September 3, 2010

Four years ago, in the early days of this blog, I wrote a series called “Defining the Church.” I should probably re-write that series, because my understanding of the church has changed some as I’ve continued to study Scripture. In that series, I looked at various passages of Scripture to help me define the church. One of the posts (“Defining the Church 4“) dealt with Acts 1-2 and the work of the Holy Spirit in defining the church.

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Defining the Church 4

So far (Defining the Church part 1, part 2, part 3), we have examined the gospels (Matt 16:15-99, 18:15-20; John 15-17) in order to define the church (εκκλησία = “assembly, community”). The main points are that the church belongs to Jesus and is created by Jesus. He builds the church of those who believe and follow Him, and He promises that death will not defeat the church. Finally, Jesus gathers the church together in order for the church to obey Him, to represent Him, and to demonstrate His character.

In Acts 2:42-47, Luke presents a beautiful image of the church. Many look to this picture to define the church; however, it seems that Luke was showing what happened as a result of believers being the church. In other words, since believers were gathered as the church, they “continued steadfastly in (“were faithful to”, “were devoted to”, “persevered in”) the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). Continuing in the Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers did not MAKE them the church, nor do these activities define the church. Instead, the church, when built and gathered by Christ, will demonstrate these activities, among many others. As an analogy, rain is not defined by the ground being wet; however, when it rains, the ground usually becomes wet.

So, what can we learn from the first two chapters of Acts that will help us define the church? As I read the first two chapters of Acts, there is a theme that may aid us in our study of the church. Notice the passages of Scripture below (emphasis added):

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen… (Acts 1:1-2)

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5)

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy…’ ” (Acts 2:14-18)

(Peter still speaking) This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. (Acts 2:32-33)

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. (Acts 2:37-39)

In summary, Jesus commands the believers to wait in Jerusalem until He sends the Spirit (the Promise from the Father). When Jesus sends the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter reminds the crowd that the Spirit was promised by the prophet Joel, and that the Spirit was sent by Jesus. Peter extended Jesus’ promise – which is the Promise of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit – to all who believe, to as many as the Lord our God will call. It is only at this point – after the coming of the Spirit – that Luke describes the result: the church. All believers – the original 120 as well as the 3000 added by God – are now bound together by the same Spirit into the one church of Jesus Christ. Jesus continues to build His church – through His Spirit. Jesus continues to communicate to His church – through His Spirit. Jesus continues to abide with His church – through His Spirit.

Or, as Irenaeus said many years ago: “Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church.”

As Jesus (through His Spirit) gathers together those who believe and follow Him (through His Spirit), those believers will reveal His character, live according to His commands, and represent Him in the world (all through His Spirit).

August 28, 2010

There are several passages of Scripture that indicate that God sends his Spirit to dwell within his children. Here is one of those passages:

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11 ESV)

Have you thought about how incredible it is that God’s Spirit dwells within us?

The Spirit convicts, encourages, strengthens, guides… so many different functions. Yet, the Spirit of God does not force us to do or say anything.

I’ve studied several aspects of the Spirit. I even wrote a paper once about the Holy Spirit in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament). But, the more I think about and read in Scripture about the Spirit, I realize that there is much that I don’t understand.

Perhaps I’ll write a series of posts about the Spirit after I finish my series about internet ministry.

What is the most amazing thing about being indwelled by the Holy Spirit to you? What major question(s) do you have about the Spirit indwelling people?

August 10, 2010

Eric (from “A Prilgrim’s Progress”) wrote a post last week called “Able to Admonish One Another.” He is commenting on the following passage from Romans:

I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. (Romans 15:14 ESV)

By the way, “admonish” (or “instruct” as the ESV translates it) carries the idea of teaching someone with the goal of changing something about them – primarily their behavior.

Eric concludes his post with this:

The church gathering is not a show. It should not be a ceremony. Rather, the bible describes it as a time when God is glorified through our building one another up in Jesus Christ. This is something Paul tells us that we should do for the good of the body. It is what we all should do.

So, let us actively admonish and be admonished. In doing this, we all grow closer to Christ together.

I agree with Eric’s post. I’ll add just one thing. Paul had never been to Rome. While he knew a few of the Roman Christians, he did not know them all. He had never met the majority of them. But, he knew that they were able to admonish (instruct) one another.

How did Paul know this? Did he know that they were educated or well-trained? Nope. It’s much simpler than that.

Paul knew that the Roman Christians were indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

In the same way and for the same reason, I’m convinced that any Christian is able to admonish (instruct) any other Christian.

