It’s often difficult for people to think outside the traditional church box
If your understanding of the church falls outside the normally accepted range, then I want to encourage you to have patience with others. I encourage you to listen and to explain carefully and to focus on important aspects.
Jim at “Crossroad Junction” offers an excellent example of this kind of patience in his post “Directed Church versus Participatory Church: A Dialog.”
In that post, Jim relays a conversation that he had with one of his mother’s close friends about gathering with believers in a prison. Jim does not belittle her or get annoyed with her, even when she doesn’t understand in the end.
Here is part of their dialog:
Me: “…I have learned to sit back so they can learn to express what the Lord is doing in them and it always seems to meet the needs of those present. Sometimes I have something to share, usually along the lines of helping to create a framework for them to come forth. This morning, however, like most of the times I join with them, I said a few words as just one of the guys then sat down as they ministered to each other for an hour and half. Like usual, they also ministered to me.”
Her: Silence, then, “Oh, so you are there to make sure they don’t get off track?”
Me: “No, they’ve learned to do a really good job of that themselves. I just go to enjoy their fellowship every now and then and be an encouragement to them or maybe add some foundational input.”
If you read the remainder of Jim’s article, you’ll get a good sense of the life of these prisoners as they live as the church in their prison.
You’ll also see how carefully he answers his friend’s questions. The difficulty, of course, is that she does not understand exactly what he’s talking about because it is so outside of the categories in her thinking about the church.
So, Jim is patience, careful, and includes many explanations and illustrations.
By the way, this is also a terrific way to deal with any kind of disagreement or misunderstanding.
Great example, Jim! Thanks!
Replay: Duplicating what God Created
Two years ago, I wrote a post called “Duplicating what God Created.” Everyone follower of Jesus wants to see God’s kingdom expanding on earth. However, we can jump ahead of God and begin to duplicate something that God has done somewhere or at another time or among another group of people. We should never assume to know what God is doing or how he is going to do it. We can really trust God to do the work that he wants to do.
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Duplicating what God Created
Over the last few days, I’ve had conversations with different people around the idea of “duplicating what God created.” We didn’t call it that, and never used those words, but that was the point of our discussions.
What do I mean?
Well, as humans, we tend to be methodical. When we see something that “works,” we tend to want to re-created it… duplicating the systems and processes that seemed to produce the result. Often, we get good results. This works well in the scientific fields. But, in sociological fields – i.e., where people are involved – usually the “duplicates” fall short of the original.
Why? Well, simply put, because people are involved, and people are different from place to place and time to time.
This works into our church life as well. Perhaps a group of believers get together, and they make a huge impact on their community. People study this group of believers, and produce a system with the same activities and programs and ministries and leadership structure, etc. But, they don’t get the same results.
Why not? Because the people involved are different. The context is different. The gifts and opportunities are different.
Perhaps this is why we do not see a clear picture of what the church “looked like” in Scripture. If God gave us a clear picture of what the church looked like in Jerusalem, then many would try to duplicate it. If we had a clear understanding of how the church met in Thessalonika, then others would try to create the same kind of meeting. This kind of duplication will not work, because the people involved (i.e. the church) is different.
So, instead of giving a clear picture of what our church meetings should “look like” or how leadership should be structured, or what ministries we should pursue, we’re given different types of information. Whatever we do should be in love. However we meet, we should edify one another. Wherever we go and whatever we do and whoever leads us, we do so as family.
If we take these kinds of “normative” principles with us, it will not matter (as much) what the church meeting ultimately looks like, or how the leaders operate, or what kinds of ministries we pursue. And, we will recognize that while our meetings, leadership, and ministries may look different than another group’s, our goals and purposes are the same.
We will only be concerned when we find love missing, or mutual edification lacking, or family identification nullified. Then we will seek to rectify the problems… not because of wrong activities.
