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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I haven’t watched the news since September 10th. This is a big deal for me since I considered myself a news junkie. However, I found myself hating people I didn’t know, getting angry at people whom I’ve never met and wanting justice for people who’ve not done me any personal harm.
Last week at our gathering, Krista Lynn provided some perspective that really helped me. Perhaps it will help you also.
Author Krista Lynn
The news and social media have been very loud recently; violence, elections, wars, hot topic issues and more. Each story attempts to elicit an emotional response in favor or opposition toward whatever bias is being promoted. The words being used to pit humanity against each other are “right” and “left”, “Those on the left are…” or “He is a right-wing extremist…” We are being trained to choose a man-made side and to believe the other side is evil.
I was pondering the use of the words, right and left, being used with such vitriol these days and the Holy Spirit reminded me of a Proverb that says, “Do not turn to the right or to the left; turn your foot from evil.” (Proverbs 4:27)
This peaked my curiosity to find out if the Word had anything else to say on the subject, so I searched and found a few more verses which support the God-ordained direction we should follow.
Deuteronomy 5:32-33 – So you shall be careful to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. You shall walk entirely in the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may be well for you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.
Here, Moses has just repeated the ten commandments to the people of Israel as a reminder of what YHVH had declared to them and the covenant they entered into. Moses implored the people of Israel to follow the way of the Lord and not to turn to the right or left, saying there will be a blessing of life and prolonged days in the land of promise.
Joshua 1:7 – Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the Law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may achieve success wherever you go.
When it came time to enter the land of promise, the Lord spoke to Joshua, the new leader, and reiterated the importance of obeying His law and not to turn from it. There is a blessing of success in following the Lord’s way and not turning from it.
2 Chronicles 34:2 (of King Josiah) – He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or the left.
It was worthy noting in the Bible that King Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, not turning aside to follow the right or the left.
Proverbs 4:25-27 – Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right or to the left; Turn your foot from evil.
The verses preceding the above reference give context and direction. Keep our eyes fixed straight ahead, directly in front, watching the path of our feet, not to turn from the straight path we are on, but rather turn our feet from evil.
Isaiah 30:21 – Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it, ” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
Regardless of the direction we turn, the Holy Spirit will tell us the way to go. Are we listening or are we too inflamed by our emotions to hear Him speak, thus we continue on the direction we turned to follow?
God’s Word is clear – Do not turn to the right or to the left, but keep our eyes fixed straight ahead, listen for Him when we find ourselves veering off course and follow His ways. The world is loud, unsettling, and distracting and it can be so easy to be swept up in the ‘right vs. left’ mentality which truly only breeds hate in our hearts for those that Jesus died for (even while we were yet sinners…).
With all the noise, how are we to know if we are on the right path? Psalm 119:105 says, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” His Word illuminates our path, showing us the way to go. Let us turn off the noise and get into the Word.
Thank you, Father, for not leaving us alone in this dark world. Lord, you are good and all your ways are good. In your sovereignty and perfect wisdom, you knew of the age we would be in right now, where we are being pulled to veer from your path towards the right or the left and you already gave us guidance on how to handle it through your Word.
Your Word is life and light and reveals the way we should go! Thank you that we can trust you in all things because you are faithful and not a man that you would lie. You say that those who put their hope in you will not be put to shame. Thank you for that promise, our hope is in you alone! Your will be done and your kingdom come, in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.
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This is a bit different for me. I just finished The Book of Acts by Dr. Russell Welch. Dr. Welch argues that Acts is a blueprint for what the church should look like, not just a history book. However, if you are looking for how these truths get integrated into relational gatherings in practical ways, it falls a bit short. I decided not to post an excerpt from his book but I am posting this awesome article I found about children being participants in relational gatherings.
The house church is a womb for generational blessing, where spiritual inheritance is passed not through programs, but through presence. Keeping children with their parents under the same Word is a divine safeguard. Proverbs 22:6 commands us to “train up a child in the way he should go,” not outsource that training to systems that may not carry the heart of the Father.
