In Western society it’s difficult to do life together, but it does happen, it can be sustained and it can be life-changing. I pray these stories encourage you to keep meeting, keep searching and start gathering. This story is told by Joel Davis.
Some 18 years ago, a friend and I who were both trained as ministers and on staff at the same church began sensing that there was “something more” that the Lord was calling us to. We just could not grasp in that season what it was, and truthfully, it would have destroyed us had He exposed us to the entirety of it that early on. We were determined to reject the notion that whatever was the next thing, we must NOT get credit for it, nor be seen as the “leaders” of it. We already knew the pitfalls of that approach. It’s why I’m extremely reluctant in one sense to be featured in this segment of “Unsung Heroes”. There is nothing heroic about embracing a moniker or even a sentiment that anything I have ever done for the Lord came from me. If it inspires people or orients people towards the glory of God, then He alone gets the glory, not me. Which leads to me to the crux of my story.
Not long after we stepped out of our traditional church setting, we came to embrace the idea that even though we were meeting in our homes, it was not “meeting in homes” that our Lord was passionate about. Jesus words to seek first his kingdom Mt.6:33 burn deeply in our hearts. Our pursuit is not a location, a program, paradigm or model. Neither is it a “pattern” of activities that we see in the NT as if we could simply “do what they did” and repeat their behaviors. The tribe we came from were famous for that, we had to do “everything by the book” or as we always said, “We speak where the Bible speaks, we are silent where it does not”. We certainly continue our deep conviction about the high value of Scripture, but the Lord has taught us that it is HIM and HIS KINGDOM that are the totality of what Scripture reveals. HE (not the book that reveals the HE) is the actual and final authority and His divine life (the indwelling Holy Spirit) is what makes it become the very thing He is dreaming it will become.
We have discovered that this pursuit of Christ is both the most difficult AND the most glorious thing we have ever determined to pursue. Some say its simple to “start” a house church, and we agree, anyone can do that. On the other hand, what Paul says about the “foundation” being laid (1 Cor.3:10) requires something outside of ourselves that none of us can replicate. It MUST come from the Lord, it cannot be manufactured by human effort. It is, as Paul says, only “given by grace”. It begins with an earth shattering, soul shocking revelation of the KINGDOM GOSPEL of Jesus Christ to a people. The people falling down in humility, picking up the mantle of suffering and death and joining Jesus on the altar….sounds like Jesus words in Mark 8:34. There is no other way to arrive at this beautiful “ekklesia” that Scripture says will become a a home, a temple, a bride, and a body for Him to express Himself on earth. So much to unpack in what I’m attempting to describe here. If you want to learn more about how God is establishing Kingdom community in our little neck of the woods, reach out to Joel Davis at:
Before Buff Scott, Jr. left Cherokee, Iowa for Phoenix he took out an ad in the local newspaper. Published in 1988, his words still ring true today.
INTRODUCTION
The story has been told that American missionaries, upon reaching foreign soil, are confronted with barriers such as: “If you have come here to unite us, go home and unite yourselves, and then return and we will listen to you.”
“If this doctrine of yours is so pure, why are you so divided? Is it not able to unite you?”
“Our people were united before you missionaries came. They are now divided.”
“Is the religion you espouse like the others, the kind that divides?”
These statements should not be taken lightly. They issue from the mouths of those we seek to convert. Missionary number one endeavors to enjoin upon his listeners certain tenets and creeds, and his address is no more than completed when missionary number two, whose affiliation is with a different and distinct sect, begins to address the same listeners with a message which conflicts with the message of missionary number one. Missionaries three and four five, six, seven, and eight under their creedal bosoms carry messages which run counter with and contradict the orthodox messages of each other, as well as with the messages of missionaries one and two.
Surely something is wrong. This regrettable condition not only prevails across the oceans and beyond our borders, but it also rules in this land of freedom, America. Is it impossible to obtain that for which Jesus prayed? He made it clear that unity among his followers is necessary so that “the world. might know that you sent me” (John 17:23). Religiously, no country is more divided than America. Who is to blame for our divided dilemma, Jesus or man? Did Jesus introduce a principle that can not be adhered to? If human creeds have divided us, and they have, do we possess enough courage to abandon them? Which should become our polar star, the divine testimony or creeds created and enacted by man? The divine testimony originated in heaven and was passed on to us by the envoys of Jesus Christ. Human dogmas proceeded from earth and were passed on to us by the envoys of sectarianism. And because human creeds have so influenced us, we could not be divided more even if our Lord had commanded it.
