L'Abri 101: The Lordship of Christ Over ALL of Life - Greg Jesson & Jock McGregor - L'Abri Rochester Fridays

L'Abri 101

The Lordship of Christ over ALL of Life

This Summer we are trying something new!

We are beginning our Summer series of lectures with a short five-week course on the essentials of L'Abri teaching, what we sometimes refer to as the 'Five Themes of L'Abri'. Each Friday, Greg Jesson and Jock McGregor will co-teach one of these themes. For those of you who have wondered about what makes L'Abri's teaching distinctive or who want to learn more, this will be a good opportunity. Each lecture is stand alone, but if you can attend all five lectures that make up this short course, that would be best. This week we conclude the course with our fifth theme, which looks at the transforming reality that Christ has come to make ALL things new. Dr. Schaeffer stressed that Christ is not just Lord of our heart or in the Church, but is Lord over all of life.

Greg Jesson's journey from Los Angeles took him to Switzerland, where he studied at L'Abri with Francis Schaeffer, back to LA where he earned a BA at UCLA and an MA at USC under Dallas Willard, and finally to the University of Iowa for a Ph.D. in philosophy. Most recently, he was a professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Ethics and Public Life at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Having decided to leave the university, he now spends his time writing, lecturing, restoring an old home, and looking after his dog, Dr. Watson.

Jock McGregor and his wife Alison direct the Rochester L'Abri where they have lived for the past 25 years. They met at Swiss L'Abri and previously worked at English L'Abri for ten years. Jock has a B.Sc. and an M.Div from Regent College in Vancouver. He lectures widely on many topics that bear on the relationship between Christianity and contemporary culture.

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Pondering the Five Themes of L’Abri: #5: The Lordship of Christ Over ALL of Life

Dr. Greg Jesson

gregrjesson@gmail.com

“Christianity is not merely what a man does with his solitude. It is not even what God does with His solitude. It tells of God descending into the course publicity of history and there enacting what can—and must—be talked about.”

C.S. Lewis, “The Founding of the Oxford Socratic Club” in God in the Dock, p. 133

We are looking at the nature of the Christian spiritual life.

In the context of:

Christianity being true

That we live in a supernatural universe

That we are living in the shadow of the Fall &

Christian spirituality is about restoring of our God-created humanity;

“Outside of God the biggest thing in the universe is the human soul (mind).”

Or, another way to think about tonight’s theme: “What are the conditions under which human beings flourish?” Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics

Think of “The Sermon on the Mount” as addressing the same question:

What are the moral conditions under which a person lives the most fulfilling life possible?

Living in the availability of God’s Kingdom, what are the conditions and processes under which humans can flourish?

These themes are based on what is actually real (reality)

Here is the reality:

The infinite personal God eternally exists and is always available to reach out to us

The issue of our life before God is if we are actively responding to His plans

On/off spirituality can’t be correct because God can’t be part-time

Think of the thoroughly non-Christian designation “full-time Christian work”

If Christian belief isn’t applicable to every part of life (emotional, education, career, relationships, politics, etc.) it can’t be true

Why? Because that means God and His guidance are restricted to very limited parts of human life

Compartmentalization:

Occasionally putting on the spiritual hat

Sacred/secular distinction

Mafia movies, such as The Godfather, killers who cross themselves and attend Mass

Obviously can’t be true,

Christianity as an activity, usually Sunday mornings, 10-12

Christianity as a hobby

Christianity as a philosophy; a purely academic pursuit in academic settings, no commitment whatsoever

The Bible, from beginning to end, presents two Kingdoms or Realms: Kingdom of Man vs. Kingdom of God

These Kingdoms war against each other

At every moment of life everyone lives in one or other of these two Kingdoms.

So, for example, when Jean-Paul Sartre says,

“Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.”

Nausea, p. 133, that is affirming a particular set of realities, and therefore, a particular set of possibilities of the human person (dispositional properties)

We forget what it is like to feel spiritually healthy and thriving

Jesus came to teach us The Availability of the Kingdom of God (salvation) and

The goodness of rightness (sanctification)

We live surrounded by false caricatures of what real goodness is, and what real life is

The message of Jesus is so utterly radical, beyond everything that had ever been hoped or dreamed for, that people, even after twenty centuries, have trouble even grasping it what it is all about

14,000 biographies written about Jesus

The full, but simple, message of Jesus is often missed

Dallas Willard often said, “Life is about more than having our sins forgiven.”

The picture that we are often given is one of contentless ritual unconcerned about truth as opposed to propositional truth about the love of God that restructures human life on every level

Lordship is not as the oppressive, hope-crushing condemnation by God in every situation like the kingdoms of this world, but it is God’s ever-present offer of reconciliation in each situation of life (Luke 15. 2, “This man accepts sinners and eats with them.”)

The Lordship of Christ brings the authority of God into every corner of human life, not by the soul-crushing ways of the Kingdoms of this world, but with the radical message of God’s grace and truth.

It is an RSVP (the chance of a lifetime)

A gracious invitation, not a burden, not the constant threat of condemnation and judgment.

Most people think of God as a giant condemnation machine.

