Spiritual birth always leads to spiritual life… and spiritual living
Last week, Dave Black posted a little entry on his blog about the gospel. And, primarily, he’s talking about “living the gospel” not the “facts about the gospel.” There is a difference…
While he later relates this comment to teenagers (since he was planning to speak to teenagers soon after writing the post), he also recognizes that the comments relate to all followers of Jesus.
This is what he wrote (Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 5:41 a.m.):
I have long been convinced that there is no substitute for living the Gospel and not just talking about it. Biblical truth (i.e., doctrine) has a built-in power to make us different people. Too many Christians are suffering from theological shellshock. They’ve been taught that doctrine trumps everything else. With all due deference to theologians and Bible scholars (I is one!), we can state as a categorical fact that spiritual birth always leads to spiritual life! We have no right to claim a personal relationship with God unless our lives bear clear-cut marks of being His children. This is the point Jesus is making when He says “Follow me.” The mark of a true follower of Jesus is that more and more of our actions toward our fellow men, including our enemies, is governed by the love that God has poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That is the Gospel.
Being born by the Spirit is a prerequisite for living by the Spirit. In the same way, living by the Spirit is the (super-)natural result of being birthed by the Spirit. Like he said, this is the gospel… new life and new living in Jesus Christ.
Chain Blog: One Another
Last Friday, I proposed that we start a new chain blog. (If you don’t know what a chain blog is, you can read the info in my post “Interested in a Chain Blog? Let’s pick a topic.,” or you can keep reading below for more info.)
In that post, several topics were suggested, but most people seem to have been interested in the following topic: “one another.”
So, in this post, I’m going to introduce the topic. “One another” is a phrase that points toward many instructions, commands, and examples in the New Testament. It is the translation of a couple of Greek terms which are reciprocal pronouns.
Reciprocal Pronouns
A reciprocal pronoun indicates that more than one person is involved in both carrying out an activity and in the results of the activity. Thus, when Scripture indicates that we should “love one another,” “teach one another,” “exhort one another,” “serve one another,” etc., these are mutual activities in which more than one person is involved in both the activity and the result.
Mutuality
While there are several different ways to refer to the kinds of activities in which more than one person is involved in both carrying out the activity and the result of the activity, I prefer the term “mutuality.” Mutuality is different than individualism, but it is also different than collectivism. In a mutual relationship, the group works together for the benefit of the group (this sets apart mutuality from individualism), but they do not work together under duress or force (this sets apart mutuality from collectivism).
Our Mutual Relationships
What does this mean for those of us who are following Jesus Christ? Well, it helps us to understanding the importance of our mutual relationships with one another in Jesus Christ when we read statements in Scripture like “love one another,” “teach one another,” “be kind to one another,” “edify one another,” “forgive one another,” “admonish one another,” etc.
The Chain Blog
In this chain blog, each author will pick a topic related to “one another.” Together we will work toward a better understanding of these reciprocal pronouns and the mutual relationships that they point to.
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Chain blog rules:
1) If you would like to write the next blog post (link) in this chain, leave a comment stating that you would like to do so. If someone else has already requested to write the next link, then please wait for that blog post and leave a comment there requesting to write the following link.
2) Feel free to leave comments here and discuss items in this blog post without taking part in the actual “chain.” Your comments and discussion are very important in this chain blog (both this post and the other link posts in the chain).
3) When you write a link in this chain, please reply in the comments of the previous post to let everyone know that your link is ready. Also, please try to keep an updated list of links in the chain at the bottom of your post, and please include these rules at the bottom of your post.
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“Links” in the “One Another” chain blog:
1. “Chain Blog: One Another” by Alan
2. “Linking One Another” by Swanny
3. “What Does It Mean to Love One Another? by Chuck
4. “The treasure of “One Another” by Jim
5. “This is how the world shall recognise you…” by Kathleen
6. “Accepting one another in love” by Chris
7. “One Another-ing: A meta-narrative for the church” – Part One and Part Two by Greg
8. “Individualism and ‘one another’” by Pieter
9. “All Alone with One Another” by Jeremy
10. “When it’s OK for Christians to compete” by Joshua
11. “Jesus Christ, the Corner Stone for One Another” by Peter
12. “Be Superficial with One Another” by Jon
13. “The Unmentionable One Anothers” by Alan
14. “Loving More Fully and Widely” by Chris
15. “The One Another Weapon” by Dan
16. “Corporate One-Anothering” (Part 1 and Part 2) by David
17. “The Last Revival” by Tobie
18. “Love: A one another comic” by Dan
19. “I Can Only Love You If…” by Rob
20. “It Was Lost in Translation” by Nelson
21. “Consider Others Better Than Yourself” by Chuck
22. Who will write the 22nd link post in the chain?
Scripture… As We Live It #228
This is the 228th passage in “Scripture… As We Live It.”
