First, Mark researched and presented a report about Walt Disney. Allusions to the characters Disney created and their personalities, words or habits are easily recognized by almost anyone—child or adult. Mark learned a lot about the man’s childhood and early career. He created a collage with pictures of Walt and his famous animated characters. So my son can say he knows a lot about Walt Disney. But he would have to concede he really never knew Disney personally.

Tiger Woods presented an enjoyable opportunity for Mark to research an interesting sports figure. Of course, at the time, Tiger’s career was already historic and his personal life seemed unassailably happy. While presenting his report, Mark wore a red shirt to portray Tiger’s superstitious affection for his good-luck attire. A Nike visor completed the “look”, and a rundown of all Tiger’s career accomplishments in golf made the presentation complete. So, my son can say he knows a lot about Tiger Woods. But he would have to concede he really doesn’t know Tiger personally.

I’m not sure I’ll ever get all the black felt fiber out of the sewing machine feed. It’s been there since I sewed the black top hat for Mark’s third character. The third report Mark completed involved a man who had a profound impact on our nation’s history. From his early days in Kentucky to his rise to the White House, this man held high ideals and was a paragon of moral character. Whether in personal tragedy or national crisis, Abraham Lincoln maintained a vision of justice that ranks him among the most honorable men who ever lived. My son could say he knows a lot about Abraham Lincoln. But (you know it!) he would have to concede he never really met or knew Lincoln personally.

Could it be that, as you approach the manger of Bethlehem—if you even contemplate it at all while shopping, wrapping, scheming and dreaming this year—you are among those who know ABOUT Jesus, but don’t really know Him personally? And let me stop you right there before you say, “Of course I know Him. I accepted Him as my ‘personal savior’ on the umpteenth of July, 1972 at a revival meeting in Squirrel Trail, Alabama.”  Let’s not pretend that American individualism and the ‘personal savior’ thing matters to God more than it does.  Of course He saves sinners as individuals, but that’s not the heart of His eternal plan and purpose…not according to the Bible anyway. I’m not writing here for the “lost” who have never even met Him…I’m writing to you, Believer. Do you know a lot ABOUT Jesus? It’s a good thing to know a lot about Him. But search your heart…do you KNOW HIM?

People who know a lot about Jesus might choose Christmas cards with a faith-based message over cards with reindeer and jingle bells as the theme. But, look at the cards we choose. Are they designed to convey a “holy” atmosphere over a babe in a manger with gilt and rich colors? Or could we accept a card that comes close to capturing the stench of a stable and the raw poverty of His birth? In our romanticized, sanitized recognition that the Holy Creator God entered human history as a human baby, can we find a reminder that He arrived as a helpless child, born into the poorest imaginable family, hunted and persecuted from infancy by the rulers of His world? Can we remember that He didn’t come home from a hospital to a freshly painted, color-coordinated “nursery” in a house that has more bedrooms than some villages? Will it spoil our “holiday spirit” to be reminded that the plan wasn’t for Him to grow up and go to the best university, have a “successful” career and win a Nobel Prize? No…His destiny was a criminal’s death on a wooden cross, to be placed into a tomb…and to be resurrected, the firstborn of many brethren.  Many brethren…not just someone’s “personal savior”.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If we don’t view Christmas through the lens of Easter we will totally miss the point.  And if we reduce it to our observance of traditions and customs that make it about gifts, lights, pretty scenes, sentimental stories about benevolence and hearts that magically grow larger at Christmas,  we really miss the significance of Emmanuel, God with us, coming into the squalid misery that is the essential reality of every human being when you strip away the “success” and the “security” we create for ourselves.  Apart from Him there is no lasting value in anything we cherish.

The Samaritan woman at the well received a revelation from Jesus Himself that the Father was seeking those who would worship “in spirit and in truth”. You can “be saved” and know a lot about Jesus, but only those who really know Him can worship in spirit and in truth.

Long before the crude makeshift cradle of His infancy, He created everything with a plan and a purpose in mind. Paul tells us, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” (Colossians 1:16 NIV)

Of course, one of the things we “evangelical” Christians insist upon is that all things were created by Him.  But let’s stop for a moment to consider the rest of Paul’s declaration: all things were created for Him.  If we linger too long over the fact that we can each have a “personal savior” we can make it—and often have made it—all about us!  We allow ourselves to experience Him “individually” as a collection of “saved” individuals observing customs and traditions that we say are about Him when they are really about us. “It just doesn’t seem like Christmas if we don’t_______.”  We’ve created traditions that are for us.  If we really know Jesus we can stop trying to experience Him through things we create and rest in the knowledge that we—and everything else—were created for Him. Now, that’s a God we can truly adore!

The first eighteen verses of the first chapter of John’s Gospel explain Jesus as the Creator God with a purpose that reaches far beyond that of a “personal savior”. How often have you read John 1:12-13 without stopping to ponder your status…not as a saved individual but as a member of God’s family?

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent,nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13 NIV).”

The birth of Christ isn’t just about a “newborn king”. It’s about an eternal King who entered human history and ensured that we are part of HIS STORY. Before the stable and beyond the cross—into eternity, forever and ever—the glorious God who created the universe has a plan. The plan isn’t just “personal salvation”. The plan includes sons and daughters of God, a people Jesus came to draw unto Himself, to share His eternal divine life! While we exist on the earth, we are supposed to grow into a corporate expression of that divine life!  No way to depict THAT on a Christmas card. And if you are “in Christ” you have far more than a “personal savior”. Your adoption papers are signed and sealed and locked away as a precious treasure in the eternal vault of God’s acceptance and love! Whatever your burdens, your trials or your “shortcomings”, you are now and forever, among many brethren, a child of the living God! The babe of Bethlehem, from eternity past, is so much more than our creator and personal savior…He is our Brother and our Friend! My prayer this Christmas is that we all truly come to KNOW Him! Let’s take a step closer to the manger together.  “Behold your God”, and whisper to Him, “Lord, I want to know you!”

