We were on vacation last week, so I didn't get anything posted. But I wanted to share three "raw" and somewhat unrelated thoughts from recent my history with God.
First, my young (to me) friend in Las Vegas, Scott, in a response to one of my posts mentioned a book by Frank C. Laubach called Letters by a Modern Mystic. I sensed that I was supposed to read that book while on vacation, and I am glad that I did. Frank Laubach seems to describe as well as any I have ever read what it's been like for me to be on this "Secret Place Journey." Here's one brief quote to give you a sample: "How infinitely richer this firsthand grasping of God Himself is than the old method which I used and recommended for years, the reading of endless devotional books. Almost it seems to me now that the very Bible cannot be read as a substitute for meeting God soul to soul and face to face." (p. 18)
Now here's a raw thought that came to me on May 13. I welcome your comments.
I wonder if people gravitate towards public ministry because it's so much easier. It requires so much less of us. All it really requires is "anointing." But making disciples, allowing people into our lives and walking deeply with them requires a great deal more! It requires a great deal more maturity and change on our part, and it requires a great deal more of us in general. Public ministry has its place, but those who gravitate towards it without allowing room for making disciples are missing with how Jesus and his apostles functioned. Yet in our culture this is exactly what has happened and the results are evident, I think.
Here's another one from May 23. Your thoughts?
Why is it so important for leaders to be broken and weak as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians? It is far too common in the church for leaders to appear to be confident, competent and really in charge, etc. But since the Kingdom is about God's competence and the Kingdom is about example and modeling, it's very important for those of us who "lead" to be broken and weak, so that anyone and everyone--the everyday person so to speak, does not get discouraged by what they see in us. If we model brokenness, weakness and humility, we show them something anyone can relate to and aspire to. If on the other hand we appear to be superhuman in all of our abilities, etc., then most people will look at the Christian life as unattainable.
That's it for this time. I welcome your thoughts!
Stay lost in His love,
Tom, the least of Abba's children
Monday, June 23, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Are We There Yet?
When my sons were young and we would go on family vacations, the question "Are we there yet?" was a remarkably frequent one in our car! And this question forms the basis of my thoughts for this post. I find myself asking this question of God often--probably more often than my sons did on our vacations!
I ask this question because of God's words to me on the first few days of my "Secret Place Journey" which started on July 2, 2004. When God brought me into that first face-t0-face encounter with Him, He promised me that the day would come when I would live in uninterrupted awareness of His presence. The following is one of those promises and is from my journal entry on July 3, 2004.
Can we, can I, Abba, hope to have a relationship with you like Moses—“face to face”? Surely the answer is “yes,” and for all believers, not just a few. 2 Corinthians 3:7ff seems to indicate that we all can have “unveiled, face-to-face” intimacy with you because of the new covenant and by your Spirit.
Oh, Abba, what have we been missing?!! We have feared subjectivity and error so much that we have cut out the heart of what Jesus died to give us: true face-to-face, communication-filled intimacy with you!
The implications of this are huge! We have inadvertently—with good intentions—cut out the heart of the good news. No wonder your people are burdened and powerless. No wonder they resort to legalism. They think that they are alone! For most of us, walking in the Spirit means filling our minds with Scripture and then hoping that we will guess what you are saying.
We need not fear deception or imbalance if we keep our balance via Word and Spirit! The Word isn’t a substitute for Your Spirit or vice versa; the Word informs and gives clarity and depth to your speaking voice.
Are you doing this in me because You are up to something, Lord, or is this how it should always be?
God's reply: “Both! This is how I want all my children to walk, but my people have so lost this that I have to restore it before I can bring my next great move on the earth. I am calling you and many others to experience this and then lead others to the same place. I am raising up an army of those who know me so intimately that I can guide them with my eye.”
But was I being deceived? Is such a life of "constant intimacy" possible? There have been times since July 2, 2004, when I have wondered myself about that. Am I there yet? Not yet, but I know that others have made this journey before me. And I want to leave you with some encouragement from a married couple who both found this life, Andrew and Emma Murray.
