Deconstructing Neverland

What if the resurrection is a hoax?

2012-03-05T12:45:00.001-05:00

That is the question Jeremy asks on his blog Till He Comes.

In the post he talks about the bones that have been discovered that are supposedly the bones of Jesus. He pokes holes in the theory but then asks this very challenging question.

Here is my response:

It wouldn't change much in what I believe and do because as it is I believe something that I did not see, I cannot prove, and still have doubts about from time to time. Even so I have experienced the power of the resurrected Christ in my life and if he is not raised from the dead then what is that? My over active imagination? If so, then I'm content with that in the same way I am content with my occasional doubts.

If they could somehow prove that those were the bones of The man who claimed to be the son of God it wouldn't change much for me because it would still take a certain amount of faith in the legitimacy of the "proof" to nullify our hopes for eternal life in Christ.

Here is the link to his post, sorry it isn't neat and clean but I'm on my mobi.

http://www.tillhecomes.org/the-bones-of-jesus/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tillhecomes+%28Till+He+Comes%29

What if it was a hoax? How would it change what you believe and do?

N.T. Wright Interview: “Simply Jesus” & Wright Responds to Critics

2012-02-29T12:24:00.000-05:00

I recently read Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright. I haven't written any reviews on it or anything but I did thoroughly enjoy reading it. In fact, in many of my recent conversations I have found myself referring back to many of the things I discovered through this work. I highly recommend it to all of you and if you are interested in a review of the book from my perspective just let me know. I would be glad to provide that.

Recently Frank Viola posted an interview he did with Wright about this book. If you are considering the purchase of Simply Jesus you should go and check out this interview.

A little shameless promotion never hurt anyone, right?

The Shepherd and Ewe: a story of restoration

2012-02-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

I heard an illustration once about how shepherds bring a wandering sheep back to the flock. I don't know how true it is. I've never asked a real shepherd about it and I'm too lazy to Google it to find out. Not that it matters. It stuck with me and it has given me a valuable insight into our relationship with Christ. Even if it is untrue, I'm sure it would work for the shepherds. Here is a story based on that illustration.

The Shepherd and ewe

The shepherd looks out over the meadow, counting his flock, considering each one. Like a father to his children he knows his sheep better than he knows himself. He has even given them all names that only he knows. He moves his gaze from one sheep to another, taking in how dramatically different they are. All that diversity and yet they form one cohesive group. They live and move as one. He basks in the beauty and enjoys his work.

He stops.

One is missing.

Suddenly his care, concern and joy in the flock is transferred to the ewe that is missing. He is compelled to leave the flock and restore the one that has wandered.

He searches relentlessly. The shepherd knows every thing there is to know about this member of the flock so he knows in which direction to start looking. He finds some tracks and spots the lost one in the distance. As he draws near he can see that it is stuck in some thorny weeds and unable to free itself. He moves in closer and begins to free the animal from the entanglement. He is ever so careful as he pulls away each weed. The shepherd does not want to cause the creature any more harm than what has already been done by the thorns that have been piercing from all sides. With great love and affection he is able to completely free the ewe from the mess.

The newly liberated animal is now free again and so it proceeds to scamper off and flee from the reach of the one that just set it free from its own prison of piercing and choking weeds. The shepherd takes chase, his own determination to reconcile this lost sheep driving him to not give up. But the sheep has a mind and will of his own and is not going to submit to the shepherd easily. The ewe wants to do things its own way. The shepherd does the only thing he can do in order to bring the wandering one back to the flock. He catches up with the animal and uses his staff to break its legs.

The crack of its bones is like thunder in the sky.

Now utterly incapable of running away, the sheep howls in pain as the loving shepherd picks it up and places the burden of its weight upon his own shoulders. Without the use of its legs, those tools of independance and self will, the creature could not follow him even if it was willing to. The ewe is completely helpless and must be carried.

Once restored back to the pasture where the flock has been grazing together the shepherd must give special attention to the newly reconciled one. It's wounds must be tended to and it must be fed by the shepherds hand as it is unable to move about on its own. The sheep is totally dependant on the shepherds provision to sustain its life. Once it has been nursed back to full health it will know and trust the shepherd. The desire to have its own way somewhere out in the wilderness will be seen as complete foolishness.

Even so, it is still a sheep and sheep are stupid. Even with such a loving shepherd you never know what a stupid sheep might do.

Smoking in the boys room

2012-02-22T12:42:00.001-05:00

I'll never forget my exodus from church camp at the age of fourteen.

It was a summer like every other. Flocks of kids from clean-cut middle to upper class homes all gathered together for a week of fun in the sun. Pool time, prank time and time away from the adults to make your move on the hottest girl in Sunday School with short intermissions of cheesy songs and uncomfortable looking counselors talking about things from the Bible that they thought we would find interesting. It was good clean fun, you know: diving competitions, kickball, shaving cream fights, hanging someone's underwear from the flagpole, and midnight adventures to the local graveyard. Everyone always had a blast.

At camp I felt like I was the only one who didn't fit in. Not because I wasn't accepted by my peers but because I knew nothing about their "have what you want, when you want it because Jesus loves you" lifestyle. That kind of thinking didn't even show up on my radar. On the days prior to and following the week of church camp, my food was purchased with WIC vouchers and food stamps. In fact, if it had not been for some generous folks in the congregation, I would not have been able to afford to attend camp at all. This was the deepest darkest secret of my adolescence. I was ashamed of living in poverty and did not want to lose the bond I had with my much more affluent friends.

It all came crashing down in the summer during my fourteenth year of age. At this point in time I had picked up a habit demonstrated by every living adult who meant anything to me; smoking cigarettes. It's true, every single person I can remember that loved me for who I was and not for who I fooled them into believing I was, was a smoker. Smoking and being a loving person went together like love and marriage. So, I tried it and after choking up a lung decided I liked it. I liked it so much that I began hiding it from every adult in the tri-state area, sneaking a few out of the packs that were laying around my house from various adults which eventually led to shoplifting cigarettes to feed my addiction. Over time, I got more sophisticated in my techniques and was able to find adults that would buy them for me. Those were the best...the ones bought with my hard earned money in my very own brand of choice. This was the pack I carried with me to church camp that summer.

I had it all worked out. I had friends who were in on my secret and they would be my lookout. I had the schedule memorized and the optimal times to sneak away for a smoke all figured out. It was not a flawless plan. Once an adult caught wind of nicotine in the air, the hunt was on and eventually I was the marked target. I would now have to pay for my sins and be put away from the flock. As they say: little leaven leavens the whole lump.

I vividly remember the pastor bringing be into a private room, taking out my delicious pack of Marlboro Red's and going completely mental as he broke every one with veins pulsing in his forehead and the look of pure disgust on his face. "I'm doing this because I love you" he tells me. Huh, I thought. Strange love.

After he took out all his emotions on my helpless pack of cancer sticks he escorted me out to the pool where all the other kids were playing. He got everyone's attention so that I could obey his command to confess to everyone my addiction to cigarettes and let them all know that I was leaving. It is my most embarrassing memory to date and I owe it all to the Pastor who "loved" me enough to put me through it.

Whenever I return to this time in my mind the feelings come flooding back. Embarrassment, shame, fear, guilt, rejection, anger, sadness all coursed through my veins simultaneously. A sweaty little teenage boy hoping to find someone who would accept me in spite of my failures.

That is exactly what I found at home. My mom seemed surprised when the pastor walked me up to the door and exposed my errors. After suggesting some of what he considered to be justified consequences for my transgression, he turned back to his truck and made way back to the campground. My mom sat me down and told me that smoking was stupid. She should know. Then she told me that it wasn't my smoking that disappointed her. It was my lying to her and hiding from her.

Everything changed within me at that moment.

My emotions all began twisting and turning at this new revelation. I hurt my mom and she was one of the only ones I knew who really did love me. It was the first time I understood what my sin really was and it had nothing to do with nicotine. It had to do with my relationships. As I thought about the importance of my relationship with my mom and the other people who cared for me I had lied to I felt like smoking was no longer even an issue.

I wonder if it ever occurred to the pastor just how damaging his "love" would have been to me if I didn't have my mom there to demonstrate what love really was. She didn't go mad, put on a furious face and seek to embarrass me. No, she revealed to me the importance of our relationship and accepted me, cigarettes, failures and all.

Because that is what love does, that is what God does.

________________________________________________________________

Do you have a story that has changed your view of love?

Quarantine and community

2012-02-08T13:16:00.001-05:00

For the last two weeks I have lived in a petri dish. The CDC put a huge white bubble around our home to confine the infection and protect the surrounding neighbors. My wife and I were reduced to pill popping lumps beneath a comforter on the sofa.

Incapacitated

Miserable

Rendered completely useless

There is no way to be a productive member of society in this condition, or good parents for that matter. Thankfully, several families stepped up to bring us meals on some of the worst days. We even conned a couple folks to keep Chloe away from the quarantined area for a few days. Our boys, on the other hand, were subjected to the dangers of their highly contageous mother and father on a consistent and daily basis. Through much prayer and a broken record of "get away" and "dont touch me" playing, they were able to avoid infection.

So far, so good.

Today were all back on the up and up thanks to many prayers on our behalf along with a couple shots in the rear end, eye drops, cough drops and enough ibuprophen and antibiotic pills to choke a mule. As I reflect on what the Lord was teaching me through all this (because all things work for good and He loves to discipline His children), I realized just how helpless we really are on our own, even when we are in perfect health. We really need each other. A member that has been separated from the body doesn't form another body. It dies and decays and then stinks really bad until it becomes nothing and is blown away by passing winds. Which brings me to my next point.

The Body of Christ is not confined to the membership roles of those who gather at a particular location. Even if that is how a person thinks of it, it is not true. We are all inter-connected with one another and we all receive life and instruction from the same source, the Head. My eyes have been opened to the beauty of being a member of the Body of Christ. Even as someone who has abandoned traditional church services and doesn't have his name on any membership roles, I am still intricately connected with, necessary to and dependent upon the other members of Christ body. As long as I remain attatched to Christ the Head I also remain attatched to all those who are attached to Him as well. Even if I'm not attatched to a pew every Sunday. The fullness of Christ lives in each one of us and in Him we all live and move and have our being...together. We can be separated by wide areas of geography and still be one and share the same life while two others can sit side by side but feel miles apart inside. It all depends on the level at which we abide in Him.

I am so very thanful to be a part of such a loving body of believers. Yes, I am simply speaking of the believers who know and love us in our community since we don't really "belong" to any particular group or organization. And I'm looking forward to the ways the Lord will serve them through me in the coming future.

Anyways, that's my rambling for this particular day. Oh, by the way, the CDC never really came to our home, but I was expecting them to at any minute.

So what has the Lord been teaching you this past week?

Life as an avatar

2012-01-31T12:28:00.000-05:00

We've all done it. We scour the web and our computer files looking for the perfect picture to use on our profile. Some picture that sends just the right message, an image that defines who we want to be...at least for the moment...to everyone who happens to get a glimpse of our online presence. Obviously, I like to be known as the edgy guy with supposed to be purple but somehow looks pink hair. Hair that I am very proud of and love telling others why I did it. Well, my hair has grown back to its natural color now but you cant tell that from my profile pic. Why? Because my natural hair is not as edgy of course!

Even if you saw me face to face, chances are I'll still have on a sort of profile pic. I'll be sporting my avatar around every quasi-acquaintance I come into contact with to promote an image of myself that is, well...false. Only those who really know me will know I'm a fraud. I think it is in our nature behave like this. We are fake and we don't even know it. Maybe it's because we actually believe the lie ourselves. Maybe it's because we hate who we really are, or were ashamed of what people would think if they got to know "the real me". Or maybe we are just deceptive at our core and have become conscience-seared habitual liars. Either way, I don't think there is a person alive who has escaped this tendency. We've altogether become a society of avatars.

So how can we overcome such debauchery? Surely Jesus was the most real dude that walked the face of the earth, right? No guile in Him whatsoever. Some things we know about Christ is that His appearance wasn't all that favorable. He may have been downright homely looking. He never spoke well of Himself before others in order to paint a picture of Himself that could be projected as their impression of Him. What Christ did was work and He let those works speak for themselves. He let those works speak for Him. His works defined who He was and is. We are told that He increased in the favor of both God and men. Even during the missing years of Christ's life we know that people liked Him because of what he did. Not just people, but God.

All the masks and facades we put on are all the manifestation of our sinful flesh. The only way of escape is to live as Jesus lived by the same power that Jesus lived. The power I'm referring to is Divine Life. God's life in us, lived through us, to share life with others. Going out and doing good works may be a good thing, but we will still be doing them for the wrong reasons. We may increase in favor with man by that path but we will not increase in God's favor. Instead if we live and work by the indwelling life and guidance of our Lord Jesus, His works will speak for themselves. People will rise up and say that is a "godly bunch of folks right there" because the works they see will actually be God's works through us. The only room for boasting will be the boasting we do in the Lord.

So let us burn all our masks and be satisfied with an appearance that may not be America's Next Top Model. Let's go to Christ and learn to live by His indwelling life so that our works will speak for themselves. May we always be working because Christ is always working and have good reason to look forward to the day when we may hear "well done my good and faithful servant" from the lips of our Father and creator as we take shape into the image He has made us in, His image. As we leave behind our self life and live by Christ's (who is THE image of God) others can look upon us and our works as the living works of God and by them see the glory of God Himself.

Now go and be His Body, (but take off that silly mask first).

When it ebbs it flows

2012-01-30T12:56:00.001-05:00

At least that is how life has been for me lately. I know, its been a while since I've given you all a peek into my so called life and you're probably wondering what gutter I just crawled out of. But here I am, back and just as plain and ordinary as ever, using this platform as a voice to shout the things that have been boiling inside me and also to jot down the continuous monotony of life in words that hopefully let someone know that you are not alone. We're all in this together.

So as a bit of an update allow me to peel layer after layer off this stack of laundry that's been piling up. Some call that cleaning out a closet but I'll settle for just describing the mess since my closet never seems to come clean.

A few months back I was contemplating the idea of taking time off from blogging and other social networking in order to focus my time and attention more on real face to face relationships. Sounds all good and pious, right? Well it didn't actually go down like that. Yes, I took time off from my usual online activity but only because I got sucked into a game from the Apple store. That's right, Bobby has been mindlessly attending to a game with absolutely no eternal significance whatsoever. And you know what?

I liked it.

Turns out the yearning I had to take a break wasn't so much because I wasn't doing enough to please God but was just simply the fact that I needed a break. So, I took one, and it was good. Sure, I could have spent that time building relationships with my family and teaching my children more about Christ. You could say I probably should have and you might be right. Lord knows I'm not the father I'd like to be most of the time. That's probably because I shoot for the stars and have a goal to be just like my heavenly Father. Hey! It could happen :) Even so, to be the best father I can be I need to have a break every now and then and quite frankly, by the end of last year I was burned out.

So this is one of the ways I've been....well.....ebbing. Hopefully soon I can share with you some of the ways life has been flowing as well. Till then pray that I do not fall into another bottomless pit of seduction known as an Apple App.

Also, it would be nice to know if anyone missed me. I don't want to believe that this blog is a complete waste of my time and as any blogger knows: comments are like currency.

Shift

2011-11-02T12:45:00.003-04:00

As we walk through this life we sometimes come across the thoughts and examples of others that challenge and inspire us. They impart to us something we've never seen or heard before. For me that teaching came through the ministry of a man named T. Austin Sparks. Call it what you want, when we run in to these folks we cannot help but to stop, listen and learn. We must take time for consideration, contemplation, meditation and action. Our life and practice cannot remain the same when our whole paridigm has changed. It's like we have been given the ability to see and hear for the first time and all we want to do is explore everything our new senses can take in. Even if we have to leave behind everything that makes us comfortable and head in the direction of a great unknown we are compelled to go and follow that rainbow until we reach the end where the treasure is located or maybe even to go over the rainbow to a land filled with mystery and intrigue. That's what it's like to have your mind changed by a heavenly vision or revelation.

While you may never leave your location the fact remains, you're not in Kansas anymore.

I've been swept up in a whirlwind of mind altering and life changing views. While this shift in perspective has its foundation in a recent revelation of the person of Christ it has implications that effect my views on church practice and my everyday walk through life. This ovewhelming notion is THE purpose for which God created the world: to expand and magnify His glory through a community of creatures who share His Divine Life. This purpose, of course, is brought about by Christ, through Christ and in Christ as it was planned out before the foundation of the world. From the tree of Life in the garden of Eden to the tree on Calvary that crucifies the flesh to the tree of Life in heaven that gives life to the bride revealed as a city who is the eternal habitation of God, all things move toward this eternal purpose of God. Today we are a part of this purpose and through death to our selfishness and carnal knowledge we thrive on the indwelling Life of Christ and pour ourselves out for others. Together we become a suitable dwelling place for God and a body for Him to express Himself to His creation which has lost sight of its purpose for existence. Maybe this is old hat for you but for me this is paradigm shifting stuff.

Since seeing these truths my whole focus has shifted. No longer am I interested in regularly scheduled religious rituals and practices in the name of Christ. Church as we know it today no longer satisfies my longings for Him. I need much more in regards to relationship with Christ through His body. The only route I see to get there is to gather with other believers where we can share His life with one another. No, wait, "can" isn't good enough either. There must be a gathering where every believer is not only allowed but encouraged and expected to participate and edify the others. What I desire is an assembling of the church where every member of Christ's body is free to function in order to build one another up into Christ where the love of Christ is shared as we consider others more highly and how to stir them up. This is the mind of Christ and this is what we have been given as His body. As we rest and abide in Him, He lives His life through us and builds His church. This simply does not happen in a traditional worship service gathering.

It's a lonely road we've taken. In search and hopes of more intimate relationships with other believers we've ceased from attending the institutional gatherings that normally result in shallow community. Because we refuse to settle for the religious masquerade it often seems like we're all alone on a road to nowhere. Sure, there are other believers out there with the same vision and desire as us but they are too distant geographically to share body life with us in any meaningful way daily. Even so, God has granted us this vision and desire. He has shared with us His desire to be a part of His eternal purpose and we will wait as He works in other members and eventually gives birth to a body that is wholly devoted to living under the headship of Christ. We will corporately display His majesty to the world as a body of flesh and blood made of many members. One day the vision will be a reality. One day our faith will be made sight. One day I won't think I'm going crazy. One day the mouths of the mockers will be shut.

One day...

(I'm a little late but this was written as a part of november’s synchroblog–calling us out of numbness. Here's a list of the others:)

Joy Wilson at Solacetree- The Blessing of Losing Your Faith

Jeremy Myers at Till He Comes – I Have a Dream

Glenn Hager at Breathe – Uncomfortably Numb

Linda at Kingdom Grace – On Earth as it is in Heaven

Sally at Eternal Echoes – Where are the True Prophets?

Tammy Carter at Blessing the Beloved – No Compromise

Alan Knox at The Assembling of Church – My Word of Prophecy: Quit Listening to Prophetic Voices

Liz at Gracerules – Listen

Christine Sine at Godspace – Surrounded by Prophetic Voices: Clouds of Witnesses That Call Us Out of Numbness

Amy Martin – The Window of Suffering, the Beginning of Hope

Kathy Escobar at The Carnival in My Head- Rising Up From Below

K.W. Leslie at More Christ – What is God Challenging You to Do?

Katherine Gunn at Truth Makes Freedom – Where is Your Heart?

Steve Hayes at Khanya – Murder of the Cathedral

Leah Chang at desertsspiritsfire – Wall Street, Our Street

Church marketing voodoo

2011-10-23T12:18:00.001-04:00

In our consumeristic American culture it is a common thing to take Jesus and dress him up in flashy, trendy clothes, put an ear-tickling message in his mouth and promote him with the latest form of advertising prowess in order to attract others to him. We take our cues from Apple and Starbucks on how to be successful evangelists. Jamie the Very Worst Missionary has written a post on this subject called Creepy Coffee Voodoo. She connects the dots from successful coffee marketing and the resulting epic fail of the coffee's flavor to modern church marketing schemes and the impending results by sharing some thoughts from an email she received from a pastor. They raise some serious questions.

" he went on to tell me how his experience at church feels hollow, how he's weirded out by the rock-concert he attends every Sunday, and how he feels like his church is masking the Gospel with all kinds of other things just to get people in the door, which is working, but he feels bad because the people are buying into this false idea of who Jesus is and what He's going to ask of them if they follow him. Then he called the whole business of Church "creepy Jesus-VooDoo", and said something about how "marketing magic" can fill our pews, but our hearts will remain empty if we keep inviting people to meet their Savior under false pretense."

Immediately in my mind I see a frightening image of (insert your favorite prosperity preacher here) with his creepy grin bearing his wolf-like fangs. Then it hits a little closer to home and I think of some worship services I have attended that were very emotionally charged and entertaining. Both of these are certainly examples of a false pretense but are popular attractions to fill the seats on Sunday morning. As I think more and more about our magical methods, I wonder if maybe there is more to it than just these obvious examples.

There must be more if we have buildings full of professing believers who are faithfull attendees of our meetings but are unfaithful in their day to day walk. Somehow "Jesus saves" has become nothing more than a mantra of sorts who claim His blood has covered their sins but show no fruits in keeping with a changed heart. It's as though Jesus is nothing more than a long haired, scrawny, sweet talking cosmic sugar daddy who acts as our divine vending machine. What happens when we don't get what we want but instead He gives us a cross to carry to our death through suffering, persecution, and selflessness? I suppose many will go on hoping to have their desires met while few will adopt Christ's desires and enter the narrow way.

Anyway, it was food for thought. You should check out her post.

Can you think of any other magical ways christendom has adopted to lure people into the fold?

I'm a dreamer

2011-10-22T14:25:00.001-04:00

I harp a lot on how church as we know it with it's sermon centered gathering doesn't measure up to the body life we see in scripture. It's not because I don't like sermons or because I have something against preachers. Rather it is due to God's glorious design for His house that we see displayed in the text of the New Testament as a result of the outworking life of Christ in believers. A body of Christ that builds itself up in love when they are gathered together is a forgotten paradigm of church practice. I want you to imagine this dream with me.

A brother and I have been studying the letter to the Phillipians together. At our most recent meeting we began working our way through chapter 2 which begins as follows:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.(Philippians 2:1-4 ESV)

In two hours of discussion we couldn't move past these verses. We were locked in to sharing all the riches that are ours in Christ and how those riches empower us to follow Paul's exhortation to the church in Phillipi. For the first time ever when reading this passage I could see God's purpose in building the church very clearly. That purpose is for all of the redeemed to be built up into Christ. So we are to have the same mind, same passion, and with the same goal to build others up into Christ. Can you imagine how buff Christ's body would be if every member had this mind and goal? We cannot even begin to imagine the impact God's kingdom would have if every believer everywhere was devoted to building others up in Christ. As I got lost in these meditations and fantasies I was reminded of Eph 4

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16 ESV emphasis obviously mine)

I used to think of this verse as a sort of proof-text for having certain church officers and positions of authority. Then one day I saw the word "until" and it completely changed my understanding of these verses. That word "until" is one of the most overlooked and ignored words in all the Bible in my opinion. When we overlook the "until" we ignore the goal of God's purpose in building the church and fail to move on into the resulting blessings of a multi-member functioning body that meets to edify one another. Notice the wonderful results of a body that builds itself up:

the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to mature manhood,
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine
we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ

Isn't that completely glorious??!!

That is why I am so adamant about throwing out our present church practices, traditions and liturgies and having gatherings where every member is expected, encouraged and equipped to minister to the body. Its because I've been consumed with this same passion to see Christ clearly manifested in a corporate body. I'm not talking about reforming practices by adding or tweaking existing programs like Sunday school or small groups. I'm talking about a gathering that could not be scheduled and orchestrated because each member brings what the Lord desires for them to share as they have abided in His indwelling life throughout the recent days. I'm talking about sharing that small piece of Christ you discovered with the rest of the body to build them up and receiving the other pieces that are brought as we are all built up into Him.

You might think that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

Raped by religion and the promiscuity of worship services

2011-10-14T06:22:00.000-04:00

When I read this on Facebook I was shocked. I wanted to share it with you all to see what you think. It is entitled "no sex before marriage" and was originally posted by a fella named Ransom Backus in the group called The Life of Christ. I received permission to re-post it here in its entirety.

