Micah 6:8 says, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
Time and again I return to this verse asking the question, "What does it mean to act justly?". If I am living a life of ease and know that there are people around me who are in need am I acting justly? Does it matter the reason for their poverty? This may sound like a strange question, but I will dare to say that there are people who are poor and in need because they don't want to do anything about it. Obviously this does not apply to all cases.
Ironically, I sometimes wonder if the work that we (NGOs) are doing here in Nicaragua is actually helping or if we are really just reinforcing their "look for a handout" mentality. How can I act justly in the face of countless needs and access to limited resources?
Here are a couple concrete examples that are troublesome for me.
Am I acting justly if I do not pay my housekeeper a "livable" wage, even if I am paying a better than typical salary for that type of work? How do I act justly when the drunk comes to my door looking for money or food?
I have had many conversations with a good Nicaraguan friend about "helping" the people, and he always says that when asked for help I should simply say that I don't have anything to give. I think, "Easy for you to say because it is true for you", but I know that he is simply trying to protect me from the "sponge" element of society. However, I cannot forget the verse that says that to whom much has been given much will be required. I have to think that even though I have very little money by US standards I have still been given much.
Recently we had a situation at church where a young lady asked for a loan for bus money to go visit her sick father. We do not know her well, but we have seen her regularly for the time we have been at the church, so wanting to "help", and not being able to honestly say that I did not have, I gave. Later, my friend asked why I had given her the money and warned me that she is not to be trusted. I protested that if there is a genuine need I feel that I am called to help. The catch is, how do I know if it is a genuine need? Of course, when the young lady showed up at church the next Sunday with her hair dyed I had to resist the temptation to be angry.
Did I act justly?
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The Spirit Realm
“The devil roams around like a roaring like, seeking whom he may devour.”
How true, yet we sure do not act like it.
“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers of darkness”
By all appearances we do not believe this to be true. Many people in the 3rd world understand quite clearly the powers of the spirit realm, but the enemy has quite effectively convinced us that he is not really active. I beg to differ. He not only is active, but he is the cause of many of the problems that we simply accept as “part of life”.
How true, yet we sure do not act like it.
“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers of darkness”
By all appearances we do not believe this to be true. Many people in the 3rd world understand quite clearly the powers of the spirit realm, but the enemy has quite effectively convinced us that he is not really active. I beg to differ. He not only is active, but he is the cause of many of the problems that we simply accept as “part of life”.
Friendship, Transparency, Prayer
“A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity.”
As we have reflected on friendship recently we have come to realize that it is very difficult to find people who are willing to actually be friends; meaning people who are willing to take the time to care, to listen, to help, to be transparent, to share from their hearts, and to share in one’s struggles and victories. Culturally we are so accustomed to having acquaintances, but we have very few friends. How desperately most of us really need someone who cares, but how few of us actually have that someone. Our conversations are often so shallow, “How are you doing; how’s work going; what have you been up to; how are the kids; I’ll be praying for you; okay, take it easy”. As the author put it so beautifully in Wild at Heart (I will paraphrase), we walk away from that conversation and we don’t give a rip about that person. We only say those things because it is the Christian thing to say. How true. In our churches we really don’t want to hear about someone else’s problems. We simply are not interested.
I remember quite clearly one Sunday we were at a particular, unnamed, church, and during the Sunday school time a dear brother dared to speak up and share a struggle that he had as a father. He bared his heart in a way that is simply not heard, or frankly acceptable, in the church, and when he finished not a person in the room said a word (to my shame neither did I). He was left in embarrassed silence, as though somehow he was the only person in the room who ever struggled with anything of the sort. The message to him was quite clear, “Don’t ever share anything like that again. We simply do not want to hear it”.
