Paul Timothy Jones on Practicing the Discipline of Diversity

Timothy Paul Jones, Perspectives on Family Ministry: 3 Views, pages 218-221.

Practicing the Discipline of Diversity 

So how can we lead our churches to practice the discipline of diversity? I now serve as one of the pastors in an inner-city congregation where we have set our sights on pursuing kingdom diversity, and I can tell you from personal experience that the process is far from easy. It is painful and costly and complicated. Over the past several years in my context, the process has consisted primarily of four steps, repeated over and over and over: 

(1) Learn your place. Know the demographics of the neighborhoods around the places where your congregation gathers, and be aware of socioeconomic strata or ethnic groups that your ministries may be overlooking. 

(2) Listen to your place. Humbly hear the challenges that people in your neighborhood face; learn to see life from their perspective. Listen to them long enough to know the barriers that would keep them from feeling welcomed in your church. 

(3) Love your place. When you walk through your neighborhood, do you feel a surge of affection for these people? Do you become choked up as you recognize how much you want the people in this place to hear the gospel? When you look into people’s eyes as you pass by them, do you love these people? Stop wishing that your context looked more like someone else’s context. Quit whispering to yourself, If only we had this, then we could really do ministry well. God will provide all that is needed to accomplish the task that he has given to you in the place where you are. Love the people and the place where God has positioned you and your church. In a multiethnic context, that will mean developing multiethnic relationships. You cannot grow a multiethnic church while leading a mono-ethnic life. 

(4) Develop leadership that looks like your place. If you want to see older believers mentoring younger believers but everyone who leads your church is in their twenties or thirties, your church will struggle to gather mature men and women to disciple younger generations. If your context is multiethnic but your leadership isn’t, your congregation will remain mono-ethnic. Diversifying leadership doesn’t require your congregation to develop a large staff. What it requires is gospel-centered leaders who reflect the beautiful diversity of your community and who are placed in visible positions of authority. It means submitting yourself to their wisdom and making yourself accountable to them. In time, it will mean releasing your authority and giving it to people whose perspective and background may be quite different from your own. If you do not raise up diverse leadership, you will never move toward diverse fellowship. 

These steps are not flashy or fast; they are incremental and mundane. I do not pretend that following these steps provides a quick or easy solution to the problems of segmentation and segregation in the church. That is primarily because I do not believe there are any quick or easy solutions to these problems. 

Lasting transformation happens through tiny actions repeated over years and decades—through “liturgies,” in the best sense of the word—not through massive shifts that happen in moments or days or months. The most difficult aspect of implementing this process is simply staying focused on the same commitment for the long term. And yet, I do believe that, over time, these simple steps can multiply the diversity of our congregation and provide a more effective witness to the watching world. 

From time to time, someone with children or youth visits the church and asks one of the leaders, “What do you have for my children?” 

Typically, the leader’s response is a recitation of activities that the church offers for children and youth. This isn’t necessarily wrong, and it’s probably the response that the potential attender is expecting. And yet, here’s what I prayerfully envision: I long for a church culture in which the first response to this question is a sweeping glance across the entire congregation accompanied by the words, “All of this! We have all of this for your children—older people, younger people, places to serve, words that build them when they are broken, answers when they wonder, corrections when they wander. Here in this multitude of languages and ethnicities and generations and socioeconomic backgrounds, we have all this and more for your children. Oh, and here are some activities that might interest them as well . . .” 

Even if we don’t use these precise words as a response, this is the attitude that I long to see in every aspect of our discipleship as we learn to practice the discipline of diversity. 

Regardless of which model of family ministry God guides your church to follow, be certain to include practices in that model that prepare your people to pursue the discipline of diversity. 

Because of the reconciling work of Christ’s cross, unity in diversity is not so much a goal to be achieved as it is a gift to be received. God has already broken down the barriers between his people through the blood of Jesus Christ. 

Practicing the way of life that prepares you for the gift of unity expressed in diversity isn’t easy. And yet, whenever a church pursues this reality, the resulting kaleidoscope of colors and cultures shouts out the supernatural power of the gospel to the watching world. 

Through unity in diversity, the people of God testify visibly to the capacity of the gospel to accomplish a reality that the world cannot.

