Chapter 1
Becoming Kings
1 Cor Ch 1-4
Jesus plainly said that believers were to let their light shine before men. In doing so, they will see your deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matt 5:16). God’s heart is that each believer becomes the child of God they can be in Christ. Christians are supposed to become a blessing to those who do not know Christ. Would you like to become the means of salvation to the lost? Of course you would! Christians all want to see God’s will being done. It seems to be a desire planted in a Christians heart. To see a person saved by faith in Christ is amazing. I was tutoring a group and the class asked to chat over some issues about God. One girl sat and openly stated that she doesn't believe in the concept of God. Around 20 minutes later I had muddled through a rough explanation of what salvation is using a white board and some illustrations. The staff all saw the moment of realisation in the girl's eyes as the penny dropped. Her entire demeanour changed as she escalated in excitement about the amazing work at Calvary. She confessed "I believe that...." and later that day a staff member prayed with her. Unknown to me she started a prison sentence the day after. Myself and a staff member visited her and she still spoke of her faith whilst trying to cope with her circumstance.
The scriptures tell us that God wants all men to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth. We partake in that divine nature and can experience the joy of seeing people lose their life to follow Christ. So, we all want what God wants... people to escape eternal damnation! So whats the problem?
The Problem...
If we dare to be brutally honest with ourselves we have to say that generally the task of communicating the gospel truth in the western world and culture is less than successful. It is incredibly difficult to get people to respond to the call to discipleship. To me, and I’m sure every believer, this story of God sending his son to die and rise again from the dead is the most stunning piece of information in the history of the world. What is it that people hearing the gospel account miss? Methodologies and strategies are still tried and tweaked in an effort to find the way to communicate this truth. Those who respond to the gospel rarely become long term committed disciples. Can we just blame the dark day we live in? We could, but God is still all-powerful, and I believe God can still have people anchored into a life of following. With God still wanting people to be saved it is logical to conclude that we must lift the hood of what our Christian experience is as a whole to look at what could be wrong.
It has worked !
The Bible tells of a people in the first century who had similar challenges that we have today yet history tells us that body of believers was responsible for incredible impact and influence. So much so that some would attribute her existence to the erosion of the mighty Roman Empire centuries later! This reveals a possible malfunction in some area of ‘Church’ today as we struggle to even influence our own neighbours. The church of the first century did not do what we do for church. The faith they walked in was less complicated than today. They met differently. However, Paul still needed to steer the culture and speak into the 'gravitational pull' towards human nature and temple based organisation. His epistles outline these issues. It can be said that the influence of the church in the initial years was a contribution to the fall of the Roman Empire and without doubt its spread was incredible in the known world.
But what went wrong?
After the Apostles, religious practices immediately began creeping back into the Church. This was due to the Early Church Fathers struggling with the lure of position, status and in some cases, power. The result was a departure from many of the key things the Apostles taught as a pattern for church. For about three hundred years, God was able to have impact as his invisible kingdom challenged the visible kingdoms of the world! An Emperor named Constantine decided that Christianity would become the state religion in the fourth century. Tragically, he chose to give leaders official positions. He borrowed pagan practices and mixed them with biblical ones.
The already growing return to erroneous ceremony and prescription was boosted by Constantine’s desire to make a state religion out of what God intended to be full of his life and power. As stated The Early Church Fathers were first to begin departing from the Apostles directives for church and without the security of their guidance, church practice inched towards Man’s ideas and structures. What ensued was The Roman Catholic Church which solidified ranked hierarchy, ornate temple worship and dominance over the use of Scripture. Of course the Roman Catholic Church exists today but most churches still have the remnants of what it was even though the theology has largely been straightened out. We must recognise that God wanted people to meet without these institutional elements. Millions of Christian leaders are good with Protestant theology but do not see how the way church is done echoes Roman Catholic practice.
Can we change this?
Are we courageous enough to examine our own practices and procedures in an attempt to become salt and light in the world? Are we open to take fresh perspectives and truly radical observations serious enough to do something about it for the sake of truth? How committed are we to see God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven? What about when it hurts? When I left my ministry position convinced that God had spoken into my heart to do so, I realised that I had prayed to God the following prayer for a long time: “Lord I will do anything for you.” At one low point I asked God what he was doing and he reminded me of my 10 year prayer of commitment and availability. Over time I concluded that God was saying: “Son you said you would do anything for me. Now I'm asking you to do nothing!” It dawned on me that my ministry position was directly opposed to what he wanted me to do I realised I am capable of stepping on the toes of the true leader of the church, Jesus!
