Meditations On The Word, Faith...Part 3

To sum up what we have talked about so far, we have discovered this about the word “faith”. Faith is rooted in the very character of God. God does what He does – loves us while we are still sinners, saves us to everlasting life, and blesses our lives with abundance – because of who He is. We cry out to God on the basis of His expressed character toward us. To put it another way – those in the world who see God primarily through the eyes of justice and judgment cry out to Him each day based upon that limited view. The world is on fire in a bad way because of such views of God. We believe, however, God’s own witness of His nature when He says that He is full of loving-kindness and doesn’t desire that any person should perish.

Second, we discovered that faith works through love. It makes sense. Love is the delivery system for the expectant prayers that faith makes toward a loving God. If our hearts are filled with bitterness and envy and hate and revenge – our faith is clogged up – it cannot operate because our character is not matched up and in sync with God’s character. To receive gifts from a loving God, we must willingly position our hearts to be transformed into loving hearts – toward God and people, and even ourselves - and hence, free of bitterness, unforgiveness, fear, etc.

So, what else can we say about faith? Well, here is something you may not have thought about before but I’ll just come out with it: The operation of faith is not dependent upon our perfection, our knowledge, or our experiences. The awareness of each of these three areas in our lives can at times play a hindering role in our belief that God can use our prayers to enact the miraculous.

Let’s talk first about perfection. A lot of people forget all about grace when it comes to praying, so they just give up and sort of wander aimlessly through life like the proverbial steel ball in a pinball game. Their life is not proactive but rather reactive. They believe that a life of faith is one that learns to roll with the punches, to make the best of a bad situation and so on. Why? Because they do not feel good enough about their spiritual life to offer up a prayer. Having a backstage view of themselves, they cannot enter into the presence of God because of a nagging sense of inadequacy. “Better call the Pastor on this one…” is their modus operandi because they believe that the Pastor is somehow closer to God than they themselves. This type of thinking betrays a misguided loyalty to some sort of merit system in heaven where God says: “Well, here comes a prayer from a pastor – be sure and answer that call.” And, “Oh, here comes a call from average Joe – let the answering machine pick that one up.” The problem with this type of thinking is that it is not Biblical. Even on your worse day – spiritually speaking – when you come to God, the blood of Jesus Christ continues to make you clean and perfect before Him. (I John 1:7) All you have to do is ask. And, the very place that God can do a work within you is in His presence. You see, some of us have enough faith to believe that God will get us to heaven, but not enough faith that He will supply us on the way to heaven.

Perfectionism is remedied by two simple truths. First of all, God uses deeply flawed people to accomplish His purposes. He has to. Who else is there? Read chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews, considered the Hall of Fame, the who’s who, in regard to faith and then trace their stories back to the Old Testament. You will find people who wouldn’t even qualify to be members of most churches. There are prostitutes, liars, adulterers, wimps, people who lived in caves and one man who committed suicide. Why do these people make it to the hall of fame in regard to faith? Because God knows that we are intimately acquainted with someone just like them – namely, that mug that stares back at us each morning as we brush our teeth. God is showing us that it is not a matter of our righteousness that moves heaven – it is a matter of our availability – just as we are – that releases His purposes. If you have Jesus – you are made righteous before God. That is a settled fact. The second truth is this: One of the enemy’s greatest tactics in hindering our faith is to get us distracted and discouraged by our many faults. Revelation teaches that Satan stands before God day and night making accusation against the saints. He is the eternal tattle-tale. If a Christian blows it – Satan busts him or her like the National Enquirer. What is declared as accusation against us in the spiritual realm, we feel as guilt and shame and unworthiness in the natural realm – a tightening of the chest, a downcast eye and such – you know the drill. The remedy? The verse in Revelation goes on to say this: “They overcame him by blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.” Picture this scene in heaven: Satan comes along with a laundry list of accusations against us and Jesus says simply: “The person you are looking for is dead. I own all of those accusations you are talking about. They belong to me. You have to deal with me.” Believe it. Rejoice in it. And…step out in faith in the strong assurance of your acceptance to the Father through Jesus Christ.

