Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide? Sorry Jiminy, I Don't Think So!

Hebrews 9:11-14

Today we look at a significant passage out of the book of Hebrews.  It comes from Hebrews 9, and I specifically want to look at vv. 11-14.  Now you may now, that we do not know who the the author of Hebrews is, but even though we don't know that, we are sure that this is a crucial message from God to his people on who Jesus Christ is.

To set the stage for these verses, we have had the author of Hebrews presenting a sermon on how Christ is superior or better than anything.  The author shows that Jesus Christ is greater than supernatural beings like angels, he is great than all the prophets including the greatest - Moses, Jesus' role as priest for all humanity is greater than any order of priests in the past.  Basically, the author of Hebrews has succeeded in showing how Jesus Christ is the ultimate Messiah, the ultimate Prophet, and the ultimate High Priest.  Then the author goes on to show how Jesus works under a better covenant, a better temple in heaven, and how he was a better sacrifice.  It is in this section, that we find chapter 9 and the verses for today.  Jesus has provided an incredible accomplishment by his sacrifice.  Let's look now as vv. 11-14...

“But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

(Hebrews 9:11-14 TNIV)

Chapter 9 has several great accomplishments that Christ has done for us, but this morning we are looking as the first.  Christ cleanses our conscience.  How does he do this?  Jesus provides for us moral cleansing.  Well, the first thing you should be asking is, what does he mean by "moral cleansing" and second, what difference does it make?  We will see shortly.  First, we need to see what the conscience is.

Do you remember the old Disney animated movie, "Pinocchio"?  In this 1940's Disney classic, Pinocchio, a wooden puppet desires to become a real boy.  After Pinocchio's maker, Geppetto, makes a wish upon a falling star, the wooden puppet is visited by a Blue Fairy.  She tells Pinocchio that he can become a real boy of flesh and blood if he proves himself to be brave, truthful, and unselfish and is able to tell right from wrong by listening to his conscience.  Pinocchio doesn't understand what a conscience is, but then has it explained to him by another character, that had entered the puppeteer's workshop to get warm.  This character as you might remember is Jiminy Cricket, which is basically a small green, talking cricket.  Jiminy is asked by the Blue Fairy to serve as Pinocchio's conscience throughout the movie.

But Jiminy Cricket is famous for singing a few songs in the movie, one of which is "Give A Little Whistle."   And one of the famous lines from that song is "Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide."  So, was Jiminy right?  Can we let our conscience by our guide?  Well, the answer depends.  Our conscience is our God-given ability for self-moral evaluation.  Basically, our conscience is the ability God gave us to tell what is right and wrong and to see if we are living a righteous life or one that displeases God.  Put another way, our conscience is our ability to know something about myself that God knows.

Now we come to the answer to our previous question, "What it mean for Jesus to cleanse our conscience?" or put another way, "What does it mean for Jesus to give us moral cleansing?"  Well, in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, he provided us with two things: 1) negatively, he relieved the conscience from its sense of sin, guilt, and alienation from God, and 2) positively, he gave the conscience a sense of forgiveness and peace.  So, Jesus took away sin and guilt from our conscience and gave it forgiveness and peace.  When did or does this happen?  Well, it happened for each one of us at our conversion, when we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior.  But it also happens many times after our conversion as we put forth the effort on a regular basis to keep our conscience clear.  What I'm talking about is confession of sins.  1 John 1:9 reads, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (TNIV).  We need to be putting in effort on a regular basis to keep our conscience clear by confessing our sins to God and receiving that sense forgiveness and peace that Christ offers again and again.  Why is this so important?  Because one precondition for serving God is a clear conscience.  We can't truly serve God as he desires us to without having a clear conscience before him.  Having it clear will let us see clearly what is the right thing to do to please our Father in heaven.

So, to answer the question - Can we let our conscience be our guide?  Only if we have a clear conscience that has a sense of peace because there is no unconfessed sin in our life that we feel know is coming between us and God in our relationship with him.  Only a clear conscience can produce pleasing service to God.

