Recently I awoke from a dream where I asked the Lord why we had to be like children to enter the kingdom. My thought then went to the desire many of us have to be sure of something before we believe. You know, we want all the facts before we can make a sound judgment. The Lord then indicated to me that the reason we cannot have all the facts before we believe is not that he wants to deny us the facts, it is simply that we would not understand them if he gave them to us. Our conclusions would not be right. Additionally, because of our past experience we would bend the truth into something we could control. Jesus is the Truth and Lord.
So childlike faith is the essential element we provide in coming into the kingdom. This is the kind of faith that trusts someone as a default position. Children have to be taught to distrust strangers. It is a faith that believes what is told to them simply because they trust the one speaking. A simple, complete, faith.
I am looking into my own heart and wondering if my faith can be like this. I know it must. But to do so I must throw away every crutch, every desire, every hope that connects me to this world/age/system. I need to be totally the Lord's. The only thing that hinders my faith is my desire to be something in this world. To have my own stuff, my own life. My life is now the Lord's and not my own. I have given it freely and He took it. He has given me His in return. My life in this world for His. But I must live his.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Still In Russia
I am so blessed to have an access to the internet. So, how are things going Steve? Let me answer that.
In a word, great. I am teaching from 9-12 every morning. My class is on the Holy Spirit and His gifts. When I asked the class if anyone had read the prophet Ezekiel before in order to illustrate John 7 and the river of the Holy spirit, only one person raised their hand. About 20-25 in the classroom at the time. I got to introduce them to Ezekiel! Is that cool or what? We read the whole first chapter together out loud and did the heads ever wag. What is THIS all about? We followed the glory of God throughout the book and saw the God of Israel as He left the temple and landed somewhere else - where the Lord is now. The Lord is there. Where? HERE!!
So the class got a chance to see their inheritance as a believer in Jesus - the Holy Spirit of God. God Himself. It is so much fun to show people at the very ends of the earth how God has included them not only in His plan, but also in His family!
Many of them have left all to follow Jesus. No family history, no brothers and sisters. But now they who were a long way away have been brought so near that they are His family. Abraham is our father as a people. We have a shared history. We are a people!
In a word, great. I am teaching from 9-12 every morning. My class is on the Holy Spirit and His gifts. When I asked the class if anyone had read the prophet Ezekiel before in order to illustrate John 7 and the river of the Holy spirit, only one person raised their hand. About 20-25 in the classroom at the time. I got to introduce them to Ezekiel! Is that cool or what? We read the whole first chapter together out loud and did the heads ever wag. What is THIS all about? We followed the glory of God throughout the book and saw the God of Israel as He left the temple and landed somewhere else - where the Lord is now. The Lord is there. Where? HERE!!
So the class got a chance to see their inheritance as a believer in Jesus - the Holy Spirit of God. God Himself. It is so much fun to show people at the very ends of the earth how God has included them not only in His plan, but also in His family!
Many of them have left all to follow Jesus. No family history, no brothers and sisters. But now they who were a long way away have been brought so near that they are His family. Abraham is our father as a people. We have a shared history. We are a people!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
In Russia
For the month of October I will be in Kamchatka, the far east Russia - away from easy access to the internet. I simply ask that if you read this that you will pray for me. I am asking the Lord that I remain anointed and full of the Holy Spirit, in gifts and fruits and boldness, so I can minister. I have tried to minister without the anointing and it is a miserable time for all...
Please also pray for my wife Malana. She will have all the responsibilities while I am gone. May the awareness of the Lord's presence be her portion.
Thanks!
Please also pray for my wife Malana. She will have all the responsibilities while I am gone. May the awareness of the Lord's presence be her portion.
Thanks!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Wrestling in Prayer part 2
I have been thinking about the concept of wrestling in prayer. Previously in doing so I did not look at our ancestor Jacob when he wrestled with that man whom Jacob afterward called God. Jacob was in what looked like to him the most dangerous time of his life. His brother Esau was coming to greet him with 400 men. Not exactly a group you’d take on a picnic! Jacob was fearful because he had cheated his brother of the rights of the firstborn and his blessing. He had reason to be afraid of Esau.
Having sent his family and all his possessions on ahead, Jacob wrestled all night with some man. Why we are not told except that Jacob wanted this man to bless him. He had his father’s blessing, but this blessing was more important. So much so that Jacob would not let the man go, even after the man dislocated Jacob’s leg at the hip. Talk about not taking no for an answer!
This reminds me of the woman who wanted Jesus to deliver her child from a demonic possession, but she was a Gentile and had no right to Jesus’ blessing. She even endured Jesus’ sharp refusal with an apt rely. “Even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the table” she said. Jesus was amazed at her faith – her refusal to take no for an answer. She had great faith.
Jacob was like this – fully determined to be blessed by God. How he knew this man was God, it does not say. Can you say Theophany?
When we wrestle in prayer are we wrestling with God? Is God reluctant to bless, to answer our prayers? I still don’t think so. Why did the man wrestle with Jacob all night when he apparently could have defeated him at any time? What did Jacob have to do to be blessed?
Jacob had to confess his name before God. “What is your name” the man asked. The last time Jacob was asked this question he lied. He said that his name was Esau. The blessing that Jacob received then was all built on deception. Now he could use no deception – he had to confess the truth about himself in order to be blessed. And the Lord blessed him by changing his name to Israel. Jacob was now a prince with God – one who struggled with God and has come through to victory.
God is not reluctant to answer our prayers. But we have to understand a little bit about prayer. Why pray? Why pray to God who loves us and knows what we need before we ask? Prayer is not a conduit for us to inform God of things he does not know. It is not a way to get God to do stuff he really does not want to do. Prayer must be a way in which we are transformed by entering into a union with God regarding things that God already wants to do.
The first step in this transformation is a willingness to admit before God who we really are. “God be merciful to me a sinner” is what gives us standing with God. The man didn’t need to know Jacob’s name. He knew who he was wrestling with. To ask Jacob his name must have been for Jacob’s sake. “I am a supplanter, a grasper of heels,” admits Jacob.
Jacob didn’t want this blessing to be based on anything other than the truth. I tend to think that this wrestling with God had more to do with bringing Jacob to a place of honesty and dependence more than anything else. This seems to be why the match lasted all night.
Sometimes our prayers feel like they are falling on deaf ears. Don’t stop praying but take the time to examine your own heart. Who are you really? Can you be called a dog by Jesus and still have faith to receive? We can bank on the righteousness of God. He will bless us with answered prayer. We on our part need to believe that indeed our God is lord of all and nothing can separate us from His love. We cannot dress ourselves up in a way to fool our God. He knows exactly who we are yet still loves us. While we were yet sinners Christ dies for us, demonstrating for all time his undying love. Surely he will answer our prayer. But will we have faith to see it?
Having sent his family and all his possessions on ahead, Jacob wrestled all night with some man. Why we are not told except that Jacob wanted this man to bless him. He had his father’s blessing, but this blessing was more important. So much so that Jacob would not let the man go, even after the man dislocated Jacob’s leg at the hip. Talk about not taking no for an answer!
This reminds me of the woman who wanted Jesus to deliver her child from a demonic possession, but she was a Gentile and had no right to Jesus’ blessing. She even endured Jesus’ sharp refusal with an apt rely. “Even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the table” she said. Jesus was amazed at her faith – her refusal to take no for an answer. She had great faith.
Jacob was like this – fully determined to be blessed by God. How he knew this man was God, it does not say. Can you say Theophany?
When we wrestle in prayer are we wrestling with God? Is God reluctant to bless, to answer our prayers? I still don’t think so. Why did the man wrestle with Jacob all night when he apparently could have defeated him at any time? What did Jacob have to do to be blessed?
Jacob had to confess his name before God. “What is your name” the man asked. The last time Jacob was asked this question he lied. He said that his name was Esau. The blessing that Jacob received then was all built on deception. Now he could use no deception – he had to confess the truth about himself in order to be blessed. And the Lord blessed him by changing his name to Israel. Jacob was now a prince with God – one who struggled with God and has come through to victory.
God is not reluctant to answer our prayers. But we have to understand a little bit about prayer. Why pray? Why pray to God who loves us and knows what we need before we ask? Prayer is not a conduit for us to inform God of things he does not know. It is not a way to get God to do stuff he really does not want to do. Prayer must be a way in which we are transformed by entering into a union with God regarding things that God already wants to do.
The first step in this transformation is a willingness to admit before God who we really are. “God be merciful to me a sinner” is what gives us standing with God. The man didn’t need to know Jacob’s name. He knew who he was wrestling with. To ask Jacob his name must have been for Jacob’s sake. “I am a supplanter, a grasper of heels,” admits Jacob.
Jacob didn’t want this blessing to be based on anything other than the truth. I tend to think that this wrestling with God had more to do with bringing Jacob to a place of honesty and dependence more than anything else. This seems to be why the match lasted all night.
Sometimes our prayers feel like they are falling on deaf ears. Don’t stop praying but take the time to examine your own heart. Who are you really? Can you be called a dog by Jesus and still have faith to receive? We can bank on the righteousness of God. He will bless us with answered prayer. We on our part need to believe that indeed our God is lord of all and nothing can separate us from His love. We cannot dress ourselves up in a way to fool our God. He knows exactly who we are yet still loves us. While we were yet sinners Christ dies for us, demonstrating for all time his undying love. Surely he will answer our prayer. But will we have faith to see it?
Friday, September 17, 2010
Wrestling in Prayer
I have been thinking about prayer. Every time I read verses like Matt 21:22 “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer”, I am floored by the import. Can Jesus really have meant this? What is the catch? It is simply the only if in that passage – if you believe. There can be no other catch.
What is it to believe? When I met Jesus I believed. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. “ (Jn 1:12-13 NIV) I had no doubt, I was born of God. When I asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit – baptized in the Holy Ghost – I received. No doubt about it.
And there have been many answered prayers, yet I still wrestle with doubt. Or is it faith that I wrestle with? It is a matter of some importance. If I’m wrestling with doubt, I have faith. If I’m wrestling with faith, I am in doubt. Regardless, it seems the path to follow is the same. Believe the truth.
Wrestling in prayer is not just a 21st century angst thing, it has an ancient pedigree. Paul wrote in Col 4:12 NIV about “Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured”.
Now what kind of wrestling was Epaphras doing? Was it with faith or was it with doubt? Or was it with wicked Spirits whose dominion he was invading? Or was it with himself so he would keep on praying until he was assured by the Holy Spirit that his prayer was answered? All of these have been put forward as an answer to this question. Let’s look at them a little bit closer.
What was Epaphras’s prayer? That the Colossians would stand firm in all the will of God. That they would be mature and fully assured. (Assured of what? I might add). Do you think that maybe Epaphras didn’t believe that the Colossians would stand firm and he had to convince himself that they would so he could pray in faith? Or maybe he was tempted to doubt that they would stand firm so he wrestled with doubt. Or is it more likely that demon spirits were preventing the Colossians from standing firm in all the will of God and he was wrestling with them? What precedents do we have?
Many will take us to Daniel for the concept of wrestling with the spirits. Unfortunately for this point of view, Daniel didn’t wrestle. What Daniel saw was “a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.” Dan 10:5-6 NIV This man then said, “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Dan 10:12-13 NIV So we see that it was this mysterious man with the voice like a multitude who was dealing with the “prince/king(s) of Persia”. Regardless of who you might think the prince/king(s) of Persia might be, Daniel was humbling himself in fasting and prayer.