This experience, among many others, has reinforced my belief that church as we know it does not work. The only place that we have ever felt free to really drop our masks has been in a couple of small groups that we have been a part of where we were all willing to be transparent together. We were able to bear each others’ burdens, lay on hands and pray for healing or freedom from demonic oppression, share our joys and sorrows, exhort each other, admonish, and praise God together. Frankly, the most beautiful and supportive time in my Christian walk has been with those groups. Those people, even with all of their flaws, have been some of the best friends and most supportive brothers and sisters that I have ever had.
In place of the chit-chat at church I would love to hear people excitedly sharing what God is doing in their lives, what He has shown them in His word, or what miraculous and marvelous thing He has done. On a trip recently, we had the privilege of meeting another young married couple, and in the few hours that we had to together we were able to share, with excitement, what God is doing in our and their lives. They were perfect strangers, but it was one of the most fulfilling and stimulating conversations that I have had in recent history. Why? Because it is thrilling to talk about the power of God and what we believe it means to really serve Him.
To refer back to a phrase that I mentioned earlier, “I’ll be praying for you”, I would venture to say that this is the most commonly told lie in the church and amongst Christians. I have told it too, many times. We say it because we think that it is what a good Christian should say, and it is what we should do. However, how many of us walk away from that conversation and never think about it again, or if we do happen to think about it we quickly say, “Lord, please help Joe”. There I’ve done my duty. What nonsense! There are two reasons I believe that we act this way.
1. We simply do not care enough about our brothers and sisters to take them to the Lord in prayer.
2. More importantly, we don’t believe that God listens to our prayers and/or will do anything. By looking at the life of most Christians today one would come to the conclusion that we have the wimpiest and weakest god that could possibly exist. Is it blasphemous to say that, I think not? Look at how we act and how we pray; when we pray we don’t really expect God to act, and we never pray for God to do things that are impossible.
I love the account that one of my former co-workers told me a couple years ago. Sorry Steve if I don’t get it quite right, but it is a great account, so here goes. This fellow was commuting 1 hour each way to and from work, and the heater/defroster ceased to work in the car. This became a problem as winter came on in Pennsylvania. He was forced to drive with the windows down so that the windshield would not frost up, and even bundled up he would arrive at work quite chilled. With a young family he did not have the money to have the care repaired so he continued on this way for a time. However, one day his pastor learned of the problem and said, “This is crazy, this cannot be”, and laid hands on the car and prayed. From that day on the heater worked again.
Why does this seem so incredible to us? Why do we always search for the most logical physical solution to a problem when we have the Almighty, All-powerful God just waiting for us to ask? Didn’t Jesus say that we will do even greater things than He did? I am forced to believe that we don’t really believe that God is all-powerful.
However, I have resolved that I am going to start acting, and asking, like I really believe. Why should I accept that my son is lactose intolerant? That is certainly not God’s plan. Why should I tolerate allergies and act like there is no recourse, other than medications? Do I believe that God is powerful enough to bring healing to any sickness? I am excited to see the miracles that God is going to perform. Just last evening (Sunday) Zach and I went to the church service, and left Nathaniel and Colleen at home because he was suffering from a cold (as are many other children). It struck me during the service that I should ask for healing and expect to see results. So that is just what I did, and when I arrived home that is exactly what Colleen told me. He had woken up from his nap grouchy, but had begun acting differently part way through the evening (about the time that I was praying). Now before you say that the cold had just run its course let me assure that that is not the case. It had only begun 24 hours earlier, and you all know that a cold never runs its course in 24 hours. I rest my case.
Don’t think that I am boasting; that is not the case at all. I am simply illustrating the weakness of our faith (mine included), and the lack of strength in our prayers and our faith. God delights in giving good gifts to His children. We need to step up, believe, ask, expect, and receive with thanksgiving.