While we will rejoice about how God works among a group of believers, we will not jump at the “next big thing” that comes along, trying to force another group of believers into a mold created by different people.
Instead, we will be comfortably uncomfortable allowing God to create what he wants to create, with the people that he brings together, using the gifts and talents and opportunities that he gives them. And, we will recognize that it’s okay (and even expected) that we don’t look like another group of believers or that God is working differently in and through us.
And, we will happily refuse to try to duplicate what God may be creating somewhere else or at a different time or among a different group of people. Instead, we will focus on loving, edifying, caring, making disciples, and evangelizing the world as God has given us gifts, talents, opportunities, ministries, and resources.
Most Read Post of 2008: Won’t Get Fooled Again
I’m out of town this week, so I’m linking to the most read posts on my blog from each year from 2007 to 2011.
The most read post on my blog from 2008 was “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
Please take the time to read that post and the comments from my readers.
Thank you, and I’ll “see” you again soon.
Implications for the Proclamation of the Gospel
In my previous two posts (“The New Testament Scripture and the Proclamation of the Gospel” and “The Gospels and Acts and the Proclamation of the Gospel“), I’ve looked into examples of Jesus and his first follower when they proclaimed the gospel to unbelievers.
I summarized what I’ve found so far like this: “Those proclaiming the gospel made a concise statement without getting into much explanation or argumentation. Then, they waited for their audience to respond. For those who responded positively or with interest, they spent more time explaining and teaching.”
Now, I’m still studying this, and it’s possible that I will completely change my mind about this. However, if I’m correct about the examples that we see in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts, then there are some implications about how we proclaim the gospel today.
First, we don’t distinguish between the “crowds” (to use the term found in the Gospels) and those who show genuine interest in following Jesus.
Second, because of this, I think we typically spend too much time and energy explaining the details of the good news to people who are not interested – trying to talk them into accepting something, which is not our responsibility.
Third, all of this works well with a goal toward helping all people follow Jesus – without forcing them into anything – in other words, it’s all discipleship, focusing more on those who are actually disciples or who are moving toward being disciples without neglecting others.
Fourth, there is not a minimum amount of information that must be shared or explained in order to proclaim the gospel.
Finally, if we want someone to ask questions concerning the gospel (instead of trying to provide all the answers), then knowing something about the person and where they are in life is extremely important and part of proclaiming the gospel.
There are other implications, I’m sure. What other implications would you add to this list (assuming that I’m right about the examples we find in the Gospels and Acts)?
The New Testament Scriptures and the Proclamation of the Gospel
To say that proclaiming the gospel is an important aspect of the New Testament Scriptures would be an understatement. There are both examples of proclaiming the gospels and exhortations to proclaim the gospel found throughout the New Testament.
It is very important for those of us who are in Christ to remind each other and encourage each other about the good news of Jesus Christ! Extremely important.
However, in this short series, I want us to consider the proclamation of the gospel to unbelievers in the New Testament. Now, we know that the Epistles and Revelation were written to people who had already believed the gospel (to use Jesus’ words). They were already following Jesus and were already indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
But, what about the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and Acts? There are still arguments and discussions about whether these books were written for people who were not believers or for people who are already believers. To me, if we take John at face value, that Gospel was written (at least in part) for an audience of people who did not yet follow Jesus:
[T]hese are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31 ESV)
When compared to the Epistles and Revelation, it is more likely that the Gospel of John and the other Gospels were written for an audience of unbelievers. If Luke also wrote Acts (and I believe he did) and if he wrote it to the same person and for the same reason, then we could also assume that the Book of Acts was written (at least in part) for an audience of unbelievers.
So, in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, we find our best examples of how Jesus and his first followers proclaimed the gospel to unbelievers.
But, have you thought about how Jesus and his first followers proclaimed the good news in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts? From what I can tell, the way that they proclaimed the gospel (at least what we read) is alot different than the way that we generally find today.
