Things That Need Resolution – Part Three

The third installment of this series is related to Part One in a very direct way. My brother, John, alluded to it in his comment on Part One. There is a dire need within the church to define true Christian experience. Again, there are two camps in this debate. There is one side of the debate that leans heavily on experiences to define their Christian journey. The other side leans heavily in the other direction to allow only what is expressly written in the Scriptures to define their Christian journey. If you were raised in a more liturgical church this may have a very familiar feel to the debate over regulative worship or normative worship. Regulative worship, which is typically embraced by Reformed traditions, prescribes to a view that will only allow methods specifically mentioned in Scripture to be used in worship. In other words, we worship in ONLY the ways we see individuals worship in the Bible. Normative worship, which was embraced by individuals such as Martin Luther, views worship as inclusive of any activity that glorifies God so long as it does not violate Scripture. In other words, as long as Scripture doesn’t forbid an activity it can be redeemed for use in worship. Normative worship will be more accepting of experiences, regulative worship less accepting of experiences; but I digress.

Those who cling tight to their experiences would do well to remember that all Christian experience arises from a foundation of God’s word. If the experience you took part in does not have a sufficient root in God’s Word, then the experience was not sufficiently Christian. Too many people attend conferences, attend concerts, even attend church and have experiences which are emotional and powerful, but they are not from the Holy Spirit because the have no root in the Scriptures. Many experiences tend to center around music. This is dangerous because music, by design, is intended to manipulate the emotions. This isn’t bad, it has been its purpose since the first song was ever sung. The problem is that we can easily mistake the power of music itself for the power of the Holy Spirit. The same goes for dynamic speakers. Some men and women have a gift for communicating. We must take every word they utter and compare it to the Word, lest we be manipulated by the will of man, rather than the will of God. The sad thing, is that some people might be content with the manipulation because to take captive every experience and every word spoken to us is no small task. It requires study and it definitely requires time. But it is so worth it in the end to know that you are only being manipulated by the Holy Spirit in your experiences and not other forces.

On the other side of the coin, there are those who deny experience all together. This is an equal error. The New Testament clearly teaches that experiences is what authenticates the gospel. What do I mean? When Jesus told the disciples that the world would know that they followed him by their love for each other, he was giving the world the right to judge the authenticity of our message by the experiences they witness and partake of when they are among us. If we aren’t experiencing brotherly (and sisterly) love in our fellowship with each other as believers then our experience with each other is not Christian experience. It may have the external marks of Christian experience, but at its core, it is anything but Christian. And Jesus has made it clear that this is how the world will judge us; not by large attendance or the size of our buildings or by the busyness of our ministry efforts. It is by our love for one another that they will know us. This is the experience that authenticates the gospel.

The fruit of the Spirit may be a list of character traits, but what are character traits if there are no experiences in which they are clearly displayed (or not displayed)? Because the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to list these fruits, the common experience of all believers is that our behavior is marked by these characteristics. The display of these characteristics in experiences help us to authenticate the activity of the Holy Spirit in an individual. Why would we be given these fruit from which to draw comparison if we aren’t supposed make judgments? The obvious answer is that we are to make judgments about people’s behavior based upon these characteristics. Not judgments about salvation, but rather judgments about motive and whether or not a person is truly acting under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Experience should neither be the sole guide for our spiritual walk, nor should they be completely cast aside. Experience is important in that our experiences with each other will provide a context for the world to see Jesus in action. If they can’t see him working, then the gospel is just another argument without any supporting evidence. Also, experiences provide the context for us to see the fruit of the Spirit at work in people. So it is through experience that we discern whether someone is being controlled by the Spirit or by something else. Experiences are a necessary part of the Christian journey.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Here’s a one of my recent journal entries . . .

Journal Entry: May 7, 2009, 7:00 AM

“16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This is a very well known, very well cited passage. However there is a portion here which often doesn’t get included when quoted. Verse 16 says, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.” The new creation we become in Christ is held to a different standard of life. We should not hold each other to worldly standards. In conflict, we look to the Scriptures. In times of peace, we look to the Scriptures. If we are unsure, we look to the Scriptures. If we need encouragement, we look to the Scriptures. Our standard is heavenly by nature and to abide by it we become like Jesus. If we abide by worldly standards, we will become like the world, and in the end will be indistinguishable from the word, which will ultimately give no one good cause to consider following Christ due to the lack of God’s power in our lives.