Also, we need to resist the enemy and cast him out, but that is for another day…
As we have reflected on friendship recently we have come to realize that it is very difficult to find people who are willing to actually be friends; meaning people who are willing to take the time to care, to listen, to help, to be transparent, to share from their hearts, and to share in one’s struggles and victories. Culturally we are so accustomed to having acquaintances, but we have very few friends. How desperately most of us really need someone who cares, but how few of us actually have that someone. Our conversations are often so shallow, “How are you doing; how’s work going; what have you been up to; how are the kids; I’ll be praying for you; okay, take it easy”. As the author put it so beautifully in Wild at Heart (I will paraphrase), we walk away from that conversation and we don’t give a rip about that person. We only say those things because it is the Christian thing to say. How true. In our churches we really don’t want to hear about someone else’s problems. We simply are not interested.
I remember quite clearly one Sunday we were at a particular, unnamed, church, and during the Sunday school time a dear brother dared to speak up and share a struggle that he had as a father. He bared his heart in a way that is simply not heard, or frankly acceptable, in the church, and when he finished not a person in the room said a word (to my shame neither did I). He was left in embarrassed silence, as though somehow he was the only person in the room who ever struggled with anything of the sort. The message to him was quite clear, “Don’t ever share anything like that again. We simply do not want to hear it”.
This experience, among many others, has reinforced my belief that church as we know it does not work. The only place that we have ever felt free to really drop our masks has been in a couple of small groups that we have been a part of where we were all willing to be transparent together. We were able to bear each others’ burdens, lay on hands and pray for healing or freedom from demonic oppression, share our joys and sorrows, exhort each other, admonish, and praise God together. Frankly, the most beautiful and supportive time in my Christian walk has been with those groups. Those people, even with all of their flaws, have been some of the best friends and most supportive brothers and sisters that I have ever had.
In place of the chit-chat at church I would love to hear people excitedly sharing what God is doing in their lives, what He has shown them in His word, or what miraculous and marvelous thing He has done. On a trip recently, we had the privilege of meeting another young married couple, and in the few hours that we had to together we were able to share, with excitement, what God is doing in our and their lives. They were perfect strangers, but it was one of the most fulfilling and stimulating conversations that I have had in recent history. Why? Because it is thrilling to talk about the power of God and what we believe it means to really serve Him.
To refer back to a phrase that I mentioned earlier, “I’ll be praying for you”, I would venture to say that this is the most commonly told lie in the church and amongst Christians. I have told it too, many times. We say it because we think that it is what a good Christian should say, and it is what we should do. However, how many of us walk away from that conversation and never think about it again, or if we do happen to think about it we quickly say, “Lord, please help Joe”. There I’ve done my duty. What nonsense! There are two reasons I believe that we act this way.
1. We simply do not care enough about our brothers and sisters to take them to the Lord in prayer.
2. More importantly, we don’t believe that God listens to our prayers and/or will do anything. By looking at the life of most Christians today one would come to the conclusion that we have the wimpiest and weakest god that could possibly exist. Is it blasphemous to say that, I think not? Look at how we act and how we pray; when we pray we don’t really expect God to act, and we never pray for God to do things that are impossible.
I love the account that one of my former co-workers told me a couple years ago. Sorry Steve if I don’t get it quite right, but it is a great account, so here goes. This fellow was commuting 1 hour each way to and from work, and the heater/defroster ceased to work in the car. This became a problem as winter came on in Pennsylvania. He was forced to drive with the windows down so that the windshield would not frost up, and even bundled up he would arrive at work quite chilled. With a young family he did not have the money to have the care repaired so he continued on this way for a time. However, one day his pastor learned of the problem and said, “This is crazy, this cannot be”, and laid hands on the car and prayed. From that day on the heater worked again.
Why does this seem so incredible to us? Why do we always search for the most logical physical solution to a problem when we have the Almighty, All-powerful God just waiting for us to ask? Didn’t Jesus say that we will do even greater things than He did? I am forced to believe that we don’t really believe that God is all-powerful.
