Life Together: Bonhoeffer

Introduction to Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born on February 4, 1906 into a family of relatively great wealth and stature within Germany. When he was just over 8 years old, the first shots of World War I were fired. Throughout the war, the Bonhoeffer family experienced with the rest of Germany the painful effects. Many they knew were maimed or killed. In 1917, the third year of the war, a messenger delivered a telegram to the Bonhoeffer home indicating that Dietrich’s older brother had died from injuries suffered in battle. In this moment of great pain and loss for the Bonhoeffer family, we get a glimpse into the kind of home Dietrich grew up in. For the funeral of her son lost to the atrocities of war, Dietrich’s mother, Paula, chose this hymn to be sung (Metaxes, p. 27):

What God has done, it is well done.

His will is always just.

Whatever He will do to me,

In Him I’ll ever place my trust.

In the great pain of losing a son, Bonhoeffer found his mother praising and trusting God. The confidence his mother placed in God would become his own confidence. He too would face some very hard days ahead. He would see his wealth and stature evaporate. Even his life would be taken from him by the command of Hitler, yet through it all Bonhoeffer would be found praising and trusting God.

As I said, Bonhoeffer’s death came at the hands of the Nazis. It occured in April of 1945, after a summary court martial convicted Bonhoeffer and others of the well known conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. Some of the efforts in which Bonhoeffer assisted are told in the recent movie Valkyrie.

Bonhoeffer on Death

Bonhoeffer’s amazing belief in the God of the Bible gave him a unique view of death. He claimed that his belief in God and the kingdom of God left him

“homesick, waiting and looking forward joyfully to be released from bodily existence.”

It was not a hatred of this world that had Bonhoeffer looking forward to death, but a confidence that glory awaited him! In one of his sermons he wrote:

Death is hell and night and cold, if it is not transformed by our faith. But that is just what is so marvelous, that we can transform death.

Early in the same sermon he declared:

Death is only dreadful for those who live in dread and fear of it . Death is not wild and terrible, if only we can be still and hold fast to God’s Word. Death is not bitter, if we have not become bitter ourselves. Death is grace, the greatest gift of grace that God gives to people who believe in him. Death is mild, death is sweet and gentle; it beckons to us with heavenly power, if only we realize that it is the gateway to our homeland, the tabernacle of joy, the everlasting kingdom of peace.

This way of speaking about death was not mere words or religious speak of Bonhoeffer. Those who witnessed his execution testify to the confidence he had in God even in the shadow of death.One of the prisoners near Bonhoeffer the day he he died, tells us,

“[Bonhoeffer had hardly finished his last prayer when the door opened and two evil-looking men in civilian clothes came in and said:

“Prisoner Bonhoeffer: Get ready to come with us.” Those words “Come with us” - for all prisoners they had come to mean one thing only - the scaffold.

We bade him good-bye - he drew me aside - “This is the end,” he said, “For me the beginning of life.”

Not only did the fellow prisoners recall his unusual joyful view of death, but even the German doctor at the camp took note of Bonhoeffer’s demeanor. He recalled:

“On the morning of that day between five and six 0’clock the prisoners… were taken from their cells, and the verdicts of the court martial read out to them. Through the half-open door in one room of the huts I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, before taking off his prison garb, kneeling on the floor praying fervently to his GOd. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution he again said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. his death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.” (Metaxes, p. 532)

As confidence in God does in all who possess it, it not only transformed the way Bonhoeffer died, but it transformed the way he lived. He lived without fear. He lived without thought of his life. When death becomes a gateway into all that is good, pleasant and glorious, then doing hard things - things that subject one’s life - are no longer risky endeavors. When fear of death is removed, obedience is not only possible it is prioritized. Bonhoeffer observed,

“Only the believer is obedient, and only he who obeys believes.”

The Sermon on the Mount and Community

For Bonhoeffer, obedience meant living out the Sermon on the mount in the context of Christian fellowship. So strong was this conviction that in 1935, Bonhoeffer decided to return to Germany from a Pastorate in London England to lead a seminary, an illegal seminary. A seminary that would be opposed by the mainstream church and the Nazi regime. This seminary was more than theological training. This was meant to be an experiment. An experiment of Christians dwelling together in unity. In a letter to his brother, Dietrich announced his intention:

“I think I am right in saying that I would only achieve true inner clarity and honesty by really starting to take the Sermon on the Mount seriously… The restoration of the church must surely depend on a new kind of monasticism, which has nothing in common with the old but a life of uncompromising discipleship, following Christ according to the Sermon on the Mount. I believe the time has come to gather people together and do this.” (Metaxes, p. 259).

