“The very first tear he made was do deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I’ve ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know – if you’ve ever picked the scab of a sore place. It hurts like billy, oh, but it is such fun to see it coming away.” – C.S. Lewis, Voyage of the Dawn Treader

In Lewis’ tale, set in the fantastical world of Narnia, the boy Eustice has been transformed into a dragon by his greed. The change was unexpected and about as much welcome as when you burn your tongue on a hot cup of coffee or step into the shower before the water has warmed up.

After a series of events, Eustice finds himself in the presence of Aslan, the high king and true god of Narnia. In a way that only a lion can, Aslan begins to deliver the boy-dragon through a series of precise cuts with his razor-sharp claws.

The transformation is excruciating, but its effect is final. Eustice is once again a boy, delivered from the horrid reptilian body that once enveloped him.

This past weekend, I was invited to my own dragon-skin-shedding event.

Click here to read more…

I’ve been meditating on Colossians 1:13 for the last few days.  “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.” There is a radical shift that takes place when we align our allegiance with Yahweh and enter His kingdom.  We are baptized into a new way of life.  We begin to see reality through a different worldview.

Even our spiritual genetics change.  We are a new creation and, thus, find that our desires are drawn in different directions than what we were familiar with.  This spiritual DNA is in the makeup of every believer, from the stay-at-home mom to town’s local pastor/priest.  It is the one common denominator that we share as sons of the Living God.

Within these strands of DNA are certain hardcoded characteristics: What we desire, love for fellowship, and (I believe) how we relate to others within the Body.  While the application of these foundational constants may vary based on geography, culture, political climate, etc, there should always be an underlying similarity shared between authentic expressions of Christian ecclesiology.

I trust it’s safe to say that you and I are both homo sapiens.  We share common DNA.  As such, you and I both have an organ on our face called a nose.  We both have a set of ears.  We eat have an opening at the front of our face into which we place various forms of food.  If we eat something with beans we both get gas (maybe?).  Though we are two distinct individuals, there is are expressions of our humanity that are common.  Indeed, these expressions are a witness to the world that we are human beings.

I believe that ecclesiology works the same way.  There can be many authentic expressions of “church” so long as each type holds fast to the foundational building blocks of who we are as a people of God.  These building blocks are determined by the characteristics of our Father, Yahweh.

When I received this revelation, I began to be much less concerned about the outward structure or label applied to a Christian meeting and more concerned with whether the gathering I was a part of modeled the genetic characteristics of my Father.

“On earth as it is in the heavens…”  I think the Father is looking for His people to model community in such a way that reflects the community that exists in the Godhead.  Whether we classify ourselves as “traditionalists,” “house churchists,” or “simple churchists,” the important issue we need to address is this: Does the way I relate to other believers in this fellowship reflect the type of relational community modeled in the Godhead? If not, (a) why do we persist in that practice and (b) how can we change to more closely mimic relational interactions in the Trinity?

I plan to explore this idea in a series of blog postings over the next few weeks.  However, I’d be interested to see others weigh in on what they believe the “common DNA” is that we share as fellow believers and whether it is supported by their present ecclesiology.

On Saturday mornings at 6:00 am, while the sensible person lies asleep in bed, I join a group of guys at the local Panera Bread to discuss theology.  During this season, we’re going through a course by John Harrington called “Biblical Theology of Mission.”  We’re discussing the purpose of the kingdom of God, His eternal purpose, and how history is driving towards that goal.  This week, we began with a passage from the book of Genesis, chapter 3:

“I [God] will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” – Genesis 3:15, ESV

As we talked about this passage, I was struck with the immensity of the goodness of God.  When disaster strikes on a major scale, for example, Hurricane Katrina or the bombing of the World Trade Center, we always hear news reporters interview spiritual leaders asking the question, “How could a good God allow such a horrible thing happen?”  Most of the world approaches God with an attitude of bitter contempt.  He is viewed as the instigator and sustainer of suffering and unfairness.  ”If you would just get out of the picture,” they effectually say to God, “we could just figure things out on our own.”  In Genesis, however, there is a different story that has the power to open your heart to the extravagant kindness of God.

