Marriage as a Metaphor

Posted on July 9, 2008

There will be no marriages in heaven but there will be a wedding, a wedding between the Church and her Holy Husband and Maker. Marriage is a metaphor for new creation, for perfect union between God and man: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:1-2). But what about now? Why the difficulty in knowing God now?

Knowing and following Christ can be like marriage. On that blessed wedding day, when the beautiful bride makes her way down the isle in a vision of white, marital conflict seems miles away. And yet despite the genuine joy of marital union, the glorious wedding day is followed by occasional conflict, suffering, and sin shared by husband and wife. Conflict, suffering and sin that is, strangely enough, between two lovers. When we initially embrace Jesus Christ as our Husband, we carry wedding day expectations into our relationship. We know genuine joy and peace like never before because we have been reconciled to God, and yet, in the months and years that follow we discover that the relationship isn’t as perfect as we thought, that God is sometimes distant, that we doubt his goodness, that we are prone to cheat on him, to misunderstand him, to have conflict…with God.

Revelation 21:2 tells us that, in Jesus, there will be a day when our relationship will be perfect in every way, a day when wedding day expectations will be met and exceeded because we have arrived at that newness that was so richly symbolized in white, because the preparing and adorning work of the Spirit has been completed to present us pure and spotless, without even a hint of imperfection or sin. Our union with God will be so complete that desire for lesser lovers will not only languish but extinguish. Our capacity to delight in God’s perfect love for us will be unhindered, free to such an extent that second-guessing his affection and infidelity will be not only unthinkable but impossible. This is the vision, the promised future of all who hope in Jesus. Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus come.

The Apologetic Power of a Missional Community

Posted on July 8, 2008

At Austin City Life we talk about the “apologetic power of a Jesus-centered missional community.” What do we mean by this? We believe that one of the greatest apologetics–arguments for the gospel–is a community that embodies the gospel in missional form, a church that invites unbelievers and skeptics into an unpretentious community of imperfect, winsome believers who are laboring to renew their communities and cities socially and spiritually in and through the gospel of Christ.

We believe that Jesus calls us to make relationships and mend the brokenness of our city as an end in itself, not merely as a way to convert someone. We are against a bait-and-switch evangelism. Rather, we are imperfectly trying to engage people and culture in a way that betters individuals, families, and cities. In Luke 4 and Isaiah 61 Jesus made a connection between the “good news” and restored cities. We are trying to live that connection out, believing that it will compel others to embrace Jesus and join us in living our this apologetic.

This is, in fact, the legacy of the early Church. Historian Rodney Stark comments on the response of the early Church to suffering and broken cities:

…religion did not merely offer psychological antidotes for the misery of life; it actually made life less miserable. The power of Christianity lay not in its promise of otherworldly compensations for suffering in this life, as has so often been proposed. The truly revolutionary aspect of Christianity lay in moral imperatives such as “Love one’s neighbor as one’s self, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and “When you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” These were not just slogans. Members did nurse the sick, even during epidemics; they did support orphans, widows, the elderly, and the poor…

Stark goes on to note that Christiainity gained converts because of this kind of faith. This is not bumper sticker Christianity–pithy slogans and empty actions. Social mission was part of the very nature of the church. It is our hope and practice that Austin City Life does not merely offer psychological antidotes for the misery of life; but that we actually made life less miserable as well as more hopeful.

Broken Becomes Beautiful

Posted on July 8, 2008

Austin singer/song writer Nate Navarro (formerly of Wide Awake) will be releasing his first solo album in the Fall. Broken Becomes Beautiful narrates the story of a sinner deeply acquainted with grace and the mission of God. Nate’s emotive, gritty lyrics push through the strings to remind us of an authentic and stirring faith, drawing us back the the simplicity of the gospel–we are more broken that we dare admit but in Jesus more accepted than we could ever imagine. Check out his MySpace page and stream some of his new songs.