If you think Islam is the biggest offender of religious liberty around the world- you are mostly right. In India, Hindu radicals are now making a run for that ominous distinction. The next time you hear a Hollywood celebrity talk about the acceptance and tolerance of Eastern "New Age" religions, think about how Hindus are treating Christians in "modern" India. (Read the documentation of the persecution here).
Over the past few weeks, while we here in America have been consumed with elections and hurricanes, churches in India have been burned to the ground and Christians thrown into prison, beaten, persecuted and in some cases brutally killed. One of our church planters from India recently learned that his elderly mother has been arrested by the Hindu thugs. Her crime is that she runs a Christian Orphanage that takes care of over 1,000 children.
Last Friday I received the following email from my good friend Lars Dunberg, whose organization Global Action we are partnering with to build an orphanage in Motipur. You may remember that Michael Butler and I traveled to Orissa last year to help lead a conference for young Christian leaders. That part of India is now especially out of control:
Twenty fifth August 2008 has become one of the saddest days in the history of Orissa as the angry mob attacked Christian Churches, Institutions, burned houses to ashes, beaten and even killed a number of pastors, missionaries and believers. 4014 houses burnt in 300 villages displacing more than 50,000 people, 2 pastors killed, 6 priests severely injured, 1 Nun gang raped, 2 ladies burnt alive, 24 other Christians killed and many injured. The young pastor of the church in Tatamaha was brutally killed. The mob dragged his dead body and thrown it in the field by the road-side. His wife and two-year old daughter are missing. At Sankarakhol, the pastor was asked to deny Jesus, as he refused to deny Him they cut his throat and killed him. His house and the church destroyed.
The village of one of our students was attacked by the mob. Church building and Houses were destroyed and burned. Three people were killed in this village. The believers are still hiding in forest. In Gajapati, about fifteen villages have been attacked. Churches and houses burned, destroyed and looted. Another one of our students said, ‘Two men were killed; one of them was burnt alive. People are still in jungle as some of these villages have been attacked for the second time."
Another student serves as a pastor with Bible Fellowship Church. About 70 people came and ransacked his house and destroyed it. He, his wife and their two little children ran for their life and escaped. Meanwhile the mob looted his house and another student, being unaware of what has happened, came across the mob as he was riding his bicycle on his way to conduct worship service at a house church four kilometers away from Khurda district head quarters. He thought some accident might have taken place, so the people have gathered. But when he came nearer to them one from the mob said this fellow is a Christian, catch him. The mob got hold of him, beaten him badly, poured diesel on him to burn him alive. But something unusual happened, none of the match-sticks lit up. By the time police came and he was rescued. Even our own office was not spared. The mob managed to take about eight cartons of books, dumped those in front of our gate, poured petrol over them and burned them."
The church here in America needs to pray for India. The church here needs to pay attention. We need to get the word out about the suffering of our brothers and sisters in this part of the world.
Spread the word.
Indian churches are burning.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
why covenant matters
In my previous two posts regarding the need for covenant in church membership I pointed us to the Biblical context of covenant. I argued that the strength and heart of any relationship is the covenant. After all, a relationship in which one person is allowed to constantly violate the unspoken terms upon which the relationship is based is very definitely an unhealthy and even abusive relationship. A relationship without boundaries (covenant) is called "co-dependent". God is not an enabler. He invites us into healthy relationship.
Similarly, we are to arrange our relationships within the Body of Christ in this way. The strength and vitality of our growth together will depend upon our agreed upon covenant. In this post I would like to demonstrate why this arrangement is so important. I want us to see that the purpose of the church is so incredibly important and that the mission that each of us individually and corporately are called into is of such great and transcendent importance, that to not join together in this way diminishes all that we are called to accomplish in this life.
The trajectory of the gospel is from heaven to earth, redeeming the earth and bringing it into complete fulfillment, culminating in the second coming of Christ.
Every other religion envisions an escape from earth into a heavenly realm that is purely spiritual and non-material. Only Christianity sees the work of God as healing creation and bringing the material world into reconciliation. We learn in scripture of God’s love for the city. God told Adam and Eve to develop the world. In their disobedience they were cast out. The city was given to us as a way of contending with the fall. It is a place of protection and development and advancement and spiritual challenge. A missional church is one that has the gospel at the very heart of its belief and passion.
Missions comes from the heart of God. Missional people are driven to move the gospel message wherever they are and implement The overriding knowledge for the Christian is that Christ died for us. That one truth affects and instructs every other truth. At the cross, the wrath of God was satisfied by His grace and love. Christ went to the ultimate extreme in forsaking His place in heaven, becoming human flesh and humbling Himself to the point of death on the cross. The trajectory of salvation is from heaven to earth, from the immaterial to the material. God has moved into our world and is redeeming the earth.
Sin, justice and wrath are not popular subjects in modern culture, but how else can one explain the issues of evil and suffering? The world suffers because it needs redemption. More and more intellectuals today are coming around to the idea that there is evil in the world. I recently heard the story of a minister who was asked to advise a panel of Hollywood producers who were determined to make more religiously-oriented films. He asked them, “How many of you believe in God?” Only about half of them raised their hands. He then asked, “How many of you believe in evil?” Every single one of them admitted that because of their own experiences and observations about life, they could not deny that evil was present in the world. The problem of evil in the world is undeniable.
The secularist who does not believe in God’s wrath and justice has no answer to the issues of human violence and evil. After all, when one looks around nature, he sees that violence is natural and that evil is prevalent. If it is OK for big animals to eat small animals, for instance, what is wrong with murder and violence and war in human behavior? If it is true that human beings are a part of nature and have no other meaning above their natural content, then why would we recoil at human violence?
How is it that the human heart understands the plumb-line of human immorality? It must mean that God’s perfect sense of justice is in place and therefore that justice must be satisfied. It is only in Christianity that you find such a complete answer to the problem of evil and justice. God in His perfect sense of justice cannot just “let sin go”. Sin has to be paid for in some way. God in His justice demands payment, but in His grace and love He provided a way in the death of Christ on the cross.
His redemption: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and JUST and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
By His death on the cross, Christ paid the price once and for all in real and tangible expressions. It is interesting that this verse says if we confess our sins, “He is faithful and JUST and will forgive us.” His justice is satisfied by His death. Because He died I don’t have to die. On my behalf, He will plead not for mercy, but for justice, because God in His perfect justice will not require more than one payment for my sin. Both legalism and liberalism corrupt the meaning of grace. Religious legalism uses God - it serves God in order to get something out of Him.
