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.

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

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.