We are part of the body of Christ with them
Jim at “Crossroad Junction” has written a very important post called “‘Us’ and ‘Them’.”
In his post, Jim points out that there is only one body of Christ. When we take an attitude of “us” vs. “them,” we are separating those whom God has brought together into one body. (By the way, this is what the authors of Scripture call “divisiveness” or “heresy.”)
Here’s a short excerpt from Jim’s post:
We can disagree, and even debate our differences, so long as you are seeking (like me) – even if imperfectly (like me) – to faithfully reflect Christ in us, among us and through us. What becomes a show stopper is when you insist that God expects me to look or act or think just like you – whether you are middle-class suburban, ‘hood, street, generation x, generation y, postmodern, or whatever.
The real Body of Christ is only “us” – you and me. We are to be co-participants in the life of Christ in us, among us and through us. We are to submit our lives one to another – as diverse and individual parts of the inclusive, wonderful, multifaceted Body of Christ.
Do we disagree? Sure. But we do not divide. Do we have differences? Yes. But we do not separate. We continue to live in fellowship (real, relational fellowship) with the brothers and sisters in Christ who God has brought into our lives. All of them – not just those we agree with or who are like us.
Unconditional love… with a few conditions
Swanny at “Allergic to BS” has written a very good post called “‘Us’conditional Love.”
The point of the post is the we often only love those who are like us in various ways. This “us”conditional love could be offered only toward those who agree with theological system or who are part of our “local church” organization.
While Swanny focuses on those who are part of “institutional churches,” I’ve seen “us”conditional love from those who are more “organic” as well.
Here’s a great quote from Swanny:
A consequence of this categorical “us” system is extreme prejudice. No, you do not get zapped with this internal disease quickly. It actually happens rather slowly over time like a deadly poison drip. It infects the inner-prejudice in all of us until we are absolutely paranoid of becoming like one of “them” outside the walls. We begin to have great contempt for those who fall into the sub-category of sinner. What is implied is “yeah, we are sinner’s too, but not like that sinner over there”, and soon people start to despise anyone who just falls.
Whether we are part of a “local church” organization or not, it is helpful for each of us to consider our reaction to those who are not like us, who do not agree with us, or who may even disparage us. Do we find they fall under the umbrella of love or are we making excuses for not loving them? Are we adding other conditions to “love”?
John’s warning is pretty clear:
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20 ESV)
If we find that we are adding conditions to love – conditions that others much meet before we love them – then the problem is not with “them.” The problem is that we do not love God.
Moving imperceptibly into the flow of pretense
The title of this post was penned by John (Aussie John) from “Caesura” in his post “Gnats and Camels.” (except I changed to the American spelling of “pretense”) It is a great read, and I would encourage you to take the time to read the whole article.
John looks back on his on “training” and experience and recognizes that he was often trained in “straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.” He says that he was taught how to separate from others over the minute details of various “ologies” while ignoring the grace and love of God for all his children.
Consider how he concludes this very insightful post:
Under our tutors we become very careful that what we really are is masked by the outward show, little realising that by unthinkingly, and uncritically, receiving their teaching and lead we have been thrown into the stream, in the still waters near the shore, and, imperceptibly at first, we move into the current, and move more easily into the flow of pretence, even deceiving ourselves that the deception we are in is not sinful.
Paul, in Romans I 24-25, wrote “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!”
We have no trouble applying that to the pagans of Paul’s day and agreeing that God is just to give them over to their hearts’ desires, and their insistence in gratifying those desires, but great difficulty in applying any question regarding ourselves.
Causes me to think deeply about what we are seeing today in much of what is professed to be Christianity.
I have noticed this tendency also – both in myself and others. We assume that what we think and do and plan and believe is correct, while those who disagree with us must necessarily be wrong – and obviously wrong. “Why can’t they just accept their own failing and follow my wisdom – which is obviously from God while there’s is not. If they refuse, then I want nothing to do with them…”
oh my…
Of course we all believe that we are hearing God correctly and obeying him, but then so do I brothers and sisters in Christ. Guess what? You know how you trust God to lead you and change your mind and heart by his grace? We can trust him to do the same with others… and we can continue to fellowship with them in spite of our disagreements.
Otherwise, as John says, God may simply turn us over to the desires of our heart and surround us with people who think and act and believe exactly like we do.
hmmm… perhaps he’s done that already in some cases.
Which Distinctive Practices and Beliefs of Anabaptists are Important for the Church Today?
Thanks to Dave Black, I read an article summarizing the history, practices, and beliefs of the Anabaptists in sixteenth century Europe. Interestingly, I was talking with my son recently about the Anabaptists. He’s taking a World Civilizations class at a local community college, and they recently started talking about sixteenth century Europe, the Reformation, and even Anabaptists. It’s amazing how much people are now learning about the Anabaptists by reading what THEY wrote instead of reading what others wrote about them.