True Christianity serves God out of the knowledge of His love and the abundance of His grace. Cain’s sacrifice was not accepted because he did not have faith in the abundant mercy and grace of God, while Abel’s offering came from a joy and appreciation for what God had already done in fulfilling His covenant promise (future tense). Therefore, it was the sacrifice of Cain that was honored by God. This story from Genesis 4 is a precursor to the Gospel. Cain, the older brother, tries to coerce God into his mold, while, Abel, the younger and less impressive brother depends solely on the work and grace of God. The theme of the older brother not receiving the honor (birthright) of God is all through the Old Testament (as well as a parable of Christ) and foreshadows the coming of Christ, the second Adam, who by His new covenant brings a new and better way.
The question for all of us is, “Am I a Cain or an Abel?” The Cain’s of this world are only concerned with self, power and control. Christ is the new and better Abel, whose blood cries out from the ground not for justice, but for mercy and grace (see Hebrews 12). As followers of Christ our passion is for His redemptive work in the world.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
To understand the gospel is to have passion for reconciliation. Christ reconciled us to Himself and then gave us the ministry of reconciliation. From the gospel we learn of God’s passion for the lost. He was the first missionary, walking in the garden in the cool of day calling out to Adam, “what is this that you have done?” Even at the moment the curse took affect, God was providing a way. “You will strike his heal and he will strike your head,” He said to the enemy, prophesying the coming of Christ on the cross. At the cross, Christ took the blow and became the covenant curse so that we could be the covenant blessing.
As we are drawn into Him and become more like Him it is natural for us to open our eyes and hearts to a lost world. As the Father seeks worshippers and calls out for covenant restoration, our passion is for reconciliation and restoration. Missions is at the heart of God and therefore is at the heart of every believer. At the very core of our being we are drawn into Him and out into a lost world.
So what does the ministry of reconciliation look like? As the Bride of Christ, we are to have the priorities of Christ. Jesus made it clear that he came to “seek and save that which was lost.” We believe every member is a missionary, and every member is a minister. All of us are called into the Cause. Our “CAUSE” is to “love people to Christ” – to “reconcile” them to Christ. It is our “Lp2C” formula. There is a profound implication in those words. We are to love them to Christ. We are not to beat them to Christ, guilt them to Christ, scare them to Christ or badger them to Him. These failed strategies are a turnoff anyway, and have done immense damage to the witness of the church. All of us are called to reach our world for Christ; there is no question of this. But how are we to do it? The answer is found in the words and example of our Lord:
You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. (Matthew 5:13-15)
Jesus makes a clear allusion here between the church’s responsibility to be an influence to the community outside it’s walls. The church is to have an outward focus. It involves getting outside the comfort zone of the “Christian bubble” and moving into the darkness. Salt has no effect if it is not out of the salt shaker. A light hidden is useless. We must be actively relating to people who don’t know Him, investing in their lives and inviting them to be part of our faith journey.
We also have a role as a church community. It is to be, as Robert Lewis puts it, “a church of irresistible Influence.” Lewis writes of the huge difference between the evangelical church at the beginning of last century—with its reputation for impacting society through humble acts of charity, effective community strategies and far-reaching acts of community ministry and sacrificial works of service—and the single-minded “proclamation by preaching” that passes for an evangelical expression of Christian faith in most evangelical churches today. He writes:
The evangelical church finds itself, not surprisingly, disconnected from the real world. We are isolated, self-assured and socially uninvolved. The Church of the 21st century must shift its focus from an institutional orientation to a community orientation if it is to survive and thrive. (Robert Lewis, Church of Irresistible Influence).
In its disconnection from the real world, the church becomes increasingly adamant in its disgust and opposition to popular culture. What the world sees is angry shouting and moralizing, with threats of boycotts and strong-armed political pressure aimed at conforming state to church and forcing people to act more like us. The problem with this, of course, is that the church loses its saltiness if it no longer has influence. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. To love people to Christ is to show love in such compelling and irresistible ways that the Gospel is brought to bear not just by what we proclaim, but by the way we live. Evangelism, in other words, is not just something you say, it is what you are. And additionally, as we covenant together in membership, it is therefore who we are.
Similarly, we are to arrange our relationships within the Body of Christ in this way. The strength and vitality of our growth together will depend upon our agreed upon covenant. In this post I would like to demonstrate why this arrangement is so important. I want us to see that the purpose of the church is so incredibly important and that the mission that each of us individually and corporately are called into is of such great and transcendent importance, that to not join together in this way diminishes all that we are called to accomplish in this life.
The trajectory of the gospel is from heaven to earth, redeeming the earth and bringing it into complete fulfillment, culminating in the second coming of Christ.
Every other religion envisions an escape from earth into a heavenly realm that is purely spiritual and non-material. Only Christianity sees the work of God as healing creation and bringing the material world into reconciliation. We learn in scripture of God’s love for the city. God told Adam and Eve to develop the world. In their disobedience they were cast out. The city was given to us as a way of contending with the fall. It is a place of protection and development and advancement and spiritual challenge. A missional church is one that has the gospel at the very heart of its belief and passion.
Missions comes from the heart of God. Missional people are driven to move the gospel message wherever they are and implement The overriding knowledge for the Christian is that Christ died for us. That one truth affects and instructs every other truth. At the cross, the wrath of God was satisfied by His grace and love. Christ went to the ultimate extreme in forsaking His place in heaven, becoming human flesh and humbling Himself to the point of death on the cross. The trajectory of salvation is from heaven to earth, from the immaterial to the material. God has moved into our world and is redeeming the earth.
Sin, justice and wrath are not popular subjects in modern culture, but how else can one explain the issues of evil and suffering? The world suffers because it needs redemption. More and more intellectuals today are coming around to the idea that there is evil in the world. I recently heard the story of a minister who was asked to advise a panel of Hollywood producers who were determined to make more religiously-oriented films. He asked them, “How many of you believe in God?” Only about half of them raised their hands. He then asked, “How many of you believe in evil?” Every single one of them admitted that because of their own experiences and observations about life, they could not deny that evil was present in the world. The problem of evil in the world is undeniable.
The secularist who does not believe in God’s wrath and justice has no answer to the issues of human violence and evil. After all, when one looks around nature, he sees that violence is natural and that evil is prevalent. If it is OK for big animals to eat small animals, for instance, what is wrong with murder and violence and war in human behavior? If it is true that human beings are a part of nature and have no other meaning above their natural content, then why would we recoil at human violence?
