God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church. Daniel Hames. (Series introduction by Michael Reeves, general editor of the Union series). 2022. 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: Let's get it out in the open right at the beginning. Doesn't something about mission and evangelism just feel "off" to you? Every Christian knows we're meant to share the gospel and look for opportunities to witness to Christ, yet almost all of us find it a genuine struggle, if not a gloomy discouragement.
I loved, loved, loved this book on missions (and evangelism). What sets it apart? It has gone a bit old school in looking at the subject. The author(s) examine(s) WHAT fuels missions. And the answer can be found in the first question to several old-school catechisms. Notably, what fuels missions is delight in the glory, majesty, and beauty of God. This book celebrates GOD. Every chapter is written with clarity and passion and with the single goal of making the reader EXCITED about seeing God as He is revealed in the Word.
While reading of this one, I thought of two theologians--A.W. Tozer and John Piper. I was reminded of their zeal and passion for KNOWING God. I was reminded of their absolute devotion to the Word of God.
I loved how substantive it is. Gave me a lot to think about!!!
Quotes:
- The problem at the room of all our struggles with mission is almost certainly right at the beginning with our view of God.... Unless we honestly find God to be beautiful and enjoyable, we'll have nothing worth saying to the people around us. Until we see him aright, we'll have no genuine desire to fill the world with the knowledge of our God.
- Glory is the weight and reality of a thing shining out, or being brought home to us, reaching us irresistibly. For Jesus Christ to be the "radiance of the glory of God" is for him to be the weight or the substance of God impressed upon us, beaming on us, given to us.
- God, in having glory, radiates; in having a Word, speaks; in having a Son, loves. It is his very nature to shine, communicate, and give himself in relationship. This is the beating heart of mission.
- We risk projecting our own darkness and selfishness onto the living God, making him far less good and beautiful than he really is. This will always be the result of starting out with our own assumptions rather than his word to us. When we begin to see Jesus as himself the Glory of the Father and let him shape our idea of glory, we find that God is far better than we ever dared to believe, and his glory, beautifully different from our own. Nowhere is this more sharply detailed--and nowhere is the glory of God more tightly defined in Scripture--than on the cross of Jesus.
- Only with our eyes on Christ crucified do we see the truth, perspective, and logic of all the providence of God in everything that has happened since the beginning. Only with our eyes on Christ crucified do we see who our God really and truly is.
- When Jesus, himself the Glory of God, was lifted up on the cross, it was no fireworks display for his own amusement; no yelling in an empty room. It was a real explosion of God's mercy into our midnight.
- Human beings are fallen, and this is why we do not intuitively worship, trust, and love God. The radiance of God's glory shines not into neutrality but into darkness.
- If we burden Christians with the guilt of abandoning people to hell, it will be the message of guilt and hell they will pass on, rather than the message of the Savior of sinners and conqueror of hell. Jesus Christ will not be the jewel of the gospel they tell, but only the means to escape a terrible end. Not only this, but the resulting converts will have been motivated by their preexisting instinct for self-preservation. Disciples who are won not by the glory of the Lord to repentance and faith but by an appeal to their own well-being will continue in exactly the same direction. Their newfound faith will be more about themselves than about Christ.
- The God we know--or think we know--is the God we will show to the world.
- Our delight in God is the main fuel for mission.
No comments:
Post a Comment