I love verse 18, where it says, “All of this is from God.” There is great comfort in knowing that this new creation which I am, and am becoming, is completely a work of God. I do not make this new man by my efforts. It is God who creates the new man within me. This doesn’t mean I have no responsibility in my transformation; indeed I am responsible to obey every prompting of the Holy Spirit and every command which Jesus issued for us to follow. But here is where I end and God begins. More obedience isn’t what really transforms me. If obedience was all it took to be transformed then every legalist would be the most transformed people in the church. We know this cannot be. If it were, the Pharisees would have been the good guys. No, there is something about loving Jesus enough to obey him that affects the change in me. And I suppose therein is the difference: love. There is the person who obeys from fear of losing blessing. There is the one who obeys to obtain favor. These are the legalists among us, and in them transformation is stunted, if not altogether halted. But the one who obeys because he loves Jesus and just wants to pleas him, he will be transformed from one degree of glory to the next. And God steps in and is happy to do the work in the one who loves his son. How simple!

This transformation into the new creation is the sure sign that we have been reconciled to God through Christ. Only those who are being transformed are those who are reconciled. No transformation is equal to no reconciliation. And since we are reconciled to God through Christ, and the Holy Spirit resides in us, we have been given opportunity to share in this ministry of reconciliation. Allowing God to work through us in the declaring of the gospel so that other may hear the gospel, repent and too be reconciled to God. This chance to work with the Holy Spirit in reconciling others to God is the highest calling to which one can be called. Being chosen to serve as an ambassador for the King of all creation cannot be surpassed by any earthly honor. Why do we treat it as something common? Why do we often approach the calling in a cavalier manner? If God were a CEO and we were his employees all of us would be jobless. Thankfully he is not a CEO, but rather he is merciful and slow to anger and long-suffering with our failures. And this should cause us to love him even more.

Journal Entry: May 11, 2009, 7:05 AM

And finally the clincher of this passage: “He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The very purpose from eternity past, which was given to Jesus, was to become a curse for us, to die a sinner’s death, to absorb the full wrath of God upon sin, to take upon himself the sins of the world, past, present, and future so that we who have trusted in him would not be held responsible for our sins, stand before God and be declared not guilty! What wonderous, unexplainable, ill-deserving, deep, deep love Jesus has for the Father and the Father has for us to endure such injustice, such pain and suffering so that we could be reconciled to God – even while we continue to sin.

Because of this we become the righteousness of God. It is the great exchange where when the Holy Spirit regenerates my heart, he not only removes my sin, but applies the righteousness of Christ to me so that I can stand before the Father blameless! This positional righteousness is the guarantee that I will persevere. Once I am his, no one can revoke that ownership. I am secure. But this righteousness that is applied also applies itself in my horizontal life. As the Holy Spirit transforms me, the righteousness of Christ he applied to me becomes more and more visible. Hence, I become more like Jesus, even while I am on this earth. And this is why there can be no salvation in the absense of transformation. The righteousness of Jesus will conquer the flesh and shine through in those he saves. Not every believer is transformed at the same pace, but for sure, transformation is occurring.

A Look Back at Acts

After seven months, I have finally finished studying through the book of Acts. Acts has been interesting for me on several levels. When I first began studying it, I had honestly not read it straight through from beginning to end. Now that I’ve finished it, I’m sure that before I began this study, I had read everything in the book through selectively spot reading and searching for particular things over the years because I came across few things of which I had never read. But reading it straight through has brought me new clarity on the events of the early church which I never gained from reading a little here and a little there.

When I began this journey, I had heard a few differing opinions on this book, as to whether one should try to extract doctrine from this book. Some say you shouldn’t attempt to extract doctrine because it is strictly a historical account of the apostles’ ministries. Some say that’s hogwash and we should use Acts for learning doctrine. Here’s where I have landed on this topic. Acts is not a theology book; it is an account of the early workings of the apostles in their ministries. BUT, Acts indeed contains theology and we should take note of the theology of the apostles and the early church. However, the theology present in this book isn’t in the form of a letter from Peter or Paul where we are receiving direct instruction from the writer on how matters of belief and life. Therefore, we should not read Acts and try to directly apply something which the early church practiced to our own contexts just because that’s how they did it in Acts so it must be good for us. HEAR ME: I’m not saying we shouldn’t do our best to emulate the early church – we should. But some things which were practiced in the early church were done out of necessity either due to their minority status in the culture or the fear of persecution. Here’s an example.

Many of the earliest Christians met in homes throughout their cities. There were a few reasons for this. For believing Jews, many of them were shut out of the synagogues. For believing Gentiles, the idolatry of the Roman religions prevented them from using Roman temples. Therefore you see the birth of home churches. They couldn’t go down and rent the local theater every week like many of our churches do when they need a facility in which to meet. Home churches sprung up out of necessity. So to read Acts today and say that we must meet in homes because that’s how the early church met would be false. The feasibility of meeting in homes is allowed by Scripture, as is evident in Acts, but it is not required.

