You can find the excellent next installment of this series here.
Please venture over to Marc Hardy’s blog, check out the article, and leave a comment.
Category Archives: Christ Our All
Highlighting Two Great E-books
I would like to point your attention to two great e-books that I have read recently.
The first is Epic Jesus, by Frank Viola. This was originally delivered as a conference message, and was then converted into a short e-book. This little book brings a stunning revelation of Christ throughout the scriptures, and brings God’s eternal purpose into view. The book is about 20 pages, and can be purchased here for $3.99. The original audio message is available for free at this link as well.
Secondly, I would like to point you to an e-book titled Junia is Not Alone, by scholar Scot McKnight. It’s another short read, but well worth your time. Here’s the product description from amazon.com:
In this fierce essay, leading Bible scholar Scot McKnight tells the story of Junia, a female apostle honored by Paul in his Letter to the Romans—and then silenced and forgotten for most of church history. But Junia’s tragedy is not hers alone. She’s joined by fellow women in the Bible whose stories of bold leadership have been overlooked. She’s in the company of visionary women of God throughout the centuries whose names we’ve forgotten, whose stories go untold, and whose witness we neglect to celebrate.
Not only does this book highlight the important role women play in the scriptures, it gives some insight into how we have arrived with our english translations of the Bible.
You can order the Kindle version of the book here. The Nook version is here. Both are $2.99.
What I’ve Learned in Organic Church Part 2: The Life of the Church Flows from Christ’s Life in Us, Not From Our Activity
*** This article is part of a blog series by some of us meeting together in an organic expression of the church. The introduction to the series is here. Other contributors are listed at the bottom of this article. This series is not based in theory or rhetoric and is not an attempt to “teach”. Our hope is simply to point to Christ as All in All and to share real life experiences of those who are living together in this way. ***
The life of the church flows from Christ’s life in us, not from our activity.
This sounds obvious, right? It’s all about Jesus. Yes, of course.
Except that it is not. It’s often about many other things, and we don’t even realize it much of the time. We’ve made a commitment to Jesus (got saved, answered an altar call, said the sinner’s prayer, confessed Christ as Lord, or whatever you prefer to call it) and now it is time to get on with being a good Christian and doing church stuff. Or so we’re told.
I humbly confess that I spent most of my life with this view of what it means to be Christian.
But does “doing church” and “being good” really sound like what Jesus called us to?
If He called us to something else, what is it?
When I ventured down this path of “organic church” (I’ll define that a little more later) it was hard to give up the priorities that I had placed on other things. It was actually difficult to make Christ the most important thing in my life because I was so wrapped up in the other things! I was consumed with studying the scriptures and knowing “proper” doctrine (which changes with the group you meet with), learning what rules I should live by (again, these change with the group) and trying to correct my behavior, taking part in church services, serving in a church ministry, learning what my spiritual gifts are, evangelizing the lost, getting my children involved in church activities, and so on.
Thankfully, I’ve been able to learn together and experience with a group of believers what it really does mean to make Christ the center of our lives and the center of the church.
In our church, we do our best to hold onto Christ as our Life and our Head, willing to go wherever that takes us. We seek to give Him room to work in us and through us. We are far from perfect and still have so much to learn as we mature together. I pray that we continue to keep Christ as Head and at the center of it all.
This willingness to yield to Christ together, to lay down our agendas and aspirations, to listen and rest in Him, and to follow His leading as it is brought forth through the body makes it very difficult to describe what we are doing at any particular time. We don’t have a list of ministries, programs, or financial campaigns. We have a Person, and He is our vision and goal.
How do we keep Christ as the center?
I recently adapted the opening lines of the Star Trek franchise as follows:
Christ: the final frontier. These are the voyages of His Ekklessia. Its eternal mission: to explore endless new worlds in Him, to seek out new life and a new civilization, to boldly go where the old man could never go before.
