Teaching from AllGroup

Well, here you go. Below is the text/notes from our AllGroup gathering last night. I incorporated a lot from conversations (electronic and otherwise) with others. I feel kinda weird about it…. the entire time I was “giving” it I was wrestling with the demons of insecurity. I lost more often than I care to admit. But here you go.

Oh, here are some audio versions of the evening too:

Dave Nixon reading something he wrote.mp3 (6mb)

Lord’s Prayer read by Dave Nixon.mp3 (500kb)

AllGroupTeaching by Aaron Klinefelter.mp3 (21mb)

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There is a lot here to talk about. It could consume a better part of the day. But our time is limited and our comprehension even more so. But with what we have I’d like us to look at this passage in Matthew – the Temptation Story, we’ll touch on Genesis and Romans some as well.

In this Temptation Story we’ll look at “Jesus-i-ness” of it and then how that spills out into our lives. There will likely be a few rabbit trails along the way and several asides, but hopefully we’ll make some progress together.

Oh, and I suppose this goes for every AllGroup whenever somebody is teaching, so I have a hunch that some percentage of what I say is probably wrong. And hopefully, by God’s Grace, some percentage will be Truth, useful, and Life-giving. The problem is I don’t know which percentage is good stuff and which is chaff. That’s your job – deciding. I pray the Holy Spirit illumines all of our hearts to hear what God is saying in our midst.

And, oh, one other thing…. right off the bat. There’s a whole part of this story that I’m not sure we’ll really get into… The Way of the Desert – The way of Uncertainty/Testing – Liminal (Jacob wrestling, Israel wandering, Jesus fasting).

What we will look at is The Way of Jesus – The way of Life (through Death)

Jesus did what we (Adam and Eve, Israel, Us) could not. He accomplished what we fail to do. He succeeded where we falter. But because of his success we can succeed. Because of what he accomplished we can do the same.

Some of us lately have been talking about Jesus as the “Great Hinge of History”. That with Jesus the story of the world turns a corner. He is the axis point where all life makes one great Pivot. And, as a bit of an aside, I think that pivot or hinge was more than just his death on the cross (as some highlight), more than his resurrection (which others highlight), more than his ascension (which some highlight), and even more than his life before all those others (which still others highlight) – it was the totality of these and was certainly not less than any of them. It was Jesus. (Johnny Cash song)

Johnny Cash It Was Jesus lyrics

Well a man walked down by Galilee so the Holy Book does say

And a great multitude was gathered there without a thing to eat for days

Up stepped a little boy with the basket please take it Lord he said

And with just a five loaves and two little fishes five thousand had fish and bread

Who was it everybody (it was Jesus) who was it everybody (it was Jesus)

Who was it everybody (it was Jesus) it was Jesus Christ our Lord

Now pay close attention little children it’s somebody you ought to know

It’s all about a man that walked on earth nearly two thousand years ago

Well he healed the sick and afflicted it and he raised ‘em from the dead

Then they nailed him on an old rugged cross and put thorns on his head

Who was it everybody…

Well they took him down and they buried him and after the third day

When they came to his tomb where they knew he was gone

Cause the stone was rolled away

He’s not here for he is risen the angel of the Lord then said

And when they saw him walking with these nail-scared hands

They knew he came back from the dead

Who was it everybody…

Another thing that some of us have been talking a lot about lately is that it is the PERSON OF JESUS that this thing is all about. In his birth (that we just celebrate a month and a half ago!) this was present, in his life and ministry this was present, in his death, resurrection, and ascension it was present – - throughout all of his time on earth (and now, presumably, apart from it to) Jesus was present. It is the Person of Jesus that makes Life possible – not any one event or action of that he did in his life. Truly because of who he was in his person all these various events happened – but they didn’t happen in some kind of isolated, vacuous, abstract, mechanical – “AND NOW JESUS FIXES THE WORLD” They happen out of who he is – its his “Who-ness” not his “What-ness” is the thing.

Similarly, as a community of faith – even more as Christ’s Body on earth – we exist because of the Person of Christ. We – Vineyard Central – are a Christ-centered community. Or if you want to sound cool you can say Christo-centric.

