Unity – A Guest Blog Post
In case I haven’t said this recently, the most awesome people read and interact on this blog. (Yes, even those brothers and sisters who disagree with me.) I often get emails from people who further conversations on this blog. I usually ask if I can use their emails as “guest blogger” posts.
Recently I received an email from Hal. He sent me the email below in response to our chain blog on “City Church“. I thought you might enjoy reading what he has to say about unity among the body of Christ.
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I am a believer in Memphis, Tn. I am part of a fellowship of believers here that has been meeting in homes for a while. I stumbled on your blog while reading David Roger’s [“Love Each Stone“].
For what it’s worth I’d like to testify to the fact that being part of a “city church” is truly a labor of love. Most folks just have enough stress already, and don’t want to go through the grind of worshipping with, and living with people who they either don’t like, or disagree with doctrinally. It’s just so easy to find a place that has good music, right doctrine, and something for all the kids. But for the few of us who are a little weird and know Christ has asked much more of us than that, well, we persevere at all costs.
After you’ve gotten to know a brother well enough to hate him, and can still wash his feet with joy, there you have the church. We are not called to be over one another, but under.(Luke22:24-27) If you can get strong willed men whose minds are made up about the church together, with completely different stances or views on the scripture, and watch them submit to each other, you will have men you can trust and love.
Most of what I’ve read on “city church” is good, but always ends up hung up on how to share power: “who will be in charge?” Funny how it’s not reversed “who will be the least.” In America we don’t need more gifted preachers, we need to trust Christ to be head over His church, and ask Him to be our leader. “Give us a king!” we scream, when what we really need to do is walk in the love and truth God is so ready to freely bestow on those who would be priests unto Him.
If we ever get to the point where we know we’ve replicated the first century church, or that we’re doing it the right way, it’s over. I think the Lord in His wisdom will deal with the world through broken vessels, striving for unity. However close we get to the ideal church experience, we must hold it loosely, knowing it is all of grace. I am blessed to be where I’m at, and long for many of my brothers to know real church life, but at the same time I know God works through the meek and opposes the proud, so I repent of the pride that so easily ensnares me, and ask God to bless the First Baptist churches of the world. Thanks for reading this, and may the Lord bless his holy people.
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I agree with Hal that God desires unity and that we should work toward unity. I also agree with Hal that God even works through broken people – even those who refuse to live in the unity of the body of Christ. When we think we’ve got it all together – when we think things are perfect – then we’re relying on ourselves and our ability to do things right, instead of relying on God and his grace.
I thank God for brothers like Hal who are living the gospel with those who are different from themselves. I also thank God for all of those who email me. I’m always encouraged to hear what God is doing through his children around the world.
Deacon and Usher and Pastor
As most of my long-time readers know, I love satire. I recently ran across the blog “Deacon and Usher’s Weblog“, which chronicles the discussion of two buzzards – a deacon and an usher – I kid you not. Their latest post is called “Traditional Title of Pastor or Real Titles?” In this post, the two birds discuss titles for their pastor, if they used titles which demonstrated his actual job function. These were Usher’s suggestions:
Chief guilt officer, Chief alter caller, Chief wine and bread steward, Chief Membership Pusher, Chief Building Fund Persuader, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Delegator, Chief Manipulator, Chief divorce counselor, Chief curriculum chooser, Chief Finanacial Officer, Chief Idealist (keep the member) officer
hmmm… are the two buzzards suggesting that some “Pastors” don’t actually shepherd?
Scripture… As We Live It #9
Here is the ninth passage from “Scripture… As We Live It“:
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not certainly be so among you. But So whoever would be great among you must be your servant leader, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave authority… (Matthew 20:25-27 re-mix)
Church Family?
I met a very nice lady today. She’s a neighbor of a friend of mine. They both live in government subsidized housing. The lady that I met has cancer on her ear. The doctors want to do a skin graft, but she has to stop smoking first. So, she’s struggling both with cancer and with smoking.
I asked her if she had a church family. She told me that she “went to church” with a local church “when she could”. I asked her if they took care of her. She said, “I like the church very much”. I responded, “I’m glad. Are they visiting you and helping you with things around your house.” She said, “No. They never visit. But, the pastor calls me occasionally.”
Why is this kind of behavior acceptable among believers? Why do we call ourselves the church of God and not take care of one another, especially those who are hurting, lonely, and in need? Why do we call ourselves a church family and not treat one another like brothers and sisters? Are we just pretending?