In the house church, children are not exposed to worldly corruption or spiritual abuse – they are covered. Psalm 91:4 declares, “His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” The Word becomes a fortress around the family, guarding hearts and minds from the schemes of the enemy.
The enemy has long targeted children – through Pharaoh, through Herod, and now through modern culture. But God is raising up homes like Goshen, places of protection and glory. In Exodus 12, the blood was applied to the doorposts of homes – not temples – and the angel of death passed over.
Today, the house church is a place where the blood of Jesus is honored, and the enemy cannot trespass. It is a place where healing flows, identity is restored, and trauma is broken off by the power of the Cross.
Sexual abuse and manipulation often thrive in environments where children are isolated, silenced, or treated as second-class. But in the house church, they are seen, heard, and valued. Jesus placed a child in the midst of His disciples and said, “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:5).
This is not sentiment – it’s strategy. When children are honored in the Spirit, the enemy loses his grip. The house church becomes a place of safety, not secrecy.
Fellowship as a family is not just beautiful – it’s powerful. Psalm 133 says, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity… for there the Lord commands the blessing.”
That blessing flows through generations when families are knit together in Christ. The house church is not a downgrade – it’s an upgrade. It is where the oil of intimacy flows, where sons and daughters prophesy, and where the Spirit of Elijah prepares the way for the Lord.
Let us reject the spirit of religion and embrace the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15). Let us build homes that host His glory, raise up warriors from the womb, and disciple not just individuals – but entire households.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). The house church is not just a model – it’s a movement. And it’s time to gather the family, apply the Word, and watch heaven invade our homes.
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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 Art Mealer. You can read an excerpt from his exceptional book The Servant Communityhere.
I became a Christian as a young adult in the early seventies. In the beginning, I loved everything about church: from its high ceilings and imposing pulpit to seeing friends dressed up and smiling in its pews. During those first few years, I read the Bible for hours nearly every day. Although I was hungry, I never felt dissatisfied. Then something changed.
Do you remember seeing one of those images you can interpret in two different ways? At first, your brain registers only one image, such as the face of a young girl. Then, suddenly, another image – say, a much older woman – comes into a new focus from the same lines. That happened to me one day, as I sat in the pew, everything I’d been reading in the Bible seemed to stand out differently from what I experienced during our week-by-week meetings. Between the hymns and the collection that Sunday, my perception suddenly shifted between two images. One had well-dressed rows of people sitting quietly, stiffly attentive to the minister at the front. It had the feel of listening to a professional lecture at a university. The other image that came into focus was glowing with cousins and aunts and uncles enjoying one another – laughing, chatting, and talking as if enjoying a barbecue at a casual family reunion. While the view seen in the traditional church models remained clear, I’d been blind to another equally evident vision reinforced by the very same Scriptures.
Once I saw that second image, I couldn’t ignore it. By the end of the sermon, the disquiet in my heart shifted all I knew about the church into this alternate image of sacred, familial, simplicity. I realized that what we’d traditionally dismissed as the “primitive, early church” appeared now as the natural and normal church of relationships -maturing and nourishing one another – just as we see described in scripture.
That event was over fifty years ago, and I still can’t unsee either perspective. As a result, I’ve pursued that fresh, alternative biblical church experience without animosity towards my traditional friends. This return to the scriptural pattern had no name or books describing it. Since the 1990’s it has been known as the small church movement (variously called the New Testament Church, house church, organic church, micro church, simple church, and so on). Over the past 50+ years I have experienced deeply peaceful house churches and a few splits and schisms as well as a few helpful traditional churches. I continue today to be part of a house church. I recently thought to set down all I had learned over the years into 20 brief chapters and published, The Servant Community. One among 100’s of good house church related books available today.
