We've misinterpreted the Great Commission, I think.
We're called to introduce people to Jesus, but sometimes it seems that sometimes we forget. Sometimes, we end up introducing them to our club, to churchianity. To religion. Ewww.
They're looking for real relationship, and Jesus offering real relationship, but we're offering membership in a Sunday Morning Club complete with its own foreign language and foreign culture. "Bring your friends to church!" we are exhorted, forgetting the "Go" of the Great Commission.
Coming to faith does NOT require leaving your culture, leaving your language, leaving your community, leaving your music behind. (Yes, it does involve leaving your slavery behind.) For example, there's no need for a pipe organ or Taylor acoustic guiter in a tribal church in order for their gathering to be legit. They worship with drums; you don't have to!
Here's a radical thought: Christian pop music is by NO means the only music that's acceptable - or desirable. Some believers like barbershop quartets! Others touch God in metal music or Dixieland or Baroque or dance music.
I even know of a church that worshiped with (shudder!) country music! They would line dance in church! What?!? (And they shared the building with a church that worshiped with grunge rock music! What's up with that?)
I get it that some folks often can't go back to the culture that enslaved them for years, but let's distinguish between the slavery that held us captive and the preference of music the enslavers enjoyed while they practiced their torture upon our souls.
And since music reaches people, the Great commission applies to music: GO TO THEM. Do NOT expect them to come to you. So bring the gospel to their music; not Gospel music, but the "Good News" of the Kingdom: that belongs in THEIR music, too. There's no need for them to leave their love for Italian operas behind in order to meet Jesus.
Our commission is to go to them, and to bring the good news of the Kingdom to them.
Our job is NOT to bring them to our culture, our little club.
When we disciple folks, we are to make them followers of Jesus, not into MiniMe's.
Showing posts with label holy cows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holy cows. Show all posts
Thursday
A Personal History with Unchurched Believers
I grew up in the church. Later, I met Jesus in another church during the Jesus People revolution. That was far more interesting than regular church!
For decades, after I’d graduated from Bible college, I got a real Bible education in a Bible-believing church. And I learned the importance of being part of a church, a local congregation. A campfire of only one log will quickly burn out; a campfire with many logs will burn long and hot: believers, I was carefully taught, belonged in the campfire with other believers, and that meant in a Sunday congregation.
Over the next few decades, as I worked as an associate pastor with several churches, and Father began giving me a heart for His children, and as I watched God’s children in churches grow up, I became more concerned for those children that didn’t have the advantage of a church family.
I met a small number of disenfranchised believers in this season: men and women who were angry and bitter at the church, and sometimes at God, too. And I prayed more for believers who didn’t have a church to call home. I pitied them.
I remember one particular evening while I was praying for the unchurched believers. Father showed me two things about this group of people that I felt a burden for: First, there were more of them than I ever expected, and second, that he was going to do something – something that I call revival – among them. So I prayed for that revival! And I pitied them: lost sheep without a flock to call home.
I prayed for and pitied unchurched believers for years, and as I did, Father’s love for those poor people grew in my heart, fueling more prayer, and probably more pity as well.
One spring Saturday, a friend I respected held an event that I saw as a church service for people who didn’t fit in church real well. It was encouraging for several reasons, not least of which was that I wasn’t fitting real well in my own church at that time.
Unfortunately, when I returned home, I discovered I had left my jacket, with my wallet, behind, and I didn’t recognize it until I returned home, an hour’s drive away.
Unfortunately, when I returned home, I discovered I had left my jacket, with my wallet, behind, and I didn’t recognize it until I returned home, an hour’s drive away.
The next day, I brought a friend and a cell phone with me and drove back to the site of the event. It took more phone calls than I expected by finally someone was able to tell me that my jacket was probably with “Ken and Barbie,” well outside of town.
Great. I really don’t need a Ken or a Barbie in my life right now: I don’t need pretend, doll-type people my life. It was only a Goodwill-type jacket; I considered giving it up for lost, but my wallet was in the jacket. I couldn’t give up my wallet; I guess I needed to go visit Ken and Barbie.
When I arrived at their well-worn farmhouse, I scratched my head: this wasn’t the type of house I expected for “Ken and Barbie” type people. We knocked cautiously and were greeted by one of the more un-doll-like men I’ve ever met. And I recognized as soon as we stepped inside the house that we were well and truly welcome. I described it later as a family reunion with family I didn’t know I had.
We spent four hours together with these wonderful and genuine people, hours spent sharing their hearts, our hearts, stories of our Father. I learned that Ken had been a pastor for a number of years, but made his living as a carpenter now. I realized that even though I was currently a Pastor, I wanted to be more like these people. So I asked what I always ask: “So what church are you guys part of?”
The silence was deafening as Ken and Barbie glanced at each other, and I could see the question in their eyes: “How much should we tell them?” Eventually they admitted that they hadn’t been in church for more than a decade, and they told me their story of how God led them from “churched” believers to “unchurched” believers.
Then they told me about several of the folks I’d met and appreciated the day before, including my friend the event coordinator, and how they had also made the transition from “the churched” to “the unchurched.”
I was in a conundrum: I had believed that believers ought to be part of a church, but here were a whole lot of believers that I wanted to be like, whose life I aspired to, believers who – contrary to my training and my expectations – were solid and mature, and who were pillars of strength in their families and their communities. Here were believers who did not have the “advantage” of a local congregation, who were better believers than those that I knew who had that advantage. My head was spinning.
I needed to re-examine a belief that I’d held as unquestionable, and it started me asking a lot of questions about things I’d never questioned. Let me just summarize by saying that this was an exciting season in my walk of faith, and skip to the part where God confronted me about the church I was part of, where I was the associate pastor, where I was on the worship team, and where I was one of the primary preachers on Sunday mornings.
“When are you going to stop working in another man’s field, and start working in your own?” I knew it was time to leave the church, to leave that church, and to leave the church community in my city. I questioned whether I was supposed to “plant” my own church, but realized that that was just a distraction: we were to become part of the “unchurched” community.
I had a couple of dreams in this season: one before we left, clearly describing our preparation for leaving, and the sequel, after we left, where he warned me of three things:
1) I would be disoriented, not knowing where I was, or where to go. And
2) I would be powerless to steer my life, anyway, even if I did have an idea about where to go. But
3) I would be able to hear Father’s voice substantially better, now that I was outside of the busyness of church, better, perhaps, than ever before.
He was, of course, correct: these were accurate descriptions of our life. He brought some excellent fellowship into our lives, often into our living room, and nearly always centered around a meal. And I found excellent fellowship online, of all places! That one really surprised me!
Curiously, our fellowship is better now that we were “out of fellowship” with Sunday morning congregations. That one surprised me, too. We are still people with imperfections, and we are still in relationship with people with imperfections; there’s no perfection here. We still deal with misunderstandings and stuff. That’s part of life.
But our place in the Body of Christ is more of what it should always have been, now that we’re no longer part of a congregation: better friendships, less judged, more received for who we are, more free to exercise our God-given gifts. In other words: church outside of “Sunday morning church” has been a substantial improvement.
