The Rest of the Old Old Story

I saw a Christian movie last night called “The Time Changer.” It was very thought provoking, even though the acting was mediocre at best. This post is not really about the movie, but I need to give you a brief synopsis to get into my subject.

In the movie a Bible school professor from 1890 writes a book. One of his colleagues then sends him 100 years into the future so he can see what effect his sort of ideas have on society. The movie does a great job at making us look at our American lifestyle in the light of past values. However, what I want to talk about is the strange and unthinking application of the filmmaker’s pet doctrine to the situation in the movie.

The professor from 1890 is shocked at the behavior of both society and Christians in 1990. By his standards, they have lost morality to such an extent that he is certain it must be the last days. He compares 1990’s America to 2 Timothy 3, where Paul says that in the last days people will be “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,” etc. Amazingly, however, when he discusses the source of the problem with a 1990’s Christian, she says, “People are beginnig to rely on their own goodness to achieve salvation, as if they could earn their way to heaven when it’s a free gift from God through Christ.”

I was so surprised I laughed out loud. The reason that people are lovers of their own selves, covetous, etc. is because they’re trying to earn their way to heaven by goodness? Has anything more ridiculous ever been said?

The problem is that evangelicals only know one doctrine. “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” So even though their doctrine has no application to the problem they’re discussion–not even remotely–they apply it anyway. Ridiculous.

What’s even more ridiculous is that their doctrine, a false one sent from hell, is a large cause of the problem. It’s not that people today are selfish and sinning because they believe the evangelical doctrine of going to heaven apart from works; it’s that the doctrine, false as it is, does not produce Christians or obtain grace from God. Therefore, the Christianity that holds that doctrine is pitiful and brings shame and not glory to the name of God. Thus, the society around that religion abandons God and goes their own way. There is no salt to preserve nor light to guide society where the evangelical doctrine of “no works” holds sway.

Paul did indeed say that a man is justified by faith apart from works. What Paul did not ever say is that people would go to heaven apart from works. In fact, he says quite the opposite over and over and over again. Those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of heaven, he says in Gal. 5:19-21. Evangelicals don’t get it, so he says the same thing in 1 Cor. 6:9-11 and Eph. 5:5. They still don’t get it, so he tells them that if they want eternal life, they need to patiently continue to do good in Rom. 2:6-7 and Gal. 6:8-9. They still don’t get it, so he tells them that they will be judged for their works, whether good or bad, in 2 Cor. 5:10. They still don’t get it, so Peter tells them that they need to add numerous qualities to their faith if they hope to enter the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:5-11). They still don’t get it, so the Lord himself out and out says that those who do not do the will of his Father in heaven will not enter the kingdom (Matt. 7:21).

They still don’t get it, and they don’t get it so badly that they suggest that people with no interest in morality whatsoever are that way because they’re trying to get to heaven by morality?

This was not a mistake or loose slip of the tongue. It was the central theme of the film. In another spot, one of the characters says, “People are deceived into thinking that if they lead a good life they will receive God’s approval and attain heaven.” I have to think that since Peter said that God accepts every person who fears him and works righteousness (Acts 10:35), and Paul said that God will repay eternal life to those who seek it by patiently continuing to do good (Rom. 2:7), that the movie character meant that Peter and Paul are the ones deceiving people.

God will judge everyone according to their works, even Christians (1 Pet. 1:17), and it is knowing that good works are required to enter heaven that should drive a person to Christ. People don’t need us to tell them that everyone’s a sinner. They know it. We don’t have to tell them to cry out, “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death.” As soon as they know righteousness is required of them, they will see their need for help in righteousness. You will never find an apostle preaching to the lost that they are sinners. They teach the church how those things work, so you will find plenty of mention in letters to churches that all men are sinners. However, scour Acts as you may, you will not find them having to teach sinners their need of being forgiven. They preach that Christ is the Judge of the living and the dead, and the lost figure out quickly, without help, that they are in need of favor from that Judge!

Realizing their need of favor, they are quick to cry out, “What must I do to be saved?” Their question is the exact equivalent of Paul’s “who shall deliver me from this body of death?” They are asking what will forgive their past sins and change their future conduct enough to face the Judge of all. The answer is faith in Christ. The answer is only faith in Christ. If you wish to be justified, transformed, and sanctified, it is only grace that will do that, and grace is only obtained by faith.

However, none of this changes the fact that there is a Judge and a judgment to be feared. Peter says, “If you address as Father him who impartially judges according to each man’s work, then conduct yourself throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear” (1 Pet. 1:17).

I’ll quit there. There are a number of long, clear passages that state the things I’ve just said outright. Romans 6, the whole chapter, is one of them, and Romans 8:1-14, the answer to Romans 7, is another. The open-minded will see these things are obviously true. However, I will address a couple of other false ideas taught in the movie.

One idea that leads to this whole doctrine of going to heaven apart from works is that God requires perfection at the judgment. This is not true. It is nonsense, and it makes a monster of God, for he made it so that it was impossible for men to be perfect, yet he will torture them eternally in flames for their imperfections. Ridiculous. God is a just Judge, the Scripture says, and a just Judge does not torment a person eternally even for a crime like stealing, much less for a white lie.

