The church: Divinely inspired and human in its life
I like those two words. Vagaries refers to unpredictability, vicissitudes refers to change. These two words are descriptive of the nature of organizations, even those who ostensibly have divine origins. The church is God’s creation, but local congregations are a product of human beings attempting to partner with God to faithfully express this glorious spiritual reality called the church. The body of Christ is spread thorough out the world, existing in a single room gathering of a dozen or so all the way to the world’s largest church, in Korea with 700,000 plus members. Read the rest of this entry »
Some of you may or may not know this, but following the completion of the well project in the Amazon there was a problem that caused the well to malfunction. This was disheartening. However, we received news that fresh water flows. Praise God!
Also, we are pleased to debut Ben’s 30 minute film on the project this Saturday Evening at the Community Dinner.
Please Note: This is a lengthy article (It summarizes 4 sermons and over 40 hours of work). I humbly ask you to read the entire piece as it is an attempt to bring these 4 messages together. I have included a throne-room-review, with all the art work embedded in the file if you would rather print it out and read it away from the computer screen.
I want to tie together the messages of the last four weeks. This is very important to me, and I think its something important to us as a church. I actually have a very specific intention – I am trying to be faithful to a strong sense that I have (that I believe is from the Lord), that our shared vision needs to be renewed. I thought about this, prayed and studied a great deal while I was on sabbatical and I believe the Lord spoke to me in wonderful ways from my study of the book of Revelation. I am convinced that the vision of Christ’s exaltation presented to the church in this extraordinary book brings redemptive history together in a way that can energize the church in a time of great need. I am convinced that ours is a time where we need to see Jesus as preeminent, enthroned and with a dominion that is everlasting and ever expanding. Read the rest of this entry »
In just a few days Gail and I will celebrate 26 years of marriage. I’m delighted to be with her, and I’m grateful that she stills finds me a source of joy in her life. But something I have discovered about marriage is this – it cannot be left to itself – marriage needs periodic questions, evaluation and re-affirmation. Leave it to run on automatic pilot and you will end up some place you won’t want to be.
I have had a harder time learning this regarding church life (I guess because with just me and the mrs. I can figure this thing out more quickly than when you have to think about a whole group of people). The truth is, church life requires a very similar willingness to evaluate and renew commitment. I will admit that this is a struggle I don’t always do so well at working through. I assume that people are on the same page, and that commitments made in the past are still working and still relevant. But my time in the book of Revelation as well as some current difficulties are teaching me that I need to think once again about these matters.
Jesus, standing in the midst of His churches
When John saw the vision of Jesus standing amidst the lamp stands I wonder was he astonished by the interest that Jesus had in evaluating the seven churches in Asia Minor? There is no specific reaction of John to this – only the seven times repeated phrase – ‘To the angel of the church of (fill in the name) write…’ Considering how much trouble was going on in the Roman Empire and in Jerusalem I find it quite amazing that Jesus is so completely focused on the life inside these 7 congregations. While there is some reference to outside troubles, like what He says to Smyrna ‘the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation.’ Most of the words are directed at life inside the congregations. Jesus, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings concerns himself with whether His people have passion for Him, or whether they are tolerating false teaching, or false prophets in their midst. Wow – with all that was going on around these churches, I’m blown away by the range of Jesus’ evaluative eye – He cares deeply about the quality of life among his people.
After these letters were read what do you think happened next?
Okay, so its Sunday in the church of Ephesus – news spreads throughout the congregation that there is a letter from John that is to be read in the public gathering. The same thing in 6 other congregations in Asia Minor no doubt took place over whatever period of time it took to get this thing circulated. But try to imagine what it might have been like to hear this – ‘But I have this against you‘ (Rev. 2:4) or this; ‘But I have a few things against you‘ (Rev. 2:14). Do you think things became spooky silent in those churches? Do you think that the next time each of those churches met for worship they noticed there were a few less than the week before?