Of course you may truly believe this is not your testimony. Of course, your desire is definitely not to step on Jesus' toes in ministry! Everyone who takes a ministry position feels a desire to lead and genuinely believes they are helping God by obeying the desire. However, having a desire in your heart does not mean that you will outwork that desire in God’s way. We may be hindering Jesus! Can that be possible?
Every single Bible character of note was either born into, went through, opted out or exiled to a system that was not of God. Be it Roman, Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian... it does not matter. Each had practices and governance that was not of God. God had the Israelites live within 613 laws to establish a nation that would be a light to the other nations. Today ‘church’ has taken on so much of the other practices and governance's it is barely recognisable. And you and I were Born into it.
At a disadvantage.
As we go forward with our own plans and visions for ‘church,’ we need to be aware that we differ from those first century Christian pioneers. We have been born into the way things are. Much of what we experience is a result of things that men decided long ago, hangovers from systems and structures. To confront the issue of Church, how we do things, and our own Christian lives is tricky. We should park our desire to see people come to salvation for a while and get back to what we are to do first and foremost: Obey. Any return to biblical church meeting must be because of the conviction of what the Word of God says. The dangling carrot of ‘souls saved’ needs to be seen as a consequence of following God's word rather than the reason for existing.
Will a radio play music if electricity is pumped through the circuits? Yes, as a by product of following the correct blueprint of radio circuitry! People who are in a family, loved, affirmed, cared for, affirmed, will impact this world by existing. A witness is so called because they were there, not because they did anything. Jesus said you will be my witnesses. This means that your life is evidence of Jesus risen. We are not just witnesses. Jesus said we would be evidence of him being Lord, just by living in Christ. This cannot happen unless people are in an environment that makes them impacted by God’s family. This is where we have issues. Christians seem to want to be doing anything but being his witnesses.
'That' needs a 'why.'
The move towards house based church with biblical leadership and practice is not a new concept. As the challenge to the systems that make up ‘Church’ gains momentum I have attempted to not just say that we should return to biblical practice but to show why. I'm going to attempt to define in some way our spirituality. We lack the language to do so in many ways as the spirit realm is unseen and not in our capacity to understand. I feel this is why our simple obedience would be helpful and let God do what he does in church practice and otherwise.
Placing dimensions on spirituality always produces debatable conclusions. I will try to take the scriptural information, what we know about spirituality, and explain how our spirituality and growth is compromised by what we do. We will see that, unsurprisingly, spiritual relationships are compromised by the systems and structures of this world. What is surprising is what these worldly elements actually are. There are plenty of resources available that observe the scriptures and correctly describe biblical house church practice. These challenge the status quo with sound biblical observation. They provide concrete evidence that this biblical practice was the way God intended it to be but little information is available as to why it is the way. This book works towards answering that question. I believe that God wants you to see the whole why's and whatfors as well as pointing out that its simply to be obeyed. The reason is because no-one should feel bad about what they were born into. No-one should feel time has been wasted in systems and structures we will find are actually opposed to God's will and purposes. Its simply the right time for you to examine the truth of these proposals and maybe acknowledge our own part in partying to that which we have a vested interest in. I'm going to show from scriptures that this is nothing unusual, or at least direct provision has been made for this specifically and forensically.
Is it just about homes?
The House Church Movement appeared to be ineffective in its aims. Meeting in homes went part of the way towards restoring biblical practice in terms of environment but did not fully move towards biblical leadership. ‘Cell Churches’ invariably become mini institutions. To try to see what would be the alternative to the systematised leadership models we have today is almost impossible. We are immersed in the way things are. We mistake the peace we have being in Christ as his children for an all round divine commendation for what we do in practicing church: "I feel great about church and my life in Christ." Good! but that may be the blessing of your position in Christ rather than your taking part in an un-Biblical practice for church. If the reader does re-examine their practice and decide to seek out biblical ekklesia, please take note: There is a human instinct to react when we find we need to change. Many hurt themselves and others by reacting to the call to change. While we must respond to the scriptural directives, we must above all else continue to love and respect all of God’s people. This is very difficult, especially if there has been pushing and shoving in the leadership structure. Be assured however that even if it all goes wrong, the misunderstanding, mistreatment etc, the worse that can happen is God exposes our own heart and the heart of others.
