Personal Salvation?

From: Convergence Teaching by CJ on Feb 8 2007

Extra ecclesiam nulla salus (Outside the church there is no salvation)

What is the church’s relationship to salvation?

Presented by Cyprian, argued by Origen, Augustine, Aquinas and others was adopted by the Catholic church as a measure of exclusivity. It has been used in history to keep people out, and to give the church the authority to determine who was "in."

As Christians, our work is to participate in our own salvation, the salvation of our community, and God’s ultimate plan for the salvation of our world. So let's talk about salvation.

PERSONAL SALVATION (a myth?)

Are you are saved? How do you know?

Most of us would point back to a time when we prayed a short sinner’s prayer, and recieved our personal salvation. Who can show me the sinner’s prayer in the Bible? Where did the sinner’s prayer come from? It's actually a condensed version of the basic salvation theology called The Romans road. Eventually, instead of declaring a creed orsomething, we just adapted several scriptures into a prayer and -- Presto! You're saved. Like magic.

So again, how do you know you are saved? Ok, now we can get to the meat - I am saved because I am a disciple of Jesus.

Who is a disciple of Jesus is in the Bible?

First, Jesus talked a lot about the Kingdom. Somehow, those who are his disciples are invostors and representatives of the Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew). BEING IN THE KINGDOM is Both an event of entering, and a process of participation. It's not just the moment of first prayer, it's the process of ongoing participation. We will argue here that if you are missing the latter, you are likely not saved. No participation - no salvation.

Many have entered but never participated. Its like being drunk at an AA meeting. What’s the point of being in an environment of freedom if you bring your bondage with you? You entered, sure, but if you don’t participate, then what good is it to say you go to AA meetings?

The Kingdom is focused on: Ethics (Matt 5-7); Mission (Matt 10); Commitment (Matt 13); Community (Matt 18); and Stewardship (Matt 24-25). There are all about doing stuff, not just believing stuff. And all of this stuff requires community. You can't excersize ethics, stewardship, or commitment in isolation.

Our personal salvation model is a modern concept, introduced at the same time as secularism. Personal salvation is not entirely Biblically sound. Salvation by participating in a community of the saved, and in relationship with Jesus, is the Biblical model.

What does it mean to be in relationship with Jesus? Let’s ask him? John 14:15; John 14:21; John 14:23-24 Lovers are doers! But is this Jesus’ example? 1 John 4:8-12; Rom 5:8; John 15:9-13. What are the elements of love in community here? Can those things be excersized independent of community? nope.

The premodern monks and mystics seem at first glance to be the first “personal-salvationists” in the world. They seem to have isolated themselves outside of the community, but any amount of historical digging will reveal that they played a huge role in the wider community, they were not individualists. They were dialectically influenced, and everything they wrote about was in the context of community. They grew food together, and often provided medical and educational support for the community around them. You (plural) are a royal priesthood, 1 Peter.

I cannot exhibit discipleship, experience love, or even work out repentance independently. I cannot exibit the fruits of the Spirit individually, so what value then is individual / personal salvation?

Remember the Great commission (in Matt 28)? Can this be done outside of community?

I'll add to that The Great Responsibility in Luke 4:18ff (cf. Isaiah 61), this is what Jesus saw as the responsibilities tied to the great commission. Can this be done outside of community?

There seems no Biblical sense in which any isolated individual can be saved outside of community.

But what about what Paul said? The closest argument to individual salvation there is in the New Testament is the case of Abraham. Paul says that he was saved by faith, and James says that he was saved by obedience. I believe they were right.

Paul says that Abraham was declared righteous by faith (Gal 3:6-9), and seems to preach a faith based salvation. But curiously in 1 Cor 3:11-15, it is our works which will be tested. And he seems to entirely contradict himself in Romans 3:31 “Do we then nullify the law through faith? Of course not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” So what's the deal, is Paul lying? Confused?

James clarifies by saying that it was Abraham’s obedience that made him righteous (James 2:14-26). Both authors refer to the exact same text in Leviticus when they make these seemingly opposing claims about Abraham.

So which is it, salvation through faith or works? Neither / both.

Faith AND works is salvation

Let's look at it a different way. Can fruit / works be exercised all by yourself (Galatians 5)?