But why did Daniel continue this for three weeks? Why three weeks? Was it just until he got an answer? Or was it until he was done “mourning”? Scripture doesn’t say.
One time Paul sought the Lord for an answer to his problem of the “thorn in the flesh” that was making him weak. He prayed three time! Yes, a whole three times! Then he was answered. “My strength is made perfect in weakness” was the answer.
Daniel set his mind, he was determined, to get an answer from the Lord. He humbled himself three weeks, then it seems was done. The man told Daniel that the answer came when he first prayed! How often do we pray just a casual “if it be your will” and then go get something to eat? How often are we, am I, determined to get an answer? When do we pray with such determination?
This brings to mind a verses of scripture that read “if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deut 4:29 and “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord”. Jer 29:13-14 NIV This seeking is to be done with all your heart.
If we truly believed that we could find the answers to all our questions and solutions to all our problems buried in the backyard, who among us would not be now digging? And if you did not find the treasure immediately, would you stop digging? Not if you still believed. Paul wrote that his “purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col 2:2-3 NIV We know where it all is! It is in Jesus! Can you dig it?
So if we need an answer to our prayer, do we believe? What will we do if we believe? Keep on praying until we receive! This often takes wrestling, probably with our flesh so we can continue until we are answered. The old saints used to call this prevailing prayer, or praying through. I need to pray through until I’m answered. Do you?
What is it to believe? When I met Jesus I believed. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. “ (Jn 1:12-13 NIV) I had no doubt, I was born of God. When I asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit – baptized in the Holy Ghost – I received. No doubt about it.
And there have been many answered prayers, yet I still wrestle with doubt. Or is it faith that I wrestle with? It is a matter of some importance. If I’m wrestling with doubt, I have faith. If I’m wrestling with faith, I am in doubt. Regardless, it seems the path to follow is the same. Believe the truth.
Wrestling in prayer is not just a 21st century angst thing, it has an ancient pedigree. Paul wrote in Col 4:12 NIV about “Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured”.
Now what kind of wrestling was Epaphras doing? Was it with faith or was it with doubt? Or was it with wicked Spirits whose dominion he was invading? Or was it with himself so he would keep on praying until he was assured by the Holy Spirit that his prayer was answered? All of these have been put forward as an answer to this question. Let’s look at them a little bit closer.
What was Epaphras’s prayer? That the Colossians would stand firm in all the will of God. That they would be mature and fully assured. (Assured of what? I might add). Do you think that maybe Epaphras didn’t believe that the Colossians would stand firm and he had to convince himself that they would so he could pray in faith? Or maybe he was tempted to doubt that they would stand firm so he wrestled with doubt. Or is it more likely that demon spirits were preventing the Colossians from standing firm in all the will of God and he was wrestling with them? What precedents do we have?
Many will take us to Daniel for the concept of wrestling with the spirits. Unfortunately for this point of view, Daniel didn’t wrestle. What Daniel saw was “a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.” Dan 10:5-6 NIV This man then said, “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Dan 10:12-13 NIV So we see that it was this mysterious man with the voice like a multitude who was dealing with the “prince/king(s) of Persia”. Regardless of who you might think the prince/king(s) of Persia might be, Daniel was humbling himself in fasting and prayer.
But why did Daniel continue this for three weeks? Why three weeks? Was it just until he got an answer? Or was it until he was done “mourning”? Scripture doesn’t say.
One time Paul sought the Lord for an answer to his problem of the “thorn in the flesh” that was making him weak. He prayed three time! Yes, a whole three times! Then he was answered. “My strength is made perfect in weakness” was the answer.
Daniel set his mind, he was determined, to get an answer from the Lord. He humbled himself three weeks, then it seems was done. The man told Daniel that the answer came when he first prayed! How often do we pray just a casual “if it be your will” and then go get something to eat? How often are we, am I, determined to get an answer? When do we pray with such determination?
This brings to mind a verses of scripture that read “if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deut 4:29 and “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord”. Jer 29:13-14 NIV This seeking is to be done with all your heart.
If we truly believed that we could find the answers to all our questions and solutions to all our problems buried in the backyard, who among us would not be now digging? And if you did not find the treasure immediately, would you stop digging? Not if you still believed. Paul wrote that his “purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col 2:2-3 NIV We know where it all is! It is in Jesus! Can you dig it?
So if we need an answer to our prayer, do we believe? What will we do if we believe? Keep on praying until we receive! This often takes wrestling, probably with our flesh so we can continue until we are answered. The old saints used to call this prevailing prayer, or praying through. I need to pray through until I’m answered. Do you?
Monday, September 13, 2010
Turning Controversy into Church Ministry: a Christlike response to homosexuality By W.P. Campbell Published by Zondervan 2010
W.P. Campbell likes balance. He has turned a very difficult topic into a balancing act between two extremes. Our topic is homosexuality. The balance is grace and truth. The extremes are the affirmation of gays and lesbians as they are on one hand while on the other hand is the bashing of gays and lesbians without offering any compassion, love, or hope. It is Campbell’s heart that homosexuality be considered a temptation and sin like any other with Jesus as our savior. He offers hope and understanding to those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions. He offers guidance to Christians and churches who want to minister to those who so struggle.
Turning Controversy into Church Ministry is a book that attempts to simplify the current issues surrounding homosexuality . It is written from the stance of a moderately conservative Christian viewpoint that wants to, in the midst of swirling controversy, be an eye in the middle of the storm. He wants to “equip Christians and their churches to provide a Christlike response to homosexuality and to people who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions”. (p.7)He does this by demonstrating, quite clearly to my way of thinking, that the “liberal” and “conservative” stances on homosexuality are actually extremes that need each other in order to find balance. Campbell writes that his book “is not a call for compromise but a call to deeper Christian commitment”. (p.7) Campbell wants us to see that Christ’s way does not affirm sinful behavior. Yet Christ’s way not only loves the sinner, but has provided all that is needed for anyone to live a godly life.
Campbell interacts carefully with those who believe that God made some who are born to be homosexual and also feels that fulfilling those desires is normal and right. By going through each place in scripture that refers to homosexual behavior Campbell shows that this view cannot be maintained and still hold to scripture as “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”. (2 Tim 3:16-17NIV) He realizes that his way of thinking will not convince those who do not hold to such a view of scripture or those who are not interested in overcoming their same-sex attractions.
But to those who do hold a similar view of scripture his argument is very good. Additionally Campbell discusses the genetics question, the stance of modern psychology, and the poor responses of the church regarding homosexuality. In each of these areas Campbell shows how the truth has been distorted. He even discusses some of the roots of these distortions.
He also interacts with those who see homosexuals as an abomination in a similar fashion. The church’s negative response to homosexuals has hurt the spread of the gospel, not only among the homosexuals, but also the general public. Campbell then carefully brings correction to those who judge the homosexual along with the sin of homosexuality. He urges us to separate the sin from the sinner and find positive ways to relate to the homosexual. One example was taking part in a march against AIDS. By this they showed to the homosexual community that they are sensitive to their plight. This example of compassion is, as Campbell believes, also an example of Jesus’ heart.
This is the crux of the book. Christians must show Jesus’ love to all. This promotes the gospel to all, homosexual and non-homosexual alike. Campbell then identifies six ministry spheres, rooted in the love of God, through which the church can minister to the homosexual. These spheres are prayer, leadership, healing, mentors, small groups, and outreach. With these a church can provide a real door of hope to those who struggle with same-sex temptations.
We cannot leave this issue in the closet, so to speak. Christians have to examine their own hearts and see if their actions and reactions are truly built upon Christ and His love. Too long we have accepted behavior that upon inspection does not stand up to the light of scripture. Turning Controversy Into Church Ministry by W.P. Campbell is a good guide that helps us with this kind of heart scrutiny.
Turning Controversy into Church Ministry is a book that attempts to simplify the current issues surrounding homosexuality . It is written from the stance of a moderately conservative Christian viewpoint that wants to, in the midst of swirling controversy, be an eye in the middle of the storm. He wants to “equip Christians and their churches to provide a Christlike response to homosexuality and to people who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions”. (p.7)He does this by demonstrating, quite clearly to my way of thinking, that the “liberal” and “conservative” stances on homosexuality are actually extremes that need each other in order to find balance. Campbell writes that his book “is not a call for compromise but a call to deeper Christian commitment”. (p.7) Campbell wants us to see that Christ’s way does not affirm sinful behavior. Yet Christ’s way not only loves the sinner, but has provided all that is needed for anyone to live a godly life.
Campbell interacts carefully with those who believe that God made some who are born to be homosexual and also feels that fulfilling those desires is normal and right. By going through each place in scripture that refers to homosexual behavior Campbell shows that this view cannot be maintained and still hold to scripture as “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”. (2 Tim 3:16-17NIV) He realizes that his way of thinking will not convince those who do not hold to such a view of scripture or those who are not interested in overcoming their same-sex attractions.
But to those who do hold a similar view of scripture his argument is very good. Additionally Campbell discusses the genetics question, the stance of modern psychology, and the poor responses of the church regarding homosexuality. In each of these areas Campbell shows how the truth has been distorted. He even discusses some of the roots of these distortions.
He also interacts with those who see homosexuals as an abomination in a similar fashion. The church’s negative response to homosexuals has hurt the spread of the gospel, not only among the homosexuals, but also the general public. Campbell then carefully brings correction to those who judge the homosexual along with the sin of homosexuality. He urges us to separate the sin from the sinner and find positive ways to relate to the homosexual. One example was taking part in a march against AIDS. By this they showed to the homosexual community that they are sensitive to their plight. This example of compassion is, as Campbell believes, also an example of Jesus’ heart.
This is the crux of the book. Christians must show Jesus’ love to all. This promotes the gospel to all, homosexual and non-homosexual alike. Campbell then identifies six ministry spheres, rooted in the love of God, through which the church can minister to the homosexual. These spheres are prayer, leadership, healing, mentors, small groups, and outreach. With these a church can provide a real door of hope to those who struggle with same-sex temptations.
We cannot leave this issue in the closet, so to speak. Christians have to examine their own hearts and see if their actions and reactions are truly built upon Christ and His love. Too long we have accepted behavior that upon inspection does not stand up to the light of scripture. Turning Controversy Into Church Ministry by W.P. Campbell is a good guide that helps us with this kind of heart scrutiny.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission book review
I’ve just read The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission by John Dickson, subtitled Promoting the Gospel with More Than Our Lips. It is not often anymore that I read books on evangelism or mission. I am tired of “how to’s” and this book’s title smelled like another how to book. Although I must admit that I’ve never liked sermons giving me 10 ways I can defeat the enemy or 15 ways to act like a Christian, I thought I’d give this book a chance - mostly because it had forewords by one of my favorite authors, Alister McGrath, along with Ravi Zacharias. It also had a nice word written by N.T.Wright on the back of the book jacket along with several others. So, I read it. I’m glad I did!
