November 3, 2016
True Spirituality – Francis Schaeffer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Spirituality
Does believing in Jesus really make a difference?
Can God really change lives?
After serving as a pastor for over a decade, Francis Schaeffer–founder of L’Abri Fellowship–found himself wrestling with deeply perplexing questions like these. He was tired of not seeing results in his own spiritual life and others’. He found himself talking about Christianity, but not living it. So, as a pastor, he decided to “start at the beginning”–go back to agnosticism–and reexamine his Christian faith. “Did Christianity really make any difference in my life?”
True Spirituality is the result of Schaeffer’s honest search for answers. When the book was published thirty years ago, it shook the Christian world. Young people flocked to L’Abri, his spiritual retreat center in the Swiss Alps. Today, it’s a classic book on understanding what real Christianity is all about–what it means to follow Jesus moment by moment.
The sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. (Isaiah 50:4, NIV)
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant?
Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.
But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.(Isaiah 50:10-11, NIV)
This example of the “universe and two chairs” leads me to comment on one of the unique aspects of the teaching of Francis Schaeffer. It is this constant bringing together of the biblical message and the challenge of the thought forms of the culture in which we live. In every sermon, in every Bible study, in every lecture (no matter what the subject), in every discussion, he would help us to see both what the Bible teaches, and how the biblical message is threatened or undermined by the ideas and practices of the culture in which we live.
…non-Christians ought to be able to see “supernaturally restored relationships” when they observe the lives of Christians.
On this day...
- The Two Classes of Christ's Church - 2011
- Steve Jobs: "He Knew the Couple of Things He Wanted to Do - 2011
- Persecution is the expectation - 2010
- Being of use in a moment - 2010
- Unbelief or contempt? - 2010
- Take this to heart - 2010
- Mary Magdalene - Fruitful Love - 2009
- Mary Magdalene - 2009
- Emerging Church - Doctrine - 2009
- Mary Magdalene - Emblem of penitence - 2009
November 3, 2016