TLP Inspiration: 1/13/20

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Don Merritt

 

Poor in Spirit

The first Beatitude speaks of those who are “poor in spirit”. Much has been made about the difference between Matthew’s language and that of Luke in Luke 6:20, for Luke merely says “the poor”. Does Matthew have more in mind than mere economic circumstances?
I’m happy to let others argue, but it seems to me that Matthew, a Jew, might be aware of the Old Testament idea of poverty not only in literal terms, but as a state of mind, for the Hebrew word for “poor” has this additional connotation to it. In those days, a poor person not only had to deal with bad economic circumstances, they also had to contend with the fact that they had fewer rights in society, for then as now, they lacked the resources to enforce their rights; consequently they were at the mercy of others.

Living in such a state made it clear to anyone who could fathom the notion, that the poor must depend entirely upon God. Most of us today, even those of us who don’t enjoy material abundance, live in circumstances far better than those of a poor person in ancient times, and maybe we too have a hard time seeing what Matthew means; let’s look at it this way: In our world, a person of very limited means is never far from being destitute, while a rich person has a much larger buffer to get through tough times. The poor person knows they live close to the edge; the rich person can convince himself that everything is wonderful, that he is the master of his own life, and in doing so, he only deceives himself, for God is the master of everything. We see time and again in Scripture that a rich person has a great obstacle to overcome in following God, for he thinks he is the one in control, while a poor man has no such delusion to overcome, and no great wealth to hold him back. The poor person is free to follow the Lord, while the rich person carries his wealth as a millstone around his neck; woe is he.

The kingdom of heaven is both a present reality and a future hope, for it is with us today in Christ, and will be fully realized in its ultimate fulfillment when He returns. For the person who recognizes his or her current dependence upon God for everything in life, it is a present reality indeed, and a source of great joy, “for theirs truly is the kingdom of heaven.”

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What Was She Thinking?

Posted on January 12, 2020 by Don Merritt

One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

“I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered.

Ruth 3:1-5

Naomi! Really? What are you thinking?

How could you put Ruth in this position after she has been so loyal to you? For that matter, how can you put Boaz in this position? Seriously??

Well, that’s my knee-jerk reaction anyway…

Over the years, there have been commentators who have suggested that Naomi was interested in trapping Boaz into marriage, but to be quite fair, there is no evidence in the text to support that. Others suggest that this is how the Law says a claim should be made by a dead brother’s wife to a kinsman-redeemer and they cite Deuteronomy 25:7-9, but that isn’t quite what it says there, for the Law was quite a bit more conventional. However, we can infer from the Deuteronomy passage that a claim was to be made by the widow… but Ruth was not the wife of Boaz’ brother, he was a relation, and as we will see soon, Boaz was not the closest relation.

It might be that the custom of the time was that a claim be made in this way, with a widow throwing herself at the kinsman’s feet, but if that were so then the evidence of this would seem to be lost. Yes, there is some theological significance to this act of humble submission, but neither Naomi nor Ruth could have known it at the time, and we will discuss the theological significance of this story in due course, but they certainly do not involve any literal reenactments of this scene.

To be sure, I do not know what Naomi was thinking. We can all have our theories, but as always in cases like this, my best advice to you, dear reader, is to beware of a preacher, teacher or commentator who claims to know for certain.

In any case, it is valuable to note Ruth’s reaction to this unusual motherly advice. Bearing in mind that Ruth was not likely to have been fully acquainted with Jewish Law or custom, all of her actions up to this point would seem to indicate that she was neither immoral nor stupid, yet she submitted herself willingly and with the utmost humility; she was willing to trust both Naomi and Boaz.

The question we are left with is this: How will Boaz react? Will he succumb to temptation and take advantage of the situation, will he be angry, or will he be honorable?

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Thoughts for the Christian blogger

Posted on January 11, 2020 by Don Merritt

Epilogue to our Discussion about Church

So often I’ve been amazed at what I see here in the Christian blogging community. In some cases, I’ve read a blogger’s posts over time and seen tremendous growth; in others I’ve noticed several bloggers post on the same subject at the same time quite independently of one another. More than anything, I’ve seen that many of us are willing to set aside our differences in background, culture, nationality and doctrine to spread the Good News to a worldwide audience as one: It seems quite clear to me that God is up to something in all of this. I can’t help thinking that this is how a movement gets started, at least this is how many movements have started, historically speaking.