John Dickson begins with an apology. Not an apologetic, but an apology. Dickson is a self-admitted evangelist. And as such, feels that how evangelism has been taught has oftentimes hurt more than helped. By giving us specific ways to bring someone to the point of a ‘sale’ we have moved away from genuine interchange and into the realm of artifice. Potential ‘buyers’ can smell it and put up their sales resistant shields. Thus fewer and fewer sales are made and a rift is placed between the sellers and ‘targets’. The joy of sharing the gospel is replaced with self-consciousness and frustration and the world is left without a clear witness to Christ from His people. John hopes to help remedy that situation through this book.
John lists four unhelpful perspectives that have come from how we have been taught. These unhelpful perspectives have undermined our witness to Christ. First, because we have been given what words to say when, we have become self-conscious and contrived. Evangelism has become a special type of behavior that is somehow different than our daily life in Christ. We go out to witness as an add-on to how we actually live our lives. Thus our witness becomes contextually divorced from life.
Second, since our witness has been divorced from life, when we get an opportunity to say something about our faith in Jesus, we feel the need, nay the requirement, to say everything that we can say about the gospel. Every verse that has a bearing must be said. The ‘Roman road’ has trod over many a weary traveler, to this I can attest.
Third, we reduce the gospel to two simple points. First, we are unworthy of God’s acceptance, and second, that to be accepted by God we need only believe. The actual story of Christ Jesus as testified to in the four gospels is never mentioned. It is as if we expect people to already know who Jesus really is and all they need is some guilt and or fear to move them along. ‘Witnessing’ becomes a sales pitch instead of a personal testimony of the living Lord of life. No wonder people often feel like they have been sold a bill of goods. The Jesus that John wrote of who he had seen with his own eyes and his own hands have handled is noticeably absent.
The fourth unhelpful perspective is that we have underestimated the mission we all have in promoting the gospel in this world. We have often thought that the only way to get the message of Jesus out is to preach, or at least give verbal witness (lip service?). Now Dickson assures us that the verbal expression of the gospel is vital. He just wants us to realize that the verbal witness to Christ must come in a context that promotes the acceptance of this verbal witness. We all have a role in promoting the gospel by living a life consistent with the truth of this gospel.
This is where the title of the book comes in. Dickson writes “perhaps the best kept secret of Christian mission is that the Bible lists a whole range of activities that promote Christ to the world and draw others to him. These include prayer, godly behavior, financial assistance, the public praise of God (in church) and, as already mentioned, answering people’s questions. All of these are explicitly connected in the Bible with advancing the gospel and winning people to Christ. They are all “mission” activities, and only a couple of them involve the lips at all.” The first seven chapters are devoted to filling out what he means by these ways in which we all can promote the gospel.
He makes a helpful distinction between promoting the gospel and declaring the gospel. While we all can promote the gospel by these ways, not everyone is to declare the gospel through preaching. This service is set aside for those whom God has equipped and called to do such things.
This book was both a relief and a challenge to me. A relief in that I do not have to knock on doors or accost people at the mall in order to contribute to the church’s witness to Christ. The last vestiges of that leftover guilt was washed from my spirit, of which I am thankful. It is a challenge in that I can see several ways that not only I, but also those I lead, could be more involved in promoting the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This book is an excellent and timely encouragement. In an era where the pressure on Christians to acquiesce before the god of this age is intensifying, squeezing them into a crippled posture of hopelessness and ineffectiveness, the thoughts that John Dickson has shared herein can work as an antidote. I pray for the day when Christians will live their lives in such a way as to adorn the gospel with beauty, presenting Jesus as He is, the gracious and awesome Lord of all.
John Dickson begins with an apology. Not an apologetic, but an apology. Dickson is a self-admitted evangelist. And as such, feels that how evangelism has been taught has oftentimes hurt more than helped. By giving us specific ways to bring someone to the point of a ‘sale’ we have moved away from genuine interchange and into the realm of artifice. Potential ‘buyers’ can smell it and put up their sales resistant shields. Thus fewer and fewer sales are made and a rift is placed between the sellers and ‘targets’. The joy of sharing the gospel is replaced with self-consciousness and frustration and the world is left without a clear witness to Christ from His people. John hopes to help remedy that situation through this book.
John lists four unhelpful perspectives that have come from how we have been taught. These unhelpful perspectives have undermined our witness to Christ. First, because we have been given what words to say when, we have become self-conscious and contrived. Evangelism has become a special type of behavior that is somehow different than our daily life in Christ. We go out to witness as an add-on to how we actually live our lives. Thus our witness becomes contextually divorced from life.
Second, since our witness has been divorced from life, when we get an opportunity to say something about our faith in Jesus, we feel the need, nay the requirement, to say everything that we can say about the gospel. Every verse that has a bearing must be said. The ‘Roman road’ has trod over many a weary traveler, to this I can attest.
Third, we reduce the gospel to two simple points. First, we are unworthy of God’s acceptance, and second, that to be accepted by God we need only believe. The actual story of Christ Jesus as testified to in the four gospels is never mentioned. It is as if we expect people to already know who Jesus really is and all they need is some guilt and or fear to move them along. ‘Witnessing’ becomes a sales pitch instead of a personal testimony of the living Lord of life. No wonder people often feel like they have been sold a bill of goods. The Jesus that John wrote of who he had seen with his own eyes and his own hands have handled is noticeably absent.
The fourth unhelpful perspective is that we have underestimated the mission we all have in promoting the gospel in this world. We have often thought that the only way to get the message of Jesus out is to preach, or at least give verbal witness (lip service?). Now Dickson assures us that the verbal expression of the gospel is vital. He just wants us to realize that the verbal witness to Christ must come in a context that promotes the acceptance of this verbal witness. We all have a role in promoting the gospel by living a life consistent with the truth of this gospel.
This is where the title of the book comes in. Dickson writes “perhaps the best kept secret of Christian mission is that the Bible lists a whole range of activities that promote Christ to the world and draw others to him. These include prayer, godly behavior, financial assistance, the public praise of God (in church) and, as already mentioned, answering people’s questions. All of these are explicitly connected in the Bible with advancing the gospel and winning people to Christ. They are all “mission” activities, and only a couple of them involve the lips at all.” The first seven chapters are devoted to filling out what he means by these ways in which we all can promote the gospel.
He makes a helpful distinction between promoting the gospel and declaring the gospel. While we all can promote the gospel by these ways, not everyone is to declare the gospel through preaching. This service is set aside for those whom God has equipped and called to do such things.
This book was both a relief and a challenge to me. A relief in that I do not have to knock on doors or accost people at the mall in order to contribute to the church’s witness to Christ. The last vestiges of that leftover guilt was washed from my spirit, of which I am thankful. It is a challenge in that I can see several ways that not only I, but also those I lead, could be more involved in promoting the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This book is an excellent and timely encouragement. In an era where the pressure on Christians to acquiesce before the god of this age is intensifying, squeezing them into a crippled posture of hopelessness and ineffectiveness, the thoughts that John Dickson has shared herein can work as an antidote. I pray for the day when Christians will live their lives in such a way as to adorn the gospel with beauty, presenting Jesus as He is, the gracious and awesome Lord of all.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Justice For All
Justice stands above the doorway to the court. She wears long, flowing robes while one hand is uplifted holding scales, the other holds a sword. Blinded, she weighs the evidence and enforces the law without corruption, greed, prejudice, or favor. Her name was Themis, a mythical goddess of those Greeks. She represented impartial divine justice. Her daughters were also in the justice business, but they were not blind. Their justice was only for those transient beings, the mere mortals of earth.
Everyone wants justice to be fair, one size fits all. All are to be under the same law. Ah, but whose law? God’s? Can we know God’s law? If we did, what then? Can justice really be objective? Or is it some idea made conveniently enough by those in power?
Most people have a sense of fairness and seem to know when they are being treated unfairly. Even young children have a fairness meter in their brain. Those of us who have raised children have seen that our children’s fairness meter is skewed, skewed in their own favor. The child’s sense of justice comes with open eyes. It is their own justice, that is what they want. And seeing this we conclude that justice is in the eyes of the beholder.
Have you ever heard that parable where six blind persons encounter an elephant? One says that the elephant is like a fan as he holds onto an ear. Another says that no, it is more like a rope as he holds onto the tail. No it is like a tree as she holds onto a leg. No a wall as another feels the side. I am sure it is like a snake says another as she holds onto the trunk. More like a spear concludes another holding a tusk.
This parable is used to show how each of us perceives only part of the truth yet think we see the whole. Applied to justice, we can see that all of us think we are being just, yet others do not see it our way. We are left with Themis’ daughters whose sight influences what is put onto their scales.
But who is telling this parable? Who is it who actually knows that it is an elephant? Who knows objectively the actual state of affairs? The only one who can be objective is God. He is the only one. Therefore, the only justice that is actually blind, that is truly objective, is God’s.
But we cannot have society functioning without justice. Without enforced law to restrain wickedness, those who are cruel will rule. Might will make right. They will administer their “justice” to please themselves alone. What good does a divine justice serve when any and all can claim divine sanction for their evil work? Hasn’t history shown that the evilest deeds required a supposed divine authority? But what is it that gives us all this sight? How can we see that it was indeed evil and not good that was done by those who claimed divine right? Are we blind? Can we really be that impartial?
Wouldn’t it be more prudent to assume that we all are dipping into that underground pool, that hidden reservoir of justice, left there in our psyche by our creator? We all have a sense of what is right and fair when it comes to ourselves. I know when I’ve been wronged. And I can put myself in your place, if only for a moment, and empathize with you enough to get an idea as to when you have been wronged. Where does this sense of justice come from? Evolution? How could this improve our chances of survival enough to make a genetic change? Wouldn’t the most aggressive survive? Wouldn’t the uncaring and the unfeeling be better at taking care of number one? Our awareness of justice is unlikely evolutionary in origin. It is divine.
So it seems that Themis has left her mark on our nature. We all naturally have this sense of justice, unless effaced by rogue genes or twisted beyond recognition by the hardships encountered through lack nurture. We know that there is a right and a wrong, usually defined by a worldview that has us as its center. But justice exists, however we see it.
Yet Themis herself is an artifice of the intellect of man. She is humankind’s attempt at understanding divine justice. But how can we say we understand divine justice? How can we dress her up and say there she is: behold Justice! All idols have the imprint of their maker upon them. Like any good craftwork, a discerning eye will recognize the hand that made it. So it is with justice. Can your eye discern the hand of God?
Whenever mankind brings retribution for wrongs committed, they always leave within a seed, a seed of vengeance that will, in time, grow up with a hunger for retribution again. Wars do not end wars, at best they just put it them off for a generation or two. When man punishes evil, evil is not thereby ended. At best it is merely restrained. This is the flaw of human justice. It does not end the matter. Yin and yang, forever circling each other. Each with the seed of its own opposite within itself. Human justice.
Yet there is a divine justice. Much deeper than any human can fathom or concoct. The Apostle Paul wrote to us telling us to judge nothing before the time. Why? Because we can only see the external – and that makes us so easy to deceive. This is what he wrote: 1 Cor 4:4-5 NIV “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts.”