In fact, from what I have experiences, many Christians today rely more on the Epistles to proclaim the good news than on the Gospels or Acts. But, the passages quoted from the Epistles were written for people who were already believers. (I’m not saying that is wrong or invalid. I’m simply saying it’s something that I’ve noticed and find interesting and perhaps peculiar.)
In my next post, I’m going to look at a few examples of “gospel presentation” in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, but for now, I have a question for you:
From your reading of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, what are some aspects of proclaiming the gospel do you think were important for Jesus and his first followers?
Refuse to try to control others among the church
“So, Alan, when you gather with the church, how do you do X?”
I’m often asked that question. Sometimes, my friends who are part of more institutional churches ask me questions like that. Sometimes, my friends who are part of more organic churches ask me questions like that.
Invariably, regardless of whether the questioner prefers more organization or less organization, he or she will find something that we do (or don’t do) with which to disagree. Then, I’m asked the following question, “Well, why do you do that, when Scripture clearly says such-and-such?”
Or, even more exciting, occasionally someone will determine that we do things in a different way than what I’ve written about here. Then, I’ll here or read a statement such as this: “Well, why do you do that, when you’ve written that you believe such-and-such is better or more scriptural?”
Both answers make an invalid assumption. The answers assume that I control the church in such a way that we always do (or don’t do) exactly what I think we should do (or not do).
Believe it or not, I do not control the brothers and sisters with whom I meet regularly. In fact, I do not even WANT to try to control them – even when they decide to do something that I disagree with.
We cannot disciple one another – helping one another follow Jesus Christ – via control, even if we are right. (Of course, we will never know with certainty that we are right… but that’s beside the point.)
Instead, we help one another follow Jesus Christ through teaching, example, and patience, trusting that God will help all of us learn to follow together.
In the meantime, we all still live with one another in Jesus Christ, even as we are maturing (but not yet perfected). If we are maturing (but not yet perfected), then we will follow imperfectly (all of us, both individually and corporately). We will not always make the best decisions individually, and we will not always make the best decisions corporately.
So, we only have a few choices: 1) We try to control others and make them do what we think is best. 2) We separate from those who refuse to do what we think is best. 3) We live with one another in our imperfections continuing to help one another follow Jesus Christ and mature in him.
I decided long ago that I am not in control and that I will not attempt to control others, even when someone (or some group) decides to do something that I do not think is best. I’ve also decided that I will stick with my brothers and sisters even when they make decisions with which I disagree.
(By the way, God has surrounded me with some wonderful people. You know, when I disagree with the decisions we make together as a church, I am often the one who is wrong…)
Replay: People love explanations… their own explanations
Two years ago, I wrote a post called “People love explanations.” There’s a tendency among all people to dismiss anything that falls outside of their own explanation – especially their own explanation of God. (Of course, often that understanding of God is actually based on someone else’s explanation.)
We do love our explanations… our understandings… sometimes, it seems, we love our explanations and understandings more than we love God himself. But, then, I could be wrong.
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People love explanations
People like explanations. They like to explain things and have things explained to them.
When it comes to “theology” – what we think about God, which would include what we think about ourselves, others, and the world around us – we really, really like to have things explained to us. Unfortunately, Scripture doesn’t always explain things the way that we want them explained.
So, we explain them. Or, our favorite theologian or author or professor explains the things. Usually – almost always – we must go beyond what Scripture actually says in order to explain things in a way that is satisfactory. If not, things just seem… ummm… unexplained.
That’s fine. It’s good to think about things and try to understand. Of course, our explanations are probably wrong. We are imperfect creatures. But, still, we want things explained to us, or we want to explain them ourselves, and so we go about explaining things.
The problem comes along when someone else explains something in a different manner than the way that we explain them. It doesn’t matter that both explanations are interpolations and extrapolations of Scripture combined with our favorite philosophy and tradition. We like our explanation and so the other person’s explanation must be wrong… more wrong that our explanation certainly.
