rabbi sacks and the soul of europe

Cranmer writes:

Every so often a sermon or lecture is delivered which merits being published in its entirety. In truth, the Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks delivers them all too frequently, but the pithy brevity of the blog is hardly the optimum medium for dissemination. This one, on the question of ‘Has Europe Lost its Soul?’ was delivered today at The Pontifical Gregorian University. It is replete with wisdom and insight (for those who don’t have the time to read it, His Grace highlights some salient points). Lord Sacks’ grasp of history, theology, philosophy, politics and economics is profound.

‘Let me begin with a striking passage from Niall Ferguson’s recent book, Civilisation. In it he tells of how the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was given the task of discovering how the West, having lagged behind China for centuries, eventually overtook it and established itself in a position of world pre-eminence. At first, said the scholar, we thought it was because you had more powerful guns than we had. Then we concluded it was because you had the best political system. Then we realised it was your economic system. “But in the past 20 years, we have realised that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West has been so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this.”

The Chinese scholar was right.’

Regarding capitalism he comments.

‘Instead of seeing the system as Adam Smith did, as a means of directing self- interest to the common good, it can become a means of empowering self-interest to the detriment of the common good. Instead of the market being framed by moral principles, it comes to substitute for moral principle. If you can buy it, negotiate it, earn it and afford it, then you are entitled to it – as the advertisers say – because you’re worth it. The market ceases to be merely a system and becomes an ideology in its own right.

The market gives us choices; so morality itself becomes just a set of choices in which right or wrong have no meaning beyond the satisfaction or frustration of desire.’

The whole summary can be found here.  His analysis of the malaise  is excellent; his solution is naturally somewhat lacking since being of Jewish faith he stumbles over the stumbling stone.   For Sacks, the ‘soul of Europe’ lies in recovering creation rather than pursuing redemption.  He concludes,

‘Stabilising the Euro is one thing, healing the culture that surrounds it is another. A world in which material values are everything and spiritual values nothing is neither a stable state nor a good society. The time has come for us to recover the Judeo-Christian ethic of human dignity in the image of God. ‘

For him, salvation lies in an ethic, in rediscovering our dignity as made in the image of God; it is the ancient  Judaistic doctrine of works that caused them to stumble over the stumbling stone.  He does not grasp that this image is hopelessly defaced and can only be renewed in Jesus Messiah.  He is the  true image of God made in true righteousness and holiness (unlike Adam) and only by submitting to his Lordship in redemption can we become through grace God’s sons and bearers of his image (Roms 8).  New birth in the Spirit is vital.  Sacks is a ‘teacher in Israel’ but apparently does not know these things (Jn 3).   The only healing for Europe’s ‘soul’ lies in the people of Europe embracing the gospel to the saving of their souls; they need a righteousness of God that is by faith, not of works lest any should boast.  As God’s people, we must pray that in his mercy the people of Europe will yet again hear the gospel and respond, including Jonathan Sacks.

living as new creation… in old creation (3)

Col 3:1-3 (ESV)
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

This short series has reflected on the most fundamental reality we need to grasp when as Christians we consider our relationship between the world and the Christian, or, if you like, between creation and new creation.  The basic controlling reality the Bible stresses when we think of creation, the first creation, is that we have died to it.

This final post reflects on the tension Christians face living in the old creation yet living for the new creation.  Our focus is not the tension created by sin.  Sinful things are just plainly wrong and our duty as Christians is to put sin to death.  The more complex issue is the tension between what is God-given and good in the old creation which is ours even as ‘strangers’ to enjoy (1 Tim 6:17) and the responsibilities, rewards and greater riches of the  new creation to which we are called.  Some believe there is no such tension but that is to ignore the plain teaching of Scripture.   Jesus speaks of the tension when he juxtaposes life in this world and ‘seeking first the Kingdom of God’ (Matt 6:33).  It should be beyond dispute that Kingdom (or new creation) living makes demands that may cost us dearly in this life.  That is why Jesus says

Matt 10:34-39 (ESV)
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

again

Luke 14:26-27 (ESV)
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

and again

Matt 19:29 (ESV)
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Loyalty to Christ and his Kingdom is costly.  It means putting new creation priorities before family and friends and many of the apparently legitimate things of life.  Jesus teaches those who follow him that the cost is not simply our sin but involves legitimate things too.

One Scripture that makes this tension plain is Matt 19.  Note carefully his argument.