There is only one blind who yet sees. The One-who-made-it-all, he alone dispenses true justice. He demonstrated this justice in the death of Jesus the Christ, the only begotten son of God. When he was conceived in Mary’s womb he not only took on a body that was recognized as Mary’s son, but he also was enfleshed in humanity. Being sinless he could represent all humanity before God. The cruel death he suffered was what mankind deserved. Justice was served in Jesus’ death. Paul again wrote in Rom 3:23-26 NIV “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
This then forms the basis of divine justice for humanity. All have sinned. All have done things that were not loving. Each of us have, through our own brand of justice, justified ourselves when we have hurt others. But God’s justice, the real divine justice, is demonstrated on the cross of Christ where we all died.
The justice of God declares that, if you agree with God’s assessment of humanity, more than that, if you agree with God’s assessment of you, He will forgive you. In fact, He has already forgiven. You must only believe to receive. Believe that God speaks in Jesus Christ in the same way as the light shines from the sun.
The time will come when all things must be judged, when justice will be served and evil ended forever. The apostle John saw this day in a vision. This is what he wrote recorded in Rev 19:11-16. NIV “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” With justice he judges. Everyone’s heart is before him like an open book. He judges not only actions, but motivations.
The things that people have done to hurt one another, the things people have done to disguise the truth, the things people have done that is unloving, will all be judged with justice. It would be unloving for God to allow wickedness do go on forever. He who alone has the power to stop evil. The evil in each of us has led us to ignore our maker. We have not believed our God. This is the root of all the evil mankind has done. More personal than that, my rejection of my maker is the root of everything I have ever done that was unloving. Our rejection of God is the root of it all.
The apostle Paul wrote in Rom 2:5-11 NIV “because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.”
Loving God and man is doing good. Believing Jesus is the beginning of a new dawn. A day in which righteousness will prevail. Wickedness will be judged at the root. The root of evil is to disbelieve the truth by believing the lie. Where is justice? Look to the cross and believe.
Everyone wants justice to be fair, one size fits all. All are to be under the same law. Ah, but whose law? God’s? Can we know God’s law? If we did, what then? Can justice really be objective? Or is it some idea made conveniently enough by those in power?
Most people have a sense of fairness and seem to know when they are being treated unfairly. Even young children have a fairness meter in their brain. Those of us who have raised children have seen that our children’s fairness meter is skewed, skewed in their own favor. The child’s sense of justice comes with open eyes. It is their own justice, that is what they want. And seeing this we conclude that justice is in the eyes of the beholder.
Have you ever heard that parable where six blind persons encounter an elephant? One says that the elephant is like a fan as he holds onto an ear. Another says that no, it is more like a rope as he holds onto the tail. No it is like a tree as she holds onto a leg. No a wall as another feels the side. I am sure it is like a snake says another as she holds onto the trunk. More like a spear concludes another holding a tusk.
This parable is used to show how each of us perceives only part of the truth yet think we see the whole. Applied to justice, we can see that all of us think we are being just, yet others do not see it our way. We are left with Themis’ daughters whose sight influences what is put onto their scales.
But who is telling this parable? Who is it who actually knows that it is an elephant? Who knows objectively the actual state of affairs? The only one who can be objective is God. He is the only one. Therefore, the only justice that is actually blind, that is truly objective, is God’s.
But we cannot have society functioning without justice. Without enforced law to restrain wickedness, those who are cruel will rule. Might will make right. They will administer their “justice” to please themselves alone. What good does a divine justice serve when any and all can claim divine sanction for their evil work? Hasn’t history shown that the evilest deeds required a supposed divine authority? But what is it that gives us all this sight? How can we see that it was indeed evil and not good that was done by those who claimed divine right? Are we blind? Can we really be that impartial?
Wouldn’t it be more prudent to assume that we all are dipping into that underground pool, that hidden reservoir of justice, left there in our psyche by our creator? We all have a sense of what is right and fair when it comes to ourselves. I know when I’ve been wronged. And I can put myself in your place, if only for a moment, and empathize with you enough to get an idea as to when you have been wronged. Where does this sense of justice come from? Evolution? How could this improve our chances of survival enough to make a genetic change? Wouldn’t the most aggressive survive? Wouldn’t the uncaring and the unfeeling be better at taking care of number one? Our awareness of justice is unlikely evolutionary in origin. It is divine.
So it seems that Themis has left her mark on our nature. We all naturally have this sense of justice, unless effaced by rogue genes or twisted beyond recognition by the hardships encountered through lack nurture. We know that there is a right and a wrong, usually defined by a worldview that has us as its center. But justice exists, however we see it.
Yet Themis herself is an artifice of the intellect of man. She is humankind’s attempt at understanding divine justice. But how can we say we understand divine justice? How can we dress her up and say there she is: behold Justice! All idols have the imprint of their maker upon them. Like any good craftwork, a discerning eye will recognize the hand that made it. So it is with justice. Can your eye discern the hand of God?
Whenever mankind brings retribution for wrongs committed, they always leave within a seed, a seed of vengeance that will, in time, grow up with a hunger for retribution again. Wars do not end wars, at best they just put it them off for a generation or two. When man punishes evil, evil is not thereby ended. At best it is merely restrained. This is the flaw of human justice. It does not end the matter. Yin and yang, forever circling each other. Each with the seed of its own opposite within itself. Human justice.
Yet there is a divine justice. Much deeper than any human can fathom or concoct. The Apostle Paul wrote to us telling us to judge nothing before the time. Why? Because we can only see the external – and that makes us so easy to deceive. This is what he wrote: 1 Cor 4:4-5 NIV “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts.”
There is only one blind who yet sees. The One-who-made-it-all, he alone dispenses true justice. He demonstrated this justice in the death of Jesus the Christ, the only begotten son of God. When he was conceived in Mary’s womb he not only took on a body that was recognized as Mary’s son, but he also was enfleshed in humanity. Being sinless he could represent all humanity before God. The cruel death he suffered was what mankind deserved. Justice was served in Jesus’ death. Paul again wrote in Rom 3:23-26 NIV “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
This then forms the basis of divine justice for humanity. All have sinned. All have done things that were not loving. Each of us have, through our own brand of justice, justified ourselves when we have hurt others. But God’s justice, the real divine justice, is demonstrated on the cross of Christ where we all died.
The justice of God declares that, if you agree with God’s assessment of humanity, more than that, if you agree with God’s assessment of you, He will forgive you. In fact, He has already forgiven. You must only believe to receive. Believe that God speaks in Jesus Christ in the same way as the light shines from the sun.
The time will come when all things must be judged, when justice will be served and evil ended forever. The apostle John saw this day in a vision. This is what he wrote recorded in Rev 19:11-16. NIV “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” With justice he judges. Everyone’s heart is before him like an open book. He judges not only actions, but motivations.
The things that people have done to hurt one another, the things people have done to disguise the truth, the things people have done that is unloving, will all be judged with justice. It would be unloving for God to allow wickedness do go on forever. He who alone has the power to stop evil. The evil in each of us has led us to ignore our maker. We have not believed our God. This is the root of all the evil mankind has done. More personal than that, my rejection of my maker is the root of everything I have ever done that was unloving. Our rejection of God is the root of it all.
The apostle Paul wrote in Rom 2:5-11 NIV “because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.”
Loving God and man is doing good. Believing Jesus is the beginning of a new dawn. A day in which righteousness will prevail. Wickedness will be judged at the root. The root of evil is to disbelieve the truth by believing the lie. Where is justice? Look to the cross and believe.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Exponential book review
I have been reading a new book called Exponential: how you and your friends can start a missional church movement by Dave and Jon Ferguson and published by Zondervan © 2010. I was intrigued with the title before I ever read the book. Since I am presently considering how to plant more churches I wondered if the Lord had anything in store for me within its pages.
Can you imagine me feelings when the first words of the first line of the first chapter were “You can do it!” Conflicted would be the best description. On one side hope popped up her head and grinned. On the other side past experience frowned and lightly shook his head. Who to believe? So I read on.
Dave and Jon were telling me how they started with four of them at a restaurant dreaming about how to reach the 8 million people of the Chicago metro area. Dave drew his plan on a napkin. It consisted of circles, circles of influence. This dream sat in the back of mind for several years. Then, with the prodding of a friend, he started to take his dream seriously. The Lord brought Acts 1:8 strongly to his mind. It reads: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (NIV). So then he decided that his dream was consistent with Jesus’ purpose and was granted the power of the Holy Spirit to do the impossible. By the help of the Holy Spirit they would “help people find their way back to God”. This became their mission statement.
They decided that the best way they could do this was to begin a church that had a high impact on the community it was in. This was to be accomplished by not only planting a church, but they wanted to plant many churches and then have a movement of reproducing churches.
The foundation of this potentially exponential reproduction was that everyone was to have an apprentice. If everyone was reproducing their ministry in someone else, then the expansion would not be limited due to a lack of leaders, artists, or helpers. There would be no lack.
All the growth necessary to build large community impacting churches is built upon the principle of this simple reproduction. Each person who had any responsibility was to have an apprentice – someone they could impart to who would either someday replace them or do the same thing somewhere else. The main thing that was to be reproduced in your apprentice was to hear God and do what he says. At this point Hope sat up straight in her chair next to me and smiled.
The rest of the book takes you on a journey through their structure for reproduction. It involved teaching everyone to ask God how they were to go into the world and find a way to help those they find find their way back to God. They taught people to go into the world and not just to only bring people to some meeting. They commissioned everyone to think about how they could start a church or small group. This led to the kind of growth which led to more churches which led to a movement of churches which led to spinning of other movements of churches. They really believe that “you can do this”!
As I tried to hear what God might be telling me through this book, I wondered. How did these guys find so many potential leaders? Did they just attract them by their personality? Did God just give them to them? Is it a matter of call alone? After all, does God really call each of us to start churches as the Fergusons state? I have a lot to think about. That is why I am tardy in getting this review posted on my blog. There is a lot to think about.
Can you imagine me feelings when the first words of the first line of the first chapter were “You can do it!” Conflicted would be the best description. On one side hope popped up her head and grinned. On the other side past experience frowned and lightly shook his head. Who to believe? So I read on.
Dave and Jon were telling me how they started with four of them at a restaurant dreaming about how to reach the 8 million people of the Chicago metro area. Dave drew his plan on a napkin. It consisted of circles, circles of influence. This dream sat in the back of mind for several years. Then, with the prodding of a friend, he started to take his dream seriously. The Lord brought Acts 1:8 strongly to his mind. It reads: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (NIV). So then he decided that his dream was consistent with Jesus’ purpose and was granted the power of the Holy Spirit to do the impossible. By the help of the Holy Spirit they would “help people find their way back to God”. This became their mission statement.
They decided that the best way they could do this was to begin a church that had a high impact on the community it was in. This was to be accomplished by not only planting a church, but they wanted to plant many churches and then have a movement of reproducing churches.
The foundation of this potentially exponential reproduction was that everyone was to have an apprentice. If everyone was reproducing their ministry in someone else, then the expansion would not be limited due to a lack of leaders, artists, or helpers. There would be no lack.
All the growth necessary to build large community impacting churches is built upon the principle of this simple reproduction. Each person who had any responsibility was to have an apprentice – someone they could impart to who would either someday replace them or do the same thing somewhere else. The main thing that was to be reproduced in your apprentice was to hear God and do what he says. At this point Hope sat up straight in her chair next to me and smiled.