In this Plea and Address, I wish to submit for your consideration some possible solutions to our divided state. I do not claim to know all of the answers. Nor do I feel I have a monopoly on truth. I am simply a servant of God who has a strong desire to share a few of my views with you. You are free to either agree or disagree. Under God, you are free to choose or at liberty to decide for yourself to reject. No system, whether spiritual or political, has the power to enslave your mind. In Jesus, you can read, study, investigate, and reach your own conclusions. It has been said that the spirit of man can expand and grow only in the atmosphere of freedom. We need, then, to read, to study, to investigate, and to decide without the presence of spiritual and political shackles. To permit any system to control our minds and sway our decisions, is to place ourselves under bondage.
OBSERVATIONS
Denominationalism has not solved our splintered estate. Factionalism has not solved our ruptured community. Catholicism, even though one of our oldest sects, has not resolved our problems. Protestantism is not the solution. These religious systems, in fact, have created more divisions. No human system of religion, no matter how large or prominent, will ever solve the many problems we face. We either allow our allegiance to Jesus and to the divine testimony to supersede our divisions or we will go on dividing until we become extinct.
PROPOSALS
That the sacred writings, our oldest source of written documentation, become our guide in matters pertaining to deity and unity. Our respect for them gives us hope. “That by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). Human creeds and catechisms do not generate hope. The authors of the holy scriptures wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God (John 16:13; 1 Pet. 1:21). It was Jesus who declared: “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:28). He made no reference to human creeds and dogmas.
That all human creeds and catechisms, written or unwritten, be abandoned and abolished, and that the holy scriptures replace them. Human creeds are filled with error. This is because they were made and established by human intellect. Each creed differs with each respective sect. They are changed to coincide with the changing of time. The scriptures contain the mind of God. They were given to cope with the changing of time (Please read I Pet. 1:25). When a human creed is elevated above God’s written revelation, division results. This is because those who made it endeavor to enjoin it upon others.
That we acknowledge and embrace all Christians as brothers. All who have surrendered to Jesus and experienced the new birth, as Jesus himself expressed it in John 3:5, are children of God and fellow believers. Wherever God has a child, we have either a brother or a sister – regardless of what he calls himself, if anything.
That we be Christians only – not Christians plus Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Catholics, Episcopals, or any other pluses, but simply Christians only. Was Paul Presbyterian? Was Peter Lutheran? Was Mark Roman Catholic? Of course not.
That all of us who have been born anew not enforce our opinions upon others. If the new covenant scriptures teach a certain principle, we should welcome it into our lives and persuade others to do likewise. But if our conviction is nothing more than a mere human opinion, we should not make such a term of communion or a test of brotherhood. In matters that are clearly and plainly enjoined upon us by the holy scriptures, we ask for unity. In matters that are in the realm of speculation and judgment, we ask for freedom and tolerance. Christians will naturally disagree on occasions. This is because we are frail, imperfect humans, and no two of us have the same level of knowledge. Citizens of the Christian community may retain their various opinions while acknowledging the supreme authority of Jesus their King. We must accept and embrace our fellow believers irrespective of doubtful points (Rom. 14:1). However, a believer who becomes heretical by becoming factional is to be rejected (Titus 3:10). Such a man is vested of the “party spirit” of Galatians 5:20. The party spirit is at work when a man attempts to form a party or following around his particular view or views and then separates himself and his followers from his other brethren when they refuse to become his disciples.
CONCLUSION
Reformation and unity will become realities when we give ourselves to Jesus Christ in humble submission. We must be willing to permit God to guide us, direct us, govern us, and lead us in the paths of righteousness. Human paths are filled with obstacles, thorns, discouragements, disunity, and frustrations. God’s way is filled with love, unity, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness. We either leave human creeds and catechisms by the wayside or we will simply multiply our divisions until the world looks upon us as weaklings in need of healing.
You can find out more about Buff Scott, Jr. by clicking here.
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This is the second excerpt from the manuscript of Leland Yialesis.
For more than 1500 years Christians have been taught that the purpose of gathering together as Christians was for the experience of worship, specifically to worship as a group congregational worship. But after 1500 years of a congregational worship-based Christianity we find a Christianity that is listless and dying. It has no dynamic with which to challenge the pervasive secularism of the Western industrialized societies and no strength to challenge and change the non-western world. If Christianity is ever to recapture the dynamism that it had during its early years as recorded in the New Testament, the first thing that must be abandoned is the pursuit of worship as the primary purpose of Christian gatherings. Worship is, and must always remain, a byproduct of the encounter between a person and the Divine. It may be that a person will experience that encounter with the Divine and worship while in the assembly of Christians (note I Cor. 14:23-25), but that is an experience that is incidental to the gathering. As the family gathering at the supper table is not primarily to be a tour de force of haute cuisine, but is there primarily for the purpose of providing necessary nourishment to each of the members that has gathered around the family table. So, the gathering of Christians is for the purpose of providing spiritual nourishment for each of the members that has gathered.