The church is a living thing; it is organic, active and a force to be reckoned with, yet the lesson we must draw from its history is that like other organic things, it has ebbs and flows in its life. This has been evident throughout the history of the last 2,000 years; it is also evident in the life of ancient Israel. In much of the Western World over the last 60 years or so, the church seems to have been on the decline, it has ebbed. Could it be that we are seeing the beginning of the next flow? I believe that is the case, for not only are interesting things happening in blogs, but there is a transformation going on in many places today; I have seen it and experienced it myself, I have been involved in it myself. Most of us don’t really know about it, it hasn’t been reported in the New York Times, but it is there nonetheless. You might have heard something about it, perhaps you have heard that there are crazies in some parts of the country who aren’t “doing church” the right way; so modern, so odd. Of course, that’s what they said about the Great Awakening back in the 18th century, but it was very real and it had a huge impact both in Europe and America at the time; it was even one of the contributing factors leading up to the American Revolution.

I cannot pretend to predict the future, and I won’t try to do so here, but it seems clear enough that God is pretty busy these days, even though it’s the “other side” that is grabbing the headlines. Maybe one of these days, I’ll write some more on this, but for now, I really want to take this in a different direction while keeping these observations in mind.

Most of us are very aware of our relationship on a personal level with our Lord; these relationships are precious and we write about them often. More and more of us are becoming aware of the relationships that are forming among those of us who write Christian blogs; certainly I am. I have gotten to know several of you in fact over the last few years. For many, this community is more “real” and loving than their church relationships at their local church, you know the face to face relationships with other believers. We may find that our experience here is more fulfilling because even though we may all come from differing backgrounds, we are all of one mind when it comes to what is really of importance, while our friends at our regular churches are stuck in the mud; trapped by circumstances or old bad habits or whatever else is going on there. More and more we can see the difference…

Before you throw up your hands in frustration with your local church and consider the blogging church as a better alternative, I would ask you to think a while…

Consider: Isn’t it possible that God has brought us together here so that we might see a little bit of what is possible, and then take that vision back to our local churches and become the catalyst for transformation in our local congregations? If your relationship with Jesus Christ is precious to you, and your relationship with other Christians online is becoming precious to you, doesn’t it occur to you that those relationships that are “in person” with a growing and vital congregation that has its focus on brotherly love and selfless service would be even more precious?

I can say very clearly that my relationship with our Lord is nothing less that wonderful. I can also tell you that my relationship with the community of believers in my “home church” where such a transformation began about 6 years ago is wonderful plus ten. (If that makes any sense) I am pretty sure that I know the reason for this: It is because that relationship has the added feature of purpose; God’s purpose. We know from Genesis that God created humans for relationship with Him and to accomplish His purpose. Relationship + purpose = fellowship between Man and God and that is why we were created. Here in the “church” of blogs we have a taste of that, in our local congregations, we have the chance to have the entire fullness of Christ.

So, here’s a new challenge: If you will not step up, then who will? If not now, when?

I am, as always, looking forward to your thoughts…

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“My” Relationship… “Our” Relationship

Posted on January 10, 2020 by Don Merritt

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Romans 12:4-5

Each of us as a Christian has a relationship with Jesus Christ, a personal intimate relationship− at least we can have such a relationship if we are willing to take care of it. That relationship however, is not just for our personal benefit; it is also for the building up of the Body of Christ, the church. According to Paul, we actually belong to each other. Each one of us has a role to play in the Body of Christ, a role developed and assigned by Christ Himself, or as we often say, “He has a plan for each of us.”

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

1Corinthians 12:12-14

In these verses we gain a bit more insight into this process; we have all been given one Spirit “to drink”, the Holy Spirit who indwells us. The Holy Spirit will manifest Himself in each of us in different ways to build up the Body of Christ, the church, and none of us are a whole body in ourselves. We are “complete” in the Body of Christ as each of us does our part. Therefore, we must not only have relationship with Jesus on our own, but also in community with other believers, and obviously we call this community the church.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up  until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-13

Paul takes us another step forward in these verses. Note that it begins with the mention of 5 manifestations of the Holy Spirit; we call these manifestations “spiritual gifts”. Notice also that they (and all of the other spiritual gifts) have a purpose greater than any one of us: The building up of the Body of Christ, the church. Through the building up of each of us into the Body of Christ “we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature. We do not attain these things as “loners” and we really mustn’t let ourselves be fooled into thinking otherwise; it’s the Devil’s lie!

