Month: February 2008

Restoring the New Testament Church

/ W. Keith Brenton / 11 Comments

You know, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.

But there’s really only one way to do it. And it has nothing to do with trying to re-create the way church was “done” in century one; analyzing structures and customs and laws and hermeneutics and praxes of a day long since past, then trying to imitate them and adapting them and staying within them and never straying outside them and shaking our fingers or fists at those who don’t “do” church as well as we think we think they should be “doing” it.

Restoring the New Testament Church is the natural result of restoring souls to the God they have either never known or have wandered away from – through His Son, gifted by His Spirit, penitent and confessional and washed clean of sin and dedicated to drawing ever closer to their Lord.

If we really gave our hearts away to God and to the desperate needs of others, it would happen. And it would happen in the same ways that it did more than nineteen hundred years ago.

Those unreached by God’s love would be turned to worshipers by the generosity we would show. They would open their own hearts to the Story of the Christ by our answer to their question “Why do you do this for us?”: “Because Jesus loves all.”

We’ve made a terrible mistake in thinking that restoring the church is the means by which we can bring people to Christ.

Bringing people closer to Christ is how His church is restored.

And while it’s true that sometimes we learn by doing, most of the time we love by doing.

Not by talking about it. Not by analyzing it. Not by meeting in our distinctive church buildings and worshiping our distinctive way and maintaining our distinctive air of piety.

All we have to do, really, is focus our lives on Christ; being like Him and loving like Him and serving like Him. Because, in a bizarre Moebius loop of cause-and-effect, when we serve others we serve Him. When we care for others, we care for His needs. When we feed and heal and clothe others, we feed and heal and clothe His body; His church.

There was an early time – before greed and racial tension and hierarchical jealousy and other selfishness set in – when the church was a group of people restored to God:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

They did it because they loved unreservedly, just as Jesus prophesied and promised them:

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

They did it because that’s exactly what He did:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

If you love, you give.

If you love, you give up self.

That’s His idea of restoring the church.

How does it compare to ours?

Jesus, Meek and Gentle

/ W. Keith Brenton / 5 Comments

Well, maybe He wasn’t meek in the way we usually define the term.

Jesus didn’t pull any punches with some folks.

He echoed his late cousin John when He called some Pharisees “you brood of vipers” – once in Matthew 12 (v. 34) and once in Matthew 23. In the latter tirade, He also called them “blind guides,” “hypocrites” and “fools.”

But look at the reasons why He called them by such epithets. And think about who they were: the religious leaders. The ones who should have known God’s will, but knew only their own rules. They were the very people who should have practiced what they preached; should have been good examples to others; should have been opening the door for others to get closer to God, rather than shutting it in their faces and refusing to go in themselves.

Do we do that?

When we dress up nicely for church and sing of giving our best to the Master and make the poor visitor among us feel ashamed and unworthy?

When we make rules out of the way we see God’s word and insist that others observe them, but have no intention of following them ourselves?

When we major in the minors of giving to maintain our opulent places of worship, but neglect mercy and faithfuless and (social) justice?

Do I do that?

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

A Life of Worship: The Implications

/ W. Keith Brenton / 3 Comments

A few months back, I posted A Life of Worship, but didn’t really have time to develop the idea as fully as I would have liked.

Take a look back at it, if you don’t mind, before plunging ahead here. I don’t mind waiting.

Done already?

Now, what are the implications of a life of worship?

These are the conclusions I’ve drawn:

1. Gathered Worship is still vital.
I don’t agree with those who conclude that living a life of worship means that Sunday is just like any other day. Our worship as gathered followers of Christ is important. We need it. God knows that. It was His idea, from the very first days of creation, that one day should be spent in re-creation. No, not just recreation, but re-creation: rest in His presence, in awareness of His love and righteousness and will for us … and in meditating on it together. Why “together”?

Because very few of us get it all right all by ourselves. We help shape and teach and mature and mentor each other. We fill each other’s lacks and deficits. We gain strength from each other, especially when we worship together. We reinforce each others’ faith. We also get on each others’ nerves. So we learn patience and love and forgiveness and many other Godly traits from being with each other. And we are more credible witnesses to the world at large, which still tends to accept the testimony of two or three as preferable to just one. God knows that, too. So He is present in a unique way when we are together, still serving our needs in the Person of His Son – serving us the elements of the bread and the cup.

