Dead American

There is a Kingdom that possesses no physical boundaries; no papers exist to identify its citizens; it is not democratic, republican, socialist or communist; no airline can fly you there.

Yet it does exist in some form in this world. The Kingdom is Christ Himself, and He is also the absolute ruler; only it is a monarchy unlike any other. Hence, the term doesn’t really qualify. So since the Kingdom is Christ, it exists in two places simultaneously — not divided — in heaven as the reality and on earth as its expression.

Christ is one; therefore His Kingdom is one, and one day the earthly expression and the heavenly reality will unite in one eternal, intimate experience that the scripture uses a wedding to describe (you know … sex!).

Christ is seated at the right hand of God in heaven and also resides in His Body, collectively and individually, His people, those who have called on His name through repentance.

Now we come to us. Our lives are hidden in Christ in heaven and He resides in each and all of us.

This has all been quite metaphysical, but here is my point: We belong to something not of this world. Our citizenship is in heaven. Our kingdom is not of this world. This should be evident to the world through our thoughts, words, and actions.

Hebrews states it as the good confession before Pilate: My Kingdom is not of this world. How much of what we say and do is a confession that we really belong to a Heavenly country, that we are strangers and aliens here?

Practically, this questions and challenges many things people hold sacred: their material accumulation of wealth, their clamoring for worldly success, flying a national flag on their property, building religious empires … I would even question pledging allegiance to a flag … doesn’t that seem like treason to our Heavenly citizenship? I didn’t feel bad for not pledging to the Korean flag while I lived there, under their law …

My loyalty to Christ is all. Everything is forsaken in this. “No man can serve two masters. He will hate one and love the other.” Then Jesus says something interesting. “You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Not God and the devil … but God and mammon … worldly things. That is really the choice. And to be blunt, America is a worldly thing. America is not a Christian nation — it cannot be. It is a worldly entity put here for a specific purpose, but make no mistake, America is not the Kingdom of God, no more than Korea or India or Israel or Saudi Arabia.

Now, since God has placed America in a worldly authority over me, to protect and exercise a certain rule of law, I must honor that to some degree.

Much like living as a temporary resident in Korea. I had permission to be there, but I wasn’t a citizen there. I followed the laws, paid the fines when I broke the law, paid the taxes … but it didn’t cross my mind to be a citizen there.

It is the same living in America and being a Christian. I follow the laws, pay the fines, pay the taxes … but I don’t think of myself as a citizen here. I am a representative of another nation, and when it comes down to obeying God or man … God wins.

In order to ensure that loyalty, however, I cannot divide my attention. Fortunately, obeying God means obeying good laws in most countries, so I don’t have to worry about following American law — I just have to follow God.

This sets me free. I don’t have to defend or save America. I don’t have to tear the US down or build it up. It will fall and burn one day because a better kingdom is coming to replace it. I just follow Jesus and seek His Kingdom.

And because His Kingdom is in us, that means I seek it in my fellow citizens. My fellow citizens are my home country, no matter where they live. My house is an embassy flying the banner of love and hospitality. I find other embassies in other cities, states, and countries. My first loyalty is to the other citizens of my Kingdom. They take every priority.

My Kingdom also has its own culture: we give generously, live in purity, treat each other as better than ourselves, dwell in unity even when we disagree, ensure there is no need among us, heal the sick, and find families for those who have none … among other things, regardless of the color of skin, our language or background. We speak the same tongue of Christ’s love.

The world should know our loyalties. Fly the flag of His Kingdom in your home. Treat your day job as only a means of meeting other citizen’s needs. Act as the aliens and strangers you are, an invading force, and maybe we’ll get others to say to us, “take us to your Leader.”

Gladly.

Peace.

While I haven’t placed these in a definite order, I have purposefully talked about our active testimony before the verbal. I am a firm believer in the statement, “Preach the gospel. When you must, use words.”

As much as I love words, our deeds express more fully who we are and what we believe in.

However, we cannot ignore our calling to preach the truth. It is an important component of our testimony. Jesus did many things; He also said many things. In fact, it was not really His deeds as much as His words that got Him in trouble. It was His preaching that roused the ire of those with the power to kill His body.

There were two main messages that summed up the focus of the early Church. The first message hinged directly upon Christ, on Jesus alone. As a good friend reminded me this weekend, Paul said, “I endeavor to know nothing other than Christ and Him crucified.” The second message that dominated the early Church was repentance from sin. As I’ve said many times before, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, Peter, James and the Apostle John all made it clear that to turn to God was a break from sin. There was to be no mixture or excuse for it.

But these two messages (they are really linked as one, but for argument’s sake, I’m kinda delineating between them) are rarely the focus of modern Christianity. Secondary doctrines, political affiliations, and apologetic defenses cry for our attention. All that comes of this is division and posturing, despite our good intentions. Speaking only of Christ doesn’t require a great deal of education. It requires a level of purity that threatens those in ivory towers.

Speaking only of Christ also threatens our seat at big tables. When we talk about God if a vague sense, everyone from Muslims to Jews to Hindus and Buddhists can nod their head because of some monotheistic view within their belief system. But to mention and focus on Jesus specifically is exclusive, especially so if you speak in the context that He is the only way. Larry King is kinda offended by that. But this is precisely what the martyrs have died for — shame on us when we don’t mention Christ as the only way because we may seem too extreme, exclusive or just plain uncool.