As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus as the bishop / senior pastor so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine so that you may be the one responsible for teaching correct doctrine… (1 Timothy 1:3 re-mix)
(Please read the first post for an explanation of this series.)
Replay: Learning about community in Christ and conflict from Philemon
Four years ago, back in 2008, I wrote a post called “The community and conflict.” I wrote this post after noticing that Paul’s very personal letter to Philemon (dealing with the issue of a runaway slave) was addressed not only to Philemon, but also to the church. Think about that… Paul was dealing with a very difficult issue that could cause personal conflict between himself and Philemon and/or between Onesimus (the runaway slave) and Philemon. But, he did not think it wise to keep this issue only between himself, Philemon, and Onesimus. He included the community…
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The community and conflict
Are you familiar with Paul’s short letter to Philemon? Apparently, Onesimus was one of Philemon’s slaves. Onesimus ran away (an offense punishable by death), and perhaps also stole something valuable from Philemon.
While running away from his master, Onesimus ran into Paul. Through is encounter with Paul, Onesimus also “ran into” Jesus Christ and was converted. For some time, Onesimus worked with Paul sharing the good news of Jesus Christ wherever they went and strengthen the churches that they passed by.
At some point, Paul found out that Onesimus was a slave who had run away from Philemon. Paul knew Philemon and some of the other brothers and sisters in Collosae. Paul told Onesimus that he had to return to Philemon in order to seek his forgiveness. Paul wrote a letter to Philemon which Onesimus was supposed to deliver. This was a very personal and intimate letter dealing with a possibly serious situation.
Can you imagine that conflict that might have occurred between Philemon and Onesimus? Yes, Philemon was a Christian, and, yes, Onesimus was now a Christian. But, we know that Christians do not always act Christ-like.
But, Paul included help for both Philemon and Onesimus his letter. Read the opening of Paul’s letter to Philemon:
Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: (Philemon 1:1-2 ESV)
Did you catch that? Paul did not address this very intimate and personal letter ONLY to Philemon. He also included Apphia, Archippus, and the entire church with which they met. Paul did not intend for Philemon and Onesimus to “work this out” on their own. Why? Because relationships between believers is very, very important. And, these relationships are not only important to the people involved, but to the entire church.
We make a mistake when we keep relationship problems – even serious relationship problems – to ourselves. We mistakenly think that we can prevent further problems by not getting other people involved. On the contrary, Paul sets the example for us – the church should be involved in relationship problems, because relationship problems affect the entire church. (See also Philippians 4:2-3 where Paul talks about another relationship problem to the entire church.)
It’s time to stop hiding our relational conflict and problems and start allowing God to work through his church to reconcile those problems. (By the way, this assumes that we already have REAL relationships among the people that are part of the church.)
Interested in a Chain Blog? Let’s pick a topic.
A few years ago, I put together a way of interacting through blogs called a “chain blog.” (This may have been done by others, but I have never heard of it.) A chain blog is similar to a synchroblog, with a little twist. In a synchroblog, everyone posts about the same topic at the same time. In a chain blog, people post about the same topic, but they publish their posts one after the other (in a chain) and sometimes in response to other posts.
The way it works is that someone starts the chain blog by writing a post about a particular topic. The next person in the chain writes a post on the same topic and publishes it on his/her blog. That post can be in response to the previous post(s), or it can simply continue the conversation or even take the conversation in a different direction concerning the same topic. This continues until no one is interested in writing another post.
These are the rules that I’ve used before for chain blogs:
Chain blog rules:
- If you would like to write the next blog post (link) in this chain, leave a comment stating that you would like to do so. If someone else has already requested to write the next link, then please wait for that blog post and leave a comment there requesting to write the following link.
- Feel free to leave comments here and discuss items in this blog post without taking part in the actual “chain.” Your comments and discussion are very important in this chain blog.
- When you write a link in this chain, please reply in the comments of the previous link to let everyone know that your link is ready. Also, please try to keep an updated list of links in the chain at the bottom of your post, and please include these rules at the bottom of your post.
Besides those rules, there is something very important that has to happen before starting a chain blog. It’s necessary to pick a topic that several bloggers are interested in writing about.
So, I have 2 questions:
1) Are you interested in taking part in a chain blog?
2) What topics would you like to write about? (I’d prefer the topic was somehow related to the church, since that’s the primary topic of my blog.)
Also, if you have any questions about doing a chain blog, feel free to ask in the comments.
(Previously, I’ve been part of a few chain blogs, two of which were very good: “Dealing with Divisive Issues” and “City Church.”)
