Is church about what activities are offered for me and my family?

Is it about how “good” the music is (which usually means “is it the music style I prefer”)?

Is it about how “good” the preaching is and how well “fed” I feel after the service?

While I do believe that God’s house is meant to be both for Him and for us, it is God Himself who determines how His house should be built.

Do Christians today really understand what God desires in a home?

Like any homeonwner, God builds His house in His own way.  If the home is His, He arranges the furniture the way he wishes, for He is the master of His own home.

In this connection, I want you to imagine countless living stones scattered all over the earth.  I want you to see innumerable living stones living their own individual Christian lives.  I want you to see scores of living stones who love God, but who are isolated and independent of other living stones.  They may attend religious services, but there’s little to no “building together” among the members.

That is precisely the situation we find ourselves in today.  And what is the net effect?

God is still homeless.

The burning intent of your God is that all of His living stones be built together with other livinig stones to form His house.  Not for themsleves, but for their Lord.  To be the house of God, by God, for God.

Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.  (Psalm 127:1)

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.  (Ephesians 4:16)

Jesus Christ did not die and rise again just to forgive you of your sins.  He died in order that His Father could obtain a home.  The Lord saved you and me for a high and holy purpose.

Recall again the Lord’s words when on earth: “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head.”  Here is the God of creation saying, “I am here, but I am homeless.  Make me a home.”

~ Frank Viola in From Eternity to Here

Question for Discussion:

~ What are the features that God desires in His home?

Follow the Life!

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Photo Credit

In 2008, Jon Foreman, the lead singer for Switchfoot, released a solo album that included a song titled Instead of a Show, based on Isaiah 1.  Here’s a video of the song:

When I first heard this, I was in a place of questioning many things about the organized church system, and this song became a sort of anthem in my head.  I pointed, aimed, and shot these lyrics directly at the church system, and I felt validated.

But over time, as I listened to the song, I realized that it wasn’t pointed at anyone else, or at least it wasn’t my job to point it at anyone… except myself.

It’s my own religious show that God detests.

It’s my own striving and struggling to prove that I’m good enough that God is fed up with.

Its the show that I put on to display that I (supposedly) have it all together that God can no longer stand.

It’s me who needs to realize that I can’t do God’s work for Him.  Spiritually speaking, I can’t do anything myself.

The problem is, I tend to pretend that I can.

How He hates all my show!

How frequently I need to remember my strength is found when I am weak, because when I acknowledge my weakness, Jesus can step in and work.

Thank goodness, He has done all the work and I can count it all finished in Christ.

This song has nothing to do with the church system; it is pointed inside at my own heart.

And instead of religious show, God asks that we show His love to ourselves and others.

How simple is that???

Follow the LIFE!

*****

Credit: Flickr user mxing-m

Everything draws its essence from him, and God gave him, him alone, to the assembly as the source of everything it needs. The assembly is, in fact, his body, and every individual contributes to bring his body to a state of completion.

(Ephesians 1:22-23, The Source NT, emphasis mine)

Um… wow.  I have to say that these verses in this translation have just blown me away as of late.

Jesus is the essence of the church.

Jesus is the source of the church.

Everything we need is in Him.

Everything draws its essence, its value, its fragrance, from Him.

And He loves to give all of this to us.

What is true about us because of our identity in Christ is permanent.  It is never untrue.  (Let that sink in for a minute.)  The essence, or nature, of Christ never changes.

Jesus is the real, ultimate essence of His body.  We are the essence of Christ, kind of like a portrait captures the essence of a person or a landscape, but so much more.

Because Jesus is our essence and source, our identity and our real life is found in Him.

The body is the fragrance of Christ in the world.

The body can hold the essence of Christ and also express that essence as we abide in Him.

Our most significant quality is Jesus being uniquely expressed through each member of His body.

Jesus is our source.  He is the origin of the River of Life that flows out from Him and in and through us.  The “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms” in Ephesians 1 originate and flow from Him.  It is our union with Jesus as One New Man that gives us access to the blessings.  It is all in and from Him.

Saints, how can we be selfless?

How can we not be anxious about tomorrow?

How can Jesus’ body have one mind?

How can Jesus’ body have one Spirit?

How can we love others as Christ has loved us?

How can we live mutually submitted to each other?

How can we see past each others’ flaws and sins?

How do we not keep a record of wrongs?

How can we be slow to anger and abound in love?

How can we always see the best in each other?