Various house vs traditional models will continue to point out the “errors of the other’s way,” charging each other as being “unbiblical.” But hold on. Can you tell me of a more unbiblical organization than the synagogue? Not found anywhere in the Torah. No instructions for their practices. Used by the diaspora Jews as a place of prayer, beginning a few hundred years before Christ, until this very day. Yet, we read: “He (Jesus) went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was His custom.” – Luke 4:16
In spite of setting out yet another detailed house church resource, my encouragement to you is “grace.” At the end of the day, be free. Set others free. God used the nation of Israel in spite of their failures to “do things right.” Stay humble. Jesus had a habit of attending the unbiblical synagogue. Pursue His leading. Our God doesn’t fit into anyone’s box.
The following was recently written by my good friend Buff Scott, Jr. To find out more about Buff click here.
A reader inquired to what extent his allegiance is owed to the church group he attends. Good question, and it gives me a favorable time to address it. At the outset, let me say I’m inclined to believe one’s allegiance is not the exclusive property of any group of saints.
However, if we have found a Christian assemblage, regardless of where they meet – whether under the shade of an old apple tree, in the living-room, in a rented structure, or in a church building, and we find them to be more in line with our thinking and commitment, and we decide to meet with them and participate in their activities, we then owe them a certain level of responsibility, such as deferring to their leadership, monetarily contributing to those ministries of which we agree, and otherwise trying to build up this local group in a diversity of ways.
As for me, my preference are house meetings or home assemblies, for there is no fancy edifice to maintain and make payments on, no hired hand (pulpit sermonizer) to support, and no questionable projects to financially bolster. In a setting such as this, the basic financial needs are the destitute and supporting the man whose ministry is full-time evangelism. Jesus is the good Shepherd, not the hired hand. It is heartwarming what Jesus says about the hired hand in John 10:11-13. I encourage you to go there and spiritually digest what He says. You might be a little surprised – and delighted.
If all saints deserted the church edifice and began to meet in private homes or similar places, as the early believers did, all pulpit sermonizers and “Reverends” would be forced to either find a job or go into full-time evangelism, which would surely be a blessing. For as long as our ecclesiastical orators are tied down to a pulpit, barricaded from us “peasants,” and financially kept afloat, he will never find a job and go to work or get himself involved in full-time evangelism – that is, taking the message of salvation to the unregenerate.
We have come a long ways since A. D. 33, but mainly in the wrong direction, for we have divided and subdivided. We are spiritually sick with the party spirit (Gal 5:19). If for the first 200 years the early saints could win over a big part of the world without the assistance of church edifices and pulpit ecclesiastics, and they did, why is it so strange to think we cannot do the same? Look at AA and how far they have come with their substance abuse programs. They own no edifices” or structures and have no budget to underpin. They meet in a communal setting, just anywhere they decide to meet – schools, libraries, homes, fire stations, and other places.
We no more need church structures than AA needs to construct a fancy, expensive building to meet in. And in AA meetings, there are no paid speakers or professional orators. They mutually share, exchange ideas, encourage each other, and either cry or laugh on each other’s shoulder – the very things we should be doing. But no! We pay big bucks to import a professional to do our ministries by proxy. “It ain’t right!” It’s as wrong as wrong can be. Heaven does not condone, nor ever has condoned, this digressive, apostate practice. I beg all of my fellow believers to allow reformation to ring and reign over the hills and the valleys of sectarianism!
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I wanted to share this beautiful message written by my good friend Fernando Souza. You can find out more about Fernando by clicking here.
The wall is filled with colorful little hands, with people who have giant heads on stick-figure bodies, with the sun that always lives in the upper corner of the page. This is what the wall in my mother-in-law’s house is like. It’s an art gallery that time has assembled, a museum of affection. Hanging there are drawings that my daughters have made since they were very little.
Another day, after a coffee, I stood there, looking at that mural. I saw the first scribbles, the attempts to draw the family – always with a smile that went from ear to ear. I saw the phases, the evolution of the lines, the signature that was taking shape. Each drawing, a time capsule of a childhood that flew by.