 “Come, let us adore Him!”

I encourage you to read about the October Synchroblog theme “Down We Go” by clicking this link  before continuing to read this post.  Please explore the links to other bloggers participating in the October Synchroblog (at the bottom of this post).  Those links will allow you to “listen in”,  follow and comment on the “cyber-conversation” as other bloggers participate in writing about this month’s topic. The October challenge seems like a gigantic, multi-tiered party cake! Who knows what’s under the icing? If we take one slice at a time we’ll surely taste something of the Lord Jesus Christ in each writer’s portion.

__________

“Masquerade! Hide your face, so the world will never find you!” (Lyrics from Phantom of the Opera)

__________

It didn’t start in the age of  Dear Abby and Ann Landers.  Of course we want to think Dr. Ruth or Dr. Phil can somehow silence that “inner voice” which tells us there’s something wrong with us and we need to “get our act together” before everyone finds out.  I suspect it all started long before advice columnists in newspapers…before newspapers…before the printing press…just…”before”.  Perhaps it started with two naked people and some fig leaves—two people who were silly enough to think God would never find them?  Wherever it started , “it” is definitely there.  Yes…it must have started long, long ago.  I think Jesus may have been commenting on our “advice columnist” mentality with that remark about getting the beam out of my own eye before I presume to help you with the speck in yours. The knowledge that we lack “put togetherness” is behind the invention of masks and advice columns, you know. “Truth”. (High Five…or whatever cool people do…Amen?)

The Oprah Generation has a call on their lives! “Gather around the television set, all you broken folks out there in TV land. We know about your mask and we’ll help you with the problem as you sit there in the privacy of your own homes. And we’ll make it simple. See…it’s like this…just repeat after me ‘I’m Okay and You’re Okay’.”  Okay…I feel better, don’t you? “Okay-ness” is so highly valued and now we’ve got it. “Okay” is the new mask, but that’s “okay”, right? I’m not trying to be flip. I’m not denying the genuine need for legitimate psychological help in some cases, or the benefit of legitimate and responsible counseling. But isn’t it interesting where people hiding behind masks will turn in an effort to keep the mask in place while they move “upward” toward some non-existent point in their journey of “self help” when the mask will become unnecessary?

Listen carefully…

what you are about to hear…

is the sound of a mask hitting the floor. No, I don’t actually wear this thing anymore–not with you, Dear Reader. I just keep it handy to remind me God looks on the heart. The world sees me the way the world “sees”. And I won’t argue the world needs an eye exam. I’m every bit as broken and ruined and hopeless as the world thinks I am. The world sees what the balance on my bank account says (or, to be honest, DOESN’T say). The world sees the pile of unfinished projects, the short attention span, and the long string of broken, messed up relationships. The world sees…well…the world just sees…me. Before you rush to my defense, let me clarify…the absence of Christ in that assessment isn’t an indicator of “low self-esteem” on my part. It’s an absence of “Christ esteem” on the world’s part. If we truly esteem Christ, He helps us see others with His eyes…and we begin to see others as made in God’s image. So, if you felt a desire to rush to my defense, then you’re seeing me the way I know He does and you esteem Him…so, “we’re all good here”. Better than just “okay”.  You and I, well…we see each other and we know how to look for Him in each other.  Therefore, let’s assume we really are ready to go “down” this road together.

By the way, “me” is pretty much everyone.  Absent the presence of Christ, everyone in the world has a tendency to see everyone else as having the problem and to see self as “okay”…as long as no one comes up and rips off the mask. I don’t have to be completely “put together” as long as my “put togetherness” exceeds my “fallen- apartness” and, of course, your “put togetherness”.

“Woe to you, you Pharisees!” Again, I’m not making light of anyone’s brokenness—or anyone’s hypocrisy for that matter! I dare not make light of anything God takes so seriously. To borrow an adjective from my friend Lisa Koons (director of the Charlotte 24-7 Prayer Room), the human condition is just so “jacked up”. With the use of that simple street-slang descriptor, Lisa sealed my fate as to which slice of the Synchroblog cake I would take—and, simultaneously, she gave me the title for this post.

“Jacked UP”! If I read the Sermon on the Mount with a grain of discernment, what I’m discerning is that the answer to my “jacked up” condition is to encounter “down”…as in “lay it down”. Granted, “down” doesn’t always present itself negatively in our conversations, but how many times have you heard the following phrases?

“That’s a real downer…I’m having a nervous breakdown…down in the dumps…Well, you can go down with the ship if you want to, but I’m getting out of here…Hey, stop putting her down…It’s going to be your downfall…The conversation went downhill from there…”.

In the presence of a culture chasing “up”, I need to be reminded that Jesus calls me to lay my life down in order to take it up again. I need to be reminded of the outcry of the heart (nearly three decades ago) when, in a time of intense personal brokenness and pain, I read the 51^st Psalm and wept, “Lord teach me to embrace pain if it will draw me nearer to you!” I need to be reminded of the dangerous and daunting prayer I uttered little more than one decade ago: “Lord, teach me what it means to ‘die to self’…and help me mean this.” I need to be reminded that I, like Timothy, have an eternal destiny that was planned in Christ from before “In the beginning”—not because of anything I’ve done (as in “having my act together”), but because of grace!

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God,  who has saved us and called us to a holy life–not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”  2 Timothy 1:7-10

I need to be reminded that I might not look “fixed” in the eyes of the world—that what still appears “broken” in me may actually be God’s custom-tailored answer to a deeper and more dangerous brokenness: pride, boasting in my own works, ignoring God’s plan for me in pursuit of my own plan…any number of carnal temptations.

I need to be reminded that, while others may judge me harshly, according to my brokenness, the state in which I find myself may be a gift of “sight”.  What the world calls being put together is something even the very wicked can often accomplish, if only temporarily. Yes, I walk with a limp…but my brokenness reminds me that He loves me enough to wrestle with me through the night, and that He blesses the one who doesn’t let go.

