The Gospel of the Kingdom, All Nations, and the Church (Part 3)

February 24th, 2013

So what should leaders do and teach?

  • First, pray according to the principles of the Gospel of the Kingdom that includes all nations. Pray for more diversity and multi-cultural inclusion in your church. Pray a lot. You have to want it enough to beg God for it.
  • Second, learn about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Learn the principles of the Kingdom and the rule of Christ in the hearts of men and local churches as expressed in the Bible. Hint: this is different than the narrow gospel of individual atonement and salvation, which is a part of the Gospel of the Kingdom and important. But you cannot teach a revelation you do not have. Change your way of thinking first.
  • Third, teach on the Kingdom of God and the inclusion of all nations and the will of God for that diversity to be expressed locally.
  • Fourth, develop teams of leadership in your church. There should never be only one recognized leader in a local body. That doesn’t mean you pay everyone or give them a title, but it does mean that leadership should be done by a team of men and women with different gifts and strengths working together. God has given some to be pastors, apostles, teachers, evangelists, and prophets to teach the whole church how to function in ministry. To put all that on one man is part of the problem.
  • Fifth, validate leadership from different ethnic groups when available and appropriate. I qualify that only because to raise someone up in leadership is a work of the Holy Spirit and should not be done to simply conform to an idea. That can be dangerous. But as we change our thinking, intentionally open our minds to consider including leadership from different cultural groups and watch God and open the right doors.
  • Sixth, become cultural learners. Learn different styles and cultural expressions of worship, dress, food, speech. Validate, celebrate, and assimilate them as best you can into your congregation. Invite people in to teach you something you don’t know in these areas. You’ll be surprised the type of relationships that can form when you humble yourself to simply learn.
  • Seventh, be open to more charismatic theology. Charismatics should be open to more conservative evangelical theology, as well, but charismatic churches have been far more successful developing international and multi-ethnic congregations. This is not a coincidence. Explore the biblical foundations of more open worship and inclusion of gifts of the Spirit and be willing to adjust according to truth.
  • Eighth, challenge American, suburban notions of the right house, car, neighborhood, community, schools, job, etc. The Kingdom of God isn’t safe, suburban America. It is submission to the King, Christ, and letting go of these cultural assumptions means living more simply and relationally and being willing to find our safety in Christ rather than external cultural circumstances. And since leaders are to be the examples, it begins with the life of leadership and how the administration of the church is run. These socio-economic concerns are huge. Teach the congregation that they are citizens of the Kingdom first, and the King might have different plans than the white-picket fence ideal for them. In fact, He definitely does.
  • Ninth, don’t segregate ministries according to age or life stages. Have services and events where the whole families can attend and people interact intergenerationally. Only segregate the children when absolutely necessary (probably never)  and not because of some idea that they need church “for them”, too. There’s no such thing as kiddie church and grown up church. There’s just church, and we’ve lost enough young people because we’ve taught them church had to be “on their level.” It takes being a little child to enter the Kingdom, not an old fuddy-duddy. The kids will understand more than you think … or maybe even more than you. Additionally, get rid of all ministries that segregate along personal circumstance (single, married, divorced are the popular ones).
  • Tenth, be patient. You’re really asking people to be uncomfortable and humble and learn about others in ways they’d rather avoid, in their flesh. There might be lots of failures and speed bumps along the way. But love suffers long and is kind. Keep moving forward but always do it in love, being realistic about the challenges (take up your cross and follow me) and the reward (he who seeks to lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel, shall keep it). There is life and blessing along this path (Psalm 133). And again, the leaders should be examples of this first.

These posts are for me, as well. Some of these I’ve done, but others I still need to learn, too.

Peace.

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The Gospel of the Kingdom, All Nations, and the Church (Part 2)

February 23rd, 2013

I work at a public school in a very diverse area of town. It is a lower socio-economic area, so the diversity is largely racial and ethnic. I love the diversity. By and large, public schools have a better testimony of diversity than our churches do. Should public schools, then, be a model for how to desegregate our churches?