Our church seeks to explore Christ together and express Him to each other. We explore Christ through all of life, as He can be seen in all things and all circumstances (Romans 1:20). We meet together during the week to behold Him and seek Him together. We read the scriptures and find Him there (Luke 24:27-32). We meet together as a church weekly and express to each other what He has revealed to us.
We seek to know our Lord. He is a living and active Being, and while He can’t necessarily be seen or felt physically, He can be known. He desires to be known and to be loved by His bride.
“There is scarcely a soul that seeks You, that loves and knows You.” – Michael Molinos
How lonely our Lord must be among all of this activity that is done in His name, yet is often a distraction from resting in Him and dwelling in His sweet presence. (Even good activities can distract us from knowing Him.) I like to read biographies. You can learn a great deal about someone this way, but you can never know them as a real person simply by reading about them. To have a relationship, to have fellowship, there must be more.
Does this mean that we just sit around and talk about Jesus?
Heavens, no! I have learned that seeking to know the Lord in an inward and intimate way allows Him to reveal Himself more fully through my spirit (think of it as exercising an internal organ) than my mind could ever comprehend. It is in this deep spiritual place where true revelation from the Lord is given, for revelation by definition does not originate in man, but in God.
I have also learned that this revelation leads to a choice. Every single time. And the choice is this: will I choose my will or His will? His will may seem difficult to me at times, but it is always in line with God’s good, unchanging purposes, and usually against my fleshly desires. When we choose to live according to His will as it is revealed to us, we are living by His indwelling life.
As we learn Christ together in this way, we begin to consider ourselves less and love others more. We have more peace. We find joy in times of abundance and despite times of suffering. We do crazy things to help others. We come to know each other and treat each other as family. We share Christ with various people in our lives, often in deed, sometimes with words. We reject legalism and traditions that inprison the Spirit of Christ. I am learning this as a pattern (not a blueprint) that follows Christ’s life. Where He is Head and all things are submitted to Him, the fruits of the Spirit naturally blossom and the fragrance of Christ is known.
Out of this relationship with Christ, the activity that He truly desires can be expressed through His body naturally and in season.
But activity without relationship doesn’t lead to much of anything except exhaustion. If you don’t believe that, think about your marriage, or ask someone who is married. Activity is not what makes the marriage flourish; it is the relationship, the deep knowing and longing for another person. This is what “quality time” is really about. I’ve often heard couples say that they just feel like “roommates”, implying that a deeper connection is not being pursued. The longer a couple goes on keeping up with activities without resting and enjoying each other, the more the relationship suffers. So it is with Christ and His bride.
Activities, programs, gifts, knowledge, buildings are not our center. Nor is meeting in a home, rejecting authority, or criticizing other Christians or institutions. None of these things will produce an organic expression of the church.
Our center is not found in the external trappings of religion, but in the inward spirit where the Holy Spirit resides in us. The center and foundation of our community is knowing Christ together through intimate, spiritual fellowship with Him, expressing Him to each other, and following the revelation of Himself that He imparts to us (living by His indwelling life).
All else flows from this, as He guides us. At least, this is my experience.
May we have eyes to see Him, ears to hear Him, and hearts burning to know Him.
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Further Resources:
A good definition of organic church.
Living by the indwelling life of Christ. Also here. And here.
Other Bloggers in this Series (And Post Dates):
R.C. Babione (2/29/12)
Brigette Babione (2/8/12)
Jackie Dukes (2/1/12)
Marc Hardy (1/25/12)
Mark Lake (1/18/12)
Seth Roach (2/15/12)
Carrie Walters (2/22/12)
Michael Young (1/11/12)
What I’ve Learned in Organic Church Blog Series
Several of the saints in our “organic” church are sharing in a series titled “What I’ve Learned in Organic Church” and will be posting each Wednesday for the next several weeks starting today.
An introduction to the series is here.
The first post is here.
I’ll be posting an article on January 18th (next Wednesday) here on the blog titled “What I’ve Learned in Organic Church: The Life of the Church Flows from Christ’s Life in Us, Not From Our Activity”.
