Taking every thought captive

Steve Mathewson has a helpful post on Preaching and Reading (18 Dec 2007) over at the PreachingToday blog, that has some good ideas for all readers with busy schedules.

During Sunday morning’s service Matthew 2 was read. I was struck by the strangeness of the phrase in verse 4 “the people’s chief priests and scribes”. Was this Matthew’s way of drawing our attention to the Gentile Herod? He may have been known as the King of the Jews, but he was no Jew himself. How unlike the King of the Jews who was born as his reign came to an end.

Herod was no Son of David, as Jesus was. Jesus’ lineage is emphasised as the angel addresses Joseph as Son of David. An Matthew leaves his readers with tantalising hints to Jesus’ real identity all through his Gospel. Jesus is called “Son of David” several times. Even blind men saw it clearly (9:27; 20:30,31). So did children (21:16). But not Herod’s priests and scribes, the teachers of Israel.

Herod was the last King of the Jews. Though his son Archelaus ruled in his place he was not granted the title king, and the later Herod was but a tetrarch. But the one whom the wise men sought as the newborn King of the Jews, who was mocked by soldiers with the words, “Hail! King of the Jews” (27:29), and over whose cross hung the words “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” (27:37) was more King of the Jews than the wily Edomite who claimed the title.

Matthew begins his Gospel with the death of one King of the Jews and the birth of the next, or rather the final King. He ends his Gospel with the death and resurrection of The King of the Jews. And that risen King exercised authority to which Herod no doubt aspired, but could never attain. That King could truthfully and accurately claim, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” (Mt 28:18)

But, King of the Jews though Jesus was, he is not just King of the Jews. Rather he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, King of all nations. Gentiles gave him homage at his birth, and in his name his disciples go to all nations to make disciples. This is the King the Christmas story brings to us.

I’ve just started reading Graeme Goldsworthy’s Gospel and Wisdom. At the end of chapter 2 he gives this definition of a mature Christian:

A mature Christian is one who is able to look at the whole of reality through Christian eyes. He is in the process of achieving an integrated overview of reality in those areas that belong to his experience as well as in those areas that he knows only theoretically. He is learning to understand all things in terms of what they are in this corrupted realm and of what God intends them to be by virtue of his redeeming work. Thus, he is an integrated person who is learning daily through the gospel how to relate, not only to himself, but to all things according to the creative purpose of God. (pp. 28,29)

I don’t know how Goldsworthy is going to develop this in the remainder of the book, but it struck me that it is only through God’s wisdom that such a view of reality is possible. Without the divine perspective, we can only know from our experience, which is limited and warped/sinful. And what we can know theoretically is bounded by our own imagination, which is also limited and warped/sinful.

Though we can conceive of a world better than it is, our ability to implement such a vision is constrained by the corruption and warping of sin. What God intends things to be by virtue of his redeeming work far exceeds our capacity to conceive. We can only wonder at what he has revealed, and worship in response.

Paul had caught the vision, as Colossians 1:28, 29 shows so clearly. The energy he refers to, also seized him when he wrote Ephesians. You can almost hear him take a deep initial breath as he launches into that majestic first sentence of the letter proper (Ephesians 1:3-14). It just washes over you as you read it, and you don’t want him to stop, even when he seems to run out of breath at the end of it. You can just hear him pause to catch his breath before he continues in prayer.

It is grasping the vision Paul had of God’s creative purpose and plan that gives that mature view of everything.

With all the media attention given to The Golden Compass film, I have put together a small selection of resources for those interested in finding out more. You can read it at our church Web site.