From an adult’s technical point of view, the works are full of “mistakes.” But, obviously, that’s not why they are there, framed with so much care. My mother-in-law didn’t keep them because they were masterpieces. She kept them because she saw in each one the heart and the little hands of her granddaughters. She wasn’t evaluating the art; she was celebrating the artist.
And in that moment, “I Saw.” I saw with a clarity that moved me. This is exactly how God, the Father, looks at the wall of our lives.
He sees our scribbles. Our clumsy attempts to love, our prayers with “stick-figure bodies.” A critic would look and point out the flaws. But the Father, no. He looks at each of our days, at each of our attempts to get it right, and it’s as if He says with a smile: “How precious to me are your thoughts!,” a truth that the psalmist recorded. His thoughts about us are not of criticism, like those of an art judge; they are thoughts of affection, like those of a grandfather looking proudly at the drawings on the wall.
We worry so much about delivering a perfect work of art to God, and He is just waiting to receive a sincere drawing, made with the colored pencil we have in hand. That wall, full of color and a love that ignores perfection, was one of the most beautiful sermons I have ever received about grace.
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I really enjoyed Bob Emery’s newest book, House Church and would recommend it. I have included a short excerpt below, addressing an issue that is one of the hardest to overcome when doing life together. Bob also includes a short but brilliant chapter addressing Paul’s writing concerning women in 1 Corinthians 14. If you’re interested in knowing what is happening in Iran and other Muslim countries, Bob has included some encouraging case studies. Want more information about Bob, click here.
Imagine that you were a member of the tribe of Judah. You lived a short distance away from Jerusalem. During the months leading up to one of the feasts, you and your family had been busy working hard to produce olive oil. You had labored diligently watering, fertilizing, and pruning your olive trees. Finally, when the olives had ripened, you shook the trees or beat the branches with a stick to cause the berries to fall to the ground. Then you collected the ripe olives. Some were eaten with meals and enjoyed fresh; others were pressed into oil to use for cooking, fueling lamps, providing anointing oil, or dressing wounds. At feast time you would collect the choicest of the berries and the best of the oil, to bring to Jerusalem to offer to the Lord, and to bless the Lord for all that he had given you from the land of your inheritance.
As you saw other pilgrims enter the city, each carried with them the work of their hands as well. You spot some old friends from the tribes that lived on the coast. After embracing and exchanging greetings, your friends reached in their sacks and pulled from them the biggest, finest pomegranates you had ever seen. You rejoiced together at what a wonderful harvest the Lord your God had given in the land. Then you pulled from your own sack a handful of the largest, blackest olive berries they had ever seen. You gave a handful to your friends to eat, and once again, you all praised God for the bountiful harvest he had given you.
One by one, pilgrims entered the city. Pairs of men with poles running from one’s shoulder to the other carried large, beautiful clusters of grapes; others had carts with huge sheaves of golden wheat; others brought jars of the finest honey; still others came with metal instruments forged from the minerals that had been mined from the mountains.
As everyone came together and witnessed the bountiful provision that God had given to each one, they blessed God, offered to him the finest of the fruits, and rejoiced with one another for the wonderful land that God had given them.
Now, how does this apply to us today? In the Old Testament, God gave the Jews a physical land for their inheritance. But this was just a picture for us. The good land, flowing with milk and honey, was only a picture of the abundance of our spiritual inheritance in Christ. He wants to be our everything to enjoy. He also gave the Israelites a physical temple. Their physical temple made of stone, where the glory of God dwelt, was also a picture for how we, believers in Christ, are now the real temple with the Spirit of God dwelling in us. Those festivals were also a picture. This joyous, festive scene where people all came together to display the abundance of the good land they had been given is also a picture of what a church meeting should look like!
Back to 1 Corinthians 14:26: “What is the outcome then, brothers and sisters? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. All things are to be done for edification.”