Actually, no. Public school has accomplished this through law and force. They force children to go to school, and they cannot be separated by racial means (at least in any discrimatory capacity) by law. There is some segregation within a public school based usually on academic ability (which could have its own socio-economic or racial connotations, if not careful). And there is a great deal of segregation according to age that isn’t healthy for a church. But it is common for me to see children of different races and cultures and religions forced to deal with each other in respect and tolerance.

That has its positives, don’t get me wrong. All three of my children have gone to a private preschool in a local conservative Baptist church. They have grown up with people from all races and backgrounds, even some Hindus and Muslims (maybe the conservative Baptist church didn’t get the memo they were supposed to be hateful and intolerant). My son currently goes to first grade in a public school that is pretty diverse given its upper socio-economic status. It has been a joy to see my children have this experience and for that to be the norm in their young lives. Their experience in church, however, has been more homogenic. I desire to change that.

But the church is different than compulsory education. By nature, it is a volunteer institution. It should not be by force or law. Psalm 110:3: “Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power.” It’s not Good News if people need to be forced to do it. The Church is also defined by certain important beliefs and the reality of the Kingdom of God, as I’ve stated earlier.

People in the Kingdom should not be forced, but they can be led and taught. Churches are first led by the Spirit, and the Spirit raises up leaders, men and women, who have positions of leadership within that church, to guide and teach by word and example.

Local churches are communities of the Kingdom of God, real and practical expressions of a culture not of this world, a culture of heaven where Christ is King and His will is done. So we know it is the will of the Spirit that we have more multi-ethnic churches.

At that point it is up to leaders to teach and, well, lead. The Spirit has raised these people up and they need to step up and do the job appointed to them in love, not because it is a job or they get paid. A leader who leads by obligation only teaches a people to live by obligation.

And the church needs to be taught. A leader does not preach to the church, unless the church is in willful sin and needs to repent, but very few people in our churches are willful racists who want to be segregated, despite what some might claim about us. Leaders need to inspire with the biblical vision of the Kingdom of God if they are to expect congregations to exemplify that Kingdom.

The truth is to be spoken in love, not with harsh criticism and condemning language. Transformation happens with the renewing of the mind, not conformity to an ideal, so the answer is revelation through spiritual and biblical teaching that is exemplified and spoken by our leaders.

The large majority of people in our churches understand these things need to change, at least to some degree. And the Spirit is willing. Comprehending this, leaders in local bodies are the initiators of this change through appealing to the Spirit within individuals and the church body.

What things should be taught? How should leaders initiate this?

Oh, fine, I’ll write a part three for you.

Peace.

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The Gospel of the Kingdom, All Nations, and the Church (Part 1)

February 21st, 2013

The Gospel of the Kingdom is Good News for all nations, all peoples, all races and cultures. To do that, by nature, it much transcend those distinctions, and that’s the description of the New Creation we see in the New Testament. In Christ, these distinctions don’t even exist, however we may have to still deal with them in this world.

In other words, the Kingdom of God is its own culture. It has its own rules and distinctions passed down from its King. Anyone who enters the Kingdom must give up his or her own worldly culture to enter the culture of the Kingdom, hence the necessity to be “born again.” Not that any culture is inherently evil, but it is of this world and the Kingdom is of the Spirit.

Even Jews were told they had to give up their cultural distinction to enter the Kingdom, which they had a huge problem with. Paul describes in Philippians all that he “counted as rubbish” to attain Christ, and every part of that list was his Jewish heritage. If Paul had to give up being Jewish to “attain” Christ, who are we to hold so fast to our cultural distinctions?

We also see in the New Testament the reality that the early churches were incredibly diverse. They had Jews, Gentiles, slaves and masters, married, single, widows, the divorced, rich and poor and peoples from all races, all worshipping together in a community. They gave up those identities for the identity of Christ, and they gave up their cutlural loyalties for the primacy of the Kingdom of God. That’s what Paul taught them to do. And they “turned the world upside down.”

