Lesson 6 "All or Nothing"

Lesson Six “A Geography of God: Exploring the Christian Journey”
Chapters 18-20 “All or Nothing”

Chapter 18 “Stuff and Work”

Michael Lindvall challenges us to find a balance point in Stuff and Work. When either our work or stuff becomes central to our life we risk idolatry.

What do you think of Lindvall’s claim that consumerism and careerism become idolatry when “what we have” or “what we do” defines us.

Do you think that the stuff we buy should have a warning on it “Warning: This thing, like all things, could be dangerous to your spiritual health.” Reflect on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) and the rich ruler (Luke 18:18-30), “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Lk. 18: 25) the Beatitude “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received you consolation.” (Luke 6:24)

And yet Lindvall claims that “the incarnation is necessarily an affirmation of the potential goodness of the physical.” (p. 119) How does Jesus redeem the physical part of life for God’s use?

Similarly, Lindvall challenges our “workaholic” nature as idolatrous when our work defines us, or when we seek our salvation through work or it becomes the center of our lives.

Contrast this with the Christian notion of “vocation”. Frederick Buechner once defined Christian vocation as “Our calling is where our deepest gladness and the world's hunger meet.”

Lindvall also contrasts the imagined stories of two great writers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Barth entering heaven with their life works “Confessions” and “Church Dogmatics”; Rousseau believing this is a great gift to the angels and Barth imagining that they would use his life’s work as waste paper on the floor. What do you think about each of these men’s assessments of their life work?

The ultimate workaholic remedy “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.”

Chapter 19 “An Expansive Lifestyle”

“The God encountered in Scripture and Christian tradition is a radically expansive deity”. (Lindvall, p. 124)

J. B Phillips wrote a book in the 1952 “Your God is Too Small” in which he claims “that we have not found a God big enough for our modern needs. In varying degrees we suffer from a limited idea of God. Phillips exposes such inadequate conceptions of God as ‘Resident Policeman’, ‘Grand Old Man’, ‘Meek and Mild’, ‘Managing Director” and explores ways that we can find a truly meaningful and constructive Gods for ourselves.”

Can you imagine ways that you might have limited God in your own thinking of God? Read Psalm 8 as a remedy to this little God syndrome. “O Lord our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory about the heavens’…When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that your have established, what are human beings that you are ever mindful of them, mortals that you care for them.”

Lindvall talks about a circle from God to us to others to all humanity (pg. 125) He also talks about the vertical (God to us) and horizontal (us to our neighbor) dimensions of the cross and the commandments “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might” and “Love your neighbor as yourself”.

Chris Kettler (Professor at Friends University) speaks of the twofold movement of God in Christ. In the incarnation God reaches down to earth to redeem us but we often forget that even as we respond with faith to the God who redeems us that it is only in Christ that we can reach up to God in the worship and mission that God desires. Kettler calls this the “Vicarious humanity of Christ” or the two-fold movement of God in Christ.

Lindvall says that “the expansive love of the church is traditionally divided between evangelism and mission.” (Lindvall, p. 128) Reflect on both Lindvall and Kettler’s understanding of God’s expansive love and our limited response of mission, evangelism and worship.

Read the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) in light of Deuteronomy 23:1-8 (Law against foreigners and Eunuchs in the temple), Isaiah 53:1-5 (passage about Jesus sacrifice) and Isaiah 56:1-7 (Passage opening up the Kingdom of God specifically to Eunuchs and foreigners.)

Chapter 20 “All or Nothing”

When you were baptized was there anything that you would have liked to “hold back”? What is the hardest part of your life to offer up to God?

Reflect on the Greek word Metanoia. We often translate this word as “repentance” and sometimes talk about it as change. What are the implications of this idea if we buy into the notion that it means a 180 degree turn in our life?

Reflect on the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), What would you do if Jesus just invited himself into your house? “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay in your house today”.