Other bloggers participating and well worth following:
Amazed
The following are song lyrics that I rewrote to focus on our life in Christ. The original song is called Amazed and has been performed by the bands Lonestar and Boyz II Men. I’ve included a link below the lyrics to the Boyz II Men version. Listen to the video and read the words below at the same time to get a feel for how the song sounds.
Amazed (by Jesus)
Jesus that You fill me
Your Spirit lives inside me
Is almost more than I can take
Jesus when you touch me
I can feel how much you love me
And it just blows me away
I’ve never been this close to anyone or anything
I can hear Your thoughts
I can see Your dreams
I don’t know how You do what You do
I’m so in love with You
It just keeps getting better
I want to spend the rest of my life
With You as Your bride
Forever and ever
Every little thing that You do
Jesus, I’m amazed by You
The sound of Your Word
Like nothing we’ve heard
The way You whisper in our hearts
Your Spirit all around us
Jesus You surround us
You bind us all in Your heart
Oh, Your love, it consumes us, all of us
We want to spend the whole night in Your eyes
Chorus
Every little thing that you do
We’re so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
We want to spend the rest of our life
With you as your bride
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Jesus, we’re amazed by you
Christ our Penguin
I believe Christ is in and can be seen through all things (John 1:3). This includes movies, music, poetry, artwork, nature. Every piece of art is a story in itself, and all stories point to Christ and God’s eternal purpose in some way.
I heard this song (Penguin, by Christina Perri) as I was driving around town today, and I was captivated by the picture of our Lord’s desire to love us and to be loved by us in return. Truly, our Lord is in love with His family and His bride.
As you watch and listen to the video, imagine our Christ calling you away to fellowship with Him.
The lyrics are in the video (in a very creative way). I hope you enjoy it, too!
Expressing Christ in Organic Church
I’ve found that when people hear about a church that gathers without a designated leader to present a prepared sermon or teaching, it is difficult for them to imagine how else the church would gather. The pastor-pew format is so ingrained in today’s church culture, it is hard to picture anything else. But there are, in fact, “organic churches” who meet together with no human person designated as her leader, where all of the saints gather together and share the riches of her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and allow Him to be the head of the church meeting.
Frank Viola has described organic church as this:
By “organic church,” I mean a non-traditional church that is born out of spiritual life instead of constructed by human institutions and held together by religious programs. Organic church life is a grass roots experience that is marked by face-to-face community, every-member functioning, open-participatory meetings (opposed to pastor-to-pew services), non-hierarchical leadership, and the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ as the functional Leader and Head of the gathering. (Full article here.)
The following illustration is how I have tried to describe what happens when an organic church meets together to express Christ with every member functioning:
Paul says in Ephesians 3:8 that there are “unsearchable riches” in Christ. Imagine with me that the Louvre Museum in Paris is a picture of all of the riches that are in Christ. The Louvre has approximately 35,000 exhibits in its massive museum grounds, not to mention the architecture alone is stunning. Many of the most famous pieces of artwork in history are housed within these walls.
Now, imagine a group of people setting out to explore and experience the riches of this museum. To give 5 minutes to each of the 35,000 pieces of art would take 243 twelve hour days! Picture this group entering the museum in awe of its beautiful architecture. They gather around a famous art display and take in its beauty and uniqueness. After some time, they share with each other what aspects of this piece of art stood out to them and how it affected them. As they go around the group taking turns sharing, they find that no one saw quite the same thing, even though they were all certainly looking at the same piece. Some were astounded by the colors. Others were captivated by the fine detail in the work. Some were focused on one particular aspect, such as the expression on a face. Some wondered about the meaning of the painting. Others pondered the artist’s motivation for the piece. As the group shared their varied insights, everyone saw much more of the artwork than any one person saw themselves. As the group moves through the museum, gazing upon the beautiful art and sharing with each other, they grow closer as they share together, and even begin to see the artwork from other people’s perspective.
