To combat the cultural disobedience and dualism that plagues the American church, common grace provides six practical benefits for individual discipleship, and for the local church with her role in the public square (the first three come from the Christian Reformed Church’s 1924 Synod statement and subsequent revisions.)
The riches of our tradition and the renewing work of the whole gospel offers hope. Not a shallow, fleeting feeling of optimism, but rather the hope of Christ that brings to bear the power of the Almighty so that we might be a redeemed people who have been charged with bringing about redemption in this fallen place and in our fallen state. It is this life sustaining, transformational hope where we must find our rest. It is our only true path out of the valley. The Reformation tenet of common grace contributes to a needed correction towards obedience.
There are, no doubt, numerous deficiencies in the church, her leaders, and this author as a result of cultural disobedience. One of the devastating effects of disobedience results in functioning dualism that is crippling the church’s understanding of herself, and her role in society—not to mention confusing and frustrating the public square. We will see how the doctrine of common grace is uniquely able to sweeten the bitterness of such dualism.
Our hope rests in the purposes for which we were created—to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. And such hope is realized when church leaders, with humble hearts fresh with words of repentance, embrace God’s work of common grace as the common ground of the public space.
For too long, some American Christians have explicitly suggested or subtly assumed that God’s goodness and grace was reserved for those with saving grace. Non-believers were corrupt, without hope, and therefore the work of their hands less good and capable than that of a Christ follower, the thinking goes. In this blog series we are going to explore this dynamic, how it hurts the cause of becoming a vigorous church that contributes to the public square in a relevant and productive fashion, and ways to re-learn common grace for today.
There is an aspect to The Collaborative that is about inspiration and stories can be one way to accomplish this. While more of glimpse than a story, today’s blog is a spotlight on someone local and even though we probably are not in his industry there is plenty of inspiration here for all of us.
This week is filled with various church services moving us towards the culmination of Easter, which will be celebrated this Sunday. And celebrate we should because without the resurrection it is game over—no redemption, no salvation, no hope.
Given the massive amount of time we spend on work, it should not be surprising that this is a major source of frustration for us. Business deals gone awry, difficult co-workers, intense travel schedules, the economic realities of our business choices, the slow pace of progress or no progress, the disappointment that accompanies poor job satisfaction, and there are many more stressors that could be added to this list. Any one of these frustrations alone could cause us to cry out to God, Why have you forgotten me? Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? (Ps. 42:11, ESV)
How will the Church in the 21st century “equip the saints for works of service” (Eph. 4:12) for the vast challenges we face in the world today? This seems overwhelming at first blush. But we must not forget that God’s people are touching every area of our cities through their daily work, and it’s the Church’s privilege and responsibility to send out agents of healing through their vocations.
Occasionally, we try to feature books that help us on our journey of thriving for the glory of God. Given that we are constantly bombarded with technology, this new book Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport has caught my attention. In the article below Ryer Carroll, inventor of the Bullet Journal, interviews Cal Newport about his book Digital Minimalism.
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