And, to be honest, shouldn’t we have such an experience with Christ that He comes up in routine conversations? When I speak with other people, I find myself mentioning my wife and son because I love them and much of my life centers around those important relationships. We have so compartmentalized our spirituality that regular mention of Jesus as an actual person and major influence in our lives has become rather odd and weird. With true followers of Christ, it should not be so.

Preaching repentance is even more problematic because we have to talk about sin. There are several layers to this problem. Number one, we don’t want to sound judgmental or have a holier than thou attitude. Many of us have seen the pain caused by others who have judged too quickly and too harshly. Maybe we have been the receiver of such judgment. Perhaps we’ve been guilty of it ourselves. But Peter says, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” In other words, we shall all stand before God one day and give an account for every deed. If we truly love others, we wish that day to be as glorious as it can possibly be, not one full of tragedy and remorse. Another’s misdirected zeal or our own past mistakes should not cause us to shy away from this love.

But then this leads us to the second major problem. What is sin? Many make mountains out of molehills and others act blind to the actual mountains. There are so many different perversions of sin, both to the strict and the liberal, that most Christians don’t even want to bring up the topic, either with other Christians or those within the world. It seems to cause too much tension and contention.

While this is not the place to go into great detail, there are two sources where we find our definition of sin: the scripture and the witness of the Holy Spirit. Both are needed in balance because without this moderation, we easily slip into legalism or debauchery.

The third problem goes back to an earlier topic. If we speak of sin and the judgment therein, people will begin to examine OUR lives and watch us even more closely based on the standard we espouse. We’re uncomfortable being the city on a hill and the salt of the world.

Some quickly point to the scripture where Jesus warns us about judging a brother who has a speck in his eye while we have a 2×4 in our own. But remember, the reason we remove the 2×4 in our own is to properly address the speck in another. The speck still needs to be dealt with, just in an attitude of purity, love, and proper perspective.

Christ alone and the message of repentance. Very simple, but no coward attempts this simplicity. Only childlike bravery can lift our eyes to this place.

Peace.

Jesus secretly talked to a religious leader and explained the following truth:

“Things that are born of flesh are flesh. Things born of the Spirit are Spirit. The wind blows but you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. So are those who are born of the Spirit.“

The scripture calls Christians a “peculiar people.” When you look at people from the Bible, you can see how this is true.

Taking the New Testament alone, we start with John the Baptist, who wore animal skins and ate locusts and honey, preaching out in the wilderness when he could have been quite the upstanding priest by following in his father’s footsteps. Paul was a terrorist and a murderer before being changed by Christ. Then he’s beaten and left for dead. He’s bitten by a snake and lives. Peter’s shadow heals people. Phillip is literally translated, before anyone ever thought of Star Trek, and shows up in a totally different city.

Let’s just take Jesus for a moment. He spits in the dirt and makes mud to put it in a dude’s eye to heal him. He calls a dead guy from the grave, still wrapped in grave clothes. He was born in a stable and changed water into wine.

Peculiar people indeed.

How often are we willing to be weird in front of the world? It seems to me that most of the Christians I know are fairly strange and cannot really explain half the things they are called to. Those who are led by the Spirit say and do some strange things. They go to different countries on a whim. They give when they should take. They stand silent when they should speak. They speak whey should be silent. They hang out with other weird people.

The world should see Christians as strange people they’re not really sure about.

Unfortunately we have much of American Christianity that seems intent upon putting forth an image of normal, middle class American life. For many Christians, anything outside of that norm feels just as strange as it would to the rest of the world. Sadly, some even do all they can to distance themselves from those weirdos.

Of course the only people who act so strange are completely sold out to Christ. So, to many Christians, only missionaries and professional ministers (maybe) are to be that sold out to God. They don’t have to really meet those people or be in close contact with them, but they’ll rent movies about them at Blockbuster. And the result is many get very uncomfortable running into sold out Christians in their every day lives.

God desires a people, not just a few individuals we can later make saints, who are completely sold out to Him on every level and ultimately express that commitment in some very weird ways. You see, God is rather creative, and He likes to buck the systems and expectations of men. He likes to show off and do things that surprise and interest people.

So many are looking for mystery, a real life mystery that is lost. People try to look for this mystery in Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or comic books or other entertaining venues. But what would they say if they saw mysterious and fantastical things from a community, a group of people that they couldn’t explain, who live in this world but seem to live in another all at the same time? It would frighten and excite them, anger them possibly. But that is who we are to be, just like those we read about in the Old and New Testaments, a nation of prophets and priests that supernaturally live in a natural world.

I love fantasy books like Lord of the Rings and the Robert Jordan books. But the older I get (and yeah, I’m old …), the more I am amazed and in wonder at biblical stories. These people actually did these things. This isn’t some fantastical tale about another world with crazy creatures. This stuff really happened! The next time you read one of those miraculous stories in the scripture, ordinary people doing extraordinary things, pause and meditate on those events. Use your imagination to flesh it out and make it real. Meditate on the fact that those things actually happened …

And they still could to a people totally in love with God, conscious only of His will and desires.

My challenge to you this week? Don’t be afraid to be weird, to be different, to be unique and creative however God leads you. It is your gift to me and to the world.

Peace.

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.