Second, many people do not experience an active release of faith because they do not feel they are knowledgeable enough. Unfortunately, the Christian world has all too readily reinforced this notion through its breathless and shameless promotion of a knowledge-based Christianity. Before I proceed, let me just say how much I appreciate good, clear, and concise and humble scholarship. It has blessed me greatly over the years to read the “greats” and I revel in a turn of phrase and the penetrating insights some have. But you know what? I am weary over the sense of insecurity so many believers feel about God not being able to do anything in their lives because they do not know everything there is to know about philosophy, evolution, ancient languages, sociology, etc., from a “Christian” point of view. How many believers have we lost in the battle because of the insinuation that being equipped meant somehow knowing everything? Actually, do you not find know-it-alls more than a little disagreeable? And, what connection is there between knowing a lot of stuff and simple acts of obedience that thrill Jesus’ heart, such as serving a cup of cold water or visiting a prisoner? There is very little. Jesus’ commands are not hard to understand – a child can master them. However, Jesus’ commands are sometimes hard to do. It is the doing that creates interest in heaven. “Unlearned and ignorant men” was the insult directed at the life of Peter and John. It wasn’t Peter’s and John’s scholarship that set the world on fire and caused such unrest among the academic elite of that day. What rocked their world were the simple acts of power, done in obedience to the one Name – Jesus. Jesus said this, “When the Spirit of truth comes – He will teach you all things.” The early church believed that and acted upon it. And, they did it without the internet, Christian book stores – and for that matter, even Bibles. Imagine that? So, are you smart enough to live a life of active faith? Absolutely. Why? - Because the God who created all things, who knows all things - lives in you.

Third, many Christians feel poverty in the area of experiences and thus live a life of sub-par faith. They don’t have years of successful stories to relate in regard to how God used them and thus have felt sidelined by their meager spiritual biography. The response to this one is so obvious that it hurts. The only way to get experience is to take the first job that comes your way and do it. If you were seeking a job that you really wanted, and the help wanted ad said, “Experience required”, what would be the most obvious thing to do? To go out and get some experience. The only way to experience the release of faith in your life is to become comfortable with the word “risk.” Risk might just be another word for faith. Risk means that you are stepping out and trying something you have never tried before in absolute dependence upon God. If you choose not to step out – you will never know what God could have done. And, you will never have the experience – the testimony - upon which to build.

As an aside, I have noticed over the years that God often begins our faith training by teaching us about generosity. What that means in real life is that God teaches me to pry my hands off anything that I declare is “mine.” People who are stingy or materialistic never advance in the kingdom – NEVER. Never, never, never. You got that? Never. People who are rich in faith experiences are always generous people – with their time, treasure, and talents - ALWAYS. Always, always, always. You got that? Always.

It is the seed of faith principle spoken of so often in Scripture. Give away that which you want to get in return. When heaven sees you giving something away – whether time, treasure, or talent – it plants seeds for your harvest in those areas. And, as you begin to harvest the fruit of those seeds – you will become rich in experience.

So – in this post we have dealt with three areas of hindrance to our faith: Perfectionism, knowledge, and experience. In the next post, we will explore something that is not often spoken about and which I have come to new revelation on rather recently – I call it: “Deals with the devil.” You have made them and so have I. In the next post we will hopefully move beyond a cowering, “leave me alone” victim to a wild-eyed warrior in the kingdom. Can’t wait to write the next one!

Be blessed,

Pastor C.J.

Meditations On The Word, Faith...Part 2

I have been fiddling around a lot with my lawn mower this past summer. Roughly once a week I have to stare down a little over an acre of mowing. Between the frequent rains we experienced and the irrigating that I have done, the yard has been pretty much out of control. If it grew evenly, I wouldn’t care so much; but, having dogs who are not terribly concerned with spreading their fertilizing efforts around in a more uniform fashion – the yard takes on the look of a bad haircut after a few days with little clumps of green mohawks appearing hither and yon.

Thus, it was very stressful when a couple of months ago, my big 18 HP Sears Garden Tractor pooped out. (No connection with the aforementioned dog stuff). When I pulled out my fuel filter, a line of black goop burped onto my hand. I replaced it and the mower ran for about 10 minutes then again, sputtered to a stop. This same unfortunate occurrence took place, fuel filter after fuel filter. I finally had to replace all of the fuel lines before the problem was remedied. It seems that my trusty lawn mower simply couldn’t run with black sludge standing guard between the gas tank and the carburetor.

As we consider the issue of faith, I believe the plugged up fuel line stands as a great illustration of the operation, or lack thereof, of our faith. Have you ever felt as though you didn’t have enough faith? Have you ever struggled with wondering why other people seem to score answer after answer to their prayers of faith while your life is littered with stacks of unanswered prayers? Both grow exponentially. Oftentimes, answered prayer becomes the new high water mark of our spiritual journey and emboldens us to ask for greater and greater things. Conversely, our discouragement – our unfaith – can grow with each unanswered prayer. The question that we need to answer is how to get our faith “operational.” How do we get the faith through the fuel line – so to speak – where it produces the results that we are after? What could possibly be blocking the flow of faith in our lives?

