The Church Channel is for the purpose of looking at church history outside of the institutional church, as well as present the various elements and nature that a true church, specifically a local one, should have.
In the end, the church should be nothing less than a representation of who Jesus Christ is. Obviously there is growth and a journey involved, but the goal and purpose of a real church can be none other than that.
Understand, the church isn't a building, and you can't go there in that sense. It must be a spiritual, supernatural people, filled with the life of Jesus Christ via the interaction of individual believers. That sharing of the life of Christ together results in the building up of a living temple filled with the only God.
That will result in an overflow which ultimately reaches the world, which will respond to seeing Jesus Christ revealed in His people.
This isn't idealism, it was the purpose of God from before the creation to have a people that are filled to the utmost with Christ Himself; not in a general sense, but with the specific purpose of being changed into His image - individually and corporately. That is what will build up and attract to Christ and His people the truly hungry and needy of the world.
Church Outside the System
Priscillian
Silvanus Constantine
John Wycliffe
Peter Waldo
Waldensians
Paulicians
Albigensians
Iconoclasts
Moravians
Moravians - Centered in Christ
T. Austin-Sparks on Local Church
T. Austin-Sparks on Local Church - Part 2 - Seeing Christ
T. Austin-Sparks on Local Church - Part 3 - Supernatural
T.Austin-Sparks and Local Church 4 - Inclusive, Exclusive
T.Austin-Sparks and Local Church 5 - Features of a Local Church
T. Austin-Sparks and Local Church 6 - Functioning
Quotes from Gene Edwards
Church and Christianity without Christ
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
T. Austin-Sparks was a British man of God living mostly in the 20th century, who brought one of the more profound revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ as He is in heaven, that has ever been made What we do have of Sparks' works is voluminous, and we'll be going through it on this website in the years ahead, commenting and interacting with the enormous amount of material offered by Sparks to the body of Christ.
One thing you'll find out about Sparks, is he deals largely with the truths beneath the surface, and you can get frustrated over what at times appear to be very impractical teachings and revelation given by Sparks.
You've got to travel with Sparks to garner the more indepth meaning of the scriptures if you want to benefit from his teachings. I've found it's very much worth the journey, and you will discover practical usage once you grasp the enormity of Jesus Christ as revealed in the scriptures and through the ministry of T. Austin-Sparks.
In general, a helpful tip is to understand Sparks had an enormous burden to reveal the length, depth, width and height of Christ, and didn't focus primarily on the practical outworking but the spiritual apprehension of who Christ is. So to read and study the works of Sparks, that will help you in getting started, so you can not flounder around wondering what is is he's trying to say, and know it's Jesus Christ alone who is the center of Sparks' teaching.
In the end, Sparks wanted to unveil the greatness of Christ in a way that all the ancillary "issues" of the Church and believers would fall away in light of the magnificence of the person of Christ; to get His people once again fixated on Him so the things of this earth would fall away in the light and glory of the revelation of His life.
That's the first step to understanding the motivation of T. Austin-Sparks, and should help clear away some debris right away so you can dig right into what it is this man of God had to say.
--------------
Articles on T. Austin-Sparks
Sparks on Eternal Purpose
Sparks on Local Church
T. Austin-Sparks on Local Church - Part 2 - Seeing Christ
T. Austin-Sparks on Local Church - Part 3 - Supernatural
T.Austin-Sparks and Local Church 4 - Inclusive, Exclusive
T.Austin-Sparks and Local Church 5 - Features of a Local Church
T. Austin-Sparks and Local Church 6 - Functioning
Quotes from T. Austin-Sparks
Austin-Sparks.Net
One thing you'll find out about Sparks, is he deals largely with the truths beneath the surface, and you can get frustrated over what at times appear to be very impractical teachings and revelation given by Sparks.
You've got to travel with Sparks to garner the more indepth meaning of the scriptures if you want to benefit from his teachings. I've found it's very much worth the journey, and you will discover practical usage once you grasp the enormity of Jesus Christ as revealed in the scriptures and through the ministry of T. Austin-Sparks.
In general, a helpful tip is to understand Sparks had an enormous burden to reveal the length, depth, width and height of Christ, and didn't focus primarily on the practical outworking but the spiritual apprehension of who Christ is. So to read and study the works of Sparks, that will help you in getting started, so you can not flounder around wondering what is is he's trying to say, and know it's Jesus Christ alone who is the center of Sparks' teaching.
In the end, Sparks wanted to unveil the greatness of Christ in a way that all the ancillary "issues" of the Church and believers would fall away in light of the magnificence of the person of Christ; to get His people once again fixated on Him so the things of this earth would fall away in the light and glory of the revelation of His life.
That's the first step to understanding the motivation of T. Austin-Sparks, and should help clear away some debris right away so you can dig right into what it is this man of God had to say.
--------------
Articles on T. Austin-Sparks
Sparks on Eternal Purpose
Sparks on Local Church
T. Austin-Sparks on Local Church - Part 2 - Seeing Christ
T. Austin-Sparks on Local Church - Part 3 - Supernatural
T.Austin-Sparks and Local Church 4 - Inclusive, Exclusive
T.Austin-Sparks and Local Church 5 - Features of a Local Church
T. Austin-Sparks and Local Church 6 - Functioning
Quotes from T. Austin-Sparks
Austin-Sparks.Net
Friday, July 29, 2011
The Jesus People movement of the 1960s and early 1970s has some similarities to the Tea Party movement today.
Both had no leaders attached to them when they got started, as they were both spontaneous movements. And both attracted those with ambition, looking for something to take over for their own ends.
Some have commented on the Jesus People movement concerning it being the first move of God initiated without human agency. I think that's accurate.
Not too long after the numbers grew, along with the influence, many men started to woo them, which ultimately resulted in the impact of the movement ending, and the drab old practice of having a pastor preaching to them every Sunday ending it all.
Of course that's not the entire story, as when the movement expanded, reaching out to more and more people, all sorts of representations and variations emerged, causing a lot of confusion, and in some cases - approved of immorality.
But for the core principles of loving Jesus Christ and sharing that love spontaneously with others, and freedom, that didn't change for those God moved on in the beginning. Quickly, who they were was overshadowed and undermined by religious leaders and media, who reported the excesses without mentioning those who had in fact remained true to their revelation of Jesus Christ, and continue to live it out to this day.
In other words, the reports were in relationship to the pretenders that were initially affected by the powerful move of God, and which the casual onlooker couldn't differentiate one from the other. Even those with some knowledge really never understood what was going on.
The Tea Party movement, as mentioned, also started spontaneously. Much quicker than the Jesus People movement, unprincipled men and women are already attempting to hijack it in order to create a base to work from, undermining the basic principles which caused the people to rise up in the first place, attempting to create the movement into their political image.
Some are still hanging on in light of the roaring battle over the budget, putting them in the crucible of conflict to see if who they say they are and what they stand for is real.