This is more than just lip-service, but rather a characterizing and gravitational force for us. It forms who we are. It shapes us and informs and enfolds all we do. His person becomes clearer as we are focused by the lens of God’s ongoing Story – which we read about in Scripture. Through the text of the Bible we get to know Jesus. Obviously there are other ways that God reveals himself to us – experience, prophecy, tradition, reason, etc… But none so clear as the Person of Christ and we see Christ most clearly via the text of Scripture. Well, I guess that ends the aside…. but it does play into this story….

It is this centrality of Jesus that illumines the Temptation Story. We see this Temptation Story in the light of his Personhood. The Who of this story is as, if not more, important than the What.

We see in the Adam and Eve story the temptation to power, self-sufficiency, and pride. Where Adam and Eve fail Jesus does not.

And, let me say emphatically, the point CANNOT be that Jesus, God’ Son, can resist temptation and we mere-humans can’t. This should not be used as some sort of perverted license that allows scapegoating. Adam and Eve fail and WE fail when temptation comes – left to our own devices. But through Jesus and the work of the Spirit in our lives we can overcome temptation. God can and will, if we let him, transform us to triumph over the Adversary in our lives.

From NT Wright via Jason Zahariades from CA – in looking at the Romans 5 text he says:

“The point of the Adam/Christ comparison is to emphasize that the human project begun in Genesis, the key part of the creator’s project for the whole creation, has been put back on track. Paul doesn’t offer a full ‘doctrine of sin’ here, but merely summarizes what he had said in 1:18-32 (which doesn’t usually make it into the lectionaries). Enough for the moment to know that sin involves disobedience, failure of loyalty, a fracturing of the creator’s intention, which, because it is a turning away from the source of life, cannot but bring death.

“The parallel is unbalanced (that is the point of vv. 15-17) because Jesus did not start where Adam started; he began where Adam ended up. The ‘obedience’ of the Messiah is his obedience to the whole saving plan of God, the Israel-shaped plan to which Israel had herself been disobedient; hence the double task, not just to lift the weight that Adam failed to lift but first to catch it as it fell. And the result of that abounding grace (v. 15) is the firm platform on which Christ’s people now stand. ‘By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make the many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities’; Isaiah is never far from Paul’s mind, and the echoes here are plain.

“Dense doctrinal statements are, of course, shorthand ways of drawing together a larger world of narrative. Romans was written, so far as we know, before the Gospels, but it presupposes the sort of story we find in Matthew 4. Jesus offers God not merely the obedience which Adam refused, but that redeeming obedience which Israel refused in the wilderness. Jesus faced the ‘if… ‘ of the tempter with courage, with Scripture, with loyalty to the one who had called him. Interestingly, he thereby chose the way Eve had though to avoid, the way of death, the naked death of the cross. But the tree he chose was the tree of wisdom, the tree of life.”

NT Wright, Twelve Months of Sunday: Year A

I think another thing we see through Jesus in this story is what Temptation is. What’s the point of it. Is it just some cosmic joke that God plays on us? Is God so insecure as to need us to prove our love to him by continually testing us?

Recently there was an audio essay (podcast) where Dave Slusher pours out his heart about this discontinuity he sees in this Story we say we believe in.

Surely this cannot be the case. God does not stand over us like a grumpy, disapproving school teacher waiting for us to make a mistake – or even worse, placing candy in front of a child only to take it away just to prove a point. Temptation is not cruelty.

From Thurman:

“Temptation strips away the masks and costumes we cover ourselves with to show the world and makes us stand in front of the mirror naked, looking at what lies beneath, as scary and frightening as that may be for some of us. Even after 40 days of fasting, Jesus was able to proudly stand before the mirror and reflect the Father. Our hope is that we can do the same.”

And I would add that our “hope” is not a vain hope… it is a living hope in a person – Jesus. We wish temptation had an “Easy Button” (from the Staples commercials), but maybe its good that we don’t. We want Jesus or the Spirit to be an all-purpose “Life-fixer”, but perhaps that’s not the point.

What if temptation was a good thing? See I think we assume that it is inherently bad. That temptation is Sin – that the two go together solidly.

We pray “Lead us not into temptation”, because we know how bad we are at dealing with it. We implore God – “don’t let us go there, we can’t make it on our own”. And this is not a bad thing to pray, for too often temptation does lead to sin. But it need not always be the case.