Now, let me explain: I’m not writing this in order to give you a model to follow, or a standard to measure your life by. I’m writing this only as a testimony: this is the confused and real-life experience that I had; perhaps it might encourage you wherever you are in your own walk.
And let me encourage you in this: God is very much able to take you through whatever you’re going through, and to bring you out the other side in extreme and overwhelming victory.
Mid-Course Correction Going On
If you’re
an observer of the church, you’ll notice something interesting: God is leading
the emerging generation of believers differently than the path the generation
that’s finishing their race ran on.
Even now, if
you ask about priorities for the people of God, believers in the “over 40” age
group will talk about theology, and the need to have all the theology right. This
group talks about the Bible as the authority, though they often live as though
the Sunday sermon is the real authority. (Note: “over 40” is just an approximation: some 30-year-olds belong in this group, and some 60-year-olds belong in the other.)
But if you
ask believers in the “under 40” age group the same question, they won’t mention
theology. This group is more focused on “How can I change the world?” and they
expect to refine their theology along the way. This group also regards the
Bible highly; the Bible, interpreted by the Holy Spirit, not by the pastor’s
sermon, is the real authority.
The curious
thing is that the second group, rather than the first is actually more
Biblical: this is the model used over and over in the Book of Acts: “He said
preach the good news to the whole world! Let’s go preach somewhere that nobody
else has preached yet.” In fact, it has been said that Apostle Paul’s method of
being led by God was something of “bumbling around in the Spirit until
something happened!”
Regardless
of which group you find yourself in (I think of them as the “Get The Theology
Right” group and the “Change the World” group), this is not suggesting to you
that theology is not important. It is of critical importance. But theology is
not more important – or more urgent – than obeying the Word.
As I’ve
been reflecting on this, I realize that, being in the older age bracket, I’ve
been assuming that the theological questions have been the right questions to
ask. I’m changing that opinion.
Curiously,
when given instructions by God to go do something (such as “Go into all the
world and preach the good news of the gospel”), it is the servants who insist
on getting the instructions exactly right. The response of sons of the Kingdom
is more along the lines of “Hey, good idea. Grab the debit card and let’s go!”
Since many
of us in the older group, who have valued theology so much, are finally
understanding so much more about our status as sons, not as servants, and since
we’re teaching the younger believers that they’re sons, not servants, I suppose
we should not be surprised that they’re making the choices that sons make,
rather than making the choices that servants make, as my generation has done (much
to our embarrassment).
As I’m
learning more about my identity as a son, not a servant (why did nobody tell me
this decades ago???), I’m coming to value the perspective of the second group
more. I admire their willingness to take risks, I admire their eagerness to
follow God’s leadership, and I admire how much they’re getting done!
I’m going
to think more carefully about how to continue my ministry before the Lord.
The Gay Revival
I’m going to address some very controversial topics today.
If you have trouble with God moving outside your comfort zone, you may not want
to read this article. I’m serious: be careful! This may push your buttons.
We’re going to talk about homosexual Christians, LGBT
[Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender] Christians.
The Bible is clear, Old Testament and New: homosexual
behavior is sinful behavior. Since we’re talking about Christians, we could go
on about how there are loads of sins that we overlook in the church, while we
call out certain others, but that hypocrisy is another topic for another day.
One day, years ago, I was with a small group, praying for
some folks we knew that were stuck in homosexuality. It was one of those prayer
gatherings where you just know that God is hearing your prayers, even as he’s
helping to shape them and encourage us in them.
In the midst of that, I had a vision: tens of thousands of
people in the homosexual community were encountering Jesus. It was a huge
movement, and God was in their midst. They were worshiping powerfully, and God
was delighting in their praise. There were signs and wonders. Many were in
tears, some because of His love, some because of their sin, but it wasn’t
always the sin I had my own eyes on that they were convicted of. It was a
genuine revival.
I began to praise God for that revival, for the many sons
and daughters that were coming back to their Father, and as I did, the vision
became even more real: I was in their midst as they were worshiping God.
And then I realized: they weren’t – most of them weren’t –
leaving their culture. Nearly all of them stayed in the homosexual community,
and a very large number of them didn’t appear to repent of their homosexual
ways.
I began to react to that: That's not right, I said in my mind. Father began to gently instruct me in this vision:
1) When he
calls people to himself, he does not call them to leave their culture. American
Church Culture is not our goal. Relationship with Jesus is the goal. Hmm. OK.
That’s true enough.
2) When he
finally got ahold of my life (after a longer fight than it should have been), I
was not sin-free. There were several sins that he took decades to put his
finger on. In fact, He said, There are some things I haven’t pointed out to you
even yet. Yikes.
But it’s true. If he didn’t point out– and by pointing out,
give me grace to deal with – some of my sins for decades, why should I expect
him to be less patient with other sons and daughters?
3) And son, he
said so very gently: these are my children, not yours. I am their Father, you
are not. I am capable of raising My own children without your getting in their
way.
Since that experience, I’ve received a few reports that it’s
beginning to happen, that substantial numbers of people inside the LGBT
community are discovering the Lover of their Souls!
I have received credible testimony from different people in
different streams that tell me about the revival that is going on among the
homosexual population. (At their request, and for their safety, I will not be
releasing their identities. Some people do not respond well when God moves
outside their box.)
These people have been among gatherings of gay believers –
we might call them church meetings or conferences – where the worship is
powerful, where the Holy Spirit is present, where signs and wonders are in
abundance, where Jesus is lifted up high. They have recognized God’s favor on
the gatherings, and experienced His delight in them.
I have met believers who are homosexuals. Some appear to be
your basic, timid churchgoers, some flaming transsexuals proclaiming the gospel
to their community. Some are content with their homosexuality; some want out
but don’t know how; some are proud of their status, though these seem to be the
ones who’ve taken the brunt of the church’s accusations.
I’ve said all this to arrive at this conclusion: God is
moving powerfully in ways that we never expected. And hold on to your hats,
because he has more than this that he’s going to do.
So how shall we respond to homosexuals that call themselves
Christians? That’s simple: we love them. Just like we’re called to love
self-righteous people who call themselves Christians.
We surely have no right to challenge the faith of either
group, and nearly always, we lack the right to challenge either their behavior
or their culture. But we have the right to love them.
Let’s love one another, as Jesus commanded us, shall we? And
let's trust our good Father to raise His children well.
Responding to “Melchizedek Means You Must Tithe!”
Does Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek mean we must tithe?
When teaching on the topic of tithing, pastors generally
refer to Genesis 14, where Abraham was just finishing wiping out four kings in
a war to recover his captive family. Melchizedek, a priest, came out to
congratulate Abe, who gave that priest 10% of the plunder. Here’s the story:
When Abram heard that his relative
had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household
and went in pursuit as far as Dan. During the night Abram divided his men to
attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus . He recovered
all the goods and brought back his relative Lot
and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.
After Abram returned from defeating
Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom
came out to meet him in the Valley
of Shaveh (that is, the
King's Valley). Then Melchizedek king of Salem
brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram,
saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And
praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of
everything.
The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and
keep the goods for yourself.” But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised
hand I have sworn an oath to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and
earth, that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the
strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich.’”
