Drunken Mystic

Jesus looked at His disciples and uttered the following words: “My Father has given everything to me, and I give everything to you.”

And when faced with overwhelming circumstances, whether it was a harrowing storm or a young girl they couldn’t heal, the disciples were criticized by Jesus for their lack of faith.

What has happened to a Church supposedly filled with the power of creation and glory residing within her, yet we don’t expect God to do supernatural things in our lives?

One of the main signs that we belong to God is the evidence of the supernatural in our lives. I’m not going to give people an easy out on this one, either. I’ll make it specific. People are healed of sicknesses and diseases. The dead are raised to life again. People are delivered from sin and addictions. Homosexuals leave their destructive lifestyle. Bitter family feuds find reconciliation. The Church acts as if it is of one Spirit.

When asked by the disciples of John whether or not He was the Christ, the Messiah they were waiting for, Jesus said, “Tell John the lame walk, the blind see.” Jesus often pointed to His miracles as signs that He was the Son of God. The fact that every gospel has such overwhelming evidence of Jesus’ miraculous power should tell us that the early Church found it pretty central.

The disciples continued acting as if supernatural acts were ordinary. Speaking in other languages on the Day of Pentecost. Peter and James healing a man on the way to the temple (“silver and gold I don’t have, but what I do have, I will give”). Peter’s shadow healing crowds of people. A disciple praying over Paul and healing blindness. Gentiles and Samaritans speaking in tongues.

In Galatians, as Paul is chastising the assembly for relying upon their own flesh, he wonders aloud whether the flesh or the Spirit is responsible for the miracles done in their presence. James calls the elders together whenever anyone is sick and says they WILL be healed, and their sins will be forgiven.

Saints through the ages have enjoyed incredible testimonies of the supernatural based on their faith in His power in the lives of His children. It happens even today. People are still being raised from the dead. Sicknesses are still being healed.

But many here in the States quickly bristle at this apparent lack in their lives. They do this using one of several tracks. First, they point to all the charlatans who do it for the wrong reasons. But is that really a reason not to believe in something? Aren’t there people teaching wrong doctrine about a whole host of things, even other religions that are deceiving many? Taking this logic to its conclusion, we cannot even believe that Christianity is true since there are false religions. Tragic that this actually does happen.

Second, we come up with a doctrine that says miracles were important during the time the New Testament was written, but that was then and we don’t need that kinda stuff today. This has no basis in biblical fact. On the contrary, you really have to disregard much of the New Testament (and even Jesus’ teachings) to get there. Of course, we can also point to the well-documented (and in some cases, recorded) evidence of supernatural healing and other events that are happening even today (just not much in America). Not to mention a host of missionary accounts within the past couple hundred years that blow this reason out of the water.

Third, people actually point to the Bible. Jesus says at one point, “it is a wicked and perverse generation that seeks after a sign.” Jesus was addressing the motives of the heart, not the validity of miracles. In Luke, Jesus describes how the Jews of His day were responsible for the blood of all the prophets in history. That sounds like a fairly wicked generation. He routinely described the Jewish nation as a wicked generation (“the devil is your father”). But did that stop Him from raising the dead, healing the cripple and the sick? Absolutely not. It didn’t stop Him from raising from the dead in order to assure the abundant life that we now enjoy.

What we come down to is the one conclusion none of us, including me, wants to admit. It is our faith that is weak. It is our trust and belief that God can, and will (and wants to!), do amazing, miraculous things in our lives.

See, what we don’t understand is that the same people that God used to work such awesome miracles had also given up their materialism, greed, sexual lust, seeking after power, their whole lives to follow Jesus. It is difficult to believe God can heal the sick when we don’t even believe He can change our hearts and free us from our own sin.

So we live in defeat and call it victory or make excuses and justifications for it while other places in the world without our material riches enjoy the regular testimony of the power of God.

It is a wonder we call ourselves “little Jesuses”.

Peace.

A modern move to recapture God’s heart for the poor is encouraging to say the least.

But since the “religious right” has been more famously guilty of preaching moral righteousness while leaving this undone, many have used their lack of compassion to the poor to tear down much of what the conservative right stands for. A whole generation (or two) that has grown up with a media’s general hatred towards moral standards and conservative ideas feels very comfortable embracing the modern liberal progressivism and rejecting or mocking the conservative Christian and his moral standards.

