Biblical justice is a celebration of discipline
February 15, 2007
The Just Life is very much an approach to justice issues through spiritual development and self-giving discipleship — viewing a truly “just life” as the ultimate expression of a Christian’s engagement with the world we find ourselves in.
Studying the spiritual disciplines is a great place to start your journey. One of the masters at articulating the disciplines is Richard Foster and his book “Celebration of Discipline” is one of the best…
The Cost of Discipleship
February 4, 2007
Today we celebrate the 101st anniversary of the birth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the person who wrote the book on discipleship. Literally. His book The Cost of Discipleship has been so influential to Christianity and is so foundational for The Just Life that we thought it might be helpful to summarize some of his key ideas.
Towards Practical Answers
February 27, 2006
“Becoming a just church is not an afterthought we ‘tack on’ to our normal way of doing church; it is a fundamental shift in understanding and practice.”
This week we have begun our journey out of the theoretical and into the practical. Building on our discussion thus far we have charged ourselves to begin uncovering the daily things each of us can do to begin living the “Just Life.”
What does the lord require? (Micah 6:8) With our prayer, in our minds, in our homes, in our community, in our city and globally, with our giving, with our purchases, with our vote — What do we do tomorrow that we didn’t do today? How are we to live?
St. John of the Cross said in 1591 “A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things.”
I do believe it is helpful to use the “justice continuum” we have been discussing to help us keep our eyes on the goal of going beyond compassion to true biblical justice. You can review the previous post on this here.
I also think it is helpful to recap the distinctions we have made between Community, Social Wealth, Financial Wealth, and Works as the four fundamental elements of a just life/church:
· Community: We seek the “beloved community” built on the spiritual disciplines of submission and fellowship that reflect Acts 2 and Galatians 3:28.
Social Wealth: We desire to foster the spiritual discipline of simplicity so that we can free our lives, talents, networks, resources, etc. for the sake of others.
· Financial Wealth: We know we are to honor the spiritual discipline of stewardship and give not just a tithe of our earthly wealth but everything we have back to God.
· Works/Action: The spiritual discipline of service calls us beyond compassionate acts of charity to a life of sacrificial service to others — to loving as Jesus loved.
“God wants us to relieve suffering, pursue justice, facilitate reconciliation, and free the heart to love, but He desires for us to do so in a way that reveals His Character. It is not enough just to do well for others or to do things well. We must do well in our unique way in order to reveal the vast creativity of a God who loves to bring change through the most unlikely channels.” ~Dan Allender
I look forward to all of your thoughts.
Core Concepts…coming soon!
December 1, 2005
We are currently redeveloping a “core concepts” series of articles and resources for easy reference. Please check back in the near future for this content. In the meantime, please visit our archives and follow the discussion from the beginning and feeling free to keep sharing you thoughts through the comments — Posts and ideas have no age or time-limit here.
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