It is exactly this confusion of primary and secondary purposes that has resulted in the insipid Christianity present in the world today. Christians in the New Testament gathered for the express purpose of building one another up in the faith and in the experience of becoming the body of Christ. They saw one another as members of that common body and each of them needed to give and receive to be built up “in the unity of the common faith and common knowledge of the Son of God,” (Eph. 4:13 Phillips) until they arrived at real Christian maturity. They gathered as the community of faith and to be the community of the faithful. Worship is no more the goal of Christian community than patriotism is the goal of a school board meeting, or a townhall meeting. At the end of the school board or townhall meeting one may have a strengthened sense of patriotism because of the experience of the shared responsibility of governance, but the problem of the leaking school roof had better have been solved, or a solution found to the problem of collecting the garbage, or fixing the roads. Otherwise, no matter how strong the patriotic feelings were, the school and the town are in trouble. So, it is with the Christian gathering. Strong spiritual feelings, even the experience of worship, may have been experienced during the gathering, but if each of the members of the body of Christ has not been built up, has not experienced growth in the faith and in the knowledge of Christ, has not had the experience of sharing and of receiving, if there has been no experience of genuine community and the fellowship that community brings, and most importantly of loving and being loved during the process of building one another up in the faith, then Christ has not been honored and the meeting has failed.
Much, if not all, that has gone wrong with Christianity during the last 1500 years can be attributed to the primary emphasis that has been placed on worship as a necessary, ritualized experience for the Christian community. This emphasis on worship, which is primarily an emotional reaction of the individual spiritual experience, has fed and continues to feed the failure of the church to be that dynamic source of Christian strength in the world. The entire emphasis on congregational worship that lies at the very center of the weekly life of the church is built its foundations on the sands of tradition and not on the sound bedrock of New Testament teachings. Nowhere in the New Testament is there even one reference to Christians assembling for the purpose of worshipping, either individually or as a group. Nowhere does Jesus enjoin the experience of worship as a goal of Christian fellowship. Nowhere in Acts or in any of the Epistles, do the Apostles call Christians to gather for the express purpose of worshipping. Congregational worship, as the express purpose for gathering, was not a part of the life of the Christian church in the New Testament. Tradition has overthrown the primary purpose of the Christian community, which is to build up one another and reach out to others through God’s ‘agape’ love. As D. Bonhoeffer says in ‘ The cost of discipleship’, “The real trouble is that the pure word of Jesus has been overlaid with so much human ballast – burdensome rules and regulations, false hopes and consolations – that it has become extremely difficult to make a genuine decision for Christ.” Christianity is profoundly simple yet we have made it abjectly complicated.
The excerpt below is from a manuscript by Leland Yialelsis. It is one of the best works on relational gatherings I have read and it is highly recommended. If you are interested in understanding the heart of why gatherings are so important, you should put this one on the top of your list. This hasn’t been published and Leland is offering his manuscript free. The link is at the bottom.
The local ekleesia, as the community of Christ, becomes the place where each member finds the friendship and fellowship each human so longs for. In this community there are no lonely people. In this community there are no empty hearts. In this community there are none longing for the human touch. In this community the fellowship creates the friendship. The community is strong enough to recognize that there will be struggles and there will be times when conflicts arise. But in this community the commitment of the members is first rooted in their commitment to their Lord Jesus and then to one another. So, when a conflict arises it is worked through and becomes a building block of that genuine fellowship rather than an element that divides and destroys. This is a true community because fellowship exists because each individual is uniquely important and is considered so by the others. The fellowship is strong because each is an equal with the others. Real fellowship exists because none feels superior and none feels inferior. Real fellowship exists because each has had the opportunity to give something to the community, to the others, and each has received something. The fellowship exists because the fellowship itself is understood to be central to the very life of the community. There is nothing that takes precedence over the creation of true and genuine fellowship. There are no rituals that are more important than the interaction of the members. There is no physical thing, whether it is a building, the furnishings, the land, or the architecture that is more important than the fellowship itself. The fellowship experienced within, and because of, the wider context of the community exists as a center of hope. There is the shared belief that not only has the good news of Christ’s redeeming grace touched each of their lives but that He will take the next grand step in the great plan of God and bring the Kingdom of God into living reality on this earth. The fellowship celebrates their faith in the Power that has restored them as individuals and has made them members of the Kingdom of Heaven. They celebrate their faith that Christ will one day vanquish the present Prince of Darkness now bringing suffering to this world and the Kingdom of Heaven will exist in reality and not only as the “blessed hope”. But the fellowship exists, the community exists, because here in this circle each finds an experience that exists nowhere else on earth. Here each member gives and receives love like it is given and experienced nowhere else. Here, because this is the community of grace, it is the community of Love! Love is the ultimate expression of the experience of community. It is the power that makes this community unique. It is the reality that makes this community radical. Love is the force that makes this community a threat to the world about it. It is the love that makes this community totally and truly Christian.