Holy love and other delicious virtue pairings

As I was visiting with my friend Jon last night, we got to talking about what it means that God is love, and yet his love doesn't squish him into whatever shape we want to imagine him to be. 

I was reminded of a lecture by Bill Mounce on the BiblicalTraining app, where he said that God's love is a holy love -- and, I'm not sure whether Mounce said it or I just thought it, but the implication is that God's holiness is a loving holiness. Or maybe I heard it on Michael Bird's lectures based on his book Evangelical Theology -- which says, "God’s glorious-holy-lovingness is the most definitive aspect of his character. In other words, God glorifies himself through the expression of his holy love." (p.201)

Anyway, this reminded me of how James Clear in Atomic Habits (p.102) said that the best French fries are the ones that are "golden brown and crunchy on the outside and light and smooth on the inside." He calls this dynamic contrast.

Things are just better when they are complex like that. Two things complementing each other. 

Holiness and love. See Psalm 85:10-11 below for more delicious virtue pairings. 

Psalms 85:1-13 NIV

[1] You, Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. 

[2] You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. 

[3] You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger. 

[4] Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us. 

[5] Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations? 

[6] Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? 

[7] Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation. 

[8] I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants— but let them not turn to folly. 

[9] Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. 

[10] Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. 

[11] Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. 

[12] The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. 

[13] Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.

https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.85.1-13.NIV 

Calvin on vocation

John Calvin draws the following inferences on vocation from Jesus's parable of the workers in the vineyard who were all paid the same even though they started at different times (Matthew 20:1-16):

- [M]en were created for activity and... each has his divinely appointed station, so that he shall not sink into laziness... 

- [O]ur whole life is useless and we are justly condemned of laziness until we frame our life to the command and calling of God.

- [T]hey labour in vain who thoughtlessly take up this or that kind of life and do not wait for God's calling.

- [O]nly they are pleasing to God who work for the advantage of their brethren.

Let me restate these in a positive way:

- We were created for activity

- We each have our divinely appointed station

- Our whole life becomes useful when we frame it to the command and calling of God

- We will not labor in vain if we thoughtfully wait for God's calling and then take up this or that kind of life that he calls us to

- We are pleasing to God when we work for the advantage of others

Source:

John Calvin, A Harmony of the Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Volume 2, pp. 265-266. Translated by T.H.L. Parker. (Calvin's Commentaries.) Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972.

Michael Gorman on Paul in one sentence

Paul in one sentence:

Paul preached, and then explained in various pastoral, community-forming letters, 

a narrative, apocalyptic, theopolitical gospel of God’s shocking faithfulness and grace, 

(1) in continuity with the story of Israel and 

(2) in distinction to the imperial gospel of Rome (and analogous powers), 

that was centered on God’s crucified and exalted Messiah Jesus, 

whose incarnation, life, and death by crucifixion were validated and vindicated by God in his resurrection and exaltation as Lord, 

which inaugurated the new age or new creation, 

in which all members of this diverse but consistently covenantally dysfunctional human race who respond in self-abandoning and self-committing faith thereby participate in Christ’s death and resurrection and are 

(1) justified, or restored to right covenant relations with God and with others, and adopted into God’s family; 

(2) incorporated into a particular manifestation of Christ the Lord’s body on earth, the church, 

which is an alternative community to the status-quo human communities committed to and governed by Caesar (and analogous rulers) and by values contrary to the gospel; and 

(3) infused both individually and corporately by the Spirit of God’s Son so that they may lead ‘bifocal’ lives, 

focused both back on Christ’s first coming and ahead to his second, 

consisting of Christlike, cruciform 

(1) faith(fulness) and 

(2) hope toward God and 

(3) love toward both neighbors and enemies (a love marked by peaceableness and hospitality), 

thereby bearing witness in word and deed to the one true God and the Lordship of Christ, and 

participating by the power of the Holy Spirit in God’s mission of reconciliation and restorative justice in Christ, 

even at the risk of suffering and death, 

all in joyful anticipation of 

(1) the return of Christ, 

(2) the resurrection of the dead to eternal life, and 

(3) the renewal of the entire creation.

Gorman, Michael J.. Apostle of the Crucified Lord: A Theological Introduction to Paul and His Letters (p. 183). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition. 

