The Good Soil
The Matrix of Spiritual Growth in Shalom
Text: Mark 4:26-29
Dr Alex Tang
Sunday sermon
13 January 2008
Holy Light Church (English), Johor Bahru
Text
MK 4:26 He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
Sermon Statement
The Kingdom of God is shalom. In each of us has a spiritual seed which has the potential to grow. We cannot cause spiritual growth. Spiritual growth comes from the spiritual seed and a nurturing soil (environment). The church can be the nurturing environment for spiritual growth. The components of S.H.A.L.O.M. provides the nurturing environment –Story (sharing love), Heart (experiencing love), Action (Acting love), Learning (thinking love), Oneness (living love) and Maturity (growing love).
Introduction
Story telling has a long tradition of teaching spiritual truths. Even now, many different religious traditions use story telling to convey a lesson or lessons. Jesus is a master in story telling. He tells parables which are a story with many layers of meaning. To teach about the Kingdom of God, some of the parables he used are:
• The Parable of the Sower (Matt 13;1-9, 18-23; Mk 4:1-9,13-20; Lk 8:4-8, 11-15)
• The Lamp and the Measure (Mk 4:21-25; Lk 8:16-18)
• The Parable of the Growing Seed (Mk 4:26-29)
• The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matt 13:31-32; Mk 4:30-32; Lk 13-18-19)
Book recommendation: David Wenham, The Parables of Jesus (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989)
Text Exposition
Jesus was teaching on the Kingdom of God. He was using a parable of the growing seed. Jesus was speaking to an agriculture based community who will appreciate fully what he was saying. It may not be so powerful a message if we get our vegetables wrapped in plastic from the supermarkets.
(1) What did the man do?
A man scatters seed on the ground (4:26b)
As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." (4:29)
It is important to note there is a role for human effort in the Kingdom of God. The man is to sow and he has to harvest. However, there is nothing he can do to make the plant grow. People whose livelihood depends on agriculture knew this. They know that there are certain things they can do and they is much they have not control over. I believe that there is a reason why an agrarian society is more religious. They know that in spite of all the advances in technology and knowledge, thee are still elements that they cannot control. Elements like the weather; the rain comes in time or there is enough sunshine. If the rain comes too early, the seeds will not grow, too late and the seeds will have dried up. Too little and the seed with not grow or die and too much, the seed dies. The same applies to sun light.
(2) What did the seed do?
Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how (4:27)
Each seed has its own potential to grow. It does not need the man to do anything. Given the right condition, it will grow because that is what it is designed to do. Thus the man has no role in the seed growing. Nowadays, even with genetically engineered seeds, growth is still the property of the seeds.
(3) What did the soil do?
All by itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head (4:27)
It is interesting that Jesus point out the soil producing the stalk, head and full kernel in the head. Thus even though the seed can grow, without the soil it will die. The soil is also important in producing crops for the harvest.
Thus in this parable, Jesus points out the role of man, the seed and the soil in the Kingdom of Heaven. Man is to sow and harvest, the seed has the potential to grow and soil is the nurturing environment for growth.
SHALOM as the good soil for spiritual growth
Last week, we learnt in the sermon that Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is love; love for God, for our neighbours and for ourselves. Love leads to shalom which is the fulfilment of love. S.H.A.L.O.M. is how a church practices love –Story, Heart, Action, Learning, Oneness and Maturity.
Spiritual growth is growing in love. Inside each of us has a spiritual seed that has the potential to grow. Shalom is the Kingdom of Heaven where everything is in harmony. We cannot cause spiritual growth. We cannot will ourselves to grow and mature spiritually. There are no lectures or books we can listen to or read to cause spiritual growth. Spiritual growth has to occur by itself. The seed needs the soil (or nutrients solution if we are thinking of hydroponics) to grow. I will suggest that without the soil, even the Holy Spirit cannot cause the spiritual seed inside us to grow. I will also suggest that the soil is the loving culture or matrix of the church. As the seed grows in the soil, we grow spiritually in the church.
As there are certain ingredients in the soil that nurture the seeds to grow, there are certain components in the church for our spiritual seeds to grow. I will suggest S.H.A.L.O.M.
They are:
· Story telling- telling the meta-narrative of God’s great plan of redemption and also our own stories and see how our own stories fit into God’s meta-narrative. Hence the importance of testimony telling and sharing of experiences. Sharing love.