And, being reminded of all these things, I need to lay even my self-awareness down daily in order to become a help to you, as you are to me—and as we two shall be to our brothers and sisters—until Christ is formed in us…a mutual “funeral” for the “old creation” that plays itself out in a matrix of Kingdom relationships…dying and being reborn together as we are built together into a New Creation temple—God’s habitation on the earth, an expression of His Kingdom wherever we come together, that the world might know Him because they see Him in us.

While the online slang dictionaries offer definitions of “jacked up” ranging from what we do to the automobile so we can change a flat tire to more recent and “obscene” alternatives, the most accurate interpretation offered by Urbandictionary[dot]com must unarguably be “not working properly or as intended”.

From the moment Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, humanity simply has not been “working properly or as intended”.  Top that for “obscenity”! Imagine…a species created in God’s image…a species into which (as we read in Genesis) the Creator breathed His own breath of life…and yet here we are—“all jacked up”.  The solution is to “lay it down” and He loved us enough to set the example…Personally. He intervenes on our behalf. He redeems. He “makes new”.

We can affirm moral absolutes—they do exist—and still not reap life! We can stand squarely in the center of doctrinal orthodoxy and miss the point! We can muster all eloquence (the tongues of men AND angels) and profess the highest of ideals…build magnificent edifices…design programs…write books…raise our hands high in worship…work hard and make a “success” of ourselves (and proudly say “to God be the glory”—even though God already has all the glory and it’s impossible for us to add to it) …and still be just as “jacked up” as Cain was when he murdered his brother.

But here’s some good news: reading the Sermon on the Mount with my “jacked up” understanding, I still get the idea that the people who realize they are “all jacked up” may well be standing in the front of the line when it comes to entering the Kingdom.

Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise your name. (Psalm 74:21 NRS)

The Lord lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the wicked to the ground. (Psalm 147:6)

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If you enjoyed reading this post, I invite you to join “the other voice in my head” at “my other blog”.  I took a second piece of cake in a piece entitled “How Low Can We Go?”.

More importantly, PLEASE visit the fifteen other writers who tackled the October topic—”Down We Go”:

• Alan Knox – How Low Can You Go
• Jeremy Myers – Seeking The Next Demotion
• Glenn Hager – Pretty People
• David Derbershire – Reaching The Inner City
• Tammy Carter – Flight Plan
• Leah Randall – Jacked Up
• Leah Randall (her other voice) – How Low Can We Go
• Liz Dyer – Beautiful Mess
• Maria Anderson – Down
• Christine Sine – There Is No Failure In The Kingdom of God
• Leah Sophia – Down We Go
• Hugh Hollowell – Downward
• Kathy Escobar – We May Look Like Losers – Redux
• Anthony Ehrhardt – Slumming It For Jesus
• Sonja Andrews – Diversion and Distraction
• Marta Layton – Down The Up Staircase
• Wendy McCaig – A Material Girl

]]> http://zarephath.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/jacked-up/feed/ 19 l3ahmr1 http://zarephath.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/end-times-update-peter-and-paul-tour-your-town/ http://zarephath.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/end-times-update-peter-and-paul-tour-your-town/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:48:36 +0000 Leah Randall http://zarephath.wordpress.com/?p=611 Continue reading →]]> What if…

…Jesus sent Peter and Paul to your town today. Suppose they just “materialize” on Main Street. Now, let’s also suppose the automobiles and the clothing styles don’t come as any surprise to them. In fact, Jesus has made sure they look just like you would expect men in our culture to look… “ordinary”. And of course, our American English just comes naturally to them, too.

Nevertheless, a surprise awaits the two apostles.  They stand there for a few minutes, observing their surroundings, watching the people of your town going about their daily lives. They easily determine where the “marketplace” is located. The hospital might be an enigma…until an ambulance screams into the parking lot and they witness a sick or injured woman being carried inside on a stretcher. Civil authorities wearing uniforms and badges stand out. Peter and Paul know all about “authorities”. So, seeing a man with his hands shackled together being led to an imposing structure in the town square by uniformed officers naturally leads to the correct assumption that “justice” the civic rulers administer “justice” in that structure.

Perhaps Peter and Paul exchange puzzled looks and shrug as they pass the public school.  They’ve already noticed—without surprise—young mothers with babies and small children in the marketplace. But a school yard full of boys and girls together seems a little odd…almost like a prison. In their day, girls generally didn’t receive formal education, and certainly not alongside boys! Not that they would have a problem with educations for girls, BUT…!

An older man coming out of the hardware store stops to buy a newspaper from a newspaper box. Coins ping and spin on the sidewalk as he draws his hand awkwardly from the pocket of his trousers. Paul bends down to retrieve two of them, noting an eagle on one of the coins. As he hands it to the man, he notices what appears to be a goddess in flowing robes on the other side. The smaller coin is brownish, with the image of a bearded man on one side and a columned temple on the other. The man thanks him and turns to put coins into the newspaper box, but pauses as Paul asks, “Please, sir, can you tell us…where the Church is?”

“Well, which one do you want?” the man asks. He points toward a tall spire with a cross on top. “First Baptist is two blocks that way. The Lutherans are over across the railroad track, up four blocks; turn right then go about a block. If you want the Methodist church go about a half a mile past there and turn left. Grey stone building on the left. The Holiness Full Gospel of Supernatural Power church used to meet in that store building across the street where the shoe shop is—right there, next to the tattoo parlor. But they disbanded after one of the snakes bit that pastor of theirs. He didn’t die, but he’s sure enough paralyzed on that side of his face to this day. Can’t even blink his eye!”

“Well,” interrupts Peter, “we’re looking for the Church of Jesus Christ.”

