Jesus Has Left the Building

by drwinn on July 14, 2010

Book Review for Immediate Release

by Jim Miller

Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ
Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola
Thomas Nelson (June 1, 2010)

Years ago, as a rather insignificant young pastor in a large denomination, I fearlessly (too fearlessly, as it turned out) stood before some 10,000 delegates to propose we change the order of our denomination’s statement of faith and move our No. 3 article of faith, “The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ,” to the top of the list and the then No. 1 article, “The Scriptures Inspired,” to the No. 3 slot. Was not interested in changing the language of the articles, just their order. My motive was pure, I thought. I believed that Christ, as the Bible said, should “have the preeminence in all things”; especially, one would think, in a Christian creedal statement. To my shame, I was jeered off the floor. One colleague later scolded me and said he was “ashamed” of me. It took years for me to live down a reputation of being “renegade” and “liberal” (I was neither). Yet here I am, some thirty-plus years later, more convinced than ever that my proposal was a good idea and I have just found vindication in a new book by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola: Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ. (Where were these guys when I needed them?)

Occasionally, despite all my pious religiosity, I get the uneasy feeling that Jesus has left the building. I, like you, have a tendency to become wrapped-up, even obsessed, in whatever my pet issue is at the moment. It may be anything from evangelism to the environment to end-time prophecy. This is understandable since every year hundreds of titles flood the Christian market dealing with every topic imaginable and we sometimes find ourselves swept up in the current hot topic. But in the end it all comes back to that elemental question Jesus once asked Peter: “Who do you say that I am?” When Christ ceases to be the nexus of our faith and we become absorbed in all the stuff “about” Jesus, and not in Christ himself, we lose our focus.

“The Christian life properly conceived and experienced,” affirm the authors, “is simply a reproduction and a reliving of the life of Jesus.” But Christianity is not just a matter of striving to be “like” Jesus. If that is our sole aim, we are doomed to failure. No one has done or can do it. Rather, we must “be” Christ. Don’t jump to conclusions by that statement. The authors go on to say, “Jesus doesn’t want us to be ‘like’ him; he wants to share his resurrection life with us, [not just] imitate him. Christ wants to live in and through us. The gospel is not the imitation of Christ; it is the implantation and impartation of Christ. We are called to more than mediate the truth. We are called to manifest Jesus’ presence.” Or, as George MacDonald prayed, “O Christ, my life, possess me utterly. Take me and make a little Christ of me.” Quoting Bishop Ryle, with whom the authors agree, “Christ is all. Those three words are the essence and substance of Christianity. If our hearts can really go along with them, it is well with our souls. If not, we may be sure we have yet much to learn.”

Author’s Bio
Leonard Sweet currently occupies the E. Stanley Jones Chair of Evangelism, serving from 1995 to 2001 as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Theological School at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. A Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon, and President Emeritus of United Theological Seminary, he is a weekly contributor to the online preaching resource, Sermons.com. Author of more than two hundred articles, twelve hundred published sermons, and almost forty books, Sweet is currently working on two textbooks: one on preaching, Giving Blood, and one on evangelism, Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who is Already There. His most recent book is So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church and his weekly podcast is “Napkin Scribbles.”

Frank Viola is a best-selling author and international conference speaker. His books include Revise Us Again, Reimagining Church, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church and the best-selling From Eternity to Here.

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Seth Godin on the tribes we lead

by drwinn on July 3, 2010

Seth Godin’s book Tribes has been out for a while but it’s well worth the read.

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Gutty Kingdom Living!

by drwinn

In his book Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation James K. A. Smith (I just love double middle initials because I am blessed with two middle initials, can middle really be two?), discusses the benefits of gutty learning verses heady learning as we experience being kingdom people. Dr. Smith will be the keynote [...]

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Is Wright Always Right?

by drwinn

Last month the 19th Annual Wheaton Theology Conference presented “Jesus, Paul and the People of God: A Theological Dialogue with N.T. Wright.” If you are interested in Tom Wright’s massive work, you might be interested to hear other NT specialist interact with his work. Continuing education via the Net is really a great opportunity. http://bit.ly/aKudUO

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Coming To Your Mobile Phone

by drwinn

Did you know:

text messages outnumber phone calls in the US?
95% of all text messages are read within 15 Minutes?
17% of all text messages are forwarded Virally?
20% of people respond to a text message?
twice as many people use text messaging as use email?
1/3 of human kind has mobile internet access?
1.8 billion people will send a text [...]

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Seeing the New Creation

by drwinn

There are eight meal scenes in the story of Luke. The seventh one was what we traditionally call the Last Supper. The eighth one was on the day of resurrection with the husband and wife that Jesus met on the Road to Emmaus.
Think of the first meal in the Garden. The moment is heavy with [...]

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Brueggemann: Prophetic Preaching. Videos

by drwinn

These presentations were delivered at Baylor in February 2010.
Give the session you choose a small bit of time to begin.
Prophetic Preaching 1
Prophetic Preaching 2
Prophetic Preaching 3
Prophetic Preaching 4

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Walter Brueggemann on Prophetic Preaching

by drwinn

Here is a set of Podcasts by Walter Brueggemann on Prophetic Preaching that he delivered at Baylor University in February 2010.
There a bit of delay for buffeting at the beginning, be patient.
Prophetic Preaching 1
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Prophetic Preaching 2
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Prophetic Preaching 3
[Audio clip: view full post to [...]

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Different But Equal

by drwinn

Book Review for Immediate Release
by Jim Miller
Different but Equal: Going Beyond the Complementarian/Egalitarian Debate
Derek Morphew
Vineyard International Publishing (December 29, 2008)
In the introduction to his latest book Different But Equal: Going Beyond the Complementarian-Egalitarian Debate, Derek Morphew points out that in recent years some sweeping theological changes have taken place in his thinking regarding the place [...]

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Vineyard: New Growth Possible Coming Out of Winter

by drwinn

Below is a presentation by Caleb Maskell, part of the church planting team of Elm City Vineyard in New Haven, CT, where Matt and Hannah Croasmun are the pastors. The presentation was delivered at the National Vineyard Conference in the UK. In his presentation he discusses four phases that the Vineyard has journeyed. I thought [...]

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