#CapeTown2010 Day 6 Reflections (#lcwe)

Saturday Morning Bible Study, Ephesians 4:17-6:9, Calisto Odede

Who talked very fast. I took notes as fast as I could.

• Evangelicals need redefinition. We are known for having a fortress mentality.
• How far can we engage the world?
• Is the world an enemy or an opportunity?
• Are the enemies absorbed into the church or the church absorbed into the world?
• We are often lectured on toleration by the world.
• Chuck Colson quote on evangelicals coming out of the closet and being eaten alive
• Losing ground: not because we don’t publish enough books
• Losing ground: because of how we conduct ourselves.
• No distinction between Christians and non-Christians.
• Does Christianity make a difference at all?
• We are fascinated with new fads and models
• We feel that if you miss a model you may have missed your purpose.
• Professional conference goers.
• Are we the people we claim to be?
• Paul gives us in Eph. 4:17-6:9 a multifaceted diamond of what it means to be a follower of Christ
• Now where the rubber meets the road
• Wants us to practice the Christian life
• “Walk!” is the recurring theme
• When a child takes his first steps we rush with a camera
• Paul uses language in various ways. Ephesians has been called the Sit/Walk/Stand book
• A traditional Masai could see whole stories in footprints [remarkable illustration]
• What do your footprints say about you?
• What does your walk tell us about you?
• Walk in the newness of life:
  • Do not live like heathens. How were they living?
  • This kind of life should not be the trademark of Christians.
  • Should live our lives as we have been taught about Christ.
  • “If one does not leave, one does not find.”
  • Leave the heathen way of life
  • have we substituted the inspiration of Scripture with pep talks?
  • Practices bordering on the occultic–
  • Ministers who are con artists–
  • Are we strutting about–
  • To be able to make a difference we must be different even as we are different
  • An invitation to bring the Gospel to where the grass becomes the goat (“rubber meets the road”)
  • Jesus wants us to walk in our every day lives
  • Paul wants us to imitate God as children imitate our father
  • Do not perpetuate behaviors not right for the children of God
  • One has to be ready to pay the price for this
  • Comment he heard: our pastor does not love us. he loves our money
  • When Christians re too busy competing with the famous–
  • God help us to reach out to the world–
• After discussion of sacrificial love Paul points out counterfeit love
  • World always offer counterfeit love in sexual immorality
  • Stats show no significant difference in sexual behavior between Christians and non-Christians
  • If you don’t pay attention to this it will bring you down
• Walk in the light
  • Walk in a manner that bears the truth of light
  • Come out of the shadows
  • Expose darkness. Coverups lead to flareups. Exposure leads to healing.
  • Transparency is key.
  • Some cultivate a public image with secret lives. One day there is a leak in the media and we are all surprised.
  • Exposure is accountability
  • East African Revival popularized “walk in the light”
  • Story of prayer paths in villages. People walking into the bush to pray. Each person had a known and well worn path. So there was a saying when a person was no longer praying so much. The people would go to the person and say, “Brother, we noticed there is grass growing on your path.”
• Walk wisely and diligently.
  • Redeem the time. Seize the time.
  • We are living in evil days. Grasp opportunities. They will not come again.
  • King of Swaziland asked the churches to come together and baptize him. Would have changed the nation. The churches could not agree, could not come together. He was not baptized. The opportunity slipped away–
  • Opportunities do not wait. They pass–
  • Impact in community if impact in household–
  • We Africans sing all the time–

Unfortunately, it was at this point that my pen sadly ran out of ink. Sigh. I’m sure some others probably live blogged it and once I find the links tomorrow I will update this page.

Plenary sessions

I caught a few notes on my phone. Here they are. I’ll try and flesh these out with pointers to others.