Plus, we have the opportunity to be like Christ in accommodating the worship preferences of others. We sing songs that bless others even when we are not blessed by them. We refuse to judge or take offense when others express their praise in ways different from our own. We overlook the flaws of our leaders and encourage them and pray for them, rather than insisting on deposing them and having all the worship done the way each of us individually prefers. Don’t we? God knows that we should, and that is part of the reason He wants us to worship together – to become more like Christ in His selflessness.

2. Gathered worship is deeper when we can see God working in our lives the other six days of the week.
To clarify that: “when we can see God working in our lives individually and corporately.” We are more thankful for what God is doing when we have been trying to perceive it in others and be a part of it ourselves. We are more likely to give God the glory when we see that He is working through others, too – not just “me.”

We are less likely to be concerned about the way in which worship is expressed when it is clearly in spirit and in truth.

If worship were tp be attempted by a body in which all its parts were identical in form and function, it would be clumsily performed – “all thumbs,” you might say. God knows that. Therefore, He gifts us differently as members of the body of Christ, so that we will work together.

3. Gathered worship is not a substitute for individual worship and daily service – nor vice-versa.
People grow and mature daily – not in spurts every seven days. God has never had any interest in the expressions of worship from anyone who consistently lives a life that serves self above others.

If we perceive gathered worship as dull and lifeless and disspirited and that Christ is absent from it, it is quite possible that it is – because we have failed to invite Him, neglected to bring Him with us, and pushed His Spirit from our hearts because they are too filled with self for there to be room for Him. He is not satisfied with just going to church with us. He wants us to serve daily in His kingdom, too. God knows we need that; to stay constantly busy and not easily distracted by the one who calls attention to the seemingly endless demands of self.

4. Sacrifice never left the building.
We should be talking about Jesus’ sacrifice as the atoning one for our sins, and we should be talking about it more frequently and confidently. In fact, we should be living sacrifices, imitating His – providing the members of our bodies as instruments of His peace in all that we say or do on His behalf. God knows that. That’s why it has always been a part of His plan.

5. A life of worship never ends.
Check out the pictures that John paints of eternity in the Revelation to him. See what the angels and elders and four living creatures spend most of their eternity doing. Does that sound boring? Chances are, if you don’t enjoy it here and now, you wouldn’t enjoy it there and forever, either. Try seeing it for more than it appears to be in those verses. In worshiping God, they are giving Him credit for the perfect holiness that made it possible for a relationship with Him; for the forgiveness of sins and the infinite potential of life itself. On that unending day when the new heavens and the new earth intersect, there will be nothing but good to do – together.

What are some more implications to you of a life of worship?

Prayer Request for Preacherman

/ W. Keith Brenton / 2 Comments

Please pray for my blogging brother Kinney Mabry, who blogs as “preacherman” at http://kinneymabry.blogspot.com/.

He has been suffering severe migraines of late, and though a CAT scan showed no tumors, he is concerned about an upcoming neurological exam.

I have migraines from time to time, too, but I have only had the debilitating, fetal-position-in-a-cool-dark-room-thank-God-I-don’t-have-a-gun-in-the-house kind three times that I can remember. (You don’t want to remember them.)

Also please remember storm victims in the midwest states through which the storms and tornadoes tore a swath last night; my church’s Luke 10:37 response team is gearing up to go to north central Arkansas as soon as possible. (One of their leaders is unavailable right now, since he’s down in Honduras building a couple of houses as a volunteer.)

But especially lift Kinney to the Father.

The Preacher’s Column that Kinda Wasn’t

/ W. Keith Brenton / 27 Comments

Well, this is just ridiculous.

My preaching minister wrote the column below for our church bulletin, and I printed and mailed that bulletin to our 325 out-of-county readers and e-mailed it to most of the rest of our members who live in-county Wednesday.

There were some who were upset at the candor of it. – In spite of the fact that the same column was used very effectively, I hear, as as the jumping-off point for a discussion in the Singles Class that Wednesday night.