Additionally, the group may decide to disperse in random directions to search out some artifact that catches their interest. They may ponder this piece alone or with just a few from the larger group. Later, the group comes back together and shares with each other what they have found. Many times, a very discernable theme will appear as they share, even though there was no intention to seek a common theme. (I’ve been in meetings where this happens and it is truly electrifying!) As each person shares about the treasure that they found, many different aspects of this massive museum may be revealed. The group may decide to venture together through some of these areas and behold together the treasure that some have brought to the group.
It is much the same as this when a group of people gather to express the Lord Jesus Christ together. Rather than getting only one view (such as from a pastor), many people bring many various views that are woven together into a beautiful picture of Christ that is much more rich than only one person’s view. In other words, Jesus Christ is the art piece that this group beholds.
Imagine if the same group went to the Louvre Museum, but when they made it into the foyer, they elected only one person to go in and view the artwork and then come back and share with the group what he alone saw. Without entering in to the museum together, the group’s ability to fully understand what the one person saw is difficult and limited. Week after week, they gather in the foyer and listen to this one person describe more of what he has seen. As the weeks and years pass, this person appears to be so much of an expert in the Louvre artwork, the group is intimidated to think about going inside themselves, lest they be expected to come back and expound on what they saw as well as the expert does.
In my view, this is similar to what happens in a church that depends on a select few clergy to minister Christ. Certainly, there are many pastors and clergy members who have a great depth of knowledge of Christ and a rich relationship with Him. But when the duty of exploring Him rests completely or mostly on the clergys’ shoulders, the rest of the body becomes passive and underdeveloped. In an organic expression of the church (as I’ve defined here), this duty is shared among the priesthood of ALL believers.
You may read this and not believe that Christians can live in this way together with each other. I can affirm by experience that they can, but only when their focus is learning together how to live by Christ’s indwelling life. But that, of course, is another story for another day.
Christ the Living Water and Book Review of The Temple Within
I awoke in the deep darkness of the early morning. As my awareness of my surroundings was awakened, I realized that I was parched from the night’s sleep. Longing for a drink of water, I rose from bed and began to stumble through the dark house to make my way down to the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, I was able to turn on the light, fill a glass of water, and quench my thirst. What a refreshing feeling!
In much the same way, we can quench our spiritual thirst when we wake in the morning by drinking from Christ Himself as our Living Water.
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” (John 4:7-15)
The life of Jesus Christ indwelling us by the Holy Spirit is our Living Water. When you wake in the morning, enter your inner temple where this living water dwells to quench your spiritual thirst. It is our inheritance as Christians to partake of this life. Just as we cannot live without physical water, we cannot live spiritually without drinking of Christ. Of course, we need to drink water throughout the day to keep from becoming thirsty again. In the same way, we can continue to drink throughout the day from the spring of water (Christ’s life) welling up inside of us.
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)
How do we partake of this Living Water? I think the method is less important than the focus. If our focus is on gaining knowledge and understanding, we will very likely miss the Person. May we not forget that Christ is a living Person whom we can know in an intimate way. We can fellowship with our Lord. One of the best guides I know for this is The Temple Within by Milt Rodriguez. (This is the follow up book review I mentioned in the review of Hearing God.) Milt not only gives us tools to fellowship with Christ, but he also reveals a picture of our life in Christ, His life in us, and God’s eternal purpose for His church – the bride, family, and house of God.
This book is rich with insight and revelation of our wonderful Savior. Order it here.
Covenant: Receiving Royalty
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:19-20 ESV)
As Jesus shared the bread and the cup with his disciples, He established a new covenant. But what is a covenant? Truly, a lifetime could be spent researching the Jewish practice of covenants and the references to this throughout the Scriptures.
In Jewish culture, a covenant was a binding agreement in which the two parties essentially become one flesh, as in a marriage covenant. Individual rights are forfeited. The two now live for each other as one person. Jewish covenant was not entered into lightly because of the cost involved by both parties.