Let me dispatch immediately with where you think this is probably going. As a voracious reader, I am always trying to guess where the article or novel is going next. If I were reading this blog, I would assume that I was about to hear a sermonette on personal holiness – that sin was like sludge and so forth. Okay, sure – that works. But let me just grant to you the assumption that you are all cleaned up, you have confessed all of your sins, and that you are parked safely under a fresh washing of the grace and mercy of Jesus. You are clean but your prayers of faith still seem hindered – what then?

There is a verse in Galatians 5 that ends with this phrase: “What is important is faith expressing itself through love.” How many of us have ever taken the time to connect the operation of our faith with love? I have been in ministry for many years and cannot recall a single sermon on the subject. In fact, to be honest, I do not remember that particular portion of that particular verse ever jumping out at me until fairly recently. Now, I am not certain that I have meditated enough on this verse to extract all of its meaning, but let me share an insight or two which I believe to be helpful.

First of all, when we look at the love passage in I Corinthians 13 and take into account what Paul is saying in Galatians 5, some things begin to slide into place. He begins I Corinthians 13 by talking about tongues, prophecy and faith. He says that if I could yammer in any tongue – angelic or ethnic – and had not love, it would be mere noise. If I could prophesy and tell every one of God’s secrets and didn’t have love, I would be a nothing. And then he says, if I had faith to move mountains (echoes of Jesus by the way – namely, if you had the faith of a mustard seed, you could move mountains), and didn’t have love, I would be a zero. He then launches into the “verbal” nature of love. Love is a verb. It is a “doing” or action word. It is known by what it does and by what it refrains from doing. And, all of these actions or inactions of love are “faith expressing itself through love.” Let me re-set I Corinthians 13 in this way:

Faith expressing itself through love is patient and kind (vs. 4)
Faith expressing itself through love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. (vs. 4)
Faith expressing itself through love does not demand its own way, it is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. (vs. 5)
Faith expressing itself through love does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. (vs.6)
Faith expressing itself through love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures in every circumstance. (vs.7)
Faith expressing itself through love will last forever (vs. 8)

When we speak of people “living their faith”, isn’t this what we are really talking about – living their love? I kind of think that the reason that Jesus said we only need a mustard seed’s worth of faith to cause mountains to move is that He didn’t see faith as the central issue in moving God’s hand. Staring at our own faith is a zero sum game and ultimately self-centered. Faith grows when we choose not to look at it but to look to another. Staring in love at our Creator grows Him past the size of our current circumstance and crisis. Praying in love for others, with the qualifiers set forth in I Corinthians 13, releases the faith that attracts the responsiveness of heaven.

So, are you ready to unclog your fuel line and see the hand of God miraculously at work in your life? It is as simple and elemental as this: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength – and love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:29-31

We cannot love without faith. We cannot express faith that moves heaven without love. It is a marriage. Join me in this simple prayer. “Father, I now see that the answer to my frustration with having enough faith, comes back to the simple application of your greatest commands – to love You and to love others. I ask for the empowerment of Your Holy Spirit to not only renew my mind to this simple truth – moment by moment – but to walk out this truth in my prayers and in my actions each day. In Jesus name and nature I pray, Amen.”

Some Things I Am Feeling & Thinking In Regard to Patrick Crossing

(I am taking a short break from the faith series in order to bring you a "fresh heart" update. If you do not enjoy honesty, please stop here; otherwise, proceed with the boldness of a Braveheart)!

We are quickly approaching the one year anniversary of my last day of institutional church ministry and the beginning of Patrick Crossing. It has been a wild ride this past year as Jan and I have laid down the security of what once was and have embarked on an almost daily dependence upon God for our needs to be met. We have learned many lessons about simplicity and "needs verses wants" in this journey while at the same time reforming ideas about what it means to be the church on a daily basis. I have no regrets.

Now, moving on…When something begins to work at my insides, I figure that it is the Lord speaking to me in regard to something I need to share. I fear that some of the following thoughts might appear random and a bit out of my area of expertise, but nevertheless, I will give it a go.