What the Word of God Does for Us

Psalm 19:7-14

Ps 19:7     The law of the LORD is perfect,

refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,

making wise the simple.

8 The precepts of the LORD are right,

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

9 The fear of the LORD is pure,

enduring forever.

The ordinances of the LORD are sure,

and all of them are righteous.

Ps 19:10     They are more precious than gold,

than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey,

than honey from the honeycomb.

11 By them your servant is warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

12 But who can discern their own errors?

Forgive my hidden faults.

13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;

may they not rule over me.

Then I will be blameless,

innocent of great transgression.

Ps 19:14     May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

(from Today's New International Version)

As we look at this passage, one of the first things that should strike us is the description of God's Word.  We should all be familiar, as we read through the Scriptures, of this way of describing God's Word.  In these verses in particular the Word of God is said to be: 1) perfect, 2) trustworthy, 3) right, 4) radiant, 5) pure, 6) sure, 7) righteous, 8) more precious than gold, 9) and sweeter than honey.

Now, we could focus on what the Word of God is in these descriptions and talk quite a bit about what they mean.  Clearly, the Word of God stands alone as the most precious book ever.  But in this passage I want to focus on the descriptions of what the Word of God does for us.  What results does it have or what does it produce when it is applied to a life.  We will focus on four things.

First, it is something that refreshes the soul (v. 7).  This could be refreshment that someone needs from intense distress or tragedy or it could be refreshment to someone who is simply tired or worn out.  But God's Word refreshes our desires and emotions to make the life within us, our soul, be revived to take on each day and serve the LORD.

Second, the Word of God makes wise the simple (v. 7).  The idea here is that the Word of God makes us teachable.  This I believe is one of the most admirable qualities a person can have because I believe it demonstrates a degree of heavenly wisdom on their part because we all have things we need to learn.  We need to be teachable people, people that God can mold as he desires.  The need to be teachable no matter what stage we have reached in life is illustrated very well in a short story written by Frank Koch in the magazine Proceedings, produced by the Naval Institute:

Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days.             I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell.  The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."

"Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out.

Lookout replied, "Steady captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.

The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: We are on collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees."

Back came a signal, "Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees."

The captain said, "Send I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees."

"I'm a seaman second class, " came the reply.  "You had better change course 20 degrees."

By that time, the captain was furious.  He spat out, "Send, I'm a battleship.  Change course 20 degrees."

Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse."

We changed course.

Here we can easily see the need for us to keep the attitude of being teachable no matter what stage we are in life, and it is the Word of God that is the tool that makes teachable if we are in it on a regular basis.

Third, the Word of God gives joy to our hearts (v. 8).  This means that God's Word educates our emotions and our minds to help us feel as we should about our circumstances - no matter how dismal that may seem, we have joy in the midst of them and we examine life in light of that joy

Fourth, the Word of God gives light to the eyes (v. 8).  This means that God's Word gives the reader the opportunity to see the world around them the way God sees it to some extent.  We get God's perspective on things, which is always the most important perspective.  We recognize needs as well as the beauty of his creation, which includes each human being with the dignity he created them with.  It also allows us to see God's boundaries for life.  We understand what is acceptable behavior and what is not acceptable to God.  We understand what God values, and what we in turn should value.  In a similar way, Paul speaks of this in Romans 12:1-2, when he speaks of the Christian's need to "renew" their minds.  The Word of God is what will "renew" our minds to have the illumination to see life the way God wants us to see it.