However, I have resolved that I am going to start acting, and asking, like I really believe. Why should I accept that my son is lactose intolerant? That is certainly not God’s plan. Why should I tolerate allergies and act like there is no recourse, other than medications? Do I believe that God is powerful enough to bring healing to any sickness? I am excited to see the miracles that God is going to perform. Just last evening (Sunday) Zach and I went to the church service, and left Nathaniel and Colleen at home because he was suffering from a cold (as are many other children). It struck me during the service that I should ask for healing and expect to see results. So that is just what I did, and when I arrived home that is exactly what Colleen told me. He had woken up from his nap grouchy, but had begun acting differently part way through the evening (about the time that I was praying). Now before you say that the cold had just run its course let me assure that that is not the case. It had only begun 24 hours earlier, and you all know that a cold never runs its course in 24 hours. I rest my case.
Don’t think that I am boasting; that is not the case at all. I am simply illustrating the weakness of our faith (mine included), and the lack of strength in our prayers and our faith. God delights in giving good gifts to His children. We need to step up, believe, ask, expect, and receive with thanksgiving.
Also, we need to resist the enemy and cast him out, but that is for another day…
Knowledge vs. Relationship
Something that has bothered me for some years is the belief and custom in the church of requiring that a pastor have a seminary education. As a friend of mine aptly put it some years ago, “seminary would be better called a cemetery”. In other words, it is the place where love and passion for God is replaced by alleged knowledge about God and scrutiny of His word. Love for God is replaced by man’s wisdom. 1 Corinthians 8:1b-3 says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.”
I do not read that the apostles and early church leaders were the most educated men of their time, but God used them to proclaim His word. Likewise, some of the best and most powerful preaching that I have ever heard has been from men of little education, but who have a heart for the Lord. On the other hand, I have heard many teachings/sermons from seminary educated men who can speak at length about God and His word, but the love and passion for God has been killed by too much study and knowledge about God.
I do not read that the apostles and early church leaders were the most educated men of their time, but God used them to proclaim His word. Likewise, some of the best and most powerful preaching that I have ever heard has been from men of little education, but who have a heart for the Lord. On the other hand, I have heard many teachings/sermons from seminary educated men who can speak at length about God and His word, but the love and passion for God has been killed by too much study and knowledge about God.
Praying with Power
WE DO NOT PRAY IN POWER. That is the conclusion that I have come to recently. When we pray and ask for something we do not really believe that God is going to do anything. We pray for people out of a sense of obligation, not because we expect to see something happen. We need to begin praying and expecting that God is going to work a miracle in whatever the situation may be.
Empty Christianity
2 Timothy 3:1-5 says, 1“But mark this: There will terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”
Sadly, this is the state of modern Christianity in the developed world today. The lie of the enemy has been swallowed by the church. The truth of God has been exchanged for a lie. The lie is that there is no absolute truth, everything is relative and situational. Here are a few examples:
1. Abortion: Incredibly there are many, many Christians today who, at best, are noncommittal, and, at worst, are blatantly for the killing of the most vulnerable among us. Satan has convinced many of us that the “rights” of the mother are more important than the life of the baby. How terrible it is that we condone the taking of any human life because it may cause some inconvenience. Many Christians are celebrating the recent victory of president-elect Obama, but are somehow indifferent to the fact that he is for the free and liberal slaughter of the unborn. How is it possible that we have been so browbeaten by the world that we are not willing to stand up and say that abortion is, without exception, wrong?
2. Sexual perversion and homosexuality: Once again the church has been cowed by the world into a position of silence on this issue. Or in some cases, the church is supportive of this abomination, on which the Bible is quite clear.
3. Divorce: Jesus said that Moses gave the children of Israel divorce because of the hardness of their hearts. However, the New Testament is quite clear that divorce, and especially remarriage is wrong. Why then are our churches full of divorcees? Why do we never hear any teaching on this issue? Because we have bought the lie that God’s word does not really say that it is wrong.
In all these issues and more it is time that the church speak up and not be intimidated by the hate-mongers of the world that would try to tell us that we dare not say that anything is wrong. Jesus did not walk around trying to be liked by the people. He was never afraid to speak the truth, even when he knew that it would lead to his death. We must do the same.