The Church would do the same if they could return to that multi-cultural reality within our churches. People have said that Sunday morning is the most segregated time in America, and while there have been some great examples of multi-ethnic churches, the problem still dominates our church culture. The segregation isn’t purely racial, although that is true. The segregation is also socio-economic. Many times churches even segregate along spiritual gifts and ministries.

Even though this was obviously not the reality in the first century churches, many today see this as a non-problem. I’ve read a number of “church planting” books over the last few years and it is common to encourage the establishment of different churches for different cultures as if that is a good thing, that people will more likely follow God if they are surrounded by people like themselves.

I take a different perspective in that these kinds of approaches only further divide churches and give new converts a “consumerist” mentality, as if they need to find a church that “works for them.” It encourages a loyalty to cultural distinctions that don’t even exist in Christ … and should not exist in His churches. It is difficult to be a heavenly people when we’re busy giving excuses as to why we’re a worldly one.

So what are the solutions? It is easy to describe a problem but more difficult to prescribe real solutions.

Ah, you’ll have to wait for the next post. To be continued …

Peace.

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Knowing God as the “Rewarder” (the conclusion)

February 17th, 2013

So what about the other two servants? Didn’t they have the same master? Didn’t they see the same evidence that their Master could be hard and severe?

Of course they did. But they made a different choice. Why?

Let’s look at what the Master did for a moment. He gave them money according to their ability. In other words, he did not expect something they were incapable of doing. He gave them resources they did not earn and had no inherent right to. As the “lazy and wicked” servant admits, the Master reaps where he did not sow. He is telling them to “sow” on his behalf, with his stuff, and they would be guaranteed a profit. There was no way to lose.

Except to do nothing. Don’t participate and just do your own thing.

They were given every opportunity for success. The other two servants applied themselves to his instruction and profited. Two servants also knew he could be a hard master, but they also knew he was a Master of great reward. So they trusted in that.

So while the “lazy and wicked” servant gets a pretty harsh judgment, let’s look at what the other two servants received. They were not only commended but made “ruler over many things.” In Luke, the Master makes them rulers over CITIES.

How is this a fair reward? They were given resources they didn’t earn, a simple instruction to obey and invest those resources on behalf of the Master, and a virtual guarantee of success. Anybody could do that, right? How are they then made rulers over CITIES?

If you understand the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, which is the Gospel Jesus and Paul preached, then this makes perfect sense. The inheritance for those obedient to the Gospel (how the New Testament describes it) is to rule the Kingdom of God with Christ. Our modern Christianity points to this ethereal version of Heaven in the next life, but the Gospel of the Kingdom is more tangible and powerful than that.

Let’s look at some other scriptures. In Hebrews, we have a great definition of faith. We are told that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” And what is the faith that pleases God? “To believe that he is AND that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.”

It is not faith to simply believe God exists. I hear it all the time. “Oh, I believe God exists.” Great. As James says, even demons believe, and tremble at the name. But faith also believes that God rewards those that diligently seek him. And so they diligently seek him.

Jesus teaches us to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all things will be added to you. You don’t have to worry about anything … IF you seek the Kingdom before anything else. Jesus also tells us that we will find him if we seek him with “our whole heart.”

The standard is clear. He’s an all or nothing God. And if you give him everything, there is no way you can lose. In fact, the reward is a ruling place in a Kingdom when it comes in its fullness. It is an unimaginably gracious and generous reward for simple obedience.

Another observation: the two servants produced something from their investment with their Master’s resources. True citizens of the Kingdom are given the resources to bear fruit. This is another important aspect of faith. Life begets life. Jesus spoke often of fruit, notably in the famous parable of the sower, where the only plants that did not die were the ones that bore fruit.

The two servants knew full well that their Master could be a “hard man.” But the guarantee of reward and inclusion in their Master’s kingdom was so overwhelming that they willingly obeyed according to his expectations. And so they looked forward to the time when he came to settle up accounts.

And so can we.

Peace.

 

 

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Knowing God to be a “Hard Man” (to be continued)

February 16th, 2013

It has been my observation over the last twenty years that thinking towards God has evolved (or devolved) and changed, and not necessarily for the better. Maybe I’ve just been more cognizant of it, but I think certain ideas and responses have become more common.