Can I be loving, patient, kind, etc, outside of relationship with othr people? nope. I can't even excersize the fruit of the Spirit in isloation, so I too am not saved independently of my relationship to others. Again, there seems to be no such thing as individual salvation. My faith can only produce actions, the fruit of the spirit, and the beatitudes, in community. In other words, MY personal faith is useless, it is not even enough to be saved. Faith in Christ requires involvement in community. Not only that, but Jesus says that our love is not holistic until it is expressed for our enemies. That’s a communal gospel.

In fact, of all of the times in Paul’s writings when he refers to salvation or being saved, there is only 1 time when it is in an individualistic context (1 Tim 4:16). Look them up! There are a ton of references to salvation in Paul's writings, but they are instructions to groups, not to individuals.

As we saw a couple of weeks ago, you can neither know who you are nor invest in your own character outside of community. In light of the fact that you can't be saved outside of community, this makes a lot of sense.

Individual IN community is saved

ASIDE: There are times of isolation for the sake of relationship with God that are important in a believer’s life (desert experiences, the dark night of the soul, garden of Gethsemane) but those are properly and always: in response to calling; never out of rejection of the community; and without exception, involve a return to community.

The real question is, If we can prove Biblically the case for both Individual and Communal salvation, what Godly motive would there be to defend individual over and against communal salvation?

We've done this for a couple of hundred years because of the individualism in teh wider society. We the Church have made deep consessions to the world in the area of individualism to the point that we have allowed it to hijack the Biblical model of salvationin community.

Salvation is participation with Jesus in the community of the church, in bringing his Kingdom to bear in the world.

COMMUNAL SALVATION IN PRACTICE

Why do you come to Convergence? Let’s look at the Missional works (that is, faith that leads to action) of Convergence:

How many are involved in risky missional outreach or community service in the areas of social justice? Are we doing the Luke 4 stuff? If the Bible says that you must be involved in those things in order to be a Christian, what happens to your sinner’s prayer? How about the groups that we all laid out last week, how many of us now see them as missional works.

Our corporate mission is to bring the gospel into our culture to form faith communities. So what kinds of communities are we involved in? Are we taking responsibility for spiritual growth and social justice in those communities?

Let’s have a look at two the two exit ramps of Convergence:

Because we are transient, we must have strategic exits from this group. Because salvation is only in community, at Convergence we intend for long-term community participation in these two things:

1. The Peaceful Takeover of Broadway: Our mission to revitalize our inter-dependant lazy older brother, Broadway Church. How are we reaching out to Broadway? (Or if you go to another church, how are you reaching out there?) What is our long term intention for Broadway as a conglomerant of churches? MEMBERSHIP at Broadway is a necessary part of the strategy if you want influence in a modern church. We need to learn the language of modern church just long enough to be influencial . We can rewrite that language later.
2. Lifelong A-Proximate Communities: We must be active in working out our salvation in participation with others who are doing the same. By doing this, we can build relationships that will be with us forever, no matter where we live or what we are doing in 10 years from now. Location is helpful, but not necessary for relationship.

So extra ecclesiam nulla salus is what we’re still dealing with. And where the Catholic church interpreted it as their right to deny or grant salvation (exclusive), at Convergence we have an inclusive definition: Anyone who is participating in the global Church, by participating in obedience to Christ in community, is saved. Instead of being the keepers of salvation, demanding allegiance to the institution, and keeping those out of the church (and salvation) that we don’t want, Convergence reinterprets this phrase, not to identify who is out, but to give back to Jesus the right to decide who is truly in. What does this mean for those who call themselves Christians but are not actively participating in community? Can that faith truly save them?

What does this mean for those we lead to Christ? For those who have walked away from communities of which we are a part?

So here's what we've come up with:

1. Faith and works are intrinsically tied. Faith without works is dead, works without faith are as filthy rags.

2. Individual salvation and communal salvation are tied. You can’t be saved in isolation, as the fruit of the spirit and acts of obedience require community. Likewise, you can’t just be saved in community with no individual conviction of Christ’s Lordship.

3. Jesus is both Savior AND Lord. For a long time the individualistic church has sold him as savior THEN lord. You can’t have half of Jesus. He is called Savior 16 times in the New Testament, he is called Lord 420 times. Obedience is not optional.

4. Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried. – GK Chesterton.

Spiritual Gifts: The Body's Love Language

Convergence: Feb. 1, 2007
Teachers: Jared & Dianna
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12 & 13

Let's recap some of our previous thoughts on spiritual gifts...
We all have them. We have responsibility to know them and use them. They are not optional. Essentially, spiritual gifts are given to individuals, but they are not for individuals: they are for community.