Matt 19:3-12 (ESV)
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Jesus is asked his view on divorce.  He makes it clear that divorce is an accommodation to a fallen creation and is not God’s primary will.  He further forbids any breaking of the marriage bond by divorce except where it has already been broken by fornication.  In terms of our above definition Christians living in new creation eschew what is fallen and sinful in old creation (in this case improper divorce). However, whatever the wrongs of divorce,  Jesus makes plain that marriage is a good thing by sourcing it in creation.

Christ (and so Christians) recognises and respects  the good creation order.  Yet it is just here an important qualification must be added.  The disciples, dismayed at his strict limiting of divorce, say, ‘If such is the case it is better for a man not to marry‘.  Observe carefully Jesus’ reply,

“Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given…. there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

A very important principle is drawn out here.  It is that what is good and legitimate for Christians in creation they may well forego for the sake of the higher good of the Kingdom of God; old creation gifts may be trumped by new creation priorities.   The example here is marriage.  Some Christians with the faith and gifting from God to do so will remain unmarried for the sake of more effective service in the Kingdom of God.

Now it is important to emphasize there is no rule here.  It is not wrong to marry.   Indeed we can go further, it is good to marry.  Yet some choose to remain unmarried because they believe that they will more effectively serve Christ if free from family commitments.  What is ‘good’ is sacrificed for a greater ‘good’.

Paul  echos this teaching of Jesus in 1 Cor 7.  In his view, those who can remain single should do so.  He believes this will mean less ‘worldly cares’ and better facilitate service for God.

1Cor 7:25-39(ESV)
Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that…

I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband…

I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.  If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry-it is no sin. But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.  A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

Notice the fine line Paul wishes to walk.  He thinks singleness is better but he is careful not to insist upon it; there is no command.  To marry is no sin, not at all.  He recognises singleness is not for everyone.  Each has his own calling and gifting from the Lord (cf. Matt 19:12).   Married believers are not second-class Christians.  Yet, he thinks, on balance, singleness is preferable.  Here Paul is grappling with this tension between the good and the better, between the permitted in this creation and the pressing of the new creation, of the Kingdom.

Jesus in Matt 19 and Paul in 1 Cor 7 both discuss this tension in terms of marriage and foregoing marriage for Kingdom ends.  But of course marriage is only one of many areas to which this applies.  Indeed Paul widens the issue out in 1 Cor 7 when he writes,

1Cor 7:29-31 (ESV)
This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

Here is the tension again.  The priorities of the Kingdom and the urgency of the hour mean that we live with constant tension.  We find that the  possibilities of the first creation must always be weighed against the prerogatives of the second .  We are new creation people living in an age that is passing and the life of the age to come presses its concerns upon us; the future impinges on the present and the eternal eclipses the temporal.

As Christians we are always balancing creation and new creation living.  How much time do I give to my marriage, my family, my career, my hobbies and so on?  What comes first my family or my faith?  When do I put down a good book and read my Bible or pray to nourish and feed my spiritual life?  Do I put a night in relaxing before the prayer meeting?  Is my free time sacrosanct or do I share it with others in need?  How much of my salary do I spend on myself and how much do I  give to the Lord for the good of others?   The examples are endless.

How are we to decide?  In many ways this comes down to a personal decision as we are guided by the Spirit..  However, there are a few principles that seem to particularly govern the big picture if not the details.

• We must weigh is whether we have the gifting or grace for whichever Kingdom-sacrifice we are considering making.  Paul does not wish those who will function better if married to choose a life of singleness.  Singleness for the sake of the Kingdom of God is not given to all, it is only for those who can ‘receive it’ (Matt 19).  Virtually enforced celibacy has brought great disgrace to the name of Christ as many who have embarked on it were never suited to it and fall into sin.  Christians are not called to embrace that for which they have not been equipped by grace.  Gifting, grace and faith play an important role in determining what our service and sacrifices for the Kingdom should be (Roms 12:6).

• All sacrifice flows from a faith that produces love for Christ and his Kingdom.  We are considering here what in the OT was a free-will offering.  The only constraint upon the offerer was faith-love for his God.   There is no explicit sin here to be forsaken.  No rule saying you must do such and such.  We give up the legitimate in this world not out of duty or a law but because of the pearl of great price we wish to purchase (Matt 13:45,46).  Christ becomes the treasure we will sell all that we have to own (Matt 13:44).  Treasure in heaven captures our heart  and enables us to turn away from treasure on earth (Matt 6:20,21).  Love for Christ will motivate us to leave our comfort zone and walk on stormy water (Matt 14:29), just as love for Christ will break a very expensive box of alabaster  over his head (Mk 14:3).  There is no duty or rule can provoke devotion, only love.   That’s why I get so frustrated by those who try to frame Christianity in terms of law-keeping.  It is so impoverished a view of Christian devotion.  Only a heart that loves Christ is willing for his sake to lose his life (and possessions) in this world (Matt 10:39).  To any heart where love is nor pulsating the idea of sacrifice doesn’t even make sense.  Judas considered the burst perfume a waste.  He could not understand it because he did not love Christ.  Laws, morality, ethical codes don’t guide these decisions only love.