He writes:

Often times, God has shown me that worship, genuine, meaningful worship is intimate. Often, I compare worship to love-making. It is that special, intimate time with God that we share with other Christians, joining together as one body as Christ's bride.
There is a horrific attitude in churches today that I need to address. That attitude is that we are somehow REQUIRED to sit there and simply have worship dictated to us. I recently had a dialogue with a pastor of an institutional church where he insisted and pressured me to sit in his church service and participate in the worship. That is simply what is expected of me if he is going to work with me.
I slammed my fist on the table and said "NO! Relationship FIRST, then worship."
I thought about my words and realized something very deep in my emotional reaction. This man told me that I needed to just come on Sunday and let all of my guards down, be completely open and vulnerable in worship without any discernment at all. Translation: Take your clothes off, open your legs and let us in.
Looking back at it I see that my reaction was justified. How dare people insist that we just show up and be vulnerable with the most intimate things in our lives without having any context of love and relationship!
I went on to tell this person that love and relationships are more important to me than what takes place on Sundays. I don't trust ANYONE with that most intimate part of my soul and spirit unless I know they fully love and value me. I don't take the words of strangers who have not proven an authentic, tried and true love, willingness to stick with me through anything, into my most intimate places! I am not a whore, sorry.
There is an attitude of premarital sex rampant in the Church today. Intimate worship first, then the relationship. I was further flared up when I discussed the nature of worship.
He told me that I needed to participate in worship. I replied "I can't, everything is being done on stage for me. The words are pre-scribed and it isn't in me to sing those words."
To which he replied "Then make those words your own."
I said "I already HAVE my own words but I can't express them because its too noisy!"
I reeled when I pondered taking words that I don't agree with and making them my own, that is, making them a part of my intimate expression to God. Honestly, it feels like rape, or at least like prostitution. How dare a stranger insist that he touch me there! How dare a stranger take that most intimate part of me and tell me what to do with it without even bothering to be in my world and love me deeply!
Worship is sacred. Worship is intimate. No one has any right to dictate or tell you how to worship or the means by which you worship. No one has any right to tell you what to sing or speak. It can't be pre-scribed. Singing someone else's words, unless they strike a deep chord in me already, is akin to watching a porno movie while being intimate with my wife. It is sterile, impersonal, and cheap!
When I worship God, I don't need words on a screen. In fact, the words on the screen are a bit distracting and the music is kind of a mood killer. When I worship God I sing or speak from deep inside of myself, from what is within and it comes out as unique and authentic.
Yes, sometimes I do play a certain CD to sing along with, but they are songs which closely resonate with what is already inside of me. Not just any old song will do. It already mirrors the expressions of love for God that are in me.
Pastors and "worship leaders" should take heed. Worship is personal, it is intimate, and it is based on vulnerability and trust. In corporate worship, which I DO believe is biblical and right, vulnerability and trust are not to be automatically demanded, but are given willingly based on the level of safety and love felt by the person doing it. I take my clothes off and am completely expressive with myself with only one person, that person who has shown a deep level of trust, respect and love for me.
Do not put the cart before the horse and expect intimacy and vulnerability first. Rather let that come on its own as trust and relationship and love are built.
In other words, don't have sex before marriage.

Barking up the wrong tree

2011-10-13T12:24:00.000-04:00

There is a lot of talk about becoming a mature Christian. Have you ever wondered what that means? I do. I thought I knew what it meant but it turns out I was barking up the wrong tree. Not just barking but growling, howling and yelping till I wanna throw up and the tree picked off its own fruit and began chunking it at me. What I thought was maturity was definitely growth into something, but it wasn't Christ. It would more be likened to learning to play the gong or clang cymbals really well. I wanted to be the best damn cymbal clanger alive and I didn't care if you like cymbals or not, I was banging them to my little hearts content.

Looking back on my noise making days I realise that my motives were good but my technique was all wrong. I wanted to help others grow but I was giving them teachings and doctrines to feed on when all the while I had the bread of Life to share with them. I remember a time when I considered heavy doctrinal teaching to be a feast and today the only feast I desire is to feed on the body and blood of Christ. There is a big difference. One is is system of teaching designed to help us to live right with God the other is a living person inside of us empowering us to live in Him. One way leads to death and the other to Life. I speak from experience.

I've stated here before that listening to sermon after sermon is not the way to mature as a christian. The reason I say that is because sermons (at least the one's I have heard) are mostly always about breaking down a passage of scripture in order to nail down some doctrines. A solid doctrinal base does not equal spiritual maturity. Contrarily, the more we emphasize select doctrines the more prone we are to arrogance and judgementalism toward others who don't see things the same way we do. Rather than displaying maturity through our knowledge we get puffed up, seek our own glory and shame the name of our great and holy God.

Maybe I'm all alone in this, if so someone please straighten me out because the more I look at scripture the more I believe that doctrines are the things we do and the way we live not the systematic points we believe to be true. Some say that you can know a persons doctrine by the way that they live. I certainly agree with that . Knowing a persons doctrine by the things they say? ...not unless their tongue sounds more like a noisy gong and they are not speaking from love. Then it is pretty obvious that their doctrine needs a little more Jesus and a lot less knowledge.

So now, instead of spending all my time trying to mature in my knowledge of doctrine I spend my time maturing in building relationships with others. I'm learning more through experience than I ever did in years of deep word studies and combing through commentaries. Rather than letting my actions be dictated by intellectually contrived beliefs from scripture that are based on my own subjective understandings I'm letting the Spirit lead me where He will and I'm finding that the Bible objectively confirms His leadings as truth.

Maturity comes through experiencing the Life of Christ in us as we walk in the Spirit not through endless preaching and teaching of historical creeds and confessions. If we want to mature we must have relationships with others who are more mature than us and imitate their way of life. If we want to help others mature we must walk through life with them and live a life worth imitating. But first we gotta stop barking up the wrong tree and decide instead to hike our leg on it and move on.

What if Pastoring Looked Like This? | Anxious to Impart

2011-10-12T12:55:00.001-04:00

Our brother Patrick Mitchell at Anxious to Impart wrote a probing post today called What if Pastoring Looked Like This? It is part of his Wednesday "what if?" series that he just began doing a month ago. He asks some great questions and I encourage you to check them out.

This particular post he quotes a book by Eugene Peterson. You know, the pastor guy who wrote the Message translation of the Bible. Well the author describes the kind of pastor he wants to be as he reasons to the elders of the church why he wanted to resign after three years in the ministry. Here is some of what he quotes from the book:

"“I want to be a pastor who prays. I want to be reflective and responsive and relaxed in the presence of God so that I can be reflective and responsive and relaxed in your [the elders and congregation’s] presence…I can’t do that on the run…I feel too crowded.”

“I want to be a pastor who reads and studies. This culture in which we live squeezes all the God sense out of us. I want to be observant and informed enough to help this congregation understand what we are up against, the temptations of the devil to get us thinking we can all be our own gods…It demands some detachment and perspective.”

“I want to be a pastor who has the time to be with you in leisurely, unhurried conversations so that I can understand and be a companion with you as you grow in Christ—your doubts and your difficulties, your desires and your delights. I can’t do that when I am running scared.”"

Knowing that Patrick is a pastor of a local church himself and after having known several pastors and church planters personally I'd say this is nearly a universal list of desires among them. What if pastoring looked like this? Or a better question is how can we get to where pastoring looks like this?

The answer to the first is simple. Pastoring would not be such a burden on the men who have been given the gift and desire to be overseers and shepherds. They would be able to guide the flock through relationships as God intended. Only then would they be examples to others and lead in a way that others can imitate.

The answer to the second is a bit tougher because it requires a lot of sacrifice. The only way to get to a place where pastors are free to have time to focus on relationships is to get rid of all of the other things that take away their time. Things like planning the next worship service and filling in the numerous slots in the liturgy, writing a 30 to 60 minute sermon, the responsibility to visit every hospitalized and sick person in the congregation, the role as the sole facilitator for funerals and weddings, and the numerous meetings for this committee or that committee. All of these things must go. In other words we have to sacrifice the pastor as we know him and replace him with the pastor we see in the New Testament. As a body there must be a confession that we have hijacked the pastors function in the Body and made him to fit a mold that God never intended him to fill. That confession must be followed with the total abandonment of those old ways and a resolve to do everything necessary to free our shepherds from this bondage. Call it congregational confession and repentance. Only then will these men be free to lead lives as godly examples for the rest of us.

Not only would the pastor then be freed form all the added responsibilities but the rest of the body would be free to build one another up when they gather together. The weight of filling the time would no longer fall on the pastors shoulders but everyone would be expected to minister to and edify one another. The needs of the body would be met by the rest of the body, not just one member of it. This kind of transformation would not only change the pastors lives but it would change the face of church as we know it. Without a complete overhaul of the church system, our pastors will always desire something more and feel trapped in an office that only a multi-member functioning body of Christ can fill.

At least that is my opinion on this week's "what if?". What do you think?

'via Blog this'

Answers in the unknown

2011-10-11T12:24:00.001-04:00

Answered prayers. That's all there is to it. That is what I want to share with you all today. Answered prayer.

When we were convicted to leave behind organized religion as we knew it we felt as though we were stepping out into the great unknown. I admit, I was very uncomfortable with the whole idea. I had some serious reservations against walking away from the church I was familiar with. There were many worries about falling into sin and away from the Lord through my actions. But I also had this nagging conviction that God wanted much more from His children and that trying to tweak the system I grew up in would result in nothing more than a sore forehead from repeated bangs against a wall. So we followed our convictions and stepped out of the institution while seeking to strengthen the relationships we have with those who remained. The Lord has not let us go, in fact it has drawn us closer to Him.

No one likes to be all alone and that is how it felt for some time. I have this glorious idea of Christ's bride made up of a united family of believers who all lived by Christ's life as individuals and came together to share small glimpses of His glorious person when they assembled. Finding others who share that vision, well that's not exactly as easy as we might think it to be. My desire for the Church seems so lofty, so impossible, so much like a utopia that I wondered if it was just unrealistic. Can we really be united under the headship of Christ and share in His life together without the trappings and hindrances from our sinful flesh? Well, probably not totally, but we can surely all seek after that together. Together, not alone, with Christ in us as the goal, has been my dream.

Some new developments in our journey have begun to take shape. I'm pretty excited to share them with you. I've already spoken about a family we have been building relationships with. We continue to go deeper. There have been times of vulnerability and transparency in dealing with some life issues that would cause many people to run the other way seeking shelter from the storms. Life is like that sometimes, it seems to suck really bad and these folks have stuck by us through it all. Along with that we have begun studying scripture and coming together with our notes and thoughts only to find that as we come together our notes get multiplied, united and formed into something even bigger that we had pictured through our personal study. It's really cool.

Another answered prayer has been another family that has moved into our area. Well, they live about 20 minutes away but that's close enough. They moved from Gainsville, GA where they were a part of the established Organic Church in that area. They have only been here a few days so we haven't spent much time together....yet. The two families only live about 10 minutes away from one another and were like I said about 20 minutes away. That is a bit of a geographical obstacle for seeing each other often but I'm still very thankful and hopeful. I'm looking forward to a time when we can all come together and begin to build one another up in Christ.

So like I said, answered prayer. There have been many prayers going up for God to build together a body of believers that are devoted to gathering under His headship. He is answering those prayers and I feel like singing.

Remembering Steve Jobs': Give and take

2011-10-09T15:31:00.002-04:00

You're gonna love this piece by ipoet laureate as he shares his thoughts on the passing of Steve Jobs. Here is some of what he wrote:

"The two stories, Jobs’ death and Occupy Wall Street, stir so much of the same tensions in me. I have these competing desires to simultaneously worship the progress of our society and burn it down. I’m sure I’m not alone. I don’t have the wisdom or the time to postulate an answer. But, I suspect that living life is finding some middle ground. Not as a cop out or compromise but because in every generation humanity has been called upon to find virtue in its advancement. Our portable technology is not evil. Our digital lives are not evil. But, they are susceptible, just like the buggy and the plow, to distraction or to misuse or to self-aggrandizment or to laziness.

I guess I’m just trying to learn a little bit better about how to give and take.

Now click over to read the rest and checkout the feature which is what makes this blogger so special. He not only writes blogs well but he writes poetry that revolves around current events, puts it to music, and shares it with us all there.

Like I said: you're gonna love this.

I know you are but what am I?

2011-10-06T08:30:00.000-04:00

Two men woke up one morning to pray.

The first man prayed "Thank you Lord for bringing me out of organized religion. Now I no longer trust in rituals and habits to know you more. I speak out against the hypocricy of the modern day Pharasee's that are the so-called leaders in the Church. I talk about Jesus all the time and tell others about your eternal purpose in Him as often as I have the opportunity. I understand the New Testament church much better than most people who sit in pews on Sunday. I am a much better disciple maker because of that. Again, I thank you and praise you."

The other man, a church going fellow, fell on his face and prayed "Lord, maker of heaven and earth, hear my humble prayer for myself and for your people. Our church, like me, is falling short in so many ways. We need you to fill us with your love so that we can love one another more. We need your strength to get us out of the rut were in. We need your life in us so that we can be a light in this dark world. Help us Lord, have mercy on us even though we have fallen so short of Christ, our goal and treasure."

Which man do you think went home justified?

What does the local church look like?

2011-10-05T08:30:00.001-04:00

This doesn't seem to be a very difficult question but from what I gather, the answer many give is made of men's traditions and not what we see in scripture. Even those who believe that the New Testament churches only serve to describe the church gatherings and are not to be considered as a blueprint for what the church should look like today often pick and choose traditions that are based on a handful of out of context verses that they think should be followed like a law. It is very inconsistent to say the least.

I recently watched a video from the Gospel Coalition with the same title as this post. It was long so I mostly skimmed through it just to get an idea of what they were talking about. According to these men, the local church is mostly defined as a place where the scriptures are preached in an expository manner, there is a focus on making disciples and they have proper guidelines for membership status. Really??? I keep looking for the passages that describe the church congregation or elders voting someone into the church and I can't find it. Maybe someone could help me with that. Likewise I haven't found the passages that show a leader preaching a sermon to a body of believers. If these are the marks of a healthy church then the first century churches that Paul planted were not worthy of imitating.

Why would we want to be like the first century church anyway though? It's not like they were the picture perfect group of folks that were sold out for Jesus. There was fighting over their favorite leaders, bickering amongst the women, show-offs dominating the gatherings, greedy people eating up all the food before everyone else arrived, some were teaching that real followers of Christ had to be circumcised to prove it. I mean really, these folks were jacked up. Surely we have matured a lot since the first century as a church, right? Why would we give up our comfy pews where we listen to a skilled communicator and teacher break down God's Word for us? And...don't our modern membership guidelines keep the jacked up people out of our congregation and make sure everyone is on the same doctrinal page?

Not exactly...

So, what does the local church look like? If it's a biblical church it will look very similar to what we see in the New Testament. It will be full of folks who have a lot of room to grow. They may even be as jacked up as the ones we read about in the Epistles. Yet, they will have one thing in common: faith in Christ. They will need to be constantly reminded to focus their gaze and minds on Him. They will give of themselves, of their time and resources in an effort to build others up by pointing them in the direction of Christ. They will depend completely on the indwelling power of Christ's Spirit to bring about their growth and they will boast only in their weaknesses.

What doesn't look like a local church? The opposite of the above. It will look drastically different from what we see in the New Testament. It will be full of folks who think they have it all together. They will give the impression that everything is just hunky-dory in their daily life. They will have one thing in common: a church covenant. They will keep themselves very busy with programs and church functions so that they are not distracted to commit the most heinous sins. They will come to church and be a part of the programs that benefit them the most. They will depend completely in the right teaching of their preaching pastor and Sunday school teacher to bring about their growth and they will boast in how much they love their pastor and church because they are doing everything right.

If you're looking for the 9 marks of a healthy church you can start by looking for the marks on their knees from prayer, the marks on their hands from service, the marks on their Bible from persistent study, the marks of their past where the Lord has corrected them, the marks they have made on the lives of those they come into contact with, the mark of humility, the mark of joy and the mark of peace that comes from walking with the Lord everyday but most of all look for the marks of the Spirit living through them to love, serve, grow and bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Sorry to bust your bubble but expository preaching, evangelism, and strict membership guidelines including a voting process for new members is not what makes a church. It certainly doesn't mark a healthy church.

A flesh and blood body of Jesus Christ living by His Spirit is what makes a church. Period.

Trying out something different

2011-10-04T08:30:00.000-04:00

For two weeks now my family and I have gathered with a local church plant that is a part of the Acts 29 church planting network. Several months ago I visited one of their "village groups" and had coffee with one of the planters. The village group was great. It was comprised of mostly unbelievers, new believers and the core planting group. We talked about some of the materials from the "gospel in everyday life" curriculum for small groups. There was lots of participation, questions and answers, and edification. Heck, we even shared a full meal together and sang songs. It was great. The following day I met with one of the leaders for coffee. That conversation was where things went south. He was uber-excited about beginning to have a more traditional Sunday gathering with a building and preaching, a bulletin, some liturgy, the whole nine yards. I was not enthused. I was very anxious to remain a part of their home fellowships and to join with them in serving the community (which is one of their core beliefs that they put into practice very well) but not so excited about going to a more institutional gathering, as you might expect. Because of that I was no longer involved with their village groups because for them, the two went hand in hand. Like love and marriage: you can't have one without the other. One guy kept in contact with me after the coffee shop conversation and seemed genuinely concerned for me. He and I have had a few conversations over the phone since then and we also spent an afternoon in the park talking church and life in Christ. I love the relationship that has begun and has been building.

Fast forward to last week.

I went to their Sunday gathering. As far as my christian consumeristic preferences go, it was fantastic. They had guitars and drums and great singing that blended newer songs that were rich in doctrine with some older classics that can be found in a hymnal - only without the organ, which I appreciate. The sermon was a introduction of sorts to the upcoming trip through the gospel of Mark in which the speaker tried to go through the entire Old Testament narrative in his time slot and point to Christ in each type that came to mind up to the time of John the baptist's appearance. A very lofty goal. Nevertheless, the entire spoken piece was centered on the person and work of Christ typified in the Old Testament and that was a major plus. I was certainly edified.

This past Sunday the brother I have spent the most time with from the body there (who knows a little about my ecclesiology) gave me a very interesting piece of info via text. He said that the preaching pastor was going to try his hand at a more dialogical approach to the sermon time.

I was very interested, so we went ... again.

They said the theory was that since they were a new church plant they could try things (within biblical parameters) and if the idea bombed, it was okay. A big advantage was the fact that this was only the third week in so there aren't any established traditions and things this particular body is comfortable with. They are all still feeling their way through the larger, corporate gathering. Reasons for giving it a shot: many people learn better through interaction and dialogue, that is the way Jesus taught. True dat! I can also think of several more very good reasons to promote participation in the church gathering.

Now granted it was not a participatory gathering according to a simple/organic understanding. It was more like a Sunday school type of setting where the guy up front read the text and asked questions to which the congregation responded. I remember four or maybe five (including myself of course) who participated in the exercise. I'm not sure if they consider that to be a success or a bomb but one thing is for sure, in my own opinion, it was interesting. It was the first time I had ever seen dialogue attempted during the time slot for the sermon.

I think more churches should try this. Especially if the leaders of that body have been convicted that edification is the primary act of worship described in the NT when the church gathers. Not everyone is ready to jump right into a participatory gathering and so this would be a good way to encourage and equip the members of the body to minister to one another. Of course I know of other folks who are trying to lead believers to participate like this in Sunday school with minimal results and Sunday school isn't nearly as idolized as the liturgy of the worship service by the long time members. Trying to change something at the 11 o'clock hour may become an exercise in shooting yourself in the foot and causing a big stink. Still the question is there, is it worth it? Or should we just keep going along with business as usual? I guess that is a question every leader must ask themselves every time the Bible challenges our practices.

Have you ever been in a more traditional/institutional gathering where the preaching pastor employed a dialogical style? If you are a pastor, have you ever tried this or thought about trying it? What was the result?

I am who I will be

2011-09-30T06:31:00.002-04:00

The world has two kinds of people, those who put people in two kinds of people groups and those who don't. No, really though, some people think they have it all together and they are successful in their own eyes and others think they don't have much of anything to offer the world other than a warm body. In Exodus chapter 3 as God calls Moses through the burning bush, Moses responds with two questions. The questions sum up like this - who am I? Who are you?

God's answer to the first wasn't about who Moses was as much as it was about who He is. Moses wanted to know how he could represent this great and holy God who was speaking to him. God basically told Moses "I will be with you, I will speak through you, you are my vessel". Then Moses wanted to know how to answer the people when they asked about the God Moses was representing. God's answer to the second question was like it as He said - "I AM WHO I AM". Which can also be understood as "I AM WHO I WILL BE".

Just think about it. Some crazy old man who had run away for murdering someone years ago and hasn't been seen for forty years comes strolling into town and he just walks up to the leader of a great nation and tells him "God says let my people go". Well that's pretty amusing there old dude but the people you speak of are the slaves that keep our society growing. If I let them go them my people will have to do the work and that's not gonna make anyone happy. I don't think that is gonna happen, who exactly do you think you are?

This is what Moses faced when he acted on faith and obeyed what God told him to do. God's request was utterly ridiculous, Moses knew that. Yet, he was willing to go anyway. Why? Because a burning bush told him to! But no one else saw the burning bush, why should they believe Moses? These are very legitimate questions and the only answer to them we are given is because God is with us and He is God.

You see, God never changes. The same God who called Moses to go and bring His people out of bondage and slavery and into the promised land is the same God who calls us to impart life to those who are still dead in trespasses and sins. Who we are is of no consequence, Christ in us is what matters. It is not our skill or strength that God uses to accomplish His purpose, it is our faith in His ability and His strength in and through us.

Remember Moses was in his old age when God called him. He was well aware of his inadequacies to do all that God had called him to do. We need to recognize the same. God never changes, He is the same God today that spoke to Moses and He is speaking to us. He has called us to live His life by setting captives free, bringing healing to the broken, taking care of orphans and widows, embracing the immigrant and comforting the afflicted. The promise made to Moses that God would be with him is being fulfilled in each and every believer as we walk by faith in the power of Christ in us. Because God never changes, that will never change as long as we abide in Him by faith. The task we have been given is no less silly looking to the world today as Moses must have looked to Egypt way back in the day. It really is a BIG task and if we don't see that there is a lot about God's desire for his church we do not understand. This is God's world and every living human being is His creation and He wants it all back. What we are called to do is a very big deal. We can only do it with the power of God through us and the same God who split the sea for Moses as they fleed from Egypt wants us to hold out our own staff and trust God to do whatever it is He has planned to do.

So...abide in faith my brothers and sisters. Abide my fellow saints.

Abide as though your life depends on it, because it does.

A fictional non-fiction story with a function

2011-09-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

I wanted to highlight some of my favorite blogs for blogger month (it is still blogger month, right? oh well, who cares...) I didn't want to just list them, so I decided to go into clever mode. What follows is the story of A Pilgrims Progress with the blog titles I read blended in. If you think it doesn't make sense that's cool, just ignore my stupidity but make sure you check out these super way cool blogs if you haven't already. Here they are in no particular order or rather the best order I could make them fit into my totally fictional story of the non-fictional life of some obscure dude in a land far, far away:

There once was a reformedlostboy who set out to deconstruct neverland. He was looking to go Beyond Evangelical and find an Assembling of the Church that fit more with the Story of the First Century Church because he was totally Rethinking Faith and Church. He once heard about this guy named Jon's Journey who was Blogging for Jesus in his Journal from Zarephath. So he set out on a journey of his own Looking For Church and found himself saying "I'm Losing My Religion". Like the Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia he wandered through the wilderness of man's makings shouting Ardent Cries as he searched and searched for some believers that were sharing life together. The only believers he could find were too busy in various buildings, organisations, institutions, clubs, and cliques. It was really beginning to suck because he was increasingly Allergic to BS. For a while he thought he may have to go all the way to an Ekklesia in Southern Maine he had heard about. He felt like no one knew what it was like to be the sad man Behind Blue Eyes. Then all the sudden he ran into some folks that lived in Eden Village and grabbed a bite with them as they were all Eating With Unwashed Hands. As he ate he was thinking about the passage in Micah 7 (link goes to a blog not an online Bible) where it says

Woe is me! For I have become
as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
The godly has perished from the earth,
and there is no one upright among mankind;
they all lie in wait for blood,
and each hunts the other with a net.
Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;...
...a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

But as for me, I will look to the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.

He thought that maybe the wait was over. He was finally beginning to see how being a perpetually Subversive 1 wasn't having a very positive effect on his efforts to build relationships. He was Anxious to Impart and Illuminate the hearts and minds of everyone he came into contact with but the more effort he put forth the more he felt like The Very Worst Missionary on earth sounding more like Chloe's Voice than God's voice. He thought he may be one who was Called to Rebuild, or at least play a part in building the temple made of living stones but he was barely coming up with experiences to write in his Simple Church Journal. Even now he doesn't know which way is up. I guess he will just continue stumbling along pursuing Christ Till He Comes and and continue Desiring God with every fiber of his being. Even if he does only have a View From the Cheap Seats as he walks along the line Between 2 Worlds looking for the Pure Church.

<<Other blogs of note that just don't have cool names that I can weave into a perfectly pointless story for my own amusement are: Jon Zens' blog, Milt Rodriguez's blog, the M blog, 1 Jon and Shane's blog. Maybe it's time for a name change guys? Just so I can toy around with it :) >>

That was kinda fun and as I went through I realized there were several of my faves that hadn't made it into my blogroll yet. So YAY!!!! now the list is a little more complete.

If you read my blog regularly and you have a blog of your own I would reeeeeeaaallllly like to know who you are and check out your stuff. My readers would probably be pretty interested too so do us all a favor and drop a comment with a link into the comment box below. PLEEEEEEEEZE Okay that sounds kinda desperate, which I'm not, actually I don't have time to read all of the posts from the ones above but I try. I really, really do. And with that this post is......DONE. Oh yeah, wait, hold up, one more thing. You can show much love to myself and all these really great bloggers by hitting one of the little share buttons below and sending this to facebook, twitter or your blog. Go ahead, do it...you know you want to. All the cool kids are sharing :)

Showing our faith by works

2011-09-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.(James 2:18 ESV)

When you read or hear this verse, what comes to mind? Have you ever thought about how your faith is demonstrated through your actions? What kind of works demonstrate our faith?