(bolding mine)

Matthean creeds and confessions

 In my personal Bible reading, I'm journaling through the Gospel of Matthew. Every morning, I copy a pericope (short section) and then write a summary explanation, application, and a response in the form of a prayer or action item. Last night, since I've been wrestling with the current evangelical understanding of the gospel, and exploring liturgical renewal, I asked ChatGPT to help me create some creeds and confessions based on Matthew. 

The results were eye-opening -- there is more focus on the continuing story of God with Israel according to the scriptures, continued with the church, bringing in his kingdom, and there is more on our part in continually repenting of hypocrisy and giving up everything to take hold of Jesus' mercy and join him in his covenant community. 

Things like strict definitions of the trinity and inerrancy of scripture and the timing of the second coming, or passive formulations of receiving grace through faith gave way to an active view of living as Jesus' apprentices. 

It's not that I disbelieve in receiving grace through faith, but I believe that our current American conception of this takes an overly passive (lazy) and transactional understanding of some of Paul's words, and uses them to misinterpret the rest of scripture, when we should actually understand each biblical writer on their own terms to fill out the whole picture, which, as Michael Gorman, Matthew Bates, and Volker Rabens argue, is one of active trust in union with Christ, leading to bodily expressions of allegiance in daily worship and ethical living, with a growing understanding that this trust and obedience is a response to God's gift of kindness, and that our growth in trust-obedience, though it takes all our striving, arises out of that union and our union with the saints.

May more and more congregations submit their traditions to the words of scripture, not only their favorite verses, but the favorite themes of each of the biblical writers in turn, and see their faith renewed.

• The Matthean Declaration of Faith revises the Evergreen Bible Church declaration of faith using only content found in the Gospel of Matthew.
• The creed, and a shorter call-and-response version, were generated based on this, for congregational recitation.
• The Confession and Renewal Commitment fills the style and structure of the prayers of confession in Ezra 9 and Nehemiah 9 with the content of Matthew's Gospel. (I got the inspiration from Mark Boda's Return to Me: A Biblical Theology of Repentance, as well as my experience in Anglican churches.)

Take a minute to browse through the four liturgies below, and then ponder the questions at the end.

1. The Matthean Declaration of Faith

We believe the Scriptures reveal the Word of God
We believe that what is written in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms bears witness to the purposes of God, and that Jesus fulfills all that was written. We receive the Scriptures as true, enduring, and authoritative for the people of God. (Matt. 5:17–19; Matt. 22:29; Matt. 26:54–56)

We believe in the one true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
We believe in God, the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We confess the name into which Jesus commands His disciples to be baptized: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 5:45; 11:25–27; 28:19)

We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God
We believe that Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, is Immanuel—God with us. He is the promised Messiah, the Son of David and Son of Abraham, who proclaims the kingdom of heaven, heals the sick, forgives sins, and lays down His life as a ransom for many. (Matt. 1:18–23; 16:16; 20:28; 26:28)

We believe that the Spirit of God is present and active
We believe that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at His baptism, led Him in His mission, and empowers the people of God. Blasphemy against the Spirit is the gravest of sins. (Matt. 3:16; 4:1; 12:28–32)

We believe that all people have sinned and must repent
We believe that all must repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Without repentance, there is no escape from judgment. Jesus calls His followers to turn from evil, seek righteousness, and become perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 5:48; 7:13–14)

We believe salvation is granted to those who trust and follow Jesus
We believe that those who come to Jesus, hear His words, and do them will enter the kingdom of heaven. Faithfulness to Jesus—shown in repentance, obedience, and perseverance—is necessary. Those who deny Him before others will be denied before the Father; those who endure to the end will be saved. (Matt. 7:21–27; 10:32–33; 24:13)

We believe in the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of His return
We believe that Jesus was crucified, died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. He is given all authority in heaven and on earth and will return as Judge and King. He will separate the righteous from the wicked, rewarding the faithful with eternal life and casting the lawless into eternal punishment. (Matt. 16:21; 28:5–7; 25:31–46)

We believe in baptism as a sign of repentance and allegiance to Jesus
We believe that baptism is the outward confession of repentance and commitment to follow Jesus. He commands His disciples to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 3:11; 3:13–17; 28:19)

We believe in the Lord’s Table as a remembrance of Jesus' covenant
We believe that Jesus instituted a meal with His disciples, giving bread and cup as signs of the new covenant in His blood, for the forgiveness of sins. We partake in remembrance of Him, awaiting the day we shall feast anew with Him in His Father’s kingdom. (Matt. 26:26–29)

2. The Matthean Creed

We believe in God, the Maker of heaven and earth,
the Father who is perfect and merciful.