The man blinks and looks from one apostle to the other. “You guys ain’t from around here, are you? You two Mormons? You know…what they call the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?” He bends to remove the daily paper from the stack and winces as the door of the paper box springs into place with a bang. From habit, he checks to see if there are any coins in the change return on the side of the box.

“Uh…maybe you could just tell us at which house the Church in this town meets?” Paul glances sideways at Peter.  Then adds, “Or maybe you know two or three people who open their homes to the brethren?”

“Look,” the man shakes his head slowly, “I’m going over to the beer joint to meet my buddies. I can drop you off at the Presbyterian church on the way.”

We might all be willing to admit that the denominational separations in the Church give rise to a chuckle or two. But I’m really not trying to be funny here. I imagine there would be serious concern and lengthy discussion going on if Peter and Paul hung around and visited all these churches! What would they think of:

• Arguments over how and when to baptize believers?
• Preoccupation with eschatology, teachings about the “rapture”—and believers refusing to fellowship with one another on the basis of their “rapture” beliefs?
• Brass crosses and candlesticks on “altars”?
• Buildings dedicated for “worship”?
• Little cups of grape juice and stale little wafers…and the designation “Holy Communion”?
• A priestly caste (“clergy”) separate from the rest of the Body of Christ (“laity”)?
• Blood-bought saints—sons and daughters of God purchased by the atoning death and resurrection of His only begotten Son (the firstborn of many brothers and sisters)—being told they are under a curse if they don’t give 10% of every dollar that comes their way to “the church”?
• Believers calling the building, the clergy/laity caste system, and the budget “church”?

Just think…the New Testament canon could expand overnight—double at least—as Peter and Paul set about correcting all our errors!  I’m pretty sure they would say:

• “Any believer who shares the Gospel and leads someone to repentance and belief in Jesus Christ can and should baptize the new convert immediately!”
• “Stop arguing about when the Lord Jesus will return! Obey His commands—love God, love one another, make disciples.”
• “Jesus is our One Eternal High Priest and the only acceptable sacrifice is a living sacrifice. The only acceptable altar is your heart. The only Light is Christ. God does not live in temples made by human hands!”
• “When you come together, break bread and share the cup as a fellowship meal—a love feast. Remember He has become the final fulfillment of Passover—the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! Remember the passion of your RISEN Lord and celebrate His Supper as a rehearsal for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb!”
• “Don’t you remember what the Lord Himself said?  ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave…’! (Matthew 20-25-26 NIV) The temple is no more! The Levites no longer stand before God to intercede for the people! You are all a holy nation, a royal priesthood!”
• “The tithe was an ordinance of the Law of Moses! That was the Old Covenant! Jesus fulfilled the Law and established a New Covenant! Now, when you give, give generously as the Holy Spirit leads you to, and according to what the Lord has provided in the way of material blessings! Share every good thing with one another! If you keep any part of the Law of Moses because you think it is commanded as a way to prove your righteousness, you must keep every single part of the Law—and it will NOT make you righteous!”
• “All this stuff you have learned to associate with the word ‘church’ is NOT what our Lord Jesus meant when He said He would establish His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against (or withstand) it!  All these traditions of men are just ‘religion’ and you’re trapped in a system that makes you all just like the Pharisees! GET OVER IT! Repent of your religion and get into true relationship with your Redeemer and King!”

I’m sure they would say a lot more than that. Jesus came on the scene and challenged the status quo. I think He—and His apostles—would challenge the status quo (church-as-you-know-it) today. I think we should too. Get free, children of God! Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM! What we’ve been taught to call “church” isn’t the Church (ekklesia) as Jesus intended it to be. And He is going to do something—in this present day—about that! How foolish of believers to argue about the timing of the rapture when the Church obviously isn’t at all prepared for His coming! Paul wrote:

Besides this you know what [a critical] hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep (rouse to reality). For salvation (final deliverance) is nearer to us now than when we first believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Christ, the Messiah).__(Romans 13:11 Amplified Bible

Paul would probably take out full-page newspaper ads and raise money to buy airtime for that announcement if he came to your town today.  Paul would want to make it very clear that Jesus is preparing a Bride without spot or wrinkle…and all the “baggage” we call “church”, including the “tribal labels” of our denominations are going to pass away before He returns to claim His bride. Peter would want to knock down all those church buildings of wood and steel and brick and stone! He would come to town looking for a temple of living stones, a living “second incarnation” of his Lord, filled with the Holy Spirit and shining with the light of Christ dwelling in each member of the Body.

If the hour was critical when Paul wrote to the Romans, what adjective even comes close to the hour in which we live?  The fields of the harvest are all around us and we’re supposed to be praying for the Lord of the Harvest to send workers!  Wake up!  There’s work to do! Real disciples understand there’s a cost associated with following Him! Salvation is free, but He promised the world will hate us! Put that thought into your Rapture Readiness Kit…and stop thinking the free gift of salvation  means you can avoid the cost of being a disciple!  Who told you you’re not required to suffer for His name’s sake because you’re taking the first flight out before the going gets tough? That’s NOT in the New Testament! Tribulation leads to purification and refinement…and only over-comers who remain faithful until the end are going to win those crowns!

The Christian Martyrs’ Last Prayer  Jean-Léon Gérôme 1824-1904

“Those who have the greatest measure of Christ and His riches to give are those who have suffered most, because in their suffering, that which was in the way of Christ has been removed; and all suffering is to that end.”__Theodore Austin-Sparks

As August 2011 draws to a close, I look back at the first entry in this fledgling “blog”.  On that day, I cited Wayne Jacobsen (in Authentic Relationships: Discover the Lost Art of One Anothering):  “Finding freedom from the tyranny of other people’s opinions is one of the greatest joys of life in Jesus.”  For the most part, my experience in Zarephath has truly been an experience of resting in total dependence on God. Maybe today I should have written for my “Other Blog”, but if I am truly free from the tyranny of other people’s opinions, then the place of total dependence on God is a place to proclaim what I believe to be Truth.

