WHEN THE SAINTS: Bonhoeffer (Week 1)
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DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
The Body of Christ isn’t confined to those of us who are alive on the earth. We are with Christ in this earthy life. The dead are with Christ in the heavenly life. Either way, we are all in the life of Christ.
Hebrews 12:1 NLT: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
Ephesians 2:19-20 ESV: So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
Today: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Family Background
A Desire for Theology
NYC
“The first service one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them” -Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Return to Germany
The Confessing Church
Zingst & Finkenwalde
“It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians... Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate” – Bonhoeffer, Life Together
John 17:20-21 NLT: I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.
Religionless Christianity
“The church is the church only when it exists for others...The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling, what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others.” -Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison
“God does not repay evil for evil, and thus the righteous should not do so either. No judgment, no abuse, but blessing...Blessing means laying one's hand on something and saying, Despite everything, you belong to God. This is what we do with the world that inflicts such suffering on us. We do not abandon it; we do not repudiate, despise or condemn it. Instead we call it back to God, we give it hope, we lay our hand on it and say: may God's blessing come upon you, may God renew you; be blessed, world created by God, you who belong to your Creator and Redeemer. We have received God's blessing in happiness and in suffering. Yet those who have been blessed can do nothing but pass on this blessing; indeed, they must be a blessing wherever they are.” -Bonhoeffer, Letter to Eberhard and Renate Bethge (June 1944)
Costly Grace
“Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.” -Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Life as a Spy
"We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, but we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.” -Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison
“In me there is darkness, But with you there is light; 1am lonely, but you do not leave me; I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help; I am restless, but with you there is peace. In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience; I do not understand your ways, But you know the way for me.” – A Prayer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), written from Tegel Prison
