Doing All Things Through Christ

'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' (Phil. 4.13). 

All sorts of nonsense unfortunately have been inferred from these words of the apostle Paul in Philippians. One bit of silliness is the preaching that every saint of God 'can do all things they wish to do' in Christ. 

I suspect that this teaching comes from the 'health and wealth' theological quarter but wherever it comes from, that type of motivational preaching that seeks to use this verse to encourage God's people to 'reach for the stars' and 'fly like eagles', etc. is unsound.

And yes, it is bound to lead to eventual disappointment and disillusionment in the hearers that seek to follow the advice.

Another possible and associated source is 'possibility thinking' ideology and my remarks above and below also include this understanding too.

My main objections follow these paths:

A). These interpretations are not true to the context of this verse

The question of the meaning of 'all things' is implicitly answered by every interpreter and reader of Philippians 4.13.

Just a moment's thought though would surely incline one to the fact that 'all things' does NOT mean every thing possible. We can't decide to jump off a high bridge and expect to escape all injury on the basis of the 'all things'. We are limited by our creatureliness because we are creatures; the creator is God alone.

Definitively, Paul's words are limited by the immediate biblical context (Phil 4.11-12) which too often isn't even read! This context speaks of Paul's being in want as well as abundance and his having learned to be content whatever his situation. Would that was each Christian's testimony! 

But, his testimony is that 'I can do all this [i.e., accept both want and abundance] through him who gives me strength [NIV]'.

B). These interpretations are not true to the overall tenor of Scripture

I read the scriptures and although we can meet the patriarchs and judges of the Old Testament who did great things for God. However, their exploits were never done with the spirit of a recent US presidential candidate who said in 2008, 'We can do it', which is hallmark of practical atheism.

Some Christian teaching today seems to want to be among those who can sing with Frank Sinatra, 'I did it my way'.* My technique, my application, my resolutions, my method, my (secret) knowledge got me to the line. 

We have to get this one thing into our hearts; none of these things count with God! We have to again get into our hearts who God is. I fear we have lost that sense of the majesty, the glory, the spendour and the fear of the Lord that permeates the Scriptures. When mere mortals met angels they were terrified! When they met the Lord, they encountered the holiness of God and fell prostrate at his feet.

The, 'we can do it' mantra is the old adamic spirit showing itself in its dulled sheen. (And of course, 'we' haven't been able to do it!)

God wants all the glory to be his because it rightfully belongs to him; whereas, the flesh wants to rob God of his supreme position. 

Let's not be found among those who are caught by the devices of Satan but be among those who are fully knowledgeable of his wicked snares.

Let us put on 'the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires (Roms 13.14, RSV).

*Did you know that this song is the most popular song being played at funerals nowadays? The song for Christians should be, 'He did it His way'!      

(8) The Sending Out of God's People

The sending out of God's people into the world to work and witness for him is the last movement of the drama involving the people of God hearing the Word and receiving the sacrament which are at the heart Anglican Sunday worship.

Five short subsections comprise this main movement which are numbered §21 to §25.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

§21    Priest:

Gracious God, thank you for feeding us,

with the spiritual food of the body and blood

of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Thank you for assuring us of your goodness and love,

and that we are living members of Christ's body.

[How do we know that we are 'living members of Christ's body' (Rom 12.5; 1Cor 6.15; 1Cor 12.12; Eph 5.30 & etc.)? An important question because some Anglicans at least seem to waver on whether they are destined for God's presence or not. Yet, the apostle John in his 1st letter said that he had written in order that his hearers might know that they had eternal life (1Jn 5.13). The whole epistle might be understood as distinguishing between those who are truly God's from those caught in various first century heresies. Certainly just attending an Anglican Church does not make us true disciples of Christ! God has always been interested in the transformation of hearts even under the Old Covenant. Only those divinely born 'from above' (Jn 3.3,5; 1Peter 1.22-25) will enter into the Kingdom of God.]  

§22    All say together:

Father,

we offer ourselves to you

as a living sacrifice [Rom 12.1]

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Send us out in the power of your Spirit

to live and work to your praise and glory.

I have always found this 'sending out' to be a remarkable part of the Anglican service for it denotes the fact that the congregation has once again been spiritually fed by word and sacrament and equipped to continue to 'shine as lights in the world to the glory of God the Father' [to quote a piece from the baptism service].

The congregation should not have come to the service to receive only but to receive from God so as to give to others which redounds to the praise and glory of God.

 

§23     A Hymn of Praise may be said (depending on size of service) or sung (more usual for services I've been in).

§24    Priest says the following or an appropriate seasonal* blessing 

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; [Phil 4.7]

and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.

Amen.

   

§25   The deacon (lay reader) may say

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord:

In the name of Christ. Amen.