· Heart matters; a call for emotional maturity- acknowledging, embracing, mastering, and detachment from our emotions or feelings. The will include experiential encounters with God (orthokardia). Emotions are important part of our makeup and our spirituality. We are called to love God with our heart, soul and mind. Experiencing love.
· Action: Incarnational living - narrowing the gap between what we believe and and how we live, thus living an incarnational lifestyle (orthopraxis). An incarnational lifestyle is a lifestyle of love, as Jesus lived out his human life as a sign of his love for us. Acting in love.
· Learning: transformational living- age appropriate learning of the knowledge of God through the Word, creation, and from others (orthodoxis). Knowing God means receiving the revelation of God. God has revealed himself to us through his Son, the Bible and nature. Thinking love.
· Oneness in community– development of committed relationships within and without the church. Relationships are very important. Living love.
· Maturity in Christ. This is our ongoing spiritual growth. Growing love.
(1) Story Telling: Sharing Love
• Pulpit teaching
• Celebration
• Ebenezers (1 Sam. 7:12)
• Christian Year
• Testimonies
• Church archives
(2) Heart: Experiencing Love
• Baptism and Eucharist
• Normative practices
• Social action groups
• Prayer groups
• Group spiritual directions
(3) Action: Acting Love
• Baptism and Eucharist
• Normative practices
• Social action groups
• Prayer groups
• Group spiritual directions
(4) Learn: Thinking Love
• Pulpit preaching
• Teaching classes/seminars/conference
• Discussion groups
• Seminary education
• Quiet time
• Self study of the Bible
• Contemporary issues
(5) Oneness: Living Love
• Hospitality
• Fellowship
• Makan
• Counseling
• Care and concern
• Cell groups
• Modeling
• Mentoring
(6) Maturity: Growing Love
• Spiritual friend
• Mentor
• Spiritual director
• Covenant groups
• Servant leadership
• Examining ourselves
• Desert spirituality: Attentiveness and Indifference
• Biblical choices
• Practicing the Presence of God
It is in a church community practicing S.H.A.L.O.M. that the Holy Spirit will be able to cause the spiritual seed inside of us to grow and develop into a fruitful plant.
Conclusion
The Kingdom of God is shalom. In each of us has a spiritual seed which has the potential to grow. We cannot cause spiritual growth. Spiritual growth comes from the spiritual seed and a nurturing soil (environment). The church can be the nurturing environment for spiritual growth. The components of S.H.A.L.O.M. provides the nurturing environment –Story (sharing love), Heart (experiencing love), Action (Acting love), Learning (thinking love), Oneness (living love) and Maturity (growing love).
Soli Deo Gloria
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Monday, January 07, 2008
Our Utmost for Shalom
Our Utmost for Shalom
A New Year Resolution for 2008
Text: Matthew 22:34-40
Dr Alex Tang
Sunday sermon
6 January 2008
Holy Light Church (English), Johor Bahru
Sermon Statement
Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is love; love for God, for our neighbours and for ourselves. Love leads to shalom which is the fulfilment of love. S.H.A.L.O.M. is how a church practices love –Story, Heart, Action, Learning, Oneness and Maturity.
Text
34But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matt.22:34-40)
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.
Introduction
Happy New Year. We are also in the season of Epiphany. The season of Epiphany, from the Greek epihaneia meaning “manifestation,” begins on January 6 and continues for nine Sundays, then concludes with the Sunday of The Transfiguration. It commemorates the first manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles, represented by the visit of the Magi from the East. The season goes on to encompass his baptism, followed by the first miracle at Canaan. As Advent celebrates Christ’s humanity, Epiphany commemorates his divinity.
The making of New Year's resolutions dates back to the early Babylonians in about 2000 BC. The early Babylonian's most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.
The tradition of using a baby to signify the New Year was begun in Greece around 600 BC. It was their tradition at that time to celebrate their god of wine, Dionysus, by parading a baby in a basket, representing the annual rebirth of that god as the spirit of fertility. Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth.
Although the early Christians denounced the practice as pagan, the popularity of the baby as a symbol of rebirth forced the Church to revaluate its position. The Church finally allowed its members to celebrate the New Year with a baby, which was to symbolize the birth of the baby Jesus. The use of an image of a baby with a New Years banner as a symbolic representation of the New Year was brought to early America by the Germans.
