Don't Get Confused About Sin

For many of us who have been outside the institutional church system for a number of years, it can be perplexing to see some of those who have seen some things concerning why that is so, turn so completely away from some of the basics of the faith because they don't understand what the emphasis of the Lord really is and why many of us have heeded this call.

Over the last eight to ten years or so, an unfortunate side effect has happened, as politically motivated socialists or progressives, have moved a lot outside of the institutional church way of doing things, but have almost completely thrown away the basics of the faith in an effort to create a new gospel which isn't so much centered on Christ, but on liberal teachings coming from radical feminism, environmentalism, immorality and socialism, among a number of other things.

Part of that has resulted in the idea that those of us outside the church system are there to promote these political agendas rather than Christ. The so-called emerging church has migrated this way, and what has been held for decades by many of us is in danger of being overshadowed by those who have an endless array of agendas that have nothing to do with Christ. We'll talk more on that in the future.

In this article I just want to remind us that even with the idea of liberty in Christ, that doesn't mean license, which is to simply be nothing much more than living by animal instincts rather than by the Spirit of the Lord.

Even though Paul was talking about liberty and salvation through grace in Galatians, in the same letter he adds this so he isn't misunderstood as he was so many times throughout his life when promoting the new birth in Christ which had been offered as a gift and new creation for those willing to call upon the name of the Lord and truly believe in Him.

Here it is in Galatians 5:16-25:



I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.


Those of us looking for new ways to practice our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ practically in the Church need to throw away the idea that this includes some type of new morality or lax lifestyles which do nothing to honor Jesus and are not of Him.

The scriptures above confirm this in what is the first writing from the New Testament period we have.

You may attempt to get cute with what it means when Paul says those who practice such things won't enter the kingdom of God. But however you may wish to interpret that, there is great loss, and taking part in those things are deeds or works of the flesh, and don't come from Jesus or heaven.

This may seem basic to many of you, but to read and listen to those who are new to the ways of God in practicing Church life are throwing away much of that which isn't meant to be thrown away, to the point where they are in hardy agreement with how the world asserts their world view.

One example of that is the agreement and support of the homosexual lifestyle, along with even agreeing they should be allowed to marry.

Not only does no Christian have any authority to make such statements, they can be destroying those living in that sin who are given false comfort by those who should be warning them to repent, rather than settle into it.

As the scriptures also teach, we are to bring every thought into captivity to Christ. If the scriptures say it, then you need to adjust to that reality, not the other way around.

Just remember that sin is always sin, and nothing has changed that. If you're leaving the institutional church because you're living in sin and/or promoting sin, you've got a big problem, as that's not the reason Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God have been moving people to practice being the church in a different and expanded way.

Neither does it give us license to tell people it's okay to live in sin when the entirety of the scriptures from the beginning to the end say it's not so.

There are a lot of things to learn concerning the practice of the church and living in liberty in Jesus Christ. Sinning and condoning sin isn't one of those things we have to learn anything new about, as it's the same old thing it's always been, and we're not dealing with that, but the practice of the Church is what we're trying to learn and change.

Practical Help with Church Life

In talking about practical Church life, let's briefly define what I

mean by it: it's about the best ways to interact with one another as

Christian believers outside of the existing, man made church systems.

The purpose in pursuing something like this is the inability for

Christians to fulfil their mandate to be priests unto God under what

are considered 'traditional' practice of the church. Such as sitting

in a chair or pew for your entire life receiving varying degrees of

input - many times not even biblical input - which does nothing

more than to turn you into meaningless and spiritually worthless

moss on a rock, as you eventually get socialized into your comfort

zone and lose all desire and inspiration to participate in the great

fellowship of the Father and His son Jesus Christ together.

For example, how does one experience being a practical part of the

body of Christ as far as functioning goes? How do you express

yourself as part of the body of Christ when the only opportunities

are to sit and listen to what have been named sermons? At what time,

as measured by the the church you're part of, are you given chances

to share what Christ has done in, to or for you? How often are you

allowed to do that? What has been practically put in place to offer

believers the biblical requirement to share with one another? When

is the last time some type of so-called clergy has shut up and you

and other believers were doing the talking and sharing?

For the vast majority of people the answers to these questions,

sadly, are never. This is one of the major reasons we have such a

low-quality of Christian today, as they're not given the opportunity

to stretch their spiritual muscles and grow as a result.