Everyone at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, spoke in tongues. Does that mean that when we receive the Spirit we should all speak in tongues as well? You might believe that if you don’t ask the question, “Why?” Why did they speak in tongues? Why wasn’t it some other manifestation of the Spirit? The answer is in the following verses. Who was right outside the window? Lots of Jews who spoke different languages. The manifestation of the Spirit at that moment – tongues – was needed for the ministry moment at hand. If there had been thousands of sick Jews outside the window, I believe the manifestation of the Holy Spirit would have come in the gift of healing. Whatever would have brought maximum glory to God in that moment would be how the Holy Spirit manifested himself – and it was tongues so that everyone would understand the message of the Gospel.

So can doctrine be drawn from Acts? Yes. Is the extraction the same as from an epistle? Not always. You can’t always read the text and make an immediate literal jump from verse to application. It’s the same thing when you read an Old Testament book like 1 Samuel or 1 Kings; the doctrines aren’t always leaping off the page at you, but they are present in the beliefs and character of the individuals in the stories.

One thing which I am becoming more and more convicted of and convinced about is the presence of God’s power in the lives of people who are born again. Over and over in Acts, salvation is accompanied by the demonstration of God’s power. And Paul even writes this to the church at Corinth in his first letter; the kingdom of God does not consist of talk, but of power. Don’t misunderstand me; I don’t mean the demonstration is always miraculous as it often is in Acts. It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. The demonstration of God’s power is most often shown through transformation of the heart and mind. If there is no evidence of transformation, then there is no evidence of God’s power, and hence, no evidence of salvation. The transformation may manifest itself differently in each individual, but the goal of the transformation is the same – to become like Jesus. An abusive jerk will have a different transformation journey than a person who is easily intimidated and submissive to a fault. But in the end, the Holy Spirit’s goal for both of these people is to make them into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Transformation is a product of God’s power in salvation.

Lastly, I have been most convicted over sharing in Christ’s sufferings. I still don’t fully grasp what it means to share in Jesus’ sufferings. I understand it, I believe, in a very limited fashion. Look, it’s not that I want to actually suffer. I don’t want to go the Philippines during Holy Week and put myself through an actual crucifixion like so many of them do (which they do so that they may “share in his suffering”). Forcing suffering upon myself would just be stupid. Paul did what he could on a few occasions to avoid yet another beating or even being killed. There’s nothing wrong with avoiding suffering so long as you aren’t doing so at the cost of loving Jesus with all your heart, mind and strength. But I still have a certain unsettled feeling within me when I think about sharing in Jesus’ suffering. Strangely enough, it’s not fear of suffering. It’s fear that I’ve missed out.

Acts should be required reading for every believer. There is much to gain from understanding the beginnings of the church. For me, I actually have gained a greater desire within me to see the church restored to health. My passion in ministry is to see the people I love become more passionate in their pursuit of Jesus. Acts has only thrown gas on that fire.

The Macedonian Call And The History Of The World

I arrived at the part of Acts 16 where Paul received a vision of a Macedonian man. It goes like this.

“6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ?€œCome over to Macedonia and help us.?€? 10 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.”

It struck me this morning how critically important this moment was. Not only for Macedonia, but for the entire world. Two things led Paul to Macedonia:

• Carefully listening to the Holy Spirit
• Obeying immediately

(I’m speculating on some of this and in other parts offering sweeping rationale so forgive me if I err or don’t offer a fully detailed explanation. But it all makes sense in the end.)

Macedonia is Greece. Because the Gospel went to Greece, it lay at the footsteps of Rome. Because the Greeks had considerable cultural and political influence in Roman society, Christianity in Greece would eventually spread into Rome. Although it took time, eventually Rome adopted Christianity as its official religion. Because Rome became Christian (I know that is a debate unto itself) all of Europe became Christian. In Christian Europe, the Reformation occurred. England, empowered by the precedent of the Reformation (and other political reasons), began their own church; the Church of England (Anglican/Episcopal). The English government became oppressive toward those who would not worship in the Church of England, so the Puritans set sail for America. This ultimately led us to the Revolutionary War and the birth of the United States of America, which would ultimately become the greatest, richest, most powerful country the world has ever seen. And you and I have the privilege of living here.