June 2, 2010

What does it mean to be “led by the Spirit”? Often, when someone says something like, “I think the Spirit may be leading me to do something,” what they really mean is, “I think this is what I should do, but I want to sound spiritual.” But, of course, they also don’t want to blame God for any bad moves they make, so they give God an out by saying things like “I think” or “maybe” or “I’m trying to discern” etc.

I was thinking about that when I read this passage in Acts:

And they (Paul and his team) went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.  And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”  And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6-10 ESV)

Notice a few things… first, Paul and his team attempted to make at least two moves that were not in God’s plan. They tried to “speak the word in Asia” and they attempted to “go into Bithynia.” Luke does not say that they thought God was leading them to do this.

But, second, they knew that God stopped them from doing it. Twice Luke says that the Spirit stopped them. This was a definite act of God, but whether they knew it before hand or afterwards, Luke doesn’t tell us.

Finally, Paul has a vision of going to Macedonia. It’s only after a direct communication from God that they were willing to say that God was telling them to do something. Even then, there appears to be some consideration of the vision, since they had to “conclude” that God had called them to Macedonia.

While there are plenty of other passages in Scripture that helps us understand how God leads his people by his Spirit, we can see a few things in this passage.

Paul and his team did not feel the need to credit (or blame) God for every decision that they made. Just in these few verses we see that Paul and his team made decisions and began following plans that were later changed by God. Reading through Acts, you could probably say that this was their default way of making decisions. Certainly they prayed and considered all their options and started along the path that seemed best to them.

But, they were also always cognizant of the fact that they might make decisions that were contrary to God’s plans, and thus, they were also willing to change their plans. If God clearly revealed to them to stop what they were doing (as he did concerning Asia or Bithynia), or if God clearly revealed something that he wanted them to do (as he did concerning Macedonia), then Paul and his team would change their plans.

God is our Father, and he loves as. We can make decisions based on the information that we have and the wisdom that he’s given us. We don’t have to say something like, “I think God is leading me to…” But, at the same time, we should always be ready to change our plans if he reveals something else to us.

You see, being “led by the Spirit” is not a feeling that you get. It is a definite direction that God reveals to us.

May 26, 2010

Last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. Since that first Pentecost after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, the church (and each believer) has been indwelled by the Holy Spirit… the promise of God.

But, we know that there are other spirits at work in the world as well. So, John tells us to “test the spirits”… but how do we test them? He says:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:1-3 ESV)

Is this enough of a test for you?

May 24, 2010

A few days ago, I pointed out that unhypocritical (or sincere) love (Romans 12:9) includes the practice of “showing more honor” to one another (Romans 12:10).

But, Paul described “unhypocritical love” in other ways as well. He says unhypocritical love (Romans 12:11-13):

• is not idle in eagerness
• is burning for the Spirit
• is a slave to the Lord
• is rejoicing in hope
• is enduring troubles
• is persisting in prayer
• is contributing to the needs of the saints (God’s children)
• is pursuing hospitality.

I’ve translated these in a way that indicates a sense of continual action. What do you think?

May 18, 2010

According to Luke, something happened on the Pentecost following Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension. He records Peter and the other followers of Jesus telling everyone who would listen that the Holy Spirit had come, just as God has promised. Peter said that the same promise was available to all who repented and were baptized in the name of Jesus.

Needless to say… this was something different… something new.

Today, the promised Holy Spirit is still given to God’s children. Being indwelled by the Spirit makes us different, both individually and when we’re together. Our lives (personally and corporately) should demonstrate this difference.

We should be different than we were before we were indwelled by the Spirit, and we should be different than the people and groups around us who are not indwelled by the Spirit.

May 14, 2010

About 1 1/2 years ago, I wrote a post called “More ready to submit than to impose.” The post was in response to a book by Lesslie Newbigin. It seems that in our current “church order,” leader impose on the freedoms of others. Meanwhile, Newbigin says it should be just the opposite. Anyway, I thought this would be a fitting end to our week-long discussion on spiritual gifts and serving others.

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More ready to submit than to impose

I recently read Lesslie Newbigin’s book The Household of God (Friendship Press, 1954). Kärkkäinen describes Newbigin’s ecclesiology as a “missionary ecclesiology” – “The new conciliar understanding of mission is based on the idea that the essential nature of the church is missionary, rather than mission being a task given to the church. (Velli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Introduction to Ecclesiology, Downers Grove: IVP, 2002, pg. 151).