The Covenant Made

God’s interactions with mankind is built on the concept of “covenant.”  Historically speaking, a covenant was a lifelong, binding agreement between two parties.  If both parties upheld their end of the covenant, there were certain blessings to enjoy.  If, however, one party did not follow the contract, there were significant consequences (curses).  After creation, God made a covenant with the first man (i.e. Adam) that resulted in two important things: rulership over all creation and uninterrupted intimacy with God.  These blessings were dependent on one thing alone, Adam and Eve were not to eat the fruit from this tree called the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 1:17).

The Covenant Broken

We all know what happened next.  Adam and Eve ate from the tree, which led to a break in the covenant.  As a result, the blessings they experienced (i.e. rulership over creation and intimacy with God) turned into curses.  Curse one: Man’s sovereignty over Creation was transferred to Satan and, in so doing, mankind became slaves.  Curse two: the kind of intimacy that man had, the walking-with-God-through-the-garden closeness, was ripped from them by sin.  Man was sentenced to walk through the world alone, servant to a sadistic and twisted master and feeling the distance from God that many still feel today.

The Covenant Restored

In Genesis 3, God is standing in front of Adam and Eve in the garden, while Satan (in the form of a serpent) slithers around their feet.  The covenant has been broken, the couple is guilty, and there are no words spoken to their defense.  Behold, however, the unearthly goodness of God in this scenario.  God knows that there is no way that the covenant can be restored by Adam and Eve.  Even if He did call a mulligan, they would probably make the same mistake again.  But wait, God pulls a rabbit out of His hat that no one expected.  He promises the woman that one day one of her offspring with crush Satan and restore the covenant.  What she didn’t understand, and neither did Satan, was that this was not going to be any ordinary person; this One, this Seed, was going to come from God Himself – Messiah Jesus.  He would be 100% God and 100% Man.  He would relate to both parties.  He would mediate between the two groups.  The Apostle Paul reflected on this after the fact:

“But in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4,5 ESV).

In effect, God sent His Son Jesus to uphold our side of the covenant between Him and us.  When Adam and Eve broke the covenant, God could have legitimately walked away from us, leaving us without hope or restoration.  However, He didn’t!  In this situation, God chose not to be fair.  Fairness would have dictated an irrevocable sentence of death and separation.  Instead, God chose to be extravagantly generous, by restoring the covenant in such a way that it could never be broken again.  Jesus’ death and resurrection re-sealed the covenant that God made with Adam.  No longer were God and mankind seated on opposite ends of the table with no mediator in between.  Jesus walked in and sat down on both sides of the table.  And the beauty of this arrangement is that Jesus will always agree with Jesus!

This was an event that rippled both ways through the fabric of time, permanently sealing mankind’s dominion over the earth and the opportunity for unbroken intimacy with God through the God-Man (100% God, 100% Man), Messiah Jesus.  That is one reason why He will return one day to set up a tangible kingdom upon the Earth, but that’s for another blog post.

So the next time someone tells you that God isn’t fair, you tell them:

“You know what?  You’re absolutely right!  Let me tell you what He is…”

It was an exciting time in my life.  I was 20 years old and working long hours at Applebees as a closing server in the smoking section.  I sold a lot of alcohol and had many opportunities to share Jesus with my co-workers.  Most of them were party people who drank and lived loose lifestyles.  Often the Lord would give me dreams or prophetic words which would touch their hearts.

Stephanie was one of my managers.  Many a midnight she and I would be the last two people in the restaurant.  I would be rolling silverware as she had her last smoke of the night.  We would talk about God, healing, angels and demons.  One day she gave her heart to Jesus.  Elated, I proceeded to encourage her to come to the church where I was attending.  She never came and I assumed it was some kind of “rebellion” in her heart. The idea of starting a church around her never even crossed my mind.  I never thought about how scary it might have seemed to Stephanie to leave her own friends to integrate herself into “my” church.