This is dangerous. While I will be the first to cry out with those who say God is with the poor, it does not for a moment negate God’s hatred of divorce, adultery, homosexuality, abortion, premarital sex, or any other biblical standard of holiness and purity.

To leave one for the other (in either sense) is out of balance and not the expression of Jesus on the earth.

Jesus kept Himself morally pure AND gave to the poor. He also taught moral purity and giving to the poor. James says this is our pure and undefiled religion: to give to orphans and widows and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.

We should be and do both.

When we call the world to Christ, we call them to give up their possessions and their moral sin; not just in attitude or theory, but in actuality.

This means that Christian liberals and conservatives are both right and both wrong. We are neither when we have and claim both. Let both camps excommunicate us. Then we’ll know we’re like Jesus.

Peace.

A Christian is not something you believe or claim. A Christian is who you are. And who you are determines what you do and think and say. A Christian is like Christ in his being, renewed and transformed by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, a Christian is like Christ in his doing, as well.

“For God so loved the world that He gave …”

We are most like God when we give. Because of our need, we must all learn how to receive (not take … there is a difference). But our focus is to be givers. It is in our giving that people see the character of God.

God was willing to give His very life for us, yet we have an American Church that thinks of its own safety before giving in almost any way. We have all the excuses, “I would love to give, but I don’t have enough ____” you fill in the blank … money, time, energy, whatever, and ultimately we give a pittance if anything at all.

Our Christian organizations are great examples to follow. Most fellowships give only a tiny fraction to the poor, if they give anything at all, because they’re too busy spending money on themselves. Is it any wonder their congregations do the same?

And here’s where we come to the crux of the whole matter. While there are people, possibly within our own congregations, who don’t have enough to eat, we can’t give because we’re too busy feeding our own lusts. Between our house payment, car payments, cable, internet, cell phone and other “needed” expenses, we don’t have the money for anything else. We’ll save up hundreds (0r go into debt) for a flat panel TV and bemoan how little we have to give to the poor. Our self-entertainment alone takes up more money than all our regular giving.

Consider for a moment the Bible. I know its becoming more and more passe to actually believe what it says, but consider that from Job (the earliest written book in the Bible) to the New Testament (John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, Paul, James, John the Apostle — all of them), they all expected generous and sacrificial giving from the people of God, equating giving to the poor AS righteousness.

Now consider what you spend on yourself (not needs, but wants) compared to what you give to the poor (I don’t count a check or tithe to your “church” because they probably don’t give more than 1 or 2% of their budget to the poor).

You and I will stand before God and be judged for the difference.

Most of us are in debt because of things that aren’t even needs. Some might argue that their house is a “necessity.” It might be. But most Christians seek to gain even with their home and therefore are paying a mortgage that is too high for a house too big for them (“but I ‘need’ the formal living room AND the personal home theater!). The American Dream is the antithesis of the Kingdom of God. You can quote me on that.

Judas didn’t betray Jesus over sex or drugs or even power. It was money. He sold our Saviour for the price of a common slave. We have a Judas Generation in America who has betrayed the Kingdom of God for the American Dream and all that it entails. God help us.

Imagine instead a people who make 50 grand a year (generous average) but live off of 15 grand. They live in a house that many would say is too small or they live in a trailer park or rent out someone’s basement or extra rooms. Their kids share a room (gasp!).

They go to public places like parks for parties and share everything they can. Ever notice how there’s always enough when that happens? I’ve been going to Church dinners my whole life and I can’t remember seeing anyone go hungry when everyone chips in (it might have happened, but I can’t remember … can you?).

And you know what they do with the other 35 grand a year? They give it away. Not to their local steeplehouse organizations or the government but to the direct needs of those in their community, their brothers and sisters in Christ first and then their neighbors. Not everyone is my brother or sister in Christ, but everyone is my neighbor. And I’m supposed to love my neighbor as myself.

There should be no charge at the door for fellowship. Ever. God hates to see facilities associated with His name locked up behind gates or huge double doors.

Maybe you don’t have much, but I guarantee that if you give it all, you’ll have more than you did before. Remember the boy with the loaves and fishes? He ate his fill that day, too.

Our times of fellowship should welcome the poor, not hedge them out with this upper middle class persona we don every Sunday morning.