However, Newbigin does not begin his book with mission. Instead, he begins with the essence or nature of the church:

We are to be speaking about the Church, and it is necessary at the outset to say that this means a society of human beings, which—so far as those still living in the flesh are concerned—is a visible community among the other human communities. The question, ‘What are its boundaries?,’ is part of the question we have to discuss, but just for that reason it is important to make clear that we are speaking of a society which has discernible boundaries. We are not speaking of an abstract noun, or of an invisible platonic idea… We are called to recognize and join ourselves to God’s visible congregation here on earth. This congregation is truly known only to faith, because it is constituted in and by the Holy Spirit. (19-20)

According to Newbigin, the Spirit plays an essential role in the constitution, nature, and task of the church. The Spirit primarily functions through his abiding presence:

The Holy Spirit is now [in contrast with what was described in the OT] no more an occasional visitant to a favored individual, but the abiding and indwelling principle of life in a fellowship. The supreme gift of the Spirit is not the spectacular power by which an individual may gain preeminence, but the humble and self-effacing love by which the body is built up and knit together. (115)

Finally, the Spirit also functions during the meeting of the church, not only through the gifts that he gives to those he indwells, but also – and primarily – through the manner of life of the believers who are meeting together:

In the building up of the common life of the body there will be need for the due operation of the principles both of order and of freedom. Where these clash with one another there will be room for honest difference of opinion, and there will need for a common seeking of the Spirit’s guidance. But the mark of the man in Christ will be that he is more eager to claim freedom for his brother than for himself, and more ready to submit himself to good order than to impose it on his brother. In any case the fundamental principle will always be the love which seeks not its own good, but the common good of the body. (116)

I believe this is one of the most best explanations of the work of the Spirit among the body of Christ while the church meets! When the church meets, if each individual – or any one particular individual – is seeking to exercise his or her own spiritual gifts without first considering and giving preference to other present, then this is a clear indication that there is a lack of “a common seeking of the Spirit’s guidance.”

It seems that the mark of the church today is that some people have freedom to exercise their gifts – and are even required to by the church – while others do not have that freedom. It also seems that very little “submission” is done when it comes to spiritual gifts. Certain people exercise their gifts and impose those gifts on others every time the church meets. Thus, some claim and even demand freedom for themselves, while imposing “order” on others at the same time. This is backwards!

In fact, I believe that the common, traditional way the church meets – one or a few people exercising their gifts week after week while the others watch or listen – is detrimental to the spiritual health of the church. In order for us to seek the “common good of the body” we (especially leaders – who are supposed to be mature) must submit to others and allow the Spirit to work through them – even if their “offering” is less than “excellent”.

Read and ponder this sentence from Newbigin one more time: “But the mark of the man in Christ will be that he is more eager to claim freedom for his brother than for himself, and more ready to submit himself to good order than to impose it on his brother.” May God change us – especially us leaders – so that we are more ready to submit to others than to impose ourselves on others!

April 30, 2010

About 18 months ago, I wrote a post called “Charismatics.” This post was not about charismatic or pentecostal denominations. All children of God are charismatics, meaning all believers are indwelled by the Spirit and gifted by Him. Those gifts are given so that we can serve one another. And… perhaps most importantly… and gifts and all people serving is important to the growth of the church!

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Charismatics

This post is not about charismatic or pentecostal denominations. Instead, its about all of those who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit – that is, all Christians. You see, when the Spirit indwells and fills, He also gives gifts – the charismata.

In my recent reading of modern ecclesiologies, I ran into a couple of interesting quotes about believers serving through their spiritual gifts, meaning “charismatics”. First, in The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology (trans. by Margaret Kohl, New York: Harper & Row, 1977), Jürgen Moltmann writes:

The New Testament knows no technical term for what we call ‘the church’s ministry’. Paul talks about charismata, meaning the energies of the new life (I Cor. 12.6, 11), which is to say the powers of the Spirit. These are designations of what is, not of what ought to be. They are the gifts of grace springing from the creative grace of God. When he talks about the use of these new living energies, on the other hand, he evidently avoids all the words expressing conditions of rule. He does not talk about ‘holy rule’ (hierarchy) but chooses the expression diakonia [service].

There are a couple of interesting and important points in Moltmann’s statements. In Paul’s descriptions of the working of spiritual gifts, the apostle does not talk about hierarchy, or a rule associated with those gifts. Perhaps a case can be made that some gifts are more important than others (although an equal case can be made that we usually place importance on the wrong gifts), importance of gifts does not equate with importance of the individual, nor does it equate with a certain leadership. Instead, the Spirit works his gifts according to his own will – that is, through whom he desires and for the purpose he desires.

Also, instead of focusing on rule or control, Paul focuses on service. Thus, exercising spiritual gifts is not a function of leadership but of service – to service to other brothers and sisters in Christ and service to the world. These gifts exist (in reality, not in potential) for the benefit of other people, not primarily for the benefit of the ones exercising the gifts – although there may be some personal benefit as well.

