Brief Teaching Themes

Body-Bashing
Posted June 21, 2011

Has anyone out there heard of Rob Bell and the controversy surrounding the book he wrote, Love Wins? How about Paul Young and The Shack? Have any of you heard of “Chrislam” and the names of prominent evangelical leaders such as Rick Warren, Robert Schuler and Jim Wallis allegedly connected to it? Perhaps you have heard of the term, “Emergent Church,” and men by the name of Brian McLaren, Doug Pagett, or Tony Campolo. These are just a sampling, from many to choose, which reveal the intensity and viciousness of “body-bashing” now taking place within God’s family. Here’s a direct quote taken from the Internet site “alittleleaven.com”: “Here is a story of a group in Nigeria that is blending Christianity and Islam. They call it Chrislam. We're sure that Brian McLaren and other emergents would see no problem with this.” As Tommy Boy said so well, “Oh, that's gonna leave a mark!” Unfortunately, Jesus feels the pain, too. (That’s what Paul learned about his own actions of body bashing when he encountered Jesus on the Damascus Road – read Acts 9.)

No one who knew Jesus considered Him to be an “insider” of the Jewish religious system and its practices. He was viewed more as an “outsider”. Why? Because His efforts were aimed at trying to get people connected to His Father, not to a dysfunctional and self-righteous religious system. That’s what made the religious establishment so mad. They were the “self-designated, self-appointed, self-anointed” gatekeepers of religious life and if anyone was going to connect with God it would be through them and their system. In their lofty opinion, they alone were smart enough to amass God’s total and complete revelation, discriminate what was to be included and excluded from it, and then instruct clearly and accurately what was in “accord with sound doctrine”. If someone was outside of that narrowly defined stream of belief and practice then that person was not legitimate and therefore he or she was considered a fraud, or a heretic, and not a legitimate representative of God. Does that sound familiar? As Yogi Berra said, “It's like déjà vu, all over again.”

I read an article in the May-June 2011 issue of Missions Frontier and found a quote on page 17 that just had to make the religious spirits explode with anger and disgust. I loved it! I’ve included it below. I’m lifting the quote out of a portion of the testimony of a young Hindu man who converted from Hinduism to following Jesus while studying in the USA. It’s instructive.

“…I have since returned to India, and I am very much part of our Hindu community. I am engaged in all the activities of our family and extended family. There are many discussions about Jesus, and I am sharing the Bible with many people in our community. Because of my academic qualifications and the good job I now have, I have a very good standing in our community, and so people listen to me. I continually explain to them that I am not trying to “convert” them to Christianity but to “convert” them to Jesus as they live out their lives in the Hindu community. Now I have quite a few friends who are followers of Jesus, and we meet regularly to pray together and share the Scriptures and to encourage each other. We sense that God is causing many people in our community to know and love Him. We are claiming the verse in Isa. 60:22 that a little one shall become a thousand and that a small one will become a mighty nation and that God will hasten all this in His time. This is already beginning to happen.” (To read the article click on this link - http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/living-and-discipling-in-the-hindu-world)

Wow, I love this young man's insight into converting people to Jesus, not to an institution. Can we really do that? Can we have Jesus in our hearts, and a relationship with His Father, without the trappings and obligations of the institutional system that has come to be known as “Christianity?” What do you think? It sounds like this young man is trying to do the very thing Jesus tried to do. Connect lost people to a person(s) not an institutional belief system or practice!

Humility would seem to require us to acknowledge that in the expansion of God’s kingdom family, He is not limited to “Church-as-we-know-it” or “Christianity-as-we-know-it”. That was Peter’s profound revelation in Acts 10. God poured out His Spirit upon those outside the line of Peter’s “sound doctrine” boundary. God was inclusive when Peter thought God was exclusive. Peter had no clue that God would move in the lives and hearts of people the way He did with Cornelius and his household. His orthodox style of religion – “Church-as-he-knew-it” and “Christianity-as-he-defined-it”, didn’t manage to keep God corralled. That’s the lesson Peter had to learn! That’s the lesson I think the body of Christ needs to learn today.

