JESUS DEFICIT DISORDER

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The early apostles were solidly committed to Jesus and gave their lives for Him

They were in awe of Him understanding that He is God

They saw His splendour

They had experienced His majesty

They had encountered His glory – “the glory of the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14)

They gave up everything to follow Him and eventually gave their lives for Him – dying for their faith in Him

In everything they did they exalted Him – put Him first – lifted Him up for all to see Read more

The Church – Past, Present, and Future – Part 4

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New Testament Church – Part Four

The fifth obvious uniqueness of the early Church which is, in many places, lacking today is…

5>The early Christian lived in and experienced a close-knit community life together

The early believers did not think in terms of the individual. Their understanding and thinking was not in line with today’s culture – the “me” and “I” emphasis. Instead, they thought and lived in terms of “we” and “us.”

In the early church, there was no disconnect between getting saved and being a vital and active part of the community of believers – the Body of Christ. If you were a pagan in the first century, you knew that becoming a Christian and follower of Jesus meant being initiated into a shared-life community. It meant losing your raw individualism and your rugged independence. It meant becoming part of the people of God. Not as an abstract doctrine, but as a definitive way of life. You became part of something larger than yourself – a new culture in which you lived your life connected to other disciples of the Lord Jesus. You embraced life in community and the close relationships that this life produced. You were a new creature in Christ and lived in a new culture known as the Body of Christ. For that reason the early Christian movement was called “the Way. It was not a belief system; it was actually a way of life.

Acts 19:9, 23 “ But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus …About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.”

Acts 24:14, 22 “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets …But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the Way, put them off, saying, ‘When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.’”

Western Christians have inherited an individualistic Christianity with an individualistic salvation and an individualistic walk with God. The early Church knew nothing of this brand and expression of the Christian faith. 

In the mind of God the type of Christianity we experience today does not exist. Christianity has always been a corporate experience and a corporate reality. The individual Christian mind was born during the Reformation, and it has been set in concrete for the last 500 years. The New Testament knows no such mindset. 

6> The early believers saw themselves as truly being “in Christ”

They were pulled loose from a “works” mentality, liberated from a guilt complex, and set free from a sense of religious duty.

This was reflected in their conversations. If you open up the New Testament letters, you will find that Paul always addresses the churches that he planted (despite what they were going through) with the arresting phrase “holy ones.” He saw them as holy “in Christ.”

Today in most churches, you will not hear teachings on the glories of Jesus Christ. No! You will, however, be told what to do to be a better Christian. That is legalism. A works religion. 

We cannot live the Christian life. We learn to live by Christ, and we do it together. What is needed in our day, then, is a recovery of what’s been lost, and a discarding of what has been picked up along the way.

When we began this look at the early Church five days ago I quoted what God spoke in the book of Hebrews…

God spoke and said, “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.”    Hebrews 12:25-27 The Message Version

God is shaking loose all the things we, the Christian Church, have picked up over the centuries that were not part of His plan for His people, the Church. He is shaking everything that has nothing to do with Christ. Consequently, you and I are faced with the business of laying aside old concepts and reaching back to the primitive mind of the early Christians … when the Gospel was pure, undiluted, and not compromised and the Church after God’s own heart was untainted. 

    

The Church – Past, Present, and Future – Part 2

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New Testament Church – Part Two

1> The early Church had an incredible understanding of the experience that they had lived through

As you read Ephesians, Chapters one to three as well as Colossians, Chapters one and two you realize that they are expressing their experience with the living Jesus and the joint sharing of that life with one another using very specific words. The early Church had a way of looking at life and the realities they were facing that was so radical and so different than those in the world. Their thinking was characterized by the capacity to see the unseen and to declare as present fact heavenly realities that exist outside the constraints of created time.

The early beliers had a vocabulary that has been largely lost to us today. It disappeared around the fourth century when Constantine emerged as ruler of the Roman Empire. His era marked  steady devolution when organism (the Church) was repealed by organization. As well, heavenliness was co-opted by earthliness; spirituality was replaced by worldliness. And, in general the primitive Christian mind was lost. The language used to describe this experience and way of seeing things also disappeared.

2> The early Church had a genuine revelation of an indwelling Lord

They knew a God who dwelt inside of them, and He was everything to them. The early Christians had a walking, living, breathing, relationship with Jesus Christ that was vital, vibrant, and contagious. The purpose of their lives – and thus the Church –  was toward the outliving of the inliving Christ.