As I understand this process through which Jesus brought each of these seven churches I am convinced that this sort of thing is meant to be a normal part of the life of every local church. Okay, so maybe we won’t receive a letter specifically addressed – ‘to the church of West Orange called Lamb of God.’ But what Jesus does here with each one of these churches is evaluate, redraw the lines and say – listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church. He speaks and he clarifies what He thinks is important, how he defines commitment, and what faithfulness looks like on the part of the people in each one of these congregations.
Six months of study and reflection have led me to the conclusion that this is a time at Lamb of God Fellowship for evaluation and renewal of commitment to take place. In a way that is similar to marriage – the relationships which make up a church community need reassurance – ‘I’m here, and I still want to do this.’ Leaders need reaffirmation from the people – ‘we believe in you, and we still want to follow your lead.’ Leaders need to be able to say to the people – ‘we still count it a privilege to serve you.’ I believe that God has shown me clearly that He is taking us through a process of refinement and pruning. I won’t say at the moment all the things that convince me of that, but suffice it to say that as much as one can know anything I believe Jesus is refining this congregation (myself included).
Would you like to know what I believe?
I have come to believe that some of us have already decided we are no longer committed to Lamb and in various ways have withdrawn our support. This pains me, but I believe it to be true. Others of us need to repent because we haven’t been faithful to what that commitment means and have allowed other things to get in the way. I also know that there are many of you who are faithful and prepared to give yourself as fully as you are able to the things that God has for us. You are the ones who give generously of time and money, who pray for the church, who are willing to sacrifice and faithfully persevere. Maybe you do know, or maybe you don’t – but I am deeply thankful for each one of you. What I pray is this – ‘please Jesus I hope most still have a optimistic view of the future and want to continue building our little piece of God’s Kingdom.’
I want to say that loving this work, Lamb of God is not the same as loving Jesus (although I do believe that loving a local church somewhere is crucial to healthy Christianity). I think LOG has demonstrated over and over again – we love the whole church and pray for God to bless every church He has given us opportunity to know and be involved with in this area. I don’t for a moment believe we are the only church, or the best church. We are what we are – partly wonderful and partly difficult. However, – if you are unhappy, and find yourself filled with criticism and unrelenting dissatisfaction with Lamb – please either work it out or leave. Don’t allow your dissatisfaction to harm this little body of brothers and sisters. Please understand I don’t want anyone who really wants to be here to leave. I want everyone to find a way to work out conflicts, resolve disappointments and to grow together. I know this pleases Jesus. But lingering when you really can’t support this work is a receipt for harming others. Words matter. Criticism, picking away at those who lead and finding fault with one another is most surely a sign that things aren’t working for you.
When I was a young pastor having people leave would devastate me. I would re-criminate myself and feel like I had failed. Sometimes it was my failure. Other times it was something else. Other times it was never clear why someone had left. But age has given me a more philosophical view of things – ‘you don’t necessarily finish this race with the one’s you started with.’ I still feel the loss when people leave – but I recover more quickly.
What I know is this – I still have a passion for pastoring. I still feel energized by being with God’s people. I still want to look ahead and discover with my brothers and sisters new moves of the Spirit, new lessons of God’s goodness and love and new opportunities to welcome people into this motley fellowship of the friends of Jesus. Perhaps this is a time for you to re-affirm the same.
These three make a handsome trio, don’t you think? I had fun pasting them together in Photoshop. Britney looks particularly fierce, even scarier than Chairman Mao and Nero.
I have a serious post to make, so enough with the funny stuff.