Although this begins with a way of looking at the body of Christ and

it's purpose, it ends with the implementing of practical steps which

ensure the chance to live this way as the people of Jesus Christ is

presented to all who want to know more of Him; both individually and

corporately.

With this in mind, I want to show you several ways I've practically

experienced living outside the institutional or organized church

that has worked well to varying degrees, and each has its own

strength and weaknesses. After over 50 years of living like this, I

think I've pretty much found the only ways this can be done, and

some times it takes a combination of more than one to make it really

work well.

Born into body life

My first experience in body life was from the day I was born, as it

was part of my dad's and mom's life far before I was a twinkle in

their eyes.

You have to understand that this was back in the 1950s, and before

the strong interest in body life as we would look at it today was

rediscovered, and also before the Jesus people movement, which

generated a lot of interest just because it was very organic in its

nature, even with some of the unfortunate excesses connected with

it, which unfairly painted everyone with the same brushstroke, even

though it was far from true.

Anyway, what the practicals involved with this were the church

decided years before I was born in 1956 to buy a piece of land in

the country for the purpose of having a type of weekend retreat in

the summer months (I was born and lived in northern Minnesota, so

winters made it impractical for families to be there during that

time of the year).

What eventually happened was we got so close to one another during

these times that to not go up there, even when the weather was bad,

would be unheard of. We didn't miss a weekend, and it forever

changed our lives with the light that we had at the time.

The land itself was both flat and hilly, so you could partake in

some group activities, which always added to relaxing us for the

purpose of opening up to one another more when we sat and talked and

shared.

There was also a building built for the purpose of people who didn't

have camping trailers and such to be able to stay in bedrooms which

were located upstairs.

Downstairs there was a square hall with a large fireplace which

created great atmosphere and place to sit back and relax as well. We

had chairs in racks we could take out to sit on whenever we wanted

to get together for a meeting or whatever. There was also a cooking

area off the front area you could go through a door to to make you

dinner if you didn't want to barbecue outside, etc.

On the other part of the downstairs was an outer area (surrounding

the square hall) where there were tables where people could gather

together to eat as family and friends.

The idea was there were several things set up for moments when we

just wanted recreational down time, while everything else was set

for the purpose of enjoying all the aspects of fellowship together.

Bear in mind, that while this sounds all upper class and stuff like

that, in reality it was built by the brothers long before who knew

and practiced carpentry and other needed skills, and was in fact

very sturdy but humble; not a type of place where people wanting

only the 'American Plan' would necessarily go to.

It was very functional and added needed privacy, but also build in a

way you had to fellowship unless you stayed in your room or campers

for the whole time you were there.

It would take a book to write about the experiences of this

fantastic place with all the people there, but the bottom line is it

was something that existed for the purpose of organic church life

far before the word was even being used, or we had ever heard it,

and it was extraordinary in that the children of my age were

basically born into the experience without knowing anything else

like it.

The strength of this type of practical setup is it gives you some

room to move and hang out with people in a very uncrowded sort of

way, while still always being together.

For many of you who struggle with figuring out ways to incorporate

children into your organic church life, I don't think there's

anything that could do better than this as the type of environment

conducive to bringing that forth.

Another extraordinary strength of this practical way of meeting and

living together (albeit temporarily in the summer and primarily on

weekends, although some stayed almost all summer or weeks at a

time), was the much-needed intergenerational fellowship and

friendship, which amazingly thrived at a time when the social fabric

of the world and America were being torn apart in the 1960s

rebellion (in the negative sense of the actions of the time).

There wasn't a sense at all of being afraid to hang out with older

people at that time by the younger, and in fact, there were strong

and healthy relational ties between many of the younger people and

older, without it always being natural parents and children alone.

It truly went beyond that to a very spontaneous way of living and

life that I'll never forget, and hopefully many will be able to

experience as well.

I don't look at that experience as necessarily the best way to

experience body life, but I do think it's a fantastic way to enhance

it a minimum, and could be a big part of it if you were to do it

right and have other means of getting together on a more consistent

basis.

Even so, I would highly recommend something like this for those

already in body life. It's something you probably need, and I think,

'feel' you need, although you may not be able to put it into words.

This doesn't mean you have to go out and buy a piece of land and

build a home-like type of place to enjoy (although it would be great

if you could), but you could find a place that was available on a

regular basis you could rent for yourselves and make it an important

part of body life you participate in.

Another valuable thing this could be would be to test out whether

you're truly part of a people who would want to live in this way.