Weightier Matters
As I was reading through Matthew again recently, a verse caught my attention. I’ve probably read this verse hundreds of times, but I usually breeze over it without a second thought. This time, I read it slowly a few times, and I can’t get it out of my mind:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. (Matthew 23:23 ESV)
Weightier matters… justice and mercy and faithfulness. Yes, Jesus was speaking against the religious people of his day. But, I wonder if he would say the same thing to most Christians today. Perhaps he would even say that same thing against me.
Beyond Charity – Introduction
A few weeks ago, I was talking with a friend about our desire to reach out to and love some of “the least” in our area. He recommended a book by John M. Perkins called Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development. Since our library had withdrawn this book from their shelves – an action that neither one of us understands – he sent me his copy of the book. I’ve read the first three chapters, and already I appreciate how Perkins is putting words to many of the things that I’m sensing from Scripture, and he’s helping me to understand the background of the plight of the urban poor.
In the introduction of his book, Perkins explores the birth and growth of the urban ghettos, explains his own spiritual journey, and documents the work that he, his family and friends, and others are doing to bring reconciliation to the poor, urban centers of the United States.
I love the way that Perkins begins to describe his “struggle with racism and poverty”:
My struggle began one Sunday morning in 1957 at a little Holiness Mission in Pasadena, California, when I discovered that God loved me. I had grown up in Mississippi without a mother or a father. I grew up without the certainty of love. That morning all the longing of my heart came together when I heard that God loved me, that God had sent his Son into the world to die for my sake. That morning, the best that I knew how, in the midst of all my feelings of inferiority, in spite of the fact that I was a third-grade dropout, at the age of twenty-seven I reached out to God. It seemed that this was the morning that I had been born for. I felt what I had missed all of my life: I was loved by a holy God. I felt great joy mixed with sadness and guilt. I could not stop weeping, for I was overwhelmed by my foolishness and sinfulness. I saw that my sin was like spitting in the face of this God who loved me even now in spite of my sin. I felt that I had been rejecting him for twenty-seven years. And yet I was overjoyed at the experience of God’s love for me. The experience of this joy has stayed with me.
I’m glad that Perkins began his story about his own “struggle with racism and poverty” by describing how he came to know the love of God. Our love of others flows from our love of God, which originates with God’s love for us. Perkins’ struggle continued…
Over the last thirty-five years, the struggle has been to reconcile what happened to me there, the experience of God’s love, with living in the world. The struggle has been to show to my neighbor the reconciling love I found at conversion, when out in the world I found bigotry and hatred – even from Christians – because I was black. At every key point, at every crucial moment, I have been surrounded by Christians who loved me so that I felt that reconciling love…
The first time I went [to a Bible study], I looked around me and saw that everyone there was white except for me. I had never, ever, seen white folks and black folks together in church in Mississippi, so I was afraid I might get turned away; but my desire to know the Bible was too strong for me to leave.
I went to the back of the room and listened to the Bible lesson from there. By the end of the lesson, I knew I wanted to keep coming to this class. I knew I wanted to learn what this teacher had to teach me, but I was afraid that I would not be wanted, because I was black. I waited until most of the other men had left, and then I went up to the teacher. I reached out to shake his hand, but he didn’t shake my hand – he put his arm around my shoulder. I felt the reconciling love of God. I felt that he wanted me there.
Perkins goes on to describe how the church must stop handing out charity to the poor out of guilt. Instead, believers must live with the poor and help them through the love of God. If our actions make us feel better about ourselves, then we are giving charity out of guilt. If our actions cause us to love and spend even more time with the people, then we know we are demonstrating the love of God.
Although this book was written in 1993 (not long after the LA riots), believers today can learn alot from Perkins about living with and helping “the least” – and in so doing demonstrating our love for God (Matt 25:40). This is how Perkins closes his introduction:
It has been said over and over again that the government has tried to solve the problems of the inner city and has failed. Yes, the government has failed when it comes to the poor. Our nation’s cities are in a crisis. But in every crisis there is opportunity. I believe that this crisis is an opportunity for us, the church, to step forward and lead the way in restoring the inner city by bringing the physical presence of God into the city. I believe that the church has the opportunity to pioneer and model a way of life whereby our nation itself can experience a new birth. One of the reasons that I love this country is because of its commitment to freedom. That freedom gives us, the church – the people of God – the opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of the world a more excellent way…
It is time for the church, yes, the whole church, to take a whole gospel on a whole mission to the whole world. It is time for us to exhibit by our very lives that we believe in the oneness of the Body of Christ. It is time for us to prove that the purpose of the gospel is to reconcile alienated people to God and to each other, across racial, cultural, social, and economic barriers. It is time for the reconciling love of God that has touched each individual heart to spill over into love for our neighbor.