Excerpt from Deeper Christian Life by Andrew Murray
"There are some people who seem to think that God, by some unintelligible sovereignty, withdraws His face. But I know that God loves His people too much to withhold His fellowship from them for any such reason. The true reason of the absence of God from us is rather to be found in our sin and unbelief, than in any supposed sovereignty of His. If the child of God is walking in faith and obedience, the Divine presence will be enjoyed in unbroken continuity."
"There is a step higher than just looking forward to Heaven. We may have our life so in Christ that even here below we may enjoy peace and happiness in Him which no earthly events can shake or destroy. And it is not by despising or trampling upon earthly things, but living above them, willing and loving to live for His glory and the good of others, and counting it all joy even in tribulation for His sake.
"God means us to know and experience that perfect peace and quiet of mind under all circumstances is possible. Nothing interferes more with work or renders it more difficult than fretting or worrying. In such a state of mind we can do nothing well. We must in a childlike way acknowledge God's will in everything with His peace in our hearts and a truly humble walk with God, bowing to his will....
"All this is attainable through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God, through receiving Christ as our Sanctification as well as our Justification. It is through an entire, unconditional surrender of ourselves to Him and an entire cessation from our own efforts and works, while waiting for the suggestions and influences of the Holy Spirit. And through believing in His indwelling and expecting His guidance even in the minutest concerns of our daily life."
Are we there yet? I am not, but I can at least see the possibility! What about you? Does your heart burn like mine with a desire to be so lost in God, so surrendered to His will that constant saturation with His presence is normal? Make it so, Abba, in all your children of the burning heart!
Tom, Abba's least child
I ask this question because of God's words to me on the first few days of my "Secret Place Journey" which started on July 2, 2004. When God brought me into that first face-t0-face encounter with Him, He promised me that the day would come when I would live in uninterrupted awareness of His presence. The following is one of those promises and is from my journal entry on July 3, 2004.
Can we, can I, Abba, hope to have a relationship with you like Moses—“face to face”? Surely the answer is “yes,” and for all believers, not just a few. 2 Corinthians 3:7ff seems to indicate that we all can have “unveiled, face-to-face” intimacy with you because of the new covenant and by your Spirit.
Oh, Abba, what have we been missing?!! We have feared subjectivity and error so much that we have cut out the heart of what Jesus died to give us: true face-to-face, communication-filled intimacy with you!
The implications of this are huge! We have inadvertently—with good intentions—cut out the heart of the good news. No wonder your people are burdened and powerless. No wonder they resort to legalism. They think that they are alone! For most of us, walking in the Spirit means filling our minds with Scripture and then hoping that we will guess what you are saying.
We need not fear deception or imbalance if we keep our balance via Word and Spirit! The Word isn’t a substitute for Your Spirit or vice versa; the Word informs and gives clarity and depth to your speaking voice.
Are you doing this in me because You are up to something, Lord, or is this how it should always be?
God's reply: “Both! This is how I want all my children to walk, but my people have so lost this that I have to restore it before I can bring my next great move on the earth. I am calling you and many others to experience this and then lead others to the same place. I am raising up an army of those who know me so intimately that I can guide them with my eye.”
But was I being deceived? Is such a life of "constant intimacy" possible? There have been times since July 2, 2004, when I have wondered myself about that. Am I there yet? Not yet, but I know that others have made this journey before me. And I want to leave you with some encouragement from a married couple who both found this life, Andrew and Emma Murray.
Excerpt from Deeper Christian Life by Andrew Murray
"There are some people who seem to think that God, by some unintelligible sovereignty, withdraws His face. But I know that God loves His people too much to withhold His fellowship from them for any such reason. The true reason of the absence of God from us is rather to be found in our sin and unbelief, than in any supposed sovereignty of His. If the child of God is walking in faith and obedience, the Divine presence will be enjoyed in unbroken continuity."
"There is a step higher than just looking forward to Heaven. We may have our life so in Christ that even here below we may enjoy peace and happiness in Him which no earthly events can shake or destroy. And it is not by despising or trampling upon earthly things, but living above them, willing and loving to live for His glory and the good of others, and counting it all joy even in tribulation for His sake.
"God means us to know and experience that perfect peace and quiet of mind under all circumstances is possible. Nothing interferes more with work or renders it more difficult than fretting or worrying. In such a state of mind we can do nothing well. We must in a childlike way acknowledge God's will in everything with His peace in our hearts and a truly humble walk with God, bowing to his will....