Here’s the really awesome part: When that happens, and only then, will we attain “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”.

Do you see how this works? No… do you really see it?

It begins with salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It continues with our relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit, and as we grow in relationship, we begin to see the Spirit made manifest in and through us in some way as we begin to be built up in the Body. We continue to serve in the Body as we continue to grow in maturity. We attain unity, understanding, healing, sight, wholeness, cleansing, love and justice; our lives are transformed. This is the “movement” that is the church, or at least what the church is supposed to be.

Are our local church bodies like this? To be honest and fair, I must say that some are and some are not; actually, since I said I’d be honest, most are not. Having made a study on the subject, I can report to you that there are three main reasons that a local congregation finds itself in the “not” column. The first reason is that it has become too rigidly institutionalized, yet even within an institutional structure, a local congregation can be transformed if its members will learn to think of church differently. The second reason is that a local congregation will be stuck in the way they’ve always done things with the result that form triumphs over substance. The form is “doing church”. The substance is relationship and community. Can this be corrected? Yes, when the members learn to think differently about church and relationship. The third reason is that the members of the local congregation think of relationship with the Lord as being just for them, and not in the framework of sharing and serving in the Body of Christ. This can be overcome by a leader in that congregation who will allow the Spirit to work through him (or her) to show the congregation they must cast their view outwardly instead of inwardly.

Here is a trustworthy saying of my own invention: Whatever the challenge may be, nothing is ever changed by the same old lazy thinking.

Here endeth the discussion I wanted to have with you; I hope you’ve found it interesting, even if you don’t agree; maybe it has challenged someone to think a little differently, and God willing, maybe someone might find it to be a catalyst for transformative action. In any case, I’d love your thoughts; please share them with the “Body” here on Word Press…

Next time, I’ll post a little epilogue just for the blogging community.

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Naomi’s Reaction

Posted on January 10, 2020 by Don Merritt

Ruth 2:18-22

After the events of Ruth 2:1-17, Ruth returns home with the grain she had obtained from her gleaning in the fields of Boaz. First, she gives the leftovers from her meal to Naomi to eat, and then Naomi, noticing how much she had brought back, asked her where she had been allowed to glean. Ruth tells her that she has been gleaning in the fields of Boaz, and Naomi is quite pleased.

Naomi knows that Boaz is a kinsman-redeemer, which comes from the Hebrew word ga’al which means “kinsman-redeemer”, rendered by the NIV as “guardian-redeemer”. A kinsman-redeemer is a relative who is obligated to “redeem” the property, and sometimes the life or marriage, of a relation who has fallen into severe distress. For example, if there is real property that is owned by a widow, the kinsman-redeemer might buy that property so that the widow, who couldn’t farm it herself, has an income to live off of. They might also pay off a mortgage, take the person into their household, or marry a brother’s wife if they have no children so that the brother can live on through the children. In the case of Boaz, he was a kinsman-redeemer for Naomi, since he is related to her husband. In the case of Ruth, he is a relative of her husband as well, but the fact that Ruth is a Moabite would give Boaz an “out” if he wished to avoid his responsibilities to the family. Finally, we must remind ourselves that there had been a famine in the land 10 years earlier, and we do not know how long it lasted. A famine in the Promised Land would tell us that God’s Law was not being obeyed in that generation, thus Boaz may or may not be the kind of man who would honor this obligation. Naomi seems to think that he will do his duty, based upon Ruth’s report.

As a result of all of this, Naomi advises Ruth to continue gleaning in Boaz’ field, and to visit no others, since Boaz has decided to see to her safety… and that is exactly what Ruth did.

 

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Church as Relationship

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Don Merritt

Church began with relationship, the relationship between Jesus and His disciples. Each of the disciples knew Jesus; in fact they knew Him pretty well, at least in human terms. They spent three years together travelling, eating, talking, laughing, crying and learning; they were close friends. Over time, the disciples came to love and trust Jesus.

We also have relationships with Jesus, although that relationship is somewhat different than the disciples had with Him when He walked the earth. The relationship that we have with Him is of the type the disciples had with Him after Pentecost; it is a spiritual relationship. Yet, we mustn’t allow ourselves to be fooled into thinking that a spiritual relationship is any less personal or intimate than being close friends in the physical realm would be, for the opposite is actually the case.