The covenant between Jonathan, the son of King Saul, and David is recorded in First Samuel.
As soon as he [David] had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. (1 Samuel 18:1-5 ESV)
There is much to be seen in this act of love between Jonathan and David. The knitting of their souls translated literally says “The soul of Jonathan bound itself to the soul of David.” The NIV renders this as “became one in spirit with”. It goes on to say that Jonathan loved David as his own soul.
The phrase “made a covenant” is literally “cut a covenant” and implies the mingling of their blood.
Jonathan further demonstrates his love for David as he gives David his royal robe. David is symbolically “putting on” Jonathan, with his identity and royalty now covering him. In essence, the two have become one person.
In giving David his armor and weapons, Jonathan pledges to protect David. Jonathan defended David, even before his own father. To attack either party in a covenant is to attack both parties, as they are now essentially one person.
This new relationship now means that they will no longer live for themselves, but that they will live for each other. There is a surrender of self-interest. Jonathan even gives up his right to be king!
The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians that we put on spiritual royal garments when we enter into the everlasting covenant of Jesus Christ:
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:26-29 ESV)
In Philippians, Paul writes:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV)
Jesus Christ “put on” humanity so we could “put on” divinity. Jesus switched the robes!
Because Christ switched the robes, we can now fellowship with Him personally and spiritually as He now dwells in us. He has cut a covenant with us, becoming a blood brother with us before His Father. He has clothed us in royal robes and has given us a new identity!
As Paul wrote, let us put on the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.
The Lord’s Supper as a Marriage Covenant Bethrothal
I have been fascinated for years with the concept of the Jewish covenant. There are several covenants between God and His people in the Old Testament (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David), and of course, in the New Testament there is the new covenant between Jesus Christ and all who believe on His name. There is little in our culture today to compare to the Jewish concept of the covenant. Most agreements today are made by contracts; not covenants. While contracts are “made to be broken”, a biblical covenant was marked by complete devotion between two parties.
One area in which we sometimes still use covenant language is in marriage. As a church, we considered this Jewish custom in light of the covenant meal Christ shared with His disciples, what we now call The Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26-29). Here are some details of the Jewish marriage covenant:
The first major step in a Jewish marriage was betrothal. Betrothal involved the establishment of a marriage covenant. By Jesus’ time it was usual for such a covenant to be established as the result of the prospective bridegroom taking the initiative. The prospective bridegroom would travel from his father’s house to the home of the prospective bride. There he would negotiate with the father of the young woman to determine the price (mohar) that he must pay to purchase his bride. Once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the marriage covenant was thereby established, and the young man and woman were regarded to be husband and wife. From that moment on the bride was declared to be consecrated or sanctified, set apart exclusively for her bridegroom. As a symbol of the covenant relationship that had been established, the groom and bride would drink from a cup of wine over which a betrothal benediction had been pronounced. After the marriage covenant had been established, the groom would leave the home of the bride and return to his father’s house. There he would remain separate from his bride for a period of twelve months. This period of separation afforded the bride time to gather her trousseau and to prepare for married life. The groom occupied himself with the preparation of living accommodations in his father’s house to which he could bring his bride. At the end of the period of separation the groom would come to take his bride to live with him. (Ref: http://www.biblestudymanuals.net/jewish_marriage_customs.htm)
When we behold the church as the bride of Christ and Christ as the Bridegroom, this comparison is staggering. So, as a church, we planned a big Lord’s Supper event for the whole church to coincide with Easter weekend, where we shared the new covenant bread and cup with each other and Christ as the establishing of a marriage covenant.
This was a beautiful time together. We rented a hall and dressed up as though we were attending a wedding. We began by singing in celebration and then partook of the bread together; the Groom’s Body broken for His Bride. As we ate dinner together and passed the cup of Christ’s covenant, the saints shared wedding vows, poems, new songs, artwork, and their very hearts with our Lord as the Bridegroom.
On that night, we, together as one body, received and accepted our Lord’s betrothal as His glorious bride!