Using others as pawns in the vision, mission or purpose God’s given you …
Never turns out well.
For you or for them.
Category: Simple Discipleship
Although there are mysteries in the Bible, it is not “mystical”.
What God chooses to reveal there – including Himself – is accessible to all who simply repent, embrace His forgiveness, submit to the authority of His word and relate together in healthy local fellowships.
The mystical fringe, however, is driven by their own angst, anxiety and insecurities …
To go “deeper” or “beyond” the simple truths of Scripture by dismissing elementary repentance, basic forgiveness, Biblical authority and functional churches …
Which is why they never seem to find the authentic Christ of Scripture.
Don’t be led astray by them.
We make room for God’s blessings …
By giving our regrets to Him.
Expediency denies the efficacy of God’s sovereignty …
And is not a Christian value.
Hollow existential ideologies distort Christ and His Word to appease prevailing sensibilities …
And lack actual spiritual power.
An unresolved past will thwart your future.
To find resolution:
Acknowledge before God – verbally and fully – the hurts, wrongs or regrets your heart’s been carrying;
Openly give or ask for forgiveness as appropriate – in your own words – whether of others or from God;
Then quietly and reverently bundle up the related burdens of your heart and release them in your spirit to the Lord;
Once you do and the Lord takes them, ask Him who you are to Him and how He sees you.
Then stay quiet before Him and let your spirit gently receive His empowering truth and peace in return.
Often the listening ear and patient encouragement of a trusted, Godly friend can help.
Ultimately, though, closure and freedom are always your choice.
Those who claim that the Holy Spirit no longer convicts them of sin because of grace …
Know not grace.
Obedience is not just believing what God says we should …
But also doing what God says we ought.
Daily, I see how God delights in creating beauty from wrecked lives.
My role is to let Him do it His way …
By recognizing that His mercies are not all up to me.
“Church,” “pastor,” “preach,” “teach,” “tithe,” “worship” and “ministry:”
You keep using those terms …
But I do not think they mean in the New Testament what you think they mean.
Yet you claim to follow the New Testament as God’s written word.
How can that be?
Those who claim that their relationship with Jesus is all about their relationship with Jesus …
Know not Christ.
Faith isn’t about believing God will do what you think He ought …
But trusting He will do what He says He will.
Until we stop using narcissistic labels like “ultimate,” “grand,” “deeper,” “insurgent,” “radical” and “beyond” to describe our faith …
And learn to walk humbly with God and others …
We’re not much good for His Kingdom …
Or anything else …
Including real ekklesia and functional local community as taught in the New Testament.
After fifty years, I’ve yet to see an exception.
Don’t be deceived:
There will always be those who peddle such enticing, ear-tickling agendas.
But if you look closely, you’ll see that they never seem able to make it actually work first in their own lives and hometowns.
Never underestimate the power of people – including Christians – to perceive and believe what they want to perceive and believe …
All evidence, logic and morality to the contrary.
Which is why God gave Scripture as His external standard of truth on those issues where He wants to hold us accountable …
To Himself and each other.
And why those who reject God’s plenary authority of Scripture as His written Word become stuck in existential quagmires …
From which healthy churches and healthy disciples never seem to emerge.
It’s easy to have simple church, community, mission and discipleship all figured out …
And tell others “how to” through books, blogs, seminars and online posts …
For those not distracted by actually doing it.
We need more people humbly living it and making it work in their own lives and home towns …
And fewer peddling it everywhere else instead.
God’s saving grace is freely offered, but costs everything to fully accept.
Forget this, and we pervert the Gospel.
Thinking the Great Commission says start a new church and invite everyone to come find Christ as part of your own community where you live and relate …
Seldom produces real disciples or real church.
Go and present Christ, however, where others live and relate in their own unique communities …
And real disciples and real church often happen.
In authentic church, there’s no single ministry or leader around whom everything is organized.
Instead, Scripture says that God bestows diverse gifts and callings among His people …
And that we are to use them to build up each other through ministry one to another – especially when we gather.
That’s why His mission for me should look very different than His mission for you …
And why there’s no mono-church in the New Testament.
To get roses …
You gotta work with thorns.
God is covenantal:
He doesn’t force His rule on anyone.
But neither has He surrendered His sovereignty to anyone …
In any aspect of life, culture or history.
Until we understand:
That the Gospel preached by Jesus is the good news of His Kingdom;
That “Christ” isn’t His last name but means “the anointed King“;
That “church” in the New Testament means the local representative assembly of His Kingdom in each community; and
That He never surrendered His authority in any sphere of life or culture …
Then we will not understand His command to make disciples of all who choose the blessings of His rule – including not just individuals, but also nations.
Some cast the nets, some build the boats.
In God’s Kingdom, no one person or calling is more essential than another.
Moses warned Israel that possessing God’s promises meant slaying giants.
Some things never change.
We all want the milk and honey, but not the battle.
Faith that’s not relevant to all of life …
Is relevant to none of life.
Scripture doesn’t address everything, nor does God choose to explain all things comprehensively.
That’s His right.
The plenary authority of Scripture, therefore, means not claiming more from Scripture than it actually says.
But make no mistake:
What Scripture does, in fact, actually say is ultimately authoritative …
On its own terms and contexts, not our’s.
Plumbline Faith 