There is no aspect of creation or sphere of human endeavor where Christ has surrendered His authority.
To the contrary, He came to reconcile all things to Himself …
And offers us faith that’s big enough to embrace all of life.
Category: Simple Discipleship
“Progressive,” “Red Letter,” “Emergent,” “Insurgence” and “Deeper Life” – oh my!
Such post-modern, existential “Christians” know not Christ.
Instead of submitting their perceptions and sensibilities about Christ to all of Scripture …
They submit all of Scripture to their own perceptions and sensibilities about Christ.
In contrast, real disciples have a vibrant relationship with the Living Word …
In submission to the authority and discipline of His written Word.
Don’t settle for anything less.
Although the Trinity is a great mystery, here’s how I’ve come to understand – in practical terms – one aspect of it …
Not just in creation, but throughout Scripture and in our lives today.
The Father wills.
The Son reveals.
The Spirit enables.
Some proclaim that “Christ is All” in an attempt to deny all of Christ.
Typically, they reject the plenary authority of Scripture as His written word …
By claiming that their personal revelation of “Christ” supersedes all of the commands, precepts, propositional truths, narratives and moral imperatives He chose to reveal there.
As a result, they are left with a false “Christ” of their own creation.
The only thing their false Jesus really is all about is them …
And their own subjective follies and sensibilities.
Be discerning …
Deceptive cults love to use pithy but misleading slogans to promote unspoken premises and hidden agendas.
“Red letter” Christians only follow selective, out-of-context quotes by Jesus which conform to their own sensibilities …
While discounting the rest of Scripture.
Theirs is a pick-and-choose Jesus, supported by a fractured logos as they seek to divide the Living Word from His authority of Scripture as His written Word.
As a result, they know not Christ …
Which may explain their habitual existential angst and inability to create either viable disciples or functional churches.
It’s no accident that the four Gospels …
Are immediately followed by “Acts”.
Who deceived you into believing “church” is where you go to encounter God’s presence?
The New Testament says that if you belong to Christ, YOU are God’s temple and His presence now dwells in YOU …
And that we should gather to mutually build up each other by expressing His presence already in us and thus among us through ministry one to another as the multi-gifted, multi-functional, multi-part Body of Christ.
The idea of instead going to staged “services” so religious professionals can usher us into His presence is NOT found in the New Testament.
Nope, not, nada …
Just ain’t there.
So let’s shift our understandings and start being the church …
Once again.
You can’t love Jesus …
And dismiss the plenary authority of His written Word.
It may seem trite, but it’s true:
Moving forward only happens …
One step at a time.
If your concept of Christ causes you to be offended by portions of His written Word …
You know not Christ.
We have reduced love to what we feel.
Scripture elevates love to what we do.
Corrosive compassion does for others what they otherwise should do for themselves.
Although trying to solve another’s problems may provide short term help …
People ultimately learn best when allowed to own the consequences of their own decisions.
It may seem harsh, but in the long run it’s often the most compassionate and loving thing you can do.
The Kingdom of God is simple.
Not nice, neat, tidy or easy …
But simple.
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, (how?) thy will be done, (where?) on earth (extent?) as it is in heaven …”
So we just need to do God’s will as He directs in each sphere and circumstance of our life here on earth …
And where we do that, we see more of His Kingdom – His will in action – being established around us.
Sure, it is often hard and sometimes disruptive …
But nonetheless simple.
Jesus: He’s more than a feeling.
I don’t plant churches so believers can come find Christ among me and my friends …
And I then can become the leader.
Rather, I go to the lost and plant Christ among them and their friends …
And then get out of the way.
That’s because relational participatory churches, like taught in the New Testament, happen simply but are never about us.
It’s not very complicated, nor does it cost anything …
Except obedience.
So how about it?
Why not start doing it the way Jesus taught it …
Once again?
The only hierarchy allowed in the church is Jesus as the head.
He, in turn, commands us to submit one to another and to prefer each other above ourselves – no exceptions!
Let’s be the church once again.
Within the New Testament church, authority emerged from relationships, plurality, example, persuasion and earned respect.
Today, it is imposed through appointment, position, hierarchy, titles, command and control.
Big difference.
New Testament unity is rooted in diversity …
As we honor God’s differing gifts, callings and motivations in each other above our own.
Insisting on “unity” through uniformity, conformity or hierarchy, however, is a lie.
Law reveals …
But grace enables.
New Testament:
Be the church with diverse ministry by one another while engaged with each other in face to face participatory gatherings.
Today:
Go to church for a monologue sermon by the one while staring at the back of someone’s head at a staged meeting with spectator seating.
Let’s be the church and change the world once again.
When Satan worries more about your plans for the day than you do his …
Jesus smiles.
I love going to jail …
And being part of some of the best church in town.
Most “jail ministry” imports “church” or tries to “do church” for inmates.
It’s much more fun, instead, to let them be the church …
By allowing Christ to indigenously come alive in them, through among and among them as they learn to minister one to another and become His disciples where they live.
After all, isn’t that the heart of the Great Commission?
Do God’s will and there’s very little we can’t accomplish together …
Once we give up the need to control it, own it or brand it.
Don’t be trapped …
By the successes of your past.
Nothing in the original language or context of the New Testament even remotely matches our current, prevailing concepts of …
“Church,” “pastor,” “teach,” “preach,” “tithe,” “ministry,” “communion,” “worship,” and so much more.
Which begs the question:
What do people think they’re actually doing each Sunday morning?
Is it just an edifice built on post-Biblical human traditions and contradictions …
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