Then one day she said, “hey, I wanna get baptized; couldn’t we just do it in my sink?”  I enthusiastically promised her that my pastor would baptize her if she came to church. I could tell she was disappointed but I was convinced I had done the right thing.  She needed to submit to the authority of the church before she could get baptized, right?!  Besides, well-meaning leaders would deem me as being very presumptuous if I went so far as to baptize her myself, in a sink nonetheless!  Who was I to do such a thing?  That is the job of pastors and trained clergy, wasn’t it?

Shortly after our conversation about baptism I left Applebees.  We kept in touch for awhile but then Stephanie moved and changed phone numbers so we lost touch.

I’m heartbroken that I allowed that opportunity to pass by. I know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him, but I hope to never make that mistake again.   Perhaps my story can keep others from making similar mistakes.

Stephanie, wherever you are, tearfully I want to say that if you still have a desire to get baptized, I would love to baptize you in your sink.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20

“Do you like blackcurrant martinis?  I can also make mango.”  Dennis stood in his kitchen with a bottle of triple sec in his hand, a martini shaker in the other, and–yes–a bottle of Vodka sitting on the counter.  Honestly, the question had taken me by surprise; not because of the offer of alcohol, but because of the context in which it was asked.  Dennis had just been baptized.

Would we?  Could we?  The unexpected merger of things I once considered sacred and secular was taking place before my eyes.  What surprised me more than this head-on collision was my response that came out so naturally that it caught me off-guard.

“Yeah, we’d love some – uh – martinis.  Make ‘em blackcurrant!  Thanks, man.”

My Friend, Dennis

Rewind.

Last summer, was a season of change.  I had changed jobs, our home was up for sale, and we were thinking about pursuing organic church life, outside the walls of what both of us were familiar.  It was during this transitional time Father brought Dennis across my path.

We are both contact center engineers.  Cisco phone equipment is our specialty.  We are the “Thank-you-for-calling-press-one-to-speak-to-a-representative”-kind of guys.

I had known Dennis from a previous job.  He is a black-and-white kind of guy, straight-to-the-point.  His colorful life has taken him on many adventures.  Studying music at Berkeley and rubbing shoulders with biker gangs are a few of his intriguing tales.

During my first months at this new job, my friendship with Dennis had deepened.  Something I found interesting about him was his unfamiliarity with the cliches and practices found in the Christian sub-culture.

When we talked about God, I was forced to speak in everyday language, kindly avoiding phrases like “washed in the blood” and “asking Jesus into you heart.”

It was not too long before Dennis had accepted Jesus as his Savior.  He had read a small Gospel of John and responded to the gospel message on page three.  The words had led him to Jesus during a difficult season of his life.

Waiting for the Fruit to Ripen

As soon as he came to Jesus, my Type-A personality took over.  Several times a week, I would encourage him to get baptized.  “How about this weekend?” I would ask.  “We can come to your place.  You can come to ours.”

Whether it was my relentless salesmanship or the busyness of his life – I’m not sure – Dennis was not ready to be baptized.  I was disappointed.  I had been reading about organic church life, keeping things simple and getting back to the New Testament.  I wanted to be like Philip, finding people along the road, getting them saved, and then baptizing them.  Move over Mr. Ford and the assembly line!

Yet, despite my best efforts to cast him as the Ethiopian steward (Acts and immediately baptize him in the river off of Highway 494, Dennis showed me that he had a mind of his own.  He would respond only when he was ready (if ever).

During these times, I would pour out my frustration to Father.  I respected Dennis and valued our friendship, but I wanted to see results.  I was impatient.  My wife, reading me like a book, smiled and said, “You know what I think?”

“What?”

“You can probably guess what I’ll say.”

“Oh no, not the quote…” I begged.

You must understand, my wife is very proud of the following quote.  A friend of hers at Bible school authored it.  Ever since, it has become one of her mantras that – I admit – has great depth and wisdom.

“Remember what my friend Lindsay always says, ‘Ripe fruit yields to gentle pressure.’”  Elisa let out a little smirk, proud of identifying another opportune moment to evoke the mantra.