During the mid-60’s A.D. Nero began to turn his maniacal rage toward an obscure group of people who called themselves ‘Christians’. He had experienced a plot to assassinate him (which failed) as well as a significant amount of intrigue aimed against him. Someone started a fire in Rome (many think it was Nero) and that fire ravaged Rome, destroying several sections of the city, and damaging many more. Nero used that fire to divert attention away from himself and he used Christians as his scapegoat. The Roman historians Tacitus and Seutonious both say Nero killed multitudes of Christians. He often did it in quite horrible ways. Roll the clock ahead 1800 years… Read the rest of this entry »
When Cyrus, sole King of the Medes-Persian empire issued the decree for the rebuilding of Jerusalem history demonstrated that God is sovereign over all things. Several hundred years before the prophet Isaiah prophesied by name that Cyrus would be raised up by God to be a deliverer for the Jewish people. It is truly an extraordinary prophecy. (Isaiah 44:24-28)
Yet, it took nearly 50 years for what God had determined to do to actually be accomplished. Cyrus did allow a great number to return to Jerusalem, and the building began in earnest, but later bogged down, and even experienced set back. The Lord raised up other prophets (Haggai and Zechariah) as well as Ezra and Nehemiah to see the work through to completion. Prophecy and human cooperation are meant to work together. God declares, but he calls upon us to partner with Him to bring it to pass.
Please note that at the end of this article you can listen to and watch the video version of this piece. If you would prefer that just skip to the end.
Several years ago all of the elders at LOG made a trip down to Brazil to observe and participate in the work started by Tom & Kathy Padley. Others had visited Brazil in prior years, but something very special happened to all of us on those visits (which occurred over a period of two successive summers).
I was personally profoundly touched by the 3 weeks I spent in Nova Lima, and the surrounding communities. I observed a level of passion, intensity and devotion to Jesus that I had not ever seen in my 40 years of being a Christian. I saw poor believers gathering in small clusters, in homes, on front porches as well as believers in large gatherings. What touched me was the emotion and brokeness I witnessed every where I went. People were being changed, won to Christ, healed, and delivered from all manner of struggle. I was awestruck at the power of God, humbled by His presence and suddenly lights began to go on inside me mind. Read the rest of this entry »
(At the end of this article are 4 videos 7-10 minutes each which are based on this article, and expand slightly on the written version)
I would like to use an analogy to speak to something which I have felt God stirring in my heart. One of the things about this recent presidential election that came through to me clearly was the difference in the vision which each candidate presented to the nation. Regardless of how you voted I think that President-elect Obama and his campaign team were very successful in presenting a vision of change that many, many voters found very compelling. As I reflected upon the enthusiasm, and intense passion which many people seemed to genuinely experience regarding President-elect Obama’s campaign I begin to think about the church, and whether we have a compelling vision capable of motivating the kind of sacrifice and faithfulness necessary to fulfill all that God has for us.
What happens without vision – nothing…
Proverbs 29:18 – Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint… Where there is an absence of compelling vision people go in every direction. Eugene Peterson has an interesting interpretation of this verse: If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves… Compelling vision is necessary to motivate our hearts to rise above self-interest, and from being overly invested in too highly individualized a game plan for life. We are not individuals who happen to be in a particular religious organization. We are a family of brothers and sisters called together to serve the Lord, and to advance his purposes. God has a purpose for every church, and He calls people together to serve his purposes in a particular region (Read the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation if you doubt this). Jesus knew these churches, he had particular evaluations of each one, he referred to the degree they had been faithful or not faithful to His purposes. That is particularity. Jesus knows Lamb of God Fellowship, and he knows everyone who is a part of this body. He has something for each one to do, and something for each one to contribute. If this were not true what sense could you every make out of a passage like this: (4) For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, (5) so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (6) Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; (7) if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12)
A sense of something larger than myself….