Speaker on men and women:

• In the beginning God created the world, and it was good.
• When we look at the world today we see a lot of things are not good any more.
• The world needs answers
• We are part of the problem
• Or part of the solution
• What does it mean to be a new creation
• Women are not second class citizens
• We are freed and sent out to change the world
• We can make a difference
• We can liberate
• Every person has intrinsic dignity. This was stated in 1974 and signed by Lausanne.
• We have often failed to liberate women.
• Beatings are permitted because of a misguided teaching on submission.
• Denied leadership and suppressed from ministry roles.
• Told to stay in the church kitchen
• We as Lausanne should be on the forefront of fighting this
• Suffering of women needs our help
• His gifts are given as he pleases
• Why do we suppress them
• Need new ways to reach women in many situation
• Set aside funds for women’s ministries
• Recognize contribution of women

Speaker on prosperity gospel:

• Tells the story of a man who was told to donate his volkswagon to the church, and expect a new mercedes. He had a right to abundance and prosperity. After he did not receive the Mercedes, came to me. I told him he had been taught wrongly.
• God does care for peoples’ needs. But this gospel makes the pursuit of material thing an end in itself.
• Prosperity Gospel expects physical well being, good health, possessions, position.
• We equate these things with God’s approval.
• Luke 6:28 (“with the same measure you give, it shall be given to you”) often used to motivate giving, but it is quoted out of context. It is in the context of love and mercy, judge not lest you be judged—not finances.
• Believers should be hesitant in judging others. [Ahem—a lesson worth hearing!] Passage is about relationships, not returns on what we give. Often twisted to mean God gives a return on offerings. Luke 6:24
• Several passages misquoted often by prosperity preachers
• Distorts the mission of Christ: to make us rich
• Different gospel fails to see all forms of giving to God are simply a form of worship
• This distorts the person of Christ.
• Jesus never taught prosperity.
• Luke 12:15
• Matthew 15:22
• Luke 16:9
• Does prosperity point to the cross? It is not good news for the poor. In most cases it is the leader who does better, not the followers.
• It ends up depriving the poor of the dignity and respect they deserve.
• Prosperity is a seduction into delusion.
• It shortcuts work.
• Prosperity is about money and contradicts the gospel. Money engulfs.
• Take the plight of the poor seriously and don’t offer shortcuts that don’t work.
• Repent of this “gospel.
• Repent of acquiring affluent lifestyles.
• Return to the simplity and humility of the Gospel!

Calisto Odele:

• What kind of people ought we to be
• 4,000 years ago God gave the mission to Abraham.
• Galatians 3 says that it is the Gospel.
• God created a people to walk in his way and bring righteousness and justice.
• God has been keeping that promise right through history.
• Many obstacles to this mission.
• All the challenges – what is the greatest obstacle?
• God’s own people
• The failure, disobedience, rebellion of his people
• Vast bulk of prophets aimed at God’s people
• We spend a lot of time attacking the world but we are the bigger problem
• We constantly go after other gods
• Idolatry is the biggest challenge to world mission
• We worship false gods
• Little gods
• The idolatry of God’s own people
• Many false gods that entice us away, three in particular
  • power and pride
  • popularity and success
  • money and greed
• Idolatry of power and pride:
  • Isaiah: pride of man humbled
  • Micah: have mercy, walk humbly
  • Jesus: the least of these
  • Paul: be completely humble
  • To be obsessed with status, office, power is sheer disobedience
• Idolatry of success and popularity and fame:
  • Leads to manipulation, distortion, deception
  • Give what people want to hear
  • Jeremiah: from least to greatest all are greedy
  • No need to blush when popular with thousands of followers
  • Corinth: super apostles
  • We crave successful leaders who boost our image of our group
  • Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light
  • Cannot build our life on lies to share the kingdom of truth
  • False claims, exaggeration to get funding
• Idolatry of greed
  • Micah: they judge for a bribe
  • Isaiah: culture of greed
  • Paul: covetousness is idolatry
  • God longs to provide abundantly
  • Abundance carries temptation to forget God
  • Jesus: watch out, be on guard against all forms of greed
  • Called back to simplicity
• Jesus faced all three forms of temptation from the devil
• Jesus chose the path of simplicity
• Tragically many mission leaders fail these tests, and the whole church pays the cost.
• We are in short a scandal and a stumbling block
• Reformation demonstrated this. Power, greed in the Catholic church. Ordinary lived ignorance of the Bible. Surely same need is with us now. Parts of evangelical church have the same issue. Popular leaders with fame and followers and no accountability. Untrue numbers: idolatry of success. Prosperity gospel: idolatry of greed.
• Reformation needs to start with us. Radical return to the Lord. Repent and return to the Lord. Before we go to the world we must first change ourselves.
• Humility, Integrity, Simplicity.
• Are we HIS people?