The local ekleesia can function as a community, as the very body of Christ because it has accepted and follows His same material values. It, like Him, has no place to lay its head. It is focussed on the Kingdom to come and not on the pursuit of earthly riches. Because it is a truly spiritual community it expends no energy on things. All of its energy is expended on its members and on others within its circle of influence who have real need. It is a community that does not “talk” love. It is a community that lives love and puts its “money” where its mouth is. The resources of the community are used for people, for service, to build the fellowship. This community understands the words of Jesus to Pilate that His kingdom was not (and still is not) of this world. The local ekleesia is the community of Christ because it loves as He loved. The local ekleesia gathers for the primary purpose of giving each member an opportunity to share with the other members and to receive from the other members.
One very significant difference between the church and the ekleesia is, when, and, for what purpose, the members are expected to use the gifts of the Spirit. In the church the members are expected to use their spiritual gifts during the times when the members are scattered in their homes and away from the church. They are expected to use their spiritual gifts for the purpose of evangelization, “soul winning”. It is amazing that such a strange idea would persist for so long. Why would anyone think that the members of the body would function best when the members are all scattered and then function least when they are all gathered in the church? Yet this is the odd teaching that exists within the theology of the church today. In the ekleesia it is exactly the reverse. Each member of the community of the ekleesia understands that the gifts given to each by the Spirit are most helpful to the “body of Christ” when that “body” is gathered together. It is when all the “members”, each with their special gift, come together that the exercise of the gifts becomes most important. The gifts are there to help the community be the body of Christ and are intended for the building up of the body. Notice Paul’s advice to the Corinthians, “When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” 14:26 and “For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted;” V. 31. In the ekleesia it is understood that the exercise of the gifts given by the Spirit when the members of the community gather is what makes them all a “body”. “Each of you” (the literal translation of the Greek) has something to share, be it a song, a story, an experience, a lesson drawn from life, with the others that are there. There are no silent, inactive, passive, observers in the community of the ekleesia. It is the unique blending of each of the gifts at the time of the gathering of the members that contributes to the “edification” of all. Note again Paul’s advice to the Ephesians, “… Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:15,16. The essence and the purpose of the gatherings of the community is the opportunity for “Every joint” and “the proper working of each individual part” to function so that the “body” can “build” itself in love.
If you attended church you most likely never had the opportunity to administer communion. So what happens when you’re part of a relational gathering and the topic of taking communion arises. Robert Schmidt’s short book (70 pages) The Bridal Banquet – Holy Communion for House Churches and Small Groups has a chapter devoted on how to administer communion. The first excerpt below is from a chapter about Banquet Gifts, where each gift is compared to a precious gem. The second excerpt is a section from his Conclusion. If you struggle with how, why or if it’s even necessary to have communion you should grab this book.
The Opal – The Gift of Community
Opals are unique. They are not all of one color; some are predominantly white, others black, but all contain a variety of hues. Yet, they are all within one jewel. As the stone is turned the different colors come through creating an enchanting whole. That is how a group of communicants must look like to God. Ginger, the new mother, carries her babe. Oscar, the judge, kneels next to her. There is Yung from China next to Devon, the punk rock fan. In this community there are farmers, shopkeepers, a physician, and three eighth graders. Just think to what sins they confessed; imagine what life will hold for them this next week. Yet, here they are together, one body of Christ.
If this is a wonder in a local gathering, think what it is like in the YMCA hostel in Hong Kong where some Christians from around the world have come as tourists, businessmen, designers, and government officials. Prayer was announced for eight in the morning, and communion was offered for those who were interested. Before they began they were to introduce themselves. A Ghanian, two from Shanghai, a British diplomat, a German engineer on his way inland, and a variety of soccer players greeted each other. From the ends of the earth God’s children came together as a single community in the Lord’s Supper. Nationalities are submerged for a time as God makes them a single people, unified for a moment, and with a memory of a time when all are one in Christ.
A CHANGE IN COMMUNION practices toward a more biblical model can have profound consequences to the church and in the world. By blessing lay people without a professional theological education to administer Holy Communion, churches are free from the necessity to raise money to support the church. Any group of Christians can be the church without funds for the support of clergy at that place. The church is also free from the necessity of paying for the construction and upkeep of a building in a missionary setting. Furthermore, when gathered as a small group with locally administered communion, more contributions can be used for helping the vulnerable.