We believe in Jesus the Christ,
the Son of David, the Son of Abraham,
born of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit,
God with us, the Teacher of truth,
the Healer of the sick,
the Shepherd of the lost.

He called us to repent,
to follow Him,
to take up our cross,
to lose our lives that we might find them.

He was handed over, crucified, and buried,
and on the third day He rose again.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
who empowers us to obey all that Jesus commanded.

We believe in baptism into the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

We believe in the forgiveness of sins
through the covenant of His blood.

We believe He will come again
to judge the living and the dead,
to gather the righteous into His kingdom,
and to cast out all evil forever.

Until He comes,
we watch and pray,
we make disciples of all nations,
and we walk the narrow road that leads to life.

Amen.

3. The Matthean Creed: Call and Response Format

Leader:
Do you believe in God, the Maker of heaven and earth,
the Father who is perfect and merciful?

Congregation:
We believe.

Leader:
Do you believe in Jesus the Christ,
the Son of David, the Son of Abraham,
born of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit,
God with us, our Teacher, our Lord?

Congregation:
We believe.

Leader:
Do you believe that He called us to repent,
to follow Him, to take up our cross,
and to walk the narrow road that leads to life?

Congregation:
We believe.

Leader:
Do you believe that He was handed over, crucified, and buried,
and that on the third day He rose again?

Congregation:
We believe.

Leader:
Do you believe that all authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to Him,
and that He reigns as King and Judge?

Congregation:
We believe.

Leader:
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit,
who empowers us to obey all that Jesus commanded?

Congregation:
We believe.

Leader:
Do you believe in baptism into the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
as a sign of repentance and new life?

Congregation:
We believe.

Leader:
Do you believe in the forgiveness of sins
through the covenant of His blood,
and the promise of the kingdom to come?

Congregation:
We believe.

Leader:
Do you believe that Jesus will return
to gather the righteous into His kingdom
and to bring all things to their fulfillment?

Congregation:
We believe.

Leader:
Until that day, will you watch and pray,
make disciples of all nations,
and live as children of the light?

Congregation:
By His grace, we will.

All Together:
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

4. The Matthean Confession and Renewal Commitment

(in the style of Ezra 9 and Nehemiah 9)

O Lord, our God,
You are the Blessed One, the Father who sent Your Son, Emmanuel, to save Your people from their sins.
You revealed the kingdom of heaven and called us to repent, for the kingdom is at hand.
You taught us the way of righteousness, mercy, and faithfulness.

But we have been slow to hear and quick to stray.
We have honored You with our lips, but our hearts have been far from You.
We have loved the treasures of earth more than the treasures of heaven.
We have judged others while neglecting the log in our own eyes.
We have been like foolish builders who hear Your words but do not do them.
We have been like the unfaithful servant who buried the Master's gifts in the ground.
We have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

O Lord, we confess:
We have been like sheep without a shepherd.
We have stumbled over the stone the builders rejected.
We have hidden our light under a basket, rather than letting it shine before others.
We have heard Your call to take up our cross and follow You, but we have clung to our own lives.

Yet You, O merciful King, are full of compassion.
You invite all who labor and are heavy laden to come to You for rest.
You do not break the bruised reed or quench the smoldering wick.
You forgive sins, heal diseases, and call sinners into Your kingdom.

Therefore we turn again to You, our Lord and Redeemer.
We repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
We lay aside all hypocrisy and deceit.
We seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
We will love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and we will love our neighbors as ourselves.
We will deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow You.

Blessed is the one who is not offended by You.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed be the name of the Lord, forever and ever. Amen.

Questions

1. What combination of scriptural texts would you like to try, if you were going to make a liturgy?

2. What do you notice about the shape of each liturgy? How does it guide your imagination or your emotions?

3. What are your feelings about using AI to generate ideas for liturgies? Does it help you see old truths more creatively? Does it feel cheap and artificial? Or something else? What boundaries would you like to set on your use of AI in this area and why?