Giving to those in need is a pure material expression of God’s eternal grace. God gave life to those who only had death eternally. Our active participation in material giving (this includes our time, our most guarded commodity) backs up our preaching of Christ. To chase the American Dream while philosophizing about God’s love only makes us hypocrites.

So buy your clothes at thrift stores. Have people over for dinner instead of eating out. There are so many creative ways to live below your means. God is a pretty creative guy. He’ll help you.

It is only our pride that stands in the way.

I wonder if anyone remembers what God thinks about the proud?

One day He’ll remind us if we don’t.

Peace.

I recently heard a story of a debate that occurred in the time of the early Church. A non-Christian attacked a Christian, Minucius Felix, based on several points. One of the accusations: you Christians think you’re better than everyone else.

The modern response would be automatic: “Of course not. We are just like everyone else. We just believe in Jesus and we are saved by that belief. Other than that, we’re no different. We fail, we make mistakes, we sin every day, needing God’s forgiveness.”

But that was Minucius’ response. Here is his response: “And although ignorance of God is sufficient for punishment, even as knowledge of Him is of avail for pardon, yet if we Christians be compared with you, although in some things our discipline is inferior, yet we shall be found much better than you. For you forbid, and yet commit, adulteries; we are born
men only for our own wives: you punish crimes when committed; with us, even to think of crimes is to sin: you are afraid of those who are aware of what you do; we are even afraid of our own conscience alone, without which we cannot exist: finally, from your numbers the prison boils over; but there is no Christian there, unless he is accused on account of his religion, or a deserter.”

Today, that would be heresy.

What the early Church believed, knew, and lived was really very simple. Christ died to save us from the penalty of sin. He rose to save us from our slavery to its nature and control. The first apostles were given a very specific commission by Christ: make disciples, teaching them to follow all of my commands.

If we read the writings from the early Church, that’s exactly what they did. The apostles made no excuse for sin, only unlimited forgiveness to those who would repent through the blood of Christ.

The first apostles continually made righteousness the standard. To argue otherwise, you’d have to rip out half of the New Testament and most of those little red words by Jesus. Paul, Peter, John, James, Jude; they all might say it differently but agree in principle. “Be holy as the Lord is holy” – Peter. “Faith without works is dead” – James. “This is how we know we love God, if we keep His commands” – John. John must’ve remembered the words of Jesus: “If you love me, keep my commands.” How about Paul, whose extreme reliance upon grace is central to his explanation of the New Covenant, says, “should we sin so that grace may abound? Absolutely not! How can a dead man sin?”

How can he, indeed. We have perverted the idea of grace. When someone sins, we say, “Thank God we’re not under the law but under grace.” However, the Bible teaches a different story. Grace teaches us to say no to sin. His grace is sufficient. God will never tempt beyond what we can handle. There is always a way of escape.

Grace does not mean it is okay to sin. Just the opposite. Grace enables us not to sin. Righteousness, not sin, is evidence of our salvation by grace.

What has the perversion of grace led to? The divorce rate is just as high among those who attend steeplehouses as those in the world. When Christian conventions come to town, hotels see a definite spike in porno rentals. There area plethora of books in Christian bookstores on how to get rich, how to suceed and climb the corporate ladder. We watch the same movies and TV shows, listen to the same music, and suffer the same lustful advertising. We’re just as divisive (if not more) than the world in our gossip, criticism, and betrayal.

No one sees a difference … and many are actually proud of it … justify it.

How can we call ourselves “little Christ’s” when we don’t do what He did or say what He said? That is taking the Lord’s name in vain.

The world should have to make stuff up about us to accuse us of any wrong. They had to with Stephen before they stoned him.

There should be a noticeable difference between Christians and the world. We are to be a peculiar people, yes, but also a righteous one. How can we be His Body and be known to sin? How can we be filled with the Holy Spirit and not be holy?

This is not an arrogant, pretentious holiness. This is a humble boldness about what we have and who we are in Christ. How is the world to be convicted before a holy God when His people are anything but?

We should be better fathers, mothers, children, coworkers, extreme givers, masters of hospitality, faithful husbands and respectful wives. We should be known for our purity and sanctification, our unity and mercy, our justice and fear.

Instead we sing passionate love songs to Jesus (packaging, protecting and selling them). Then we throw up our hands and teach one another that we can’t keep His commands.

Tragic.

Peace.