What if temptation was kinda like DEATH? See we have this general aversion to death. We aren’t big fans. We’d just assume it go away. And too often we reduce Jesus to “saving us from death” – which he does in fact do… but not in the way we usually want.

Jesus has this weird, paradoxical way of turning those things that are ugly into things of beauty. He redeems death by dying himself.

Temptation gets a similar treatment via Jesus. He turns it on its head. The thing that is meant to be an obstacle becomes an opportunity.

I’m pretty sure the same can be true in our lives. Over this past year and half Sarah and I have been looking for what God has for us in the way of a job for me. Certainly He has provided all this time and we have not gone hungry. And yet we are very often tempted during this wilderness season to cling to things other than God for our sustenance and provision. This tempting aversion can (and I pray has) become and opportunity for us to deepen our allegiance and trust in God.

So, I’ve talked enough…. I want to open it up a bit for your thoughts and dialog.

Here are two questions:

1)What do you think about this idea of Jesus being central to this Story (both the Temptation Story and the Story of History)?

2)How can the temptations in your life become avenues of opportunity?

Merton on the purpose of Lent

“The purpose of Lent is not only expiation, to satisfy the divine justice, but above all a preparation to rejoice in God’s love. And this preparation consists in receiving the gift of God’s mercy – a gift which we receive in so far as we open our hearts to it, casting out what cannot remain in the same room with mercy.

Now one of the things we must cast out first of all is fear. Fear narrows the little entrance of our heart. It shrinks up our capacity to love. It freezes up our power to give ourselves. If we were terrified of God as an inexorable judge, we would not confidently await God’s mercy, or approach God trustfully in prayer. Our peace, our joy in Lent are a guarantee of grace.”

- Thomas Merton, in ‘Seasons of Celebration’, from Sojourners, SojoMail

Techy-Jesus

Not sure what I think about these:

The Christian Blogosphere Convention (GodBlogCon 2005)

Technology and Ministry: TechMission’s AC4 National Conference

I see benefits in meeting up and sharing info, links, resources, etc… But I’m not sure if the cost is worth the benefit…. what’s the ROI, so to speak. What can really be accomplished at such an event? Does it truly advance the Kingdom?

AllGroup Teaching :: Matthew 4:1-11

Let’s try something new here.

This weekend I’m teaching/preaching/speaking at VC’s Allgroup (where all our house churches gather monthly for worship, learning, and connecting). We’re using the Lectionary texts and I will specifically focus on Matthew 4:1-11, the temptation narrative.

Well, instead of me carving out some space in the week to isolate myself and prepare the teaching, I thought I’d open it up to some dialogue and community formation. So whether you’re part of VC or not, please contribute by:

1) reading the texts and related materials for the week (see below)

2) leaving a comment here

3) sending me an email – aaron@vineyardcentral.com

If you are part of VC I strongly encourage you to at the minimum read the Scripture texts for the week ahead of time. This way we’ll all come more prepared to HEAR God and respond accordingly.

Lectionary Scripture texts for this weekend are:

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

Romans 5:12-19

Matthew 4:1-11

Psalm 32

and are located here -

Lent 1, Year A

IVP Commentary on Matthew 4:1-11 here – God’s Son Passes the Test

The Text This Week: Lectionary, Scripture Study and Worship Links and Resources on Matthew 4:1-11 here – Textweek.com

Here are my initial thoughts on the subject and the direction I am thinking about going….

What does it mean to be tempted? What is “temptation”? Do each of Jesus’ three temptations mean something unique and interdependent? How are we tempted… is it similar/different than Jesus? Why should we resist temptation – what’s the point?

Temptation by its very nature is “otherly” – it does not exist on its own. You can’t just be tempted or have temptation in and of itself. It is always in-relation-to something else. It seems to me that we have two choices (atleast); either we are tempted to do something other than what OUGHT to do (“oughts” determined by some kind of external moral code) OR we are tempted to something other than Someone (be that someone other than our spouse, a friend who we’ve made a promise to, or God). Likewise, it seems to me that Jesus’ temptations were of the latter – tempted to someone (Satan) over and against Someone else (God). Our temptations – though they take on a variety of flavors – all boil down to the same. We are tempted to serve, worship, honor, love, obey, follow someone else (ourselves, a person, Satan, etc…) over and against God. Our temptation is a relational problem in as much as it is a moral one (maybe more!).