How different would world history have been if Paul had not been listening? What if Paul had not been listening on that Thursday when the Holy Spirit tried to tell him to steer clear of Asia? If Paul had gone to Asia would that have been a bad thing? People would have been saved, churches would have been planted, and all in all it may have been a very successful mission trip. But the Gospel would not have made it to Macedonia. No in all probability, the Gospel going to Asia might have taken root in places as far as India and the rest of the Middle East. But we know that a few centuries later years Islam would begin ravaging the peoples of the Middle East and Asia, forcing people to convert or die. Christianity in that region today is scarce and oppressed.

I think there are three lessons in this. The first is obvious: listen carefully to the Holy Spirit. He is constantly offering direction to us, awaiting us to hear Him. The second is inextricably dependent upon good listening. Doing a good thing will never be as effective as doing the best thing. Like I said before, a mission trip to Asia may well have seen hundreds, even thousands of people saved, and that would have been a good thing. But God had the best thing in mind. Go to Macedonia. And from Macedonia, God ensured that His church would endure through the ages. It could be said that He brought Rome to power for the sole reason of incubating and protecting His church. When you look at it that way, it’s no surprise that after 400-500 years, once the church was firmly established that Rome began to fade, its God given purpose having expired.

The third and last thing I’ll say about this may be the most important. Obedience can change everything. Paul had no idea that the simple act of obeying the vision to go to Macedonia would alter world history forever. He had no concept of the weight which this one obedient act carried. And it’s good that he had no clue. To him it was just another “yes” to what God was asking him to do. And it’s the same for us. That’s why it’s so important to respond quickly to God with “yes” to whatever He asks us to do. I’m not saying that your “yes” has the magnitude of a Macedonian call – but it might. Paul didn’t meet any dignitaries when he arrived in Macedonia. The first people they connected with were a bunch of women. That would get you no where in that culture. You may not know anyone who can make things happen, but neither did Paul. And the world was never the same.

Oh and one more thing. Because Paul carefully listened to the Holy Spirit, he ended up in Troas. This wasn’t only where he had the vision, but it was also where he encountered Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke, and Acts. I’m going to go out on a limb here because if I’m right, it is yet more reason to carefully listen to God and obey quickly. First of all, I know they encountered Luke in Troas because in verse 10 the pronoun “they” changes to “we.” So Luke joined Paul, Silas and Timothy on their journey. This is the first time “we” is used in the narrative. What if this encounter was Luke’s first encounter with the Gospel? What if he received Christ as a result of Paul’s ministry in his short time in Troas? If that is true, then it is entirely possible that the reason we have the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts at all is because Paul listened carefully and obeyed quickly. So not only was the world never the same, but the Bible we have today was never the same either. It adds heightened urgency to the command to pray without ceasing.

Blindness

As a follow up to what I just posted, I have been reminded about how blind we can be to our own sin. I hope you will join me in asking the Holy Spirit to remove our blindness. You and I will always have sins in my blind spot. Others may see it, but you and I won’t be able to see it.

Holy Spirit, please remove my blind spots so I can see my sins more clearly that I may confess them and kill them by Your power and for the glory of Jesus Christ and God the Father in my life. Amen.

Why Are We Saved?

[DISCLAIMER] Mark Driscoll got me thinking about this. He is partially to blame.

I think the question of “Why are we saved,” isn’t getting a fair treatment. From one point of view, we cannot know the ultimate reasons for why God chose us. But for the most part, many, if not most of us have been taught that Jesus saves us so that our sins can be forgiven and when we die we can go to be with Him thereby avoiding eternity in Hell. This is correct and any answer to this question which leaves this out would be incomplete. But an answer which only contains this would also be incomplete.

We have neglected to teach that equally important to the forgiveness of our sins is that Jesus saves us so we can live holy lives. The command to “Be holy, as I am holy,” is not given to those who do not know God, but to those who know Him. When Jesus saves us He changes our minds, our hearts, the way we live our lives; there is nothing within us that is not changed. The act of redemption is two-fold. There one side of redemption that positionally makes us holy before God immediately when we are born again; otherwise known as justification. The other side of redemption is really an ongoing process of redemption which is the progressive redeeming of our lives on a daily basis. This is sanctification – the process of becoming holy as He is holy.

The problem we endure during our life on this earth is that our sanctification will always be hindered and slowed by the works and effects of sin. Whether that sin be something in our past, or that sin is something in the moment and impulsive. You might wonder what I mean by sin from the past. Maybe you grew up with an abusive parent. Maybe you have suffered something horrible like rape or incest. Maybe it’s just the relentless fighting that went on in your home. Perhaps you directly participated willingly in an occult activity. Perhaps, you were a bully. In all of these cases, you either suffered from the effects of someone else’s sin or you willingly participated in something sinful. And you carry it with you. Being forgiven doesn’t mean that we cease to be affected by past sins. As a born again person, they no longer condemn you, but past sins can still control you. We cannot allow this to happen.

