Embodying the Christian Life I. Questions A. In what ways has the Christian life been disembodied? B. How might we embody the Christian life and faith in disfigured ways? C. How do we best embody the Christian life? II. Introduction A. What do we make it seem like Christianity is all about? B. Based upon the way that many have preached, it would be easy to conclude that Christianity is really all about information transfer: communicating about who God is, what Jesus has done, what we should do, etc. C. Likewise, how do we present the Christian life? D. If we were to ask many people what they do in their Christian walk, it would also seem to be about information transfer: assembling to learn about the Bible and to praise God, praying to God, studying the Bible E. How are these presentations of Christianity and the Christian life going for us? 1. Are people learning about Jesus well? 2. Are people coming to the faith? 3. Do people want to sign up to be part of this information transfer process? F. None of this is an attempt to diminish the need and importance of communicating information about God or what He has done in Jesus; but we do well to wonder if this is really what Christianity and the Christian life was supposed to be all about G. What is the center of Christianity and the Christian life as presented by Jesus and the Apostles? III. The Witness of Jesus and the Apostles A. We do well to remember that Jesus and the Apostles were Second Temple Jews 1. They were raised in the Law of Moses 2. If there were ever a system in which information transfer might have been seen as its ultimate purpose, it would have been the Law: a set of laws delivered to Israel 3. And yet in the New Testament, Second Temple Jewish literature, and in Josephus, the conversation always centers on the "customs delivered by Moses": they sought to do the customs given by Moses; they were zealous for them; the focus was on the doing, not the information contained therein (e.g. Acts 6:14, 21:21, 26:3, 28:17) B. As the Apostles proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus, they told the story of who Jesus was and what Jesus said and did: the emphasis was on the embodiment of God in Christ and what He did 1. The Gospel certainly includes things Jesus taught; e.g. "love your enemies" (cf. Matthew 5:48) 2. Yet the Gospel also includes the things Jesus did; e.g. asking God to forgive those who were crucifying Him (Luke 23:34) 3. The Gospel also showed Jesus instructing His disciples: He certainly taught them in a kind of lecture or conversational format at times, but He also sent them out themselves to preach, and guided them in their understanding not only by giving them information but also through what they did (cf. Matthew 10:1-44) C. Thus, as the Apostles went about preaching the Gospel, the message was not "here are some great things Jesus taught"; the message was "this is what Jesus did, and how God worked through Him" (cf. Acts 10:38) D. We also do well to consider how the Apostles said they witnessed to Jesus 1. Our general conception of the Apostles are like Peter in Acts 2 or Paul in Acts 13 or Acts 17, standing up and proclaiming the message 2. Yet consider 1 Corinthians 11:1, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-10, 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12: the Apostles encouraged the Christians to see how they had embodied the message of the faith 3. And so 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6: the Gospel came to the Thessalonians not only by words but in power, in the Holy Spirit, and in conviction, and the Thessalonian Christians became imitators of Paul and his associates! E. We therefore have the consistent witness of the people of God throughout the centuries that Christianity and the Christian life must be embodied: it has never been, and can never be, merely about information transfer, but something enacted 1. John 1:14: the Word became flesh and dwelt among us: Jesus is the embodiment of God's Word 2. So in John 14:6, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, that's not just information about Jesus, but Jesus Himself 3. The Hebrews author rightly spoke of Jesus as the Pioneer of our salvation, making a way for us (Hebrews 2:10, 10:19); or, as John would put it in 1 John 2:6, we ought to walk as Jesus walked 4. Such is why the Scriptures are not written as a how-to manual; an instruction guide; but as a story, the witness of how God worked with and through His people 5. If we would be saved in Jesus, we have to live as Jesus; we must think, feel, and act as He thought, felt, and acted; we must embody the witness of Jesus in how we think, feel, and act! F. So what has happened? Why has a message we are to embody been reduced to information transfer? IV. The Denial of Embodiment: Greek Thought and the Enlightenment Paradigm A. The proclamation and witness of the Gospel of Jesus went out into a world saturated by Greek philosophical thought 1. Philosophy among the Greeks was not what philosophy has become today; it was more holistic, an attempt at understanding how everything worked together, and was expected to set forth a pattern of living as much as ideas about what was good and right and just and the like 2. Nevertheless, Plato's philosophy would profoundly shape the way Greeks and Romans would look at things; they saw themselves as spiritual beings confined to bodies which did not live up to the ideal form 3. Great emphasis was placed on cultivating the mind and spirit; the body was an object of scorn, a limiting vessel 4. As can be seen in Acts 17, the Greeks were enamored with ideas and their exchange; disputation, debate, argument, and sophistry were prized B. Thus it was understandable how "the faith" of Jude 1:3 could become easily understood as a series of propositions regarding what was true in Christ that could be discussed and disputed 1. The witness of the faith was steeped in Second Temple Judaism and its traditions and understanding; it was not philosophically coherent 2. As Christians sought to proclaim the Gospel in the Greco-Roman world, they would have to do so in ways which would be understandable to the people; thus it became easy to make it about ideas 3. From almost the beginning the faith was also beset by various heresies and heretics 4. Over time the points of contention became far less about various forms of practice and much more about nuances of theology and doctrine, and therefore could be almost entirely intellectualized C. The Western expression of Christianity would