What do you think Jesus’ three temptations mean? Are they unique individually?

What do we – living in contemporary, 21st C. America need to learn/apply from this text?

What is God saying here that is uniquely important to us?

Please contribute. This will be a far richer experience/learning if you do.

USATODAY.com – Radio to the MP3 degree: Podcasting

Today’s cover of USA Today – on podcasting. Nice.

“Like the blogging phenomenon, podcasts have come out of nowhere to attract an enthusiastic grassroots following. They’re being generated by a wide cast of characters — from professional broadcasters to rank amateurs. Listeners can download shows to their computers, or, with a bit of know-how, automatically export shows to an Apple iPod — hence the term “podcast” — or any MP3 player.”

“Podcasting’s most distinctive quality lies in the capacity to time-shift the consumption of digital content. Users can grab and tote their favorite shows, then listen while commuting, exercising or doing chores. Think TiVo for radio. “It’s the Internet penetrating into the rest of your life, when you’re not connected,” says podcasting pioneer Adam Curry.”

Evil Genius Chronicles: "Why I Don't Believe in God"

Go Here.

You need to listen to this. Its a podcast. Dave talks brutally honestly about how he gave his life to Christ in Jr. High and how he took it back later. This is kinda a rant, but more of an honest rendering of his heart. Good to hear and the church needs to hear it.

USATODAY.com – 'Podcasting' lets masses do radio shows

“Less than a year old, podcasting enables anyone with a PC to become a broadcaster. It has the potential to do to the radio business what Web logs have done to print journalism. By bringing the cost of broadcasting to nearly nothing, it’s enabling more voices and messages to be heard than ever before.

‘It was just one of those things where you read about a technology and it clicks in your head: This is perfect and something I want to get involved with,’ said Patchett, whose podcasts focus on Christian and family programming.”

I still want to get into this…. I just need a way to record (like an iPod/iTalk or digital voice recorder). I think that is all I really need to make it happen. Anybody got one I can borrow?

A Couple Links for Your Friday Afternoon

It’s SOOOOO Friday.

– the clips from Alan Roxburgh and Doug Pagitt got me thinking……

I agree – We do NOT need to “just get back to the way the early church did it”. This is unhelpful. Unrealistic. And ultimately, (I think) unproductive. The early church was as culturally conditioned and influenced as we are today. They did not become a fellowship created in a vacuum…. they took on (adopted) structures of the day – synagogue, temple, political gathering. They met in houses by necessity, not conveinence.

But none of that seems to help us figure out how to do Church today. I think the reason is implicit in the asking. If we are merely (though, I admit, it is still no small task) seek to know how to DO church more effectively or (God help us) efficiently then we’ve shot ourselves in the foot at the beginning of our hunt. We won’t make much progress and it will be painful.

This is probably tired… but our DOing comes out of our BEing. We (excuse the grammar) BE Church together. The look of that will flux and change in different contexts and situations. That is not to say that what we DO is unimportant…. rather it is supremely important because our DOing is a reflection of our BEing…….. If we’re a bunch of UN-Transformed, Self-centered, Ego-maniacal Pricks…. well…. our Church will look that way too.

Yeah, I suppose this is basic stuff… Re-Thinking Church 101, but I think we still miss it. We get stuck only on the externals… what it looks like, do you have a choir (oh, you must be institutional), does your Lead (I-don’t-want-to-be-called) Pastor have a goatee (you’re SO Emergent).

But again, I don’t want you to hear me saying…. whatever you do is fine for you cuz its all about loving Jesus and each other…. HOW you do church is OK…. I’m OK, you’re OK.

Listen.

The church in the USA…. atleast many of the ones I’ve seen and been too and been a part of…. is NOT OK. (Oh, you’re so self-righteous) (Yes, probably)

I say this cuz I LOVE THE CHURCH — Christ’s Body in the World. I think she rocks!