The rest of the book takes you on a journey through their structure for reproduction. It involved teaching everyone to ask God how they were to go into the world and find a way to help those they find find their way back to God. They taught people to go into the world and not just to only bring people to some meeting. They commissioned everyone to think about how they could start a church or small group. This led to the kind of growth which led to more churches which led to a movement of churches which led to spinning of other movements of churches. They really believe that “you can do this”!
As I tried to hear what God might be telling me through this book, I wondered. How did these guys find so many potential leaders? Did they just attract them by their personality? Did God just give them to them? Is it a matter of call alone? After all, does God really call each of us to start churches as the Fergusons state? I have a lot to think about. That is why I am tardy in getting this review posted on my blog. There is a lot to think about.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
You Shall Be My Witnesses
Jesus is quoted in Acts 1:8 saying "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." The reason for the Holy Spirit coming upon these disciples was so that they could have power to be a witness to Jesus.
A witness is someone who has seen something and has firsthand information. This to me is intriguing. If, as it is commonly done, we apply these verses to all Christians making us all witnesses - which I too think is correct, what are we firsthand witnesses of? Certainly not Jesus as He was in Israel. We, like Paul, are witnesses of the exalted Jesus.
But why would we need power for this? Why would we need the power of the Holy spirit coming upon us for this? I don't think that what Jesus was simply referring to was some synchronization with what we say and the conviction of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the listener, although true as far as it goes. But the power is given so that our claim that Jesus is Lord of all could be demonstrated with action, not in words alone.
This is why Paul wrote in 1 Cor 2:4-5 NIV "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." It is an essential part of our witness to demonstrate the veracity of our claim that Jesus is Lord. This is demonstrated by the Holy Spirit, who is supposed to be on us, seen by the acts and signs of power. Without this supernatural demonstration our witness is just another ingredient in the plurality soup.
The Jesus we have come to know is indeed Lord of all. This is our eyewitness claim. We declare that he is exalted to the Father and to prove it He has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us. (please note the italicized words - on not in) These supernatural gifts of the Spirit and the resulting love of the Spirit reproduced in our lives is our gift to the world to demonstrate the living reality of Jesus. We are witnesses.
A witness is someone who has seen something and has firsthand information. This to me is intriguing. If, as it is commonly done, we apply these verses to all Christians making us all witnesses - which I too think is correct, what are we firsthand witnesses of? Certainly not Jesus as He was in Israel. We, like Paul, are witnesses of the exalted Jesus.
But why would we need power for this? Why would we need the power of the Holy spirit coming upon us for this? I don't think that what Jesus was simply referring to was some synchronization with what we say and the conviction of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the listener, although true as far as it goes. But the power is given so that our claim that Jesus is Lord of all could be demonstrated with action, not in words alone.
This is why Paul wrote in 1 Cor 2:4-5 NIV "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." It is an essential part of our witness to demonstrate the veracity of our claim that Jesus is Lord. This is demonstrated by the Holy Spirit, who is supposed to be on us, seen by the acts and signs of power. Without this supernatural demonstration our witness is just another ingredient in the plurality soup.
The Jesus we have come to know is indeed Lord of all. This is our eyewitness claim. We declare that he is exalted to the Father and to prove it He has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us. (please note the italicized words - on not in) These supernatural gifts of the Spirit and the resulting love of the Spirit reproduced in our lives is our gift to the world to demonstrate the living reality of Jesus. We are witnesses.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Faith Reasonings
I am reading Robert Webber's book Ancient-Future Faith. I came across a place that accurately describes why I entitled this blog Faith Reasonings. Webber is talking about the differences in approach to the Bible between moderns, both liberal and conservative, and a postmodern point of view. On page 46 he writes "The issue in a postmodern world is not to prove the Bible, but to restore the message of the Bible, a message which, when proclaimed by the power of the Spirit, takes up residence in those who know how to hear."
Then, even more to my point, he writes, "This message is an event oriented perception of the world... The center of the message is person and work of Jesus Christ. The Bible is the authoritative interpretation of this event... In this classical/postmodern view we have shifted from an understanding of the Bible that results in faith to a faith that results in understanding the Bible... The mystery of the person and work of Christ proclaimed is the starting point of faith, not a rational argumentation that seeks to prove the Bible to be correct."
My rationale for naming this blog faith reasonings is just this: it is faith doing the reasoning. This is seen in Abraham believing God's command to sacrifice his own son, and reasoning from there to a resurrection based upon the earlier promises that the Abraham would have as many children as there are stars in heaven and sand by the sea through this very son Isaac.
That kind of reasoning is what I hope to have. The kind of reasoning that builds on what God has said and done to even clearer perceptions. It is faith reasoning, not reasoning to faith.
Then, even more to my point, he writes, "This message is an event oriented perception of the world... The center of the message is person and work of Jesus Christ. The Bible is the authoritative interpretation of this event... In this classical/postmodern view we have shifted from an understanding of the Bible that results in faith to a faith that results in understanding the Bible... The mystery of the person and work of Christ proclaimed is the starting point of faith, not a rational argumentation that seeks to prove the Bible to be correct."
My rationale for naming this blog faith reasonings is just this: it is faith doing the reasoning. This is seen in Abraham believing God's command to sacrifice his own son, and reasoning from there to a resurrection based upon the earlier promises that the Abraham would have as many children as there are stars in heaven and sand by the sea through this very son Isaac.
That kind of reasoning is what I hope to have. The kind of reasoning that builds on what God has said and done to even clearer perceptions. It is faith reasoning, not reasoning to faith.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Purpose of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
I was having a conversation yesterday with a friend of mine. Not odd in itself. We were talking about what some people mean by revival, by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It seemed to him that if all that was expected was a lot of commotion and stuff going on for 6 months then the purpose of the whole thing was not fulfilled; that purpose was a life of love lived in the power of the Spirit.
He wondered why moves of the Spirit only seemed to last for a short time. My response was that to my way of thinking they stopped or slowed because people would grieve or quench the Spirit by refusing to live life according to the nature of the Holy Spirit. Instead of living a life of love they would be jealous, angry, divided, controlling, fearful, dishonest, thieves, liars, and the like.
I told him the story of how, when the Spirit was outpoured at Asuza street the very early 1900's, a guy named William Seymore was then the pastor. He was a poor guy of African heritage and had experienced the segregation common to the era. It was at this church where the move of the Spirit began that many of today's Pentecostal denominations find their roots. Seymore used to say that even though many people experienced the supernatural power of the Spirit manifesting in the gifts of the Spirit, the greatest manifestation of the Spirit he saw was that white and black people, rich and poor, men and women, would sit on the same pews together, work in the ministry together, and generally behave like they loved one another. This to him was the point of it all.
But, like I said, it didn't last. The Assembly of God were the white folks, the Church of God in Christ were the black folks, and they parted ways. This had to have grieved the Holy Spirit. This was just one division, there were others. Like 1Corinthians 13 says, without love we are nothing.
So when I say I want to see people baptized in the Holy Spirit and experience the power of the Spirit, it is for this end: that we Christians would find the power and presence of the Spirit of Christ filling our hearts with love like the scripture speaks. I am looking for a loving and powerful Christianity; first of all in me then in those I know. This is the kind of Christian that will be a true witness with a true testimony of our risen Lord.
He wondered why moves of the Spirit only seemed to last for a short time. My response was that to my way of thinking they stopped or slowed because people would grieve or quench the Spirit by refusing to live life according to the nature of the Holy Spirit. Instead of living a life of love they would be jealous, angry, divided, controlling, fearful, dishonest, thieves, liars, and the like.
I told him the story of how, when the Spirit was outpoured at Asuza street the very early 1900's, a guy named William Seymore was then the pastor. He was a poor guy of African heritage and had experienced the segregation common to the era. It was at this church where the move of the Spirit began that many of today's Pentecostal denominations find their roots. Seymore used to say that even though many people experienced the supernatural power of the Spirit manifesting in the gifts of the Spirit, the greatest manifestation of the Spirit he saw was that white and black people, rich and poor, men and women, would sit on the same pews together, work in the ministry together, and generally behave like they loved one another. This to him was the point of it all.
But, like I said, it didn't last. The Assembly of God were the white folks, the Church of God in Christ were the black folks, and they parted ways. This had to have grieved the Holy Spirit. This was just one division, there were others. Like 1Corinthians 13 says, without love we are nothing.
So when I say I want to see people baptized in the Holy Spirit and experience the power of the Spirit, it is for this end: that we Christians would find the power and presence of the Spirit of Christ filling our hearts with love like the scripture speaks. I am looking for a loving and powerful Christianity; first of all in me then in those I know. This is the kind of Christian that will be a true witness with a true testimony of our risen Lord.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Why Bother?
It is clear, if you have been following this blog, that I think a lot about the baptism in the Spirit. The question arises, why bother? What is the big deal?
I have been a Christian now for 40 years. I find that the thing I miss the most is the kind of immediacy of the Spirit that I experienced and witnessed in the first years of my journey. I miss seeing many people come to Jesus hungry for all that Jesus offers. I miss seeing people by the hundreds want to burn every and any bridge in order to serve Jesus. I miss those silly mistakes that were made because someone stepped out on to the water like Peter did only to find that even when they go beyond their faith Jesus is still there to rescue them.
Today's church seems to me to be more interested in fitting in with society than believing the gospel. Christians were never socially accepted unless they were the ruling power. Even though someday I know that we will rule, that time awaits the coming of our King. We will reign and rule with Him.
The baptism in the Spirit has the potential to blast people out of their conforming cultural complacency into the rule of the kingdom of God. This faith filled life that is entered into by a willing abandonment of the concern for how we look to ourselves and others has had a bad reputation. So many people have done harm to others because they were unconcerned with how others felt that now few want to go anywhere near this kind of abandonment.
I think that the mistake was made in what our focus became. We were so interested in seeing others come to Jesus and be filled with the Spirit as we were that we forgot that the chief goal of all this was the power to show real love. That was too hard though. We would rather tell people our version of the gospel and leave it with that, not wanting to actually spend the time to love that person.
The day is upon us when neither an emergent rehashed liberal social gospel, or a powerless Evangelicalism, or a provincial Pentecostalism will do. Not a new kind of Christianity as Maclaren wrote, but Spirit filled, supernaturally powerful, loving Christians are what is needed.
This is why I think so much about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. A Christianity without the power is not the Christianity that is needed. But since so many Christians are unaware or willingly ignorant of this power, I had hoped that if I could understand how to correctly teach it I would be able to help others of my brothers and sisters who have not yet received what is theirs in Christ would then be able to. Only God knows if I have succeeded.
I have been a Christian now for 40 years. I find that the thing I miss the most is the kind of immediacy of the Spirit that I experienced and witnessed in the first years of my journey. I miss seeing many people come to Jesus hungry for all that Jesus offers. I miss seeing people by the hundreds want to burn every and any bridge in order to serve Jesus. I miss those silly mistakes that were made because someone stepped out on to the water like Peter did only to find that even when they go beyond their faith Jesus is still there to rescue them.
Today's church seems to me to be more interested in fitting in with society than believing the gospel. Christians were never socially accepted unless they were the ruling power. Even though someday I know that we will rule, that time awaits the coming of our King. We will reign and rule with Him.