I’ve asked God to let his love spill out of me and into love for my neighbor. I’m looking forward to reading and sharing more of this book with you.
Conversations at "Black and Reformed Ministries"
In spite of my recent confession that I am not black, I have received a warm welcome by the contributors and commenters over at “Black and Reformed Ministries“. Some of you may have noticed that one of the contributors, Lionel, has been commenting on my blog as well.
I’ve particularly enjoyed Lionel’s last two posts: “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it” and “Prophecy, Prayer, Women, and Teaching“. In these two posts, Lionel deals with issues concerning the meeting of the church – one of my interests, as most of my readers know.
I especially appreciate how Lionel is trying to consider all of the passages dealing with speaking during the church meeting. I’ve noticed that in most systematic theologies – and in most practices – some passages of Scripture are emphasized while others are de-emphasized or completely ignored. This seems dangerous and self-serving to me.
I think you will enjoy the conversation over at “Black and Reformed Ministries” – even if you aren’t black… or reformed.
Studying How Jesus Loved
On Sunday mornings, we’ve been studying through the Gospel of Matthew. We’re working toward the end of chapter 7, which means we’ve almost finished the Sermon on the Mount. Last week, as I continued reading through Matthew, I noticed how Jesus demonstrated his love for people. I decided to study Jesus’ love in the Gospel of Matthew.
Of course, you can’t start a study of Jesus’ love in the Gospel of Matthew without mentioning the Great Commandment:
And one of them [the Pharisees], a lawyer, asked him [Jesus] a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40 ESV)
Apparently, love is very important to Jesus. He said that the Law and the Prophets (probably a reference to the Hebrew Scriptures) depend upon both loving God and loving others. How did Jesus demonstrate that love? How did he model love for us?
Certainly, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us both to love our brothers and sisters (Matt 5:21-26), and also to love our enemies (Matt 5:43-47). But, Jesus did much more than teach us to love with his words. He showed us what it meant to love.
Jesus cared for those who were hurting – either with physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual pains (for example, Matt 4:23-25, 8:2-3, 8:5-13, 8:14-15, 8:16 – not that these are only a few examples that surround the Sermon on the Mount). Jesus demonstrated his love by spending time with people – both with those who followed him closely, and with those who did not follow him closely. While we may notice that Jesus often had the harshest words for those who considered themselves the most religious, we should also recognize that Jesus continued to allow them to ask him questions. He did not give up on them.
Jesus spent time with people in their homes. He spent time in Peter’s home. He also spent time in Matthew’s home along with Matthew’s friends who the religious people labelled as “tax collectors and sinners” – those who were not worthy of being loved.
Perhaps one of the clearest images of Jesus’ love in Matthew (apart from the Passion narratives) occurs in chapter 18. In that chapter, Jesus teaches about kingdom in terms of love, mercy, and forgiveness. Specifically, he compares himself to a shepherd who will go out into the wilderness in order to find one lost sheep.
We know that Jesus desired for his followers to imitate his love – by the power of the Spirit, of course. When Jesus told his followers to pray for harvest workers in Chapter 9, he then immediately sent them out in Chapter 10. What did he tell them to do?
And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. (Matthew 10:7-8 ESV)
As the apostles proclaimed the kingdom of God in word, they were also supposed to demonstrate the love of God in actions.
Then, of course, we cannot forget the Passion. Paul tells us that through his death, Jesus revealed the love of God and demonstrated to us how to love one another:
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)
In light of Christ’s death, we should also remember that we have been called to take up our cross as well (Matt 10:38, 16:24). While taking up our cross and following Jesus is not limited to demonstrating God’s love to others, it certainly includes demonstrating God’s love.
This was a very interesting study for me. I enjoyed learning about how Jesus demonstrated his love for people in the Gospel of Matthew.