Another fiction, this one not addressed in the movie, is that God requires blood to be merciful. Once we sin, according to this bizarre doctrine, God requires something or someone to die. He doesn’t even care who it is, as long as some person or animal dies. What sort of god this is, I do not know, but it is not the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, nor the God of the prophets. The prophets tell us that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is and always has been merciful, extending mercy and lovingkindness to thousands, abundant in pardon, and forgiving iniquity and sin. Ezekiel makes it clear that he will do this in return for simple repentance. No one need die.

In fact, David, who sinned so grievously that he not only committed adultery but also murdered the husband, said that God wasn’t interested in sacrifice. “For you do not want sacrifice, or else I would give it…The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart; these, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51:16-17).

There is so much wrong with what the evangelicals say about God that it is hard to know where to begin. For years it seemed that every time I turned around I was discovering some new fiction that had been handed to me in Protestant churches. A lot of this turned up as I studied the earliest church writings, from the era immediately after the apostles. At first, I thought it was they who were in error and not us. As time went on, though, it was clear that they lived in unity and holiness, something we evangelicals were merely longing for. Like Paul, they could be confident that he who had begun a good work in them would continue it until the day of Christ Jesus down to the last member of their congregation. We were fortunate if 5 or 10 percent of our congregations continued growing in the Lord throughout their lives.

One of the things they pointed out was the problem with Cain’s sacrifice. As an evangelical I heard and taught that the problem was that Cain offered grain and Abel offered livestock, a blood sacrifice. This didn’t deceive the early Christians, who knew that God isn’t interested in sacrifices (Jer. 7:22-23). It’s the purity of the person sacrificing that purifies the sacrifice, not vice versa. So they knew that the problem was not the sacrifice, the problem was the heart. Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because Cain was wicked, not because his offering was grain.

Scripture, as has almost always been the case, backs the early Christians. John tells us that Cain slew Abel because Cain’s deeds were wicked (1 Jn. 3:12). It’s clear then that Cain was wicked before he slew Abel. In fact, Genesis tells us that Cain was angry because his sacrifice was rejected and that’s why he killed Abel. So it’s clear that Scripture ties Cain’s wickedness and the rejection of his sacrifice together. Genesis 4:7 makes it even more clear. “If you do good, will you not be accepted?” God asks. Why was Cain’s offering rejected? Because his deeds were not good; they were evil.

The problem American society has is not that it is trying to get to heaven by good works. The problem American society has it that it doesn’t care about nor believe in heaven because Christians are not trying to get to heaven by good works. Because Christians are not crying out to God for the grace that breaks the power of sin (Rom. 6:14), being content to slide into heaven on the strength of a sacrifice that was actually meant to purify and transform them (Rom. 8:3,4), there is no proof being offered to the world that a God of power, the Ruler of Heaven, exists. The proof Christ offered was the unity and love of his disciples (Jn. 13:34,35; 17:20-23), but the power to live in that unity and love is lacking because the gospel being proclaimed in America is, in general, a false one.

Don’t get me wrong. I know there are good Christians even in America, though they’re relatively rare, being not much more–or perhaps no more–common than good people among atheists and Buddhists. There are people who have experienced the power of Christ and know that they must live for him. However, the proof Christ offered to the world was not a few isolated disciples, it was disciples that were as united as he and the Father.

That, my friends, will take a faith that fears God.

Well, I’m back from Kenya, Uganda, and England. If there’s anything I’ve learned it’s how desperately the message of the church is needed. God constantly teaches the church, and the world is in desperate need of what he’s taught it.

If you’re a Christian, then what you think of when I say God teaches the church is almost surely doctrinal. It’s matters of theology he must be teaching us, solving the things that divide Christians. However, theology doesn’t divide Christians. Carnality divides Christians. Divisions, schisms, and factions are works of the flesh, and theology is just an excuse denominations use for carrying out the dictates of the flesh. What God teaches the church is the marvelous way that he overcomes the flesh…through love.

We had incredible power in Kenya and Uganda. Pastors showed up asking us what made us different from all the other muzungus (white men) that visit and preach to them. Hearts were opened, and no one could deny the power or the need of our message. What did we do? What did we say?

We didn’t say anything. We lived the way God taught us to live, which is to be a friend to everyone, and people who saw it were moved. They knew that it was good, and they knew that it was from God, and they showed up and asked us how we learned to live with such power. What power? It was nothing more than the power of love.

Please don’t get me wrong. We are not the only loving people who have shown up in Kenya and Uganda. Wonderful, kind, and powerful men of God have shown up and helped struggling Africans in all sorts of ways, digging wells, passing out mosquito nets, starting businesses, and numerous other great acts of kindness and hard work. Lots of  them have done this, and many have done much more work, sacrificed much more,  and are much more worthy of praise than we are. I’m not talking about us in this blog. I’m talking about the life of God.

What people noticed is that we were different from other preachers. The difference is that we knew we weren’t there for words. We were there to bring the life of God because that Life can teach Africans just as well as it has taught us. So we simply showed up and did what we always do. We fellowshipped with the people we met. Since we are God’s people, this allowed the people we met to fellowship with God, and they liked it. They asked how they could have this life, and our words weren’t just words. They were to a purpose, explaining how they could have and be taught by the life of God as we have been.