The article that I’m referring to is called “Anabaptism: Re-monking the Church After Christendom.” The article is two years old, and primarily studies the connection between Anabaptism and monasticism. However, it begins with a great list of general practices and beliefs that were distinctive to Anabaptists:
- The need for conversion – challenging the notion of a Christian culture
- Baptism is for believers and implies accountability to the community
- Multi-voiced church life – challenging the dependence on the clergy
- Economic sharing – simple living and responsibility for others
- Non-violence and an active commitment to peaceful living
- Truth-telling and a rejection of oath-swearing
- The centrality of Jesus and his call to serious discipleship
- Acceptance that suffering and persecution were normal for Christians
- The freedom of churches from state control or interference
- A wholehearted rejection of the Christendom system
By the way, it seems it was primarily that last distinctive (“a wholehearted rejection of the Christendom system”) that earned Anabaptists the ire and condemnation of others who sought to continue Christendom and the church-state connection. (In the eyes of those who held to the church-state connection, many of the other “distinctives” indicated a rejection of Christendom.)
Interestingly, while “Anabaptism” seems to have “failed,” many of these distinctives (especially the rejection of the church-state connection) are now accepted broadly among Jesus’ followers.
Just wondering, among my readers, which of the distinctive practices and beliefs of Anabaptists mentioned above do you think are important for the church today? Which ones are not important? Feel free to give your reasoning if you’d like. (You can use the numbers if you don’t want to type it all out.)
(HT: Dave Black)
A well-rounded look at the “one anothers”
A couple of weeks ago, in my post “The who, what, where, when, and why of the One Anothers,” I pointed out that Jon from “Jon’s Journey” was writing a series about the “one another” passages in Scripture.
In his introductory post, he explained that he was planning to cover the 5 “W” questions related to these instructions: what, who, where, when, and why. He even added a 6th post for the question, “How?”
Jon has now completed his series on the “one anothers.” I think this is a great series, so I’m adding links to each of the posts here:
Part 1: Five W’s of One Another – intro and verses showing what the one anothers are
Part 2: Who One Another
Part 3: Where One Another
Part 4: When One Another
Part 5: Why One Another
Part 6: How One Another
I’ll just add one more snippet for Jon’s post on “when”:
Do we think most of these actions should take place at a special time or scheduled event?
We know some believers did meet regularly together. Some daily and some on certain days of the week. But I believe these verses were not only related to regularly scheduled gatherings.
I think it is safe to say they took place whenever the believers interacted with each other.
Can you imagine the “one anothers” taking place any time believers are together with one another – whether it’s just two or if it’s more? Even on Sunday morning when the whole church gathers together (as is traditional today)?
Yep. I can imagine it.
You know what I can’t imagine? I can’t imagine that the authors of Scripture intended for their “one another” instructions to to apply at all times EXCEPT when the church gathers together.
How are you? Fine, and you? Fine.
Bobby at “Deconstructing Neverland” has written a very good post called “You Don’t Know Jack.” The point of his post is that we often recognize (through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) our need for relationships with others, especially others who are in Christ. However, in a desire to create those relationships, we often end up with something much less.
In fact, often when we create things to “build community,” we build a semblance of community that simply hides our lack of real community in Christ.
For example, Bobby writes:
That is precisely the dilemma one faces as they venture out in search for community in church life. Anyone who has Christ in them has this intrinsic desire for deep fellowship and community with other believers. It’s evident by the programs and meetings we plan and put together. There are community groups built around all sorts of interests and needs. People get together for bible studies, accountability, addiction recovery, marital status, and many other commonalities. I’ve been a part of each of these types of groups. The problem is that these groups do not form lasting communities, at least not in my experience…
We don’t know how to be transparent and honest with one another. What we know is what we’ve been trained for. We know how to hide our struggles and put on a happy face. We like our shallow conversations.
Shallow conversations are comfortable and safe. They can make us feel good about ourselves and others. We can pat each other on the back and call ourselves “community.”
But, when it comes down to it, we all recognize the difference. (And, by the way, those outside the church recognize the shallow relationships among Christians also.)
Community – even shared lives in Jesus Christ – takes time. It takes time because we must move beyond the shallow conversations: “How are you?” “Fine. And you?” “Fine.” We must be willing to ask each other difficult questions and share the “trash” (as Bobby calls it) from our own lives. And this is extremely important – we MUST offer each other the same grace that God has offered us in Jesus Christ.
Read Bobby’s post and then consider the question that he asked: “What are you going to do about it?”
To be mutually encouraged among you by each other’s faith
The title of this post is my translation of the first part of Romans 1:12, which the ESV translates, “…[T]hat we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith…” [I’m not sure why they decided to leave out the prepositional phrase “among/in you (plural).”]
I was reminded of this verse – part of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome – when I read a post by Eric at “A Pilgrim’s Progress” called “Willing to be One Anothered.” In this short post, Eric exhorts us toward mutual service (that service to and from one another).