Those words resounded in my spirit.  I knew she was right.  If Dennis was ever to be baptized it needed to be based on his own decision, not out of obligation or compulsion.  When the fruit was ripe, it would give in.  Until then, all my pressuring would be bruising fruit that was not yet ripe.

I resolved that I would no longer bring up the issue of baptism.  I would wait for Dennis to ask me about it.

It was immaturity on my part, you see, to expect Dennis to respond in cookie-cutter fashion to the descriptions we read of in the Book of Acts.  Living organic Christianity cannot be done like one bakes a recipe.  You can’t just add flour, salt, and butter and then bake for 45 minutes.

The call to organic life is a call into relationship. It is a call to willingly walk alongside others at the pace they’re comfortable with. It values slow progress with fellowship over blazing a trail in solitary seclusion.

A Day of Celebration

Two weeks ago, nearly six months after he accepted Jesus as his Savior, Dennis brought up the idea of getting baptized.  We were standing outside as he took a smoke break, bundled up in the tundra-like winter of Minnesota, when he said to me, “Ya, man, I think I’m ready to get baptized – maybe next weekend.”

He explained how some difficult issues had recently surfaced and he realized that he needed to solidify his commitment to the Lord and have a fresh start.

That following Friday, my wife and I arrived at his apartment complex, full of excitement about how God had been working in Dennis’ life.  We briefly talked about the meaning of baptism, identifying with the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Dennis full excited and said, “Yah man, new life, everything’s done with, starting over!  I’m ready!”

He was most certainly ready.  No one had coerced him.  He wasn’t doing it to earn God’s favor.  He was responding in obedience because the Holy Spirit had moved on his heart.  The fruit had ripened and was responding to the pressure of the Spirit. He was hearing the voice of God for himself!

We took him down to the apartment pool and baptized him.  Coming up out of the water, this 49-year-old man looked like a kid again.  His eyes were full of life and he said, “Woh, man, I’ve got goosebumps all over and I never get those.  This never happens to me!”

Alcohol and Jesus

We dried off and went upstair to celebrate.  Dennis offered us martinis and thought to myself, “What the heck?  This is a great reason to celebrate!”

We drank those martinis with gladness as we prayed and talked about our life in Christ.  It was natural, free-flowing, and completely organic.  It was the culmination of a hands-off, Spirit-led journey about waiting on God for fruit to ripen.

There was no guilt or awkwardness about merging Jesus with alcohol.  Instead of bringing Dennis into a rigid system of rules and behavioral norms, the good news of Jesus had been injected right into his living room.  The message of salvation and freedom had, just as it had two thousand years ago, become incarnational.  The living Word had “become flesh” and walked into a cocktail party.

This journey into organic Christianity is more exciting and unpredictable than I ever imagined.  But the beauty is in the simplicity.  Love one another without any strings attached and watch the Father ripen the harvestfields.

A few months ago, I posted an article on the site.  It is written by Gary Amirault and entitled, “The Tithe Is Illegal.”  You can read the article here.

Since posting that article, the traffic to my site has skyrocketed.  There are at least twenty people who visit my site per day as a result of searching for information about tithing.  Setting my own sentiments aside, this type of traffic clearly tells me one thing – there is a growing number of believers who doubt the validity of tithing.  By using the word “tithing,” I mean the belief that all Christians are required to give a minimum of 10% of their gross income (or net income, depending on the group you talk to) as a basis to receive blessing from God.

Ok, I will share my opinion in two statements:

1. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see the practice of tithing demonstrated or required as a fundamental practice of our Christian faith.
2. Followers of Jesus are called to lead lives of extravagant, outrageous giving that includes gifts of time, energy, and sometime money.

As the comments have gone back and forth, one stands out.  It is written by “Doug”:

I agree with what Jim says in that we are to just do as the Holy Spirit directs us. In other words, we just need to get out of God’s way. That includes imposing any sort of required percentage on what we give. Tithing is not a biblical concept for the New Testament believer. Those that preach it do so out of fear and not trusting God, even though they may deny this. Otherwise why would they preach it? Don’t they think that God can speak to every individual heart? So what if people spend their money on latte’s or chocolate, or whatever other indulgence their flesh desires. That is between them and the Lord. What they don’t need is someone teaching a message of guilt and fear to get them to do something different. God will speak to their hearts whether you tell them or not. Preaching guilt results in compulsion and such giving is not glorifying to our Lord. Didn’t the apostle Paul teach that we are not to give out of compulsion. Isn’t making someone feel guilty about buying a latte instead of giving to a church making them compulsory givers? Of course this brings up another point of where did God direct that people are to give to an institution? There is a whole host of issues that this subject brings up.