Just like the Jesus People, already there is much confusion as to what the Tea Party even stands for any more, as the equivalent of religious denominations is transforming it into their own system to attract the unknowing.
In other words, confusion is reining, and in that atmosphere the heart of the Tea Party is being fought for. There are enemies within and enemies without, and that is always going to be the way of life when something that has hope, but little foundation, spontaneously comes forth.
The point is when Jesus Christ moves among His people spontaneously (not referring to the Tea Party), people with ambition need to get out of the way and let Christ take charge as Lord of His people, and not attempt to take it over just because some people have come together in response to a revelation of Jesus Christ.
There is a lot of that in Christian history, and hopefully as we grow in Christ, the body will rise up and reject these hirelings and look to Jesus Christ to head the Church, just as it should be.
As to the Tea Party, hopefully the germination of what will eventually become permanent change will be the rule, and we'll see the country, and possibly many other nations, changed into freedom-loving people who aren't afraid to take some short-term pain for long-term gain.
If not, we'll just continue off from where we left off, and the alternative will be a disaster.
Either way, things won't be able to continue on as it has been, and either willingly or unwillingly, the necessity of shrinking the size of the government and its outrageous entitlement programs will happen. It's only the degree of pain we'll all have to go through. If we're able to do it through the Tea Party, all the better, as the pain would be shorter and somewhat manageable. A forced default from not being able to sustain the ballooning debt would make it far more painful, as most would be clueless and unbelieving right up until the day it happened.
Unfortunately, it'll almost assuredly be the latter, unless Jesus Christ Himself intervenes.
I think the best we can hope for is an embryo of people who have strong principles holding to them, and training, encouraging and helping to build out a long-term Tea Party army, committed to small government and freedom.
As for the Church of Jesus Christ, throughout history we've also experienced movements outside of the mainstream and status quo, which have dramatically affected the times they lived in. The hope there is also for an embryo to be birthed which will this time hold onto their foundations till the return of Jesus, and change the course of history forever.
I'm not talking about the so-called emergent church, which has already gone the way of some of those on the fringes of the Jesus people movement. Many excuse homosexuality, worship the earth through radical environmentalism, and are basically just another subset up political liberals under the guise of Christianity. They're socialists, without foundation, and don't consider the Bible as being authoritative or inerrant, except when they rip some verses out to justify their beliefs.
The emergent church is already dead, and it won't last the generation, other than the occasional exception, like the Jesus people in Chicago, one of the very few remnants of the Jesus people movement. They've pretty much been systematized and denominationalized; now only a weak shadow of their former selves. We need to do better than that.
Both had no leaders attached to them when they got started, as they were both spontaneous movements. And both attracted those with ambition, looking for something to take over for their own ends.
Some have commented on the Jesus People movement concerning it being the first move of God initiated without human agency. I think that's accurate.
Not too long after the numbers grew, along with the influence, many men started to woo them, which ultimately resulted in the impact of the movement ending, and the drab old practice of having a pastor preaching to them every Sunday ending it all.
Of course that's not the entire story, as when the movement expanded, reaching out to more and more people, all sorts of representations and variations emerged, causing a lot of confusion, and in some cases - approved of immorality.
But for the core principles of loving Jesus Christ and sharing that love spontaneously with others, and freedom, that didn't change for those God moved on in the beginning. Quickly, who they were was overshadowed and undermined by religious leaders and media, who reported the excesses without mentioning those who had in fact remained true to their revelation of Jesus Christ, and continue to live it out to this day.
In other words, the reports were in relationship to the pretenders that were initially affected by the powerful move of God, and which the casual onlooker couldn't differentiate one from the other. Even those with some knowledge really never understood what was going on.
The Tea Party movement, as mentioned, also started spontaneously. Much quicker than the Jesus People movement, unprincipled men and women are already attempting to hijack it in order to create a base to work from, undermining the basic principles which caused the people to rise up in the first place, attempting to create the movement into their political image.
Some are still hanging on in light of the roaring battle over the budget, putting them in the crucible of conflict to see if who they say they are and what they stand for is real.
Just like the Jesus People, already there is much confusion as to what the Tea Party even stands for any more, as the equivalent of religious denominations is transforming it into their own system to attract the unknowing.
In other words, confusion is reining, and in that atmosphere the heart of the Tea Party is being fought for. There are enemies within and enemies without, and that is always going to be the way of life when something that has hope, but little foundation, spontaneously comes forth.
The point is when Jesus Christ moves among His people spontaneously (not referring to the Tea Party), people with ambition need to get out of the way and let Christ take charge as Lord of His people, and not attempt to take it over just because some people have come together in response to a revelation of Jesus Christ.
There is a lot of that in Christian history, and hopefully as we grow in Christ, the body will rise up and reject these hirelings and look to Jesus Christ to head the Church, just as it should be.
As to the Tea Party, hopefully the germination of what will eventually become permanent change will be the rule, and we'll see the country, and possibly many other nations, changed into freedom-loving people who aren't afraid to take some short-term pain for long-term gain.
If not, we'll just continue off from where we left off, and the alternative will be a disaster.
Either way, things won't be able to continue on as it has been, and either willingly or unwillingly, the necessity of shrinking the size of the government and its outrageous entitlement programs will happen. It's only the degree of pain we'll all have to go through. If we're able to do it through the Tea Party, all the better, as the pain would be shorter and somewhat manageable. A forced default from not being able to sustain the ballooning debt would make it far more painful, as most would be clueless and unbelieving right up until the day it happened.
Unfortunately, it'll almost assuredly be the latter, unless Jesus Christ Himself intervenes.
I think the best we can hope for is an embryo of people who have strong principles holding to them, and training, encouraging and helping to build out a long-term Tea Party army, committed to small government and freedom.
As for the Church of Jesus Christ, throughout history we've also experienced movements outside of the mainstream and status quo, which have dramatically affected the times they lived in. The hope there is also for an embryo to be birthed which will this time hold onto their foundations till the return of Jesus, and change the course of history forever.
I'm not talking about the so-called emergent church, which has already gone the way of some of those on the fringes of the Jesus people movement. Many excuse homosexuality, worship the earth through radical environmentalism, and are basically just another subset up political liberals under the guise of Christianity. They're socialists, without foundation, and don't consider the Bible as being authoritative or inerrant, except when they rip some verses out to justify their beliefs.
The emergent church is already dead, and it won't last the generation, other than the occasional exception, like the Jesus people in Chicago, one of the very few remnants of the Jesus people movement. They've pretty much been systematized and denominationalized; now only a weak shadow of their former selves. We need to do better than that.
Friday, February 25, 2011
We've been talking about some of the foundations and elementary aspects of Christ lately, as some that profess to be pursuing Christ to have a closer and deeper walk with Him, abandon that which forms the foundation of our faith in Him, and end up having their faith shipwrecked because you can't throw away part of who Christ is while pursuing other aspects of Him.