- Genesis 14:14-23
“The tithe precedes the Law!” they declaim. “So when the Law
went away, the tithe stays: You must tithe because Abraham tithed before the Law!” (And they’ll often
reference Hebrews 7, where the story is mentioned in passing in support of a
whole different point.)
I hate that argument: it’s 98% irrelevant to the topic. (A
little bit is relevant: One guy did tithe once before the law.)
But he tithed only once. One time only, Abraham gave 10% of
the spoils of one war to Melchizedek, while he gave 90% to the kings of Sodom & Gomorrah .
He never tithed from any other source, either before or after that day.
So we’re supposed to make application for our lives from
this story. Here are some ways we can apply Abraham’s example of tithing to
Melchizedek:
* Does this mean that we should tithe on the spoils of our
war? Do we get the Pentagon involved in this, or do we limit ourselves just to
wars that we ourselves lead? Are we limited only to foreign wars, or does a
fight with my wife count?
* Does this mean that we tithe after we kill people? If so,
whom shall we kill on Sunday morning? Abe killed people who held his family
captive. Who would that be today?
* Does this mean that we should tithe when a priest brings
bread and wine to our workplace and blesses us (as Melchizedek did here)? In
that case, I should tithe to the traveling sales reps, I suppose. They bring
food to my workplace, though they’re not really priests.
* Does this mean we should tithe only one day in our lives,
as Abraham did? If so, how do we choose which one day we should tithe? Should
it be when we’re young and strong, or when we’re old and wise? And should it be
a work day, or a weekend day? If it only happens once, we should be careful to
pick the right day.
* Does this mean that we should give 90% of our income to
the leaders of “Sodom & Gomorrah ”? I thought we were opposed to the
pornography industry or the sex trade? Or are you saying we should just pick
some worldly politicians and give them our life savings? (Sure glad that
happens only one day in our life!)
My point is this: it is foolishly disingenuous to say, “You
must apply this one detail out of
this story, but ignore all the rest
of it!” That’s religious manipulation at its worst! It is completely unworthy
of the People of God.
Conclusion: This story is clearly not appropriate to use as
a tool to demand that people give you 10% of their income.
But don’t take this too
far.
I am not trying to say, “Do not tithe!” Nor am I saying, “Don’t
be generous!” as some mistakenly say.
I’m saying that the People of God are not subject to the
extortion that the tithe teaching has become: “If you don’t obey this Law,
you’re a lousy Christian!” Many churches today deny members opportunities to
serve, or to receive ministry, unless they’ve submitted to the extortion.
Christians are not under law. We are not required to tithe.
However, note that the law of sowing and reaping is part of our lives in the New
Covenant. Consider 2Corinthians 9:6: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly
will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap
generously.” That's for us. That’s real.
And the need for believers to be characterized by generosity,
particularly to the poor, is incontrovertible! Really, 10% is a pretty wimpy
standard for people who have generosity in their soul. Giving from a free heart
is completely encouraged! And we’re free to give where we want to: to missions,
to local congregations, to a benevolence group, directly to needy people, or to
a secular group that does worthy things. And we’re free to donate money, or
time, or sweat, or influence, or anything else we have to give.
So, if people read the story of Abraham and Melchizedek and
then they say, “Well that proves it. I must give 10% of my income to you every
week because Abraham gave 10% to a priest one time!” then somebody is not
thinking clearly. That’s just the spirit of stupid.
But if they read the story of Abraham and Melchizedek and
then they say “That’s cool! I want to
do that!” then more power to them! That’s a beautiful thing!
Just don’t try to make it a law. That would be a lie. And
it’s not good to lie to the people of God.
The OTHER Benefit of the New Covenant
Our history with God is a history of covenants. Covenants
between God and mankind. This is how the mighty Creator King and the human
species relate: through a covenant.
We do it too. We’re up-front about it with marriage covenants,
and more subtle about other covenants. There is a powerful – unwritten –
parenting covenant: violate that one and society takes your children away from
you.
Now hold still, I’m going to talk directly about covenant
for a minute. Necessarily, I will engage in willful oversimplification of some details in order
to illustrate my point: the actual situation is much more complicated than this
simple explanation.
A covenant is a “promise to engage in or refrain from a
specified action.” Covenants are how people agree to relate to each other. Covenant
is how God relates to humanity.
Noah had a covenant. Abraham had a covenant. David had a
covenant. But the Big One was the Mosaic Covenant, often called The Old
Covenant.
The Old Covenant was kind of a failure in before it ever got
going, of course. God proposed a covenant to the people of Israel that had
a lot of the elements of our New Covenant in it. Before there even were the Ten
Commandments, God offered Israel
a covenant where every single person is a priest, every single person can come
to God for himself or herself:
“Now therefore, if you
will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special
treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. ‘And you shall be
to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you
shall speak to the children of Israel .”
(Exodus 19:6-7)
“Kingdom of priests and a holy nation”? Twice in the book of
Revelation, we’re described as “kings and priests unto our God” (1:6 &
5:10). God was offering that relationship to the Israelites four thousand years
ago? (Can you imagine what the world would be like if we hadn’t had the last
four thousand years of legalistic bondage? But I digress.)
But the people who were offered this intimate “everybody is
a priest” relationship with God reject that offer in the very next chapter.
“Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:19)
“Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey.” (Deuteronomy 5:27)
And so the “everybody is a priest” covenant was put aside,
and was replaced with a covenant based on the people’s obedience. Any covenant
that’s based on obeying will necessarily have consequences for disobedience.
Thus this is a covenant about blessings for obedience, and punishment
(sometimes called “curses”) for disobeying.
Deuteronomy 28 functions as kind of a summary: You’ll be
blessed when you obey, and you’ll be cursed (or punished) if you disobey.
Verses 1 through 14 outline the blessings. The rest of the chapter talks about the
punishment for disobeying, and it’s God that is charged with that punishment.
Frankly, that was a lousy covenant, it’s a poor substitute
for God’s first proposal, but it’s a covenant! Even that poor replacement was
better than no relationship at all between God and man!
We remember that the terms and conditions of the Old
Covenant (which we call “The Law”) were intended to constrain the behavior of
the humans in this covenant relationship. But we tend to forget that the Old
Covenant constrained the behavior of BOTH parties of the Covenant: God had
chosen to bind himself to the Old Covenant as well.’
So when we read in Deuteronomy 28 about “If you disobey,
you’ll be punished.” Guess who the punisher has to be. Yeah, that’s God. He has
bound himself to this busted-up covenant, because it’s better than no covenant
– no relationship – whatsoever. Moreover, this was the only covenant that the
people would agree to, so this was the covenant that he bound himself to.
And this covenant, proposed by fearful men, required that
God punish (or “curse”) the people that he loves so very much, every time they
disobey. (Seriously, go read Deuteronomy
29!)
Now let’s remember that there was a third party loose on the
Earth, who was not a party to the covenant between God and man. Lucifer had
already demonstrated his eagerness to accuse God at every opportunity (see Genesis
3:4-5). And he’s up to his old tricks here as well.
So every time the people disobeyed (and that happened so very often!) and God was required by the
people’s busted-up covenant to punish them, Lucifer steps up to the microphone
and declares, “Look how mean God is! Look how bloodthirsty he is! Look how
angry God is!” completely ignoring the fact that God is merely complying with the
conditions of the covenant that mankind offered him.
