God wants us in the city

I’m currently reading the excellent book, Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll. He puts forward a very compelling argument, which I have heard from a number of sources and would like to share with you now.

Perhaps the majority of Christians in the world today have a view of what heaven will be like that goes something along the lines of this: the Garden. Christians have a general view that the Garden of Eden was at the beginning and was what God intended and therefore that is what heaven will be like.

The truth is the opposite – heaven is described as an urban paradise – heaven is a city! God’s plan is to go from Garden to city, which gives us something slightly different to look forward to, but also leaves a challenge that we must, as Christians, be those who go to the city, rather than moving away, locking ourselves in our home-schooled Christian family bubble, storing up canned goods in case the tribulation starts…for the following reasons:

1. Cities are more dense - there are simply more people, so by living in the city we will have a greater impact for Jesus, just in basic numeric terms, than if we live in rural areas.

2. Cities are more diverse - people of many different languages, cultures, backgrounds move to the city, so the effects of our work are greater in terms of international connections and God’s purpose for a collection of peoples from every people group.

3. Cities create culture - in the river of culture, cities are upstream; cities are where for example politics, education, finance, health, the arts, fashion, and media are created, and rural areas inherit these. Think about it – every countryside person I have met can tell you the names of the characters in Friends, but how many living in the city could tell the difference between breeds of cow, or areas most heavily impacted by blue tongue or foot and mouth disease? By impacting culture in the cities there is a knock-on effect on the rest of a nation, and the world.

4. Cities are strategic - look at the New Testament method for building the church. Paul and his teams planted churches in each major city, ensuring that the surrounding area would be impacted by the gospel, for God’s glory and His Kingdom.

Here’s a great song to finish with – Chris Tomlin does a great version on the latest Passion album – it’s called God of this City and is wonderful.

Jesus is actually King

I’m currently reading a great book called Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll. One of Mark’s (and my) big problems with the picture of Jesus we see in the world today is that he is essentially seen as ‘a woman’s face, and add a beard’ (Bruce Barton’s words, not mine).

The description in the Bible of Jesus is this, taken from Revelation 19:

‘Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.’

Now this Jesus is awesome! His robe dripping with blood, his eyes like fire, an actual sword coming out of his mouth, tattooed on his thigh with his own name – this is not some cartoon character, it’s the King of the universe!

What if Jesus was meek and mild and a wuss until the end-times though? Not the case – check out the description in Daniel:

‘I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.’

This was written hundreds and hundreds of years before Christ was born in Bethlehem – Jesus has always been this awesome King, and will always be this awesome King! Perhaps if Christians read the Bible and saw who Jesus actually is they would not treat Him like the baby in the manger and would recognise that we are pitiful, and in desperate need of a Saviour who can rescue us from being trampled in the ‘winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty’!

Made me think a bit about the fear of God anyway.