Monday, January 10, 2011
Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire
I just discovered something very profound: before we fuss about all the jazz of how a church should look we really need to stop and ask about the Prayer Life of the church members. If you want to become convicted about prayer read Jim Cymbala's book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. This book is a real wake up call. Sure I think there are ways to do church better, care for people better, etc... but "Unless God builds the house they labor in vain that build it." How about we just shut up I mean quit talking about all the right ways to do church and get our prayer lives straightened out. I have a feeling that if we really became connected to God "church" would happen by itself. What's that little Piper quote? Something about, "Mission organizations are necessary because true worship so seldom happens." Another good quote: "If you pray because you ought, your prayer life will soon lack motivation; but if you pray because you must you will constantly be praying." "God, please help us to see reality, to really see our need and to quit wasting all of our time trying to become self-sufficient."
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Ministry of Reconciliation:
The purpose of the church:
I believe one of Christ's primary desires for the church is to be a place where people can come and experience community while being nurtured and motivated to a deeper walk with Christ. Jesus Christ modeled this community by calling 12 disciples and building a community of service, devotion, and teaching. After receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost these disciples dispersed and began building communities throughout the nation of Israel and Asia minor. And so the church age began, based on the fundamental concept of fellowship within community. "They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity-all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved." (Acts 2:46,47).
Humans were created for relationship and community. This concept comes from the very nature of who God is as displayed in the trinity (a community of three persons who are one). From this nature of God comes a desire within us who bear His image for a community with other people with whom we can be likeminded. This individuality which bears oneness is a mark of who God is and what he has called the church to. "Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all." (Eph. 4:3-6).
How is this oneness actually accomplished? I find that in community after community people are excited about helping new people become a part of their team. There is an excitement as new personalities and new talents are added to a team. Sooner or later (not to be a doomsayer but....) an individual comes along who seems to grind against the oneness of team life. Maybe this individual is more of a taker than a giver. Maybe they embarrass us or invade our comfort zones. Maybe their influence carries our team in a direction that gives us concern or violates our convictions. What is the Christians role in these situations?
The prototype for the restoration of oneness to a community is found in God's example of reconciling us to himself after we had been cut off. "A new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead,"Come back to God!" For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Cor. 5:17b-21).
Fundamentally the breakdown of oneness in a community is because of sin. Ever since the fall of Satan sin has caused separation of oneness. It happened in the Garden of Eden and it has been happening ever since. As soon as sin enters a community oneness becomes division and discord instead of the unity that God intended. This sin can come from two places: our sin and the sin of others around us.
Our sin: When we are hanging onto things that God intends for us to let go (rights, pride, jealousy) we will soon be working against the people we are supposed to partner with and oneness is broken. Whenever there is a breakdown of unity we must carefully examine our own hearts and repent of the sin that God reveals to us. Only then after we have removed our own beam can we have any part in helping to remove someone else's splinter (See Matt. 7). We must be filled with God's life giving water in order to have the grace to lay ourselves down for the team in a way that brings oneness.
Others sin: When others on our team do not have God's life giving water flowing out of them they will also lack the grace to give to the team. I believe that one of the primary reasons "misfits" have trouble feeling a part of a community is because they lack the ability to serve the team. Proverbs 18:24 (KJV) says, "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly." The selfishness of others and their inability to exemplify Christ's nature can tear down the team as well.
Many people lack the ability to give to others because their own emotional and spiritual cup is not filled and overflowing with God's grace. The first step as we build our teams must be to draw people to a passionate life giving relationship with Christ that is beyond just knowing God. We must call people to a relationship with God to the point that they are filled with the Holy Spirit and bearing the Spirit's fruit (love, joy, peace) in their lives. For so long we have put up with nominal Christianity. Nominal Christianity is essentially non-Christianity. It is totally powerless in changing our world. It stinks of apathy, discouragement, and discord when displayed in our communities.
In the end it all comes back to us because we cannot call people to something that we know nothing about. A community of oneness must be based upon individuals who have a "fresh bubbling spring within them." (John 4:14) and allow this spring to flow to others. This spring is contagious. True oneness within the community is found when our bubbling spring flows out to others and causes them to become a bubbling spring. As these bubbling springs flow together they become a river that of healing for the needy world around us. As long as we cut off the "misfits" that God has placed around us and protect ourselves from the baggage that these people bring our communities will only reach a superficial level of oneness instead of becoming the place that God so desires. A place for the needy to find Him and experience for themselves the bubbling spring of eternal life. A community that changes the world and makes passers-by take note that these people have been with Jesus.
I believe one of Christ's primary desires for the church is to be a place where people can come and experience community while being nurtured and motivated to a deeper walk with Christ. Jesus Christ modeled this community by calling 12 disciples and building a community of service, devotion, and teaching. After receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost these disciples dispersed and began building communities throughout the nation of Israel and Asia minor. And so the church age began, based on the fundamental concept of fellowship within community. "They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity-all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved." (Acts 2:46,47).