In the same breath as the line above, James points to Abraham's offering up of his son Isaac as a demonstration of faith through works. Just think about what that entails. Here you have a dude who has been given a promise from God that all the nations will be blessed through his offspring. Abraham does his thing to make it happen and Ishmael is the result. God does His thing to make it happen and Isaac is the result. So Abraham now pours all of his passion for God's purpose into the vessel God gave him to bring about the promise. But he still doesn't get it. The promise isn't in and from Isaac, the promise is in and from God. So God required Him to get back to where they began their relationship. Back to the Abram in Ur of the Chaldees. Back to the Abram that left everything to go to a place he had never seen simply because God said so. Back the Abram that walked completely by faith and lived in tents as he made his way to the promised land guided only by God's step-by-step directions. Abraham's faith in his son Isaac got in the way of all that so he required that he sacrifice his son. Abraham believed God would raise Isaac from the dead in order to fulfill the promise. He had come back to the place where he trusted fully and completely in God and when He did God provided the ram for a sacrifice instead of Isaac.

We have a similar struggle. We believe God's promises and then we go and pour ourselves and our efforts into ways to bring those promises about. This is not the way God desires for us to trust in Him. All of the things we set out to do by our own knowledge and strength are useless to bring about God's promise. It is only in wholehearted devotion and faith in God that the promises are fulfilled. Our greatest work is to be willing to sacrifice all of our plans and ideas.

All too often our works tend to focus on what looks impressive to others and makes us feel good about doing good. We study scripture and books. We give our money and our time to ministries. We build programs that people can come and be a part of. But are these works that come from faith? I think not. Works that are rooted in faith to not lead to self gratification and aggrandizement through church systems and programs.

There is a whole lot of "self" being built up in the church.

we build bigger buildings with better sound systems to impress humans
our fellowship halls are named after humans
our bibles in the pew are in memory of humans
we put humans in charge of committees
we pay humans to minister

Works that come from faith are demonstrated by doing things where there is no return to us.

Helping others who cannot help us back.
Feed the hungry
Serve widows and orphans
Take care of immigrants and homeless
Turn the other cheek.
Give your life for a band of folks who will likely abandon you at your greatest hour of need and pretend like they never knew you.
Be the last in line.
Forgive the unforgivable.
Love the unlovable.

These works take faith because the results cannot be seen with our eyes and touched with our hands. They lead to a change of heart, deep down inside of those we serve in this way. If we want to see God's promise come to fruition we must have works that are rooted in self-denying, God dependent faith. We've given our devotion to things: denominations, institutions, buildings, rituals, liturgies, professional pastors, and Sunday morning "services". We trust in the "things" that we've built in God's name but our devotion and trust should be to God and God alone. That is the very core of our faith and the beginning point of works that are counted as righteousness. When we can clearly see how much the things we build are for the glory of man, why do we kid ourselves into thinking that they are pleasing to God and are counted as acts of faith? God will not share His glory with anyone. So if there is any hint of glorifying man in what we do it is questionable as to whether it is faith that is working or just our own selfish ambition.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? (James 2:21-25 ESV)

A partial gospel?

2011-09-26T07:00:00.001-04:00

Do you know what it's like to have ideas bouncing around in your head that you haven't had time to put into words and then you scroll through your reader and find that someone else beat you to the patent? I had one of those moments. Check out this post from Josh - God’s purpose for man is in the earth « Called to Rebuild:

Here is a teaser

" the popular evangelical gospel being preached from most pulpits every Sunday spells out a very simplistic gospel which says little more than this: “God is holy and you are a sinner. Jesus endured God’s wrath in your place so one day when you die you will have Jesus’ perfect righteousness trasmitted to your account and you’ll get into heaven.” And it is precisely this kind of partial gospel that is failing to bring forth the full purpose of God in the earth. It may get people to an altar, it may give them an assurance that one day they’ll go to heaven when they die, but it is not producing a people in the earth who are conscious of God eternal purpose for their being here and who are living towards the realization of that purpose with every ounce of their being. "

So what do you think...is today's "gospel proper" inadequate for producing true salvation from sin and to God?

'via Blog this'

Love covers a multitude of disagreements

2011-09-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today we plan to do something we haven't done in quite a while: attend a worship service. There is a little building across the street from us and the believers there have demonstrated the love of Christ to us in ways we did not expect. We have always been somewhat involved in fellowship with them. Their pastor is a man I highly respect, admire and is worthy of imitation in his manner of life in many ways. Their congregation is small and their love for one another is very evident. To top it off many of them live in the same community as we do. I see great potential for building relationships in Christ. In response to the love they have shown us in helping to provide things we need to aid with coping with Chloe's disability, this will be our way of saying thank you and we love you too.

On top of that I also plan to attend a corporate gathering of a different sort tomorrow evening. I have been invited on numerous occasions to come and have had other pressing matters to attend to. Today could be the day. Some of the brothers there have reached out to me and my family in an abundance of ways. One family brought us dinner on Friday night after we cancelled our dinner appointment with them on account of some issues with Chloe. Since then, we have re-scheduled our dinner with them for Monday. I'm really looking forward to it.

All this has me thinking about following God's leading and being unified with every other believer, even those we have disagreements with. So we will walk in obedience. In some ways it almost feels like were selling out to go back and be in an institutional setting. I have mixed emotions about it but I believe it is what the Lord is doing right now. One thing I am learning is that the Lord does not want me to have everything my way. He want to have it all His way. Even if I think I know what His way is and I make my desires match that it does not give me the right to be divisive with those who do not see the same things. When it all boils down everyone is doing what they believe is honoring and pleasing to the Lord and in that we have unity. Just as we cannot love the lost by stiff-arming them and separating from them, we cannot love our brothers and sisters within the institutional church without being close to them.

This quote by T. Austin-Sparks is fitting:

There may be misapprehension, there may be ignorance, there may be other causes, but this which offends us is, on the part of those concerned, their way of showing their love for the Lord, and we must not be turned aside - we must get close to them and find what possibilities there are for the Lord. He is going on, He is not giving up; He is making all He possibly can of the least bit of heart love for Himself and for all men. The challenge of this is very practical and very searching for us.
By T. Austin-Sparks from: Abounding in Love

This is Discipling

2011-09-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

You may have already seen this video but I caught a link to it today and realized I didn't share it with you all. So here it is and it is well worth the 2 minutes it takes to take it in.Enjoy.

The future of genetics

2011-09-21T18:19:00.000-04:00

I've been learning a lot about genetics, gene sequences and how genes work in our body. Post coming on some of the things I've learned and how it has produced a worshipful sense of wonder at God's creativity. In the meantime, check out this video on the advances of the ways we understand human genomes and how it may change the future of medicine.

Seriously, this stuff is amazing!

Richard Resnick: Welcome to the genomic revolution | Video on TED.com

Oversight in keeping right doctrine

2011-09-21T08:30:00.000-04:00

"Denominations are a good thing because they make sure that the Church adheres to right doctrine."

To that I say: what is the Holy Spirit then, chop suey? Didn't God give apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors and teachers to build the body of ministry?

If anyone is going to bear the responsibility in the Church for making sure that believers are living godly lives then it should be the recognized elders of the Church. You know, the godly men who are leading by a Christlike example and have a burden to oversee and guide the less spiritually mature in their lives. After all, actions are what constitute doctrines, not belief systems or theological talking points. If were going to use biblical commands to defend right doctrine then we need to remain biblical in how we do so. Nowhere in the scriptures will you find a denomination (or any man or group of men) with God given authority over the Church. What we do see are mature believers who are given the task of helping others live in the power that God supplies by keeping their focus on Christ. Sorry, but this cannot be done effectively from a corner office in a fancy building on the streets of the capitol city. It must be done by people who know and love the local family that makes up the church. The only way to properly and biblically oversee the spiritual health of the Body is to spend a lot of time together.

You may believe that it is best to have denominational oversight and a group of self proclaimed wise guys who package together nice neat little (or large) confessional statements and hand them down to the dumb-masses who cannot read, interpret and discern the truth of the Bible themselves but if you do you need a new flavor of Kool-Aid. The corporate body of the Church under the headship of Christ and indwelling of the Holy Spirit is fully equipped to handle the scriptures and one another's lives faithfully. It is much better to trust the humble folks who desire to lift one another up and come along side each other in search for truth than to trust the well dressed and geologically separated men on high who hand down truth as if only they have access to the manna from heaven.

So what do you think, are denominations really necessary and effective at keeping proper doctrines lived out in the lives of believers?

Home Bible Study Fined in California

2011-09-20T17:28:00.000-04:00

A fine for a church gathering in a private home (or is it a church gathering?) This is an excerpt from an article at Charisma News.

Home Bible Study Fined in California:

"Did you ever think you’d see the day in America when the government would harass you for studying the Bible in your own home? That day has finally come, and it’s a danger to the home church movement that’s spreading across the US.
A Southern California city is demanding that a small home Bible study group stop meeting unless they obtain a cost-prohibitive permit.
Homeowners Chuck and Stephanie Fromm were fined $300 for holding the Bible study."

You can click on the link to read the rest.

I'm not sure what bugs me more: the fact that this family got fined for having a Bible study in their home or the fact that the group which is "not affiliated with any particular church nor are they seeking to establish a church in the home" actually IS the church gathered together <<--->> but if they were to admit to that then the local authorities would have every right (according to local law) to fine them every time they gathered without a Conditional Use Permit.

I ask:

If this was a law in place in your local area how would you respond to the requirement?
Would you apply for the permit and play by their rules in order to maintain a fee-free gathering?
Should an informal Bible study be considered a church gathering?

'via Blog this'

Chloe's Voice

2011-09-18T23:54:00.002-04:00

My wife and I have created a new blog called Chloe's Voice as an outlet for the two of us to share and record this new chapter in our lives.

This is the first post in an effort to record the ups and downs of our experience with our very special little girl, Chloe. Jessica and I (Bobby) will both be posting to this blog as we have things to share regarding our battle with Rett Syndrome and how it affects our lives. Occasionally we will share specific ways you can pray for us and offer other help in an effort to give our daughter the very best provisions for a healthy, happy life.

From now on, all things regarding our struggles and progress in dealing with Chloe's disability will be posted on the new blog. It should help us network with other families who are facing similar struggles via the blogosphere. Jump on over there and check it out, subscribe at the bottom if you want to keep up.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. The power of God through your prayers and love toward us have kept our chins up and given us strength.

Denominations debunked

2011-09-18T10:01:00.002-04:00

When you come to see the church the same way God sees her as one unified body, a new man in Christ you will inevitably need to question many of the traditions that are taken for granted in Christianity. Denominations are one of the pillars of the institutional structure of today and most see them as not only beneficial but necessary for effectively advancing the kingdom of God. But are they effective or necessary? I guess the answers depend on how we define the terms. Nonetheless, one thing is certain: take stabs at denominationalism and you're soon to be in the crosshairs of a sniper who's very angry because you attacked his idol.

I have been the target of some denominational hitmen in my time. It's not fun. I know we are guaranteed persecution if we desire to live godly lives but opposition from my own kinsmen in the faith? What is this the twilight zone? All that just goes to show that Satan and our own sinful flesh have a firm grip on many practices of the church.

In the following posts I will declare some of the arguments for denominationalism and then respond to each one. Feel free to share your own thoughts on each as well, even if you disagree with me. Or you could just have your pastor or denominational leader "shoot" me an email telling me about how I'm going to Hell for being such a rebel.

What are some of the most common arguments you've heard for the value of denominations?

Epic Jesus: my somewhat reformed perspective

2011-09-17T21:26:00.000-04:00

Recently I listened to a podcast by Frank Viola of a keynote speech that he delivered at the 2011 Momentum Conference entitled Epic Jesus: The Christ You Never Knew. Some of you know the impact that Frank's work has had on my ever changing understanding and convictions regarding the church. This message is not about organic church, in fact there is only a reference to OC near the very end where he defines what makes a church organic. Instead it is about the source of the life of the Church: the man Christ Jesus. I listened to it once before when I was greatly distracted with some devastating news and my thoughts surrounding that issue. Frank contacted me and asked me if I could tell him how a person with a reformed frame of mind would assess this particular message. So I decided to listen to it again with that question in mind.

In this message Viola presents Jesus Christ in an astounding way that is so incredibly glorious the person of Christ will take your breath away and leave you longing for more of Him. He frames his talk around Colossians 1:15-22,24-27 and 3:4 giving an overview of the Colossian false doctrine of going beyond Christ. Then he moves through the passage using a storytelling style of speaking where he begins before creation in v. 15 and moves through a chronological timeline of Biblical events telling story after story and exposing Christ as he appeared to different people at different times. Some will appreciate this creative approach, others who are more analytically minded and dig a line by line intellectual analysis of the scripts may find it a little too narrative for their tastes.

Some things I think reformed folks will appreciate in this talk:

Frank makes the social gospel, charismatic, and dispensational definitions of the Kingdom of God look highly inadequate by defining the Kingdom as the manifestation of the presence of God in the person Jesus Christ.
He declares the cross as the device of reconciliation that reunites Holy God to His fallen created universe by taking every sin we have committed, the world system that is in rebellion against His Father, the entire old creation that was corrupt and fallen, the condemnation of the law, the old Adamic nature you and I had outside of Christ, and the power of Lucifer all unto Himself and crucifying it all with Himself on the cross. When Jesus died all of those things died with Him.
Anyone with a passion for the sovereignty of God will greatly appreciate the last ten minutes of this message where Viola explains how time and eternity are related and how God operates in the creation while being outside of time, especially how our election and calling before the foundation of the world was declared by our God even as He knew and saw our most heinous sins we committed yet He chose us anyway.

Some things reformed folks may disagree with in this talk:

some folks have taken issue with what He calls a "new Israel...new people of God" as he speaks of the church (Challies' review of From Eternity to Here comes to mind) but in this message he corrects some of the misunderstandings of that by describing Jesus as the new Israel. In this effort Frank cites Matthews gospel where he quotes Hosea's reference to Israel being called out of Egypt and applies it to Jesus. Then he illustrates how Jesus' 40 day wilderness experience is compared to Israel's 40 years in the wilderness and how the 12 Jewish disciples correspond to the 12 tribes. He follows up this line of thinking through the half Jew - half Gentile woman at Jacob's well where Jacob found his wife and Jesus tells the woman about her many previous husbands followed by her need for Him: the living water. In doing so Viola carries the listener through a narrative of the forming of the Bride of Christ in Christ using Old Testament illustrations of Israel.
Complimentarians will likely not appreciate his reference to Galatians where he says that there are no distinctions between male and female in this new creation instituted as the Ekklesia (translated church) of God. Let the listener decide if Frank makes that reference in a way that sides with complementarians or egalitarians or goes beyond that argument completely.

My favorite line Frank spoke was "Jesus is the exposition, exegesis and the explanation of God...there is no God outside of Jesus." All things considered I think that anyone who appreciates a good sermon with a heavy focus on Christ and a clear presentation of the gospel will consider listening to this podcast as time well spent. There are some things that Frank has written that I would not recommend to my reformed brethren without a certain level of caution so as to not cause arguments and division but this is a talk that I would highly recommend to you. As soon as you have 54 minutes to spare you should give it a listen and come back to tell me what you think or leave your comment on the Podbean comment box and be sure to let Frank know you are coming from a reformed perspective.

I hope that this message will blow your mind and give you a greater understanding of the immense size of the Christ that dwells in you as you continue in your hunt for His unsearchable riches.

The What? How? & Why? of building the Church

2011-09-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

Many believe that weekly worship services are vital for the properly disciplined Christian in order to hear the Word of God taught and explained, corporate prayer and singing, the administration of the sacraments and submission to the recognized authority of the church and build relationships with other believers. I believe these things are vital, but not as they are performed in an average church on any given Sunday. In spite of that, I've been thinking a lot about how a traditional Sunday gathering could be useful for other reasons such as evangelizing and bringing in unbelievers.

Here's the ecclesiological framework from which I'm working (my definition of the church): the goal of the church is to have a close walk with Christ as individuals and to come together corporately to share Christ with one another through the various gifts of the Spirit in order to build one another up in ways that cannot be achieved if each one were walking with Him alone. The corporate gathering is designed by God to be a way for Him to display Himself to His dead and decaying creation and become a place where He can live, walk, and rest with His children. In short, the Church is to be the building made up of people that the Triune God calls home.

In this line of thinking, I don't see how a traditional worship service is necessary or beneficial for a body of believers. Furthermore it may even be harmful because the very structure prevents the organic manifestation of life among the members. Therefore I do not believe that church as we know it serves to build up the body of believers. Even so, maybe it can be a useful tool to bring in those who are less likely to jump right into a more intimate gathering where every person is welcome and even expected to participate. It would serve as a place for unbelievers to hear and be taught the Word and also to come into contact with believers. A launch pad of sorts to gain biblical knowledge and begin to build relationships with the hope that they will eventually desire a deeper relationship with Christ and His body and gather together throughout the week with other believers in order to participate with other believers in the building up of one another into the image of Christ.

That brings me to my present questions. Is forming a new traditional style church gathering really a more incarnational way of meeting people than going to other, already established locations? I'm thinking of places like bars, coffee shops, night clubs, parks, bowling alleys, or public festivals. These are just a few things that come to mind when I think of where people would go to meet others for the first time or just to be social. These are the established destinations if you want to meet people who are looking for relationships. Here we can find single folks looking for a mate, couples looking for fun people to hang out with, or just about anyone who is looking for friendship. Wouldn't these be better places to find unbelievers who are looking to build relationships than in worship services? I think so. My best guess as to the kind of unbeliever who would be attracted to a worship service are those who are looking for a religious experience or a place to practice their own predefined ideas of proper religion among others who have the same basic definition.

So if we form another worship service in order to attract unbelievers, doesn't that speak volumes about the types of people we hope to attract? If we hope to attract folks to the corporate body of Christ that is primarily focused on building our relationship with Him and with one another, can that be done from the framework of a traditional worship service setting? Even if the Sunday gathering is just a springboard to build relationships outside the four walls, why not start outside the four walls in the first place?

I know...I ask a lot of questions. These are just a few of the what? how? and why?'s of building the Church that are bouncing around in my daily thoughts lately. I'm hoping that many of you would offer your answers to some of them by shooting me some ways in which these things are working out in your church.

Time for a re-pipe

2011-09-06T12:51:00.002-04:00

When it comes to the church and church ministry, Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end. Creation is in Him, salvation is in Him, growth is in Him and the goal of sharing His glory is in Him. To that end, Neil Cole has written a fantastic article about church ministry from a perspective I can really appreciate: plumbing.

Cole-Slaw: It's the Water that's Important...not the Pipes: "Someone once said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” People need pipes because people need water. We can’t live for more than a few days without water, but people have lived lifetimes without pipes. The power is in the wine, not the wine skins.
For example, meeting in a home rather than a church building is not the solution for the western church. It may be the best conduit for the solution–the longest lasting, greatest volume and cleanest–but it is not the solution.
“If any man is thirsty,
let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture said, From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.”
--John 7:37-38"

As a plumber, I take a lot of pride in the aesthetic quality of my work. Sometimes it downright drives me crazy if things don't look perfectly plumb, straight, and level. Yet, keeping the pipework looking nice is not why I have to be licensed to practice my trade. Public health is the ultimate goal, not a picture perfect system behind the sheet rock. People trust the plumber to make sure that the water that comes into their home is free from contaminants and that the contaminated water is conveyed away from their home in a manner that prevents disease to the household. The pipework itself could be all jacked up and it wouldn't matter much as long as it did it's job and kept everyone healthy.

Our journey out of organized religion can be compared to a jacked up plumbing system. It hasn't been pretty. Looking at it does not make people say "I want that!" But even though it is not pretty I have never been closer to God than today. I have never been so aware of His presence before in my life. As a result, our jacked up life has become an overflowing fountain of Christ for me, my family and many others that come into contact with me. Talk about using the base things to confound the wise and His power and strength being shown through our weakness. That is our testimony.

Sometimes a church system looks great and does its job of conveying but the water that comes from the tap is not all Christ. In fact it is poisonous and contaminated with man-made particles. There is a little of the pure water of Christ but it is clouded with foreign objects that are not of Him. Everyone with their glass under the tap drinks in things that are harmful to them all the while thinking they are being refreshed every week. When a water system is contaminated it must be completely flushed out and cleansed or it must be removed and replaced. Today's church needs a re-pipe.

Your church ministry and your life may not be very pretty to look at but it's okay if it is bringing the pure water of Life without the contamination of the flesh. Our greatest ideas and devices are flesh but Christ is Spirit and Life. What matters is Christ in you and me. He is the hope of glory. It is too easy to be distracted with the form and order of things and forget all about the life giving water and blood of our Lord. He wants us to drink and be filled, to taste and see His goodness and He wants us to convey His life giving presence to others who need Him. Often God will remove all of our reasons to boast in ourselves so that others will be satisfied with the water that pours out of fragile jars of clay. As long as we continue to seek His presence, we will be the perfect water supply system for a lost and dying world.

Traditional church = evangelistic tool?

2011-09-02T09:15:00.001-04:00

Everyone recognizes the need for more intimate relationships in the church. The command and desire for believers to love and serve one another is glaring. Our deepest longing as a new creature in Christ is to have fellowship with our Triune God and with His family. So we set out in the best way we know how to make it happen.

Some are trying to improve this through sermons, teachings and programs. They begin where they are and work hard to expose the issues and promote ideas that they believe will bring everyone into that intimate fellowship. With patience, grace and perserverence they toil with all their might no matter how long it takes.

Others see the system itself with it's paid pastors and passive laity as part of the problem so they set out to do church differently. They let go of the structures and comfort of organized christianity and set out to begin with relationships and build from there. Simple is the key word for them because relationships and fellowship are what matter most.

Okay Bobby, la-dee-dah, where are you going?

I wonder: since there are so many who love the present church system and the need for prioritizing relationships with God and one another is so great, is it possible for them to have their cake and eat it too? Even if you, like me, think that the system "as is" gets in the way of intimacy among the Body, is it possible to begin simply with relationships and eventually have a larger, more familiar type of gathering as a way of meeting people where they are and still keep the simplicity of relationships central?

Think of it as a way for a simple church minded gathering to be incarnational to those who are comfortable with traditional church. If you start with relationships and build up, reaching out in every way you know how including using the means of a more traditional type of Sunday service, is it inevitable that you will become another institution? When the indwelling organic life of Christ is the focus and bond of the gathering, isn't it feasable that newcomers who are more attracted to the anonymity and comfort of a traditional setting will be drawn to the simpler house-to-house gatherings where the real growth takes place as they long for more of Christ? Wouldn't the sermonized preaching approach be a great evangelistic tool to reach the many who are very religious but unregenerate?

I don't have all the answers, these are some things that are spinning around in my thoughts this morning. What do you think?

More than a mannequin

2011-09-01T12:54:00.001-04:00

It's life on display. Everyone watches, everyone knows. Some want to help, others just wanna watch the train crash. They look on you through the window and check out the merchandise. Do they want want you have? All you want to do is hide. Hide from the help, hide from the eyes, hide from the pain, hide from the reality of time ticking by.

Some say faith is a crutch. If the weight is heavy enough then the crutch will fail. They sit back and watch, waiting for the load to bear down enough for the crutch to snap. Then they can be ever more confident that there is no God and therefore they have no concerns of coming under His judgement.

Others need strengthening. They have struggles of their own and they are hoping that your faith will inspire them to keep on keeping on. They are rooting for you as if they expect to be crushed themselves the moment you fall under all the pressure. So they encourage and pray for you. But their prayers are not just for you but for themselves as well because deep down they know that they need as much strength as you do.

But what if it's too much? What if the crutch everyone sees doesn't really exist? What if you're already crushed, fallen, broken down and helpless? Why do they see someone composed and struggling when actually you're worn out and feel useless?

It's okay to be honest. It's okay to take off the mask. It's okay to be insufficient and not have it all together. It's okay to be left with only your faith, not as a crutch but as the only thing you can see because you're flat on your back. It's okay to be a real person with real hurts and real tears and real pain. It's okay to be seen as a failure. It's okay to be brought to the end of yourself with nothing left to give.

It's okay

Because you're more than a manequin made of plastic. More than a figure on display.

You're a child of the most High God and if He is all you have then you have everything.

Expression is best described through experience

2011-09-01T07:59:00.000-04:00

Mark Lake has written a beautiful piece describing his experience in Organic Church life. The church he gathers with in Gainsville, FL was planted about two years ago. Where my ideas come from a limited knowledge of organic church, Mark speaks from experience. Take a few minutes and read the beautiful picture he paints of Christ's expression through His body. When you finish you'll have a better understanding of our burning desire to see God's house built where He can rest and express Himself.

Expressing Christ in Organic Church

Our battle: genetics vs faith

2011-08-30T20:44:00.001-04:00

Some know, some don't about our daughter. We've been through highs and lows waiting for a definitive answer on what type of disorder she has. Now we have an answer. I wish I could say I was happy about it but I'm not. Actually it is by far the worst news I have ever received. Chloe has Rett's Syndrome and we have a serious challenge to our faith. Google it and you'll understand why.

At this point I think I would rather change places with Job. At least God took everything away from Him quickly. We get to watch our daughter slowly debilitate and hope against hope that the next seizure doesn't take her last breath. We get to be the family everyone talks about when they get home from Wal-Mart with the uncontrollable kid who screams, bites and kicks. We get to do what no one else wants to do, not because we're strong enough or able enough but because we have no choice.

This is one of those situations where we find ourselves helpless yet hopeful. There is no cure, no medication and no treatment for Rett's. Even so, we are still hopeful that God would give her grace to overcome and us grace to endure. I'm certain we will learn more from Chloe than words could express if she had them. I already see Christ working to reveal His strength through her weakness.

Neverland is being deconstructed for sure. Bit by bit, piece by painful piece we are being broken down to the place where we only have Christ. It hurts, we cry and wonder why but He is still nearer than the air we breath. Holding us, comforting us and crying with us. He cries with us even though He can see the end from the beginning. He hurts with us even though He already knows how it will work together for good.

It would take a mighty God to work all of this together for good and we have the ALL Mighty as our advocate and provider. We expect nothing less than a miriacle that will make the world stop and recognize His glory and power. We expect these great and marvelous things not because we deserve it but because He is faithful and desires to prove it through us. So, with Christ, Paul and the countless saints before us and beside us we rejoice in our trials for the upward call and the fame of the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His mercies never cease.

Lord have mercy

2011-08-25T09:00:00.001-04:00

As I read books and study scripture, the things I thought I knew as truth I find to be only half true and sometimes untrue. This is one of those times.

I'm reading a book by A.W.Tozer on the gospel of John called "And He Dwelt Among Us". In the seventh chapter entitled "what really matters to God" he takes up the lofty goal of speaking and writing on the famous verse John 3:16. He writes much about God's love for the individual, every individual. He speaks of how God demonstrates His love toward the unrighteous by sending His only begotten Son. He tells of the message contained in this all-encompassing passage that is for every man. "I matter to God, God loves me".

While Tozer writes with great eloquence, these are all things I have heard before. Nonetheless, there is a sense of awe that comes over us when we see the wonder of this statement. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. For me there is a lot of teaching which I received from the feet of the "reformed" that I read into that simple verse. Those teachings deal with defining the "whosoever" as those elected and chosen before the foundation of the world. References are made to Romans 9 and God's purpose of election along with His right as God to do whatever He wants to. He can harden whomever He wills and He can show mercy to whomever He will. My understanding of election still stands, but my interpretation of John 3:16 according to that set of doctrines has changed.

Since Tozer is very respected among the reformed camp, I was surprised to see him write these words:

"Do not listen to those interpreters of truth who say God has chosen some and not chosen others, and that the ones He has chosen are good and the ones that He has not chosen are no good. They are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and God created them to have the fun of damning them. There is nobody like that in the universe...everybody matters to God."

Of course, at this point I close my book and turn to the passage in Romans 9 he is speaking of. It reads:

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—(Romans 9:22-23 ESV)

So as I meditate on this passage and ask God what it is that I have missed, what it is that I misinterpreted, where I've gone wrong, I begin to see things differently. Paul is not saying that God has predestined some for eternal wrath and others for glory. Paul is saying that God has endured the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Does he say eternal destruction in Hell? No, he says destruction. Well I can certainly testify to that. I was once a child of wrath and now my flesh is being destroyed by the power of God as I walk in the Spirit according to the mercy He has shown in Christ Jesus.

I was a vessel of wrath and I am a vessel of mercy. God loved me so He sent Jesus so that if I believe in Him I would have His life. This can be true for every unrighteous, unbelieving, destitute, depraved and evil person. There is no-one you and I will ever meet whom God does not love enough to send His Son to die for and that is a very great love. That is the kind of unstoppable love that doesn't take no for an answer. The kind of love that can be rejected over and over again and not condemn. How can we further condemn an already condemned person? Christ did not come in to the word to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him. These extraordinary statements in John's gospel have lost their lustre to our over-sermonized ears. There is much wonder wrapped up in these two verses. Christ came because God loved, not to condemn but to save and redeem.

Lord have mercy on your children when we condemn others for unrighteousness and think that they are hopeless because they have been predestined to be apart from you forever. Rather let us hope in their destruction only in that they will be made new in Christ and know the riches of your glory as a vessel of mercy.

An organic expression of Christ

2011-08-24T06:44:00.000-04:00

I write a lot about the church and often you will notice I use the phrase "an organic expression of Christ" to describe our goal as a body of believers. In this post I will open up that term in an effort to define what I mean by that.

I use the word organic very purposefully. What I'm hoping to convey is the fact that life comes from within. Therefore growth and fruit comes from within and proceeds outward. As new creations in Christ, He has given us the same life that He and the Father shared before creation. This life He has placed within us. By His life we are changed from the inside out. This is what I mean when I use the term organic especially as it pertains to our lives as individuals.

This organic life that comes from within must be expressed. We simply cannot be filled with divine life from Christ and not overflow like a fountain of living water. The more we partake of Christ by eating His flesh and drinking His blood the more we share in His life. As we share in His life we pour His life back out onto others. Similar to the way the Father pours His Divine love into the Son and the son reciprocates by pouring back into the Father via the Spirit. This abounding and overflowing of Divine life in the Godhead is the community we have been grafted into. A pouring out of ourselves toward one another is the way we build one another up. All fifty-some one anothers in Scripture are lived out in this type of community. Such is the nature of the family of God. When I use the words "organic expression of Christ" to describe the Church all these thoughts and more are wrapped up in those words. A new nature within that is fed with Christ's life which proceeds outward to one another and ultimately in abundant praise to God for His glory.

These thoughts and definitions are not simply rhetoric or lofty dreams of an ideallistic fellowship. Living by and sharing in the Divine life of the Godhead by partaking of Christ is very practical. The problem is that defining it practically and giving instructions as to how to live it out fall short because giving specific instructions go against the very heart and purpose of organic church life. In order to live out organic church life we must be submitted to the Spirit and His leading as we share our lives together throughout the week and then come together as a corporate body and share what the Spirit has revealled of Christ to each member while we were apart. This can (and likely will) look different from week to week. I simply cannot express what an organic expression of Christ will look like other than by saying that at the end of the gathering Christ will have been seen more in His fullness through every member's participation and it will be very orderly because He is the true Head and He is in charge. It will be the kind of gathering that would convince an unbeliever that God is real and that He is in your midst.

The difficulty lies in the fact that I am trying to express spiritual matters with human language. In spiritual matters, words will always fall short because the things of the Spirit transcend word and thought. Yet, I trust that if you know anything of the power of God and the fellowship of the Spirit, if you have had a revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, then these words will be seen and heard in a way that speaks volumes more than the words that are written here. Spiritual things are discerned spiritually. Every person has a desire to be in fellowship with one another and with our Triune God. It is why we were created. I believe that we can experience it today with the same fervor and power that we see in the New Testament if only we would abandon all things (including good things we have built for Him) for the person of Christ. We must go to Him, sup with Him, eat of Him, drink of Him, abide in Him, and carry our cross with Him everyday and then come together and share the life we have received from Him with one another.

The ultimate goal of the assembly of the church is to be built into Christ. This is why the organic expression of Christ is so necessary. As we abide in Christ, each branch bears fruit that builds up the body. This order is reversed by most Christian gatherings today. Any habits, forms, liturgies, or other types of organized patterns that the gathering is expected to follow get in the way of the free flowing organic expression of Christ through His body. This could be due to either a stronghold from the leadership that keeps these patterns in place, a lack of vital nutrients for the members that come from a daily communion with our indwelling Lord, or a combination of both. If each of us are partaking of the life of Christ regularly then there is no need for these forms, patterns and systems. His Life will pour forth from each one and we will grow up in every way into Him who is the Head.

Rather, speaking the truth in love,

we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped,

when each part is working properly,

makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Eph 4:15-16

Responding to the responders

2011-08-23T08:25:00.001-04:00

This is the kind of stuff I dig. Two opposing viewpoints held by folks who come together and hash it out amongst themselves in love and grace toward one another. I'm referring to my post and the response to my thoughts on open theism which was followed by another guest post responding to that response. Now I'm going to respond to the responders. I love the heart of these brothers who have reached out to me. I have recently been immersed in the topic by several writers from their perspective. It has been edifying and encouraging to say the least. Even so, I'm still not jumping on to the open theist wagon. I do love that we can come together in love and search for the truth together.

In order to avoid waxing long over how I differ with this school of thought, I would like to build on what has already been said previously and deal directly with the responses I have received thus far. As we continue to build on one another, more posts may be necessary. No doubt this issue touches all sorts of areas. Way too much for a handful of blog posts. But I wanna stick with it as long as it remains edifying.

When I use terms like "in spite of" I am not trying to convey the thought of God contending against us. No, God is much better than that. Rather than contending against us He has determined how to use evil for His purposes. To us it may seem more expedient to use only good things according to our definition of good, but God demonstrates His glory by using what men and the devils intend as evil for good. These truths are evident in the life of Joseph and especially in the crucifixion of Christ. God is infinitely wiser than we are. Therefore I don't believe that God changes the bad things to good. I believe He means evil for good, big difference. If the greatest evil man has ever committed in crucifying our beloved Lord was known before the foundation of the world and the injustices that Joseph faced were all leading up to the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham (Acts 7:6-7 ESV) then we can face anything with the faith that God is working all things for good.

I do not believe in the free will of man that cannot be violated by a sovereign God. Contrarily I see myself as one who's will was completely violated by God. I was having a great time enjoying my sin before He gave me a revelation of His holiness. I saw myself as a slave to my sin, unable to change and cried out for mercy. Now I am free from sin but a servant of my new master. Therefore my choices meant nothing and my faith in His character and promises are everything. I know that the God who will give us His Son will give us everything.

I get it. I get the strength, faith, and encouragement that comes from knowing that God answers prayer. I understand that logic says that if God has it all laid out then our prayers change nothing. Still, prayer itself is illogical. We pray to a God we cannot see to change things that are impossible to change. No matter which side of the aisle we are on, we stand on illogical ground. Yet, as believers we do not rest in the logical, we rest on faith. The question is not what is more believable or more logical, the question is what is our faith in?

Is our faith in our own prayers or is it in the power of God to answer prayer? If we say it is in our God who answers prayer, how powerful is our God? Is He needy of our petitions, or is He fully capable without us? I submit that any god who has need of man is no god at all. He is no more than a figment of our imagination. A truly imaginary friend with whom we converse. That is the description of an idol. Our God who is, was, and will be...is the One who planned all things before setting them into place, before giving their names, before setting their boundaries, the God who declares the beginning from the end and displays no need for us and only our need for Him. He is a God who is not only worthy of our prayers but is worthy of our worship.

You see, according to what has been written, we do our good works according to the leading of the Holy Spirit within us. These good works include the prayers we claim as our own. Our prayers are not our own if they are to be effectual. They must be God's prayers pouring through us if we expect them to be answered. It must be us agreeing with His divine will and asking that those things be brought about if we desire to be heard. Anything less are empty words. Anything that proceeds from the mind of man is worthless. Only that which proceed from our new birth, our new identity in Christ, according to the Spirit, is acceptable and effectual. How could we take credit for that? Where is our boasting? Do we boast in our words or our fervency? Or do we boast in the work of Christ in us who was also with the Father before anything was made? All things were made by Him, through Him, and to Him. I say along with Paul, if we boast in anything let us boast in the Lord and in His work in us and through us. That means submitting to the truth that our prayers are His, our righteous desires are His, and we are His. We were predestined before the foundation of the world to bring about His purposes by His power and all for the praise of His glorious grace.

Guest Post: Continuing the discussion on Open Theism

2011-08-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

This is the second guest post ever published on Deconstructing Neverland. It comes from Tom Jones, the nephew of Mark Jones who wrote the first guest post (although he didn't know it) as a response to my post on Open Theism. As far as I know, Tom is not a blogger but you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

I received this as an email response from Tom to uncle Mark. (For some unknown reason Blogger would not let either of these responses be published in the comments. Is anyone else having this problem posting comments?) Like Mark's response to my first post, I thought this was too good to be left in the comments so I asked permission to post it as a guest blog.

Voila! I submit the following for your reading pleasure...

In full disclosure I have never read this blog before, I got here from Mike Jones's twitter account who is my uncle. After reading through the discussion I think I can add some clarifying thoughts on the issue.

Mike, you said, “In the Calvinist view, God has already laid his plans, and needs no joining with Him to make anything come to pass. We are simply acting as God plotted from the beginning.” I would agree and disagree.

Agree, that God does not need us joining with him in order to fulfill his will. This is clear in the Bible when God, to fulfill his purposes of election and creating a people for himself, gave life to the loins of Abraham and the womb of Sara though they were both old, and broken down. They were physically unable to have children and yet, from out of nothing God created his people (Gen 18:9-15,Romans 9:11).
Disagree in that our omission to act bear no consequences and that God-because he is sovereign-does not desire and want our cooperation with him. Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 in the Parable of the Talents that it will be the faithful servants who took the gifting God blessed them with and used it for the spreading of his fame and Gospel that will be rewarded and hear, “well done me good and faithful servant...enter into the joy of your master.” The slothful servant who was lazy and afraid will get nothing.
Yes, God is sovereign. Yes, he calls for his people to be faithful and grow in faith and holiness and to work out their salvation.

The second and final push-back I would give is with regards to this statement, “‘In order for God to bring about good, something must happen that is bad. If God pre-ordained and planned all things, that means He also planned the bad things. Since bad things must happen in order for us to trust Him to work all things together for good, that means God is responsible for evil . I personally do not believe that God has pre-ordained evil, or any bad things so that He can bring about good for those who trust Him. From your own statement of trusting God to bring about good for those who love him, I don't think you do either. So what then? Why are we trusting God to bring about good from bad things, if in fact He caused the bad things?
That leads me to the conclusion that God did not ordain evil, but evil is a consequence of men and Satan using our God given free-will to chose things in opposition to God's will.”

The question of ‘Does God Ordain Evil’ is presented quite clearly in the Bible. It's a tension God has no problem with. I will use just the Crucifixion to show you how God can sovereignly work through the actions of moral beings to bring about his will.

The pre-determined betrail of Jesus. Luke 22:22, “The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” Jesus goes as it has been determined by God-decreed since before the foundation of the world, written about since Genesis 3:15, prophesied about by the prophets of old- BUT, ‘woe’ to Judas who does it. Was the betrayal God’s eternal plan? Yes. Does that mean Judas is off the hook? Absolutely not! Judas is still very much culpable for his moral choices.
In Acts 2:22-23,36 Peter is addressing the Jews and says, “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross...Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” The Holy Spirit speaking through Peter reveals that God preordained Jesus’ death, but who does he says ‘put him to death’? The Jews with the help of the ‘wicked men.’ Again, Sovereignty and yet, we’re responsible for our moral decisions.
Similarly, in Acts 4:27-28, “Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” God’s sovereignty over the crucifixion. But in Acts 4:10 Peter again blames the people for crucifying Jesus, “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.”

(That's just 3 examples from the Crucifixion of Jesus where God soverengly planned the death of his son(evil act) to save his people from their sin(bring about good). There’s more I’ll point to, but I wont spend time showing them. You should read them on your own and study more about how these two truths coexist in God’s word.)

In Job when Satan comes to God and God says, “have you considered my servant Job” and then in chapter 2 tells Satan “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.” Job’s response to it all shows his knowledge of God’s sovereign hand over all things-good and bad. “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In the Fall itself we see that God was orchestrating and moving. “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:20-21) In the creation story there are three possible answers for who could subject creation ‘in hope’: Satan, Adam or God.
In Genesis chapter 20:1-6 We see God being the active agent in NOT allowing Abimelek to sin against God. God literally stepping in and not allowing sin to happen.
Rev 17:17 “For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled."
1 Samuel 2:25. The sons of Eli are wicked young men. Eli pleading with his sons to stop sinning against God and yet, it was the will of God to kill them.
Isaiah 10 God raises up Assyria as an instrument of judgment against Israel, Judah and Syria. “Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! Against a Godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think...”
Other places: Amos 3:6, Amos 4, Genesis Ch37&45 (Joseph sold into slavery), Jeremiah 25:9,12 send the Babylon into Israel and then in verse 12, judges Babylon for taking Israel, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is attributed to both God and Pharaoh.

This is why rest in Romans 8. Because if God is for us who can be against us? The Christian knows that whatever may come(as in Job's case) the Lord is still sovereign and working. He is either the active agent in bringing it about or allowing Satan to(Job, Luke 22:31), either way God is for us!!

Is God sovereign, totally omnipotent? Yes. Does he work through man, willing us, charging us and through us? Yes, scripture makes that clear. Does God still justly judge men for their evil actions? Yes. Does God require our action Yes! Is it sinful if we are slothful and lazy? Yes! Do we still ask and plead with God through prayer and fasting? YES!! Both truths agree and stand shoulder to shoulder. We don’t get to sit back and say, “well you’re sovereign God. You could have done something if you wanted.” The Bible never allows us that.

Does it all makes sense and tie into a logic bow? No, but that’s the point. He’s God, we’re not. I see both truths in scripture. I can’t logically understand it, I just submit to what His word says and trust it over my understanding. He’s sovereign, omnipotent and yet, calls me to pray, fast and work out my salvation with fear and trembling. That’s God’s word, that’s where I stay.

Listener Wooden Heart

2011-08-21T07:30:00.001-04:00

This video moved me. I hope it does the same for you. Poets like this must be shared.

Update on our journey

2011-08-16T08:49:00.002-04:00

Now that I'm back to blogging I wanted to share some of the developments we've had in answer to our prayers for Christ to build His church. Sort of an update. No, we are not regularly gathering with the house church as we once were. The time spent with those families was very good. We gained some experience with participatory gatherings and some of the difficulties that come when you really get to know other believers intimately. In time it became clear that we did not share the same vision as others who gathered there and so we parted rather than bringing contention and division to the church. We began to build some relationships there that I hope will continue to grow but the gathering itself did not fill the yearning I had for an organic expression of Christ.

Around the same time we attended the Threshold conference and left with a renewed sense that God wanted us to stay in Savannah rather than move to a location with an established organic church. Milt gave some very practical advise to those who, like us, find ourselves in a wilderness of sorts teetering between institutionalism and isolationism. The most helpful thing he said was to avoid jumping right into having meetings. He advised the saints to find other people who share a heart for God's eternal purpose and begin to build relationships with them. We can share meals, spend a day on the town, have bible studies and find numerous other ways to get to know one another and share Christ together. The goal is to avoid becoming a mini version of an institution by being devoted to one another.

Now all that sounds well and good if you can find people near you who share your passion for Christ's headship in the gathering of the saints. This is where prayer comes in. A lot of prayer. We've been praying for quite some time for God to bring us together with other folks who want to be a part of an organic church. He is beginning to reveal His answer to those prayers.

In the span of the last few weeks or so we have become more acquainted with a family that is (in his words) "in the foyer" of the institution wondering what they are still doing there. They've read several books on the topic and have a passion for knowing and sharing Christ's life outside the four walls. So far we have met for frozen yogurt, dinner at our home, and a Saturday of swimming. It has been some of the greatest times of fellowship I've had in quite some time. We'll see one another again on Thursday for some cardio exercise. I'm anxiously looking forward to it.

On top of that wonderful news, some other things are happening. So far two people have contacted me who are interested in moving here to be built up together with us. A family that resides in NY and another that is currently a part of the organic church in Gainsville, FL which have plans to move back into our area. It has been great to watch God answer our prayers and bring His people together.

I'm greatly encouraged by what God is doing. Our journey out of Neverland has had it's share of ups and downs. Our Father has been right there with us and in us, working all things together for our good and His purpose. I hope my words can encourage all of you who are on a similar journey.

So, what's happening in your neck of the woods?

A response to my post on Open Theism

2011-08-14T12:40:00.000-04:00

A while back I wrote a post titled My thoughts on Open Theism. If you haven't read it or don't remember it well I encourage you to go there first before continuing or this all will make no sense. What follows is a very thoughtful and gracious email response I received for that post from Mike Jones. It has taken some time to get it here but I wanted to post it for you all to have an opportunity to interact with his comment. I know I have readers on both sides of this discussion so I remind you to speak the truth in love to one another. In the days to come I will be writing a blog post as a response.

Greetings in Christ:

I just read your post on Open Theism, and clearly it is not an idea you are fond of. Your distaste for what you perceive as a powerless, "quadrapalegic" God is clear, and also your distaste for those who might hold an Open theology about God.
I'd like to lovingly respond, but for some reason my browser won't bring up the comment box on your blog page, so I'll resort to this venue, not for privacy sake, just because the other way won't work!
You wrote a well worded, passionate discourse for why you don't believe in or have any desire to consider Open theology, but if I may be so bold: you write as if you are an Open theist in your discourse. This is one of the reasons I've come to embrace the Open theism, or a God of possibilities. It fits with the way most people already live our their beliefs, whether they realize it or not.
For example, you write that "Inexpressible joys are in store for those who know he is at work in spite of our failings." I would ask, why would God, who decrees all things past, present, and future, have to work "in spite" of anything? Would not His plan be the only plan, "failings" and all? To suppose God has to work "in spite" of something would be to think that something or someone can stand against His will, if something or someone were to so choose.
I agree, inexpressible joys ARE in store for those who know He is work, even in spite of our failings. How glorious is a God who could work His divine will in all things, even in spite of our working against Him at times?
Elsewhere you make a wonderfully Open theist statement, when you say "He is glorious and worthy of praise because he works out his will in spite of our evil, even through our evils and the works of the evil one." Again, if all were set and planned, past, present and future, and God's will and plan was inviolate, why would God ever have to "work out his plan, in spite of our evil"? This would imply that you believe we humans have the capability and free-will to stand opposed to God, if we so chose.
This is Open theism at it's most essential.
Further down you write, "We must see ourselves as the helpless little children that we are and trust our hands to our father's guidance. He knows his plans for us and the world and he wants us to join with him in bringing it to pass." In the Calvinist view, God has already laid his plans, and needs no joining with Him to make anything come to pass. We are simply acting as God plotted from the beginning. It is in Open theism where I've found a God who wants me to join with him, making a positive choice to serve and obey Him, and step willingly into His plans to "join with Him in bringing it to pass".
"God knows the future and is bringing it to pass exactly according to his plan. We can trust in him to work all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. We may not fully understand because we cannot see the future but we can trust." .
In order for God to bring about good, something must happen that is bad. If God pre-ordained and planned all things, that means He also planned the bad things. Since bad things must happen in order for us to trust Him to work all things together for good, that means God is responsible for evil . I personally do not believe that God has pre-ordained evil, or any bad things so that He can bring about good for those who trust Him. From your own statement of trusting God to bring about good for those who love him, I don't think you do either. So what then? Why are we trusting God to bring about good from bad things, if in fact He caused the bad things?
That leads me to the conclusion that God did not ordain evil, but evil is a consequence of men and Satan using our God given free-will to chose things in opposition to God's will. And yet..... God still works things out for the good of those who love God, and are called according to His purpose. Pretty wonderful!
"May we bask in the delight of being a part of His marvelous work of bringing all things into Christ. All things were made by him, through him, and to him and all things will be brought and laid at his feet. Let us go to him be the firstfruits of those who find pleasure at his feet and listen as he dictates our part of bringing about his purposes for the future."
To this, brother, I say Amen! Let's find pleasure in being a part of bringing out God's plans for the future. Christ is the center of all things, and on that, I think you and I can joyously agree!

In Christ's love,

Mike Jones

A change of plans (again)

2011-08-12T12:32:00.001-04:00

The last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy. My wife and I set aside a great number of things in order to prepare for the upcoming school year. Since then we have put together the work for the first quarter. Then it happened. Our daughter displayed another one of the anticipated symptoms of her disorder. It frightened my wife to tears.

So, we are now back with the same plan that we had at the end of last school year. Our boys have been enrolled in the public school system. There's just no way my wife can teach the boys and run to and fro from therapist to therapist adding up to several trips a week. Well, there is a way but it would take a lot of willing, helping hands from the community to take care of our boys during the therapy hours. As of yet, there have been no offers and so we are far short of filling that need. But the public school system is there for homeschool families such as ours. They have been very helpful and supportive, something we desperately needed. I suppose that is their job though, right?

Anyway, we are somewhat apprehensive yet relieved at the thought of putting our sons in school. We are both disappointed that we could not homeschool this year but we know our limits. Besides, we still have after school hours to teach and spend with the boys.

(sigh) Sometimes things just don't go according to plan.

Neverland Vacation

2011-08-03T11:59:00.001-04:00

I'll be dropping off the grid for the next few weeks. I may occasionally toss out a few quick tweets here and there but there will not be much time for blogging. With the new school year fast approaching, my blue-eyed girl and I have our work cut out for us in getting the curriculum ready for the first quarter (we have a theme and many online helps but she mostly makes the lessons up herself).

There are several blog ideas I have hanging right now. Some of which are half written drafts like the follow-up post on maturity, a response to the zombie theology post that was published at Alan Knox's blog the Assembly of the Church and a response to an email comment I received on my post on open theism. I should be able to turn these out once we get ahead of the impending school year.

So I leave you all with a question and a thought.

The question is: what is God's ultimate purpose for the existence of the Church?

As I think of a way to answer that is short and sweet I am inclined to revert to the answer that T. Austin-Sparks gave.

"What, in the thought of God do Christians exist for? What does the Church exist for? There is only one answer. The existence and the function is to be an expression of Christ. There is nothing less and nothing more than that. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and all between! Let that be the starting point; let that be the governing rule and reality in all matters of life and work, and see at once the nature and vocation of the Church."

Chew on that some and browse the archives in my absence. I'll have time to respond to your comments here as the conversation ensues. I wouldn't want Neverland to feel abandoned.

Sermons and spiritual growth

2011-07-22T13:06:00.001-04:00

From many sources we are told that the key to spiritual growth is more expository teaching and preaching. Preachers that are faithful in continuing this practice are praised for their hard work and encouraged by their peers into believing that the lack of growth in the body is not their fault. They press one another to continue in this work because it is the primary means for building up the body. So pastors are trained how to interpret the scriptures and how to build a flawless outline complete with perfectly sound, reasonable arguments in order to have an effective sermon.

Is this God's design?

Here is how Paul addressed the Corinthians:

and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1Cor 2:4-5

Okay, okay so the preacher is going to say "the power of God works through the plausible words of wisdom so that God gets the glory and not man." I get that but Paul says "my speech and my message WERE NOT IN plausible words..." seems to me that not only did Paul recognize God's power to be the seed of faith but that he purposefully avoided cleverly devised arguments so that there was no question. In fact just prior to this Paul describes how he proclaimed the gospel.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 1Cor 2:1-3.

He then goes on to talk about wisdom revealed through the Spirit. The wisdom revealed through the Spirit is contrasted with the plausible words of wisdom. They are not the same.

It begs the question of our acceptable form of teaching to build up the body when that form is contrasted with the power of God through the Spirit. One could conclude that expository preaching is not only ineffective for spiritual growth as evidenced by the lack of growth within the body but it greatly strengthens that argument to see Paul here saying that wisdom from God does not come from plausible arguments but directly from the Spirit of God through weakness and trembling.

A year ago I would have been up in arms over an argument like this. Now, I have absolutely no desire to sit quietly and listen to some gifted speaker talk for an hour on a passage of scripture. My how a lot has changed. Does that mean I have left my primary means of growing spiritually? No, spiritual growth does not come from that. What comes from that is better knowledge of the scriptures, a firmer grasp on the doctrines taught, and a heightened ability to make our own plausible arguments when we go into the world. An unregenerate person could do the very same thing. That is not the same thing as spiritual growth.
Spiritual growth comes from the Spirit and that will be the subject of my next post.

I still haven't found what I'm looking for

2011-07-21T12:52:00.001-04:00

I walked out on institutional christianity for one main reason. I wanted a deeper knowledge and intimacy with Jesus Christ. Now I know that to many of you that sounds like an oxymoron because everyone knows that if you want a closer walk with Christ you have to read your Bible more and pray more and go to church more, right? Do, do, do...Well, not exactly. After years of bouncing from one church and denomination to another I noticed a pattern. Everyone seemed satisfied with their religion. I was not.

I continued reading scripture and praying. I also began to study books and scripture to see if I could find the missing pieces. What I found was that the church gatherings I had been a part of were nothing like the picture of the 1st Century church in the New Testament. This led me to look for a church gathering in my area that looked more like those in the Bible. I was focused on form and function so I sought out a simple church gathering with people that had the right pattern based on NT principles. Again, this was not enough. I am still not satisfied.

So what is it I am looking for? If I am not complete with the status quo of the Christian masses and I am also not satisfied with a simple/house church gathering that looks more like the New Testament Church, what more is there? Where do I go from here? Starbucks? The golf course?

I am convinced that what I am looking for will not be found in an institutional church and many simple/house churches are only focused on the proper form and pattern of church to bring out desired effects. What we are looking for is people who are feasting on Christ and living by His life in the Spirit. When we have that the forms and patterns will follow.
As Paul wrote letters to the Churches he had planted he did not give them special instructions on how to "do church". We do not have a prescriptive blueprint for what a gathering of saints should look like. What we have is a constant effort to keep everyone focused on Christ. It is this Christ-centered living that results in the church we have described for us in the NT. I'm afraid that when we put forms and patterns first we have the cart before the horse. Worse, we have abandoned Christ for our own schemes.

If we want to go deeper into Christ we must do so by living by the Spirit of Life. As we do this ourselves and we gather with others who are doing the same we can finally have the mind of Christ. We become one with Him not as a reward for a biblically patterned church gathering but by faith in His completed and ongoing work in our lives.

I could search the world over looking for what draws me ever deeper and never find it because "it" is a He and He lives within me and you. What draws me is Christ and his depths and riches are unfathomable for me but together we can plummet into His depths. First we must give up all our efforts to build the right church and seek oneness with the Spirit within. He will build His Church as we are One with Him. May we consume and be consumed by our risen Lord and seek daily the bread that comes down from heaven. Then and only then will we be satisfied.

Stop trying and just be

2011-07-20T12:40:00.002-04:00

We hear a lot of talk in Christian circles about holiness. Most of that talk revolves around the call for Christians to be holy and very little is said about the holiness of Almighty God. A lot of judgement gets thrown around regarding peoples actions and the Body of Christ is exhorted continuously to examine ourselves. I say "STOP IT!"

Stop trying to be holy and just be in Christ. Stop working to change your habits and striving to live a godly life. Stop trying to do it all on your own and just giving lip service to the Spirit of God within you. All too often we set out by our own strength to please God and tack on a spiritual phrase like "I know that the Spirit must do it in me." God doesn't want credit for your work. It's like a bloody tampon to Him, it's disgusting. If you want to brag about your bloody tampon you go right ahead, but don't tell everyone that God gave it to you.

Holiness is not defined by what we do, it is defined by who we are. So who are we? We are the elected and chosen bride and body of Christ. The God of the universe dwells within us and we in Him. We are kind of His own kind. We are one with Him. That means we ARE holy. Holiness is who we are and it shows in what we do. When we do unholy things it is because we forget who we are. We do not need to try harder to become holy. We need to trust and to rest in Christ. We must let His righteousness be our righteousness.

The Christian life can be summed up as being followers of the Way, the Christ. When Christ walked on earth He only did what His Father was doing. He did the will of the Father. He remained in steady communication with our Father while in the likeness of sinful flesh. That is what He has come into us to bring about. A race of mankind that are all living by the Spirit of God within us. To be one in the Spirit with God is to be One corporate New Man. This is known as living by Divine Life.

Please, stop performing all sorts of soulical acts by the power of your flesh and assuming that you are glorifying God. Rest from your work and seek the Spirit of the Lord who resides in the temple within you. You simply cannot work to be holy, you are already holy in Christ. His identity is your identity. Salvation is all God's work from start to finish. It begins with faith and repentance and it ends with the full measure of Jesus Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Two conferences, many differences

2011-07-18T08:21:00.002-04:00

I've been to two conferences this year. I was very excited about going to both. I deeply appreciate good preaching and teaching and neither of the conferences disappointed in that regard. Yet, there were some drastic differences between the two events. What follows is an observation of those differences.

The first one I attended was the Ligonier conference in Orlando. It was hosted by First Baptist Church of Orlando, a massive complex with ample seating and extensive facilities for eating, a bookstore, plenty of parking and a state of the art multimedia system. The sheer size and capability of the place was impressive. The speakers preached on the topic of Light and Heat. It was mostly a tribute of sorts to the ministry of John Piper (Desiring God) and R.C. Sproul (Ligonier). It was really cool to be able to sit and listen to these men. Their teaching has had a profound impact on me over the years. When I left that conference I had a deeper sense of the Holiness of God. His marvelous "otherness" left me feeling wholly unworthy of Him. This, I think is very true and a good thing. What I realize now as I look back on it is that I also felt very distant from our great and Holy God. It was as though I felt like He could not be defiled by my sinful, fallen, human hands. So, while I praised Him for His grace in electing and saving me I was still left with a sense of great distance between He and I.

The conference I was at over this past weekend was entirely different. It was the Threshold 2011 Missional Organic Church conference. It was held in a quaint little conference room in a Holiday Inn hotel. The hosts had to cut off registration months ago because they had filled to capacity. This was a good and a bad thing. Good because it kept costs down (this conference was completely free to attend) but bad because there were many who were left out and unable to come because of space imitations. The room where we gathered was less than a quarter the size of the bookstore at the former conference. The Threshold conference was unlike any I had ever been to. The focus of the conference was obviously to build relationships. The speakers would share what the Lord had led them to prepare and then they gave out an assignment of sorts that we would then share with those at our table. Yes, we sat at tables of no more than eight people rather than in stadiun style seating in rows. This gave us an opportunity to get to know the others at our table and see what Christ has been doing in their life. This time led right into a six hour break. This time was spent having luch together and spending the afternoon sharing more stories and hanging out with folks who were strangers only a few hours ago and were quickly becoming much more like family. In contrast, at the Ligonier conference the only conversations I had were about the weather, our travel to Orlando, or the speakers at the conference. Nothing any deeper than that.

If the relational aspect of the conference were not enough, the teaching was phenominally different and in my opinion much better. It seemed as though all these speakers intended to do was display the magnifiscence of Christ and lead us to embrace our unity with Him. To yearn for Him, search for Him and feast on Him as never before. This reconciliation between myself and Christ was much more than just sensing a closeness to Him. I realized the powerful truth that Christ is IN me and I am IN Him. Words cannot express.

Another major difference between the two conference was the accessablility of the speakers. At the first event the speakers would emerge out of a back door from some inaccessable part of the building, stride onto the stage and give their presentation and then disappear into the back again. At the latter gathering, the speakers sat at the tables with the other brothers and sisters until they stood up to speak and then after each session they stayed in the room for hours answering questions and encouraging those who wanted to speak with them. Their accessability was reflective of the relationship we have with our Lord. They were not distant and fleeting but they stayed near and were ready to listen and share themselves with us.

There is so much more I want to share about the conference. I'm sure the impact it had on me will spill forth into my writing in the future. For the meantime I thought I would share these few observations on the two conferences.

The full effect

2011-07-17T00:33:00.001-04:00

He learned obedience through suffering.

This verse is becoming more and more real for me. Like many great truths, my understanding and confession of this passage is becoming full and real through trial and endurance. The scriptures are sufficient for life and godliness but not as merely intellectual knowledge. The power of God's Word is in the experience of His truth. We become part of His story. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Now the Word made flesh dwells within us and the truth becomes Life for us. We live it, our minds are transformed by it, and we are conformed to it.

I know I've written a lot about suffering lately and it's probably a total drag to read about. My apologies if I bore you or depress you by wearing my heart on my sleeve. I'm writing these things so that I can have a record of the Spirit's work and so that you all can know that we are sharing in Christ's sufferings. Since I find great comfort in knowing that these things are bringing about a more full measure of Christ in me, I want to comfort you with those same truths. After all, we are all following the same Way.

I am reminded of James' exhortation to the saints to "count it all joy". I can't help but think of how foolish it seems for the material to praise the blacksmith as it is repeatedly thrust into the fire till it glows from the heat, almost to the point of being melted. Then pulled out just in time only to be pounded and pounded into shape. It seems foolish but somehow that material knows that when the fires have done their work and the beatings are complete they will have become a useful tool, created for a purpose and given a new name.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Activate Blogger mobile format

2011-07-07T12:18:00.001-04:00

I should have done this a while back for all my "Blogger" bloggers who don't keep up with the techy times. Blogger announced at the beginning of the year that they would be implementing some new ways to view blogs and some new tools for bloggers. One of the things I was most excited about was the new mobile format. A while back they issued it in draft and now it is available for all 27 of the new templates right from your settings! Even if you still use an older template it will automatically reformat your blog into a smartphone friendly format.

Here's the deal: mobile formatting works with your present template, you do not have to change your template at all in order for it to work. In fact, activating the mobile blogger template is simple. From your dashboard click the settings tab and then click email and mobile. At the top you will see the section to activate the mobile template and preview it.

Enabling the mobile template will allow easier access to readers who view your blog from a smartphone. Like I said, no drastic steps necessary, just a few clicks of the mouse and Blogger does the rest. Your mobile readers and commenters (like me) will thank you for it.

If you usually use a feed reader to view Blogger blogs from your smartphone, you should take the time to bookmark those that you read and would like to comment on once they have activated the mobile template. Clicking on the link in your reader is not going to have the same effect. Usually it gives you a goodle-reformatted page that isn't as friendly as the blogger mobile template. Plus, you can easily see the comments on the post that you normally miss in a reader. No longer are you prevented from commenting by busy webpages that bog down your browser. Congratulations! Now you can get in on the conversation while you are on the go :)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled (and hopefully more edifying) programming.

Contentious convictions

2011-07-07T10:02:00.001-04:00

There regularly comes a time in the mind of a believer as we search for truth that we come to have different convictions than we once held. This must be true for every person who humbles him or herself to the word of God. There is so much uncharted territory in our corrupt minds that have not yet been affected by God's gracious transformation. So it is imparative that we show kindness and love both to those who have been convicted to change in a different way than we are and also to those who hold the same proir convictions that we once held.
I've been reading through the works of Jonathan Edwards lately. This morning I read a letter he wrote to a fellow pastor of a church amidst some division and members parting ways with the congregation. It was very refreshing to read his words regarding the matter. I wish I had the capability to copy some of the letter here, but since I can't, I'll just share the thoughts it brought to mind while reading it.

Picture it in your mind, a congregation is getting along very well, their affections for God and for one another are so high that mere words cannot express the love they share. Then something changes, people elevate certain truths over others and there comes a bit of arguing amongst themselves over the matter. Some decide to leave one congregation and join themselves to another or form another group entirely. We'd call that a church split. I'm sure many of us are familiar with the emotions and pitfalls associated with this kind of disturbance.

When people's convictions change and their conscience leads them to take a different path, all too often the differences receive the most thought and attention. This is a bad thing when those changes become an end in themselves. It is not pleasing to God for us to focus on our differences. It is pleasing to God to focus on how our particular views and differences bring us a deeper love for Christ, a greater desire for truth, a higher regard for the welfare or others, and a stronger affection for our God. Do you see the difference?

For example, take organic church and institutional church differences and ask yourself: does the constant discussion of "the Bible says this and the Bible says that" lead to higher affections for God and others? Is our desire in these discussions rooted in an effort to see others come to a fuller joy in Christ or to have them think the same way we do? Even if our new convictions have brought us more joy in Christ are the two really the same? I think not.

No doubt, it is to our benefit to have fellowship with likeminded believers. It is also to our benefit to see the Christ exalting pleasure in others who are not so likeminded and to appreciate how the Spirit stirs us up in different ways. We need to realize that He is so great that He will never fit into the boxes we make for Him and so it does us no good to put ourselves in a box either.

It is possible to follow our convictions and not be contentious. I don't think there is a fine line at all. It is as simple as putting others before ourselves by speaking words of grace instead of pride. Simple? Yes, but impossible to do by our own strength and likewise impossible to do without some effort. Anyone who has been reading my blog for any amount of time knows that I fall into the sin of contention more often than any man would care to be judged for. Yet, I boldly enter the throne of grace based on Christ's righteosness and hold firmly to the promise that I am being transformed. This meditation is one facet of that transformation.

Pull, don't push

2011-06-26T14:15:00.001-04:00

Have you ever walked up to a building and tried to enter into a door that is clearly marked "pull" but you paid no attention and tried to push your way through anyway? I do this often sometimes on the same door over and over again. You would think that after several attempts ending in injury instead of entry I would learn, but, my head is obviously too thick to get it.

I think this is a good analogy for how leadership works in the church. Biblically, leadership is defined as service. The first will be last and the last will be first. If you want to be the greatest you must be a servant to all. Great leaders lead by example. They are in the front with everyone else following their movements. They are pullers.

Somehow we have gotten bogged down in this idea that leaders are supposed to be pushers. So we pay them a salary so that they can yell at everyone in order to push them into doing the right thing. They push this doctrine and that program and these rules but the only example of service they give is their pushing. So, as leaders, those who should be following them are actually being pushed by them and in turn end up pushing the person in front of them who pushes another, who pushes another and the pushing continues forward till everone is being pushed and no one is pulling.

If the door says pull, then pushing just causes injury and no one is able to enter.

Do you think that the kingdom of God has a door that says "push" or "pull"?

Chain Blog: solving the problem

2011-06-23T18:00:00.000-04:00

I've been tooling around with some ideas on how to contribute to the chain of blogs set forth by Alan Knox on the topic of division. There have already been five great posts in the chain. Be sure to check them out, there's some really good stuff going down.

“Links” in this chain blog:

1. “Chain Blog: Dealing with Divisive Issues Introduction” by Alan
2. “Chain Blog: Dealing with divisive issues starts with love” by Arthur
3. “I am divisive” by Jeremy
4. “Chain Blog: Please agree with me” by Jon
5. “Division and our shared humanity” by Andy

This is the sixth post in the chain and I know more are coming.

If you would like to write the next blog post (link) in this chain, leave a comment stating that you would like to do so. If someone else has already requested to write the next link, then please wait for that blog post and leave a comment there requesting to write the following link.
Feel free to leave comments here and discuss items in this blog post without taking part in the actual “chain”. Your comments and discussion are very important in this chain blog.
When you write a link in this chain, please reply in the comments of the previous post to let everyone know that your link is ready. Also, please try to keep an updated list of links in the chain at the bottom of your post, and please include these rules at the bottom of your post.

So that's how we do this thing and now its time to make this chain a little longer.

If we want to solve the division problem it is important to ask ourselves the question: "what is the opposite of division?" Many of the previous writers in the chain have alluded to unity as being the goal and opposite of division. I agree that division is a tool of our nemesis to prevent the unity of the church. Yet, as I read what was written to the churches in the NT, what I see is that unity is something we already have in Christ. We are to hold on to it, it is ours already. It's not something we have to work for, but something we have to be mindful of. Christ prayed for it in the garden and with the coming of the Holy Spirit I believe it has been given. If then, we are already united in Christ, why are we still divided? And how do we overcome that division and walk in unity?

Well, my answer is rooted in what I do everyday: math. Yep, in my mathematics riddled mind the opposite of division is multipilication. I know that thought seems pretty whacked, even coming from me but before you go gettin' all technical on me, check out how it clicks in my noggin. There are several good answers to the question like faith, humility and love along with many practical ways to keep the gospel of Christ crucified at the center of any disagreement but I'm gonna stick with the math angle because I think weird.

Consider this: if we work hard with our focus and efforts aimed at unity with one another, what is the result? We eventually reach our goal of unity. YAY! But as I said in the beginning, I believe unity has already been granted, it is something we already have in Christ and our job is to walk in it by faith. There is a huge difference between trying to make something happen by our own strength, our knowledge of right and wrong (good and evil) and living by the divine life in hope of the promises already secured for us in Christ. With that faith as our starting point where should our focus be? On our great commission! Now doesn't that put just the slightest kink in the chain?! What can I say? I'm a rebel.

This is where the math comes in. Instead of focusing on how to be unified we can focus on the work set before us. We are free to turn the world upside down. We rest in the finished work of Christ and bring others into that rest. With multiplication as our factor and Christ as our sum we are no longer too busy solving the division problems that have already been solved. The secondary issues and personal preferences fade into the background. The fractions are broken down and we establish that the least common denominator is Christ. We rightly see how we are various shapes and sizes but are members of one whole. The variables in the equation are all solved and we find that all the X's and Y's are changed into numbers being added to the kingdom. Math: it"s like the divine order of all things.

We must see ourselves as we are in Christ and move on from there. We are different members united into one body, a new man. All this striving to get to the starting line means we haven't even begun to run the race. It's impossible to finish well in a race we haven't begun.

So, how do we attain unity? We can't, Christ prayed for that for us and it has been granted through his indwelling. We can continue to pray like Paul did for the church in Rome

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (Romans 15:5-7 ESV)

What is the opposite of division? Multiplication. So let's get back to work doing what God created us to do and follow the instructions he gave before the fall

“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Or in the words of Jesus

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)

To speak or not to speak

2011-06-22T08:54:00.001-04:00

I think I suffer from diarrhea of the mouth. It's incredibly scary when I think that I'll be judged for every word I speak because I honestly don't know what's right and what's wrong. If I went around examining everything I was going to say I probably wouldn't say anything. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing, after all the wise holds his tongue, right?

Line me up with the fools who need a rod on their back.

It's such a paradox. I'll be judged for every word deserving of lashes but before the throne of judgement I am clothed in Christs perfect rightoeusness. I can't quite grasp the depths of God's grace.
All I know is that it gives me hope and as I look forward to the day I see God keep all the promises He has granted in Christ, I am being changed. Even if it seems like a turtles pace to me. He is satisfied with me because He is satisfied with Christ.

So I'll keep letting the abundace of my heart speak and trusting in God to continue to change the source. After all, He is probably using all the times of conviction to do that changing work and I wouldn't want to miss out on that now would I? I may seem foolish but I'd much rather be broken for what I said than proud that I didn't say it.

Another paradox.

Wow, there is so much I don't understand and so much that I have to learn.

Reminiscing

2011-06-21T08:00:00.011-04:00

I remember getting picked up by the school bus or van from the local baptist church and getting shipped off to Sunday School, which was kinda cool to see my friends and then having to sit still and quiet while some dude up on the stage yelled at everyone. We'd stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up and then go home after the show was over and get back to our lives. This is probably how your kids view your regular Sunday routine but are too afraid to tell you because they aren't big enough to budge the golden calf. Kids are too young to understand anyway, right? (unless you become like little children)

I always wondered why the adults I grew up around didn't "go to church" but thought it was necessary to send me there. I remember how everyone in church looked all clean and proper, like they had life figured out and well organized. They never cussed or smoked or drank alcohol or wore black tee shirts with their favorite band on it. They had the brightest clothes and big smiles on their faces. I wanted to be one of them. I thought my life sucked and theirs was the bomb and believe me, they didn't mind telling me that my life sucked and theirs was the bomb, either.

Looking back I think I understand why none of the adults "went to church". They were all honest with themselves. They knew that they didn't have it all figured out and they didn't want to put on a show while they went to watch a show with other showboating show-offs who pretended to be something they are not. They didn't want to hear the "in" crowd talk about how they had it all figured out and everyone outside sucked because outsiders are stupid. They didn't fit in and so they didn't feel welcome.

I can remember going home and looking down on everyone because I thought that since I was hanging out with the "in" crowd once a week, I was better than them. Truth being, they were better than me. At least they knew who they were and knew how to enjoy life together. I didn't have a clue. Granted, there were some great folks and purely evil folks both within and without, but I couldn't discern the difference.

Maybe you think I'm showing my rear end here but I'm just being honest and I like being honest. The problem is that honesty is not appreciated by most religious folks, it is shunned, judged, mocked, ridiculed, condemned and sentenced to a life outside the camp (boy that rings a bell). I don't mind the idea of being on the outside, in fact it puts a smile on my face. I get a bit of a thrill when people don't like me for who I am, because I like me and I like who I am becoming. I have Christ to thank for that and in Christ I have nothing to be ashamed of. I am exactly who he wants me to be and where he wants me to be right here and right now but I'm pressing on and pressing in. I don't have it all together and the more I look for answers the more I find questions. I love the wonder of it all and the feeling of having so much to learn and so many things worth examining.

As I sit and reminisce about my childhood I can't help but yearn for the kind of honesty and livelihood of those outside the camp among people who love Jesus more than all else and are willing to share in life's ups and downs, in's and out's without the masks and shows. I want to be around people who weep with one another and love one another and share with one another share each other's joys and sorrows. I wanna go where everybody knows my name and I can be loved for who I am, even though I'm not perfect and i don't want to pretend to be. Where is that church? Don't you want that?

Just imagine that group. Throw open the doors of your mind and picture it. Think of the highs and lows of emotions shared and the bond made between so many. The love, the zeal, the sorrow, the tears, the hugs, the shouts and the somber silences. Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it delightful?

When the perfect comes

2011-06-20T07:30:00.001-04:00

but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

The question I hope to answer with this post is: what is the "perfect" and "partial" that Paul is referring to here? To get us started lets do what any good Bible student should do and look at the context in which it is written.

This passage appears right in the midst of Paul's dealings with spiritual gifts. Leading up to this point, Paul lays out what spiritual gifts are and what they are for.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
(1 Corinthians 12:4-7 ESV)

Then the Apostle tells us how spiritual gifts are useless without love

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV)

This is followed by him explaining to the church what love is which is immediately followed by our passage in question

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
(1 Corinthians 13:8-10 ESV)

I have heard many pastors, preachers and teachers say that the "perfect" in this verse is referring to the closed canon of scripture. Outside of the Pentecostal/Charismatic circles, this is the accepted understanding. But does this line up with what Paul is saying to the church in Corinth?

I think not.

To accept that "perfect" is talking about the 66 books we now refer to as the bible is to elevate the gift of teaching above all other gifts. In my opinion, to say that Paul is prophecying that all the other gifts will pass away is to say that only those who can teach from the Bible in the future can exercise their gifts to build up the body. This cripples the body of Christ and leaves the church maimed. Yet this thinking prevails in much of christianity today and contributes to a huge problem in the church. One man's gift is elevated over all the others and the laity remains silent in the gathering while the teacher teaches. This is most certainly NOT what Paul had in mind.

What I believe Paul is saying in this passage is that all spiritual gifts will pass away when the perfect, which is Christ, comes.

Reason with me here, in Ephesians 4 we are told that those gifted individuals were given to the church UNTIL

we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Again, immediately following our passage in question Paul writes

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:11-12 ESV)

Do you see the similarities? In both passages Paul speaks of us as children looking forward to manhood: partial and perfect. He speaks of spiritual gifts leading to our being like Christ: partial and perfect. The closed canon of scripture is not the fullness of Christ. The Bible in every place points to Christ but they are not one and the same. The Bible is not what Paul was referring to when he said that the perfect shall come, he was looking forward to the fullness of Christ coming upon His bride. He was looking forward to the members holding every thought captive to Christ. He was looking forward to us being built up into a new, perfect man and that man is Christ. Christ is the fullness. Christ is the "perfect".

Until we reach the fullness of Christ we will need all of the spiritual gifts.

I leave you with this: desire, be eager, and strive to build up the body into Christ.

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
(1 Corinthians 14:1 & 12 ESV)

What's with all this "remnant" business?

2011-06-18T19:39:00.000-04:00

Something doesn't sit quite right with me. Hopefully this post will generate some healthy dialogue over this subject. I need that right now.

As the title suggests, what I'm talking about is a remnant in our day and time.
I've seen this before. So and so church thinks they have some corner on the truth that all the other churches have missed. They declare themselves to be the remnant of only true believers and command everyone else to repent and join them. The whole thinks reeks with an arrogant and cult-like stench. It's a total turn off for me but it still begs the question: Is there a remnant? If so, what does that look like?

This is the attitude coming out of pockets in the organic/simple church movement today. Am I missing something? Is this the prevalent thinking of the movement? Has anyone else noticed this?

Don't gloss over this. This is a big deal. If you think you are part of some remnant please make your case in the comments or at least post a link to an article that best articulates your understanding. I think this is very dangerous ground to tread and I fear the subtle pride that is contained therein but I also recognize that I do not know it all and want to remain humble right now.

My thoughts on Open Theism

2011-06-16T07:31:00.000-04:00

If your god doesn't hold the future in his hand, your god is too small.

If your god is not sovereign and in control, your god is too small.

If your god helplessly sits back and waits for humans to do what he wills, your god is too small.

The god of open theism is not the god of the Bible.

I can't embrace a god like that. I see nothing at all beautiful or awe inspiring about a quadraplegic god with no tongue. He is no better and no different than the idols made with hands that cannot speak or act. Rather than wood or metal, he is made from the skewed passions and ideas of men in an age where information is treasured like gold but truth is cast away to the dump.

No doubt this god angers me. I wish he were a god made with hands that I could crush into powder the way Moses did the golden calf. These teachings have a form of godliness but deny His sovereign power. Those who teach such things are a plague to the Church and would be better of if they were as mute and limbless as their god.

Our God is the all-powerful, active and sovereign Creator of all things. He speaks things into exististence and forms planets and stars with his fingertips. Inexpressable joys are in store for those who know he is at work in spite of our failings. He does not depend on us to perform his will according to our own wisdom and strength nor does he limit himself against violating our perceived free-will. No, He is glorious and worthy of praise because he works out his will in spite of our evil, even through our evils and the works of the evil one.

Oh, the heights of gratitude that pour forth from my soul as I think on the grace of God towards his children and the glorious good news that Christ came in to an evil generation in order to save sinners who were the very reason he had to die. These thoughts overwhelm me. I am so thankful that our God is living, active and ever present even in our hour of greatest need when we are farthest from him in our thoughts. His grace abounds. His love covers. His will is done and his kingdom advances.

We, like little children in our daddies shop, are invited to join him in his work. His hands over our hands, our ears attentive to his instruction, each step guided and directed by his wisdom and skill. He has the end product in mind and we follow his direction to make his vision a reality. What a privilege!

If he left us on our own we would make a complete mess of things. We would create something in our own image and pass it off as his which would bring shame to his name. This is no good. We have a great need to abide in his wisdom and direction if we desire to bring about his purpose. We must see ourselves as the helpless little children that we are and trust our hands to our father's guidance. He knows his plans for us and the world and he wants us to join with him in bringing it to pass. Once complete, the glory belongs to him and the pleasure of our sins being covered by his grace and our being invited to work in his shop will overflow all the more in praise to him for his work.

God knows the future and is bringing it to pass exactly according to his plan. We can trust in him to work all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. We may not fully understand because we cannot see the future but we can trust. He is worthy of our trust and humble adoration.

May we bask in the delight of being a part of His marvelous work of bringing all things into Christ. All things were made by him, through him, and to him and all things will be brought and laid at his feet. Let us go to him be the firstfruits of those who find pleasure at his feet and listen as he dictates our part of bringing about his purposes for the future.

Suffering: God's sovereignty and man's responsibility

2011-06-14T07:59:00.001-04:00

We're continuing to think through the reality of suffering and trying to make sense of it all. Without a firm grasp on the inevitability of suffering and what scripture has to say about it we will be caught by surprise and left defenseless when it comes. It is in our best interest and the interests of others to think critically about suffering so that we are prepared to stand when the battle reaches our land.

In order to deal with tough issues like these many are prone to abandon the truth of God's sovereignty and allowance of such evils. They contend that we must be active in fighting against the forces of darkness. I agree. But then they deny that God holds the future in His hand and is actively directing the steps of man. They blame the forces of evil for all forms of suffering and deny that God is willfully allowing it to happen for His own purpose and pleasure. They join with the mockers of God and say "if Satan is God's devil and can only do what he is allowed to do then God is responsible for Satan's actions". Not so. Joseph's life is a testimony to that fact. Job, also. What Satan means for evil, God means for good and both are happening at the same time in the same way. It boggles the mind.

There are others that hold fast to the sovereignty of God but see themselves as helpless in the battle. They figure God has it all planned out anyway and He is gonna do whatever He wants to do. Again we have only a half-truth if this is our mindset. Yes, God is in control and He has all the works set before us as part of His plan but we must walk in those works. Like Jesus we must be actively working where we see our Father working.

Rather than being kind of crippled by recognizing God's sovereignty it should empower us and give us enough faith to fill a mustard bottle. With that mustard bottle we are called to actively engage in the battle between two kingdoms. It's just as foolish to think we can win a war with a mustard bottle as it is that we can change the world by preaching a message. It seems foolish but we must always remain mindful that we are completely dependent on God to do the work through us.

We shouldn't ignore the scriptures that reassure us of God's complete control over His predetermined will for creation or the ones that call for our active involment in bringing about the either/or's that God places before us. One doesn't trump the other. Both are at play here, God will do exactly what He planned to do and He will do so exactly how He planned to do it = through the faithful prayers and actions of humans. God is soveriegn AND man is responsible.

What about you, do you tend to lean to one side more than the other?

Guest post at The Assembling of the Church

2011-06-13T09:03:00.000-04:00

Today I am honored to send you all over to the weblog of my friend Alan Knox. He has been inviting bloggers to guest post on his blog lately. I am happy to announce that he has invited me to be a part of that. Today he has published a guest post by yours truly I titled A simple post about simple church. Basically I run through a few of the ups and downs of our journey and hope to offer some encouragement to others who are on the same path.
Jump on over and check it out. If I know anything about Alan's blog I'm expecting some good comments and interaction over there. If you like reading my blog, you don't want to miss this!

Two sides: wrath and love

2011-06-10T07:18:00.000-04:00

Difficult situations come to all of us. If you havent been through anything that makes you question the goodness of God, brace yourself because it's coming. Some people have it harder than others but suffering in some form comes to all of us. That is why I think this topic is relevant for everyone. We all need to be equipped to help one another as we go through the struggles of life. I hope these posts help to equip you and your comments help to equip me as we minister to one another and to others.

To get this ball of thought rolling in an effort to answer the difficult questions of the previous post, we need to lay down some foundations to build on. First, I think it's important to remember that all suffering comes as a result of the fall. If there were no sin there would be no suffering. Now, that is not to say that all of our suffering is a consequence of some sin we have committed. It may be someone else's sin that brings us suffering or it may be suffering that comes simply because we still dwell in a fallen world (such as a disease or genetic disability). Still, the root of all suffering is the curse that resulted from the first man's sin and the human race continues to perpetuate this sinful nature which results in more and more suffering.

Now, this is where some are likely to disagree or get upset. The suffering we go through is just as much a display of God's mercy as it is a display of His wrath. I can say that because of what God says we deserve for committing sin. We deserve death. Not just death somewhere in the distant future and not only spiritual death. Death like rotting corpse returning to dust and eternal separation from God. Anything less than a lake burning with fire is grace. I don't think that means we should go around telling others that they deserve a lot worse than the suffering they are going through, that would be the truth but it would not be love. It does give us a better perspective as we endure our own trials knowing that it is really God's grace that we are being bombarded with. Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? That has to do in part to the fact that we really don't understand the weight of our sin against our Holy God. He offers us life but instead of taking it we shake our fist in His face and choose death and in spite of that He continues to grant us the breath of life. His grace is amazing, even in grace in the form of suffering.

In line with the "two sides to every story" theme, I've argued in this post how suffering is both a result of the fall (a curse from the wrath of God) yet less than what we deserve (grace granted instead of death). It is both wrath and love. The most striking place to see this point is at the cross of Christ. On the cross we can see this same dynamic of love and wrath reaching their climax by the death of Jesus Christ. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become his righteousness. Christ triumphed over suffering and death and brought us life. In Christ we have triumphed as well and as we endure the trials and tribulations of life by faith in Christ we display his sufficiency. We share in Christ's sufferings because we share in his life.

Since suffering is a result of the fall and the cross is God's answer to the fall, all suffering points to the cross. So, ultimately our sufferings are meant to display the glory of God by his grace shown to us in Jesus Christ. As with all things, it's all about Jesus, suffering included.
I think that gives us a good lens through which to look at suffering. In the coming posts I'll tackle the paradox between God being in complete control (sovereign), plotting mans steps according to His will (predestination) yet changing His mind and allowing us to be a part of His plan as it is carried out. Of course I don't understand it all but I hope you'll join in as we think through these huge questions. We'll be better epuipped if we think through it together.

What else do you think is an important foundational principle when facing suffering?

Two sides to every story

2011-06-09T07:51:00.001-04:00

A little girl is raped, tortured and beaten. Is this part of God's plan? A dictator commits genocide against his people. Is there nothing we can do? After spending her life helping and serving others, a mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 39. How do you comfort her and her family?

We all know God never changes but can the future change? Is everything going according to plan? Is rape, genocide, murder and cancer part of the plan? Is God ever caught by surprise? If God is in control and does all things for his own pleasure according to the counsel of his will, what does that say to the recipients of such horrible suffering?

What about all the times when God changes his mind after someone prays and pleads with Him? If God already has it all planned out then what is the purpose of prayer? Isn't there a war going on that we should be participating in? Do our prayers have an effect on changing the future? If so, what does that say about God's predestined will?

I've asked a lot of questions and I've heard a lot of different answers in the past. I'll come back and do my best to answer them. As a teaser I remind you of the title of this post. There are two sides to every story. Things aren't always drawn in black and white. Often, deep things like this are more complex than we want to know about. It may make us uncomfortable but certainly the truth is worth knowing. We don't want half truths, we want the whole truth and I hope you, my readers, will settle for nothing less and join with me to sort out these things.

So, what is your answer to these questions?

Warming pews and waiting on food stamps

2011-06-08T21:34:00.000-04:00

In many ways the professional clergy serves the same way the welfare system does. That is the point Arthur Sido makes in his post entitled Clericalism and the welfare state. Here is one of my fave parts:

Why is the welfare system dehumanizing and an utter failure? Because it provides for people while asking very little from them in return and actually discourages them from seeking to support themselves. The very people who are supposed to be helped by the welfare system are actually hurt by it and the dependence it causes becomes generational. Passivity begets passivity.
The clergy-laity distinction does the same thing. How else can you explain the vast numbers of people who have been in church all of their lives, people in their later years with decades in the pew, who are sincere, prayerful Christians and yet are spiritually immature and doctrinally deficient? The solution for this problem among my Reformed brethren is more and longer preaching. The problem is that more and more preaching adds to the already heavy burden of ministry because one guy has to do it all and I am increasingly unconvinced that passively listening to a sermon week after week, no matter how good the sermon, is really the key to bringing people to spiritual maturity.

As I see it, most pastors are not power hungry control freaks who need to be put out on their can. They are faithful brethren who do more than their fair share of the ministry out of their love for Jesus and often retain their joy in the Lord even though that burden is not meant for them to bear. Likewise the problem doesn't entirely rest on the people in the pew because they are doing exactly what it is they think they should do and what people have been doing for nearly 2000 years.

The problem is the system that keeps the pastors at pulpits and everyone else in pews. People are waiting for the first of the week in the same way welfare recipients wait for the first of the month. What the Body of Christ needs is a gathering outside of the current systems in which people stop depending on their food stamps and their welfare check. We gotta get off our Lay-Z-Boy and do the work of the ministry.

More than a feeling

2011-06-08T08:07:00.001-04:00

Some people have an idea of religion based on experiences. They attended a service somewhere and felt some emotional rush. It may have been the powerful speaker or the upbeat music. It may have been the high ceilings or the beautiful stained glass windows. They go back again and again hoping to have a similar or even better experience. Are you this person? Have you ever been there? I sure have.

I can remember a time in my journey when my seeking after God amounted to no more than seeking some exhilerating emotional high. It was like going to the dope man over and over again after getting my first hit free. I knew God was there, so why wasn't I getting that felling? Other people were so it must be my fault somehow. I figured that I needed to pray more, study scripture more, have more faith, fast more, obey more, do more, and work more. I couldn't do enough. All I wanted was just one more hit like the first. Maybe the reason the first hit was so good was because it was free, but that never occurred to me. I was too busy trying to get another and another and another.

That was a long time ago. Since then I have stopped searching for a feeling. Now I'm searching for truth and signs of life. Basically I'm searching for Christ and I'm finding him in everything. Wouldn't you know it? The feeling comes with it. The feeling of delight in knowing that I am his and he is mine. The feeling of peace knowing he is in control. The feeling of awe because he is so wonderfully glorious. The feeling of love for him and for my fellow man.

Christ is more than a feeling. He is a person who embodies truth. I've found that the feelings come more from the revelation of deep truths than they do from the makeup of my environment and those revelations come from the most unexpected places. If you're looking for a feeling, don't look at the high ceilings and stained glass. Don't depend on any one place or one person. Christ is all in all. You can find him in a simple song on your Ipod, the beauty of a flower, the love of a relationship, the forgiveness of a friend, the cries of a baby, the majesty of a mountain, the expanse of the ocean, and the truths of language.

What we seek as a feeling is really a yearning for Jesus and all too often we are prone to make Him much smaller and more confined than He actually is.

Where have you seen Christ recently?

Searching for Neverland

2011-06-07T08:27:00.001-04:00

Maybe the lost boys got it right. When I think about it, Neverland sounds more like the place to be rather than the place to flee. Sure, in the eyes of the "grown ups" the lost boys are immature and naive because all they want to do is enjoy life and be free from what everyone else thinks they should be. Maybe instead of deconstructing Neverland I should be showing others the way there.

Imagine a land where you were free to live by the rules that were understood by all. A code of conduct that remained unwritten yet everyone obeyed. A place to be free from the systems and rules of others who think they have it all figured out. Where your sense of wonder can flourish and your imagination run wild. A world that is your playground, full of discovery and yours for the taking. A land to conquer and enjoy full of friends who conquer with you but don't want to conquer you. Everything is freely given and shared because ownership has no meaning but community means everything.

I find it telling that the enemies of the lost boys are the "grown ups" who all happen to be pirates. The pirates come to steal, threaten, and conquer the people of Neverland. They want to own and dominate. They want everyone to serve their needs and their cause. They come with their own rules and codes, all meant to control people and keep them in check. Their brotherhood is based on a common goal under a common captain. Pleasure at the expense of others is what guides their ship.

If that's what it means to grow up, I'll remain a boy. I see more wisdom in the enjoyment of creation and trust in our creator than there is in regulating everything to be like the creator. There is obviously a builder of this magnifiscent place and He is a much better maker, shaper, and controller than you or I could ever be. We can be free to enjoy what He has made and provides. Like little children who give no thought for our needs but fully trust in Him.

There is a Neverland that remains untouched by the wisdom and control of men. That is where I want to be. A city not made by hands who's builder and maker is God. Where building community matters and the desire for control doesn't exist. I'll search until I find it. Although I haven't seen it, I know it exists and my hope remains strong.

There is another Neverland built by men that is very useful to make men into what the captain thinks they should be. It is a system of control and domination built on the desire for power, wealth, and selfish pleasure. It's an imposter's island. Most don't discern the danger of it until it's too late. Others flee and seek to deconstruct it's influence in their heart and mind.

All we need is a happy thought and enough pixie dust to fill a mustard seed and we'll be well on our way. Third star to the right and straight on till the morning: Neverland.

Keeping our focus

2011-06-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

When my studies and meditations were steeped deeply in the reformed traditions one of the main things I gleaned was an appreciation for the need to be born again in order to be justified by faith. Recently I have been broadening my horizons and really putting my skills of discernment to the test. As I read a more broad collection of works there seems to be some sort of tension between the need to preach the gospel of regenerate (born again) hearts that are justified (declared innocent and righteous) by faith (belief, trust, and cherishing) in Christ and the need to preach the Kingdom of God.
Notice I took special care to somewhat define the terms of the first argument but haven't attempted to define the second. That was purposeful. I did that because often I find that those who would argue for the increase of preaching the Kingdom often don't define what that Kingdom looks like beyond an accumulation of good works.
My thoughts here are going to summarize some of the ideas bouncing around in my skull regarding this tension but could (and may in the future) be expanded. I'm not rying to be exhaustive and I'm not turning this into a series. I just want to get some of this down in writing.
The best place I know to start is with Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3. Nick tells Jesus about how he has seen Jesus' works and knows he comes from God. He doesn't ask a question, he merely states what he has seen. Here is how Jesus responds to him:

3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

So we see both sides of the tension here: the need to be born again and the kingdom of God. Like love and marriage, you can't have one without the other and one precedes the other. I think everyone gets that.
The question then arises, can we talk too much about the need to be born again and too little about the advancement of the kingdom? I think so, check out what the writer of Hebrews says:

6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

So there is a sense in which we can focus too much on elementary things. Even so, as I recall many of the parables where Jesus led off with"the kingdom is like" he pointed in some way to the need to be born again.

Here's the thing: we don't need to be born again in order to want to help people, escape hell, be free from the guilt of sin, be healthy, happy, prosperous and live forever on streets of gold. We don't need to be born again to buy someone a meal, give generously to our favorite charity, be a friend in a time of need, or tell people about Jesus. These are some of the ways people describe the kingdom of God and they are good descriptions but something huge is missing and that missing piece is what should drive all our good works. The missing piece is an enthralled heart that is consumed with love and passion with the Christ that was crucified.

We must be born again to treasure, cherish, prize, and supremely value Christ above all things. As we find our delight in Jesus we move on to maturity in Him and advance the kingdom by displaying Christ as worthy above all things. This is what it means to be born of the Spirit. To focus on the things above in heavenly places with Christ and embrace the promises that are ours in Him is what the Kingdom is all about.

I believe this is why Paul continually preached Christ and wrote letters to the churches that brought their focus back on to Christ. When Christ is our all consuming desire and the outpouring of our lips, hands and feet the kingdom of God advances. Without Christ, efforts to build the kingdom build something apart from him.

I don't think we can talk too much about the need to be born again. Jesus only mentioned it twice in all recorded scripture and that was within the one conversation I quoted and the kingdom of God was spoken of 110 by Jesus during his ministry but that doesn't go to show what was more important for us to preach. Like I said, every place I can think of in which Jesus preached the kingdom, he was implying the need to be born again to enter it.

We can preach the kingdom in a way that excludes Christ and is made up of good works. We cannot have born again believers who love and delight in Christ above all things that are not advancing God's kingdom.

Do you think we can focus too much on one side or the other? What do you think the effects would be if we were lopsided in our focus?

Thinking critically about criticism

2011-06-03T06:46:00.001-04:00

If we have anything to say that has a sharp edge of truth there is one thing we can count on: criticism. When criticism comes, how do you discern what's valid from what's merely someone grinding their axe and aiming their red hot sparks in your direction? Certain kinds of criticism is good like the kind that point us back to the truths of the scripture and are intended to help us keep our hope and focus on Christ. Other kinds of criticism is bad like personal attacks when someone disagrees with what you say based on their opinion. These seem like they are easy to discern the difference but when you throw in our tendency to justify ourselves, we can be left blind to our own faults and failures.

It's like a never ending cycle of he said, she said. When you have a diverse group with diverse gifts and diverse likes/dislikes you have a recipe for disaster if each person is out to shape everyone else into their image. It'll never work. It just stirs up strife and contention. Everyone is "right in his own eyes" and Christ is out of the picture. What a mess!

Then what? What if you find yourself in such a situation? What if someone criticizes you and you can't make heads or tails of it? Pray? Check. Read scripture? Check. Listen to God's Spirit within? Check. Talk to a faithful brother or sister about it?

"So and so said so and so about me because I said so and so. What is your opinion?"

Okay, but does that just perpetuate the he said she said? Who can you trust? Who can you confide in? Where can you turn?
I ask alot of questions, I know. Maybe that is my downfall, maybe it is good. Maybe it keeps me on the straight and narrow. Maybe it just leads me in circles. "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." So what does a single minded man look like cuz that is who I want to be.

A single minded man would be the man who says what comes flowing from his innermost being. Or he would be the man who says what everyone wants to hear every time he opens his mouth. They may even be the same man who is so conditioned to what others expect of him that what proceeds from his depths are the outpourings of his programming. I don't want to be that kind of single minded man either. That doesn't sound like a man at all. I'd rather be the single minded man who says what's on his heart and isn't afraid to say it because he trusts his heart to the One who made it.

Back to criticism...what if we take criticism with a grain of salt, let it roll off like water off a ducks back? Is that arrogant? Probably in someone's eyes it is. How about in God's eyes? That is what matters, right? If we truly believe that Christ is in us and His Spirit is guiding us, who is there that can criticize? Answer: Only those who speak for Him and not for themselves. How do we know the difference? Answer: We can tell the difference because as they criticize, we sense the rebuke of the Spirit within. Now I am answering my own questions. I must be unstable. You may think so, but I don't and that's what matters (to me anyways).

Without our Spirit led conscience crying out there is no use giving criticism a second thought. I am convinced that the best thing to do is say what you mean and own it until the Spirit tells you otherwise. If our tongue needs some taming, he will let us know. Till then, we shouldn't quench the Spirit within us. We can't give in to the fear of man leashes that those who are trying to form us into their image want to put around our neck. We must either bark back or take their hand off, but we must not bow down.

I think of Paul's words:

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. (1Cor 4:3-5 ESV)

It's not about you, it's about Jesus

2011-06-02T06:42:00.001-04:00

Why do we purposefully gather with other believers? What is the purpose? What's the point? Is it about worship or edification or both? Is it just a religious exercise so we can feel good about ourselves? Is it so we can build relationships and love others? Is it so we can stir others up and share knowledge?
Have you ever asked yourself why?????
I've been asking myself why I want so bad to gather with believers. I think I've come to the conclusion. My final answer is Jesus. Seems simple enough, right? "Bobby that's kind of vague, what do you mean by that?"
Well for starters, we as believers have a few main purposes for still being on the earth. One is to advance the kingdom by spreading the gospel so that more and more will come to know and be changed by Jesus. The other (which is just like it) is to be a spiritual house for God by becoming more and more like Jesus "in whom the fullness of the Godhead is pleased to dwell". So what does this look like and what does it have to do with the gathering?
There is no simple answer. I think it will look different for everyone because everyone is different. But the one common denominator will be that Christ will be on our lips. We will be encouraging those who are faithfully seeking and sharing Christ and rebuking those who are satisfied with empty religion that pleases only themselves. We will be revealing the richness of His character and marvelling at his love until we've stirred each other up to overflow with Christ everywhere we go. We will be plotting and planning ways to share the love of Christ in word and deed with a lost and dying world.
As for those who are already in Christ: we will not hold grudges with one another. We will give each other the benefit of the doubt and let love cover offenses. We will seek to edify and build up others and give no thought to ourselves. We will have to regularly forgive each other when our feelings get hurt or someone rubs us the wrong way. We will be gracious by not demanding perfection according to our standards but by seeing one another as God sees us: as a perfect work, yet in progress.
One thing I am realizing is that I have spent so much time in church trying to get others to love me. I say the right things, act the right way, drop the right names, read the right books, and recite the right creeds. In the end I'm only trying to please myself. Not good! We have two commandments: love God with all we've got and love others as ourselves. It's not about being loved, it's about giving it. More than that, it's about giving love to those who least deserve it and reciprocating love back to the One who love us first when we didn't deserve it.
So, my answer to the questions above as to "why?" Like I said, Jesus. He embodies the tender, giving, loving, forgiving, grace of God that we are to display and spread around the world. It's time we stop trying to please ourselves and get with the program. It's time to pour ourselves out and let God have his vessel. It's time to realize He doesn't exist for us, we exist for Him.

The convenience of the clergy

2011-06-01T14:47:00.001-04:00

I think about the stats concerning pastors and I am left surprised. I'm not surprised that they left the pastorate but how they lasted as long as they did. How can we not expect someone (or a very few) to carry all of the responsibilities that God meant for the entire body to carry out. Every believer is called and expected to be an active minister to the body. I'm not talking about just stacking chairs and vacuuming carpets. I'm talking about teaching, encouraging, praying, rebuking, exhorting, correcting, preaching, baptizing, evangelizing, showing hospitality, holding others accountable, shepherding, overseeing, sharing burdens and visiting the sick. These are all things that the pastor is expected to do on his own. After all, he gets paid for it, right? Wrong! The distinction between the clergy and laity is not a biblical distinction.

This is one reason why simple church is so difficult. There is no single person expected to take on all those jobs and drive themselves in to the ground doing so. Therefore everyone is going to get their hands dirty. Every person is not just invited but expected to work as the Spirit leads. The pastors can focus on shepherding and overseeing. The evangelists can be looking for ways to more effectively preach the gospel to the local community. Those that are hospitable can be busy organizing and throwing get togethers. We don't have to wait on an appointment to meet with "the man of God" to receive counsel on our marriage when it's on the rocks. Everyone shares our burden. Everyone prays and advises as he/she is lead. Everyone is the man/woman of God. No longer can we be wallflowers and pew warmers who only get our "fill" on Sunday. We each have to play our part in the body.

I've seen pastors time and time again stand at their pulpit and beckon the members of Christ's body to get involved. Many don't but some will. I've often wondered why. Surely the main cause is the sinful hearts of those who are content with their complacency. There is no excuse other than that. Still, I also think that the institution itself has played a part in leading the masses into this indifference to service. When we pay a guy to do something, that is his job. He is the professional. Everyone else "serves" by paying his salary and we get to reap the benefits of all of his hard work. Isn't that convenient? Well it is, at least, for everyone except the guy up front.

Maturing through our differences

2011-05-30T08:45:00.001-04:00

Alright, put your game face on cuz this is gonna get a little heavy. In my mind the thoughts I'm about to share sound so "liberal". Eeek! It kinda scares me to think I came up with them by myself...or did I? I'm not so sure...never can really trust my own heart, sometimes it plays me for a fool. I expect your responses (whether I actually receive them or not) will come from all ends of the spectrum. That is kind of the point of this post.

So, Bobby, what in the world are you talking about? Convictions. Not the criminal kind but the not so distant cousin of opinions. Everybody's got 'em and those who don't need to get some because without them you are anybody's pawn. Our convictions shape who we are, what we do, what we say, and how we think. They reside near the core of our being, somewhere between our soul and spirit, connecting who we are with what we do.

There is no doubt about it: doctrine matters. Yet, we can all look at the same scripture and draw different conclusions. Is that okay? Can we all have different convictions and passions and still get along? I think so. Actually I think it is more than okay, it is healthy and necessary, especially in the church. Disagreement doesn't necessarily lead to disunity. Contrarily, our disagreements when discussed in love and grace strengthen our bond with one another and display the strength of Christ alone to be what unites us.

Christ is enough. The man, the person, the being, the Lord is enough. Our individual ideas and concepts of who Jesus is are not enough. They fall short and are imperfect and skewed. Christ is much bigger than our doctrine of Christ. We display his sufficiency the most when we are united in Him even though we disagree. We show that we trust in the ever present and soveriegn person and not just our man made conceptions of Him.

It is easy to say we are united in Christ when we have thoroughly "church shopped" and found a confessional statement we agree with and a preacher we can religiously sit under. We can pat ourselves on the back because the structure we have attatched ourselves to makes it seem like we are united in Christ. But all that flies out the window if someone disagrees with the confession or the sermon. It becomes evident that our unity is in Christ as long as you meet certain doctrinal qualifiers. There may be unity, there may be peace, and we may be able to get along very well with each other in that structure but we have also accomplished the systematic shutdown of one of God's ways to bring us to maturity as a body.

I'm all for confessions and doctrines. I'm all for convictions and passion. Like I said, these things define who we are and what we believe and stand for. But what they do not provide is a sufficient basis for unity. That is Christ's place. Therefore one confession should not assume to speak for an entire group of believers. A gathering should not be based on a confessional statement. It should be based on our love for Christ and our love for one another in Christ.

I'm beginning to believe that God wants there to be differences among us. That is why He has purposefully given us different convictions. He wants us to sharpen one another. He wants us to enjoy unity in diversity. He wants us to learn grace. And He wants us to do all this in spite of our differences in order for us to learn to love one another simply because we have Christ in common. Maturity is not defined by our knowledge and understanding of doctrine. It is defined by how well we stand under pressure and still hold fast to our faith when we are shaken. Christian institutions have made it too easy to avoid our differences and thereby prohibited the growth of Christ's members. Therefore I have come to have the opinion that confessional statements actually hinder our unity and maturity in Christ by making things way too tidy. Of course I've seen both sides of this in action so my opinion is both based in experience and in scripture but as with all things in me it is still a work in progress.

What do you think? Do confessional statements have any effect on our maturity? Is it okay for us to have different convictions and passions?

Simple church is anything but simple

2011-05-27T07:53:00.001-04:00

Something I've learned since leaving institutional religion is that organic church life is even more complex than traditional forms. Why? Because everyone is expected to minister to one another and we can't hide behind programs and classes but have to actually get to know each other.

We can't rely on the paid guy to do all the teaching because he doesn't exist. We can't sit idle in our pew and "actively listen" the entire time we're together. First because there is no pew and second is because the crickets would do all the talking. We can't turn a blind eye to the sin we see in others because it hurts the entire body in a very real and intimate way.

Community isn't easy.

On one side we have to let down our guard and share our burdens and deep thoughts with one another. We have to be willing to trust others simply because we trust Christ who dwells within them. We have to be vulnerable. We have to be transparent. We have to be genuine.

On the other side we have to learn to set ourselves aside to listen and care for others. We have to consider ourselves less and learn enough about our family to know how to stir them up to love and good works. We have to look, listen, and love.

These are not easy things to do. There is a lot of pride that must be put away, trust that must be built, grace that must be given and forgiveness that must be granted. Let's face it, we all have issues and we are not always easy to get along with. I think that overcoming our flesh to be a unified body in Christ is what makes us the church and God must be at work in each of us to bring it about.

As we go through the painful process of loving one another in this way, we grow closer together and staying together gets easier. As conflicts arise it is our desire to resolve them and reconcile. We learn to love each other in good times and bad and our love for one another is the driving force of our bond. But like I said, this is a painful yet rewarding process. Our feelings get hurt, our hands get dirty, and we find ourselves in uncomfortable situations often.

All of this is necessary if we are going to be a family. As the saying goes: "you can't pick your family". I think if we could, we would pick the people who think like us, act like us, and hide their struggles and sins from us as best they can. That way we could feel like we had a lasting relationship but it would only last until someone rocked the boat. Then it would be time to find a new "family" which shouldn't be hard because we haven't left the shallow waters.

I love my church family. I love that they come to me if and when they have beef. I love that they know my struggles and needs and can come along side and minister to us. I love being loved even when I'm not lovable. In the short time we have been built together, they have learned more about me and cared for me than any other church family I've ever had and I'm looking forward to going deeper.

The necessity of suffering

2011-05-26T12:57:00.000-04:00

Suffering is a necessity for a Christian. Don't believe the hype from the ones who offer you your best life now. Their big cheezy grins and loaded Benz parked outside their multi million dollar home on the beach are quite tempting. Yeah it's big and flashy but it's built on sand. One day the stuff is gonna burn and the comfy life we have gained through the pursuit of fleeting pleasures will be shaken. Then what?
Michael Young has written a post on Jesus in the midst of suffering . Reading it will definitely build your faith in the hard times. Here's a piece:

But during these times we must remember (especially me), that this is just another aspect of Christ. Just another stone along the road that leads to Him, is Him, and is by Him. The fulness of God isn’t just happiness and joy and peaceful days. Remember, that Jesus wept, Jesus suffered, Jesus had some hard days while on earth, and when we are going through tough times, that He is too, because He lives inside of us and feels everything that we feel.

Our suffering is a gift from God. We count it all joy like James tells us because we know that God is making us stronger. He is changing us into His image and that means we will be strong, steadfast and faithful no matter what comes our way. He is conforming us more and more into Christ. Like the trees of Lebanon, like the mountain called Zion, like the house built on the rock we will stand firm. When all else is shaken, we will not be moved. When all is put through the fire we will not be consumed.
More suffering means more of Christ. Embrace Him. Yearn for Him. Abide in Him. Walk in Him. Everything will pass away but we will endure it all for the glory of Christ in us.

Water bottle or waterfall?

2011-05-25T15:28:00.001-04:00

It has taken me a bit of time to figure out how to write HTML code good enough to link to blogs from my mobile. I think I've got it down, so here's a bit of a test with something I wanted to share.

Shane has written a thought provoking post on his blog: Shane's Posterious. In it he compares institutional religion to bottled water. Here's a snip:

"Religion is what happens when mankind tries to bottle that which is free and free-flowing. Each of these bottles is then labled and sold to the masses to consume.... Each bottle contains just enough water to satisfy the thirst of those who drink it, but it always leaves them thirsty for more. "
This provides a very good picture of the difference between abiding in Christ and going to some building or person to be refilled.

Shane writes some good stuff and his posts are generally very short yet penetrating. You should jump over and check him out.

Have you heard any other good analogies like this you would like to share?

Craving for community

2011-05-25T07:36:00.001-04:00

We all crave meaningful community. We want to have deeply connected relationships with one another. We are not satisfied with shallow and empty acquaintance. We want to be a part of something, to belong to someone, to be cared for and to have someone to care for. We were made to have relationships.
Many who have left the institutional systems of the church have done so for this reason. We were tired of the Sunday morning "how are you" that never got much deeper than "see you next week". We discerned that the busyness of church life distracted us from what really mattered. So, we set out determined to focus on building relationships with other believers where our love for one another was the bond that held us together, not confessions and covenental statements.
Still, our zeal for finding community is met with frustration when we realize that relationships take a lot of time and effort. There is also a lot of pain involved. When the distractions of programs and religious practice are out of the way we begin to see the beauty and the beast in each other. So we get to work building each other up. We begin to discern what is of Christ and what is not and we praise the Christ in you and rebuke the man of flesh. It's not easy and not fun but it is well worth the discomfort.
This experience was unattainable within the confines of institutional religion (for me anyways). Looking back it seems there was always a book, a program or a teaching that got in the way of really connecting with one another. Yes we knew what a few people thought about such and such a doctrine or such and such a bible passage but we had no idea who's marriage was struggling or family was in turmoil.
If you are a part of a community of believers that have found a way to overcome this obstacle and build meaningful relationships with each other within a religious institution, I'm very happy for you. I welcome you to share your experience here. If you have set out to gather with others in a more simple fashion seeking this kind of community let me encourage you. Relationships take time and they can't be forced. Let Christ dwell in you richly and together you will be built up with others according to His timing. He will build His church.

It's complete before it's begun

2011-05-24T13:37:00.001-04:00

Just in case you missed my bio or my wifey's endless praise of how I'm the best plumber in the world, I'm letting you know now; that's how I make a living and keep food on the table. I'm not one of the big crack in the back hockey chasers with the filthy boots, though. I'm a new construction kinda guy. I get my kicks through problem solving and mathematics throughout the day. Sometimes it's hard, most times it's quite enjoyable.

Something I read from T. Austin Sparks the other day at lunch reminded me of my job. He said "the vessel is in the potter and then the potter is in the clay". Immediately the light bulb went on. If you don't get it yet, hang in there with me, Imma break it down fo' ya.

When I walk on to a job I usually have a set of drawings that show the dimensions of rooms and locations of the fixtures I am to plumb for. Very rarely do my drawings show the locations of the pipework to be installed. It is my job to be able to picture the pipe systems in place from point A to points B through Z before the first piece is installed. That way I can do everything right the first time without a lot of two steps forward, three steps back.

Piece by piece the picture in my head becomes a reality. Taylor made to convey water from one point to another. Since geometry plays a key role in my methods of installation, the pipework always looks plumb, orderly, and neat. People notice that. Some folks have told me that they knew I did the plumbing installation because of how neat it all looked. I had left my mark behind.

I think that is what Sparks was talking about. We are Gods vessel and He is the potter who forms us from the clay. He knows exactly what he wants to form and piece by piece He puts us together until His mental image has become a reality. As the job progresses and especially once it is complete, He has left His mark. People notice and say "God has done a work in these people".

The vessel is in the potter and then the potter is in the vessel.
Our names were written in the lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world and the end goal is: Christ in you, the hope of glory. We can rejoice that we were complete in the mind of God before He ever bagan to work in us. In His mind we are complete in Christ and one day we will see ourselves the same way He does. Perfect, righteous, holy and one with Him.

I'm no marksman

2011-05-23T17:48:00.001-04:00

Most blogs, tweets, status updates and the like, I shoot from the hip. Sometimes that shot comes from a pistol and hits it's intended target. Other times it comes like a shotgun and has a wide spread with a lot of collateral damage. You'd think that shooting from the hip with a shotgun would cut off my hand and cast it off where it belongs but no, I'm stuck with it and the consequences of it's trigger happy index finger.

Let me be straight with you, I like to be as transparent as I possibly can. I don't much hide my feelings unless I first recognize those feelings to be sinful. What you see is what you get. The way I see it, I can't learn from mistakes I don't make. Don't get me wrong, I don't set out to purposefully make mistakes. I do set out to make something and sometimes that something is a mistake. I read today that you can't get to the fruit unless you go out on a limb, I think there's some truth to that.

So why am I writing all this and wearing my heart on my sleeve? Well, I'm glad you asked and if you didn't or don't care, feel free to find better use of your time. Here's the deal-e-oh. My thoughts made public offend people. No big shocker there, right? Here is what may surprise you: I LIKE THAT. I don't want to be the contentious know-it-all that the Bible says we should avoid. I'm not deliberately being contentious or quarrelsome with anyone. I'm just being honest. You disagree with the things I say? GREAT! Let's talk about it and see how we can sharpen and build one another up.

Doesn't that sound like fun?

Well it's not. It hurts, it's abrasive, it's hard, and it's not very enjoyable while were breaking off one another's rough edges. But it is necessary if we are going to be who we are together in Christ as different members of the same body. The rewards greatly outweigh the pain.

I have no desire to be a shiny plastic person with a mask who dances on eggshells. That's not my kind of party.

So, since I desire to have dialogue with those who disagree with me, why don't you participate in the conversation? If my words shook you up, let me know. I'm not the arrogant horses rear that your friends say I am. Those of you who know me and have taken the time to talk with me should know better than to be offended by what I say and that I love a good conversation over a group of yes-men.

I just don't get it, it's like my blog or tweet goes out and all of the sudden it redefines who I am in the eyes of the beholder.

Wow, just, wow. I'm out of bullets now, I'll be back later.

Westboro Baptist in Savannah: nothing unifies like a common enemy

2011-05-22T17:31:00.001-04:00

Today was the day we've been waiting for. No, I'm not talking about Christ's return and I'm not writing this from the heavenlies of heavenlies. Today was the day Westboro came to Savannah.

Personally, I don't see any benefit from counter-protesting a group that thrives on attention. I do hope that the WBC group will hear and respond to the gospel and the only possible way they can hear that gospel is if someone preaches it to them and "demonstrates" the love of Christ, but frankly I didn't have any meaninful interaction with them. They were on one side of the road at every location and we were always on the other with twenty or so officers between us.

There was still much room for the kingdom to advance because there were very few professing believers on our side of the barricades. Most of the counter-protesters were either flaming rainbow worshippers or the friends and family of fallen soldiers. Overall it was a very peaceful demonstration that brought many unbelievers to one location in order to speak against the hateful and graceless God of WBC. I'm down with that.

I didn't want to carry any signs. My wife made a couple signs to hold up. The first containing the message that she wanted everyone to know from the beginning of our planning: "beware of false prophets who come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves." the second was the message I said I would put on a poster if I were inclined to carry a sign: "Christ redeemed us from the law by becoming a curse for us." I thanked her but I still didn't carry it.

While everyone shouted and waved their signs around, I interacted with the multiple groups and individuals present. It was a really cool experience. I have never had an opportunity like this to have so many unbelievers, especially homosexuals, engage in a conversation about religion and faith. I am very glad I went downtown and equally glad that Westboro provided such an opportunity.

I was WOWed by some of the responses I got when I asked the folks there if WBC had any effect on their views of who God is. It was nice to know that WBC didn't have the devastating effects on the fame of God's name I thought they did. I enjoyed listening to the different worldviews represented there. One girl had several flyers made up that said we make gods in our own image. She was there to promote gay rights but I found myself wholeheartedly agreeing with her message about idols.

Over the course of a couple hours I engaged in several conversations about where I agreed and disagreed with Westboro. Yes, I think some of what they say is true, but it's only half true. I had many perfect opportunities to tell people about how God does hate everyone who lives in sin but demonstrated His love for those same people by sending Jesus to die for us. Christ took God's hate for us and His wrath toward us upon Himself and brought us into a right relationship with our heavenly Daddy. He took the sin and gave us perfection. He took the hate and gave us love. Every conversation was different because everyone shared different things. I did the best I could to share the gospel in a way that would speak directly to them yet remain faithful to God's Word. No one broke down and repented of their sins or asked to be baptized in the fountain at Johnson Square, although that would have been really awesome.

One of the highlights was when one of my friends (way to go Sara!) persuaded many of the Pride group to sing "Jesus Loves The Little Children". They sang so loud with so many voices that you couldn't hear WBC for a short time. What made it so special is that we made many efforts to contact the church sites that were being protested along with numerous other children of God and asked them to join with us to sing praises to God as a unified body and share the love of Christ. I could almost hear the church in Savannah singing "Amazing Grace" in my daydreams. Regretfully, we were turned down and even lectured for telling others that they should participate. Hearing the crowd of unbelievers sing praise to God was like hearing the rocks cry out. God is sovereign and faithful. He answers prayer, even when all hope seems lost.

I want to thank all of you that were praying for us through this time. Even if you live here and didn't feel called to come downtown with us, I'm thankful that you were with us in spirit and gave our words and actions power through your active, prayerful participation. Our efforts are useless without the other members of Christ's body playing their role. I believe seeds were planted in the hearts of an unreached, yet local people group. To the believers that were indifferent and decided you had better, more godly things to do in your living room or pew this morning I say SHAME ON YOU!!!

For my readers that do not live in Savannah: If Westboro comes to your town, remember this: you may not have any way to show them the love of Christ but there will be a great opportunity for many unbelievers there to see that same love. Jesus hates, yet loves people both sides of the barricade and He died to show them. The very least we can do is give up our comfortable Sunday morning to follow Him there. That may mean going physically, organizing, or fervently praying. Just do what God gives you the grace to do and don't ignore it or act on your own strength. God will lead and provide you as you seek His will.

This is getting long and I don't have the ability to break up the blocks of text with pictures or anything so I'm signing off now. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Laters.

Part 6: "P" is for plural

2011-05-20T16:48:00.001-04:00

Part 5: "I" is for infatuated

2011-05-19T12:01:00.001-04:00

This is part 5 of the series I am doing on Calvinism and God's eternal purpose. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I am writing it.

In the introduction to this series I said that I want to write about how my views and my love for the doctrines of grace (aka Calvinism) have been built upon by my new understanding of God's eternal purpose.

In this post I want to talk about irresistible grace (it puts the "I" in TULIP) and how God's eternal purpose gives this doctrine some shape in Christ.

To start, I want to give some shape to this doctrine for all of those who cringe at Calvinism because they refuse to be a robot. They'll say things like "God does not violate our will, we can resist Him if we want to". To that I say I agree 100 percent. The way I understand it, God does not change our will. God the Holy Spirit changes our heart by taking out the old heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh. With this new heart comes new desires and a new will. That is not to say that we will not be tempted and have sinful desires any longer, but gradually our desire for sin will be outweighed by our desire for Christ. Just as God gave us over to the sin we desired with the old heart He gives us what we desire with the new one. To someone with a new heart God's grace is irresistible. Christ's atoning sacrifice is irresistible. Without a new heart a person can and will resist God and His grace. Like Jesus said to Nicodemus "unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God". In the reformed view this is called regeneration where the new heart and faith in Christ come simultaneously.

All you reformed brothers can feel free to correct me if I've misrepresented something. For the non-Calvinistic believers I hope you can rest easy knowing that I don't think you are a robot but you ARE a new creation.

So what is so irresistible about God's grace? The answer to that question ties us right back into God's eternal purpose. I think Frank Viola in his book From Eternity To Here did a fantasic job of displaying Jesus as the hopeless romantic that he is as he chases after his bride. That is the angle I will take with this post. Feel free to build on this in the comments about how it applies to the body, family and house of God.

Here is my answer to the question what is so irresistible?

Christ.

Yep, that's it and that's enough.

To a woman who is chased after, loved, forgiven, provided for, honored, cherished and held by a man who is completely and totally devoted to her good, that man is irresistible. To the church that man is Christ. To Christ, the church is his bride.

Jesus Christ IS the grace of God. God's grace is not some arbitrary, mystical and shapeless idea. God's grace has form and has a body. I'll say it again, Jesus Christ is the grace of God. He came to get his girl and He got her by giving himself up and sacrificing himself.

We are that bride. We are the apple of his eye, the desire of his heart, the object of his affection, the bearer of his name. He came to convince us of his love by shedding His blood and bringing us to his Father. Resistance is futile because eventually his love wins our hearts over to him. When his bride falls into his arms she is free to receive all of Him, to hear his sweet words in her ear and trust in her man totally and completely. In his arms we are safe because Jesus is the master of the universe.

Jesus is without a doubt the most passionate, giving man that has ever walked the earth. Not only that but he is sensitive, powerful, rich, generous, ambitious, successful, and strong. He is the King and he offers his bride the kingdom. What woman can resist a man like that?

Who can resist grace like that?

Calvinism and God's eternal purpose: "L" is for liberty

2011-05-18T11:48:00.001-04:00

This is part 4 of a series of posts on the doctrines of grace through the lens of God's eternal purpose in Christ.

n the introduction to this series I said that I want to write about how my views and my love for the doctrines of grace (aka Calvinism) have been built upon by my new understanding of God's eternal purpose.

In this fourth post I want to talk about limited atonement (it puts the "L" in TULIP) and how God's eternal purpose gives this doctrine some shape in Christ.

Now before I continue I have a bit of a confession to make. As I have studied and struggled over these doctrines, this is the one I had the hardest time nailing down scripturally. Because of that I have settled to have a bit of a deformed "TULIP" in my flowerbed that looks more like "TU/LIP".

Yeah, you're confused now, I get it, don't worry I think I am too :)

My TULIP is deformed because I think that the atonement is both unlimited and limited. It is unlimited in the sense that Christ's death is good enough to pay for ALL of the sins of ALL of the people everywhere. But (and that is a big butt if you know what I mean) it is only "effectual" for ALL of the sins of SOME of the people, i.e. those who have faith in His blood to cover their sins. For these precious few who are in Christ and will come to Christ through our testimony, the work has been done on our behalf. It is finished. It cannot be taken away from or added on to. A result of the atonement and redemption of His elect is that Christ's kingdom is expressed on the earth. The benefits of the presence and power of Christ are shared by believer and unbeliever alike in many ways.

That's as far into that deformity as I want to go in this post. If there is any interest, I may write another post on that subject.

Moving on...

Christ's atonement put an end to the rights and claims that Satan and death had on us due to sin. Like I said before, that is a done deal, finished and completed by Christ alone. Bulls, goats and even our own lives don't cut it. We accept Christ's work on our behalf or we offer God a used menstrual rag as our ticket through the pearly gates. Those are the only two choices we have.

So how does the atonement help our understanding of the eternal purpose? There are a lot of ways but I'll name one that comes to mind just to get the ball rolling. Since Christ died for us and we died with Him, we have now been made a new creation in Him. Christ lives in and through us to expand His kingdom in our hearts and the hearts of others. We are no longer bound with sin as our master, we are free and liberated to live for and in Christ.

In the book of the Revelation we are given a glimpse of the Bride that is a city, adorned with precious stones, with streets of transparent gold. It is the dwelling place of God who's light is the glory of God and the Lamb is it's lamp.

Because of the atonement we are that bride. We are that city. We are the dwelling place of God. Because sin has been done away with we can now be in the presence of our thrice Holy God. This glimpse of what is to come shows us as much more than thankful and perpetually repentant sinners. We can move on in to maturity as we are moved deeper into Christ who is all in all. We enter in by the blood, our thirst is satisfied by the blood because the life, in this case Christ's life, is in the blood.

How would you say the atonement applies to the body and family facets of God's eternal purpose?

Calvinism and God's eternal purpose: U is for unity

2011-05-17T10:48:00.001-04:00

In the introduction to this series I said that I want to write about how my views and my love for the doctrines of grace (aka Calvinism) have been built upon by my new understanding of God's eternal purpose.

I know I'm not the only "reformed" person who has had a change of mind regarding what the church should look like. We love what the reformers taught about salvation but think they fell short in reforming church practice. If that describes you: this series is written with you in mind. Feel free to help me build on these ideas because they are a work in progress.

In this third post I want to talk about unconditional election (it puts the "U" in TULIP) and how God's eternal purpose gives this doctrine some shape in Christ.

There is no doctrine that screams "to the glory of God alone" like this one. At it's most basic level unconditional election recognizes man's complete and total depravity making us unable to come to faith in Christ without the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit on our hearts. It is cause for praise to the grace of God and confidence of our place in Christ. He has begun this work in us and chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world therefore we will be with Him forever because He is faithful to complete what He started.

An understanding of God's eternal purpose transforms this doctrine from something individualistic - "I have been chosen" into something corporate - "we have been chosen in Christ". This becomes clearly evident as we acknowledge that most of the instances in Paul's epistles where he uses the term "you", he is speaking to a church. In other words he is lumping many believers into one and speaking to them as a single body. Rarely is Paul speaking to only one person when he says "you" and I cannot think of any instance where he is speaking to one person in regards to election.

I think that is an important distinction to make. Surely there is an individual nature to God's election. After all, there are "names" written in the book of life, right? Yet all those names are lumped together in one book. It is the body of Christ represented in that book that was elect before the foundation of the world.