The reality is… we can’t!

Only with Jesus as our essence and our source, our origin, can we accomplish anything of true worth.  Only in Him can we live and move in the divine.

You are the essence of Christ, and He is your Source.

We are the essence of Christ, and He is our Source.

No one else.  Nothing else.

Only Jesus.

This is the key to all spiritual life.

Follow the Life!

*****

If you would like to expand on the theme of Jesus as our Source and abiding in Him, check out the series going on at the 3rd Race blog.

 *****

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Everyone knows that Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream for this country, a dream for his fellow citizens, and a dream for his children and their generation and those that follow.  Dr. King’s dream has been immortalized in his most famous speech: I Have a Dream.

Did you know that Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream for the church as well?

On November 4, 1956, Dr. King delivered a creative message, in which he envisioned a letter penned by the Apostle Paul himself to the church in America.  I posted this message a couple of years ago, and I continue to reflect on this message each year when Dr. King’s birthday is celebrated.

I believe Dr. King hits some very key points that coincide with God’s own dream for His church, which is His family and the bride for His very Son.

You can read the transcript of the message here.  You can listen to the message at the youtube link below.

Here are some quotes from the message:

It seems to me that your moral progress lags behind your scientific progress. Your poet Thoreau used to talk about “improved means to an unimproved end.” How often this is true. You have allowed the material means by which you live to outdistance the spiritual ends for which you live. You have allowed your mentality to outrun your morality. You have allowed your civilization to outdistance your culture. Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but through your moral and spiritual genius you have failed to make of it a brotherhood. So America, I would urge you to keep your moral advances abreast with your scientific advances.

But American Christians, I must say to you as I said to the Roman Christians years ago, “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Or, as I said to the Phillipian Christians, “Ye are a colony of heaven.” This means that although you live in the colony of time, your ultimate allegiance is to the empire of eternity. You have a dual citizenry. You live both in time and eternity; both in heaven and earth. Therefore, your ultimate allegiance is not to the government, not to the state, not to nation, not to any man-made institution. The Christian owes his ultimate allegiance to God, and if any earthly institution conflicts with God’s will it is your Christian duty to take a stand against it.

Let me rush on to say something about the church. Americans, I must remind you, as I have said to so many others, that the church is the Body of Christ. So when the church is true to its nature it knows neither division nor disunity. But I am disturbed about what you are doing to the Body of Christ. They tell me that in America you have within Protestantism more than two hundred and fifty six denominations. The tragedy is not so much that you have such a multiplicity of denominations, but that most of them are warring against each other with a claim to absolute truth. This narrow sectarianism is destroying the unity of the Body of Christ. You must come to see that God is neither a Baptist nor a Methodist; He is neither a Presbyterian nor a Episcopalian. God is bigger than all of our denominations. If you are to be true witnesses for Christ, you must come to see that America.

There is another thing that disturbs me to no end about the American church. You have a white church and you have a Negro church. You have allowed segregation to creep into the doors of the church. How can such a division exist in the true Body of Christ? You must face the tragic fact that when you stand at 11:00 on Sunday morning to sing “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” and “Dear Lord and Father of all Mankind,” you stand in the most segregated hour of Christian America. They tell me that there is more integration in the entertaining world and other secular agencies than there is in the Christian church. How appalling that is.

May I say just a word to those of you who are struggling against this evil. Always be sure that you struggle with Christian methods and Christian weapons. Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Always avoid violence. If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.

So the greatest of all virtues is love. It is here that we find the true meaning of the Christian faith. This is at bottom the meaning of the cross. The great event on Calvary signifies more than a meaningless drama that took place on the stage of history. It is a telescope through which we look out into the long vista of eternity and see the love of God breaking forth into time. It is an eternal reminder to a power drunk generation that love is most durable power in the world, and that it is at bottom the heartbeat of the moral cosmos. Only through achieving this love can you expect to matriculate into the university of eternal life.

Follow the Life!

 *****

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Have you ever heard of a church that meets with no pastor, clergy, or leadership hierarchy and thought…

• is it a cult?
• is it a moral free-for-all?
• is this person lying to me because there is really no such thing?
• is this completely unorganized and chaotic?
• is it a bunch of people that hate church and the Bible and just want to do their own thing?
• there is no way such a thing could possibly work!

I’ve been part of a group that does meet in this way for the last 5 1/2 years.  While it can certainly be difficult at times (aren’t all relationships and communities difficult at times) it is absolutely possible.  However, few Christian communities actually achieve this reality.