Steps for Getting All of God's Blessings

Deuteronomy 6:1-9
“These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”     (Deuteronomy 6:1-9 TNIV)

In the preceding section (Deut. 5) before this wonderful passage, Moses has just recounted the 10 Words (often called the 10 commandments or the Decalogue).  Moses has given God's law to a new generation to instruct them in how to please the Lord God.  Now we turn to Moses explanation of the greatest instruction in God's law.

vv. 1-3.  These verses in chap. 6 are a continuation of that instruction, which came in chap. 5.  The opening, vv. 1-3, describe motivational factors to obeying God's instruction.  There are two repeated words again and again throughout these verses - "so that"- it comes up 5 times.  Now, we shouldn't think of the commands given to the Israelites as ways for them to earn salvation.  Instead we should think of them as grace.  The "so that" passages are motivational in the sense that they are there to motivate the people of God to be obedient.  But the idea is not that they earn the blessing.  Remember, they were already the covenant people of God.  God made a covenant with them in the book of Exodus.  God has already bound himself to covenant faithfulness to his people and I believe that they were his children.  They are already promised blessing, not they are commanded to obey the LORD in order to enjoy that blessing to its fullest and to receive even more blessings.

This is the biblical pattern in both Old Testament and New Testament for the people of God.  If we obey the Lord, we receive rich and abundant blessings and rewards.  If we don't, then we miss out on what God has in store for us to some extent.  But no matter what we are his children and we remain in his family.

vv. 4-5.  This section starts out with the famous 'Shema' in v. 4.  It emphasizes God's oneness, his completeness, and that he is the only God worthy of being God and receiving worship.  This is the God who has made a covenant with you and the next verse (v. 5) calls those who are part of the covenant, those who have been redeemed, to be loyal to God and to the covenant - "Love the LORD your God."  The LORD, or in Hebrew YHWH, alone is worthy of covenant love.

But how are we to love God?  Well, v. 5 tells us to do it with all our "heart."  In Hebrew, the heart was considered to be similar to the mind - in fact, this verse could easily be translated "with all our mind."  We need to be careful to not think of heart with all the connotations that we bring to it in English.  In the Old Testament, the heart is not the center of the emotions, rather it is the center of a person's will, intentions, and intellect.  So, we are to love God with all our mind, our will, with full intention to adore him.

We are also to love God with all our soul.  The soul again, is thought of differently in Hebrew than in English, with all its connotations.  We should take this word to mean, our "life."  But it means more than that.  It also means our emotions and our desires - basically anything that makes us unique as humans.  So, putting the last two terms together, we are to love God with our whole self - our mental intellect, our desires, our  moral choices, our will - basically the deepest roots of our self.

Finally, we are to love God with all our "strength." We should understand this as instructing us to love God with everything we possibly have - everything we have left after our heart and our soul - all our substance, our possessions - everything!

vv. 6-9.  Verse 6 tells us to have the commandments of God upon our hearts, which emphasizes the idea that runs throughout the whole book of Deuteronomy that obedience is not something that you just perform, but it must be inward, it must be obedience of the heart, as we have already seen in part in the previous verses.

Verse 7 tells us that the commandments of God need to be passed on the next generation, just like a runner passes on a baton in the middle of a race.  We need to pass the baton of God's Word on those young and old who have not heard it.  But this verse is speaking of the older passing it on to the younger.  But how is this done, well I believe the deeper meaning of this passage leads us to say that passing on God's commandments is not done by simply enforcing them in our homes as we would enforce a code of law.  But rather, the idea is inward, it is done by making God's instructions the fabric of our life and conversation.  It's like we can't help but talk about God when we are home and when we are with other people.  It exudes from us - it's like it oozes from the inside out in powerfully impressive way.

Finally, vv. 8-9 speak of having the instruction of God always before us.  These verses were taken literally by Judaism and the Pharisees of Jesus' day wore things called "phylacteries," which were small leather boxes that contained the Hebrew Bible in them and were worn on the forehead like a visor.  But we don't have to resort to wearing leather boxes to take these verses literally, which I believe is the proper way to interpret them.  We simply need to keep the Word of God on our minds - this means we need to be getting in the Bible each day and we need to be trying to apply it throughout the day.

