Life Together

Chapter 4: Ministry  Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer  Luke 9:46 An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.   In this chapter Bonhoeffer describes a few ways in which Christians ought to be doing ministry.  He suggests that just as the disciples argued about who was the best in their group the church members are likely to argue, even if just in their minds, each person's position. Some may walk into the room and assess who is the strongest or the weakest, the most spiritual or furthest from God, or who is the best prayer or speaker. The problem is that this makes this person a self-interested judge over his or her brothers and sisters in Christ. Bonhoeffer proposes seven different areas of ministry which God invites each individual church member to take part in. These include the ministry of holding one's tongue, the ministry of meekness, the ministry of listening, the ministry of helpfulness, the ministry of bearing, the min...

Chapter 3: The Day Alone  Dietrich Bonhoeffer  Christian Community as we discussed previously is a gift which Jesus has given to the church so that we can build one another up as we await Jesus' return. However, as Bonhoeffer proceeds to explain that community is not created simply to fill a hole in the life of a lonely person. It is meant for more than that and God has not called His people to reliance on others but reliance on Him. He has also not called His people to utter solitude nor isolation from the body of Christ. Community within the church is meant to be enjoyed as a gift not as a god.  I love Bonhoeffer's line which says "let him who cannot be alone beware of community and let him who is not in community beware of being alone". When I read this line I think of myself at different times throughout my Christian walk and other Christians who I have seen struggle with finding the balance between the two. For me, as a younger Christian I sought out C...

Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer  Chapter 2: The Day with Others Bonhoeffer writes "At the threshold of the new day stands the Lord who made it". Every day is an opportunity to worship God in conjunction with the saints. Bonhoeffer suggests this is done from morning til evening through prayer scripture reading and singing hymns.   Bonhoeffer does not take devotion to the Lord lightly. The day he writes about is fully focused on God so that everything a person does is geared towards honoring God. This means that the God-worshiper wakes up and the first thing on his mind is prayer and scripture because this is the foundation for his day.   This can involve reading, praying, and singing the psalms. The psalms are expressions of God's people who have experienced great joy and also great tragedy. Bonhoeffer encourages Christians today to start their day by focusing on the psalms and learning to apply them and pray them well. For example there are the psalm...

Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer  Chapter 1: Community  Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity It will be the most beautiful day when we are all together in eternity for about a million reasons and one being that all the brothers and sisters will finally be together in perfect unity. It is in and through Jesus Christ that today the church has any hope of existing as a community connected through brotherly love.  As we wait in anticipation we live out Christian fellowship as the church though unfortunately it is scattered about at the present moment. Though our fellowship is not perfect Jesus instituted the church for a purpose. Part of that is that it is a source of incomparable joy and strength for believers.God has gifted us with a means of coming together to support one another. Bonhoeffer points out that too often we forget that our community created through Christ is something not everyone has. Some people don't ...

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Greshman Machen  Chapter 7: The Church  When Jesus was about to ascend into heaven he told his disciples to go stay put in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers and this marked the beginning of the church. The church consists of all people who have placed their faith in Jesus and have been born again. Today we talk about going to church as a place or a building which it is but, the church is more than that. The church really is the body of Christ.  The trouble with the church is that it is made up of humans who though may be desperately seeking after God still have not reached perfection. God knew this and in His word warns the church of things to watch out for. One of those things to be cautious of is false teaching which is anything that is inconsistent with God's word. His word says that the devil is a prowling lion seeking anyone to devour. Theref...

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Greshman Machen  Chapter 6: Salvation In the previous chapter we learned about who Jesus is and that we need to not simply imitate him because he was a good example but we need to place our trust in him because he was and is the Son of God. We are saved not because what Jesus said or was but because of what he did. God so loved the world that he sent his Son to suffer the punishment for our sins so that we could be saved. That is the gospel. It is based in historical fact and truth and only this truth offers us the salvation that we need to have our relationship with God restored.  The issue in the modern or liberal view of salvation is that it depends on people instead of entirely on God. It disregards God's grace which is the only reason we have a chance at salvation. God did not owe us anything and there is no way for man to earn salvation. That is why man must put his faith in Jesus rather than in his own ability to "be good...