Drunken Mystic

There is this young man in our fellowship, and he gets frustrated with the organic nature of discipleship within our group.  (I grudgingly use the term “organic” because it has become a buzz word and beginning to lose its effectiveness … but there it is.)  We were having lunch one day, and he began to tell me that he didn’t think our group was doing much discipleship.  His idea of discipleship included classes and direct teaching that he felt wasn’t being done.  My question was, “How do you know you’re not being discipled right now?”

Of course that further frustrated him (people get frustrated with me a lot … I know), and continues to as we have further discussed it as time goes on.  But I’ve thought of a good example of how discipleship should work, and does, within the life of the Body, and thought I would share.

My son Micah is a great example of what discipleship should look like.  A week ago, we were at my in-laws and Micah begins to do a “show” and sing a song.  The song he sang?  “When I get to heaven, I’m gonna get a new body.”  He sang that phrase over and over again.

He’s four.

Last night, we went over the story of Adam and Eve, and how death was (and is) the penalty for sin.  But I explained that if we follow Jesus, we will go to heaven when we die.  “Yeah!” he says.  “And be with God forever!”  I agreed.  Then Micah said, “You know, I’m really excited to be with God forever.”

I never sat Micah down to specifically teach him these truths or to have this perspective.  He got it from spending lots of time with me and the people in our fellowship.  I can’t even tell you the specific instance when we talked about 1 Corinthians 15 and Paul’s teaching on the new spiritual body we will have, but obviously at some time we did.  And Micah remembered.

Micah is taking on my traits because he lives with me and spends lots of time with me … and looks up to me as his father, of course.  He gets the idea to sing a song he made up and do a show because he’s seen me share songs I’ve written with others.  He’s watching and listening even when I don’t think he is.  And just as a funny aside, Micah also thanked God in his prayers last night that he had a poster with superheroes on it.  His daddy still reads comic books.

Jesus discipled people by living with them.  They heard his teachings, yes, but every moment watching Him live was a teaching moment, and that made His teachings even that much more real.  The early apostles and Barnabas and Paul discipled the same way.

I am the man of God I am today because of the intimate relationships I’ve had with other men and women of God who have fathered and mothered me in the Spirit, people that not only spoke deep truths to me … but I saw them live it, too.  John Taggart, Isaac Williams, Rose Palmer, my own mother and Larry Trammell, among others.  And I may not have as may fathers as I once did, the Body still disciples me.  I learn how to better pastor from Ben and serve from Eric.  I learn how to have a better heart for evangelism from Larry V.  And the whole Body loves me and teaches me as they follow God and exhibit their gifts in the Body.  I have been – and will continue to be – the beneficiary of their spiritual depth.

And Micah not only lives with me.  He exercises with Jesse and takes long walks with Saji and bakes cookies with Amber and rough houses with Jason.  It is in these moments that life happens and righteousness is revealed, the fruit of the Spirit can be seen.  And that is far better to me than any class could ever teach him  Or me.

Peace.

There are a lot of people, most of them Christians, who are struggling, to put it mildly, with the image they feel Christians have.  Most notably, that Christians are “against things.”  They criticize some of these notions, even so far as to call it “hate” or “ignorance” or other name calling, distancing and therefore dividing themselves from these people who they feel aren’t representing Christ in a good way.

First of all, there is a certain flawed logic, philosophical tension if you will, about being against people who are against things.  It’s not okay to be against things but it is okay to be against the people who are against things, to call the name callers names.  Ah.  I see.  Kind of the “there are no absolutes” argument … which seems like a fairly absolute statement.

Second, there is a level to which we are allowing those already predisposed to hate Christianity the right to define Christianity or what it should be.  The Bible is clear that there will be people who hate those that follow Christ.  The same message will be life to some and death to others.  Jesus would preach and out of a crowd that heard the same words and tone of voice and saw the same body language from the Son of God, some would follow and believe and others would begin to conspire to kill Him.

So I don’t put much stock in the ire of the world.  In fact, Jesus says plainly that we should beware when the world loves us.  Not an actual measure of success.

Third, it makes the Church reactionary and subject to the world and worldly principles when we are citizens of Heaven.  True disciples of Christ aren’t meant to take their cues from external sources but be proactive from following the Spirit of God.  Jesus rarely answered the question asked but gave what people really needed to hear, even if it was that they were “children of the Devil.”  We are ultimately responsible to God through the leading of liberty by the Holy Spirit, not another’s view of us.