Sharing live together in a setting like this is a good way to test

the waters and see if it's something you could do or not. While I

think the way the scriptures speak of these things there's really no

other choice in the sense of sharing our lives together on a

consist ant basis, for some of you reading this is may be too much at

first, and so trying it out in this manner could be a great way to

see how you respond to it.

After all, reading about something his one thing, participating and

experiencing it is another.

For those of you already meeting outside of buildings, there are

many other tremendous lessons to learn from something like this, but

we'll leave that for another time.

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Meeting in Homes, living close together

Another experience I've had is to meet in homes as far as when the

church gets together to share Christ and to live close together.

In my years as an adult, when I met a group of people that were

doing this, it was a natural an easy extension and practice to move

into it after what I mentioned above while I was growing up.

This was a little different than living in a neighborhood together,

as while we lived close together, we didn't get real close until

some church planters from Britain who had built churches in that

manner helped us see the value of that.

So what we did in the beginning of being planted by a church planter

(outside the institutional church), was to meet in homes and get

together all the time outside of meetings as well.

As we grew in size, we eventually had to multiply into four groups

because there were too many people to practice church in the way we

had at the beginning.

Some people who have been seeing and doing this today have been a

little put off by this, saying it had broken up some close

relationships they've had with other people. While that may be true,

it really isn't the point when you come down to it. The church is

for Christ, and many people need to be able to experience the beauty

of fellowship with one another in Christ.

While close relationships in Christ are great and a worthy goal,

they are not the end of the purpose of Christ. In reality what can

happen in these types of relationships are the development of what I

would call 'soul ties.' Relationships built on the people we get

along the easiest with, or possibly may have very similar personal

goals and ways of looking at things.

I don't mean by that that you haven't struggled together, just that

it could have resulted in ties that are no longer only spiritual,

but soulical as well. If that's the case, you could strongly resist

change, even if it comes from the Holy Spirit, and end up being

pretty much a dead sea, with input coming in all the time, but no

place for an outlet, where that life you share goes beyond yourself

and the close group of brothers and sisters surrounding you.

What in fact is probably happening is a fear of losing what you've

worked so hard to build, or rather, what the Lord has worked so hard

to build.

If you've been together long enough to feel these things, be

cautious as to how you respond, because if the Lord is trying to

expand Himself and add to your number, if you resist it, ultimately

you will probably divide, as you can willingly multiply or

unwillingly divide. While the results may be the same as far as no

longer being around the same people you've grown so fond of, the

consequences are obviously worse if things are torn apart in a

negative way.

But I'm speaking in these last words to those of you who have been

around for a number of years together, not those who haven't been

around enough to truly be tested over a period of years.

The obvious strength of living like this is we had all the benefits

of meeting in a home in a very organic and spontaneous meeting

setting. The negative was we would have to make extra effort to get

together. That was negative because when it takes extra effort, the

result is you get together with those who you consider worth the

effort, and will miss out on getting to know and fellowship with

people you don't see very often.

While this isn't a bad thing as far as being in you, it's a

practical problem from living apart from one another.

Either way, it's far superior to going to a building and listening

to sermons all your life.

One final thing, in this type of setting, there are those that live

close together and those that are scattered. Without exception in my

experience in a number of different places and churches, those that

live scattered and not close to the core group of people, always

feel left out, and many times complain that they aren't included in

what's going on in contrast to those who live closer together and

have an easy task of getting together spontaneously.

In this type of circumstance, I've never found an answer to this, as

the one's who are living scattered, will never be able to live in

the way those living closer together do. To have everybody stop

living and doing things spontaneously together so those farther away

feel better about themselves isn't something I could ask those

churches I've planted to do. The only answer is to move closer

together, which leads me to the next practical way to live life as

the church outside the institutional church system.

Living in a neighborhood

I've lived in church life as a regular brother for a number of years

in a neighborhood, as well as planted churches that way.

Living in a neighborhood is extraordinary in that you eliminate any

practical barriers to fellowship, other than going about your daily

responsibilities.

But as far as getting together and sharing life together, it

probably beats anything else.

One way this is superior to only meeting in homes and having a lot

of people traveling, is the inevitable complaints from neighbors if

you have to drive to get to the home you're going to meet in. You

know neighbors will rightfully ask you to not park in the spots they

park in, which can create a lot of animosity, especially if they

find out you're meeting as a church in the home.

Some I've known have asked those doing this to travel in cars or

vehicles together in order to minimize the space they take up. This

can help in those cases.

Anyway, the point is, living in a neighborhood together eliminates

this type of problem because you simply have to walk to go to the

home you meet in.