If Peter and Paul show up in your town wanting to know where the church is, please…just take them home with you and put the bread and the wine on the table! Or shoot me a message here and I’ll be glad to come pick them up and bring them to a house where the Church is welcome to meet!

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by
God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. __1 Peter 2:4-5 NIV

Why, after nearly 2000 years, don’t more people who profess to follow Christ look more like Christ? Could it be because church-as-they-know-it has failed to teach them how Jesus sees the Church-as-He-builds-it?

In the verse above, Peter was writing to “God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, [as well as all those scattered throughout the world throughout all generations] who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood…” (1 Peter 1:1-2 NIV)!

Ask any good church member to tell you all about church and you’re going to learn a lot of different things, including:

• the name of his “church”
• where it (the church building) is located
• what “denomination” the “church” is associated with
• what time and how often services are held
• who the pastor is, and what the good church member thinks of him
• what style of music this person’s “church” typically uses during services
• what style dress is expected of those who attend
• particular doctrines or descriptors the good church member associates with his or her church, i.e. “Spirit-filled”, “Trinitarian”, “Reformed”, “Mainline”, etc.

But a careful reading of the New Testament (1 Peter is just one example of passages that reveal how Jesus sees His Church) shows that the bullet points above really have nothing to do with His Church (the ekklesia)–the one He told Peter and the disciples He would build (Matthew 16:18).

The Amplified Bible renders 1 Peter 2: 4-5:

Come to Him [then, to that] Living Stone which men tried and threw away, but which is chosen [and] precious in God’s sight. [Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

Another translation says:

Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God.__(1 Peter 2:4-5) The Message

If Jesus is the Living Stone, thrown away by men, but set in His place of Honor by God our Father… and IF, as the children of God (John 1:12; Romans 8:14-19), we should look more like Jesus, the firstborn of many brothers and sisters (Romans 8:29 NIV), maybe one reason we don’t look more like Him is that we’ve never been told we are “living stones”—just like HIM!

Jesus sees us as living stones with which HE builds a spiritual house as His dwelling among us!

There is no precedent in scripture for the “church building”, but it took only a couple of generations for followers of the Way to adopt “Christianity” and resurrect the Old Covenant paradigm of a literal temple building and a pyramidal leadership hierarchy. Instead of looking more like Christ, the best Christians can do is walk around looking like “good church members”. The institutional church molds people into the image and likeness of the institutional church!

Even people who claim their churches are “Spirit-filled” and “Spirit-led” are under the delusion that God is blessing them when everything that’s going on in their church buildings is being planned and led by human beings. The institutional church has become frighteningly adept at creating an emotional “experience” that makes people feel holy for an hour or so once a week.

Pay attention to the sermon, the church’s mission statement, the newsletters and the church bulletins and ask yourself, “Is the primary focus on Jesus Christ of Nazareth… the Only Begotten Son of the Father…the Word Made Flesh…Crucified, Dead and Buried…Risen and seated at the Father’s right hand…the Firstborn of many Brothers and Sisters—or is the message of this ‘church’ about ‘this church’?”  In Christ, there should be NO talk about:

• how we do church
• how we look as a church
• how we get others to “come to our church”
• how we pay for “the upkeep of our church”
• what “tribe” or “denomination” we are, “as a church”

There is no scriptural basis for any of the above—not even for the concept of a
paid pastor!*

But the “me, me, me-centered” message and marketing is a dead giveaway. The “me-centered” gospel can’t produce transformation that allows us to live holy lives set apart from the world but among the world—in ways that touch the world!

Such transformation only occurs when believers understand the way of the cross (joining Christ daily in His death and resurrection) and are willing to die daily to be transformed. Living stones—children of God who have died to the old fallen self. Ordinary stones that have been made holy!

Here by the water,
I’ll build an altar to praise Him,
Out of the stones that I’ve found here
I’ll set them down here, rough as they are…
Knowing You can make them holy.

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* Cf: Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna; The Bubble Will Burst by David Newby: The Pastor Has No Clothes by Jon Zens.

I really do have a lot to share with you about the water-metaphor of the River, THE STORY, and the Lord’s temple of living stones.  As we set sail for deeper waters, I encourage you to hoist your sails without delay and be prepared to go where the Lord sends you.

Just remember, you CAN be two places at the same time. Just as I can remain in Zarephath (my place of total dependence on Him—in Him) and be someplace else—at home with my family, at a gathering of believers, at the grocery store—you can also be two places at the same time!

This is really exciting!—we can be in the River and anywhere else He sends us at the same time.  So let’s dive in!

We will get together soon and continue our journey here.  But, one of the things about being two places at the same time…you might also have to do more than one thing at the same time and some things can’t be put off until you “get a round tuit”!

I’ve run into ”one of those things” as the realization hit me: there are only three more days of summer vacation! There are parent meetings and student orientation meetings and end-of vacation “to do’s” (not to be confused with the “spiritual to-do list”).  I will remain in Zarephath and deal with my “junk”—because ”junk” like getting your kid off to his first year in high school represents a very high calling, indeed.

And there are more things going on in the Kingdom than this blog!  Until I post new material that still needs editing, please explore the other bloggers in my blogroll on the right. And if you haven’t been in on this little sea voyage from the beginning, there is time to “catch up”. The links to my current (though expediently interrupted) series are in chronological order to the right, under “Current Series: Deeper Waters”.

If you miss me, “subscribe” to Journal from Zarephath and you’ll receive an email when the first new post “hits the stands”.  I will miss you, so rest assured, I’ll be back…just as soon as I can get around tuit!

Friday past, I experienced anticipation and great excitement over the direction my writing appears to be taking as we continue with the water-metaphor of the River and “go with the flow” toward THE STORY—the Whole Story—and prepare to consider His “temple of living stones”.