Learning to trust what God can do
The man’s son was possessed by a demon. The boy could not talk. He would occasionally have seizures, be tossed around, foam at the mouth, grind his teeth, and lay rigid on the ground. The father had tried every option, but no one could help him. So, he brought his son to Jesus. Unfortunately, when he got there, Jesus, Peter, James, and John were on top of a mountain.
Jesus’ followers – the remaining nine apostles and probably others as well – tried to cast the demon out of the boy, but it did not work. The demon remained and continued to cause the boy physical, mental, and emotional distress. Once again, the father’s hopes were dashed. But, then, Jesus came back down the mountain with Peter, James, and John.
The boy’s father had another decision to make. So far, all of his attempts at alleviating his son’s problems had proved futile. Nothing helped. But, something inside him told him to trust this man who was walking down the mountain. Something inside him told him that this man could help. It wasn’t rational; it wasn’t reasonable. Everything and everyone else screamed out that the boy’s situation was hopeless. But, there was that one voice that continued to encourage the man to hope, to trust, to ask.
While the crowd continued to argue about who was to blame for the failure to help the boy, the father rushed up to Jesus. He tells Jesus what had already happened. “Can you really help my son?” he pleads.
Jesus responds mysteriously, “All things are possible to the one who believes – has faith – trusts…” (Mark 9:23)
The father answers hurriedly, then thoughtfully, “Of course, I have faith… help me with my lack of faith.” (Mark 9:24)
After Jesus casts the demon out of the boy, I can imagine the joy and gratitude of both the father and the son as they rush home to tell their relatives. What amazing power this man had demonstrated! Look at how he had cast out the demon and restored the boy! Trust him!
But, what about Jesus’ followers? Did this miracle cause them to trust Jesus more also? Well, according to Mark, they continued to argue and ask, “Why could we not cast the demon out of the boy?” It seems that they missed the most important lesson of this episode.
Instead of observing what Jesus had done and learning to trust him, they were more concerned with their own inability to cast the demon out of the boy. Within this short episode, we should recognize that Jesus responds positively to the man who admits his own lack of faith, but he responds negatively to his followers who only seemed to be interested in what they could or could not do themselves.
When we are trusting God, we recognize that there are limits to our faith, and we ask him for help with those limits. When we are trusting God, we are not as concerned with what we can or cannot do, but are learning to trust in what God can do.
Ministry is not something special we do; it is something we live.
Katie at “Backseat Driver” has written another good post called “Questions Continued: What About Financial Support?” The post is a continuation of a series that she is writing about questions raised concerning organic / simple / missional church.
Now, don’t let the topic or the labels concern you. This post, and many of the others that she’s written, can help us think about who we are in Christ regardless of how we organize ourselves as the church. In fact, some of these topics may even help us modify how we organize or don’t organize.
While this particular post is about “financial support,” the basis of the post is what it means to minister to or serve others.
At one point, Katie writes:
When we work at a job/jobs, it means that there is not a lot of extra time to “do” ministry in the way we have thought it had to happen in the past traditional sense. This is where we think of ministry only happening in time slotted meetings, prepared orations of teaching, directed study, preplanned activities and organized events. The Simple, Organic, Missional paradigm is that ministry is not something we do, but rather live, and it fits into our lives naturally in its’ various contexts. It is not something for the “chosen few” professionals, but rather the whole Body of Christ. It is not “slotted” but fluid, and responsive to the direction of the Holy Spirit. We look for opportunities at work, with our families, in our neighborhood, with people we associate with through our children, communities of activity, in fellowship with other Christians, etc. to live ministry and Christ fluidly and naturally in all contexts. I spoke with a guy recently who resigned from a pastoral job and went back to school to become a nurse. He shared with me that he feels he is ministering to others far more through his nursing job, than he did through his weekly church events that were called “ministry”.
What Katie describes is exactly how Scripture uses the term that we translate as “ministry.” It’s the same term that is often translated as “service.” If you are serving someone, then you are ministering to that person. It really is that simple.
Ministry is not about a job, or a position, or a set time, or a special event, or an affiliation, or an education, or a title… it’s about serving others in Jesus’ name… whenever and wherever.
Strong words from Jesus… about us?
We all know that Jesus had strong words for the Jewish religious leaders of his day. For an example, consider the “woes” that Jesus spoke against the Pharisees, scribes, and other religious leaders in Matthew 23. He used such strong terms as “blind guides,” “hypocrites,” “whitewashed tombs,” and “serpents.” These are not the kinds of terms that would help Jesus win friends and influence people. And, none of us want Jesus to use these kinds of terms to refer to us.
But, did you know that Jesus did not reserve “strong words” only for those hypocritical religious leaders?
Primarily, I write for audience of people who are followers of Jesus, disciples, believers, Christians, those who are saved, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and children of God.