Joining the priestly kingdom

Notes from a sermon on salvation, from Ephesians 2:1-10, to a small group of first and second generation Burmese-American youth and their parents, March 2, 2025

When I was living in Yangon, Myanmar, I bought a black T-shirt at an evangelistic concert. The shirt, produced by Grace Music School, has the inscription in large gray letters, "Raising the Levite generation". What do you think it means? I think it means that church musicians and those who train and support them are raising up the next generation of worshipers, carrying on the tradition of the Levites who led singing and offered sacrifices in the tabernacle and the temple.

I was reminded of this shirt as I prepared to talk about Ephesians 2:1-10 where Paul magnifies the grace of God displayed in saving his people. There, Paul is essentially reenacting in a New Testament context Psalm 136, as performed by the priests at the dedication of Solomon's temple in 2 Chronicles 5. This psalm tells the story of creation, the exodus, and the conquering of Israel's enemies in Canaan, with the constant refrain, "his love endures forever". The Hebrew word for love here is hesed, which has some semantic overlap with the word for grace in the New Testament, according to Bible scholar Will Kynes. Although the Greek word in the Septuagint version of Psalm 136 is eleos, 'mercy, compassion' rather than charis 'grace', the overall thrust of the passage is the same as Paul's, in recounting and thanking God for his past rescue and ongoing kindness.

Typologically, the Psalmist's words "He remembered us in our low estate... and freed us from our enemies" are similar to Paul's when he tells the church that although they used to be dead in sins, following the ways of the world, the world's evil spiritual ruler, and their sinful minds and bodily cravings, God mercifully raised them to life with Christ and seated them (spiritually) with Christ in the heavenly realms where he rules with all authority, just as the Israelites were freed from slavery to the Pharaoh and given possession of the land of Canaan.

While the Levites at the dedication of the temple only had a small part of God's story of redemption to recount, we have its fulfillment. Matthew Bates summarizes the apostolic proclamation of the gospel of Jesus the King in the following ten points:

He preexisted as God the son, was sent by the Father, took on human flesh in fulfillment of God's promises to David, died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, was buried, was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, appeared to many witnesses, is enthroned at the right hand of God as the ruling Christ, has sent the Holy Spirit to his people to effect his rule, and will come again as final judge to rule.

In even simpler form, we form the shape of the gospel story when we hold up two fingers on our left hand in a V for victory. Jesus came down, died, was buried, rose again, and ascended to the Father's right hand. Just as the middle finger is longer than the index finger, so Jesus was raised even higher than before, because his saving work magnified his grace and demonstrated his worthiness to rule the cosmos.

So we, with Paul, are priests, singing the song of this story with one voice. As Revelation 1:5-6 says, "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever!"

One final point, which I have adapted from Bates's work: We are saved by grace, through faith, and this is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). If we are to really understand the force of Paul's idea of faith, we could often translate it "allegiance", with the idea that when someone in the early church was baptized, they confessed that Jesus is Lord and, by implication, that Caesar is not -- a preparation for martyrdom and evidence of a new citizenship.

I teach a class to help immigrants prepare for the United States citizenship test. My students have to memorize 100 questions and answers about American history and government, and be ready to answer up to ten of them, read a sentence aloud and write down a dictated sentence to show their English ability, and answer a number of personal questions such as whether they have ever been a member of the Communist Party or any terrorist groups. Last and most importantly, they have to swear the oath of allegiance, promising to be loyal to the United States, to give up loyalty to other countries, including all positions of royalty, and to obey the laws of this country.

When I delivered this sermon to the youth of a Burmese church, all the kids and their parents were very familiar with this test, as the parents had taken it in the last few years. For the rest of us, it would do us good to see the Christian life through the eyes of a recent immigrant. We enter salvation, a relationship of saving rescue and ongoing union with the Messiah, by pledging our ultimate allegiance to him and trusting him enough to obey his will.

If you have not yet entered this kingdom, will you choose to pledge your allegiance to King Jesus, by trusting him, turning from your ways to his way, and identifying with him and his people publicly by asking your parents or your pastor for baptism? 

If you are still learning, will you ask for his Spirit to help you understand? 

If you have entered his kingdom, will you ask him what is the next step he wants you to take to continue in him? 

For me this week, that has meant getting rid of Spotify, Kindle, and ChatGPT on my phone, and praying over a list of the youth at the Burmese church, and praying for my accountability group mates and their wives. What might it mean for you?