First, the perspective that if God is sovereign, then we are free to question and blame him for the evil in the world. The truth of his sovereignty is less cause to praise him today and more cause to point a finger at the Creator. He must answer to us based on our idea of good. Second, the idea that a God of love would never send anyone to hell. If he sends people to hell, then he cannot be a God of love. He is a mean and horrible, if not downright sadistic, God if this is true. And so we either change our idea of God or reject Him outright.

Both are very common arguments and perspectives given as to why people “can’t” believe or follow God; or perhaps they lead to dismissal of biblical truths, the Bible altogether, and devolve into heresy, mostly defined as a new or “progressive” truth. These arguments and reactions aren’t new by any stretch of the imagination (see the Gnostic heresy as an example, during the time of the late first century). They’ve been addressed time and time again over the last two thousand years (and before).

Jesus addressed the image of God being “hard man” in one of hid parables. If you don’t know the scripture, you can read it here. (I’ll be mainly using the one from Matthew, but a similar parable is in Luke 19)

A short summary: a master left for a journey and gave three servants an amount of money (talents). He gave one five, another two, and the third one, “each according to his ability.” When he came back, the master settled up accounts. The servant with five invested and earned five more. The one with two talents earned two more. They gave these back to their master and were richly rewarded.

The third servant hid his single talent in the ground and gave his reasoning.

“I knew you to be a harsh and hard man,” he said. “You reap where you do not sow. So I was afraid and hid it. Here it is back to you.”

The response of the Master (God) is very telling, both in what he says and what he does not say. Now, pay attention: the servant didn’t do anything we might consider horribly wrong like use the money to go out and party or oppress the poor or something. He did nothing and used his Master’s apparent “harshness” as an excuse.

The Master does not accept this as an excuse. In fact, he judges the servant as “lazy and wicked.” The Master’s response? “If you knew me to be hard and harsh, why didn’t you do what you knew was expected?”

The servant knew the Master would come back to settle up, knew the Master’s expectations … and did nothing.

In his apparent attempt to dodge condemnation from the “hard man,” the servant gets exactly that. He was “cast into outer darkness” and there was “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Yep. Sounds harsh and severe to me.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul instructs us to not forget the “goodness and severity of God.” In Luke, the servant used the word “austere” to describe the Master: strict and severe. God is both severe and good, and you can find scripture to prove both. To argue that cannot cannot be both is to argue untruth and deception. Because of the cultural shift to cringe at such ideas, the church either downplays this aspect of God, minimizes, denies or ignores it. Jesus does none of this. He freely teaches it.

Jesus is not worried about making God look mean.

Because he also teaches us much more …

to be continued …

Peace.

 

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GNT #4 – The Gospel to Abraham

January 30th, 2013

So we’ve seen the gospel in Eden and the amazing redemption offered through this Gospel of the Kingdom. Today I’ll be sharing some thoughts on the Gospel and its connection to the promise of Abraham.

Nowhere in the New Testament is the Mosaic Covenant given much, if any, validity. Paul does say that the Law (in his mind, the Mosaic/Old Covenant) was good since it came from God, but that the end of that Covenant is death. Moses and Elijah stood with Christ for a moment at the Transfiguration, but they are pushed aside as soon as the disciples desire to make an altar for them, too, and God says, in an ultimate “well, duh” moment, “This is MY SON. Listen to him.” Good idea.

The promise to Abraham, however, is continually given direct connection to Jesus and the Gospel in the New Testament. I won’t go over all the verses, but it is a fascinating study and reveals much of Paul’s revelation. In Galatians especially, a veritable treatise on the difference between a covenant of Law and a covenant of Promise, we see this connection.

In writing to the disciples at Galatia, Paul makes a brilliant analogy from the Old Testament (he does this often in his writings). Abraham had two sons, Ishmael by the slave woman Hagar and Isaac by his wife Sarah. Isaac came second and was the child of promise. Ishmael was a child according to the flesh. Paul tells us that Ishmael is the Old/Mosaic Covenant and Isaac is the New Covenant.