With approximately 45,000 Christian denominations in the world, moves toward greater Christian unity are very important. In the past some new denominations were formed to bring about this unity. International organizations like the World Council of Churches and the World Evangelical Alliance have sought to be umbrella organizations fostering greater cooperation. At the local level Bible study fellowships have often brought together people from different traditions. However, without communion uniting these people into one church, they usually identify themselves with the church from which they came. Now, however, in a house church, with both the teaching and sharing of the word of God and the celebration of communion, the movement toward greater Christian unity takes gigantic leap forward. Since that local community is already made up of people from different denominations, hopefully they will be the first to recognize the totality of the Christian church on earth.
With Holy Communion at the very center of their efforts, some groups can devote themselves to specific prophetic works of radically addressing some social problems as did the Hebrew prophets or Christ himself. Without depending upon financial contributions to support their ministry, such groups are free to address the inequality of wealth, the sins of nationalism, and specifics of environmental destruction. Other small, sometimes ad hoc communities can devote their efforts to special needs in healthcare, education, refugee relief, housing, and other struggles. In the past, centered in the Eucharist, Roman Catholic monasteries and nunneries were able carry out some of these ministries. Now with Holy Communion again as the inspiring and equipping center of their activities, groups made up of lay people from a variety of backgrounds can join to accomplish some significant ministries.
The Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ to create a new covenant with sinners, redeemed and forgiven by Christ. Joined together both by their sin and their salvation, Holy Communion was designed to bring people together to carry out their ministries as part of the very body of Christ. In the past, communion has divided God’s people across the centuries. Now, can it be celebrated to unite us?
The excerpt below is from Beyond Church by Steve Simms. It’s an easy read, highlighting the meaning and purpose of ekklesia, with emphasis on practical guidelines on how to do life together.
“He (Jesus Christ) is the head of the body, the ekklesia; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.” Colossians 1:18
As we have seen, the key to ekklesia is supernatural revelation from God – this is the rock that Jesus refers to in Matthew 16. To move beyond church and into the experience of ekklesia, we need to continually cultivate and create an environment where people can experience God’s revelation and then freely share what God has shown them.
The transformation from church into God’s glorious ekklesia is gradual – “from glory to glory” – step by step. It is a process of coming out of our comfort zones and out of our worldly methods of human organization and control. It is also the ever increasing movement into and submission to God’s light – His supernatural revelation.
However, too often we have settled into familiarity and tradition and have camped out there, not wanting to grow forward with the living God. We have acted like the rebellious Israelites in the desert who didn’t want to move forward when God wanted them to follow His cloud by day and fire by night. Together these two quotes help to make that point:
“Ekklesia is a compound Greek term. The prepositional prefix ek means out and kales means to call, thus the compound word means called out or a called-out group or an assembly.” – Sujit Mani
“There is no such thing as a call from God that is not a call out of the world. The church is ekklesia. In the divine intention there is no klesia which lacks the ek.” – Watchman Nee
So how can we answer God’s call out of our comfort zones? It is not easy. Jesus put it this way: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.'” – Matthew 16:24
To experience ekklesia, we have to deny ourselves. To deny self doesn’t mean to defeat yourself. Many people deny God, but they don’t defeat Him. No. To deny yourself means to ignore yourself – to set aside your own feelings and desires and to flow with God instead, whether to or not.
To take up your cross means to freely embrace your own execution your own death. It moves beyond ignoring your emotions and desires for a little while and into freely accepting the death of your feelings and desires.
Follow Me means much more than making a mental ascent to the doctrinal truths about Christ. It means to literally follow and obey His present day promptings, leadings, and/or nudgings in your heart, whether you want to or not. It also means to obey and be faithful to the commands in the Bible and not to your own will.
Ekklesia requires us to follow Jesus not just with our verbal allegiance, but also in the way that we live our day to day lives. Jesus said: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” – John 5:19
In order to experience ekklesia, we need to follow Jesus in the same way that He followed the Father being continually aware of His will and obeying His will instead of our own. That’s why ekklesia requires revelation. It is easy to follow our own agendas and programs. We need the Holy Spirit to show us where we are stuck on our own way.
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, told us how to “prepare the way of the Lord.” John the Baptist said: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) That’s why James, the half-brother of Jesus said: “God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6)
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Highway of our God by Catherine Booth, page 61-63, published by The Salvation Army Supplies And Purchasing Department, Atlanta, Georgia, 1986. Catherine Booth 1829-1890.
While the gospel message is laid down with unerring exactness, we are left at perfect freedom to adapt our measures and modes of bringing it to bear upon men to the circumstances, times and conditions in which we live. ‘I am made all things to all men,’ declared the great apostle to the Gentiles who had thrown off the paraphernalia of Judaism years before, yet became as a Jew that he might win the Jews.
