Daily Archives: May 18, 2017
2: We Wish To See Jesus
Revival of church life always brings in its train a richer understanding of the Scriptures. Behind all the slogans and catchwords of ecclesiastical controversy, necessary though they are, there arises a more determined quest for him who is the sole object of it all, for Jesus Christ himself.
- What did Jesus mean to say to us?
- What is his will for us today?
- How can he help us to be good Christians in the modern world?
In the last resort, what we want to know is not, what would this or that man, or this or that Church, have of us, but what Jesus Christ himself wants of us.
When we go to church and listen to the sermon, what we want to hear is his Word—and that not merely for selfish reasons, but for the sake of the many for whom the Church and her message are foreign.
We have a strange feeling that if Jesus himself —Jesus alone with his Word—could come into our midst at sermon time, we should find quite a different set of men hearing the Word, and quite a different set rejecting it. That is not to deny that the Word of God is to be heard in the preaching which goes on in our church. (Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer p37)
John 12:20-21 Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; 21 these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
Religious institutions and organizations to promote Christian causes and social concerns, including most of America’s Christian colleges, seminaries, Bible institutes, and many mission bodies, are products of revivalism. (from Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Copyright © 1984 by Baker Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)