Most of the posts on this blog deal with our personal relationships with Christ. Some of them are written to encourage you to delve deeper into that relationship, others are written to remind you to spend time with Him, and still others are there as an exhortation not to neglect your relationship… for this is the key relationship in our lives, or at least it should be. Many other blogs I enjoy reading tell the story of their author’s journey in relationship with Jesus… you see, it isn’t just me.

As wonderful as this relationship can be, it brings with it a danger. The danger is that we might forget that Jesus died for all, and not just for me. In those cases, it might seem like John said:

For God so loved me that He gave His one and only Son, that if I believe in Him I will not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16 (?)

Isn’t that a nice thought? The only problem is that I have misquoted John.

Our personal relationships with Jesus are wonderful, and yes, it is for you and me to enjoy with Him, but this personal relationship is only a beginning step from which greater and more wonderful things emerge for the benefit of others. Here, I’ll put this another way: I get all I need from my relationship with Jesus, but to be completely honest with you, I get more than I need from my relationship with Jesus, and He gives me the extra to share with others. If I decide to horde that extra for myself, I am just like the servant who buried the talent the Master gave him, and like that servant, I will have much to answer for.

I mentioned in the first of these posts that the Kingdom Jesus preached was a movement. Wherever Jesus went, things happened when He preached the Kingdom. People were healed, they regained their sight, they were made whole again, they were made clean again, and more were drawn to Jesus as a result. In the early church, many of the Apostles experienced the same thing as they preached Jesus to ever larger crowds; the church became a place of salvation, healing, sight, wholeness, cleansing, love, justice and unity as they shared of the excess Jesus had given them in their relationships with Him, and that is what church should be today: A movement that brings with it salvation, healing, wholeness, sight, cleansing, love, justice and unity.

In the past, I have had occasion to study political movements throughout history and in doing so, I noticed a trend; every movement has a catalyst. In a political movement, the catalyst is either an ideal of some sort or a major event, usually a bad one. Every movement also has a method of communicating that catalyst to others. The church has a catalyst, a method, and something extra, for it is powered not by force of arms or human determination, but by an indestructible life- the Holy Spirit. Our catalyst is fairly obvious; it is the Gospel. Our method should also be obvious; we make disciples by sharing what we have received from our Lord in our relationships with Him with others in our relationships with them. All of this is done by the Holy Spirit in and through us. Thus, we can say that the movement that is the Body of Christ is the movement of the Holy Spirit as He works in and through each of us.

You need not be a rocket scientist to see that an institutionalized church can make this difficult to accomplish, particularly in an institutional environment that only wants the “professionals” to share. Likewise, if we have been influenced with a high priority on how we “do church” once we reach the point, as we inevitably will, where “doing church” gets off track or obsolete, we can never recover, for recovery isn’t how we have always done things.

Dear reader, I want to be respectful of your time, and having just checked my word count, I think I’ll beg your indulgence for one more post to wrap up this thought. In the meantime, I hope we can all consider these things… and I’ll see you next time.

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Working in the Fields

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Don Merritt

Ruth 2:1-17

Chapter 2 begins with a statement:

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz. (2:1)

This verse seems to come out of left field; it interrupts the narrative, yet it is used to set up what will shortly come into the story. His name means in him is strength, and he is a man of standing, meaning that he was mighty in wealth and in godliness, a rare combination.

Ruth asks Naomi if it would be all right if she went out to glean; Naomi consents. Gleaning was something that only the poor and destitute would usually do, and it was very hard work. A large farmer would allow poor and desperate people to follow behind his harvesters and pick up whatever the harvesters missed in the harvest. Sometimes they would leave the corners of a field unharvested so that the poor might have something to eat, and this is what Ruth was asking to do. Notice in verse 2 that Ruth was not approaching this as some kind of an entitlement, but rather that she was hoping to find favor that she might be allowed to do this back-breaking work to keep her mother in law and herself from starving; she was demonstrating in this a level of humility that might seem foreign to us today.

In verse three she heads off. Remember that she is a stranger to this land and would have no idea which farmer owned which field, yet somehow, she finds herself in the field of Boaz.

Coincidence?