The USA.gov posted a list of Popular New Year's Resolutions (accessed 4 January 2008). The list include
• Lose Weight
• Pay Off Debt
• Save Money
• Get a Better Job
• Get Fit
• Eat Right
• Get a Better Education
• Drink Less Alcohol
• Quit Smoking Now
• Reduce Stress Overall
• Reduce Stress at Work
• Take a Trip
• Volunteer to Help Others
• Holiday and New Year Health-e-Cards
The website also offers 3 ways to keep the resolutions:
(1) Be committed.
(2) Be prepared for setbacks.
(3) Track your progress.
What are some of your New Year resolution for this year, 2008? What happened to last year’s resolutions? Did you manage to keep any of them? Making New Year resolutions are good. It allows a new start. The beginning of the year is a good time to start afresh. We leave last year behind. It is like having another chance to have another go. That is why making New Year resolutions and keeping them is important. In this sermon, we shall try to make some New Year resolutions together as a church.
Exposition of the Text
The Pharisees and Sadducees often see Jesus as a threat to the religious establishment. One group, the Pharisees who are very religious see Jesus as a threat to the basis of their divinely based religion. The Sadducees were opposed to Jesus because of political reasons. They are afraid that Jesus will set himself up as the messiah and thus incur the wrath of the Romans while diminishing their political influence. In the gospels, there are many instances of the Pharisees and Sadducees attempting to trap Jesus into saying something that will incriminate himself.
Earlier, the Sadducees had tried to trap Jesus by posing a question of a woman married to seven men consequently. This is legitimate by Mosaic Law. The brother is to marry his brother’s widow. However, whose wife will she be after the resurrection? The Sadducee do not believe in the resurrection, rejects all the extra-Torah teaching of the Pharisees and accept only what the Torah teachers. Jesus silenced them by explain a text from Exodus 3:6 by emphasis the tense of the Patriarch. "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." The present tense indicates that there is an afterlife and that in this afterlife, we shall be like angels; without families.
After the failure of the Sadducee, the Pharisee sent in their champion, a lawyer. The question seems to be simple one. Which of the commandments is the greater one? The Pharisees after searching scripture found 613 commandments. The trap is simple. The Pharisees recognises that there is a hierarchy in the commandments. Thus murder is worst that boiling a lamb in its mother’s milk (Deut.14:21). Whichever one Jesus chose, someone will ask why not this other one.
Instead Jesus answered by quoting the Schema (Deu. 6:5) which is about loving God.
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Then he adds about loving your neighbours (Lev. 19:18, 34).
LEV 19:18 " `Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
And then he concluded by stating that these two statements contains all that the Law and the prophets teaches.
Leon Morris, formerly principal of Riley College, Melbourne, Australia comments about this passage, ‘Wholehearted love for God means coming in some measure to see other people as God sees them, and all people as the objects of God’s love. Therefore anyone who truly loves God with all his being must and will love others, and this is expressed in the commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” a commandment that is repeated in the Pentateuch.’
We can summarise it as thus
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and
with all your soul and
with all your mind.’
Love your neighbor
as yourself.
Shalom as the Fulfilment of Love
Shalom is translated as, “(1) to be in a covenant of peace, be at peace, (Qal) to be at peace,peaceful one (participle), (Pual) one in covenant of peace (participle), (Hiphil) to make peace with, to cause to be at peace,(Hophal) to live in peace; and
(2)to be complete, be sound, (Qal) to be complete, be finished, be ended, to be sound, be uninjured, (Piel) to complete, finish, to make safe, to make whole or good, restore, make compensation, to make good, pay, to requite, recompense, reward, (Pual) to be performed, to be repaid, be requited, (Hiphil) to complete, perform, to make an end of.
• Jesus made shalom through the cross (Col.1:20; Eph.2:15-16).
• When Jesus healed and forgave people, he dismissed them by saying, “Go in shalom.”
• We are to “seek and pursue it.”(Ps.34:14b as quoted in 1 Pet. 3:11 ).
• We are to be at peace, pursue it, send it, and keep it (Rom.12;18; 1 Thess.5:13; 2 Cor. 13:11; Rom.14:19; 1 Cor. 16:11).
• Shalom is an active fruit of the spirit (Gal.5:22) and a mark of the realm of God. It is about the matrix of peace, harmony, and wholeness and is both a gift and task for the very goal of our teaching and learning life together.