God’s life hasn’t taught us theology. It has taught us how to get along with one another. Humans can fly to the moon, but they don’t know how to get along. Self-consciousness, emotions, fears, and a myriad of other things stand in the way of us simply being what God is: love. Entering God’s Life is entering a life-long process of learning how to deny ourselves and love. Every one of us has a very long way to go, but every one of us who has lived church life knows what it means to be taught by God to love. This trip taught us once again the immense power of that love. It breaks down every door, opens hearts, and paves a path not just for the Gospel of Christ, but for the Spirit of God that makes that Gospel effective.

In England we met some rather extraordinary members of a small Baptist church. They were godly, loving people who had hurt their careers and social status in order to minister to people. I was impressed. They are much better people than someone like me. They’re harder working, more caring, and certainly run their lives a lot better than I’ve ever run mine. Yet, when we showed up, they told us that we taught them something about ministering to the very people that they have devoted their lives to ministering to. How is that even possible?

It’s because of the power of church life. Modern Christians devote themselves to ministry. Ancient Christians devoted themselves to Christ unless they were specifically called to ministry.  When they were called to ministry, they devoted themselves to learning the ministry they were called to. The power, however, that created the need to minister came from their devotion to Christ. Devotion to ministry is a distraction.

Paul, the apostle, was a student of theology. It’s clear from his letters that he devoted himself to the theology of Christ. The need, however, to teach theology sprung from the life of God at work in the people of God.

Have you ever noticed that those who heard the apostles teach didn’t go anywhere until persecution forced them to? Nonetheless, when persecution spread them out, their faith was infectious. Even after spreading out, as new communities of disciples formed, word spread about the love and faith of those communities (1 Thes. 1:6-10).

This created a need to explain the departure from the typical Jewish faith. These new followers of Messiah, both Jew and Gentile, lived differently than the typical interpretations of the Old Testament would lead you to live. Messiah taught a new way of life, and it had little to do with sacrifices and rituals. As one early Christian put it, “We embrace chastity…dedicate ourselves to the good and unbegotten God…share with everyone in need…live familiarly with men of different tribes…and pray for our enemies” (Justin, Apology 14, c. AD 150). Not much there about ritualistic religious practices, temples, and priests.

I don’t want to get lost in making my point here. God has things to teach us in church life. They are subtle, but they are powerful. They have nothing to do with words, so often they are hard to explain. The fact is, though, that what happened in England is simply typical of the fruit of what God teaches. Where we showed up, everyone had time for fellowship, for prayers, for the discussing of the apostles doctrine, and for prayer. In fact, it’s almost all they wanted to do. They were drawn to it as by some unseen power. That power was the life of God, the very power that draws us as well, that creates the church, that teaches the saints, and that produces a power that will cause the sons and daughters of God to flock to the Gospel rather than having to be chased down by it.

I hope even a little of that is clear. I hope that I don’t sound like I’m boasting about something we did. The things that are learned in church life are powerful. They’re not even to be compared to what you might learn in Bible school, which is almost all completely useless (sorry, but it’s true). All I want is that all who name the name of Christ get to partake in the school of Christ, the church, which is the pillar and support of the truth. All by itself it will produce what people are not obtaining through study, diligent discipline, and toilsome ministry. “It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors,” says the Scripture (Ps. 127:2). Why? Because he gives to his beloved even in their sleep, but only where the Lord has built a house for himself.

“Behold, children are a gift from the Lord,” that Psalm goes on to say. That verse is not a verse on birth control for Protestants, Catholics, Mennonites, and environmentalists to argue about. It is a statement that if you want to reach the world, allowing Zion to bring forth children, it will be the gift of the Lord, not the product of “painful labors.” Modern Christians have never seen the power of church life, so they don’t believe in it. The devil gave the true and Biblical doctrines of the authority and truth found in the church a bad name during the Dark Ages. People are scared of them now, but experience testifies that what the apostles taught and passed on to their churches is true. The church is the pillar and support of the truth, it is the mother of the saints, and God will lead it into things that are true, and not a lie. I would add, into things that are powerful beyond what we could know in our schools, Sunday meetings, and Bible studies.

This is way too long for a blog, but I want to add one more thing. I’ve been saying over and over on this trip that growth does not come from Bible study and prayer in our rooms alone. Growth, according to the Scripture, comes as we speak the truth to love in one another and as every part does its share (Eph. 4:11-16). If you want to grow, you have to be with others to do so, and you have to be with them daily. Sorry, that’s what Scripture teaches (Heb. 3:13). You can pray and read the Bible all you want, but it’s not going to make you grow in ways that will allow you to be an effective minister. Those things are learned in church life. They are learned in the need to get along, having to work things out, having to put yourself aside, and not having the option of separating from Christians you disagree with. Division is death.

I am sitting in a hotel room in Kenya. Why am I here? I am here to preach the Gospel to the longing masses of Kenya. Just yesterday I heard a woman announce loudly with great zeal and joy, “Until these brothers came from the USA, I was in darkness. I was depressed and saddened by what I was seeing in the church around me. I was without hope. But now they have brought the light, and I am ready to shine.”

Keep that in mind. Do I believe in evangelism? You bet I do, and that’s why I’m over here in Kenya, some eight thousand miles away from my six children, crying out of missing them, but also crying because I’m going to miss my new brothers and sisters here in Nakuru when I leave tomorrow. I have been laid out flat in a European airport with my back thrown out, trying to be out of pain enough to get on an overnight flight to Nairobi and out of the way enough not to have airport security carry me off on a stretcher. I have kissed and hugged children with dirty noses and open sores, shared a 10×10 room with five other men, and bounced my way across 120 kilometers of a dirt road we nicknamed “The Eternal Road” for the vigorous shaking it gave us.