To be honest though, this was a difficult study – not because of the material, but because of the interruption. People kept emailing, calling, and stopping by the house to tell me about their problems. Some people were sick; some had friends or family in the hospital. One guy was having trouble dealing with his children. Another woman was struggling in her relationship with her husband. It seems like every time I really focused on the love of Jesus, someone would interrupt my studies. I can understand now why so many pastors and scholars like to have office hours where they won’t be disturbed as often. I mean, how am I supposed to learn about Jesus’ love when all of these people keep interrupting me?
When God Communicates: Subjective or Objective?
Over the last few weeks, I’ve read something similar to this a few times: Scripture is objective; but any other communication from God is subjective. This post is not directed at anyone in particular. Instead, as I’ve read the above comment a few times, I’ve been thinking about the objectivity and subjectivity of God’s communication.
By the way, I like to say “God communicates” instead of “God speaks”. Usually, the verb “speak” assumes something (audible communication) that is not always present when God communicates. So, when I say, “God communicates”, I mean many different types of communications, including but not limited to Scripture, dreams, visions, impressions, other people.
When God communicates to us, he always communicates objectively. His communication is never subjective. However, our interpretation of God’s communications is always subjective. This includes our interpretation of Scripture – it is always subjective. It is true that some interpretations are less subjective than others, but all interpretations are subjective.
It would be incorrect to say that interpretations of Scripture are always less subjective than interpretations of other communications from God. For example, when God told Abram to leave Haran, Abram did not consider that communication to be subjective. When God communicated with Saul on the road to Damascus, Saul did not consider that communication to be subjective. When God communicated to Peter while Peter was on the roof of Simon’s house in Joppa (the dream with the sheet and animals), Peter did not consider that communication to be subjective. Notice that all of these acts of communication are now part of Scripture, but they were not part of Scripture when they occurred.
(Interestingly, Peter’s dream became normative for everyone. I wonder what would have happened if Peter had thought his dream was more subjective than Scripture and had compared his dream to Scripture. But, this is another issue altogether.)
I am not questioning the importance of Scripture. I do believe that Scripture is extremely important. I believe that Scripture is inspired by God, and I believe that Scripture is inerrant in the original autographs. I believe that Scripture is authoritative. However, there are times when I’ve felt that Scripture has been placed in a position above the living presence of God Himself – and not just Scripture, but our (individual or corporate) interpretation of Scripture.
Our goal should not be to relate properly to Scripture. Our goal should be to relate properly to God. Some may suggest that studying Scripture brings one into a right relationship with God, but remember that the scribes and Pharisees studied Scripture meticulously, as do many scholars today. Studying Scripture does not guarantee that we are hearing God.
God always communicates to us objectively. Perhaps we have not heard him – as others have heard him in the past and as has been recorded for us – because we are not listening to him. Instead, we have replaced him with something else. We have made our interpretation of Scripture objective, and we’ve made God subjective.
The [Chinese] Church Institution
The latest PBS / Frontline World program includes a segment called “Jesus in China“. Evan Osnos, the reporter, examines Christianity in China.
He begins by talking about the “underground” church. The underground church in China is made of Christians who cannot meet together openly. Instead, they meet in homes and caves and other locations around their cities. Many of these underground churches are now beginning to meet more openly, in spite of ongoing harassment. Often, the leaders of these underground churches are arrested by Chinese government officials, who charge the leaders with various political charges – but never religious charges.
Interestingly, there is an official Christian church in China. This is what Osnos says about it:
This is the [Communist] Party’s answer to Christianity: an official church where Christians are supposed to worship. The Party actually started this church right after the revolution to put religion under state control… It can all get a little confusing figuring out why this version of Christianity is tolerated… Pastors here like Wu Wei Cheng are trained and approved by the government. I asked Pastor Wu why the majority of Christians are choosing the underground church over his.
Here is Pastor Wu’s response:
There are some people who are not willing to be part of the church. They would rather stay or worship by themselves. I believe ??? [couldn’t make out the word] Church – the church I’m serving – is the church of Christians in China – is the church of the people.
Pastor Wu’s response sounds like the response of many institutional church leaders in America: “My church is the true church, and anyone who doesn’t want to ‘worship’ like and with me is being rebellious and not part of the true church.”
By the way, if you watched the segment, you’ll notice that video that they show of the official church in China looks very familiar. In fact, it looks like they have all the right parts in place: a nice building, choir singing, hymnals, preaching, even the Lord’s Supper with the small cups. I think many Christians in the West would be very comfortable in the official church in China. I wonder why so many Chinese Christians are not comfortable there – to the point of being arrested for meeting “underground”…