So let’s look at some things biblically that can give us some balance.  In following Jesus with all our heart, we will by nature be against things.  It will happen.  The Holy Spirit says “no” to me a lot.  Says “yes” to me, as well.  If we truly are seeking the will of God, then part of that will is to be against things.  To be for righteousness we will by nature be against sin.  To be for Jesus and following Christ, we will by nature be against all religions that deny Him.

Look at all the things through the New Testament that were spoken AGAINST.  Sexual sin, idolatry, greed (which is idolatry), lying, wounding another’s conscience, being divisive, false teaching (especially teaching that grace gives any place to sin), and others.  It’s a big list.  Jude is especially harsh.  Paul says in Galatians that if anyone preaches a different gospel, “let him be accursed!”

That is love by the way.

But here’s the thing.  Being citizens of heaven, people who will one day “judge angels,” we have authority for to judge the things in the church.  Not the world.

Go ahead, read that again.

In every case, when these men wrote against things, they were cleaning out the church, not judging or condemning the world.

Let’s look quickly at I Corinthians 5.  Paul has heard that some dude who sinned really bad was still a part of their fellowship.  He rebukes the church, even giving a list of sins, that if someone participates in these things and claims to be a believer, then have nothing to do with him.  Don’t even eat with them.

But you don’t shun or judge the world in the same way.  “For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?  But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person.’”

To be clear, the only people Christians are supposed to judge or condemn are those that have claimed to be disciples of Christ.  We don’t have the authority or the directive to judge the world.  That is God’s job.

Even though we will by nature be against things, that isn’t what the world is meant to see from us.  What will convince them we are who we say we are is loving one another as Christ loved us.

This is so opposite of the way most Christians behave that I don’t even know where to begin.

Well, I do … kinda.  I know that it begins with finding a group of believers who truly want to follow God with all of their heart, that seek to love God and love His disciples with daily encouragement, service, leadership, and correction, who live it and broach no compromise in themselves or others who claim the same.  Judgment must begin at the house of God, but we’re usually too busy judging the world to realize we need to start kicking more people out of our churches.

I know, to our modern progressive conscience, it seems like these two ideas are in conflict: to kick people out of churches and to love one another as Christ loved us.  But one won’t really happen without the other.  And if we say we believe the Bible (do we?), maybe its our modern progressive conscience that needs redeemed.

Peace.

When I was young, I remember the encyclopedia salesman coming to the house.  My dad bought several different sets of them: the  basics, scientific ones, the Annals of America, etc.  He also bought a lot of classic books: Twain, Orwell, Dickens.  I have no idea how much money he spent back then, but it had to be a lot.

From that time on, whenever I had a question about school, my father would point to the bookshelves and say, “See those?  Look it up.  That’s why I bought them.”  He made me work for the answer.  That actually taught me more than the answer itself.

So when people ask me questions, and I say, “Follow God; do what He says.  Ask the Spirit; that’s why He has been given to you,” some people think that makes me a bad leader.  I don’t know a better way, really.

An inability to hear the voice of God is a bigger problem than not knowing the answers themselves.

Peace.

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power.  1 Cor 4:20

I love words.  I love to hear them.   I love to read them.  If you’ve read my stuff or heard me teach, you know I love to use them.

But the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk.  It is a matter of power.

Solomon wrote that there is no end to books.  He never even went into a Borders or Christian bookstore, and he still knew that to be true.

Every time I turn around, I hear about a new book, a new author, a new blog.  Modern Christianity is addicted to “the new idea.”  In an effort to be relevant and successful, we are constantly on the search for new ideas.  And the measure of success is usually higher attendance, greater numbers.

Hitler spoke to millions.  Any charismatic man with style and a catch phrase can get people to listen and cheer.  If numbers were a measure of success, Jesus’ ministry on earth would be considered an abject failure.

The measure of the Kingdom is power.  What power?

Jesus, speaking of Himself to prove the coming Kingdom, quoted from Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

When the disciples of John asked for the Baptist, “Are you the Coming One or do we look for another?” – His answer:

“Tell him: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

This should be the answer if someone asks, are you a Christian?  Are you the Church?

Are you what we’ve been looking for?

If the answer is YES, then you are participating in the right Kingdom.  If your answer is, “Well, we sit around and talk a whole lot about it,” then you might need to reexamine some things.

I believe it was Ravenhill who said, “If preaching would bring a revival, we would have had one by now.”

And I’m skeptical that the answer is another book to be read.  Get in God’s face and beg, “Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking” and it will be opened to you.