Why should we use our spiritual gifts?
They are extraordinary power. They convince unbelievers. Grace is for the salvation of those who have it, while gifts are for the salvation of others.

So, no one has spiritual gifts merely for him or herself. They are given “for the body.”

We are responsible to use spiritual gifts to influence the people we come in contact with. Furthermore, you are needed because no one will have the same combination of spiritual gifts expressed in exactly the same way. What if your arm had the potential to function perfectly well, but it chose not to? That would be rather inhibiting. You might say that arm was kind of a jerk...

And then Paul brings it all home…
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13: 1-3

It is no coincidence that Paul leads directly into the topic of love.

**Please note the context of this scripture: Paul is NOT writing about marriage, he is writing to the Church of Corinth (a.k.a. you and I in The Church)**

What does this look like?
What is love in the context of the church? Since we are a body (a good looking one, at that) we are connected and interdependent.

At this point in the evening we moved into an expression of love within the body by communicating individually to one another “I know that I love you because…”

This activity helped us look less like this...

...and more like this...

This would suggest that we (The Church, Broadway, Convergence…) are more than a social group. We must actively demonstrate and reinforce the level of purpose in this community.

So now what?
Let's try an experiment here: what if we loosen the definition of church? Church involves a gathering of people. OK. Now, part of church involves me using my spiritual gifts for the kingdom by influencing those around me. OK. Now, let's just say if Christ is my focus we'll call that a church. Therefore, Sunday AM or Convergence is one form of church, one expression of the body.

So, perhaps Convergence is only one of your churches...

Remember? Secular dualism is a myth: there is no difference between secular and sacred space because God is EVERYWHERE. Welcome to the Kingdom of God -- the territory is endless and you can serve him wherever you are. [Good thing your spiritual gifts don’t get turned on and off!]

Jesus didn’t ask you to only serve those who speak your language or have membership in your church. We are called to be disciples. That is, a disciple is who you are, not something you do. Therefore, engage here in your gifts here, but also be kingdom-minded in every space you are.

A lot of money and resources are tied up in spaces where people can talk about God thanks to the modern-concept of “church”…but imagine with us for a moment the endless pre-existing spaces where we can have “church.”

Then we can begin to think of the church more like this: interconnected spheres-of-influence rather than time or place…

Character Renovation Part 2 (Second Half)

From: Convergence Teaching by CJ on Jan 18 2007

Character Renovation Part 2

Dallas Willard model tells us that in order to change our character we must bombard ourselves with symbols of the trait we wish to grow in us. So then when faces with a decison we hope those images will have worked themsleves into our ethos enought that we will choose the option that is more 'right'.

Some would say this method is a little simple and perhaps it is possible to work on the 'experience' of making the decison vs. simply drownings ourselves with reminders of better decisons to make.
Intentional Character Formative Experience


Just like Bombardment this models requires intentionality.

When faced with a situation in life we receive Input.

Input: It is the event of cognitive understanding of a truth which the individual believes is likely to be objective, or at least a truth that holds consequences for the individual.

This is the new information you are reading right now.

Align: The The new information rubs up against the old information, this usually involves degrees of rejection and acceptance of new the information. It is helpful to think of Alignment in terms of “alignment with who we are” as the Input rubs up against our character. This is where you decide what of the new information you are reading will be accepted or rejected.

Awaken: Resulting from your alignment, you discover that you are capable of new thought, behaviour, ideas. Awakening is where possibilities are created by the individual, by exercise of the will. The Awakened possibility Aligned with the new Input leads to opportunity to experience an Output.

This is what you believe now that you “can” or “should” do with the information you have just received.

Output: The Output event provides space for testing, for experimenting in the physical world with meta-physical ideas and possibilities that have effects on our character.

So perhaps you put up a picture of Jesus in your house to try and bombard yourself with his image, or you forgive someone now that you know yourself to be unforgiving.

Dream: The results of Output are then filtered by Dream into memory. Here we decide which parts of the Output we will incorporate into ourselves. We take the evidence of our output experience into our character to produce a filtered memory, a dream, something humans do naturally. The memory then becomes a part of our character, and leads us into Processing.

You forgive someone, and they tell you they hate you and slap you on the face, then you decide based on that output experience what you will remember, having been rejected, or having been obedient and forgiving, or both, those things through memory become a part of your character.