• Paul considered whatever he once valued as acceptable loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, he counted everything as loss because ‘of  the surpassing worth of  knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. For his sake he suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that he may gain Christ… and know him ‘(Phil 3:7-10).  Make no mistake, love for Christ is what guides our creation/new creation life balance.  It is it that will enable us to make the sacrificial choices, the giving up of the good now for the better to come.  The Christian life is faith working through love (Gals 5:6).  The motives of the heart are everything here.  Nothing less than love for Christ will constrain us to Kingdom cross-bearing (2 Cor 5:14) and in any case nothing other than this love has value to God. ‘Elder brother’ devotion is of no value to God (Lk 15).  The question is always to us as it was to Peter, ‘Do you love me more than these’?

• Christian love grows as we feed our hearts on Christ in the gospel.   Jesus says the person who realises he has been forgiven much will love much (Lk 7:47).  As we reflect ever more deeply on the love of God in the gospel, fill our hearts with the fullness of all God’s love towards us in Christ, and dwell on the dimensions of all God’s plans for us in Christ, the overflow is love.  We will live the new creational life God wants when our hearts grasp the great realities of the gospel.  As Paul says,

Col 3:1-4 (ESV)
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

living as new creation… in old creation (1)

How do people who are new creation live in an old creation?  Or to put it more popularly, how should Christians relate the world?

What a huge question?  In a sense the whole of the NT is an answer to it.  In a few posts I want to tease out some of the implications of the fundamental point the Bible makes concerning the Christian and the world.  What, you might ask, is that?

The main point the gospel burns into Christian minds regarding the world is – we have died to it.

Let me say it again – we have died to it.

And again – we have died to it.

What is that you just said?

I said – we have died to it.

And just in case the point has slipped your attention, let me repeat it again – we have died to it.

There is nothing that is more significant for us as we think of our relationship to the world than to recognize that we have died to it.  We have died to the whole order of the old creation.  We are no longer ‘alive’ in this world (Col 2:20).  Christians are a new creation.   In the death of Christ we died to the old order or creation and in his resurrection we find ourselves with him raised to live in a new order a new creation.  We no longer belong to (we have died to) the old creation of which Adam was the head but belong to (now live as) the new creation of which Christ is the head.  We live in the present world but are not really part of it.  We are like expats, or, resident aliens (Phil 3:20).  We live and function on foreign soil; in a country but not of a country.

What does this mean?  What are the implications of this for life?

The Bible spells out a number.  We discover that the various destructive forces that control the people of the present world, no longer control us.  The old fallen creation is controlled by various powers:  the world itself (Eph 1:1);  Satan (1 Jn 5:19; Eph 1:1); sin (Roms 6:6); rebellious flesh (Eph 2:3; Gals 2:24); God’s Law (Roms 7:1-6) and so on.  As people dead to this world we are free from them.  They have no rights or authority over us.  We need not listen to them or be intimidated by them.  The world’s allure is broken, Satan’s vice-like grip is unprised, sin is no longer a tyrant to be obeyed, the flesh is no longer the power on the throne of our hearts, the law (Mosaic)  is no longer an authority that accuses and to which we answer, death no longer has holding rights,  and God’s wrath is no longer a reality we need fear.  All are gone.   They are forces that have rights and threaten only in a world to which we are dead.  If we allow any to gain control it is because we choose to not because we must.  To be intimidated by any is a lack of faith.  It means we do not really believe we have died to this world.  As Paul says to the Colossians,

Col 2:16-23 (ESV)
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.  If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations- “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)-according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Mere pseudo-spiritual taboos and legalistic ascetic practices for their own sake (such as belong to many man-made religions and even the God-given faith of Judaism) are of no value in promoting spiritual life.  They are all examples of ‘flesh-religion’.  They have not grappled with the one radical truth that truly liberates, the truth that believers have died with Christ and are no longer ‘alive in the world’.  Once we grasp this and see that the source of our life, our joy, our satisfaction our holiness and all else is in heaven the superficiality and futility of these ‘recommended’ routes to holiness are seen for what they are.