In this post we're going to look at sin, as many so-called Christians or carnel Christians seem to think because of the pursuit of the deeper things of God, or in wanting to see things change to the better in Christianity, that somehow the New Testament doesn't deal with the issue of sin.
The apostles beg to differ, and below are several lists of sins from Peter, Paul and John.
The point in listing them in this post is to keep you from being conned and lied to as to what the New Testament has to say about sin after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Keep in mind that these lists of sins were written to the Churches, and not to unbelievers.
This isn't for the purpose of dwelling on these too much, but for the purpose of occasionally reading them to understand what Christ isn't like, and if these are manifesting in your life, you need more of Christ and the cross to deal with them.
You also need to be around godly Christians in order for them to help you in your times of weakness.
The apostles never shied away from calling sin sin, and neither should we. We need to stare it right in the face and confess and admit to that which so easily besets us.
So many have attempted to make it appear as if sin no longer exists or it's not in fashion to even mention that which is in the old man which is always trying to reassert itself as alive, when Christ has taken him to the grave with Him.
Nonetheless. Don't be deceived by those attempting to make it appear as if Jesus Christ doesn't expose sin for what it is. After all, that's one of his attributes of being light in the world.
Don't call evil good and good evil as many are doing, and in reference to sin, we always need to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ together for Him to have mercy on us; not just when falling into sin, but in strengthening us to resist it.
Galations 5:19-21 NAS
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
NLT
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NAS
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
NLT
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the
Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that.
But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Eph. 4:31 NAS
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
NLT
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Eph. 5:3 NAS
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
NLT
Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you.
Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
Col. 5:5-10 NAS
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-
NLT
So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.
1 Pet. 2:1-3 NAS
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
1 Peter 2 (New Living Translation)
So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.
Rev. 21:7-8 NAS
He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and
murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
NLT
All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Revelation 22:14-15 NAS
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.
Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
Revelation 22:14-15 NLT
Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.
==========
In this post we're going to look at sin, as many so-called Christians or carnel Christians seem to think because of the pursuit of the deeper things of God, or in wanting to see things change to the better in Christianity, that somehow the New Testament doesn't deal with the issue of sin.
The apostles beg to differ, and below are several lists of sins from Peter, Paul and John.
The point in listing them in this post is to keep you from being conned and lied to as to what the New Testament has to say about sin after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Keep in mind that these lists of sins were written to the Churches, and not to unbelievers.
This isn't for the purpose of dwelling on these too much, but for the purpose of occasionally reading them to understand what Christ isn't like, and if these are manifesting in your life, you need more of Christ and the cross to deal with them.
You also need to be around godly Christians in order for them to help you in your times of weakness.
The apostles never shied away from calling sin sin, and neither should we. We need to stare it right in the face and confess and admit to that which so easily besets us.
So many have attempted to make it appear as if sin no longer exists or it's not in fashion to even mention that which is in the old man which is always trying to reassert itself as alive, when Christ has taken him to the grave with Him.
Nonetheless. Don't be deceived by those attempting to make it appear as if Jesus Christ doesn't expose sin for what it is. After all, that's one of his attributes of being light in the world.
Don't call evil good and good evil as many are doing, and in reference to sin, we always need to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ together for Him to have mercy on us; not just when falling into sin, but in strengthening us to resist it.
Galations 5:19-21 NAS
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
NLT
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NAS
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
NLT
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the
Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that.
But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Eph. 4:31 NAS
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
NLT
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Eph. 5:3 NAS
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
NLT
Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you.
Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
Col. 5:5-10 NAS
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-
NLT
So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.
1 Pet. 2:1-3 NAS
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
1 Peter 2 (New Living Translation)
So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.
Rev. 21:7-8 NAS
He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and
murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
NLT
All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Revelation 22:14-15 NAS
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.
Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
Revelation 22:14-15 NLT
Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.
==========
In seeking out the Lord Jesus Christ and desiring more of Him, there have been tendencies by some to throw away foundations learned as a young Christian; apparently with the idea one doesn't take those things along on the journey.
Hebrews 6:1 says:
Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. (NAS)
Leaving the elementary teachings about Christ doesn't mean dropping them, it means we don't linger there for the entirety of our Christian walk, while not growing deeper into the things that are Christ.
It's like any type of training we may receive in sports, a job, parenting, etc. You learn the basics, but retain them as you move on to excellence. It's not like you can throw the foundational things away just because you're learning more about what you're applying yourself to.
They're where you start, and are stepping stones to where you're going. You hold onto them while you continue on the journey, but don't allow them to keep you from progressing further by never building upon them.
With that in mind, I want to throw out some other elements of Christ we are to embrace and hold onto while traveling through this life in Christ.
These are things we need to continue to embrace in our walk with the Lord, and we never let them go, but rather, in some cases, learn more the depth, heigth and width of Christ within them. For example - love.
What I've done is taken some of the lists provided by the Apostles throughout the New Testament and placed them below; one using the New American Standard version, and the other the New Living Translation.
Keep in mind that whatever it is Jesus Christ is doing in our lives, these will remain a part of us, as they are in essence, a revelation of Christ Himself.
I would recommend printing these out and using them on a consistent basis as points of reference; reading them and asking the Lord to build them into your life: individually and corporately as a body of believers.
Fruits of the Spirit:
Galatians 5:22-26 - NAS
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:22-26 - NLT
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
The Excellence of Love (NAS)
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13 (New Living Translation)
Love Is the Greatest
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
2 Peter 1:3-7 - NAS
Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
2 Peter 1:3-7 - NLT
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
Phillipians 4:8 NAS
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Phillipians 4:8 NLT
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
1 Timothy 6:11 - NAS
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have (U)wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.
New Living Translation
10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
Paul’s Final Instructions
11 But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
=============
In this post we'll focus only on the postive side of life in Christ, and not on the negative of sin that can so easily beset us.
With another post we'll look at the various descriptions of sin the New Testament shows in order to keep you from being deceived as to what is of Christ and what isn't.
For now, if we focus on the scriptures describing Christ and walking in Christ above, we'll find ourselves turning above from the lure of sin and this world toward the amazing Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 6:1 says:
Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. (NAS)
Leaving the elementary teachings about Christ doesn't mean dropping them, it means we don't linger there for the entirety of our Christian walk, while not growing deeper into the things that are Christ.
It's like any type of training we may receive in sports, a job, parenting, etc. You learn the basics, but retain them as you move on to excellence. It's not like you can throw the foundational things away just because you're learning more about what you're applying yourself to.
They're where you start, and are stepping stones to where you're going. You hold onto them while you continue on the journey, but don't allow them to keep you from progressing further by never building upon them.
With that in mind, I want to throw out some other elements of Christ we are to embrace and hold onto while traveling through this life in Christ.