How is it that the human heart understands the plumb-line of human immorality? It must mean that God’s perfect sense of justice is in place and therefore that justice must be satisfied. It is only in Christianity that you find such a complete answer to the problem of evil and justice. God in His perfect sense of justice cannot just “let sin go”. Sin has to be paid for in some way. God in His justice demands payment, but in His grace and love He provided a way in the death of Christ on the cross.
His redemption: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and JUST and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
By His death on the cross, Christ paid the price once and for all in real and tangible expressions. It is interesting that this verse says if we confess our sins, “He is faithful and JUST and will forgive us.” His justice is satisfied by His death. Because He died I don’t have to die. On my behalf, He will plead not for mercy, but for justice, because God in His perfect justice will not require more than one payment for my sin. Both legalism and liberalism corrupt the meaning of grace. Religious legalism uses God - it serves God in order to get something out of Him.
True Christianity serves God out of the knowledge of His love and the abundance of His grace. Cain’s sacrifice was not accepted because he did not have faith in the abundant mercy and grace of God, while Abel’s offering came from a joy and appreciation for what God had already done in fulfilling His covenant promise (future tense). Therefore, it was the sacrifice of Cain that was honored by God. This story from Genesis 4 is a precursor to the Gospel. Cain, the older brother, tries to coerce God into his mold, while, Abel, the younger and less impressive brother depends solely on the work and grace of God. The theme of the older brother not receiving the honor (birthright) of God is all through the Old Testament (as well as a parable of Christ) and foreshadows the coming of Christ, the second Adam, who by His new covenant brings a new and better way.
The question for all of us is, “Am I a Cain or an Abel?” The Cain’s of this world are only concerned with self, power and control. Christ is the new and better Abel, whose blood cries out from the ground not for justice, but for mercy and grace (see Hebrews 12). As followers of Christ our passion is for His redemptive work in the world.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
To understand the gospel is to have passion for reconciliation. Christ reconciled us to Himself and then gave us the ministry of reconciliation. From the gospel we learn of God’s passion for the lost. He was the first missionary, walking in the garden in the cool of day calling out to Adam, “what is this that you have done?” Even at the moment the curse took affect, God was providing a way. “You will strike his heal and he will strike your head,” He said to the enemy, prophesying the coming of Christ on the cross. At the cross, Christ took the blow and became the covenant curse so that we could be the covenant blessing.
As we are drawn into Him and become more like Him it is natural for us to open our eyes and hearts to a lost world. As the Father seeks worshippers and calls out for covenant restoration, our passion is for reconciliation and restoration. Missions is at the heart of God and therefore is at the heart of every believer. At the very core of our being we are drawn into Him and out into a lost world.
So what does the ministry of reconciliation look like? As the Bride of Christ, we are to have the priorities of Christ. Jesus made it clear that he came to “seek and save that which was lost.” We believe every member is a missionary, and every member is a minister. All of us are called into the Cause. Our “CAUSE” is to “love people to Christ” – to “reconcile” them to Christ. It is our “Lp2C” formula. There is a profound implication in those words. We are to love them to Christ. We are not to beat them to Christ, guilt them to Christ, scare them to Christ or badger them to Him. These failed strategies are a turnoff anyway, and have done immense damage to the witness of the church. All of us are called to reach our world for Christ; there is no question of this. But how are we to do it? The answer is found in the words and example of our Lord:
You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. (Matthew 5:13-15)
Jesus makes a clear allusion here between the church’s responsibility to be an influence to the community outside it’s walls. The church is to have an outward focus. It involves getting outside the comfort zone of the “Christian bubble” and moving into the darkness. Salt has no effect if it is not out of the salt shaker. A light hidden is useless. We must be actively relating to people who don’t know Him, investing in their lives and inviting them to be part of our faith journey.
We also have a role as a church community. It is to be, as Robert Lewis puts it, “a church of irresistible Influence.” Lewis writes of the huge difference between the evangelical church at the beginning of last century—with its reputation for impacting society through humble acts of charity, effective community strategies and far-reaching acts of community ministry and sacrificial works of service—and the single-minded “proclamation by preaching” that passes for an evangelical expression of Christian faith in most evangelical churches today. He writes:
The evangelical church finds itself, not surprisingly, disconnected from the real world. We are isolated, self-assured and socially uninvolved. The Church of the 21st century must shift its focus from an institutional orientation to a community orientation if it is to survive and thrive. (Robert Lewis, Church of Irresistible Influence).
In its disconnection from the real world, the church becomes increasingly adamant in its disgust and opposition to popular culture. What the world sees is angry shouting and moralizing, with threats of boycotts and strong-armed political pressure aimed at conforming state to church and forcing people to act more like us. The problem with this, of course, is that the church loses its saltiness if it no longer has influence. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. To love people to Christ is to show love in such compelling and irresistible ways that the Gospel is brought to bear not just by what we proclaim, but by the way we live. Evangelism, in other words, is not just something you say, it is what you are. And additionally, as we covenant together in membership, it is therefore who we are.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
living missionally
LP2C (loving people to Christ) is first and foremost an attitude of the heart. As we are captivated by the gospel, our eyes are opened to the incredible value and worth of every human being we meet. Every single person we encounter in this life is seen as someone for whom the God of the universe was willing to die.
I was reminded of how the gospel affects us in this way yesterday when I read the following email from Denise Behymer, the wife of our Executive Pastor, Norman Behymer:
Today I went to the dentist. It was a dreary and rainy day in the middle of August which was a rest from the one hundred degree days we have been having. I saw her immediately when I walked up to check in at the desk. It’s a small office so I really couldn’t miss her. She immediately quipped out, “I like your purse.” I said thank you and sat down beside her to chat more about the purse. “I like a big purse,” she said. And we started talking about the features of the purse that we both liked.
She announced that she was ninety one years old. I noticed there was no one there with her and later on found out she had driven herself there. With no apparent apprehension she started telling me her story. She had lost her husband several years back due to complications of diabetes, and added in that no one helped her with him. She didn’t seem to be angry, just sad. As I listened to this ninety one year old lady spill her heart out to a complete stranger, I asked myself and questioned the Lord. “What are you doing here Lord?” She began to tell me how she had sold everything after her husband had died. My immediate reaction was, “Wow I wish I could have been there for that sale!” Her lovely 3000 square foot home and most everything in it including some very expensive silver and her farm with livestock and chickens were sold also.