There has been growing within me a sense of unease in regard to our country as a whole and the place the church, viz. a viz., Patrick Crossing, has in response to that unease. Without going into a great deal of boring chit-chat about economics, suffice it to say that our country is poised for a perfect storm in regard to its economy. We have moved from being a nation that produces goods that we can export to a nation of consumers. Our entire economy has changed dramatically in the past 20 or so years. And, our consumer habit has been driven by debt. That borrowing has been fueled by the willingness of other countries to support our borrowing by the purchase of T-Bills and by our government’s willingness to increase the money supply by printing more money. Historically – 100% of the time – nations that have gone from being producing nations to debtor nations have crumbled from within. The oft talked about 3 trillion dollar deficit is a smokescreen. I recently heard that the actual number our number nation owes itself and the world is closer to 59.1 trillion dollars. (Wikipedia) How do you measure a trillion? Try this on for size: (Enjoy)!

A million, a billion, a trillion – what’s the difference? It’s only money. Imagine a $1.00 bill, the one with George Washington’s picture on it.

Actual size, it is approximately 6 and 1/8 inches long, 2 and ¾ inches wide and a stack 1-inch high would hold 250 dollar bills.

Given those dimensions: A stack of $1.00 bills 1 inch high would be $250 worth. A stack of $1.00 bills 4 inches high would be $1,000 worth. A stack of $1.00 bills 4,000 inches high (333.3 feet) would be $1 million dollars worth.

A stack of $1.00 bills 4 million inches (330,000 feet or 63 miles) high would be $1 billion dollars worth. If you broke this stack into smaller ones, you could have 11 stacks as high as Mount Everest! A stack of $1.00 bills 4 billion inches (63,131 miles) high would be $1 trillion dollars worth. If you broke this stack into smaller ones, you could have 11,480 stacks as high as Mount Everest!

If you earned $100,000 a year (tax free), it would take you 10 years to earn $1 million dollars. If you earned $100,000 a year (tax free), it would take you 10,000 years to earn $1 billion dollars. If you earned $100,000 a year (tax free), it would take you 10,000,000 years to earn $1 trillion dollars!

Would you like to spend a trillion dollars? You’d have to spend a million dollars per day - for a million days. That’s a million dollars spent every day for 2,737 years!

What’s my point? Our borrowing, our consuming, and our breaking of the 10th commandment (“Thou shalt not covet,” just to refresh your memories) – Christians and non-Christians alike – have bankrupted our future. Bombarded as we are each day with almost countless messages that suggest that our happiness resides just after our next purchase places us within a mindset and lifestyle that the Bible calls bondage. “The borrower is servant to the lender.” Proverbs 22:7

That’s the bad news. Now, let me share what I believe to be the strategic positioning the Lord would have for His people in the challenging days ahead that I believe will be soon in coming.

EMBRACE COMMUNITY - The American Dream promises that we can have everything we want independent of other people. The nuclear family (a wife, husband & 2.3 kids) works hard to produce this typical American Dream. I grew up near an Amish community in Illinois. While some of their theology is a bit sketchy, one thing they understood well was the concept of Biblical community. If someone needed a barn built, the whole lot of them showed up. In one day, the Amish, without electrical power and power tools, could erect a barn for their neighbor. They gladly lent their time and muscle to another because they themselves had benefited from such community efforts, or hoped to in the future. Also, when we lived in the Dominican Republic, we saw family enterprises. A father or mother provided for the kids and grandkids by involving them in the family business and by simply adding on to their house as their family grew. Over a couple of generations, these humble dwellings became estates and the businesses a chain of prosperity. I believe that one of the things that can set Patrick Crossing apart is to begin to think and pray together how New Testament community practices could begin to benefit all of us.

EMBRACE BIBLICAL STEWARDSHIP – In the book of Malachi, chapter 3, verse 6 and following, God is having a conversation with the nation of Israel. Things had not been going well. Their economy was a wreck and they were a people in bondage. God says to them these simple words: “Return to me and I will return to you.” The response from the people is quite telling and honest: “We would love to, God, but how?” God asks a follow-up question: “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me.” The people are aghast: “What do you mean, God? We have never cheated you. What in the world are you talking about?” God’s response is clear and direct: “You have cheated me in tithes and offerings due me.” Do you get that? Israel was under judgment because they had taken what was holy – the tithe (10% of income) – and spent it on their own pleasures and debts. The tithe belongs to the Lord – it goes for His work and His kingdom advancement. It doesn’t belong to us. Statistics tell us that the average American Christian only gives about 3% of their income to the Lord. In Korea, it is around 20%. The vibrancy of the Korean Church compared to the anemia of the American Church might have something to do with us being a band of robbers. While in the institutional church, Jan and I always gave around 11-12% of our income back to His work. In our new venue, and with a lot less income, we give closer to 20% in tithes and offerings. And, we have been blessed in so doing. These things never make sense on paper – never. But the question I like to ask is this: “Can God do more with 90% of your income than you can with 100% of your income?” Only the arrogant or uninformed would answer, “No!” to that question. The tithe helps us break our addiction toward self-centered spending because we realize this truth from Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” There is no such thing as the word “Mine!” in the kingdom. There is only the word: “His.” We are stewards over His stuff. The more faithful we are with a little, the more stewardship we have entrusted to us.