"All this is attainable through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God, through receiving Christ as our Sanctification as well as our Justification. It is through an entire, unconditional surrender of ourselves to Him and an entire cessation from our own efforts and works, while waiting for the suggestions and influences of the Holy Spirit. And through believing in His indwelling and expecting His guidance even in the minutest concerns of our daily life."
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Living Out Our Death
Living out our death?
I often hear believers talk about "dying to self," and I myself have used that language often and know the passion and desire that gives birth to such statements. But recently I have sensed God telling me to check out the Scriptures to discover what He really says about us being dead to self. When I did, another old paradigm bit the dust. I discovered that I am already dead! Yep, that's what Paul says, and in more than one place! So instead of dying to self, I am instead to by faith live out the implications of being dead :-) Let me quote a few scriptures that Papa showed me.
Romans 6:3-7, 10-11 (NRSV) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin.
10 The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
And Colossians 3:2-3 (NRSV) says something similar: 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
So, we are already dead, and by faith we now get to "put to death" the ways of the old nature (see Colossians 3:5ff and Romans 8:13).
Next, if we go to Galatians 2:20 we discover another very important thing about all of this: we can't live out our death unless the Life of God is fully at work in us. There Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." What this means in a nutshell is that if I resort to human effort and try to "put myself to death" or please God, I will fail. Instead I must open myself up ever more fully to the power of God's Spirit, allowing Him to pour love into me, speak into my life and empower me to obey Him. He will also, of course, give me the power to trust what God says about me: that I am indeed dead to self!
Well, I could write more, and perhaps I will at some point. There is a place for us to present ourselves to God as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2), and I don't want to suggest that we shouldn't do this daily (but please note that in Romans 12 Paul says to present our "bodies," not our "flesh" to God--think about this and God will show you why this is an important difference!). And there is a place to seek to live in absolute surrender and enter ever more deeply into a yielded life. But if we think of putting our self to death, we are trying to do something that God has already done and we are putting the focus back on human effort (I put myself to death rather than living out the death Jesus gave to me as I shared in His death with Him).
Just a thought. What do you think?
May you become totally lost in His love and never find your way back out!
Tom, the least of Abba's children
I often hear believers talk about "dying to self," and I myself have used that language often and know the passion and desire that gives birth to such statements. But recently I have sensed God telling me to check out the Scriptures to discover what He really says about us being dead to self. When I did, another old paradigm bit the dust. I discovered that I am already dead! Yep, that's what Paul says, and in more than one place! So instead of dying to self, I am instead to by faith live out the implications of being dead :-) Let me quote a few scriptures that Papa showed me.
Romans 6:3-7, 10-11 (NRSV) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin.
10 The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
And Colossians 3:2-3 (NRSV) says something similar: 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
So, we are already dead, and by faith we now get to "put to death" the ways of the old nature (see Colossians 3:5ff and Romans 8:13).
Next, if we go to Galatians 2:20 we discover another very important thing about all of this: we can't live out our death unless the Life of God is fully at work in us. There Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." What this means in a nutshell is that if I resort to human effort and try to "put myself to death" or please God, I will fail. Instead I must open myself up ever more fully to the power of God's Spirit, allowing Him to pour love into me, speak into my life and empower me to obey Him. He will also, of course, give me the power to trust what God says about me: that I am indeed dead to self!
Well, I could write more, and perhaps I will at some point. There is a place for us to present ourselves to God as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2), and I don't want to suggest that we shouldn't do this daily (but please note that in Romans 12 Paul says to present our "bodies," not our "flesh" to God--think about this and God will show you why this is an important difference!). And there is a place to seek to live in absolute surrender and enter ever more deeply into a yielded life. But if we think of putting our self to death, we are trying to do something that God has already done and we are putting the focus back on human effort (I put myself to death rather than living out the death Jesus gave to me as I shared in His death with Him).
Just a thought. What do you think?
May you become totally lost in His love and never find your way back out!
Tom, the least of Abba's children
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Transparent Thoughts from Tom's Journal
Hmmm. I am a bit pressed for time this week, so I am sharing something from my journal from several months ago. It is a summary of my pondering about why we sometimes struggle when others succeed. Maybe it will be of some encouragement to you.