Okay, with that out of the way, I want to complain about the American emphasis on evangelism. It is destroying Christians, it has already completely destroyed the church, and it is working on destroying the world.

Twenty years ago, I was in a group called the Navigators. They are ministry mainly to college students and young military. They emphasize discipline, service to others, Scripture memory, and discipling others. What they do is generally good, and their founder, Dawson Trotman, was an exceptional and wonderful man.

They have a publishing company called NavPress that has now, apparently, spawned another called NavPress Deliberate. NavPress puts out some of the best books in the Christian market. _The End of Religion_, by Bruxy Cavey, is the first book I’ve read from NavPress Deliberate. It is excellent.

However…

I read the introduction or preface or something that describes NavPress Deliberate. It says Navpress Deliberate “encourages readers to embrace this holistic…Christian faith.” What holistic Christian faith? The one that includes “caring for  the poor, widow, prisoner, and foreigner…and redeeming the world.”

That’s it? That’s the holistic Christian faith? What about the Church? You know, the thing that’s called the fullness of God (Eph. 1:23), the body and bride of Christ, and in which God receives glory forever. Nothing too important, just the very purpose that he died, at least according to Eph. 5:25-27 and Tit. 2:14.

Today we taught the newborn church in Nakuru to look inward and not outward; to focus on ministering to one another rather than on ministering to the world. That is heresy to evangelical Christianity. On the other hand, evangelical Christianity is a horrendous failure (re: _The Scandal of Evangelical Christianity_ by Ronald Sider), so they’d better start looking at the things that are heresy to them to find out what they’re doing wrong.

Galatians 6:10 says that we’re to do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Why? Because the only way we are going to reach the world is to show them Christ. And Christ has said that the way we will show them Christ is to be perfectly united in love (Jn. 13:34,35; 17:20-23). This is what the Thessalonians did, and it was so powerful that Paul no longer needed to preach in the area of their influence! (1 Thess. 1:7-9).

Paul preached. He did it to start churches, which would then be the light of the world. They are the city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. It’s not your little light that must shine, believer. The good works God wants us to show are to be done by the church together, so that  the great light of the city of God will shine (Matt. 5:13-16). When that happens, my friend, the nations will gather, and they will bring the children of the kingdom on their shoulders (Isaiah 60:1ff).

This is not theory, we are seeing it happen, even in the deadness, greed, and unbelief of American society. It is now beginning to happen in a place much less closed to the Gospel than America is.

Search somewhere for a command in any letter to any church for believers to evangelize. You will find not even one! The closest you will find is Peter’s exhortation to be prepared to answer those who ask you about your hope in Christ. When was the last time you were asked about your hope in Christ? Chances are, that’s exceptionally rare. People do not want to be corralled by a member of the Christian sales force that Evangelicals have mobilized to hide the fact that their Christianity has lost all its power.

I get asked about my hope regularly. At least every week or two. Really. That’s the product of living in the kind of environment that the Thessalonian church lived in, where brothers dwell together in unity. There God has commanded the blessing of eternal life (Ps. 133:3).

Paul knew that words were useless. He wasn’t interested in the being the kind of peddler of wise words and arguments that we evangelicals are (2 Cor. 2:17, where the Greek word means “retail” or “peddle”). He said, “Don’t preach unless your sent” (Rom. 10:15). He said, “Mind your own business!” (1 Thess. 4:11). He knew that it was important that the Gospel be preached only by ministers who adorned it with good works, and who relied on the power of God and not on words (1 Cor. 4:20).

The church is important. Today I heard children singing, “Read your Bible, pray every day,” and then some words that basically said, “This is the way you grow.” It is not the way you grow! That is the lie, my friends, that has allowed wonderful people like those who created NavPress Deliberate to completely ignore the church, the fullness of him that fills all in all, while declaring that they have a holistic Gospel.

Read Ephesians 4:11-16. Really read it. The way we grow is together, speaking the truth in love to one another. You will not grow sitting in your room reading your Bible and praying. You will grow, together with other saints, as every part does its share, as you are trained by your leaders to build the body of Christ by speaking the truth to one another in love. This is the only way you’ll grow. We should teach those children to sing, “Exhort your brother, don’t miss a day,” in accordance with what the Bible actually says (Heb. 3:13).

It is a saying here that African Christianity is a mile wide but only an inch deep. I heard it both in Kenya and in Uganda. Of course that’s so. It’s not just the children who think that we will grow by reading our Bible and praying every day. We need to read our Bibles enough to find out that’s not so.

God is restoring his people, binding them together under his rule so that they can grow like they’re supposed to. Please join the revolution. As a dear Kenyan brother here likes to say, “It is powerful, my brother; powerful!”

If you have a chance come to our conference on June 27-29. Details are at http://www.rosecreekvillage.com/conference.

A voice says, “Call out.”

Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”

…The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever

~Isaiah 40:5,8 (NASB)

The exchange given above is part of a passage in Isaiah that describes the Message of God. There is a command to call out, a request for what to call out, and the answer is to cry out that only the Word of God will endure forever. Everything else will decay and go away.