I don’t mean to be argumentative, but every preacher loves to preach from that one little verse in Micah that says “don’t rob God of the tithes in the storehouse.” Yet, I have yet to hear any preacher teach from Deutoronomy 14 where it basically says to spend it on whatever your heart desires and rejoice before the Lord. It also says to remember the Levite, so I could guess that if someone wanted to twist things around, they could say that pastors are modern day Levites, but that makes no sense since you are a Levite by birth not by personal election. God doesn’t want us twisting His scriptures around to fit our own desires no matter how worthy the cause. God has never been one to teach us that the ends justify the means.

The point is that we need to be free. Jesus came to set us free. Every person is a member of the “priesthood of believers” as stated in Hebrews. The man made pastoral system that is in place today limits people and quiets the voice of the prophets and other saints. People become spectators instead of participants. Our meetings are all geared around one man. It is too easy for heresy to invade a church where only one man can speak the word of God. This is not to criticize the well meaning Godly men who have taken on the title of pastor, but a criticism of the system that perpetuates this unbiblical practice. It is time to let God’s people go. Many pastors are like modern day pharoes who enslave God’s people with fear and trembling and rule them with legalistic requirements. I don’t apologize for coming on strong here because it is the truth.

Here is how I put it to people. What if some remote tribe in a jungle, with no prior human contact, stumbled upon a Bible. They read it from cover to cover, accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. What would their meetings look like? Would they have one man in charge called a pastor? Would they require the tribe members to tithe? Come on folks, its that simple. These are easy answers. We have handed down man made traditions for centuries that have no basis in God’s word. Don’t you think its time to trust and let God’s people go?

Given the present state of our global economy, one must consider how these shakings will affect the Body of Christ.  The church in America has been known for its power and influence, largely due to the financial base that they have access to.  In times where jobs are scarce and tax-exempt charitable giving are dwindling, what will the impact be to the institutional church?

“A new study from the Barna Group found that during the past three months, one out of every five households had cut its faith-based giving. As a result, churches could see donations decline by as much as $5 billion and revenue by as much as 6 percent during the fourth quarter of the year. “The enemy of charitable giving is insecurity,” said Paul G. Schervish, professor of sociology and director of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College. “Right now, we can’t even project the end of the recession, like we did other recessions.”

“The number of religious groups in trouble is growing. Focus on the Family, a faith-based organization in Colorado with a $5 million deficit, laid off more than two hundred workers in November, while Seventh Day Adventist Church leaders have instituted a wage freeze and a 20 percent reduction in travel. Elsewhere, falling donations recently forced the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh to hold a “special collection” for Catholic Charities in response to a 40 percent increase in calls to the agency’s emergency assistance program.”

“During the last year, most churches have reported 5 percent to 10 percent reductions in giving. I’m also aware of some churches that are experiencing up to a 20 percent reduction from last year’s collections. Because we have not seen such a drop in general giving in recent decades, this loss of revenue has caught many churches by surprise.

“I also believe that what goes on in them [support groups] is far closer to what Christ meant his Church to be, and what it originally was, than much of what goes on in most churches I know. These groups have no
buildings or official leadership or money. They have no rummage sales, no altar guilds, no every-member canvases. They have no preachers, no choirs, no liturgy, no real estate. They have no creeds. They have no program. They make you wonder if the best thing that could happen to many a church might not be to have its building burned down and to lose all its money. Then all the people would have left is God and each other.”

For the past few weeks, I’ve been stuck on a passage in the Gospel of John.

“Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.’” — John 5:19

The implications of this statement are far-reaching.  Jesus did nothing unless he first saw Father doing it.  Think about it.  Jesus comes to the pool of Bethesda, a place filled with the sick and dying.  Everyone is waiting for their own personal miracle.  This Jewish man steps foot into a sea of need and interacts with only one lame man.

“Do you want to get better?” he asks him.  Notice, this is an exclusive offer for only one.  The rest of the crowd is waiting, watching, hoping that Jesus will come to them and repeat the same scenario.  However, the time never comes.  The lame man is healed and a few verses later we see that Jesus is no longer at the Pool of Bethesda; he’s in the Temple.

Why didn’t he heal the rest of the people?  That is the wrong question to ask. We begin with our assessment of the situation.  We start with the crowd of people and consider that factor to be the most significant.

Let’s review what Jesus said to the Jews shortly after healing the lame man: “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing…”

Jesus based every action on what Father was doing.  His “ministry model” was simple and relational.  The needs of the crowd were secondary to Jesus’ need to see what on the heart of Father.

Question: What do you think of this approach to ministry?  How do we position ourselves to see what Father is doing?

For the past few weeks, my wife and I have been reading portions of Acts and Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia.  During our reading, I’ve savored the freedom that we have in Jesus.  We can live a life free from a works mentality, released to simply come to God through faith.

I’ve also thought a lot about the institutionalized structure of modern-day Christianity.  As I continue on this journey in organic Christianity, I’m beginning to believe that the inorganic structure, made up of external rules and expectations, can cripple the Body of Christ.  In some ways, it appears to present, in Paul’s words, “a different gospel,” that delivers an inaccurate view of salvation and our relationship with God.

In Acts and Galatians, there are striking parallels between the state of modern-day Christianity and the early church.

A Different Gospel

Paul had recently returned from Galatia (located in modern-day Turkey) only to receive word that there was serious trouble among the new believers.  A group of Jewish men, called Judaizers, had entered the churches and begun teaching that the non-Jewish believers had to keep the Mosaic law in order to find approval from God.  Most notable, was the strict stance on male circumcision (ouch!).  To the Jews of that time, circumcision was a mark of superiority that proved (or so they thought) that they had a preferential relationship with God.

This contradicted to the message entrusted to Paul, which was based on faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ.  To Paul, there was no amount of good works that can gain favor with God.  Everyone stands absolutely condemned and incapable of “posting bail” on the account of “good behavior.”

“But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” – Galatians 5:22

To Paul, the Mosaic law served as a light to reveal the wickedness of the human heart.  It was never designed to be a code to follow.  By revealing the sin within our hearts, the Law shows us that we cannot measure up to God by our own good deeds.  Recognizing this shortfall, should be the first step in following Jesus.

The Jerusalem Council

The Galatians were receiving a counterfeit gospel that was enslaving them to external actions and lifeless ritual.  Paul was enraged, rising up like a father to their defense. He quickly went down to Jerusalem, the epicenter of Christianity, to talk with the believers there.

He brought his case before the entire church in Jerusalem.  To Paul, this was not an issue for some hierarchical elite; this was a disease that threatened to attack every member of the Body of Christ.  In response to that meeting, known as the Jerusalem Council, the entire church crafted a message to send out through the Roman world.  It was an memo of clarification for all the new believers scattered across the empire.

“Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas–Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren…

“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.” (Acts 15:22, 28-29)

To summarize, the only burden the apostles placed upon the non-Jewish believers was to avoid the following:

1. Meat sacrificed to idols
2. Blood from animals
3. Meat from animals that have been strangled
4. Sexual immorality

Preserving Unity

The first three commandments were made for the sake of the Jewish believers.  In their culture, sacrificial meat, blood, and strangled meat were strictly taboo.  It was unfamiliar to them.  If a gathering of non-Jewish believers served blood-sausage for dinner, the ethnically Jewish believers would not want to come.  Though the food was a non-issue to the Gentiles, it was a serious stumbling block for the Jews.  These first three commands were given for the sake of unity.  By serving “safe food,” Jewish brothers and sisters could join in gatherings without hesitation.

