Wow, what a peculiar week! When it comes to exegesis and sermon preparation I have a certain pattern or rhythm which I follow. If I do not, then all heck breaks loose. For a number of reasons that could not be avoided my usual day for exegesis was interrupted. Instead of following my usual pattern I became worried that I would not get it done so I decided to short cut the process FAIL! Mixed with 6 or 7 nights of broken and little sleep the end result was not so good! I guess this is all a part of the process of becoming who I am as a minister…
“For God so loved the world…” Perhaps I became lost in its simplicity. Everyone knows this text. I KNOW THIS TEXT. It is the church’s favourite evangelistic text. It says everything we need to know about creation, fall and salvation. It leaves no doubt about God’s love for the entire world and our responsibility to this love. God loves us and if we believe we will not perish but have eternal life. In essence it’s the gospel!
Billy Graham calls these verses the simplest and clearest in the New Testament. A friend reminded me this week of how easily the beauty of such a simple passage can be lost. And there it was. I had spent this week studying John 3:1-17. I’d looked at the Greek, I had torn the passage apart (and it seemed I would never get it back together again). I read it, I reflected on it, I read it again, and I took notes. All along I missed the beauty that was before me. The profound simplicity of the Good News!
One of the things I think is easily forgotten when we come to a text such as John 3:16 is that it is only the beginning of the journey. Eugene Peterson suggests that getting a person interested in the gospel is not difficult. In fact over the past 30 years the church has done a wonderful job of marketing the gospel. It has packaged and sold the gospel all around the world. Courses have been designed, pathways have been followed. Yet the back door of the church is wider than the front, and people not long after coming to faith return to the way of the world. As Peterson says, getting a person interested in eternal life is not difficult, however, sustaining that interest is! Peterson goes on to suggest the Christian life is best described as a long obedience in the same direction. I love that metaphor – A long obedience in the same direction. It is a wonderful picture of the Christian life. There is nothing fancy about the journey. In fact often the scenery is bland, boring and mundane. Nevertheless, the journey is the journey of working out the gospel, the good news; allowing the story of Christ to take shape and to shape us into his image.
Peace be with you….
the archives near Emmaus 
Mark,
If my old memory serves me, and I could be wrong? This quote, ‘A long obedience in the same direction,’ was first first spoken by Nietzche. Who did simply did challenge the moral life of the 19th century. But in reality is human obedience really capable before God? i.e. human obedience in sin. Does not the Law of God show us we will come up short? Does a gospel of be good and do good, betray us? So the real Christian life must be measured by the grace and moral purpose of God alone! This would be a Protestant, Reformational and Reformed Gospel! Just theological questions again . . . 🙂
That is correct Robert. Peterson, acknowledges where it comes from and has a bit of a story to go along with it.
I think we only have two options in life, obedience to God (which is freedom) and disobedience which is rebellion. 🙂
Mark: Yes indeed, but our freedom comes at the cost of another’s obedience…Jesus Christ, the ‘Federal Head’ Himself! (Rom. 5:19) This doctrine of Pauline Imputation has seized me yet once again! Awesome truth and liberty/freedom!
Mark, my heart, too, warms to the phrase “a long obedience in the same direction.” However, I can’t help but be dismayed that Peterson is defining that direction – whether he realizes it or not – as toward church instead of toward Christ (at least in what you have described here).
Surely Christ’s work in us must be measured by how much more like Him we become in our long obedience.
Mike,
You point is really right within John Calvin’s own teaching! Justification begins sanctification, the two are very close though separate in one work. And the Church is always simply Christ!
Mike, that would have been me, not Peterson. Only the quote comes from Peterson. I thought it was pretty clear from what I’d written that I meant Christ. Sorry for the confusion. 🙂
All’s well that ends well.
Always remember the KISS rule. It’s easy to overcomplicate.