 Christians today don’t understand the Word of God. As an example, the NASB, quoted above, consistently capitalizes all the he’s and him’s that refer to God, but it never capitalizes “word” in “the word of God.” Somehow, we’ve forgotten that Christ is the Word of God, or we’ve relegated that truth to some second place behind “The Scriptures are the word of God.” The fact that Christ is the Word is not second place to anything. It is the primary Message of the Scriptures.

 Three times in the Acts the Word of God is said to multiply, increase, or grow (6:7; 12:24; 19:20). This doesn’t make any sense the way we currently understand the Word of God (as Scripture). It only makes sense when we understand that Christ is the Word and that he is Spirit. As the number of the disciples increased, then the Word increased, grew, and multiplied, because it was in more disciples, and it was growing in those disciples. James tells us that the Word is to be “implanted” in us if our souls are to be saved (1:21, NASB). It goes in us like a seed and grows in us.

 It is this sort of understanding of the Word, as alive in us and powerful, that allows our passage from Isaiah 40 to make sense. The very heart of the Message of God, according to that chapter–that which is to be called out to the world–is “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands forever.”

 Friends, this is the proclamation of eternal life. Only the Word of God will last forever. Get inside of it. Get it inside of you. Then you will possess eternal life, and you will never die. This is the only way. There is no other.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him….The world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (1 Jn. 2:15,17)

The one who does the will of God is the one who has the Word of God inside of him, because the will and the word of God are the same. Receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your soul. This is the command of Scripture.

 How does this happen? Look at how it happened to Peter. In Luke chapter five Peter is told to throw his nets out for a catch. Peter is not happy about this because he has already been fishing all night. But Peter knows there is something special about the Man who is telling him to cast out his nets. So his response is, “Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:5, KJV).

Nothing is ever the same for Peter again. After he hauled in the fish, Jesus did not need to preach a sermon to Peter about the sinfulness of man. The Word of God had gotten inside of Peter, and Peter already knew his own sinfulness. “Depart from me,” he cries out, “for I am a sinful man.” When the boats got to shore, Peter forsook his huge catch, his business, and his life and followed Christ.

Do you want to receive with meekness the implanted word? Obey the one who is the Word, and it will bury itself in your heart and begin its work of transforming your life. Hebrews tells us that Jesus has become the author of eternal salvation to everyone who obeys him (5:9). Do you hear his call? Then obey it. Repent, be baptized, and he will give you the Holy Spirit. Sell what you have, give alms to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, and follow him.

Isaiah 40 says there is one thing to cry out. “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands forever.” Nothing else will last, but if you will become a part of the Word of our God, you, too, can live forever. Only the Word endures. You must be in him, and he must be in you. Everything else is temporary.

I’ve been surprised to find out how much we don’t understand the answer to this question.

We are together because the church is the light of the world.

That’s an overly simplified statement, of course, and there’s a lot of similar statements we could make that would be true. But let me explain what this statement means.

We sing “this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” However, God doesn’t want to shine a little light. He wants to shine a great light, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. In Matthew, we are told to let our good works be seen so that our Father can be glorified. The context of that command is the city set on a hill. It’s our good works–ours together, not yours individually–that causes the world to glorify God.

This is because what God wants to show the world is the unity and love of his people. John 13 tells us that the world will know we are Christ’s disciples is because we love one another, not because we love the people of the world. Yes, we are to do good and be charitable even to those of the world. We are to be like our Father, who causes the sun to shine on the unjust as well as the just. However, the proof to the world that we are disciples is by our ability to get along with one another, something that American Christians, for the most part, are proving they cannot do.

Not only does our love for one another prove we are Christ’s disciples, but it also proves that Christ is sent by God. Jesus says several times in his prayer in John 17 that our unity will cause the world to know that the Father sent him.

It is for this reason that the apostle Paul teaches us not only that we should do good, but that we should do good especially to those who are of the household of faith. That seems a strange verse to those who are trying to shine their own little light by doing good works to the world. However, to those who know that the testimony of God is the love for one another that he has put inside his disciples, it is apparent that good works should be done first to one another. We are indeed the household of faith, the family of God, and family takes care of one another.

It is a great miracle for human beings to get along without dividing. Division, factions, and schisms are works of the flesh, and it is typical of our flesh to divide. However, the salvation of God comes with the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Love is the perfecting bond of unity, and so a spiritual people is a united people.

There is a practical application to all of this. Division in the church is a big deal. Thus, we are not free to simply “go to the church of our choice.” We cannot look at our brother, find some small thing we disagree with, and then move on to find someone who agrees with us.

What indeed are we to do? The promise of God is that he will teach his disciples. 1 John tells us that the anointing will lead us into all things, and that leading will be true and not a lie. Ephesians 4 tells us that as the leaders of the church equip the saints to do the work of ministry and to build the body of Christ, then the “speaking the truth in love” that the saints do with one another will lead to a unity of faith that protects us from varying winds of doctrines and from the deception of false teachers.

Together we can learn. Apart, we have no such promises. Indeed, we are told that if we are not exhorted each and every day, we are likely to have hard hearts, deceived by sin (Heb. 3:13).