Align: The new information, now in the form of filtered memory, rubs up against your old information again, affecting character change.

How does your memory of being slapped in the face relate to what you believed about yourself? About God? About that other person?

Processing: Processing is cognitive meditation (thinking) on the ongoing cycle of orchestrated experience and character development. It happens as often as Inputs and Outputs, though we are often not as intentional about this element. Processing is where we sort out through thought/meditation, the effects of ongoing experiences on our character.

Who are you now that you have put into practice the information you received?

Awakening: Those effects then pass through an Awakening, as we see our character more clearly in light of the process, the experience as a whole, the memory, the information, everything in play together. This Awakening to who we are then passes again through Dream to produce vision.

Have I learned anything, how does this experience comment on who I am?

Dream: Dream in this direction is not the creation of a past memory, but the creation of a future memory; it is our epistemic access to what may happen as a result of who we are becoming.

Who am I capable of becoming?

Input: What do I need to learn in order to become who I have envision myself to be?

This is how teaching this looks like with this model.

Original Material by CJ

Character Renovation Part 2 (First Half)

From: Convergence Teaching by CJ on Jan 18 2007

Character Renovation Part 2

So far we have learnt that our behaviors stem from the type of people that we are. If you are a person thats gets angry, you are an angry person, and if you are a person that avoids certain people you are the type of person that rejects people.

Because our behaviors stem from our character, and trying to change our character trough behavior is nearly impossible, what are we to do?

There are two models we will look at.

The first model comes from Dallas Willard, a very well respected philosopher, and how he depicts the human make-up.

None of us want to be liars, lazy or angry people, yet we find oursleves displaying those types of behaviors. Since none of us want to be those kinds of people, and yet we still are, Dallas Willard advocates that factors other than your will come into play in your behavior.



Our Spirit is the center of us, our most intimate part of us, this is where the majority of our decisions stem from.

Our Mind is the next factor we influence our decisons with. These are our thoughts and feelings. Think of the thought as the message, and feelings as its tone.

Our Body, it is the influence of physical addictions, handicaps, stress and also strenght, endurance, tastes in foods, habits and so on.

Our Social influence. This is who we "know" ourselves to be in relationship to others. Since we are in an individualistic secular, and modern society, this likely includes a predisposition toward feeling isolated, and anticipation of rejection and an assumption that we are seperated from God.

Our Soul, This is the entirety of our inner being. This is what others bump into when they meet us.

The 'infinite environment is where we interact with others and God.

Two things are interesting and worth noting.

Our Soul as the total of us, and not some deep part of us. This is a new idea for the majority of us. This also resembles a lot of what people would call an aura these days.

Our Spirit supercedes the mind as a core. Our thoughts and feelings are largely a matter of choice stemming from our spirit. Most people don't recognize that.

To give an example of how this affects common decisons..

If you are hungry, the issue of what to eat will be decided by your character.

If you immediately think, “I feel like chicken” then it is coming from your mind/feeling center.

If you don’t think about it, but reach for the food that you always reach for, then it’s coming from your body.

If you eat what everyone else eats, or neglect to eat because of your view of yourself, then it’s coming from the social center.

At any time though, you can make a conscious choice to eat something totally random, or nothing at all as you may be fasting, these decisions come from the spirit/will.

Our actions proceed from our spirit/will, through our character, then reveal themselves first in our souls before interacting with the world around us. So how do you change your behavior?

Change your spirit, your will, your heart, your character.

There are two models for this, both are entirely Biblical.

Dallas Willard advocates bombardment. Bombard yourself with images, words, thoughts (which you choose to have), symbols, people, experiences, generally outside influences that feed into the kind of character you like.

Do you want to be loving, hang out with loving people.
Do you want to be generous, put pictures of poverty around your house.
Do you want to be healthy, don’t put pictures of skinny people up, put food labels up around your mirror, buy running shoes, talk to people you consider healthy about being healthy.
Do you want to be a great leader, read the stories of Joshua, Peter, Jesus, Theresa of Avila, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, etc.

Above all, PRAY!!! Jesus is the only one that has direct access to your spirit, and can change it without having to deal much with your other character influences.

Change your character by changing your influences.

(Note: For more information and source check out Dallas Willard book, Renovation of the Heart)

We will look at the other model in the second half of this teaching.