It is wonderfully liberating to understand that death broke all debilitating relationships  and new creation means I may live free from them.  If I live for a time in another country they may have all sorts of habits, customs, histories, philosophies and cultural trappings that shape them.  I am shaped by none of these.  I come from another country.  I have been shaped by a different history and a different culture.  I am not a prisoner of the culture of my temporarily adopted country.  I am here only as a short-stay resident. I exist on a visa.   I am  passing through on my way home.  I am a pilgrim. To all that fashions and controls the world in which I live, I am as one dead.

the gospel and a transformed world

I recommend you read Owen Strachan’s blog on the gospel and social transformation.  He seems to me to get it just right.  In fact, I couldn’t have said it better myself.  In fact, if truth be told, I couldn’t have said it half so well.  This is a subject about which I feel quite strongly for if we get our theology wrong here we get drawn into unbiblical extremes either of involvement or withdrawal and in both extremes the gospel suffers and may get lost.

flesh and spirit in romans, and beyond (6) ‘dead to the world’

In previous blogs on this thread we have seen that key to understanding the Christian life is grasping that God, through the death of Christ, has translated us from this world of ‘flesh’ into the world of ‘the Spirit’.  This translation lies at the heart of the gospel.  Christians are not ‘in Adam’ but ‘in Christ’.  We are not ‘old creation’ but ‘new creation’.

We must be clear that the flesh/Spirit divide of which Scripture is not a platonic dichotomy.  It is not material versus the immaterial.  No, both worlds in the Bible, whether of flesh or spirit, are physical and material.  Matter is not evil.  Yet at the same time we must remember that ‘flesh’ and ‘spirit’ do represent two different worlds; the world/age that now is and the world/age to come.  We belong, as Christians, not to this world (old creation, this passing age, earthly, Adamic, weak, and of the flesh) but to the new world (new creation, the age to come, heavenly, Christic, powerful, and of the Spirit).  This works itself out in all sorts of ways.

To be no longer ‘of the flesh’ is to be no longer ‘of the world’.  Speaking to the Father concerning his disciples (and himself) Jesus says:

John 17:14 … they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ESV

Paul says to the Colossians

Col 2:19-20 (ESV)
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations…

In this blog I want to explore more fully what it means to be ‘not of this world’ (Jn 17:14) or in Paul’s language to be no longer ‘alive in the world’.

not of this world…

A fundamental reality the Christian must grasp is that as far as this world is concerned he is to consider himself ‘dead’..  We have ‘died with Christ’.  That is the declaration of our baptism (Roms 6).   Our death with Christ underlies and informs all the NT teaching of what it means to be a Christian, especially that of Paul.  Indeed, we can really only make sense of Paul and of the Christian life when we grasp this critical truth.  It is in grasping the implications of our death with Christ that we begin to grasp the shape our life as a Christian ought to take.

Previously we explored two conclusions Paul draws in Romans from no longer being ‘in the flesh’ or being ‘dead’; to have ‘died with Christ’ means we are no longer under the control of sin  (Roms 6) and no longer under the authority of the Mosaic Law (Roms 7).  However, the implications are much more wide-reaching.

Sin and Law are just two ‘powers’ in the world that have no rights over us.  The world is a ‘power’ that has no rights over us either. Clearly we must define a little more closely what we mean by ‘the world’.  The Bible defines the world in three senses: the world as physical creation; the world as a human culture since the fall opposed to God (corporate flesh); and the world simply of people, of humanity.  It is not always easy to decide to which of these a biblical writer is referring and there are probably overlaps.  Paul, speaking of the present age and its human culture opposed to God writes this in Ephesians 2.

Eph 2:1-3 (ESV)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Unconverted people, all part of a culture opposed to God are enslaved various to values, attitudes, idolatries, and  evil forces that are opposed to God.  That is what ‘flesh’ is in a fallen world.  The Christian has died to this world.  He is no longer part of this humanity, this culture opposed to God, this present age.  He lives in this world as part of a new humanity in Christ not Adam, in the Spirit and not the flesh, an ambassador of  the age or world to come rather than the world and age that now is.

We said earlier that believers are no longer under the Law of Moses.  The Law of Moses applied to people who were living in this world.  It had no power over people who died.  We could just as easily say that believers are not really under the law of the land.  What right has the law of the land have over dead people?  As believers, we subject ourselves to the law of the land as we do to every  God-appointed authority in this world, but we do so, not because of we are citizens and have a duty to do so (for we are dead).  Rather we submit ourselves ‘for the Lord’s sake’.