While Ruth is toiling, Boaz returns from town and greets his workers, and then asks the boss if he knows who this woman was who was gleaning. Some commentators suggest that Boaz was curious about her because of her great beauty, but if our text has mentioned her being beautiful, I missed it; probably he just didn’t recognize her. The overseer tells him who she was, and from there forward, our text records the kindness Boaz affords Ruth. Boaz, it seems, views Ruth as a part of his extended family and recognizes that he has a responsibility to care for her in some way. Now let’s be clear about that; Boaz has no legal responsibility for Ruth because her husband was dead, and she is free to marry anyone who will have her. In addition, she is a Moabite, and in that case, he would have no responsibility for her at all, yet because of the loyalty that she has shown to Naomi, Boaz goes out of his way to help her.

Notice that Boaz orders his men to leave her alone, that he gives her a seat at the table with the rest of the household (a household in the OT would include the servants) and that he arranges for her to receive considerably more grain than she would have received just from gleaning. Also, please take note of Ruth’s attitude of humility; even now she assumes no rights or entitlements.

These are two very unusual people!

Yesterday, I called Boaz a “man’s man” and here you begin to see what I mean by that. A “man” at least in the old-fashioned sense, was not a grown up child, he was someone with character and integrity who would do the right thing toward others even when it wasn’t convenient or advantageous… but because it was right. He would take care of his own and treat others with respect; I might add that he was a person most notable for his restraint, so to be succinct, Boaz was not working an angle or with any ulterior motive.

By the time she was finished with her work, Ruth carried home about 30 pounds of grain, plus her leftovers from the meal that Boaz had provided her with, an impressive haul to say the least. I have a hunch that Naomi will take notice when she finds out what has taken place…

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The Body of Christ and How we “Do Church”

Posted on January 8, 2020 by Don Merritt

Is church a list of programs, or a set of traditions, ceremonies and pageantry? Does it really matter what style of music you have, or whether or not the preacher (by whatever name) wears robes, a suit or jeans? Is it possible to worship without candles or a certain type of décor? Do we choose a church because of its youth group, its seniors’ ministry or its bowling league?

That is what I mean by how we “do church”.

Ah yes, the most powerful force in the modern church: The way we’ve always done it.

As I pointed out in the last post, church as a movement changes lives for Christ while the church as an institution maintains the status quo.

Many of the things in this category are matters of personal preference. When I am at home, what I may prefer gets some attention, but in the Body of Christ, we have a much higher calling than “self”. Our traditions are usually good; they are often the great ideas of an earlier time, but the real question we should ask is whether or not they still contribute to the building of God’s Kingdom. If they do, that’s great. If they don’t, they are obsolete and out they go.

Programs are all well and good if they help build the Kingdom, but if they don’t, we need to try something else. To put it another way, we may have many excellent ministries that meet the needs of our community and bring healing and hope for many, and this is a very good thing. We also might have ministries that either never connected with the needs of the community, or that no longer reach the needs of the community, and we mustn’t keep them around for old time’s sake, for that is how a movement begins to stagnate and turn into an institution.

No doubt you can think of many other examples of how “the way we’ve always done things” has held our great movement back. I’m reminded of what John wrote:

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.  Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Revelation 2:4-5

That should be enough to think about for now, next time let’s take a look at relationships.

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Hardship and an Uncertain Future

Posted on January 8, 2020 by Don Merritt

Ruth 1:6-22

We pick up the story in the midst of calamity for Naomi and her two daughters in law. All of their husbands have died and they have no way to earn a living in Moab without them and something must be done− and done quickly. Naomi resolves to return to Bethlehem, since she has heard that the famine has passed and the fields are once again producing in abundance. She announces to Orpah and Ruth that she intends to return home, and urges them to return to their families, in the hope that they will be taken in, but they protest. The text does not tell us exactly why they protested so much; what Naomi has urged upon them makes all the sense in the world; their only chance is to be reunited with their extended families… but will they have them back? Maybe Orpah and Ruth have just become so attached to Naomi that they can’t bear to part and would prefer to take their chances back in Bethlehem, where there are certainly no guarantees that they will be accepted, since they are not Israelites.

Naomi’s thinking is pretty simple; she is too old to marry again, and even if she did she may be past childbearing. Even so, if she could bear more sons, and found a man who would take her as a wife in his old age, Orpah and Ruth can’t wait around for years on end while the sons grew up. No, their only hope would be to return to their families and hope for another chance. Orpah finally sees reason and heads back to her clan, but Ruth, well that is another matter.