You see, not all covenants are the same. There are a lot of covenants in the Old Testament, and they are all instructive about God in one way or the other, but they are not the same. And they cannot all coexist, even covenants from God.

You see, although Ishmael came first and was blessed, he was not the promised child to Sarah, the line through which the promise would come. So Ishmael persecuted Isaac and Ishmael had to be cast out. The difference between Law and Promise creates conflict. It must, given the very nature of them. And one must go.

This was quite instructive to the mostly non-Jewish congregation in Galatia that were being “bewitched” into bringing in Old Covenant ideas into a completely different spiritual relality. And it was quite offensive to the Jews, when you think about it. Just as the Jews in Jesus’ day claimed they were “children of Abraham,” these Jews pushing the Law onto the New Covenant would have believed the same. Here Paul, a Jew himself, equates following the Old Covenant with being like Ishmael, the son of a slave and persecutor of Isaac, their natural ancestor. Wow. Slam.

So what was the promise? I haven’t even told you that, yet. Pretty important. The promise, the Gospel, the New Covenant reality, was to Abraham and “his Seed”, not many as in the Israelites (another slam), but to One, as in Christ. And that promise was?

“In you all nations shall be blessed.” Through Abraham and Christ, all nations will be blessed. This was central to Paul’s ministry to the non-Jews, and it tells us something about the Gospel. This Gospel is a promise that every people group will be touched with the truth of Christ and the invitation to enter into the Kingdom through repentance unto Him. See now why the commission to go and preach this Gospel is included in all four of the “gospels”?

It also explains why the Old and New Covenants CANNOT coexist. It is impossible for them to do so given the source and the end of both. The Law kills and the Spirit gives life.

One final thought in conclusion: recognize that the Gospel as spoken to Abraham was not “Jesus died for you so you don’t have to go to hell.” Most of us have been taught that as the Gospel and many still define it as such, but the Gospel was a promised blessing for the whole earth, the whole world, for all of creation (we’ll see this more later). The work and person of Christ is central to the Gospel but it is too narrow if we just leave it as an individual opportunity. There is a corporate purpose to the fulfilled promise to Abraham and it is Good News to share this with the world.

Peace.

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Christians and Gun Control

January 25th, 2013

I’ve been debating on saying a couple things on this issue … well, mainly because it is topical. I don’t want to be too “relevant”, you know. I’m not that cool. But there were a couple things I thought needed to be said to Christians in light of recent events. I’ll move on to less “relevant” things soon.

Some clarification before I begin. On a purely political and worldly level, do not take this as some support for the recent liberal, neo-communist agenda to take guns away from citizens. I know that’s language that will turn people off, but that is the ultimate agenda by the left if you pay enough attention and the latest is just a step in the direction towards that ultimate goal. The 2nd Amendment is clearly written in its purpose, and those dudes were smarter than some people give credit.

Secondly, these words are to real disciples, which I have to define so we’re on the same page of who I’m addressing. Disciples are people who believe that faith in Jesus is the only way of true and eternal life (and all others lead to death), dedicate their lives to His Lordship and Kingdom, and read the Bible as if it is authoritative and inspired. If that’s not you, that is your choice, and you are free to read further, but this isn’t to you.

My concern has been the idea of safety for Christians. For a disciple of Christ, there is no excuse for finding safety in a worldly object or circumstance. Specifically for this topic: neither owning a gun nor changing gun laws will make you or your children more safe. Your life is not your own anyway, it is “hidden in Christ” at the right hand of the Father, in heaven. There is no need to protect a dead man. What more can be done to him?

You have an eternal inheritance in the Kingdom that cannot be taken away. How much more safe can you be? And yes, this can be extended to the material possessions we have and the people in our lives.

If you are a true disciple of Christ, you have the most powerful weapon in all of creation. In fact, it surpasses creation. It is the Spirit of the Creator. The power of the Creator Himself has been implanted within you. Your greatest weapon is the power of love and the Holy Spirit. That’s all Christ needed, and as His disciple, that is the one weapon you need to know how to use, the sword of the Spirit. It is the power to heal, to love, to know and speak truth, to raise from the dead, to ask as a son and receive. Literally.