Let me paint a modern example.  You have just been invited to someone’s house for dinner on Friday night.  They are believers and you, being hungry for fellowship with other Christians, have been thinking about it all week.  The host family is from the Phillipines, a precious elderly couple.  The day before you arrive, however, you are told by a friend what kind of meal they served last week:

“They were serving soup that night.  I was excited because there’s nothing like a warm cup of soup on a cold Minnesota night.  Little did I know what was coming.  I asked them what kind of soup it was and they told me, ‘A Phillipino special: Soup No. 5.’  What’s in it, I asked?  They replied, ‘It’s a savory soup with bull’s rectum and testicles.  We also have coconut grubs and Betute Tugak, which is stuffed frog.’”

You feel your lunch begin traveling up your through in the wrong direction.  You gulp and exclaim: “Bull’s rectum and testicles, coconut grubs, and stuffed frog?  Ahh!!  I’m not going to go over there ever!!”

Get the picture?  The taboo food became a stumbling block for the non-Phillipino brother.  Something as simple as dinner prevented unity.  (Note: Although I’ve never eaten the aforementioned items, I can say that the Phillipino food that my wife’s aunt makes is incredible.)

The last command they give concerns sexual immorality (i.e. fornication).  When most people read this they falsely assume this means sexual intercourse outside of marriage.  Both Jew and Gentile believers understood that the concept that sex was a gift to be exercised only within the covenant of marriage.

Instead, they were directing these Gentiles living in such close fellowship with the Jewish believers to observe the specific marriage regulations required by Leviticus 18, which prohibited marriages between most family relations. This was something that Jews would abhor, but most Gentiles would think little of.

Gentile Christians had the “right” to eat meat sacrificed to idols, to continue their marriage practices, and to eat food without a kosher bleeding, because these were aspects of the Mosaic law they definitely were not under. However, they are encouraged (demanded?) to law down their “rights” in these matters as a display of love to their Jewish brethren.

All four of the requested abstentions related to ceremonial laws laid down in Leviticus 17 and 18, and three of them concerned dietary matters which could inhibit Jewish-Gentile common meals.

No Greater Burden

When the  question regarding church practice was brought up, there were only four requests that the Jerusalem church laid upon the Gentile believers.  Of all the issues they could have addressed, they chose four that touched on diet and relationships.  There was no mention of consistent tithing, church attendance, church membership, appropriate “spiritual covering,” or signed statements of faith.

Yet, in spite of this clear scriptural truth, we can add additional requirements in an attempt to validate one’s relationship with God.

I think we would have more people walking in freedom and wholeheartedness if we kept the main thing, namely, Jesus Christ, the main thing.  Let the pure and unadulterated simplicty of following Jesus be the only requirement for being a “Christian.”  Let’s not load extra burdens on people needlessly.

May the Lord help me to add “no greater burden” to those He brings into my life.

I must confess my love for movies–high-quality ones that make you think. When The Matrix came out in the theaters, I was in awe. The special effects were cutting edge for its time and the plot was enveloping. In the movie, Keanu Reaves plays Thomas A. Anderson, a computer programmer by day and elusive computer hacker by night. Operating under the online alias of “Neo,” Mr. Anderson is in the pursuit of the “The Matrix,” a science-fiction-like conspiracy theory. He’s convinced that it’s out there. He just hasn’t found it yet.

Through a series of extraordinary events, Neo finds himself at the top of an abandoned building with a mysterious man named Morpheus. He offers the inquisitive young man the opportunity to know the truth. However, the truth comes at a significant price. Here is the transcript of the offer Morpheus made to Neo:

Morpheus: This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back…You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Neo pauses for an instant, then reaches for the red pill. He swallows it down with a glass of water, and looks at Morpheus.

Morpheus: Remember, all I’m offering you is the truth: nothing more.

I felt a little like Neo when I opened up Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna. Needless to say, I took the red pill and began my journey down the rabbit hole.