As Christians, Christ is our good land. Every day we need to work the land, spend time with Christ, and enjoy Him. Then, select from our finest experiences with him and bring those to the meetings of the church to share with our brothers and sisters. That could be a testimony, a song, a passage of Scripture, some revelation of Christ that you have received. God wants us to bring the riches that we have found in Christ to the meetings and celebrate, as it were, a great feast with our brothers and sisters-feeding together on the riches of Christ and what he has done in each of our lives. As each one shares what God has given to them, the whole body is edified and will rejoice, Christ will be lifted up, and we will all praise God for such a rich Christ that we have!
In the Old Testament, each family in each tribe was given a portion of the land to enjoy. But if they didn’t work the land, they’d have nothing to show for it, and they would have to come to the feasts empty-handed. If you want to have good house-church meetings, you’ll need to work the land too, so that you will have something of Christ to bring to the meetings to encourage the others. It could be very simple-it doesn’t need to be a long message. Something as simple as, “This morning the Lord touched my heart with the words of a song, and I’d like to share it with you (or have the group sing it together).” Or “I lost my keys today and couldn’t find them. Finally, I prayed and immediately the Lord showed me where they were.” Any experience or revelation of Christ you have, that’s meeting material, so you won’t show up empty-handed.
As glorious as this might sound, it’s still much harder to meet this way than to go to a traditional church meeting on Sunday morning, where the pastor preaches, and the program is set. It’s much easier to watch a performance and let a strong personality take charge. Going to those kinds of meetings, all you must do is show up. There’s no need for you to “work the land” or spend any time with the Lord preparing for what He might have you bring to encourage your brothers and sisters. In the kinds of meetings that took place in the first century, however, everyone was responsible for bringing something of Christ to make the meetings rich.
From my own experience as a Christian, I have learned that one can only grow so much (spiritually) by sitting week after week, month after month, year after year listening to others. The next stage of growth takes place when you are given some responsibility. Say that you were among a group of Christians and asked by someone to lead a Bible study the next week. What might your first reaction be? Panic! “What am I going to say? What am I going to teach?” But your next reaction would be, “I need to pray; I need to spend time with the Lord, so I will have something meaningful to give.” You don’t want to come empty-handed. Responsibility drives you to the Lord, which causes you to spend time with him, receive from him, and have something to share with others. Out of these kinds of experiences, deeper spiritual growth and stronger spiritual disciplines will manifest themselves in your life.
Here is a good test by which to gauge whether you are attending a first-century style church meetings or not: Next time you “go to church,” ask yourself this: Am I going to a meeting to be a passive spectator at a performance? Or am I going to be a participant?
Using soccer as an analogy, are you going to sit in the stands with 50,000 other spectators to cheer the performance of 22 players on the field? Or are you going to play in the game? First-century style meetings were filled with players, not spectators. Each one had an opportunity to participate and contribute. In this way, Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, would be glorified through the proper working of each member of his body, and his multi-faceted riches would be revealed.
Moving church meetings back into the homes, where they belong, is the only way Christians of the 21st century can possibly experience what the early Christians understood as “church.”
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This is another excerpt from The Other Half of Church by Jim Wilder & Michel Hendricks. This book is not your typical house church book but it is highly recommended. You can get a taste by reading the excerpt below. You can read the first excerpt on Joy here.
Whole-brained Christianity makes full use of truth and relationship. Half-brained Christianity parks on the truth and leaves the relational soil untended.
Jesus wants a church with healthy soil that keeps relationships in the center. Each of the four ingredients of healthy soil is relational. Joy is what I feel when my brain senses that you are happy to be with me. Hesed is our family attachment of joyful love. Group identity is our corporate map of who we are and how we act as children of the living God. Our culture of correction leaves no man or woman behind. When someone forgets who they are, we bring them back gently to their true self. Healthy soil is relational through and through.