Peter writes,

1Pet 2:13-16 (ESV)
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Note carefully the reason we are to ‘subject ourselves’.  It is ‘for the Lord’s sake‘.  Peter has just pointed out that here in this world believers are exiles and strangers (like modern day travelling people)  .  We don’t really really belong.  In a sense, we are ‘outside’ the culture.  We are ‘people who are free’.  We are not ‘alive in this world’ and subject to its rules.  It has no real claim on us (dead people are beyond the world’s claims and the claims of any in it).  Yet we subject ourselves to the various authorities that God has placed in this world (as did Christ, who even on earth subjected himself to authorities over which he rightly ruled) for this pleases God and glorifies him.

Paul urges us not to view ourselves in terms of our position in this age but in terms of the age to come.

1Cor 7:21-22 (ESV)
Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.

or again

1Cor 9:19 (ESV)
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

Whatever may appear to be our position in life, in the world, it is not the reality about us.  The reality is our new identity in Christ.  It is who we are in the world to come that really defines us.  It is our status in that world that is the real truth about us even now.  We live, for the moment, in paradox.  Paul grasps this when he writes:

2Cor 6:9-10
As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live…  as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

In this world we are unknown, in the one to come, well known.  In this world we may like Paul (and Abraham travelling through Canaan) possess little but as heirs of God all things are ours.  Just as the risen Christ is exalted and the possesor of all things, so we who are united to the risen Christ and our true life is in him there so Paul can say to the Corinthians

1Cor 3:21-23 (ESV)
So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Thus, Paul and Scripture, invite us to judge everything as though we were no longer ‘alive’ in this world (someone part and parcel of this present culture, living in it, like it, and for it).  For, in truth, we are not.

Gal 6:14-16 (ESV)
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

Now this is by no means a full discussion of this topic.  It is only a snippet.  Much more needs to be said to do it justice.  In fact it is a topic I feel I only understand a little.  I do want to add that being crucified to the world does not mean that we should not participate in everyday life.  Nor does it mean we should not enjoy many of the good gifts of life God has given us.  The created order is God-given and good.  Much that society creates is good and morally neutral.  Paul expressly says God has given us all things (non-sinful things) richly to enjoy.    Yet we will not live for these or be controlled by them.  We will use them gladly and thankfully, appropriately and wisely as gifts from God as we serve him as new creatures in Christ Jesus in a fallen world.  But we will not lose our hearts to them.  We will use them remembering that the things seen are temporary and the things unseen are eternal.  We will remember as Paul said

1Cor 7:29-31 (ESV)
This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

fed up with christ?

In the desert, Israel was fed by God.  She was fed by manna.  Moses describes it to the people as ‘the bread that the Lord has given you to eat’ (Ex 16:15).   Falling from heaven it tasted like ‘wafers with honey’ (Ex 16:31) and like ‘cakes baked with oil’ (Numbs 11:8).  Each day the manna came and each Israelite was free to gather as much as he could eat (Ex 16:16; Ps 78:24,25).  It was heavenly food from God  that he promised he would provide for Israel all through the desert until the nation reached the Promised Land (Ex 16:32).  It was sufficient to nourish and satisfy.

But what at first was a delight and a godsend, began to lose its appeal.  The people grew weary of manna and began to complain.

Num 11:4-6 (ESV)
Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

A later summary of their journey in the desert we read

Num 21:4-5 (ESV)
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”

Their rejection of the manna was no trivial thing.  They were rejecting what God had given to sustain them as they journeyed to Canaan.  The result was God came down in judgement among the people (Numbs 11:33; 21:6).

The NT makes clear that the manna pictured Christ.  Christ himself says he is the ‘bread of God that has come down from heaven’.

John 6:31-33 (ESV)
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

John 6:48-51 (ESV)
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

For a Christian the food he has to nourish and satisfy as he journey’s through this world to the Promised Land is Christ.  He is the ‘hidden manna’ (Rev 2:17). Our strength and energy to sustain the life of faith in this world (which is a spiritual desert) comes from daily feeding our souls on Christ.

John 6:55-58 (ESV)
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.’

The question is: do we find Christ sufficiently satisfying?  Or do we, like Israel, get fed up with God’s food.  Do we weary of Christ?  God has given us many good things in life to enjoy (1 Tim 6:17).  If they become so attractive they are more attractive and satisfying than Christ then they become a spiritual danger.  Christ alone is the food that will truly nourish our souls on our pilgrimage of faith.