I’ve seen people changed by the Kingdom.  People hearing and following God.  Forsaking this world for Christ.  Mourning turned into dancing.  Love and forgiveness instead of hate.  Giving without a thought for yourself.  Brokenness that leads to righteousness.  Physical healing.  Spiritual deliverance.

And good God, I want to see more!

I want to stand before Him on that day and hear, “Well done!” not “Well said.”

I don’t see the Bible giving the latter as an option.

Peace.

It is a common thing in the life of believers to be confronted with a part of God they don’t like.  It is inevitable, actually.  You will be confronted with part of God’s character that makes you want to turn your back on Him.  There are several possible reactions to this, but a couple are common.  Some people actually quit.  The way of following God becomes too difficult and they say, “Sorry, I’m out.”  Then there are others who just refuse to believe God could be like that, so they change their doctrine and search and find a theology they like and just stick with that one – usually either coming up with very interesting arguments as to how the Bible says something different than it actually says, or they just begin to discredit the Bible altogether, a convenient way to justify a belief in anything they might want to believe.

But true disciples confront these truths and are changed by them.  They allow themselves to be separated from their own life by the truth.

The difference in true disciples and other believers many times begins at the outset of their conversion (or a similar adjustment is made along the way).  Disciples begin with, “No matter what happens, there is nowhere else for me to go but God”; or as Peter says when Jesus gives a hard teaching and many left Him, “Where else can we go?  You have the words of life.”  They have repented not just of what they have done but who they are and realize that there is no other avenue or source of truth and life but Jesus.

Other believers, however, begin with a litmus test to see if they want to follow at all.  They look at the ingredient list of who God is and say, “Hmn.  Yeah, sounds neat.  Think I’ll try this out.”  It can actually be way more emotional than I just expressed, but the basis is one of “I like this, so I’m in.”

But God isn’t God because you like Him.  Truth isn’t true because you agree with it.  Truth separates, divides.  “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  Jesus says, “I came not to bring peace but a sword.”  Jesus says a lot of things we like to explain away.  He makes it clear that following Him will, by necessity, include a loss of your own life, one way or the other, and a division from your culture, your family, and even your previous source of life in this world.  “You must be born again.”

Most of the bad doctrine today comes from people trying to separate parts of God from Himself.  They believe certain aspects are by nature mutually exclusive, so how could they exist in one God?  So we get divisions of sovereignty and free will, wrath and mercy, forgiveness and judgment, Lordship and Savior.  People pick sides and begin whole ministries and movements based on these things.

Paul tells us in Romans to “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God; on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness.  Otherwise you will also be cut off.”

To teach the goodness without the severity is to teach an untruth, to teach a lie.  The same God who sent His only Son to die and showed us His love through that sacrifice, also shows His love by sending natural disasters and famines to judge peoples and nations.

We get uncomfortable with these things, but the Bible is clear.  The coming of the New Covenant does not change His character, either in goodness or severity.  Hebrews (on the two covenants): “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks.  For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.”  If anything, God is shown as infinitely more good … and infinitely more severe.

But we think we push people away if we say these things, our time and culture are different, yada yada yada.  Believing and living truth is not based on how others perceive us, nor on how we relate to our culture, but on how He perceives us.  At least, that is true for a true disciple.  We must understand that both compassion and fear are appropriate measures.  Jude:  “On some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”  2 Corinthians: “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”

Ultimately, the point is that we cannot separate characteristics of God from other characteristics of Himself.  They are indivisible from one another.  Just like a cake.  It has been mixed and prepared and baked.  You can’t unmix it or unbake it.  It is what it is.  If there is an ingredient you don’t like, you must reject the whole thing.

It is the same with God.  He isn’t changing.  He cannot change.  He is who He is.  We are the ones who must change.  We must renew our minds according to truth.  God doesn’t have to meet our standards and will not.  We must meet His.

But those who are true disciples kinda know this.  They don’t like it, but they keep following and let the truth set them free, change them, renew them, redeem them.

More on disciples and believers soon …

Peace.

I usually don’t share other blogs on here … usually do it on FB, but felt this was the way to encourage some to check it out.

I have found Piper’s stuff and the stuff on the Desiring God blog really encouraging.  Good insights and challenging messages.  If you’re like me and into that, then check Piper out.  This one I thought particularly good from the Desiring God blog:

The Wine Jesus Drank

Also, Eric H in our fellowship has put up a couple great posts on his blog, too.

God Doesn’t Care About Your Church

and  The Word and the Spirit

Peace.