This leads me to the second quote by Hans Küng in his book The Church (trans. by Ray and Rosaleen Ockenden, New York: Sheed and Ward, 1967). (I discusses another part of this book earlier in my post “Küng on the Church in Corinth“.) Again concerning the charismata, Küng says:

By linking his teaching about charismata with that about the body of Christ Paul at all events made clear that the Church is never – as some people in Corinth seem to have supposed – a gathering of charismatics enjoying their own private relationship with Christ independently of the community. According to Paul, all charismatics are part of the body of Christ, of the community. The fact that all charismatics are members of one body does not of course mean uniformity, but on the contrary a variety of gifts and callings. But fundamentally all individual members, having been baptized, are equal. But, by contrast with this fundamental equality all differences are ultimately without importance.

Here, Küng makes another couple of important distinctions about spiritual gifts which follow nicely from Moltmann’s observations. The body of Christ is not made of individuals who gather and exercise their gifts for the sake of the individuals and “their own private relationship with Christ”. Instead, because of the work of the Spirit, the individuals become part of the body of Christ together. Thus, the gifts are to be exercised for the good of the community, not primarily for the good of the individual.

But, this does not mean that there is uniformity within the community. On the contrary, as Paul points out, the Spirit works in many different way within the community. The variety works to strengthen the body in a way that uniformity could not. The teachers need the prophets who need the helpers who need the exhorters, etc. The difficulty comes when the individual must deny himself and the importance of his own gift and service in order to receive help from someone who is gifted in a different way.

When we gather together with other believers, we should be gathering with people who are different from us. We should expect and encourage people who are different from us to exercise their spiritual gifts. We should recognize that our gifts and giftedness (even teaching!) is neither less important nor more important than the gifts and giftedness of the other people around us. Why? Because the community benefits through the variety of gifts that the Spirit offers.

But, when some people or some gifts are considered more important, or when some people or gifts are not allowed to operate during the meeting of the church, or when we make the church about hierarchies instead of service, then the spiritual health of the community is weakened.

April 23, 2010

Two years ago, our family took a vacation to the mountains of western North Carolina. While we were there, we stopped by several waterfalls. These waterfalls helped me think about our community in Christ. I wrote about it in a post called “Man-made or (super)Natural Community?”

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Man-made or (super)Natural Community?

Last week, while we were on vacation in the mountains of North Carolina, we had several opportunities to spend some time at a few waterfalls in the area. We enjoyed stopping by the side of the road and walking the trails to the falls. Usually we only had to walk a few yards into the woods to find the waterfall.

We saw small waterfalls that were only a few feet high, and we saw Whitewater Falls which claims to be the highest waterfall in the eastern United States. We saw cascade falls, tiered falls, and plunge falls. We even saw one fall that was called a “sliding rock” with swimming holes at the top and bottom, although Jeremy and Miranda said the water was too cold for swimming.

All of the waterfalls were different and all of them were very beautiful in their own way. We enjoyed the natural beauty of the water, the sound of the water cascading over rocks or falling into a pool below, and the deep green of the woods around the waterfalls.

However, there was one waterfall did we did not enjoy. In fact, once we stopped to look at the waterfall, we only stayed for a few seconds. Why? The waterfall was not natural. It was a man-made fall. Yes, there was water cascading down over rocks, but above there was an earthen dam that controlled the flow of water. We could immediately tell that there was something different about this fall. Even though it had all the proper ingredients – water, rocks, sound, woods – it was not the same. This waterfall was contrived… controlled… man-made. It was not a real waterfall.

As I have been thinking about these waterfalls, especially in relation to the man-made waterfall, I wonder if our churches are similar. Could it be that many of us are not experiencing real Spirit-created community, but instead are we experiencing something that is contrived, controlled, and man-made?

I’m thinking specifically about alot of “small groups” of people who are placed together because of age, interests, etc. Placing people together does not create community, although it could certainly allow God opportunities to create community. The question is, are we trying to create something, or are we allowing God to create the community. If we are allowing God to create the community, are we giving him complete control, or are we setting limits for him. The more we become involved in trying to create community, the more contrived, controlled, and man-made it will become. It will not be a community that finds their identity in Christ and shares fellowship in the Spirit. Instead, it will be a group of people who find their identity in a certain person, location, time, etc.

I’m sure that the people who created the waterfall wanted to make something that was just as beautiful as the natural waterfalls around the area. In the same way, the people who try to create community themselves are trying to create something wonderful, something necessary. Probably, in many cases, they are trying to create a community because they have experienced and lived in a Spirit-created community. But, man cannot create something that only God can create. We can create something close – something that looks right – something that feels right at times – but it remains contrived, controlled, and man-made.