Don’t Hear What I’m Not Saying

Credit: Flickr user thomashawk

I’m not saying that leadership in the church doesn’t exist.  Leadership is like the Force or the Matrix; it’s everywhere all the time.  We cannot escape it.

The keyword I’m using is “exclusive” leadership.  My premise is that the church does not need to rely on only a few exclusive members to direct, lead, or control what happens.  Rather than designating a few to handle the affairs of the church, resulting in a mostly passive group, leadership is really possessed only by Christ who leads the church through the indwelling Holy Spirit residing in each person.  Whoever is pointing the group to Christ is leading in that moment.  And by always yielding the leadership of the community to the Holy Spirit and whomever He chooses to work through, all of the saints remain on equal footing.  There is no distinct class of Christian to aspire to.  We are all simply in Christ and submitted to Him.

So leadership exists, but it is not meant to be exclusive.

A Challenging Experience to Explain

Sometimes I get the opportunity to talk to folks about being a church without an exclusive clergy.  Some folks have left “church” (by which they typically mean the institutional form) and are looking at other ways of being the church as witnessed in the New Testament.  Some are just curious what a “house church” actually is and does.  Many are wondering if they need the church at all.

Credit: Flickr user ajc1

Most of the time I have great difficulty convincing people that meeting and living together this way is possible.  I’ve been in conversations with people wanting to know “where I worship at” (Christian code for which “church” building I go to) and when I explain meeting together in a home and living together without exclusive leaders they literally tuck tail and run.  It’s a great conversation killer!

In other situations I’ve met with folks who are very interested in organic/simple/house church, but when I describe meeting together without designated leaders they shy away and end up falling back into the church shopping merry-go-round looking for something they deem better than whatever they left behind.  Not only that, they write-off organic church without even giving it a try.

God’s Church Isn’t About Your Needs, But You are an Essential Part of God’s Church

Why does God want or need a church, anyway?  What is it all about?

This question really needs to be looked at from God’s perspective first.  Does God want a church, and if so, why?  Unfortunately, for many Christians the need for church has generally become more focused on what they want to get out of it.  I want to be spiritually fed and nourished… I want classic music… I want modern music… I want this or that version of the Bible… I want men to be in charge… I want women to be in charge… I want such and such for my kids… I want a church that focuses on [fill in the blank].  And many churches feed this mindset by offering flatscreen TVs as door prizes, catering to celebrity guests, and generally creating a country club type of atmosphere.

I do believe that God desires a church, He desires you to be part of it, and He does want to meet your needs.  However, the reality is that your needs are not met through typical church “things” like those listed above; your needs are met in Jesus Christ alone.  When we look at things through the divine lens, all we see is Jesus.  He is the answer and the key to everything.

Getting The Right Answer Requires Asking the Right Question 

“We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong.” – Bono

Unfortunately, the common form of church around the world (buildings, special clergy, pews, sermons, programs) is often just accepted as a matter of fact, and thereby is often left unchallenged.  This is changing today as more and more people are walking away from the institutional form of church and challenging assumptions that have been passed down through many generations.

This raises many questions.  A common question for those disenfranchised with the church but who still maintain a desire to follow Jesus is, “do I need church at all?”

I believe the answer is “yes”, a Christian does need a church to be part of, and as I said above, I believe God longs for you to be part of it (or more correctly, her).  Of course there may be times that this is not possible due to various circumstances or seasons of life, but it generally makes sense that those who share in the life of Christ would assemble together and support each other as much as possible.

Answering such questions requires us to get to the root of the issue.  These questions will help us get there:

• Why did God create in the first place?
• Why does God want a “people” in the earth?
• Where did the “church” come from?
• What is a church really supposed to do?
• What does a healthy church look like?
• Why do I need to be part of a church?

I plan to work through these questions in the next few weeks here on the blog.  I hope that in the end you will see that it can be healthy for God’s people to live and function together without the need for exclusive leaders or hierarchies.

Follow the Life!

 *****

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The blue-collar, rough around the edges, love to have a good time, hear a good story, and laugh hard a great joke kind of people.

The struggling to survive, worried about taking care of their family kind of people.

The sick, prostitute, destitute, demon possessed kind of people.

The low class fisherman and the hated “traitor” tax collector kind of people.

Jesus loved them all, and these people were found in His ranks as His closest followers.