And it grieves me when I see her hurting. Broken. Bleeding. If I see a problem, shouldn’t I mention it and offer some measure of help/healing? That’s really all I try to do. I know I screw up and overstep my reach. I start pontificating and being self-righteous. I assume.

But hopefully I help (sometimes).

I want to see, be part of, help lead a vibrant, healthy community of Faith, God’s People in a locale, a fellowship of believers (of allegiance-makers) who are actively and thoroughly being transformed by Christ into Christ’s Likeness. A Transformation Community. Vineyard Central is our chosen people. God is, I honestly believe, doing that in and through us here. We are not the shape of the Church to come. We are the church now, in this place, for this people. God is making us (slowly and painfully at times) into Christ’s Image. A Holy People – set apart for God’s tranformative mission in the world. We get it wrong a good percentage of the time. We piss people off. We mess up. But we try. And God hasn’t (I hope) given up on us yet (he’s good that way).

We (VC) and i (aaron klinefelter) do not claim to be right – as if we found the “correct” way to do church. As if we were trying to make converts to the House Churching Way. Sometimes I think people have issues with people who are part of House Churches. As if we’re either ecclesial dropouts or theological cast-offs. I hope we’re neither.

I do not Hate the Institutional Church. I do not Hate the Emerging Church. I do not Hate the Seeker-driven Church. I do not. I actively choose not to do so. I love the Church. I want to see her healthy, vibrant, strong – - – - I want to see her healthy tho she is sick, vibrant tho she is monocolor, strong tho she is weak. And in our sickness, monocolor-ness, and weakness we are transformed. I do not want her to be Powerful. I do not want her to be Influential. I do not want her to be Popular. I want her to be Holy, Christ-centered, Life-giving.

And when I see her not being that way…. I will speak out. So if you read this blog and think I am bitter. Let me assure you. I am not. I bear no resentment to the Church. But if your leadership discourages (through implicit theology or philosophy or explicit crap) the empowerment of God’s People – I will speak out. If your building fund or budget reeks of materialism – I will speak out. If your slick, professional, “excellence-matters” worship service/performance/show carries the stench of consumeristic greed and individualistic ego-centeredness – I will speak out. If your 40 Days of Purpose, Willow Creek, Cokesbury, David C. Cook, Navigators, or AWANA curriculum is generating followers of anything (politics, morality, Bible-ism, self) beside Christ – I will speak out.

OK, Diatribe Done.

Hope that wasn’t too “ranty”… I didn’t intend for it to be… just kinda happened. I’ve typed way too much.

Peace.

PS – I’m testing Yahoo’s Contextually Relevant search feature… not sure if works, but it could be cool.

New Voices

GG’s PROBES – Gordon Gray:

“For the last thirty years or more I have been involved in helping Churches and Christian Non-Profits think through ways of being more effective in reaching out to the wider world. I studied theology at Ridley College, an Anglican Theological College here in Melbourne, Australia. Currently I worship at Murrumbeena Baptist Church (MBC) in SE Melbourne. Over the years I have been involved in ‘christian marketing’ activities, assisted in Church Plants, run alternative worship services, and visited churches in many parts of the world. Recently I have immersed myself in books and blogs concerning the ‘Emerging’ or ‘Missional’ Church.”

Simply Living – Mike Richmond:

“Married for 24 years with three daughters — 18, 17, 15. I dream of operating a coffee house/surf shop as both a point of ministry and source of income.”

Welcome to the party…. Mike’s been out there since July. Inspired, so he tells me, by “reading an interview w/Chris Marshall & Kevin Rains at Off-the-Map”. Gordon has just jumped in down there in Australia.

Glad you’re here.

From Larry King Live – CNN.com – Transcripts

Brian McLaren, TD Jakes talk with Larry King:

“KING: Bishop Jakes, do you think America is a Christian nation?

MCLAREN: Well, I think people of faith have to live out their faith. We can’t hide it, we can’t pretend we don’t have it. And I think we’re being more honest when we bring our faith out and explain how it affects our beliefs and our values and our positions. But I think there’s a wide range of issues that really matter to Christians. And one of my concerns is that the word “evangelical” now is hard to define for a lot of people. It only means a narrow range of issues on one conservative side. So I really agree with what Dr. Jakes just said, that we have to make sure that we don’t let our faith become captive to any party.”