These are things we need to continue to embrace in our walk with the Lord, and we never let them go, but rather, in some cases, learn more the depth, heigth and width of Christ within them. For example - love.
What I've done is taken some of the lists provided by the Apostles throughout the New Testament and placed them below; one using the New American Standard version, and the other the New Living Translation.
Keep in mind that whatever it is Jesus Christ is doing in our lives, these will remain a part of us, as they are in essence, a revelation of Christ Himself.
I would recommend printing these out and using them on a consistent basis as points of reference; reading them and asking the Lord to build them into your life: individually and corporately as a body of believers.
Fruits of the Spirit:
Galatians 5:22-26 - NAS
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:22-26 - NLT
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
The Excellence of Love (NAS)
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13 (New Living Translation)
Love Is the Greatest
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
2 Peter 1:3-7 - NAS
Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
2 Peter 1:3-7 - NLT
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
Phillipians 4:8 NAS
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Phillipians 4:8 NLT
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
1 Timothy 6:11 - NAS
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have (U)wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.
New Living Translation
10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
Paul’s Final Instructions
11 But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
=============
In this post we'll focus only on the postive side of life in Christ, and not on the negative of sin that can so easily beset us.
With another post we'll look at the various descriptions of sin the New Testament shows in order to keep you from being deceived as to what is of Christ and what isn't.
For now, if we focus on the scriptures describing Christ and walking in Christ above, we'll find ourselves turning above from the lure of sin and this world toward the amazing Jesus Christ.
Monday, July 12, 2010
T. Austin-Sparks with Watchman Nee
Here was Sparks' conclusion:
(1) God's object in this dispensation has never changed, and it is the same as ever.
(2) From time to time His emphasis has rested more particularly on different phases of that object, and has thus sought to recover its fulness.
(3) At the end of the dispensation there will be a divine concentration upon the whole object, and less upon mere aspects of it.
(4) The inclusive object is His Son and "the One New Man;" Christ as Head and the "called out company" as "Body" = one corporate man; organic, living, related, interrelated, interdependent, and spiritually authoritative under one anointing - Head and members.
(5) To this all "things" must give place, whether they be teachings, traditions, institutions, missions, organizations, etc. The Lord will not be interested in anything only in so far as it ministers to His sole and utter purpose.
God is after a Man, a Race-Man, a Corporate Man; "conformed to the image of His Son;" to "have dominion;" and this demands that - as not since the beginning - Christ should come into His place as Lord and Head. The great "movement" at the end should be a "Christ movement!" Everything in the world points to this necessity.
Austin-Sparks called this - rightly - the Eternal Purpose, throughout his writings and spoken ministry.
Shaped By Vision --2005 publication.
Click Left for Book
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Surprisingly, this has increasingly become an issue among those who name the name of Christ, although naming His name doesn't mean they are in fact Christians.
What it does though is make it look like there is confusion and uncertainty as to whether it is the Word of God among Christians, and provide opportunities for those who don't want to adhere to its teachings to weaken, or in some cases, outright destroy the concept that the Bible is indeed the very words that God has given us.
This doesn't of course take away the fact that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. Jesus is everything God wants to say to us, and He said it in His Son.
The Bible doesn't contradict what God said in His Son, and if the Bible says one thing, and you think another, you're the one that needs to change your way of thinking, as it ultimately leads to how you will live your life while on this earth.
After all, the scriptures say this in 2 Cor. 10:4,5:
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
You learn how to identify the knowledge of God through the Holy Scriptures. From there we all must then bring even our thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ, basically throwing down our own arguments and high things that will exalt itself against the knowledge of God.
Some people will say they believe the Bible is the very words of God he has given us, then refuse to acknowledge it is infallible; that it is without errors in it.
To say one without acknowledging the other is to deceive ourselves. It is both. It is God's word and it is without error.
Now I will say this, just because someone gives some colorful interpretation to the Bible doesn't mean that's what the Bible means or says.
Peter mentions this in reference to Paul, when he said the ignorant and unlearned distorted his teachings, as they did all the scriptures.
This is something we all have to battle throughout our lives, as we even have those who purposely distort the scriptures knowing full well they are simply twisting it to their own disposition or personal agenda.
There are those who even claim homosexuality is allowed by God and not sin. You really have to rip the meaning of the scriptures to shreds to make that claim. It doesn't bother these types of people to send people ultimately to the lake of fire to be eternally damned and tortured because the refuse to repent and turn to Christ.
Well, we could go into endless other distortions of the scriptures, but you get the idea.
There's a lot more to say about this, but the point in this article is to let you know that you shouldn't be deceived by those saying the Bible isn't the word of God or that it is without error.
Just because people distort and manipulate the scriptures to say what they want it to say doesn't mean it's not true, it just means they're trying to forward their own way of thinking, training or agenda to get you moved off the solid rock that Christ is and the scriptures confirm He is.
One final thing. Just because you believe the scriptures are the very words of God doesn't mean you know everything and there isn't a whole lot more truth for you to learn from it: both in your mind, spirit and experientially.
The problem many have is when the Holy Spirit gives new light from the scriptures and those who actually do believe in the scriptures but have stopped going forward resist and oppose it.
This is where a lot of the unfortunate and shameful history of true Christians reveals itself, as those who think they've got a hold on God to the point they won't learn something new, then turn around and attack those who are in all honesty learning something new from the Holy Spirit that he wants the entire body to benefit from, but because Christians believe they've got the truth already, they refuse to listen or respond to the increased light from the Holy Spirit He draws from the scriptures.
No matter though. The scriptures are the very words God has given us, and we still must agree to its teachings and change the way we think based upon them.
Anything else will lead to utmost confusion and just making it up as you go based on nothing but thin air. Do that and your house will be built on sand and will be guaranteed to tumble down.
What it does though is make it look like there is confusion and uncertainty as to whether it is the Word of God among Christians, and provide opportunities for those who don't want to adhere to its teachings to weaken, or in some cases, outright destroy the concept that the Bible is indeed the very words that God has given us.
This doesn't of course take away the fact that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. Jesus is everything God wants to say to us, and He said it in His Son.
The Bible doesn't contradict what God said in His Son, and if the Bible says one thing, and you think another, you're the one that needs to change your way of thinking, as it ultimately leads to how you will live your life while on this earth.
After all, the scriptures say this in 2 Cor. 10:4,5:
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
You learn how to identify the knowledge of God through the Holy Scriptures. From there we all must then bring even our thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ, basically throwing down our own arguments and high things that will exalt itself against the knowledge of God.
Some people will say they believe the Bible is the very words of God he has given us, then refuse to acknowledge it is infallible; that it is without errors in it.
To say one without acknowledging the other is to deceive ourselves. It is both. It is God's word and it is without error.
Now I will say this, just because someone gives some colorful interpretation to the Bible doesn't mean that's what the Bible means or says.
Peter mentions this in reference to Paul, when he said the ignorant and unlearned distorted his teachings, as they did all the scriptures.
