“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”.
You can’t love Jesus …
And dismiss the plenary authority of His written Word.
An attitude of gratitude is a mile marker on the road to emotional health and spiritual wholeness.
Church traditions and cultural presumptions read back into Scripture …
Often become more sacred than Scripture itself.
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.
My dad often said a prepared person is better than a prepared message.
People these days are sick of those who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk …
Often from raised podiums above us.
So make a difference – try getting off your pedestal and being a prepared man or woman instead …
Because there is no better “sermon”.
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.
When we give thanks …
We become more than ourselves and our circumstances.
Law reveals …
But grace enables.
When Satan worries more about your plans for the day than you do his …
Jesus smiles.
Don’t give up!
Demolition often precedes renovation.
Tired of the “institution” and looking instead for the simplicity of relational participatory church …
But your friends aren’t interested?
Consider opening your life, your home and your kitchen table to the lost, the unseen, the ignored, the marginalized, and the lonely.
After all, if your respectable friends aren’t interested in your hospitality, who does Jesus say to invite instead? The poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame …
Along with those living besides highways and hedges. Luke 14:12-24
If you know none, then get out of your comfort zones!
So go to the kinds of places Jesus went and reach out to the kinds of people with whom he hung …
Not through a “program” but with authentic friendship.
There is no true church, real faith, sacrificial love or advance of God’s Kingdom without hospitality – especially to those considered the least among us …
Not only by the world, but often by our own top-down, agenda-driven “churches.”
Rather than their impersonal “programs,” which try to help “outsiders” without truly embracing them but treating them as mere objects of “ministry” …
My wife and I have opened our home and table as places of hospitality over the years – offering respect, dignity, and genuine friendship to all who accepted our invitations to come.
As a result, fellowships emerged and lives transformed – including our own.
Hospitality: The missing ingredient.
Simple!
In the Old Testament, false prophets were stoned.
Some things never seem to change.
The crazy stuff said by modern day false prophets shows they’re still stoned.
Seriously, they need to get a grip on reality …
And stop smokin’ that illicit weed.
So you’re structuring and operating a “church” like a business to secure your own position and vocation as the pinnacle leader …
i.e., the “Senior” or “Lead Pastor.”
Where do you even find that in the New Testament?
You don’t.
It’s better to pay the price for truth, than to earn your pay from a lie …
Because in God’s economy, integrity matters.
I vote and promote civic virtue and good government in the community and nation where I live.
That’s because I serve a King who has not surrendered one square inch of His sovereign love and lordship over any part of His creation.
Bottom line:
Moral cynicism and cultural nihilism are not Christian values.
“Worship” in the New Testament means living lives of sacrificial service and reverent obedience …
On God’s behalf.
Today it means a Sunday “service” performed by a hip band and some “Reverend” …
On our behalf.
Let’s return to the simple faith, simple virtue and simple church of Scripture.
When “faith” is reduced to individual subjective beliefs and perceptions …
Truth becomes hate speech and virtue an outrage.
Effective, liberating forgiveness can’t occur unless we fully acknowledge the underlying wrong that plagues us;
How wrong the wrong is; and
What our heart truly feels because of it …
Whether committed by us or against us.
Only when we stop minimizing, rationalizing or excusing the offense …
Can we fully give it to the Lord.
And be free.
Some claim that doubt and angst are a form of “faith.”
But that’s not true …
Because ultimately, that would make faith all about us.
Rather, faith is trust and confidence in the One who knows all, even when we don’t understand.
Getting there might mean struggling with doubt and angst …
But don’t confuse the journey with the destination.
That’s why the new anti-faith definition of faith by “Christian” progressives and other “religious” existentialists …
Leaves them stuck with themselves.
Let’s avoid their dead ends …
And boldly move forward towards true faith, which comes from God Himself.
The measure of spiritual maturity is not perfection …
But how we deal with our imperfection.
Love may be gentle and kind …
But it also speaks truth, resists evil and defends the innocent.
Plumbline Faith 