Yet still, we as human beings, need to be able to believe that this local church commitment is tied to something larger than just the ups and downs of a local church. We need to see how the glorious, majestic, resurrected, ascended mighty Son of God who came to earth and triumphed over sin, death and the devil and now sits enthroned above the heavens relates his awesome victory to me, my family, my work and my local church family. I need to see how the work of Christ enables me to do things that apart from that gospel work I could never hope to even want to do. I need to see how God, by saving me, has invited me into a lifelong apprenticeship to His Son, to actually learn to love and act as Jesus did while living his life here on earth. I need a compelling vision of all that God is to me in Christ, all that God has done for me in the work of Christ on the cross and all that God has called me to in my lifelong apprenticeship to Jesus. I need a vision of these things that drives my affections, that motivates my will, that captures my imagination, that fascinates my mind and keeps me burning for the all that God has called me to accomplish in this generation. It was this kind of compelling vision which motivated Jonathan Edwards(1st Great Awakening), George Whitfield (1st. Great Awakening), John Wesley, Charles Finney (2nd Great Awakening), Evan Roberts, Jeremy Lamphier (Fulton Street Revival), Daddy Seymour (Azusa), Susanna Wesley, Amy Carmichael, Jackie Pullinger, Elizabeth Elliot, and Joni Eareckson. In many of these examples we are talking about people who did not appear to be extraordinary: Amy Carmichael was a sickly child, who ended up being a missionary is some of the most difficult places of India (She was a huge influence on Jim & Elizabeth Elliot). Evan Roberts was an uneducated Welsh coal miner who ended up leading one of the greatest revivals of the 20th century. William J. Seymour (called ‘Daddy Seymour), was the son of former slaves and yet God used him to lead the Pentecostal revival of 1906 often referred to as the Azusa Street Revival. Jackie Pullinger, as a 20 something launched out into ministry in Hong Kong’s opium ghetto. She had no experience and yet God used her to reach 100’s of addicts and bring healing, salvation and deliverance to many drug addicts, prostitutes and marginalized people.
How vision turns ordinary people up-side down
All of these people share a common understanding of the greatness of Jesus, the glory of his gospel and the necessity of fully engaging our apprenticeship to Jesus. I believe that it is the lack of a compelling vision of these things that had co-opted so many of our churches into sub-biblical Christianity. Paul clearly understood and taught this: Ephesians 1: (17) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. (18) I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, (19) and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, (20) which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, (21) far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (22) And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, (23) which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. What Paul prays for here is revelatory understanding of the hope to which we have been called, the greatness of our inheritance, the greatness of the power to which God has given us access and the majesty of the one through whom all of this is made possible – Jesus Christ. Paul understood this so profoundly – very likely because he himself had undergone such a radical re-orientation of his life. It was quite literally a vision of the Risen Jesus that turned his world upside down. While we may not see Jesus in precisely the same way that Paul did, we can experience Jesus in the manner Paul prays here in Ephesians. In fact I would say we must!
Our holy obsession….
I am persuaded like never before that three things must become our holy obsession: The greatness of Jesus Christ (what David Bryant calls ‘A Crisis in Supremacy – a shortfall in how we see, seek, savor, serve, share and speak about God’s Son for ALL that He is. Next, the glory of the gospel (understanding the work of Christ and how the grace of God works in our lives) and the necessity of intentional daily involvement in following Jesus (What Dallas Willard calls ‘The Renovation of the Heart). I believe that these three streams must become our food, our daily bread, our constant rallying point, our inexhaustible fountain of inspiration and motivation. The church needs a new day of sacrifice and perseverance (one that mirrors the Early Church, and the church renewed in every generation). However – without a passionate purpose how can that sacrifice and perseverance be sustained?
Jesus stated a very simply principal about how outward conduct is related to the inner person with these words: The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45) In other words – you have to have something good in your heart to get it out when you need to act. If my heart is captured by a ‘big’ Jesus, a great gospel and my need to really respond to God then I will bring that out of my heart in my day to day life. If I don’t have that in my heart, then no matter what the opportunities I will likely do little, say little and have little impact. Christians seem to be filled with everything but these three things (consider these numbers, sent to me last week by David Bryant: 96% of Christians discovered to be “biblically illiterate” cf. Barna Research; 80% of US congregations are stagnant or dying in terms of membership; Millions sitting in our pews on Sunday remain unconverted – 50% by one major survey). If these numbers are true, even if they were off by 10 or 20% would still be staggering. What do we do?
What do we do?
