Foundations, putting the church together with the wisdom of man
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
Do you remember the ecumenical movement? The reason that it failed is because it was not from God, but it was man's attempt to fix a problem of fellowship. God never wanted all the churches to come together under one roof again like it was basically because he is already seen the tremendous corruption of hypocritical men. There are some principles however, that God does want us to focus on. One of the first is to begin to get rid of the clutter of things that we use against one another which have no real interest in our relationship with Christ other than to become a worship style or a tradition that we have followed because that's the way it has always been done.
By setting aside these things for the glory of God to things happen: 1. If we dare to really look at those things we have long held in believe up to the direct words of what Christ alone taught we will find there is no reason through Christ teachings why we cannot fellowship his brothers and sisters. 2. With nothing left to distract us we can again fix our eyes upon Christ alone and concentrate on a relationship with God. There are many today who have a very strong relationship with a brand of Christ, but a very weak relationship with Christ himself. If we really think about this as we live in this age should Christ come again soon I would not want to be in that position.
What can we do then if we have a heart that will listen with spiritual years? When Christ said"the gospel is so simple that even a small child can understand"I really believe that he meant just that. I have never yet seen a time when any man has gotten hold of any single thought of Scripture preached and then has presented his own reasoning to that did not end up leading people toward a destruction or a division in the body of Christ in some way. In most ways we are more like the disciples who set at Jesus feet. Even though they were privileged to be in a position to hear Christ words directly they continued to listen with their physical minds up until they were baptized in the power of God's Spirit. It was then that they were taught and remembered all things that were said to them with a clear understanding.
In today's cultural climate the established denominational churches finds themselves in much the same situation as did the scribes and Pharisees of Christ's time in that they were tied so tightly to their established doctrines that they refuse to let go of a sense of control and spiritual direction. This fear is based on the same truth that pierced the hearts of those who long ago held on to secret desires and hypocritical theologies in the intense of their heart. It does not matter what the tradition is or the doctrinal basis used by any church, if it divides us from one another or causes this unity of mind, heart, and spirit; if it causes the body anywhere to not be of one accord it is not from Jesus Christ. We have the unique opportunity to see when something or someone bears the fruit of the spirit because it has all of the properties of spiritual and godly love with in it. Most simply put when it is of this world in any way it will show forth a part of the fruit that is this world which includes selfishness, discord, and corruption of some kind.
As hard as we may try it is impossible to hide these dirty little secrets from God's Spirit, and in most cases what ever we may have genuinely wanted to accomplish in Christ's name becomes very much like that tinkling bell are clinging simple... Nothing more than good work without love. As I grew up in the Bible belt area of Illinois I heard many times such phrases as"God wants us to be set apart from this world and to be a peculiar people"but that same mind set has been used on one another to complete and set one doctrine of thought against another and make even deeper divisions in fellowship between church families. If we stop for a moment and think we already know the truth of what God is saying to us. If we were actually following Christ would there really be anything between us other than our desire to have perhaps different worship styles? I will have one more blog to deal with on this particular subject, but for now I want you to think and reason with in your heart what we have discussed today. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
Do you remember the ecumenical movement? The reason that it failed is because it was not from God, but it was man's attempt to fix a problem of fellowship. God never wanted all the churches to come together under one roof again like it was basically because he is already seen the tremendous corruption of hypocritical men. There are some principles however, that God does want us to focus on. One of the first is to begin to get rid of the clutter of things that we use against one another which have no real interest in our relationship with Christ other than to become a worship style or a tradition that we have followed because that's the way it has always been done.
By setting aside these things for the glory of God to things happen: 1. If we dare to really look at those things we have long held in believe up to the direct words of what Christ alone taught we will find there is no reason through Christ teachings why we cannot fellowship his brothers and sisters. 2. With nothing left to distract us we can again fix our eyes upon Christ alone and concentrate on a relationship with God. There are many today who have a very strong relationship with a brand of Christ, but a very weak relationship with Christ himself. If we really think about this as we live in this age should Christ come again soon I would not want to be in that position.
What can we do then if we have a heart that will listen with spiritual years? When Christ said"the gospel is so simple that even a small child can understand"I really believe that he meant just that. I have never yet seen a time when any man has gotten hold of any single thought of Scripture preached and then has presented his own reasoning to that did not end up leading people toward a destruction or a division in the body of Christ in some way. In most ways we are more like the disciples who set at Jesus feet. Even though they were privileged to be in a position to hear Christ words directly they continued to listen with their physical minds up until they were baptized in the power of God's Spirit. It was then that they were taught and remembered all things that were said to them with a clear understanding.
In today's cultural climate the established denominational churches finds themselves in much the same situation as did the scribes and Pharisees of Christ's time in that they were tied so tightly to their established doctrines that they refuse to let go of a sense of control and spiritual direction. This fear is based on the same truth that pierced the hearts of those who long ago held on to secret desires and hypocritical theologies in the intense of their heart. It does not matter what the tradition is or the doctrinal basis used by any church, if it divides us from one another or causes this unity of mind, heart, and spirit; if it causes the body anywhere to not be of one accord it is not from Jesus Christ. We have the unique opportunity to see when something or someone bears the fruit of the spirit because it has all of the properties of spiritual and godly love with in it. Most simply put when it is of this world in any way it will show forth a part of the fruit that is this world which includes selfishness, discord, and corruption of some kind.
As hard as we may try it is impossible to hide these dirty little secrets from God's Spirit, and in most cases what ever we may have genuinely wanted to accomplish in Christ's name becomes very much like that tinkling bell are clinging simple... Nothing more than good work without love. As I grew up in the Bible belt area of Illinois I heard many times such phrases as"God wants us to be set apart from this world and to be a peculiar people"but that same mind set has been used on one another to complete and set one doctrine of thought against another and make even deeper divisions in fellowship between church families. If we stop for a moment and think we already know the truth of what God is saying to us. If we were actually following Christ would there really be anything between us other than our desire to have perhaps different worship styles? I will have one more blog to deal with on this particular subject, but for now I want you to think and reason with in your heart what we have discussed today. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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