a tale of two churches

In the book of Revelation, we find Jesus addressing various churches. While He speaks to seven, two of them in particular stand out to me.

The church at Ephesus was quite a church. They were commendable for their work and effort. They were doctrinally sound. They recognized the error of false apostles. Their perseverance was admirable. I get the sense that today this church would be recognized for their dedication. Most likely they would be a case study for those in academia desiring to discover the secrets of growing a successful church.

Immediately following the description of the church at Ephesus we find another church. The church at Smyrna was certainly not nearly as successful. They were poor, experiencing tribulation and suffering. They faced persecution. If one reads between the lines, it would appear that they were a broken church; one that would never be held up as an example of a successful church.

Ironically, the church most reprimanded was the “successful” church. In all their activity they completely missed the point. The weak broken church elicited praise from Jesus once again pointing to the fact that the ways of God are drastically different from our paradigms of success.

For years, I attempted to build an Ephesus church. Over the years we succeeded in the endeavor. Pastors from other churches and communities began to ask me the secrets of our success. That’s heady stuff for a young man! Yet in the success something was lost. Like the church at Ephesus, I became focused on the activities and the dedication required to achieve the vision. As our labors began to bear fruit, we became even more focused on the vision. As vision becomes more focused it easily becomes the sole focus. No longer is it an outworking of our relationship with God, the vision becomes god.

It took God asking me to relinquish the position of leadership to begin the process of seeing the emptiness of our labors. Success according to God is frequently at odds with our humanistic ideals of success. We think big is better. Busy activity is esteemed highly. Yet God seems less impressed with our activity and our success than with our brokenness.

Today I interact closely with group of broken followers of Jesus. We are messy, and broken. Each of us clearly recognizes our weakness. When it comes to telling an impressive church success story, one would not point to our band of believers. Yet in the midst of our brokenness we have discovered the reality of God. No longer is He a simply an aloof figure in an intellectual theological framework. He is alive, interacting with us in our brokenness. His presence highlights our weakness; His healing grace highlights His goodness.

Is God in control?

This week I had a heart-wrenching conversation with a client. Earlier this year, his wife left him for a lesbian relationship. He spoke of the transformation of his wife into someone he barely recognizes. The woman she was has been traded for a new identity. At one point he asked a question that so many of us ask when our world disintegrates – Why did God allow this to happen?

I frequently hear people say, “Well…God is still in control.” That thought process leads us to question why God would allow terrible things to happen. In fact it deeply calls into question the goodness of God. If God is in control of the situation, then is it not His fault that children are abused, that women are raped, and that children destroy their body with drugs?

God never created people to be puppets on a string, involuntarily dancing to his beck and call. He created us in His image with the ability to control our own destiny. He gave us the ability to make decisions and the responsibility to suffer the consequences of those decisions. Unfortunately the impact of negative decisions extends far beyond the one making that decision.

Does God have the power to be in control? I am convinced that He possesses that power. However I am equally convinced that God has limited himself in the affairs of humanity. I believe that part of what it means to be created in the image of God is that we have the ability to create our own destiny. Most of the destructive events that occur in humanity are the result of people making destructive choices. Most of the blessings that occur in humanity are the results of people choosing to live life according to God’s pattern.

Is God in control of every situation here on earth? No. He is not in control when innocent people are killed. He is not in control of my client’s wife. She has chosen to reject God for a self-determined path. Is God in control when Christians act maliciously toward other Christians? No. The actions are a consequence of a self-centered heart.

It God is in control, then He is to blame for millions of Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps. If God is in control, then He is at fault for the abortions of millions of babies. The very chaos of war and violence indicates that He is not in control.

Now do not hear me wrongly here. I believe that God could be in control. He has the power to do whatever He pleases. However, since creation, God has limited Himself in this world, allowing us to choose our own destiny. When we depart from His ways, He freely allows us to pursue our own ways. Conversely when we embrace His ways, we find blessings and peace.

following who?

At the height of the Roman Catholic Church's power and influence, the Church dominated every realm of life. In fact, in many ways, the Church was given equal to or even greater than status God. Whatever decisions were made by the hierarchy of the church rulers stood as law regardless whether the decisions harmonized with God's ways as revealed in scripture. For most people, the church became more important than God. It was their security, their place of trust.

I am beginning to believe that most people who call themselves Christians today are no different than those who were in the Roman Catholic Church over 500 years ago. When the stability of the institutional church is rocked, people panic immediately. When people do not have the reassurance of regular Sunday meetings, paid professional clergy, and all the rest of the trappings of the institutional church, they become immobilized.