There is much more to be said about all of this that could never be said in a short blog. However, we need to know the importance of being together. Being together is no guarantee that we are good or right. The Laodiceans were together, but Jesus was fed up to the point of nausea with them. However, if we are going to go forward and grow, it will be together. If you think that going forward means going off on your own and teaching the great insights that you have had on your own, then you are mistaken. You, too, need the daily exhortation of the saints to avoid being hardened and deceived, no matter how much you believe your faithfulness or Bible reading will be what protects you from deception.

I need to add one more thing to all this because I really want you to understand both the importance and the purpose of being together.

Ephesians says some absolutely amazing things about the church. For example, in Eph. 1:23, we are told that the body of Christ is “the fullness of him that fills all in all.” The fullness of God? Dare the Scriptures say such a thing? They do.

Shortly after, Paul begins describing a mystery that has been hidden for ages. In Eph. 3:2-11, he describes this mystery. The short form is given in Colossians one, where Paul tells us that mystery is “Christ in us, the hope of glory.” Ephesians uses more words, but the mystery is the same. Christ has come to live in people, binding Jew and Gentile into one body, which is the church. The church then makes known to “principalities and powers in the heavenlies” what is the manifold wisdom of God.. This, says Paul, is an eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ.

The church is not a mere building that we attend on Sunday or a club we join. The church is the binding together of disciples into one family, caring and taking care for one another, a body for the Son of God to live in so that he might fulfill the eternal purposes of God, testifying both to the world and to powers in heavenly places that his grace is able to unite human beings in love, producing a people for himself, the church, that is zealous for good works.

In future posts we’ll talk about the practicalities of living this out not only in a corrupt and fallen world, but also in an age where the faith and the church are greatly misunderstood and the saints are scattered throughout pseudo-churches.

Note: all Scripture quotes on this post are from the NASB Updated version.

A lot of traditions have crept in over the last 2,000 years. Some of them have become a basic part of our assumptions that we never question.

One of those is our “immortal” soul. American Christians assume that all souls will live forever. Perhaps this is true. Jesus does say that he will call “all” from the grave (Jn. 5:28). On the other hand, it is not uncommon for the Old Testament Scriptures to say things like, “There is no mention of you in death; In Sheol who will give you thanks?” (Ps. 6:5) and “His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish” (Ps. 146:4). Either way, whether all souls live forever or only some do, we miss much of the impact of the promise of eternal life because we tend not even to think about such things.

Paul begins his letter to Titus with, “…for the faith of those chosen of God…in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago” (Tit. 1:1-2).

Eternal life has always been a pursuit of mankind. I read a book once–the name of which, unfortunately, I cannot remember–that talked about some common themes in religions all over the world. One of those was the attainment of eternal life. In all religions around the world, this book argued, there was some sort of required way to live in order to ascend to the sky and live forever.

This is no surprise. All of us, at some time in our life, see people die. We see their energized and living bodies, and then we see their bodies dead, cold, and devoid of life. Is that the end? Is that all there is? As the Psalmist says, do their thoughts perish in that day? None of us want that, and we would be delighted to hear that there is some way to live forever.

I have to believe that Paul had this in mind when he said “in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago.” Look at something else he said. In Romans 2, after telling us that God will render to each person according to his deeds, he writes, “…to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life” (v. 7).

There in Romans 2, he speaks of people who are seeking immortality. He tells them that perseverance in doing good will lead to their obtaining eternal life. (For those whose theology on faith and works is threatened by this, see my page on the Gospel and grace, and see Gal. 6:8,9, which says the same thing from a different perspective.) This is clearly written to people who care whether they will live forever or not.

I believe it would do us good to understand and feel that same hope. Look at Gal. 6:8-9. It promises eternal life, as Rom. 2 does, to those who do not grow weary in doing good, though it adds that this doing good is done by the Spirit of God. However, it also tells us that those who live by the flesh will inherit “corruption.” What does the word “corruption” mean? Well, in Acts 2:27 and following, Peter uses the word “corruption” to refer to the decaying of the body in the grave. (The Greek words in Gal. 6:8 and Acts 2:27 are slightly different. One is diaphthora and the other is just phthora, but the difference is only a prefix, and it appears clear from other uses, such as 1 Cor. 15:42, they are referring to the same thing.)

I do not want to present an argument for “soul-sleep” here, the doctrine that souls sleep in death until the judgment, nor an argument for the destruction of the soul after death. In fact, I don’t want to present any theological arguments. I want to put a thought in your mind that I believe is Christian and important. Paul tells us, “If you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13). We assume everyone will live after they die, so we are not moved by this passage. Where are those who “by perseverance in doing good seek for…immortality”? Paul clearly believes this a good attitude, because we have found three passages now that recommend this attitude. That doing good is done by the Spirit, true; nonetheless it is clearly a recommended attitude of Scripture.

Immortality. What a glorious thought. It is the promise of God to those who will, by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body. Let us not grow weary, then, brothers, in doing good, because in due season we will reap…if we do not lose heart.

Amazingly enough, after promising to continue on Psalm 1 yesterday, I’m following through today! Grace is a real thing; I’m getting better!

Yesterday, I talked about thinking on spiritual things, starting in Psalm 1’s exhortation to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night. To me, that’s the “righteousness” part of the Psalm. I want to address the “wickedness” part. It’s fascinating to me, and it carries a warning for all of us.