That’s a hot mess. I’ve oversimplified the story in this
short article, but it’s easy to see the mess that the Old Covenant is:
seriously, the only one who benefited from that debacle was Lucifer, and that’s
not actually what we’re aiming for.
Now skip forward until Jesus is sitting in the Upper Room,
where Jesus is offering – for the second time – a covenant of an “everybody is
a priest” relationship between man and God: “For this is My blood of the new
covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28,
Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, 2 Corinthians 11:25.) But this time, the
representatives (the twelve) accept the offer.
I still marvel at that cup, that biscuit. With that token
meal, God removes us from the Old Covenant and makes us participants instead in
the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:13 makes it clear: “In that He says, “A new
covenant,” He has made the first obsolete.”). And this is a covenant whose sole commandment (John 13:34) is to love
each other.
What an amazing relief that is: in a single moment, these
guys are plucked from a covenant of “If you obey, I’ll bless you; if you
disobey, I’ll punish you!” and dropped into a Covenant of Love.
The seminal New Covenant verse, John 3:16, says it
beautifully: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” And
if that wasn’t clear enough, verse 17 clarifies that the New Covenant is not
about punishment: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” What a relief that is!
All that is amazing, spectacular, and otherwise completely
awesome.
But it is also only half of the story. The Old Covenant is
made obsolete, and we are released from its bondage, but we were not the only ones held in bondage by it.
With the passing of the Old Covenant, God Himself is no
longer constrained by the Law to provide blessings when people obey, like
treats for a dog that sits when you tell him. More importantly, God is no
longer constrained by the Law to bring punishment, curses, judgment on the
people that he so desperately loves.
When the Old Covenant was replaced by the New Covenant,
humanity could give a great, corporate sigh of relief. We’re no longer under
the law, but now we’re under grace, under love.
But the greater relief may not be ours. In the New Covenant,
God is now free to love us with all that is in his heart, as he has longed to do
since the day he said, “Let us make man in our own image.” (Genesis 1:26). God is now free from the Old Covenant, and he’s more excited about it than we
are.
We are free. But more important, God Himself is free!
The Commandments of Christ
I've heard John 14:15 quoted many times in reference to obeying some of the laws of the Old Testament: “If you love Me, keep My commandments." Or they've quoted John, 15:14 "You are my friends if you do what I command."
The verse is thrown out as a prooftext: "You have to follow the commands of God!" though nobody's expected to follow all the commands: they don't promote blood sacrifices or stoning sinners. It's just an attempt to coerce believers into submitting to their own favorite part of the Law.
This is an attempt at control: whether from ignorance or malevolence, this is an attempt to wield the Law, as it has always been wielded, to exercise control over you: "You must do what I say you must do, because of this verse!" This is part of "the curse of the Law." And implicit in it is "If you don't do what I say, you're guilty!" and this is the rest of "the curse of the Law."
Let's look a little closer, shall we, at what Jesus said? Jesus doesn't say, "If you love me, keep all the commands of the Law," or even "If you love me, keep this particular group of the Law's commands."
What does he say? "Keep MY commandments." Keep the commandments that Jesus has given. Not the commandments of the Law: the commandments of Jesus!
What did Jesus command? Let's pull out a concordance and look, shall we?
Jhn 13:34
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Jhn 15:12
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Jhn 15:17
This is my command: Love each other.
You're welcome to look it up yourself (http://nwp.link/1HpK278); these are actually the only commandments that Jesus gave. It's pretty clear that, while he has commanded it several times, he only gave one command: love each other.
So yeah: if you love Jesus, keep the commandments he gave: they're all about love each other. That's it. This isn't about obeying the law, or about religious traditions, or about dietary requirements or even a command to "do good works."
It's about loving each other.
It probably is appropriate to point out that love - true ἀγαπάω love - is a pretty big topic. It's all about pursuing their good over your own good, and that's a costly love that will itself require much of us. But the command is love; the command is not about submitting to the Law, either the Old Covenant Law, or the rules that someone is trying to control you with.
Brothers and sisters, the Law is dead. Long live the command of love.
The verse is thrown out as a prooftext: "You have to follow the commands of God!" though nobody's expected to follow all the commands: they don't promote blood sacrifices or stoning sinners. It's just an attempt to coerce believers into submitting to their own favorite part of the Law.
This is an attempt at control: whether from ignorance or malevolence, this is an attempt to wield the Law, as it has always been wielded, to exercise control over you: "You must do what I say you must do, because of this verse!" This is part of "the curse of the Law." And implicit in it is "If you don't do what I say, you're guilty!" and this is the rest of "the curse of the Law."
Let's look a little closer, shall we, at what Jesus said? Jesus doesn't say, "If you love me, keep all the commands of the Law," or even "If you love me, keep this particular group of the Law's commands."
What does he say? "Keep MY commandments." Keep the commandments that Jesus has given. Not the commandments of the Law: the commandments of Jesus!
What did Jesus command? Let's pull out a concordance and look, shall we?
Jhn 13:34
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Jhn 15:12
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Jhn 15:17
This is my command: Love each other.
You're welcome to look it up yourself (http://nwp.link/1HpK278); these are actually the only commandments that Jesus gave. It's pretty clear that, while he has commanded it several times, he only gave one command: love each other.
So yeah: if you love Jesus, keep the commandments he gave: they're all about love each other. That's it. This isn't about obeying the law, or about religious traditions, or about dietary requirements or even a command to "do good works."
It's about loving each other.
It probably is appropriate to point out that love - true ἀγαπάω love - is a pretty big topic. It's all about pursuing their good over your own good, and that's a costly love that will itself require much of us. But the command is love; the command is not about submitting to the Law, either the Old Covenant Law, or the rules that someone is trying to control you with.
Brothers and sisters, the Law is dead. Long live the command of love.
Changing Our Focus in Corporate Worship
May I be blunt?
Some among us need to be less concerned about singing the lyrics on the screen, and more concerned about giving voice to the words welling up from inside them.
I was taking a young lady shopping, and she needed to visit some beauty supply shops. You may not suspect this, but I don’t often find myself looking forward to reasons to visit beauty supply shops. So I parked outside and took a nap.
In my five-minute nap, I dreamed, and God met me and spoke to me in the dream. He talked about some people among the Body whom He called “psalmists.” Yeah, I know it’s not the normal way we use the word.
I’m sure there are other definitions, but in this dream, a psalmist was someone whose worship is best when they’re using their own words, not when they’re singing words – even “anointed” words – written by other people with other histories with God.
I could hear Father’s concern for his children who are this kind of psalmist. It seemed to me that this wasn’t something that we were ready to hear before, but now it’s time, and he said,
“Some among us need to be less concerned about singing the lyrics on the screen, and more concerned about giving voice to the words welling up from inside them.”
May I encourage you: worship with the words that are in YOUR heart. If the words on the screen communicate what’s in your heart, great! Use the words on the screen.
But if those words don’t reflect your heart, then don’t use them. Don’t make a scene, but use the words that speak for your heart, even if they’re words that nobody else is using.
Worship isn’t about conformity, is it? It’s about connecting with – it’s about exalting – the King of Heaven with our whole heart, soul and strength. Use the words that do that for you.