She began to tell me that her only son had married but her daughter in law didn’t like her. “He never calls,” she said. Lonely, she’s lonely I thought. Also thinking, their going to call my name any minute and I’m not sure I’m finished with her. I kept listening for an “in” to her faith or if she even had any. She did mention that she went to the Catholic Church so I asked her if she had friends from her former church in another town. She only said that she thought they would call when she moved but they didn’t.
One of the stories she told me was that she took her granddaughter shopping and just let her try on everything she liked and then bought everything for her. They didn’t teach her to say “thank you” she said. Holding a lot of grudges I thought. How sad. I just sat and listened and nodded every once in a while with a smile. She just needed someone to talk to and spill her hurts to. Still a complete stranger…
Finally I heard my name called as well as her name. We were headed in the same direction and then I turned to her and told her that I hoped she would find peace and then we went into different rooms. I couldn’t get her off my mind all the time I was getting my teeth cleaned.
What was so funny is that this little lady just couldn’t get past how much she liked my purse, even offered to pay me to find her one. So she ended up giving me her name address and phone number. I told her she could go to Ross and find one perhaps and told her how to get there.
Long story longer, I went to Ross to look for her a purse to no avail and there she was. I ended up walking her to her car in the rain and she said the most precious thing I have ever heard said to me. She looked at me standing in the rain and said, “I like you, I really like you”
I have spent the rest of the day crying and thinking about her. Worried if she got home in this weather, thinking about her being all alone in a town she doesn’t think cares for her. I imagine I will just write a note to her and send my purse to her. I hope that thru my actions that some how she saw Christ, that maybe I was His hands and His feet and His touch to her today.
As I was driving home with tears filling my eyes feeling like I hadn’t done enough I heard the words come into my mind. “I was a stranger and you took me in.” Oh my, thank you Lord for an experience I will never forget.
I was reminded of how the gospel affects us in this way yesterday when I read the following email from Denise Behymer, the wife of our Executive Pastor, Norman Behymer:
Today I went to the dentist. It was a dreary and rainy day in the middle of August which was a rest from the one hundred degree days we have been having. I saw her immediately when I walked up to check in at the desk. It’s a small office so I really couldn’t miss her. She immediately quipped out, “I like your purse.” I said thank you and sat down beside her to chat more about the purse. “I like a big purse,” she said. And we started talking about the features of the purse that we both liked.
She announced that she was ninety one years old. I noticed there was no one there with her and later on found out she had driven herself there. With no apparent apprehension she started telling me her story. She had lost her husband several years back due to complications of diabetes, and added in that no one helped her with him. She didn’t seem to be angry, just sad. As I listened to this ninety one year old lady spill her heart out to a complete stranger, I asked myself and questioned the Lord. “What are you doing here Lord?” She began to tell me how she had sold everything after her husband had died. My immediate reaction was, “Wow I wish I could have been there for that sale!” Her lovely 3000 square foot home and most everything in it including some very expensive silver and her farm with livestock and chickens were sold also.
She began to tell me that her only son had married but her daughter in law didn’t like her. “He never calls,” she said. Lonely, she’s lonely I thought. Also thinking, their going to call my name any minute and I’m not sure I’m finished with her. I kept listening for an “in” to her faith or if she even had any. She did mention that she went to the Catholic Church so I asked her if she had friends from her former church in another town. She only said that she thought they would call when she moved but they didn’t.
One of the stories she told me was that she took her granddaughter shopping and just let her try on everything she liked and then bought everything for her. They didn’t teach her to say “thank you” she said. Holding a lot of grudges I thought. How sad. I just sat and listened and nodded every once in a while with a smile. She just needed someone to talk to and spill her hurts to. Still a complete stranger…
Finally I heard my name called as well as her name. We were headed in the same direction and then I turned to her and told her that I hoped she would find peace and then we went into different rooms. I couldn’t get her off my mind all the time I was getting my teeth cleaned.
What was so funny is that this little lady just couldn’t get past how much she liked my purse, even offered to pay me to find her one. So she ended up giving me her name address and phone number. I told her she could go to Ross and find one perhaps and told her how to get there.
Long story longer, I went to Ross to look for her a purse to no avail and there she was. I ended up walking her to her car in the rain and she said the most precious thing I have ever heard said to me. She looked at me standing in the rain and said, “I like you, I really like you”
I have spent the rest of the day crying and thinking about her. Worried if she got home in this weather, thinking about her being all alone in a town she doesn’t think cares for her. I imagine I will just write a note to her and send my purse to her. I hope that thru my actions that some how she saw Christ, that maybe I was His hands and His feet and His touch to her today.
As I was driving home with tears filling my eyes feeling like I hadn’t done enough I heard the words come into my mind. “I was a stranger and you took me in.” Oh my, thank you Lord for an experience I will never forget.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
please pray
I want to let everyone know of a couple of urgent prayer needs:
From Chris Wall:
"We had a sweet young single parent family in our church from Korea. Christine (Eunju) was the mother and she was a doctoral student at OCU. Robin and I met her walking through our neighborhood. Robin invited her to church and about two months later, prayed with her as she accepted Christ. After she got saved, she went back to Korea and brought her two daughters to live with her here in the states. The oldest, Joy, went to kids camp this summer.
Today is a sad day because this afternoon, all three were on vacation in Virginia on a tour bus. The bus crashed and Christine was killed. The two girls were mediflighted to separate hospitals and are in ICU. The oldest, Joy, is doing better. The youngest, Michelle, is in surgery as I write this email. I do not know the details of the crash, only that Christine died at the scene. Moon, one of our church members was able to call Christine’s mother in Korea to tell her the tragic news and she is on her way to the United States. Moon has also agreed to go to be with the girls until their grandmother can arrive from Korea. Another Korean lady has willingly agreed to go with Moon so they can minister to the girls. Several of our church members have committed to pay for this trip and send these ladies to be with these precious girls.
Please pray for these little girls. They are very precious and we are all so sad that this has happened. In the midst of our sadness, I am so thankful that Christine came to the United States and gave her life to Christ."
The second is from Kris and Shelley Riggs, who are missionaries connected to our church who are a part of the Western Niger Fulani team:
"We've been asked by some of our believers here to pray for rain. They've planted their fields some twice and others three times already this rainy season. The current crop is starting to yellow and they need rain desparately to save this crop. Furthermore, if this one doesn't make it, the rainy season would likely be too short to provide even a decent yield to sustain them. These guys in particular are in a remote village and are the makings of one of our church starts. As you pray that the Father would send them good, regular rains for their fields, please pray that God would strengthen their faith and increase their numbers in their fellowship."