It is important that the Bible becomes the datum edge of all these observations. To avoid an academic nightmare or footnote frenzy, I have used large brushstrokes in some areas. These may require further study and verification. Your responsibility is to take this entire book to the Word and the Spirit of God. That said; please make sure you are taking it to God’s Spirit, not some earthly spokesman who tells you what to think. So many Christians have given over the responsibility to think their own thoughts. With a post Roman Catholic leadership structure in place a Christian attending this type of church needn't do anything at all except swallow and follow the leaders vision and directives. Many leaders are great communicators for sure, but this doesnt mean they have the leading of the Holy Spirit for you. Neither does it mean Jesus has given over his headship of the Church to your Pastor.
Weapons of War
It is no theological breakthrough to reveal that there are two realms. We live in a material realm that is seen, that can be touched. We are also surrounded by another realm unseen. In the unseen realm there is no argument over who is the King. That battle was settled two thousand years ago. In this visible realm there is a battle. The war rages over the precious ownership of humans. It has proved to be an incredibly difficult war to win. Because the aim of the war is to have people become disciples of Christ, some would question whether King Jesus is winning here at all. To fight this battle, King Jesus needs to have the ‘weapons’ (2 Co 6:7) of the unseen realm somehow become present in this physical realm. The way he chose to do this was through his ambassadors, every Christian who is born from above. Jesus said he would build his Church and this would be the plan to deliver the weapons of our warfare to earth.
The objective is to overthrow the unseen powers and principalities that still make a claim to people’s lives. These powers and principalities have worked for centuries to do just one thing. Their entire effort has been focussed towards blocking and hindering the weapons of the unseen realm entering this earth. The dark forces know that on the earth there is only one place where these weapons become real. Day and night this place is attacked with every scheme and plot possible to stop the weapons of warfare breaking into this earthly realm. Where is this place? The only place spirit and physical realms meet is in the life of every follower of Christ. They are the ones with both spiritual and physical lives living here at once. Only here can the unseen be brought into the seen realm.
In some lives a trickle of these unseen weapons of righteousness come through and some see its effect on earth: salvation, healing and miraculous activity. There was a time when this unseen realm gushed into the world. As a result the Church in the land affected every people group, authority, and even government. The mighty Roman Empire was severely compromised as spiritual war broke the spear and blunted the sword. It was not long until the strategy of Satan, our spiritual enemy, came into play. History records Christian men breaking the patterns and practices left by the apostles. As time progressed their God-given leadership merged with the way the world leads. The enemy had a plan to place something in the life of man that would severely hinder the unseen gushing as it did to erode the Empire of steel. The enemy never wants to see the Church be as powerful as that first century phenomena again. The longer the Church stays on the earth, the longer the devil can roam around. Stripped of power, he remains a frustrated politician. His strategy is not just to divert the lost from Christ but also Christians from further productivity.
More about the enemy...
What policy did the enemy establish that hinders the unseen weapons entering this realm? If we could find what this is then we can work against it. We could see the full unleashing of the arsenal of righteousness pour into the darkness again. The enemy has information that the body of Christ has been slow to acknowledge and understand. His strategy hinges around the fundamental difference between how the two realms are different. Because of the fall of Man this realm that we are physically born into is contaminated with sin. With strategic help and cunning skill from the enemy, Man has inadvertently accommodated systems and structures of this world. We have to be a part of these structures and systems in this world but we don’t have instruction or authority to bring them into the Church. In fact, we see Paul the apostle dealing with this problem in the New Testament. If there is any possibility that a contamination of Church practice has happened, we should begin to consider how to return to biblical directives.