This is something we all have to battle throughout our lives, as we even have those who purposely distort the scriptures knowing full well they are simply twisting it to their own disposition or personal agenda.
There are those who even claim homosexuality is allowed by God and not sin. You really have to rip the meaning of the scriptures to shreds to make that claim. It doesn't bother these types of people to send people ultimately to the lake of fire to be eternally damned and tortured because the refuse to repent and turn to Christ.
Well, we could go into endless other distortions of the scriptures, but you get the idea.
There's a lot more to say about this, but the point in this article is to let you know that you shouldn't be deceived by those saying the Bible isn't the word of God or that it is without error.
Just because people distort and manipulate the scriptures to say what they want it to say doesn't mean it's not true, it just means they're trying to forward their own way of thinking, training or agenda to get you moved off the solid rock that Christ is and the scriptures confirm He is.
One final thing. Just because you believe the scriptures are the very words of God doesn't mean you know everything and there isn't a whole lot more truth for you to learn from it: both in your mind, spirit and experientially.
The problem many have is when the Holy Spirit gives new light from the scriptures and those who actually do believe in the scriptures but have stopped going forward resist and oppose it.
This is where a lot of the unfortunate and shameful history of true Christians reveals itself, as those who think they've got a hold on God to the point they won't learn something new, then turn around and attack those who are in all honesty learning something new from the Holy Spirit that he wants the entire body to benefit from, but because Christians believe they've got the truth already, they refuse to listen or respond to the increased light from the Holy Spirit He draws from the scriptures.
No matter though. The scriptures are the very words God has given us, and we still must agree to its teachings and change the way we think based upon them.
Anything else will lead to utmost confusion and just making it up as you go based on nothing but thin air. Do that and your house will be built on sand and will be guaranteed to tumble down.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
From 'A Witness and a Testimony'
January - February, 1970 Vol. 48, No. 1
REVELATION IS NOT ENOUGH
[A. W. Tozer]
The following message by the late Dr. A. W. Tozer, to be included in a further volume of addresses by him now in preparation, is, we feel, so much in keeping with the ministry of A Witness and A Testimony, that we borrow it for our readers, assured that they will be very glad to read it. It was recently in The Alliance Witness of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. And while mentioning this, may I say that, in early years of ministry and the Lord's work, I owed very much to the life of Dr. A. B. Simpson, founder of that 'Alliance'. - Editor.
"About the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:14-17).
---------------- Begin Article -------------------
THE key, the crux of this whole issue, is in verse 17. If any man is willing to do God's will, he shall know.
People marvelled at our Lord as He taught. They asked: "How knoweth this man letters having never learned?" 'How does He know learning', in other words, 'never having studied in the regular schools?' In those days they had no schools as we know them; a rabbi taught little groups of students. Our Lord evidently never attended a rabbinical school so they asked: 'How does He get His wonderful doctrine, since He has never been to the schools of the rabbis?'
Now, this question tells us a good deal about these people. It tells us that they held truth to be intellectual merely, capable of being reduced to a code. To know truth it was necessary only to learn the code.
Most of them had no books of their own -- they learned by memorizing. That was their conception of truth. I gather this not only from verse 17 but from the whole Gospel of John. To these people truth was an intellectual thing -- just as we know that two times two is four.
That is truth, but it is an intellectual truth only. They reduced divine truth to that status. They knew the laws: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.... Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.... Thou shalt not ...". But to them there was no mysterious depth in truth, nothing beneath and nothing beyond the obvious fact. It was exactly here that they parted company with our Saviour, for our Lord Jesus constantly taught the beyond and the beneath.
These people believed that the words of truth were the truth. And here is a basic misunderstanding of Christian theology with a moral and spiritual consequence that is vastly important. They believed that if you had the words of truth, if you could repeat the code of truth, you had the truth. That if you lived by the word of truth you lived in the truth.
The Saviour tried to correct this inadequate view. He showed them the heavenly quality of His message. He said: 'My doctrine is not Mine -- I am [18/19] not a rabbi teaching doctrine that you can memorize and repeat. What I am giving you is not that kind of doctrine at all.'
He had said previously: 'I say nothing for Myself -- what I see the Father do, that I do, and what the Father speaks, that I speak. What I have seen yonder I tell you about. I am a transparent medium through which the truth is being spoken. You believe that the way to truth is to go to a rabbi and learn it. That's not the truth, that approach to truth is inadequate.'
Here, it seems to me, is the weakness in modern Christianity. The battle line, the warfare today, is not necessarily between the fundamentalist and the liberal. There is a difference between them, of course. The fundamentalist says God made the heaven and the earth. The liberal says: 'Well, that's a poetic way of stating it; actually it came up by evolution.' The fundamentalist says Jesus Christ was the very Son of God. The liberal says: 'Well, He certainly was a wonderful man and He is the Master, but I don't quite know about His deity.' So there is a division, but I don't think the warfare is on these matters any more.
The battle has shifted to another more important field. The warfare, the dividing line today, is between evangelical rationalists and evangelical mystics. I will explain what I mean.
There is today an evangelical rationalism which is the same as these Jews had. They said the truth is in the word, and if you want to know truth, go to the rabbi and learn the word. If you get the word, you have got the truth. That is evangelical rationalism and we have that today in fundamental circles. 'If you learn the text you've got the truth.'
This evangelical rationalism will kill the truth just as quickly as liberalism will, though in more subtle way. The liberal stands over there and says: 'I don't believe your inspired Bible; I don't believe your deified Christ. I believe the Bibles in a way; it is the record of the high points of great men and I believe in a certain mystic communion with the universe and it is all very wonderful, but I don't believe as you do.'
You can easily spot this man -- train your glasses on him and there he stands. You can tell he is on the other side, for he wears the uniform of the other side.
But your evangelical rationalist wears our uniform. He comes in wearing our uniform and says what the Pharisees, the worst enemies Jesus had while He was on earth, said: 'Well, truth is truth, and if you believe the truth you've got it.
Such see no beyond and no mystic depth, no mysterious heights, nothing supernatural or divine. They see only: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord." They have the text and the code and the creed, and to them that is the truth. So they pass it on to others. The result is we are dying spiritually.
Now, what about the evangelical mystic? I don't really like the word 'mystic' because you think of a fellow with long hair and a little goatee who acts dreamy and strange. Maybe it is not a good word at all, but I am talking about the spiritual side of things -- that the truth is more than the text. There is something that you've got to get through to. The truth is more than the code. There is a heart beating in the middle of the code and you've got to get there.
Now the question is simply this: Is the body of Christian truth enough? Or does truth have a soul as well as a body? The evangelical rationalist says that all of that talk about the soul of truth is poetic nonsense. The body of truth is all you need; if you believe the body of truth you are on your way to heaven and you can't backslide and everything will be allright and you will get a crown in the last day.