The baptism in the Spirit has the potential to blast people out of their conforming cultural complacency into the rule of the kingdom of God. This faith filled life that is entered into by a willing abandonment of the concern for how we look to ourselves and others has had a bad reputation. So many people have done harm to others because they were unconcerned with how others felt that now few want to go anywhere near this kind of abandonment.
I think that the mistake was made in what our focus became. We were so interested in seeing others come to Jesus and be filled with the Spirit as we were that we forgot that the chief goal of all this was the power to show real love. That was too hard though. We would rather tell people our version of the gospel and leave it with that, not wanting to actually spend the time to love that person.
The day is upon us when neither an emergent rehashed liberal social gospel, or a powerless Evangelicalism, or a provincial Pentecostalism will do. Not a new kind of Christianity as Maclaren wrote, but Spirit filled, supernaturally powerful, loving Christians are what is needed.
This is why I think so much about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. A Christianity without the power is not the Christianity that is needed. But since so many Christians are unaware or willingly ignorant of this power, I had hoped that if I could understand how to correctly teach it I would be able to help others of my brothers and sisters who have not yet received what is theirs in Christ would then be able to. Only God knows if I have succeeded.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
One Baptism
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. Acts 19:1-7 NIV
I always wondered why Paul asked those disciples in Ephesus if they had received the Spirit when they believed. He must have noticed something. Was it that they did not speak in tongues when they prayed? Or was it some kind of discernment that we don’t seem to have anymore? Or was it that they did not have the fruit of the spirit? Whatever the reason, Paul noticed that they were disciples and that they did not have the Spirit.
The next question is even more mind boggling to a Pentecostal like me. Upon getting a negative answer to his question, negative in the sense that they had never heard of the Holy Spirit, Paul asks them about the baptism they received. How had they not heard of the Holy Spirit? Why would they have heard of the Holy Spirit if they had received the proper baptism? Was it because in the new believers baptism it was done in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Doesn’t say. Or was it because the Holy Spirit was expected to come upon those who were baptized in Jesus’ name? I think so. This would fit all the New Testament’s record of the baptism in the Holy Spirit in both Luke’s historical record and Paul’s letters.
The Holy Spirit was promised to believers, all believers. Peter’s Pentecostal address makes the reception of the Spirit upon repentance and baptism very clear. And when at the house of Cornelius those who were already baptized in the Spirit could not be denied baptism in water. And at Samaria when the Holy Spirit did not come upon any of those who believed the gospel and were baptized, it was so serious that the Apostles were sent for from Jerusalem in order to remedy the matter.
In my view receiving the Spirit and receiving water baptism are conceptually two halves of the same coin. This is Paul’s “one baptism”. Now this following passage also makes more sense:
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7 NIV
Jesus is our prototype. We are to imitate Jesus. When Jesus received water baptism, and upon coming up out of the water, the Holy Spirit came down upon him bodily as a dove. This is our pattern. When we are baptized we too are to receive the outpouring of the Spirit. Water baptism and Spirit baptism are forever conceptually linked.
But being linked is different than being the same thing. Acts shows us over and over that they are not the same thing. When we come up out of the waters of baptism we are to come into a new life. As Paul wrote ”We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Rom 6:4 NIV An new life in the Spirit.
That is what our new life is all about! A new life today as well as forever!
So I ask, did you receive the Spirit around when you believed? You were supposed to. This reception was to be the kind of thing that would be noticed if you had not received. Did you speak in tongues and/or prophesy? Did you thrill like the Ethiopian eunuch when he went his way rejoicing? What happened? Nothing? Then drink deep of the Holy Spirit. Put down your unbelief and receive what is yours in all its fullness.
1 Cor 12:13 (my translation)We were all baptized in one Spirit for one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Drink deep!
I always wondered why Paul asked those disciples in Ephesus if they had received the Spirit when they believed. He must have noticed something. Was it that they did not speak in tongues when they prayed? Or was it some kind of discernment that we don’t seem to have anymore? Or was it that they did not have the fruit of the spirit? Whatever the reason, Paul noticed that they were disciples and that they did not have the Spirit.
The next question is even more mind boggling to a Pentecostal like me. Upon getting a negative answer to his question, negative in the sense that they had never heard of the Holy Spirit, Paul asks them about the baptism they received. How had they not heard of the Holy Spirit? Why would they have heard of the Holy Spirit if they had received the proper baptism? Was it because in the new believers baptism it was done in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Doesn’t say. Or was it because the Holy Spirit was expected to come upon those who were baptized in Jesus’ name? I think so. This would fit all the New Testament’s record of the baptism in the Holy Spirit in both Luke’s historical record and Paul’s letters.
The Holy Spirit was promised to believers, all believers. Peter’s Pentecostal address makes the reception of the Spirit upon repentance and baptism very clear. And when at the house of Cornelius those who were already baptized in the Spirit could not be denied baptism in water. And at Samaria when the Holy Spirit did not come upon any of those who believed the gospel and were baptized, it was so serious that the Apostles were sent for from Jerusalem in order to remedy the matter.
In my view receiving the Spirit and receiving water baptism are conceptually two halves of the same coin. This is Paul’s “one baptism”. Now this following passage also makes more sense:
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7 NIV
Jesus is our prototype. We are to imitate Jesus. When Jesus received water baptism, and upon coming up out of the water, the Holy Spirit came down upon him bodily as a dove. This is our pattern. When we are baptized we too are to receive the outpouring of the Spirit. Water baptism and Spirit baptism are forever conceptually linked.
But being linked is different than being the same thing. Acts shows us over and over that they are not the same thing. When we come up out of the waters of baptism we are to come into a new life. As Paul wrote ”We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Rom 6:4 NIV An new life in the Spirit.
That is what our new life is all about! A new life today as well as forever!
So I ask, did you receive the Spirit around when you believed? You were supposed to. This reception was to be the kind of thing that would be noticed if you had not received. Did you speak in tongues and/or prophesy? Did you thrill like the Ethiopian eunuch when he went his way rejoicing? What happened? Nothing? Then drink deep of the Holy Spirit. Put down your unbelief and receive what is yours in all its fullness.
1 Cor 12:13 (my translation)We were all baptized in one Spirit for one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Drink deep!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Your Church is Too Small book review con't
This continuation of my book review has come about because, as I say on my front page, I write this stuff before my wife has a chance to edit them. And, as she has pointed out, I forgot to tell you what I thought of the book. It is kinda like I am standing at the car door and she walks by and and notices that my shoes are untied. "I think you have left some loose ends," she remarks.
So, in the spirit of charity, I will try to tie up my loose ends.
I feel that John Armstrong has made a good effort. It is written mainly for a general audience with some Biblical and religious background. He tries to come up with a definition of what is Church and what is a Christian that most would agree to. I doubt if any Emergent, Catholic, or Orthodox would agree with him. But, since he is writing out of his evangelical context to, it seems, those who are also evangelical, most of his readers would probably agree. I think the book would have been helped if he had this wider audience in mind. But then it may have become much more complicated, something I'm sure he wouldn't want to do.
Armstrong wrote that Brother Yun, a Chinese Christian, believed that "the solution to division lies in rediscovering our true home in the love of Jesus through his commission to disciple all nations". (pg.162) This is fulfilled through active love towards all, and especially toward the family of believers. I know that Armstrong is keen on having the body of Christ actually love. I am in total agreement. I find that the solution starts with the individual in the local church. This is where true love is to be seen. Armstrong mentions this, but I think could have emphasized this more.
Armstrong ends by saying that our unity is awaiting an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to be accomplished. I believe it will take that very thing for us to recognize the unity we already have in the Son by the Spirit. As Paul wrote the Corinthians that grouping ourselves in distinction from any others who also call on the name of the Lord in faith is carnal, of the flesh, after the way of the world. So what actually needs to happen is for the church to mature by walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. This will take a church that actually believes Jesus and the Apostles He sent. Notice I didn't say believe in Jesus. The devils do that and tremble. The disunity of the church I believe has come about through the church's fleshly, sinful ways. Armstrong is right in saying that unity will come about when we, as Christians, die to ourselves. [Don't we wish that baptism actually did this?]
So I recommend this book to any and all who call on the name of Jesus. May its heart be your heart as you help to hasten the Lord's return by doing what He commanded.
The last of the loose ends. This book is copyright 2009.
your church is too small
So, in the spirit of charity, I will try to tie up my loose ends.
I feel that John Armstrong has made a good effort. It is written mainly for a general audience with some Biblical and religious background. He tries to come up with a definition of what is Church and what is a Christian that most would agree to. I doubt if any Emergent, Catholic, or Orthodox would agree with him. But, since he is writing out of his evangelical context to, it seems, those who are also evangelical, most of his readers would probably agree. I think the book would have been helped if he had this wider audience in mind. But then it may have become much more complicated, something I'm sure he wouldn't want to do.
Armstrong wrote that Brother Yun, a Chinese Christian, believed that "the solution to division lies in rediscovering our true home in the love of Jesus through his commission to disciple all nations". (pg.162) This is fulfilled through active love towards all, and especially toward the family of believers. I know that Armstrong is keen on having the body of Christ actually love. I am in total agreement. I find that the solution starts with the individual in the local church. This is where true love is to be seen. Armstrong mentions this, but I think could have emphasized this more.
Armstrong ends by saying that our unity is awaiting an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to be accomplished. I believe it will take that very thing for us to recognize the unity we already have in the Son by the Spirit. As Paul wrote the Corinthians that grouping ourselves in distinction from any others who also call on the name of the Lord in faith is carnal, of the flesh, after the way of the world. So what actually needs to happen is for the church to mature by walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. This will take a church that actually believes Jesus and the Apostles He sent. Notice I didn't say believe in Jesus. The devils do that and tremble. The disunity of the church I believe has come about through the church's fleshly, sinful ways. Armstrong is right in saying that unity will come about when we, as Christians, die to ourselves. [Don't we wish that baptism actually did this?]
So I recommend this book to any and all who call on the name of Jesus. May its heart be your heart as you help to hasten the Lord's return by doing what He commanded.
The last of the loose ends. This book is copyright 2009.
your church is too small
Your Church is Too Small book review
I just completed reading a book called Your Church Is Too Small: why unity in Christ’s mission is vital to the future of the church by John H. Armstrong and published by Zondervan. The title is a takeoff on J.B. Phillip’s book Your God Is Too Small where the idea is that our understanding of God is much too small compared to what God is really like. John Armstrong drives home the same thing regarding our view of church. By defining church as the people of God (pg.106) who hear, believe, and obey the word of God (pg.107) he feels that this definition is generous enough to include all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus in faith. His goal is to get all those who feel they fit this description to love one another.
John Armstrong’s concern for a real, tangible unity among all those who call themselves Christians is a result of meditating on Jesus’ prayer as recorded in John 17:20-21 NIV "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” His contention is that this oneness must be real, not a mystical abstract thingy. He draws from this the verse found in John 13:35 NIV “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Since love is not love if done only in word and not in deed, our unity as Christians must be more than in just word. It too must be in deed.
The reason that this is important is because this unity of love among those who call on the Lord in faith is essential to God’s mission (Missio Dei) to reveal Himself to the world through His people. It is only through knowing and accepting God as He has revealed Himself in Jesus (Jn 17:3) does anyone find eternal life.