These verses in Deut. 6 are about covenant family loyalty.  Remember, that Jeremiah 31 is about the New Covenant, the same covenant that Jesus' ministry is based upon.  We are people with covenant between us and God.  God has been and will be faithful, now we must be faithful to that covenant in obedience - not for salvation, because God has taken care of that, but for us to be the people we were meant to be in relationship with God - for us to reach our potential in relationship with him and getting all of God's blessings.

Disciplines for Godliness

1. What is spiritual discipline and why is it important?

It's training myself to be a godly servant of Jesus. It is not legalism or a work performed solely in my own power, bit it is getting rid of what holds me back (Heb. 12:1) and training myself to be a godly servant of our Lord (1 Tim. 4:7-8).

It is important because I will never become what I was meant to be if I do not put in the discipline to become the person God desires of me.  When He created me, He desired for me to be a godly person.  He wanted to have a vibrant relationship with me, and without this relationship and without me striving to be that person I was meant to be I will never be truly satisfied in life. I will never achieve the level of satisfaction that God intended me for, and I will not be fulfilled.  Because a truly fulfilling life is one that pleases Him for made me for relationship with Him and for good works.

2. What usually gets in the way of spiritual discipline?

Sin, in a nutshell, gets in the way of spiritual discipline.  We all have a natural bent toward sinning and this is what keep us distant from God and from seeking Him.

3. What can a lack of spiritual discipline do to your life?

It would cause and does cause me to not grow in my faith as I should, and it may even cause me to decline in my faith.  Which in turn means that those who look up to me do not grow as they should and could decline.  Also, God is grieved, saddened, and very disappointed because I am lazy and do not care about the life He has made and intended for me.

4. Reflect upon 1 Tim. 4:7-8.  What is the literal meaning of "train" here?

"Train" in this context means to put off anything that would hinder myself.  Then I am to put forth extreme effort to achieve a goal.  To put in some "spiritual sweat" is the basic idea.

5. Practically, step by step, what does this mean I should do?

Anything in my life that distracts or makes me lose my determination for godliness, should be gotten rid of or avoided if at all possible.  I should put the majority of my effort each day into this training and not into some other less fruitful endeavor.

6. What does Heb. 12:1 say about this?  What things are holding me back in my walk with God?  Why am I hanging on to them?

Some of my choices in entertainment are the things which may be holding me back.  The types of movies that I watch, the TV shows, the choice of music, and even books are all things that have held be back at some point from pursuing godliness.  The content has not been glorifying to God and has lead me to other pursuits that, while are not sinful in themselves, they do take up far too much of my time  and keep me from being devoted to God in all areas of my life.  Is the music that you listen to up-lifting?  Or does it convey a message that makes you drift further away from the God who loves you?  Do the books that you read have dominant themes that cater to self-gratification, which tends to focus our thoughts on ourself instead of others or our God? Do the movies that your watch glorify violence or destruction of human beings?  This is surely not something that glorifies God.  Do the TV shows that you watch have sexual themes that are substitutes for God's grand and wonderful design for sex?  These are all things that we need to be aware could be holding us back from being spiritually disciplined and glorifying to God.  Each thing that we choose to entertain ourselves has to be evaluated by what type of effect it will have on us.  Does it interfere with our pursuit of godliness?  Often the main reason why we hold on to these things is because we are selfish.  We want to have entertainment that is exhilarating, entertainment that moves us and touch all the areas that makes us human.  We need to put off our selfish desires.  We can still have entertainment that moves us and touches our facets of humanity, but we still need to be discriminating in which ones we choose.  It comes down to our level of maturity.  By this, I do not mean that we can see, read, or listen to anything we want if we are mature enough.  But rather, if we are mature, we will choose wisely what we see, read, and listen to.

7. Is there a cost to spiritual discipline?  Check out 1 Cor. 9:25-27.  What could greater discipline cost you?  Are you prepared to pay the price?  Why or why not?