Some among us need to be less concerned about singing the lyrics on the screen, and more concerned about giving voice to the words welling up from inside them.
I was taking a young lady shopping, and she needed to visit some beauty supply shops. You may not suspect this, but I don’t often find myself looking forward to reasons to visit beauty supply shops. So I parked outside and took a nap.
In my five-minute nap, I dreamed, and God met me and spoke to me in the dream. He talked about some people among the Body whom He called “psalmists.” Yeah, I know it’s not the normal way we use the word.
I’m sure there are other definitions, but in this dream, a psalmist was someone whose worship is best when they’re using their own words, not when they’re singing words – even “anointed” words – written by other people with other histories with God.
I could hear Father’s concern for his children who are this kind of psalmist. It seemed to me that this wasn’t something that we were ready to hear before, but now it’s time, and he said,
“Some among us need to be less concerned about singing the lyrics on the screen, and more concerned about giving voice to the words welling up from inside them.”
May I encourage you: worship with the words that are in YOUR heart. If the words on the screen communicate what’s in your heart, great! Use the words on the screen.
But if those words don’t reflect your heart, then don’t use them. Don’t make a scene, but use the words that speak for your heart, even if they’re words that nobody else is using.
Worship isn’t about conformity, is it? It’s about connecting with – it’s about exalting – the King of Heaven with our whole heart, soul and strength. Use the words that do that for you.
Avoid Evil, not the Appearance of Evil
The Bible doesn’t
actually tell us to avoid every appearance of evil.
First Thessalonians 5:22 says to avoid
evil, not the stuff that looks like it might be evil. We avoid the evil itself.
Yeah, the
translation from 400 years ago (King James) mis-translates yet another passage. The language today
is different than it was in 1611; the words mean different things nowadays. (This is why I cannot trust any teaching that relies on the KJV to support it.) This is one place where that change makes a difference.
Four hundred years
ago, “every appearance” was kind of like “every kind” of evil. Our instruction
is to avoid evil stuff. Avoid evil when it appears: avoid the appearance of
evil: avoid every appearance of the evil.
And that’s how EVERY
other
major English translation of the Bible presents this: “Reject every kind of
evil,” (NIV) or “Abstain from every form of evil” (NKJV and NASB). Even the
King James usually
translates this word “shape.” “Avoid every shape of evil.”
We’re called to
avoid evil. The call is not to avoid anything that looks like it might be
considered as evil by somebody. Don’t be fussing about stuff that might look
bad. Don’t be fussing about your reputation.
Jesus surely didn’t. He hung out with porn stars and filthy rich tax thieves and the most unacceptable people of his day. He went out of his way to connect with Zacchaeus the tax collector and all his tax-collector friends.
Jesus surely didn’t. He hung out with porn stars and filthy rich tax thieves and the most unacceptable people of his day. He went out of his way to connect with Zacchaeus the tax collector and all his tax-collector friends.
He wasn’t afraid to
have a rich hooker spend thousands of dollars worth of perfume that she massaged
into his bare feet, wiping them with her prostitute hair and kissing him all
over his feet. When she was done, he smelled very much like a hooker, and
he defended her actions!
Jesus avoided evil.
He never sinned. But he spent so much of his time with the sinners that offended
the “good Christians” of the day, that his reputation was “The Son of Man has
come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” Jesus had a reputation as a
party-goer.
That’s our call: to
bring life to those people. These are
the people who need what we’re carrying!
Our call is NOT to avoid the
appearance of evil and hang around with the good people. Church kids surely don’t
need the grace that we’re carrying quite so much as the untouchable people who
are caught in their sin.
That’s why he said, “Go
ye, into all the world!” Because it’s all
the world that needs what we’re carrying.
Why Believers are Questioning Belief Traditional Views of Hell
All across the church, the move away from the
doctrine of hell as "Eternal Conscious Torment" ("ECT") is pretty consistent: many thinking believers are abandoning that doctrine as inconsistent with the character of
Christ (who, after all, is the judge of the living and the dead).
This is the idea that God commands you to love him,
and if you don’t he’ll throw you in a place of eternal torment, where you’ll be
perpetually tortured for eternity. It’s what many Christians have been taught
their whole life.
Frankly, most of the teaching I personally have heard on the ECT front
has its foundation more in the writings of a Catholic monk from the dark ages
than from the Bible (Dante’s Inferno,from The Divine Comedy). It’s really quite inconsistent with the
glimpses that Scripture reveals of the afterlife, and it’s completely inconsistent with a God
who loves us enough to die in our place.
But it preaches well in "evangelistic" sermons, which is why I suspect it has held on for so long.
But regardless of why people are abandoning the ECT
doctrine, what they're moving to is far less consistent.
Some whom I respect are landing on the idea of
"Conditional Immortality." Those that don’t enter Heaven are just
un-made; this view is also referred to as Annihilationism. Some think that they are unmade immediately; many believe that they are unmade after a period of punishment in "hell." There’s good evidence to support
this, though that’s beyond the scope this article.
Others, whom I also respect, are seeing an extended time
frame, and calling it "Ultimate Reconciliation." These folks do not question that hell exists or that some people are sent there. but they consider that the omnipotent
God who loved them in life enough to be murdered on their behalf won’t actually stop
loving his haters just because they die, and He won’t stop wooing them throughout
eternity, even in hell. There is good evidence to support this idea as well.
There are other landing spots, but those are the two
primary ones.
I'm not aware of anybody landing on basic Universalism: a free pass for everyone, regardless of what they did or believed in life! Frankly, most of
those who speak up about rejecting Eternal Conscious Torment are accused of Universalism, sooner or later, by some of the people who are NOT leaving ECT behind.
A word of counsel: Don’t let people tell you that if you reject the idea that
the lover of your soul is in league with demonic torturers then you therefore must be a Universalist.
That’s just silly! Remind them that God is love, and that Jesus is perfect
theology.
Many others, among whom I am numbered, haven't landed
anywhere yet. We don’t actually know what the reality is on this topic, and we’re
aware that there’s far less instruction in Scripture to inform us than we wish
there was.
We're saying, "Yeah, Eternal Conscious
Torment clearly can't be the long-term plan of a loving God, but I'm not sure what hell actually is." I suppose you
could say that we're focusing more on heaven than on answering this (important)
question. I’m not going to hell, and the people I’m leading aren’t going there.
Let’s focus more on where we ARE going?
Yeah, it’s unbalanced, but that’s where a lot of folks are right now: questioning the things we were taught without trying to pretend we have all the answers.
It's actually OK to not have all the answers yet.
It's actually OK to not have all the answers yet.
--
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Considering Covenants
The Bible makes it abundantly clear. We are no longer bound
by the Old Covenant.
For example, in Hebrews 8, the author argues forcefully and
at length that the Old Covenant has been replaced.
“In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete.
Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
(Hebrews 8:13)
Let’s be clear about it: the Old Covenant was rendered
obsolete when Jesus established the New Covenant in his blood, not long before
he spilled that blood for us. And within a generation, the last vestiges of
that Old Covenant were gone, not one stone left upon another, all records
destroyed, so that there could never be another temple.