The body of Christ needs to quit bashing the body of Christ. Think about these questions. Is it possible to have an intimate, vibrant and growing relationship with Father and not know every truth that can be known about Him? Is the mastery of God’s truth a prerequisite for a relationship? Is there some sort of provisional status provided for God’s children until they are able to become experts in all matters pertaining to God’s revelation? Is there no room for some wrong ideas and incorrect beliefs regarding Father’s revelation of Himself, His dealings with humanity, His requirements for relationship, etc. within His family? If not, then who gets to set the bar of standards? Who determines the minimums required for a relationship? Is the Christian life about agreeing with and adhering to a set of beliefs about God and His ways? Here's a thought, instead of bashing others over our differences, why not let God’s family spread the tent wide – God will sort it all out as He should. That’s His job, not mine! Isn’t that the lesson of the parable of the “Wheat And The Tares”? The world needs to hear about a Father who loves them more than they know who desires to bring them into His family, not a religious system, as sons and daughters. That’s good news!

Do you recall Jesus’ teaching about the broad and narrow way (Matt. 7:13-14)? I’ve changed my mind about what that means. I used to think that the “narrow way” (i.e. the way of insuring God’s approval and pleasure) was the way of increasing legalism and religious performance – and therefore a more legitimate route for travel. In my view, the “narrow way” led a person to become more devout, committed, separated, holy, accountable, etc. I thought those kind of things were the desired and expected outcomes of traveling the “narrow road” that led “to life”. Now I find that I think the opposite. Instead of the “narrow way”, I now think the “broad way” is actually the pathway to more legalism and religious performance, because for most believers that’s the most natural way to travel – the way of ever-increasing legalism and religious performance, and the byproduct is nothing like the “life” Christ intended.

Since Jesus said it’s the “few” who find the “narrow way,” we need to know “what” is that "way". I now believe the “narrow way” is the road we take in order to maintain an intimate and responsive relationship to the Father through the Son without getting trapped and strapped by rule and performance based religious systems. The “narrow way” is the pathway where you learn to “live loved” and to “live love" - i.e., the way Jesus lived, without bashing Christ's body into an unrecognizable pulp. It’s the “way” you learn about and fulfill Jesus’ “New Commandment”; "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (Jn. 13:34-35). My own personal observations within the body of Christ lead me to conclude that there are not many followers on this road – in fact, there are way too few! I believe the “narrow road” is defined by verse 35 - "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another". Jesus said His family is to be defined and known by its peculiar and special way of relating, not believing. That’s the “narrow way” that leads to the kind of “life” Father intended.

I’ll close with a quote from 1 John 4:7-8. It focuses upon a way of relating, not a way of believing. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Pursue Faith & Love, Not Character
Posted January 21, 2010

A friend of mine was with another group of men when the topic of the Promise Keepers came up. The question was asked, “Why did Promise Keepers fall apart?” In response one of the men answered, “Because they didn’t keep their promise!”

A lot of sermons we hear are focused on developing godly character. Those sermons are generally filled with a lot of “do and don’ts”, “should and shouldn’ts,” “ought and oughtn’ts”. This encourages rule-based behavior and the character it develops is rule driven too. Is that really what God is after? Does God want His children to live their lives under a list of rules?

I think you would agree a failure to keep a promise is a character issue. Promise Keepers built their movement upon making and keeping the “7 Promises of a Promise Keeper”. So, how did that work out? Where is Promise Keepers today?

As followers of Christ we tend to define the depth and vitality of our relationship with God by our character – but there has to be something else that God appeals to in us instead of our character. Why? Because even as followers of Christ our character is imperfect – just like Promise Keepers.

Though it gets pointed to most often, character is not what makes the new life in Christ work. Then what does? The Apostle Paul answers the question for us. He writes, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Gal. 5:6) I like the way The Message paraphrases it, “For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.” What makes our new life in Christ work? Faith expressing itself through love! That’s a little bit different than character.

In most of the religious circles I’ve traveled the tendency is to make everything about character. Don’t misunderstand me. I think character is very important. However, do you think God chose us because He knew we would develop stellar character and always live perfectly? No! God chose us knowing we would always come up short with character this side of eternity. What God looks for is faith working through love – that’s what counts to Him. If He finds that then He knows everything else will fall into place in time.

You might ask, “How can God love a person who consistently misses the mark of Christian virtue?” Well, just maybe, we have a belief about God that is not totally accurate. I believe Philip Yancy provides a helpful corrective for much of the faulty thinking embedded deeply in the hearts and minds of many of God’s people. In his book, "What’s So Amazing About Grace?", he captures the real essence of “grace”. He writes, ”Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more…And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less.” Do you believe that about God? I do! We need not make our character the basis for our relationship with Father. Father already knows our character is flawed and will likely remain flawed in some area of life until we’re with Him. Instead, we need to focus our energy and effort on faith (getting our focus on Christ who is in us and in His ability to work His life into and through us) and love (relating with God and others in an agape love posture just as Jesus did). These approaches place us in a position where character gets developed in the everyday arena and routine of life. But it is important to remember that character improvement does not increase our intimacy level with Father.