Zingst and Finkenwalde

The experiment began with 24 men, Bonhoeffer and 23 students. Being an illegal experiment, they found no property other than a temporary place on a bitterly cold island in the Baltic Sea. They remained there for just shy of 2 months; then came a move to the permanent location of Finkenwalde. At Finkenwalde, Bonhoeffer’s experiment developed over two years. For two years he meticulously attempted to lead the community of men to live together under the instruction of the Sermon on the Mount. The experiment brought great joys and great bouts of depression. By the end of it, Bonhoeffer had learned much about discipleship and christian fellowship. Thankfully, he put those lessons into words - two rich works Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship.

Life Together sets before the reader a biblical understanding of Christian community, how it is established and maintained, what role it should have in the life of the believer. The Cost of Discipleship teaches the Sermon on the Mount, and encourages Christians to give themselves to obedience to Christ.

For Bonhoeffer, community and obedience could not be separated. They went together. He was as committed to obedience as he was to fellowship with the saints.

In life together, Bonhoeffer begins with Psalm 133, our text for this morning. Before I begin, I will just give you a very simple structure of the sermon.

Sermon Structure

Life together is good and pleasant.

Life together is God’s gift and favor to His people.

Life together is God’s blessing to the nations.

Psalm 133 ESV

A Song of Ascents. Of David. 1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

Truth #1: Life together is good and pleasant.

Psalm 133:1 ESV

1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

In Psalm 133, we find the psalmist enjoying something. This is not his recalling something good, or thinking about the potential of something good coming in the future. No, we find the psalmist mid pleasure, and he wants us to join in. He wants us to participate. The psalmist is saying, “Behold! Come look! Come partake of this thing that is delightful! The thing the psalmist desires us to behold is “brothers dwelling in unity.”

While we do not know the exact date or occasion of the psalm, we know that it could have come at the resolve of any of the numerous occasions of division in God’s kingdom. One of those occasions occured immediately after Saul, the first king died. One portion of Israel took of one Saul’s family members and made him king. While another part took David and set him up as king.

The conflict intensified until it appeared as if the only way the kingdom would be united again would be through total victory by the stronger side in a civil war. They would have to fight it out. However, through providential elevating of David, all of Israel became one in their acceptance of David as the anointed king (2 Sam. 5).

This psalm celebrates this unity, the absence of division. It contains the word of one who looks out and sees joyful community in the place of war. How good and pleasant it is for brothers to be united rather than divided, loving rather than hostile, and one rather than parts!

Like the nations of Israel, Dietrich Bonhoeffer new bitter divisions in the church. Often times he found himself in the middle of very great differences. The church in Germany between the end of WWI and the end of WWII experienced much contention and division. Some of the lines that were drawn included:

Conservatism | Eric Metaxes in his great biography on Bonhoeffer observed this,

“Bonhoffer advocated a Christianity that seemed too worldly for traditional Lutheran conservatives and too pietistic for theological liberals. He was too much something for everyone, so both sides misunderstood and criticized him.” (Metaxes, p. 247)

Pacifism | Bonhoeffer experienced Christian separation on these two ideas on multiple occasions. The first being the start of WWII. The church in Germany was split over whether or not Christians should go to war. Should they enter battle? The majority welcomed war and longed for vindication for Germany after its embarrassing end to WWI. Others, all the fewer in number, were of a different mind.

This issue of whether or not Christians should engage in physical, violent acts of war arose again but in a much different context. Bonhoeffer and the rest of the German church were faced with the real question, “Should Christians act in defense of the Jews?” Bonhoeffer had to truly wrestle with joining a conspiracy to take out Hitler or not.

Nationalism | Much of the church in Germany saw the success and prospering of the nation as equal to the success and prospering of the church. So much so that when, Bonhoeffer a pacifists would not go to war in WWII he ran the risk of being ostracized not by secular society but by the church. How dare Bonhoeffer a Christian not fight for the cause of Germany? For Bonhoeffer and others like him, Germany’s interest were not always in unison with the interest of the kingdom of God. The posture one took toward Germany became a major threat to Christian fellowship.

Like Bonhoeffer in Germany and David in Israel, we too know many potential threats to Christian fellowship - to joy-filled Life Together. Consider just a few of these:

Mask or no Mask

Republican or Democrat

Alcohol: Abstinence or Moderation

Role of Women in the Church

How we Parent

This list includes some of the big items, but I am sure you can add to this list. When I was younger, some of the big issues were...

KJVism

Women’s and Men’s apparel and appearance

Worship Wars

Other threats to Christian Fellowship might include:

Past Offenses

Past Wounds

Personalities

The number of threats and obstacles to the good and pleasant dwelling together available to Christians are so many that its experience is the exception rather than the norm. The typical experience of the world is division, rivalry, hostility, and war. Unity, peace, love, and togetherness are constant ideals sought after by all. Even those with whom you may disagree and strongly oppose, claim to be fighting for and pursuing community.