And… here’s the part that we don’t talk about much… Jesus often spoke “strong words” toward people who were seeking the truth from him, toward those who were following him, and even toward those who he had chosen as apostles. (And, I’m not even going to include Judas Iscariot in this…)
Jesus was surprised at their lack of understanding:
But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he [Jesus] said, “Are you also still without understanding?” (Matthew 15:15-16 ESV)
Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” (John 3:10 ESV)
He made demands on them:
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” (Luke 19:5 ESV)
Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:18-22 ESV)
He made seemingly impossible demands of them:
And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” (Mark 6:35-37 ESV)
And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:6 ESV)
He rebuked them sometimes calling them names, sometimes using sarcasm and exaggeration:
And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26 ESV)
But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me.” (Matthew 16:23 ESV)
“And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you?” (Luke 9:40-41 ESV)
Now, some may disagree with how I’ve labeled some of the passages above. But, it’s clear that Jesus used strong words when speaking with his disciples. In the same way, he could (and probably does) use strong words when speaking with us, too.
I think the only ones who are surprised at Jesus’ strong words to us (his disciples) would be those who think they’ve got it all together… But, I could be wrong.
What do you think?
About teenagers and the church… again
Mike at “Internet Monk” has written a very good article called “Yet another ‘Wake Up!” Call.”
Like many posts these days (and over the last few years), Mike is writing about the decline in attendance at church events, especially among young adults. His post is actually a summary of another article.
What’s the problem? Well, Mike summarizes the original author’s points:
- We emphasize decisions not discipleship.
- We have embraced the concept of “market-driven” youth ministry, giving people what they prefer (a road that has no end).
- We bought into the idea that youth should be segregated from the family and the rest of the church.
- We believe that big = effective, and we believe that more programs attended = stronger disciples.
- We’ve created the perfect Christian bubble (that is bound to burst eventually), then we invite people into our Christian subculture, where professionals are responsible to Christianize them.
- We imitated our culture’s most successful gathering places in an effort to be “relevant,” forgetting that none of those are places of transformation.
- We’ve embrace attractional models over missional ones, filling the church and giving us “Sunday experiences” that bear little relation to real life.
I’ll be honest… when I read the list above, I see the same thing: We’re inviting people and attracting people to an event. We’re not inviting people to Jesus, helping them to follow him, and giving them opportunities to learn to serve others together. We think we’re inviting people to follow Jesus, but entertainment will not make a disciple of Jesus… but then neither will a lecture (sermon).
Discipleship is life-on-life work. (And that can’t be programmed…)
I think this is true for teenagers and adults.
Jesus is head of the church and head over all things
Last Sunday, we had a great time discussing Ephesians 1:1-14 together. I was greatly challenged and encouraged by my brothers and sisters in Christ as we talked about how God has blessed us in Jesus Christ and how the proper response is to bless (praise) him back with both our words and our lives.
Next week, we plan to discuss the Ephesians 1:15-23, which is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church. He prays that God would grant them revelation and wisdom through his Spirit so that they would know him better. (Ephesians 1:15-17) He asks that God would enlighten their hearts which would result in the Ephesians also knowing three things: 1) the hope that God had called them to, 2) how valuable they are to God, and 3) the amazing power of God that is at work in and through them. (Ephesians 1:18-19)
For the next several verses, Paul “camps out” on this power of God. He reminds them that the power that’s in them is the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and caused him to be ascended into heaven. (Ephesians 1:20) The power that is in the Ephesians is the same power that placed Jesus above any other power or authority… any other power… in any time. (Ephesians 1:21)
Then, Paul makes the statement that I want to consider for the rest of this post:
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23 ESV)
Now, we know that later in the letter Paul stresses that Jesus is the head of the church:
For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. (Ephesians 5:23 ESV)
And, he says something similar in Colossians:
And he is the head of the body, the church… (Colossians 1:18 ESV)
But, in the passage in Ephesians 1:22-23, Paul focuses on something else: Jesus is the head over all things. In fact, Paul says that God gave Jesus Christ to be head over all things… and God gave him to the church.
Remember that Paul is using this statement as an indication of the great power of God that is at work in the believers in Ephesus. It was not only the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, it was also the power that placed Jesus above all things, the power that placed all things under his control (“under his feet”), and the power that made Jesus head over all things for the benefit of the church.
Finally, remember that Paul wanted the Ephesians to know this power. He asked God to enlighten them so that they would know this power (among other things).
Now, looking at the passage raises several questions for me: 1) What does it mean to know this kind of power? 2) Why do we need to be enlightened in order to know this power? 3) What does it mean for the church for Jesus to be head over all things? 4) If Jesus is head over all things, why does it not seem that way when we look at the church and the world?