Roadblocks to this type of tangible unity are numerous. From the obvious difficulty of reconciling the three separate types of Christianity – Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant – to the issues the divide churches in any given locale or even in one local church, such problems must be addressed. Armstrong does his best to provide solutions and guidance for these roadblocks to unity. His hope is probably best expressed by a quote from Cardinal Suenens. “I believe that the solution of ecumenical disunity will not finally be the result of a dialogue between the Church of Rome and the Church of Canterbury or the Church of Moscow. It will not be a dialogue between the churches as such, but a dialogue between Rome and Jesus, Canterbury and Jesus, Moscow and Jesus, so that we can become more and more united in him.” (pg.172) Armstrong makes it clear that unity in mission through love comes from everyone growing closer to Jesus and actually loving others as we are commanded.
So by growing closer to Jesus the church will heal its divisions. Armstrong quotes Origin as saying “where there are sins, there are divisions.” (pg.191) Thus our divisions are evidence of sin. Sin can be dealt with. The blessing of the Spirit of God will help us all turn from our wicked ways. (pg.197) Armstrong writes, “ I am persuaded that nothing less than a gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit will ultimately change us.” (pg.191) His hope for unity is in God’s gracious act of sending the Spirit in revival. This is to be our prayer.
If we are willing to sacrifice and repent of our pride and the sinful attitudes that divide, we can work on those other issues that separate us. Thus by submitting to the Holy Spirit we can become tangibly one. Then the world will have the opportunity to know that Jesus is Lord from the credible witness of a worldwide church that proves by its actions that it believes what it says. Each of us can be a part of what God is doing in this arena by loving those Christians who have differing views. This will mean that many times each of us will have to humble ourselves and sacrifice our ease and comfort in order to stand as one with those who some in our social group may find offensive. Since Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers, we should not be ashamed to do the same.
John Armstrong’s concern for a real, tangible unity among all those who call themselves Christians is a result of meditating on Jesus’ prayer as recorded in John 17:20-21 NIV "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” His contention is that this oneness must be real, not a mystical abstract thingy. He draws from this the verse found in John 13:35 NIV “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Since love is not love if done only in word and not in deed, our unity as Christians must be more than in just word. It too must be in deed.
The reason that this is important is because this unity of love among those who call on the Lord in faith is essential to God’s mission (Missio Dei) to reveal Himself to the world through His people. It is only through knowing and accepting God as He has revealed Himself in Jesus (Jn 17:3) does anyone find eternal life.
Roadblocks to this type of tangible unity are numerous. From the obvious difficulty of reconciling the three separate types of Christianity – Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant – to the issues the divide churches in any given locale or even in one local church, such problems must be addressed. Armstrong does his best to provide solutions and guidance for these roadblocks to unity. His hope is probably best expressed by a quote from Cardinal Suenens. “I believe that the solution of ecumenical disunity will not finally be the result of a dialogue between the Church of Rome and the Church of Canterbury or the Church of Moscow. It will not be a dialogue between the churches as such, but a dialogue between Rome and Jesus, Canterbury and Jesus, Moscow and Jesus, so that we can become more and more united in him.” (pg.172) Armstrong makes it clear that unity in mission through love comes from everyone growing closer to Jesus and actually loving others as we are commanded.
So by growing closer to Jesus the church will heal its divisions. Armstrong quotes Origin as saying “where there are sins, there are divisions.” (pg.191) Thus our divisions are evidence of sin. Sin can be dealt with. The blessing of the Spirit of God will help us all turn from our wicked ways. (pg.197) Armstrong writes, “ I am persuaded that nothing less than a gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit will ultimately change us.” (pg.191) His hope for unity is in God’s gracious act of sending the Spirit in revival. This is to be our prayer.
If we are willing to sacrifice and repent of our pride and the sinful attitudes that divide, we can work on those other issues that separate us. Thus by submitting to the Holy Spirit we can become tangibly one. Then the world will have the opportunity to know that Jesus is Lord from the credible witness of a worldwide church that proves by its actions that it believes what it says. Each of us can be a part of what God is doing in this arena by loving those Christians who have differing views. This will mean that many times each of us will have to humble ourselves and sacrifice our ease and comfort in order to stand as one with those who some in our social group may find offensive. Since Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers, we should not be ashamed to do the same.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Meditation on Babel, human nature, and the Church.
At the dawn of human history we have the story of the tower at Babel. Here we see man’s ingenuity and unity used at cross purposes to God’s plan. God wanted humanity to spread out over the earth, but mankind centralized in order to build a name for themselves through their city and tower to heaven. This is part of the corrupted human nature; to use people for projects, like city and tower building, instead of releasing people to fulfill God’s plan for their life.
This project had many earmarks of godly motivation. After all, the tower’s destination was heaven. It was a product of unity - they had all agreed to build it together. Additionally, mankind would be in community; it would be a unified community project building a tower to heaven. Everyone would want to stay here because we have the only tower to heaven on earth. Why not? If we became rich and famous in the process, who could blame us?
The Church has never been free from the influences of human nature. As much as we like to talk about the moving of the Spirit of God in and through God’s people, the corrupted version of human nature has never been far away. Because of this, how we have done ‘church’ has also been influenced by this vision of Babel - to build a name for ourselves as we build a tower to heaven. The ministries of the church have come under this same influence. After all, what is ministry but the serving of the people of God to help in the fulfillment of the purpose of the church?
To the extent our vision of church is conditioned by Babel, to the same extent the ministries of the church serve to help centralize power and use people more and more efficiently in accomplishing this purpose. To the extent that our vision of the church is conditioned by the command of God to go into all the world, to the same extent our idea of ministry is releasing and expansive.
Jesus made this distinction when he spoke of the kind of leadership that is to be in the church. In Matt 20:25-28 Jesus said "You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them. But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave.” Paul wrote to the Corinthians the he did not “lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.” (2 Cor 1:24 NIV) And Peter wrote once to the elders that they should ”shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:2-3NASU)
Over and over again the Bible says serving as an example is the type of leadership that is to be in the body of Christ.
Knowing that a picture is worth more than a thousand words, Jesus gave some people as gifts to the church. Ideally they are both examples and instructors of how to follow Christ. They are our leaders. If we want to know how to follow Jesus, we can look at the pictures God has given. I feel that ordination is how we, as a group, identify those people who are given to us by God to be that picture of how to follow Christ. They have the responsibility of informing us, by word and deed, what it means to be a follower of Christ.
The danger has always been that these leaders would use their position of influence for their own gain, or that they would want to build a city and a tower. No part of Christianity has been immune from this. But here, at Tree of Life Church, we hope that we see enough of the problem to avoid some of the pitfalls. How it will look in the final analysis we have yet to see.
This project had many earmarks of godly motivation. After all, the tower’s destination was heaven. It was a product of unity - they had all agreed to build it together. Additionally, mankind would be in community; it would be a unified community project building a tower to heaven. Everyone would want to stay here because we have the only tower to heaven on earth. Why not? If we became rich and famous in the process, who could blame us?
The Church has never been free from the influences of human nature. As much as we like to talk about the moving of the Spirit of God in and through God’s people, the corrupted version of human nature has never been far away. Because of this, how we have done ‘church’ has also been influenced by this vision of Babel - to build a name for ourselves as we build a tower to heaven. The ministries of the church have come under this same influence. After all, what is ministry but the serving of the people of God to help in the fulfillment of the purpose of the church?
To the extent our vision of church is conditioned by Babel, to the same extent the ministries of the church serve to help centralize power and use people more and more efficiently in accomplishing this purpose. To the extent that our vision of the church is conditioned by the command of God to go into all the world, to the same extent our idea of ministry is releasing and expansive.
Jesus made this distinction when he spoke of the kind of leadership that is to be in the church. In Matt 20:25-28 Jesus said "You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them. But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave.” Paul wrote to the Corinthians the he did not “lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.” (2 Cor 1:24 NIV) And Peter wrote once to the elders that they should ”shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:2-3NASU)
Over and over again the Bible says serving as an example is the type of leadership that is to be in the body of Christ.
Knowing that a picture is worth more than a thousand words, Jesus gave some people as gifts to the church. Ideally they are both examples and instructors of how to follow Christ. They are our leaders. If we want to know how to follow Jesus, we can look at the pictures God has given. I feel that ordination is how we, as a group, identify those people who are given to us by God to be that picture of how to follow Christ. They have the responsibility of informing us, by word and deed, what it means to be a follower of Christ.
The danger has always been that these leaders would use their position of influence for their own gain, or that they would want to build a city and a tower. No part of Christianity has been immune from this. But here, at Tree of Life Church, we hope that we see enough of the problem to avoid some of the pitfalls. How it will look in the final analysis we have yet to see.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Romans 10:4
Romans 10:4 NIV
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
I wanted to key in on this verse. Its meaning hinges on the word ‘end’. What did Paul mean by this word? Here is how the Greek word ‘telos’ can be translated:
Performance, consummation, fulfillment, result, event, power of deciding, supreme power, validity, magistracy, government, completion, end, finish, cessation, achievement, goal, prize, purpose.
Out of these options three are normally used in this verse.
1. fulfillment
2. goal, culmination, consummation
3. termination, cessation
Let’s look at these options and compare them with other scriptures.
1. Fulfillment Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. NIV Jesus explicitly states that He fulfills the law. In the teaching that follows He compares His teaching of how to fulfill the Laws intent with how the scribes interpreted it. He always went to the heart attitude rather than an external fulfillment. Example: don’t murder contrasted with don’t hate. Jesus not only fulfilled the Law in himself, but taught us how the law was to be fulfilled. Ro 13:10, Gal 5:14, Jas 2:8 Love is the fulfilling of the law.
2. Goal Galatians 3:24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. NIV Here the goal of the law was to lead us and prepare us for Christ. The law shows us what sin is. Rom 8:3-4 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. The problem with the law is us, not the law. The law is good, we will not do it. We are slaves to ourselves and will not love.
3. Termination contra Romans 3:31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. NIV Romans 7:14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. NIV The law is not terminated. It is still how we know sin. But no long do we relate to God on its basis. We have a new arrangement – the New Covenant – where we are forgiven and are given a new life that comes from believing the truth about Jesus. Our flesh has been dealt with by death on the cross so we are no longer slaves to sin – to ourselves.
Here is an illustration showing what it is like if we want to relate to God through the law. God standard of righteousness is like the distance from here to the Andromeda galaxy. We may jump as high as we can, but the distance is insurmountable. I may jump 2 feet, and some may even jump 7, but we are all woefully short. It is a very high standard, equal with the glory of God. The problem is not the standard, the problem is us.
Here is an illustration of what it is like to relate to God by faith. The distance is still the same. But now, when we believe and confess with our mouths the truth, His word performs in us what He says. There was a time when I was in Bible School I had an ex girlfriend who I could not get an emotional release from. I annoyed her with my unwanted attentions. I fasted, I prayed, I had counsel, yet I could not get over her. My emotions and thoughts held me prisoner. One day while I was simply walking down a hallway the Lord shouted 3 words into my heart. He said “Give Her Up”. As soon as He spoke those words it was accomplished. My heart was instantly freed from that emotional feedback loop. I could sit next to her and it was the same as sitting next to any of the other young ladies at the school. No emotional pull. I was free and Jesus did it through His word.