I’m not going to quote much of his post, because it is fairly short. (So, make sure you jump over to his site and read the whole post.) Here is a short excerpt:
In talking about the one anothers, most of the focus usually falls on what we should do for others. I suppose this makes sense. However, we also need to realize that we must allow others to do for us. The one anothering is a two way street…
There is a sort of reciprocal nature to all this. We all grow up together in Christ as we serve one another. We help others grow by one anothering together. This involves both giving and receiving. If we only focus on the giving, we end up inadvertently hurting both ourselves and others.
I can’t speak to other parts of the world, but I know in this area being helped by others is frowned upon. But, among the church, we must be willing to both serve others and to be served by others. Christ matures his church as we work together to help one another.
Sometimes it’s harder for me to receive from others than to give to others. But, like Eric says, both are necessary parts of God growing and maturing his people.
Would you be willing to share a time when God worked through one of his children to “give” to you?
The benefit to the church of gathering in homes
Just over a year ago, I wrote a post called “Why I’m Not A House Church Proponent.” In that post, I explained why I’m not pushing everyone towards “house church.”
Ross at “Viral Jesus” has written a very good post called “Why Do I Promote House Churches?” At first glance, it may appear that Ross and I are in disagreement. But, we’re not. I also agree that it is good for the church to gather together in homes.
In the post, Ross offers several reasons that he does NOT promote house churches. Then he explains why he does promote house churches.
It is the symbiotic combination of a number of factors together. House church structure does not get in the way of the Jesus’ agenda of spreading his Kingdom. That can’t be said of more traditional structures and if I love Jesus I love what He wants. He wants His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. I am to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. I don’t want anything to get in the way of that.
Unfortunately, I’ve known some “house churches” that were more structured and controlling than groups of believers that meet in traditional church buildings. But, I definitely understand what Ross is talking about.
His post is very good, and I’d definitely recommend reading it.
Primarily, we should ask ourselves this: Is our structure and/or meeting location limiting our life together in Jesus Christ? If it is, then we should change where we are meeting together.
What else should I be? All apologies…
My friend Dan at “Some Church Stuff” has written another excellent post called “An Apology.” First, I must say that I love the play on words with the title… just what does he mean by “apology”?
Once you read through his post, you understand the main point of his title and his post: Dan is explaining why he writes his blog, and – perhaps more importantly – explains what he wants to write about in the future.
While I loved reading about (and remembering) the history of Dan’s blog, I especially appreciated this paragraph:
Now I feel like the blog might be moving into a new season. I feel like I have clearly stated what I believe is the problem. This has helped me substantially, and now I feel like my heart is moving on. Moving on from anger toward the system to peace in Him. This, in no way, means that my feelings have changed about the problems, about how grave and destructive they are. It simply means that there is One who has overcome these things, can teach us what no system of the world can teach, to truly trust in Him and Him alone.
Ah, yes. This reminds me of something I talked about with several brothers and sisters this weekend. This is where we are – wherever “this” happens to be. Now, how can we help one another follow Jesus and obey him?
Read the rest of Dan’s post. You’ll enjoy reading about his journey so far, and his intentions. I think you’ll also relate to his struggles in understanding his own heart and desires.
I can’t wait to read more of Dan’s posts.
A Family Created by Spiritual Birth
One of my favorite bloggers and commenters is John (Aussie John) from “Caesura.” He recently published a very good post called “Family of God.”
The entire post is a great examination (from Scripture) of the essence and nature of God’s family, that is, those of us who are reborn into his family by the Spirit. While I encourage you to read the entire post, I want to point out a few things.
Notice these statements:
Assemblies, or congregations of people calling themselves Christians, have been constituted by techniques of human ingenuity, all claiming to be based on the New Testament, each with its system of doctrine and practice, some in stark contrast to others.
It seems to me that God’s idea is the creation of a spiritual family; a Family marked and ordered by love for God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, whose outworking of life will express itself according to what Scripture reveals…
Mutual Family love begins by spiritual birth, which is the placing of an individual spiritual stone, in the one organic entity of God’s Family. Mutual Family love DOES NOT come by adherence to a doctrinal code, statement of beliefs, or by joining.
Its intended purpose is not determined by its size or it’s statements about what it believes, but by the outworking of spiritual life of love and service to others as a measure of the indwelling of Christ by His Spirit.
Ah, yes… what a difference to live as family among those whom God has birthed anew by his Spirit instead of picking and choosing who to treat as brothers and sisters based on our beliefs and opinions.
I have a natural brother, born to the same mother and father. I love my brother, although we haven’t and probably still don’t always agree with one another. But, I was never asked whether or not he was going to be my brother. He IS my brother.
In the same way, everyone born of the Spirit IS your brother and sister and part of the family of God with you. Period.