In Expedition, ideas think of you.

I had a really good chat with Nick on thursday night, we played around with a some ideas and here are a few we discussed.

Sonship.

Here's an idea Nick put forward. Suppose circumstance puts you in a position where on one hand, the law dictates that punishment is required, and yet on the other hand you're holding on to grace. Like the example Nick uses is the worship team. Practice time begins at 7.30 AM, not any later. And then one of the guys show up at 8 with a hangover. On one hand, do you show grace and forgive and say "hey, it's ok, just get set up and let's go."? On the other hand, the law in this case is very clear, so do you punish the guy and not let him play? And either way it's difficult, it's got pros and cons. After all, it was by grace that the law was given. Well maybe not in this case, but for arguments sake anyway.

But what if its not even about deciding between grace or law at all? Nick describes this concept he's been thinking of, sonship. What does it mean to be an heir of the Kingdom? What does it mean to be a son, and where then is our place in our Father's house?

It's not too simple, we still have no idea what it looks like, how it's lived out. As Nick puts it, it's just words that haven't been made flesh.

I've given it a bit more thought, and it makes a little bit more sense now (to me at least). Suppose you have a friend over at your house. Legally your father is the owner of the house, but he is your father after all, and you call it your own house as well. Now, say your friend has this urge to draw on your wall or set your rug on fire for whatever reason. He can't, it's against the rules of the house, it's against the law, and there will be undesirable consequences should he try. But for you, you wouldn't want to draw on the wall or set the rug on fire at all, its your house after all.

And so, may be that's what sonship looks like. You take ownership of the law, and it just becomes your lifestyle, and you don't even want to do anything that isn't good for your house, your Father's kingdom.

Then again, your house is also a house of grace. If your friend spills coffee on the rug by accident, then really, so what? Your father doesn't mind, the rug can be cleaned. And you can even make your friend a new cup of coffee. And after all, its not as though you've never spilled coffee on the rug before, and when you did, its not as though your father didn't forgive you.

So you still hold grace in one hand and the law in the other, but they belong to your Father. If you take up your role as a son of God, you also take up ownership of these family heirlooms.

I still can't imagine living this out, but it sounds like its going somewhere.



Right it's really late, we talked about some other stuff but I'll save that for another time, I'm really tired right now. Lack of sleep has finally caught up with me. Class again.. first thing in the morning, booooo.

Right, bye.