The first step is to face the reality of what really drives my life. I can’t hope to change what I do not actually acknowledge needs fixing. We humans have an extraordinary ability to sustain slow and steady spiritual decline for years without being bothered by it. We have no problem sitting in church (assuming we have even made that much of a commitment), going through ‘religious’ motions and remaining virtually unchanged for years. Dry, religious performance can easily become a substitute for passionate apprenticeship to Jesus. The numbers quoted from David Bryant should suggest at the very least that this is the reality of much of the church. Step One then is this: Do I have a compelling vision of the Christian life? Is my life organized a ‘Big’ view of Jesus Christ, dependency on the gospel’s resources and intentional apprenticeship to Jesus? How can I know what is really going on in my heart? : Enthusiasm for worship, hunger for the Word of God, intentionality regarding growing in my faith, (study, devotions, regular prayer, accountability, generosity with my resources, time and gifts.), increased love for God and my brothers and sisters. Where are you at when you hear this list of things in your head?
Second: After diagnosis comes treatment. What must be done to re-order my life so that it reflects a life that is driven by a vision of who Christ is, what He has done and what it means to actively live that reality out in my day to day life. Some of us need prayer partners, some of us need to become more intentional about study and the knowledge of the Word of God. Some of us need help in our marriages, and in our relationships with others. Some of us need deliverance from habits that are working havoc in our lives. Some of us are in financial bondage and we need help to learn to budget and order our financial house well. I could go on and name many areas – but the point is this: If I know I am in need of change – recognize that only specificity married to intention will ever take us anywhere. I have spent the last 12 months trying to get myself back into physical shape (after years of neglect). I can’t tell you the joy and delight that has come from simply facing my lazinesses, my excuses, my self-pity and deciding that I was going to take a step of faith, embrace my partnership with God and follow through with with effort. God has blessed me, I feel better, more focused, more energetic and more able to serve the Lord with my whole life (including my body). I can tell you two things happened – I faced my sinfulness and poor stewardship of my body; and I implemented a plan that actually made sense for me. The result is change, glorious God honoring change.
Third: You can not do this without partnership with others. Stop fooling yourself. You will not change without help and constant accountability along the way. Once you face the truth, once you consider a remedy you will still need encouragement, reminders, and occasional rebukes to keep moving. I believe in revival. I am expecting God to bring one. But the church needs not only revival but reformation. We need that precept on precept, day by day constancy that brings beautiful transformation to individuals, families, churches and communities. Let me make clear what I mean: It takes thoughtful biblical understanding to bring real change to our culture. We need unified, committed believers that will work and walk together in sustained effort to bring about lasting gospel influence. Of course we can’t do this without the Holy Spirit working mightily. But remember mighty works of the Spirit happen all the time in step by step blessing, and pushing back the darkness. Yes, I love and want ’signs and wonders’ – but God does so much work, in fact most of His work through our faith expressing itself in love.
This ‘vision’ thing is really getting all up in my business, if you know what I mean. I am thinking about it day and night. I hope I am becoming more like Paul who said – I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— (10) that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, (11) that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead
Video Blog – The following are ‘videos’ based on the above writing. They are in 7 to 10 minute parts and expand slightly on the thought above.
Contrary to what you might think or even unwittingly believe – Christian Spiritual formation is not reserved for only the ’super’ spiritual. There is a sort of adage among retailers regarding people who write or call with concerns about a product. If you get a letter it probably speaks for many, many more who just won’t take the time. That is why it takes very little in the way of complaints for a company to respond (they know it is a representative sample). I think the following ought to be understood as a ‘representative’ sample.
One of the most theologically solid educational institutions in the U.S. is a school called Covenant College and Seminary in Georgia (Lookout Mountain). Recently the president of the Seminary told this story: Covenant Seminary gives an entrance examine in order to place its incoming students in the track of study which takes into consideration what they already know. 20 years ago (1988) 2/3rds of the students passed the Bible knowledge placement examine and 1/3rd failed. Today (2008) that number is reversed. 2/3 failed and only 1/3 passed. Read the rest of this entry »
The church: Divinely inspired and human in its life
In just a few days Gail and I will celebrate 26 years of marriage. I’m delighted to be with her, and I’m grateful that she stills finds me a source of joy in her life. But something I have discovered about marriage is this – it cannot be left to itself – marriage needs periodic questions, evaluation and re-affirmation. Leave it to run on automatic pilot and you will end up some place you won’t want to be.