If I’ve used this movie before as an example, I apologize … kinda.  Only to a degree because I love the movie UP.  It is quickly becoming one of my favorite Pixar movies, which is saying a lot because I think Pixar consistently  makes the best and most creative movies on the market.

So I watched this movie again this weekend.  In the midst of getting choked up yet AGAIN, God showed me and taught me something in the midst of it.

Let me take a moment to again say that just because God used this movie to teach me something, 1) that is only because He loves me and talks to me everywhere and in everything, 2) the makers of the movie didn’t necessarily intend the message, and 3) it doesn’t justify watching movies.  Just because God uses a vessel doesn’t justify the vessel.  That’s how false religion starts, and is actually more central to the message of this post than you might think.

(Warning: heavy spoilers here … so if you haven’t seen the movie and want to enjoy it without my summaries, STOP READING NOW … and read this later.)

The movie centers around an old man, Carl, who has lived a long life and is content to stay in his old house alone and stubborn against the world.  While he decides to chase after a lifelong dream, he gets “stuck” with a young boy, Russel, a talking dog and a rare bird.  Carl is constantly torn between the house he ultimately has to drag behind himself and the adventure he finds with Russel, the talking dog, and the rare bird.

All of this reminds me of a conversation I’ve had with people recently warning of a pattern that I’ve seen in the Kingdom of God.  And it is a negative pattern.

People in the Kingdom have monumental experiences, spiritual experiences where they grow and find joy and live a good life.  But God is always doing new things, and instead of continuing on as the cloud or pillar of fire moves on, they hold on to these old experiences and refuse to consider that a new adventure awaits them.

American  Christianity is one of the most segregated cultures in the world.  Not just racially but in regards to age and generation as well.  And institutions, by their very nature, can only encourage and deepen such segregation.

The generational segregation exists exactly because the older generation rests on the laurels and the experiences of the past instead of realizing their new role in what God is doing now.

We are all guilty of it, at least to a certain degree.  It is a very common temptation.  I’ve had several situations/experiences that I’ve had to let go of to move on to what God has for me next.  Personally, from Happy Hollow to the Trammell house church to our time in Korea to the Hospitality House and now on to Gwinnett Church.  And there will be things after this, as well.

Being thankful for the past and what God has done is one thing.  Holding onto it to the detriment of investing in where God has you now is another thing altogether.

In the movie, there is this amazing scene where Carl has to make a decision.  Russel decides to go to save the rare bird and leaves Carl and Carl’s house behind.  Carl looks at this adventure journal his wife had since they were kids, and he sees how she filled the blank pages with their life before she died.  And she leaves him a message: Thanks for the adventure!  Now go have a new one!

Carl needs his house to go after Russel but it won’t get off the ground.  So he dumps all of his treasured belongings to make the house lighter so he can fly after Russel to save Russel and the rare bird.

Too many of the older generation of believers are so tied to their previous experience in the Kingdom that they are bound to the past and unable to see the need for them in whatever God is doing today.  And the Church does need them.

But the Church doesn’t need the older generation to recreate what God did in the past.  They need the older generation as guides and someone to encourage the younger generation as the younger generation acts on their passion and the vision they’ve received from God.

In 1 John, the apostle makes three distinctions of his audience: young children (people glad for the forgiveness of sins), young men (those who are overcoming the evil one), and fathers (who walk with Him who is from the beginning).

There is a whole generation who is now overcoming the evil one, and they will not overcome the evil one and be saved from this wicked generation by using the past as a formula.  That is the evil of religion.  The Spirit is new and fresh; God does a new thing and desires new songs.  Yesterday’s manna rots and produces worms.

But while we shouldn’t use the past as a formula, the testimony of those who have gone before us is necessary.  Otherwise we should throw our Bibles away.

The role of the older generation in the Kingdom is to be Fathers.  This has two main aspects: first, to be a living testimony of those who “walk with Him who is from the beginning”, a testimony of a mature walk, and second, to encourage and guide the unique spiritual vision of the current generation, to be able to remind the younger generation that all is temporary and there are some principles which are timeless and true regardless of expression.

The younger generation longs for this role.  They need it.  This is the family of God, where the young realize their own temptations to spiritualize worldly things like music and buildings (or lack thereof) and structures need to be tempered.  But instead they see a testimony of an older generation that holds on tooth and nail to the past and the worldly things they associate with Christianity … so why should the young be any different?

In the movie, Carl ultimately takes ownership of the talking dog and Russel and while he loses his old life, Carl finds new satisfaction in a new adventure.