The understood the truth of the the word, “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). However, they also understood the fact that they lived their life “in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Paul said, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). So, not Him in us which is an amazing truth. But, you and I “in Christ.” Wow! Totally different.

Today, few understand what it means to be “in Christ.” And few understand that it is Christ in us living His life 

Galatians 2:20a “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…”

We have lost any sense of our identity “in Him” and so thus do not receive all that Christ has done for us nor what He now wants to do through us. 

The early Church had a tremendous grasp of these two truths often now lost to Christians today,

The Church, Past, Present, and Future #1

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New Testament Church – Part One

As I travel from place to place ministering I see many varieties and forms of “the Church.” The people who gather in these places are “doing church” to the best of their ability. They are faithful and they are doing their best to love people and touch lives for Jesus. However, for many, their are trapped in tradition – doing things a certain way, believing certain things they consider to be truth, and working hard to protect what is important and even considered sacred to the group to which they belong. But, in spite of what may or may not be, they are the Church – the gathering of believers, the called out ones, the ‘ekklesia.’

But, in many ways they are unproductive. Yes, they are faithful. But, they are not fruitful. Few are being saved and entering into the Kingdom as a result of the time, effort, and money being invested in the local assembly. Something needs to change.

God spoke and said, “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.”

Hebrews 12:25-27 The Message Version

God is, in my opinion speaking those same words to us today. We are the Church and we need to hear what He is saying to us. Not just hear – we need to act upon His Words immediately. It is time to examine the Church as we know it and make the changes needed to become the Church that Jesus is building (Matthew 16:18). This will be the Church of the future. But to understand the future we need to know the past and honestly face the present situation the Church is now called to influence and engage.

The Church has always been on God’s heart. From before the beginning of time, the dateless past. In Ephesians 1, we hear that in a time before time, God took counsel with Himself and conceived an eternal plan. That plan flowed out of the heart of the Father and His obsession to have a people whom He could call His own. We know this as the Church. Paul refers to this obsession as “the eternal purpose.”

Part of this “eternal purpose” is His passionate quest for a bride, a building, and a body. Specifically, God the Son wanted to have a Bride and a Body. God the Father apparently wanted to have a house and a family. So, the story of God’s interaction with human kind, as recorded in the Scriptures, can be summarized as a desire and thus a quest for a bride, a building, and a body.

This divine passion is what gave birth to the Church. The Church, or “ekklesia,” is a spiritual organism, not an organization. It was conceived in eternity past. The Church was born on the Day of Pentecost in the city of Jerusalem (Acts 2). From there it spread to Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, and then Rome and beyond. As you read the Book of Acts and the epistles, you see the Church’s DNA at work as the regional apostolic centers in these five cities impacted their regions through the fivefold ministry of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. 

Let’s spend a few days taking a look at the original Church as found in the New Testament records and add a little bit of the history of the Church and the culture it was birthed in and the cultures that it moved out to impact for the Kingdom. Let’s look at the Church of the past – the New Testament Church. 

Personal Reflections – The Church #9

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We have been looking at the New Testament expression of the Church that Jesus is building.

These 14 images of the Church that Jesus is building give us a fairly clear picture of who we are – for, we are the Church. Each picture of the Church shows us that the church is a close-knit, shared-life community of people who exalt Jesus together in everything they do. Remember, Jesus said that if we would lift Him up (exalt Him) He would draw all people to Himself.

God has chosen to make His Son knowable, touchable, visible, and locatable on planet earth through only one vessel – the ekklesia, the ‘gathered and separated ones,’ the Church. Jesus Christ – His very nature and heart – can be seen only through the Church. The Church that He is building is God’s designated instrument for the expression of His Son. And, it is the very heartbeat of God’s ultimate passion.

As we live life connected to the Church, God’s passion, every aspect of our lives should be influenced by what He is passionate about, His Church. The Church should add texture and richness to our spiritual experience. It also delivers us from a passionless Christianity, a shallow walk, and a purposeless faith. The overwhelming passion of our Lord is to obtain a strong following in every city of the planet. A Church that expresses the Gospel of the Kingdom and the salvation message. A bride who dearly loves Him, a House where He can dwell, a body that freely expresses Him, and a family that brings Him delight.