In addition to the tithe, God would have us begin to live more simple and uncomplicated lifestyles. As Jesus said, a man or a life is not measured by the treasures and things he piles up on this earth.

EMBRACE THE ELEMENTAL - Dr. Rich Frazer, one of our board members, said this to me when he visited Patrick Crossing: “You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you cannot count the number of trees in a seed.” Rich was echoing a biblical point made by Jesus and Paul. Paul said it this way: “Remember this, a farmer who only plants a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must decide in your own heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. ‘For God loves a hilarious giver.’ And God will generously provide all you need, then you will always have everything you need and have plenty left over to share with others…For God is the One who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, He will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.” II Corinthians 9:6-10… (Keep reading. It is all good)!

The point that Paul is making is in regard to the power of the seed, the elemental. Botanists tell us that a single grain of wheat, if left to grow unhindered, could feed the world within eight years. That is mind-blowing. To become seed people, whether with money or with time, or with our gifts and talents places us directly within that place where God can give increase. And, we never use the same scorecards as the world. The world wants big and it wants it now. As kingdom people, we become fascinated with the potential of the seed.

Let me say this very clearly – any area of your life where you are experiencing deficit, sow seed into it. If you are lonely, invest in making someone else NOT lonely. If you are struggling financially, sow faith seeds into that area. If you are depressed, sows seeds of thankfulness and praise. Learn to move in the opposite spirit of your circumstance – to race towards the counter-intuitive. That is where your faith not only gets stretched but your faith gets recognized by heaven. It pleases the Father to scatter seeds in faith that we might otherwise & unwisely consume in the moment.

The End Of The Beginning…

This letter, this epistle if you will, is meant to provoke further thought and discussion. I have done my part by initiating that which the Father has put on my heart. The “rest of the story” (to borrow a catch-phrase from a very old man!), is in your hands. It is the beginning of our journey, not the end. It is simply the end of the beginning. Please weigh in your responses to the seeds that I have cast and let’s see together what is in the Father’s heart for Patrick Crossing, the 4-Corners and the world.

Be Blessed,

CJ

Meditation On The Word, "Faith" - Part I....

Romans 4: 7 As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

There are a few things I have been learning recently about the word “faith” that have added a spark of motivation to my prayer life. To communicate what I am only beginning to understand and experience is a bit of a literary challenge because, as is often the case with spiritual things, knowledge and revelation sometimes – oftentimes – precede experience. Experience is the edifice that rests upon the foundation of truth. Experience is the goal of faith, the finished structure of faith. But, even absent of a lot of experiences, I risk relaying to you some of the foundational truths relative to the word “faith” that I believe are the substructure to future great experiences and adventures with God.

Let’s begin with the word itself – faith. In the Greek, the word generally translated as faith is: pistis. Literally translated it means: firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing. Paul almost spelled this literal definition out in Romans 10:17a “Consequently, faith comes from hearing…”

There is a subtle point that needs to be made after reading the above verse and I do so by way of a question: “Faith in what?” It is a good question. The point of faith as it is described in Scripture is to always bring together two things about Jesus/God; namely, His ability and His nature. Simply put, faith brings us to a person. Abraham’s faith (See: Romans 4:7 above) did not rest so much in God’s promise, it rested in God. The promises that flowed from God were a given, a done deal, if Abraham trusted the God from whom the promises flowed.

Think about it this way. If I were to tell my one of my children that I would like to send him or her a check for a billion dollars - which would speak to the natural generosity of my nature as a father - the process would be thwarted because of my lack of ability to cover that check. That is nature without ability. One of the most obvious names that I can come up with who could cover a check of that magnitude would be Bill Gates. At last count he could do that at least 38 times. But, while Bill might have the ability, it is not in his nature to send out a random check for a billion dollars to a child who isn’t his own. That is ability without nature.

You see, a faith in God that doesn’t take into account His nature (i.e. personality, character, etc.) is mere agnosticism - which basically admits that God can do things – but that He is not all that interested. On the other hand, faith that doesn’t take into account His ability is mere religion - what Scripture refers to as a form of Godliness that denies His power. Neither is good. Both are inadequate.