As I reflected in your presence this morning, Father, I realized that our envy of people who are more “successful” than we are grows out of our own insecurity and self rejection. If we reject who it is that you have made us to be, and if we view life in terms of performance rather than obedience, then we will inevitably feel bad about those who achieve more than we do. But if we accept ourselves and become free from self rejection and self disgust; if we come to a place of true humility where we joyfully slip into the little spot you have for us in the grand scheme of things, then we rejoice at the success and the honor of others with complete sincerity and no envy or personal regret. I ask then, Father, that you heal in me whatever wounds are left, whatever “father wounds” are there that make me so afraid to look at my life and so afraid to accept myself and my role. I ask for this not out of self absorption but out of a desire to be free from self once and for all, so that I can indeed “gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek Him in His temple,” so that I can seek you and you alone and live only for your glory, completely secure in my role in my destiny; completely free to rejoice in the success, prosperity and achievements of others.
Abba, as you answer my prayer based on Psalm 139: 23-24, and as I become more and more aware of your love and acceptance of me in spite of my abysmal sinfulness, I am undone by your love and the extent of your grace, and I faintly begin to see how the great saints of the past could refer to themselves as the "blackest of sinners"! (“Holy Obedience,” in A Testament of Devotion, page 67). Thank you for your amazing grace, Papa!
As I reflected in your presence this morning, Father, I realized that our envy of people who are more “successful” than we are grows out of our own insecurity and self rejection. If we reject who it is that you have made us to be, and if we view life in terms of performance rather than obedience, then we will inevitably feel bad about those who achieve more than we do. But if we accept ourselves and become free from self rejection and self disgust; if we come to a place of true humility where we joyfully slip into the little spot you have for us in the grand scheme of things, then we rejoice at the success and the honor of others with complete sincerity and no envy or personal regret. I ask then, Father, that you heal in me whatever wounds are left, whatever “father wounds” are there that make me so afraid to look at my life and so afraid to accept myself and my role. I ask for this not out of self absorption but out of a desire to be free from self once and for all, so that I can indeed “gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek Him in His temple,” so that I can seek you and you alone and live only for your glory, completely secure in my role in my destiny; completely free to rejoice in the success, prosperity and achievements of others.
Abba, as you answer my prayer based on Psalm 139: 23-24, and as I become more and more aware of your love and acceptance of me in spite of my abysmal sinfulness, I am undone by your love and the extent of your grace, and I faintly begin to see how the great saints of the past could refer to themselves as the "blackest of sinners"! (“Holy Obedience,” in A Testament of Devotion, page 67). Thank you for your amazing grace, Papa!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
"Great Commission" Truths
Hmmm. As I write this the windows in my home are being replaced, so what I write may be a bit dingy.
Anyway, it occurred to me that my last entry was sort of out of character for me. I prefer to make constructive statements more than "demolish" myths. That way you as a reader can sort out what kind of response you wish to make :-) So this time I am simply going to make a few statements about the "Great Commission" that aren't always obvious. Please forgive any repetition from last time--I am kind of in a hurry, and I want to be sure that each of these points gets made.
First, the (five-part) Great Commission is preceded by the "Great Commandment" (Matthew 22:37-39) and, even more importantly, the New Commandment (John 13:34-35). Why is this important? Because the commandment to love, especially one another as Jesus loves us, was the context in which the admonition to share the Good News of the Kingdom was given. Note, too, that as Wayne Jacobsen and others point out, that New Commandment is the most significant because it is a reflection of the New Covenant. Only after the demonstration of God's love for us through Jesus' life and death and the outpouring of the Spirit (Romans 5:5) can we truly, at last, love others. Bottom line here: the message we bring is a message of love, not a message about avoiding being fried in hell.
Second, the heart of the commission is to make disciples, and this was given to those who had been discipled by Jesus for three years. We are not merely to announce a message, we are to make disciples. And the original disciples would have understood this in the context of how Jesus had discipled them. The implications of this are huge. Western Christians tend to think of discipleship as something that happens through the accumulation of information, "discipleship" classes, etc. Peter, John and the others would have thought of it in terms of having lived life with Jesus in the closest of relationships. For them discipleship had at its core living life together as followers of Jesus and would consist more of obedience, moving in supernatural power, etc. (I have talked about discipling the way Jesus did in earlier entries).
