The Rest of the Old Old Story

I really didn’t mean to be writing a series on the church, but here goes part IV.

Most attempts at starting house churches/simple churches/”the” church don’t go anywhere. That’s acknowledged in most of Gene Edwards’ books. I’m not sure about Frank Viola’s.

Why?

Problem 1: Christians Don’t Know What the Church Is

It never ceases to amaze me that Gene Edwards and Frank Viola have been writing about starting home churches for years, and the description always remains this wonderful, free, joyful thing that practically grows and takes care of itself. While Gene Edwards acknowledges that it hardly ever works, his answer is to get more free and don’t try so hard.

Yikes!

People don’t know what they’re getting into. The Church is the most important thing on earth. It’s more important than governments and countries. If Christians get together, hear Jesus Christ and obey him, then they can conquer the world.

We did it once. We overthrew the Roman empire with love, submission, and suffering. We spread across the earth before there were government churches and conversion by the sword.

If we don’t know it, the devil most certainly does. He’s not deceived. He’s quite aware that the gates of hell cannot stand against the church (see Which Church?, my previous post), and he has no intentions of letting it exist.

He’s taking it seriously, and the followers of simple church/home church are not. The battle’s way worse than they have any idea, and it’s a lot more subtle and deceptive.

As the great Cyprian of Carthage put it in A.D. 250:

Caution is more easy where danger is manifest, and the mind is prepared beforehand for the contest when the adversary avows himself. The enemy is more to be feared and to be guarded against, when he creeps on us secretly. (On the Unity of the Church, ch. 1)

Problem 2: Christians Don’t Know What a Christian Is!

One problem with everything I’ve written so far is that I’m using “we” loosely.

Jesus said that no one can be his disciple who doesn’t deny himself, take up his cross, follow him, hate his family, including his wife and kids, hate his own soul, and forsake all his possessions (Luke 9:23; 14:26-33).

He did.

Most Christians today think he didn’t mean it.

He did mean it. I’d like to be nice and say that you can be a Christian and ignore those ideas of Jesus, but you can’t.

You can’t.

He’s the one who said it.

You can’t build a church with people that aren’t Christians.

Daring to Make It Just a Little Easier

It’s scary to me to lighten what I just said at all. After all, those were Jesus’ ideas, not mine.

However, I think it’s clear from Scripture that Christians weren’t those who did this perfectly. When Jesus wrote letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 he acknowledged as Christians those who had some problems. He acknowledged as churches people who had a lot of problems.

But he called them to repent.

You can’t have a Laodicean church. If the Laodicean church didn’t repent, Jesus was going to spew them out of his mouth. They were not going to continue being a church.

In fact, look at the Ephesian church. They had only one thing held against them. It was one big thing, they had left their first love, but nonetheless all else said to them was positive. They had works and patience. Jesus tells them that twice. But he was still going to remove their candlestick–and that quickly–unless they repented. (History says they did, by the way.)

In other words, even the righteous Ephesian church, standing against evil and deception, were going to cease to be a church if they did not return to their first love.

Problem 3: Christians Don’t Understand Their Purpose

Jesus takes the Church as seriously as the devil. He’s a lot more powerful than the devil, too. He created the devil. The devil is not a problem for him.

But even Jesus didn’t defeat the devil without a fight. He had to stand up to him. He had to bear real temptation. Overcoming the devil is always a fight.

As Justin Martyr put it some 1850 years ago:

[The demons] subdue all who make no strong opposing effort for their own salvation. (First Apology 14)

The early Christians knew what they were getting into.

They also knew what it meant to be a Christian. Justin added this rather frightening description of the Christian life:

There is no other way than this: to become acquainted with this Christ, to be washed in the fountain spoken of by Isaiah for the forgiveness of sins, and for the rest, to live sinless lives. (Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 44)

Hmm. Impossible? His contemporaries didn’t think so:

If we Christians are compared with you [Romans], although in some things our discipline is inferior, yet we shall be found much better than you. For you forbid, yet commit, adulteries; we are born only for our own wives. You punish crimes when committed; with us, even to think of crimes is sin. You are afraid of those who are aware of what you do; we are afraid even of our own conscience alone, without which we cannot exist. (Minucius Felix, The Octavius, ch. 35)

There is room for stumbling. There is room for public repentance. There is room for forgiveness. There is not room, however, for a Christianity that says, “I don’t have to obey Jesus because it’s impossible.”