 I want to argue that the wickedness part of this Psalm is not written to the wicked of the world, but to the wicked of the congregation of the Lord. One, the Psalms are songs that were meant for the congregation of Israel. The Psalms were not written for Egyptians or Babylonians, but for Israelites. As the Psalmist says, you can’t sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land (137:3,4). Two, the wicked are said to be “like the chaff which the wind drives away” (Ps. 1:4, NASB). The chaff was part of the wheat at one time. And three, the Psalm says that while the Lord knows the way of the righteous, the way of the wicked will perish (v. 6). This brings to my mind the statement of the Lord in Matthew 7:23, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” These who were not known to the Lord were those who prophesied and cast out demons in Jesus’ name. They were wicked, but they were not the wicked of the world.

 What’s the difference between the righteous and wicked in Psalm 1? The righteous delights in the Law of the Lord. He meditates in it day and night. So the righteous prospers and has a constant supply of the only thing that will produce righteousness: grace. The wicked, obviously, is not meditating on the Law of the Lord; otherwise, like the righteous, he would be bearing fruit.

 The Psalmist adds, “The wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous” (v. 5, NASB). Two judgments are mentioned in that verse. Pray to God that you endure only one of them. According to Paul, on the day of judgment we will all stand before God to be judged for our works, “whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). Today, Christians don’t like to believe that verse. They either teach that our bad works won’t follow us to the judgment or they teach that the judgment is just for “rewards.” It is indeed for rewards, but Romans 2:5-8 makes it clear that the rewards are either eternal life or indignation and wrath. As I said, Christians today don’t like to believe that, but really, it’s enough for me that Paul believed it (Jesus did, too: Jn. 5:29).

 There’s a second judgment in v. 5, though. Sinners will not stand in the assembly of the righteous. Paul spent a whole chapter instructing the Corinthians what to do with one sinner in their midst. He explains the reasons for his decision, and he ends that chapter with, “Put away from yourselves that wicked person” (1 Cor. 5:13).

This is the judgment that you should want to experience. That judgment is “that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 5:5). With this judgment you can be restored, learning from being delivered over to satan  that you must flee to the refuge of Christ.

All of this, of course, can be avoided by delighting in the law of the Lord and meditating on it day and night. They that belong to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5). My point, however, in writing all of this is so that we might all be warned. Let us take to heart the admonition to love the law of the Lord, because the wicked are not so. Don’t fool yourself. That wicked one is not Hitler nor the Boston strangler. That wicked one is the one who failed to meditate on eternal things, who appears at the judgment claiming to have done many things in the name of the Lord, but who are unknown to him because they were not planted next to the rivers of living water.

 The righteous meditate on the law of the Lord. The wicked are not so. Which are you?

How blessed is the man…[whose] delight is in the law of the LordAnd in his law he meditates  day and night. ~Psalm 1:2, NASB

It is easy to underestimate the importance of what we think about. Look at the promises tied to meditating on the Law of the Lord! You will be like a tree planted by streams of water, you will yield your fruit in season, and your leaf will not wither. Further, the Lord will know your ways (v. 6). Listen, that’s everything! If you will think on the Law of the Lord, Psalm 1 says, you will prosper in whatever you do!

If we’re trying to advance in the Christian walk, you’d think we’d pay some attention to this. How come I’m not going forward? How come I’m not more holy? How come I don’t have more power with God? How come I can’t seem to overcome? If you’re asking any of those questions, you should look at what you’re thinking about. Those who meditate on the Law of the Lord prosper like a tree planted by rivers of water.

This is not just an Old Testament thing. Paul ties being spiritual to the simple idea of thinking about spiritual things (Rom. 5:5-8). Those who set their minds on the Spirit walk in the Spirit and have life and peace. Those who don’t, have death. He also ties our growth as Christians to whether we’re thinking about eternal things. We are being transformed, he says, into the image of Christ, but only as we look at eternal things (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

Paul tells us that we are to run the race to win. I know that if I was a professional runner, looking for that edge over other professional runners, this sort of far-reaching advice would be something I would never miss. Professional runners worry about the health and strength of their big toe, knowing that the final toe off of each stride might add some fraction of an inch to each stride, giving them an advantage over their competitors. They do this for the sake of a bit of money. The race you are running is for the sake of immortality. It’s for the sake of living eternity in the presence of God. You ought to be worried about things that are the equivalent of a runner’s big toe, but you should be worried all the more about the things that are the equivalent of a runner’s whole body!

Meditate on the law of the Lord! Set your mind on the things of the Spirit. Look at eternal things. Set your mind on things above, where Christ is, at the right hand of the Father. Whatever is good, think on these things. Do so, and you will be like a tree planted by streams of water. You will prosper in season. You will bear fruit, and you will have a constantly new supply of living water with which to bear more fruit. The promises of God don’t get any better than this.

Tomorrow, or the next time I remember to blog, I’ll talk about some more parallels between Psalm 1 and the New Testament. It was pretty neat.

I got a letter recently with some great quotes in it. Unfortunately, I don’t have it with me as I write this, so I’ll use some almost as good quotes from a book I’ve been looking at called When the Church Was Young. When I got the book, I thought Gene Edwards, who published the book, had written it. It turns out it was written 70 years ago by a man named Ernest Loosley. Here’s the quotes:

The Primitive Church had no New Testament, no thought-out theology, no stereotyped traditions. The men who took Christ to the Gentile world had received no formal or professional training, only a great experience. It was an experience in which “all maxims and philosophies were reduced to the simple task of walking in the light.

and:

It is permissible to hint that the first Christians achieved what they did because the spirit with which they were inspired was one favorable to experiment. Perhaps the line of advance for the church today is not to imitate the forms but to recapture the spirit of the Primitive Church.