And, thus, we disagree, and label, and attack, and separate… over our explanations.
But, we love explanations. And, making everyone accept our explanation is what being a follower of Jesus is all about… right?
Trust and love… now what? Fellowship and discipleship…
In my last two posts, I’ve written about trusting God (“Show me your faith apart from your works“) and the primary response of that trust, which is love (“That God kind of love“). Trusting God results in loving God and loving others. When we love God and love others, that love will be demonstrated in our lives.
How is it demonstrated? In Scripture, two terms are used as umbrella terms to describe the “now what”: fellowship and discipleship. Not only are these two a direct response to trusting God and love, they are also related to one another.
The first term – fellowship – describes the connection that we have with one another through Jesus Christ. We do not have to build that connection; it is already built for us when the Holy Spirit indwells us – that is, when we are saved by Jesus Christ. Immediately, we are connected with one another because of our mutual connection to God our Father through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.
Thus, we can understand why the authors of Scripture would choose a word like “fellowship” to describe this connection. At its foundation, the word “fellowship” points to “sharing.” In this case, what we share is ourselves and our lives. We become part of one anothers’ lives (become “members together with one another”) as we share in the life of God in us.
Now, it’s interesting to talk about the spiritual fellowship and connection that we have with believers all around the world. But, the authors of Scripture primarily talked about real, visible, relational fellowship, the kind of sharing and connection that takes place between people who actually live near one another. We cannot choose who we are connected to – we are connected with everyone who is in Christ. And, as long as we do not hinder the work of the Holy Spirit in us, and as long as we submit to his leading, we will find ourselves sharing our lives with all of God’s children that he brings into our life.
This sharing of life – or fellowship – leads directly into “discipleship.” It’s common today to think of “discipleship” as some type of program or class. That’s not what I’m talking about. The foundation of “discipleship” is the idea of being a disciple or “following.” In this case, “discipleship” is about helping one another submit to lordship of Jesus Christ and follow him and his direction in our lives.
Because of our fellowship, we will desire to see one another mature in Jesus Christ and live more and more in a manner worth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God can and will work through us to help one another follow the will of God in our lives. Helping one another walk in obedience to Jesus Christ is what discipleship is all about.
So, we trust God, which is demonstrated in our lives. That faith is primarily demonstrated by an increase in love for God and for others, especially those who could be deemed “unlovable.” The Holy Spirit knits our lives together, and we share our lives with one another. Through sharing or lives with one another, God works through us to help one another follow Jesus Christ.
Show me your faith apart from your works
Faith is one of the most pervasive terms in Scripture. From Genesis to Revelation, people are called to have faith, they demonstrate their faith, or they are rebuked because of their lack of faith. In many instances, “faith” is the difference between the children of God and the enemies of God, between the righteous and the wicked. But what did the authors of Scripture mean when they used the term “faith”?
The English term “faith” carries a range of meanings from trust and confidence to adherence to a set of religious principles. But, in Scripture, faith tends toward the former meaning: a strong trust or confidence in someone. In particular, faith is concerned with trusting or having confidence in God.
In verb form, translators often use the English term “believe.” Unfortunately, this term also has a wide range of meanings. Today, the term “believe” is often used to indicate a mental assent or agreement. Again, though, it may be best to think of “believe” as trusting God to do what he says he will do.
In Romans, Paul begins his letter by contrasting the difference between the righteous and the ungodly or unrighteous. But, what makes someone “righteous”? He quotes the prophet Habakkuk in saying that the righteous person is the one who lives his or her life by trusting in God. Notice that the primary verb in this statement is the verb “live.” Paul’s focus is not on a set of beliefs about God or facts about Jesus, but instead he focuses on a person’s life as a demonstration of trusting God. The righteous person is the person who trusts God as he or she lives day by day.