Down the Rabbit Hole

The first thing I discovered through my reading was that the early Christians functioned in ways that were radically different from what is commonly referred to as “church” today. For the first 300 years, life in Christ was a corporate reality that came naturally and flowed out of the home, embracing family and relationships.  Believers met in each other’s homes, sharing their experiences over a meal. There were no church buildings or meeting halls. From the very beginning, Christian community was expressed in the most simple and natural of places—the home.

When they gathered, there was no predetermined order of service. They saw themselves as a family. As such, the gatherings were unscripted and spontaneous. When each person arrived, they understood that it was not only their right, but also their responsibility to contribute to the gathering. We see this explained in 1 Corinthians 14:26: “When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.” In that time, every person was a minister in the practical sense of the word. Their gatherings had active participants, not passive spectators.

Church structure also looked different. In today’s “church” model, the pastor presides over the people of God. He is the one who blesses civic events, marries the young, buries the old, represents the group to the outside world, and exercises spiritual authority over them. Essentially, the modern-day pastor is the functioning “head” of the church. This concept would have been foreign to the early Christians.

For the first three centuries, there is no evidence of a hierarchical, top-down, chain-of-command. They understood that the Body of Christ has only one “head,” which is Christ Jesus Himself. Therefore, He occupied much more than an honorific role in church leadership. He was the Source of all guidance and direction. Each member of the Body had direct access to the Head. Therefore, questions such as “Who is your spiritual authority?” or “Who is your covering?” would be simple for the ancient believers. Without question, they would say, “That’s easy. It’s Jesus Christ.”

Shocking Implications

Looking at the difference between the early Church and today’s institutionalized expression made me feel sorrowful.  In the early days, each believer was given opportunity to express their revelation of Christ in the gatherings.  Songs, hymns, spiritual songs, teachings, revelations, tongues, interpretations–a beautiful tapestry was woven in the simplicity of their fellowship.  Each member, freely functioning under the headship of Christ, expressed His beauty and presence in a remarkable way.

In contrast, the format of institutional church services today seem to  inhibit the expression of non-”professional” people of God.  Although my wife and I were given great freedom to express our gifts, it seemed like the majority of people in the congregation were passive observers.  Countless Sundays went by where the traditional structure kept them from expressing their revelation of Jesus.  I think back to the times when I felt that I had nothing to preach on a certain Sunday morning.  Many times, I would struggle to not enter a place of striving just to produce something acceptable to give the people.  It was, of course, my “responsibility” to feed them–or so I had been taught.  Thinking back, I am convinced that there were times when God would have desired to reveal Himself through those silent saints who lacked the freedom to share their revelation of Christ.

Who is to blame for this tragic imprisonment of the people of God? That’s a difficult question to answer and it’s not my responsibility to judge that case.  Most professional ministers I have met have an authentic love for the people of God and want the people in their congregation to grow up into maturity.  I know that is true for the leaders of the church I was part of–they are authentic and well-intentioned.

Perhaps the only statement that can be made about this issue is that we are a product of the paradigm we’ve been raised in.  When all you know of “church” is filtered through the tradition of the previous generation, the way it’s supposedly “always been,” it’s difficult to consider something else.

As my wife and I considered the implications of the way the institution operates, for conscience sake, we decided that we could no longer be a part of it.  While God may not be calling every pastor to leave their role at this time, there was no question as to what our reponse should be.

Powerless and Vulnerable

Over the next few days, we begged the Father for wisdom.  Our hearts were grieved as we considered the possibility of leaving.  Relationships would be tested in the fire of obedience.  There was much opportunity to misunderstood.  Feelings would likely be hurt though we desperately wanted it to not be so.  In the wisdom of God, we had been led into a situation that we had absolutely no control over.  We found ourselves powerless and vulnerable.

We called the senior pastors and asked if they could come over for coffee on Saturday.  They cheerfully agreed. having no idea what was to come.  “Can we bring anything?” they asked.  “A ton of grace and some patience,” I thought to myself. With a mixture of resolve and anxiety, I looked into my wife’s beautiful emerald eyes.  They were calming and made me momentarily forget about the meeting.  “Can we fast forward a few months?” my wife asked with a smile.  “Sadly, no, Elisa.  We’re gonna’ have to walk through this valley together.”