• shalom in Christian community is an inclusive concept, signifying a place, a dwelling and a life where we can be different together.(Eph.2:14-22)
Joldersma, in unpacking Wolterstorff’s idea of shalom writes,
“Shalom means people living in right relationships with God, themselves, each other, and nature- and in taking delight in such relationships. Shalom involves finding meaning in our experiences and celebrating the actualizing of creation’s potentials. Shalom involves recognizing in ourselves that place where Gods’ goodness finds its answer in our gratitude. Shalom is an ethical community where all the members have a full and secure place in the community. As such, it embraces a “non-abandonment” view of the creation that involves redeeming it.” (Wolterstorff, 2004, xii)
Luke uses the word shalom (eirene) to describe the early struggling Christian church . Expanding on this, Norma Everist from Wartburg Theological seminary in Duduque, Iowa writes,
“Shalom looks both backward and forward. It recalls the paradisiacal Garden of Eden, and anticipates the coming of the reign of God. Shalom is personal, and may apply to God self or to an individual human being. Shalom is communal, meaning the right relationship between friends, neighbours, a community, nation, or even all the inhabited world (oikoumene). The heart of the meaning is close to life itself.
Shalom is linked with truth and justice in the Hebrew Bible, especially by Jeremiah. Forgiveness, righteousness, justification, reconciliation, pardon, restoration, good news, and salvation-words which point to harmony in any relationship- are all part of the semantic domain of shalom. In Paul’s theology in the New Testament Bible, justification by faith gives shalom with God through Jesus Christ.”
Shalom is the all inclusive term that means loving God, loving ourselves and loving our neighbours. This is what Paul taught in 1 Cor. 13. The greatest of these is love.
Loving God ---- loving others and self --- shalom
Expressing Shalom in the Church
What are some of the ways we can express our love that leads to shalom? How do we as a church learn to love God, love ourselves and love our neighbours?
We may do that by incorporating certain components in our church community life.
They are:
• Story telling- telling the meta-narrative of God’s great plan of redemption and also our own stories and see how our own stories fit into God’s meta-narrative. Hence the importance of testimony telling and sharing of experiences. Sharing love.
• Heart matters; a call for emotional maturity- acknowledging, embracing, mastering, and detachment from our emotions or feelings. The will include experiential encounters with God (orthokardia). Emotions are important part of our makeup and our spirituality. We are called to love God with our heart, soul and mind. Experiencing love.
• Action: Incarnational living - narrowing the gap between what we believe and and how we live, thus living an incarnational lifestyle (orthopraxis). An incarnational lifestyle is a lifestyle of love, as Jesus lived out his human life as a sign of his love for us. Acting in love.
• Learning: transformational living- age appropriate learning of the knowledge of God through the Word, creation, and from others (orthodoxis). Knowing God means receiving the revelation of God. God has reveal himself to us through his Son, the Bible and nature. Thinking love.
• Oneness in community– development of committed relationships within and without the church. Relationships are very important. Living love.
• Maturity in Christ. This is our ongoing spiritual growth. Growing in love.
The acronym for this is S.H.A.L.O.M.
In addition, these components of shalom includes
(1) the restoration of the Imago Dei (the Image of God)- the love for God and ourselves
Maturity, Heart and Learning
(2) The Missio Dei (the mission of God)-the love for others
Oneness, Story telling and Action
Conclusion
Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is love; love for God, for our neighbours and for ourselves. Love leads to shalom which is the fulfilment of love. S.H.A.L.O.M. is how a church practices love –Story, Heart, Action, Learning, Oneness and Maturity.
Our New Year resolution for 2008 is
This year we shall love our God, our neighbours and ourselves more.
soli deo gloria
A New Year Resolution for 2008
Text: Matthew 22:34-40
Dr Alex Tang
Sunday sermon
6 January 2008
Holy Light Church (English), Johor Bahru
Sermon Statement
Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is love; love for God, for our neighbours and for ourselves. Love leads to shalom which is the fulfilment of love. S.H.A.L.O.M. is how a church practices love –Story, Heart, Action, Learning, Oneness and Maturity.
Text
34But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matt.22:34-40)
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.
Introduction
Happy New Year. We are also in the season of Epiphany. The season of Epiphany, from the Greek epihaneia meaning “manifestation,” begins on January 6 and continues for nine Sundays, then concludes with the Sunday of The Transfiguration. It commemorates the first manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles, represented by the visit of the Magi from the East. The season goes on to encompass his baptism, followed by the first miracle at Canaan. As Advent celebrates Christ’s humanity, Epiphany commemorates his divinity.