The reason that the Old Covenant is gone is because it was
obsolete. It was a bloody failure anyway. God originally offered the family of
Jacob (also known as Israel )
a covenant a "kingdom of priests
and a holy nation”" covenant (Exodus 19:6), but Israel turned down that covenant.
Instead, they proposed the priesthood covenant (Exodus
20:19), which they could not keep even long enough for Moses to walk down the
mountain with the terms of the covenant they had insisted on. And the rest of
the Old Testament serves as a dreary testimony to how thoroughly and how deeply
Israel
continued to fail in covenant with Father.
There’s a lesson here, I think: Humankind does not excel at
keeping divine covenants.
But when we are in Christ, and Christ is in covenant with
Father, then I don’t have to rely on MY capacity for perfection to keep my
covenant intact. And since the New Covenant is not with a nation, then I don’t
have to rely on YOUR capacity for perfection to keep MY covenant intact.
It is the amazing faithfulness of the amazing Son of God who
keeps covenant on our behalf. And I am included in that covenant because I am
in Him.
And while I made a conscious choice to be in Him, it is not
my excellence at keeping that choice that keeps me in Him. Even while I am in
Him, He is simultaneously in me, and he is indeed excellent at keeping me.
I choose to stay in Him, not because I signed some covenant
agreement, and not because of the threat that he may not love me if I muff up.
I choose to stay in Him because He is the very best thing
that’s ever happened to me, and because I am completely, madly, hopelessly in
love. And you know what keeps me in love with Him? He is completely, madly,
hopelessly in love with me!
Wow!
--
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Becoming Overcomers.
One of the most distasteful spirits is the Religious
Entitlement spirit: it is the one that insists that everything we say or
everything we write must be sanitized for the least mature person who might be
listening. It’s the same Politically Correct spirit, but on Religion.
I don’t love this demon.
It’s why so many churches have replaced wine in Communion
with grape juice: so that some recovering alcoholic doesn’t fall of the wagon
during the Lord’s supper.
Here’s the problem: we’ve taken responsibility for that
person’s sobriety away from them, and we’ve made it OUR responsibility: WE must
avoid wine in order that THEY won’t stumble. And in the process, we’ve made a
substitution in the instructions the Son of God gave, and required that every
person in our midst must submit to this religious compromise!
And when we discuss the idea that Holy Spirit sometimes
speaks about things that are not actually found in the pages of Scripture, we’ll
get several people jumping up and railing against it, not because of what was
said (that part is ignored, generally), but because someone might stumble and think
less of The Bible.
The problem is the: we’ve taken responsibility for that
person’s maturity away from them, and we’ve made it OUR responsibility: WE must
avoid mature topics in order that THEY won’t stumble! And in the process, we’ve
eliminated any controversial topics, or any topics where someone might disagree
with me, from the curriculum: and we’ve required that every person in our midst
must submit to this lowest, safest, common-denominator pablum.
In the pages of Holy Writ, these elementary, rookie-safe,
simple (and often simplistic) teachings are called “milk.” By contrast, the
teachings that we need to chew and digest for ourselves, teachings that stretch
us and make us think are called “meat” in the King James, or “solid food” in
the modern translations. The word is “τροφή” (“trophe”) and Vine’s Expository
Dictionary defines it as “deeper subjects of the faith than that of elementary
instruction.”
How in Heaven’s name will we learn to be “Overcomers” if we
are never faced with something to overcome?
***We pause five seconds for the obligatory warning: Yes,
scripture says to guard against causing a brother – an individual – to stumble *in*the*context*of*personal*relationships*.
I’m not speaking of that.***
In the context of the whole community, Scripture is rather specific: focusing on milk is a failure. We must grow up. We must eat meat, too.
In the context of the whole community, Scripture is rather specific: focusing on milk is a failure. We must grow up. We must eat meat, too.
Paul, in 2Corinthians 3, rebukes the immature Corinthians
pretty bluntly: “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready
for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.” Note that
those who still need milk: well it’s the apostle Paul’s judgment that they are
worldly. Apparently (and this is an inference), the way to get beyond
worldliness is to teach people how to eat meat and then to give them meat to
eat.
Hebrews 5 emphasizes it this way: “In fact, though by this
time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary
truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” and
follows up with “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and
go on to maturity.”
That’s something of a scathing rebuke, but he gives the
answer to this failure: “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use
have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” The author declares
that the way believers become mature is by training THEMSELVES to distinguish
good from evil. Their maturity is THEIR responsibility. Not mine. Not yours.
Except in the case of the child who still poops in their
diapers, it is never in anyone’s best interests for others to take
responsibility for their choices. And in truth, it is never in anyone’s best
interests to condemn an immature person to pooping in their diapers for the
rest of their lives. Bigger and better diapers are not actually the goal of the
Body of Christ.
When we take responsibility for others (“We can’t say that;
someone immature might misunderstand!”), we’re condemning immature believers to
immaturity! Their immaturity becomes OUR fault, and I suspect we will be
required to give answer for it, when we get to that Day. Yikes.
Brothers and sisters, the Word of God is calling us beyond
the safe “milk” topics. I intend to go there as I hear my Father bringing those
topics up.
You are warned: I will occasionally speak about things that
are more “meat” than “milk” and I will not try to translate every time. And
because I am still learning here (News Flash: I do NOT have all the answers!),
therefore sometimes I’ll miss it, too. Sometimes, I’ll explore a path that
doesn’t go anywhere. Sometimes I’ll explore un-safe topics. Sometimes, I’ll ask
hard questions, and sometimes I’ll probably get some answers wrong. Sorry.
That’s why you need to train yourself to distinguish good
from evil: it’s YOUR job, not mine.
If you don’t want to hear these things, I invite you to go
somewhere safe. This place will not be safe for you. If you need to be
protected from ever being offended, I suggest you to unfriend me now, and find
safer paths to travel. I make no promise of this being a safe place.
If you want to train yourselves to distinguish good from
evil, feel free to join in the conversation here. I will never steer us in an
unsafe direction on purpose, but I’ll bet you a shiny silver dime that I won’t
get it right every single time. And there will be topics that come up here that
are often not sanitized for immature minds. Occasionally, I will state opinions
(sometimes intentionally) that will not pass the religious censors’ strict
standards.
But it’s the less-safe paths that lead to the really interesting destinations anyway.
But it’s the less-safe paths that lead to the really interesting destinations anyway.
The Word of God is calling us. The Spirit of God is calling
us! Let’s go off the map. Let’s press on to take hold of that for
which Christ Jesus took hold of us!
--
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True Confessions: It's Not What You Think
I have a confession to make. I’ve been leading you astray. I’ve deceived you.
Let me explain.
I write, from time to time, about some of the interesting interactions that I’ve had with God, and about some of the interesting things I’ve discovered as I walk with him.
And that’s where the deception comes in.
I only write about the interesting stuff. I don’t write about the days and days of nothing in particular going on, because there’d be nothing to write.
Let me explain.
I’m a married man. More specifically, I’m a happily married man. Sometimes, Milady & I will spend the whole evening together in the same room, her reading, me writing, neither of us saying a thing. We’re just happy to be in each other’s presence. Seriously, I was in tears the other day, just thinking about growing old with her. It makes me really happy.