Such a Christianity knows nothing of grace.

Problem 4: We Think Real Christianity Is Too Hard

Most “Christians” will look at what I’ve written and begin making the most ridiculous excuses. I don’t know how many times I’ve been told to give away my computer so that I can have forsaken all my possessions and so scoffers and worldly Christians won’t have to read me writing about Jesus’ commands!

They’re not scoffing at me. They’re scoffing at the commands of Christ. There’s no true Christianity except the one that goes all the way with God, and the only Christians that can band together and be the church are those that obey Christ.

Everyone else is a liar.

I tried to think of a nicer word, but “liar” is the word the apostle John–the apostle of love–used (1 Jn. 2:3-4).

We might as well be honest. The fact is, I’m a human, too. The temptations that affect you affect me. I’ve had to cry out to God for mercy. I’ve lived like an American at times, not like a Christian. I fear, like Peter commanded (1 Pet. 1:17), because I know I will be judged by my works. I know how desperately I need the grace that removes sin’s power.

But it’s God that sets the standard, not me. I don’t get to lower it. I only get to submit to it.

And the church that overthrows the gates of hell is going to consist of people who submit to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he gave it, not as we wish it was in this ridiculously intellectual, divided, and carnal Christian world.

This post is the 3rd part of a 3-part series I didn’t mean to write. Better read the previous two posts. Both of them are dated today, too.

So, here’s part 3:

Which Church?

I keep talking about the church, but which church?

I’m talking about the church. The people who are Christians in your area.

You need them. They need you.

It really doesn’t matter whether we Protestants have developed a denominational system where you go to the Methodist church and your next-door neighbor goes to the Lutheran church. That’s not okay. You’re sinning.

It really doesn’t matter that the pope in Rome is the head of a huge hierarchy that claims to be the one true church; that idea has nothing to do with anything Biblical or with the historical church.

You’re supposed to be sharing your life with other Christians. You are supposed to be family. You are supposed to be more likely to take an unemployed brother and his family into your house than his parents are.

You’re supposed to call nothing your own and share with the Christians around you.

That’s Biblical, and that’s historical. [It's not just Acts that talks about calling nothing your own. There was an early Christian tract that gave the same command, which is included in the Letter of Barnabas and the Didache. Justin Martyr in Rome in A.D. 150 and Tertullian in Carthage, Africa in A.D. 200 both claimed that Christians in general were following that command.]

That’s the church that God cares about, and that’s the church that will inherit the promises.

That’s the only church that matters because it’s the only one that can exhort one another every day (Heb. 3:13), speak to one another in love (Eph. 4:11-16), and be led together into all things (1 Jn. 2:27, where the “you” is plural, not singular).

How Does One Join Themselves to that Church?

I have no idea.

Sorry. I didn’t create the problem, and I don’t have miraculous revelation on how to solve it. I can just show you that the Bible says it’s a problem and if you try to solve it, you’ll find out what it means that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).

The devil hates it when you try to gather the saints. It terrifies him.

I can give you some advice, though.

I’ve tried a lot of things. Others have tried things.  Here’s some of what’s worked and what hasn’t.

I tried talking to everyone around me, going to every church I could, and telling people what the Bible says.

Not very many people listened to me.

The fact is, most people who call themselves Christians aren’t really Christians. They don’t have the Spirit of God, and they don’t much care what Jesus wants. They’re not going to listen to or look for God’s will whether you show it to them in the Bible or whether God speaks it to them in their hearts. They just don’t care, and they’re not really Christians.

Some are, though, and they care. Hundreds and thousands of people have managed to gather them together to try to do the things I’m talking about here. Gene Edwards and Frank Viola have written dozens of books on what to do when you do get them together.

I’ve met dozens of those groups. What they’re doing isn’t working. They don’t grow, and they get quickly bored. Most simply fall apart quickly. Those that don’t end up going back to the institutional churches they were once part of.

There’s some problems in Gene and Frank’s books. It’s not as simple as they say it is, and there’s some key issues missing.

I gave up trying on my own. When I found people who were making it work, I moved to where they were and gathered with them.

What do I mean by making it work? I mean they were really together, God pays attention to them, and they are being taught by God.