From Chris Wall:
"We had a sweet young single parent family in our church from Korea. Christine (Eunju) was the mother and she was a doctoral student at OCU. Robin and I met her walking through our neighborhood. Robin invited her to church and about two months later, prayed with her as she accepted Christ. After she got saved, she went back to Korea and brought her two daughters to live with her here in the states. The oldest, Joy, went to kids camp this summer.
Today is a sad day because this afternoon, all three were on vacation in Virginia on a tour bus. The bus crashed and Christine was killed. The two girls were mediflighted to separate hospitals and are in ICU. The oldest, Joy, is doing better. The youngest, Michelle, is in surgery as I write this email. I do not know the details of the crash, only that Christine died at the scene. Moon, one of our church members was able to call Christine’s mother in Korea to tell her the tragic news and she is on her way to the United States. Moon has also agreed to go to be with the girls until their grandmother can arrive from Korea. Another Korean lady has willingly agreed to go with Moon so they can minister to the girls. Several of our church members have committed to pay for this trip and send these ladies to be with these precious girls.
Please pray for these little girls. They are very precious and we are all so sad that this has happened. In the midst of our sadness, I am so thankful that Christine came to the United States and gave her life to Christ."
The second is from Kris and Shelley Riggs, who are missionaries connected to our church who are a part of the Western Niger Fulani team:
"We've been asked by some of our believers here to pray for rain. They've planted their fields some twice and others three times already this rainy season. The current crop is starting to yellow and they need rain desparately to save this crop. Furthermore, if this one doesn't make it, the rainy season would likely be too short to provide even a decent yield to sustain them. These guys in particular are in a remote village and are the makings of one of our church starts. As you pray that the Father would send them good, regular rains for their fields, please pray that God would strengthen their faith and increase their numbers in their fellowship."
Thursday, July 31, 2008
getting membership right
In my last blog post I established the biblical basis for covenant. I did this as a way of reminding us that the only way a church truly sets itself apart and establishes itself as a body is in those things they covenant and purpose to do together. The covenant always establishes relationship. In scripture, the relationship between God and His people was established around the covenant.
In ancient times, the covenant agreement between the Suzerain King and the subservient vassal was called a "Suzerain Treaty". Suffice it to say that the treaty was always favorable to the King. It was typical in the establishement of this covenant that the vassal was required to walk through the broken pieces of animal parts spread out in two sections. The vassal was saying in affect, "May I be like this animal if I don't keep this covenant!" Two points here:
1. The King, for obvious reasons, was not required to walk through the pieces.
2. It was not just symbolism. In these violent primitive times, a vassal was quite literally torn to pieces when he violated the treaty. It was a very effective way of doing business. (I have tried for years to convince brides to utilize this method of covenant agreement during a wedding ceremony- no takers yet).
With this context as a backdrop, go back and read Genesis 15 and notice that God Himself passes through the pieces and does not require Abraham to pass through, as if to say, "I will be torn to pieces if my people do not fulfill the covenant."
Our relationship with God is established by this covenant, fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, who was torn to pieces and became the covenant curse so that we could become the covenant blessing.
Do you see that we could not know relationship with God if it were not for the covenant?
In the same way, every relationship you have is established by some covenant. You came into that relationship because you fulfilled the "obligations" of an unspoken and yet very real covenant. By this I mean that every single relationship is defined by the acceptance and acquiescence of the people in that relationship to certain qualities that are unique and unchangeable. Every married person knows exactly what I am talking about here. There are things about my wife I will not change. There are many things about me my wife cannot change. We have to accept a certain degree of "unchangeableness" in order to stay in relationship and truly love each other. That is our unspoken covenant.
I have found through the years that the better the understanding of the unspoken covenant in a relationship, the better the relationship. I remember watching a video when I was in college which illustrated the importance of non-verbal communication in marriages. Women were asked to observe a video of their husbands as they were being interviewed in a separate room. The women were asked if they could tell what the husbands were thinking by mere observation. The study concluded that the married couples who defined themselves as "happily married" were much more capable of reading each other's body language than those who described themselves as "unhappily married".
The difference between the two groups was that happily married people had a better grasp of the unspoken covenant, while the others did not.
So the more clear the covenant, the better the relationship. In a church body, which is the visible earthly expression of the family of Christ, the need to understand clearly the terms of the relationship are extremely important. In other words, we need to know what it means to be "members of one another" (Ephesians 4:25).
I am convinced the reason we as Southern Baptists are now dealing with the problem of unregenerate membership is that we are reaping the result of a century of emotionalism and attractional evangelism. Could it be that we have so greatly emphasized bigger numbers and have utilized a pragmatic and sometimes manipulative approach to "get people down the aisle" that in our enthusiasm for numerical growth, we have forgotten our mandate for "making disciples". Could it be we have forgotten the end game is growing disciples and the only effective way of establishing a discipling relationship is by understanding and implementing the terms of our covenant agreement? And it could be that the reason so many SBC churches today have no idea who their members are or where they are is that our pragmatism has skewed our understanding of biblical covenant membership?
When we use an emotional manipulative approach to evangelism and then hand a person a card and tell them they are a member, are we not just anesthetizing them to the gospel and the true meaning of membership? A recent study by David Kinnaman of the Barna Research group confirms that somewhere around 70% of people who are registered as "accepting Christ" in revivals or crusades never actually end up committing to the life of the church. He goes on to make this observation:
As Christians, we have to keep in mind that response rates are not the ultimate goal but rather the wise and careful stewardship of the image of God......If you create more barriers with outsiders because of your tactics, you have not been a good steward of the gospel. How we choose to share Christ is as important as our actually doing it.
Consider from a biblical perspective how ridiculous the idea of having members that are not actually committed to the church:
1. Early disciples met together for the purpose of learning from the apostles teaching. (Acts 2:42-47)
2. The early church kept some kind of record of members as "the Lord added to their number" (Acts 2:42-47)
3. The word for "Church" is "Ekklesia", which means "called out ones".
4. The Bible teaches church discipline. One cannot be removed from that which he has not belonged. (1 Corinthians 5, Matthew 18:15-17)
5. Shepherds are required to take care of their flock. It would be impossible for a shepherd to take care of sheep he doesn't know about. (Acts 20:28)
6. Members are required to submit to spiritual leaders. (Hebrews 13:17, 1 Thess. 5:12-13, 1 Timothy 5:17) The only possible way to stay accountable to spiritual leaders is within the context of a body of believers who actually know each other.