The great strong intellect became as a weak man that he might win the weak. He conformed himself to the conditions and circumstances of his hearers in all lawful things that he might win them; he let no mere conventionalities or ideas of propriety stand in his way when it was necessary to abandon them. He who was brave as a lion, and hailed a crown of martyrdom like a conquering hero, was willing to submit to anything when the requirements of his mission rendered it necessary.
Now here it seems to me that the church – I speak universally – has made the grand mistake of exalting the traditions of the elders into the same importance and authority as the word of God. People contend that we must have quiet, proper, decorous services. I say, Where is your authority for this? I defy any man to show it. I have a great deal more authority for such a lively, gushing, spontaneous, and what you call disorderly, service as our Salvation Army services sometimes are, in the fourteenth chapter of First Corinthians, than you can find for yours. The best insight we have into the internal working of a religious service in apostolic times is in this chapter (1 Corinthians 14), and I ask you, Is it anything like the ordinary services of today?
We cannot get the order of a single service from the New Testament, nor can we get the form of government of a single church. Hence one denomination thinks theirs is the best form, and another theirs; so Christendom has been divided into various camps ever since; but this very quarrelling shows the impossibility of getting from the New Testament the routine, the order and the fashion of mere modes. Do you think God had no purpose in this omission? The forms, modes and measures are not prescribed as in the Old Testament disposition. Why?
The principle is laid down that you are to adapt your measures to the necessity of the people to whom you minister; you are to take the gospel to the people in such modes and habitudes of thought and expression and circumstances as will gain a hearing. You are to preach to them in a way as will cause them to look and listen. What scope for the various manifestations of the Spirit! The argument that this free operation of the Spirit has been abused is no argument against it, for then you might argue against every privilege. Here is abundant evidence that these Corinthian converts had opportunity to witness for Jesus, each one to give forth the gushing utterance of his soul, and tell other people of the experience which the Holy Ghost had wrought in him.
And look at the result! ‘If…there come in one that beleiveth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.’ What unkind things have been said of The Salvation Army because people at our meetings have fallen on their faces under the convicting power of the Spirit. But you see this is apostolic.
Should we not pray to be set free from the traditionalism and routinism in which Satan has succeeded in lulling us to sleep? It was only the repressing, and ultimately, I am afraid, the all-but estinguishing, of the Holy Spirit’s urgings that has led to the dead way in which many services are conducted.
I maintain that the only indispensable qualification for witnessing for Christ is the Holy Ghost. Paul expressly, over and over again, abjures all mere human equipment. He expressly declares that these things were not the power even where they existed, but that it was the Holy Ghost. Therefore, give me man, woman or child with the Holy Ghost, full of love and zeal for God, and I say it would be a real strength and joy to that convert to testify to the church. The Lord is not going to evangelize this land by finished sermons and disquisitions, but by the simple testimony of people saved from sin and the devil, by His power and His grace. He is going to do it as He began, by witnessing.
Read your New Testament and you will be struck with the amazing amount of evidence for this unconventional kind of service. When shall Peters and Marys be so filled with the Spirit that they cannot help telling what God has done for the, like the woman of Samaria who, when she had found Him of whom Moses and the Prophets had written, went and fetched her fellow-townsmen and women to hear Him? The way in which the Lord is going to gather out His great and glorious kingdom in these latter days is by the power of testimony in the Holy Ghost.
The following was recently written by my good friend Buff Scott, Jr. To find out more about Buff click here.
It might surprise some of you that Ambassador Paul was a zealous partisan, a Pharisee, before he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. (See Acts 26:5.) He abandoned this separatist religion to live for Jesus. In our day, the redeemed community includes believers who are still caught up in the web of “Churchianity,” for God’s children are scattered over a diversity of partisan terrains. However, God’s new reign stretches far beyond the borders of any sect, church, religious party, or cult. “Churchianity” reigns over a restricted territory. God’s reign is universal.
And while it may be wise to remove the apostate church entirely and start over, considering how grave “mad church disease” has plagued her, nonetheless many of her children may choose to remain where they are and work for reform. This is not always possible, however, because the apostate church “would rather fight than switch.” Reformers are not always welcome within her ranks. They are usually accorded the “left boot of fellowship.”
Martin Luther wanted to work within the sinister Roman Catholic Church for reform, but the scandalous Vatican would have no part of it. Instead, they sought his life. He escaped the “Holy See’s” murderous hounds, but the sinister Vatican continued their efforts to find him and “do him in.”
Let it be understood that Jesus did not die for religious parties, churches, denominations, or cults. Instead, He died for Jews, He died for Gentiles, He died “for all the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one” (John 11:52).
Jesus is not interested in uniting churches, denominations, and cults. He’s interested in uniting all of God’s scattered children, wherever they are, to bring them together into one body of believers, “so that they may be united as we [Son and Father] are united” (John 17:11).