I’ve met other groups like that, but they didn’t last. They had the tremendous joy and fulfillment that comes from being in the church; they were taking care of each other; they had revelation from God; but they fell apart, usually rapidly.

Why?

Well, I have some ideas about that, too. But I guess that will have to wait for part 4.

I didn’t mean to be writing a series, and I’m out of time for today, so part 4 will have to wait until later today, tomorrow, or the next time I can get to this.

For now, just know that the devil hates it when the church rises up. It doesn’t matter whether it looks like a home church or like an institutional church or like neither. When Christians in a local area gather together, love one another, take care of one another, and act like family, the devil hates it and attacks it.

Christians today aren’t ready for a fierce battle with casualties, so they usually lose. The devil just tears them apart.

That’s the biggest problem. Like I said, though, I’ll say more about that in the next part.

You might want to read the previous post before you read this one. I just finished it a moment ago.

It’s so important for Christians today to find out that Christianity is not meant to be an individual religion!

The following is what I almost added to the previous post, but I didn’t want to detract from its topic. So here it is as its own topic.

The Church

One further problem we have is a belief that Christianity is an individual religion. It is not. God has always intended for those who are saved to be added to the Church (Acts 2:47).

Unless you are part of a group of people who are exhorting one another every day, you are in constant danger of hardening through the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13). God never meant for you to be delivered by yourself.

It is imperative that we get this. By losing our understanding of this we have lost everything!

Read through 1 Cor. 12 and Eph. 4:11-16. See how clearly the Bible says that we must grow together. It is only as every part supplies its “effective measure of grace” that we grow together in love.

Apart from that, we don’t grow. We just fool ourselves. Sin is deceitful, the Scripture says. We think we’re righteous, but we’re not.

We need each other.

Doctrine and Division

We have lots of reasons for separating from one another. This one believes in a 2nd experience, a baptism in the Spirit separate from salvation, and this one does not. That one speaks in tongues. This one believes baptism is symbolic; that one believes it’s not.

So important, it seems to us!

But we learn together. The Scripture has not called us to learn on our own. Study and pray for guidance all you want. The first guidance you must get is that you are not going to be led into truth by yourself!

The pillar and support of the truth, according to the Bible, is the church! (1 Tim. 3:15).

Yes, the church!

You need your brothers and sisters. As soon as you divide from them, you lose.

Doctrine and Division: The Solution

We think the Scriptures are the pillar and support of the truth. We don’t seem to care that the Scriptures say that the church is the pillar and support of the truth. We don’t believe that, so who cares what the Bible says!

Dear God, please deliver us from that sort of thinking.

The Pharisees searched the Scriptures. With the Scripture’s help, they missed Christ!

You search the Scriptures because you believe that in them you have life, but these are they which testify of me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life! (John 5:39-40)

You have the Scriptures. They testify of Christ, but where will you find Christ?

Christ, the Church, and the Scriptures

There’s an incredible verse in the Bible, found at 1 Corinthians 12:12. It’s so astonishing it’s hard for us to believe.

Ready?

For as the body is one, yet has many members … so also is Christ. (1 Cor. 12:12)

Do you understand why this is so important? Do you see what it says?

This does not say that the church is like a body with many members. It says that the Christ is like a body with many members.

Think about that a moment.

The Church: Christ in the Earth

I’ve been through a lot of evangelism programs. All of them led to a final point. That final point was something like, “Jesus is here right now. You can’t see him, but he’s here right now. Just bow your head and tell him you believe.”

That’s what’s supposed to happen. All of us Protestants know that.

Can you find it in the Bible?

There’s a fascinating story in the Bible. Saul, persecutor of the church, is on his way to Damascus. A light appears, and he is knocked to the ground.

Then Jesus appears to him. We don’t know how or in what way, but Saul saw Jesus.

If ever there was a time to say, “I’m right here. You can see me, unlike all others, so you can really pray. Just bow your head and tell me you believe,” that time was then.

But it’s not what Jesus said.

Instead, Jesus told him to go to Damascus and wait for Ananias.

The Christ Comes to Paul

We know the story. We know Ananias came to Saul. But have you thought about what happened when Ananias came to Saul?

Saul had been stricken with blindness. Ananias healed that blindness. He laid hands on Saul, and Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17-18). He baptized Saul, and Saul’s sins were forgiven (Acts 22:16).