Third, the message that is to be announced (not "preached" as so many translations put it--"preach" has negative and erroneous connotations), is one of invitation, not confrontation. Much evangelism historically has been of the "turn or burn" or "get out of hell free" variety. But the Gospel of the Kingdom that we are to share is a message of invitation back into intimate relationship with the One who loves us most. It is an invitation from a loving Father to return to Him no matter what we have done (see Luke 15), not a threat to fry us in hell if we don't come back. The difference in tone between these two approaches is very important to catch and says everything about one's view of God and about what will ultimately motivate those who respond to the message (think about it). I could say more but I will save some things for a later entry.
Finally, at least for this time, the commission was under no circumstances to be undertaken in human effort. Jesus specifically tells the Eleven that they are to wait until they are "clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:48-49). Hmmm, I wonder how different things would be if folks would heed this one!! This one sort of speaks for itself, I think. But let me get a little ornery here and say that I don't believe a message without power is anywhere near the message that Jesus had in mind. The vapid, powerless message that the Western Church has too often put before folks for the last several decades is not in any way a fulfilling of the commission that Jesus gave to His followers.
Okay, enough for now. I haven't even touched on the nature of the message (to turn from self; embrace Jesus as total master of one's life; of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, etc.). That will have to wait for another time, I guess.
Hope you find a few things to ponder here.
Remember to live lost in His love and saturated in His power.
Tom, Abba's least child
Anyway, it occurred to me that my last entry was sort of out of character for me. I prefer to make constructive statements more than "demolish" myths. That way you as a reader can sort out what kind of response you wish to make :-) So this time I am simply going to make a few statements about the "Great Commission" that aren't always obvious. Please forgive any repetition from last time--I am kind of in a hurry, and I want to be sure that each of these points gets made.
First, the (five-part) Great Commission is preceded by the "Great Commandment" (Matthew 22:37-39) and, even more importantly, the New Commandment (John 13:34-35). Why is this important? Because the commandment to love, especially one another as Jesus loves us, was the context in which the admonition to share the Good News of the Kingdom was given. Note, too, that as Wayne Jacobsen and others point out, that New Commandment is the most significant because it is a reflection of the New Covenant. Only after the demonstration of God's love for us through Jesus' life and death and the outpouring of the Spirit (Romans 5:5) can we truly, at last, love others. Bottom line here: the message we bring is a message of love, not a message about avoiding being fried in hell.
Second, the heart of the commission is to make disciples, and this was given to those who had been discipled by Jesus for three years. We are not merely to announce a message, we are to make disciples. And the original disciples would have understood this in the context of how Jesus had discipled them. The implications of this are huge. Western Christians tend to think of discipleship as something that happens through the accumulation of information, "discipleship" classes, etc. Peter, John and the others would have thought of it in terms of having lived life with Jesus in the closest of relationships. For them discipleship had at its core living life together as followers of Jesus and would consist more of obedience, moving in supernatural power, etc. (I have talked about discipling the way Jesus did in earlier entries).
Third, the message that is to be announced (not "preached" as so many translations put it--"preach" has negative and erroneous connotations), is one of invitation, not confrontation. Much evangelism historically has been of the "turn or burn" or "get out of hell free" variety. But the Gospel of the Kingdom that we are to share is a message of invitation back into intimate relationship with the One who loves us most. It is an invitation from a loving Father to return to Him no matter what we have done (see Luke 15), not a threat to fry us in hell if we don't come back. The difference in tone between these two approaches is very important to catch and says everything about one's view of God and about what will ultimately motivate those who respond to the message (think about it). I could say more but I will save some things for a later entry.
Finally, at least for this time, the commission was under no circumstances to be undertaken in human effort. Jesus specifically tells the Eleven that they are to wait until they are "clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:48-49). Hmmm, I wonder how different things would be if folks would heed this one!! This one sort of speaks for itself, I think. But let me get a little ornery here and say that I don't believe a message without power is anywhere near the message that Jesus had in mind. The vapid, powerless message that the Western Church has too often put before folks for the last several decades is not in any way a fulfilling of the commission that Jesus gave to His followers.