Today, I hope you will take time to listen to one of my favorite songs, as performed by Steve Bell.  A link for the lyrics is shown below the embedded video. Please play this song more than once and meditate upon the layers of meaning in the symbols of “water” and “stones”. We will be taking a look at the symbolism—and the reality—connected with those metaphors from the Bible for the next few days. There is so much here!  We may stay—in total dependence upon Him—by the River and IN the River for… days?

Or maybe eternity?

Please, mention me in your prayers as I seek His guidance for sharing what these metaphors mean to me.

Please click here to open Steve Bell’s site with the lyrics to “Here by the Water” in another tab.  You may wish to adjust the settings for “page” in your browser to “zoom” to increase the size of the text.

Like the widow of Zarephath the woman at the well was not “one of God’s people”.  She was a Samaritan, a “sinner”—an outcast even among the people of her own village.  She would not, otherwise, have come to the well in the heat of the day instead of coming with the other women who drew their water early in the morning.  Have you heard the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman (John 4) so many times in your life that the immense significance of the story escapes you?

Why, after 2000 years don’t more people who follow Christ look like Christ? Maybe one of the reasons is they’ve never been told the whole story … or they’ve heard the stories about the Story so many times the significance of THE STORY is lost. Jacob’s well was a very significant place—not just historically significant, and there’s really not room to go into that here—but spiritually significant, not only for “God’s people” in history, but also for us today.  We remember it as the place where Jesus offered the woman (and us) a stream of Living Water that would never run dry. But the significance is deeper and even more astonishing! We all have a “Jacob’s Well” in our lives, whether we realize it or not!

Jacob’s well, the place where, according to John (Chapter 4), Jesus—for the first time—looked an outcast sinner in the eye and said, ““I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” (John 4:26).  “I AM HE!”  In John’s Gospel, Jesus proclaimed Himself  “I AM” to a Samaritan woman! At some point in each of our lives, He drew us close to Him by the work of His Holy Spirit and said, “I Am He!”  And we believed! Whether through the spoken word of an evangelist sent to proclaim Him, or during a conversation with another believer, or in a time of seeking…He unveiled the Truth and we believed! Some of us were far worse sinners than that Samaritan woman. Still … the Word by whom all things were created revealed Himself, and we believed! Should we not gasp in awe and thanksgiving every single time we consider what He has done?

But we don’t. We don’t gasp in awe. And we don’t “look more like Christ.” The adage “familiarity breeds contempt” is taken far too lightly where the things of God are concerned! The blood-bought, redeemed people of God to whom He has come and revealed Himself have heard the stories about the Story until the Story is too “familiar” and  the significance of THE STORY lies hidden somewhere in a binder full of sermon notes or a few drops of highlighter ink on the pages of a Bible. Someone needs to stand up in the middle of a church service and shout, “Hey, Pastor, let’s keep the main thing the main thing here! We don’t need another story about the Story! Just give us THE STORY!” Even better idea: some of those called “pastor” need to sit down and let THE STORY tell Himself through all His people participating! Wouldn’t that be a novel idea? For us maybe, but not for the Church we see in Acts! Think of the awe-struck gasps we’d hear if we let Jesus show Himself as the true Head of His Church!

We’ve heard the stories about the Story so many times without tapping the Power of THE STORY.  In the not-too-distant past, a great wave of evangelism revived the story about “personal salvation” and we’ve responded to it since—sometimes by the thousands.  “Men of God” have stood elevated above the flocks and, with outstretched arms sweeping over the heads of the sheep, proclaimed, “Behold this great harvest of the ‘saved’!” But where have all the good shepherds gone—the ones who stand humbly among the flock and point to The Shepherd and say, “Listen to Him!”? 

The story has been told about the Story. But do God’s people today know THE STORY?  Oh we know the word…but if more people really knew The Word (a Person), I hazard there would be more people who look like Him! And because His people treat the familiar Story with contempt, they must be spoon-fed a “me-centered” and “personal” diet of baby food. They have to be entertained—some claim “edified”—by one “specially gifted shepherd” who can nail down three to five “sermon points” in twenty to thirty minutes. My friends, once you’ve heard the Story and believed, THE STORY comes to live in you!  THE STORY becomes your story! Like the woman at the well, you run to tell the whole village!

Vast multitudes have come into the harvest, but the harvest has not been rapidly multiplied. There is a harvest of “saved individuals” but they have not borne “fruit of like kind”! I’ll state my opinion about that simply. The supposed shepherds have been content with counting the number of individuals who “got saved”. They let the goal and the focus become “getting saved”. They’ve made the reason for “getting saved” a matter of “personal salvation”. And they have left out the part of the Story that has to do with the eternal plan and purpose of God! Jesus did not come into the world just to “save sinners”. He came to purchase, unto Himself, a people destined to inherit His Kingdom with Him!

I am convinced the desire of Christ is to build His own Church His way. He desires to build His people into a temple of living stones and make them His habitation. Yes, salvation is accompanied by the indwelling Holy Spirit at a personal and individual level. But the fullest expression of Christ in the earth—the Church—is His goal. Only when the Church is led by Christ Himself through the Holy Spirit—and by Christ alone—will we see His inheritance “look more like Him”.  And only when “the shepherds” who preach to His flock start telling the whole story, will we see people who can be built together as His Church until we do look more like Him.  I am also convinced we must not stop with an expectation of seeing individuals look like Christ, but that we should actively seek a manifestation of Christ, crucified and gloriously risen, through His body— “The Church-as-He-builds-it”. There is a secret, a “mystery” involved in this—and unfortunately, most “specially gifted shepherds” are failing to unveil it! (I’ll be writing about it in future posts.)

Someone is totally lost and wondering what in the world I mean, “Start telling THE STORY”, as if we haven’t heard the whole Story.  You’re thinking, I’ve told it—or I’ve heard it! Oh, really? I want to know when you last taught or heard this:

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me”.__Luke 9:23 NIV (emphasis added)

Oh? You’ve taught or heard that verse recently? Well, maybe we need to take a look at how the Amplified Bible expounds on that verse!