True faith is the wonderful discovery that in the person of Jesus Christ, we find the perfect balance of both ability and nature. It is because of who He is that He does what He does. That is why intimate relationship with Him is the foundation of all that follows as a believer. As we fall in love with Him and make personal discoveries of His nature we cannot help but come into contact with truth about His unlimited abilities.

There is one stumbling block that can obscure our faith at this point and it is a very common one which receives the full support of hell. The stumbling block is this: To turn our attention from His nature and His ability to our nature and our ability. When we gaze at our nature we see a spotty record of a few successes and a laundry list of many, many failures. And, when we consider our abilities, we see some pretty well-defined limits in regard to our energies, our money, our patience, our love – you name it. Discouragement is the fruit of self-faith.

You can always tell which faith a person is operating from based not just on their response to big events, but more telling, how they operate in the mundane affairs of everyday life – the burnt toast, the bills, the interruptions, the rock chip on the new windshield, being slighted, the surly waitress, and the various temptations that slide in and out view. A person living from a place of abundance in Him is immunized against a reactionary lifestyle to the common. Conversely, a person who has himself or herself as the primary object of faith will grow increasingly jaded, cynical, offended, grouchy, self-absorbed and alienated – from both God and people.

So, to know Him – to really get to know Him – to keep Jesus as the object of our affections is the way home. It is the way of the spontaneously supernatural, and it is the way of prosperity of body, soul and spirit. More to come…

Bible Bingo & Other Stuff...Part V (Finis)

“Chronological snobbery is self-defeating, for the more up-to-date the look is, the sooner it will be dated. If you take your stand on the prevalent view, how long do you suppose it will prevail? All you can really say about my taste is that it is old fashioned; yours will soon be the same.” -C.S. Lewis, "An Experiment In Criticism "

We come today to the final installment of this series of essays entitled: Bible Bingo & Other Stuff. If you have not had a chance to read this series from the beginning, go back a bit on this blog site. There is a certain, non-linear logic to all of what we have been discussing. But, if you’re too engaged to do so – allow me a moment to summarize.

I began with the simple contention that we all seek the miraculous in our lives. I have affirmed that this is a good thing because the early church prayed for God to extend His hand to perform signs and wonders. It follows then that any prayer lifted up to God carries within it the hope of Divine intervention, which is, by definition, a miracle. Who would waste time praying that God would just stay put? (Actually, now that I think about it, some actually do pray along those lines. That stripe of theology prays for strength to endure the ravages and attacks of Satan and his destroying and corrupting ways. I suppose we all need that – but I think it is more biblical and more kingdom advancing to cry out to God that He show up and change and fix and heal those things – that His kingdom and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. John described Jesus' ministry like this: “The Son of man came to destroy the works of the devil.” It would seem to follow then that our lives are to pick up where Jesus left off – stirring up a holy anger and contending against the destruction of the destroyer – not merely enduring as passive victims subject to the whims of the enemy of our soul – and other's souls.)

I would like to round off the discussion with a few more thoughts as it relates to the American Church and her fascination, allegiance, and dependence on forms and methodologies rather than the supernatural power of God. Let me relate a simple story that illustrates this point.

This past weekend I found myself in a local hardware store. I bumped into a dear brother in Christ who had been preaching in view of a call as Pastor to a certain, small, fundamentalist type of church. I thought it odd when he told me of his invitation to go there and speak, inasmuch that he is of the charismatic persuasion. In other words, he believes in all of the gifts of the spirit. This little church was started by a bigger church as a “mission”. The bigger church does not believe at all in the gifts of the Spirit. That is their form. It is called dispensationalism. After three successful weeks of preaching and a great response from the congregation, the larger church caught wind of it and said that unless he gave up his beliefs in the gifts of the Spirit and only preached from the King James Version of the Bible, he was not a good candidate to become Pastor of the mission.

I share that story to underscore a point. The fundamentalist church had a certain philosophy, a certain methodology; a certain form that they thought was exactly the right one delivered from heaven to get the job done. Every denomination and every individual church – even this ministry – carries the same blindness to one extent or another. That is why I am somewhat suspicious of too eager a commitment and excitement for a “new” way of doing things. A lot of movements become engrossed in tinkering with form. And, as history has shown time and time again, the fascination with form can actually crowd God right out of the organization - whose original stated purpose was, in fact, to bring Him glory.