Okay, enough for now. I haven't even touched on the nature of the message (to turn from self; embrace Jesus as total master of one's life; of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, etc.). That will have to wait for another time, I guess.
Hope you find a few things to ponder here.
Remember to live lost in His love and saturated in His power.
Tom, Abba's least child
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
"Great Commission" Myths
There's a lot of talk these days about "missional." And as long as mission flows from genuine intimacy with God, I think there is indeed a call from God to the western church to move away from the self-centered, consumer-like approach to "church." (See my article on my website on how intimacy must have pre-eminence--it's entitled Intimacy and Mission).
But before we start telling every believer to "get out there and share the gospel" we would do well to dispel at least some of the myths about "The Great Commission." I may take several weeks to do this so that I can write shorter blogs, but here goes.
Myth #1: The Great Commission is found only in Matthew's Gospel. Well, not exactly. The commission that Jesus gave to the Eleven actually has 5 parts: one part is found in Matthew 28:18-20, one part in Mark 16:15-18, one part in Luke 24:45-49, one part in John 20:21-23, one part in Acts 1:1-8. Why is this important? There a number of reasons, of course, but two that come readily to mind are the added critical components that the other passages bring, the first of which has been almost totally ignored by the western church: power! Jesus never intended that His representatives intend to accomplish their mission apart from supernatural power. Indeed, He clearly told the apostles to wait until the power came. Hmmm. I wonder how different the church would be if we honored that one! The early disciples never had to argue for the existence of God, folks! Rather their experience was that they would go somewhere and God's power would expel demons, heal the sick, bring supernatural conviction, etc. This would undeniably establish not only the existence of God but also reveal His loving nature and confront those present with the question as to how they would respond to the One who just demonstrated His presence!
A second reason why we need to have a five-part Great Commission is that it gives a much fuller understanding of what the commission entails. Matthew makes us aware that the disciples were to make disciples (something they understood from having been discipled for three years by Jesus!). Mark adds the proclamation of the Good News of salvation and the importance of miraculous signs validating our message. John adds that the apostles were sent in the same way as Jesus was sent (huge thought that I can't elaborate upon now) and that their commission revolved around forgiveness. Luke-Acts add the importance of supernatural power that we have already mentioned plus the fact that the message is the message of the Kingdom of God (another huge thought).
Myth #2: Every believer is responsible to fulfill the Great Commission. Well, again, not exactly. And this myth has been used to shame myriads of Christians into sharing their faith in a forced and unnatural manner. The "Great Commission" was given to apostles, folks! These were people especially chosen by Jesus to be sent out (some of you may know that "apostle" contains the idea of being sent). To suggest that a believer with a more pastoral nature should be going out everywhere "preaching" the Good News not only violates the original commission, it also violates what Paul teaches elsewhere about spiritual gifts. Ephesians 4:11 ff. makes it clear that the way the Body of Christ grows and builds itself up is by every part doing its unique work: apostles and evangelists getting the Good News out, prophets and teachers building up and strengthening, shepherds caring, etc. Does this mean that followers of Jesus are to do nothing? Of course not! When the Good News is really good news to a person, they will share it in a way that fits who they are and how God made them. This is clearly what happened in New Testament times. In Acts 19 especially we see that those whose lives had been deeply changed by the Good News as it was brought by Paul in Ephesus went throughout Asia sharing this Great News (see Acts 19:1-10).
Arrgh! There's so much more I want to say, but this is already too long. I will add more in my next blog and close with the following thoughts: When Jesus was commissioning the apostles, we cannot escape the realization that someone they had seen tortured and killed was now standing in front of them fully alive—completely and vigorously alive! Jesus clearly did not have to underscore for them what kind of good news he was talking about! And these men were also standing in front of Him as people who had been loved in a way they could never have imagined, as men who had been irrevocably marked by His love for three amazing years. They were also standing in front of Him as people who had seen tremendous power flowing from Him, power that set innumerable captives free from demonic power, healed every kind of disease, raised the dead, etc. And they were also standing in front of Him as people who had themselves already had most of those things happen through them in His name. I wonder what the church would look like if that were the case today!