In ancient times, the covenant agreement between the Suzerain King and the subservient vassal was called a "Suzerain Treaty". Suffice it to say that the treaty was always favorable to the King. It was typical in the establishement of this covenant that the vassal was required to walk through the broken pieces of animal parts spread out in two sections. The vassal was saying in affect, "May I be like this animal if I don't keep this covenant!" Two points here:
1. The King, for obvious reasons, was not required to walk through the pieces.
2. It was not just symbolism. In these violent primitive times, a vassal was quite literally torn to pieces when he violated the treaty. It was a very effective way of doing business. (I have tried for years to convince brides to utilize this method of covenant agreement during a wedding ceremony- no takers yet).
With this context as a backdrop, go back and read Genesis 15 and notice that God Himself passes through the pieces and does not require Abraham to pass through, as if to say, "I will be torn to pieces if my people do not fulfill the covenant."
Our relationship with God is established by this covenant, fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, who was torn to pieces and became the covenant curse so that we could become the covenant blessing.
Do you see that we could not know relationship with God if it were not for the covenant?
In the same way, every relationship you have is established by some covenant. You came into that relationship because you fulfilled the "obligations" of an unspoken and yet very real covenant. By this I mean that every single relationship is defined by the acceptance and acquiescence of the people in that relationship to certain qualities that are unique and unchangeable. Every married person knows exactly what I am talking about here. There are things about my wife I will not change. There are many things about me my wife cannot change. We have to accept a certain degree of "unchangeableness" in order to stay in relationship and truly love each other. That is our unspoken covenant.
I have found through the years that the better the understanding of the unspoken covenant in a relationship, the better the relationship. I remember watching a video when I was in college which illustrated the importance of non-verbal communication in marriages. Women were asked to observe a video of their husbands as they were being interviewed in a separate room. The women were asked if they could tell what the husbands were thinking by mere observation. The study concluded that the married couples who defined themselves as "happily married" were much more capable of reading each other's body language than those who described themselves as "unhappily married".
The difference between the two groups was that happily married people had a better grasp of the unspoken covenant, while the others did not.
So the more clear the covenant, the better the relationship. In a church body, which is the visible earthly expression of the family of Christ, the need to understand clearly the terms of the relationship are extremely important. In other words, we need to know what it means to be "members of one another" (Ephesians 4:25).
I am convinced the reason we as Southern Baptists are now dealing with the problem of unregenerate membership is that we are reaping the result of a century of emotionalism and attractional evangelism. Could it be that we have so greatly emphasized bigger numbers and have utilized a pragmatic and sometimes manipulative approach to "get people down the aisle" that in our enthusiasm for numerical growth, we have forgotten our mandate for "making disciples". Could it be we have forgotten the end game is growing disciples and the only effective way of establishing a discipling relationship is by understanding and implementing the terms of our covenant agreement? And it could be that the reason so many SBC churches today have no idea who their members are or where they are is that our pragmatism has skewed our understanding of biblical covenant membership?
When we use an emotional manipulative approach to evangelism and then hand a person a card and tell them they are a member, are we not just anesthetizing them to the gospel and the true meaning of membership? A recent study by David Kinnaman of the Barna Research group confirms that somewhere around 70% of people who are registered as "accepting Christ" in revivals or crusades never actually end up committing to the life of the church. He goes on to make this observation:
As Christians, we have to keep in mind that response rates are not the ultimate goal but rather the wise and careful stewardship of the image of God......If you create more barriers with outsiders because of your tactics, you have not been a good steward of the gospel. How we choose to share Christ is as important as our actually doing it.
Consider from a biblical perspective how ridiculous the idea of having members that are not actually committed to the church:
1. Early disciples met together for the purpose of learning from the apostles teaching. (Acts 2:42-47)
2. The early church kept some kind of record of members as "the Lord added to their number" (Acts 2:42-47)
3. The word for "Church" is "Ekklesia", which means "called out ones".
4. The Bible teaches church discipline. One cannot be removed from that which he has not belonged. (1 Corinthians 5, Matthew 18:15-17)
5. Shepherds are required to take care of their flock. It would be impossible for a shepherd to take care of sheep he doesn't know about. (Acts 20:28)
6. Members are required to submit to spiritual leaders. (Hebrews 13:17, 1 Thess. 5:12-13, 1 Timothy 5:17) The only possible way to stay accountable to spiritual leaders is within the context of a body of believers who actually know each other.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
the meaning of covenant
When we think of "covenant" we are tempted to think in terms of a "contract". But a covenant as defined in scripture is much different than a contract. When it comes to God making a covenant with man, only God gets to decide the terms of the covenant, and in the case of God’s covenant with Abraham, He decrees that not only will He be the one to establish the covenant, but that He will be the one to take the blow if the covenant is not fulfilled. The beauty of God’s covenant with us is not only do we have an obligation as we enter into it, but God puts Himself under the obligation of it’s fulfillment. By His grace we are given the means of it’s fulfillent.
He was the one who walked through the pieces in His covenant with Abraham, saying in affect, “If this covenant is not fulfilled I will be torn to pieces”, thus prophesying the death of Christ on the cross. So He comes to us offering relationship with the terms of the covenant already decided.
Psalm 111:9 says, "He has commanded his covenant for ever. Holy and terrible is his name." Judges 2:20 says, "This nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers."
John Piper observes:
So there is mutual obligation, but not mutual determination of what those obligations are. God comes to the covenant knowing what is best for us and we come trusting and obeying or not at all. In a covenant between God and man, God sets the obligations, not man.”
God says to Noah, "I establish my covenant with you . . . and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth" (Gen. 9:11).
And to Abraham God says, "I will make my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you exceedingly . . . you shall be the father of a multitude of nations" (Gen. 17:2,4).
And to Moses God says, "Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been wrought in all the earth" (Exodus 34:10).
And to David God said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, I will establish your descendants for ever, I will build your throne for all generations" (Psalm 89:3-4).
In the sweep of scripture we see that God’s will in human history boils down to two covenants (Testaments). Hebrews 8 contrasts the two. The first is the covenant that God made with Israel when He took them out of Egypt and established them as a faith community; the second was the one God made with the church when Christ died for her and rose from the grave. The first covenant established the nation of Israel; the second established the church as the true spiritual Israel. In the old covenant, man’s obligation is to fulfill the terms of the law, in the second covenant; Christ is the one who completes the terms of true righteousness. So God both sets the terms of His righteousness and simultaneously creates the faith and righteousness that is needed through Christ by His grace as we place our faith in Him.