And Saul became Paul the apostle.

We tell people what they need is an invisible Christ in the heavens. Jesus told Paul that what he needed was a visible Christ on the earth.

Hmm …

It’s true that we need something spiritual and invisible. We walk by the Spirit not by the flesh. Ananias hands were the means Jesus used to baptize Paul in the Spirit so that Paul would be a spiritual man, able to hear the voice of God.

Our Need for the Church

No wonder Paul spoke so highly of the church. No wonder Paul said that our growth is tied to the church, tied to our speaking to one another, and tied to each of us contributing our measure of grace (Eph. 4:11-16).

That’s a lot for one post. I’ll just quit there.

I don’t know how well this is all explained, but as a great man of God once said, both Christ and the church are known by revelation. They are not “figured out.” You must ask God to allow you to see the church and to understand Christ. You will not go through the immense battle that is necessary to be part of the church unless you have a revelation of your need for it.

Oh, you’re probably asking: what church?

That’s for the next post …

Romans 7 and Romans 8, do Christians really understand those two chapters of the Bible?

Recently a number of members of Rose Creek Village went to a “Jesus Radicals” conference. As odd as it may sound, the Jesus Radicals conference was a Christian anarchy conference.

Since Christ basically means king [it means "anointed," and refers to the anointing of the king of Israel], “Christian anarchy” is at least somewhat an oxymoron.

Be that as it may, several of our members went to such a conference in Memphis.

There were some good people there. Many of them are activists; they are devoted to the idea of changing the world.

Missing Romans 7

I’m told that for the most part these Christian anarchists know they are failing in their goals. They want to change the world; they want to do good; but they don’t know how.

Jesus once said that he could only do what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19). If Jesus could do nothing unless the Father was already doing it, how much less can we?

Romans 7 is Paul’s announcement that we will never do good in ourselves, no matter how much good will we have within us. We do have good will within us, he says, but the performing of that good will we find impossible.

It’s a crucial lesson. Like Jesus we are dependent on the Father. In fact, if it’s possible we are more dependent on the Father than Jesus was. If we want to change the world, we have to stop, see what God is doing, and join him.

He’s not going to join us.

Do you wonder why you’re failing at what you’re trying to do? If you’re human–even if you’re a Christian human–the chances are, that’s why.

Missing Romans 8

Most Christians aren’t like those Christian anarchists. They understand Romans 7. They know that the good they wish to do, they cannot do.

The problem is, they don’t seem to want to move on to Romans 8!

Romans 8 is the answer to Romans 7. Read through Romans 7, and you will see that the principle described there is quite accurately described as “the law of sin and death.”

Romans 8 is the answer to the law of sin and death.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:2)

Romans 8 begins with an announcement that we don’t have to live in Romans 7. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus delivers us from Romans 7!

The very next verse says it again:

What the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did! (Rom. 8:3)

We don’t have to live in Romans 7. We can live in Romans 8!

The righteous requirement of the Law is fulfilled in us who do not walk according the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:4)

Romans 8 and the Atonement

In between the two sentences I just quoted is a statement that this deliverance from the law of sin and death is provided by the atoning death of Jesus Christ. Most Christians know that, but so many don’t seem to believe that it works!

If we are Christians, buried with Christ in baptism, born again to a new life in Christ, then we are supposed to be delivered from the law of sin and death.

So many Christians say that they should not be pushed to good works because they are under grace. No! They should be pushed to good works specifically because they are under grace!

Sin shall not have power over you because you are not under law but under grace. (Rom. 6:14)

Romans 7 and Romans 8

Let us be believers in both Romans 7 and Romans 8. Let us know that we can do nothing of ourselves. Let us know that in ourselves–that is, in our flesh–nothing good dwells.

But let us also know that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus–the law described in Romans 8–has delivered us from Romans 7.

A Caveat: The Church

I have to add a final word.

Wait, no I don’t. I started to add a section on how you can’t do this alone. Unless you’re exhorted every day, says Hebrews 3:13, you’re not safe. You’re likely to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

I highlight that because, being deceived by sin, you won’t know it. You’ll try all the above alone, and you’ll fail. You need your brothers and sisters.

However, I have so much to say on that subject, it would make us lose focus on our topic: Romans 7 and Romans 8.

So, I’ll save that for the next post.