Stay lost in His love!
Tom, Abba's least child
But before we start telling every believer to "get out there and share the gospel" we would do well to dispel at least some of the myths about "The Great Commission." I may take several weeks to do this so that I can write shorter blogs, but here goes.
Myth #1: The Great Commission is found only in Matthew's Gospel. Well, not exactly. The commission that Jesus gave to the Eleven actually has 5 parts: one part is found in Matthew 28:18-20, one part in Mark 16:15-18, one part in Luke 24:45-49, one part in John 20:21-23, one part in Acts 1:1-8. Why is this important? There a number of reasons, of course, but two that come readily to mind are the added critical components that the other passages bring, the first of which has been almost totally ignored by the western church: power! Jesus never intended that His representatives intend to accomplish their mission apart from supernatural power. Indeed, He clearly told the apostles to wait until the power came. Hmmm. I wonder how different the church would be if we honored that one! The early disciples never had to argue for the existence of God, folks! Rather their experience was that they would go somewhere and God's power would expel demons, heal the sick, bring supernatural conviction, etc. This would undeniably establish not only the existence of God but also reveal His loving nature and confront those present with the question as to how they would respond to the One who just demonstrated His presence!
A second reason why we need to have a five-part Great Commission is that it gives a much fuller understanding of what the commission entails. Matthew makes us aware that the disciples were to make disciples (something they understood from having been discipled for three years by Jesus!). Mark adds the proclamation of the Good News of salvation and the importance of miraculous signs validating our message. John adds that the apostles were sent in the same way as Jesus was sent (huge thought that I can't elaborate upon now) and that their commission revolved around forgiveness. Luke-Acts add the importance of supernatural power that we have already mentioned plus the fact that the message is the message of the Kingdom of God (another huge thought).
Myth #2: Every believer is responsible to fulfill the Great Commission. Well, again, not exactly. And this myth has been used to shame myriads of Christians into sharing their faith in a forced and unnatural manner. The "Great Commission" was given to apostles, folks! These were people especially chosen by Jesus to be sent out (some of you may know that "apostle" contains the idea of being sent). To suggest that a believer with a more pastoral nature should be going out everywhere "preaching" the Good News not only violates the original commission, it also violates what Paul teaches elsewhere about spiritual gifts. Ephesians 4:11 ff. makes it clear that the way the Body of Christ grows and builds itself up is by every part doing its unique work: apostles and evangelists getting the Good News out, prophets and teachers building up and strengthening, shepherds caring, etc. Does this mean that followers of Jesus are to do nothing? Of course not! When the Good News is really good news to a person, they will share it in a way that fits who they are and how God made them. This is clearly what happened in New Testament times. In Acts 19 especially we see that those whose lives had been deeply changed by the Good News as it was brought by Paul in Ephesus went throughout Asia sharing this Great News (see Acts 19:1-10).
Arrgh! There's so much more I want to say, but this is already too long. I will add more in my next blog and close with the following thoughts: When Jesus was commissioning the apostles, we cannot escape the realization that someone they had seen tortured and killed was now standing in front of them fully alive—completely and vigorously alive! Jesus clearly did not have to underscore for them what kind of good news he was talking about! And these men were also standing in front of Him as people who had been loved in a way they could never have imagined, as men who had been irrevocably marked by His love for three amazing years. They were also standing in front of Him as people who had seen tremendous power flowing from Him, power that set innumerable captives free from demonic power, healed every kind of disease, raised the dead, etc. And they were also standing in front of Him as people who had themselves already had most of those things happen through them in His name. I wonder what the church would look like if that were the case today!
Stay lost in His love!
Tom, Abba's least child
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Intimacy again!!!?
I was going to go on a "rant" this week, but Papa had other plans. I was going to vent on how/why I have come to detest the term "missional" -- a term that for me still misses the point of what God is really saying to His people these days. Perhaps God will allow me to address this at a later time, but for now it's still percolating.
So...this week I have a couple of "guest bloggers" who both address a favorite topic of mine and God's: intimacy with Him.