Now otherwise stated: Is revelation enough or must there be illumination? Is this Bible an inspired book? Is it a revealed book? Of course you and I believe that it is a revelation, that God spoke all these words and holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
I believe that this Bible is a living book, that God has given it to us and that we dare not add to it or take away from it. It is revelation. But revelation is not enough. There must be illumination before revelation can get to your soul. It isn't enough that I hold an inspired book in my hands. I must have an inspired heart. There is the difference.
You can memorize all the texts of the Bible -- and I believe in memorizing -- but when you are through you've got nothing but the body. There is the soul of truth as well as the body. There is a divine inward illumination the Holy Ghost must give us or we don't know what truth means.
Conversion is a miraculous act of God by the Holy Ghost; it must be wrought in the spirit. The body of truth is not enough; there must be an inward illumination.
Christ's conflict was with the theological rationalist. It revealed itself in the Sermon on the Mount and the whole Book of John. Just as Colossians argues against Manichaeism and Galatians argues against Jewish legalism, so the Book of John is a long, inspired, passionately outpoured book trying to save us from evangelical rationalism, the doctrine [19/20] that says the text is enough. Textualism is as deadly as liberalism.
Now revelation, I repeat, can't save. Revelation is the ground upon which we stand. Revelation tells us what to believe. It is the Book of God and I stand for it with all my heart; but there must be, before I can be saved, illumination, penitence, renewal, inward deliverance.
I have no doubt that many people are eased into the kingdom. They are jockeyed into believing in the text, and they do; but they have never been illuminated by the Holy Ghost. They have never been renewed in their hearts. They never get into the kingdom at all.
Now, there is a secret in divine truth altogether hidden from the unprepared soul. This is where we stand in the terrible day in which we live. Christianity is not something you just reach up and grab. There must be a preparation of the mind, a preparation of the life and a preparation of the inner man before we can savingly believe in Jesus Christ.
Somebody asks: Is it possible to hear the truth and not understand the truth? Listen to Isaiah: "Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not" (6:9). It is possible to see yet not perceive.
Paul says (1 Corinthians 2:4-5): "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
Now the theological rationalists say that your faith should stand not in the wisdom of man but in the Word of God. Paul didn't say that at all. He said your faith should stand in the power of God. That's quite a different thing.
Verses 9 through 14 say: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.... But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
Paul, the man of God, is saying: I came preaching and I preached with power that would illuminate and get to the conscience and to the spirit and change the inner man in order that your faith might stand in the power of God.
My brethren, your faith can stand in the text and you can be as dead as the proverbial doornail, but when the power of God moves in on the text and sets the sacrifice on fire, then you have Christianity. We call that revival, but it's not revival at all. It is simply New Testament Christianity. It's what it ought to have been in the first place, but was not.
Now look at Matthew 11: "Jesus answered and said, I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."
So there we have the doctrine taught plainly that there is not only a body of truth which we must hold at our peril; there is also a soul in that body which we must get through to, and if we don't get through to the soul of truth we have only a dead body on our hands.
A church can go on holding the creed. and the truth for years and generations and grow old and die, and new people come up and receive that same code and they grow old and die.
Then some revivalist comes in and gets everybody stirred and prayer moves God down on the scene and revival comes to that church. People who thought they were saved get saved. People who have only believed in a code now believe in Christ.
A man will go along in a church and believe texts and quote them and memorize them and teach them and maybe become a deacon and all the rest. Then one day, under the fiery preaching of some visitor or maybe the pastor, he suddenly feels himself terribly in need of God and he forgets all his past history and goes to his knees and like David begins to pour out his soul in confession. Then he leaps to his feet and testifies: 'I've been a deacon in this church twenty-six years and never was born again until tonight.'
What happened? That man had been trusting the dead body of truth until some inspired preacher let him know that truth has a soul. Or maybe God taught him in secret that truth had a soul as well as a body and he dared to get through and pursue by penitence and obedience until God honoured his faith and flashed the light on. And like lightning out of heaven it touched his spirit and all the texts he had memorized became alive.
Thank God, he did memorize the texts and all the truth he knew suddenly now bloomed in the light. That is why I believe we ought to memorize. [20/21] That is why we ought to get to know the Word, why we ought to fill our minds with the songs and the great hymns of the church. They won't mean anything to us until the Holy Ghost comes. But when He comes He will have fuel to use. Fire without fuel won't burn but fuel without fire is dead. And the Holy Ghost will not come on a church where there is no Biblical fuel. There must be Bible teaching. We must have the body of truth.
Jesus said if any man is willing to do God's will, he shall know -- he shall know the doctrine, he shall know the teaching. Now, this body of truth can be grasped by the average, normal intellect. You can grasp truth, but only the enlightened soul will ever know the truth and only the prepared heart will ever be enlightened.
And just what is the preparation needed? Jesus said: 'If any man is willing to do My will the light will flash in on him. If any man will obey Me, God will enlighten his soul immediately.'
We make Jesus Christ a convenience. We make Him a lifeboat to get us to shore, a guide to find us when we are lost. We reduce Him simply to Big Friend to help us when we are in trouble.
That is not Christianity. Jesus Christ is Lord. But when a man is willing to do His will, he is repenting and the truth flashes in.
No man can know the Son except the Father tell him. No man can know the Father except the Son reveal Him. I can know about God, that's the body of truth. But I can't know God, the soul of truth, unless I am ready to be obedient.
Before the Word of God can mean anything inside of me there must be obedience to the Word. Truth will not give itself to a rebel. Truth will not impart life to a man who will not obey the light! "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." If you are disobeying Jesus Christ you can't expect to be enlightened.
But there is illumination. I know what Charles Wesley meant when he wrote: "His spirit answers to the blood, And tells me I am born of God!" Nobody had to come and tell me what he meant. 'He that is willing to do My will,' said Jesus, 'shall have a revelation to his own heart. He shall have an inward illumination that tells him he is a child of God.'
If a sinner goes to the altar and a worker with a marked New Testament argues him into the kingdom, the devil will meet him two blocks down the street and argue him out of it again. But if he has an inward illumination and he has that witness within because the Spirit answers to the blood, you can't argue with that man. He will say: 'But I know.' A man like that is not bigoted or arrogant, he is just sure.
Now that's revival, but yet it is not revival either; it is normal Christianity. It's the way we should be. "If any man will do his will, he shall know."
But you say you're going to take a Bible course. If you are holding out on God, refusing to follow Jesus, you can take a course and learn all about synthesis and analysis and all the rest. But you might just as well read Pogo; all the courses in the world won't illuminate you inside. You can fill your head full of knowledge, but the day that you decide you are going to obey God it will get down into your heart. You shall know. Only the servants of truth can ever know truth. Only those who obey can ever have the inward change.
You can stand on the outside and can know all about it. I once read a book about the inner spiritual life by a man who was not a Christian at all. He had an amazing penetration. He was a sharp intellectual, a keen Englishman. He stood outside and examined spiritual people from the outside but nothing ever reached him.
