Friday, February 19, 2010

Do we have life? In our search for how to do church, is church the right word and the many conflicts we run into in dealing with our relationship with Jesus and His kingdom; what really matters is do we have life? We are so busy in trying to be right, but we have lost the basics, the most important things on which Jesus built His assembly.
Obeying the commands of Jesus
Loving one another
Being in union with one another
Fellowship that is meaningful for the growth of the body.

We can't start with doctrine and work down. We must start with the foundation and work up. There are so many conventions and books out there, what are they asking us to obey or do? Isn't obedience to His word enough? Aren't we trying to model something that had life? The early assembly did not have a perfect model on how to meet etc., they simply followed Jesus. Wasn't Jesus command to "take up your cross and follow me" the bottom line? If we truly were dead to the self life and full of the resurrected life we would not need a model (something mechanical) but we would express and be an experssion of His life as Jesus was an expression of the Father. We are always looking for something that is right... the right belief, the right model, the right doctrine...and we have not advanced the Kingdom of God one inch.

Well did James say, "Be doers of the word and not hearers only." and Jesus statment, "why do you call me Lord and you don't do what I say." If we just obeyed Jesus and not our desires, our self life or somebody's book; we would be in harmony with God and one another. As long as we are seeking formulas for church and seeking better ways to have church, we will never get there.

We need to start with Him being the Lord of His kingdom if we are going to have life.
Andy

6 comments:

  1. I like what you are saying God bless you

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  2. Been Blessed and greatly helped by the articles the Lord has given through you. Ron

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  3. Why use the term "church" isn't that clouding and confusing the issue?

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  4. Hi Andy. Thanks for this amazing website. Yes, I sometimes wonder if we are going to solve any of these problems in our own effort. I think the only reason why the first church could operate the way they did was because the love Jesus demonstrated while he was on earth. We are all so desperately in need of a love that will ignite the sacrificial love that Jesus and his followers demonstrated. I mean, how much love is needed for a group of people to sell everything they have and distribute it as anyone has need. How much love do I need not to call anything my own anymore? (Act 4:32) To abolish private ownership? It is as if they all became one family.

    I think we are going to move in the right direction if we start to understand that there is a gap between the gospel of grace and the gospel of choice. It is so easy to determine how much someone is free from sin by listening to his preaching. How much law does he preach and how much grace. By law I mean what it is that we should do and shouldn't do. The reason Jesus came is because the law could not be fulfilled by the law. If you cannot accept the fact that you are unconditionally innocent because of what Jesus did and that this state will never change by what we do, then you cannot really understand the gospel. We can please God only by faith and not by what we do. The faith in that sin is nailed to the cross and that we are dead to sin once and for all sets us free from any form of breakable obligation. The law changed from an obligation to a fruit in due time. Everybody know what unloving behaviour looks and feels like. We all want to be more mature than what we are, but the fact is that we will never be able to act more mature or less mature than what we are. Our actions are bound to this and even if you make as if you are more mature than what you are it will backfire so that on average you still acted according to your level of maturity. Nobody is in control of how mature they are and it is dependent on the love we receive. And time of course. The gospel of choice denies this. Free will is preached everywhere and for as long as we believe in free will we will believe that we are sinners thereby denying the true gospel. The true gospel lies in the fact that what separated us from the father namely sin disappeared and that we are now permanently reconciled with him! Otherwise Jesus would have had to come die again and again. Once we can fix our eyes on our unconditional innocence (believing in Jesus) our actions will slowly but surely start to conform to the love Jesus was able to demonstrate. Our maturity will surpass the righteousness which the law of works can offer. "In those days, says the lord, I will make a new covenant with my people. It will not be as the one I made with their fathers. The one they broke." You see, the new covenant is not breakable like the old. Sin is no more something we can do, only something we can believe in. The law of works changed into the law of faith (Rom 3:27). The law of sin and death changed into the law of the spirit and life (Rom 8). The law is now written on our hearts. No common law anymore, only individual law based on your level of maturity. Yes the heart is deceitful above all else in an old covenant context, but in a new covenant context the heart is trustworthy above all else. No more condemnation. To be continued in next comment …

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  5. Church is where-ever two or more are gathered in his name. This can happen anywhere, anytime, spontaneously. If it does not happen spontaneously, it’s just man’s attempt to mimic the work of God. The constitutional church is stained with obligations. Any form of formal politics is stained with obligations. How can you have a responsibility if you cannot but act according to your level of responsibility/maturity? Any form of human power corrupts. This includes money and this is exactly why the first church did what they did. Everything belongs to God. But he is willing to share everything with everybody as long as they don’t claim anything to be their own. We are one body. What belongs to the hand belongs to the foot. The fingers do not belong to the hand, they belong to the body and are controlled by the brain. Jesus is the head and he leads us now through the spirit (our hearts). “I those days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh”. It is actually just the truth that came out. We are governed not by a free will, but by the wind that blows where it wants. We do not know where it comes from, neither do we know where it is going. Scary, but true. It is because we feel out of control that we want to be in control, but unfortunately or should I rather say fortunately we will never be in control. If we were, we would not have needed any faith. Control is death, faith is life.

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  6. Amen brother. Are you still entering information on your website. Would love to get notifications. You are truly a blessing.

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