“Behold how they love one another.” … Tertullian, describing Christians of an earlier age

In Antioch, there was a community, a subculture, an extended family within the city. They were visible. They made their presence known through their love for one another.

But alas, this community didn’t have a name. They acted strangely similar, shared everything, gave much, and lived together. Different types, races, and classes of people lived as brothers and sisters, a connection beyond nationalism or any other worldly group mentality.

But the city didn’t know what to call them. Years after the resurrection of Christ, these people had still refused to give it a name, letting their testimony speak for itself. So the city around them gave them a name and a label. “Little annointed ones.” “Little Christ’s.”

Christians.

So often today we have the name but no community to back it up. Jesus said the world would know we belong to Him because of the love we have for each another.

Behold how they love one another.

The Church is made up of people who should not get along, much less share as those closer than brothers. But they do. Or at least, they should.

When the New Testament describes loving one another, it speaks of things that cannot be done alone. You must be with the Body to love them.

Most Christians have successfully insulated themselves from the Church so they’ll never have to love her. They never spend enough time with the Church to be vulnerable or to engender trust in another to prove themselves good stewards of another’s vulnerability. We don’t have to forgive as Christ because nobody gets close enough to touch us, much less hurt us.

Who you spend the most time with is your fellowship, your church, your house of worship. Jesus spent practically every waking moment of every day with the twelve, then said as He comissioned them: “Love one another as I loved you.” Do we really thing they understood something different by that?

As impossible as this sounds to us, let’s look at it for a moment. Let’s assume you work 40 hours a week. If you get 8 hourse of sleep a night, that’s another 56 hours for a total of 96 hours. Do you know how much time is in a week? 168 hours. Taking away work and sleep, that’s another 72 hours.

Even for a normal American worker, you could almost double the time spent with the Body of Christ than you do at work. How much time do we normally spend with the Church? An hour or two a week looking at the back of their heads? What are you doing with the other 70?

By my earlier standard, most people worship their jobs or entertainment, their “free-time.”

People in the Church should have very little “free-time” as we understand it.

Now, to be clear, I’m not advocating a religious worship service every waking moment. I’m encouraging sacrifice of our self-entertainment and careers for the edification of the Body through fellowship.

So the world can see the love.

But what I suggest has dangerous implications. Maybe you turn down a promotion that would require more of your time. Maybe you sell your home and move in with other Christians to share a different life of abundance. Maybe you see less movies and miss your favorite TV shows. Maybe being hospitable takes priority over who won American Idol.

This seems like too much, so we refuse the sacrifice, redefine love by our romantic sensibilities and continue to call ourselves Christians.

All the while, the world still doesn’t believe it.

Behold how they love one another.

How I long for the day that above all else, the world could say this of us in hushed awe.

Peace.

I’ve been working on this series a little while, meditating and pondering it.

The truth of our testimony to the world, both what it is and what it should be, is striking. The gap between them seems large and difficult to bridge, but I know that God will have a pure Bride for Himself. One that He will wash with the word.

But She will also make herself ready. She will respond to the call and come out of Babylon. She won’t talk about coming out of Babylon … she won’t preach about the Jezebel of the world … she will actually come out of Babylon and exorcise the Jezebel within her.

This purity will have ramifications in the world. On one hand, there is a rejection of the world that must take place. On the other hand, we are ministers of reconciliation to people within the world. It is a tense relationship. Without the testimony, however, very little reconciliation and redemption will take place.

The testimony of the Church is essential for the message of reconciliation. We learn in Revelation that the saints overcame the Devil by “the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto the death.” We talk a lot about the blood of the Lamb … but one out of three ain’t enough.

This purity also has ramifications for the Church. It means we must die to ourselves, to the things we want, to take the blood of the Lamb and become a radical witness to all around us who dare to see with different eyes. It will mean we have to continue to repent and change, to evolve into that pure Bride that will be spoken of by Christ: “Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” This purity will force the world to make a decision, whether they want to or not. And they will make a decision. We will be persecuted and mocked and shamed.

It will ultimately look like we will lose. Which is why, in the realm of megachurches and people out to change the world and use God to get rich, this is the narrow way.

The following series is a quick look at what the Church should be known for, what Her testimony should be before a lost and dying world.

And at the end, we should all ask ourselves the following questions: “Is this true?” and, more importantly, “Will I do it?”

Let’s see.

Peace.