Highlights of jesus manifesto (the book) - pt. 4

I posted my after-reading summary of Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola's book 'Jesus Manifesto' in a post HERE. Part 1 of my highlights are HERE; post 2 is HERE; post 3 is HERE; and this is the 4th and final one (though the last 2 quotes here could probably stand on there own):

• p. 124 - "No man knows how bad he is, 'til he has tried very hard to be good." (C.S. Lewis)
• p. 128 - "Resting in Christ doesn't mean being passive. It means allowing the Lord to do the heavy lifting. Laziness is no more the way to follow Jesus than is busyness."
• p. 129 - ******"The meaning of the tree of knowledge of good and evil can be understood by the serpent's promise: 'By eating from this tree, you will be making your own decision. You will be like God, determining for yourself what is right and what is wrong.'/ The fall of humanity was all about women and men assuming the posture that they don't need anyone to tell them what to do. They would decide for themselves what's good and what's bad. They would be self-sufficient and self-determining."*****
• p. 130-131 - More on choosing between the two trees (great chapter).
• p. 133 - "The Bible teaches the highest possible moral values. But the Bible is fundamentally not about morality. Following the Lord Jesus Christ involved living out the highest moral values. But following Jesus is fundamentally not about morality. Conversion to Christ involves a moral transformation of life. But conversion is not fundamentally about morality either. The most moral unsaved person on the planet needs Christ just as much as the most immoral one. It is Christ, not religion, that saves us."
• p. 136 - "When you enter into a dark place, it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
• p. 138 - ***"The written Word is a map that leads us to the living Word. Or as Jesus Himself put it, 'The Scriptures... testify about Me.' Every part of the sacred text breathes the same oxygen - Christ. So the Bible is not the destination; it's a compass that points to Jesus - heaven's Lodestar."***
• p. 138 - "The Christian faith claims to be rational, but also to reach out to touch ultimate mysteries. So the fullness of Christ can never be accessed through the frontal lobe alone. That's why Jesus did not leave His disciples with CliffsNotes for a systematic theology. He left them with breath and body. He didn't leave them with a coherent and clear belief system by which to love God and others. He gave them wounds to touch and hands to heal. He didn't leave them with an intellectual belief or a 'Christian worldview.' He left them with a relational faith and an indwelling presence."
• p. 139 - "The Bible is not reader-indifferent or history-independent. Each age draws new insights from the Scriptures based on what that age brings to it. This means that revelation is always veiled in mystery. We bring to it our culture, our history, our gaze, and our glasses. The fundamentalist idea that the text has only one meaning is of relatively recent invention (it was spawned from Enlightenment rationalism)."
• p. 139 - ***"...we must begin living by the forgotten tree rather than the forbidden one."
• p. 143 - "...the church is the reassembling of Christ so that He might be made visible on the earth."
• p. 143 - "...we know Jesus Christ through one another, not just by ourselves."
• p. 144 - "The calling of every person involved in church planting, then, is to build the ekklesia upon a ground-breaking revelation of the Son of God - a revelation that burns in the fiber of their being and leaves God's people overwhelmed, bowled over, reeling, and awash with the glories of Christ."
• p. 144 - "The occupation of every local assembly can be summed up in two words: discovering and displaying - that is, discovering and displaying Christ."***
• p. 147 - "Receiving Christ also means receiving all who belong to Him." ***
• p. 148 - "Every first-century rabbi had male disciples only. Jesus was the exception. He was the only teacher in antiquity to include women in His circle of followers."
• p. 151 - "Every crisis you face is a God-given opportunity to rediscover Christ in a bold new way. For that reason, every painful encounter we meet bears the fingerprints of God."
• p. 151 - "So be prepared to meet a God who seems to have the disturbing habit of leaving the scene when you most need Him."
• p. 151 - "But remember this - especially when you're tempted to go into light panic mode. He IS the resurrection and He IS life. And if you endure, outwaiting your impatience for His timing, Christ will roll the stone away and raise you from the dead."
• p. 154 - "Herein lies a great truth: When the vessel is broken, the fragrance of Christ pours forth."
• p. 169-170 - "Jesus didn't die just to take you out of hell and into heaven. He died to take Himself out of heaven and deposit Himself in you."
• p. 171 - *****"To say that He is our Savior and Lord is correct, of course, but it's inadequate. he is so much more. Christ is... your Shepherd, your Advocate, your Mediator, your Bridegroom, your Conqueror, your Lion, your Lamb, your sacrifice, your manna, your smitten Rock, your living water, your food, your drink, your good and abundant land, your dwelling place, your Sabbath, your new moon, your Jubilee, your new wine, your feast, your aroma, your anchor, your wisdom, your peace, your comfort, your Healer, your joy, your glory, your power, your strength, your wealth, your victory, your redemption, your Prophet, your Priest, your kinsman redeemer, your teacher, your guide, your liberator, your deliverer, your Prince, your Captain, your vision, your sight, your beloved, your way, your truth, your life, your author, your finisher, your beginning, your end, your age, your eternity -- your all and all./ He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; yet He is new every morning. But beyond all of this, He is your King, your judge, and the True Witness."*****
• p. 172 - *****"Though we have never discussed any of these issues, the two of us might disagree about many things - ecclesiology, eschatology, soteriology, economics, globalism, or politics. But in this book, we have sounded forth a united trumpet. We have sought to present the vision that has captured our hearts and that we wish to impart to the body of Christ - we have said in unison, One thing [we] know... and that 'one thing' is Jesus the Christ. He is the root and essence of Christianity. For that reason... Christians don't follow Christianity; we follow Christ. Christians don't preach themselves; we proclaim Christ. Christians don't preach about Christ; we simply preach Christ. Christians don't shout from the rooftops, 'Come to church'; we shout from the mountains, 'Jesus Christ is born - come to Christ!' Christians don't point people to core values; we point them to the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, ascended, enthroned, exalted, triumphant, glorified, reigning Lord - Jesus of Nazareth, the King, the Messiah - the Christ beyond the tomb."*****