Our churches are full of people who have knowledge about God, but have no relationship with God. Faith has become meaningless because it does not make any difference in our lives. We say that we believe in an all-powerful God, but we live as though He can’t do anything. We do not pray in power, we are afraid to speak His name and the truth of His word. We are content to go to the church building on a Sunday morning to hang out and talk about our lives, and perhaps mention God a couple times. Our churches have become social clubs, a place to go to see some “friends”, but the power is God is not present. We are not willing to be transparent about our struggles, our doubts, or our fears. And if we dare to speak from our heart we are looked at strangely and the conversation moves on to something else.
I will try a bit of transparency here and you see how it makes you feel. I too, have spent many years going to church on Sunday, purportedly to worship God, but if I am going to brutally honest with myself and you, I went for the chit-chat and the hang-out time. I went to make myself feel good by saying “hey” to some acquaintances, but I was rarely, if ever, challenged to walk in closer relationship with God. I dare say that this is the case for the majority of people that fill our churches on a Sunday morning. Think about what is the subject of most conversations at the church: how you are doing, what you are going to do that week, the weather, your work, your kids, etc. Do you ever talk, excitedly, about what God is doing in your life? How about what new revelation you have had from His word? Or how about some miracle you have seen?
As Paul said in Timothy, “having a form of Godliness, but denying its power”. I will dare to say that this has been my Christian walk for many years. My faith was something that made me feel good about myself, but I never walked in the power of God. This is evident in a couple ways.
1. I have always been afraid to speak up when someone, especially a Christian, would say something that I know is in direct contradiction to the word of God.
2. I have not really believed that God is an all-powerful God. I will relate a part of our lives that speaks to this lack of faith and also speaks to the earlier abortion issue.
Some of you know something about the rough times that we went through 3-1/2 years ago. First, we lost our 2-day old daughter, and a few months later we found out that we were expecting another baby. We were told by the best doctors that we needed to abort the baby because there was no way that he could survive because of his position in the uterus and that it was likely that Colleen would die in the process. So we, not knowing what else to do, terminated the pregnancy at an early stage, and comforted ourselves by saying that there was no alternative. This was one of the cases of “the mother’s life at risk”. However, looking back, with some new revelation of who God is, I realize two things:
1. We asked for the advice and counsel of the best earthly doctors, but we never asked the “Great Physician” to work in the situation. This, of course, was because I did not really believe that he was able to do anything.
2. I had no right to decide that it was okay to end one life because of my fear of what might happen.
Thankfully, I serve a merciful and forgiving God, and I know that He forgives me for wrong choices and lack of faith. However, I am now challenged by my new-found revelation of the Father, God to step out in faith and believe that He will work.
So I challenge you to examine yourself and your relationship with God. Do you really have a relationship with Him or is your faith simply convenient and nice? Are the activities that you are doing, especially at church and as a church, really of eternal value, or are they simply a substitute for a relationship with Him?
Sadly, this is the state of modern Christianity in the developed world today. The lie of the enemy has been swallowed by the church. The truth of God has been exchanged for a lie. The lie is that there is no absolute truth, everything is relative and situational. Here are a few examples:
1. Abortion: Incredibly there are many, many Christians today who, at best, are noncommittal, and, at worst, are blatantly for the killing of the most vulnerable among us. Satan has convinced many of us that the “rights” of the mother are more important than the life of the baby. How terrible it is that we condone the taking of any human life because it may cause some inconvenience. Many Christians are celebrating the recent victory of president-elect Obama, but are somehow indifferent to the fact that he is for the free and liberal slaughter of the unborn. How is it possible that we have been so browbeaten by the world that we are not willing to stand up and say that abortion is, without exception, wrong?
