Great, fabulous, absolutely fascinating op-ed by William Easterly in the February 7 Wall Street Journal. I just found it on his blog. A couple of quotes that will suck you in and make sure you read the whole thing:

Is it really the poor's only hope that the Gap will donate a few pennies per sexy T-shirt for AIDS treatment in Africa?

Mr. Gates also announced his foundation is starting "a partnership that gives African farmers access to the premium coffee market, with the goal of doubling their income from their coffee crops." This is fine as a modest endeavor to help a few Rwandan and Kenyan coffee farmers, but it's hardly going to remake capitalism. The main obstacles to exports in poor countries are domestic ones like corruption and political strife, not lack of interest from rich-country buyers for premium coffee.

I have a serious problem. It's one that I've known about for quite a while but only recently really noticed the affects.

My problem is that I read articles like this and become unable to function normally. It could be about child prostitution in Thailand, AIDS orphans in Africa, sex slaves in the US or Mexico, abandoned children in Guatemala, it doesn't matter, I hear the stories and cease to be able to live in a right state of mind.

Not all people exist like this, and I don't think that is a bad thing. Some people can hear the stories, feel bad, have pity on those affected, but go on with their daily lives without much problem. They find fulfillment in what they do for a living, support causes that are close to them, and find peace in their lives.

I am not like that. I need to be there with the people. I need to be holding the children, feeding the poor, playing games and rehabilitating the slaves. I need to let them know that not only do I love them, but God also loves them and thus they have infinite dignity, value, and worth just because of who they are. I need to let them know that their plight is the result of a world gone wrong, that it wasn't in God's plan, but He is redeeming the world and wants them a part of His new creation. There is hope for them, and I need to be a vessel that shares this hope. I can't live any other way.

Please pray for me as MAJOR decisions are coming that will shape my future world, pray that I seek God and following His leading and calling in whatever direction it may be.

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with passion come and kicking down that door

- Sarah Groves, "When the Saints"

I've written here before of my love for Sarah Groves' song "When the Saints" and how it stirs within me a passion for the work of the Lord, a prayer for those afflicted in this world and respect and gratitude for those who risk their lives doing the work of the Lord and rescuing others from the darkness and control Satan has over much of this world.

Last night I was researching for a Sunday school class and came upon some old notes on "The Kingdom Community" from Matthew 16:13-20. We all know the text, where Jesus asks Peter who he says He is and Peter answers that He is the Son of the living God and Jesus then gives Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven. A few notes caught my eye, specifically on vs. 16-20:

- Hades is the region of departed spirits of the lost, but also includes the righteous who died before the resurrection of Christ

- Hell would be the Old English equivalent of Hades, the opposite of Heaven, or the Bosom of Abraham, or the Elysian Fields of Ancient Greek mythology

Jesus said "The gates of Hades will not overcome it (the Church)"...some thoughts on ancient warfare that in the context add to these words:

- ancient cities had walls for defense and invading armies, when seeking to conquer a city, would concentrate on the gate, the weakest area of defense

- they would use a battering ram to try to hammer down the gate, and the defenders would do what they could to prevent enemies from succeeding (including pouring burning oil, shooting arrows, etc.)

- the attackers would put a cover over their head or build a tower for the attackers and roll it to the city towers to gain an advantage again, and this would continue

What does this mean in the context? It helps to pictures Hades as a walled city with strong gates. Jesus is saying that His Church will be on the offense and laying seige to the city, but Hades will not be able to hold it back. In other words, God's people will break down the gates of the cemetary (Hades) and let the dead out and allow them into the Kingdom of God.

Powerful stuff!

Let me add one more idea. My point in teaching this idea this morning (though I never got to it, we ran out of time) was to propose that when Jesus instituted the Church in this text, the idea was that the Church would be on the offensive, attacking the gates of Hades, the dominion of Satan, and preaching the Good News and letting people into the Kingdom of God. Like the "man with passion kicking down the door" in the song above, the Church, envisioned by Jesus, would be kicking down the door of Satan's stronghold and rescuing people from the dominion of darkness.

Is that how the Church operates in today's world? Maybe, maybe not. I see instances where we are both on the defensive and we retreat to our fortress and I see instances where we remain in the frontier and continue our attack. In any case, it is prudent for us to understand Jesus' intentions for His Church as we seek to follow Him and spread His Kingdom to the ends of the earth.