In this light, it is the supreme calling of every Christian leader to equip God’s people to see the mystery of God’s ultimate passion with spiritual eyes … to hear it with spiritual ears … to handle it with spiritual hands … to taste its sweetness and smell its fragrance. 

God is looking for those who will burn for His ultimate passion and allow their lives to be shaped by it. This is the true Church.

What’s In a Name?

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When children are born parents have already chosen their name or names

The name chosen often honours a family member from a previous generation
The name embraces the hopes that the parents have for that child’s future
The name comes to describe who they are
Who they are known as
What they are known for

Read more

Personal Reflections – The Church #8

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As we continue the series of personal reflections on “The Church”…

13> A Temple

See: 1 Corinthians 3; 2 Corinthians 6; Ephesians 2; 1 Peter 2

We are living stones designed to be assembled together with other living stones to form God’s house. Jesus Christ embodies the house of God – His holy temple. Christ is the chief architect, the builder, the foundation, the cornerstone, and the capstone of the building.

1 Peter 2:4-5 “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

So, as a local church … Are the members of your church being built together? Or do they have little to do with one another outside of church gatherings? Is your church a rock heap, or is it a building?

14> A City

See: Philippians 3; Hebrews 12; Revelation, chapters 21 and 22

We are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God. Jesus Christ is the prince of the city. He is also the light of the city. One of the central characteristics of the heavenly Jerusalem is that she is born in freedom (Galatians 4:26). Old Testament Jerusalem was discarded by God because it was enmeshed with the bondage of legalism, religious duty, and guilt-ridden tradition. The heavenly Jerusalem is free from all of that.

Philippians 3:17-21 “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

So, in your local church … Are the members of your church free in Christ, or are they in religious bondage? Are they inflicted with an incurable headache of guilt, or are they secure in God’s love and liberated to love Him back freely? Are the practices of your church based on human tradition, or are they built on the spiritual principles of the city of God?

Next time – we will summarize this series of “personal reflection”…

Personal Reflections – The Church #7

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The Church, in the New Testament, is described many different ways. We have been looking at the various names and expressions for the Church in the past week and a bit. Let’s jump in and continue…

11> A Vineyard

See: John 15

Jesus Christ is the Vine and we are the branches. The vine and the branches cannot be separated from one another. In a real sense, the branch is in the vine, and the vine is in the branch. When the branch is in the vine it bears fruit. The branch is the assembly of believers that we call the Church.

In any cluster of grapes, some grapes will be green. These green grapes will not bear fruit until they ripen or mature. But, these green grapes must remain in the cluster in order for them to ripen. If a grape is removed from the cluster and left on its own, it will crinkle and wrinkle. That is, it will become a raisin. So, the vine is Jesus, the branch is the Church, and the gapes are believers who are relationally connected to Christ and to one another. This then is the Church.

Our fruitfulness as a church (the branch that bears fruit – grapes) is directly connected to the depth of our personal relationship with the vine – Jesus. So, we must focus on Jesus and take the time and make the effort to have a deep, personal, intimate, ever-deepening, daily, unique love relationship with Jesus (the Vine). We must never let anything hinder the development and deepening of that intimate relationship. 

Romans 6:23b “The gift of God is eternal life”

John 17:3 Defines the gift called ‘eternal life’…

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

So, in your local church … Is your church like a vineyard where the cluster of grapes lives and grows together? Or is it made up of ‘raisin Christians’ who live outside the cluster? Is your church extending outside of itself to influence others or is it insular and ingrown?

12> A Sheepfold

See: John, chapters 10 and 21;1 Peter 2

Jesus Christ is the Great Shepherd, and we are His beloved sheep. Sheep are the only animal that requires the existence of a human being for their survival. Sheep are the most helpless of God’s creatures. A sheep left on its own will die. Sheep also travel together. If one of them moves independently from the flock, they will be raw meat for predators.

So, in your local church … Do the members of your church seek and follow the direction of the one Shepherd together? Or do they blindly follow a human being? Do they all move together as a flock with one mind? Or do they move independently and individualistically, as sheep without a Shepherd?

