Category Archives: Christ Our All

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Honoring Others: Rich Resources to Check Out

Let us have real warm affection for one another as between brothers, and a willingness to let the other man have the credit.  (Romans 12:10 Phillips)

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.  (Romans 12:10 NASB)

honor

Credit: Flickr User ms_sarahbgibson (cc)

I hope you are having a wonderful Friday!!!

Today, I’m honoring others by pointing you to some great bloggers and some of their finest posts.

Marc Hardy is a friend of mine who has recently started blogging, and the heart of his message is all about Jesus.  Marc has a seminary degree, and as soon as he graduated with his Masters, he moved to Florida to be part of a clergy-less expression of Christ.  Check out his post on church unity.

Looking for Church Unity? Look No Further

Another brother in Christ and friend, RC Babione, recently posted at his family blog about our oneness in Christ, and that His followers are all identified as one person with Him.  This is a deep revelation and a great post to chew on.  RC and his family of six are following a calling to prepare to help Christ followers who want to meet together with Him as Head with no human leaders.  RC also works as a voice actor if you happen to need such services (more info at his website at the link below).

Is Christ Divided?

I do not know this next blogger personally, but I really like his writing and his focus on true freedom in Christ.  He writes in his latest post, “When resting in the Victory that is ours in Christ, there is an intentional lack of independence. This Freedom in Him has nothing to do with our own merit, work, efforts, or ability. It has nothing to do with our control. In fact, Freedom is received as a reality in our hearts when we come to a place of losing control – of being fully dependent.”  Meet Brandon Chase:

Independence is Not Freedom

 

Do you sense the theme of unity in these posts???

 

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Is There a Clergy-Laity Divide in the New Testament?

clergyIs There a Clergy-Laity Divide in the New Testament?

If you feel uneasy about the way that much of church today is conducted, you might benefit from listening to this video of Dr. Jon Zens as he discusses the “tip of the iceburg” of the clergy-laity distinction.

I’ve been part of group for the last five years that meets without this clergy-laity divide in place.  Each person is free to function and participate in church meetings, and each person is depended on in various ways as life is lived out together.

The result is an expression of Christ that functions as a close-knit family instead of an institution.

I think when the filter of the typical church experience in America is removed from our reading of the New Testament, a new vision begins to stand out that reveals the preisthood of all believers, where all have responsibilities within the body as the Spirit leads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnAYSQrCtYw

For more books, articles and messages from Jon Zens, check out his website Searching Together.

You can subscribe to Jon’s quarterly magazine here.

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A New Song: She Won’t Back Down

I recently rewrote the words to a popular song with a brother in Christ to create a new song for His bride.  We were at a gathering of multiple groups who are meeting together without clergy and allowing Christ to be Head of the body.  At the end of the time together, the different groups shared something of Christ with everyone.

The song is based on the Tom Petty song Won’t Back Down.

The song is a reflection on the dichotomy that we (the church) stand our ground for Christ, but we also lay our lives down in His name.  The lyrics reflect both our personal struggle to give ourselves up, as well as the corporate struggle to abide in Christ when so many things want to divert our attention and affection from Him.  Therefore, the lyrics are strong, but that strength is found in Christ alone.

new song

Credit: Flickr User piet_musterd (cc)

She Won’t Back Down

Well she won’t back down, Christ is solid ground
You can stand her up at the gates of hell
But she won’t back down

It’s in Christ she’s found, He’s her solid ground
Victory is her’s, there’s no draggin’ her around
Gonna stand our ground and we won’t back down

(Chorus)
Hey Lady, there ain’t no easy way out
Hey we will stand our ground
And we won’t back down

Well we know Your life, I give You my fight
We gain more of You when I lay me down
Raised up from the ground, new life here is found

(Chorus)
Hey Lady, there ain’t no easy way out
Hey we will stand our ground
And we won’t back down

Repeat Chorus

(End) Oh no She won’t back down!

A brother also recorded part of the song:

Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.  (Matthew 16:18)

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What New Mystery Is This?

mystery nature trembling

Credit: Flickr user MattyFlicks (cc)

Nature trembled and said with astonishment:

What new mystery is this?