Before I get into the song, here’s a few notes to consider:

• This is not written to condemn any individual or group, but towards the religious, self-righteous mindset or spirit.  This is a mindset that relies on one’s own external performance to be counted as good and righteous before God.  The self-righteous spirit often assumes that anyone doing less than them is not worthy of love and respect.
• The self-righteous spirit causes one to rely on our own power to please God, rather than resting in what Christ has done for us already.
• We all may fall prey to this spirit at times.
• “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”  (Matt 5:3, NLT)

Jesus Has Friends in Low Places

Blame it all on my roots
I don’t give two hoots
About your religious affair

Believe me I know
You’re all about show
It’s all about yourselves that you care

And I saw the surprise
And the fear in your eyes
When I healed that man of his pain

He looked at you
Said now your power is through
Now he is livin’ again

(Chorus)
‘Cause I’ve got friends in low places
Prostitutes and drunks
But My love chases their sins away
And they’ll be okay
Now they’re not in your social graces
But they know real heavenly places
Oh I’ve got friends
In low places

You say they are wrong
And just don’t belong
Like you’ve never been there before

Everything’s alright
Now they have new sight
It’s you who are truly poor

Hey I didn’t mean
To cause a big scene
Just give me the broken and then
We’ll step outside of these whitewashed tombs
That you’re livin’ in!

(Chorus 2x)

Here’s the music for the song.

Follow the Life!

 *****

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I recently watched the film Divergent, the first in a trilogy series based on a popular novel series by the same name.  I was intrigued after watching the movie and decided to read the book, which was also very good.

In this story, there is some kind of disaster that requires the survivors to essentially restart society.  (I’ve only read the first book, so I don’t know any more detail than that.  I hope it is further revealed as the books progress.)  The story of Divergent picks up at what seems to be many years after the disaster in the city of Chicago.  Much of the city is in ruins, and the people have organized themselves into “factions”.

Each faction emphasizes a particular quality over and above all others.

There are five factions.  One emphasizes selflessness, another bravery, another peace, a fourth emphasizes knowledge, and lastly truth.

Children are raised in the faction of their families, but when they turn sixteen, they take a test (a virtual reality type hallucination) that reveals their true faction by judging their strongest trait from their decisions during the test.  They are still able to choose any faction, but most follow the faction they grew up in, which is usually confirmed in the test.

The original idea of the factions, of course was to support each other and provide balance in the new society.  However, the factions become jealous of each other, primarily because the selfless faction was given control of the government.

It is interesting to me how this scenario compares with our Christian landscape today.  We have so many factions, each emphasizing a particular aspect of our life in Christ.  Some focus on knowledge, others focus on good works for the poor and oppressed, some focus on spiritual gifts, others focus on non-violence, while yet others focus on strictly obeying the law.  And then there are sub-factions to the factions.

And the lines are drawn.

Separated, we understand very little of each other.  Subcultures develop that are completely foreign to each other, so much that people become too uncomfortable to reach out across the not-so-imaginary lines.

Enter the Divergent.

The Divergent have no faction.

The heroin of the Divergent series is a young girl whose faction test results are inconclusive.  Her reactions to the simulation indicate multiple faction possibilities because she draws from various characteristics to respond to the test.

Being divergent is dangerous because any one faction cannot control them.  Their brains simply resist the conditioning (“initiation”) that is meant to teach them the strict boundaries and role of their faction.

The Divergent are rare and are terminated when discovered because they challenge the system that controls them, and people with power do not like to be challenged.

The Apostle Paul spoke of factions in the church:

Divisions in the Church

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

(1 Corinthians 1:10-17 ESV)

Paul reprimands the Corinthian believers who have lost their focus on Jesus Christ as the one true Head of the church and he calls them to be united together.

Surely, this is a hard road.

Getting along with folks that are wildly different from us is not easy.

Taking in other people’s viewpoints and adjusting our own is not easy.

Yielding to others is not easy.

At least, not in our own power.  But when we yield to Christ in all things, His life in us is manifested, we are made new, and we are able to do new things.

We are able to be united in Him.  We are able to lay down differences and seek and explore Him together, learning from each other, valuing each other, desiring each other, caring for each other, encouraging each other, and embracing and drawing strength from our divergence rather than being afraid of it.

Yes, there will still be arguments and disagreements and hurt feelings.  But if you really stick it out together and hold to Christ, something new and precious will be deposited in His new city.