The making of New Year's resolutions dates back to the early Babylonians in about 2000 BC. The early Babylonian's most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.
The tradition of using a baby to signify the New Year was begun in Greece around 600 BC. It was their tradition at that time to celebrate their god of wine, Dionysus, by parading a baby in a basket, representing the annual rebirth of that god as the spirit of fertility. Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth.
Although the early Christians denounced the practice as pagan, the popularity of the baby as a symbol of rebirth forced the Church to revaluate its position. The Church finally allowed its members to celebrate the New Year with a baby, which was to symbolize the birth of the baby Jesus. The use of an image of a baby with a New Years banner as a symbolic representation of the New Year was brought to early America by the Germans.
The USA.gov posted a list of Popular New Year's Resolutions (accessed 4 January 2008). The list include
• Lose Weight
• Pay Off Debt
• Save Money
• Get a Better Job
• Get Fit
• Eat Right
• Get a Better Education
• Drink Less Alcohol
• Quit Smoking Now
• Reduce Stress Overall
• Reduce Stress at Work
• Take a Trip
• Volunteer to Help Others
• Holiday and New Year Health-e-Cards
The website also offers 3 ways to keep the resolutions:
(1) Be committed.
(2) Be prepared for setbacks.
(3) Track your progress.
What are some of your New Year resolution for this year, 2008? What happened to last year’s resolutions? Did you manage to keep any of them? Making New Year resolutions are good. It allows a new start. The beginning of the year is a good time to start afresh. We leave last year behind. It is like having another chance to have another go. That is why making New Year resolutions and keeping them is important. In this sermon, we shall try to make some New Year resolutions together as a church.
Exposition of the Text
The Pharisees and Sadducees often see Jesus as a threat to the religious establishment. One group, the Pharisees who are very religious see Jesus as a threat to the basis of their divinely based religion. The Sadducees were opposed to Jesus because of political reasons. They are afraid that Jesus will set himself up as the messiah and thus incur the wrath of the Romans while diminishing their political influence. In the gospels, there are many instances of the Pharisees and Sadducees attempting to trap Jesus into saying something that will incriminate himself.
Earlier, the Sadducees had tried to trap Jesus by posing a question of a woman married to seven men consequently. This is legitimate by Mosaic Law. The brother is to marry his brother’s widow. However, whose wife will she be after the resurrection? The Sadducee do not believe in the resurrection, rejects all the extra-Torah teaching of the Pharisees and accept only what the Torah teachers. Jesus silenced them by explain a text from Exodus 3:6 by emphasis the tense of the Patriarch. "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." The present tense indicates that there is an afterlife and that in this afterlife, we shall be like angels; without families.
After the failure of the Sadducee, the Pharisee sent in their champion, a lawyer. The question seems to be simple one. Which of the commandments is the greater one? The Pharisees after searching scripture found 613 commandments. The trap is simple. The Pharisees recognises that there is a hierarchy in the commandments. Thus murder is worst that boiling a lamb in its mother’s milk (Deut.14:21). Whichever one Jesus chose, someone will ask why not this other one.
Instead Jesus answered by quoting the Schema (Deu. 6:5) which is about loving God.
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Then he adds about loving your neighbours (Lev. 19:18, 34).
LEV 19:18 " `Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
And then he concluded by stating that these two statements contains all that the Law and the prophets teaches.
Leon Morris, formerly principal of Riley College, Melbourne, Australia comments about this passage, ‘Wholehearted love for God means coming in some measure to see other people as God sees them, and all people as the objects of God’s love. Therefore anyone who truly loves God with all his being must and will love others, and this is expressed in the commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” a commandment that is repeated in the Pentateuch.’
We can summarise it as thus
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and
with all your soul and
with all your mind.’
Love your neighbor
as yourself.
Shalom as the Fulfilment of Love
Shalom is translated as, “(1) to be in a covenant of peace, be at peace, (Qal) to be at peace,peaceful one (participle), (Pual) one in covenant of peace (participle), (Hiphil) to make peace with, to cause to be at peace,(Hophal) to live in peace; and
(2)to be complete, be sound, (Qal) to be complete, be finished, be ended, to be sound, be uninjured, (Piel) to complete, finish, to make safe, to make whole or good, restore, make compensation, to make good, pay, to requite, recompense, reward, (Pual) to be performed, to be repaid, be requited, (Hiphil) to complete, perform, to make an end of.