The IN HIM as in "chosen IN HIM" makes all the difference in the world to how we regard election. We were not chosen for who we were before Christ came in to us. That would make our election conditional upon something we have or have done. We were chosen for who we are in Christ.

In Christ we are a holy nation and a royal priesthood. In Him we become the temple of the Living God. In Him we become His body. In Him we become sons and daughters of God. In Him we become His bride, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. We become Christ in corporate bodily form. This is what election is all about. Election is about being in Christ.

As I see it, our election is unconditional in regards to who we are in and of ourselves. Our election IS conditional upon one thing: that we are in Christ. We weren't "chosen" only to display God's mercy on us and bring praise to his glorious grace. That is part of it and a very big part, but it is only part. We were chosen to fulfill something that was missing in God's desire for creation. We were chosen to be a part of the new man in Christ. The man we were all created to be but failed.

Calvinist's won't get to heaven and be chanting nah nee nah nee boo boo, God chose me and He didn't choose you.

No, Christ through His blood has made us (Calvin or no Calvin) to be a kingdom and priests to Him and we shall reign on the earth. That's right, we are one with the King of Kings, we are in Christ, one big elected governing body. When we arrive we will all sing with one voice "praise to the Lamb that was slain" because it's all about Jesus, even election.

Please let me know if what I've said helps you understand election more or the eternal purpose more.

How can this change the way we talk about or preach about election?

Between Two Worlds: at the perfect time

2011-05-17T07:55:00.000-04:00

Since I'm doing a series on Calvinism and God's eternal purpose I thought this post from Justin Taylor couldn't have come at a better time. Since I appreciate the work He put into it and it is fitting for where I am in the series, I copied it in it's entirety. Justin has a very active blog and usually has very informative and encouraging posts. You should check him out at Between Two Worlds. You can find the link in my blogroll to the right.

The following is not meant to be exhaustive—one could also profitably include field, olive tree, flock, vine—but the following are verses that deal with the main New Testament metaphors for the church: body, marriage, family, and buildings.

The church is made up of many different members that comprise the one body of Christ.

"For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." (Rom. 12:4-5)

"We who are many are one body" (1 Cor. 10:17).

"Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ" (1 Cor. 12:12).

"You are the body of Christ and individually members of it" (1 Cor. 12:27).

"Equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12).

"Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior" (Eph. 5:23).

"We are members of [Christ's] body" (Eph. 5:30).

"In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church" (Col. 1:24).

The church is the bride of Christ.
"Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb" (Rev. 21:9).

"The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure" (Rev. 19:7-8).

"For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:12).

"'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church" (Eph. 5:31-32).

The church is the family of God.

"I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor. 6:18).

"Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother'" (Matt. 12:49-50).

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19).

"As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10).

"Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity" (1 Tim. 5:1).

The church is God's house.

"Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope" (Heb. 3:6).

"I am writing these things to you so that . . . you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:14-15).

"It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God" (1 Pet. 4:17).

The church is the temple of God, built with living stones, with Christ as the foundation and cornerstone, and the Holy Spirit indwelling it.

"For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11).

"The household of God [is] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit" (Eph. 2:19-22).

"'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.' . . . 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'" (1 Pet. 2:6-7 [Isa. 28:16; Ps. 118:22).

"You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2:5).

"Do you not know that you [plural] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple" (1 Cor. 3:16-17).

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own" (1 Cor. 6:19).

Calvinism and God's eternal purpose: "T" is for treasure

2011-05-16T11:48:00.001-04:00

In the introduction to this series I said that I want to write about how my views and my love for the doctrines of grace (aka Calvinism) have been built upon by my new understanding of God's eternal purpose.

In this second post I want to talk about total depravity (it puts the "T" in TULIP) and how God's eternal purpose gives this doctrine some shape in Christ.

Recently I was thinking about God's majesty as it's displayed in Psalm 8. David's question came to mind "who is man that you are mindful of him?" I automatically think of how small and insignificant we are compared to the Creator of the universe when I'm reminded of this verse. This was no exception, only this time I was moved deeper into this meditation.

I thought about our depravity and the utter worthlessness of ourselves outside of Christ. Good for nothing but to be thrown into the fire heap out back with yesterday's dirty diapers. We are utterly unable and unwilling to love God and live for Him. Now usually I would be searching my heart for sin or feeling very sorry for being such a worthless wretch and thanking God for his electing grace just like any good little calvinist should. This time was different.

My mind moved to the answer to David's question. "What?" you say "there is an answer?" Yes, there is and that answer is Christ. Why is God minful of man? Because we were made in his image to be like Him. We were made to be in Christ. He made us to be a visible body to manifest himself with, to be a bride and wife made into one with the Son, a house suitable for Him to dwell in, and a family He can call his own and love for all eternity. In other words, He made us to fulfill His eternal purpose.

So why all the talk about depravity? Because we were made to be like Christ but, we sinned. Rather than take from the tree of life freely we wanted to do things our own way according to our knowledge of good and evil. Rather than accept God's provision for our life in the garden we have to work it out ourselves by the sweat on our brow. Rather than the painless work of God in a mother to bring more children into the Kingdom she must suffer great pain. That was and is our choice. We want to do it ourselves, we love to sin. This is the sum of our depravity and there is nothing we can do about it anymore than we can change the color of our skin. We have to understand that there is absolutely nothing we can do by our own strength to get back on track. The choice between good and evil is what got us into this sinful mess in the first place.

God did not intend for it to be difficult and painful forever. He did not intend to let man go on about our own way without calling us back to His way. He has always had his purpose in perspective and a plan through which to bring us back to His original intent for humanity. That intent is and always has been complete dependance and trust in Him so that we freely receive His love and we return to Him love, praise, worship and adoration. We join into the love and fellowship of the Three-in-one and become one with them.

In Christ the bonds of the curse of sin are broken. We are now a new creation in Christ. No longer are we to think of ourselves as worthless and depraved so much as we are in Christ. No longer are we to regard ourselves according to our sinful flesh. That man is dead, he died two millenia ago with Christ. Now we walk in the spirit, that is, in Christ. As we abide in Christ, our flesh is crucified over and over again as the Holy Spirit transforms us by renewing our mind.

David's question in Psalm 8 has always made me praise the glorious grace of God. Now I see that his amazing grace is much more than just saving a wretch like me but it also brings me into the image of His Son that I meet the desires of His eternal purpose in creation. We weren't saved just to be saved. We weren't saved just to praise Him for saving us. We've been saved in spite of our depravity to fulfill God's original desire and plan for humanity: to be a visible body to manifest himself with, to be a bride and wife made into one with the Son, a house suitable for Him to dwell in, and a family He can call his own and share His love with for all eternity.

Christ in you, the hope of glory. There is nothing at all worthless about that. In fact our value is based on the unsearchable riches that are ours in Christ Jesus not on who we once were outside of Him. He has changed us from totally unable and depraved into the treasure of His inheritance.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, INDEED!!

Shout out to my peeps

2011-05-16T07:16:00.001-04:00

Before I continue with my series I want to take some time to recognize you, my readers. Lately I've noticed the pageviews on my blog going north. I don't know who is among those new readers and how many have been subjected to my musings for some time but I want you to know, I appreciate you all for stopping by and being interested and especially for your responses and interaction. Thank you.

Since I have reason to believe there are several new readers, I thought I would let you all know a little more about why I started this blog. I began to write for a few of the following reasons:

1. To share our journey of faith as we follow our convictions in order to encourage, build up and maybe challenge others.

2. To capture some of the mediations that flow through my mind everyday so I have something to look back on and so you have somewhere to come back to if my writing has had any impact on you.

3. To get feedback on what I write so that I have some accountability against bad ideas and can have my good ideas built on by others.

4. I love to write and I'm hoping to build my writing skills through this medium. Maybe I'll do something greater than blog with my thoughts and writing one day.

That's a basic sum of why I started. I have been blogging now for about 8 months and it's been fun. I love the interaction I get here in the comments and the spill-over conversation on other blogs. Special thanks to Alan, Arthur, and Eric for linking to my posts and bringing your readers into Neverland. I would also like to thank Tim, Lisa, Jon and Shane for leaving comments. If I didn't mention you and you're sharing or responding to my blog on your own it's because I'm unaware of it, not because I don't appreciate it. Please let me know so I can give you a shout out as well.

I've also noticed that a lot of folks are beginning to come here from twitter and interact over there as well so if you're not on twitter, you're missing out. There are many great bloggers that provide short bursts of uplifting, challenging, and provocative material crammed into 140 characters or less on a daily basis. It's also a nice place to cut loose and have some fun.

I can't have a post like this without mentioning my faithful readers from Facebook. I get more traffic from facebook than from anywhere else. I don't know who you are because most of you don't comment or get involved but I love you just the same. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

If you like or dislike a post here, please let me know. A simple statement like "good thoughts" or "you're an idiot" would suffice. Comments are what bloggers write for and for many of us it is our only compensation for writing. Please don't leave the table without leaving a tip. Short comments let us know we're appreciated, thoughtful comments are even better and are what bloggers blog for.

If you read my blog regularly and have a blog of your own, please leave a comment and share your blog address with everyone. I'm sure many of my readers would hop on over and check out what your up to. There are a lot of great blogs out there and the best way I know to help you get your name out there is to invite you to plug it here.

Don't be shy, jump in, the water's fine.

Calvinism and God's eternal purpose: introduction

2011-05-13T16:09:00.001-04:00

I love reformed doctrine. Call me a Calvinist or whatever you like, it doesn't phase me. I love it. I hate that it divides when we put doctrine above Christ, but that's a topic for another post. I also love the things I have been learning about God's eternal purpose. In the next few posts, I will be sharing both what I love about the 5 solas and the 5 points and how my understanding has been changing. So, you can expect at least five posts in this series, but there may be more. I'm just gonna let it flow how it flows.

Whether you understand Calvinism or you have any idea what I'm talking about when I say "God's eternal purpose" I think you'll like this series. I'm certainly going to enjoy writing it. I know some of my readers are Calvinistic but avoid using that as a title or description, I appreciate that. I hope that my use of the term doesn't promote any division. I'm only using it for ease of writing.

It'll be wise for me to define what I mean by some of these terms but I'm trying to avoid writing a systematic theology series. I really want to start with the "five's" and move from there. Of course, if I don't define them in some way, I'll be shooting myself in the foot from the gate. I promise to do my best, but hey I'm just a laymen ;) Anyway, stay tuned, this reformedlostboy is gonna spill his guts and give you a peek at the meditations that make my day so glorious!

The motel that lies in the shadow of death

2011-05-12T08:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's journey of following Christ took me somewhere I didn't expect. I expected to meet some new folks, teach on John 3, and answer some questions with hopes of sharing the love of Christ with them. I imagined they would share surface level type needs that the body of Christ could meet together like clothing or food, maybe a little help paying for their room once in a while.

What happened couldn't have been further from the picture in my mind. I came face to face with death. Not that my life was in danger, but death as in the utter helplessness and all consuming power of sin. I've read books and articles, seen news stories about life in poverty. It was like some distant, faraway land. Last night it became very real to me.

Prostitution, crack cocaine, drunkenness, homosexuality, and theft are just some of the sins I discovered lurking in this dark place. And that, from just one man! ONE MAN! It was all so surreal last night and today it is beginning to sink in. The amount of suffering that has come upon him is nearly too unbearable to look upon, let alone be under the weight of it all. I felt completely helpless as he and I took turns talking, I would read scripture and tell him of the hope in Christ, he would cry and share small bits of what was on his heart, take another drink, and tell me to read or talk some more.

This job is way too big for me. Witnessing the slow, painful destruction of one man has brought me to my knees. In some ways I can feel his pain and I cannot bear it. Intercession is in order.

In all this, Christ's incarnation has taken on a whole new dimension. He left his throne in heaven and came down to earth to save us from the devastating effects of our sin. The sin of the whole world. That is unfathomable to me at this point. Unspeakable amounts of suffering from the world over. Yet he endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy that was set before him.

Joy set before me, that would be really good right now because the valley of the shadow of death revealed much more to me than I bargained for.

Anabaptists and sermon centered worship

2011-05-11T21:08:00.000-04:00

This is an excerpt from an Old blog post from my friend Alan Knox. It is quoted from an Anabaptist pamphlet and shows how, during the times of the reformation, participatory gatherings were not only considered better than clergy led/sermon centered gatherings, by some, but that the mainline protestant reformers were no different than their catholic counterparts in this regard.

And thus, as already mentioned, they [primarily Lutherans and Zwinglians] deny that we possess the evangelical order nor would they permit us to exercise it (if we did attend their preaching), but teach and presume that we also, as those who err, should remain silent in their preaching regardless of what we would have to speak to edification whether or not their preacher defaults from the truth, one must be silent, even though according to 1 Cor. 14 the listeners must judge the preacher's doctrine. All judgment and everything, yes everyone in his conscience, is bound to the preacher and to his teaching, whether it be good or evil (to accept the same in conscience to believe and to do), and not the teaching of Christ and of his Holy Spirit. (12)
Later, the writers say that requiring everyone but the preacher to remain silent "annuls, transgresses and resists… yes, forbids and then also frustrates and impedes the rivers of living water."

I think this is an interesting piece of history. I've heard several times from brothers who said to me "you say you've discovered some new truth that everyone else missed. That makes you no different than a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness". Well for all you who say and think that, this goes to show otherwise. Turns out it's not new, just that most of the historical record has been burned along with the faithful brothers who wrote these truths by the hands of reformers and catholics alike.
I guess the saying is true: he who wins, writes the history.
I'd like to look into the history of the Anabaptists more. Any recommendations?

Dirty laundry and making disciples

2011-05-11T12:10:00.000-04:00

It all started at the Redbox a few days ago. I was looking for a movie that my blue eyed beauty asked me to bring home to her as she was I'll at home and resting in bed. A young lady approached me and asked for a couple dollars to buy food. When I realized the movie I was seeking wasn't there (apparently mormon written vampire movies are VERY popular) I asked the girl if she would like to accompany me to the grocery store around the corner. That way I could hear a little more of her story and know more precisely how to help and pray for her. At first she said yes, then changed her mind because her boyfriend was waiting and he was the jealous type. "No biggie" I said, "I'll be right back".

I came out of the grocery store, drove back over to the long-stay motel where they were lodging and parked my car by the curb. Her boyfriend stayed behind as she approached my car so I called him over to help us get the bags of groceries. His face had a look of curiosity and concern but as he took the bags in hand his face lit up with thankfulness. He invited me up to the room but I declined because I needed to get home and care for my wife who was waiting in bed at home, very ill. I thought it was a missed opportunity to share the gospel in word along with the deed.

The next day I was at the laundry mat and depleting Mt. Funk in one quick swoop. As I was finishing up, the same lady came walking by. She thanked me for the groceries and shared with me how she has been asking all day for help to pay for their room for one more night. They were getting put out and the boyfriends paycheck from work tomorrow would come a day too late.

Julio (the boyfriend) escorted me to the office where we got them accomodations for the night. Again, he invited me up to his room. This time I couldn't pass it up. I rushed back to the machines, pulled out the remainder of my 7 loads (now Mt. Fresh) and headed to room 206.

Julio and I had a nice conversation. He's used to having what he needs and working hard to get it. This was just a bad week. He'd been out of work for a week and to top it off someone stole $900 from beneath his mattress. He shared how he had lost hope asking people for money and help because he was denied so many times. He couldn't take anymore heartless rejection. So his girlfriend was out doing all the asking, and he was glad she did. "We've asked lots of people for help and only came up with some change, we see you only two times and you not only help but meet all our needs."

We talked for about 30 minutes about who Jesus was and is. We spoke about the two different kingdoms that he was now realizing existed. "I'm gonna pay you back" he says. "No, I would rather if you took that money and gave it to someone else in need. I'm only one person here working to build Jesus' kingdom. If you do the same there will be two and those you help can do the same and then one and two will become many. You see?" "Yeah, that's good" he replied.

I've had the opportunity to serve several people that have been staying in this same motel. I have been thinking about renting a room there occasionally to get to know the regulars there better. Now I don't have to. Julio has invited me in to have a Bible study there with him and his neighbors today at 7:00.

Many times we make discipleship out to be more than it is. We tend to overlook the everyday opportunities God gives us and then schedule and plan times to disciple others. The goal is to learn more about the needs in the community and how we can meet them, share the gospel and be making disciples who make disciples. I'm really excited and I hope you will be praying with me that God continues to do marvelous things as He builds His Church! If you live in the area and would like to join me in this, please contact me. My contact info is in the sidebar.

Coming up: my conversation with our 7 year old son about Julio, catholic church, and Jesus alive and at work today while he ans I folded Mt. Fresh together.

Counting down the days

2011-05-07T16:47:00.001-04:00

He puts another X on his calender. Everyday another day closer to the wedding. Finally, he will get his bride and make her his wife. All of his work has paid off. He's chased after the girl of his dreams and now she is within his grasp. He will finally have his prize and the day can't come soon enough.

He thinks back on days gone by. He remembers how he chased after her even though she wouldn't give him the time of day. At first she didn't think she wanted or needed him but as he continued to go after her she began to believe she didn't deserve him. Still, he pressed on, in his eyes she was perfect and that is all that mattered to him. Eventually, his undying love for her won out and she fell into his arms. Overwhelmed by his passionate pursuit of her she fell in love with him. He recalled the days when that all they did was spend time together and share life. It was like they couldn't get enough of one another.

It seems so distant today. As the wedding day approaches he hardly sees his bride or talks with his bride. She is always out preparing for the big day. Dresses, caterers, designers, organizers, seating, entertainment, meals, invitations, venue ... all these things have taken his bride away from him. She is out being busy getting ready for the big day as he sits and longs for her to just be with him.

If only she would just come to him and stay by his side. Her father promised to take care of all the details, if she would let him. Then she would be free to be by his side all the time. There is nothing he wants more than to be with her right now but she is just too busy. It's as if she cares more about the glamour of the ceremony and what everyone will think than she does about him. She says it's all for him but he could care less about all the fuss. He just wants his girl.

The love and passion was there at one time in history. Today it seems a distant memory. Surely, after the wedding she will return to his side, when all is said and done. So he marks off the days till then, longing for her company today but still content to wait for her to return, just as he waited in the beginning. "It's gonna be sweet" he tells himself. He can almost taste her sweetness now.

Re-learning the same lessons

2011-05-05T14:52:00.001-04:00

Disagreement and disunity, they go together like peas and carrots. Lately I've been learning a lot about how to separate them. I gotta say, it's like prying the bottle out of a drunkards hand. Seems like I never learn my lesson.

"Sorry kid, better luck next year repeating first grade."

That's how it feels sometimes, doesn't it? Can somebody give me an "amen" ...or maybe it's just me that's so hardheaded.

I've been down this road before. Last time it was doctrine, you know the one's: the infamous five points. I was like Saul, at the feet of the most prominent teachers, diligent in study, dotting every i and crossing every t. When I got up from my study I went out to hunt down and ravage anyone and everyone who disagreed. With my sword in hand I ravaged God's people. Somebody should have locked me up but instead I got pats on the back and gained the respect of my peers. Somehow, being offensive was a sign of maturity and a badge of honor.

"I pledge allegiance, to the doctrine, of the Calvinist tribe in America. And the lines of division, drawn in the sand make us one nation, under God, indivisible with those who know "all" doesn't mean "all".

I still love these doctrines. I cherish them. Christ's finished work on my behalf when I hated Him gives me hope in knowing it's not up to me, He's done it all in spite of me and will continue to be faithful. The doctrines aren't the problem. I am the problem. I wanted so much for others to taste and see how good they were so I shot the potatoes at them with a cannon and slapped them across the face with filet minion. Only to finish off by sticking their face in the pie and pointing out how foolish they looked with pie on their face.

God help me, I'm doing the same things now with how I see the church differently. What's worse? I honestly enjoy poking fun at the traditional system. Then, I'm ashamed of myself. Somehow, some way, someone's got to break the cycle. There has to be a way to disagree without dividing and without having to be silent just because others MAY find your words offensive. I guess it's a fine line, I just hope it doesn't have to be drawn in the sand too.

So, I'm relearning the same lessons. That means I didn't learn the first time. I can't move on to the next level until I get it right. Now I see that maturity doesn't come in getting my doctrine right, it comes in making difficult relationships right. School was never very difficult for me, I was a straight A student. But this school is different. In this school my efforts aren't rewarded, they are incorrect. In this school I have to trust. Trust for myself and trust for others. By grace through faith in Christ. Not by my efforts but by the divine life of Christ moving through me.

The goal is to be built together into a house for God but most times I find I'm just building a wall.

The words of Pink Floyd come to mind:

"Hello, is there anybody in there?
Can anybody hear me?
Is there anyone home?

All we are is just a...'nother brick in the wall.
HEY! TEACHER! Leave those kids alone!"

Westboro vs. Derek Webb LIVE in Savannah

2011-05-03T15:35:00.001-04:00

So the wheels in my mind keep turning and I can't stop thinking about the Westboro group coming to town. I've been thinking of different things I'd like to see happen and other things I don't want to happen. Then it struck me; why not invite Derek Webb to perform his tailor made song for "brother" Fred Phelps himself? If you haven't heard this song, you should check it out.

Freddie Please by Derek Webb
(chorus)
freddie, please
how could you do this to me
how could you tell me you love me when you hate me
freddie, please
you know i love you honey
but i’ll bleed you dry with money
i’ll talk where i know you can hear
‘cause freddie can’t you see
brother, you’re the one who’s queer
(chorus)
the stone’s been rolled away
and you’re picketing my grave for loving the things you hate
but why do you seek the living among the dead
(chorus)
freddie, please
how could you do this to me
how could you tell them you love me when you hate me
freddie, please

I'm sure Derek is way too busy to come to a small town like Savannah and perform in the street for free just to show how the WBC folks how ridiculous their teaching is. Oh well, it was a nice daydream.

Westboro Baptist is coming to Savannah

2011-05-02T20:57:00.001-04:00

So, I just got the news that the Westboro Baptist Klan will be in Savannah at the end of this month. Leave it to Beaver to be mixed emotionally about how to respond. Should I stay or should I go now. If I go there will be trouble, if I stay there will be double.

A part of me doesn't want to dignify their presence by showing up. Another part wants to take a stand against these hypocritical, legalistic wolves who bring shame to the name of Christ. The blue-eyed one is all gung ho ready to organize and stage a counter protest everywhere they set up shop. I'm not sure what to do. I'll start by praying.

How would you respond if Westboro was coming to your town? If you live in Savannah, what do you plan to do?

Reconstructing Marriage: how it all began.

2011-05-02T15:35:00.001-04:00

I've been encouraged to continue this series by a brother who has been working on a similar series recently on patriarchy. Thank you, Arthur for your encouragement and hard work you have put in on your own blog dealing with this subject. I'm blogging from my mobile so inserting links is quite a challenge for someone who can't write code very well. Check out my blogroll to the right and click on The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia. That is Arthur's blogspot.

Okay, now on to how my reconstruction began in regards to marriage. Once upon a time, in a land near the sea, there lived a man and his wife, with their two very young boys. All was well in their little world as they looked forward to the arrival of the newest member of their family. Finally they would have the little girl they hoped for. As the time of her arrival grew near, the doctors began to worry about the little package in the womb. She wasn't growing like she should and so it was decided that mom should stay home and be on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy.

Mom and dad grew closer together during this time. Praying earnestly and fervently for God to give them a happy and healthy baby girl. Dad was called into full time service every day after a hard 8+ hours of labor. He found joy in taking care of his wife and unborn child. She was humbled and appreciative at his consistent display of love.

One sunny Sunday afternoon upon returning from the worship service, dad remarked on how unashamedly the preacher taught on sexual immorality and pornography. Mom was not amused. She was not at all happy that the preacher man had put ideas and thoughts in the ears and minds of her little boys that she felt like they weren't ready for. Dad, on the other hand, being a big lover and advocate for expository sermons, defended the preaching and threw out the trump card: God is sovereign. No need to make a big fuss.

The line was drawn. On one side was mom and the freedom of parents to choose what their children are influenced by. On the other side was dad who said that the only way to compromise would be to take the boys out of the worship service or the family out of the church all together. The walls got bigger and the voices got louder.

Dad became increasingly worried about the health of their marriage. He went to his pastor one night at a small group meeting. He laid it all out for his pastor, seeking counsel. Pastor told him that dad was right and mom was wrong, therefore there could be no compromise. Mom must submit and obey. This is exactly what dad wanted to hear. Now armed with the backing of his biblically defined argument and the support of his elder thereby making him feel like he was on the side of truth and Almighty God, he went back to his wife and stood his ground.

Now, mom was tired of yelling over walls and she was not willing to have her boys subjected to adult content in a teaching setting against her approval. She threw her own trump card: divorce.

Dad was crushed. He felt confused and betrayed. That word had never been spoken between them. Suddenly it occurred to him, things were getting worse and any light at the end of the tunnel was nothing more than a train coming his way. Now was high time for him to seriously consider if he (his elders and his understanding of scripture) had been wrong. He was faced with a decision. Which came first in order of importance: his marriage or obedience to his church authority and the value of expository sermons.

Neither of them have sat in a pew and heard a sermon ever since. Dad put mom first, even if it meant he had to forsake the whole world and everything else he valued in order to have her. They have been living happily ever after since.

So that's my story, the cliffnotes version anyway. I'll come back and share how God has used this experience to lead me through a deconstruction and overhaul of many of the ideals that shaped me. Stay tuned. Same bat time, same bat channel.