You need a gun law or a gun to feel more safe? That’s a misunderstanding of the Kingdom and who you are in Christ.

Now, I’m not saying we can’t have a view on the issue of gun control based on a biblical idea of the role of government. I obviously do. I’m talking about an argument that comes from an idea of safety that is unattainable and not Kingdom-minded. And we disciples, of all people, should know this. In fact, we are promised persecution and trouble. Is a servant greater than his master? They hated Him, they’ll hate you. This world seeks to manufacture a feeling of safety from something external, and so they will champion a cause for those reasons. We must be different than that.

Peace.

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MLK, Jr. Day 2013 – The Dream

January 21st, 2013

I was always fascinated by Dr. King. And as a history major, I did a lot of my own research and even took a class in the Civil Rights Movement at Georgia State. One of my favorite books is A Testament of Hope, his complete writings and speeches.

Growing up, I had the “I Have a Dream” speech as a poster on my wall (a gift fro m my mother), through college at least – until it got too degraded to be taped up there. I was in college a long time. I should have laminated it.

As I watched the speech again the other day on Youtube, I was struck again by his “dream.” If you read or watch the speech, the whole thing isn’t his dream. King eloquently goes through the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation and into the rights of the individual that had been denied to people of color. He makes a brilliant analogy with a “promissory note” marked “insufficient funds” when dealing with the African American.

He gives a personal message to those in the audience that in the search of their rights and full freedom, they should not be guilty of wrongdoing, bitterness, or hatred, nor use the search for an excuse of such things. This is one of the reasons he’s been one of my heroes.

Then he switches gears. He talks then about his “Dream.” In other words, it was not his “dream” that the African American get the rights that are his or hers by endowment from the Creator. That should happen, and he fought for that. But his “dream” was bigger. And it separated him from all the other famous men and women of the civil rights movement.

His “dream” was more than just getting the right to vote or an equal opportunity for a job. He wanted, ultimately, to change hearts, the hearts of all men. King knew that the African American could get his rights and still be separated and segregated from the white man through hatred and bitterness and racism. In other words, he knew he could change the laws on the books but something else had to change the hearts of men.

That is only God’s domain.

But it is God’s dream that men love one another, that their hearts change in a fundamental way to see one another as people and as lives worthy to be given dignity and hope. It is God’s dream that His glory is revealed. Dr. King knew that. And it was Dr. King’s dream, too.

You can read the speech here. Or watch it here. As Dr. King shares his dream, it is a dream rooted within the Gospel, actually, not something we can share openly in public schools nor will be discussed today by the media as we celebrate Dr. King and the inauguration of a president, but it is there if you can get past the modern agenda long enough to see it. I’ll share this excerpt from his speech, the rousing lines that send a chill up my spine.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

And for a teenage boy that looked at the speech countless times growing up and has read the Bible even more, that is my dream too, Dr. King. My dream too.

Peace.

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GNT #3 – The Gospel of Eden

January 19th, 2013

A lot of basic truth can be traced back to the Garden of Eden. And the Gospel, central to the will and work of God, is no different.

Most of us know the basic story, conflict, and consequences of the account of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. But there is one part of the story that isn’t mentioned very often, and yet it is central to our understanding of redemption and the Gospel.

God gave humanity a job. What was the job? “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

You see, the whole world was not covered by the Garden of Eden. It was prepared for humanity and they were placed within it. The job, then, was to extend the Garden of Eden, as a model, across the whole world. And two people full of the Life of God couldn’t do that alone. They needed to make more of each other to do that, to take authority and dominion over the world, and make it a paradise like the Garden.

But they messed that up. They lost that, too, as a part of the curse and the spiritual death that occurred.

And yet that is what has been redeemed in the Gospel. Think of the terms from the New Testament. There is a new Adam (Christ) and we are a new creation, born again from the Spirit (from his “rib”, of his substance). And there is a Kingdom that is available if we will but repent and be born again to enter and to see it. We will be heirs and reign in that Kingdom, as begotten of God through the Spirit. We are to be preachers of that Kingdom, the rule and reign of God, which is good and true and right and peace and joy.