I am also convinced that the followers of Jesus today have much less dependence on the institutional church. Their focus is not on the church but on Jesus. However, they also instinctively know the power of deep heart connections with other believers. They gather together without needing to be chided to do so, without a sense of duty or obligation. Church is an outworking of their walk with God, not the focus of their walk. They may be part of the institutional church but their spiritual well-being does not depend on the welfare of the institution.

Just as the Reformation began to break people's dependence on the institutional church, so today God is shaking the structures in which people trust. People's response to that upheaval in the institutional church reveals much about whom they follow.

the gospel according to us

Last week Bev and I drove past a church building. A sign boldly proclaimed "Jesus came to earth so you can go to heaven". I wonder if anyone at the church took the time to place that scripture against the words of scripture. I am sure that most Christians will be surprised to discover that the Bible never makes this kind of statement. I am not saying that the statement is false, however, there is not Biblical basis for this statement.

I am convinced that much of our understanding of the gospel is shaped, not by the scripture but by our tradition. I find it amazing that people who insist that they adhere to the Bible hold to so many beliefs that are extra Biblical. (However, beware if you challenge the validity of their beliefs! You will be attacked and ridiculed)

Perhaps this is no more evident than in the Christmas carols we hold dear. Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plain. Where in scripture do we find the angels singing at Jesus birth? It came upon a midnight clear... How do we know that the night of Jesus birth was cloudless? ...no crying He makes... Why should we assume that the baby Jesus did not cry?

The most dangerous aspect of our extra-biblical beliefs occurs when we present them as foundational biblical beliefs. It points to a deeper issue - an issue of creating our own doctrines and then cloaking them as biblical. I realize that it is easier to create doctrinal paradigms that fit our desires than it is to wrestle with the difficulty of the scriptures. Yet if we persist in holding to doctrines based not the scripture but on our tradition or our own ideas, we are in danger of creating a false gospel that causes us to miss the point entirely.

simeon's blessing

This Christmas season, there is a scripture that will probably not be used much in the myriad of Christmas sermons that are preached. It will probably not make it on the front of any Christmas cards. Neither is it likely that it will be the subject of songs that are sung.

They are the words of Simeon, an old prophet in Jerusalem at the time that Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple for His dedication ceremony. I quote:

Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

What an interesting "blessing" - yes, a sword shall pierce your soul. What kind of blessing is that? A Child destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel - we are okay with a Child destined for the rising of many in Israel but we are less comfortable with the fact that a fall must precede the rising. A sign which will be spoken against - instead of unifying the nation, it sounds like the Child will be opposed and resisted. All this so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

In all of this blessing we find only one "positive" word - that this Child will bring the "rising" of many in Israel. Yet even that rising is preceded by a fall. Because of the image of God which we bear, we instinctively know that the realm of God is one of righteousness, joy, and peace. We desire to rise above the mundane to a place of significance. However scripture is clear that the realm of God is accessed in proportion to the decrease of self.

The pattern of the Child Messiah opposes much of our humanistic image of entering the realm of God. I am convinced both from the words of scripture and experientially that the rise from the muck of this world into the realm of God only occurs after we fall to a place of helplessness. We inherently resist any kind of fall. I find it interesting how often the work of God causing people to fall is labeled as the work of the enemy. In our aspirations of glory and significance while opposing the "fall" work of God, we create an illusion of living in the realm of God. In a self-centered false paradigm, we violently oppose all that appears insignificant. We resist the hand of God that brings us to the place of nothing, stubbornly clinging to our self-created false realities.

Yet we must fall from our lofty self-inspired places of glory to a place of nothingness, to a place where we are completely helpless to help ourself. Our self-sufficiency runs very deeply in our psyche. We struggle with submission to the hand of God as He attacks what we have become, as He reveals the thoughts of our hearts.

The way we respond to His hand causing us to fall reveals a great deal about our inmost thoughts. If we resist Him, rebuking His work as that of the enemy, the depth of our ungodly selfishness is revealed. We are destined to a life of resisting Jesus (perhaps all the while deeply embracing religion) as long as we cling to self. On the other hand if we allow Him to bring us to the end of ourselves, we can also expect that He will also transform us into citizens of His kingdom. His promise is that as we trust Him through the valley of shadow of death, He will cause us to rise to new heights.