Do you think Jesus chose Peter without knowing that when the “chips were down” Peter would deny him? Jesus chose Peter knowing full well that his character would fail him when it counted. In spite of a promise otherwise, Peter denied the Lord three times. (Have we not done similar things?) Jesus knew Peter would deny him so what did he do? He prayed. “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail (because I know your character will). And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers (I love Jesus’ confidence in Peter’s faith)." (Lk 22:32) Jesus was saying in effect, “I know you’re going to fail, but I don’t want your faith to fail. Your character will let you down but that’s okay – if your faith stays in tact I can deal with your character. It’s your faith that will sustain you, not your behavior."

Have you noticed that when Jesus restored Peter He didn’t ask him to live more righteously? He simply asked him if he loved Him. “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" (Jn 21:15) Jesus didn’t say, “Now go out and prove you love me by never failing again and I might be able to use you.” He didn’t appeal to a list of outward manifestations of character but to an inner motivation, or working, of the human soul/spirit – love.

In Luke and John Jesus weaves “faith" and "love” together. He knows if we put our focus upon those two virtues the rest will work itself out in time even in spite of our many failures.

For me, the journey is about learning to focus my energy upon the things Father says are important. Faith expressed through love is one such thing. There is no need to fear. If faith and love are present and operative in our life, then Christ-like character will be produced. Will it always be “perfect” character? I doubt it. But you can live loved by the Father even when you are less than perfect. That’s “good news”! Truly, you have a Father who loves you more than you know. Do you believe that?

The Secret To Fruitfulness?
Posted 2010

What is the answer? Abiding! John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” What does it mean to “abide”? It means to “maintain unbroken fellowship”. It means to “stay at home.” It means to be “rooted in and knit to Him.” It describes an intimate, personal and constant relationship.

Therefore, the focus of our lives should be upon intimacy, abiding in Jesus, not fruitfulness. John 15 teaches us that fruitfulness is the result of intimacy. You don’t have to work at being fruitful – it’s a natural result that flows from a life lived in close fellowship with Jesus. It is out of such a union that Jesus says fruit is born. Fruitfulness, then, is an effect, not a cause. In other words, fruitfulness doesn’t produce intimacy, nor does it prove it. If it did, Matthew 7:21-23 wouldn’t be in the Bible.

I have found through countless personal conversations that most believers wrongly suppose that if they work hard enough, and do enough good things, they will grow closer to Father and He will love them more than He does now. But that’s not how it works! I like the way The Message puts it - "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing.” “Intimate and organic.” I love it! That’s the secret to fruitfulness. It’s produced out of a relationship that is both “intimate and organic” (i.e., without being forced or contrived).

As followers of Christ, we need to understand the fruitfulness that matters is the kind Jesus considers to be worthwhile – it’s only produced out of an intimate and sincere relationship with Him. Can a “Christian” produce “fruit” outside of an intimate relationship with Jesus? Yes, unfortunately, we do it all the time. Much of it is, from a human perspective, somewhat impressive. However, we need to realize that fruitfulness apart from an intimate relationship with Jesus, regardless of how great it looks or feels, will be considered wood, hay and straw and will ultimately burn – that’s “fruit” that doesn’t matter to God, no matter how impressed we may be (1 Cor. 3:10-15; see also Matt. 7:21-23). In fact, Jesus calls whatever we produce outside of an “abiding” relationship with Him, “nothing”. In other words, a big fat zero!

Jesus, the pattern Son for all sons and daughters to follow, never had to work at being fruitful. His fruitfulness was a direct result of His intimate relationship with His Father – who just happens to be our Father too. He just maintained a love relationship with His Father (John 14:31) and He was fruitful. Jesus “bore much fruit” because He would never violate that relationship. We are to follow His lead. Just as Jesus did only what He saw the Father doing, said only what He heard the Father saying, and went only where He saw the Father going, so are we to do the same. It was the secret to Jesus’ fruitfulness. If we do as He did, then we can rest in knowing our fruit will remain when the fire comes to test its quality.

I could say more but that's enough for now. What do you think about it? Let me know. Welcome to The Journey Dialogue.