Let it be emphasized that religious factions marching under partisan labels were founded by men centuries after Jesus ushered in His new reign. These include the Baptist Church, Methodist Church, Church of God, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, Catholic Church, Christian Church, Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church, and all of the others – regardless of the caption they have adopted to function under.
To which of the above churches is Jesus aligned? Which of the above churches did Jesus found? Did He establish and authenticate all of them? If yes, what was the purpose, then, of the apostle Paul’s question to the Corinthian believers, as per 1 Corinthians 1:13? He asked them, “Is Christ divided?” If Jesus authored all of our schisms, He is indeed divided! And if He is divided, why would He then pray for unity among God’s children, as recorded in John 17:6-25?
So let’s tell it like it is. If Jesus ascended to heaven without being a Baptist, and He did, and if Paul, Peter and others were taken to paradise without being aligned with any of the above factions, and they were, I, too, can enter paradise without being a Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Mormon, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Church of Christ proponent, Jehovah’s Witness, or without being tainted with any of the other partisan colors. I think I’ll just be a “believer at large” – a Christian only. Surely that will be sufficient. God’s grace will fill in the gaps, if any need to be filled.
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This is the second excerpt from Bob Emery’s encouraging book Called to Rebuild. You can read a description and check out the first excerpt here. Want more information about Bob, click here. The excerpt below has been edited.
The question that many people wrestle with is, if it’s God’s eternal purpose and his intense desire to see the church shining like a bright lampstand, lifting up Jesus for the world to see, then why can it be such an arduous, grueling challenge to find and be a part of such a church? After all, if we’re clear on what God is after, and if we’ve committed our hearts to him, then getting there from where we are, with his help, should be a simple, straight shot, right? Maybe a few bends and turns in the road, but since we have the roadmap, possibly in a few weeks, or months, or even a year, we should be having the kind of church experience that God has always wanted for us to have, right?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way.
Praise God, however, for the current move of his Spirit we are beginning to see in this country. Praise God that he continues to touch people’s lives. Praise God for the revolutionaries Barna has identified who are not satisfied with the status quo and are doing something about it. Praise God for those who are seeking, questioning, and leaving the captivity of dead institutions in search of something more.
But the question needs to be raised: where is this search for something more leading people? As I pointed out at the beginning of this book, Barna’s findings indicate that if you love the Lord and are searching for something more, and you do take that step to leave the institutional church, you’ll probably find yourself in one of several situations. If you are fortunate, you’ll find some other like-minded souls who are also interested in trying to figure out what this thing called “church” is really supposed to be that you can fellowship with. Maybe you’ll find a house church or home group fellowship. Or, maybe you’ll get involved, as many do, in some virtual, online church, or a family unit fellowship in order to find more fulfillment in the Christian experience.
All of these things can play a part in the recovery of what God wants to bring about among his people, but do any of them, by themselves, fully restore the church to its original intention? We’ve looked at what God wanted to do in restoring his people from their captivity in the Old Testament. All of this was a picture for us, a roadmap as it were, for how we might look to the Lord and the Scriptures for guidance out of the current fallen situation of Christianity today and reunite with the heart and eternal of God to restore the church to what he has always intended for purpose it to be.
Though there is the aspect of the church that is universal-comprising all the members of the body of Christ-we see clearly throughout the New Testament writings, and especially from the first chapter of Revelation, that the church is also local. God saw a lampstand in each of the seven cities of Asia to whom this letter containing the Revelation was sent. He saw a lampstand in Ephesus, in Smyrna, in Pergamum, in Thyatira, in Sardis, in Philadelphia, and in Laodicea.
So, the restoration of the church has a very practical and local application. God wants to have a bright, shining lampstand where Christ is exalted in every place. In order to have that, we need to seek God and make ourselves available to him to use us to help restore local expressions of the church.
It’s seeing God restore the church to what it ought to be, in your location; in the place in which you live! This is a challenge! This is a high calling. It may even seem like an impossible calling, but should that be surprising? If you’ll remember, that’s the same way the remnant felt when they were faced with rebuilding the temple in their day. To go this route, it will take a commitment by a group of people to Christ and to others with a common vision. And it will take time. But who ever said it was going to be easy?
There are no pat and easy answers for those desiring to see and be a part of the restoration of God’s house and want to know: How do we start? Where do we go? What do we do? Who can help us? How can we find others in our location with the same heart?
The most solid recommendation I can give you would be that if anything in this book has touched or challenged you, begin by bringing those things to the Lord yourself and asking him to make them real in your life. Then seek out others to fellowship with, with whom you can share and discuss what God is showing you. Ask him to lead you to others with whom you can pray and seek the Lord together about these things.
