Comments on: Christ formed in you.

By: Prince

Prince — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:55:54 +0000

Performance-driven christianity has the been the bane of real discipleship. Christians, from the pulpit to the pew seem to be under-pressure TO DO SOMETHING, most of the time things that the Master may not have approved of, its legitimacy not witstanding–Luke 10:40-42
For Christ to be formed in us, we have to BE WITH HIM (Jesus) FIRST. We must be ready to lose our independence and serve Him with no inhibitions. This was how the disciples lived. In Acts 4:13 the priests, and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees were quick to note that the men standing before them had BEEN WITH JESUS. It was the people of Antioch that dubbed them CHRISTians. The moon is said to have no light of its own but only reflects the light of the sun. Without doubt when we are with Him His Light becomes our light (Ps 36:9)

By: Gabrielle

Gabrielle — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 16:08:21 +0000

Anytime you wanna come in the blue fountain diner and leave a huge tip for me, I’ll be grateful!!!! I don’t wanna joke to much because what you say is really serious and shouldn’t be taken lightly. I guess all I can say is that personally I have a great joy pursuing Jesus and acting out in the world in a Christ-like way, then I do when I start to just strive for personal pleasures. But its hard to constantly focus on Living out Christ when the wordly pleasures are so tangible. Staying in the spirit is really going against the grains of where the world calls you to be.

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 12:41:39 +0000

Ryan, i image part of the struggle is that the call for the church to “live by it’s own narrative and resist the pull of the market and the commodification of everything” is such a hard, difficult, elusive idea that is hard to define in three simple steps.

this is something that takes some serious thought and struggle.

thanks for the thought.

By: Ryan Bell

Ryan Bell — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:12:58 +0000

I think you’re right on, Todd, to suggest that this is the purpose of the church – to be a community that together is seeking to be what Stan Hauerwas calls “a community of character.” Here’s a quote from Michael Budde’s book, The (Magic) Kingdom of God:

“As Church, we are called, I argue, to become disciples of Jesus, to help one another take on the mind and heart of Christ, and to live our everyday lives in ways that reflect the choices, priorities and dispositions of Jesus as narrated in Scripture” (p. 7).

In particular, Budde starts with our present cultural position as dominated by what he calls the “global culture industries.” As a professor of political science and with a keen eye for economics, Budde issues a prophetic call to the church to live by it’s own narrative and resist the pull of of the market and the commodification of everything.

So, with you, Todd, I muse: what if the church just put it’s efforts into this project of, together, seeing “Christ formed in us” [plural].