In the ponderous Russian novel, The Brothers Karamazov, there is a telling discussion that takes place between two of the Karamazov brothers – one (Ivan) is a product of the age of enlightenment who is, at best, an agnostic. The other brother (Alyosha) is a Christian. Ivan tells Alyosha that he desires to share with him a short story that he has written, entitled “The Grand Inquisitor.” The story is set in Seville, Spain during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. The Grand Inquisitor is the man in charge of rooting out heretics and burning them. Into this story, Jesus appears on the streets of Seville and begins to re-enact his miraculous ministry on earth. The Grand Inquisitor has Jesus arrested, thrown in jail, and lets him know – in no uncertain terms – that tomorrow he will have Jesus burned at the stake. His reasoning for this egregious act is that the church has finally figured things out. The Grand Inquisitor tells Jesus that the church no longer needs him and that once they kill him, they do not want him to return. Jesus sits silently throughout this story.

The point that Dostoevsky makes by including this short story in the middle of his novel is to point a rightful finger of accusation at the church. The church has become accustomed to the trendy, to the newest model of ministry, to the latest, most relevant and most "effective" form. One church growth publication even published a newsletter with this unfortunate title: “What’s Hot & What’s Not!” The publication was simply ga-ga over cushioned chairs and hostile toward church pews. This "revelation" was supposed to help the church reach the lost! Paul, having been raised and educated in a system and form that was devoid of power said it this way: “…having a form of godliness, but denying its power.” (II Tim 3:5) We could easily stop at the word “form” in this passage and leap right over to the phrase: “but denying its power.” A reliance on form, rather than the miraculous, supernatural power of God’s Spirit, drains the church of her greatest weapon in this supernatural battle in which we find ourselves.

And so, I wrap things up with this passage: “So now the Lord says, ‘Stop right where you are! Look for the ancient and godly paths, and walk in them.” Jeremiah 6:16. The ancient paths for the church where we must return are those elemental acts and stories found in the gospels and in the Book of Acts. Simple people – some of whom were disparaged as unlearned and ignorant men – matched the words of their witness with the power of God. This is what they cried out for and God answered. No method, no form, no system that we can come up with can equal the persuasive power of God working through humble and obedient hearts. It wins hearts and minds whenever and wherever it is tried. We cannot improve upon God’s method, God’s form, or God’s system. People in this post-modern culture are not so much asking “if” there is a God; they are asking whether or not our God is the real deal. We owe them the real time revelation of a loving God who has commissioned us to announce and bring forth His kingdom on this earth in all of its glory, grace, love and power.

Bible Bingo & Other Stuff...Part IV

(To benefit the most from this post, please go to the first of this mini-series: Monday, June 11,’07– CJ. Be blessed).

We live in amazing times. A trip through the “devotional” book section at Wal-Mart unearths best-sellers that range from Southern Baptists, to Pentecostals, to Catholics, to a Church of Christ Pastor. For a church body that has, in previous generations, spent a good deal of its energy attacking one another’s doctrine and purity – this variety is probably a good thing. The body of Christ is bigger and more glorious and more variegated than any particular sectarian view. Burning the heretics (for most of us!) has lost its allure. I am not saying that theological debate and bromides are not still in vogue – I can point you to a million websites devoted to “doctrinal purity” - but these seem anachronistic and a little quaint – even the orneriest ones. You have a sense that the only people who visit these websites are the already converted. Shouting amen at a flashing icon on a computer screen accomplishes little.

But, just because we have toned down the theological rhetoric attached to orthodoxy doesn’t at all mean we have lost interest in fighting. We have simply changed the battlefield from orthodoxy (right belief) to orthopraxy (right practice). I was reading a book from an author of one of the newer versions of “right practice” recently. In it the author suggested that his generation (anyone under thirty) was the chosen generation and that there was absolutely no hope for the world apart from his post-modernistic, emergent, contextualized, culturally relevant methodology. There was something in his methodology about candles, good coffee, micro-brews, using swear-words to teach (just like Paul!), caring about global-warming, tolerance, tobacco, acoustical music, a wholesale ripping of institutional Christianity, and walking around with a concerned & troubled countenance. This was the method, the style, the feel – that this generation would use to win the world for Christ. (Never mind that this is remarkably similar to the “style” of Jean-Paul Sartre the French existentialist, thus, not all that original). For one who began his Christian life in the late 70’s, I might be bold to note that I have heard this same suggestion a couple of times each decade. People in their twenties turn thirty and they revise their “chosen generation” numbers. People in their thirties turn forty and then they revise and extend and so forth. I suppose when the thirty-something guy turns seventy we will have another paradigm shift or perhaps even a “classics” revision.