Amazingly, despite all the efforts to seek peace, unity, and love, the world remains fragmented and divided along party lines. This is the world we live in. It is a hostile place on many fronts.

To make matters worse, the most intense point of contention is Christ. Those who submit to Christ, those who give themselves to Christ will know conflict. They will know division. They will experience the severing of relationship. In this life, Christians - not just professing Christians - but christians who aim to live according to the teaching of Christ will find that they dwell behind enemy lines. They live in the midst of heir foes.

While Christ is busy building the church up in love, the enemy - whether a physical man or women, a demonic spirit, the powers of darkness, or Satan himself - all are conspiring to divide. War is being waged on the community of faith.

This makes the experience of Christian fellowship all the more pleasant and good. The church is the place where the search for community, unity, love and peace ends.

In the psalmist and in the writings of Bonhoeffer, we get call to behold, to experience, to take pleasure in the church in the fellowship of God’s people those things so elusive yet so coveted by the world.

Truth #2: Life Together is God’s gift to His people

The world is busy seeking the community promised in the Scriptures. As I said everyone seems tirelessly working toward the same end - peace, justice, love, and unity. What we find in the Scriptures - especially in this text is that the good and pleasant experience of community comes from God. It is the gift of God’s grace and favor. We can see this in several expressions in our text.

Textual Proof of God’s gifting the community:

The Oil on the head

Psalm 133:2 ESV

2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!

The oil was for anointing. It is God setting apart someone or something. It was a physical sign of God’s favor and grace. By likening the good and pleasant fellowship of God’s people to the anointing oil on Aaron’s head (Aaron was the first high priest) the psalmist is say that this good and pleasant fellowship is God work and it marks it identifies, it sets apart his people. While everyone one else looks for this kind of community, the church possesses it and they possess it not because they have distinguished themselves from the world but because God has given it to them by grace!

The Dew on the Mountain

Psalm 133:3a ESV

3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

In our culture, we are less aware of the importance of natural occurrences such as the dew. However, in culture dependent on healthy pants near by for food, the regular morning dew was important. In this context, the dew was seen by the Jewish people as a sign of God’s favor. They recognized that it was God who watered the earth, and when they awoke to condensation on their porches they rejoiced in the favor God hd shown them.

The Command of Blessing

Psalm 133:3 ESV

3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

What verse 2 and verse 3a say poetically, verse 3b states explicitly. The good and pleasant fellowship known by the people of God can be explained by the statement, “The LORD has commanded the blessing!”

Why has this fellowship been found in the church while remaining unachieved through the world’s culture and wisdom? It is because there, there in the church, God has commanded the blessing!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer agrees with the psalmist when he states,

“Christian community is not an ideal but a divine reality.”

The community - the peace, love, joy, and unity - we long for with the world does not need to be created. It already exist. It exists in God. It exists in the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It has, is and forever will be known in the Holy Trinity. That is why this community is divine. It is from God and experienced by God.

Thankfully, God has graciously extended the joy-filled love known in heaven to men. This is why he created man. It is from this community that man fell when Adam and Eve sinned. It is the restoration of this community that he promised in a son to Eve. It is this community He extended to the Israelite as He dwelled in the tabernacle in their midst. And it is this good and pleasant fellowship that He has made available to all in the Jesus Christ.

Bonhoeffer rightfully places Christ at the center of this divine reality:

“ Christian community is not an ideal we have to realize, but rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”

Do you see the difference? Unlike the world, the Christians are not pursuing love, joy, peace, and unity. Instead they are participating in it. The community exist. It is the creation of God. The good news of the gospel is not that we have to achieve these things. The gospel does not come to us as a playbook for how to bring heaven to earth. Instead, the gospel comes as an announcement. God has reconciled us through the blood of Jesus to Himself and to each other. This is an accomplished fact.

As Bonhoeffer so clearly taught:

Christian community means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. There is no Christian community that is more than this, and none that is less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily community of many years, Christian community is solely this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.

What does that mean? It means, first, that a Christian needs others for the sake of Jesus Christ. It means, second, that a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. It means, third, that from eternity we have been chosen in Jesus Christ, accepted in time, and united for eternity.

Do you see? When we flip to the New Testament we get a clearer picture of the good and pleasant community that the psalmist calls us to behold and enjoy. We see that this community exist by God’s divine power and grace. It exist to exalt Christ. It is made available through the death of Christ, and it becomes the experience of those who been adopted by grace in Christ.

