{"id":3562,"date":"2018-08-08T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T10:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/?p=3562"},"modified":"2018-08-15T19:38:36","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T23:38:36","slug":"dwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/","title":{"rendered":"Dwell"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Introduction to his new book,\u00a0God is Good for You<\/em>, released last week, Greg Sheridan, an Australian op-ed writer and author, observes that \u2018the hostility to religion\u2019 in the West \u2018is unfalsifiable\u2019. He comments that liberal atheism which is committed to ousting Christianity from the market-square, \u2018is driven insane by contradictory impulses it can no longer control or balance. One is an anti-social self-absorption. The development of the metaphysical understanding of human identity has ended in a dry gulch\u2019, he says.<\/p>\n

Christianity, he points out, brought hope even for \u2018the excluded and marginalized of the ancient world \u2013 they all had souls. But the soul\u2026 gave way to the self as the therapeutic age replaced the age of belief. Now, in our post-modern times, the world of social media and the universal quest for celebrity, even\u00a0self has been supplanted by the brand\u2026 From soul to self to brand is a steep decline in what it means to be human\u2019.<\/p>\n

Springing out of the \u2018brand\u2019, Sheridan continues, liberalism, against the universalism of Christianity, is creating \u2018a new series of tribal identities. Nothing is more powerful now in Western politics, or more dangerous, than identity politics. It sells itself as a way to help disadvantaged and marginalized communities. But eventually everyone wants a slice of identity politics and it sets all against all\u2019.<\/p>\n

How do we live in such a world?<\/strong>\u00a0Paul\u2019s significant prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 goes to the heart of what we need.<\/p>\n

In Ephesians\u00a03:14<\/span>\u00a0through 3:17a we read:\u00a0For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,… that\u2026 he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Paul links\u00a0the power of God<\/strong>\u00a0to the\u00a0strengthening\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>work of God\u2019s Spirit in our lives \u2013 not in order to make us externally powerful people, but rather that our inner lives will be open to Christ, the Spirit of Christ, fully taking up residence within us.<\/p>\n

Paul understands that while we may truly turn to Christ in repentance and faith, we tend to fear him being Lord of every aspect of our life. We might be seen as \u2018fanatics\u2019. We shrink from the idea that Christ is interested in changing those things within us which conflict with his expectations. We resist the idea that he may want to re-tune the desires of our heart.<\/p>\n

While we might be\u00a0truly<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Christ\u2019s, we may not be\u00a0fully<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Christ\u2019s. This is not about a second blessing. Rather, it is the recognition that Christ\u2019s presence within us is, as with all relationships, a process.<\/p>\n

So Paul prays that the Spirit will use his supernatural power to open our hearts to the beauty and love that flows from Christ \u2013 so that when we see his overwhelming love for us, we will not fear putting our lives fully in his hands.<\/p>\n

Further, Paul continues:\u00a0So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Dwell<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>here is key. It means, \u2018take up residence\u2019 and \u2018settle down\u2019. There are many things in all of us with which Jesus Christ will not be at all comfortable. As we come to know him better we realize the need for cleaning up and even renovation. And, as anyone who has been involved in renovation knows, it takes longer and costs much more than originally expected.<\/p>\n

Paul knows this and that\u2019s why he prays for God\u2019s power to be working in us through his Spirit. He knows that God\u2019s intention is to make our lives a fit home for his Son.<\/p>\n

Paul often uses the imagery of putting off the old and bringing in the new. Colossians 3 gives us an example of the kinds of practical things Jesus wants to see happen in our lives. So in 3:5, we read:\u00a0Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:…<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Toss out of your life what doesn\u2019t fit this new life with Christ. Is it sex outside of marriage?\u00a0\u00a0Is it pornography?\u00a0\u00a0Is it evil or greed? Is it anger or rage, or malice or slander, or perhaps cursing? Do you always tell the truth? These things belong to the old self.<\/p>\n

Put on the new self which is being renewed after the image of its creator. So,\u00a0Put on then,… compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.<\/em><\/p>\n

The key to living as God\u2019s people in our rapidly changing world, is to have Christ, who has saved us, now living at the very center of our life.<\/p>\n

– – –<\/p>\n

GettyMusic\u00a0‘Sing’<\/b>\u00a0Conference<\/a> –\u00a0September 10-12<\/span>.\u00a0Location:\u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Nashville, TN (Music City Center –\u00a0201 5th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203<\/a>)\u00a0Theme:\u00a0<\/strong>Psalms: Ancient & Modern<\/p>\n

Visit<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0the Anglican Connection Booth.<\/p>\n

Anglican Connection\u00a0<\/strong>‘Focus Group’\u00a0Lunch –\u00a0Tuesday, September 11 from 12:00pm to 1:30pm.<\/span><\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Theme:\u00a0‘Thomas Cranmer & the Psalms, and 9\/11<\/strong><\/b>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

– – –<\/p>\n

\u00a9 John G. Mason \u2013\u00a0www.anglicanconnection.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Introduction to his new book,\u00a0God is Good for You, released last week, Greg Sheridan, an Australian op-ed writer and author, observes that \u2018the hostility to religion\u2019 in the West \u2018is unfalsifiable\u2019. He comments that liberal atheism which is committed to ousting Christianity from the market-square, \u2018is driven insane by contradictory impulses it can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDwell - The Anglican Connection<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dwell - The Anglican Connection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the Introduction to his new book,\u00a0God is Good for You, released last week, Greg Sheridan, an Australian op-ed writer and author, observes that \u2018the hostility to religion\u2019 in the West \u2018is unfalsifiable\u2019. He comments that liberal atheism which is committed to ousting Christianity from the market-square, \u2018is driven insane by contradictory impulses it can […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Anglican Connection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-08T10:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-15T23:38:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Mason\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Mason\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/\",\"name\":\"Dwell - The Anglican Connection\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-08T10:00:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-15T23:38:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e27a055f18ca2b07364608453460219c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dwell\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Anglican Connection\",\"description\":\"Connecting Gospel-Centered Churches in North America\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e27a055f18ca2b07364608453460219c\",\"name\":\"John Mason\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/82bb7a398217ed7491402bf3cfda1857?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/82bb7a398217ed7491402bf3cfda1857?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Mason\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/author\/johnmason\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dwell - The Anglican Connection","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dwell - The Anglican Connection","og_description":"In the Introduction to his new book,\u00a0God is Good for You, released last week, Greg Sheridan, an Australian op-ed writer and author, observes that \u2018the hostility to religion\u2019 in the West \u2018is unfalsifiable\u2019. He comments that liberal atheism which is committed to ousting Christianity from the market-square, \u2018is driven insane by contradictory impulses it can […]","og_url":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/","og_site_name":"The Anglican Connection","article_published_time":"2018-08-08T10:00:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-08-15T23:38:36+00:00","author":"John Mason","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Mason","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/","url":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/","name":"Dwell - The Anglican Connection","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-08-08T10:00:13+00:00","dateModified":"2018-08-15T23:38:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e27a055f18ca2b07364608453460219c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/dwell\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dwell"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/","name":"The Anglican Connection","description":"Connecting Gospel-Centered Churches in North America","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e27a055f18ca2b07364608453460219c","name":"John Mason","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/82bb7a398217ed7491402bf3cfda1857?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/82bb7a398217ed7491402bf3cfda1857?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Mason"},"url":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/author\/johnmason\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3565,"href":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562\/revisions\/3565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}