2. Sexual perversion and homosexuality: Once again the church has been cowed by the world into a position of silence on this issue. Or in some cases, the church is supportive of this abomination, on which the Bible is quite clear.
3. Divorce: Jesus said that Moses gave the children of Israel divorce because of the hardness of their hearts. However, the New Testament is quite clear that divorce, and especially remarriage is wrong. Why then are our churches full of divorcees? Why do we never hear any teaching on this issue? Because we have bought the lie that God’s word does not really say that it is wrong.
In all these issues and more it is time that the church speak up and not be intimidated by the hate-mongers of the world that would try to tell us that we dare not say that anything is wrong. Jesus did not walk around trying to be liked by the people. He was never afraid to speak the truth, even when he knew that it would lead to his death. We must do the same.
Our churches are full of people who have knowledge about God, but have no relationship with God. Faith has become meaningless because it does not make any difference in our lives. We say that we believe in an all-powerful God, but we live as though He can’t do anything. We do not pray in power, we are afraid to speak His name and the truth of His word. We are content to go to the church building on a Sunday morning to hang out and talk about our lives, and perhaps mention God a couple times. Our churches have become social clubs, a place to go to see some “friends”, but the power is God is not present. We are not willing to be transparent about our struggles, our doubts, or our fears. And if we dare to speak from our heart we are looked at strangely and the conversation moves on to something else.
I will try a bit of transparency here and you see how it makes you feel. I too, have spent many years going to church on Sunday, purportedly to worship God, but if I am going to brutally honest with myself and you, I went for the chit-chat and the hang-out time. I went to make myself feel good by saying “hey” to some acquaintances, but I was rarely, if ever, challenged to walk in closer relationship with God. I dare say that this is the case for the majority of people that fill our churches on a Sunday morning. Think about what is the subject of most conversations at the church: how you are doing, what you are going to do that week, the weather, your work, your kids, etc. Do you ever talk, excitedly, about what God is doing in your life? How about what new revelation you have had from His word? Or how about some miracle you have seen?
As Paul said in Timothy, “having a form of Godliness, but denying its power”. I will dare to say that this has been my Christian walk for many years. My faith was something that made me feel good about myself, but I never walked in the power of God. This is evident in a couple ways.
1. I have always been afraid to speak up when someone, especially a Christian, would say something that I know is in direct contradiction to the word of God.
2. I have not really believed that God is an all-powerful God. I will relate a part of our lives that speaks to this lack of faith and also speaks to the earlier abortion issue.
Some of you know something about the rough times that we went through 3-1/2 years ago. First, we lost our 2-day old daughter, and a few months later we found out that we were expecting another baby. We were told by the best doctors that we needed to abort the baby because there was no way that he could survive because of his position in the uterus and that it was likely that Colleen would die in the process. So we, not knowing what else to do, terminated the pregnancy at an early stage, and comforted ourselves by saying that there was no alternative. This was one of the cases of “the mother’s life at risk”. However, looking back, with some new revelation of who God is, I realize two things:
1. We asked for the advice and counsel of the best earthly doctors, but we never asked the “Great Physician” to work in the situation. This, of course, was because I did not really believe that he was able to do anything.
2. I had no right to decide that it was okay to end one life because of my fear of what might happen.
Thankfully, I serve a merciful and forgiving God, and I know that He forgives me for wrong choices and lack of faith. However, I am now challenged by my new-found revelation of the Father, God to step out in faith and believe that He will work.
So I challenge you to examine yourself and your relationship with God. Do you really have a relationship with Him or is your faith simply convenient and nice? Are the activities that you are doing, especially at church and as a church, really of eternal value, or are they simply a substitute for a relationship with Him?
Walking in the Light and the "Modern" Church
Walking in the light (I John 1:5-7): “God is light; in him is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus , his Son, purfifies us from all sin.”