And He said to all, “If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [ disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [ cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]”.__Luke 9:23 AB

Jesus did not come into the world merely to “save sinners”. He came so the sinners could follow His example—so the “old man” can die and we can be reborn into the Divine unending life, love and fellowship of the Trinity as sons and daughters of God.  (John 1: 12) We who “will to come after Him” share the inheritance of His Kingdom! Not “someday”, but NOW!  That part of THE STORY should indeed make us gasp in awe and thanksgiving every single time we consider what He has done!

So, to connect with the River metaphor from yesterday’s Journal: diving into the River is equivalent to “willing to come after Him” until we go to the extreme and die…lay down our own interests…forget ourselves…drown in Him. THE STORY and THE RIVER are Christ! And being in Christ is also Christ in us—molding us into His likeness as sons and daughters of God! If we are taking up the cross daily, we’ll be gasping a lot—not for air, but in awe—and we may even start to look more “like Him”!

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Next time we visit with “one another” I’ll be writing about the “temple of living stones” I mentioned above.

Never—if you think a “vision” means one must actually see something appear visually in time and space before the eyes.

Being of a literary background, I do often envision—through metaphor, simile and imagery—thoughts and ideas about Christ and His Kingdom. Sometimes, puzzled, I find my metaphors to be as “mixed” as those Paul used when he sought to convey a vision to the churches he had planted. I would like to share an “envisioning” that has visited me of late. Perhaps you will share your thoughts as well.

Glimpse with me a bird’s-eye view of the River. Scattered along its banks, stand individuals or small groups of people. Around the next bend, a crowd has gathered. Such people, groups or crowds are found all along the course of the River as it flows to the sea.

Occasionally we see someone wading in the River or sitting with their feet in the water. We wonder if they will swim or walk away from the River. Time will tell.

Upon the River, many rafts make their way downstream, occupied by people shouting authoritatively to the people on the riverbank. Sometimes a few people jump into the River and swim out to join those on the rafts. The rafts are constructed of logs with “doctrine” carved deeply into the wood, and the letters of “doctrine” are as varied as the persons who constructed the rafts. Many of these rafts overturn in turbulent stretches of the River or run aground on sandbars. Some of the rafts seem to be at war with one another.

Our bird’s-eye view shifts to a new perspective as we perch on a tree branch. We survey a great bend in the river. Here, the river widens into a calm but steadily-flowing expanse. There is room for canoes, rowboats and motorboats on the River. A few solitary River-lovers paddle in kayaks here and there, each one to himself. They are go-it-alone people with little or no relationship to the other River-lovers. They will paddle all day, but won’t go very far. They will get wet, and some will know the thrill of danger, but they won’t share the one of richest experiences the River offers—the company of fellow-travelers. If they find themselves in trouble, they will also find themselves alone, in need of rescue.

Two or three paddle in a canoe. They talk about the River and share the River together. Unlike the solitary, they have companions with whom to share their love and adoration of the River. The River is truly “with” them, and most of them will avoid the hazards of a longjourney by looking out for one another. They call out to the other craft that travel the River and listen to the voices that call back. More often than not, the conversation is about how great the River is and a common love for the River inhabits their cries. Each canoe puts in to shore for the night. They will never travel far from their campsite. The sea is miles downstream, and their craft too frail for the deeper waters.

Lone rowers in rowboats and rowers in teams travel the River. Some row upstream, straining against the oars, while others go with the flow. So much effort attends each rowboat. They will be tired and overwhelmed at the end of each effort-filled day, collapsing with a sigh, “Well, it’s all about the River. We didn’t make much progress, but we’ll do it again tomorrow. If all those rafts would get off the river, we could get the job done.” Often the rowers trade their small boats for larger boats of the same design, and pray very hard that more rowers will come to share the work.

Motorboats skim the River, circling rafts, kayaks, canoes and rowboats trailing a roar and a wake. Some of them pull skiers whose antics fill the stunned gazes of those who watch from the shore and inspire an ambition to join the show. They are the entertainers, the brash, clamoring attention-getters of the River. The pilots of these craft know the River. They know the rapids and the calm broad expanse. They know all about the River and many trust their experience of it to these capable navigators.  Most of the passengers don’t even wear life-jackets! Such is their confidence in the man driving the boat! But always, always, these people are up on the surface. They will admit their boats rely upon the refueling stations where contemplation and sustenance is their supply and their necessity. They rely on the boat’s driver to procure those essentials for them. Still, they race past multitudes, insufficient for the needs that cry out from the shore, “Take us with you!” We can see, from our tree branch, a certain truth. No matter how large a motorboat is, it has a maximum capacity and the more it carries the more fuel it consumes. Sooner or later, each boat’s requirements outstrip its supply and it finds itself dead in the water, praying someone will bring along a can of gas.

A steamboat rounds the bend and we see decks teaming with smiling passengers. Across the bow, in proud and jubilant letters, the boat wears her name: The Prosperity Queen. Many of the passengers paid a handsome price for their tickets. She has many sister ships, and as they all drift in fanfare and majesty down the river, voices cry from the shore, “Take us with you!” The passengers look like they are enjoying an effortless cruise on the River. Whenever a steamboat puts in to shore many climb aboard. A few quietly disembark, for they have discovered what the other passengers have yet to learn: packed in their steamer trunks are the abandoned challenges they have not faced squarely and the wrinkled hopes they will later unpack—the substance of which was a me-centered message the agent at the ticket office supplied in a neat brochure entitled Life Is So Easy on the River. Reminders of omission tucked away under delusions of favor will be lifted from their baggage in some future moment of regret.  Their common lot: the realization that the hardest parts of the River journey are the stretches the steamboats avoid, and are also the expressions of the River’s greatest power. None of the passengers on these glorious vessels foresee the sandbars up ahead. If the captain knows the sandbar is there, he will abandon the boat, the crew and the passengers long before they run aground.