For whatever reason, Ruth declares her unyielding intention to stick by Naomi, to worship the God of Israel and to go where ever Naomi goes and to share her fate. Seeing Ruth’s determination, Naomi gives in and lets her travel with Naomi to Bethlehem and an uncertain fate.

What will happen to them when they return? Will the family take Naomi in after all these years of living among the Moabites? Without a doubt, many families would turn their backs on her at this point, particularly with a gentile in tow. When they arrive, the people in Bethlehem are amazed to see them.  Naomi tells the women (for men did not normally speak to unattached women) that they should call her Mara from now on, which means bitter, for God had turned against her.

Interesting isn’t it? From Naomi, which means amiable or pleasant, to Mara which means bitter because of all the family calamity she had suffered. The chapter ends with the notice that they had arrived just as the barley harvest was beginning.

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Church as an Institution

Posted on January 7, 2020 by Don Merritt

Note:  As I promised yesterday, we begin our look at Christ and religion today with a short series of posts from several years ago as an introduction. This is the first in that short series…

 

Since I am in one of those periods in between series of posts, there is something I’ve been thinking about writing, that doesn’t exactly fit neatly into a study of a particular book of the Bible, yet they all seem to have passages that come back to my topic in one way or another. The topic I feel compelled to write about really goes to the very nature of what “church” is all about, and as a result, it goes to the very heart of following Christ. It really boils down to this: What exactly is “church”?

As I thought about it, I came to realize that there are three things I want to address briefly in this discussion, so I’ll break this into three posts, the first of which will talk about Church as an Institution, the second about “Doing” Church, and the third about relationships and community.

This is by no means an exhaustive study; it’s some thoughts. It is not a theological discussion; just some observations… got it?

Is the church an institution? Before you answer, I mean the New Testament church that we see in Scripture as it exists today, you know, the Body of Christ, the Kingdom of Heaven… is it an institution?

Let’s see, an institution might have a CEO and a board of directors, some vice presidents of this and that, regional supervisors who oversee some district managers who oversee some store managers, who oversee assistant managers who deal with employees and the public. There might be annual shareholder meetings, a headquarters, a headquarters staff, and a policy manual. Without question there will be financial reports, traffic counts, an advertising budget and a certain way of doing things. Of course, everything would be subject to the directives that come from the legal department…

Is this what the Body of Christ is? Is this what “The Church” really is?

No, of course not, for I didn’t use the right job titles.

If I had used the right job titles, would you agree that is an accurate description of the Kingdom of Heaven? Is that what Jesus was talking about?

I doubt it. It might describe a denominational structure, however, but a denomination is not “The Church”. To be fair, this is not to say that there is anything wrong with a denominational structure, nor is it to say that denominations might not be doing great work, but any given denomination in and of itself is hardly the point: The high officials of any denomination would surely be the first to point this out, don’t you think?

The church of our Lord is so much more significant than an organization made by men, so much more than a building or a name or a procedure manual; it is the very purpose of God in action. Yet, in this world, such an organization might well prove to be expedient; a useful tool: Fine and dandy.

Yet no denomination or brotherhood of believers that I have ever heard of has any legitimate reason to claim to be the only group of Christ-followers. The church is so much more than that.

Of course, you are free to disagree, but in my view, we must train ourselves to stop thinking of church as some kind of an institution, for the reality is that church is not an institution at all− it is movement. When our Lord went through the countryside preaching the Kingdom, He spoke Truth to the people; He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk and drove out demons. The word of what was happening spread like wildfire and the crowds became larger and larger. People came from miles around to hear the Truth, to be healed, to gain sight, to walk, and to be spiritually cleansed; it was a movement that even the authorities could not stop. After His resurrection, He passed the mantle to His disciples, and they did the same, even under persecution, and the movement grew, precisely because it was God’s purpose in action to save humanity from sin and death.

We might wonder why we don’t see such a movement today, a movement that changes hearts and minds for Christ, and that is a fair question for us to ask. The answer I propose is this: Movements change hearts and minds, the movement, the Way, that was the church, changed hearts and minds for Christ until, like all other movements, it stagnated and became an institution that must maintain the status quo.

This is why we need a whole new way of thinking about church today; we must begin to see that church is not an institution, but a movement, a movement that changes lives for Christ.

Next time let’s get back together and talk a bit about another one of our attitudes that might need a little work…

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