The thing about changing our forms and methodologies that is so tempting is that a particular method or style really has worked somewhere for somebody. And, that somebody has gone on to write a book and hold a conference and the sheep have duly gathered to purchase a conference notebook and run back home to be relevant – albeit with someone else’s God-given vision.

Several years ago I remember being sent by my church to go and observe a large successful “model” that happened to be located in the suburbs of Chicago. (Any guesses anyone)? Besides being overwhelmed at the palatial facilities, I couldn’t quite figure out how I was going to duplicate a model that had a full stage, full band, with adjoining gymnasiums on either side of the stage. Our new church was at that time meeting in a storefront. All I could think about was what I didn’t have. How could I be a successful youth pastor without all this stuff? I was breaking the 10th commandment. I was coveting. I knew that I could never BE what I was witnessing. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t my church.

It is funny how simple the Bible makes things if we can put to rest the temptation to be relevant. At the risk of oversimplifying the whole methodological debate – let me just ask one simple question: Is Jesus always relevant? If your answer to that is: “No” (i.e. Jesus needs my cultural props to be relevant) then we have very little else to talk about. Go enjoy your micro-brews, your organic cigarettes and work hard on that pained, caring expression. But, if your answer is "yes" – that, when you really think about it, Jesus is always relevant and doesn’t need a bunch of methodological props to make a difference in a person’s life – then be sure and read carefully the next post. Your life is about to become very simple and…charged with the supernatural.

Bible Bingo & Other Stuff...Part III

(To benefit the most from this post, please see the past two…)

So, as we have seen, there is within us an incurable, and I believe, God-seeded desire within each of us to experience the miraculous. Are not all prayer requests a simple demonstration of that desire? My simple definition of the miraculous is: an experience of the unexpected but hoped for help at just the right moment that cannot be explained in terms of our own strength, effort or wisdom. Who wouldn’t want that? Again, all supplicant type of prayers have this end in view.

Now, while we have witnessed in previous posts the fact that the early church was not only comfortable with the miraculous but actually prayed for it – there are a couple of passages of Scripture which act as a sort of corrective to an unhealthy fascination and misuse of the miraculous. Let’s look at those real quick. The first is found in Matthew 12:38, 39. “One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.” But Jesus said, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign…” Jesus point? Miracles are not given on demand to a sort of Olympic committee of judges. The miracles that Jesus performed were always for the purpose of declaring the good news that the Kingdom of God had arrived and that the works of the devil (to steal, kill and destroy) were now themselves being assaulted by a loving God. The miracles helped real people in real situations. To prove that point, a couple of chapters later, Matthew records an incredible wholesale healing event with these words: “When the people recognized Jesus, the news of His arrival spread quickly throughout the whole area, and soon, people were bringing all their sick to be healed. They begged Him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of His robe, and all who touched Him were healed.” Matthew 14:34-36 Since the word “all” in the Greek means the same thing as “all” in English – we can conclude that ALL who came with disease experienced a miraculous healing from God. None of those from the religious elite who demanded a miracle were given one because they didn’t need one and because their motives were sinister. They were unbelievers on a fact-finding mission, not on a God-encountering mission. And, Scripture records that even those miracles they did have a chance to observe were, more than once, credited to the devil. But, for those who realized their own despair and neediness and in humility cried out for a touch from God, these were given one. My point? To pray for the miraculous move of God in our daily lives is a good thing when the emphasis is on the power of God bringing healing, help and hope to a real person in a difficult circumstance.

Now follow close, because the other passage of Scripture which concerns us drives the point home even further. Jesus said, “On judgment day many will say to me, Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name. But I will reply, ‘I never knew you.’ Get away from me you who break God’s law.” Matthew 7:22, 23 If any passage would scare us away from seeking the miraculous, this one would certainly top the list. But think about how weak that thinking really is. Are we to say to Jesus, “Because I didn’t prophesy, cast out demons, or heal the sick – then I get to go to heaven?” Is there virtue in doing nothing? Is Jesus summarily identifying the miraculous with evil and unbelief? I think not. I believe this passage carries within it the same seeds of warning as the previous. The miracle workers noted in this passage have somehow bent the glory of their apparent good works back upon themselves. Not one of them said – “Jesus, through me you did such and such.” They are saying, “Jesus, I did this. Look at me!” These folks would have gladly performed a trick for the religious leaders and Pharisees because their ultimate goal was recognition, acceptance and man’s honor.

So, let’s take the warnings for what they are. Simply put, we are not to seek the miraculous either to prove ourselves and gain legitimacy; or, to use it to judge the spirituality of another. These are evil, just as Jesus said. (More to come...)