By building a foundation of relational joy, love, and identity, we create an environment where we naturally and regularly witness transformation. We expect radical change when people join our community. As we reintroduce right-brain practices into our discipleship-along with the traditional left-brain spiritual disciplines we are using the full-brain power that God gave us to form our character. The Great Commission displaces the great omission as our people learn to obey Jesus with heart and mind. All of us eagerly accept correction when we stop acting like ourselves.
People choose to be involved in a particular Christian community for many reasons. The primary attraction of a full-brained community is our joy and love. People might not remark, “Their teaching is so good.” “I love the music there.” “That pastor is such a good teacher.” Instead, they might say, “These people love each other so much.” “This room is filled with joy.” “I want to be like them.” Love is the centerpiece of everything a full-brained church does. A church planted in rich relational soil may be less visually stimulating than other churches, but it is relationally stimulating. Being stimulated by love and joy is more important than being stimulated by other factors.
Unlike most Christian leaders, the relational pastor intentionally stays small. People are not impressed by this pastor, except by his humility and maturity. A full-brained community is impressed by Jesus alone and sees any attempt to magnify another person as an opportunity to offer a gentle rebuke. In a healthy church, people talk about Jesus all the time. They seldom talk about the pastor, and this is as it should be. Jesus is large and in charge. The pastor is but one of many people in a community where all faithfully complete the assignments Jesus gave them.
Pastors and other leaders stay small and act like trainers-laser focused on creating a relational environment that fosters transformation. Instead of looking only at attendance, giving, or other numbers, they also focus intently on bringing their people to maturity.
Much has been written of the exploits of the heroes of World War II, but what do you know about the drill sergeants who trained them in boot camp? Who was Beethoven’s childhood piano teacher? Who first instructed Serena Williams how to hit a tennis ball? Who taught Lionel Messi to dribble a soccer ball? Trainers are seldom famous. A relational pastor remains largely unknown outside the church. His flock is thankful for the maturity they are developing. Pastors who refuse to be magnified know that their example will encourage the next generation of pastors to stay small-just like Jesus taught.
We can mistake the inflated pastor for a great leader if we believe the world’s definition of greatness. Jesus operates under a different rubric. We find Him adjusting the disciples’ definition when He catches them arguing about who is the greatest. The disciples are debating about which of them would be the biggest winner in the kingdom of heaven. They no doubt have images in their minds of what that looked like, but Jesus flips their picture upside down.
Jesus corrects the disciples by saying, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35 ESV). Apparently, the disciples cannot accept this adjustment. It was too big of a stretch. Jesus must repeat His upside-down definition several times.
On another occasion Jesus calls a little child, placing the child in the middle of the disciples. The men probably looked at each other and wondered what Jesus was doing. With the child standing in the middle He explains, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3-4). Jesus gives them a visual picture of a small child and basically says, “This is what greatness looks like.” He also brings group identity into the picture. We stop acting like members of God’s kingdom when we inflate ourselves and seek to be great.
Unfortunately, we often build and arrange our churches in ways that can magnify the leader. During many services, the church leader is elevated, standing above the crowd. Do families act like this? We hang large screens above the stage to magnify their face as the Teacher. Their enormous image looms above us as we listen to them disperse wisdom. Do families act like this? The use of video magnification in a church may be necessary, but pastors should simultaneously be modeling “image shrinkification” more often. Leaders are not exempt from Jesus’ upside-down definition of greatness. We, pastors, should be willing to rethink what we do and why we do it.
Emotionally mature leaders always keep relationships more important than ministry. They never sacrifice their congregation’s hesed attachments in order to “do great things.” The horse remains firmly in front of the cart, and every task or ministry they perform from abundant hesed.
A whole-brained church releases transformed disciples into the world like cottonwood seeds in the Colorado wind. Invigorated disciples plant new life in the culture wherever they land. Jesus dispersed His disciples around the world after training them for three years. These disciples and their spiritual descendants changed the fabric of the world. Likewise, we pastors do not focus on changing the world ourselves. Instead, we are trainers who focus on building Christlike character into our people. If we do our job well, our people will change the world.
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