Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven was like a field of wheat ambushed by a jealous neighbor who scattered weeds so that the resulting mess was too difficult to sort out until harvest time (Matt. 13:24ff). When the harvest came, the authentic crop, the wheat, would be distinguished from the crop of domestic terrorism, the weeds, and the reapers would go to work on both. During this long, long summer of growth that Christians are experiencing before the harvest of Jesus’ Second Coming, the quest for a reaper’s intuition is nearly universal. We want to have certainty-not merely of our being a stalk of wheat and not a sneaky weed, but even of our growth and development as wheat. Not content with being wheat, we want to be sower, feeder, and reaper, too.
On one level, the search for authentic Christianity isn’t a bad quest. But every generation seems to have a few insistent stalks of wheat who take on the voice of the servants in Jesus’ parable, insinuating that if the other stalks of wheat don’t care about the exact same things they do or go about their growth in the exact same ways, they just might be unsuspecting weeds! When we begin to use our own Christian experience as a judge of someone else’s “wheatness,” we have gone far beyond the sort of proper self-judgment the Bible recognizes and encourages and have slipped into the introspection and self-righteousness that the Bible roundly condemns.
“Of course,” someone is saying with a sneer, “exactly what I would have expected from the folks at Modern Reformation. Let’s not even talk about Christian growth for fear of being self-righteous.” We’ll ignore the sneer and instead say that the Reformation also faced head on the problem of authentic Christian living. But their answers (and the resources they’ve passed down through the generations) provide a different way of looking at the problem and the solution.
In this issue, we’re applying some of those answers to our current questions. First up is our editor-in-chief and Reformed theologian Michael Horton who contrasts a grace-filled approach to Christian living with one that is duty bound. Along with his article, we’re happy to feature Todd Billings, professor at Western Theological Seminary, who takes on the current mantra of “incarnational ministry” and shows its limits as a guide for ministry and piety. Kate Treick, a Presbyterian pastor’s wife and a mother and artist, writes from a heart that most of us with kids can resonate with: How can we pursue holiness in the midst of potty-training and preschool? Systematic theologian Michael Allen addresses whether or not we can imitate Jesus by looking at Christ’s Incarnation, messianic work, and canonical context. Finally, regular MR contributor and Lutheran pastor John Bombaro shows us how disciple-making and disciple-living go hand in hand through the waters of baptism and into service to the church and the world.
We hope this issue of Modern Reformation is an encouragement to a truly authentic pursuit of the Christian life: one founded not in our own self-interest, but in the grace of the Sower who cares enough for his people that he will not uproot them in a hurried harvest, but will allow and encourage their growth through the means he has provided.
Eric Landry
Executive Editor