The main cost is giving up time and comforts.  This is my greatest cost.  It might be different for someone else.  And each person has to take account of what they need to give up.  But for me, time and comforts are what I see myself giving up.  Still, what I gain far outweighs the cost.  Paul says in this passage in 1 Corinthians that I will gains a crown that will last for eternity.  Greater energy will cost more time, energy, and comfort.  But the pay off in the end is far, far greater than the cost.  I am prepared to pay the price! Are you?!  The reward is a life that is fulfilling in every way because God designed you and made you for this, and you get to enjoy this life for all eternity with Him.  It's hard to describe this life any more than this because the true joy is in experiencing it!

8.  Here is a great quote for you: "No manliness, no maturity!  No discipline, no discipleship!  No sweat, no sainthood!"

9.  How is spiritual discipline different from legalism?

Legalism is self-focused (although those involved in legalism have often blinded themselves to their selfish motives) because the aim of it is to see what I can do to gain merit with God.  Spiritual discipline has a very different focus.  It is motivated by a love for God and a desire to please Him.  Often the key to keeping a distance between these two is to have someone to keep us accountable and evaluate our lives to see our true motives.

10.  Here is a question for you; one that only you can answer.  Is a change needed to pursue godliness?  If so, what can you do?

(these questions come from the first chapter of the book, Disciplines of a Godly Man, by R. Kent Hughes, 2001)

"you complete me"

Well, I realize that I haven't update this blog in quite a while. Married life is so great and so is living in Storm Lake, IA. Who would have thought I would be saying that after spending 2 months in the middle of nowhere. This last weekend, I spent it by myself because I sent Kristine to Chicago to surprise Ilene on her birthday. But during that weekend, I realized something. It has to do with something I was working on for a devotional for church. I was working on Gen. 2:18, which is where God says that he will provide a "helper suitable" for Adam. Eventually, we find out that this suitable helper is Eve. But I looked into what that phrase means. It may be something that people treat as a cliche´in our culture. But the idea behind that phrase is a "counterpart," a "partner", or putting it together - a "counter-partner." It has the idea of completion, of being the other side to the coin, that completes it. I realized what Kristine truly is to me when she was gone for a few days. Sometimes you don't realize what you have until it's gone, and this was the case for me this last weekend. I love her with all I am, and she is the most wonderful thing that has happened to me, this side of heaven. Even though it might be cheesy line from the movie, Jerry Maguire, but it's true. She completes me, and this truth is as old as Genesis.

3 days till I"m married

Well, I'm sitting in Charlotte, NC airport after a lightning storm and a 90 minute delay. I've officially finished off my stint in Chicago. 4 years of school @ Moody Bible Institute and 2 1/2 years of school @ Wheaton Graduate School. And 7 months of job searching to follow that. I called myself a Chicagoan for 7 years, but the most important thing that God showed me through those years in Chicago was that He has a plan for my life and He has trained me well to serve Him. But the most important aspect of that prep for a life of service came in the blessing of a woman. Kristine is the single greatest blessing of my life. She is someone that compliments me so well, and I cannot wait to start life together with her in Iowa. I truly believe that God has put us together to bless others and Lord-willing to show what He can do through two simple people that love Him so much. Kristine is the most lovely person I have ever met, and she displays the hope, the joy, and the rich blessing of a life close to our Savior. I have no doubt that we will be used in a powerful way to further Christ's kingdom. Our marriage will be a time to celebrate what God has done in us, what He is doing right now, and all that we will participate in with His Spirit in His grand mission to make all things new.