By seasonal the Prayer Book is referring to the Church Calendar which sets out for every year a certain yearly pattern for Sunday worship. It starts with Advent then to Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide, Pentecost and finally 'Ordinary Time'. The latter time, between Pentecost and Advent, is counted and hence called 'Ordinary' from the word 'ordinal'. 

       

I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE

On another blog I have been dealing with the Lord's Supper and its meaning within the Anglican Church. I'm fully aware that not all Anglicans understand the Supper alike but I fully embrace Article XXVIII of the Articles of Religion (1562) Of The Lord's Supper which rules out transubstantiation, 'reserving' of the sacrament, lifting it up, carrying it about, or worshipping it.

The Article says clearly among other things that: 'The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean [sic] whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith.'

This last sentence is one of the planks of John Calvin's view of the Supper (as opposed to Rome and to Luther) for it is affirming that the bread and wine do not act upon us because of their inherent sacredness (or divinity as in Catholicism). They convey grace only in the presence of faith in Christ.

This point about faith comes out in the liturgy when the priest says,

and feed on him

in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

Interesting, the Anglican liturgy surrounding the Supper makes a connection between John 6 and Jesus' teaching on 'I am the Bread of Life'.

Grant us therefore, gracious Lord,

so to eat the flesh of your dear Son Jesus Christ, 

and to drink his blood,

that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. (Jn 6. 56)

AMEN.

These bold words echo John 6.51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, and so should not be strange to us.  However, some might believe that these words clearly mean that in Anglican circles all worshippers are committed to an actual eating of Christ's flesh and a drinking of his blood in contradiction to The Articles of the Religion.


So what does it mean to eat the flesh and drink the blood (Jn 6.53) of Jesus Christ: these are Christ's own words which were controversial when he spoke them to the point that many of his disciples walked with Him no longer (Jn 6.66).

Jesus offended their sensibilities. First, he claims that he was the 'living Bread from heaven' which brings eternal life (Jn 6.54, 58) and states that He was superior to the manna given by Moses which led to death (Jn 6.49, 58). So to 'feed on Christ' is to live according to the eternal life Jesus offers (6.57). Note that he also says that this bread 'came down from heaven' (my italics) which indicates Jesus' divine origin (Jn 6.50), which adds to the offence he provokes.

Second, these disciples debate among themselves about how Jesus could give them his flesh to eat. They call it a 'hard saying' and can't understand it (Jn 6.60).

Jesus discerns their offence and answers it first by saying, what would they say if they were to see him ascend where he was before (i.e., back to heaven)? (Jn 6.62). As we know, Jesus did ascend to the Father's right hand after the Resurrection (and we mark it with Ascension Day).

Second, with regard to the 'flesh and blood' Jesus says 'the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit, and they are life' (John 6.63). I take Christ to mean that he was not giving his actual flesh and blood for that would be a 'fleshly' understanding of his words, a cannibalistic interpretation and action. It reminds us, does it not, of Jesus' meeting with the Samaritan woman in John 4. She wants the water that will make it unnecessary for her to have to come and draw water every day. But Jesus is talking about 'spiritual' water that he is going to give her (Jn 4.14) just as he had spoken to Nicodemus about 'spiritual' birth in the preceding chapter (Jn 3.5).

Hence, his words in John 3, 4 and 6 require spiritual (=of the spirit) discernment (1Cor2.11-14) not a literal or 'fleshly, carnal' reading.

Furthermore, the OT contains some help with the references to blood. 'Blood' is used more than once to denote 'violent death' or 'death' (e.g., Gen 4.10; 9.6; 2Sam 3.28; Ps 30.9) or life given up to death (e.g., Lev 17.11; see also Heb 9:22, 'shedding of blood'). 'Flesh' is also used figuratively in Psalm 27.2 where David's enemies are not going to actually eat his flesh as such but are going to profit from his death when they kill him.

Even the idea of drinking of blood is even used figuratively in 1 Chron. 11.19 by David when he protests that he will not drink the water that his men have risked their lives to get for him because that would be like 'drinking their blood'. This interesting reference suggests the theme of the preciousness of the lives of his soldiers in David's eyes.

One writer puts it succinctly, 'When He refers to eating His flesh and drinking His blood, He is talking about enjoying the benefits which come from His death (italics in original). Perhaps this could be extended to include the enjoyment of 'the benefits which come from his life and death'. The 'blood' of Jesus is his 'life' given up for us in his death on the cross for the salvation of the world (e.g., Acts 20.28; Rom. 5:9; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:20; 1Pet1.18-19).

The eating and drinking is done in faith, by faith (Jn 6.35, 47, 69).