But more than this little practical benefit, having the ability to

get together whenever you want to is something that can't be

explained and only can be lived. To share the life of Christ on an

everyday basis with other believers is something we all should be

able to experience.

Sure, you have the struggles that always come when human beings

interact with one another, but those edges can be knocked off in

time and patience, and eventually a great experience of sharing in

the life of Christ among a corporate people is unleashed.

While there is no doubt to me that living in a neighborhood is the

best way to experience church life together, I would say that with

one caveat after decades of doing that personally in a number of

corporate settings: you need a release valve off and on so you don't

become too suffocated from the experience.

This is why I mentioned above about the first practical body life

setting I experienced, and said it was a great way to enhance body

life. I'm referring to having that as part of your experience, as

living in a neighborhood can end up giving you a dead sea experience

if you're not going outside of it to do other things.

I think a setting out in the country, or a place you can rent,

really helps to solve many of the problems that come with living

close together. Having an open space like that really adds to your

quality of life in the Lord, and I think the two work together

better than the one.

Like I said, there is a ton more I could write on this as far as how

the experiences of these different types of body life are, but

overall, these are about the only legitimate alternatives you have

if you live in the western or emerging nations.

Obviously there are all sorts of secondary things you can do, like

planning all types of special events to enjoy and express the Lord

toward one another, but these are the foundations you have to

practically work from.

The only other option is to go to the building and sit.

Buying a home to meet in

One last thing connected to all of this is something I've seen some

of the brethren in Britain do years ago, and that was not to just

meet in homes, but to buy a home for the group to meet in or do

other things with.

I like this because it allows you to think of taking care of some

practical issues which can come up when meeting together as a group

in a home built for a family.

As with everything, there are pros and cons with this as well. For

example, one church bought a home like this, but also set it up for

brothers and sisters who visited them from other areas and

countries.

The problem was some brothers and sisters liked to be in a home and

not alone while visiting them. I'm not sure, but possibly a lot of

people came to visit, and so the home may have been an escape valve

for the church itself as far as stress on the believers in offering

hospitality to the point of collapsing. I don't know that for a

fact, but it's possible.

There is also a sense of having a home like this so people can stay

and hang out as long as they want, especially if some have children

you need to go to be at an early time.

I know some control freaks get frightened at the prospects of others

hanging out together if everyone's not there, but I think that's not

something to be overly concerned about.

If someone is going to gossip or talk about things, eventually that

will happen whether you try to stamp it out or not. Usually the

attempt and fear over things like that can end up with the solution

being worse than the original concern.

A proper foundation will help fight against that, and if someone

isn't founded in the Lord properly, they'll end up being influenced

somewhere down the road by somebody, so we shouldn't be too

concerned about people hanging out together in that sense.

The point is that for the most part a home bought by the church to

meet in and use will primarily be for those living in the

neighborhood anyway, so there's not that much to be worried about.

Final words on practical church issues

One final thing I wanted to say here, is that all of this won't

matter if you aren't doing these things unto the Lord and because of

the revelation of Jesus Christ which moves within you and drives you

to want to live in this way together.

No matter what practical steps you take, If Christ isn't the purpose

in it, it will fail no matter how right you get the practicals.

What the practicals do is give you the environment for the types

things and life the Lord Jesus Christ likes to live out among His

people; that and nothing else.

So doing all of this will do nothing if you don't see that Jesus

Christ wants to live and walk among His people, and that taking away

all the props and crutches allows that to happen in the most

efficient way this side of paradise.

Don't get me wrong, sharing in the life of Christ is best done in

the ways mentioned above, but if you don't center on and look to

Christ as your life and recognize that these are His ways, you can

have a fun and interesting experience, like you could anywhere, but

if it's devoid of Christ, it won't make any difference.

In the end, I think the best way to experience Christ corporately is

to live as close together as you can and then to have a place

somewhere which you either own or rent, which you can have various

activities and interactions in ways which allow you to let off

steam, and to offer up intergenerational fellowship across all age

groups in a way that goes beyond simply meeting together.

After all, meetings should simply be a culmination of the life we

life together with Christ on a daily basis. All sorts of fellowship

and life should be happening outside of meetings as well. Having a

place outside the neighborhood adds something to that which I think

answers a lot of questions for those who have lived in body life for

a long time but don't understand why they're feeling limited or

sufficated.

The reason is more practical than it is negative, and those trying

these types of things will find a new release that they've been

searching for for a long time.