With my own son, is it being a good father to say, “This is how you grow up to become just like me,” or to say, “I want you to be whatever God wants you to be and I’ll do my best to help you realize that reality”?  I say the latter and that’s what the Church today needs.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how many older saints read my blog.  But if I could  say one thing to them, it is this:  There is no retirement in the Kingdom of God.  Roles change and evolve, and we need you.  We need your encouragement and guidance, friendship, involvement and testimony.  There is a whole younger generation that needs you to stop meeting with other older saints of God to try and relive the glory days.  Encourage the younger generation in their calling by walking through it with them.  Take ownership of this new role God has for you.  We want you and we need you.  In some ways, your true ministry might not be behind you … it might be just beginning.

It’s time for a new adventure.

Peace.

“… indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: ‘For He is good, for His mercy endures forever,’ that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”  2 Chronicles 5.13-14

As Solomon dedicates the temple he built to God, an amazing thing happens.  God manifests His presence so tangibly that there is a cloud and the priests “could not continue ministering”.  In a real way, the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

Now the house of God is no longer in a physical place like a city or building.  God’s house is now His people.  This is the House that He has built.  No man has built nor can he.  God “dwells in temples not made with hands.”

In other words, we are His house, the home where He lives.  And God wants to fill His House with His glory.  He desires it more than any extreme revivalist could understand.

Of course in a way He already does.  I do not mean to suggest that because we do not see  certain manifestations that God does not rest there, now.  But He does seek to be known through His people, to manifest Himself in such a way that the whole earth is aware of His glory.

But something happened in this scripture before He filled the temple that Solomon built: “the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord …”

There is a real need for unity among the brethren before God manifests Himself in a glorious way.  True believers must lift up their voices to join in with the “one sound.”  This isn’t just something you believe or have “in your heart.”   It is a sound “to be heard.”

So what is this one sound?  Well, let’s define the source of the one sound before we answer that question.  The source of this sound is from the Spirit of God.  There is one Spirit.  While we are all individually filled and led by the Spirit, the Spirit is one.  There are not many Holy Spirits.  Only one.  The Bride of Christ is not a harem of individuals, but a singular Body betrothed to Him.  This is due to the singular Holy Spirit all who believe.

Now that we have the source, what is the sound?  The sound is worship unto God.  But of course we understand that worship is not singing alone.  Worship in the New Covenant is, even at a basic level, is your life as a “living sacrifice,” which is a life of sacrificial worship unto the Lord in obedience and love and service to the Lord and others.  This can only be possible by the Holy Spirit, what Peter calls “the divine nature” of whom we are partakers.

As challenging as that is, that is not the end of what God is waiting for.  Just as these singers and musicians all joined their worship together into one sound, so must we find others to come along side and live the life of “living sacrifice” together.  Making it “one sound.”  While I am confident in our spiritual connection and one-ness with one another through the Spirit, unity must be expressed through gathering with other saints of God.  And not just a meeting here or there, but truly living it out with one another on a day to day basis.

“Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of is garments.  It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion;”

-and are you ready for the next verse?-

“For there the Lord commanded the blessing – life forevermore.”

If it doesn’t get more clear than that, realize that it was when the believers were “all with one accord in one place” that Pentecost happened in Acts.  And “where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst”.  Or the world “will know you’re My disciples if you love one another as I have loved you.”  How did Jesus love us?  Did He stay in Heaven to speak from there?  No, He came to live among us.  And as evidence that Jesus spoke truth, it was in Antioch “where they were first called Christians.”  By whom?  By those in the city who saw the testimony of love and righteousness so powerfully that they recognized Christ within it and called them “little Christs”, Christians.

We put a sign on a door or a website to label who we are and yet have no testimony to back it up.  The truth is if you’ve got the testimony you don’t have to label it … they’ll know.  We’ve gotten it backwards in so many ways I wonder if we know how far we have to go.

One thing before I end this here … conformity is not unity.  Diversity of gifts and roles is to be celebrated in the Body.  You are not to be conformed but “transformed.”  There’s a difference.  And freedom is given for certain convictions in regards to some things – what to eat or not eat, days to consecrate, etc.  But these are not to be placed as a burden on the entire Body, because under the New Covenant we do now worship with worldly or fleshly things but through love and righeousness/obedience.

There is also a diversity of the Spirit working through you that must also be celebrated and acknowledged:

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.  And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.  But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all …”  1 Corinthians 12.4-7

One sound to be heard for the profit of all.

If this isn’t making sense at all … that’s okay.  Love one another and it will all work out.

Peace.