Boyd (below) links this Dallas Willard article in reference to his post and discussion.

Another interesting thought from Joe Boyd:

I think it is hard to follow Jesus and still believe that someone else is smarter than him. I'm teaching a class at Vineyard midweek on discipleship for a few hundred folks. In a pre-survey, 31% of the attendees checked that they do not believe that Jesus was the smartest person who ever lived. 98% of them labeled themselves as followers of Jesus. I don't mean to come down on anyone, but I wonder if this isn't key to our discontent as disciples. (Over 61% also said that they felt something was missing in their faith.)

I was reviewing Arthur G. Patzia's Emergence of the Church this evening for some teaching I have to do on Sunday and came acrsoss some great quotes (though not really connected):

The rationalists pictured Jesus as a preacher of morality, the idealists as the idea of Man; the aesthetes extolled him as the master of words and the socialists as the friend of the poor and as the social reformer, while the innumerable pseudo-scholars made of him a fictional character. Jesus was modernized. These lives of Jesus are the mere products of wishful thinking. The final outcome was that every epoch and every theology found in the personality of Jesus the reflection of its own ideals, and every author the reflection of his own views. (Joachim Jeremias)

The reign of God was the focal point. Proclamation and teaching centered on it; cures and exocisms were signs of it. But what has neither been clearly seen nor probed for its consequences is that the reign of God as imminent meant the imminent restoration of Israel, and the reign of God as already overtaking Israel in Jesus' words and acts that meant that Israel was already in process of being restored. His teaching was Torah appropriate to restored Israel and requisite to perfect restoration. His wonder-working signified the restoration of Israel and effected it by restoring the afflicted to their heritage as children of Abraham. The appeal to "the sinners" likewise belonged to this context. Offering forgiveness and eliciting conversion, it was designed to restore the outcasts to Israel. This is confirmed by Jesus' repeated efforts to reconcile the righteous to this move toward socio-religious integration. (Ben Meyer)

This means that God is now asserting his sovereignty and rule over those who have accepted his message of the kingdom. Jesus' aim, according to Dodd, "was to constitute a community worthy of the name of a people of God, a divine commonwealth, through individual response to God coming in his kingdom." The Twelve were recruited to confront humanity with this reality and to form the nucleus of what would become the church.

I met Joe Boyd when I was in seminary, he was a guest lecturer, and immediately I connected with him, though we never spoke and I never saw him again. I still read his blog occasionally and enjoyed his latest post, when he discusses Gideon:

It is easy for people to see another person's gift (contribution to the body) as just another shiny thing to worship. Most church leaders are not so bold as to try to take God's role as King, though some are. Most leaders are content with just a little of God's glory, not all of it. "Just a few earrings melted into a golden girdle to remember me by." Forging just a small token of my accomplishment, my "good job," can't hurt anybody, right?

Yes, it can. This is the problem. Perhaps the greatest and most counter-intuitive task of a leader within the Kingdom of God is to reject the earrings. To turn down the mini-monuments. Truth is, if the gift is really God's anyway, who am I to worry if you dislike the gift or the person entrusted with it? Who am I to accept the glory if you like the gift?

My heart's response to this article:

Lord, you are sovereign, you are God. You created this world and called it good, yet due to Man's sin we survive in a sometimes very ugly world. This world is full of violence and all that goes against the principles that exist in your Kingdom. My prayer is that your Kingdom would expand and overtake the violence and sexual perversion that dominates much of the world. May things be on this earth as they are in heaven. I know that this is a big task, but you are a big God, whose can do more than all I could ever ask or imagine. Please act, please move, please be with those already victimized and protect those not yet affected. I ask this as one who stands humbly under the blood of Jesus. AMEN.

But in politics, money, like water, always finds a way. There are over 65 lobbyists for every single member of congress, and they will find a way to make sure their money gets where it needs to be. If money did not make a difference in the outcome, so many would not donate so much.

I don't necessarily like the analogy on the linked article, but the idea is right on. I can't say I'm surprised by anything that comes from Warren or Saddleback, but this did shock me a little:

http://www.extremetheology.com/2007/12/warrens-mulliga.html