It is life that matters. What was a simple truth to the apostolic churches has become a matter that desperately needs recovering if there is to be  the LIFE of the early church in the world today. A hundred years after the apostles, the churches could boast that not only were they united, but their people possessed an unworldly power. Faced with tortures and death, even women and children stood boldly in the face of emperors and governors, proclaiming  the Lordship of Jesus the Christ of God. Faced with ongoing persecution, the church expanded, so much so that Tertullian could boast that the more Christians were mown down by Rome, the more of them there were. These were not carnal believers attending meetings in a suit on  a Sunday morning, but men, women, and children who counted Christ more important than their own lives and trusted him to build his kingdom with the power of heaven. They eschewed violence, and never used a sword.

 Paul describes the sound doctrine that produced this power in Titus 2. That sound doctrine did not involve teachings about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, or wrestling about once saved, always saved. Those arguments have proven to be just what Paul said they would be, tools with which learned but carnal and ambitious men use to divide the church. Sound doctrine to Paul involved denying ourselves, living in service to others, showing respect, and loving.

Read Titus 2. It’s doctrine is real power, because Jesus Christ has become the author of eternal salvation not to those who have correct theology, but to those who obey him (Heb. 5:8 or 9).

 My commendations to Jason from Mexico, who wrote a comment on my blog that “the letter kills and that a life of sacrificial love is the main goal here.” So it is, Jason, and I’m longing for the day when I can join hands with you among the poor to see the immense power of sacrificial love doing its transforming work where you are.

I don’t know how many people read this blog, and it doesn’t help that there was probably a month between my last two posts. I hope some read it, though, as these things are important. Today, I read a reminder of just how important:

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept…

How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you,

If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy…

O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, how blessed will be the one who repays you

How blessed will be the one who…dashes your little ones against the rock. (Psalm 137, NASB)

There is much in Scripture that is figurative. It’s important that we understand figurative modes of interpretation. Evangelicals tend to be very literal in their interpretation, and so they miss much that was known in the apostolic churches. On the way to Emmaus, the Lord “expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” What were those things? Way more than we’re aware of. If you want a taste of the sort of things that Jesus taught to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, you ought to read Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, which can be found free on the net at http://www.ccel.org/fathers.

One of the things he almost surely taught them is that “he washed his clothes in the blood of grapes” from Gen. 49:11 is a reference to his death. Justin adds that it’s “the blood of grapes” because the Messiah’s blood would not come from the seed of man but from the hand of God. He argues, too, that the “clothes” referred to in that verse is a reference to his people, whom he would wash in his blood (Dialogue with Trypho 54).

 This sort of figurative interpretation was typical of the early church. You can see it throughout Hebrews, and you can see it in Paul’s letters, too (e.g., Gal. 4:21-31). Dialogue with Trypho recounts an argument with a Jew, and this sort of figurative interpretation was normal to both Justin and Trypho. At one point, Justin tells him, “Not even her should we be at a loss about anything, if we are acquainted even slightly with figurative modes of expression” (ibid., ch. 63).

I say all this to tell you that Psalm 137 is written figuratively as well as literally. Most who are following God wholeheartedly today already know that God has been saying, “Come out of her, my people.” For many years it has been almost impossible to experience the Life described in Acts. God’s people have been stuck in institutions, meeting separately based on doctrines, centered on twice a week meetings and focused mainly on witnessing to the world. They have not experienced the blessed fellowship of sharing their lives, being family, and growing together (Eph 4:11-16). Disciples who have forsaken all for Christ are mixed with “believers,” who believe, just as devils do, that Jesus is real and died for sins, but who are not taking up their cross, denying themselves, or following him.

God allowed that for a long time, but many of us were like the writer of Psalm 137. We could not forget Zion. We could not forget the fellowship of the church that belonged to all the saints for at least two centuries after the time of Christ. We wept and mourned, and we threatened ourselves with curses if we ever forgot or ignored the longing in our hearts for the true fellowship of the saints. We knew that only in such a life would we be able to say with Paul, “I am confident that he who has begun a good work in [all of ] you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Thankfully, just as happened with Nehemiah at the end of the 70 years in Babylon, the voice of God is calling us to return to the heavenly fellowship of Jerusalem. Following the road to Zion that is in our hearts, we have entered into the fellowship of the saints. Psalm 137 is an encouraging reminder that it is normal and appropriate that the rebuilding of the Lord’s house is so important to us. It is so important that the Psalm writer exalts even over the destruction of Babylon.

Babylon is coming down. Come out of her, my people. The pitiful and weak world of the traditions of men can and must be left. Rejoice! For the saints can return to Zion. We no longer need to languish in the denominations that have imprisoned us for so long. We no longer need to feign fellowship with those who are not his disciples. We can restore the walls and repair the streets for the citizens of Jerusalem, who follow the new law and new wine of Christ–the love of the Spirit and wholehearted service to our God.

It is time, o holy ones, to sing again the songs of Zion. It is time to gather up again our harps and play the songs of the Lord. We thank God for those who have not forgotten Jerusalem.