The systems and structures of the world have changed the way God intended Church to be practiced. Happy with their lot, many dismiss a challenge to today’s practice because it simply isn’t what they believe. Of course it isn’t what you believe! The devil doesn’t weave unfeasible strategies into our lives; he’s much too subtle. His plan, like before, will be a subtle contamination that debilitates and destroys. Meeting together with a ranked structure of leadership in an institutional format is the unbiblical system and structure that most Christians feel is authentic “Church.” This way of organising the Church mimics the world’s organisation methods and is absolutely devastating to the plan and purpose of God. Why would this be such a devastating problem
'Being' and 'Doing'
A basic ‘starting point’ principle of living in this fallen realm is, ‘to be something we need to do something.’ It is the principle of 'doing.' To be educated we do something - we go to school. To be wealthy we do something - we engage industry of some kind. If I wanted to be a lawyer I’d need to train in law school. From the moment of birth we need to grow and acquire the skills to exist and perhaps excel in this world. Whatever I want to be during my life on earth needs to be added to my life from the resource of this realm. Even if I become a lawyer, all my resource is anchored in this world. So we add to our lives to be something.
When we become Christians we enter into a life of serving God. Because this aspect of our life is spiritual it has a different principle. When we are born from above we have our sinful nature dealt with, we are new creations. From this point onwards the principle of a new realm breaks upon our lives. This principle is opposite to the principle of the fallen realm. The opposite principle of ‘to do something you need to be it’ becomes the new starting point. It is the principle of 'being.' This is the new way because having entered into Christ we already are all we need to be as a child of God. So we already are all we need for our spiritual lives with no additives just growth, nurturing and latitude to outwork the gifts.
We still engage the principle of this worldly realm because we are ‘in’ it. I have aquired some skills for work, family life and hobbies. However, we cannot allow that principle into the spiritual dimensions of our life. This is when we become ‘of’ the world as Christians. When we apply worldy principles to our church practice - what we do - we deliver a debilitating mindset among God's people. Christians are either so busy meeting the mark set by leaders or being so busy doing someone elses vision that they are never free to be themselves and grow.
From another world
The fulness of our roles and tasks for God will unfold in time as we grow in knowledge and wisdom. Our learning and input from the Church may help us grow but in no way provides the spiritual gift. It is already in us in seed form. However, what we are, is all we need to fulfil the task we have on this earth, to fulfil the Great Commission as the bride of Christ. My spiritual life may affect the way I conduct my affairs in this world but the spiritual realm cannot add to my skills and abilities that relate to this physical world. Spiritual gifting is what it says it is: spiritual. It is sourced in the other dimension. What comes from that realm has no relation to the affairs of the worldly scheme of things. There may be gifts that look like they have application in the world but they are fundamentally different. Their origin is not of this world and when they become realities in this world they must do so in a ‘not of this world’ environment. Spiritual gifts cannot be effectively delivered in the system and structure of this world. Relational spiritual interaction belongs in 'family.' We shall see that this is one reason why Paul, led by the Spirit of God, had the ekklesia meet in a certain way, against the temple-based culture of the day.
An example
Pastoral function is not social work for example. Social work can be helpful but provides no spiritual gift. Because it is a spiritual gift, it has a spiritual dimension to meet the whole person. A person could train to care for another and be pastoral. Without the spiritual gift, the one being pastor-ed does not receive what Jesus intended when he chose ‘some to be Pastors.’ Can you learn to be a Pastor? Yes and no. You can learn what you do to care and nurture in this world but the actual spiritual gift that is imparted by a gifted individual does not originate in this physical realm. Some schools have a Pastoral Department that has little to do with spirituality or gifting. You don’t learn to become 'this'... it is given to you by God. Imagine that my observances are correct and en-mass people return to New Testament church practice? So many people would come from under leadership structures and become who they are in God. Not intended as a motivation for doing this, but I believe the Lord can work through a Church who has returned to biblical directives. Is this because they have simply obeyed? No! It's because the way to meet changes the nature of the individual Christian. You cant be the boss in biblical church, neither can you make your gifting a class war. You simply become a brother! From there it all looks very different and those who had a percent of their own ego, pride and selfology become just like everyone else! Ouch!
