I didnŐt want to leave the impression from last weekŐs
message that my dad did not spend much time with me. Because of his work there
were many nights when he had to be at school for various meetings. But usually,
to the extent possible, the weekends were saved for the family and for me. I
know for a fact, that while I would have liked more attention, we went fishing
and hunting together, more that any other father and son I know of.
I do remember when I was in grade school, that I wished
he would have played with me more. However, my dad had a bad heart from a
childhood disease. The fact was that my selfish desires could not have been met
without putting his life in at least some jeopardy. This was something that I
became aware of when he had to have open heart surgery when I was in high
school. Back then, the procedure was relatively new and with his condition the
odds of him surviving the operation were only fifty-fifty.
When you actually get to see your dad at his daily work,
you are left with some memories of those times also. At the beginning of the
school day, there were two bells that rang. The first five minutes before you
were to be in class, the second when class was supposed to begin. Many times
when it was necessary, but especially early in the school year, he would walk
out of his office to the head of our schoolŐs long hallway and bellow, ŇGet to
class!Ó
With that command several hundred students, from the
nerdest little nerd, to the biggest and badest football tackle would
immediately, quickly scramble to class, just before the second bell rang. By
that second bell everyone was in their respective classrooms. I know for sure,
because I was always one to push the envelope, to check out the results.
These, and similar incidents make me question some things
I have at times seen in various churches. For example, if I would by chance
attend one of your services with you and
your worship band took the stage over ten minutes after the published
start of the service, and they walked down the aisle of the sanctuary like a
bar band, returning to do another set after a few belts and a couple of joints,
in my envelope of thought, I can think of at least four questions that would go
through my mind.
One would be, and I list these in no apparent order of
importance, other than just how I thought of them. Does this body of believers
truly reflect the costly grace offered by Jesus Christ in the historic context
of the church? Whimsically, I
wonder if they will show up late for the rapture and be Ňleft behind,Ó and then
confess that they thought they were on time? More seriously, with this lack of self discipline, can
discipleship really take place within these walls, that Jesus Christ, and
hopefully the pastor, would really want for the continued growth of his flock
into the image and likeness of Christ? Finally, I would probably question you,
to see if this ever annoyed you, and if it did, why you didnŐt find a somewhat
positive way to bring this to the pastorŐs attention?
I was really at a loss last week without my familiar word
processing program. I would like to make one thing clear, as I got a question
to that effect last week. Kathy is not the name of my computer. Kathy is the
name of the voice in my word processing program (NisusWriter) that reads back
to me what I have written. Some other voices are Victoria and Fred out of a
whole list, including the one that all computerŐs talk with ŇDefault Voice,Ó
whoever he may be.
At times I get complements concerning my writing ability.
Back in my days in the corporate world, I used to get similar complements about
my ability to write proposals, that even management could read and understand.
But the truth of the matter is that my writing talent is not really a gift at
all, but a blessing. A blessing in
that we are all dealing with a very limited interface between my mind and the keyboard. This style was developed
through out my education and work, by practice that has only a limited
sophistication. It says nothing of exceptional eternal value, except the
discipline of doing it over and over again. It is down home prose, because it
has to be down home prose.
Those of you who know me personally know that sometimes I
can get very mixed up verbally. It is like my mind moves faster than I can
talk, and the link between the two is not that good. This is getting better by
practice, but more importantly, I read in the Bible about Moses and his
encounter with God at the burning bush. Anytime I speak publicly my prime focus
is to turn the situation over to God and let Him order my speech. Hence, much
of the time in those situations, by speech comes out like a deliberate Chuck
Smith. Those of you from Calvary Chapel and know Chuck will understand, the
rest of you can slowly let it go.
Where this is all going, is that to the best of my
knowledge I have really two natural exceptional gifts from God and two only.
The first I spoke of a number of weeks ago in the article that dealt with
competition and aggression. That competitive gift, or tenacity, gives me the
ability to produce more than a hundred of these messages over the last three
and a half years. But this is nothing but a gift from God, that He can give to
anyone at anytime, so that it brings Him glory.
The other gift is what they call in business school,
administrative organization, or adorg. This is what sets off the writing, not
the writing itself. I can see or feel when something is in order, our out of
order. How much of this is native or resident ability within me and how much comes
directly from the Lord, I do not know.