Notice how Hebrews 8:6b speaks of better promises: "He (Christ) is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises." The reason it is a better promise is that unlike the nation of Israel, who were never able to fulfill their obligations under the old covenant, those of us who are under the new covenant find our fulfillment in Christ alone, thus releasing us from the curse of the law. God causes the elect to fulfill the obligations of the covenant. So what makes the new covenant a better one is that Christ not only seals the terms of the covenant by His blood and His death on the cross thus guaranteeing eternal life for his people, but also the faith and obedience to carry out the terms. It is not by our own righteousness that we are saved, but by His!
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people . . . For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. (Hebrews 8:10-12)
So you can see that the covenant is the central component of our faith. At the last supper Jesus took the cup and said, "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." The "many" is the universal church- the “elect”, the “spiritual Israel”. So with the death and resurrection of Christ, God’s final decisive and sovereign act to create a people for Himself was realized with the birth of the church and the establishment of the new covenant. A covenant not just to create a people by purchasing their forgiveness, but also by purchasing their faith and obedience in fulfillment of the new covenant promises: "I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them in their hearts."
You and I exist as Christians because of the dynamic and irrepressible force of the new covenant promises. The Bible teaches that the Church was brought about by the providence of God as a spiritual community to carry out the purposes of God in eternity against which the gates of hell could not prevail. It exists in two forms, the universal or the invisible- and the local or physical. The church is both the physical embodiment of faith community and the spiritual embodiment of God’s elect all through eternity. Every Sunday a physical gathering of saints takes place wherever His people gather, and simultaneously in heaven there is an invisible gathering of the “ecclesia”. The one is what we see the other only Christ sees. So the local, physical church is the physical expression of God’s will being done “on earth as it is in heaven”.
This the primary reason it is appropriate for a local physical church to exist as a “covenant community”. Christ has created us by His blood to be a people, not just individuals, but a gathered people who covenant with one another to be His body, His bride and to carry out His redemptive work for His glory. As his local physical church, we are pointing to and shadowing His universal invisible church. As we have entered into covenant with Him by His grace through faith and thus become a part of the invisible church, so too do we enter into covenant with one another as an expression of our commitment to the local physical body of Christ. When we ask the question, “what sets us apart as a local body of Christ that reflects the true church?” We naturally come to certain conclusions:
1. It is not just that we profess faith in Christ, as this does not set us apart and distinguish us a local body.
2. It is not just that we are baptized, as one is not baptized into a local church, they are baptized into Christ. (Baptism is not seen in scripture as an initiation into a local church as Landmarkist Baptists of the past and some Southern Baptists today seem to believe and teach).
3. It is not just that we are a part of a local community, as there are many in our community who do not believe in Christ.
4. The one distinguishing factor that sets us apart as a local body is that we covenant together for the same purpose and agree together to the same biblical values for life and mission.
The points above were the basic conclusions of the earliest Baptists in America in 1649 in Cambridge Massachussets as they began to organize around established biblical values (John Cotton, Richard Mather and Ralph Patridge “Model of Church Government”). Baptists have long agreed that the one thing that establishes the visible union of believers into a local church is that they covenant together for some purpose. It is what makes us who we are and gives us the basis for our mission, our discipleship and our accountability to one another.
It is a clear understanding therefore of the meaning of covenant in the biblical text that gives us a clearer purpose in our life together as His body. It is our understanding of the meaning of covenant that reflects the gospel that brings joy and strength to our lives and guides us in the spiritual disciplines and instructs and informs our mission and discipleship.
He was the one who walked through the pieces in His covenant with Abraham, saying in affect, “If this covenant is not fulfilled I will be torn to pieces”, thus prophesying the death of Christ on the cross. So He comes to us offering relationship with the terms of the covenant already decided.
Psalm 111:9 says, "He has commanded his covenant for ever. Holy and terrible is his name." Judges 2:20 says, "This nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers."
John Piper observes:
So there is mutual obligation, but not mutual determination of what those obligations are. God comes to the covenant knowing what is best for us and we come trusting and obeying or not at all. In a covenant between God and man, God sets the obligations, not man.”
God says to Noah, "I establish my covenant with you . . . and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth" (Gen. 9:11).
And to Abraham God says, "I will make my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you exceedingly . . . you shall be the father of a multitude of nations" (Gen. 17:2,4).
And to Moses God says, "Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been wrought in all the earth" (Exodus 34:10).
And to David God said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, I will establish your descendants for ever, I will build your throne for all generations" (Psalm 89:3-4).
In the sweep of scripture we see that God’s will in human history boils down to two covenants (Testaments). Hebrews 8 contrasts the two. The first is the covenant that God made with Israel when He took them out of Egypt and established them as a faith community; the second was the one God made with the church when Christ died for her and rose from the grave. The first covenant established the nation of Israel; the second established the church as the true spiritual Israel. In the old covenant, man’s obligation is to fulfill the terms of the law, in the second covenant; Christ is the one who completes the terms of true righteousness. So God both sets the terms of His righteousness and simultaneously creates the faith and righteousness that is needed through Christ by His grace as we place our faith in Him.
Notice how Hebrews 8:6b speaks of better promises: "He (Christ) is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises." The reason it is a better promise is that unlike the nation of Israel, who were never able to fulfill their obligations under the old covenant, those of us who are under the new covenant find our fulfillment in Christ alone, thus releasing us from the curse of the law. God causes the elect to fulfill the obligations of the covenant. So what makes the new covenant a better one is that Christ not only seals the terms of the covenant by His blood and His death on the cross thus guaranteeing eternal life for his people, but also the faith and obedience to carry out the terms. It is not by our own righteousness that we are saved, but by His!
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people . . . For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. (Hebrews 8:10-12)
So you can see that the covenant is the central component of our faith. At the last supper Jesus took the cup and said, "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." The "many" is the universal church- the “elect”, the “spiritual Israel”. So with the death and resurrection of Christ, God’s final decisive and sovereign act to create a people for Himself was realized with the birth of the church and the establishment of the new covenant. A covenant not just to create a people by purchasing their forgiveness, but also by purchasing their faith and obedience in fulfillment of the new covenant promises: "I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them in their hearts."