The judge is judged and remains silent;

The invisible one is seen and does not hide himself;

The incomprehensible one is comprehended and does not resist;

The unmeasurable one is measured and does not struggle;

The one beyond suffering suffers and does not avenge himself;

The immortal one dies and does not refuse death.

What new mystery is this?

~ Melito of Sardis, Fragment 13, Quoted from The Early Christians in Their Own Words

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Should We Use the Name “Christian”?

rp_christian-300x155.jpgI previously asked you to give your thoughts on using the name “Christian” to describe people who follow Jesus Christ.  You can read that post and the comments here.

I’ve seen more and more friends and people in the media withdraw from using this term.  They will typically say that they believe in Jesus, but they no longer identify with the Christian label.  Instead of Christian, they will call themselves something along the lines of  a follower of Christ.

Honestly, this is really just semantics, because they Christian means one who follows Christ.

Unfortunately in America (I really can’t speak much for other cultures) Christians have by and large earned a bad rap.  There have been too many financial scandals, political pressures, celebrity icons, coupled with a generally judgmental and condemning attitude towards the culture for that culture to really take Christianity very seriously, or better yet to experience the love and grace of Jesus Christ through the church.

How “Christians” Were Named

Christians didn’t choose to be called anything.  It was the culture around them that first used to term Christian to describe the people who were following Christ.

Frank Viola writes in The Untold Story of the New Testament Church:

The church in Antioch has grown so large that Barnabas can no longer care for it on his own.  He remembers Saul and recalls that Saul speaks Greek, that he is from the Hellenistic city of Tarsus, and that the Lord called him to minister to the Gentiles.

Barnabas heads out to Tarsus to search for Saul.  After searching the city, he finds Saul and brings him back to Antioch.  The two men spend a year strengthening the church there.  Barnabas is doing most of the ministry, and Saul is an apprentice to him.

In Antioch, Saul lives with Simon of Cyrene (also called Simeon), his wife, and his two sons, Rufus and Alexander.  Simon’s wife cares for Saul and acts like a mother to him.  (Simon carried the cross of Christ.)  The believers are first designated “Christians” (Christ’s people) in Antioch.  They do not call themselves Christians, nor is this name given to them by the Jews (for the Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah).  It is rather given to them by their Greek-speaking neighbors.  The reason?  The believers are constantly talking about their Lord, just as Jesus constantly talked about His Father.  The Christians in Antioch are consumed with Jesus Christ, and out of the abundance of their hearts their mouths speak.  The new movement is also called “The Way” – a term the Christians use for the way of salvation and the way of life.  In Palestine, the Christians are known as “Nazarenes”.

Again, it was the culture that defined the name.  In today’s culture, the name Christian has widely been redefined from meaning “consumed with Christ” to meaning “hateful, judgmental, bigoted, legalistic, controlling, selfish, hypocritical” and so on.

And this is a sad reflection of the condition of the church today.

How I Use the Term “Christian”

Personally, I will sometimes use the term “Christian” in a very general sense to identify with the historical church of Jesus Christ.  But I would typically use the term with other Christians.

If I’m talking with someone that I suspect has a negative view of Christians and the “Christian” issue comes up, I would say that I do follow Jesus, but I do not really identify much with Christianity as it exists today.  Sometimes this will even open a door to some discussion about Jesus and the church.

I also like the term “life in Christ” instead of “the Christian life”.  I think “life in Christ” focuses more on the life being in and through Jesus, not me.

Unfortunately, the bride of Christ has been hijacked by many so-called leaders who have abused and misrepresented what she stands for.

I long for the day when the culture once again sees a church consumed with Christ and calls her “Christian”.

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The Sound of Silence

The Sound of Silence

silence

Credit: Flickr user alicepopkorn (cc)

(From Adoration, by Martha Kilpatrick)

Mary lived in a profound silence.

In all three episodes she is quiet.
Only one small quote is recorded.
And it was a plea directed at Jesus,
not for the ears of people.