Humans were created for relationship and community. This concept comes from the very nature of who God is as displayed in the trinity (a community of three persons who are one). From this nature of God comes a desire within us who bear His image for a community with other people with whom we can be likeminded. This individuality which bears oneness is a mark of who God is and what he has called the church to. "Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all." (Eph. 4:3-6).
How is this oneness actually accomplished? I find that in community after community people are excited about helping new people become a part of their team. There is an excitement as new personalities and new talents are added to a team. Sooner or later (not to be a doomsayer but....) an individual comes along who seems to grind against the oneness of team life. Maybe this individual is more of a taker than a giver. Maybe they embarrass us or invade our comfort zones. Maybe their influence carries our team in a direction that gives us concern or violates our convictions. What is the Christians role in these situations?
The prototype for the restoration of oneness to a community is found in God's example of reconciling us to himself after we had been cut off. "A new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead,"Come back to God!" For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Cor. 5:17b-21).
Fundamentally the breakdown of oneness in a community is because of sin. Ever since the fall of Satan sin has caused separation of oneness. It happened in the Garden of Eden and it has been happening ever since. As soon as sin enters a community oneness becomes division and discord instead of the unity that God intended. This sin can come from two places: our sin and the sin of others around us.
Our sin: When we are hanging onto things that God intends for us to let go (rights, pride, jealousy) we will soon be working against the people we are supposed to partner with and oneness is broken. Whenever there is a breakdown of unity we must carefully examine our own hearts and repent of the sin that God reveals to us. Only then after we have removed our own beam can we have any part in helping to remove someone else's splinter (See Matt. 7). We must be filled with God's life giving water in order to have the grace to lay ourselves down for the team in a way that brings oneness.
Others sin: When others on our team do not have God's life giving water flowing out of them they will also lack the grace to give to the team. I believe that one of the primary reasons "misfits" have trouble feeling a part of a community is because they lack the ability to serve the team. Proverbs 18:24 (KJV) says, "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly." The selfishness of others and their inability to exemplify Christ's nature can tear down the team as well.
Many people lack the ability to give to others because their own emotional and spiritual cup is not filled and overflowing with God's grace. The first step as we build our teams must be to draw people to a passionate life giving relationship with Christ that is beyond just knowing God. We must call people to a relationship with God to the point that they are filled with the Holy Spirit and bearing the Spirit's fruit (love, joy, peace) in their lives. For so long we have put up with nominal Christianity. Nominal Christianity is essentially non-Christianity. It is totally powerless in changing our world. It stinks of apathy, discouragement, and discord when displayed in our communities.
In the end it all comes back to us because we cannot call people to something that we know nothing about. A community of oneness must be based upon individuals who have a "fresh bubbling spring within them." (John 4:14) and allow this spring to flow to others. This spring is contagious. True oneness within the community is found when our bubbling spring flows out to others and causes them to become a bubbling spring. As these bubbling springs flow together they become a river that of healing for the needy world around us. As long as we cut off the "misfits" that God has placed around us and protect ourselves from the baggage that these people bring our communities will only reach a superficial level of oneness instead of becoming the place that God so desires. A place for the needy to find Him and experience for themselves the bubbling spring of eternal life. A community that changes the world and makes passers-by take note that these people have been with Jesus.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Hmmm--nothing new to post
Unfortunately I have no new thoughts or inspirations. This is partly because I'm very busy working my "day job" right now, which brings up one brief point: if we are going to be on fire for Christ we must stop making ourselves too busy to really hear from God and meditate on his Word. We must start getting connected to Christ so He can live inside of us and change us in a way that leaves an impact: an impact that is displayed through our lives of the miracle of God's transforming power. I have not been doing as good at this as I wish I would so rather than rambling away writing on my blog I am going to go and get connected with my Father. Maybe instead of reading this you should do the same.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Rob Bell Exposed
Sorry to throw so many videos out in one shot but if you get a chance look through these. If you watch the documentary and then the videos about Rob Bell I think it helps to show the tough task we have today in dividing truth and error. Rob Bell is a good example of someone who says some things that are so true but others that are wrong when held against scripture. I really like what Rob Bell says about pulling church movements together. I have a problem with our one friend below who makes it his calling to tear Rob Bell apart. However, how can we bring church movements together so we can be a united army while still being faithful to the truth? Is it safe to partner with people who are teaching error? Many conservative Mennonite groups have made it a point to only associate with people who believe almost exactly like themselves. Is this right? What is our role in partnering with Christians right around us (the local Christians from other denominations) while still being obedient to our walk with God?
The Emergent Church Movement Documentary on PBS
Here is a pretty good overview of what the emergent church is about and what some of their key ideas are. In many ways this is a trickle down movement where many churches may be slightly emergent or only have minor emergent tendencies but I believe it is important to be aware of what contemporary Christianity is saying so we can evaluate what ideas are currently influencing us. Many times these influences are in subtle ways which we never pick up on unless we are astutely aware of what is happening. I do not condemn the emergent church movement but I do feel they are misguided in some areas. In summary I believe the emergent church is putting their finger on a real live issue in many churches across America. However, the some of the diagnosis for the symptoms that they are exposing are a bit misguided.
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