When I’m working in my garden, I can really often feel Father’s presence like that: quietly together. He’s taught me quite a lot there: how to transplant tiny seedlings, how to get more produce from a tiny garden, how to nurture the tender plants, and how, if I get the basics done well, the weeds won’t really be an issue.
I’m also a working man. And I gotta say that it’s not real often (though it does happen) that God speaks into the technical details of a project that I’m working on. And even when he does, I don’t write about it, because most of the story is about tweaky nerdly stuff that nobody outside my field is interested in. God showing me the right path to take a big bus through a crowded parking lot, or the best way to make these particular gears fit properly in a watch: this is not the stuff of interesting articles of faith and maturity.
But it is the stuff of real relationship with God.
I’m convinced that the best part of my relationship with God is not the amazing encounters or the awesome revelations or the impressive miracles. Yeah, those are fine, and I’ll not complain about them (this is a good place to say, “More Lord!” I think).
It’s like a good marriage: I love the times we get to go out to dinner, or where we host a barbecue for some friends, times of intimacy together. But the real strength of the marriage doesn’t come from those: it comes from the quiet, daily, almost ritual times together. We don’t have to talk about who’s turn it is to empty the dishwasher or take out the garbage or cook dinner, because we’re together.
And a love relationship with the Creator of the Universe is actually pretty similar: The fancy dinners are great, but quiet times of everyday life are where the real life & health come from.
So I apologize if I’ve left you with the impression that life in God is not all cool revelations and glorious highlights. Those happen, and they’re fun and all. But the day to day time together, not even really needing to form words: those are the places where the treasure’s found.
And those don’t make good stories to write about.
Let me explain.
I write, from time to time, about some of the interesting interactions that I’ve had with God, and about some of the interesting things I’ve discovered as I walk with him.
And that’s where the deception comes in.
I only write about the interesting stuff. I don’t write about the days and days of nothing in particular going on, because there’d be nothing to write.
Let me explain.
I’m a married man. More specifically, I’m a happily married man. Sometimes, Milady & I will spend the whole evening together in the same room, her reading, me writing, neither of us saying a thing. We’re just happy to be in each other’s presence. Seriously, I was in tears the other day, just thinking about growing old with her. It makes me really happy.
When I’m working in my garden, I can really often feel Father’s presence like that: quietly together. He’s taught me quite a lot there: how to transplant tiny seedlings, how to get more produce from a tiny garden, how to nurture the tender plants, and how, if I get the basics done well, the weeds won’t really be an issue.
I’m also a working man. And I gotta say that it’s not real often (though it does happen) that God speaks into the technical details of a project that I’m working on. And even when he does, I don’t write about it, because most of the story is about tweaky nerdly stuff that nobody outside my field is interested in. God showing me the right path to take a big bus through a crowded parking lot, or the best way to make these particular gears fit properly in a watch: this is not the stuff of interesting articles of faith and maturity.
But it is the stuff of real relationship with God.
I’m convinced that the best part of my relationship with God is not the amazing encounters or the awesome revelations or the impressive miracles. Yeah, those are fine, and I’ll not complain about them (this is a good place to say, “More Lord!” I think).
It’s like a good marriage: I love the times we get to go out to dinner, or where we host a barbecue for some friends, times of intimacy together. But the real strength of the marriage doesn’t come from those: it comes from the quiet, daily, almost ritual times together. We don’t have to talk about who’s turn it is to empty the dishwasher or take out the garbage or cook dinner, because we’re together.
And a love relationship with the Creator of the Universe is actually pretty similar: The fancy dinners are great, but quiet times of everyday life are where the real life & health come from.
So I apologize if I’ve left you with the impression that life in God is not all cool revelations and glorious highlights. Those happen, and they’re fun and all. But the day to day time together, not even really needing to form words: those are the places where the treasure’s found.
And those don’t make good stories to write about.
--
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False Teaching, or False Signs
The New Testament speaks time and time again about false
doctrine, false teaching, false shepherds. We don’t really pay a whole lot of
attention (as a larger community) to these issues, which the Bible emphasizes
pretty heavily.
The Book mentions “false signs and wonders” only ONCE, but that’s
the thing that gets the attention. And the definition has been expanded: “If
you experience _____ during your intimate times with God, that’s a false sign!
It’s of the devil!”
The false teachers that those apostles were warning us about
had one thing in common: they wanted to add some form of “works” to the message
of grace. It came in various forms:
§
“Obey the Law!” (Or “Obey this part of the law.”)
or
§
“Don’t eat meat!” (or some other dietary
restriction) or
§
“Respect these Jewish holidays!” (or “…these new
[age] holidays”) or
§
“Don’t drink alcohol!”
Fundamentally, the false things that the New Testament
writers were warning us about generally were limitations to the freedoms that Jesus
brings his people into! It was exactly this context into which Paul writes, “do
not submit again to a yoke of slavery!” and he goes on in that context to say, “I
wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.” (See
Galatians 5; it’s really quite graphic.)
This was the greatest danger to the new Church, and the one
that so much of the New Testament epistles were specifically written to combat:
that there would be people come into the congregations (called “savage wolves”
in Acts 20:29) who would want to draw people away our freedom in Christ.
By contrast, we have very large numbers of congregations,
where the leaders teach their favorite part of the Law (note that I did not mention
tithing!), or about all restrictions about what good Christians should or shouldn’t do.
Often, they preach an even more restrictive law to their leaders.
And many of them are warning their followers against what
they’re calling “false signs and wonders,” but is really just brothers &
sisters getting free.
Freedom. What a wonderful thing when we experience it. It’s jumping and dancing and celebrating; it’s shaking
and falling over and being rocked by love; it's worshipping with abandon; it’s healing the sick and casting
out demons; it’s falling in love with the person of Jesus.
This is what we were
made for! This is exactly why God said, “Let us make man!”: we were made for relationship!
We're warned against these things, as if they were “false signs.” Nah. It's just freedom. And freedom is our goal.
I don’t understand why
this is sticking in my spirit so strongly today. Perhaps someone needs “permission”
to hunger for God (if it matters, you have permission!). Maybe you’re asking why all the “Do
this, don’t do that” rules are not fitting you well. This would be why: they ’re not for you!
It’s easy: It is for freedom that Christ has set you free! Do
not submit again to a yoke of slavery!
And maybe let me know if I was writing for you today?
--
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Who Is Your Comforter?
I have it on good authority that someone very competent
already occupies the position of “Comforter” in your life (John 14:26). Holy
Spirit is a remarkably competent comforter, and he is capable of doing a
magnificent job of it.
Now, if you try to bring someone else in to fill that
position in your life, there’ll be trouble. You will have invoked the threat of
Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
If I go to a prophet, or to a pastor, or to a friend with
the intent of getting from them what I should have received from “The
Comforter,” then I’ve caused a real problem. I have endangered that prophet,
that pastor, that friend. I have set them up “before God” in my life, and God
himself promises that he will not permit that.
If you look at how God handled “other gods” in scripture,
you’ll see it wasn’t pretty, not ever. You might review the story of Dagon in 1 Samuel 5.
Men set gods up; God knocks them down.