Personal Reflections – The Church #6

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There are a few descriptive names for the Church that are not well known. This is the case with the next two…

9> One Loaf

See: John 12; 1 Corinthians 10

Jesus Christ is one grain. When He was put into the ground (buried) and rose again, He produced many grains (believers). Those individual grains are not to stand alone or be isolated from other grains. The Christian faith is not about rugged individualism. Christians do not survive spiritually outside of the Church. A lone sheep is a prime target for the wolves. 

Those individual grains are useless unless they are crushed, have oil (the Holy Spirit) poured upon them, and are baked in a fiery oven (persecution) to create one loaf. In the process of becoming one loaf, each grain loses its individualism and independence. 

1 Corinthians 10:16-17 “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

John 12:23-25 “And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

So, in your local church … Are the members of your church so connected together that they have lost their independence and individualism? Or do they live as independent, individualistic, uncrushed grains of wheat?

10> God’s Field 

See: 1 Corinthians 3

We are the crops that have been planted and have grown up in God’s field (the Church). Jesus Christ is the seed. God the Father causes the growth. The DNA of the seed is the very nature of Christ Himself. When the crops grow appropriately, they express Him.

Someone shares this example:

“Think of a bouquet of roses. In a bouquet, each rose has the same life. They are part of the same species. But they are not vitally connected. So they don’t grow together. Compare the bouquet of roses to a rose bush. In a rose bush, the roses are one organic whole. Each rose possesses its own individuality, but none are individualistic. They grow together as they share the same root. The bush passes through seasons of death and resurrection together. They are one organism. The Church that the New Testament envisions is a rose bush, not a bouquet of roses.”

1 Corinthians 3:1-9 “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.”

So, in your local church … Are the members of your church growing more into the likeness of Christ, and are they doing it together? Are the people changing while being in the church? Is their character being molded into the image of Jesus? Are they passing through spiritual seasons together? Are they a rose bush or a bouquet of flowers.

Personal Reflections – The Church #5

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Let’s continue our look at the names associated with the Church that Jesus is building

7> A Holy Nation

See: 1 Peter 2; Revelation 1, 5

The seventh descriptive name for the Church that Jesus is building is that we are “A Holy Nation.” In every country we are a ‘nation within a nation.’ We are not just citizens of the nation where we were born or have chosen to live and identify with … when we are born again we enter into a new nation – the Church, which is called to be holy as Jesus is holy.

Holy simply means that we are becoming more and more like Jesus. This is accomplished by spending time with Him daily in prayer and in His Word, the Bible. Holiness cannot be achieved by following a man-made list of rules, a compilation of dos and don’ts that man has made up in an attempt to please God. That is religion – maybe a born again religion, but religion nonetheless.

The word “holy” carries the idea of being uncommon and set apart. In this holy nation we are kings unto God. Christ is the King of our nation. In the words of Peter, we are a ‘royal’ priesthood – thus kings. Regrettably, the church in every age – starting in the third century – has sold out to the culture. Contrary to what some believe, the Church is not the religious department of the culture. It is a colony from heaven – a holy nation standing for holy values in a devalued world.

Often the Church is viewed as a sub-culture of the dominate culture and thus often resembling the culture in which it is found. As a result, the Church is neither holy nor influential. What we are called to be is a counter-culture to the current dominate culture in which we find ourselves.

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”

In your local church … Do the members of your church see themselves as part of a colony that belongs to another realm? Do they see themselves as resident aliens on this planet? Do their values reflect that of the Kingdom of God or this present culture?

8> A Golden Lampstand

See: Revelation, Chapters 1 and 2

We are little lights joined together and made part of the same lampstand. Jesus Christ is the light, and the Church bears His light in the world. Jesus is also the High Priest who cleans the wick and pours fresh oil in the lampstand so that it has the potential to always burn brightly. 

The Bible teaches that it is the “life of God the Father” in Jesus that is the light. John 1:4 states, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” The word ‘life’ here is the Greek word ‘Zoe’ which is the life and nature (essence) of God. This was the light. So, for the Church to have a bright witness in the culture in which it is located it needs to have this life flowing in and through it. Every believer needs this ‘life’ moving in them. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14) so it is the ‘God life’ in us that allows us to the light as Jesus was the light.

In your local church … Does your church bear the light of Christ? Does it bear a corporate witness, or is witness viewed as the individual’s responsibility? Do people see the light of Christ through the Church, and is it extinguishing darkness on any level?