This reminds of the eye-opening message that we heard from Jack Frost several years ago at Life Center. Our enemy loves the darkness, and never operates in the “light”. He loses his power over us when we confess our sins and bring them into the light, but as long as we walk in the darkness he will continue to have power over our lives. Not only will the sin still have power over us, but the enemy will also bring guilt because of the sin. We need not live this way because Christ has died for our sins. “There is therefore no condemnation to those are in Christ Jesus…” The guilt is another lie of the devil to try to make us believe that we are not free from the old self.
So what should this look like in the church? TRANSPARENCY. We need to begin sharing with each other instead of all walking around acting like we have it all together. The church is filled with actors and phonies. The enemy has convinced us that everyone else has it together and that we are the only ones who struggle. Therefore, we feel like we cannot share our struggles. Also, it is a lie from the devil that we can live independently. To share from one of our experiences; we have been part of various ‘small groups’ over the years, but one experience stands out vividly. We were trying to foster a deeper level of sharing in a group and had shared some of the struggles that we battle. When we finished sharing we asked if there were others who would like to share. One of the other members spoke up and said, “We don’t really have any problems to share”. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is one of the major problems in the church, we do not share with each other, and therefore the enemy continues to have power over our lives.
This leads into one of my other themes that I have been mulling for some time, the paradigm of the modern church. In my view it is broken, and needs to be completely replaced with an old paradigm, the model of the early church. I have been studying the workings of the early church throughout the NT and I don’t read anything about huge edifices, endless activities, and countless committees. Instead I read about small groups of believers gathering in their homes, sharing from their lives, breaking bread together, encouraging each other, laying on hands and praying for each other, preaching from the Word, exhorting and admonishing each other.
There are several things that I think are fantastic about this model.
1. The small groups allow for intimacy and transparency. They also give space for each member to grow in his/her gifts and use those gifts to edify the body.
2. There is no need for a giant, expensive church building. An incredible amount of money is wasted in church buildings; money that could be put to a better use. Perhaps a building could be rented to meet together corporately once or twice a month.
This reminds of the eye-opening message that we heard from Jack Frost several years ago at Life Center. Our enemy loves the darkness, and never operates in the “light”. He loses his power over us when we confess our sins and bring them into the light, but as long as we walk in the darkness he will continue to have power over our lives. Not only will the sin still have power over us, but the enemy will also bring guilt because of the sin. We need not live this way because Christ has died for our sins. “There is therefore no condemnation to those are in Christ Jesus…” The guilt is another lie of the devil to try to make us believe that we are not free from the old self.
So what should this look like in the church? TRANSPARENCY. We need to begin sharing with each other instead of all walking around acting like we have it all together. The church is filled with actors and phonies. The enemy has convinced us that everyone else has it together and that we are the only ones who struggle. Therefore, we feel like we cannot share our struggles. Also, it is a lie from the devil that we can live independently. To share from one of our experiences; we have been part of various ‘small groups’ over the years, but one experience stands out vividly. We were trying to foster a deeper level of sharing in a group and had shared some of the struggles that we battle. When we finished sharing we asked if there were others who would like to share. One of the other members spoke up and said, “We don’t really have any problems to share”. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is one of the major problems in the church, we do not share with each other, and therefore the enemy continues to have power over our lives.
This leads into one of my other themes that I have been mulling for some time, the paradigm of the modern church. In my view it is broken, and needs to be completely replaced with an old paradigm, the model of the early church. I have been studying the workings of the early church throughout the NT and I don’t read anything about huge edifices, endless activities, and countless committees. Instead I read about small groups of believers gathering in their homes, sharing from their lives, breaking bread together, encouraging each other, laying on hands and praying for each other, preaching from the Word, exhorting and admonishing each other.
There are several things that I think are fantastic about this model.
1. The small groups allow for intimacy and transparency. They also give space for each member to grow in his/her gifts and use those gifts to edify the body.
2. There is no need for a giant, expensive church building. An incredible amount of money is wasted in church buildings; money that could be put to a better use. Perhaps a building could be rented to meet together corporately once or twice a month.
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