Beyond that, be assured that there are many others out there who are asking the same questions. There are even websites out there dedicated to networking and linking like-minded Christians together who have a heart for the house of God and the things discussed in this book. Some even have directories where you can find other believers with similar interests in your area.
God is sovereign. He has always been the initiator. He is the one who will prepare and raise up the Zerubbabels of today who he will use to guide and lead others in the way of restoration. He is also the one who will gather the people and form the new wineskins that will contain the new wine he wants to pour out when old structures become too rigid and hardened (Mark 2: 21,22).
From beginning to end, the work of restoration is God’s work. But as we have seen, it is also a work that not all of God’s people will choose to be part of. Throughout the generations, he has had his remnant. In the end. he will get all the glory. God’s work begins, continues, and will find its completion as Jesus is exalted, revealed, and made manifest. He is the head of his church, which is his body.
The challenge, therefore, remains for the remnant of this generation. Are you one of those who see the condition of the church today in much the same way as the people of God in the Babylonian captivity saw the house of God in Jerusalem lying in waste more than 2,500 years ago? Are you one of those willing to do something about it?
God has given us the story of Ezra and the other books of the Bible concerning the returning remnant to encourage us and to show us the way back. May those of you who have read this book not only hear the call to rebuild as loudly and as clearly as they did in the days when Cyrus issued his proclamation and invitation, but may you be like those whose spirits were stirred up and join with others to act in response to that call.
“Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel.” EZRA 1:3
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Called to Rebuild is another great book from Bob Emery. Bob compares the remnant, that returned to Jerusalem after 70 years in captivity, to today’s remnant who have a heart to rebuild and see the true church restored. This is the first of two excerpts. Want more information about Bob, click here. You can read the second excerpt here.
Another reason the building stopped was that the people had come to the conclusion that the task God had called them to was utterly impossible. Haggai 1:7, 8 reads, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Consider your ways!’ ‘Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified.’ says the Lord.”
As we step back and try to put the rebuilding of the temple in perspective by looking at it from the point of view of those who returned, we can easily see that the remnant could have had the overwhelming sense that what God had called them to do was just beyond their capacity to perform. God had not just called them to return to Jerusalem to build a temple, but they were called to rebuild Solomon’s temple. We read in 1 Kings chapter five that when Solomon built his temple, it took almost 185,000 laborers seven years to complete it and another 13 years to finish the royal palace and surrounding buildings. That doesn’t even take into account all the effort and expense David put into gathering all the materials, drawing up the plans, and getting everything ready before Solomon began.
By contrast, look at the remnant. They were only about 50,000 in number. They had been in captivity. They didn’t have the special tools, skills, or experience to do such a work. There were significantly less people involved in the work, fewer resources, and enemies all around harassing them and trying to get them to stop. And when they compared what they were doing with the former glory of Solomon’s temple and were told “to go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple,” their reaction was probably, “Yea, right!”
But is it any different today? Doesn’t living the Christian life or trying to recover a first-century type church experience sometimes seem just as impossible as the task of rebuilding Solomon’s temple must have seemed to the remnant?
The fact is that the Christian life is a life that is impossible to live. There is only one person in the universe capable of living it, and that is Jesus Christ himself. Consider these standards of Christian living:
-When your enemy strikes you turn the other cheek. -Give thanks in all things. -Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. -Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. -Wives submit to your husbands. -Be angry, but don’t sin.
When people reach the point that they really see that what God is calling them to do is something that is impossible and unattainable, they usually respond in one of two ways. First, they might try harder. Those are the ones who think that if they resolve to pray more, fast more, give more, study more, go to more meetings, or join more committees that they might just be able to do all that God is asking of them. The second choice is to conclude that since what is being required is impossible, why not just stand back and let God do it all? Just quit, give up, withdraw from any Christian activity and just wait for God to supernaturally show up. Many people come to this point and conclude that the Christian life just doesn’t work. In the case of the remnant, some may have concluded that the same God who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, could also say, “Let there be a temple,” and there would be a temple! In principle, the second response for what to do in the face of an impossible task is probably closer to the answer than the first, but it can also lead to stagnation or doing nothing, which it did in their case. It took the prophet Zechariah to reveal the principle by which God works in relation to his people and put things in the proper perspective:
This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. “What are you great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands shall also finish it.” ZECHARIAH 4:6-9
If we read this carefully, we will see that the problem of removing the mountain (the seemingly impossible task of completing and rebuilding the temple) would be accomplished by the Spirit. But immediately after reading that, we see that it would also be accomplished through the hand of Zerubbabel. God doesn’t expect us to overcome any impossible problem by ourselves. But neither is he going to do it all by himself without our participation. God will work, but he also wants to work with us. God’s work is a work by the Spirit, using our hands.
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