Church With Benefits

We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. ~ J.B. Priestley

Too many Christians have the mindset of religious consumers instead of committed disciples. They attend when they want to, and demand that the church be all they expect it to be on a Sunday morning. Yet they are not committed to it.

A blogger named Marc Backes has noticed this rising trend. Under the blog titled “The Jonah Syndrome” he penned the following thoughts on Dec. 6, 2007:

After yesterday’s interaction with an article about friends with benefits (FWB), I wanted to take a moment today to show how our culture’s attitudes towards sex also manifest themselves in our attitudes about church.

In the same way that someone seeks the “booty call” with a FWB, I believe there are millions of people attending church today who are using a local church of their choosing for their “spiritual booty call.”

Let me explain.

Essentially, the one-night stand with the FWB is intended to produce a maximum amount of immediate pleasure with little to none ongoing commitment towards the other party. In the same vein, as I experience emotional or isolational lows, I can immediately begin looking through my iPhone for my next hookup to relieve me of my crisis and the great thing about the “booty call” is that it is on demand, when I want it, and there’s no expectation that I have to respond to anyone else’s expectations of me. It is 100% on my terms.

And millions are doing the same thing with church. I attend when I want to, and only for my benefit. I am there because I am experiencing a personal, spiritual, relational, or emotional crisis, and I want God to give me my “spiritual booty call” to make me feel better. But don’t ask me to make any ongoing investment in the church. Don’t have any expectations of me as someone who came to that church. Just allow me to come in, use your church as I would a prostitute (I might even pay you for your services), and then I can move on, go back to my life and I’ll get back to you if I need you again.

The book of Hosea pretty clearly describes us as playing the role of the prostitute. It pretty clearly draws the analogy that how we tend to act sexually with one another, is also the way we tend to interact with God. And if you’ll look closely enough, you’ll see that it’s absolutely true. We’ve all seen those people who attend church every few months or so. We’ve all seen those people who want the church to be everything they want on a Sunday morning but have no intention in making an investment into the life of the church community.

We’ve seen people who want a pastor or God for that matter to be a genie of spiritual fix-all, but want to do nothing to discipline themselves to keep “stupid” to a minimum in their life. We’ve seen people who show up, want the spiritual “orgasm” so to speak, and then retreat to their life with no change until the next time they want their ecstasy.

So here’s the question to consider: Are you using your local church for a “booty call,” or are you gonna quit dating the church and marry it?

That is a question all of us need to answer.

What’s ridiculous about this, to me, is that the people who were offended by this are the very people who should not be offended by it. They’ve made their commitment to Christ and are carrying it out – to an extreme, complaining about the worldliness and explicit subject matter of the metaphor. The people who should be offended by it are the ones who refuse to commit to Christ – the ones about whom the column is written, and to whom it is written.

So, reluctantly, my preaching minister and I agreed to replace this column with one that will hopefully be less offensive to the wrong people in the printed bulletin distributed at church tomorrow morning.

Just for the record, I was the one who shared Marc Backe’s blog post with him, feeling that it had a powerful message expressed in a powerful and scriptural way. It doesn’t offend me.

It convicts me.

Folks, there’s a lot of scripture – several prophets – which speak far more explicitly than this blog post or the quotes from it in the preacher’s-column-in-the-bulletin-that-kinda-wasn’t.

Abductive Columns

/ W. Keith Brenton / Leave a comment

New Wineskins Conversation Editor Fred Peatross has made the move back to the WordPress blogging format and to his own domain name: Abductive Columns. (His RSS feed is http://www.abductivecolumns.com/feed/.)

Fred PeatrossHis blog began about a decade ago as “Grace Awakenings,” and he has long made a point – if not a second career – of challenging our very traditional notions of Christianity. He has interviewed extraordinary thinkers, meditators and students of the Word over those years – as well as having written a number of booklets and the recent book Missio Dei: In the Crisis of Christianity.

He will cheerfully but passionately rankle your preciously-held notions about what it means to follow Christ and be His church, and at his blog he always leaves the latch-string on the outside and the red carpet rolled out.