The community long for will always be out of reach for those in Adam, but the community for in Christ by God will possess it and they will possess it forever.

Truth #3: Life Together is God’s Promise to the Nations

Psalm 133:2–3 ESV

2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

Again we have to be reminded that this text we have before us is poetry. It is communicating truth to us through imagery. The imagery the psalmist wants us to see is this “running” of the oil and the dew. This good and pleasant community is like Oil on the head running down. It is also like the dew on the great mountain of Hermon running down to the lesser mountains of Zion.

The idea here is that the community, this blessing of God expands outward. God has anointed His people with this blessed community and it runs elsewhere to others.

This calls to mind, God’s promise to Abraham. God promised to bless Abraham with many nations - to make from him a great nation. He promised to prosper him and establish him. In addition, God promised that through blessing Abraham, God would bless the nations. Do you see the expanding nature of God’s grace and favor? God established this good and pleasant community and through it he extends the blessing to the nations.

This is what the psalmist is testifying to. He sees the present goodness of the community and by faith in the promise of God clings to this confidence, that the good and pleasant community known by those in front of him would not be contained but that it would spill over. It would run like oil and dew to refresh those who do not yet experience it.

Once again, when we look at Christ we see this promise believed by the psalmist with even greater clarity. In the New Testament we learn that the Son through which this blessing would extend to the world is Jesus. The community spoken of in the Psalm 133 turned out to be a road sign, a picture, pointing us forward to the true and lasting community that would be founded in Christ.

The community sung about in psalm 133 turned out to be a reproach to the nations rather than a blessing. This community united in the first David came to an end. God eventually scattered them. He scattered to the ends of the earth. But in Christ, God has created a new community - the true Israel - the people not in Adam, not in Abraham, not In David, or in any other man, but in Christ. And this community will eventually extend to all the ends of the earth. God has established this in Christ and it is even now running to the four corners bringing people into its good and pleasing fellowship.

Bonhoeffer sums this up so profoundly:

According to God’s will, the Christian church is a scattered people, scattered like seed “to all the kingdoms of the earth” (Deut. 28:25). That is the curse and its promise. God’s people must live in distant lands among the unbelievers, but they will be the seed of the kingdom of God in all the world.

“I will … gather them in. For I have redeemed them, … and they shall … return” (Zech. 10:8–9). When will that happen? It has happened in Jesus Christ, who died “to gather into one the dispersed children of God” (John 11:52), and ultimately it will take place visibly at the end of time when the angels of God will gather God’s elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matt. 24:31).

Between now and the end of time, we - God’s people live scattered. By his grace we experience some taste of that good and pleasant community, and by his design this fellowship spreads through us to the world. This is the will and work of God. He will be successful

Instructions

These convictions concerning the good and pleasant fellowship know by God’s people greatly affected the behavoir of Bonhoeffer and they will affect us similarly if we too cling to them as true.

Instruction #1: Be grateful

Have you tasted the goodness and pleasantness of Christian community in any measure? If so, we must thank God, for it is from God.

Thankfully, I can bear witness to the fact that God has indeed blessed us. I look around and I see the good and pleasant experience of brothers and sisters doing Life Together in and through Christ.

I saw it in November when the Missional Communities gathered to parade through a church parking lot so that a young boy with Leukemia and his parents might see and know the love and care of Jesus! I see it weekly as dozens of you gather in CG to pray and discuss the scriptures. I see it in the women and men in through 20s, 30s, and 40s sit at table to laugh and enjoy the fellowship of men and women in through 60s and 70s.

I see it each Sunday morning as we lift one voice united in worship and praise of our God. I experienced a couple weeks at Fatz Cafe as i enjoyed calabash shrimp, poppy seed rolls, and casual conversation with my family and the Barret family!

God has blessed us TCBR. This is not the experience of many Christians. May we hear and obey the words of Bonhoeffer:

“let those who until now have had the privilege of living a Christian life together with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of their hearts. Let them thank God on their knees and realize: it is grace, nothing but grace, that we are still permitted to live in the community of Christians today.”

Instruction #2: Be joyfully expectant.

Since this good and pleasant community has been achieved in Christ and will be brought to full completion by Christ, whatever our experience of Christian community is today, it is going to improve.

Are you isolated at the present? Do you find yourself disconnected? Surrounded by the enemy? Do you know loneliness? If you are Christ’s, if you by faith are in Christ, this is temporary.

Like Christ we may find ourselves friendless in the darkest hours of our time here on earth. Like Paul we might find ourselves alone writing letters from prison longing to be in the presence of a fellow believer. Like Elijah we may sense we are alone even when there are fellow believers around. The glorious truth about this community is that its fulfillment its fullness still lies ahead of us.