• Jesus made shalom through the cross (Col.1:20; Eph.2:15-16).
• When Jesus healed and forgave people, he dismissed them by saying, “Go in shalom.”
• We are to “seek and pursue it.”(Ps.34:14b as quoted in 1 Pet. 3:11 ).
• We are to be at peace, pursue it, send it, and keep it (Rom.12;18; 1 Thess.5:13; 2 Cor. 13:11; Rom.14:19; 1 Cor. 16:11).
• Shalom is an active fruit of the spirit (Gal.5:22) and a mark of the realm of God. It is about the matrix of peace, harmony, and wholeness and is both a gift and task for the very goal of our teaching and learning life together.
• shalom in Christian community is an inclusive concept, signifying a place, a dwelling and a life where we can be different together.(Eph.2:14-22)
Joldersma, in unpacking Wolterstorff’s idea of shalom writes,
“Shalom means people living in right relationships with God, themselves, each other, and nature- and in taking delight in such relationships. Shalom involves finding meaning in our experiences and celebrating the actualizing of creation’s potentials. Shalom involves recognizing in ourselves that place where Gods’ goodness finds its answer in our gratitude. Shalom is an ethical community where all the members have a full and secure place in the community. As such, it embraces a “non-abandonment” view of the creation that involves redeeming it.” (Wolterstorff, 2004, xii)
Luke uses the word shalom (eirene) to describe the early struggling Christian church . Expanding on this, Norma Everist from Wartburg Theological seminary in Duduque, Iowa writes,
“Shalom looks both backward and forward. It recalls the paradisiacal Garden of Eden, and anticipates the coming of the reign of God. Shalom is personal, and may apply to God self or to an individual human being. Shalom is communal, meaning the right relationship between friends, neighbours, a community, nation, or even all the inhabited world (oikoumene). The heart of the meaning is close to life itself.
Shalom is linked with truth and justice in the Hebrew Bible, especially by Jeremiah. Forgiveness, righteousness, justification, reconciliation, pardon, restoration, good news, and salvation-words which point to harmony in any relationship- are all part of the semantic domain of shalom. In Paul’s theology in the New Testament Bible, justification by faith gives shalom with God through Jesus Christ.”
Shalom is the all inclusive term that means loving God, loving ourselves and loving our neighbours. This is what Paul taught in 1 Cor. 13. The greatest of these is love.
Loving God ---- loving others and self --- shalom
Expressing Shalom in the Church
What are some of the ways we can express our love that leads to shalom? How do we as a church learn to love God, love ourselves and love our neighbours?
We may do that by incorporating certain components in our church community life.
They are:
• Story telling- telling the meta-narrative of God’s great plan of redemption and also our own stories and see how our own stories fit into God’s meta-narrative. Hence the importance of testimony telling and sharing of experiences. Sharing love.
• Heart matters; a call for emotional maturity- acknowledging, embracing, mastering, and detachment from our emotions or feelings. The will include experiential encounters with God (orthokardia). Emotions are important part of our makeup and our spirituality. We are called to love God with our heart, soul and mind. Experiencing love.
• Action: Incarnational living - narrowing the gap between what we believe and and how we live, thus living an incarnational lifestyle (orthopraxis). An incarnational lifestyle is a lifestyle of love, as Jesus lived out his human life as a sign of his love for us. Acting in love.
• Learning: transformational living- age appropriate learning of the knowledge of God through the Word, creation, and from others (orthodoxis). Knowing God means receiving the revelation of God. God has reveal himself to us through his Son, the Bible and nature. Thinking love.
• Oneness in community– development of committed relationships within and without the church. Relationships are very important. Living love.
• Maturity in Christ. This is our ongoing spiritual growth. Growing in love.
The acronym for this is S.H.A.L.O.M.
In addition, these components of shalom includes
(1) the restoration of the Imago Dei (the Image of God)- the love for God and ourselves
Maturity, Heart and Learning
(2) The Missio Dei (the mission of God)-the love for others
Oneness, Story telling and Action
Conclusion
Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is love; love for God, for our neighbours and for ourselves. Love leads to shalom which is the fulfilment of love. S.H.A.L.O.M. is how a church practices love –Story, Heart, Action, Learning, Oneness and Maturity.
Our New Year resolution for 2008 is
This year we shall love our God, our neighbours and ourselves more.
soli deo gloria
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