You can read your Bible -- read any version you want -- and if you are honest you will admit that it is either obedience or inward blindness. You can repeat the Book of Romans word for word and still be blind inwardly. You can quote the whole Book of Psalms and still be blind inwardly. You can know the doctrine of justification by faith and take your stand with Luther and the Reformation, and be blind inwardly. For it is not the body of truth that enlightens; it is the Spirit of truth that enlightens.
If you are willing to obey the Lord Jesus He will illuminate your spirit, inwardly enlighten you, and the truth you have known will now be known spiritually and power will begin to flow up and out and you will find yourself changed, marvellously changed. In that great day of Christ's coming all that will matter is whether or not I have been inwardly illuminated. Inwardly regenerated. Inwardly purified.
Do I know Jesus?
January - February, 1970 Vol. 48, No. 1
REVELATION IS NOT ENOUGH
[A. W. Tozer]
The following message by the late Dr. A. W. Tozer, to be included in a further volume of addresses by him now in preparation, is, we feel, so much in keeping with the ministry of A Witness and A Testimony, that we borrow it for our readers, assured that they will be very glad to read it. It was recently in The Alliance Witness of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. And while mentioning this, may I say that, in early years of ministry and the Lord's work, I owed very much to the life of Dr. A. B. Simpson, founder of that 'Alliance'. - Editor.
"About the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:14-17).
---------------- Begin Article -------------------
THE key, the crux of this whole issue, is in verse 17. If any man is willing to do God's will, he shall know.
People marvelled at our Lord as He taught. They asked: "How knoweth this man letters having never learned?" 'How does He know learning', in other words, 'never having studied in the regular schools?' In those days they had no schools as we know them; a rabbi taught little groups of students. Our Lord evidently never attended a rabbinical school so they asked: 'How does He get His wonderful doctrine, since He has never been to the schools of the rabbis?'
Now, this question tells us a good deal about these people. It tells us that they held truth to be intellectual merely, capable of being reduced to a code. To know truth it was necessary only to learn the code.
Most of them had no books of their own -- they learned by memorizing. That was their conception of truth. I gather this not only from verse 17 but from the whole Gospel of John. To these people truth was an intellectual thing -- just as we know that two times two is four.
That is truth, but it is an intellectual truth only. They reduced divine truth to that status. They knew the laws: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.... Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.... Thou shalt not ...". But to them there was no mysterious depth in truth, nothing beneath and nothing beyond the obvious fact. It was exactly here that they parted company with our Saviour, for our Lord Jesus constantly taught the beyond and the beneath.
These people believed that the words of truth were the truth. And here is a basic misunderstanding of Christian theology with a moral and spiritual consequence that is vastly important. They believed that if you had the words of truth, if you could repeat the code of truth, you had the truth. That if you lived by the word of truth you lived in the truth.
The Saviour tried to correct this inadequate view. He showed them the heavenly quality of His message. He said: 'My doctrine is not Mine -- I am [18/19] not a rabbi teaching doctrine that you can memorize and repeat. What I am giving you is not that kind of doctrine at all.'
He had said previously: 'I say nothing for Myself -- what I see the Father do, that I do, and what the Father speaks, that I speak. What I have seen yonder I tell you about. I am a transparent medium through which the truth is being spoken. You believe that the way to truth is to go to a rabbi and learn it. That's not the truth, that approach to truth is inadequate.'
Here, it seems to me, is the weakness in modern Christianity. The battle line, the warfare today, is not necessarily between the fundamentalist and the liberal. There is a difference between them, of course. The fundamentalist says God made the heaven and the earth. The liberal says: 'Well, that's a poetic way of stating it; actually it came up by evolution.' The fundamentalist says Jesus Christ was the very Son of God. The liberal says: 'Well, He certainly was a wonderful man and He is the Master, but I don't quite know about His deity.' So there is a division, but I don't think the warfare is on these matters any more.
The battle has shifted to another more important field. The warfare, the dividing line today, is between evangelical rationalists and evangelical mystics. I will explain what I mean.
There is today an evangelical rationalism which is the same as these Jews had. They said the truth is in the word, and if you want to know truth, go to the rabbi and learn the word. If you get the word, you have got the truth. That is evangelical rationalism and we have that today in fundamental circles. 'If you learn the text you've got the truth.'
This evangelical rationalism will kill the truth just as quickly as liberalism will, though in more subtle way. The liberal stands over there and says: 'I don't believe your inspired Bible; I don't believe your deified Christ. I believe the Bibles in a way; it is the record of the high points of great men and I believe in a certain mystic communion with the universe and it is all very wonderful, but I don't believe as you do.'
You can easily spot this man -- train your glasses on him and there he stands. You can tell he is on the other side, for he wears the uniform of the other side.
But your evangelical rationalist wears our uniform. He comes in wearing our uniform and says what the Pharisees, the worst enemies Jesus had while He was on earth, said: 'Well, truth is truth, and if you believe the truth you've got it.
Such see no beyond and no mystic depth, no mysterious heights, nothing supernatural or divine. They see only: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord." They have the text and the code and the creed, and to them that is the truth. So they pass it on to others. The result is we are dying spiritually.
Now, what about the evangelical mystic? I don't really like the word 'mystic' because you think of a fellow with long hair and a little goatee who acts dreamy and strange. Maybe it is not a good word at all, but I am talking about the spiritual side of things -- that the truth is more than the text. There is something that you've got to get through to. The truth is more than the code. There is a heart beating in the middle of the code and you've got to get there.
Now the question is simply this: Is the body of Christian truth enough? Or does truth have a soul as well as a body? The evangelical rationalist says that all of that talk about the soul of truth is poetic nonsense. The body of truth is all you need; if you believe the body of truth you are on your way to heaven and you can't backslide and everything will be allright and you will get a crown in the last day.
Now otherwise stated: Is revelation enough or must there be illumination? Is this Bible an inspired book? Is it a revealed book? Of course you and I believe that it is a revelation, that God spoke all these words and holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
I believe that this Bible is a living book, that God has given it to us and that we dare not add to it or take away from it. It is revelation. But revelation is not enough. There must be illumination before revelation can get to your soul. It isn't enough that I hold an inspired book in my hands. I must have an inspired heart. There is the difference.
You can memorize all the texts of the Bible -- and I believe in memorizing -- but when you are through you've got nothing but the body. There is the soul of truth as well as the body. There is a divine inward illumination the Holy Ghost must give us or we don't know what truth means.
Conversion is a miraculous act of God by the Holy Ghost; it must be wrought in the spirit. The body of truth is not enough; there must be an inward illumination.