I do not wish to ever be put in that place, where I am
“before God” in someone’s life. Frankly, I’ve had to learn this the hard
way.
If you come to me asking for comfort, I may pat your hand,
and say, “There, there!” or if you ask for advice, I may offer some (typically,
too much, but that’s a guy thing). I'm figuring out how to mourn with those who
mourn.
But if I feel that I’m being asked to provide for you what
Holy Spirit should be providing, to speak into your life instead of your
listening for Holy Spirit to speak, then I will probably point you back to him.
(It’s ironic that people are so often offended at me for
pointing them to God. I haven’t figured that one out.)
And if you come to me and say, “God’s not talking to me.
Would you give me a word?” you may see me run screaming.
You might be thinking, “If I can’t get it from God, I’ll go
somewhere that I can get the word I want.” But I hear it as, “The God I’ve had
isn’t living up to my expectations; I’m going to replace him with you.”
Nuh-uh! No you’re not. I’m sorry (on multiple levels) if this
offends you, but I will not take the place of God in your life. I've seen what
happens to other gods in the lives of God's people. No thank you!
The job of the pastor, and the prophet (and the rest of the ascension
gifts!) is to equip the saints! If you’re a saint, then pastors should be
equipping you for works of ministry, teachers should be equipping you or works
of ministry, prophets should be equipping you for works of ministry, etc.
If ever we ask them to do for us what God should be doing
for us, we have seriously erred, and we have tempted them towards something
that (in my opinion) should scare the daylights out of them.
Let’s not go there, m’kay?
--
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The Message We Preach
If
the message declared to you makes you feel unworthy, alone, then whatever is
being preached, whoever is preaching the message, it’s not the Good News. (This
is hard for me to acknowledge, because for years, this is the only gospel I
heard, the only gospel I knew to preach.)
Never
once did Jesus preach, “You’re a sinner, and you’re going to hell if you don’t
repent!” Never once did Paul or any other apostle use condemnation or the
threat of hell to convince people of the goodness of a loving God.
If
the focus is on sin, then (by definition) the focus is not on Jesus, and that’s
a problem. It’s a problem, because it’s in defiance of scripture (Hebrews
12:2). It’s a problem because it makes sin the center of our conversation. It’s
a problem because what we focus on becomes how we live.
But
mostly it’s a problem, because it takes the attention away from the only One
who really deserves the attention, the One who’s been dying (literally) to know
us, who has been patiently waiting to demonstrate his love to us.
Whatever
that is, it’s not the gospel that Jesus preached, that Paul preached.
--
Consider this:
“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than
what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” ~Galatians 1:8
--
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The Cleaning Lady
The Cleaning Lady
I’d like to tell you the story of a friend of mine, whom
I’ll call Chantelle.
Chantelle had just found a roommate and a nice apartment,
and they were in the early stages of moving in, when she called me. “I’d like
your help in praying over our apartment before we move in.” She and I had dealt
with some things together before, and she understood that teamwork is valuable.
So we began to pray. We prayed over the kitchen, the dining
room, the living room, and declared the destiny we heard Father speaking about
for the rooms and their activity. During the prayer time, I slipped away, and
tossed a large handful of Dove’s chocolates into her empty room, just so she’s
find a nice surprise.
When we finished praying about the public rooms, we headed
down the hallway, and we both felt something strange, an unhealthy, unclean
presence back there, and we both felt it at the same point, right as the
hallway turned the corner.
Cool! A teachable moment! So we discussed it, discussed what
it felt like, and I proposed that we check the back rooms individually for more
sense of it.
We checked her room first, and there was no sense of that
particular darkness, but there were wrapped dark chocolates scattered on the
floor. She laughed and picked up a couple of them, and we agreed that this room
wasn’t the source for the sense of the unclean that we felt. She offered me a
chocolate and we moved on.
We prayed over the bathroom, blessed it, and ruled it out as
a source of darkness, and moved on, while she nibbled her chocolate.
The roommate’s room. As Chantelle opened her roommate’s
door, we felt the unclean darkness inside. “Aha! I suspect we’ve found a clue!”
The roommate wasn’t home, of course; she wasn’t a believer, and wouldn’t
understand what we were doing. In fact, there was just a small stack of boxes
in the middle of the room.
We discussed the situation. We both sensed that there was
uncleanness on the walls, though they appeared a clean white to our eyes.
Chantelle stepped into the room, spiritual senses wide open, looking to sense
where the unclean stuff was coming from. The closet? Nope. The window? Nope?
This place where the bed obviously went? Nope.
That left the boxes in the middle of the room. They were
just moving boxes, and only two or three of them; they looked innocuous enough.
She popped the last of the chocolate in her mouth and touched the top box.
Bingo! This is where the darkness came from! As we talked about the source of
the presence, she straightened out the foil that had wrapped her chocolate, and
read the quote it contained: “You are exactly where you are supposed to be.” We
laughed!
We didn’t get into the boxes; they weren’t our property, but
we felt the need to address the darkness, particularly, the darkness clinging to
the walls. So we prayed that it would be removed. Nothing happened. We
commanded it to leave. Nothing. We prophesied blessing on the room and its
future. Nada.
I had an idea. “Chantelle, why don’t you ask Father for the
right weapon to remove the darkness?” She gave me a funny look, but we’d done
stranger things than this together. She prayed, and I could see from the look
on her face that she’d seen Him give her something.
“What is it? What did he give you?” She scowled. “A
washrag.” We laughed some more.
But she began to wield the washrag that she saw in the
Spirit against the darkness. In reality, she began to wash the walls with it,
and it was the first time that we saw the darkness give way, though it was a
fight.
After a few minutes, we recognized that this was going to
take all night, and I couldn’t help her, as I was still standing in the hallway
(out of respect for someone else’s room).
Another thought presented itself. “I wonder if that washrag
is for you to wield, or if it’s for someone else?” We prayed. “An angel is to
wield it.” “OK. Why don’t you invite that angel in?” She did, and she laughed.
“What do you see?” “A cleaning lady!” We laughed some more.
So Chantelle handed the washrag to the cleaning lady angel,
and invited her to wield the weapon. Immediately, she began washing the walls,
and by the time Chantelle had reached the door to the room, the first wall was
halfway clean; we could both feel the darkness lifting. That was better! We
blessed the cleaning lady, and invited her to stay. It seemed to us that her
assignment was the back of the apartment, particularly the hallway and the
bedrooms.
We felt the freedom to invite a couple other angles to the
house. A big armed one was stationed outside the downstairs entrance, and Chantelle
assigned another, whom she named Cheese Grater Guy, to the front door, to
remove any “Klingons” from guests to the home.
When we left, we looked back at the bedroom windows, and we
both discerned what appeared to be a cleaning lady waving happily to us from
the roommate’s window. We laughed and waved back.
The really fun part of the story came weeks later, when the
roommate cautiously reported that she “could feel a presence” in the back
hallway. Chantelle replied, “Yep, and she’s staying here! We’re not going to
get rid of that one!”
And the cleaning lady likes cats. Both Chantelle and the
roommate had pet cats, kittens, really, who loved to play with them. But from
time to time, both women could see the cats in the hallway, playing with someone
they couldn’t see with their natural eyes.
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