Certainly, the idea of trusting God includes knowing some information about God. It is impossible to trust God without knowing something about him. However, the opposite is not true. It is also possible to know much about God and, yet, not trust him. Throughout the Bible, faith in God is tied to active response to him. For this reason, James is able to state, “Faith without works is dead.” Those works, then, are actions that are taken in response to God; actions that demonstrate that someone trusts God.
In the same way, Paul clearly states that works alone is not enough to save anyone. As he wrote to the Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV) While some have suggested that Paul and James contradict each other, that is not a necessary conclusion. In fact, both James’ statement and Paul’s statement work within the understanding of “faith” as trusting God. Those who are saved trust God, and those who trust God are saved. Similarly, those who trust God will demonstrate that trust by their actions, their works. Someone with this kind of faith will also have works. Someone without works does not have that kind of faith.
The connection between faith and works and the connection between James and Paul is clearer when Ephesians 2:10 is considered along with Ephesians 2:8-9: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)
Jesus used the metaphor of “fruit” to describe these kinds of works – that is, the kinds of righteous deeds that result from living a life of trusting God. He told his disciples, “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” (Matthew 7:16-27 ESV) Just as a fruit tree bears only a certain kind of fruit, so people living by faith in God (or not living by faith in God) will demonstrate a certain kind of “fruit” through the actions in their lives. The “fruit” does not determine the type of tree; the type of tree determines the “fruit.”
The actions in a person’s life, then, demonstrates to the world whether or not that person is trusting God. Certainly, stating creeds or singing praises or other types of speech can be a portion of those fruits. But, in Scripture, the primary “fruit” indicator is the loving action demonstrated toward other people, especially people who (apparently) do not deserve that love.
Or, to put this in James’ words, “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:18 ESV)
Elitism among the body of Christ
According to dictionary.com, an elitist is “a person having, thought to have, or professing superior intellect or talent, power, wealth, or membership in the upper echelons of society.”
Last summer, when I start running, I began to hear advice from “elite” runners. Those were the people who could run faster or longer distances than most other people.
But, it seems there is a difference in connotation between the word “elite” and the word “elitist.” The term “elitist” usually refers to someone who looks down on other people because of their (assumed) superiority in some aspect of life or society.
Throughout Scripture, life with Christ is described as a process of growth and maturity. We do not start perfect in our understanding and life in Christ. Instead, we start as “babes,” and are intended to continually grow as the Spirit works in and through us.
If any of us look back on our lives with Christ, we will probably see changes in our beliefs, love, actions, spiritual gifts, relations with other people, etc. This is normal growth in the Spirit. Even Paul recognize that he had not yet attained full maturity, but he pressed on toward growing more and more in Christ.
But, it’s possible for any of us to forget where we once were and begin to look down on others who are not where are currently. In fact, there are a couple of passage of Scripture that indicate the same thing was happening even then.
For example, in Romans 12, Paul seems to address the possibility that some Christians thought less of others based on spiritual gifts:
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (Romans 12:3 ESV)
Some parts of 1 Corinthians 12-14 indicate that some of the believers in Corinth may have had elitist thoughts regarding spiritual gifts as well.
Plus, when writing to the Corinthians, Paul indicated that some of them made have thought more highly of themselves (in comparison to other believers) because of their knowledge in certain spiritual areas:
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. (1 Corinthians 8:1-2 ESV)
Before we look down our spiritual noses on the Corinthians (and perhaps demonstrate our own elitism), we should recognize that we can all fall into this trap. It’s easy to look down on others, even when they are demonstrating the same beliefs and/or actions that we demonstrated only a few years, months, or days before. But, just as God worked in us to bring us to where we are today, we must trust God to do the same in others. And, on top of that, we must remember that God is also still at work in our own lives. Tomorrow, he may reveal (and we may finally accept) that we are wrong about something we believe or do today.
There is no room for elitism among the body of Christ. Instead, as Paul wrote, we must always consider others as more important than ourselves – which is the exact opposite of elitism.