be profoundly shaped by Greco-Roman influences; therefore it is understandable how and why the embodiment of the faith would either be taken for granted or diminished in favor of focusing on "the faith" as a set of propositions to confess, manifest in the impetus toward creedalism: the Apostles' Creed, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, the Chalcedonian definition, etc. D. Such reductionism was already natural to Western Christians, and then the Enlightenment and its paradigm would not help 1. The central thesis of the Enlightenment, if such a thing can be found, would be that ignorance is humanity's great problem, and knowledge therefore the great solution 2. What is astonishing is how effective this premise has proven over the past two hundred years; it has shaped our way of looking at the world, and thus we have the Enlightenment paradigm 3. In the Enlightenment paradigm, the problem is ignorance; if one is given true knowledge instead, one will accept it, and then act accordingly 4. So what happens when we take the witness of the Christian faith, already reduced to a series of propositions to affirm, and send it through the Enlightenment paradigm? 5. The problem with people is they are ignorant of God and His ways, and are lost in sin; the solution, therefore, is to inform people of who God is and what the Bible teaches, and they will accept it, and act accordingly E. Thus we can see how we have reached the point where Christianity and the Christian life are reduced to information transfer: the faith was reduced to propositions, and then we have presumed that if we communicate those propositions, people will naturally do what they should, and live the faith appropriately V. The Dangers of Disfigured Embodiment A. Many might protest because they understand that communicating information about the faith is of great importance, and that is true; it is also, strictly, not really a full disembodiment B. Perhaps we do well to consider such a thing less as "disembodiment" and more of a disfigured form of embodiment 1. After all, one of the propositions of the Christian faith is that Jesus came in the flesh 2. Even in the information transfer paradigm we "know" that we need to obey God and do things, and that will be done in the body 3. Thus, a person who believes in Christianity and the Christian life and expresses that faith predominantly through information transfer is "embodying" something that can kind of look like Christianity 4. And yet what is being embodied with just information transfer is disfigured; it cannot but be since it is missing out on many emphases of what is actually contained in the faith C. What led to such disfigurement? As we have seen, a witness to the faith that perhaps made sense in a given place and a given time, then bound or made absolute D. And such is a continual temptation: to embody the faith in disfigured ways because we have dogmatically insisted on a given contextual expression of the faith, have universalized the particular, or particularized the universal 1. Easy example: imagine a person wanting to return to the faith of 51 CE: move to Antakya, Syria; wear tunics and togas; speak Koine Greek; use Roman technology and eat Roman style foods; such seems ridiculous 2. But would not a person wanting to return to the faith of 1951 not be just as much stuck in the past as 51? Or, for that matter, 1971? 1991? 2011? Even 2019? 3. Such also undergirds a lot of the arguments among "progressives" and "conservatives" in the religious realm: "biblical" worldview, "biblical" womanhood, "biblical" masculinity, etc., a universalized, disembodied philosophical premise versus contextualized instances 4. So many doctrinal disputations, denominational organizations, etc. are rooted and grounded in particular cultural expressions or concerns, attempting to continually embody the faith in the shape of a different time and place 5. At the same time, many want to universalize the portrayal of the faith so as to make it ahistorical and decontextualized, as if the expression of the faith should look entirely the same across time and space E. We are even tempted to wrongly embody matters of the faith, as with the Word 1. How many literalize the metaphors about the Word of God? 2. Is the Bible a "sword," based on Hebrews 4:12? Books do not cut very well 3. Oh, it is the words within the book? Words are just strings of letters into which we must invest meaning to get any value 4. Ah, it is the "substance" of what it attempts to communicate, the "material" within it (note the embodiment type language there) 5. That substance can be obtained in many ways, but it must be taught: not just words, but deeds and examples 6. Same thing about "the Bible clearly says" (really, "the Bible preserves a message which when we properly interpret it we can understand what it means) 7. A very pernicious one is "obedience to the Bible," when the witness of Scripture would tell us to obey God in Christ according to what He has made known; this is not a distinction without a difference! 8. In these and many other ways we wrongly embody the faith, attempting to embody it in a book when it was always intended to be embodied in human beings 9. Others might try to embody the faith in an organization or cause as opposed to human beings, and that is no better! F. In all of these ways we can see how the embodiment of the faith gets disfigured or wrongly embodied; how can we embody the faith in healthier ways? VI. Embodying the Christian Life A. We have seen the consistent witness of Jesus and the Apostles: the faith is to be lived out in particular times and places, expressing that faith in words, feelings, and deeds B. How does that work? C. Example of the Boy Scouts of America 1. An organization dedicated to instilling values and developing youth in their skills 2. And what have they learned that has worked for youth and adults? 