out this was what Keller wrote next: "The gospel is therefore not just the ABC's of the Christian life, but the A-Z of the Christian life." I've heard that several times in recent months...but it's one of those statements I could think about all day and realize that I never fully get it.
4. Communal
- This point is proven at work. Food leads to social-ness in so many ways. And the Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. We need each other for encouragement, admonishment, to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Keller includes a quote from Lewis in this chapter that I want to blog about at a later date. Keller ends this section with this: "Only if you are part of a community of believers seeking to resemble, serve and love Jesus will you ever get to know him and grow into his likeness." Amen to that.
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