Jesus’ word when believed creates in us what He spoke. Now by learning to love by walking in the Spirit the distance from here to the Andromeda galaxy is crossed by Christ living through His word in us who believe. We are forgiven. We stand pure before the Lord. We are growing in love each day. There is no law against this fruit. Christ did in us what we cannot do ourselves.
Philippians 3:8-9 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. NIV
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
I wanted to key in on this verse. Its meaning hinges on the word ‘end’. What did Paul mean by this word? Here is how the Greek word ‘telos’ can be translated:
Performance, consummation, fulfillment, result, event, power of deciding, supreme power, validity, magistracy, government, completion, end, finish, cessation, achievement, goal, prize, purpose.
Out of these options three are normally used in this verse.
1. fulfillment
2. goal, culmination, consummation
3. termination, cessation
Let’s look at these options and compare them with other scriptures.
1. Fulfillment Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. NIV Jesus explicitly states that He fulfills the law. In the teaching that follows He compares His teaching of how to fulfill the Laws intent with how the scribes interpreted it. He always went to the heart attitude rather than an external fulfillment. Example: don’t murder contrasted with don’t hate. Jesus not only fulfilled the Law in himself, but taught us how the law was to be fulfilled. Ro 13:10, Gal 5:14, Jas 2:8 Love is the fulfilling of the law.
2. Goal Galatians 3:24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. NIV Here the goal of the law was to lead us and prepare us for Christ. The law shows us what sin is. Rom 8:3-4 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. The problem with the law is us, not the law. The law is good, we will not do it. We are slaves to ourselves and will not love.
3. Termination contra Romans 3:31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. NIV Romans 7:14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. NIV The law is not terminated. It is still how we know sin. But no long do we relate to God on its basis. We have a new arrangement – the New Covenant – where we are forgiven and are given a new life that comes from believing the truth about Jesus. Our flesh has been dealt with by death on the cross so we are no longer slaves to sin – to ourselves.
Here is an illustration showing what it is like if we want to relate to God through the law. God standard of righteousness is like the distance from here to the Andromeda galaxy. We may jump as high as we can, but the distance is insurmountable. I may jump 2 feet, and some may even jump 7, but we are all woefully short. It is a very high standard, equal with the glory of God. The problem is not the standard, the problem is us.
Here is an illustration of what it is like to relate to God by faith. The distance is still the same. But now, when we believe and confess with our mouths the truth, His word performs in us what He says. There was a time when I was in Bible School I had an ex girlfriend who I could not get an emotional release from. I annoyed her with my unwanted attentions. I fasted, I prayed, I had counsel, yet I could not get over her. My emotions and thoughts held me prisoner. One day while I was simply walking down a hallway the Lord shouted 3 words into my heart. He said “Give Her Up”. As soon as He spoke those words it was accomplished. My heart was instantly freed from that emotional feedback loop. I could sit next to her and it was the same as sitting next to any of the other young ladies at the school. No emotional pull. I was free and Jesus did it through His word.
Jesus’ word when believed creates in us what He spoke. Now by learning to love by walking in the Spirit the distance from here to the Andromeda galaxy is crossed by Christ living through His word in us who believe. We are forgiven. We stand pure before the Lord. We are growing in love each day. There is no law against this fruit. Christ did in us what we cannot do ourselves.
Philippians 3:8-9 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. NIV
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Church Leadership is Tied to Purpose
A friend of mine at church offhandedly said something very significant. He made a joke that while I was gone in Russia that I was hardly missed. I would like to explain why I feel his comment is important.
To do this, I will need to do some teaching about what it means to be a church. This is because I feel that his comment touches on the purpose of our gatherings. It’s not that I want to teach myself out of a job, but when I’ve taught, those who’ve learned won’t need me to help them do theirs.
When I use the word church, many different things come to various people’s minds. Some think of a large stone building with spires and stained glass windows. Others think of a universal group made up of believers from all places and times. Others think of denominations, or those who believe in and live in certain locale, like Oregon or the USA.
The reason people think these things is because we use the word church to mean all these different things at different times. The meaning of the word church, in its primary sense in the New Testament, isn’t any of the above. Most of the time it is used as descriptive of a specific gathering of believers. This is why Paul, for instance could say that “in the church” or the “churches (plural) of Judea”. In secular Greek the word is most often used of the town meeting where the citizens would gather together to exercise their rights and handle their responsibilities. This use is seen in Acts 19:32,39,41. Somewhere between 85-90% of all uses of the word church in the New Testament refer to this local assembly. So when we see this word, we should assume that it is referring to this specific gathering unless the context indicates otherwise.
Why is this important? Because it is in our gathering that we express ourselves as the church. This is where God’s purposes for the churches begin their fulfillment.
When God made man in his image it necessitated plurality. God is triune. Male and female were necessary to complete the image. “Let us make man in our image - male and female He made.” Only as communities do we reflect all the elements of the image of God. Just the very fact that John tells us that God is love is enough to show that to express the image of God there needs to be more than a solitary subject to do it.
Jesus, in John 17:20-23, prayed "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” This unity of the Spirit is seen as concretely love.
In John 13:34-35 Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." The world is able to know that Jesus is of God when we are one through our love for each other.
Facilitating that love and being an example of this love, is the primary responsibility of the leadership in the churches. Yet so often leaders have taken upon themselves many other responsibilities, responsibilities that are God’s. Additionally, leaders have structured churches to be pictures of something other than love.
For instance, in the older church structures, like the Catholic’s and Eastern Orthodox, each in its own way is representing the plan of salvation. Each has the communion as the focus of its service. The Catholic Church has the Pope as its head. He stands in for Jesus in the structure of the church. The Eastern Church also has its head. Even in the so called free churches, such as Baptist or Methodist, they all have someone in Jesus’ seat both locally and denominationally. These office holders have the role that can be described as anywhere from king to CEO, depending
on their checks and balances.
It is my opinion that this role actually disguises Jesus’ role in the churches rather than clarifies it. Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:1-4 “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers — not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” In this passage Peter indicates that there is only one chief shepherd. The rest of the elders/pastors/overseers are under Jesus. From this we deduce that, since in every church there is to be a plurality of elders, that they operate by consensus endeavoring to discern Jesus’ will in helping the rest of the body of Christ find their own ministry - their own Spirit empowered expression of love.
Paul wrote in Eph 4:11-16 that “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service [ministry], so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Note, once again, that that the purpose of the people God gave to the churches as gifts to be helpers was that they would prepare God’s people of works of service – ministry - later defined as the work of growing in love.
In all our efforts to organize, to teach, to do stuff, it is easy to push into the background our purpose in doing all of this. Things take on a life of their own. We look at ministries as offices to be filled rather than relations between people. Our ministry is how we help others to love God and other people. It is an expression of
who we are.
There are no permanent offices in the church other than elders. Even elders don’t have to be chosen immediately. If everyone used their gifts and abilities to encourage everyone else to love God and love people, our job would be done. But learning to love isn’t the easiest thing. For most of us it is the hardest thing we will ever do. For many people it takes a lifetime to even begin to get proficient at it. If I as a leader do not guide you into a dependent relationship with Jesus I have not completed my ministry. Jesus is the object of our love.
This is why my friends comment was so suggestive. If I am hardly missed it means to me that I have been doing my job of guiding our church into dependence upon God instead of me. Through the Holy Spirit we can get our needs met by God himself. This is true success. Paul said it this way:
1 Thess 3:8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.
Phil 1:27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.
To do this, I will need to do some teaching about what it means to be a church. This is because I feel that his comment touches on the purpose of our gatherings. It’s not that I want to teach myself out of a job, but when I’ve taught, those who’ve learned won’t need me to help them do theirs.
When I use the word church, many different things come to various people’s minds. Some think of a large stone building with spires and stained glass windows. Others think of a universal group made up of believers from all places and times. Others think of denominations, or those who believe in and live in certain locale, like Oregon or the USA.
The reason people think these things is because we use the word church to mean all these different things at different times. The meaning of the word church, in its primary sense in the New Testament, isn’t any of the above. Most of the time it is used as descriptive of a specific gathering of believers. This is why Paul, for instance could say that “in the church” or the “churches (plural) of Judea”. In secular Greek the word is most often used of the town meeting where the citizens would gather together to exercise their rights and handle their responsibilities. This use is seen in Acts 19:32,39,41. Somewhere between 85-90% of all uses of the word church in the New Testament refer to this local assembly. So when we see this word, we should assume that it is referring to this specific gathering unless the context indicates otherwise.
Why is this important? Because it is in our gathering that we express ourselves as the church. This is where God’s purposes for the churches begin their fulfillment.
When God made man in his image it necessitated plurality. God is triune. Male and female were necessary to complete the image. “Let us make man in our image - male and female He made.” Only as communities do we reflect all the elements of the image of God. Just the very fact that John tells us that God is love is enough to show that to express the image of God there needs to be more than a solitary subject to do it.
Jesus, in John 17:20-23, prayed "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” This unity of the Spirit is seen as concretely love.
In John 13:34-35 Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." The world is able to know that Jesus is of God when we are one through our love for each other.
Facilitating that love and being an example of this love, is the primary responsibility of the leadership in the churches. Yet so often leaders have taken upon themselves many other responsibilities, responsibilities that are God’s. Additionally, leaders have structured churches to be pictures of something other than love.
For instance, in the older church structures, like the Catholic’s and Eastern Orthodox, each in its own way is representing the plan of salvation. Each has the communion as the focus of its service. The Catholic Church has the Pope as its head. He stands in for Jesus in the structure of the church. The Eastern Church also has its head. Even in the so called free churches, such as Baptist or Methodist, they all have someone in Jesus’ seat both locally and denominationally. These office holders have the role that can be described as anywhere from king to CEO, depending
on their checks and balances.
It is my opinion that this role actually disguises Jesus’ role in the churches rather than clarifies it. Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:1-4 “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers — not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” In this passage Peter indicates that there is only one chief shepherd. The rest of the elders/pastors/overseers are under Jesus. From this we deduce that, since in every church there is to be a plurality of elders, that they operate by consensus endeavoring to discern Jesus’ will in helping the rest of the body of Christ find their own ministry - their own Spirit empowered expression of love.
Paul wrote in Eph 4:11-16 that “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service [ministry], so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Note, once again, that that the purpose of the people God gave to the churches as gifts to be helpers was that they would prepare God’s people of works of service – ministry - later defined as the work of growing in love.
In all our efforts to organize, to teach, to do stuff, it is easy to push into the background our purpose in doing all of this. Things take on a life of their own. We look at ministries as offices to be filled rather than relations between people. Our ministry is how we help others to love God and other people. It is an expression of
who we are.
There are no permanent offices in the church other than elders. Even elders don’t have to be chosen immediately. If everyone used their gifts and abilities to encourage everyone else to love God and love people, our job would be done. But learning to love isn’t the easiest thing. For most of us it is the hardest thing we will ever do. For many people it takes a lifetime to even begin to get proficient at it. If I as a leader do not guide you into a dependent relationship with Jesus I have not completed my ministry. Jesus is the object of our love.
This is why my friends comment was so suggestive. If I am hardly missed it means to me that I have been doing my job of guiding our church into dependence upon God instead of me. Through the Holy Spirit we can get our needs met by God himself. This is true success. Paul said it this way:
1 Thess 3:8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.
Phil 1:27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.
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