Real grace doesn’t exempt us from conviction and repentance …
But loves us enough to take us there.
Author: Plumbline Faith
Simple Truths from a Lifetime of Service to the King of Kings
I’m often asked, “Where do I find simple, relational, participatory church?”
Why not start with hospitality …
And see what God can do?
Because it’s easier to share Christ together …
When we share life together.
So let’s open our homes and open our lives …
And be the church once again.
“Religion” today …
Means all the stuff in the Bible we don’t wanna heed.
Every utopian ideology and agenda starts with lofty ideals that ignore human nature and God’s sovereignty.
When its zealots inevitability fail to create their perfect society and transform human nature, however, frustration sets in and they begin to rationalize coercive means to achieve their goals …
Which is why they always end up, if left unchecked, creating tyranny instead.
In Western cultures, Christianity has lost sight of God’s fierceness …
Instead wanting only His comfort and affirmation.
When we define God’s attributes by our own sensibilities, however …
We lose the ability to be effective salt and light not just to individuals, but to whole societies and nations.
May we repent, before it’s too late.
I’d routinely ask men who gave their lives to the Lord in the jail and I mentored there, why it was so hard for them to become part of a church when they got out.
I’d then follow up by asking whether, after being released, they were ever invited into someone’s home for a meal and fellowship from any church they visited.
The answer? Never.
I’ve asked this hundreds of times, not just of men trying to put their lives back together after jail, but also of others living in the woods or in homeless shelters.
The answer was always the same.
In twenty years, I saw no exceptions.
We all love arms-length “ministries” and “programs” that make us feel good about helping “those people,” so long as it’s not too close and personal.
I guess most “churches” are look-alike religious social clubs for cookie-cutter “believers” …
Rather than real Christian communities where imperfect people relate and build up one another to become mature disciples.
How tragic.
In the meantime, our house remains a place of hospitality, friendship and fellowship …
And our lives continue to be enriched beyond measure as real church and community just naturally happens because of it.
Is God using you to build His ekklesia …
Or are you using God to build your church?
Authentic faith …
Treats grace and repentance as inseparable.
The most enduring qualities of lasting faith …
Are gratitude and wonder.
When we fully confess and turn our mistakes and regrets over to God …
He turns them into stepping stones for good.
Mercy can be either an amazing wellspring for good …
Or a disturbing cover for evil.
Wisdom and discernment make all the difference.
Which is why God never intended that any one gift …
Exist apart from all the others.
Jesus says:
Rescue those being taken away to death; hold back those stumbling to slaughter.
“Christian” existentialists say:
We are neither left nor right, and don’t want to offend, because Christ is All (about our sensibilities).
God distributes different gifts and abilities among us to advance His Kingdom …
By calling us to serve and prefer one another above ourselves as a waiting world watches.
Today, however, many use those gifts and abilities to advance their own kingdoms …
By creating positions, titles, and hierarchies over one another as a disgusted world watches.
Few want to confess and let God forgive them …
Fewer still to repent and let Him define them.
Until we fully surrender the disappointments of our past to God …
We will never fully embrace His joy in our future.
I tire of all the fads constantly being peddled to Christians in some new book, ministry, podcast or program.
Instead, just go and do what Jesus commands, as He’s called you to do it.
When you do, it certainly will look different than the latest hot new distractions making the rounds on social media.
So don’t be diverted by “Radical,” “Christocentric,” “Deconstruction,” “Eternal Purpose,” “Insurgence,” or whatever.
Because once someone brands God and His purposes with some new label and convinces everyone to hop on board …
It’s likely so saddled with egos and extraneous agendas that it’s already way off track.
Instead, learn to discern what’s good and eternal and leave the rest behind, because God’s into plumblines …
Not pendulums.
The greatest obstacle to faith is not doubt …
But our own comfort zones.
We need fewer “preachers” on podiums above us …
And more elders living shared lives among us.
Unfortunately, few are willing to give up the recognition of the former …
For the humility of the latter.
Existentialism is a philosophy which claims that our own perceptions are the ultimate criteria for determining what is true, real and right.
As such, it rejects external, transcendent standards of truth, reality and morality in lieu of individual subjectivity.
Thus, for example, so-called existential “Christians” dismiss God’s plenary authority of Scripture as His authentic, external written Word.
For them, how they feel or react when reading Scripture is higher revelation – and ultimately more authoritative – than Scripture itself.
But they are crafty folk.
They call their subjective perceptions a revelation of “Christ,” or otherwise try to recreate Him in their own image, then proclaim that “Christ is All.”
In reality, their “Christ” is simply all about them.
For them, when you cut through the rhetoric, Christ and His written Word are at odds and stand divided.
As such, their muddled philosophy dares to judge God and filter Scripture through their own individualistic sensibilities …
Which leaves them stuck with themselves.
They are, in a word, fools …
Peddling deception to other fools who pay them heed.
If environment and external circumstances determined fate …
Then Adam and Eve would still be enjoying Eden.
God doesn’t define sin to condemn us …
But to warn us, because He loves us, about what can harm and destroy us.
Those who reject that …
Condemn themselves.
Faith versus works is a false dichotomy.
Real faith is trust, expressed not by what we feel …
But what we do.
I am aware of NO instance where Scripture condones cover ups …
When those claiming to be leaders of God’s people use their positions to do wrong and harm others.
In fact, the Biblical approach – both Old and New Testament – is quite the opposite.
Furthermore, truly repentant leaders will not try to hide their leadership sins, but openly confess and publicly repent.
Absent that …
They remain a danger to all.
Which is why 1 Timothy 5:19-21 specifically commands us to investigate and publicly expose church leaders who abuse their position …
As a warning to all.
Too often, “Church” is about expecting others to fit our own molds …
Based on our own cultural biases, traditions and perspectives.
In contrast, I have learned to allow “church” to emerge in all its splendid diversity …
By letting the life of Christ take root in the rich soil of different cultures and communities.
Could that be why the Great Commission says “go” make disciples of all “nations” (i.e., cultures)…
Rather than “come” attend my “church”?
God’s authoritative Word is not some fleeting inspiration you feel when reading the Bible …
But the Bible itself, as originally given by God Himself as His external standard for what is true, real and right.
It takes great hubris to claim otherwise …
By those who elevate their own subjective perceptions over the eternal, God breathed words of Scripture.
Plumbline Faith 