You and I exist as Christians because of the dynamic and irrepressible force of the new covenant promises. The Bible teaches that the Church was brought about by the providence of God as a spiritual community to carry out the purposes of God in eternity against which the gates of hell could not prevail. It exists in two forms, the universal or the invisible- and the local or physical. The church is both the physical embodiment of faith community and the spiritual embodiment of God’s elect all through eternity. Every Sunday a physical gathering of saints takes place wherever His people gather, and simultaneously in heaven there is an invisible gathering of the “ecclesia”. The one is what we see the other only Christ sees. So the local, physical church is the physical expression of God’s will being done “on earth as it is in heaven”.
This the primary reason it is appropriate for a local physical church to exist as a “covenant community”. Christ has created us by His blood to be a people, not just individuals, but a gathered people who covenant with one another to be His body, His bride and to carry out His redemptive work for His glory. As his local physical church, we are pointing to and shadowing His universal invisible church. As we have entered into covenant with Him by His grace through faith and thus become a part of the invisible church, so too do we enter into covenant with one another as an expression of our commitment to the local physical body of Christ. When we ask the question, “what sets us apart as a local body of Christ that reflects the true church?” We naturally come to certain conclusions:
1. It is not just that we profess faith in Christ, as this does not set us apart and distinguish us a local body.
2. It is not just that we are baptized, as one is not baptized into a local church, they are baptized into Christ. (Baptism is not seen in scripture as an initiation into a local church as Landmarkist Baptists of the past and some Southern Baptists today seem to believe and teach).
3. It is not just that we are a part of a local community, as there are many in our community who do not believe in Christ.
4. The one distinguishing factor that sets us apart as a local body is that we covenant together for the same purpose and agree together to the same biblical values for life and mission.
The points above were the basic conclusions of the earliest Baptists in America in 1649 in Cambridge Massachussets as they began to organize around established biblical values (John Cotton, Richard Mather and Ralph Patridge “Model of Church Government”). Baptists have long agreed that the one thing that establishes the visible union of believers into a local church is that they covenant together for some purpose. It is what makes us who we are and gives us the basis for our mission, our discipleship and our accountability to one another.
It is a clear understanding therefore of the meaning of covenant in the biblical text that gives us a clearer purpose in our life together as His body. It is our understanding of the meaning of covenant that reflects the gospel that brings joy and strength to our lives and guides us in the spiritual disciplines and instructs and informs our mission and discipleship.
Friday, July 18, 2008
koinonia
In our final study of the book of Galatians last week we came across a passage that has some very interesting implications for what it means to be a part of a church. The passage is found in Galatians 6:6:
"Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor."
At first glance this seems like a very strange command when read in the English language- almost like the elementary rules of a kindergarten classroom- something like, "good students will always be nice to their teachers..."
But a rudimentary study of the original context helps us clear things up. The word for "instruction" is the word "katacheo" in the Greek, and denotes a serious student. It is where we get the word "catechism" today and has come to mean the memorization of a large body of doctrine. The word "instructor" is a word more closely akin to a "mentor" or a "pedagogue"- someone who is more than just a mere lecturer, but rather a person who is walking with you for the purpose of leading you to a masterful understanding of the material he is teaching. In ancient times, privileged students were given mentors not just for specific study but for instruction in all matters of life. The word "share" is the word "koinonia" in the Greek language, denoting a higher level of community and fellowship than what can be found in casual friendship.
So in this context, the apostle Paul writing to the churches in Galatia has a level of expectation that within the life of the church, these kinds of relationships are normative. He doesn't merely make a command hoping to bring them about, instead his command is predicated on the fact that these relationships are already in place.
Reading passages like this are very challenging to me as pastor. I am forced to ask if these are the kinds of relationships we are promoting in our church? Is this what we are about? Have these kinds of relationship been so infused into the life of our church that they are more the norm or the exception? Of course the answer is that we regularly promote these kinds of relationships and encourage them as a part of our programming. But I wonder how much of this kind of thing is actually happening. I wonder too if this is where we are applying all our energy as a church?
I do think we have these kinds of relationships. I see them everywhere in our faith community. But I believe many of these relationships occur not because we energetically formalize them as such but because they are the dynamic natural work of the Holy Spirit in us. My contention is that if we are His Body, then all that we do in a formal way should reflect what is already going on in us spiritually and is specifically commanded in scripture. I do believe the life and mission of the church hinge upon the effective carrying out of the interchangeable and interconnected biblical concepts of "koinonia" on the one hand and "katecheo" on the other. The health and life of the church is determined by how effectively it lives out community and disciple making.
In my next post I will discuss some ideas of how we can begin to formalize and promote some of these specific commands from scripture.
"Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor."
At first glance this seems like a very strange command when read in the English language- almost like the elementary rules of a kindergarten classroom- something like, "good students will always be nice to their teachers..."
But a rudimentary study of the original context helps us clear things up. The word for "instruction" is the word "katacheo" in the Greek, and denotes a serious student. It is where we get the word "catechism" today and has come to mean the memorization of a large body of doctrine. The word "instructor" is a word more closely akin to a "mentor" or a "pedagogue"- someone who is more than just a mere lecturer, but rather a person who is walking with you for the purpose of leading you to a masterful understanding of the material he is teaching. In ancient times, privileged students were given mentors not just for specific study but for instruction in all matters of life. The word "share" is the word "koinonia" in the Greek language, denoting a higher level of community and fellowship than what can be found in casual friendship.
So in this context, the apostle Paul writing to the churches in Galatia has a level of expectation that within the life of the church, these kinds of relationships are normative. He doesn't merely make a command hoping to bring them about, instead his command is predicated on the fact that these relationships are already in place.
Reading passages like this are very challenging to me as pastor. I am forced to ask if these are the kinds of relationships we are promoting in our church? Is this what we are about? Have these kinds of relationship been so infused into the life of our church that they are more the norm or the exception? Of course the answer is that we regularly promote these kinds of relationships and encourage them as a part of our programming. But I wonder how much of this kind of thing is actually happening. I wonder too if this is where we are applying all our energy as a church?
I do think we have these kinds of relationships. I see them everywhere in our faith community. But I believe many of these relationships occur not because we energetically formalize them as such but because they are the dynamic natural work of the Holy Spirit in us. My contention is that if we are His Body, then all that we do in a formal way should reflect what is already going on in us spiritually and is specifically commanded in scripture. I do believe the life and mission of the church hinge upon the effective carrying out of the interchangeable and interconnected biblical concepts of "koinonia" on the one hand and "katecheo" on the other. The health and life of the church is determined by how effectively it lives out community and disciple making.
In my next post I will discuss some ideas of how we can begin to formalize and promote some of these specific commands from scripture.
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