I used to read Jesus' words "They in Us that the world might believe that you sent me" and hang my head in shame over the mess we've made of the church. A different denominational building on every corner is not what Jesus died for or what will cause the world to see the reality of the Lord Jesus. I can't count the number of times that the multitude of denominations has been brought up as an objection to the gospel when I'm talking to unbelievers. While I'm not completely immune from feeling disturbed about the man-made mess "churchianity" has become, I have found some real hope and joy lately in Jesus' words, "they in Us...".
Isn't it encouraging to believe that the Lord honestly intends to bring us into such an experience of Divine fellowship while we're on the earth that people would begin to believe that "Jesus really does bring people to God"? The Lord intends for us to be living in such a real experience of the reality of God that unbelievers would become convinced that God is real... not by our efforts or programs... but by our living IN GOD.
What is it to live in God? It's what Jesus was doing before the incarnation as the eternal Son of God. He was living inside His Father by the Holy Spirit. It's what Jesus did in His inner man while living on the earth. He said, "Do you not know that I dwell in my Father, and He in Me?" His body was on the earth, but His inner man was dwelling in the presence of His Father. And that is what He's dying to create inside of us... a spirit to spirit experience of fellowship with God.
And this fellowship is a corporate thing. "THEY in us". He's bringing us into fellowship with God together. We need one another to experience the fullness of God. My experience as a believer bears this out. I can honestly say that every step towards a more authentic experience of Christ has required or resulted in a more authentic experience of His body. I can't count the number of times I've gone to the Lord in prayer and He's changed a bad attitude I had towards another person, or felt prompted to encourage someone, or reminded of an opportunity to serve, etc. Just maintaining my personal fellowship with Christ in a living way has been the path that has brought me into deeper experience of body life. As the head directs and coordinates the body, so Christ coordinates us with one another.
Although I'm still not crazy about denominational fragmentation and greedy televangelists, I'm encouraged to pursue a greater experience of "They in US" by continuing the pursuit of Christ with others. We share One Lord, One Spirit, One Faith, One God and Father and are baptized into One Name. A bunch of people living together in the experience of this reality is what the Lord wants the world to see. It's what the Lord died for and what He lives for... inside of you and me.
Showing posts with label church life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church life. Show all posts
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
By the measure you use...
Jesus Christ came not mainly to give us new commands but to give us a new source of divine life within. I'd like to suggest that one reason Jesus gave the "Sermon on the Mount" was that Jesus was revealing His own inner life to us as the foundation for preparing His followers for the experience of "church life."
We should keep in mind, whenever Jesus taught, He wasn't teaching merly aspirations. Jesus Christ was revealing Himself and opening up His own heart about His true nature, His experience, His inner mentality, a wonderfully eternal and divine mentality, which He received through his fellowship with His indwelling Father. Jesus is laying a foundation for us to understand, experience and express that same fellowship in the world. "This is my Beloved Son. Listen to Him!"
Jesus says, "Love your enemies and do good... Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful. Do not judge or condemn and you will not be judged or condemned. Pardon and you will be pardoned. Give and it will be given to you... For by your standard of measure, you will be measured in return."
Relational church life faces one of it's most significant challanges right here, at the point of how we measure others and ourselves. Highly committed believers end up unable to live very long with one another because we become weighed down with critical judgements, unreliquished offenses, etc. Ironically, we (myself included... as a "special needs" member) have a hard time "being merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful" not because we're not committed Christians, but seemingly because we are. We care! ... so we criticize and take offense at those who don't care as much as we do... or so our twisted logic goes.
We can't bless our enemies or one another when we're judging, criticizing or holding on to an offense inwardly. God's Spirit is hindered by these attitudes. God's Spirit is not the source of these attitudes. These attitudes hinder our experience and expression of God together.
A few things that have been light and life to me recently:
1) If the divine reality is lacking in the church life, it may be that we're using the wrong measure, and simply receiving back what we're dishing out. If a group is drying up or fizzling out rather than experiencing the grace of the Kingdom "poured out in good measure and running over", it's at least possible that this is part of the issue. As believers get serious about living out their faith, we tend to raise the bar of expecation up a few notches higher for ourselves. Unfortunately we can end up using that same raised bar on others, and sometimes end up clubbing them with it. Jesus saw this tendancy and addresses it head on.
