Bonhoeffer

Excerpt from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's

"The Cost of Discipleship"

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Privation is the lot of the disciples in every sphere of their lives. They are the "Poor". They have no security, no possessions to call their own, not even a foot of earth to call their home, no earth society to claim their absolute allegiance. Nay more, they have no spiritual power, experience of knowledge to afford them consolation or security.

For His sake they have lost all. In following Him they lost even their own selves, and everything that could make them rich. Now they are poor-----so inexperienced, so stupid, that they have no other hope but Him who called them. Jesus knows all about the others too, the representatives and preachers of the national religion, who enjoy greatness and renown, whose feet are firmly planted on the earth, who are deeply rooted in the culture and piety of the people and moulded by the spirit of the age. Yet it is not they, but the disciples who are called blessed---theirs is the kingdom of heaven

The kingdom dawns on them, the little band who for the sake of Jesus live a life of absolute renunciation and poverty. And in that very poverty they are heirs of the kingdom. They have their treasure in secret, they find it on the cross, and they have the promise that they will one day visibly enjoy the glory of the kingdom, which in principal is already realized in the utter poverty of the cross.

My Thoughts

Sometimes when you read passages like Bonhoeffer wrote it makes you uncomfortable. I think the uneasiness comes from the simple fact that we know we have read truth. But it is a truth that runs counter to what the church teaches. Church has become a commodity that is dispensed every Sunday morning to consumers. Our signs proclaim..."Come and be blessed".....very seldom, if ever, do we proclaim..."Come and die". I don't think that would draw much of a crowd. Am I anti-blessing? Of course not. But the blessing that are given from the hand of God are not intended to satisfy your flesh. If anything, they are to set you ablaze for to see the Kingdom extended. To see people healed and restores. TO see souls saved and added to the Kingdom. 

Salvation is free..

It is a gift from God to all who would believe.

A gift to all who would receive.

But the life we are called to lead costs us. I think the church has done a terrible disservice to God and to those who fill the chairs and pews, proclaiming a message of come and be forgiven. Come and receive Christ and you won't have to change anything in your life. Oh, we may not actually say those words, but that is the subtle message that is being sent out. A cross-less Christ who hands out forgiveness like chocolates to children.

If you go into the main hall at Gadsden Vineyard Church, there is a painting hanging on the wall. It is the motto of the Moravian's. They were a community of displaced believers who were cast out of their own country because of their faith. They eventually settled on the estate of a German Nobleman named Count Von Zinzindorf. They established a settlement there they called Hernhut. Their motto reads........To Win For The Lamb The Rewards Of His Suffering. That became the zeal and passion of this people who truly lost everything. That their very lives were to be spent on Christ. To be about the Kingdom Business. Each member sought out God for direction in how this passion was to be directed. 

The motto of Vineyard Recovery Church is Following In His Steps.We chose this because of our focus on helping those in addiction, as well as those who are beginning this new journey in recovery. WE are believers who adhere and believe in the Twelve Steps as a discipline and a set of boundaries for recovery. Jesus is the Higher Power, we make no apologies for that. How can you read Step # 3 and see that we are to turn will and life over to His care,and then simply decide I will do what I want to do? Yo can't. When we state that we are living by Following In His Steps, we mean it. Just like the disciples we are poor in Spirit. But also like the disciples, we have inherited the Kingdom Rule of heaven in our life.

I guess this is another reason I enjoy watching God work among those in addiction. By the time we encounter someone, they pretty much have lost everything, or at least are painfully aware that if change doesn't happen, they will loose everything. They are hungry to know that this God is real. They are ready to change. That is why Saturday night's are so important to me and to the core leadership of VRC. It is a door way to a new way of living. Not the meeting, mind you........but the introduction of God into the dark heart and life of someone who is in bondage to drugs and alcohol.

God on you...

mb