Our first guest has been "absent from the body and present with the Lord" for hundreds of years. But like Abel he still speaks (see Hebrews 11:4). Brother Lawrence once wrote of the marvel of God's love to him in a way that continues to drill me to my very core. Listen to the wonder in Brother Lawrence's heart as he says the following (from one of his letters): "I consider myself as the most wretched of men, full of sores and corruption, and who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King; touched with a sensible regret I confess to Him all my wickedness, I ask His forgiveness, I abandon myself in His hands, that He may do what He pleases with me. This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence."
Brother Lawrence got it! He knew by experience how to "live loved." And his writings (never intended by him to be published) continue to influence people towards intimacy with God hundreds of years after his death. Amazing what one life, lived loved, can do!
Our second guest is very much alive and well. Dee and her husband Dave are new friends of mine whom I have met only via email. They are true heroes of the faith in my book, really living by faith and following Jesus wherever He has led them. They currently serve as missionaries in Guaymas, Mexico. Dee recently wrote me her thoughts on intimacy, and I told her they were so good that I was going to post them on my blog. Here they are.
"Like you, our primary focus is encouraging intimacy in a relationship with the Lord. So many of us are religious, going through the motions, because we've never had a real, life-changing encounter with Him (or knew we could!). But if we aren't connected to the Source or eating from the Tree of Life (as opposed to the knowledge of good and evil), or whichever of the many ways we'd prefer to say it, then our lives are going to be lacking the abundant life that Jesus came to bring all across the board. We'll be living our lives according to what we think we're supposed to do, or according to tradition, rather than according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We'll live our lives depending on other people to guide and direct us and tell us how to think. Then we disciple and train up others the same way, and the whole scenario just perpetuates itself. And personally, I think that is one of our greatest problems in the Church today! Generally-speaking, we are well-meaning but lacking revelation, and have a form of godliness but lack the infusion of His power into our lives that He purposed for us, because WE DON'T KNOW HIM."
I could never say it better. Everything flows from intimacy folks--everything.
I welcome your thoughts (from the 4-5 of you who read this thing! :-))
Stay lost in His love,
Tom, the least of Abba's children
So...this week I have a couple of "guest bloggers" who both address a favorite topic of mine and God's: intimacy with Him.
Our first guest has been "absent from the body and present with the Lord" for hundreds of years. But like Abel he still speaks (see Hebrews 11:4). Brother Lawrence once wrote of the marvel of God's love to him in a way that continues to drill me to my very core. Listen to the wonder in Brother Lawrence's heart as he says the following (from one of his letters): "I consider myself as the most wretched of men, full of sores and corruption, and who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King; touched with a sensible regret I confess to Him all my wickedness, I ask His forgiveness, I abandon myself in His hands, that He may do what He pleases with me. This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence."
Brother Lawrence got it! He knew by experience how to "live loved." And his writings (never intended by him to be published) continue to influence people towards intimacy with God hundreds of years after his death. Amazing what one life, lived loved, can do!
Our second guest is very much alive and well. Dee and her husband Dave are new friends of mine whom I have met only via email. They are true heroes of the faith in my book, really living by faith and following Jesus wherever He has led them. They currently serve as missionaries in Guaymas, Mexico. Dee recently wrote me her thoughts on intimacy, and I told her they were so good that I was going to post them on my blog. Here they are.
"Like you, our primary focus is encouraging intimacy in a relationship with the Lord. So many of us are religious, going through the motions, because we've never had a real, life-changing encounter with Him (or knew we could!). But if we aren't connected to the Source or eating from the Tree of Life (as opposed to the knowledge of good and evil), or whichever of the many ways we'd prefer to say it, then our lives are going to be lacking the abundant life that Jesus came to bring all across the board. We'll be living our lives according to what we think we're supposed to do, or according to tradition, rather than according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We'll live our lives depending on other people to guide and direct us and tell us how to think. Then we disciple and train up others the same way, and the whole scenario just perpetuates itself. And personally, I think that is one of our greatest problems in the Church today! Generally-speaking, we are well-meaning but lacking revelation, and have a form of godliness but lack the infusion of His power into our lives that He purposed for us, because WE DON'T KNOW HIM."
I could never say it better. Everything flows from intimacy folks--everything.
I welcome your thoughts (from the 4-5 of you who read this thing! :-))
Stay lost in His love,
Tom, the least of Abba's children
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)