a few words on N. T. Wright's Evil and the Justice of God

I recently picked back up the book, Evil and the Justice of God by N. T. Wright.  I had set it aside for a while with life getting busy and all.  But I recently finished the last two chapters and found the best jewels of the book were saved for the end.  I really enjoyed the insights that Wright brought to the surface, and I even enjoyed the challenges.  This is the fourth book I have read by Wright, the others being the three volumes he has written on Christian Origins and the Question of God.  This book did not disappoint, just as expected given his other work.  The book is another look at the problem of evil and God's dealing with it.  As with other books, Wright shows that God's response to evil is Jesus Christ's work on the cross and the resurrection that follows.  These two parts of one event are the means by which evil will eventually be eradicated from the cosmos.  I appreciated, Wright bridging together of two prominent theories of the atonement: 1) the Christus Victor and 2) penal substitutionary atonement.  Both are important emphases in the work of Christ death on the cross, and are clearly seen throughout the Scriptures.  One does not have to create and either/or situation in regard to theories of the atonement; if the Bible supports these theories, then one should look at them as different facets of the wonderful plan of God for humanity and creation.  But back to what Wright says...the major thrust that of that work on the cross is forgiveness.   This human side of this forgiveness, the release from the penalty of sin and evil, was something I had heard again and again in Christian theology from the pulpit and from the classroom.  But Wright's perspective of the release for God in the act of forgiveness was something altogether new.  I have to admit that I was not, and am still not completely comfortable speaking of God in the way that Wright does, but nevertheless, he might be helping us see some truth.  I am not sure.  What he says is this...based upon the death of Jesus, "God will forgive; and with that forgiveness God will not only release the world from its burden of guilt but will also, so to speak, release himself from the burden of always having to be angry with the world gone wrong" (pg. 136).  Elsewhere in the book he likens this to the psychological release of burden that happens when someone pursues forgiveness toward those who have wronged them deeply.  I believe this is completely right and truthful language in the human realm, but I don't necessarily see the proper precedent to speak of God this way.  I guess I'm not sure that we can know that this is what things are like for God.  Maybe for Jesus Christ in His humanity, still I guess we cannot know this until heaven, but it was interesting.

There is another point that Wright makes, which I believe is crucial for the Church to understand.  This is something that is a full outworking of the victory of God on the cross over evil.  We can see it in Revelation 5:9-10, where we read that God, the Lamb, has ransomed people from every nation on earth to be royal priests who will rule and reign on the earth.  This is a somewhat neglected part of our ecclesial theology.  I guess that is probably an outcome of the fact that we shy away from eschatological ideas (we rarely even read Revelation because it is so highly debated and difficult to understand).  I guess I will give away where I am at in terms of my eschatology.  I know that some see this as prophetic for the new millennium.  And it may very well be, but in the New Testament we find an "already/not yet" eschatology.  God's promised future and hope for us is going to be fulfilled in the end times, but some of the realities of that future are already here.  God enabled us to experience and live in light of eternity through the power of the resurrection, which everyone in Christ has through the Holy Spirit.  This is why we have hope now, because we have the Spirit, our down payment on the future blessings of God.  God's down payment is giving His Spirit, Himself, to us so that we can live now in victory over evil.  So, I view Rev. 5:9-10 as both prophetic and a present reality, which we as Christians can pursue with the power of the Spirit.  Therefore, one of the outworkings of the cross and resurrection is that we should serve God by reigning on earth as His image bearers (this I believe, was the true thrust of what Moses wrote in Gen. 1:28 - multiplying image bearers that would rule on earth - not simply a command to procreate).  I will close this post with a long quote from Wright about the neglect of this theme (reigning on earth) in the Church.  He sums this up better than I can.  "This theme, so frequent in the New Testament and so widely ignored in Christian theology, is part of the solution to the problem.  it isn't that the cross has won the victory, so there's nothing more to be done. rather, the cross has won the victory as a result of which there are now redeemed human beings getting ready to act as God's wise agents, his stewards, constantly worshipping their Creator and constantly, as a result, being equipped to reflect his image into his creation, to bring his wise and healing order to the world, putting the world to rights under his just and gentle rule.  A truly biblical ecclesiology should focus not so much on the fact that that the church is the community of the saved but that the church is the community of those who, being redeemed through the cross, are now to be a kingdom of priests to serve God and to reign on the earth.  Our fear of triumphalism on the one hand, and on the other hand our flattening out of our final destiny into talk merely of 'going to heaven,' have combined to rob us of this central biblical theme.  But until we put it back where it belongs we won't see how the New Testament ultimately offers a solution to the problem of evil" (pg. 139).