The message of her life:

not a legacy of words
rather the stark absence of talk,
a silence… rare and mystifying.

The only voice in her life was Jesus’.
He spoke for her, about her… in defense of her.

Mary had no drive to explain,
no compulsion to be heard
no obsession to be understood.

Lust for audiences had been abandoned.
All such had died in her.

She had found her soul’s understanding in Him.
She had been still enough to know she was heard
and now – in quiet –
she could listen.

Our idea of prayer is to hurl words at God.
Mary knew prayer as silence in His presence,
to listen… without the audacity to speak…

“The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth
keep silence before Him.”  Habakkuk 2:20

The world is a swirl of noise,
a loud competition of voices,
in piles of useless words.

Mary neither entered it nor heard it.

The only words she strained to hear were the
captivating Words of God in Christ,
full of Living Eternity.

And they were – for her – priceless,
the only Words worth hearing.

Silence is one thing – amazing in itself –
but stillness is a rare internal quiet
a peace of mind,
a rest of heart,
by having found one’s long lost home…
in the Soft Presence of God.

Mary found serenity before she entered stillness.
True quiet issues from inviting God into
the long-sealed chambers of the soul
and letting His invasion calm
our native hysteria.

Self-centered talk is the expression of pride,
of not having seen the
God whose Face perceives us.

Meekness is not natural to a humanity
that thinks it is
superior to its own Creator.

Humility is the quality of having had
vain illusions cremated by
the Burning Love of Christ.

Silence is born of humility,
the awareness that you have
out of your self-taught ideas
nothing to speak worth hearing.

It is having encountered
God by His True Size
breathtaking and magnificent
and seeing that
contrast between you and Him.

It is the exact measure of
your consciousness
of God and the
proof of your confidence in Him…

that He really IS…
the God you want Him to be,
nothing less and so much more.

We do not grasp the Holy Gentleness of God.

If we insist on
the babble of our crude humanity
charmed by the sound of
our own noise, then

this God of Kindness will stand back,
robed in His Tranquil Dignity
and let us have the vain spotlight
of endless talk.

His voice is not in the storm or wind,
not in earthquake nor fire.
We could not bear that voice in
the Fullness of such Measureless Energy.

As Elijah learned, His voice was still and small,
“delicate and whispering.”  (1 Kings 19:12)

Jesus said to His disciples, “What you hear
whispered in your…” (Matthew 10:27 NAS)

If humanness will merely be still,
The entire Trinity will come forth
and speak
by a whisper in the silence…
heard by no one else.

Lord, give me the strength to be still, silent, and at rest in Your presence.

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The Lamb’s Tree

The Lamb’s Tree

lamb tree

Trees originate from inside a seed.  In order for the seed to give birth to the tree, it must die.  All of the DNA for the grown, fully mature tree is in the tiny seed.

What is the seed of the tree of life?  The life of Christ was in the seed, for it is what sustains the tree itself.

We are not told a great deal about what preceded creation.

But we are told this: The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world.

Perhaps this self-sacrificing, self-emptying love of the Lamb is the seed, the source, the character, the origin, the DNA that contains the fullness of the tree.  Perhaps the Tree is the Lamb, and the Lamb is the Tree.

The Lamb conquered sin and death.  The Lamb conquered the world’s systems.

The Lamb shed His blood to cover our sin and make us clean and whole.

The Lamb is at the Father’s right hand and has placed us there with Him.

The Lamb said, “It is finished.”

The Father sees each of us through the finished sacrifice of the Lamb.

The Lamb calls us His own, and gives us the eternal, life-filled Tree.

The Tree is the Lamb, and the Lamb is the Tree.

The Tree of Life is also the Tree of Sacrifice.

After all, Christ is ALL.

Once planted, this Tree will never stop growing inside of you.  There may be dry seasons and wet seasons.  Seasons of loneliness and seasons of abundance.  Seasons of rapid growth and transformation, and seasons of hardly noticeable growth.  Seasons of death and seasons of life.  Yet the Lamb’s Tree is always growing, expanding, increasing, emerging inside of you.  At times the Lamb’s internal transforming work is unknown to us; yet He continues working even in secrecy amid pain and tribulation.   If the seed of the Tree is the Lamb, then the cross is the soil, and unfailing, sacrificial love is the fruit that is born over and over among the branches.