I used to have a book that had a series of twenty
different question tests that would give you some concept of your IQ. Those
tests were divided into roughly ten questions with some context of words and
word meaning. In those questions, as I mentioned earlier, I was only average.
In the part of the test with the related blocks, the spinning wheels, and
similar abstract relationships, I did exceedingly well. The test said in these
areas I was particularly gifted.
So where is this all going? We all have various gifts,
talents, and blessings from God. To be truly content in this life you must use
those personality attributes, not only to benefit your own life, and to help
your fellow man, but also to give God glory. In GodŐs sense of that opportunity
He gives each of us, it must be done in a realm beyond our personal
understanding. Beyond our ability to control the results, or to relax and feel
at peace in our own laziness, as in the hypothetical worship scenario above.
On Wednesday, we are going through the book of Hosea, on
Friday I am taking a class on Ecclesiastes. Two short but extremely difficult
books of the Bible. Hosea deals with GodŐs perception of Israel as the blessed bride, who none
the less seeks after prostitution as a means to be herself. If we leave that
application in only ancient Israel as either the dispensation of law, or under
the replacement theology of the church replacing Israel as GodŐs chosen people,
we cannot see the full picture of GodŐs glorious redemptive plan over the span
of all time. The church has replaced Israel, but the personal application is
really the negative sinfulness and not just the positive blessings.
In the same manner, if we look at Solomon as the wisest
teacher and preacher of all time, we miss the fact, that with all his worldly
gifts, talents, riches, and blessings, he missed the greatest source of wisdom
and truth. In short, he missed the wisdom associated with loving and being
loved by God, and understanding His love through the limited human window of costly, unmerited grace.
Hopefully, you are now looking past the writing
technique, to see a deeper organizational principle, because without that concept of unmerited
grace, where we are headed now will step on some toes, or stomp on some feet.
The Bible speaks of the Lord returning for a bride
without spot or wrinkle. Other than through the concept of positional
sanctification, it is impossible for me to see that pristine bride under current conditions. That means,
not that we are going to bring about that change, but that God is going to do
that miraculous transformation, to His own glory. The church as now apparent in
the world, will either get with GodŐs program, or be left behind. And this I
mean quite literally. Hosea is a book for the church today, as it was a book
for then Israel.
Our worry about toothpicks and broken pieces getting
saved, keeps us from understanding the bigger picture and the role the church
has been given to play in it. To put it bluntly so that it might soak in: Not
only has the church played the whore with the things God has given us, we
through our own evil desires have forced our sons and daughters to become
whores to the world. They simply cannot compete with worldly forces nurtured with
the pabulum of religious training they receive in church. Not only in this
sense is the church a whore, she is also a pimp.
I have some personal intense understanding of this
through the pain that God has allowed me to see in this life. In that respect,
I have some unique, if very limited insight, into the pain that God feels in
Hosea. Because I didnŐt get it the
first time, I had the opportunity
to suffer through it again. To put it another way, while I am personally not
without blame in these situations, the church and her leadership definitely
allowed this prostitution to occur, for it fit within their understanding of
being relevant to our age, and not understanding the true idolatry that their
actions entailed.
Now the details of these occurrences do not fit within
either the scope of these messages, or their application. The horror of feeling
divorced from the love of God by the actions, or more specifically the
inaction, (lazy idolatry) of church leadership makes the details of physical
divorce seem pale in comparison. The one saving grace, and I mean that quite
literally, is that it was not their fault, for it stems from the nature of
entropy and the second law of thermodynamics, which God follows unless the
individual and church body continually allow Him to renew their pilgrimage
outside the limitations of this fallen creation.
As I say in Enterprise Symbiosis, ŇEverything eventually
runs out of gas,Ó even the church. This is shown throughout the Old Testament
to have occurred by the third generation in most cases. That occurs simply
because we and Israel, quit seeking deliverance directly from God and seek to
find it in the institution of the church. God only understands how the church
works at all, especially in some cases after thousands of years. All I can say
is that it is a miracle.
For example, the Roman Catholics have their pope, their
saints, and their anathema of the mass. But even in the mass, the gospel
message of Jesus ChristŐs redemption speaks out of the dead liturgy, clearer
and cleaner than the presentation found in many Protestant churches on any
particular Sunday.