How do they control us? Let’s examine the first scenario where we are affected by someone else’s sin. Ask any woman who has endured rape or incest or has been physically abused how her trust level is with men. Ask men whose wives have been unfaithful about their trust. Neither abused women or men who have unfaithful spouses will be very trusting people, particularly toward the opposite sex. This lack of trust in people can easily become a lack of trust in God and lead to bitterness.

What about issues of race? The sins of our white forefathers has tainted the relations between whites and blacks even to this day. The sins of past racism has birthed deep distrust from both whites and blacks in the present. Generally speaking, whites and blacks attend their own churches, they live in their own neighborhoods and this separation only nurses the distrust. Honestly, it makes it difficult, even within the church at times. Yes, the effects of sins committed against us are real and if left unchecked become generational as we have witnessed with racism in our own culture.

The second scenario, where we intentionally commit sins, can control us as well. How could occultic activity affect me later in life? We see this with the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, Paul has to correct them for not separating themselves from idol worship. Their former connection with the occult through worshiping idols was difficult to sever. Paul says to them clearly, “You cannot partake of the table of Christ and the table of demons.” The occult has a powerful grip on those who participate in it and can provide a foothold for Satan to tempt those who have formerly practiced it.

Definition: Redeem – to obtain the release or restoration of, as from captivity, by paying a ransom.

These areas of our lives need to be redeemed through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. The born again woman who grew up with out a father – or with an abusive father – needs to allow the Holy Spirit to redeem that area of her past by teaching her how to live with a husband and love him rightly. The person who dabbled in the occult needs to allow the Holy Spirit to redeem that area of their past by allowing Him to display the surpassing beauty and worth and power of Jesus Christ against the deceitfulness of idols. It isn’t until we actually allow the Holy Spirit to do His redeeming work on these areas that we will understand the true depth and destructive nature of sin.

I know I have harped heavily on past sins, nearly at the peril of ignoring the sins we commit in the present. I haven’t forgotten about them. The sins we commit in the present are equally sinful. I also know that I have tread in waters in which not everyone wants to tread. Talking about past sins we’ve committed or that were committed against us makes people uncomfortable. Here’s my thinking. Past sins cause us to sin in the present. Allowing the Holy Spirit to redeem all areas of my life, past and present, will make me more wholly His in the here and now. This is sanctification. This is part of our redemption as His children. This must become part of the answer we give to “Why are we saved?” He saves us to redeem us; not just for a future in Heaven, but He saves us for a redeemed life on this earth. He saves us so we can live wholly as He lives: Holy.

Where Have I Been?

I’ve let most of this summer slip away from me without hardly any blogging. My bad! It’s not that I’ve had nothing to say. I just haven’t sat down to say anything. One of the things that I enjoy most about sitting down and posting to this blog is that it gives me a chance to share with you the things that are on my heart, the challenges that are before me, the victories that are given to me, and the defeats I endure. All in hopes that you may be encouraged in your walk with Christ. Sorry that I’ve been somewhat A.W.O.L. over the last month and a half. I promise to do better.

When Sean, Trevor and myself went to the Together for the Gospel conference back in April, we brought home about 13 or 14 free books. Not bargain bin books, but really good books. I thought to myself that I’d finish all of these books about in time for the 2010 T4G conference, which would be perfect. Anyway, one of the books is a book called Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin. Bob is the Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries and I had the privilege to briefly meet him at the conference. A very tall man. The tallest worship leader I’ve ever met. But most of all, a humble servant and gracious individual. I gleaned all of that in about 3-4 minutes. Some people exude those characteristics and you sense it immediately. He’s one of them. His book is an excellent book. I’m only midway through it and already I want to start again from the beginning. It is a worship leader’s book, but there has been much content that, I believe, any believer would find helpfully challenging. I suggest that everyone who considers themselves a worshiper read it. (What other kind of Christian is there?)

He asks a question in the book and it is what I will leave you with to ponder. There is a chapter in the book dedicated entirely to shedding light on the role of the Holy Spirit in worship. One question from that chapter is this: “If the Holy Spirit stopped empowering the worship in your church this Sunday, would anyone notice?” A question worth pondering I think. Maybe some fitting follow up questions would be, “What is Holy Spirit empowered worship and how do I know I am participating in it?”