Throughout history, from the beginning of the church of Jesus Christ till today, there has existed those who yearned for two things. One is a passionate love for Jesus Christ that puts Him far above all things in this world or the world to come. Now the Father has already raised Him to this place of course, yet it must be worked into our inner man fully and completely.
Secondly, there has been the desire that the Christ be revealed in His people, not in a man-made system created from blending into the world system, but a living expression of this risen Lord. An exact representation of Him on the earth through His people.
When a person studies church history, we who have done it and live outside the institutional church system, notice a very interesting thing. There are always these things called footnotes that mention these little-known groups of people that wanted to take things further on into Christ than they currently had. They wanted more of Christ and got it. Untold numbers lost their lives as a result of this hunger and as a result of their response to that hunger.
The reason for this bit of history is to show you that there are many similar things that numerous of these people up to this day have had in common and have built upon in continuous pursuit of the Lord.
Below is a list of the things that happened and continue to happen up until this current moment in time.
While we need to learn the things that have existed from the past, each generation needs to take things to a new level.
But first we must learn the things of the past so that we do not have to start over from the beginning.
One of the reasons this is hard is because many of those outside institutional religion were slaughtered and their literature destroyed so that there could be no rebuttals to the “official” version of what happened. Always remember one thing, history is written by the “winners.” Not the winners from God’s point-of-view, but winners in the sense of “exterminators.”
First they must exterminate then they write their version of what happened. That’s a great deal of what history is. Thankfully a lot of those who murdered these great saints, were so full of themselves that they wrote diaries and accounts of their persecutions to justify what they did. Unbelievably to this very day I hear wicked men defending the actions of these butchers in the name of protecting the church. It will be very interesting after the resurrection to see these men in the fiery light of the judgments of the Lord.
Anyway, we do have enough things to get a good idea of what the lives of these saints were like. Specifically how they lived, which is what I want to concentrate on today.
Community
One of the main things that is always mentioned is that they lived in community together. I mean in close, physical quarters. Today we would call it a neighborhood. Some even built or settled areas and lived in cities that they built. The cities basically being the church. Ever since I became a Christian I have found that for the most part, many of those outside the church system do the same thing today.
I have lived and worked among a number of churches outside the system and each one had the desire to live close to one another.
Centrality of Christ
Another thing that always was part of who they were was the centrality of Jesus Christ. He was everything to them. He was their doctrine, their life, and their purpose. Jesus was far above everything else in this life to them.
Jesus being a part of their life 24 hours a day was another common part of what these believers always lived. Thinking of Christ as someone you met for an hour or two a week wouldn’t have fit into the matrix of their thinking.
Jesus was always more than a biblical doctrine to them, He was a living reality. He was deeply interested in every area and moment of their lives, and they relied upon Him in every way. These same characteristics have been part of those I have lived among and close to over three decades.
Church is not a System
There was always a fervent rejection of the church being some type of system among us throughout history. It was always something alive and vibrant, not overly doctrinal in a way that systematically revealed Christ as some type of robotic creation that moved only within the confines of man’s personal interpretation.
Deep Inner Work
The deep inner working of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the Christian was one of the most continuous aspects of life of these Godly believers. They believed that Christ was very close in them, no, not only believed it, but practically lived it.
This inner working always challenged them to become more Christlike, to have more of the cross of Jesus Christ worked into their lives, so that the life of Christ could be shown forth.
Corporate Living
That brings us to another extremely important aspect of these brothers and sisters. They never only thought in terms of individuality, they thought corporately just as powerfully. What do I mean? They realized that they were a many-membered body of Christ. There was a strong brotherly love for one another that came about from daily living and working with one another. It was real and worked into their lives in every way.
They knew that God moved among them individually for the purpose of building up the corporate life. Like the Godhead, they were one but have various and diverse ways of showing Him forth. They were not lone rangers out there by themselves, rather they had a deep commitment to one another in Christ.
This doesn’t mean that there wasn’t uniqueness. Just that they used that uniqueness for the common building up of one another in Christ. Like Paul reveals to us, they were many members but one body. In their case it was true and practically real.
Conscious of God’s heavenly realm
The last thing I want to mention is that these brothers and sisters always had a sense of God’s spiritual realm. They understood that God was Spirit and they had that sense of otherworldliness that all Christians desperately need.
I don't mean by that the strange type of people that have glazed over eyes and appear outwardly to be in a trance-like communication with God. Rather I mean, and the Scriptures mean, that it's a people that have their hearts and minds set on the things above, and not the things on this earth.
There is a sense of the fact this world isn't all there is, and that there is another world entirely different from this one that represents God in another realm. It's a higher way of life and living, which is why we are taught to ask God for His will to be done and kingdom to come in earth as it is in heaven.
It's a realization that His world of heaven has come down to earth to dwell within us by the Spirit in a real and living way. That we can fellowship and enjoy His presence in peace and joy with one another.
That this great God of ours wants to share the fellowship of His son with us. That’s what truly eating and drinking of Him means; the great eternal purpose that He wants to share of that greatness and glory that He is with His created people. There is nothing in the world that can compare with this.
What is fantastic about this is this is the just the beginning place of the legacy that has been left for us to continue on with.
Some of you fret about the fact that many of us want to live close to one another so that we can be together in Him on this earth as close as we possibly can. While it is definitely challenging, it is also more than worth it.
Pioneers must do these types of things. Maybe in a couple of centuries there will be neighborhoods all over the world living in this way so that no one will have to move more than a few miles or less to be part of this wonderful way of life. That’s the price many of us must be willing to pay now if we want to leave a true legacy to the next generation. We must think and live beyond ourselves. The early church did, as did many throughout the ages, so must we.
No comments:
Post a Comment