Then we have those churches that trace their roots to the
Reformation. They have made an idol of their doctrine. In their doctrine many
seek to promote their salvation, not seeing or understanding the important point
of individual decisions and evangelism, that could allow their children to cope
with much of the unseen spiritual occurrences that take place outside their
cloister.
Pentecostals, have made an idol of religious experience.
Speaking in tongues and giving prophesies about the things to come, again does
not allow their children to cope with the realities of our fallen world. In
fact, my personal experience is that many of the loosest young girls, women, and
men come from homes where religious experience, false piety and legalism brings about utter destruction of
personal lives. This falling from the churchŐs sphere is promoted under the
guise of back sliding and free choice, when it is nothing but a failure to
truly communicate a true gospel of GodŐs saving grace.
Then there are the Fundamentalists who seek to change the
political climate and promote the legal order, I suppose to bring about GodŐs
kingdom here on earth. In the process raising children without true joy, for they have none themselves, because
of the struggle of their pilgrimage, and like the whole of the churchŐs
children, without coping mechanisms to face the real world.
Even within a fresh move of God like Calvary Chapel, I
find it sad not only of some sloppy agape, but a concept that elevates the Word
of God above the gospel itself.
For example, it really is not amusing, that in mostly third generation
church plants, you see shirts that say ŇCalvary Chapel Smallville, where the
sheep are fed.Ó In the context of the Bible, the goal of the Christian life is
to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. (Definitely not a Sheep.) The
Bible uses the sheep/shepherd analogy as a statement of sorry truth, not a
model to be emulated.
So if I am so bumbed out about the church, why do I
continue? You think it is bad this morning, you should have heard me last
night. I would say, it is in fact a miracle of God. Just as it is a miracle
beyond understanding, that any are saved.
A lot of it I believe stems from the unconditional love I received from
my parents. Also, an early understanding that God saves sinners from hell and
allows them to go to heaven by His grace alone. (From the dead doctrine of the
Reformation!)
I also suppose that recently God has shown me in a new
and deeper way, the love, the faith, and the hope, He has in the work that He
is beginning to do within the church. That makes me, behind all the apparent
cynicism, truly optimistic that I will see in my life at least a beginning of
the development of that bride without spot or wrinkle.
Sandy Adams, one of the speakers at the recent Northwest
PastorsŐ Conference, gave the best message I have ever heard on man, men and
marriage on September 25th at Calvary Fellowship, (this now doesnŐt have a Real
Audio link). In that light, that bride of Christ may look more like the Leah,
JacobŐs bride he got instead of Rachel the desire of his heart. But the jist of
SandyŐs message is that their is a little of Rachel and Leah in each of us, men
and women. Rachel might have the apparent good looks, but Leah represents the
eternal beauty and fruitfulness of being obedient to GodŐs tenacious love.
I also believe that this bride will be made up,
especially initially by young people. For lack of a better symbol, those who
were under twenty one on September 11, 2001. People who have not been as yet tarnished by the idolatry
and the prostitution of the present church, that seeks to find its meaning by
whoring in the world and pimping their kids. These young believers can spot a
fake. God will provide enough discipleship, discipline, and more importantly
love, to allow these so called kids to change the church and hence to change
the world. That change will in someway be brought about by the true development
of a disciplined community within the church. One church in which God and man
can see the complex infrastructure of the whole. Not just an ensemble of
toothpicks and broken pieces.
In that light of a new oneness in the Body of Christ, we
who have ventured in years beyond that date, must seek God to freshly make us
into the image of a child of God, ever wondering, ever learning the depth of
the riches of Jesus Christ, not content in our own understanding of the
present. In that respect, the symbol of the church as a herd of sheep, will be
just a passing remembrance of the time when God changed the order of
things from: ŇIn those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did
what was right in His own eyes.Ó
In that new day, the king will be collectively the Body
of Christ, the church, when we shall truly walk continually in obedience and
reverence to His word. The question remains, will you be part of that new
community, or will you be left behind? Therefore, examine the following
statement to see where you now stand.
Is just as I am, just as I were, when God selected me,
just as I was? If so, you have wasted many years following the example of
Gomer, the harlot wife of Hosea. In my study Bible it says, ŇGomer, her name
has no symbolic reference, unlike the names of her children.Ó Is that the
legacy you will leave to your children, or will they refer to you as an example
by which they first began to understand the love of God?