Christ's conflict was with the theological rationalist. It revealed itself in the Sermon on the Mount and the whole Book of John. Just as Colossians argues against Manichaeism and Galatians argues against Jewish legalism, so the Book of John is a long, inspired, passionately outpoured book trying to save us from evangelical rationalism, the doctrine [19/20] that says the text is enough. Textualism is as deadly as liberalism.
Now revelation, I repeat, can't save. Revelation is the ground upon which we stand. Revelation tells us what to believe. It is the Book of God and I stand for it with all my heart; but there must be, before I can be saved, illumination, penitence, renewal, inward deliverance.
I have no doubt that many people are eased into the kingdom. They are jockeyed into believing in the text, and they do; but they have never been illuminated by the Holy Ghost. They have never been renewed in their hearts. They never get into the kingdom at all.
Now, there is a secret in divine truth altogether hidden from the unprepared soul. This is where we stand in the terrible day in which we live. Christianity is not something you just reach up and grab. There must be a preparation of the mind, a preparation of the life and a preparation of the inner man before we can savingly believe in Jesus Christ.
Somebody asks: Is it possible to hear the truth and not understand the truth? Listen to Isaiah: "Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not" (6:9). It is possible to see yet not perceive.
Paul says (1 Corinthians 2:4-5): "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
Now the theological rationalists say that your faith should stand not in the wisdom of man but in the Word of God. Paul didn't say that at all. He said your faith should stand in the power of God. That's quite a different thing.
Verses 9 through 14 say: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.... But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
Paul, the man of God, is saying: I came preaching and I preached with power that would illuminate and get to the conscience and to the spirit and change the inner man in order that your faith might stand in the power of God.
My brethren, your faith can stand in the text and you can be as dead as the proverbial doornail, but when the power of God moves in on the text and sets the sacrifice on fire, then you have Christianity. We call that revival, but it's not revival at all. It is simply New Testament Christianity. It's what it ought to have been in the first place, but was not.
Now look at Matthew 11: "Jesus answered and said, I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."
So there we have the doctrine taught plainly that there is not only a body of truth which we must hold at our peril; there is also a soul in that body which we must get through to, and if we don't get through to the soul of truth we have only a dead body on our hands.
A church can go on holding the creed. and the truth for years and generations and grow old and die, and new people come up and receive that same code and they grow old and die.
Then some revivalist comes in and gets everybody stirred and prayer moves God down on the scene and revival comes to that church. People who thought they were saved get saved. People who have only believed in a code now believe in Christ.
A man will go along in a church and believe texts and quote them and memorize them and teach them and maybe become a deacon and all the rest. Then one day, under the fiery preaching of some visitor or maybe the pastor, he suddenly feels himself terribly in need of God and he forgets all his past history and goes to his knees and like David begins to pour out his soul in confession. Then he leaps to his feet and testifies: 'I've been a deacon in this church twenty-six years and never was born again until tonight.'
What happened? That man had been trusting the dead body of truth until some inspired preacher let him know that truth has a soul. Or maybe God taught him in secret that truth had a soul as well as a body and he dared to get through and pursue by penitence and obedience until God honoured his faith and flashed the light on. And like lightning out of heaven it touched his spirit and all the texts he had memorized became alive.
Thank God, he did memorize the texts and all the truth he knew suddenly now bloomed in the light. That is why I believe we ought to memorize. [20/21] That is why we ought to get to know the Word, why we ought to fill our minds with the songs and the great hymns of the church. They won't mean anything to us until the Holy Ghost comes. But when He comes He will have fuel to use. Fire without fuel won't burn but fuel without fire is dead. And the Holy Ghost will not come on a church where there is no Biblical fuel. There must be Bible teaching. We must have the body of truth.
Jesus said if any man is willing to do God's will, he shall know -- he shall know the doctrine, he shall know the teaching. Now, this body of truth can be grasped by the average, normal intellect. You can grasp truth, but only the enlightened soul will ever know the truth and only the prepared heart will ever be enlightened.
And just what is the preparation needed? Jesus said: 'If any man is willing to do My will the light will flash in on him. If any man will obey Me, God will enlighten his soul immediately.'
We make Jesus Christ a convenience. We make Him a lifeboat to get us to shore, a guide to find us when we are lost. We reduce Him simply to Big Friend to help us when we are in trouble.
That is not Christianity. Jesus Christ is Lord. But when a man is willing to do His will, he is repenting and the truth flashes in.
No man can know the Son except the Father tell him. No man can know the Father except the Son reveal Him. I can know about God, that's the body of truth. But I can't know God, the soul of truth, unless I am ready to be obedient.
Before the Word of God can mean anything inside of me there must be obedience to the Word. Truth will not give itself to a rebel. Truth will not impart life to a man who will not obey the light! "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." If you are disobeying Jesus Christ you can't expect to be enlightened.
But there is illumination. I know what Charles Wesley meant when he wrote: "His spirit answers to the blood, And tells me I am born of God!" Nobody had to come and tell me what he meant. 'He that is willing to do My will,' said Jesus, 'shall have a revelation to his own heart. He shall have an inward illumination that tells him he is a child of God.'
If a sinner goes to the altar and a worker with a marked New Testament argues him into the kingdom, the devil will meet him two blocks down the street and argue him out of it again. But if he has an inward illumination and he has that witness within because the Spirit answers to the blood, you can't argue with that man. He will say: 'But I know.' A man like that is not bigoted or arrogant, he is just sure.
Now that's revival, but yet it is not revival either; it is normal Christianity. It's the way we should be. "If any man will do his will, he shall know."
But you say you're going to take a Bible course. If you are holding out on God, refusing to follow Jesus, you can take a course and learn all about synthesis and analysis and all the rest. But you might just as well read Pogo; all the courses in the world won't illuminate you inside. You can fill your head full of knowledge, but the day that you decide you are going to obey God it will get down into your heart. You shall know. Only the servants of truth can ever know truth. Only those who obey can ever have the inward change.
You can stand on the outside and can know all about it. I once read a book about the inner spiritual life by a man who was not a Christian at all. He had an amazing penetration. He was a sharp intellectual, a keen Englishman. He stood outside and examined spiritual people from the outside but nothing ever reached him.
You can read your Bible -- read any version you want -- and if you are honest you will admit that it is either obedience or inward blindness. You can repeat the Book of Romans word for word and still be blind inwardly. You can quote the whole Book of Psalms and still be blind inwardly. You can know the doctrine of justification by faith and take your stand with Luther and the Reformation, and be blind inwardly. For it is not the body of truth that enlightens; it is the Spirit of truth that enlightens.
If you are willing to obey the Lord Jesus He will illuminate your spirit, inwardly enlighten you, and the truth you have known will now be known spiritually and power will begin to flow up and out and you will find yourself changed, marvellously changed. In that great day of Christ's coming all that will matter is whether or not I have been inwardly illuminated. Inwardly regenerated. Inwardly purified.
Do I know Jesus?
Monday, January 18, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
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.
=====
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.
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.
=====
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.
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