5 Thus says the Lord,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
 and makes flesh his strength,
 and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 “For he will be like a bush in the desert
 and will not see when prosperity comes,
 but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
 a land of salt without inhabitant. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
 and whose trust is the Lord. 8 “For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
 that extends its roots by a stream
 and will not fear when the heat comes;
 but its leaves will be green,
 and it will not be anxious in a year of drought
 nor cease to yield fruit.   Jeremiah 17:5-10

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3 Songs to Draw You Near to Jesus

I’m out of town this weekend, and I thought I would highlight three posts from the past that highlight songs that reveal, magnify

near to jesus music

Credit: Flickr user thegreattiny (cc)

and draw you near to Jesus Christ.

Experiencing Christ as Light: He Brings Beauty to the Darkest Places

Christ our Penguin

Amazed  (written by yours truly)

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Jesus Was Raised As An Immigrant

immigrant

Credit: Flickr user coolrevolution (cc)

Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention penned a very penetrating letter on the current hot topic of immigration.

He states:

The larger issue is in how we talk about this issue, recognizing that this is not about “issues” or “culture wars” but about persons made in the image of God. Our churches must be the presence of Christ to all persons, regardless of country of origin or legal status. We need to stand against bigotry and harassment and exploitation, even when it’s politically profitable for those who stand with us on other issues.

And, most importantly, we must love our brothers and sisters in the immigrant communities. We must be the presence of Christ to and among them, even as we receive ministry from them. Our commitment to a multinational kingdom of God’s reconciliation in Christ must be evident in the verbal witness of our gospel and in the visible makeup of our congregations.

Amen!

It is easy to fall into the trap of using labels to dehumanize others resulting in a lack of compassion for those people.

This happens between different religions, different Christian denominations, different political parties, different genders, different nationalities, and so on.

Generalizing people into labels removes the human aspect.  But these are people with real stories and struggles looking for help.

There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.  (Galatians 3:28 NLT)

In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.  (Colossians 3:11 HCSB)

I’m not suggesting that there is an easy solution.  However, seeing everyone in the light of Christ seems to be a basic aspect of His kingdom, especially those who are most in need.

I hope you’ll check out the link above and read the full article.

What are your thoughts on Moore’s article?

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Getting to Know Christ In You

Here is an exercise that you might consider as a way to get to know Christ better.  It is a simple practice, really.  I have done this

know christ reflect think ponder

Credit: Flickr user alexagopian

before and seen much of God’s character through the experience.

But to worship Him best we have to know Him well.  A good place to begin is by taking a “Thirty-Day Worship Journey,” carving out a few quiet minutes every day for a month to consider one of God’s attributes.  It could be His faithfulness, patience, wisdom, or constant presence.  Or that He’s a perfect Father.  Or a trustworthy, fair, and encouraging Savior.  But whatever aspect of His character you choose, you’re going to carry that characteristic of God with you all day long.

Say you start with God’s faithfulness, choosing to praise Him because in every situation He remains the same.  For the whole day, Faithful will be foremost in your thoughts!  You’re going to chew it up, digest it, meditate on it, talk to God about it, journal some thoughts about it, think about it a little more, ponder it, respond to it, imitate it, be influenced by it, pray about it, appreciate it, and go to bed thanking God for it.  You might even dream about it.  And you know what? After thirty days you’ll be amazed at how much better you know Him.  He won’t just be this huge, generic “God” to you.  He’ll be someone you’re really getting to know as you begin to discover the fullness of who He is.

(Louie Giglio, The Air I Breathe)

If you are interested in ideas of the attributes of Jesus, look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (I wrote about it here) and Galatians 5:22-23.

This is also great to do with another believer.  You don’t even have to pick the same attribute each day; just share your experience with each other.

All of the attributes of Jesus dwell in us through His Spirit.  As you learn of Him, consider where He may be asking you to express His life in your situations.

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