Category: Simple Discipleship
God’s no thief.
He won’t take the burdens of our heart – our accumulated regrets, hurts, anxieties and wrongs – unless we give them to Him …
As an intentional act of surrender.
To give them to Him, however, we must first own them …
By honestly and fully confessing them to Him.
Because if we can’t or won’t do that …
Then they own us, and not us them.
Nor is God a cheat.
When we fully and finally release them to Him …
He always gives us peace and resolution in return.
Always!
A pastor introduced himself to me at a local ministerial association meeting and asked about “my” church.
As I considered how best to answer, it struck me for the first time that we didn’t have a name. I mean, the idea had just never even occured to us.
When I told him that, he seemed intrigued.
So I went on to shared how we were a simple, participatory gathering of believers who were the church, rather than folks who went to a church, and we never even considered the need for a “name.”
He thought about that and asked a few questions.
I responded by explaining that we don’t follow the post-New Testament model of a sole-proprietor “pastor” who preaches and runs the “service” every Sunday.
Rather, my role is to be an elder who – with others – unassumingly insures a safe environment where everyone can gather and feel free to minister one to another, each according to their own gifts as prompted by the Holy Spirit …
You know, just like the New Testament says.
He quietly considered what I said, then responded that he guessed that was OK – after all, “God once spoke through a jackass.”
Seriously, he said that.
Sigh …
It’s hard to give God our future …
When we keep holding on to our past.
God’s grace:
Love with conviction,
Mercy with repentance,
Freedom with holiness.
I’ll take relational simple church over staged scripted church any day of the week.
Is church supposed to be a staged event …
Or a functional community that ministers to one another?
Those who claim the Bible is God’s authoritative written Word only in spots,
And by implication that they have the authority to spot the spots,
Are not teaching some new revelation but the same old deception …
Which starts by asking,
“Did God really say?”
Love God, do what’s right …
And trust Him with the results.
Without hospitality …
There is no ekklesia.
Grace is the means …
Not the end.
Disgusted with the choice of Trump verses Clinton?
The answer is not to wash our hands of “politics” by retreating into a theology of Gnostic dualism – which isolates our spiritual life from the “real” world and all its shortcomings. Jesus never taught that, but proclaimed full authority over both heaven and earth – while sending us out into all the world.
God’s people need to be careful about wide swings between hope and disillusionment. Wisdom seeks to find, instead, the Biblical precepts which stand firm and will remain true even after the present unpleasantries fade into the past.
Let’s be engaged in a world Christ yet loves, but with a renewed discernment that’s been lacking in God’s people.
The problem is not so much Clinton or Trump as much as our lack of engagement and discernment – in disregard of God’s call to be His salt and light in all spheres of life.
This election, more than most, we are paying the price for our own failures.
Let’s learn the right lessons, vote for whom our conscience allows (while understanding there are more issues and offices up for grabs this election than just the White House), and resolve to never let this happen due to inaction and poor judgement again.
The solution to problems caused by our past disengagement from the civic life of our nation, and from lack of discernment, is not more moral relativism and retreat.
That’s entirely the wrong lesson to learn from the current mess we’re in.
Let’s take our lumps, vote as best we can, learn from our mistakes and resolve to never again be reduced to such poor choices.
Two things Jesus never said:
“Learn to love yourself” and
“Forgive yourself” …
Because true worth and freedom come from Him on His terms, and not from us on our terms.
I’d rather gather together as a functional community of believers who express Christ’s presence already in each of us – one to another …
Than go elsewhere for a scripted performance which tries to “usher” us into His presence – stage to pew.
The more I learn to “be the church,” the less I want “the show.”
It’s popular these days to say that Jesus is all about a relationship.
Ok. I get it. People are sick of dead religion. So am I.
But that begs the question:
A relationship on whose terms?
Continue readingGod’s grace leads to faith …
Through repentance.
Many burnout by repeatedly ministering to folks who want our time, energy and resources …
Without fundamentally dealing with their underlying issues through honest repentance.
Continue reading“Christian” existentialists live lives of angst and doubt, seeking a Jesus of their own perception and definition.
They would do much better submitting to Christ as He perceives and defines them instead …
Because it’s only there that life and liberty are found.
Do circumstances define your reality …
Or does God’s reality define your circumstances?
It’s always your choice.
The Law given as part of the Old Covenant is no longer in force (including the Decalogue), since the Old Covenant no longer is in force.
However, the moral precepts which undergird the laws of the Old Covenant are still relevant.
That’s because God’s overarching command to “be holy for I am holy” …
Is re-stated multiple times in both the Old and New Testament and still applies.
God’s nature does not change, and neither have His moral precepts …
Which are part of God’s own, immutable self-revelation throughout Scripture.
So be holy …
But not Old Covenant.
Deconstruction?
I’m all for examining our assumptions, traditions and doctrines in light of Scripture.
But “Christians” who reject God’s plenary authority, as expressed through His written Word …
Become their own standard for what’s ultimately true, real and right.
Is it any wonder, then, why they never seem to “get” Scripture?
Making everything about my thing, even when it’s a God thing …
Denies His Lordship over all things.
It seems “grace” has become an excuse these days …
For not growing up.
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