And we are to “be fruitful and multiply” in order to further manifest that Kingdom.

Mostly, I’ve heard “be fruitful and multiply” to justify having lots of kids. But that’s Old Covenant thinking. New Covenant thinking is not about having physical children but making disciples of the Kingdom of God through the new life of the Spirit.

Our modern culture has taken the Marxist deception that circumstances create evil, that man is basically good, and that our external situations are excuses for the evil that men do, and they’ve swallowed it whole. Jesus and the writers of the New Testament knew the source of the inequality, injustice, greed, lust, and violence in our world comes from the hearts of men and women that inhabit it and influence it. That is why they did not preach a changing of government or regulations but a change of the heart, the very nature of man through the rebirth of the spirit and change of the identity.

By changing the spirit and the heart of man, then individuals, families, communities, and other institutions will truly change, and the change will not depend upon the rule of law or the end of a gun or punitive taxation. It will come from the reign of a Kingdom that is not of this world and is voluntarily entered into through death of self to life in Christ.

One more thought. The model of the rule and reign of Christ, the Garden of our day, is the Church. Not simply a universal idea but small communities of men and women empowered by a Spirit that has broken the chains of sin and set them free to do good and show love and work righteousness (i.e. disciples). Unfortunately, that is not always realized in our local fellowships, for various reasons, but it is part of the design of God. It does happen, however, more than the world will ever recognize or validate, and that is as it should be. The King knows and will reward as he sees fit.

To be continued ….

Peace.

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Redemption According to Pinnocchio Part 5 – The Gift of Real Life

January 12th, 2013

Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket barely escape, but not without some change on Pinocchio’s part. He now has donkey ears and a donkey tail. They go back to Gepetto’s house but soon learn that Gepetto has been looking for his wooden little boy and has ended up in the belly of a whale … Monstro, from which no one ever returns.

Pinocchio does not hesitate, however. He goes now to save his father, to find and confront Monstro. He is now dragging Jiminy Cricket with him to a completely unselfish act.

They seek after Gepetto in the ocean and find Monstro. Pinocchio ends up in the belly of the whale, too, where Gepetto is still alive, and Gepetto is happy again to see Pinocchio, even though his son has become part donkey.

Pinocchio and Gepetto end up escaping from Monstro, but it costs Pinocchio his life. He ends up face down in the water, drowned.

Returning to the Father isn’t as easy as it seemed. The Father, in his loving search for what was lost, has given his life and made the ultimate sacrifice to find us and get us back.

And we must go there with him.

Remember, he went there first, going before us into what seems like a hopeless situation, but love doesn’t see the cost but the reward. In order to find God and be like him fully, it takes our whole life, our whole heart. Those that seek to save their life will lose it, but those that lose their life for God’s sake will find it. If we die with him, we will reign with him. We cannot be “Christian”, a “little Christ”, without it. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and we do not love our own life, even if it leads to death.

And it does lead to death, picking up our cross and following him.

Also important to note, once again, that we must not worry about how we will be received by our Heavenly Father when we fully return to him with our whole heart. We will be received with love and joy and celebration, no matter what we’ve done or where we’ve been.

Gepetto takes Pinocchio back to the house and is weeping over him. The fairy comes and states that Pinocchio was brave, truthful, and unselfish, to the giving of his own life. And then she bestows upon him what was always sought by Gepetto, a real boy. She didn’t just resurrect him as a live wooden boy again but changed the very nature of who he was to a living breathing flesh and blood boy of the same nature as Gepetto.

Quite the happy ending.

The reward for submitting our lives to God, for dying to ourselves and our own self-gratification, for giving our lives for God and the Gospel, is not just resurrection to a created state but a new creation in the very likeness of God by his Spirit.

The Good News is not a redemption that returns us to a previous created state in God’s image but a redemption and regeneration that bestows upon us HIS life and nature to be fully like him. We are begotten, no longer created.

A happy ending indeed.

Peace.

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