In-Christ-ness
God wants us to be renewed, taking on the principle of the eternal realm and clearly see it contrast the pattern and principle of this world. Then, like the first century Church, we can enter this world and have influence. This is not the coming Kingdom, simply a way to bring freedom and truth into the world until Jesus returns. Our responsibility is to simply be in Christ, under his headship. We regularly gather with our local brothers and sisters and meet endorsing the eternal principles. This is what the ekklesia was intended to be. There is no other scriptural endorsement for anything else. The Church gathers and gets built up and encouraged. Then she scatters into society, little by little challenging the people who make up society. For some reason many Christians think the Church can meet in any old format, endorsing worldly principles, and all will be well. While a select bunch of Christians feel all is well, it is a poor future for the millions of lost people. They wait in darkness while the Church blames their plight on ‘this dark world’ or the Devil. Leaders say, “If we needed new direction, the Lord would tell us brother.” Is this what the Lord is saying right now? Dare you re-examine the scriptures to find what a biblical Church was? Dare you explore the possibility that historical leaders have shaped your church practice more than the Holy Spirit? That done, dare you begin to return to biblical Church?
How 'Being' and 'doing' affects leadership
If for some reason these spiritual principles are not fully understood what would happen to the Church? Is it possible that in almost two thousand years of Church history the principles have been mixed? When a Christian enters an official position covering other Christians in a tiered structure of any kind, they have by definition, done something to be something. This is the principle that belongs to this world. They have done something by entering a system that tells those under them that they are a leader. Instead of just ‘being’ what they are and simply functioning, the system has enforced the gift. Many official leaders are divinely equipped to lead – they are spiritual leaders- this is being before doing, the eternal principle. The structure is of this world but the gift is from the unseen realm. The Church system that genuine leaders have unwittingly functioned in belongs to the fallen realm of task orientated ‘doing.’ The Church that Paul spoke of allowed the gifts to simply ‘be’ before they were ‘done.’ Today’s Church structures provide a platform and framework for a gift to operate. Take away the props and scaffolding of the present Church structure and gifts can be received through a relational spirituality. In some churches excersising gifts is done with much celebrity and showmanship. In many ways the structure says it has to be done this way as there is little opportunity to engage a family- relational encounter. even if there is another dynamic in place to allow for 'family,' this needs to be fostered over time to become in the weft and weave of christian life. Some have an house group on a wednesday night and say it is 'true to the New Testament.' It is a step but the reason to reform church practice is to do with the change it makes to the nature of the christians who do it.
So what about....
So if someone actually ‘is’ the genuine article what’s the problem if they start to function through platforms and frameworks. Does it matter how it is outworked? Isn’t it God’s plan and purpose to ‘release’ a gift regardless of how it is expressed? We need to fully understand: If the vehicle through which your gift flows is of this world there is a mix of realms. If realms get mixed up, the gifts expressed by the Christian as he or she tries to be salt and light is frustrated as it is presented through a worldly framework. God intended spiritual gifts to be expressed in an environment that allows all Christians to be themselves, able to express their gift as led by the Holy Spirit. The issue isn’t that a person cannot express a gift – millions of Christians will exercise their gifts this week! The problem is that through worldly system and structure the gift is not received as purposed. The result is a weak body of people who have little chance of seeing their own lives transformed, never mind the lives of the lost.
When today’s leader exercises the genuine spiritual gift, its power is severely limited because the ones receiving the gift relate to the leader through a contrived means, not the unadulterated spiritual connection that is a relational ‘flow.’ This flow is the permissions we give to people, the respect fostered among brothers and sisters and the trust gained throughout, among other things. Families grow this but organisational approaches insist upon it, thus making the interation contrived.
Introducing the fundamental problem...
By claiming these structures hinder I am questioning around seventeen hundred years of Church history! Is it valid? How does it work? To answer, we must understand that this world system relies on rank. Talent, education and/or ability have different levels. If you are a person who has a high level of these attributes you will do well to use them to the best advantage in this world. I have an Honors Degree and this indicates to employers that I have a level of education. I am able to get jobs that pay a little more because of this. I have also got another degree equlvelent in youth work and proven leadership skills and this ability has me become the manager of certain people in the secular community project I work for. I also have a manager who has skills that are at a higher level than mine. We are structured in this tiered system to get a job done, to deliver practical leadership programs to the challenged young people in the community. Each worker is rewarded according to his or her level of ability and position in this tiered structure. This is rank. It can be seen from small community projects to corporate business. It works in schools and armies worldwide. There is no community of people on earth that meets to accomplish an end result that does not structure with a rank of sorts. It may not be glaringly obvious, but it is there. It is only when you see Jesus speak against it and Paul clearly oppose it that we realize God meant the Church to be ‘not of this world.’
Conclusion
No comments:
Post a Comment