2) We can't use "no measure" toward ourselves or others. We simply must allow God to adjust our measure. We must allow God's Word to seperate between that which finds its origin in our own souls verses that which is truly Spirit.
3) Jesus raises the bar so high, we'll never be able to use it to club someone else. Several times, Jesus examines a false measure and says, "even sinners do that." (Hint-if people can do it without God's Spirit, it's not a good source of "measure" in God's kingdom.)
4) Jesus's measure? His Father's own display of mercy towards His enemies (which at one time included us). The Father's divine life is enemy loving, offense pardoning, mercy showing. His ways are higher than ours. This is the measure we should use. We must have a revelation of our desperate need of God's mercy. Then we need to realize that God not only wants us to receive His mercy, but to experience His mercy as a divine reality flowing out of our own hearts through union with Him. We can't fake it. It's just not human. Turning to the Father to open ourselves to Him to make room for His Spirit in our hearts by calling on His Name for mercy, not merely for ourselves, but through us, if we would do this, we would soon find an increase of divine reality in our fellowship together.
5) We must use this measure mainly on ourselves or we'll miss the reality. Our natural tendency when we blow it is to want other believers to be gracious towards us, but what if they're a bit harsh, distant, or critical towards us? Use the measure... on yourself. Before we start picking specks out of our brother's eye, we must first deal with our own reactions and let Mercy deal with us. Turn to the Father for the flow of His mercy in your heart. Release the offense. Pardon them. Be merciful as your Father is merciful.
"Well what about the harsh way they treated me?" Pardon, and you'll be pardoned. "But I didn't do anything wrong! They hurt me. I didn't do anything to them." O yah? They hurt you? Where? Perhaps your pride? Did you ever think that you need to be pardoned also? Pardon them before God, and you'll be pardoned also. The Light of life shines as we're willing to see our own need for God's mercy. Once you've gotten this plank out of your eye, you'll see clearly and know what God wants you to do (if anything).
The commands of Christ are not something we can do apart from Him. Jesus teaches His standards to serve as an "escort" into the Divine life He supplies within. "The willing is present with us, but not the doing." The only "doer" of the Christian life is Jesus Christ Himself. If we merely redouble our intention to "do the commands of God", we will fail. Jesus has come to give us a new kind of spiritual life. We must turn our wills to the Lord Himself and call on Him for the flow and supply of His life giving Spirit, who alone is finds it quite natural to love, pardon, and show mercy.
We should keep in mind, whenever Jesus taught, He wasn't teaching merly aspirations. Jesus Christ was revealing Himself and opening up His own heart about His true nature, His experience, His inner mentality, a wonderfully eternal and divine mentality, which He received through his fellowship with His indwelling Father. Jesus is laying a foundation for us to understand, experience and express that same fellowship in the world. "This is my Beloved Son. Listen to Him!"
Jesus says, "Love your enemies and do good... Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful. Do not judge or condemn and you will not be judged or condemned. Pardon and you will be pardoned. Give and it will be given to you... For by your standard of measure, you will be measured in return."
Relational church life faces one of it's most significant challanges right here, at the point of how we measure others and ourselves. Highly committed believers end up unable to live very long with one another because we become weighed down with critical judgements, unreliquished offenses, etc. Ironically, we (myself included... as a "special needs" member) have a hard time "being merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful" not because we're not committed Christians, but seemingly because we are. We care! ... so we criticize and take offense at those who don't care as much as we do... or so our twisted logic goes.
We can't bless our enemies or one another when we're judging, criticizing or holding on to an offense inwardly. God's Spirit is hindered by these attitudes. God's Spirit is not the source of these attitudes. These attitudes hinder our experience and expression of God together.
A few things that have been light and life to me recently:
1) If the divine reality is lacking in the church life, it may be that we're using the wrong measure, and simply receiving back what we're dishing out. If a group is drying up or fizzling out rather than experiencing the grace of the Kingdom "poured out in good measure and running over", it's at least possible that this is part of the issue. As believers get serious about living out their faith, we tend to raise the bar of expecation up a few notches higher for ourselves. Unfortunately we can end up using that same raised bar on others, and sometimes end up clubbing them with it. Jesus saw this tendancy and addresses it head on.