What is often missed is that we can’t follow the teachings of Jesus without being transformed by Him

The context is everything:

Without the Biblical context: Christianity is true, the supernatural is real, we live in the shadow of the fall, and genuine Biblical spirituality is what it means to be a fulfilled human being

You simply cannot follow what Jesus said, apart from the context of His ever- present availability (Lordship). “The kingdom of God is at hand” Matt. 4.17

“Love your enemies” Matt. 5.43-48, (Hamas leader’s son)

“Pray for those who persecute you” Matt. 5. 44 (According to Dallas Willard “Vernon Grounds was unflappable. I’ve never seen anything like it.”)

“Pray without ceasing” I Thess. 5.17

Forgive, not “seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Matt. 18.21-22

“Be anxious for nothing” Phil. 4.6

“Deny yourself” Luke 9.23

“Be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect” Matt. 5.48

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself” Phil. 2.3

Doctrine is important, but it alone does not magically save you or transform you

What does it mean to believe?

Not mere mental assent, not a mental checklist of approved doctrines

James 2.19: “the devils believe—and tremble”

Their lives are not submitted to the reality of God’s love and it’s availability

How the Qualifications of Discipleship look Impossible Apart from the Lordship of Christ over all Things:

Luke 14.25: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sister, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14.27: “And whoever does not bear his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14.33: “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all he has cannot be my disciple.”

John 13. 34-35: “A new commandment I give unto you: As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Luke 4. 18-21: Do you hear the Lordship of Christ over All things in these verses?

Finally, what is the result of rejecting the Lordship of Christ over everything; what is the result of ignoring the Kingdom of God as it has been revealed in general and special revelation?

This is the cost of non-discipleship

This explains so much in the world today

Here is a quotation that I have always found compelling:

“Plato and Aristotle have left us awesome portraits of the effect on human character of choices known to be immoral…Such choices are motivated by love of my associates and/or myself, but end up in destruction of all human friendships and in loathing for the self that has so preferred inadequate goods…to practical reasonableness [what is known to be good]. And this self-loathing still does not inspire repentance, because this person has effected a partial but concentrated integration of his character around some set of experiences—say, of domination, or sensual pleasures [and/or indifference].

“It is not too difficult to envisage, then, the constitution by free choices of a character that would be described simply as repudiating all friendship with God…The possibility of having constituted oneself thus, at the time of one’s death, is the possibility of being in the situation which those who offer to transmit the divine self-disclosure to us have called hell. No-one who has thought seriously about ethics, and about his own character, will be inclined to shrug off the possibility that that is the situation he is heading for because he has already, implicitly, chosen it, or might tomorrow do so.”

Fundamentals of Ethics by John Finnis, p. 152

Practical Considerations:

Before the formation of L’Abri, Francis Schaeffer was deeply despondent over the lack of reality in the Christian community. He constantly pondered the question, “How can we claim that Christianity is true yet there is so little love and compassion in so many Christians?” This question became so compelling to Schaeffer that in 1951 it drove him into a spiritual crisis in which he had to go back and reexamine his reasons for believing Christianity was true. Even after he worked through the good reasons for believing, this question would be the dominant orienting thought of Schaeffer’s life. (I quickly have to add that Schaeffer constantly stressed that this did not mean perfection, but it did require a most definite intention.)

L’Abri was gradually founded as a visible expression of the truth of Biblical Christianity, centered on the Five Themes we have examined in the last few weeks. Here, it makes no sense to claim that one should just “believe” (make merely an affirmative assertion) in the Lordship of Christ, but that it is unnecessary to live by actually following the things that Jesus said and did, i.e. live as if Jesus is Lord.

“Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in they name have cast out devils? and in they name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.” Matt. 7. 21-23

1. One’s general orientation in life determines how we react to the events thrown at us. Life often happens faster than we can carefully prepare for, and our immediate reactions are those things that are closest to our hearts. For most people, their immediate reaction is an expression of their rebellion against God.

Jesus replied “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites [the Pharisees and teachers of the law (vs. 5)]; as it is written:

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” Mark 7. 6-7

“Jesus went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.” Mark 7. 20-22

This is why Dallas Willard said that “we spend too much time trying and not enough training,” i.e. training to follow Jesus in what he said and what he did.

2. The presence of the Kingdom of God, given through the ministry of Jesus, is available at all times to every person who has accepted God’s offer of salvation.

3. Our pilgrimage in life is to discover that living in the resources of the Kingdom of God is infinitely better than following the self-centered Kingdom of Man.

4. Life affords us daily opportunities to treat every person we meet with Christ-like love and compassion.

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours…Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory” in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, p. 14-15

5. We are invited to live in the Kingdom of God in all things, from the great and glorious to the small and seemingly insignificant.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Matt. 10. 29-31, see also, Luke 16.10

6. Finally, as you live your life, remember the glorious and fathomless context in which each person who has ever walked upon the earth. All of history, all the drama, all the laughter, all the “big” events as well as all the “small” events, all the hopes, all the dreams, all the fears, all the early-morning aspirations, all the late-evening disappointments, all the tears, all the smiles, all the failures, all the successes, every word that was ever spoken—all of it, all of human life without exception: the bottom line of every person’s life is that either it was deliberately lived in the Kingdom of God or it was lived in the Kingdom of Man. The predicable results always followed.

For Further Study:

Francis Schaeffer: True Spirituality, The Church Before the Watching World, The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century

Edith Schaeffer, L’Abri

Dallas Willard: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship

Mohab Hassan Yousef: Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices