Easter 2017

 

Did Easter Let You Down?

How was your Easter? On Easter, Pastors often feel like the manager of a Pizza Hut on Super Bowl Sunday. And if each of us "clergy type" is honest we feel a self-imposed pressure to make Easter "better than ever." What's more, as our kids search for Easter eggs on Easter afternoon, that not even those who hid them can find, we all feel a little disappointed. The service didn't live up to our expectations, or the perceived expectations of others. Brothers and sisters, the point of Easter is not dresses and suits, eggs and chocolate, or special music and knock it out of the park sermons! The point of Easter is not even the worship gathering that celebrates it (although, Christians should make gathering to worship a priority). Brothers and sisters, the point of Easter is that Jesus was crucified and buried for our sins and was raised to life three days later! This cannot be improved upon. This cannot be leveraged for the purpose of increasing attendance at a local church. Jesus really was dead and now he really is alive. If this is really true, whatever disappointed you this past Sunday DOES NOT MATTER, because the implication of Easter is this. God is not disappointed with you. Paul puts it this way. 

The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:23–25, NIV)

You are not a let down. You are accepted.

This is one implication of Jesus' resurrection. He was raised to life that we might be justified. What does Paul mean by the word, "justified?" Of the many things this word means, let's emphasize two. First, when Paul says believers are justified he means we are considered faithful members of the covenant family. Throughout the New Testament, the problem facing local congregations is the relationship between Jewish and Gentile believers. Who are the true people of God? "Who are the true children of Abraham? Paul's answer is that membership belongs to all who believe the gospel of Jesus, whatever their racial or moral background" (N.T. Wright).  Among the people God is saving there are no disappointments. No lesser-than or greater- than. We are all one in Jesus Christ. God has rendered the verdict of faithful over everyone who believes the good news concerning Jesus. Second, the foundation of God's verdict of faithfulness is Jesus' death for sinners and his resurrection from the dead. In other words, Jesus exhausted the curse that was in the way of his promised blessing (Galatians 3.10-14), and with the curse no longer operative, Jesus' resurrection paves the way for all who are united to him to be welcomed by the Father (Romans 4.23-25).

What is causing you disappointment post-Easter? What is making you feel like a disappointment? Believe the truth of Easter that Jesus was raised to life that you might have your disappointments buried and hear the welcoming and loving and life-giving voice of your Heavenly Father! Brothers and sisters this is a message that cannot be improved!

Click here to download and listen to our Easter message at Somonauk Baptist Church.

The Reversal of Adam's Sin and the Cross

One Theory of Atonement

During this Lenten Season we have been exploring different aspects of the atonement. We have been examining images from Scripture that help us understand Jesus' death for sin. Over the past 6 weeks we have learned from the cross that the heart of God is full of justice for the oppressed: the heart of God overflows with forgiveness: and that the cross of Christ defeats evil. These are all aspects, motifs, or theories of atonement. To understand Jesus' death we must seek to grasp these essentials. During our final message we wrestled with this question: Is there one theme that captures all the essential aspects of the Cross? Do the Scriptures present one grand summary of atonement? I would say the recapitulation theory of atonement summarizes as good as any other theory, all that Jesus did to make atonement for sin. The doctrine of recapitulation teaches that Jesus came to earth to reverse the sin of Adam and its consequences.

Jesus and Adam

Romans 5.12-21 describes recapitulation by comparing and contrasting Adam's disobedience and Jesus' obedience. In other words, this text teaches that Jesus comes behind Adam to restore what the sin of Adam destroyed. In every place where Adam disobeyed, Jesus obeys. In the Garden of Eden, Adam says to God, "Not your will, but mine be done." In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus says to God, "Not my will, but yours be done." It is this kind of contrast between the first and second Adams that Paul is emphasizing. Permit me to point out this contrast.  

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. (Romans 5:15–16, NIV)

In these verses Paul highlights how the first Adam and the second Adam are different with respect to their disobedience and obedience. Adam's one act of disobedience led to condemnation. God's gift, on the other hand, followed many acts of disobedience, but led to justification.

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! (Romans 5:17, NIV)

Paul is teaching here that Adam's trespass resulted in the reign of death. The grace of Christ, however, produced the reign of life.

Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18, NIV)

Finally, Paul summarizes Jesus' work of atonement by showing that just as Adam's one trespass led to condemnation for all, so Jesus' act of righteousness leads to life and justification for all.

Brothers and sisters, Adam's disobedience resulted in death. Jesus' obedience resulted in life. Adam's trespass resulted in condemnation and exile. Jesus' righteousness resulted in justification and homecoming. Jesus' work of atonement is best summarized as undoing all that Adam did. Furthermore, when the Spirit unites us to Jesus as the second Adam, all that he accomplished is ours by grace.

Jesus and Adam and Us

Up to this point atonement theories can remain impersonal. We can confess that Jesus "undid" all that Adam did and carry on with our day. In Romans 5.1-11 Paul is describing how we, who were God's enemies have become reconciled to God. What's more in Romans 5.12 Paul says that in dealing with Adam's sin, he was also addressing our sin problem. Therefore, Jesus obedience unto death was not only the undoing of Adam's sin, it was also the undoing of my sin and yours. We no longer have to be defined by our trespasses. We were born united to Adam and his/our sins defined us. By faith we have been united to Christ by the Spirit and have been given a new identity. Each of us has an element of our story that we are tempted to receive as an over-arching identity. What painful scene from your story threatens to define your life? In Jesus, this doesn't have to be the case! When we are united to Christ we become those "who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness" and "who will reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." Thanks be to God.

Listen to our final message from our Lenten Journey, Understanding Jesus' Death, The Last Adam and the Cross.

The Cross and the Defeat of Evil

What need does Jesus death on the cross address? One of the most significant summaries of what the cross accomplishes is called Christus Victor. This understanding of Jesus' death emphasizes that on the cross God was working to defeat evil. The Scriptures address this theme in many places. Here are two of the more common texts. 

**And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered (Mark 3.26-27).

Indeed, these verses describe Jesus as the Stronger Man who came to bind up Satan, the strong man, and plunder his property! 

**The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3.8b). 

So the Scriptures are clear. Jesus came to defeat Satan and rescue the world from his evil grasp. The question is, how did Jesus defeat the enemy? Take a listen to our most recent messages that describe how God defeated Satan and his domain through Jesus' death and resurrection. Thanks be to God. 

How is Satan defeated by Jesus on the Cross? Click here to download and listen to our message, The Defeat of Satan and the Cross. 

Was Jesus' death a descent into hell? Click here to download and listen to our message, The Defeat of Hell and the Cross. 

Jesus, Our Older Brother

Relationships between siblings have the potential for incredible grace and extraordinary pain. This is why there are so many many stories in Scripture that revolve around the relationship between brothers and sisters. Think about it. If we were to remove all the sibling stories from the Bible, some of our most favorite moments would disappear. Indeed, a Bible without Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus would be no Bible at all. What's more, the person and work of Jesus would be described in a much different way, if not totally meaningless without the theme of Jesus as the older brother coming to rescue his younger siblings and restoring them to the Father. Because sin has powerfully dominated the sibling relationship, Christ had to come to us that our sibling relationship with him might be healed along with all other sibling relationships. Paul Zahl is helpful in this regard.

Almost all sibling problems have to do with a child's feeling that the affection of his parents was unevenly distributed. The middle child thinks the eldest is favored, but the youngest is really the favored one. The youngest basks in the affection of his less-uptight parents, who have become wiser in their child-rearing. ... Grace demolishes this idea of proportional loving, It demolishes it ... because God's love is one-way, removed from any relation with the receiver, there is no "rivalry." This grace of Christ is the first stage of the healing of siblings who are furious at one another.

Is it not maddening when an author we don't even know seems to describe our reality as if he is a member of our family? Brother and sisters, our sibling relationships are unparalleled in how they reveal the reality of the fall. The good news is Jesus came into the mess of our sibling relationships as our good and loving and rescuing older brother (Hebrews 2.11-13).

In the early 90s, Robert Redford directed and narrated the well-known film, A River Runs Through It. More than being a film about fly fishing with amazing scenes of trout fishing in the rivers that run through the Montana Mountains, this was film about family. More specifically about the love and pain that brothers often share. Norman and Paul Maclean are brothers whose father is a stern Presbyterian minister. Norman is the firstborn son who does nothing but satisfy the cold expectations of Reverend Maclean. Paul, on the other hand, is the younger rebellious son who abuses alcohol, gets into bar fights, and becomes "overly involved" with too many women. Nonetheless, Norman has deep and abiding affection for Paul. He wants to help his brother, but is unable, because he fails to understand his brother. Norman explains this loving struggle to want to help Paul, even though he is unable.  

Each one of us here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing to help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them - we can love completely without complete understanding. 

Paul's life ends after being brutally beaten and left for dead in a back alley. This devastates Norman and he responds by doing what he and Paul used to always do together, fly fish. To return to the river without his brother was more loneliness than Norman could bear.

In the loneliness of the canyon I knew there were others like me who had brothers they did not understand, but wanted to help. We are probably those referred to as "our brother's keepers," possessed of one of the oldest and possibly one of the most futile and certainly one of the most haunting instincts. It will not let us go. 

The good news is that Jesus as a faithful older brother is willing and able to come and save us because he does understand our plight. He is the true brother's Keeper. This is why Hebrews says: "he had to be made like [his brothers,] fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people (Heb 2.17, NIV). As N.T. Wright says,  

Jesus is the older brother of a much larger family and he did come to where his siblings were. He wallowed in the land of sin and death. He identified with them, shared their fate, and thereby rescued them from it (N.T. Wright). 

Click below to download and listen to our exposition of Hebrews 2.10-18.

Sin, Substitution, Sacrifice, and the Cross

The Justice of the Cross

Why were Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden? When God responds to our sin we often only think of him in terms of punishment. We are therefore led to believe that God was punishing our first parents by casting them out of the Garden because he couldn't stand the sight of them. He couldn't tolerate their presence as sinners, so they had to go! Is that what the text says? No! Instead, God's Word describes God as seeking them out, even in their state of sin and shame. Furthermore, Genesis 3.22 describes why they were exiled.

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. (Gen 3:22–23, ESV)

Love for Adam and Eve motivated the LORD God to send them out from the garden of Eden because if they were to eat from the tree of life, they would remain forever trapped in their sinful state. God's love would not allow this. This is why God exiled Adam and Eve. Furthermore, God knew what this exile would cost him and that costly sacrifice is what we encounter in Isaiah 53. As this second full week of Lent begins let's meditate on one truth from this text.

On the cross God suffers with us.

Often the cross is described as Jesus suffering something instead of us. It goes something like, "Jesus endured the cross so we wouldn't have to." While themes of substitution are apparent in other texts, this is not the emphasis of Isaiah 53. Instead of suffering in our place, Yahweh's servant suffers with us in the place of exile we have created. "He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors" (Isa 53.12, ESV). The suffering of Yahweh's servant described in Isaiah 53 fulfills the promise of Isaiah 43.3-7.

For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, "Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. (Isaiah 43:3–7, NIV)

In Isaiah 53 Yahweh has sent his servant to every place you and I can imagine in order to bring us home. Specifically he must enter into our place suffering in order to rescue us from it. Indeed, Jesus' suffering is why God can say:

But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." (Isaiah 43:1–2, NIV)

N.T. Wright summarizes well the way some have misunderstood the cross in a unique paraphrase of John 3.16. "For God so hated the world that he killed his one and only Son." N.T. Wright rightly identifies this as a misunderstanding of Jesus' work of atonement on the cross. Instead of this distortion the Word of God reveals that the suffering love of God sent the Son of God to the cross that we might bring us home. Thanks be to God!

Click here to download and listen to "The Justice of the Cross," our second message in our Lenten Series, Understanding Jesus' Death.  

    

  

 

The Weakness of God

"The weakness of God is stronger than human strength" (1 Cor 1.25b, NIV). What does that mean? One of the truths we meditated upon yesterday was this. It was in weakness that God was mighty to save. For the Apostle Paul, the cross of Jesus calls us to a wholesale  transformation. Jesus' cross must transform our understanding of God. A more literal translation of 1 Corinthians 1.25 would go like this: "For the foolish thing of God is wiser than humans, and the weak thing of God is stronger than humans." What is the foolish thing? What is this weak thing? The foolishness of God and the weakness of God is the cross. This is why Richard Hays writes: "This foolish and weak thing is the event of the cross itself. The cross is the key to understanding reality in God's new age. Consequently, to enter the symbolic world of the gospel is to undergo a conversion of the imagination, to see all values transformed by the foolish and weak death of Jesus on the cross." Have we been converted by the cross? What does it look like to be converted by the cross?

A Transformed View of God

To be converted by the cross is to have our understanding of God transformed. Most of us seem to be born into this world with a theology that goes a bit like this. God is very big and very powerful and very high up on something like a mountain. His natural mood is disappointed and I must summon as much strength as I can to neutralize his opinion of me. I firmly believe Jesus came to destroy this idolatrous understanding of what God is like. Indeed, Jesus reveals a God who humbles himself in order to save his enemies! John 17 defines for us what the one true God is really like. Before his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion, John records Jesus' final prayer. Listen to how Jesus' prayer begins and ends.  

Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ... Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world's foundation. Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them (John 17.1, 24-26, CSB).

In this passage Jesus uses words like glory, know, and name, so we may understand him to be speaking of what is essentially true about God. He prays the Father will glorify him, the Son, so that the Son can in turn, glorify the Father. In other words, the glory of the Father and the Son will be made visible through what is about to happen. Furthermore, Jesus declares that as the Son, the one who knows the Father, he has come to make the Father known and will continue to make him known, so that the love the Father has loved the Son with, may be in us! How will this sharing of love happen? What will be the means by which the Father is made known and the love of the Father and the Son is shared with us? The cross is how. Yes! As the blood and water flowed from the wounds of the Son, the love of the Trinity was being shared with the world. Jesus opens his prayer with these words: "Father, the hour has come." Throughout John's gospel it has been declared that the hour has not yet come (See, John 2.4, 7.30; 8.20). But now, Jesus knows the hour has come for him to leave this world and return to Father (See John 13.1). This means, "the hour has come," means it is now time for the crucifixion. You see it is through the weakness and foolishness of Jesus' death that we learn of the inner love of God and it's through the cross that love the Father and Son have shared for eternity is poured out for us. This means that our understanding of what God is like must be shaped by the cross. This is why Paul argues in Philippians that because Jesus existed in the form of God, "he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death - even to death on a cross" (Phil 2.7-8, CSB).

What does the "god" in our heads look like? According to Christianity the one true God looks like Jesus pouring himself out for his enemies on the Cross. Let us confess with the Roman soldier one of the most essential truths of our faith.

When the centurion, who was standing opposite him, saw the way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15.39, CSB)! 

It is Jesus' dying breath that reveals Jesus' true identity. The cross calls us to a transformed understanding of God. Not just Jesus, but God! God is like Jesus dying on the cross. There is no other God behind the cross. God was in Christ on the cross reconciling the world to himself. This is summarized well by Plantinga.

“The Son of God just does what he sees his Father doing. He empties himself and takes the form of a servant because that’s the way they do it in his family” (Cornelius Plantinga Jr.). 

Click here to download and listen to yesterday's sermon, The Curse of the Cross.

   

Baptism and Sanctification

In our theological survey of Colossians 2 and 3, one of the truths we discerned together was this: Baptism is a gracious initiation into and resource for growing in holiness. Let me unpack this a bit. 

Baptism as Gracious Initiation 

To understand what Paul is teaching in Colossians 2 and 3, it is helpful to remember our definitions of justification and sanctification. Justification is God giving a new name to the Gospel-believing sinner. In other words, the moment we believe the good news of King Jesus’ death and resurrection we are declared faithful members of the people of God. Did you catch that? The Gospel teaches that God forgives and gives a new status to Gospel-believing sinners while they are still sinners. 

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.” Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believed on him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness (Rom 4.3-5, CSB). 

Sanctification, on the other hand, is God the Spirit shaping the Gospel-believing into the image of his/her new name. While sanctification and justification are closely related (both are by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone), it is important to remember how they are different. Justification is a one-time declaration. Sanctification is a life-long process. Justification is God’s gracious declaration of faithfulness to the Gospel-believing sinner. Sanctification is God’s gracious shaping toward holiness for the Gospel-believing sinner. 

For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified (Rom 8.29-30, CSB). 

In the words above Paul brings the two together. The ones God justifies, God will also conform into the image of his Son. 

What do justification and sanctification have to do with baptism? Baptism is the initiation rite that welcomes Gospel-believing sinners into the family that is being conformed into the faithful image of Jesus. This is where it’s important to recognize the order of things. First, sinners believe the Gospel. That means we trust in the death and resurrection of King Jesus for our salvation. Second, Gospel-believing sinners receive baptism as an earthly drama that reflects the heavenly reality. Finally, the process of being conformed into the image of Jesus begins. In other words, we are welcomed into the Church family where everyone believes the Gospel and strives together to respond to God’s gracious work in our lives to make us holy. It is critically important that we not confuse the order. Jesus himself confirms the above order in what we know as the great commission to make disciples of all nations. 

Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28.17-20, CSB). 

Step One: We go and proclaim the good news to sinners and by God’s grace some respond to the invitation to follow Jesus. Step Two: We baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This step welcomes them into the family God is saving. Step Three: We teach them to obey Jesus. Notice this step only comes after baptism. Sometimes people think they can only be baptized if they have learned to control the sin in their lives. Brothers and sisters, this is a distortion of the Gospel and the truth of God’s Word. Only the grace of God in Jesus Christ can defeat sin. We are hopelessly unable to do anything to overcome sin in our lives, but the good news is this: “While we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5.6, CSB). Indeed baptism is a gracious initiation into the process of holiness. This leads us to our second truth. 

Baptism as Gracious Resource 

Baptism is also a gracious resource in the process of holiness. You see, God loves sinners so much he works on their behalf to transform them. Furthermore, baptism is one resource through which we are reminded how God goes about making us holy. Here’s what I mean. Often when sin is being addressed in Scripture, the Bible reminds the readers of their baptism. In Romans 6, Paul is addressing the possibility that a misunderstanding of grace will lead to more and more sin. Notice how Paul responds. 

What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?  Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?  Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,  since a person who has died is freed from sin (Rom 6.1-7, CSB). 

When his readers were tempted to sin, Paul reminds them that is not who they are anymore. He recalls their baptism and invites them to live out the implications of it. Likewise, when we are tempted to sin, we must remember who we are by recalling our baptism. Baptism is a gracious resource in the process of holiness. 

In Galatians 3-4, the readers are tempted to exclude Gentile Christians much like Peter was in Galatians 2.11-14. Notice how Paul responds. 

For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise (Gal 3.27-29, CSB). 

When the Galatians are tempted to segregate the Church based upon ethnic identity, Paul reminds them of a greater more significant identity and this identity was conferred upon them at their baptism. Likewise, when we are tempted to segregate or show favoritism to people more like us, we must remember who we are by recalling our baptism. Baptism is a gracious resource in the process of holiness. 

In Colossians 2.8ff, the readers are tempted to turn their backs on Christ by turning to philosophy and human tradition that is based on worldly principles. Notice how Paul responds. 

You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead (Col 2.11-12, CSB).

When the Colossians are tempted to root their identity in anything other than Christ, Paul again reminds them of what their baptism reveals. They are yoked to Christ in whom the “entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily” (2.9). They have been united to Christ in whom “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2.3). They are one with Christ who “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (1.15). Brothers and sisters, when we are tempted to treasure anything more than Christ - when are lured away to false identities, we must recall our identity is in Christ and who he is and what it means to be united to him, are all called to mind, when we remember our baptism. 

Brothers and sisters, in order to start doing the right thing more often, we must remember who we are. In order to grow in holiness we must learn to live out of our new identity in Christ. This is the ethical message of the New Testament. Remember who you are. And the best way to do that is to remember your baptism. 

Baptism is a biographical fact of life. A change has happened. God has done something to you. … All of us must take our cue from baptism and do less talking about what people ought to do or be and do more proclamation of who people are. (Will Willimon).