Further reading:

Bates, Matthew W. 2021. The gospel precisely: surprisingly good news about Jesus Christ the king. A Renew.org resource.

Kynes, Will. 2010. God's grace in the Old Testament: considering the hesed of the Lord. Knowing & Doing (C.S. Lewis Institute), Summer 2010.

Wright, N. T.. New Testament for Everyone Complete Eighteen-Volume Set: 20th Anniversary Edition with Study Guide (The New Testament for Everyone) (p. 3442-3446). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition. 

Scripture passages:

Ephesians 2:1-10 (The New Testament for Everyone by N.T. Wright)

So where do you come into it all? Well, you were dead because of your offences and sins! That was the road you used to travel, keeping in step with this world’s ‘present age’; in step, too, with the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is, even now, at work among people whose whole lives consist of disobeying God. Actually, that’s how all of us used to behave, conditioned by physical desires. We used to do what our flesh and our minds were urging us to do. What was the result? We too were subject to wrath in our natural state, just like everyone else. But when it comes to mercy, God is rich! He had such great love for us that he took us at the very point where we were dead through our offences, and made us alive together with the Messiah (yes, you are saved by sheer grace!). He raised us up with him, and made us sit with him – in the heavenly places, in Messiah Jesus! This was so that in the ages to come he could show just how unbelievably rich his grace is, the kindness he has shown us in Messiah Jesus.

How has this all come about? You have been saved by grace, through faith! This doesn’t happen on your own initiative; it’s God’s gift. It isn’t on the basis of works, so no one is able to boast. This is the explanation: God has made us what we are. God has created us in Messiah Jesus for the good works that he prepared, ahead of time, as the road we must travel.

Psalm 136 (NIV 2011)

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.

to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.

who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever.

who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.

who made the great lights— His love endures forever.

the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever.

the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.

to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever.

and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever.

with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.

to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever.

and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever.

but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.

to him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever.

to him who struck down great kings, His love endures forever.

and killed mighty kings— His love endures forever.

Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever.

and Og king of Bashan— His love endures forever.

and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever.

an inheritance to his servant Israel. His love endures forever.

He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever.

and freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever.

He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

2 Chronicles 5:11-14 (NIV 2011)

The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever." Then the temple of the LORD was filled with the cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God. 

An algebra of faith

There is an algebra of faith that says Jesus plus nothing equals everything, and Jesus plus something equals nothing.

When some New Testament passages say whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, and others say whoever believes will be saved, the algebra says that belief is required and baptism is optional. 

I get where this logic is coming from, and at its best, it points toward the insight that all our obedience and all our disciplines and all our studies are meant to open us up to the work of God in the Messiah Jesus, and that this is all a gift from him, even our joining in the work. 

But if we take it too far, we become like those who say "Master, Master" but don't do what Jesus says. We follow the six steps of salvation, we "get saved", and we believe we are saved, but we do nothing to continue in him. And if we don't continue in him, what expectation do we have of being saved at the last day?

This, I think, is why the Stone-Campbell movement warned us against "faith only" teachings. This is why the Book of Common Prayer says that baptism is "generally necessary" to salvation, as is participation in the eucharist in some gathering of believers called "church". Some people may do without it in dire circumstances, but if you persistently ignore it, who or what are you actually ordering your life around? (Online shopping? Social media? Sports? Your job? Your family? Your fears?) Are you expecting those things to save you? 

When Jesus said unless you give up everything you have, you can't be his disciple, where is that in our statement of faith or our gospel tract or our wordless book? 

Whoever endures to the end will be saved. And yet this endurance is a result of the warnings, comforts, and instructions found in Scripture, interpreted to us by the Spirit, reminded to us by our friends, both by their words and their presence. 

My Nigerian student's wife's elder sister's son took his own life recently, and so, as is the custom in Igbo culture, he and his wife have been coming over to the sister's house every evening and staying until around midnight, for the past two or three weeks, and they plan to continue doing this until she feels stable again. This is the kind of care that Jesus expects of us sometimes. And this is the kind of comfort that the Spirit brings through fellow humans, to help us endure. 

Let's leave aside the algebra of our faith and move on to the relational side.