2) We can't use "no measure" toward ourselves or others. We simply must allow God to adjust our measure. We must allow God's Word to seperate between that which finds its origin in our own souls verses that which is truly Spirit.
3) Jesus raises the bar so high, we'll never be able to use it to club someone else. Several times, Jesus examines a false measure and says, "even sinners do that." (Hint-if people can do it without God's Spirit, it's not a good source of "measure" in God's kingdom.)
4) Jesus's measure? His Father's own display of mercy towards His enemies (which at one time included us). The Father's divine life is enemy loving, offense pardoning, mercy showing. His ways are higher than ours. This is the measure we should use. We must have a revelation of our desperate need of God's mercy. Then we need to realize that God not only wants us to receive His mercy, but to experience His mercy as a divine reality flowing out of our own hearts through union with Him. We can't fake it. It's just not human. Turning to the Father to open ourselves to Him to make room for His Spirit in our hearts by calling on His Name for mercy, not merely for ourselves, but through us, if we would do this, we would soon find an increase of divine reality in our fellowship together.
5) We must use this measure mainly on ourselves or we'll miss the reality. Our natural tendency when we blow it is to want other believers to be gracious towards us, but what if they're a bit harsh, distant, or critical towards us? Use the measure... on yourself. Before we start picking specks out of our brother's eye, we must first deal with our own reactions and let Mercy deal with us. Turn to the Father for the flow of His mercy in your heart. Release the offense. Pardon them. Be merciful as your Father is merciful.
"Well what about the harsh way they treated me?" Pardon, and you'll be pardoned. "But I didn't do anything wrong! They hurt me. I didn't do anything to them." O yah? They hurt you? Where? Perhaps your pride? Did you ever think that you need to be pardoned also? Pardon them before God, and you'll be pardoned also. The Light of life shines as we're willing to see our own need for God's mercy. Once you've gotten this plank out of your eye, you'll see clearly and know what God wants you to do (if anything).
The commands of Christ are not something we can do apart from Him. Jesus teaches His standards to serve as an "escort" into the Divine life He supplies within. "The willing is present with us, but not the doing." The only "doer" of the Christian life is Jesus Christ Himself. If we merely redouble our intention to "do the commands of God", we will fail. Jesus has come to give us a new kind of spiritual life. We must turn our wills to the Lord Himself and call on Him for the flow and supply of His life giving Spirit, who alone is finds it quite natural to love, pardon, and show mercy.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Falling Off the Platform
What happens when God's people try to carry and sustain a movement of God from a platform?
When the people of God were attempting to transport the ark of God on a platform, Uzzah reached out his hand to touch the Ark and sinned. Uzzah's sin was not just his own sin though, but the sin of the whole people of God who had failed in their priestly role to carry the Ark of God's presence upon their own shoulders. Uzzah was set up for failure when God's people put the ark on a platform instead of their own shoulders.
So we too, when our public ministers fall, we too share the responsibility. It is inevitable that things on platforms fall. The ground we walk on isn't smooth. But God never intended to have His presence carried by our machinery, but to rest upon us; not things we've built and constructed, but to rest upon our shoulders. God does not intend to dwell upon a stage while we observe, but to dwell in our midst while we walk with Him together, holding fast to Him, lifting Him up, and humbling ourselves under the weight of His glory.
To meerly nod our head in agreement will not change anything. It's time to take up the reality of the priesthood of all believers and corporately lift up Christ alone and head for the New Jerusalem.
When the people of God were attempting to transport the ark of God on a platform, Uzzah reached out his hand to touch the Ark and sinned. Uzzah's sin was not just his own sin though, but the sin of the whole people of God who had failed in their priestly role to carry the Ark of God's presence upon their own shoulders. Uzzah was set up for failure when God's people put the ark on a platform instead of their own shoulders.
So we too, when our public ministers fall, we too share the responsibility. It is inevitable that things on platforms fall. The ground we walk on isn't smooth. But God never intended to have His presence carried by our machinery, but to rest upon us; not things we've built and constructed, but to rest upon our shoulders. God does not intend to dwell upon a stage while we observe, but to dwell in our midst while we walk with Him together, holding fast to Him, lifting Him up, and humbling ourselves under the weight of His glory.
To meerly nod our head in agreement will not change anything. It's time to take up the reality of the priesthood of all believers and corporately lift up Christ alone and head for the New Jerusalem.
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