(7) The Breaking of the Bread and the Communion

The priest breaks the bread and says,

We who are many are one body, (1 Cor 12.27)

for we all share in the one bread. 

(Prayer Book has various options.)

 Come let us take this holy sacrament
 of the body and blood of Christ

in remembrance that he died for us,
and feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

The sacrament is given to individuals with the following words,

 The body of Christ keep you

in eternal life.

The blood of Christ keep you

in eternal life.

 and the communicant replies, AMEN.

(6b) The Great Thanksgiving

NB The Great Thanksgiving has been divided into two in this blog post for convenience but is one liturgical whole in the Prayer Book service.
This part of The Thanksgiving homes in on the Holy Meal itself.

---Merciful God, we thank you

for these gifts of your creation,

this bread and this wine, (just normal bread and wine)

and we pray that by your Word and Holy Spirit, (note, not by the action of any human)

we who eat and drink them

may be partakers of Christ's body and blood. (1 Cor 10.16 'communion' or 'participation')

--On the night that he was betrayed Jesus took bread;

and when he had given you thanks

he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying,

'Take, eat. This is my body given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.'

--After supper, he took the cup,

and again giving you thanks

he gave it to his disciples, saying,

'Drink for this, all of you.

This is my blood of the new covenant

shed for you and for many

for the forgiveness of sins,

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'

[The memorial acclamation is used here or after next paragraph.]

Christ has died,

Christ is risen,

Christ will come again.

--Therefore we do as our Saviour has commanded:
proclaiming he offering of himself
made once for all upon the cross,
his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension,
and looking for his coming again,
we celebrate, with this bread and this cup,
his one perfect and sufficient sacrifice
for the sins of the whole world.

--Renew us by your Holy Spirit
unite us in the body of your Son,
and bring us with all your people
into the joy of your eternal kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
with whom, and in whom,
in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
we worship you, Father,
in songs of never-ending praise:
Blessing and honour and glory and power
are yours for ever and ever. Amen.  (echo of Rev 5.13)

Next time we will look at The Breaking of the Bread and the Communion and also consider the meaning of Sacrament.

(6a) The Great Thanksgiving

For All Your Blessings, O Lord

The Great Thanksgiving is preceded by the sharing of peace and the bringing of the gifts of the people to the Lord's Table at the front of the church building.

The offering reminds us that we are one body who are called to be a forgiving body of Christ-believers and in the offering, the onus is on any who are out of fellowship with another in the congregation to make peace before taking Holy Communion (see Matt 5.23).

The present 1995, Prayer Book (A Prayer Book for Australia -APBA) has five different forms of The Great Thanksgiving. Some priests use them by rotation each week, using the fifth one when there are five Sundays in a particular month; others use Thanksgiving 1 predominantly which is the one with which I am most familiar; however, each one of the different forms brings out a different emphasis found in the Scriptures.

Again what is noticeable is the call-response structure of this Thanksgiving and the number of allusions to or direct quotes of scriptural passages in the liturgy. The congregation stands during this prayer which is the Hebraic-Jewish stance taken while praying.

§26 The Great Thanksgiving
One can say that The Great Thanksgiving takes its cue from the scriptural record that Jesus Himself gave thanks (Matt 26.26-27) twice in the last supper before the bread and before the wine.

And saying 'thank-you' is one of the first social graces we try to instill into our children from an early age and thanksgiving is at the heart of the Christian life because our lives are completely dependent on the grace and mercy of God.

It is not only our duty to give thanks to our Creator it is our delight and privilege to be called to do so.

(The priest begins:)

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks for the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

[If the church is passing through a particular season (e.g., Lent, Easter-tide, etc.)
then a Seasonal Preface may be substituted for relevant parts
of the following.]

[In these next 4 paragraphs (denoted by --) we first ADORE, THANK the Father for the incarnation of His Son, AFFIRM the meaning of his sacrificial death for sin and its power to rescue/deliver us from realm of sin forever, PRAISE the Father's Name with all the hosts of heaven.]

-- All glory and honour be yours always and everywhere,
mighty Creator, everliving God.
-- We give you thanks and praise for our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who by the power of your Spirit was born of Mary
and lived as one of us.
--By his death on the cross
and rising to new life,
he offered the one true sacrifice for sin
and obtained an eternal deliverance for his people.
--Therefore with angels and archangels,
and all the company of heaven,
we proclaim your great and glorious name,
for ever praising you and saying [or singing]:

[Anglican worship forms these days are highly flexible and can accommodate small gatherings where no organist or pianist is present to accompany in singing what follows or larger places of worship which have a choir for singing such parts with/without the congregation.]

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.    (Isa 6.3)
Hosanna in the highest.        (Matt 21.9)
[Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. (Ps 118.26; Mk 11.9-10)
Hosanna in the highest.]