3. The EDGE method: Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable 4. Explanation of how to tie a square knot: cross rope part (a) over part (b) and loop it around part (b); pull rope parts (a) and (b); then cross rope part (b) over part (a) and loop it around part (a); tighten rope parts (a) (b) (c) (d) 5. What good will hearing that alone do? Not a whole lot! 6. Often gets condensed into "right over left; left over right"; which works if you have already seen it done, but can still be difficult to understand 7. When one sees a square knot tied, one can get a better idea of what it is like 8. When one then tries oneself to tie a square knot while the teacher guides them, then any difficulties encountered in the process can be addressed and solved 9. Ultimately the learner is empowered to tie the knot and could then teach others 10. Scouts are exposed to all kinds of skills at 11, 12 years old; leaders have little confidence in their memory of such 11. Expectation that the youth at 13 will take more advanced leadership training and understand what BSA is about: leadership and growth through experience; leadership training is done in an immersive experience in which the youth are expected to exercise the skills they are learning; they then will return to the unit to teach the skills they have recently learned, and thus understand them better 12. Advanced adult leadership programs in the BSA in substance differ little from far more costly executive level leadership seminars; major difference in effectiveness is how the BSA creates an immersive environment for the adults as well, not just learning ideas, but immediately putting them to action D. And while even with EDGE we in ways risk disfigurement if we make it absolute, we can certainly see this at work in what Jesus and the Apostles were about 1. Jesus and the Apostles certainly set forth the ideas and doctrines of the faith, explaining what God was doing in Christ in the proclamation of the Gospel 2. But this was not the end of the matter; Jesus and the Apostles demonstrated the truth of the Gospel message in how they lived their lives 3. Jesus and the Apostles expended a lot of effort in guiding others, equipping Christians for the work of ministry (cf. Ephesians 4:11-12) 4. By providing a witness in word and deed, and guiding the next generation as they seek to embody what God has established in Christ in their time and place, they fulfill 2 Timothy 2:2: "And what you heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be competent to teach others as well" E. "EDGE" is given as a means of understanding how we have been led astray by Western emphases on disembodied philosophies and intellect over experience; many aspects of the Biblical witness fall into better place when we see how we are to embody the faith in life more holistically 1. The faith is about more than information transfer; thus, while assembling, praying, and studying are good works, we must also be hospitable, benevolent, serving others, continually finding ways to do what God has commanded (Romans 12:1-21, 1 Peter 4:7-11) 2. Many find witness in evangelism challenging; in Acts 2:41-47 we are presented with Christians embodying the faith and in so doing finding the opportunities to bear witness that are not forced, pushy, or aggressive, but which flowed naturally from what they were doing 3. Many women struggle with their role and work in God's Kingdom in light of passages like 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, 1 Timothy 2:9-10; yet when the Christian life is spoken of in a more consistently embodied way, and the work of Christians is seen in its daily forms, there are plenty of opportunities to be active and to witness, as Priscilla, Phoebe, and Junia would have 4. The work of shepherding and preaching is seen not just as information transfer, but as modeling and guiding and shaping: more as coach than as lecturer, and thus one can see why such persons should be honored and followed (Ephesians 4:11-16) 5. When relationships are centered around what God has done in Christ, and the faith is embodied in a consistent, continual way, spouses love and honor one another; children see the fruit of the faith and should be encouraged to participate within it and learn through that participation, just as the disciples of Christ did! F. How many of our ills and problems in the faith stem from its disfigurement, seen primarily as information transfer, when it is all about embodiment? G. May we embody the faith we should have in God in Christ, seeking to follow Jesus in everything, manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, avoiding the works of the flesh, modeling such for one another and guiding the next generation in these ways, and obtain the resurrection of life! H. Invitation Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: He did not speak to them without a parable. But privately he explained everything to his own disciples (Mark 4:34). Throughout His ministry Jesus taught the people and His disciples. The people may not have understood everything, but He worked diligently to explain everything He taught to His disciples. Such teaching would have involved a lot of information transfer. But is the witness of the faith just about transferring information? How can we well explain what God has done in Christ and what it means for people today? 2: "With respect to Jesus from Nazareth, that God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Jesus was known for having taught many great things. Yet the Apostles bore witness that Jesus went about doing good for people in Israel. Jesus did not just say things; He also did them. He went about and did what He said should be done. As Christians our actions should be consistent with our teaching; we should do the things God has told us to do. How can we best demonstrate the faith of God in Christ? 3: Jesus called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits so they could cast them out and heal every kind of disease and sickness (Matthew 10:1). Jesus Himself taught and did many things. Jesus also spent a lot of time investing in His disciples so they could promote the Kingdom of God when all was accomplished. Jesus would teach them privately, and Jesus modeled the faith to them. Yet Jesus also sent them out on their own so they would gain experience in proclaiming the faith. Effective embodiment of the faith demands that we provide guidance and encouragement for others, not just in giving information, but in putting that information into practice. How can we effectively guide fellow Christians to do what God has commanded us? 4: And what you heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be competent to teach others as well (2 Timothy 2:2). We do well to embody the faith of God in Christ to His honor and glory. In so doing we should be empowering others to bear witness to God in Christ in word and deed as well. Jesus did so with His disciples; those disciples, as the Apostles, prepared the next generation; and thus it has been ever since. And thus it will ever be, for the Word must continually be embodied in human beings. How do we enable people to serve God in Christ?