If you have read two of my previous posts (here and here), you may wonder at this point whether I have forgotten the sailboats. No.  You and I are making way with wind in our sails. This River is carrying us to those deeper waters. We have found our courage to embark and we are learning the faith required to go where our risen Lord will send us.  But there is more to envision beyond our personal journey on the River.  The River is teeming with others like us. How shall we, then, experience it together?

There will come a day when He invites you, like Peter, to step out of the boat. You may walk hand in hand with Him above stormy waves or a placid surface. Always, He offers the River as your stream of Living Water. It is the water of baptism that signifies joining Him in death and resurrection—the old passing away so the new can be born. Envision one person jumping into the River! “Come on in, the Water is…indescribable!” And let your vision expand to encompass thirsty multitudes rushing to dive in. You might be the first person who takes the leap of faith along your stretch of the River!

The River is deep, and steadily flowing. He invites you now to dive in. When you do, you will find once again, what it means to be in two places at the same time. Immersed in the River, you will be in total dependence upon Him—and able to carry streams of Living Water ashore to the thirsting individuals, groups and crowds among whom you are sent. And they will seek the River for themselves! Even into the most arid desert you may go, sustained by access to the River. As water gushed from the rock in the Wilderness of Zin (Numbers 20), so it will be for you!  He desires for you to plunge deeply into the River and swim joyously with all the other fish—in reckless abandonment and total dependence—bound for the sea of Divine, unending Life!

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I invite you to share your thoughts, metaphors, and images by leaving a comment on this post.

I would love to think I’m never supposed to run out of “ideas”, that I should always be able to find something to paste in the blank white box in the “Add New Post” screen.  In an effort to remind myself of the “supply side” of Kingdom economics, I even went back and read what I wrote in my earlier post, Why Zarephath?. The only inspiration I found was the reminder that “things run out”. I’ve already written a response to the reality of that in that post, and yet I’m still clueless. What goes in the blank white box today? I’m not out of “ideas”—just out of ideas for something that seems appropriate to share with you today.

Frustrated…stuck somewhere between What am I going to publish at 6 AM tomorrow? and What dish shall I prepare to share with tonight’s gathering?… buffeted by demands that accompany the soon-opening of school and minor work assignments my self-employed spouse issued before the red pickup truck roared away toward Places-Known-but-Days-Unknown, I consider one option:

“This page of the Kingdom is closed until further notice!”

The Spirit says, “Don’t you dare!” Then, I realize I do have an idea—one so “simple” it shames all my paltry wisdom. Resting here in my “place of total dependence on Him”, it comes to me, like a Wind-borne whisper:

…Seek first My Kingdom…My unsearchable riches…My grace is sufficient…all your needs…

Yes, I need a daily reminder! I may be “stumped”, but never is He! Things “run out”, but never His riches! I may find myself dysfunctional, but never fails His grace. I may not even realize what they are, but He supplies all my needs!

It no longer matters what day it is or what day it will be when you read this. He is the same—yesterday, today and tomorrow. His riches never fail!

I’m “stumped”, BUT…HE is not! Someone will read this today and say, “Me too…I’m “stumped”. You are stuck between two things you need to do or want to do. You are so buffeted by the demands of your daily life—some of which may be of such great magnitude you’ve never experienced a stronger buffeting—you will consider the option of closing your page of the Kingdom until further notice. There’s nothing you can do.  But even as you accept that fact—as you acquiesce and settle into the embrace of His grace—know that you’ve chosen the one thing you must do:  Trust in Him.

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The riches of the Kingdom abound all around us! You’re sure to find encouragement and inspiration in the riches my fellow bloggers have to share. Just check the links to their blogs on the righthand side of this page.  Most of them, like you, are “ordinary people” who’ve set sail for deeper waters—destined to do “extraordinary things” as He builds His Kingdom.

Set sail! The Captain’s calling. It’s time to climb on board. Set sail! There’s room for all and there’s such a great reward. Theres’ not a chance you can fail. Set sail!

Apparently, Jim had a what I call a “song headache” for quite a while after the meaning of those words registered. Months after first hearing the song, he wrote in Immersed:

God has been saying through these words, “Jim, there are places I want you to go. There are things I want you to do. There are oceans which need to be crossed in order to accomplish the work I have ready for you.”

As he worked on his book with a Ray Boltz song stuck in his head, Jim came to the realization, “…the call to ‘set sail’ is Christ’s constant call to every committed believer.”

No way am I going to argue with Jim Martin on that one!  I know Jim has crossed oceans (figurative and literal) in obedience to that call. I also know, because I was there to witness one of them, Jim weathered some daunting cyclones in his sailing.  But I also know there is One who walks on water and calms the storm—One who brings us safely through to the praise of His glory!

For a moment, remember the worst storm of your life. Perhaps you feel it raging around you as you read this.  In 1860 William Whiting wrote these words as a poem for a student who would be sailing for Africa:

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddest the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy Word,
Who walked on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power!
Our family shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect us wheresoever we go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

You’ve heard these words, set to music: Eternal Father, Strong to Save–The Navy Hymn

If you can look back upon the worst time of your life—or even now in a midst of the tempest, look beyond the present with a view to the eternal—know that “above the chaos dark and rude” the Holy Spirit “bids its angry tumult cease”.  If you have been reading prior posts, you have perhaps begun to understand why you must learn to be in two places at the same time!  As you learn to abide in Him—to rest in total dependence on Him—He will give you everything you need to weather the storms.

There most definitely is a sweet new wind stirring across the Kingdom. Let that wind fill your sails and press on to the deeper waters without fear. Our Eternal Father is strong to save, and He will preserve those who answer the Captain’s call! A mighty rushing Wind is coming! Let the Wind fill the sails!