I have been in gatherings where the life of Christ is richly expressed through many different lenses, and the vision of Christ that results is breathtaking.

I am convinced that isolating ourselves into countless factions over countless issues is not the way of Christ.

Christ is always divergent from the flesh and towards the divine.

Perhaps it is time for the church to embrace the Divergent.

Follow the Life!

 *****

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I’d like to offer some encouragement to folks who have left church, or who are thinking about leaving church.

It goes like this:   You are not crazy!   And you are not alone!

Whether you are in the wilderness, or you are growing more uncomfortable and restless attending church, know that there are tons of other folks out there feeling the same way.

I know.  I escaped.  

10 Things I’ve Learned About Leaving Church

1. What I mean by church is the traditional, institutional form of church in the western world.  Typically, this is a pastor in the front giving teachings, sermons, etc to a passive audience (congregation).  This is the most prevalent association our culture has with the word church, because there are church buildings everywhere using this format.  There is often a focus on the physical building as being the church (as in, “let’s go to church”).  The sad fact is that this is not a representation of a New Testament church.

2. There are tons of other people who have left church in search of something that seems closer to what the New Testament envisions.  However, these folks are often driven to re-invent church (myself included at one point in time).  In reality, the church does not need to be invented or re-invented.  It needs to be watered because she is a living organism.  The true church cannot be manufactured; rather it is something (or more accurately Someone) to be discovered.

3. Those who try to re-invent church often have not looked very deeply at Christian history and they often end up reproducing something similar to what they left behind (and they often become the center of it).

4. There has always been a remnant who seek only to know Jesus Christ deeply.  Look for those that want to know Christ in a deeper way and hold on to them for dear life.  Seriously.  When I talk about knowing Christ, I mean wanting to know Him intimately and personally, just as you would know your closest friend or your spouse.  The Apostle Paul considered everything garbage compared to knowing Christ intimately (Phil 3:8).  You will have found a very special thing if you can come together just to know Him and each other better.  Beautiful things typically grow from these relationships.  You may come from very different backgrounds, but if you can lay that aside you will find fertile ground.

5. If you do leave the church, most people will not follow you.  Many of them will think you are crazy and “witness” to you as though you are a pagan.  It’s part of the path.  Don’t let it discourage you.

6. You may experience bitterness and pain and anger.  This is normal.  But it’s also normal to heal from this over time.  Don’t get stuck in the bitterness.  Take time to grieve, but then move on.

7. Don’t rush to have “meetings”.  Don’t push to have something formal.  Part of moving into the wildness of freedom in Christ is letting go of religious tradition for tradition’s sake.  I believe God is concerned about us knowing Him rather than our church attendance record.  So take a break.  Enjoy your family.  Grow together with friends.  Focus on serving others.  And in all of this, trust Jesus to fit the puzzle pieces together.  I’ve learned that He is not in a hurry, and we don’t need to be either.  Let meetings come in the right season after you have grown together in relationship with other believers.

8. Don’t throw out the Baby with the bathwater.  I know it’s cliche.  But seriously, hang tightly onto Jesus.  He is your life preserver.  Unfortunately, many people who walk away from church because they haven’t found Jesus there end up walking away from Jesus, too.  Don’t lose your faith in God because some people are behaving badly.

9. Just meeting in a living room instead of a formal church building will not solve your church woes.  There are many dangerous so-called believers inside and outside of the institutionalized church.  Look for those that are learning to express the life and nature of Christ.  (Hint: These won’t be folks that are trying to build a kingdom around themselves.  They will always point to Christ.)

10. Growing deeper in Christ means growing deeper in freedom.  Let the chains of religion fall off.  After all, it was for freedom that Christ set us free (Gal 5:1).  (The freedom I’m talking about is described here.)

Credit: gagilas via imcreator.com

Brothers and sisters, the real church is a woman, and She is stunning to behold!

“She” is a people who are enraptured with Her Groomsman, our Lord Jesus.

“She” is a people who reflect Him throughout the earth.

And you are not crazy for wanting to find Her…

Follow the Life!

Recommended Reading

A Church Building Every Half Mile by Jon Zens

Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna

Revolution by George Barna

Torch of the Testimony by John W. Kennedy

The Untold Story of the New Testament by Frank Viola

58 to 0: How Christ Leads Through the One Anothers by Jon Zens

The Priesthood of All Believers by Milt Rodriguez

The Gathering, a novel by Milt and Mary Rodriguez

*****

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