Tag: wisdom

An Explosive Church

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“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.”

“It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. ”

Annie Dillard

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I think that as Church-going people we should be regarded as spiritually “armed and considered dangerous.” We are the true subversives. And we should always be on the verge of a “loving goodness’ that explodes within us .

“But the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do great exploits [for God].”

Daniel 11:32, AMP

I admit I once considered Christians as weak and passive people. They were far too tame for me. At least the kind of believer that I found in most churches.  I wanted dynamic, and active. I somehow surmised that the church couldn’t provide this for me.

“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

The feast of Pentecost is where the power and fire of God bonded with the disciples. It was said that flames of fire could be visible on each believer. It was precisely at this point they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They would never be the same– indeed, the world changed.

It was sometime later I was reading Hebrews 11. I was amazed by these believers who endured so much in their faith. I’ve come to the conclusion that to live your faith you’re going face obstacles that will be quite challenging. You will end up quite often doing the improbable which most think is impossible.

 32″How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.”

Hebrews 11:32-38, NLT

We have got a hold of something, or someone, that is quite real, and very disrupting  (in a good way!) We should expect to do exploits, and live in a manner that would seem dangerous to people without faith.

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The Colorful Church

The Church of Many Colors

10 “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ephesians 3:10-11, NIV

3 “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors.“

Genesis 37:3, NKJV

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“The complaint that church is boring is never made by people in awe.” 

R.C. Sproul

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This word “manifold” is very curious and quite engaging. In the Old Testament this particular word is used to describe Joseph’s coat of many colors. I can only imagine that it was striped like a rainbow, or maybe even tied-dyed. Whatever it was, Joseph was quite distinctive as he wore his colorful coat.

Joseph’s coat

Paul in Ephesians 3, intentionally borrows this word to explain “the manifold wisdom of God.” Paul’s use of this dramatic imagery of Joseph’s coat to describe God’s wonderful wisdom that has saturated the Church. There is something variegated in this wisdom (balance, comprehension, understanding) that infuses His Church.

We are people of color. There is wisdom given to each believer. This defines us, and portrays us. God’s own wisdom, defined quite incredibly in our hearts and spirits, describes our coloration and hue.

Some are merciful, and others are bold. Some are very gentle, and others are “prophetic” and sharp. A few are wise, and others can endure much. But our personal coloring should never threaten another. Those who see only blue– should never be shaken when another sees yellow.

Our fleshly attitudes would militate against this understanding. We seem to insist that everyone be green, or yellow even. But this isn’t how God through the Holy Spirit comes to our spirits. We should receive each brother and sister, in the wisdom that God has chosen, to flow and grow. It seems we are each a “prism” that reflects a certain light.

We can see the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. They are distributed (but definitely never ‘dumped.’) They come out in many ways through many different personalities and backgrounds. But it seems we are slowly learning that each believer has a definite place and purpose.

I suppose that pride confines us into something that is restrictive. We definitely prefer ideas and proclivities we can control (or maybe label.)  Perhaps, it is we that need to be adjusted. We should see the broadness of God’s grace, and how each one is touched and shaped.

The Church is God’s unique reservoir of wisdom and grace for the world. We gleam with the certain light of His presence and goodness. Each believer, radiates an aspect of grace from the heart of God.

We are indeed the “Church of Many Colors.”

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The Real God-pleaser

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“Brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.”

1 Thessalonians 4:1, NLT

We live to pleasure God. This is the way of the Christian believer. It is one of the driving purposes of the remainder of our lives. Pleasing God is fundamental. We live to gladden His heart.

Jesus lived to please His Father. At His baptism, “And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy” (Matthew 3:17). And we read Jesus’ own words,  “And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.” (John 8:29).

God was pleased with Jesus; He not once did a thing apart from His Father’s will. I’m certain Jesus could have– but He didn’t. Jesus the Son, always wanted to live a life that would make His Father proud.

In our own discipleship this level of piety and devotion “gets the hiccups.’ Things seldom run so smooth. Remember when you first tried to drive a stick shift. Down the street I went stalling and jumping and jerking. It was a miracle any of my passengers survived. But this is how you learn.

Paul wrote the Church in Thessalonica, “to live in such a way as to please God.” In spite of what you might think, this is the proper attitude of His servant. It is attainable and authentic way to live. Just as Jesus pleased God with the Holy Spirit, we too can be empowered to live a God-pleasing life. We do this through our faith.

The singular issue (it seems to me) is making right choices. I know many other things are involved in this, but saying ‘No’ to disobedience is a significant decision. And it’s just as important to say ‘Yes’ to our Father’s will. This ‘no-yes combination,’ fueled by the infilling of the Holy Spirit, will lead us to please the Lord.

I simply want to encourage you to be a ‘God-pleaser’ today. Just for today, live to bring Him joy. Charm Him. Ask God to fill you and then guide you through your busy day. He most definitely will.

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First, You Die

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.” 

John 12:24-25, NLT

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We kick it off with a basic knowledge of farming.  Not every farmer knows this, but all his seed sown in the ground will die.  Now it is possible this fact may discourage some, but the wise farmer accepts the dead seed, knowing that green growth will sprout from this death into a harvest of 1000x times or more for every dead seed.

“He that loves his life will lose it”.  This is one of the first ‘laws of the spirit’ we must learn.  It is the basis of so much that we have to know.  For years I have preached this message just before Easter Sunday.  “There can be no resurrection without a crucifixion.  There is simply no resurrection power without crucifixion weakness”.

Alas, we must die before we can live.  There is no way around this, and no waiver can be given to avoid this truth.  You have to die, it is a profound necessity.  But often we become adept at ‘life support’ systems.  Doing what we can do to keep the ‘old man’ alive.  So much of what we find in religion is nothing more than a way to put the ‘old man’ on life support.

Unless we die, we will never, ever live.  If we try to save our life, we will die.  Choosing then to die is really your best option.  But what does that entail?  Every Christian is to submit to carrying his/her cross daily.  That cross is intended, not for a showy display, but to die upon.  Our self-life must choose to die, when we are ‘crossed’ by someone else.  Someone insinuates that something is wrong with us, and we die when we just humbly accept it without rancor or anger.

Resurrection life is what happens when we finally decide to die.  Doing so, we become incredibly fruitful for one.  We start to live the life Jesus had intended for us.  You will start to make the connections that were not possible before, you become spiritually diversified, reaching a very broad spectrum of people.

But most of all, the most of everything, you will connect with others on this fresh level.  Your spirituality will not become a hindrance to others.  In a very real way you’ll become like Jesus.  And that can’t be at all bad.

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